which ran down one side of a large and comfortable-looking
ward, on the opposite side of which there was a fire burning brightly,
and a table round which sat three neatly-dressed nurses.

Jack slowly ran his eyes round the ward, noted that most of the other
beds had occupants, and that the three nurses looked decidedly pretty in
their white caps and aprons. And all the while he wondered mildly what
it all meant, why he was there, and what sort of a place it was. Then,
like others who have been seriously ill for a considerable time and are
almost too weak to move a hand, he closed his eyes again and fell into a
deep sleep.

When he awoke he lay quite still, with closed eyelids, listening to
voices near his bedside.

"He'll do well now, Nurse," he heard someone say, "and I am glad to be
able to tell you that the worst is over. It was a difficult job to get
the thigh in satisfactory position, and nicely put upon the splint. But
it's done, and done well, I think I may say. Your young friend will
make steady progress now, sir," the voice continued, "and from what I
have learnt I am sure you will be very pleased to hear it. Good-day! I
must be going now, as I have several other patients to look to."

"Good-day!" was repeated heartily by someone else, and then the owner of
the first voice moved away.

"I am delighted to hear the doctor's report," somebody else exclaimed,
in tones which were unmistakably those of Dr Hanly. "He has met with a
very nasty accident, and it takes quite a load from my mind to hear he
is doing well. By all accounts he must have increased the severity of
the injury by sticking to that fellow as he did. He's a plucky lad."

"Plucky, my dear sir! I should think so indeed!" answered a third
voice. "Why, I owe a lot to your young ward. There was really no call
for him to come to our help; but he did so without hesitation, with the
result that he got badly smashed, while Wilfred and I were merely a
little bruised and knocked about."

"I'm glad to hear you say so, Mr Hunter," was the doctor's reply. "It
is just like the lad to get into a mess in an attempt to help others who
were in a tight corner. But we had better be moving away, I think, or
we may disturb him."

"Don't go, Doctor," Jack feebly murmured at this moment, opening his
eyes and looking up at his friend. "Tell me how I came to be here, and
all about it. It's awfully rummy! I cannot understand why I should be
lying in b