The doctor was whispering in a doctor's way to Ariel at the end of the room opposite the bed, when the three old fellows came in.None of them spoke immediately, and though all three cleared their throats with what they meant for casual cheerfulness, to indicate that the situation was not at all extraordinary or depressing, it was to be seen that the Colonel's chin trembled under his mustache, and his comrades showed similar small and unwilling signs of emotion.
Eskew spoke first."Well, boys?" he said, and smiled.
That seemed to make it more difficult for the others; the three white heads bent silently over the fourth upon the pillow; and Ariel saw waveringly, for her eyes suddenly filled, that the Colonel laid his unsteady hand upon Eskew's, which was outside the coverlet.
"It's--it's not," said the old soldier, gently--"it's not on--on both sides, is it, Eskew?"Mr.Arp moved his hand slightly in answer."It ain't paralysis," he said."They call it `shock and exhaustion'; but it's more than that.It's just my time.I've heard the call.We've all been slidin' on thin ice this long time--and it's broke under me--""Eskew, Eskew!" remonstrated Peter Bradbury.
"You'd oughtn't to talk that-a-way! You only kind of overdone a little--heat o' the day, too, and--""Peter," interrupted the sick man, with feeble asperity, "did you ever manage to fool me in your life?""No, Eskew.""Well, you're not doin' it now!"
Two tears suddenly loosed themselves from Squire Buckalew's eyelids, despite his hard endeavor to wink them away, and he turned from the bed too late to conceal what had happened.