第 41 页

out by myself. Now puff away at that pipe, and the moment you wrap me

up get the room full of smoke."

John nodded.

"Don't you bother about me," he growled. "I reckon the Plague ain't

going to touch such a tough old bit of seasoned mahogany as I am.

Still, I will do as you tell me."

In a few minutes Cyril was in a profuse perspiration, in which even

his head, which was above the blankets, shared.

"That is grand," John said complacently.

The cloud of tobacco, with which the room was soon filled, was not

long in having the effect that John had predicted, and Cyril was soon

violently sick, which had the effect of further increasing the

perspiration.

"You must open the window and let the smoke out a bit, John," he

gasped. "I can't stand any more of it."

This was done, and for another hour Cyril lay between the blankets.

"I shall faint if I lie here any longer," he said at last. "Now,

John, do you go out of the room, and don't come back again until I

call you. I see you have put the vinegar handy. It is certain that if

this is doing me any good the blankets will be infected. You say you

have got a big fire in the kitchen. Well, I shall take them myself,

and hang them up in front of it, and you are not to go into the room

till they are perfectly dry again. You had better light another fire

at once in the parlour, and you can do any cooking there. I will keep

the kitchen for my blankets."

John nodded and left the room, and Cyril at once proceeded to unroll

the blankets. As he came to the last he was conscious of a strong

fetid odour, similar to that he had more than once perceived in

houses infected by the Plague.

"I believe it is drawing it out of me," he said to himself. "I will

give it another trial presently."

He first sponged himself with vinegar, and felt much refreshed. He

then wrapped himself up and lay down for a few minutes, for he felt

strangely weak. Then he got up and carried the blankets into the

kitchen, where a huge fire had been made up by John. He threw the one

that had been next to him into a tub, and poured boiling water on it,

and the others he hung on chairs round it. Then he went back to his

room, and lay down and slept for half an hour. He returned to the

kitchen and rearranged the blankets. When John saw him go back to his

room he followed him.

"I have got some strong broth ready," he said. "Do you think that you

could take a cupful?"

"Ay, and a good-sized one, John. I feel sure that the sweating has

done me good, and I will have another turn at it soon. You must go at

once and report that I have got it, or when the examiners come round,

and find that the Plague is in the house, you will be fined, or

perhaps imprisoned. Before you go there, please leave word at Dr.

Hodges' that I am ill, and you might also call at Mr. Wallace's and

leave the same message. Tell them, in both cases, that I have

everything that I want, and trust that I shall make a good recovery."

"Ay, ay, sir; I will be off as soon as I have brought you in your

broth, and will be back here in half an hour."

Cyril drank the broth, and then dozed again until John returned. When

he heard his step he called out to him to bring the hot iron, and he

filled the room with tobacco smoke before allowing him to enter.

"Now, John, the blankets are dry, and can be handled again, and I am

ready for another cooking."

Four times that day did Cyril undergo the sweating process. By the

evening he was as weak as a child, but his skin was soft and cool,

and he was free from all feeling of pain or uneasiness. Dr. Hodges

called half an hour after he had taken it for the last time, having

only received his message when he returned late from a terrible day's

work. Cyril had just turned in for the night.

"Well, lad, how are you feeling? I am so sorry that I did not get

your message before."

"I am feeling very well, doctor."

"Your hand is moist and cool," Dr. Hodges said in surprise. "You must

have been mistaken. I see no signs whatever of the Plague."

"There was no mistake, doctor; there were the black marks on my

thighs, but I think I have pretty well sweated it out of me."

He then described the process he had followed, and said that John

Wilkes had told him that it was practised in the Levant.

"Sweating is greatly used here, and I have tried it very repeatedly

among my patients, and in some cases, where I had notice of the

disease early, have saved them. Some bleed before sweating, but I

have not heard of one who did so who recovered. In many cases the

patient, from terror or from weakness of body, cannot get up the heat

required, and even if they arrive at it, have not the strength to

support it. In your case you lost no time; you had vital heat in

plenty, and you had strength to keep up the heat in full force until

you washed, as it were, the malady out of you. Henceforth I shall

order that treatment with confidence when patients come to me whom I

suspect to have the Plague, although it may not have as yet fully

declared itself. What have you done with the blankets?"

"I would not suffer John to touch them, but carried them myself into

the kitchen. The blankets next to me I throw into a tub and pour

boiling water over them; the others I hang up before a huge fire, so

as to be dry for the next operation. I take care that John does not

enter the kitchen."

"How often have you done this?"

"Four times, and lay each time for an hour in the blankets. I feel

very weak, and must have lost very many pounds in weight, but my head

is clear, and I suffer no pain whatever. The marks on my legs have

not spread, and seem to me less dark in colour than they were."

"Your case is the most hopeful that I have seen," Dr. Hodges said.

"The system has had every advantage, and to this it owes its success.

In the first place, you began it as soon as you felt unwell. Most

people would have gone on for another twelve hours before they paid

much attention to the first symptoms, and might not have noticed the

Plague marks even when they went to bed. In the second place, you are

cool and collected, and voluntarily delivered yourself to the

treatment. And in the third place, which is the most important

perhaps of all, you were in good health generally. You had not

weakened yourself by swallowing every nostrum advertised, or wearing

yourself out by vain terrors. Ninety-nine cases out of a hundred

would be probably beyond the reach of help before they were conscious

of illness, and be too weak to stand so severe a strain on the system

as that you have undergone. Another thing is that the remedy could

hardly be attempted in a house full of frightened people. There would

be sure to be carelessness in the matter of the blankets, which,

unless treated as you have done, would be a certain means of

spreading the infection over the house. At any rate, I would continue

the sweating as long as you can possibly stand it. Take nourishment

in the shape of broth frequently, but in small quantity. I would do

it again at midnight; 'tis well not to let the virus have time to

gather strength again. I see you have faith in tobacco."

