A PIERCING pain roused Vinicius. At the first moment he could not understand
where he was, nor what was happening. He felt a roaring in his head, and his
eyes were covered as if with mist. Gradually, however, his consciousness
returned, and at last he beheld through that mist three persons bending over him.
Two he recognized: one was Ursus, the other the old man whom he had thrust
aside when carrying off Lygia. The third, an utter stranger, was holding his left
arm, and feeling it from the elbow upward as far as the shoulder-blade. This
caused so terrible a pain that Vinicius, thinking it a kind of revenge which they
were taking, said through his set teeth, "Kill me!" But they paid no apparent heed
to his words, just as though they heard them not, or considered them the usual
groans of suffering. Ursus, with his anxious and also threatening face of a
barbarian, held a bundle of white cloth torn in long strips. The old man spoke to
the person who was pressing the arm of Vinicius, -- "Glaucus, art thou certain
that the wound in the head is not mortal?"
"Yes, worthy Crispus," answered Glaucus. "While serving in the fleet as a slave,
and afterward while living at Naples, I cured many wounds, and with the pay
which came to me from that occupation I freed myself and my relatives at last.
The wound in the head is slight. When this one he pointed to Ursus with his
head] took the girl from the young man, he pushed him against the wall; the
young man while falling put out his arm, evidently to save himself; he broke and
disjointed it, but by so doing saved his head and his life."
"Thou hast had more than one of the brotherhood in thy care," added Crispus,
"and hast the repute of a skilful physician; therefore I sent Ursus to bring thee."
"Ursus, who on the road confessed that yesterday he was ready to kill me!"
"He confessed his intention earlier to me than to thee; but I, who know thee and
thy love for Christ, explained to him that the traitor is not thou, but the unknown,
who tried to persuade him to murder."
"That was an evil spirit, but I took him for an angel," said Ursus, with a sigh.
"Some other time thou wilt tell me, but now we must think of this wounded man."
Thus speaking, he began to set the arm. Though Crispus sprinkled water on his
face, Vinicius fainted repeatedly from suffering; that was, however, a fortunate
circumstance, since he did not feel the pain of putting his arm into joint, nor of
setting it. Glaucus fixed the limb between two strips of wood, which he bound
quickly and firmly, so as to keep the arm motionless. When the operation was
over, Vinicius recovered consciousness again and saw
Lygia above him. She stood there at the bed holding a brass basin with water, in
which from time to time Glaucus dipped a sponge and moistened the head of his
patient.
Vinicius gazed and could not believe his eyes. What he saw seemed a dream, or
the pleasant vision brought by fever, and only after a long time could he whisper,
-- "Lygia!"
The basin trembled in her hand at that sound, but she turned on him eyes full of
sadness.
