It was time, for I was so utterly exhausted that I felt doubtful whether I should ever recover; so I lay passive whilst Ella tripped about, procuring basins of warm water, bathing my wounds, and binding them up carefully and tenderly with soft lint and ample bandages. I had heard Bob’s heavy tread bustling about on the deck above for a short time, but I now missed it, and endeavoured to inquire where he was gone; this, however, my nurse would not permit, assuring me that I should learn all that it was necessary to know in due time, and when I was stronger and better able to listen.
The work of dressing my injuries was a long and tedious one, for I had no less than seventeen wounds in different parts of my body, the most serious of which were the spear-wound in my back, and three, close together, in my right breast; the blow at the back of my head; the arrow-wounds in my neck and left shoulder where the weapons had been dragged violently out, lacerating the flesh terribly, no doubt when I was stripped; and a spear-thrust in my right thigh, which completely pierced the limb and seemed to have severed some important artery, from the quantity of blood which gushed from it and deluged the bed on which I lay.
It was quite dark, or as dark as it could be with a full moon riding in cloudless beauty overhead, before the painful task was over; but the soothing effects of the bathing and the bland and cooling properties of the ointment applied to my smarting wounds were such that I soon felt at ease and free from pain, compared with what my condition had been an hour or two before, and I sank into a feverish doze, in the midst of which I still remained conscious of the frequent application of cool wet cloths to my burning brow, and of the constant moistening of my parched lips with a cool refreshing beverage of some kind.
Gradually I dropped off into a sounder sleep, from which I awoke but once in the night, to find my gentle nurse half-sitting, half-reclining, in a chair beside my cot, fast asleep, with one soft round arm encircling my neck and her fair head resting on the pillow close to my own.
Volume Two—Chapter Six.
Important News.
The next day I was in a raging delirium, and for nearly a week did I remain utterly unconscious of all that surrounded me, entirely engrossing the attention of my companions, and taxing their energies and ingenuity to the utmost to prevent my leaping out of the cot or doing myself some injury, in the unnatural strength and violence of the fever which burned within me.
At length their unremitting care and watchfulness were rewarded by seeing me fall into a deep sleep, in which I remained all night and until the next morning was far advanced; and when I awoke reason had resumed her sway. I knew them both, and could answer their affectionate inquiries by a faint pressure of the hand or a feeble whisper, but beyond this I had no power to go.