CHAPTER XXXI

BETTER THAN A FAIRY TALE

News of the accident on the river soon spread throughout the parish.
For a time various kinds of reports were in circulation, until it was
learned that Rod was the only one who had received any injury. It was
told how Captain Josh had carried him up to the rectory, while the
doctor went ahead to tell the Royals what had happened.

While the neighbours talked, Rod was lying in his little bed in the
grip of a raging fever. He knew nothing of what was going on around
him, nor how anxious ones watched him night and day. It was Miss
Arabella who came to Mrs. Royal's assistance in this time of need to
help with the household affairs. Her tongue had lost none of its
sharpness for those she disliked, but for her friends she was most
loyal. She would have done almost anything for Rod, and she was not
slow in expressing her opinion of Tom Dunker and "his whole tribe" for
causing so much trouble.

Captain Josh almost camped in the rectory kitchen. When not there, he
was wandering about the door-yard right in front of Rod's window. He
ate and slept at the Anchorage, but that was about all.

"It's my fault that the boy is sick," he told his wife, "and it's up to
me to be on hand in case of need. Jimmy kin look after things around
here while I'm away."

Numerous were the visitors who came to the rectory to enquire about the
sick boy. Tom Dunker was one of them, and he found the captain on