CHAPTER XVI
The Next Thing to be Done
The man stepped forward then and laid a kindly hand upon her arm.
"Shall we go into the house and see if we can get to the bottom of themystery?" he asked in such a kind tone that poor, bewildered Nealie gaveway before it and suffered him to lead her into the house with whichthey had made so free, believing it to be their father's home, while theothers trooped after them and gathered round the chair in which the manwho called himself Dr. Plumstead had seated her.
"Nealie, Nealie, come quick, my head is on fire!" called Rupert from thenext room, his voice rising to a shriek.
"Who is that?" exclaimed the doctor, looking, if possible, moreastonished than before.
"It is my eldest brother. He is very ill, and when we reached here hewas so bad that we carried him in from the wagon and put him to bed; butwe did not know that we had no right here," said Nealie, her voicequavering a little, although she held her head at its proudest angle andtried to look as defiant as possible.
"I will see him," said the doctor quietly, as she jumped up to go toRupert, and then he passed into the bedroom with her; but, finding it indarkness, came back for the lamp, and, with a word of excuse to Sylviafor leaving her without a light, picked it up and disappeared with itinto the bedroom, shutting the door behind him.
"Sylvia, if that is my father I don't like him at all. Why, he nevereven looked at me; there might as well have been no Ducky!" cried thepoor little maiden, who keenly resented being ignored in such a fashion.
"That is not our father at all. Why, it is only a young man; but why heis here posing as Dr. Plumstead is more than I can imagine, and, oh!where can our dear father be?" said Sylvia, who was on the verge oftears, for the day had been a trying one on account of Rupert's illness,and, as they all agreed, the home-coming was just horrid.
"Buck up, old girl, it is never so bad that it might not be worse!"exclaimed Rumple in a nervous tone, for well he knew that if Sylviabroke down in miserable tears Ducky would at once join in, followed byBillykins, who only rarely cried, but always did the thing thoroughlywhen he did begin.
"Shall we have to go somewhere else for to-night, I wonder, or whatshall we do?" Sylvia went on, drawing herself up and setting her teethtogether until she could conquer that weak desire for tears, which wouldbe sure to lower her dreadfully in the eyes of the boys and would do nogood at all. "The house seemed embarrassingly small at first, but nowthat it is a stranger who is master, and not Father at all, why, thewhole thing is impossible."
"We can sleep in and under the wagon, as we have done before; but Rupertcan't, so I guess that we had better wait and see what Nealie decides isbest," replied Rumple. But this was met with a whimper of protest fromDucky, who demanded to be put to bed somewhere at once.
"Could we not put Ducky on a mattress in the wagon, with Don andBillykins?" suggested Sylvia. "They would be quite safe and comfortablethere, because the wagon is in enclosed ground and so close to the housealso. Then you and I can wait round here to help if we are wanted."
"Brave old Syllie, I thought that you would find a way out of themuddle!" cried Rumple, giving her an approving pat on the back, and thenhe called to Don to come and help him carry a mattress out to thewagon, a difficult feat in the dark, but one which was safelyaccomplished after some struggles, a few bruises, and one fall that washappily not a serious one.
Then Sylvia carried Ducky out to the wagon and handed her up to Rumple,who stowed her inside on the mattress, bidding the two small boys liedown one on each side of her, and the three were sound asleep beforeSylvia and Rumple had gone back to the house.
They were standing on the threshold of the dark little room, andwondering what they had better do next, when the door of the sleepingchamber opened and Nealie came out.
"Sylvia, where are you?" she cried, with such misery in her voice thatSylvia gave a groan of real dismay.
"What is the matter?" asked Rumple sharply. Of course he was solely toblame for all this wretched business, he told himself, as none of thesedisasters could have happened if he had not forgotten to post thatletter.
"Rupert is very, very ill, Dr. Plumstead says, and we must make a fireat once and boil water for some kind of fomentations. Could you andRumple do that while I help the doctor in the bedroom?"
"Of course we can. I know where the firewood is," said Rumple hastily,heaving a sigh of satisfaction to think that there was something usefulfor him to do.
"If Rumple is going to make the water hot, can't I come into the bedroomto help you with Rupert?" asked Sylvia, for Nealie looked thoroughlyworn out.
