Part 32 (2/2)
”Danger? Nonsense! What put that into your head? The s.h.i.+p is right enough--nothing wrong there. It is quite a different matter from anything you are thinking of.”
There was a distinct look of relief in the faces turned towards him, and yet the expression of care upon the Captain's did not sensibly lighten.
”I have in the first place one unwelcome piece of information to give you,” he said, ”although I do not think that any of you need apprehend personal danger or inconvenience. Perhaps some of you remember the delicate-looking lady who was brought on board by her husband at Bombay, and whom you have none of you seen since?”
”Young Mrs. Varden?” queried a pa.s.senger who had just known the name of the lady before starting. ”I asked the stewardess about her once, and heard that she was prostrated by sea-sickness. Some people never get over it all the voyage.”
”Exactly; and that is what, until a couple of days back, we believed about her. She was always ill and ailing, quite unfit to sit up or leave her berth; but though the doctor saw her every day, he suspected nothing till a couple of days back,--when the stewardess, who was taking care of her, and luckily looked after n.o.body else, the s.h.i.+p not being very full, was taken with a sudden attack like convulsions, and died within two hours. That aroused his suspicions. He made a careful examination of Mrs. Varden's condition, and his suspicions were strongly aroused. On the following morning there would have been no room for doubt in any case. The small-pox erruption was out all over her. To-day she is almost black with it.”
There was a shudder of horror through the a.s.sembled pa.s.sengers. The thought that the s.h.i.+p was infected by that terrible disease was fearful indeed. The Captain spoke on doing his best to rea.s.sure them.
”Fortunately the lady has been kept very carefully isolated. She was so delicate when her husband brought her on board, that everything was done to ensure perfect quiet for her. She has occupied one of a little nest of cabins, all the rest of which were empty. The husband bespoke the sole attendance of one of the two stewardesses, and as my s.h.i.+p's doctor is a cautious man, and was rather anxious about Mrs. Varden's condition, he has used every precaution himself; though he suspected as little as the patient or her husband, that she carried in her the seeds of so dire a disease. I can a.s.sure you with good conscience that I do not believe any of you have run any greater risk of contracting the disease, than you might do by walking the street of any Oriental city.”
Pa.s.sengers on s.h.i.+pboard come to trust their captains in a way which is creditable to that calling. Captain Donaldson's words carried weight, and a sigh as of relief pa.s.sed through the group gathered to hear him.
But one gentleman put the question that was rising in each mind.
”And what is to be done now?”
The grave, anxious look returned to the Captain's face. His eyes instinctively scanned those turned towards him.
”There is only one thing I can possibly do, compatible with my duty to my s.h.i.+p and its company and pa.s.sengers,” he said; ”Mrs. Varden must be put ash.o.r.e at dawn to-morrow morning.”
”Where?--How? Is it possible to do it?”
Quite a little hubbub of questions arose; and the Captain made s.h.i.+ft to answer them all.
”It will have to be done,” he said; ”I know the place where it must be done. We shall touch in, and send a boat ash.o.r.e. I have had to leave a sick sailor there before this. There is an old leper-house standing near to the margin of the sea. For a long time now it has been used in the fas.h.i.+on in which I purpose to use it. Fever-stricken sailors are left behind, and there are certain conditions they have to observe before they can be picked up again if they recover. But when a sailor is so left, some messmate remains with him to care for him, and submits to the loneliness and danger and discomfort, out of compa.s.sion for a comrade's need. The thing is not so difficult when it is one of one's own men who is the victim of disease.”
He paused, and glances were exchanged by the bystanders; and one tall, rather rough-looking Irishman, who had come from Australia, and whose loud voice and hearty ways had made him something of a power on board, exclaimed eagerly:
”But look here, Captain, there is somebody there to look after the sick surely! You don't mean they are just dumped down in an empty leper-house, and left to live or die as they can? There is somebody there to look after them, and give them food and medicine and all that?
Why, one wouldn't treat a dog so--to throw him ash.o.r.e and leave him to his fate!”
”It is like this,” answered the Captain gravely: ”There is no trouble about food and water and a supply of such simple drugs as may be ordered beforehand. I can make certain arrangements as to that; and the food and fresh water and so forth will all be duly left each day at the leper-house by an Arab, who will be told off for the service. But as for getting help in nursing, that is simply impossible. I know what I am saying. Money would not purchase it; and it would be such service, even if attainable, as I think an English lady would sooner die than receive.
No; this brings me to the question which I have to put to her fellow-pa.s.sengers. Is there any lady on board willing to face the awful peril of taking the malignant disease, the awful loneliness of the leper-house upon the sandy sh.o.r.e, with only Arabs near, the awful doom of dying alone there, or of seeing her companion and patient die, and of being in that case quite alone during the necessary period of quarantine which must elapse before she can be taken off in another s.h.i.+p? Whatever man can do for making these conditions bearable, I will do. But none know better than I do the terrible nature of such a task as the one I ask from one of you. Nay, I do not dare to ask it! I feel that it is more than flesh and blood can stand; but yet the thought of putting ash.o.r.e, alone and unconscious, that poor young wife, just to die, without the presence of a human creature near her--that seems an equal impossibility. Ladies, I do not ask an answer yet. I would not take an offer were it given. It must not be an act of impulsive generosity, should one of your number be able to face the terrible thought of such a sacrifice. It must only be undertaken after much careful and deliberate thought.”
The Captain with that turned on his heel and went his way, leaving the pa.s.sengers gazing mutely one at the other with pale faces and anxious eye. Just before he reached the companion, he turned round to say:
”Before putting the case to you, ladies, I have individually interviewed every woman in the steerage company, to see if it would be possible to procure the services of one of them as nurse. But all of them have husbands and children. I have failed entirely there, and I may not spare my one stewardess, even would she go, which I greatly doubt, knowing the fate of her companion only a few hours ago.”
Amongst the pa.s.sengers who had listened to this pitiful and terrible tale was one young girl, travelling from India quite alone. Her name was Ursula Pendrill. She had stood rather apart during the Captain's speech, and now, slipping away from the excited hubbub of talk that arose on all sides, she fled to her cabin almost as though some grisly phantom were at her heels, and, sinking down upon her knees on the floor, buried her head in her hands and rocked herself to and fro in a sort of agony.
”Must I do it? Must I do it? O my G.o.d help me to see my way!” were the words that fell brokenly from her lips. ”How can I? How can any one? But oh that poor, poor creature--that awful death for her; for death it must be without any to care for her! O G.o.d help me!--help me! There is n.o.body else--only me--to do it. All the rest have children, friends, husbands, brothers. I am quite alone. O G.o.d help me! Help me!”
The broken words were merged in sobs, as the tears gushed forth, bringing a measure of ease to the overcharged heart. Ursula sat crouched up on the floor of her little cabin, with her face buried in her hands, and her loosened hair falling around her, but the sense of storm and strife was merging in one of a strange and settled peace. Down in the depths of her spiritual being it seemed to her as though a hand had been laid upon her, and as though a voice had spoken in her ear:
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