" When I signified to the boatswain the doctor's desire,
he swore a terrible oath, that he could not spare one man from deck,
because he expected the mast would go by the board every minute.
This piece of information did not at all contribute to my peace
of mind; however, as my friend Rattlin complained very much, with
the assistance of Morgan I supported him to the lower deck, whither
Mr. Mackshane, after much entreaty, ventured to come, attended by
Thompson, with a box full of dressings, and his own servant, who
carried a whole set of capital instruments. He examined the fracture
and the wound, and concluding, from a livid colour extending itself
upon the limb, that mortification would ensue, resolved to amputate
the leg immediately. This was a dreadful sentence to the patient,
who, recruiting himself with a quid of tobacco, pronounced with
a woful countenance, "What! is there no remedy, doctor! must I be
dock'd? can't you splice it?" "Assuredly, Doctor Mackshane," said
the first mate, "with submission, and deference, and veneration,
to your superior apilities, and opportunities, and stations, look
you, I do apprehend, and conjure, and aver, that there is no occasion
nor necessity to smite off this poor man's leg.
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