J.M.J.

Author's note: Thank you for reading and reviewing! Thank you also for your patience after several days of waiting! The next chapter will be quicker—it will be out tomorrow. God bless!

July 10 – Monday

Several days passed without any signs of the mysterious stranger on the island. The boys went out several times to search for her, but they had found nothing. Some of them were beginning to wonder if there was some other explanation. Nevertheless, the footprints were indisputable evidence, and they all had to concede in the end that there really must be another person on the island.

"Do you think this other person is going to cause us any trouble?" Joe asked as he and Frank were hiking on the farther of the two hills on yet another search for the stranger.

"I don't know," Frank replied, although he frowned as he did. "So far, I guess she hasn't. When we don't even see her, she can't really cause us too much trouble."

"Except that she's been distracting us from getting anything done ever since we realized she was here." Joe chuckled. "We're not getting our big plans for cleaning this place up done."

They continued walking, and they soon reached the top of the hill. Once they were there, they paused and looked around. It was a clear day with a hot sun, although the salty breeze off the ocean made it pleasant. The ocean spread all around them, a deep, dark blue, with white foam here and there, scudded along by the wind. The island itself was mostly green from up here, with bright yellow beaches and gray stones. Far off in the distance, a huge seabird was drifting on the wind.

"I guess there are worse places to be stranded," Joe commented.

"For sure," Frank agreed, "but I'd like the view better if I knew for sure I wouldn't be seeing it every day for the rest of my life."

Joe grinned. "Too much of a good thing does tend to spoil it."

"You remember the first time Mom and Dad took us to Florida?" Frank asked suddenly.

"Yeah. We were bound and determined to find some pirate treasure." Joe grinned at the memory. "What brings that up?"

Frank shrugged. "I don't know. I've just been remembering things. It's been almost three weeks that we've been here. Do you think they're still looking for us?"

"Oh, sure. It'll take a lot longer than that for Dad to give up. I just wish there was some reasonable hope that he'd think to…" Joe trailed off as he caught a movement with the corner of his eye. He snapped his full attention to it, but he was too late to see what it was.

"Something wrong?" Frank asked, noticing his brother's sudden shift in demeanor.

"I thought I saw something move," Joe replied, speaking quietly while still watching the stand of trees where the movement had been. "Something bigger than a bird, anyway."

Frank also scanned the trees. "Probably a lot smarter, too. If it's her, she's already realized we noticed."

"And is probably long gone by now. There's no harm in checking, anyway."

The brothers approached the stand of trees without being particularly cautious. It was growing near the steeper side of the hill, which wasn't necessarily a cliff, but it would have been hard to climb down it. Frank went to the edge and peered down to see whether the girl was escaping that way, while Joe plunged right into the trees. They were both startled by a loud and definitely feminine scream as Joe stumbled over someone who had crouched behind a low bush. Joe had only a glimpse of the girl before she jumped up and ran away.

Evidently, she hadn't noticed Frank, because she ran straight toward him. Frank wasn't expecting that, and she burst out of the trees so suddenly that he didn't have a chance to react. She barreled straight into him, and he lost his balance. With a shout of alarm, he started rolling down the steep hill.

"Frank!" Joe shouted, running to the brow of the hill.

The girl had paused for a moment to watch Frank's fall, but when she saw Joe running toward her, she turned and made her escape. Joe didn't even think to follow her. He hesitated a second, watching his brother continue to roll down the hill, and then he began half-scrambling, half-sliding after him. Frank came to a stop finally when he slammed into a tree. Joe paused to watch him for a moment and saw that he wasn't moving, and then he continued scrambling down as quickly as he could without falling himself.

It took Joe a few minutes to reach Frank, and by the time he did, his brother was starting to stir. He turned his head and groaned.

"Frank, are you okay?" Joe asked as he reached his side.

"I'm…not sure," Frank replied, his voice slightly slurred.

"Hold still," Joe cautioned him.

He assessed his brother's injuries as well as he could without moving him. Frank was on his back, so Joe could easily see the gash on his forehead, which must have been responsible for his groggy state. There was a bit of blood coming from the corner of his mouth, but Joe was relieved to see that there was none in his ears. His clothes were torn in numerous place, and Joe could see cuts and scratches underneath. His left arm was beneath him, so Joe couldn't see it.

"What hurts the most?" Joe asked.

"Not sure."

"Does your back hurt?"

Frank didn't answer right away, as if he was assessing the question. "No. I don't think so."

"Okay, that's good. Can you sit up?"

Frank tried to push himself up, but he couldn't get the traction with one arm behind him. Joe put his hand behind his shoulders to help him, and Frank started to pull his left arm out. Instantly, his face became even paler and he groaned.

"What's wrong?" Joe asked, his voice abrupt and frightened.

"My arm," Frank gasped. He gritted his teeth. "Really hurts."

Joe let out a long breath, already fearing the worst. "Okay. I'm going to help you sit up all the way, okay?"

Frank nodded. "Okay."

Gently, Joe lifted his brother up. Frank was still pale and clearly in pain. This time, however, Joe got him into a sitting position. Frank held his left arm stiffly, trying to keep it from moving.

"I'm going to have to move your arm," Joe warned him. "I'll be careful."

Frank took a deep breath and nodded.

"Is it above your elbow or below it?" Joe asked, hesitating to touch his brother's arm.

"Below."

"Okay. I'll try not to bend your elbow."

With utmost caution, Joe helped him move his shoulder so that his arm—still bent at the elbow—was now in front of him. Joe looked at it carefully, not liking what he saw.

