A sound of wheels came from across the creek, coming rapidly down the road. The old dog barked viciously. A horse driven at full speed dashed through the yard; Pearl ran shouting after, for even in the gathering darkness she recognised the one person in all the world who could save Arthur. But the wind and the barking of the dog drowned her voice, and the sound of the doctor"s wheels grew fainter in the distance.
Only for a moment was Pearl dismayed.
"I"ll catch him coming back," she said, "if I have to tie binding twine across the road to tangle up Pleurisy"s long legs. He"s on his way to Cowan"s, I know. Ab Cowan has quinsy. Never mind, Thursa, we"ll get him. I hope now that the old doctor is too full to come--oh, no I don"t either, I just hope he"s away and Dr. Clay will have it done before he gets here."
When Tom arrived in Millford he found a great many people thronging the streets. One of the Ontario"s harvesters" excursions had arrived a few hours before, and the "Huron and Bruce" boys were already making themselves seen and heard.
Tom went at once to Dr. Barner"s office and found that the doctor was out making calls, but would be back in an hour. Not at all displeased at having some time to spend, Tom went back to the gaily lighted front street. The crowds of men who went in and out of the hotels seemed to promise some excitement.
Inside of the Grand Pacific, a gramophone querulously sang "Any Rags, Any Bones, Any Bottles To-day" to a delighted company of listeners.
When Tom entered he was received with the greatest cordiality by the bartender and others.
"Here is life and good-fellowship," Tom thought to himself, "here"s the place to have a good time."
"Is your father back yet, Tom?" the bartender asked as he served a line of customers.
"He"ll come up Monday night, I expect," Tom answered, rather proud of the attention he was receiving.
The bartender pushed a box of cigars toward him.
"Have a cigar, Tom," he said.
"No, thank you," Tom answered, "not any." Tom could not smoke, but he drew a plug of chewing tobacco from his pocket and took a chew, to show that his sympathies were that way.
"I guess perhaps some of you men met Mr. Motherwell in Winnipeg. He"s in there hiring men for this locality," the bartender said amiably.
"That"s the name of the gent that hired me," said one.
"Me too."
"And me," came from others. "I"d no intention of comin" here," a man from Paisley said. "I was goin" to Souris, until that gent got a holt of me, and I thought if he wuz a sample of the men ye raise here, I"d hike this way."
"He"s lookin" for a treat," the bartender laughed. "He"s sized you up, Tom, as a pretty good fellow."
"No, I ain"t after no treat," the Paisley man declared. "That"s straight, what I told you."
Tom unconsciously put his hand in his coat pocket and felt the money his father had put there. He drew it out wondering. The quick eyes of the bartender saw it at once.
"Tom"s getting out his wad, boys," he laughed. "Nothin" mean about Tom, you bet Tom"s goin" to do somethin"."
In the confusion that followed Tom heard himself saying:
"All right boys, come along and name yer drinks."
Tom had a very indistinct memory of what followed. He remembered having a handful of silver, and of trying to put it in his pocket.
Once when the boys were standing in front of the bar at his invitation he noticed a miserable, hungry looking man, who drank greedily. It was Skinner. Then someone took him by the arm and said something about his having enough, and Tom felt himself being led across a floor that rose and fell strangely, to a black lounge that tried to slide away from him and then came back suddenly and hit him.
The wind raged and howled with increasing violence around the granary where Arthur lay tossing upon his hard bed. It seized the door and rattled it in wanton playfulness, as if to deceive the sick man with the hope that a friend"s hand was on the latch, and then raced bl.u.s.tering and screaming down to the meadows below. The fanning mill and piles of grain bags made fantastic shadows on the wall in the lantern"s dim light, and seemed to his distorted fancy like dark and terrible spectres waiting to spring upon him.
Pearl knelt down beside him, tenderly bathing his burning face.
"Why do you do all this for me, Pearl?" he asked slowly, his voice coming thick and painfully.
She changed the cloth on his head before replying.
"Oh, I keep thinkin" it might be Teddy or Jimmy or maybe wee Danny,"
she replied gently, "and besides, there"s Thursa."
The young man opened his eyes and smiled bravely.
"Yes, there"s Thursa," he said simply.
Pearl kept the fire burning in the kitchen--the doctor might need hot water. She remembered that he had needed sheets too, and carbolic acid, when he had operated on her father the winter before.
Arthur did not speak much as the night wore on, and Pearl began to grow drowsy in spite of all her efforts. She brought the old dog into the granary with her for company. The wind rattled the mud c.h.i.n.king in the walls and drove showers of dust and gravel against the little window.
She had put the lantern behind the fanning mill, so that its light would not shine in Arthur"s eyes, and in the semi-darkness, she and old Nap waited and listened. The dog soon laid his head upon her knee and slept, and Pearl was left alone to watch. Surely the doctor would come soon...it was a good thing she had the dog...he was so warm beside her, and...
She sprang up guiltily. Had she been asleep...what if he had pa.s.sed while she slept...she grew cold at the thought.
"Did he pa.s.s, Nap?" she whispered to the dog, almost crying. "Oh Nap, did we let him go past?"
Nap yawned widely and flicked one ear, which was his way of telling Pearl not to distress herself. n.o.body had pa.s.sed.
Pearl"s eyes were heavy with sleep.
"This is not the time to sleep," she said, yawning and shivering.
Arthur"s wash-basin stood on the floor beside the bed, where she had been bathing his face. She put more water into it.
"Now then," she said, "once for his mother, once for his father, a big long one for Thursa," holding her head so long below the water that it felt numb, when she took it out. "I can"t do one for each of the boys,"
she shivered, "I"ll lump the boys, here"s a big one for them."
"There now," her teeth chattered as she wiped her hair on Arthur"s towel, "that ought to help some."
Arthur opened his eyes and looked anxiously around him. Pearl was beside him at once.
"Pearl," he said, "what is wrong with me? What terrible pain is this that has me in its clutches?" The strength had gone out of the man, he could no longer battle with it.
Pearl hesitated. It is not well to tell sick people your gravest fears.
"Still Arthur is English, and the English are gritty," Pearl thought to herself.
"Arthur," she said, "I think you have appendicitis."
Arthur lay motionless for a few moments. He knew what that was.
"But that requires an operation," he said at length, "a very skilful one."