So he talked as Will began to look at his leg. He found it pretty well bruised, and swollen, too. The way in which he felt here and there would have given confidence to a man in far less desperate need of help than this stricken giant.
"What is it—a broken bone?" asked the man anxiously, as he saw Will seem to consider, which he took to be a serious sign.
"I'm glad to say it isn't. The bruises are painful, and there is also a sprain that you will feel for many months; but no break of the bone," he replied.
"Talk to me about your ambulance surgeons! What could beat that?" gurgled the delighted Jerry.
"You are sure?" urged the man, looking brighter at the same time.
"Just as sure as I know my own name. But you need attention which you can hardly get here. We ought to move you over to our camp, where I can give you my personal care."
Will was evidently proud of having come upon his first patient. It aroused the zeal that had of late been slumbering a little under the new impetus of his later love for photography.
The man on the bed of hemlock boughs smiled rather grimly, Frank thought, as he said:
"You are very kind, my boy, and generous, in the bargain. I believe, myself, that I shall need more or less care for some time, but I'm apt to get it in another quarter than in your camp. There is a gentleman who is waiting to administer to my needs with the best doctors that the State supplies."
Frank saw him look meaningly past them, and turning, he was not very much surprised to see Mr. Dodd, the sheriff, standing quietly just inside the entrance to the cave.