In one of the lower bunks lay the sick
man coughing himself to death. At his side a gaunt woman, miserably
and scantily clothed, was offering him water in a spoon.
It was evident to the trained eye of the Doctor that the man was
fatally ill and could live but a short time. He was a hopeless
consumptive, and a hasty examination revealed the fact that he was
also suffering from a severe attack of pneumonia.
Doctor Grenfell's big sympathetic heart went out to the poor sufferer
and his destitute family. What could he do? How could he help the man
in such a place? He might remove him to one of the clean, white
hospital cots on the _Albert_, but it would scarcely serve to make
easier the impending death, and the exposure and effort of the
transfer might even hasten it. Then, too, the wife and children would
be denied the satisfaction of the last moments with the departing
soul of the husband and father, for the _Albert_ was to sail at once.
The summer was short, and up and down the coast many others were in
sore need of the Doctor's care, and delay might cost some of them
their lives.
Pages:
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67