Before the last words were spoken the doctor had jumped from the porch, and the rest of the party rose anxiously.
"Sambo? Sambo dying, Joe? Surely not! I'll come at once."
"Which cabin, man? Show us the way," commanded Carroll, energetically.
Madam Trevor had run into the house to get an apron for her gown, and Deborah, seizing the opportunity, flew across the portico, leaped down on the east side, and caught up with the doctor.
"I shall come, too," she said. And Carroll's silence gave consent.
The cabin in which Sambo and his parents lived was on the northeastern corner of the quarters, and, as the doctor, with his conductor and Deborah, approached it, a group of negro women about its door hailed them with expressions of relief and praise. Not heeding the pious ejaculations, the three passed into the tiny hut, where, upon the mattress in a corner, covered with tattered blankets, lay Sambo. Beside him, her apron over her head, sat the mother, Chloe, rocking to and fro in absolute terror.
Carroll knelt at once beside the mattress and glanced sharply into the child's face. Sambo was lying deathly still, breathing heavily, his eyes wide open, his black skin dripping with sweat. The doctor felt the child's pulse, opened his mouth, and gave a sharp exclamation as he perceived the tongue to be heavily coated with a thick, grayish matter.
"Sit here, Deborah, and hold his hands. He'll not be quiet long."
Deborah took her place at the child's head and clasped the little burning hands in her own, while Carroll, in a low voice, began to question Chloe. Sambo noticed Deborah, and smiled faintly as she leaned over him. In a moment more a swift spasm of agony passed over the small features, and he uttered a guttural cry of pain. Carroll ran to his side, while the colored woman, wringing her hands, sank helplessly on the floor. The paroxysm was violent. The child's body twisted and writhed. He rolled over and over upon the bed, moaning like an animal, or shrieking in a delirium of torture. Deborah, very pale, and Carroll, silent and stern, held him so as to prevent as much exhaustion of strength as was possible. When he began to grow more quiet, Madam Trevor came in, looking angrily at her cousin, who, however, scarcely saw her.
"It is possible that you do not need me, doctor," she said, in her most offended tone.