and the light
from the door, as he said huskily, "He came very nigh to it, ma'am. I
never did set eyes on such a decent patient chap as that man was. I did
the very wust thing I could a' done, the town doctors told me, for I
brought him into the hut, instead o' keeping him outdoors and rubbing
his poor black legs with snow. 'Stead o' that, I wrapped him up warm in
my own blankets, after I had chipped his boots and the hice off of 'em,
and I made up a roarin' fire. Good Lord, how the poor fellow groaned
when he begun to get warm! I gave him a pannikin full o' hot tea, with
a drop o' grog in it, and that seemed to make him awful bad. At last he
said, with the sweat from sheer agony pouring down his face, "Look here,
matey: couldn't you hump me out in the snow again? for it aint nigh so
bad to bear it cold as it is to bear it hot." Not a bad word did he say,
ma'am, and he tried not to give in more nor he could help; but he was
clean druv wild with the hanguish in his legs.

"Presently I remembers, quite sudden like, that a bush doctor, name of
Tomkins, was likely to be round by Simmons, cos' o' his missus. So I got
on my 'oss in a minnit, and I rides off and fetches him, for sure
enough he was there; and though Simmons' missis wasn't to say over her
troubles, she spoke up from behind the curtain of red blanket she had
put up in her tidy little hut, and bade old Tomkins go with me. May God
bless her and hers for that same, say I! Well, ma'am, when Tomkins come
back with me and saw the poor fellow (he was fair shoutin' with the pain
in his legs by then), he said nothin' could be done. "They'll mortify
by morrow mornin'," says he, "and then he'll die easy." So with that he
goes back with the first light next day, to Simmons. Sure enough, the
poor fellow did get a bit easier next day, and I felt clear mad to
think he was goin' to die before my very eyes. "Not if I can help it!" I
cries, quite savage like. But he only smiled a patient smile, and said,
"God's will be done, mate. He knows best, and I aint in any pain to
speak of, now."

"By and bye I hears a rumbling and a creaking, and cracking of whips;
and when I looks out, what do I see but the bullock-dray from Simmons'
coming up the flat. It was the only thing on wheels within forty mile,
and Simmons had brought it his own self to see if we couldn't manage to
get the poor fellow down to the nighest town. I won't make my yarn no
longer than I can help, ma'am, so I'll only