CHAPTER XVII. A VISIT TO THE HOSPITAL.
At the hospital, Ralph and young Simmons were informed that the lad theyhad brought in that morning was better, and that it was almost certainthat he would recover in course of time. Naturally, both boys wereanxious to see him, as they felt that the lad they had found in theruins of the dynamited hut could throw a great deal of light on thatmysterious occurrence.
For some reason, which he himself could not have defined, Ralph wasbeginning to link the different strange happenings of the previous nightinto a continuous chain. Irrational as the idea appeared that there wasany connection between the blowing up of the hut and the latest voyageof the gray motor boat, he could not help feeling that somewhere the twooccurrences dove-tailed into each other. But he said nothing of this tohis chums, as, actually, he had nothing upon which to base his belief.
Permission to see the lad whom they had saved from almost certain deathunder the smoldering timbers was denied to them, after they had waitedsome time to obtain it. Percy was bitterly disappointed. Ralph was alsorather put out that they could not see and talk to the little lad, who,they felt certain, held the key to the mystery. But he was notastonished. He knew better than Percy Simmons how serious the boy'scondition had been that morning.
"Come back in two days," the house surgeon said. "I could not think ofpermitting you to talk to your young friend until then. He must on noaccount be excited."
"He is resting easily?" asked Ralph.
"Yes; but--he is terribly fragile and emaciated."
"Any-anything else?" asked Percy, recollecting certain bruises and markshe had spied on the lad's body.
"Why, yes. Since you ask, I should say that he has been the recentvictim of cruel and inhuman treatment. Do you know anything concerningthis?"
"No, we know nothing about him except that we brought him here," saidRalph; "but we take an interest in the case."
"Oh, it's not very interesting," rejoined the man of medicine, mistakinghis meaning; "a simple case of slight concussion of the brain andexhaustion and shock. We have many such cases. It is quite ordinary, Iassure you."
"I guess you and I look at cases from different angles," smiled Ralph.
"Ah; quite so! quite so!" exclaimed the Canadian surgeon, and hurriedoff to make his nightly inspection of the wards.
But, before he went, he had a question to ask:
"I say,--Yankees, aren't you?"
"We are Americans," rejoined Ralph gravely. "That is, we're Americansall we know how to be, twenty-six hours out of the twenty-four, andthree hundred and sixty-five days a year, and more on Leap Year."
"My word! You Yankees are----"
"There's no such word as Yankee," struck in Percy, not knowing whetherto laugh or be angry.
"Oh, well, Americans, then. Same thing! Same thing! Jolly smart people,just the same. Good-night!"
And off the little bald-headed man bounced, leaving the two lads alone.
"No use waiting here, Percy," said Ralph, as the surgeon vanished.
Percy looked around the bare office. A desk, a telephone, and a long rowof dismal, precise-looking chairs were its sole ornaments. A smell ofdisinfectants hung heavily in the air. Behind the desk a small man witha closely cropped head, and very neat, well-brushed clothes, was writingin a big book, a supply of spare pens held behind his ears on eitherside of his shiny skull.
Suddenly the telephone jangled harshly. The man jumped up and went toit. The boys, half unconsciously, paused.
"Hello," they heard the little man say in snappish, peeved tones,"hel-lo. Yes-yes-yes. This is the Mercy Hospital. Yes, I said.Yes-yes-yes. A boy? A boy wounded in the forehead? Concussion case? Yes,we have such a case here."
The boys exchanged glances. There appeared to be hardly a doubt but thatsome one at the other end of the wire was calling up about "their boy."
The conversation to which they were auditors at one end only continued.
"Who is this?--Who?--Say it again.--Malvern?--No?--Speak louder, can'tyou? Oh, Malvin. Yes----"
"Great Scott!"
The exclamation fairly leaped from Ralph's lips.
The busy little man looked around angrily.
"Can't you keep still while I'm 'phoning?" he demanded. "Boys are anuisance."
He applied himself again to the 'phone.
"No, sir, I did not say _you_ were a nuisance. I said, 'Boys are anuisance.' Yes."
He turned and glanced malevolently at the boys, as much as to say, "Nowsee what you've done."
Then the conversation went on.
"See the boy?--No, that is impossible.--Two boys were here to-nightto--Hey! What confounded impudence!"
Ralph had dashed forward and was clutching his arm. He had jerked thereceiver from the fussy little old man and slapped his other hand overthe transmitter.
"Don't say anything about us being here, sir, I beg of you. You may foilthe ends of justice. You may----"
"Hoity-toity! What's all this? What are boys coming to? Be quiet, sir.Let me talk at once. Hullo, Mr. Malvern! Hello, sir! Are you there?"
But apparently "Mr. Malvern," to use Canadian telephone terms, was "notthere."
At any rate, the little man hung up the receiver with a thump and asnort.
"That man has left the 'phone. See what you did!" he exclaimed angrilyto Ralph. "It might have been something of the highest importance."
"I assure you, sir," declared Ralph eagerly, "that the man at the otherend of that wire was one whom we have every reason to believe asuspicious character. I had a strong reason for not wanting him to knowwe had been here to-night, and that was why I interfered, as I'm afraidyou think, without just cause."
"What, hey? Suspicious character, eh? Well, allow me to say, young man,that your own actions are not above suspicion. No, sir!"
The fussy little man took a huge pinch of snuff. While he was sneezing,the boys slipped out.
"Where to now?" asked Percy Simmons.
"To the telegraph office. Then to the police station. We've found outsomething important to-night. Malvin knows that boy! I'm equally certainthat he knows the crew of the phantom motor boat, and the fellow whotried to drive us off Windmill Island."
"Do you really believe it?"
"Just as surely as I do that we are standing here. But don't let's wastetime. That boy in the hospital knows something, and the 'other side'knows that he knows something. It's up to us to beat them to it!"