He bent over the man and tried to see if there was anything that could be done then and there to help him. Finding that none of his wounds looked very serious, and deciding that fright and the sight of blood combined to make him weak, Hugh felt that he could leave him and hurry on to the next victim.
“They will be back soon and carry you to the shacks,” he told the man, at the same time giving him a reassuring nod and a smile, which doubtless did more to buoy up his spirits than any spoken words, which he may not have understood at all.
The next man, who lay there on the ground groaning, Hugh found to be in a serious way indeed. He had been shot in the back, though just how near the bullet had gone to a vital part could only be found out by a careful examination later on.
These boys were hardly fitted to undertake any such serious job as this. Their knowledge of surgery was confined to setting broken limbs or binding up wounds; they knew exactly how to go about stopping the flow of blood in case anyone happened to cut themselves with an ax or a knife; they could resuscitate a comrade who had come within an ace of being drowned; they could undertake to assuage the pain caused by colic or ptomaine poisoning, and all such things; but when they came upon a case where a bullet had passed through a man’s body, it was time to wait for the arrival of a regular surgeon.
Hugh now began to look anxiously for the return of the two scouts with the handy, if crude stretcher. He believed they had had ample time to go all the way to the foreign settlement and be well on the road back.
To his satisfaction he caught sight of them on the run; and evidently Alec and Bud did not mean to turn their office over to any of the others, for they had taken it upon themselves to return in person.
Hugh hardly knew which of the two men should be carried off first. They were both seriously hurt, and it was a toss-up which one needed attention more than the other.
So Hugh decided to send the man whose legs had been so badly peppered by the scattering buckshot. Arthur could do all that was necessary for him, whereas Hugh feared that the other man would have to wait until some help came from town. They could carry him to where he would not be lying in the glaring sunlight; so that he could be given a drink of water, or something to keep his strength up.
“Here, help me lift this man on your stretcher, boys,” said Hugh, as he beckoned them over.
“How about those other two we see yonder?” asked Alec.