'Leave your mare here, she's dead beat,' said Dr Tom.
Away they went at full gallop, and as the doctor's buggy dashed out of the township, people looked after it and thought it must be a desperate case for him to drive his cattle at such a pace.
'Keep calm, man; keep calm, or you'll be ill yourself,' said Dr Tom.
'I can't do it, doc, the little chap may be dead,' and Jim Dennis groaned.
'Cheer up, mate, you never know what a youngster can pull through; they'll beat a man hollow. Many's the child I have seen live when a man would have died,' said Dr Tom.
There was a gleam of hope in Jim Dennis's eyes, but it quickly faded, and he said,—
'Bad luck has dogged me all my life. There's a curse upon me, and now it's fallen on the little chap.'
Dr Tom looked at him. He did not know the history of this man's life but he guessed some of it. He was a shrewd judge of character, and in his heart he believed that Jim Dennis was more sinned against than sinning. He had heard strange stories of this lonely man, and he had more than once had a stand-up fight on his account. He liked Jim more than anyone about Swamp Creek, and he was very fond of the little chap, as Willie was called.
He meant to save the child if possible, and he had fought many a fight with grim Death and beaten him. Nothing gave Dr Tom more satisfaction than to rescue a patient from danger. It was not so much that he loved his profession as that he desired to overcome obstacles.
'Get up!' said the doctor, and laid the lash across the backs of his horses. 'It will ruin my pair, but I don't mind that. They are not accustomed to this pace.'