The account we had heard excited feelings of grief and indignation in all our family. Norah was weeping bitterly; she had known Donna Paola. Even had she not known her, she would have wept at the tale, and wished, as I did, to aid in driving our tyrants from the land. I suspect that had my worthy schoolmaster been present, his sympathies would have been with us, and he would not have advised me to remain neutral in the struggle. But I must quit the subject; I cannot, even at the present day, speak of it without a choking sensation rising in my bosom.
The doctor looked surprised at the effect his narrative had produced; and he expressed his regret that he should have spoken of her, when I told him that I had but lately met Donna Paola.
“Now we will talk of something else,” he said. “Your brother seems to be a great sportsman for one so young, Mr Barry. I hope that he will assist me in obtaining specimens of natural history, and enable me to gain a further knowledge of the habits of the quadrupeds and quadrumana, and of the feathered tribes, of this region.”
“I shall be very happy to accompany you, doctor,—either into the forests, or over the plains, or up the mountains, or on the shores of the lakes,—whenever you wish to go,” said Gerald.
“I should be ready to go to-morrow; but I must not neglect my patient,” answered the doctor. “And he will require my care for a few days; and trust me, I will do my best to cure him.”
The rest of the evening was spent in talking of our proposed shooting-excursion.
Some days elapsed, however, before we could set out. The doctor was most attentive to the wounded Indian, who was now evidently recovering under his superintendence. Still, he seemed to regard Norah as his chief nurse; and though he hesitated to take what the doctor prescribed for him from any one else, he received it willingly from her hands.
At last the doctor pronounced him convalescent, and declared that he no longer needed his care. “And so, my young friends,” he said, turning to us, one evening while we sat at supper, “we will lose no more time, out set off immediately. Life is short, remember. ‘Carpe diem’ should be the motto of all who desire to gain information.”
I agreed to accompany the doctor and Gerald; and before retiring to rest that night we made arrangements. Tim, also, on hearing of our plan, begged to go—being afraid that Gerald would get into some scrape.
The doctor of course intended to take Jumbo. I asked him if Gab was to go also.