CHAPTER XVII
THE CELEBRATED DOCTOR
Jerry, Ned and Andy were on their feet together and in an instant.Together, also, they started for the place where poor Bob lay.
“That was a nasty fall,” declared Ned as he raced onward.
“A hard one,” agreed Jerry.
“Is he dead, do you think?” Andy asked. “Maybe his neck is broken--what’llwe do? Have to get a doctor--I’ll go--in the auto--poor Bob! I wonder ifhe got the lizard?”
“Dry--up!” ordered Ned, pausing between the two words, and the volatileAndy subsided.
Ned and Jerry leaned over their friend. He was unconscious, and, asJerry lifted him, a trickle of blood ran from the back of his head.
“Oh, his skull is fractured!” cried Andy, who shuddered at the sight ofthe bright, crimson stream that spread over Jerry’s hand.
“Andy, if you don’t cut out that kind of talk I’ll boot you one!” criedNed, in exasperation. “Now you go get some water and something for abandage. Take one of my shirts if you can’t find anything else. Hustlenow!”
That was the best advice to give Andy. He needed something to do totake his mind off the accident.
“Is he hurt badly, do you think?” asked Ned, as he helped Jerry carryBob to a grassy place.
“It’s hard to tell. I’ll have a look when I wash off his head. There’sa bad cut, that’s evident.”
They laid the stout lad, now sadly limp and white, on a soft placein the grass. By this time Andy had come up with the water, and somepieces of cloth, obtained by hastily tearing up the only extra shirt hehad brought along for himself.
Jerry soaked a rag in water, and carefully sponged away the blood; but,as he did so, more spurted out from a long gash on the scalp.
“I guess I’d better let it alone until it coagulates, or at least untila doctor can look at it,” he said. “It will need sewing up, if I’m anyjudge, and we’ll have to get help for that.”
Jerry and his chums knew something of rough and ready first aid to theinjured, but this was beyond their skill.
“What’ll we do?” asked Ned, rather helplessly.
“We’ll have to get a doctor,” said Jerry. “Let’s see, the last townwe passed through was Lynnhaven. It didn’t look as though it wouldsupport a physician of any account, and the nearest doctor must live agood ways out.”
“There’s quite a town just ahead of us,” suggested Ned. “I noticed thelast signboard we passed said it was eleven miles to it. There ought tobe a doctor there, and we could bring him to Bob in the auto.”
“That’s what I’ll do!” cried Jerry. “You and Andy will have to staywith Bob, Ned, while I go for help. You can put up the tent, and gethim under that, while I’m gone.”
“Shall we give him any medicine?” asked Ned, for they had brought a fewsimple things with them, as they always did.
“No, I wouldn’t give him anything but water,” replied the tall lad.“He’ll probably develop a fever, and the simpler the things he has, thebetter for him, until the doctor sees him.
“Come on, Andy!” called Jerry to the small lad. “You’ve carried waterenough. Now you help Ned put up the tent, and make Bob as comfortableas you can. I’m off.”
Jerry lost no time. Taking out of the auto the tent, and other thingshe thought would be needed, he took his place at the wheel, shovedover the lever of the self-starter, and was off in a cloud of dust.For Jerry had determined not to observe any speed laws, save as theyconcerned his own safety. He realized that his errand would be excuseenough if he were stopped, and he did not think he would be, as it wasgetting dusk.
“I ought to do the eleven miles in short order,” reflected Jerry, asthe car swung around a turn, almost skidding. “The only trouble will beto find a doctor at home.”
But it was not to be all smooth sailing for Jerry. He had not coveredmore than five of the eleven miles when the sky became overcast, and alittle later he was in the midst of a thunderstorm.
He did not mind this, however, as the canopy was up, and therain-shield protected him. Jerry switched on the electric lights, andkept on, though he reduced his speed somewhat. He had to stop once toget out at a cross-road and read the signs, and then, as luck wouldhave it, he took the wrong turn. It was not his fault, as the old signpost leaned so that it was difficult for a stranger to determine inwhich direction the hand pointed.
“Am I on the road to Brookville?” Jerry yelled at a passing farmer, whosat huddled up in a horse blanket on the seat of his rickety wagon.
“Whoa! Hey?” asked the man, one remark being addressed to his horse,and the question to Jerry.
“I say, am I on the road to Brookville?”
“No, you’re headed for Deanhurst. You ought to have took the left handroad a piece back to get to Brookville. Can’t you read the signs?”
“I can, yes--when they’re right,” snapped Jerry, who was not in thebest of humor. “Thanks!” he called, as he waited for the other to passon, so that he might turn the car. It was no easy matter to get thebig machine headed the other way in the narrow road, but Jerry finallymanaged it and then he sent the auto on at a fast clip, passing the manwho had given him the needed direction.
Jerry reached the decrepit sign post again, and this time made theright turn. It grew darker and darker as he advanced, but the lightson the car were powerful. The thunder and lightning had ceased, but itstill rained hard, and the roads were fast becoming puddles of mud andwater.
“I’m glad I have the car,” reflected Jerry. “A doctor won’t have theexcuse that he doesn’t want to take his horse out in the storm.”
It was fully night when Jerry reached Brookville, though had it notbeen for the storm there would have been the glow of sunset to dispelthe gloom. The tall lad stopped at the first house he came to, in orderto inquire about a doctor, and was delighted to learn that a physicianlived about a mile down the road.
