Page:The Swiss Family Robinson - 1851.djvu/218

Rh she must be labouring under fever, and the blood ascending to her head. My children followed me, and we soon reached the foot of our castle in the air.



entered our apartment literally as if we had come out of the sea, and I found my poor Elizabeth much agitated. "Heaven be praised!" said she; "but where is Jack, that rash little fellow?"

"Here I am, mamma," said he, "as dry as when I left you. I have left my dress below, that I might not terrify you; for if Mr. Fritz had had his gun, I might have been shot as a rhinoceros, and not been here to tell you my story."

The good mother then turned her thoughts on Fritz and me, and would not suffer us to come near her till we had changed our drenched garments. To oblige her, we retired to a little closet I had contrived between two thick branches at the top of the staircase, which was used to contain our chests of linen, our dresses, and our provisions. Our dress was soon changed; we hung up the wet garments, and I returned to my companion, who was suffering from her foot, but still more from a frightful headache. She had a burning fever. I concluded that bleeding was urgently needed, but commenced by assuaging her thirst with some lemonade. I then opened my box of surgical instruments, and approached the opening to the east which served us for a 