"I will call you if we want more help, meanwhile you might make the poordoctor some tea, for I do not believe he has had a real meal sincebreakfast, and it is very hard for him to find his home invaded in sucha fashion. But where are the children?" asked Nealie, looking round in abewildered fashion.
"We have put them to bed in the wagon; they were so very tired,"answered Sylvia. "Now I will get the doctor man such a nice supper thathe will feel he is to be congratulated on his household of visitors,even though one of them is in possession of the only bed in the house.Oh, Nealie, what an awful situation it is, and whatever shall we do ifwe can't find dear Father?"
"Don't, dear, I dare not think about that or anything else until Rupertis better, and then God will show us what to do," said Nealie, puttingher hand out with such an imploring gesture that Sylvia was instantlyashamed of herself, and set about being as cheerful as possible in orderto keep up the courage of her sister.
"Oh, we shall get through all right of course, and after all it is justa part of our adventures; anything is better than stagnating I think,and we have not been in much danger of that lately!"
Nealie went back to the bedroom, while Sylvia and Rumple did their verybest in the outer chamber, where the confusion almost defieddescription. But their days of living in the wagon had fitted them formanaging comfortably where anyone else would have been bothered by themuddle all around.
As it was, Rumple's fire was burning in grand style, and the variouspots and kettles on the stove were beginning to show signs of beingnearly ready to boil, when the doctor came out of the inner room to getsomething from the medicine cupboard in the corner.
"Will you please sit down and take your supper, now that you are here?"asked Sylvia rather timidly, for to her way of thinking this doctor hada very disagreeable face; but that was, perhaps, because she wasprejudiced against him through the dreadful disappointment which had metthem at the end of their journey.
"I do not think that I can stay for food just now; your brother needsme," he began, in a tone which certainly was brusque, although perhapshe did not mean it to be so.
"Oh, please, do!" she pleaded. "Because then I shall not feel soworried, and I am sure that Rupert will not take much harm for half anhour, while you will feel far more fit when you have had a meal."
"It is very kind of you to be so insistent, and I really am veryhungry," he replied, smiling broadly now, for the supper which Sylviahad cooked for him from their own stores smelled exceedingly good, andshe was already pouring a cup of tea out for him and doing her very bestto make him feel how grateful they were to him for all his kindness toRupert.
"But won't you sit down and have something to eat also?" he asked, asshe hovered about ready to anticipate his wants.
"No, thank you, we had supper before you came, when we were waiting forFather," she said, with a choke in her voice, which made her turnhastily away and knock a tin pan over, so that in the sudden clatter hemight not notice how near she was to booing like a baby.
He frowned heavily, as he wondered what the guardians of this familycould have been thinking of not to write and make sure that the fatherwas in a position to receive them, before sending seven irresponsibleyoung people halfway round the world, on the off chance of finding theirfather when they reached the end of the journey.
"It has really been very hard for you, and we must do our
best to helpyou out of the muddle," he said quite kindly, as he enjoyed the resultsof Sylvia's handiwork and began to feel all the better for his supper.
"Do you know where Father has gone?" she asked, putting the questionwhich Nealie lacked the courage to ask.
"When Dr. Plumstead passed the practice over to me, eighteen months ago,he said that he was going to Mostyn, and that letters from England wereto be forwarded to the Post Office there, but that nothing else was tobe sent on," the doctor answered.
"If your name is the same as Father's, how would you know which wereyour letters and which were his?" Sylvia asked in a wondering tone, forto her it seemed of all things most strange that there should be twodoctors of one name, and that not a common one, in a small town likeHammerville.
"Oh, that was easy enough! I am an Australian, educated in Germany, andI have not a single correspondent in England. But only one letter hascome for your father, and that arrived about two weeks ago, so Iforwarded it to Mostyn at once," said the doctor.
"Where is Mostyn?" asked Sylvia.