"Yes, doctor. I never let John Wilkes into the room after I have

taken a bath until it is full of tobacco smoke. I have twice made

myself ill with it to-day."

"Don't carry it too far, lad; for although I also believe in the

virtue of the weed, 'tis a powerful poison, and you do not want to

weaken yourself. Well, I see I can do nothing for you. You and your

man seem to me to have treated the attack far more successfully than

I should have done; for, indeed, this month very few of those

attacked have recovered, whatever the treatment has been. I shall

come round early tomorrow morning to see how you are going on. At

present nothing can be better. Since the first outbreak, I have not

seen a single case in which the patient was in so fair a way towards

recovery in so short a time after the discovery of the infection."

John Wilkes at this moment came in with a basin of broth.

"This is my good friend, John Wilkes, doctor."

"You ought to be called Dr. John Wilkes," the doctor, who was one of

the most famous of his time, said, with a smile, as he shook hands

with him. "Your treatment seems to be doing wonders."

"It seems to me he is doing well, doctor, but I am afraid he is

carrying it too far; he is so weak he can hardly stand."

"Never mind that," the doctor said; "it will be easy enough to build

him up when we have once got the Plague out of him. I have told him

to have another turn in the blankets at twelve o'clock to-night; it

will not do to let the malady get a fresh hold of him. But don't push

it too far, lad. If you begin to feel faint, stop it, even if you

have not been a quarter of an hour in the blankets. Do not cover

yourself up too warmly when you have done; let nature have a rest. I

shall be round between eight and nine, and no doubt you will have had

another bath before I come. Do not sleep in the room, Wilkes; he is

sure to go off soundly to sleep, and there is no use your running any

needless risk. Let his window stand open; indeed, it should always be

open, except when he gets out of his blankets, or is fumigating the

room. Let him have a chair by the open window, so as to get as much

fresh air as possible; but be sure that he is warmly wrapped up with

blankets, so as to avoid getting a chill. You might place a hand-bell

by the side of his bed to-night, so that he can summons you should he

have occasion."

When the doctor came next morning he nodded approvingly as soon as he

felt Cyril's hand.

"Nothing could be better," he said; "your pulse is even quieter than

last night. Now let me look at those spots."

"They are fainter," Cyril said.

"A great deal," Dr. Hodges said, in a tone of the greatest pleasure.

"Thank God, my lad, it is dying out. Not above three or four times

since the Plague began have I been able to say so. I shall go about

my work with a lighter heart today, and shall order your treatment in

every case where I see the least chance of its being carried out, but

I cannot hope that it will often prove as successful as it has with

you. You have had everything in your favour--youth, a good

constitution, a tranquil mind, an absence of fear, and a faith in

God."

"And a good attendant, doctor--don't forget that."

"No, that goes for a great deal, lad--for a great deal. Not one nurse

out of a hundred would carry out my instructions carefully; not one

patient in a thousand would be able to see that they were carried

out. Of course you will keep on with the treatment, but do not push

it to extremes; you have pulled yourself down prodigiously, and must

not go too far. Do you perceive any change in the odour when you take

off the blankets?"

"Yes, doctor, a great change; I could scarcely distinguish it this

morning, and indeed allowed John Wilkes to carry them out, as I don't

think I myself could have walked as far as the kitchen, though it is

but ten or twelve paces away. I told him to smoke furiously all the

time, and to come out of the kitchen as soon as he had hung them up."

Cyril took three more baths in the course of the day, but was only

able to sustain them for twenty minutes each, as by the end of that

time he nearly fainted. The doctor came in late in the evening.

"The spots are gone, doctor," Cyril said.

"Then I think you may consider yourself cured, lad. Do not take the

treatment again to-night; you can take it once in the morning; and

then if I find the spots have not reappeared by the time I come, I

shall pronounce the cure as complete, and shall begin to build you up

again."

The doctor was able to give this opinion in the morning.

"I shall not come again, lad, unless you send for me, for every

moment of my time is very precious, and I shall leave you in the

hands of Dr. Wilkes. All you want now is nourishment; but take it

carefully at first, and not too much at a time; stick to broths for

the next two or three days, and when you do begin with solids do so

very sparingly."

"There was a gentleman here yesterday asking about you," John Wilkes

said, as Cyril, propped up in bed, sipped his broth. "It was Mr.

Harvey. He rang at the bell, and I went down to the lower window and

talked to him through that, for of course the watchman would not let

me go out and speak to him. I had heard you speak of him as one of

the gentlemen you met at the minister's, and he seemed muchly

interested in you. He said that you had done him a great service, and

of course I knew it was by frightening that robber away. I never saw

a man more pleased than he was when I told him that the doctor

thought you were as good as cured, and he thanked God very piously

for the same. After he had done that, he asked me first whether you

had said anything to me about him. I said that you had told me you

had met him and his wife at the minister's, and that you said you had

disturbed a robber you found at his house. He said, quite sharp,

'Nothing more?' 'No, not as I can think of. He is always doing good

to somebody,' says I, 'and never a word would he say about it, if it

did not get found out somehow. Why, he saved Prince Rupert's ship

from being blown up by a fire-vessel, and never should we have known

of it if young Lord Oliphant had not written to the Captain telling

him all about it, and saying that it was the gallantest feat done in

the battle. Then there were other things, but they were of the nature

of private affairs.' 'You can tell me about them, my good man,' he

said; 'I am no vain babbler; and as you may well believe, from what