But his delight was turned to disappointment when he reached theoffice, and learned that the medical man had been called out into thecountry, on a case that would probably keep him all night.
“But he’s needed for an accident!” cried Jerry. “Is there any otherphysician in town?”
“Yes,” he was informed. “Dr. Madison lives about two miles out, on theState road.”
But Dr. Madison was not at home either, and his wife could not say whenhe would return.
“Sometimes he is out until long after midnight,” she said. “Hispatients are widely scattered.”
“What shall I do?” muttered Jerry, speaking more to himself than to thedoctor’s wife. He thought of poor Bob in the little tent, with Andy andNed keeping lonely vigil beside him.
“I’m very sorry,” said the lady, when Jerry had told of thecircumstances, and the need of haste. “I heard there is a New Yorkdoctor stopping at the hotel in the village. He came up here for arest, but perhaps he might go see your friend. I don’t know who thedoctor is, but I have heard my husband speak highly of him. He is somesort of a specialist, so I understand.”
“I’ll try him!” decided Jerry desperately. “He can’t refuse to help usout in this emergency.”
A little later his mud-spattered car drew up at the only hotel in thevillage.
“Is there a physician stopping here?” asked Jerry of the hotel clerk.The lad’s appearance indicated the need of haste, and alarm and anxietyshowed on his face.
“Yes, Dr. Wright is stopping here,” replied the man behind the desk,“but I don’t know that he would like----”
“May I see him?” interrupted Jerry. “It’s a case of accident, and he’sjust got to come. Both the other doctors are out of town.”
As he spoke a tall, slim gentleman, in a well-fitting, dark suitcame from the dining-room to the hotel corridor. Beside him walked ahandsome young woman. The man showed interest in Jerry’s rather loudremarks, and at the word “doctor” said:
“Is someone hurt?”
“Yes--my chum,” replied Jerry quickly. “He
had a bad fall and his skullmay be fractured.”
“That is Dr. Wright,” the clerk informed Jerry, but the lad had alreadyguessed as much.
“Oh, can you come?” appealed Bob’s chum. “We’re afraid he’s badly hurt.It was a fall!”
“Where is he?” asked Dr. Wright.
“About eleven miles from here.”
The doctor involuntarily looked out at the raging storm.
“I have a car!” cried Jerry eagerly. “You won’t get a bit wet. I canhave you there in half an hour, and bring you back.”
The doctor smiled grimly at the lady beside him.
“I can’t seem to escape from it,” he remarked.
“No,” she answered with a gentle smile. “But perhaps you had better go,even if you are on your vacation.”
“Oh, yes,” he assented, somewhat wearily. “I must go, of course, aslong as there is no one else. I’ll be with you directly, young man,” hesaid to Jerry. “Just as soon as I can get on a coat, and pack my bag.”
“I came out here to get rid of work,” he went on, “but I seem to haveit thrust upon me. But never mind.”
Jerry fidgetted about impatiently until the physician, wearing a heavyraincoat, and carrying a black bag, descended from his room. Then,eager to be in motion, Jerry led the way to the waiting car.
“That’s a fine auto you have,” observed Dr. Wright.
“Yes, it goes, too,” added Jerry. “I’ll soon have you there.”
Neither Jerry nor the physician spoke much on the trip. Each was toobusy with his own thoughts. Jerry sent the car ahead at even greaterspeed than he had used coming out, for he knew the road now. Soon,splashing through mud and water, now sliding on some inclined highway,and again puffing up a hill, they came in sight of a lighted tentbeside the road.
“Oh, you are camping here!” exclaimed the doctor.
“Not exactly,” Jerry explained. “We are making a trip, and we have asleeping tent. My chum is in there with a friend.”
“Well, we’ll have a look at him.”
It was raining hard when the doctor and Jerry alighted, and thesmall tent was not the best place in the world wherein to make anexamination. Andy had worked well, however, and had made Bob ascomfortable as possible. The latter was on an improvised bed, withrubber blankets under him, and well covered. Fortunately the tent waswaterproof.
The doctor bent over Bob.
“Has he showed any signs of consciousness since he received the hurt?”he asked.
“He moaned once or twice--that’s all,” answered Andy.
“Hum!” remarked the physician non-committally. “I’m afraid I can’t doanything for him here. He ought to be at the hotel. Do you think youcan take him there in the auto?”
“We’ll have to,” said Jerry simply.
They made an improvised stretcher, and carried Bob through the rain tothe car. He was propped up in the tonneau, and then, the tent beingstruck, Jerry, Andy and Ned, with the physician, took their places inthe car.
Jerry drove more slowly on the return trip, but it was made in goodtime, and without accident. Bob was still unconscious when carried intothe hotel, and taken to a room that was hastily prepared for him. Thedoctor took charge of matters now, and, somewhat to Jerry’s surprise,the lady he had seen with the doctor appeared in the garb of a trainednurse.
“You fellows are in luck,” remarked the hotel clerk, while Ned, Andyand Jerry were waiting in the corridor for the result of the doctor’sexamination.
“I should say so!” agreed Jerry. “A doctor and a trained nurse locatedat the same time. Is she the doctor’s nurse?”
“Yes, his head one, I believe. You know who Dr. Wright is; don’t you?”
“Can’t say I do,” replied Jerry.
“Why, he’s the greatest surgeon on brain diseases and head injuries inthe country!” exclaimed the admiring clerk. “He’s an authority, and somuch in demand that he can charge anything he pleases. He gets anywherefrom one to ten thousand dollars for an operation.”