"It is away in the back country, about fifty miles from everywhere, Iimagine. It is a boom town; that is to say, they have found gold therein paying quantities, and so it will grow like a mushroom until the goldgives out, and then, unless they come across anything else of value, itwill fizzle out as rapidly as it sprang to life. It is a little way wehave of doing things in this part of the world," said the doctor as hefinished his supper, and then he asked, in a tone of grave concern:"Pray, where can you go to sleep? There is certainly no sense in yoursitting up all night. Your sister will stay up to help me with the sickboy, and then in the morning she will want to rest, and you must beready to take her place."
"Oh, I can sit round in a chair and doze a little when I am not wanted!"replied Sylvia in that happy-go-lucky way she had of saying things, andwhich as a rule no one heeded. But the doctor frowned heavily as hesaid: "That will not do at all; young people cannot get on withoutproper sleep, and you must be fresh and fit to take your sister's placein the morning, for your brother is going to want a lot of nursing topull him through. What have you done with the younger children?"
"We put them to bed in the wagon. It is just outside, you know, and wethought that they would be out of the way," answered Sylvia.
"An excellent idea. Now suppose that you go and put yourself to bedwith them, and they will be sure to wake you bright and early in themorning," he said, smiling now, because there really seemed a way out ofthe difficulty.
"But you will want someone to keep the fire in for you to-night,"protested Sylvia, who did not like the idea of being sent off to bedwith the children, even though she was so sleepy that she could scarcelykeep her eyes open.
"That other brother of yours will do that for me. What is his name, bythe way?" asked the doctor, as Rumple disappeared from the room insearch of more firewood.
"He is Dalrymple, only we always call him Rumple, because it suits himso well and is affectionate too. But you will certainly never keep himawake. He will mean not to go to sleep, for he is really a very goodsort, and crammed full of the best intentions, but he simply can't keephis eyes open when he is very tired; so presently, when you least expectit, he will just double up and fall asleep, and you will not be able towake him up however much you try. We Plumsteads are all like that, andsometimes it is very awkward," said Sylvia earnestly.
"I will risk it; only you must go to bed now," said the doctor, laughingbroadly at her description of the Plumstead weakness in the matter ofpopping off to sleep at inconvenient times; and then he called toRumple and asked him to see his sister safely into the wagon, and tokeep an eye on it during the remainder of the night.
Poor Rumple! He honestly meant to do just what the doctor asked of him,for he was just as grateful as a boy could be for what was being donefor Rupert and also for the way in which the doctor was treating thegirls, so he trotted backwards and forwards for another hour, bringingin wood, stoking the stove, making kettles boil, fetching water from acrazy old pump in the next garden, falling over the tangled vegetation_en route_, and getting hopelessly muddled in the darkness. Then hesuddenly became so sleepy that it seemed to him he would snore as hewalked about; his feet became heavier and heavier, until the effort tolift them grew beyond his power. He could not see out of his eyes, and,collapsing on to the floor between the door and the stove, he lay there,happily unconscious of everything.
The doctor found him on one of his journeys out to the stove for freshboiling water, and would certainly have thought him to be in a fit butfor Sylvia's explanation of the family peculiarity. So he only smiled tohimself, and, lifting Rumple, laid him more at ease in the farthercorner of the room, covering him over with a rug; and then he went backto the bedroom, where Nealie was busy helping him with Rupert, and said,in a laughing tone: "I have just picked that brother of yours up fromthe floor, where he lay as fast asleep as if he were on the softest bedthat had ever been made."
"Poor Rumple! His intentions about keeping awake are always so good thatit is very hard on him to be bowled over in such a fashion," saidNealie, with a wan little smile, and then for a few minutes she was verybusy helping the doctor put fresh fomentations on Rupert. But when thiswas finished, and the sufferer lay quiet from the comfort of it all, andthere was leisure to think of other things, Nealie spoke again: "Howsoon will it be safe for me to leave Rupert?"
The doctor looked at her in surprise; but thinking she was tired out,and longing for sleep, he said kindly:
"You can go off to the wagon now for a sleep if you like. I should nothave suggested your staying all night, only that I thought it would begood for your brother to have one of his own about him; but as he seemsinclined to sleep now, it will not really matter."
"Oh, I did not mean that I wanted to go to bed!" said Nealie quickly."This is not the first time I have stayed up all night. Whenever thechildren have been ill I have stayed with them. Indeed I am quite usedto watching and being on guard. But I want to know how soon you thinkthat it will be fit for me to leave Rupert to the care of Sylvia, sothat I may go to find Father."
