rving for a cockpit,
and, finding the surgeon disengaged, submitted myself to his tender
mercies.

His first act was to bathe my head with warm water until the dry blood
with which my hair was matted was cleared away as much as possible, and
then the hair itself was shorn away until the wound was fairly exposed.
The injury was then found to consist of a scalp wound some six inches in
length, extending from a point above my right eye, just where the hair
commenced, obliquely across the skull toward the back of the left ear,
the scalp itself, for a width of about four inches, being torn from the
skull and folded back like a rag. It burned and throbbed and smarted
most horribly, particularly when the sponge was applied to my bare skull
to clear away the blood preparatory to replacing the scalp; and I was
informed by the medico that it was a very ugly wound, probably inflicted
by a piece of langridge which, if it had been deflected a couple of
inches to the right, would in all probability have killed me. And I was
warned that I should have to exercise the greatest caution in the matter
of exposing myself to the night air, or inflammation might set in, with
very serious results. During the tedious and exceedingly painful
operation of dressing the wound, I learned that O'Flaherty's injury
consisted of a contusion on the head, whereby he had been struck
senseless to the deck, and a very badly lacerated right shoulder, the
bone of which was also broken, so that he would probably be quite unfit
for duty for the remainder of the cruise. When at length I was fairly
coopered up and made tolerably comfortable, I sent word to Courtenay
that I intended to lie down for a while, but that he was to have me
called the moment that my presence on deck might be necessary, and then
retired to my berth and stretched myself, dressed as I was, upon my bed,
where, though I was in too much pain to get sound sleep, I soon dozed
off into a kind of half-delirious stupor which, unpleasant as was the
sensation, still afforded me a certain measure of relief.

From this I was aroused by the clatter of plates and dishes in the
cabin, which, as it was quite dark in my berth, I rightly assumed must
indicate the forwarding of preparations for dinner. I now felt very
much more comfortable than when I had lain down; the violent splitting
headache had almost entirely passed away; the cool soothing salve which
had been liberally applied to my wound had gre