said. "Pip, there is a doctor staying at Boolagri ten miles along
the road. Fetch him--run all the way. I will go back home--fourteen
miles. Miss Meg, I can't be back all at once. I will bring a buggy;
the bullock-dray is too slow and jolting, even when it comes back.
You must watch by her, give her water if she asks--there is nothing
else you can do."

"She is dying?" Meg said--"dying?"

He thought of all that might happen before he brought help, and dare
not leave her unprepared.

"I think her back is broken," he said, very quietly. "If it is, it
means death."

Pip fled away down the road that led to the doctor's.

Mr. Gillet gave a direction or two, then he looked at Meg.

"Everything depends on you; you must not even think of breaking down,"
he said. "Don't move her, watch all the time."

He moved away towards the lower road.

She sprang after him.

"Will she die while you are away?--no one but me."

Her eyes were wild, terrified.