iousness. "Ah, I know, sir. I found out
what was the matter with the suction before that plate buckled and
gripped me. I have cleared the rose box, too, sir, and you can connect
the bilge-pumps again as soon as you like, sir."

Of course all this took him some time to get out.

"All right, my man," answered the old chief, greatly overcome at the
fact of the old sailor, wounded to the death, thinking of his duty in
the first moment of his recovery. "Never mind that, man! How do you
feel now, my poor fellow--better, I trust?"

"Why, just a little pain here, sir," said Jackson, pressing his hand to
his right side. "I'm thankful, though, my legs escaped, sir. I've no
pain there."

Garry O'Neil looked grave and shook his head at this, and looking too as
he cast down his eyes over the lower part of the unfortunate man's body,
I saw that the cruel edges of the iron plates had torn away part of his
canvas overalls from the thigh to the knee of one leg, peeling off with
the covering, the flesh from the bone; while the foot of the other--boot
and all--was crushed into a shapeless bloody mass horrible to behold,
the sight making one feel sick.

"It's a bad sign his having no fayling there, Haldane," whispered the
Irishman to me very low, so that Jackson could not hear. "It's jost
what I thought, sure. God may help him, but I can't. He'll niver
recover, do what we moight for him, niver in this worruld. The poor
misfortunate fellow has his spoine injured, and he can't live forty-
eight hours, if as long as that, sure!"

He did not tell him this, however; nor did he lead any of the others to
understand, either, that Jackson's case was hopeless!

On the contrary, when he spoke aloud, as he did immediately afterwards,
he seemed in the best of spirits, as if everything was going on as well
as possible, though I noticed a tear in his eye and a quiver in his
voice that touched me to the heart, making me turn away my head.

"Now you mustn't talk now, old fellow, for we want you to husband all
your strength to get up the hatchway to a foine cabin of yer own on the
upper deck, where we're goin' to nurse ye, me darlint, till ye're all
roight, sure!" he said cheerfully. "Here, now, just dhrink another drop
of the craythur, me bhoy, to kape yer spirits up, and you, Master
Haldane, jist hand over that hammock ye've got storved away on ye
shulder, so that we can fix up Jackson comfortable like for his trip to
the upper reggin