d him gazing on the sketch of him in crayons, that
hangs over his chimney-piece. I will show it you when, you come to stay
with us.

It was a sense of thankfulness for my preservation from danger that made
your uncle bear up as he did. When I came to examine his wound I was
shocked at the state it was in. A sword-cut extended from the neck over
the shoulder to the arm, not only unhealed, but to the highest degree
inflamed. No wonder his whole frame was fevered, for the suffering must
have been severe indeed. The kind but rough treatment of his highland
nurses was not calculated to promote a speedy cure; the food they
brought him was not such as a sick man could eat; nor could they
understand his English prejudice in favour of cleanliness. With great
difficulty (he afterwards told me) he had the night of his arrival
obtained a poultice, the application of which had given him such relief
that he had dropped asleep. Presently, however, he was wakened by two
or more rats tugging at it with all their might. He had tried to drive
the intruders away, but was fairly obliged to give in, and fling the
poultice to the farthest corner of the room.

I was bathing the shoulder with warm water when a stranger in the
uniform of a Russian colonel appeared, and introduced himself as Dr
Goloff. He went to business at once, inspected the wound, felt the
pulse, then said there was no chance of his patient's improving until he
was removed from that unwholesome place. The irritative fever which
accompanies such a wound had been much aggravated, he said, by bad air
and improper dressings. He was commissioned, he added, by his friend
Captain Blundel to see Mr Englefield removed at once to Captain
Blundel's tent, which was pitched for surveying purposes near the foot
of this hill. No sooner said than done. A kind of litter was
constructed, and your uncle placed upon it. We were about to set out
when I saw Basil eyeing us from afar, sadly and gloomily. The
remembrance of a shade of injustice towards him came across me
painfully, so I went to him and asked him to be one of Laurie's bearers;
poor Basil! he sprang to execute my bidding with a look of impassioned
gratitude that was most touching. With his powerful help the short
journey was soon accomplished, and the litter safely set down in the
large, watertight, and cheerful tent.

A painful process was needed in order to bring the wound into a right
state for healing, and when