ch
glistened in a peculiar manner when the object advanced, as if he were
not only a diver, but a steam diver who was moved by some internal
machinery which caused him to emit little puffs of steam at breathing
intervals.

"Morning, Mr Handscombe," cried Steve as he drew near.

"Morning, my lad; but look here, you are doing a very foolish thing.
We're below zero, and yet you're standing about here talking as if it
were summer."

"We haven't felt the cold, sir."

"The more likely for the cold to be dangerous for you, my lad. A
frost-bite comes on without the sufferer knowing about it, the cold
making the part quite insensible to pain, and a bad bite may mean utter
destruction of the tissue and the loss of even hands and feet."

"Phwat!" cried Watty, forgetting his awe of the doctor in the horror of
the announcement; "wad a man who was frost-bit lose her han's or her
foots?"

"Yes, if it were a bad case of freezing."

"An' wad her han's or foots tummle off?"

"More likely the patient's medical attendant would have to cut them
off."

"Coot her han's an foots off? What wi'--chopper?"

"No," said the doctor, smiling at the lad's horrified looks; "they would
be carefully taken off with a knife and saw. Surgeons are very
careful."

Watty groaned.

"It's a' ower wi' her, Meester Stevey, an' she's ferry sorry she's iver
fote and ca'd her, for she'll nivver see bonnie Scotland more."

"Why not? What's the matter with you, my lad?" said the doctor.

"She's ferry pad, sir. Poth her foots an' poth her han's is
frost-pitten."

"What! and you did not tell me? Here, come back to the ship, and let me
have a look."

"Na, na, na; she'll na gang wi' ye!" cried Watty.

"But if they are frost-bitten I can perhaps do them good, and save you
from a very bad injury. Come along."

"Na, na; she'll keep her han's an' foots on as lang as she can," groaned
the lad. "She winna let her tooch them."

"Don't be absurd!" said the doctor angrily. "Steve, did you know of
this?"

"No, sir," said the boy, fighting hard to conceal his mirth.

"I ought to have been told. Here, come along. Stop!"

"Ay, she'll stop; she winna gang wi' ye."

"Are your feet really bad?"

"Ay, sir; but she shanna tooch them."

"You have no business to walk," said the doctor. "I must have you
carried, sir."

"Na, na; she'll stay here."

"Bah! don't be absurd, boy. I know what is best for you. Here, Steve,
my lad, go and fetch two