"Whatever is the matter, Alec, am I hurt?" at which he laughed and said, "I ought to know better than he could tell me; perhaps I would inform him what I was doing there, and why, for more than half an hour since he found me I had been insensible?"
Then I remembered slipping carelessly over the edge of the path at a part that was not at all dangerous, and b.u.mping myself against a granite rock, but beyond that I remembered nothing whatever.
Alec had missed me for nearly three hours, so calling to "Begum," he strolled along to see what I was doing. It was our invariable custom to tell each other where we were going, and what we were going to do, whenever we separated for a time; but on this occasion I had purposely omitted this precaution. The dog had found me on the lower pathway doubled up, or as Alec put it, "Standing on my head in a very undignified position, with my back against a granite boulder."
I could not rise, in fact could scarcely move, so battered and bruised was I in my fall of about fifty yards. Of course this was not a perpendicular fall, or I should never have penned these lines; but as the slope was one that a man could not walk up without using his hands, it is a wonder to me to this day that I was not killed on the spot.
Evidently I had broken my swift fall by clutching at some furze bushes, for my right hand was dreadfully lacerated, and full of furze needles, and my shoulder so stiff that my arm seemed paralyzed; besides which, I found I was spitting blood, which frightened me very much, as I was afraid of some internal injury.
The cart was fetched, and Alec a.s.sisted me on it; but oh dear me! I thought the jolting would have shaken me literally to pieces, so I sang out "Halt! Wo!" and told Alec I could go no farther, and then I fainted away.
It was only of five minutes" duration, but when I came to I felt as if I was dying, and told Alec I thought my time had come, which greatly alarmed the good fellow.
"Do you mind my leaving you a few minutes," said he, "while I fire the big gun for a.s.sistance?"
"No, no, Alec, I will not consent to that; for if my time has come, all the doctors[4] in the world cannot save me; and if I am not so badly hurt as I fear, I shall pull through. a.s.sist me to get on "Eddy"s"
back."
By great exertion on the part of Alec, and great forbearance from crying out on mine, I was presently mounted on the donkey, and being supported on Alec"s broad shoulder as he walked on the left side, I was at length able to reach the house.
Although in dreadful pain, I could not resist asking Alec if he did not notice how well our group on the rocky path realized the parable of the Good Samaritan. Here we were carrying out the story exactly. I was the "Certain Man" wounded; Alec the Good Samaritan; and "Eddy" the beast.
The house being reached, next came the dreadful dismounting, and being supported to bed; but even this was at last safely managed, and lying on the coverlet for a time I felt much easier.
Alec busied himself like a trained nurse, he took off my boots, gave me some brandy, washed the blood from my head and hands, and then without my knowledge gave me a sleeping draught from my medicine chest.
When I awoke it was still daylight, and Alec had prepared me a good supper, with which, like a good fellow, he fed me, and then we held a consultation as to the nature of my hurts.
We tried each leg, but beyond great black bruises there were no bones broken; my hands were a ma.s.s of cuts and scratches, and my head was in no better condition; but when we came to the right arm we found something radically wrong at the shoulder, which had now become greatly swollen, while as I sat on the edge of the bed the limb hung loosely down in a way that caused us to think it was broken; at any rate it was perfectly useless.
We consulted Dr. Ogilvie"s book upon all kinds of accidents that bones are heir to, and came to the conclusion that either my collar bone was broken or displaced, or my arm was out of the socket at the shoulder.
Alec soon set to work, and ripped my coat and shirt off, and after a deliberate diagnosis of my upper man, concluded that my shoulder was out of joint and must be put in. Again my comrade wished to fire the big gun for a.s.sistance, but I made up my mind to attempt my own cure with his help, as I had seen several cases of a similar nature treated on the hunting field.
My arm is a strong one, and I must draw a veil over the agony which resulted from the clumsy way in which we hauled the poor limb about; but we clicked the bone in at last, and then faint from pain I must have gone off into a deep sleep, for the last I remember was feeling Alec wipe the perspiration from my forehead as I fell back on my pillow in a faint.
For days I kept my bed, as every part of my anatomy had received a tremendous battering when I took my flight over the jagged stones that barred my way.
My constant thought as I lay on the bed with the glorious sunshine streaming in from the open window, which gave me a view of the dark trees standing out against the azure sunlit sky, was about the hieroglyphics on the paper. What did the skull portend, and what did the letters and figures refer to?
The skull I set down as the point to which the most importance was to be attached, and as I believed it referred to some hidden articles or treasure stowed away more than a century ago, I was naturally very eager to find out its whereabouts.
Well, say the skull represented the treasure spot, what did the square surrounding it mean? I gave it up. "Then what," I asked myself, "is the meaning of the letters at certain angles round the square both inside and out?" These I a.s.sumed to be the bearings of certain objects, as the person stood at the spot in which the goods were hidden; the figures I conjectured were the number of feet or yards distant of the "treasure spot" from the various objects.
Next, where was it most likely a man would hide anything of value, beneath the sea or upon dry land? Land certainly. Would it be among the rocks or where the ground was softer? Certainly the latter, I should say.
