CHAPTER XXVIII
After making an apology for my intrusion, I acquainted him with the situation of Rattlin, but could by no means prevail upon him to visit him on deck, where he lay; he bade me desire the boatswain to order some of the men to carry him down to the cockpit, "and in the meantime," said he, "I will direct Thompson to get ready the dressings." 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." "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. With this view, he asked if we would undertake to cure the leg at our peril: that is, be answerable for the consequence. To this question, Morgan replied, that the lives of his creatures are at the hands of Cot alone; and it would be great presumption in him to undertake for an event that was in the power of his Maker, no more than the doctor could promise to cure all the sick to whom he administered his assistance; but if the patient would put himself under our direction, we would do our endeavour to bring his distemper to a favourable issue, to which at present we saw no obstruction.