ised him on to his feet, put his own cap well over
Wiggins' cold wet head, slipped an arm round him under his shoulder,
bade Erebus support him in like manner on the other side; and they set
off toward the village half carrying, half dragging him along. They
went slowly for Wiggins' feet dragged feebly and almost helplessly
along. Their arms round him helped warm him. It would have taken them
a long time to haul him all the way to his home; but fortunately soon
after they came out of Pringle's meadows on to the road, Jakes, the
Great Deeping butcher, who supplies also Little Deeping and Muttle
Deeping with meat, came clattering along in his cart. Wiggins was
quickly hauled into it; and the three of them were at Mr. Carrington's
in about four minutes.

As they hauled Wiggins along the garden path, the Terror, said to
Erebus: "You bolt home as hard as you can go. You must be awfully wet
and cold; and if you don't want to be laid up, the sooner you take some
quinine and get to bed the better."

As soon therefore as she had helped Wiggins over the threshold she ran
home as quickly as her legs, still stiff and cold, would carry her.

The arrival of the barelegged Terror in his waistcoat, bearing Wiggins
as a half-animate bundle, set Mr. Carrington's house in an uproar. The
Terror, as the expert in first-aid, took command of the cook and
housemaid and Mr. Carrington himself. Wiggins was carried into the hot
kitchen and rolled in a blanket with a hot water bottle at his feet.
The cook was for two blankets and two hot water bottles; but the expert
Terror insisted with a firmness there was no bending that heat must be
restored slowly. As Wiggins warmed he gave him warm brandy and water
with a teaspoon. In ten minutes Wiggins was quite animate, able to
talk faintly, trying not to cry with the pain of returning circulation.

The Terror sent the cook and housemaid to get the sheets off his bed
and warm the blankets. In another five minute's Mr. Carrington carried
Wiggins up to it, and gave him a dose of ammoniated quinine. Presently
he fell asleep.

The Terror had taken his coat off Wiggins; but he was still without
stockings and a jersey. He borrowed stockings and a sweater from Mr.
Carrington, and now that the business of seeing after Wiggins was over,
he told him how he had come to the pond to find Wiggins in the water
and Erebus spread out on the ice, holding him back from sinking. He
was careful not to tell h