"I tought so," Dan exclaimed in excitement."Massa never mentioned de names of de two officers who got out wid him, and it war too dark for me to see their faces, but dat story made me tink it must be him.Berry bad man that; he libs close to us, and Massa Vincent one day pretty nigh kill him because he beat dat bery man who has catched him now on de street of Washington.When dat man sell him wife Massa Vincent buy her so as to prevent her falling into bad hands.She safe now wid his mother at de Orangery-dat's the name of her plantation.""My patient must be quite an interesting fellow, young lady," the doctor said, with a rather slight twinkle of his eye."A very knight-errant.But there is the house now; we shall soon see all about him."Taking with him the case of instruments and medicines he had brought, the doctor entered Vincent's room.Lucy entered first;and although surprised to see a stranger with her, Vincent saw by her face that there was no cause for alarm.
"I have brought you a doctor," she said."You could not go on as you were, you know.So Dan and I have been to fetch one."The doctor now advanced and took Vincent's hand.
"Fererish," he said, looking at his cheeks, which were now flushed.
"You have been doing too much, I fancy.Now let us look at this wound of yours.Has your servant got any warm water?" he asked Lucy.
Lucy left the room, and returned in a minute with a kettleful of warm water and a basin, which was among the purchases she had made at Mount Pleasant.
"That is right," the doctor said, taking it from her."Now we will cut open the shirt sleeve.I think, young lady, you had better leave us, unless you are accustomed to the sight of wounds.""I am not accustomed to them, sir; but as thousands of women have been nursing the wounded in the hospitals, I suppose I can do so now."Taking a knife from the case, the doctor cut open the shirt from the neck to the elbow.The shoulder was terribly swollen and inflamed, and a little exclamation of pain broke from Lucy.
"That is the effect of walking and inattention," the doctor said."If I could have taken him in hand within an hour of his being hit the matter would have been simple enough; but I cannot search for the ball, or in fact do anything, till we have reduced the swelling.You must put warm poultices on every half-hour, and by to-morrow Ihope the inflammation will have subsided, and I can then see about the ball.It evidently is somewhere there still, for there is no sign of its having made its exit anywhere.In the meantime you must give him two tablespoonfuls of this cooling draught every two hours, and to-night give him this sleeping draught.I will be over to-morrow morning to see him.Do not be uneasy about him;the wound itself is not serious, and when we have got rid of the fever and inflammation I have no doubt we shall pull him round before long.""I know the wound is nothing," Vincent said; "I have told Miss Kingston so all along.It is nothing at all to one I got at the first battle of Bull Run, where I had three ribs badly broken by a shell.
I was laid up a long time over that business.Now I hope in a week I shall he fit to travel."The doctor shook his head."Not as soon as that.Still we will hope it may not be long.Now all you have to do is to lie quiet and not worry, and to get to sleep as quick as you can.You must not let your patient talk, Miss Kingston.It will be satisfactory to you, no doubt," he went on turning to Vincent, "to know that there is no fear whatever of your being disturbed here.The road leads nowhere, and is entirely out of the way of traffic.I should say you might be here six months without even a chance of a visitor.
Every one knows the house is shut up, and as you have no neighbor within half a mile no one is likely to call in.Even if any one did by accident come here you would be in no danger; we are all one way of thinking about here.""Shall we make some broth for him?" Lucy asked after they had left the room.
"No; he had best take nothing whatever during the next twenty-four hours except his medicine and cooling drinks.The great thing is to get down the fever.We can soon build him up afterward."By nightfall the exertions of Dan, Lucy, and Chloe had made the house tidy.Beds of rushes and grass had been made in the room upstairs for the women, and Dan had no occasion for one for himself, as he was going to stop up with his master.He, however, brought a bundle of rushes into the kitchen, and when it became dark threw himself down upon them for a few hours' sleep, Lucy and her old nurse taking their place in Vincent's room, aLd promising to rouse Dan at twelve o'clock.
During the easy part of the night Vincent was restless and uneasy, but toward morning he became more quiet and dozed off, and had hut just awoke when the doctor drove up at ten o'clock.He found the inflammation and swelling so much abated that he was able at once to proceed to search for the ball.Chloe was his assistant.
Lucy felt that her nerves would not be equal to it, and Dan's hand shook so that be could not hold the basin.In a quarter of an hour, which seemed to Lucy to be an age, the doctor came out of the room.
"There is the bullet, Miss Kingston."
"And is he much hurt, sir?"
"It is a nasty wound," the doctor replied."The collarbone is badly broken, and I fancy the head of the bone of the upper arm, to put it in language you will understand, is fractured; but of that I cannot be quite sure.I will examine it again tomorrow, and will then bandage it in its proper position.At present I have only put a bandage round the arm and body to prevent movement.I should bathe it occasionally with warm water, and you can give him a little weak broth to-day.I think, on the whole, he is doing very well.The feeling that you are all for the present safe from detection has had as much to do with the abatement of the fever as my medicine."The next morning the report was still satisfactory.The fever had almost disappeared, and Vincent was in good spirits.The doctor applied the splints to keep the shoulder up in its proper position, and then tightly bandaged it.
