“Sure I will,” spoke up the stout chum, “though I’m not clever at handling sick people, and always shiver at sight of blood. But you’ll need some kind of light to work by, won’t you, George?”
“Wait,” said Jack. “You remember I’ve got that little vest pocket electric torch. I’ve been saving it because I’m afraid the battery will soon run out. But this is just the time to make use of it.”
He thereupon handed Buster the article in question, a small nickeled affair not over three inches in length. When the button was pressed there came a shaft of light that was fairly strong.
“Just the ticket, Jack,” announced George, who was removing his coat with a business-like air that quite tickled Buster, who thought George already seemed to take on a professional look.
They could now see that the man taken from the sinking pontoon was a young Austrian soldier. He had no marks on his uniform to prove him anything save a private, but that made no difference to the boys. They had seen how those engineering corps men had taken their lives in their hands in order to bridge the Danube so that the artillery might be transported across to the other bank, and had also watched them going down by scores when that furious fire burst out from the hidden Serbian trenches. On this account they must honor him as a brave man.
He knew what George was about to do. Perhaps, after all, taking off his coat was the sign that made his intentions clear to one who could not understand English very well.
Buster shut his teeth hard when the light focussed on the man showed that one of his arms was bloody. Still he did not quail, for Buster could do a thing once he put his mind to it.
George set to work. The Austrian soldier understood that he was to help as well as he could, and between them they managed to get the water-soaked coat off. Then the sleeve of his shirt was carefully rolled up, disclosing the wound.
It was enough to make one with a stouter heart than Buster shudder, for the cut was severe, and had bled a great deal. From his pack George took some linen bandages, without which his mother would not have let him leave home. He had other appliances in the bargain, among which was surgeon’s adhesive plaster, with which to keep the ends of bandages in place.
First of all George proceeded to wash the wound, Buster getting him some water from the river in a tin basin they carried. After that he applied the soothing salve that was intended to purify and take away some of the pain that would be sure to follow on the morrow.