“I believe I have been dozing,” he replied. “I seem very weak, Ralph, and I have scarcely any feeling left in my legs. I fancy I shall not last many hours longer.”
“Oh, nonsense!” I returned. “What has put that idea into your head? Why, we shall be in Carlisle Bay by sun-rise to-morrow; and then, if you are strong enough to bear removal, you can have your wish as to going on shore, you know. And once there, you will soon pull round, old fellow. No more rolling and knocking about then, Harry; no more groaning bulkheads; but the quiet and coolness that you have been longing for, with the sea-breeze, and trees, the birds and butterflies, and tender women to nurse and pet and make much of you, instead of us clumsy people. Only think of it! Why, by this time to-morrow you will feel so much better for the change that you will be wanting to sit up in bed—or even to turn out, perhaps.”
“Oh, no, no,” he replied. “I am far worse than you seem to think, Ralph. Still, I believe I might pull round even yet, if I could but get ashore.”
“Well, look here,” said I. “If you are to be moved to-morrow, it is of the greatest importance that you should have a good night’s rest to-night, so try, like a dear good fellow, to get to sleep again, will you? Do you feel thirsty?”
“Rather,” he replied. “But I seem to want something different from that stuff that the doctor has mixed for me. If I could only get a little fruit now—a bit of one of those pines you brought on board at Kingston, for instance—I believe it would refresh me more than anything else.”
“Would it?” said I; “then you shall have it; that is, if the doctor will allow it; for now that you speak of it, I know the skipper has one or two pines left, and I am certain you will be heartily welcome to them. Do you mind being by yourself for a minute or two, while I run to the doctor, and speak to him about it? All right; I will be back in a second.”
The doctor saw no objection, so we soon had a splendid pine sliced up, and I held a thin piece to the poor little sufferer’s lips. It refreshed him greatly, and after another draught of the acid mixture he settled down more comfortably than he had been at all. When I turned him over to the doctor at last and left the cabin, there seemed to be some slight improvement in his condition.
In the early dawn of the following morning we anchored in Carlisle Bay, Barbadoes, and by noon poor little Fisher had been safely conveyed on shore and lodged in the colonel’s residence near Needham Point, where he would have all the ladies belonging to the garrison to nurse him, and be conveniently situated for frequent visits from the staff-surgeon.