Page:Doughty--Mirrikh or A woman from Mars.djvu/53

 so that the boy could not move. Meanwhile the Doctor, seized by some sudden notion had started off on the run  toward the huts.

Maurice’s face was a study as he tried to free himself from the old man’s grasp.

“Great heavens! Has everybody run mad but me!” he shouted. “Take him off, George! Take him off, will you? I don’t want to kick the old fellow, but I can’t stand this.”

I interfered and in a moment had rescued him.

“Ye gods! but that’s a relief!” cried Maurice, as the old man returned to the girl again. “What a row we’ve all got into, to be sure! Is she dead, George? Where’s the Doctor? He knows everything and ought to be here now. One would think you’d both been bitten by the tarantula. Confound him! Why did he run away?”

“No, no! She’s not dead. It’s only a faint,” I exclaimed. “She’ll come out of it all right.”

Something of a physician myself, I bent down hastily and feeling heart and pulse saw that there was really nothing to  be feared. I was right, too. A few drops of brandy from Maurice’s flask speedily brought a return of consciousness. Perceiving a spring among the palms near by, I fetched some water in an earthen pot, which I happily discovered,  and with this the old man tenderly bathed her head and the  bleeding welts upon her back, talking incessantly in an unknown tongue. I could not fail to notice that his conversation was directed toward Maurice, whom he evidently regarded as responsible for the whole affair.

Meanwhile the Doctor continued absent and Maurice kept right on growling; he had not got over my moment of folly it seemed. Nor had I recovered from it either, and I was furious with myself about it. As I could not look toward the girl without starting into life the same absurd sensations, I bravely looked the other way.

“Confound it all! it will be dark in a few moments!” exclaimed Maurice. “Why don’t he come? We want to be getting out of this.”

It was quite evident that he was right. Not only was night approaching, but the sky, hitherto perpetually serene, had now begun to cloud over, and the faint sighing of the wind through the palms seemed to indicate an approaching storm.

Meanwhile the girl had arisen and stood leaning against