Part 3 (2/2)
It was placed in the centre of a row of beds which were precisely sie and co ward, on the opposite side of which there was a fire burning brightly, and a table round which sat three neatly-dressed nurses
Jack slowly ran his eyes round the ward, noted that most of the other beds had occupants, and that the three nurses looked decidedly pretty in their white caps and aprons And all the while he wondered mildly what it all meant, why he was there, and what sort of a place it was Then, like others who have been seriously ill for a considerable time and are alain and fell into a deep sleep
When he awoke he lay quite still, with closed eyelids, listening to voices near his bedside
”He'll do well now, Nurse,” he heard solad to be able to tell you that the worst is over It was a difficult job to get the thigh in satisfactory position, and nicely put upon the splint But it's done, and done well, I think I ress now, sir,” the voice continued, ”and from what I have learnt I am sure you will be very pleased to hear it Good-day! Inow, as I have several other patients to look to”
”Good-day!” was repeated heartily by someone else, and then the owner of the first voice hted to hear the doctor's report,” somebody else exclaimed, in tones which were unmistakably those of Dr Hanly ”He has met with a very nasty accident, and it takes quite a load fro well By all accounts heto that fellow as he did He's a plucky lad”
”Plucky, my dear sir! I should think so indeed!” answered a third voice ”Why, I owe a lot to your young ward There was really no call for him to come to our help; but he did so without hesitation, with the result that he got badly smashed, while Wilfred and I were lad to hear you say so, Mr Hunter,” was the doctor's reply ”It is just like the lad to get into a ht corner But we had better be o, Doctor,” Jack feeblyup at his friend ”Tell me how I came to be here, and all about it It's awfully ru in bed, when only athe Eo, Jack! This is a hospital in London, and you are in bed because your thigh is broken But you ain to-morrow”
Jack obediently closed his eyes, wondered in a dreaht be, and as the plucky lad he had been talking about, and proain a nurse was bending over hier and more lively, he was propped up in bed as far as his splint would allow, and given a cup of tea From that day he rapidly improved The pain, which had been severe at first after he had recovered consciousness, had now entirely gone, and about three weeks after his accident his bed was lifted on to a long wheeled chair, and he was able to get about the ward and chat with the other patients
Almost daily Mr Hunter and his son Wilfred came to see Jack, and very soon the two lads, ithin a few days of the sae, had become fast friends
”By Jove!” Wilfred exclai by Jack's side, ”it was touch and go for us when those four blackguards attacked us, and you were a perfect brick to co! What else could I have done?” answered Jack ”I heard your whistle and shouts, and guessed there was a row on I couldn't stand still, could I? so of course I ca to see as up
Then, when I found it was an uneven fight, I tacked myself on to the side which wantedlike that, Jack, but you knoell as I do that you ht just as well have run in the opposite direction, especially when you sahat brutes theus
But we'll say no h, old chap, if I can reed,” answered Jack; ”but before you drop the subject, tell me what the roas really about I suppose those felloere after your money!”
”Money! Yes, but in a different form from that in which you usually see it You know, Father runs a big store out in Johannesburg, and deals in everything You can get anything, fro of peas or a tin tack to Kimberley diamonds of the first water, from his shop, and it's the last that those ruffians were after But here is Father Ask hietting along nicely, are you?” exclaimed the latter heartily ”And you want to knoas ere attacked by those ruffians? It's very simple I have come over from South Africa for a holiday, and to see the old ho our stay here I have ht over some diamonds, and on the day you came so opportunely to our aid I had been to a stonewith all those he had not bought from me; I should say soood haul if they hadNo doubt they knew all about me, and had tracked me all the way from the hotel But they er days I had to rough it pretty well, and of recent years, while living in the Transvaal, life has not been altogether slishman, Uitlanders as they call us, and so one has to be particularly wary
”Iame, but I can tell you, my lad, it would have been all U P if it hadn't been for you and the whistle Well, we cah, and as soon as you are fit to go out those felloill be tried and, I trust, will get heavily sentenced
”By the way, ht about the future? You knoill be at least three ain; at least that is what the surgeon says”
”No, I haven't given it a thought, Mr Hunter I suppose I shall go hoe for a month or so, and then return to the craood, for I cannot possibly go up for the next exa, and should certainly get ploughed if I attempted it”
”Why not coo as soon as those ruffians are tried, and we should be good companions on the way Besides, it would be a splendid 'pick-e, and still be able to keep your leg in splints, or whatever is found necessary”
”Mr Hunter, it's awfully kind of you, and I should enjoy it immensely!”
Jack suddenly blurted out, and then stopped abruptly as the thought of the expense entailed flashed across his mind