The Adventures of Roderick Random

The Successful Cure

Morgan and the narrator proceed with the treatment: they saw off the protruding splinter, reduce the fracture, dress the wound, apply the eighteen-tailed bandage, and place the leg in a box secundum artem. Everything succeeds according to their expectations. They not only preserve the poor fellow’s leg but also render Dr. Mackshane contemptible among the ship’s company, all of whom had watched the course of this cure. The successful treatment is completed in six weeks.

第二十九章

The chapter recounts a series of hardships endured by the narrator and his shipmates Morgan and Thompson aboard a ship under the tyrannical rule of Captain Oakum and the vengeful Doctor Mackshane. The narrative follows their persecution, imprisonment, and the dire consequences that befall them during a voyage marked by conflict and despair.

The storm subsiding into a brisk gale

After the storm subsides, the ship enters warm latitudes where the weather becomes intolerable and the crew falls gravely ill. The oppressive heat and sickness create a dire atmosphere aboard the vessel, setting the stage for further conflicts and tensions among the crew.

The doctor’s malice and spying behind the canvas

Doctor Mackshane, motivated by malice toward the Welshman Morgan and the narrator, attempts to gather complaints against them by visiting the sick under pretense of concern. When this scheme fails due to the patients’ goodwill toward the two men, the doctor resorts to eavesdropping on their conversations by hiding behind the canvas surrounding their berth. The scheme is discovered when Morgan notices movement outside their hangings, and the narrator hurls a bone at the hidden listener, who tumbles away to his cabin. This retaliation marks the narrator for destruction in the doctor’s eyes.