"You could not go to a place like Mostyn alone, and the best way will befor you to send and ask your father to come here for you," replied thedoctor gravely.
But to this suggestion Nealie shook her head. "I heard what you said toSylvia about Father, and I have the feeling that he needs us very badlyindeed. Why did he give up the practice here?"
Dr. Plumstead hedged this question as best he could, for he simply couldnot tell this girl with the pathetic eyes that an old rumour had risen,which made it necessary for the doctor to go farther afield, and so thepractice had been disposed of to the first person who was willing togive a little money for it.
But Nealie was shrewd enough to understand without telling, and, lookingthe doctor straight in the face, she asked: "Was it that affair ofFather taking off the man's arm which was brought up against him?"
"Something of the kind, I think," said the doctor reluctantly. He wassaying to himself how hard it was that this young girl should have somany hard things to bear when she seemed just made for joy andhappiness, when, to his amazement, she broke into a low ripple of happylaughter, and softly clapped her hands.
"I thought it was that," she cried. "Strangely enough, since we landedin New South Wales I have stumbled upon the very man whose arm it wasthat Father took off, and someone told me that this man says it was thegreatest blessing of his life that he was thrust out into the worldmaimed, to make his own way, and sink or swim as best he could. Now,when I have found my father I am going to ask him to communicate withthis man, and to make the man set him right before the world; for whyshould my dear father have to suffer so heavily for having merely donehis duty, and saved the man's life in spite of everything? It is adoctor's duty to save life at all costs, and no consideration of anyother kind should make him do otherwise. Father was quite sure that theman would die if his arm were not taken off, and that was why heperformed the operation in spi
te of the disapproval of the man'sfriends."
"It was, as you say, his duty to do his best for his patient, and it ishard lines that he should have to suffer for just having done his duty,"said the doctor. "But why can you not put this in a letter, and let mesend it to Mostyn for you the first thing in the morning?"
"Because I am afraid that Father would not read it," admitted Nealie,first flushing and then paling, as she looked up at the doctor with herfearless gaze. "I think that Father is so beaten by everything that hehas had to bear that he just feels as if he will give up and not troubleabout anything more. So that to know all his big family have suddenlybeen dumped upon him will be a sort of a shock; but if I am there toassure him that we shall be more help than hindrance he may feel betterabout it all. Of course there are a lot of us, and we have fearfully bigappetites too, except Rupert, but there are so many ways of earningone's living here that I think we shall soon be able to supportourselves, that is, Sylvia, Rupert, and I, for of course the others willhave to go to school."
"You are very courageous, and I think perhaps you are right in wantingto go to your father, and if you will leave it to me I will see whatarrangements I can make for your journey," said the doctor, and Nealiethanked him, feeling that bad as things were they might easily have beenworse if they had not found a friend like her father's successor, who bysuch a strange coincidence bore the same name.
Rupert had experienced such relief from the fomentations that he lay ina quiet sleep, and Nealie, with her head on the pillow at his side,slumbered also; but the doctor had gone to the outer room, and was verybusy looking up his case book and trying to make up his mind whether hedared leave his patients long enough to go with Nealie to find herfather.
His private fear was that when she reached Mostyn she would find thather father had gone somewhere else. Doctors in mining camps were apt tobe nomadic creatures, that is, they had to go to their patients, and itwas no use to stay where the people were all well, when perhaps at someplace fifty or a hundred miles distant men and women might be dying likeflies from some contagious disease with never a doctor to help them. Itwas life at its roughest and wildest in that back country, and he couldnot let Nealie venture alone in her youth and ignorance where so manyperils might beset her path.
Day was beginning to dawn when he heard Rupert speaking, and then with atap at the door he entered to see how it fared with his patient.
"I am better, thank you, and I am very much obliged to you for all thatyou have done for me," said Rupert weakly.
"Ah, I think that you will do now, by the look of you," said the doctorin a cheerful tone. "And now, with your consent, I am going to take yoursister to hunt up your father, for I don't feel equal to all seven ofyou singlehanded," and he burst into a hearty laugh at his own smalljoke.