not a little.

Inside of five minutes Joe was on the way to the doctor's residence,
which was on the outskirts of Riverside. He had left the hermit as
comfortable as possible, on a mattress and covered with a cloth to keep
off the night air,--for it was now growing late and the sun had set
behind the mountains.

Tired though he was the boy pulled with might and main, and so reached
the dock of the physician's home in a short space of time. Running up
the walk of the neatly-kept garden, he mounted the piazza and rang the
bell several times.

"What's the matter?" asked Doctor Gardner, who came himself to answer
the summons.

"Our cabin is in ruins, because of the storm, and Mr. Bodley is badly
hurt," answered Joe, and related some of the particulars.

"This is certainly too bad, my boy," said the physician. "I'll come at
once and do what I can for him."

He ran for a case of instruments and also for some medicines, and then
followed Joe back to the boat.

"You act as if you were tired," said the doctor, after he had watched
Joe at the oars for several minutes.

"I am tired, sir--I've been rowing a good deal to-day. But I guess I can
make it."