"Oh, no, I would like to live and fight until my country is free."
The speech was too much for Eben, for he fainted, and the doctor, after leaving instructions, went out of the shed which served as hospital, and called Allen on one side.
"Well?"
"That boy is shocked. It is a peculiar case. Not once in a score of years do we find such a case. Every nerve is numb, every muscle relaxed, and whether he will live or die depends on arousing him from that numbness."
"Is he wounded?"
"Only slightly. A spent ball may have caused the shock. What can we do to rouse him?"
"That is for you to suggest. What do you think necessary?"
"A counter shock of some kind. Its effects would soon be apparent. If it succeeds he will be all right in a day; if it fails he will die."
"And without the counter shock?"
"His life is in a very precarious condition."