Because the people on the Labrador can seldom be brought to understand
that a patient with this ailment must be kept warm and free from
exposure or chill until the period of rash is passed, it is too often a
fatal disease there--and an epidemic is sure to result in many deaths.
In tent life, in time of gales and driving storms, it is frequently
difficult, and sometimes indeed impossible, to properly care for the
patients, for the tents of the people are seldom stormproof or
rainproof.
And so it was that Skipper Ed, who was not only nurse but cook, was more
than occupied. There were times when confinement grew irksome to his
patients, and at those times he was compelled to resort even to force to
prevent one or another from going out into the chilling sea breeze. And
one morning Bobby did evade him and go out, and became chilled, and the
following day lay, as Skipper Ed verily believed, at the door of death.
CHAPTER XIV
VISIONS IN DELIRIUM
There came a terrible day and night when Bobby's life hung in the
balance. A burning fever was upon him. His reason wandered, and he
talked of strange things.
"Mamma! Mamma!" he called, and time and again he plead: "Uncle Robert,
give me a drink of water! Uncle Robert, I'm so thirsty! Oh, I'm so
thirsty!"
And then it would be Abel Zachariah or Mrs. Abel, or Jimmy, or Skipper
Ed himself, who was addressed. Every subject under the sun was running
through Bobby's poor, delirious mind.
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