"The only thing I know of is to tie it up in wet cloths, an' when that's been done you two had best get things dried out here, so's you'll have a chance to go into the lantern. I'm allowin' that the whole place is filled with smoke."
"We won't bother 'bout the light till we get you two fixed up in some kind of decent shape," Mr. Peters said decidedly, as if he considered himself in command. "I'll see to your leg while Sonny mops up the water."
Then Mr. Peters closed the windows on the easterly side of the tower, through which the moisture-laden snow was driving, and Sidney turned all his attention to making the room look more habitable.
"How are you gettin' on, Zenas?" Captain Eph asked as the second assistant beat his hands together to prevent a cry of pain from escaping his lips.
"I'm in misery, Ephraim, clear misery; but I know I've every reason to be thankful that I wasn't burned worse, an' am tryin' not to show myself a baby."
"Don't try, Uncle Zenas," the keeper said, himself striving to choke back a groan as Mr. Peters jarred the injured limb. "Yell all you want'er, an' we won't call it babyish, for when a man gets a kettle of hot fat poured over him he's like to be in a bad way."
It seemed to Sidney that he had never worked so slowly before, not even while he tried to light the lantern when Mr. Peters was brought home. He believed it in the highest degree necessary that the injured men be taken from the wet floor as speedily as possible, and yet he was making but little headway in mopping up the water.
Mr. Peters worked rapidly and dextrously, apparently in as good bodily condition as before he went adrift on the raft, and so great was the general excitement and suffering that no one appeared to consider his sudden recovery in any degree odd.
However clumsy Sidney may have thought himself, his work was finished within a reasonably short time. The floor was freed from water, the partially burned and saturated garments thrown out of the window, and the kitchen restored as nearly as possible to its former condition.
When this had been done Sidney brought from the sleeping rooms a plentiful supply of blankets and pillows, with which two beds could be made on the floor, and within three hours from the time the accidents occurred, the injured keepers had at least the appearance of being comfortable.