Then I set to thinking of the different places on the island where the nature of the soil would allow of digging, and could call to mind but few, and these mostly on the higher parts of the island. I determined when I was able to get about that I would inspect all these places, and see if I could find objects to correspond with the bearings and distances given in the sketch. Having thus promised myself to pursue the search further at a more appropriate time, I dismissed the subject from my mind for the time being.
After several days of enforced idleness I was at length able once more to go out, but at first felt very weak in the legs for want of exercise.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Decorative scroll]
FOOTNOTE:
4: Speaking of island doctors reminds me that Dr. Moyle has recently retired from practice in the Isles of Scilly, where he has been the sole medical pract.i.tioner for over forty years. He is spoken of with love and respect by all the islanders, and no wonder, for he has been a wonderful old man. His patients were scattered over the five inhabited islands, and never once did he fail to go when summoned. On many a wild winter night has he been called up to cross the rough sea to attend, perhaps, on some poor fisherman"s child. Dressed in an oilskin coat, sou"wester and big boots, he was always ready to go, and scarcely looked like a medical man. The people have shown their regard for him in a handsome manner. Without the aid of bazaars or other such inst.i.tutions, they have raised funds enough to present him with a life-long annuity of 52.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Decorative chapter heading]
CHAPTER XVI.
YARNS: THE CABBAGES WHICH HUNG THEIR HEADS--THE RAFT OF SPRUCE--VOYAGE OF THE "DEWDROP"--A LUCKY FAMILY--A DEEP, DEEP DRAUGHT--THE MAIRE"S CAT.
Alec behaved splendidly while I was unable to help myself. He fished, and by hook or by crook--or rather, by hook and by net--procured whatever I cared for, beside which he killed the surviving pig, which had now grown into an immense fellow, so that we had a good supply of meat, although somewhat fat; but of this I ate little, preferring a more vegetable diet, although at times I took a little meat, but not often.
When the day"s work was over he would sit in the twilight and spin yarns to me of his own curious experiences, one or two of which I cannot refrain from repeating here.
"Did you ever do any smuggling?" I asked him one day.
"Well," said he, "that"s rather personal, is it not? But still, I may as well tell you truly--I have. But as it is now very risky work, and some of my experience is recent, I shall not tell you of my own adventures in that line of business, though I see but little harm in outwitting a revenue officer, and at the same time enabling your neighbours to obtain a luxury or two, which otherwise they would never have. Did I ever do any smuggling? Rather! and my father and grandfather before me. In fact, in the village of my birth a man is thought little of who has not, at some time or other, been "smarter than a revenue officer.""
These remarks aroused my curiosity, so I asked, "Were you ever caught at the game?"
"No," said he, "but I"ll tell you how my father was once bowled over by the sun taking part against him. It was in the month of August, 185-, that he had, by manoeuvring, brought ash.o.r.e quite a nice little lot of contraband during the night, and not liking to keep it in the house, placed a couple of men on watch while he buried it in the garden. He had a little plot of cabbages near one side of the garden, and he uprooted about a dozen of these in the middle of the patch; then, digging a somewhat shallow hole, he placed his goods in, and re-casting the mould back, replanted the cabbages, not forgetting to remove the surplus mould in pails. So far so good; but early the next morning a customs officer had, by some means, heard that my father had been seen in his boat on the previous day, in close proximity to a trading vessel which had signalled for water, one of her casks having been started by the heat.
Of course my father was very pleased to see the officer (or apparently so), and after showing him over the place, invited him to stay to breakfast, which he gladly did. About ten o"clock he took his departure, apparently quite as satisfied with his visit, as my father was pleased at his departure. All seemed very easy now--simply to wait till dark, when one or two friends would divide the haul and take it away in some secret manner. But a little after noon back came the officer, accompanied by another. Here was evidently something in the wind, and my father felt very anxious.
""Very sorry to trouble you, M. Ducas, but duty is duty, you know. Will you kindly accompany us over your premises?"
""Certainly."
"Then they searched high and low, but nothing could they find. Dinner was being served. Would they join us at table?
""Thanks, very pleased to."
"So they sat down. My father, after dinner, handed them a bottle of the "right sort," of which they were connoisseurs, and they enjoyed it. It was a hot day, and everything was greatly in want of rain, and being so hot and dry they strolled out into the garden, preparatory to taking their leave.
""How are monsieur"s pigs? Oh, ah, very fine fellows! Do you give them much green food?"
"Yes, a fair amount," my father replied, and pulling up the nearest cabbage to him, threw it to the animals.
""What a pity to waste such a fine cabbage," said the chief officer.
"Why not give them one of those which are languishing so for want of water?" and reaching over he made a big pull at one, which, to his astonishment, came out of the ground without any resistance. "h.e.l.lo!
what"s this, Ducas? Why, all the middle ones seem to be in a sad way!
See, they are-hanging their heads. Perhaps the soil is not congenial to their growth. _Have you a spade?_"
"It was all up. The spade had to be forthcoming, and the end of it was,--"Fined two hundred francs or thirty-five days in prison.""
"Well, Alec, that"s not half bad. Spin us another."