All this time I was occupied with my chart. Wagtail took a piece of the biscuit and put it into his mouth.
“Zounds! my dear Aaron,” cried he, ironically, “what dentist are you in league with? Gelid has just broken off his favorite tooth, and now you want”––
“Bah!” replied Bangs, “don’t frighten yourself; but what the deuce is this? Wagtail, Gelid, my dear fellows, look here!”
A sailor, who was followed by the ship’s surgeon, brought down on his back, the poor fellow who had been wounded, and laid him on the table. I must here remark that the captain’s cabin in small vessels is sometimes used as a cockpit, as it now was.
“Your pardon, captain and gentlemen,” said the surgeon, 97 “but I must, I fear, perform an ugly operation on this poor lad, and I think it better that you should go on deck.”
I had now an opportunity of seeing what kind of mettle my friends were made of.
“Doctor,” said Bangs, pulling off his coat, “I can be of use, I know very well––no skill, but firm nerves.”
“And I,” cried Wagtail, “can tie a bandage, although I am not a surgeon.”
Gelid said nothing, but when it came to the pinch was the most useful of all. The wounded lad Wiggins, a fine young man, was weak and very pale, but bold as a lion. A cannon shot had shivered the bone of his leg just above the knee. Round his thigh was a tourniquet, and in consequence he did not bleed much.
“Captain,” said the poor boy, “I shall get over this. I have no great pain, sir; I have not indeed.“