FORTUNE'S FROWNS

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2131, 24 April 1914, Page 8

FORTUNE'S FROWNS

, .—f LOSING THE BATTLE

HONOURABLE CAPITULATION, [B? MERE MEBE.] Giuseppe—that really was his name. iint it had its- difficulties of pronunciation. So to tho nurses and patients of tho surgical ward of Wellington's Public Hospital he became "Zippy." A Neapolitan, Zippy was a member of one of those colonies of Italian fishermen who ply their calling at Makara, Island and Bona Bays, and other -suitable, grounds off tho Wellington coasts. During a gathering of tho harvest of tho deep, a, fish-hook jagged into one of his ankles.- An everyday incident, mayhap, in the lifo of a fisherman—a little bit of a jag. Not worth moro attention as a rule than the few omphatio words expressivo of annoyanco which the fisherman, both amateur as well as professional, would bo provoked to use on such an occasion. What words Zippy used to express his disgust at the erring hook 1 cannot oven mako a hazard at. As Zippy, but a recent arrival in tho Dominion, knew no English; and I know not Italian. The. jag was not, however, to be deprived of" its claims to recognition by the mere ejaculation of sundry cuss w r ords—which, presuming that Zippy was a true fisherman, ho would bo likely to use. As is tho way sometimes with the jags of rusty nails, dirty fish-hooks, and such-like, it took a course of poisonous inflammation, atrJ of such malignancy in • Zippy's case, that it landed him in hospital. And Zippy had been in the institution so many weeks now that tho roar of. tho sea must have become but a dim recollection to him; the tranquillity of the lie-abed existence gradually erasing tho feel of -the -lifting fishing craft on the ocean swell. . ■ ■ Several times had a lancing operation been performed, but the rise of the poison insidiously continued, and the little Irishman, Muldoon, who, with the charge nurse, could alone mako head or tail of Zippy!s wants and gesticulations, and who assisted in the surgical dressings of Zippy's wounds, was becoming of tlie opinion that the "pore little divvle wud lose, his leg for loife." But Zippy did not countenance such a severance. Many of his swarthy fellow toilers of the sea called to sco him, mid . during the time they spent at . his bedside Zippy's face would lose its stolid, vacant look, aud a bright, joyous expression take its place.. His coal-black eyes would sparkle over the, recital of the doings of. the fishing colony. From the authorities they soon learnt the precarious hope that remained of saving Zippy's leg, but when they tried to persuade him to accept tho inevitable, he simply shook his head. It seemed then that he even regarded them as conspiring in a plot to rob him. _ Lying opposite to him, on the other side of the ward, was an unfortunate of the workaday world, who had refused to part with a badly-shattered leg I till the latch of Death's door was just lifting for his passing through. As the now one-legged man . was wheeled out each morning to his bath, the sight exercised a peculiar fascination over Zippy. ■ ■■, ■ Day by day Tie kept up tho battlo against a similar fate. Propped up in bed, his pinched, brown face wouIK sometimes become most wistful, and tears would stream down his cheeks. If the charge-nurse noticed such incidents she would chide him. # ; "Zippy, you naughty hoy," was her invariable rebuke, "you mustn't go on liko that." But well she understood Zippy's sadliess of mood. "At tho time of the simple mishap, which seemed likely,to briilg such disaster in its train, the Neapolitan fisherman had been on tho vergo_of sending the necessary money to bring his wife and children from Italy. And now? Tho pain at nights would ofttimes deprive Zippy of the possibility of. rest, and in consequence somo days ho would sleep, sitting up, for hours at a time. This reversal of the usual sleeping hours caused an unsympathetic Scotchman to objurgate Zippy one afternoon as he was indulging in a nap. "Why dinna yo sleep o' nichts, ye?" he called across tho ward, addressing the peaceful slumbering brown face, encased in a flannel head-wrap; "instid 0' Deskiu' sinsiblo bodies wi' yer croonin' ?" Zippy was heedless of the ■ growl. That he might have replied effectively, though, was indicated when ho was subsequently suspicious that another patient was laughing at him. Turning towards the hilarious person, ho screwed his face into a series of grimaces, and indulged in such cachinnations that Muldoon's faculties as an. interpreter wero severely tested in order to effect an honourable peace. v . ' After one night of excessive torment Zippy in the morning beckoned the faithful Muldoon to him, and they had along -gesticulating and shoulder-shrug-ging confabulation. When tho visiting -surgeon came later tho nurse informed him of tho bad night passed. Zippy gazed hard at the surgeon, half comprehending.ly. Then ho made a sawing motion with his hand across tho injured leg-"To-morrow," tho surgeon said. Such was Zippy's capitulation. Two mornings later Zippy was proppod up in bed, enjoying a light breaklast. Alongside the . one-legged workman's wheeled chair was drawn up. Zippy's hand stolo down the bed quilt to where there seemed to bo a painful throbbing, and then ho turned to his visitor, and, clenching a hand, began opening and shutting it convulsively. "It seems to bo still thero," said tho other, nodding, as he held up his own stump of leg amputated at tho knee, "but it's only tho nerves." "Shure, but it's gone for loife, liowivcr." remarked Muldoon, who was making a ropast on an adjacent locker top of a plump flounder —a token of esteem from Zippy's friondn. But Zippy, although still pensively opening and shutting his 'hand, looked quite happy.- 'die ordeal was over, even if the .battle'was'lost.