splitting headache, accompanied by a
feeling of acute soreness and smarting. He also felt dazed, confused,
and harassed by a vague but intense anxiety about something, he knew not
what. Then he became aware that he was lying recumbent on his back,
with his head propped high by pillows; and presently he also became
aware that his head was heavily swathed in bandages. He stirred
uneasily, and attempted to put his hand to his head; but was shocked to
find that his hand and arm felt heavy as lead, so heavy, indeed, that
after a feeble effort he abandoned the attempt. As he did so, a
fluttering sigh, and a whispered "Oh, thank God; thank God!" fell upon
his ear; a handkerchief saturated with eau-de-cologne was applied to his
nostrils; and, as in a dream, he heard a voice murmur--

"Are you better, Mr Leslie? Tell me that you are feeling better."

Feeling better! Had he been ill, then? He supposed he must have been;
otherwise, why was he lying there--wherever he might be--on his back,
with his head bandaged and racked with pain, and with no strength in
him? Ill! of course he was; every nerve in his body bore testimony to
the fact. But where was he? what was the matter with him? and whose was
this gentle, tender voice--that somehow seemed so familiar--that
questioned him? Everything was vague, confused, and incomprehensible,
with a dominating impression that there was pressing, urgent need for
him to be up and attending to something without an instant's delay.

As he lay there, painfully cogitating in a vain endeavour to disentangle
the threads of mingled thought that seemed to be inextricably wound
together in his throbbing, struggling brain, two warm drops splashed
upon his face, and the same low voice that he had heard before, cried--

"Spare him, O God; spare him; have mercy!" and the handkerchief was
again applied to his nostrils.

The tide of life ebbed back for a moment; he again sank into oblivion;
and presently revived to the consciousness that soft arms were
supporting him--arms that quivered and shook with the violent sobbing
that fell upon his ears--while a shower of hot tears bathed his face.
And then, all in an instant, recollection, vivid, intense, complete,
came to him, and he opened his eyes.

For a moment he could see nothing. Then he became aware that the sun
was streaming brilliantly in through the open port-hole near the head of
his bunk, while a soft, warm, yet refreshing breeze was playi