Island Hospital by Elizabeth Houghton Read Free Book Online

the dripping of water.
    Sheila felt time running away endlessly as she waited for the whistling to begin again, but there was only silence. She stole a look over her shoulder at the woods darkening into twilight behind her. Desperation sharpened her voice as she called again.
    “Who’s there? Can’t you hear me?”
    There was a merry laugh as a canoe came silently into view around the point. Alan Greenwood’s hair was very red against the soft green of the cedar boughs.
    “Hello up there! Are you stuck?”
    Sheila almost forgot that she was glad to see him. “The water’s too deep,” she said shortly.
    Alan leaned on his paddle. “Can’t you swim?” There was a mocking smile on his face.
    Sheila tried desperately to control her temper. After all, she wasn’t rescued yet. “I haven’t got a bathing suit with me. I only went for a walk.” Her tone was meant to be disarming.
    Alan made no attempt to hide his amusement. “I forgot. Sweet English girls don’t go swimming in their birthday suits.” He swung the canoe in closer. “Hop in. It’s a bit cold to make you swim after sundown. I’ll let you off this time.” His smile was maddening. “Take it easy. Canoes are a bit temperamental.”
    “I know,” Sheila said crossly.
    She promptly slipped on a piece of wet moss and landed in a heap in the bottom of the canoe, making it rock violently.
    Alan recovered his balance with an effort. “I thought I told you to take it easy! I might have known you’d never seen a canoe before!”
    Sheila picked herself up. Anger was seething in her but she made one more attempt to put things right.
    “I was brought up with canoes, and I slipped,” she said coldly, and scraped the offending green moss off her shoe and dropped it overboard.
    Alan regarded her heightened color with contemplative eyes. “Could be.” He dipped his paddle into the water and sent the canoe gliding effortlessly forward. “What would you have done if I hadn’t come along?” he asked curiously.
    “Gone back by the path,” Sheila said determinedly. But she was unable to restrain a shudder as she glanced at the trees now black against the evening sky.
    Alan whistled. “Proper Girl Guide and everything! Does your book of trailcraft tell you what to do when you meet a bear?”
    Sheila stared at him, every trace of color gone from her face. “A bear?” she whispered. “I never thought of bears!”
    Alan nodded and she thought she could see contempt on his face.
    “They come down after salmonberries and other wild bush fruits, and they can be nasty if ...” he paused deliberately.
    Sheila shivered as she remembered eating that wild raspberry. Had there ...
    Alan completed his sentence with a wicked grin. “... if you get between them and their cubs.”
    A sudden change of mood struck him as they neared the hospital landing. He turned on her angrily, biting out his sentences through set teeth.
    “You silly little fool! Going off like that without telling people where you were going? What if you’d turned back along that trail? Ten to one you would have missed the turning in the dark and gone blundering through the woods! The whole harbor would have had to turn out to search for you ... men who had already earned their night’s rest ... men whose womenfolk have more sense in their little fingers than you appear to possess! Bah! You make me sick ... the sooner you get back to England the better. It can’t be too soon for me! I’ve got work to do, and it’s not acting nursemaid to you ... ”

 
    CHAPTER THREE
    For a moment Sheila was too startled by Alan’s outburst to do more than stare at him. Then anger flooded her.
    “I never asked you to be a nursemaid!” she flung at him. “I only asked for help. I’m sorry I even called out.”
    Alan looked at her grimly. “I might have known you would be childish as well. Not content with taking chances that would jeopardize the smooth running of the hospital you profess to serve, you