"Alger Jr, Horatio - Joe the Hotel Boy" - читать интересную книгу автора (Alger Horatio Jr)

"He'll get over it, won't he?" questioned Joe, quickly.

The doctor did not answer, but turned to do what he could for the
hurt man. He felt of his chest and listened to his breathing,
and then administered some medicine.

"His ankle is hurt, too," said Joe.

"Never mind the ankle just now, Joe," was the soft answer.

There was something in the tone that alarmed the boy and he
caught the physician by the arm.

"Doctor, tell me the truth!" he cried. "Is he is he going to
die?"

"I am afraid so, my lad. His ribs are crushed and one of them
has stuck into his right lung."

At these words the tears sprang into the boy's eyes and it was
all he could do to keep from crying outright. Even though the
old hermit had been rough in his ways, Joe thought a good deal of
the man.

"Cannot you do something, doctor," he pleaded.

"Not here. We might do something in a hospital, but he would not
survive the journey. He is growing weaker every moment. Be
brave, my lad. It is a terrible trial, I know, but you must
remember that all things are for the best."

Joe knelt beside the sufferer and took hold of his hand. Hiram
Bodley looked at him and then at the doctor.

"I--I can't live--I know it," he said hoarsely. "Joe, stay by me
till I die, won't you?"

"Yes!" faltered the boy. "Oh, this is awful!"

"I'm sorry to leave you so soon, Joe--I--I thought I'd be--be
able to do something for you some day."

"You have done something for me, Uncle Hiram."

"All I've got goes to you, Joe. Doctor, do you hear that?"

"I do."

"It--it ain't much, but it's something. The blue box--I put it in
the blue box--" Here the sufferer began to cough.