"I hope I didn't hurt you much," she said, smiling at him faintly. She was still trembling.
"Not you. That ol' pony hurt like fury, an' it was a fair caution when Bill fell down with me. Twice, he did; Bill's a great hand at fallin'." He grinned at Bill.
"Thank y'r lucky stars I was big enough to carry y'r great carcase," said that worthy, not at all abashed. "Might as well be decently grateful: I can tell you, you ain't no luxury to carry!"
"Finished?" Tom asked, handing the empty cup to Garth. "Get the place tidy, son; mother's going to drive in. We'll be back soon." He helped Aileen to the driver's seat, handing her the reins. "You haven't too much time. I'll go ahead and try to hold the boat. Jump up behind"—to the mate. "I'll leave the gates open as I go, and you can shut them." He swung himself upon the pony, and trotted down the hill.
It was with a shiver of dread that Aileen felt the first severe jolt as they jogged over the rough paddock track. She glanced anxiously at her patient.
"Did that hurt you much?"
"'Ardly felt it," said he. "This dodge of yours is the best ever I see. Every one else puts a man full length on a mattress, an' crikey! don't it hurt! Every little jolt'll make a man howl. But this is like bein' in an armchair, and the jolts don't seem to worry you at all." They bumped heavily over a tussock, and his calmness bore out the truth of his words.
She was thankful for it, for there was no time to waste. Her patient, smoking and chattering, was apparently indifferent as to whether he caught the steamer. "I don't reckon any ol' doctor is goin' to make a better job of this laig than you done," he said, carelessly. But to Aileen it was unthinkable that they should not catch it. She had no belief in her own ability to set a broken leg properly. That the boy should be cheerful, and almost out of pain, was a kind of pleasant miracle, but she could not realize that her unskilled hands could possibly have caused it. She would not have been surprised if, at any moment, he had broken down again in shivering agony. The dread lest she should have made some mistake almost choked her—how could she ever face him in the future if the leg she had doctored were crooked, or shorter than the other? He was such a boy! She could not bear to think that he might be crippled, and because of her.
"I say!" said the patient, suddenly alert. "There's a snake! Do stop, Mrs. Macleod, and let Bill kill the brute."
"Not for fifty snakes!" said Aileen firmly. She brought down the whip with emphasis on Roany's back. The snake, a big brown one, slid away into a patch of bracken.