The doctor lowered his face, sniffed at Tiber suspiciously, and then drew back. “Well, he certainly doesn’t smell sober. But drinking doesn’t lay a man’s scalp open either. And he didn’t get this sort of mud on himself in town.” He lifted his head and stared at Ordo. “He’s damn lucky not to be dead after a blow to the head like that.” When Ordo said nothing, the doctor glanced at his assistants. “Load him up on the stretcher and let’s get him back to the infirmary.”
The doctor stood and held the lantern for the two orderlies, who carefully edged Tiber onto the stretcher. In the lantern’s feeble light, the doctor looked older than he had in his office. The lines in his face seemed deeper and his eyes were flat.
“He might have got muddy here after he fell trying to walk back to his dormitory,” Ordo suddenly volunteered. We all turned to look at him. The reasoning sounded laborious to me, and the doctor must have agreed, for he suddenly snapped at him, “You’ll come with us. I want you to write down everything you saw and sign it. Burvelle, you go back to your dormitory. And Caulder! Get yourself home this instant. I don’t want to see you again tonight.”
Caulder had been holding back at the edge of the circle of light. He had been staring at Tiber, his expression one of both fascination and horror. At the doctor’s words, he startled, and then scampered off into the night. I stooped and picked up Tiber’s satchel and papers.
“Give those to me,” the doctor commanded me brusquely, and I passed them over to him.
The doctor’s path led in the same direction as mine, so I walked on the other side of the stretcher from him. The swaying light of the lantern made the shadows ebb and flow over Tiber’s face, distorting his features. He was very pale.
I left the miserable cavalcade at the walkway to Carneston House. The windows in the upper floors were all dark, but a lantern still burned by the door. When I went inside, I took the last of my courage and reported to Sergeant Rufet. He stared at me as I stammered out my excuse for coming in after lights-out. I thought he would take me to task over it, but he only nodded and said, “Your friend said you’d run off to see about someone who was hurt. Next time, come here first and report it to me. I could have sent some of the older cadets with you.”
“Yes, sir,” I said wearily. I turned to go.