"
"Then what are you shamming for, and frightening us in this way?" said
Peterkin, smiling through his tears; for the poor boy had been really
under the impression that I was dying.
I now raised myself on my elbow, and putting my hand to my forehead,
found that it had been cut pretty severely, and that I had lost a good
deal of blood.
"Come, come, Ralph," said Jack, pressing me gently backward, "lie down,
my boy; you're not right yet. Wet your lips with this water; it's cool
and clear as crystal. I got it from a spring close at hand. There now,
don't say a word, hold your tongue," he said, seeing me about to speak.
"I'll tell you all about it, but you must not utter a syllable till you
have rested well."
"Oh! don't stop him from speaking, Jack," said Peterkin, who, now that
his fears for my safety were removed, busied himself in erecting a
shelter of broken branches in order to protect me from the wind, which,
however, was almost unnecessary, for the rock beside which I had been
laid completely broke the force of the gale. "Let him speak, Jack; it's
a comfort to hear that he's alive, after lying there stiff and white
and sulky for a whole hour, just like an Egyptian mummy. Never saw such
a fellow as you are, Ralph, always up to mischief. You've almost
knocked out all my teeth, and more than half choked me, and now you go
shamming dead! It's very wicked of you, indeed it is."
While Peterkin ran on in this style, my faculties became quite clear
again, and I began to understand my position.
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