"All right," I said. "If I am to be commander-in-chief, whether I will or not, my first order is, 'Follow me.'"
We returned to the ship without any particular haste, frequently stopping to rest and to administer restoratives to the lips of our exhausted comrade. He was conveyed to his own quarters and everything was, by the direction of Captain Ganoe, placed as nearly as possible, in the same shape that he left it.
He was still sleeping, and the Captain assured us that he was doing well, and that if fever could be avoided, he would soon recover. He cautioned us to keep quiet and not ask him any questions in case he should awake to consciousness.
Captain Ganoe took his place at the side of the patient and from time to time touched his lips with water. After several hours he partially aroused from his lethargy, and the Captain administered a few spoonfuls of broth, which were swallowed with avidity, and he again relapsed into a profound slumber.
The Captain now directed us to leave him entirely alone with the patient but to hold ourselves in readiness to come at a moment's notice. He told us that all the patient now needed was profound silence, and a little nourishment whenever he was sufficiently aroused to partake of it. "I want Mike" he said, "to remain with me so as to be ready at any moment to execute my orders. Captain Battell's restoration to health and vigor is of more importance to us now than any other consideration. I need Mike more than you do, and you must get along with cold lunches, or, do your own cooking. If I need any of you, Mike will let you know."
Through Mike, we heard from the sick room from time to time, but the word was always the same; that the patient was doing well, but still sleeping. Mike said that whenever Battell showed signs of awaking, the Captain would administer a spoonful of soup and he would drop off to sleep again without ever being fully aroused to consciousness.
I was keenly alive to the fact that the death, or even the great disability of Captain Battell would be an irreparable loss to all of us. He was the only experienced Arctic navigator and explorer among us, and notwithstanding the cheering news from the sick room, I felt the most intense anxiety, and remained in the library all the time, so as to be ready to respond at once to any call from Captain Ganoe.