" "God Almighty
bless you, dear Welshman!" cried Rattlin, "may you have fair wind
and weather wheresoever you're bound, and come to an anchor in
the road of heaven at last!" Mackshane, very much incensed at his
mate's differing in opinion from him, so openly, answered, that he
was not bound to give an account of his practice to him; and in a
peremptory tone, ordered him to apply the tourniquet. At the sight
of which, Jack, starting up, cried, "Avast, avast! D--n my heart,
if you clap your nippers on me, till I know wherefore! Mr. Random,
won't you lend a hand towards saving my precious limb! Odd's heart,
if Lieutenant Bowling was here, he would not suffer Jack Rattlin's
leg to be chopped off like a piece of old junk."
This pathetic address to me, joined to my inclination to serve my
honest friend, and the reasons I had to believe there was no danger
in delaying the amputation, induced me to declare myself of the
first mate's opinion, and affirm that the preternatural colour of
the skin was owing to an inflammation, occasioned by a contusion,
and common in all such cases, without any indication of an approaching
gangrene. Morgan, who had a great opinion of my skill, manifestly
exulted in my fellowship, and asked Thompson's sentiments in the
matter, in hopes of strengthening our association with him too;
but he, being of a meek disposition, and either dreading the enmity
of the surgeon, or speaking the dictates of his own judgment, in a
modest manner espoused the opinion of Mackshane, who by this time
having consulted with himself, determined to act in such a manner
as to screen himself from censure, and at the same time revenge
himself on us, for our arrogance in contradicting him.
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