Perhaps I came to again--I don't know; for it may have been a dream that

the old gentleman came softly back and dabbed my head gently with a

towel, and that the towel was stained with blood.

Of course it was a dream that I was out in the East with my father, who

was not hurt in the skirmish, but it was I who received the wound, which

bled a good deal; and somehow I seemed to have been hurt in the

shoulder, which ached and felt strained and wrenched. But all became

blank again and I lay some time asleep.

When I opened my eyes again I found that I was being hurt a good deal by

the doctor, who was seeing to my injuries. Old Brownsmith and Ike were

both in the room, and I could see Shock peeping round the big arbor

vitae outside the window to see what was going on.

The doctor was holding a glass to my lips, while Old Brownsmith raised

me up.

"Drink that, my boy," said the doctor. "That's the way!--capital! isn't

it?"

I shuddered and looked up at him reproachfully, for the stuff he had

given me to drink tasted like a mixture of soap and smelling-salts; and

I said so.

"Good description of the volatile alkali, my lad," he said, laughing.

"There!--you'll soon be all right. I've strapped up your wound."

"My wound, sir!" I said, wonderingly.

"To be sure; didn't you know that you had a cut upon your forehead?"

I shook my head, but stopped, for it made the room seem to turn round.

"You need not mind," he continued, taking my hand. "It isn't so deep as

a well nor so wide as a church-door, as somebody once said. You don't

know who it was?"

"Shakespeare, sir," I said, rather drowsily.

"Bravo, young market-gardener!" he cried, laughing. "Oh! you're not

very bad. Now, then, what are you going to do--lie still here and be

nursed by Mr Brownsmith's maid, or get up and bear it like a man--try

the fresh air?"

"I'm going to get up, sir," I said quickly; and throwing my legs off the

sofa I stood up; but I had to stretch out my arms, for the room-walls

seemed to run by me, the floor to rise up, and I should have fallen if

the doctor had not taken my arm, giving me such pain that I cried out,

and the giddiness passed off, but only came back with more intensity.

He pressed me back gently and laid me upon the sofa.

"Where did I hurt you, my boy?" he said.

"My shoulder," I replied faintly.

"Ah! another injury!" he exclaimed. "I did not know of this. Tendon a

bit wrenched," he muttered as he felt me firmly but gently, giving me a

good deal of pain, which I tried hard to bear without showing it, though

the twitching of my face betrayed me. "You had better lie still a

little while, my man. You'll soon be better."




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