His mother, who always took a gloomy view of things, had scared him by telling him she thought it might have to be done; but Keith was able to reassure him.

The Doctor had told him that, while the fracture was very bad, the leg would be saved.
"If he had not been as hard as a lightwood knot, that fall would have mashed him up," said the Doctor.

This compliment Keith repeated, and it evidently pleased Dave.

The pale face relaxed into a smile.

Keith told him stories of other boys who had had similar accidents and had turned them to good account--of Arkwright and Sir William Jones and Commodore Maury, all of whom had laid the foundation for their future fame when they were in bed with broken legs.
When Keith came away he left the boy comforted and cheered, and even the dismal woman at the door gave him a more civil parting than her greeting had been.
Many an afternoon during the boy's convalescence Keith went over the Ridge to see him, taking him story-books, and reading to him until he was strong enough to read himself.