But Sedgwick said: "First, Captain, I want your surgeon to look at
Jordan's arm."
"Why, of course," said McGregor. The doctor was called. He examined the
arm, then tested the man's temperature, and finally said:
"The wound is nothing in itself. Under normal conditions it would heal in
a fortnight, but Mr. Jordan's system is run down. He has a low fever on
him now, and needs immediate treatment and careful nursing."
This was a new situation, and one that troubled Sedgwick exceedingly. He
was silent for a few seconds, and then looking up, said:
"Captain McGregor, where do you go next?"
"I was just going to pull out for Calcutta, Hong Kong, Yokohama and San
Francisco," he replied.
"And when do you sail?" asked Sedgwick.
"I intended to put to sea to-morrow," was the answer; "everything is
ready."
"Can I induce you for love and money to make the run at full speed to
Naples or Marseilles?" asked Sedgwick.
"Not for money, but for love, yes," was the reply.
"And can I have a room for Jordan right now?" was the next question.
"You shall have the bridal chamber of my ship," said McGregor.
"Thanks, Captain," said Sedgwick, "and now let us get the dear old boy to
bed."
Jordan insisted that he was not ill, but before they could get him
undressed he was seized with a chill, and they worked upon him an hour
before he rallied, grew warm and fell asleep.
In the meantime the night had come down, so Sedgwick got a little supper
and then went back to his friend. The captain, steward, indeed all hands,
were all attention, for they knew all about both men.
Next morning Jordan was comfortable, but the fever was having its way.
Sedgwick went ashore, got his own and Jordan's baggage and the bullion,
and when he returned the ship was at once got under way for her northern
voyage.
The attentions of Sedgwick to his sick friend were simply incessant. The
ship's surgeon was also assiduous in his care. Captain McGregor was all
the time most solicitous. As they approached the equator, they fixed for
Jordan a bed on deck where the air, even if it was hot, was better in
motion over him than in the stifling state-room.
The ship rounded the great cape in ten days, and reached the Red Sea on
the twelfth day. Then the surgeon motioned Sedgwick aside, and said: "The
case of your friend makes me very anxious. His wound is not of itself
serious. He has a little fever, but it would not be of a dangerous type
in an ordinary patient. In this case the sick man acts like one who has
lost hope, and under the sorrow of his loss his nerve power has ceased to
exert its force, and the man is liable to die simply because he will make
no effort to live."
"I know," said Sedgwick, "and I have been dreading such a report as you
have made me, for the last seven days. If you can keep his life from
going out until we can reach Naples, I believe we can then find a tonic
that will save him."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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