uneasy about."

That, indeed, was what they did find out, after a rather agonizing
half-hour. Jim was quite unable to move his legs, being so bruised
that there was scarcely a square inch of him that was not green and
blue and purple. One hip bore the complete impress of a foot, livid
and angry.

"Yes, that chap jumped on me from a good height," Jim said when the
_cure_ exclaimed at it. "I thought he had smashed my leg."

"He went near it," said the _cure_. "Indeed, my son, you are beaten
to a jelly. But that will recover itself. You can breathe without
pain? That is well. Now we will look at the head." He unwrapped the
bandages and felt the lump tenderly. "Ah, that is better; a little
concussion, I think, _mon brave_; it is that which kept you so quiet
when you stayed with us at first. And the cut heals well; that comes
of being young and strong, with clean, healthy blood." He bathed the
head, and replaced the bandages, sighing that he had no clean ones.
"But with you it matters little; you will not need them in a few days.
Then perhaps we will wash these and they will be ready for the next
poor boy." He smiled at Jim. "Move those legs as much as you can, my
son, and rub them." He trotted away.

"And that same is good advice," said Callaghan. "It will hurt to
move, sir, and you beaten to a pulp first and then stiffening for the
three days you're after lying here; 'tis all I wish I could rub you,
with a good bottle of Elliman's to do it with. But if them Huns move
you 'twill hurt a mighty lot more than if you move yourself.
Themselves is the boys for that; they think they've got a feather in
their caps if they get an extra yelp out of annywan. So do the best
you can, sir."

"I will," said Jim--and did his best, for long hours every day. It
was weary work, with each movement torture, and for a time very little
encouragement came in the shape of improvement: then, slowly, with
rubbing and exercise, the stiffened muscles began to relax. Callaghan
cheered him on, forgetting his own aching leg in his sympathy for the
boy in his silent torment. In the intervals of "physical jerks," Jim
talked to his little neighbour, whose delight knew no bounds when he
heard that Jim knew and cared for his country. He himself was a Cork
man, with a wife and two sons; Jim gathered that their equal was not
to be found in any town in Ireland. Callaghan occasionally lamented
the "foolishness" that had kept him in th