The Far Country by Nevil Shute

Author:Nevil Shute [Shute, Nevil]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, (¯`'•.¸//(*_*)\\¸.•'´¯)
ISBN: 9781741211313
Google: X4aQ8Bw8-3kC
Amazon: 174121131X
Publisher: REDWOOD EDITIONS AUSTRAILIA
Published: 1952-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

Zlinter went into the room and plucked the towel from the lamp; the room was flooded with light. He saw a lump under the bedclothes, turned them back, and there was the bottle, uncorked and practically empty. He dropped it on the floor with tightened lips, wondering if his patient had drunk the whole of it. From the look of him, he probably had.

The man said genially in a strong voice, “Good old Splinter. Good old mucking bastard!” He burst into laughter in an access of bonhomie. “Come on, le’s sing ‘God Save the King’ together, and muck the mucking Germans!”

A man appeared in the corridor dressed in pyjama trousers and no top. “Want any help, Splinter?”

“This verdamt stupid bloody fool,” said the Czech, angrily, “somebody has given him a bottle of whisky. We must try and keep him quiet, for his own sake and for the man next door.”

The next two hours were a nightmare. At an early stage Zlinter sent a man to fetch Forrest from his house; by the time he came running the pandemonium was terrific, with three men fighting to keep Bert Hanson in his bed, with Zlinter himself attempting to keep his trephine case quiet and tranquil in the next room behind a beaver board wall. The man was frantically, fighting drunk; at one stage he got hold of the bottle and used it as a club till it broke, mercifully upon the wall beside him. It was with the greatest difficulty that they got the jagged, broken neck out of his hand.

Jim Forrest said to Zlinter at the height of it, “You’ll have to give him something. Morphia.”

The Czech said, “I do not think that will be good. When this is over, there will be reaction, and he will be very weak. I do not think that any drug will work while there is so much alcohol, unless to give it in a great dose as would kill him later.”

“What the hell are we going to do with him?”

“Hold him, until the thing passes. If these men grow tired, get other men.”

“How’s Harry going on?”

“He is going on ver’ well. It would be better for him if there was less noise.”

“I’ll do the best I can. But if he can’t have any dope, he’ll have to work it out, and he’s got some way to go.”

At about three o’clock, and almost suddenly, the man stopped struggling and shouting, and entered on a stage of collapse. Carl Zlinter left his trephine case and gave his whole attention to his amputation drunk. The heart was now very weak. The man lay in a stupor of weakness, gradually sinking. At about four o’clock Zlinter gave an injection of strychnine, which only had a very temporary, slight effect.

At about half-past five, in the first light of dawn, Bert Hanson died.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.