“Don’t despair. As a matter of fact, I believe our camp is nearer this spot than Oakvale is. What do you say, Alec, to trying to make our way back to Rainbow Lake? I remember Joe left an old canoe there, and we can paddle across and then find the trail back to camp.”
“Go ahead,” responded Alec. “Sorry I can’t go with you.”
“Oh, yes, you can. And you’re coming with me, too.”
“I tell you I can’t walk! This darned ankle hurts like sin! It may be broken, for all I know.”
“I can tell in a moment,” said Hugh, reassuringly, and with no touch of boasting.
While he carefully felt the injured member, Alec was suddenly reminded of a remark of his own, a sneer at Hugh’s qualifications in first-aid. “At my expense,” Alec had said, and now here was Hugh turning his knowledge to Alec’s benefit, very modestly and simply, quite as a matter of course!
“No bones broken,” announced Hugh, “but you must let me bind it up with a handkerchief soaked in cold water, and then put on one of my sneakers. Then we’ll start for camp, before it gets any worse.”
Alec plucked up a little more courage at this.
“If I could only get up out of this ravine,” he said, glancing around him in search of foothold, “I might——”
“I’m going to carry you,” said Hugh quietly. But first he followed his own directions for binding Alec’s ankle firmly.