The Last of the Flatboats

by George Cary Eggleston

  CHAPTER XXIV

  A LITTLE AMATEUR SURGERY

  "The first thing to be done now," said Phil, "is to find out what damagewe have suffered, and repair as much of it as we can."

  "Better begin with your head then," said Will. "It seems to havesustained more damage than anything else in sight."

  The cut Phil had received had covered his face and shoulders with blood,and his head was aching severely. But he was not ready to think ofhimself yet. He must first do everything that could be done for thesafety of the boat and crew and cargo. So he dismissed Will'ssuggestion, saying:--

  "Never mind about my head. I'll wash the blood off when other things aredone. There's plenty of water, anyhow."

  With that he went below again to inspect. He found that the water therehad risen since the pumps were stopped until now it stood about twoinches above the false bottom or floor on which the cargo rested.Putting his head out through the scuttle, he called:--

  "Two of you go to the pumps--one to each pump. Don't work too hard, butkeep up a steady pumping. As soon as the two get tired, let the othertwo take their places."

  He withdrew his head, but in a few moments after the pumps were startedhe thrust it out again to say:--

  "Don't pump so hard! You'll break yourselves down, and we can't affordthat now."

  He went below again, lighted a lantern and made as thorough anexamination of the boat as possible, even moving a good deal of thefreight about in order to get at points where he suspected the principalleaks to be. Two of these he closed by nailing blocks of inch board overthem.

  Meantime he made frequent observations of the water mark he had set, andwas rejoiced to find that the pumps were taking water out more rapidlythan it was leaking in.

  He went on deck and announced the results of his inspection.

  "The boat is leaking, of course, but not one-half so badly as there wasreason to fear. The bilge is full, and the water stands about an inchdeep or a little less on the false bottom. But it stood two inches deepthere an hour ago, so I expect that in another hour or so we shall getit down to the bilge, leaving the floor clear. It is important to dothat quickly so that the wet part of our cargo, particularly the lowertier of hay bales, may have a chance to dry out. If it stays long inwater, of course it will be badly damaged."

  "Well, now," said Irv, "I'm going to take care of something else that'sbadly damaged. Get a pair of scissors, Ed, and some rags, and help merepair Phil's head."

  Then, taking Phil by the arm, he continued:--

  "Come to the bow, Phil, where we can get at the water easily. It willrequire a young lake to clean you up properly. Off with your shirt,young man!"

  Irv treated the matter lightly, but he did not think of it in that wayby any means. In common with the other boys, he was deeply concernedover the young captain's wound. The bleeding had long since ceased, butthe boy's hair was matted, his face covered, and the upper part of hisclothing saturated with blood.

  The clothing was first removed. Then with wet cloths the face andshoulders were hastily sponged off.

  "Now, Ed," said Irv, who lived, when at home, in the house with hisuncle, a physician, and therefore knew better than any one else on theboat what to do for a wound, "you take the scissors and shear off Phil'shair just as close to the scalp as you can, particularly around thewound. Hair is always full of microbes, you know."

  With that Irv passed through the hold and was absent for some littletime. When he returned, he brought with him a teakettle of hot waterwhich he had waited to boil, a basin, and a little box of salt.

  "What are those for?" asked Ed, who had by this time reduced Phil to acondition of baldness.

  "How much water is there above the false bottom now?" queried Phil,whose mind refused to be diverted from his duty as captain.

  "The water to cleanse the wound, the salt to disinfect it, and I didn'tnotice any water above the floor," said Irv, replying to both questionsin a single breath.

  Ed laughed, but Phil eagerly asked, "You mean that the water doesn'tcome over the flooring at all,--that there's no water above the bilge?"

  "I didn't observe any," said Irv, "but I wasn't thinking particularlyabout it. I'll go and look again."

  "No," said Phil; "I'll go myself if you'll get me a lantern, for it's sonearly dark now that it must be quite dark inside."

  When the lantern came, Phil made a hurried inspection with a blanketthrown over his otherwise bare shoulders. Then he thrust his shaven headabove the deck and called to the two boys at the pumps:--

  "I say, fellows, you can stop one of the pumps now, and keep only onegoing. One of you go below and get supper. Make it a hearty one, for wehaven't eaten a mouthful in twenty-four hours."

  In the day's excitements not one of them had thought about food, but nowthat supper was mentioned they all realized that their appetites werevoracious.

  Having given his orders, Phil submitted himself again to the hands ofhis surgeons. Irv poured some of the hot water into a basin and added atablespoonful or so of salt.

  "You see," he explained, "the trouble with wounds is that germs getinto them, so the most important thing of all is to cleanse themthoroughly, and after that to keep them clean. I'm using boiledwater"--he was sponging the wound as he talked,--"because boiling killsall the microbes there may be in water."

  "But what is the salt for?" asked Ed.

  "To disinfect the wound. You see there must be lots of microbes in italready, and salt kills them. That's what we salt meat for when we wishto preserve it. The salt kills microbes, and so the meat keeps sound."

  "Then it is the presence of microbes that causes decay in meat?"

  "Yes, or decay in anything else. If we hadn't thrown Jim Hughes'swhiskey overboard, I'd wash this wound with that. It would make Philjump, but it would do the work. You know nothing decays in alcohol.However, the salt will do, I think."

  When Irv had satisfied himself that the wound was sufficiently cleansed,he drew the edges of the cut together and held them there with stickingplaster.

  "Now, Ed," he said, "won't you please bring me some cloths that you'llfind in the oven of the stove?"

  Ed went at once, but wondering. When he returned, Irv finished dressingthe wound, and all went to supper.

  "Why did you put the rags in the oven, Irv?" asked Ed. "I noticed youdidn't even try to keep them warm after I brought them to you."

  "Oh, no. I roasted them for the same reason that I boiled the water--tosterilize them."

  "You mean to kill the microbes?"

  "Yes. You see everything is likely to be infested with disease germs, soyou must never use anything about a wound without first sterilizing itwith heat or some chemical. You can use unboiled water, of course,because water cleanses things anyhow, but it is better to use boiledwater if you can get it, and every bandage should be carefullysterilized. That's why I started the fire, boiled the water, and put therags in the oven to roast."

  At supper Ed ate as voraciously as the rest, and the boys observed withsatisfaction that the long fast, the very hard work, the severe strainof anxiety, and the prolonged exposure to the fog had in no way hurthim. Ed declared, indeed, that he was growing positively robust, andhis comrades agreed with him.

  "What's the programme now, Phil?" asked one of the party when supper wasdone.

  "A good night's sleep," answered the young captain. "In the morningwe'll consider further proceedings with clear heads. One pump issufficient to keep ahead of the leaks now, and we shall have to keepthat going night and day as long as we remain afloat. So usually we'llkeep two men awake to alternate at the pump, but for to-night we'llstand short watches, keeping only one man awake at a time. Two watchesof an hour each for each of us will take us through the night. I'll takethe first watch, as my head is aching too badly to sleep yet. So get tosleep, all of you. I'll wake one of you in an hour or so."

  The boys objected. They wanted Phil to treat himself as an invalid, andlet them do the watching and pumping, but he was obstinate
in hisdetermination to do his full share. So they stretched themselves intheir bunks and were soon sleeping the sleep of very tired but veryhealthy young human animals.