“Take the lantern, and see if there is any one there,” he answered.
I made my way to the spot whence I fancied the sounds proceeded, and lowering my lantern into a small hole, I saw the figure of a boy crouching down, with his head resting against a cask. He made no movement, and his eyes appeared to be closed.
“There’s some one here, sir,” I cried out. “He seems to be very far gone.”
The mate quickly joined me. “A young stowaway!” he exclaimed. “We must have him on deck at once, or it will be beyond the doctor’s skill to bring him round. I have known more than one lad lose his life in this way; and I shall get blamed for not having examined the hold before we left port.”
Saying this he lifted the lad in his arms while I held the lantern, and forthwith carried him on deck. The low groans the boy uttered showed us that he was still alive, but he was pale as death and in a wretched condition. He was dressed like a respectable lad, but his face and clothes were covered with dirt.
“The captain will be in a great taking when he finds this out,” said the mate; “still more so if the young fellow dies. Go aft, Ned, and call the doctor; maybe he’ll be able to bring him round.”
I hurried aft, and soon found the surgeon, who was in his dispensary. When I told him what he was wanted for, he at once, bringing some medicine with him, hurried forward.
“This will do him good,” he said, pouring some liquid down the lad’s throat. “I don’t think, Mr Simmons, that you need be anxious about him.”
The young stowaway almost immediately opened his eyes and stared about him. The doctor then ordered the cook to get some broth ready, while two of the women passengers brought some warm water and washed the poor lad’s face and hands. The broth, which he eagerly swallowed, revived him still more, and the doctor considered that he had sufficiently recovered to be conveyed to the sick bay, the women offering to stay by his side and to give him medicine and food as he might require them.
“If he is carefully tended he may come round,” said the doctor; “but had he remained another hour in the hold I feel pretty sure that he would have lost his life.”