Page 219 - for-the-term-of-his-natural-life

the whole disappeared, and the bright water sparkled as
placidly as before. The eyes of the terrified Frere, travelling
back to the wounded man, saw, midway between this spar-
kling water and the knife that lay on the sand, an object that
went far to explain the maniac’s sudden burst of fury. The
rum cask lay upon its side by the remnants of last night’s
fire, and close to it was a clout, with which the head of the
wounded man had been bound. It was evident that the poor
creature, wandering in his delirium, had come across the
rum cask, drunk a quantity of its contents, and been mad-
dened by the fiery spirit.
Frere hurried to the side of Bates, and lifting him up,
strove to staunch the blood that flowed from his chest. It
would seem that he had been resting himself on his left el-
bow, and that Grimes, snatching the knife from his right
hand, had stabbed him twice in the right breast. He was
pale and senseless, and Frere feared that the wound was
mortal. Tearing off his neck-handkerchief, he endeav-
oured to bandage the wound, but found that the strip of
silk was insufficient for the purpose. The noise had roused
Mrs. Vickers, who, stifling her terror, made haste to tear off
a portion of her dress, and with this a bandage of sufficient
width was made. Frere went to the cask to see if, haply, he
could obtain from it a little spirit with which to moisten
the lips of the dying man, but it was empty. Grimes, after
drinking his fill, had overturned the unheaded puncheon,
and the greedy sand had absorbed every drop of liquor. Syl-
via brought some water from the spring, and Mrs. Vickers
bathing Bates’s head with this, he revived a little. By-and-

1 For the Term of His Natural Life