I was wakened--indeed, we were all wakened, for I could see even the
sentinel shake himself together from where he had fallen against the
door-post--by a clear, hearty voice hailing us from the margin of the
wood:
Block house, ahoy! it cried. Here s the doctor.
And the doctor it was. Although I was glad to hear the sound, yet my
gladness was not without admixture. I remembered with confusion my
insubordinate and stealthy conduct, and when I saw where it had brought
me--among what companions and surrounded by what dangers--I felt ashamed
to look him in the face.
He must have risen in the dark, for the day had hardly come; and when I
ran to a loophole and looked out, I saw him standing, like Silver once
before, up to the mid-leg in creeping vapour.
You, doctor! Top o the morning to you, sir! cried Silver, broad awake
and beaming with good nature in a moment. Bright and early, to be sure;
and it s the early bird, as the saying goes, that gets the rations.
George, shake up your timbers, son, and help Dr. Livesey over the ship s
side. All a-doin well, your patients was--all well and merry.
So he pattered on, standing on the hilltop with his crutch under his
elbow and one hand upon the side of the log-house--quite the old John in
voice, manner, and expression.
We ve quite a surprise for you too, sir, he continued. We ve a little
stranger here--he! he! A noo boarder and lodger, sir, and looking fit
and taut as a fiddle; slep like a supercargo, he did, right alongside
of John--stem to stem we was, all night.
Dr. Livesey was by this time across the stockade and pretty near the
cook, and I could hear the alteration in his voice as he said, Not
Jim?
The very same Jim as ever was, says Silver.
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