Dead Man's Land Part 2

"Yes, Sir James, I think you had better," said the doctor, smiling; and he glanced at Mark.

"Well, go on, then," cried Sir James.

"Oh, I say, father, don't," cried Mark sharply.

"Don't what, sir?" pretty well roared his father.

"I don't mind a nip or two, but you did give it to me then. It was like a vice."

"Pooh, boy, pooh! You are not a baby, are you?"

"No, father, but--" began Mark, wriggling his shoulder.

"Hold your tongue, sir, and don't interrupt the doctor. Now, doctor, what were you going to say?"

"I was going to say, Sir James, that I fully believe that a fit of the gout must be very painful--"

"Oh, you think so, do you?"

"Yes, Sir James, and I think also that you are not troubled with many.

Of course we are not going to imitate Mr Pickwick, and a wheelbarrow is quite out of the question."

"Now, look here, sir," cried Sir James angrily--but somehow there was a want of reality in his tones--"don't you begin to suggest impossibilities. I think I know what you are aiming at."

"I should not be surprised, sir, if you do. Now, of course if we went on this expedition, or expeditions, we should be going through forests often nearly impa.s.sable; but I think I have read--"

"Oh, yes, I know," said Sir James shortly, and the boys watched the doctor with eager eyes, and as they caught his he gave to each a keen encouraging look; "you have read everything--a deal too much, I think,"

he grumbled, almost inaudibly.

"--that," continued the doctor, making believe that he had not heard the baronet's tetchy words, "great use is made of the blacks in Africa and India, who are quite accustomed to using a litter for the sportsmen in hunting expeditions, for the benefit of their employers."

Sir James set his son's shoulder free by giving him a fierce thrust, and his own hand too, so as to bring down his doubled fist upon the library table.

"Look here, sir," he roared, "do you for a moment think that I would consent to be carried stretched out on a couple of poles raised shoulder high by a pack of n.i.g.g.e.rs? Because if you do--"

"And sometimes," continued the doctor calmly, "the sure-footed ponies of a country are very much used by travellers and hunting parties, for it is necessary that the sportsman or naturalist should not be over fatigued and should keep his nerves steady, as at times his life or that of his companions may rest upon the ability to be true in his aim at some dangerous beast about to charge and strike him down."

"Humph! Yes. That's quite true, boys. A man can't shoot straight when he's pumped out with too much exertion. I have missed horribly sometimes after a long day's tramp seeing nothing worth shooting at; and then just at the end the birds have risen, or a hare has started up and given me an easy chance, and then got away. There, go on, doctor, and don't let me check you with my chatter."

"Oh, I have not much more to say, sir," was the reply.

"Not much more to say!" cried Sir James, in a disappointed tone.

"There, go on, sir; go on. The boys are very anxious to hear you-- there, I won't be a sham--so am I too."

"Well, to be brief, sir--" began the doctor.

"But I don't want you to be brief," cried Sir James, thumping the table again, but this time more softly, and no coffee sprang out into the saucers.

"Oh, do go on; do go on!" said Mark's lips inaudibly, and Dean sat swinging himself softly to and fro as he rubbed his hands over his knees.

"Well, Sir James," continued the doctor, "I must say that it seems to me perfectly feasible for you to make up your mind to be one of the party."

"An old man like me, sir?" cried Sir James.

"I beg your pardon, sir; you are not an old man. I believe I number as many years as you, and saving for a slight indisposition now and then you certainly enjoy robust health."

"Oh, no, no, no, no!" cried Sir James. "That's adulation, sir, and I won't have it."

"'Tisn't father; is it, Dean?"

"Not a bit of it," was the reply. "The doctor never flatters."

"Will you boys be quiet?" shouted Sir James, and Mark clapped his hand over his cousin's lips, receiving a similar compliment from Dean in return, while Sir James threw himself back in his chair, frowned severely as he stared straight out of the wide open window, and then twitched himself about, changing his position again and again as if his seat were not comfortable.

A strange silence had fallen on the group, and it was as if three of the four individuals present were suffering from a desire to turn a questioning look upon their companions, but dared not for fear of interrupting Sir James in the deep thoughts which were evidently playing about in his brain and filling his frank, florid, John-Bull-like countenance with wrinkles.

During the s.p.a.ce of perhaps two minutes the silence deepened, till all at once from somewhere in the stableyard there was a loud, whack, whack, whack, whack as of wings beating together, and then sharp and clear, defiant and victorious, as if a battle had been won--_c.o.c.k-a-doodle-do_!

"Hah!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Sir James, starting upright in his chair, as if awakened out of a dream, and turning towards the doctor as if to speak, but only to check himself again. "Oh, absurd!" he quite shouted. "No, no, no, no; impossible; impossible! It could not be. No, no, doctor.

You set me thinking and asking myself questions about why not, and all that sort of rubbish. Why, sir, for the first time since our acquaintance began, you have been playing the tempter, and nearly won, what with your litters and palanquins and ponies. No, sir; it's impossible."

"I say, Mark," said Dean, in a loud whisper, "didn't uncle once say that there was hardly such a word as impossible for a man or boy with a will?"

"Silence, sir!" cried Sir James angrily.

"I say, dad," said Mark, closing up to his father's chair and leaning upon his shoulder, "I said I wouldn't go unless you did."

"Yes, sir," cried his father fiercely, "and if you dare to let me hear you utter such insubordinate words again I'll--"

The boy leaned over to look him full in the eyes, and gazed at him firmly, and the others saw him move his lips in a slow, deliberate way as if he were saying something emphatically; and then he drew himself up and seemed to intensify his gaze.

"Well, baby," cried Sir James, "what do you mean by those dumb motions?

Speak out."

Mark shook his head and tightened his lips, compressing them into a long line across the bottom of his face, the curve disappearing and a couple of dot-like dimples forming at either end.

"What do you mean by that, sir?" cried Sir James. "Tell me what you mean?"

The boy shook his head once more, and then the line disappeared, the curves came back, and he silently shaped the words as before.

"Do you want to aggravate me, sir? Such foolery! Speak out, sir, at once."

Mark drew back, walked sharply across the room and half opened the door, before turning to face his father again, the others gazing at him in wonder.

"What's come to him, doctor?" cried Sir James. "Here, Mark, I command you, sir: speak out!"

"If you don't come with us, father," said the boy, slowly and deliberately--"oh, Dean, I am sorry for you--there will be no expedition, for I won't go."

There was a moment or two's silence, and then Sir James raged out, "Well, of all the daring--here, doctor, is this the result of your moral teaching of my boys? Now, sir, frankly, what am I to do in a case like this?"