"I don't know if it's just swelling already or if it's…"

"Broken," Frank finished for him, seeing the same disconcerting bow in his forearm that Joe had noticed. "That's just great."

Joe sat back on the ground and stared moodily at the water below them. If Frank's arm really was broken, then this was a serious situation. And there was no one else to deal with it besides himself and his friends.

"Joe?" Frank said. "I don't think anything else is broken."

"That's something, I guess." Joe ran his fingers through his hair and then glanced up toward the top of the hill. Frank had fallen a long way. "Okay, well, the first thing to do is to get you out of here. It's going to be a rough climb, especially one-handed. Maybe I'd better go get the other guys and we can figure something out with the ropes."

A shade of dismay momentarily passed over Frank's face before he smoothed it away. "If you think that would be best…"

As Joe thought about it, he didn't particularly want to leave Frank alone, either. He stared meditatively at his brother's arm. "Maybe we can immobilize it somehow, if you think you're up to climbing."

"I'd rather try that than sit down here," Frank replied.

There was quite a bit of vegetation on the hillside, and so there was no shortage of straight, sturdy sticks that could be used as a splint. Joe also found several vine-like plants that seemed sturdy enough to use to tie the splint. He bound two sticks to Frank's arm to keep it from changing position. Then he tied the arm to Frank's side to keep it from moving at all. From the way Frank winced and gritted his teeth, Joe knew that he was hurting him, and so by the time he was done, he was almost as pale as Frank was.

"Let's rest a minute," Joe suggested.

"Good idea."

Frank leaned back against the tree and looked up the hill. They were clearly going to have to take several breaks on the way up. But anything was better than having his friends attempt to pull him up on ropes, and there was no other way up.

They took a few minutes to recover a bit. Then Joe helped Frank to stand up. He was dizzier than he expected, and he swayed so that Joe had to support him.

"Are you sure you can make it?" Joe asked.

"No," Frank admitted, "but I want to try."

"Then we'll try."

It was a long, slow process to climb that hill. Long before they reached the top, Frank was feeling weak and faint, and they had to stop several times. It must have been hours later when they finally reached the top. Frank's knees were shaking by then, and he sat heavily in the grass. Joe sat next to him, trying to catch his breath.

"We made it this far," Joe said after a few seconds. "It shouldn't be so bad the rest of the way. Good thing we've been cutting trails through the brush."

Frank was staring at his arm. "It's crooked, isn't it?"

Joe glanced at it. "We'll get back to the cabin and…"

"Joe, it's not going to heal straight if we don't set it."

Joe had to look out to sea to quell the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. "We'll talk about that when we get back to the cabin. Come on."

Neither of them said much on the way back. Frank was worn out and though the splint helped ease the pain in his arm a tiny bit by keeping it immobile, but it still ached and nearly every other part of him hurt from the fall, as well. Joe was thinking about the major problem that they had on their hands. Frank was right that his arm would heal crooked if it really was broken, but Joe had enough first aid training to know that setting a broken bone was something that should be left for a doctor.

They were about half a mile from the cabin when Frank sagged against Joe. "I can't make it any farther," he admitted.

Joe helped him to sit down. "I'll go and get help. I'll be right back. I promise."

Frank nodded vaguely, but Joe didn't think he looked particularly pleased. He wished there was some other way, but he couldn't carry Frank and even if he tried, it wouldn't be a comfortable ride for him. With one last regretful glance, he turned and started running down the path to the cabin. The first people he met were Tony and Chet, who were working at clearing the vegetation around the cabin.

"Come on, quick, guys," he panted. "Frank's up the trail. I think he broke his arm. I need help getting him back here."

"What? What happened?" Chet asked, while at the same time, Tony said, "We've been wondering where you guys were."

In spite of their questions, they followed Joe without hesitation. Joe explained as well as he could while they were running, but he wasn't able to give a complete story before they reached Frank. Frank's eyes were closed as he was leaning against a tree, but he opened them when he heard his friends approaching.

"Hey, Frank, how're you doing?" Chet asked.

"Been better," Frank replied with a shaky attempt at a grin.

"We'll have you back to the cabin in no time," Joe told him. "Would you guys help me carry him?"

"No," Tony said, "but we'll carry him for you. You look beat yourself."

Joe had to admit that he was exhausted, so he reluctantly let his friends take over. By the time they had gotten Frank back to the cabin, Phil and Biff had returned there. Immediately, they all set to work making Frank as comfortable as they could.

"We'd better get all those cuts cleaned up," Phil said. "One of you guys start boiling some water. It's too bad we don't have any antiseptic, but at least we can make sure we're using clean water."

Chet and Biff hurried out to tend to that.

"One of you is going to have to set my arm," Frank said.

The three left in the room glanced at one another.

"I don't think that's such a good idea without a doctor," Tony protested.

"I've been thinking the same thing," Joe agreed, "but there isn't a doctor here and I'm starting to think we don't have any choice."

"I don't want my arm to heal crooked," Frank insisted.

"I'm sure not," Phil agreed, "but if we don't know what we're doing, we could mess it up even worse."

"I'm willing to take the chance," Frank said. "If you don't do anything, it will definitely be messed up."

Tony took a step back. "I'm sorry, guys, but I can't do it."

Joe's face was still pale. "I mean, if I have to…"

"I'm not going to make you do that, Joe," Phil said. "I'll do it. But let's get these cuts cleaned up first."

Once they had sterilized water to work with and it had cooled down again, they rinsed out Frank's injuries as well as they could. There wasn't one of them who wasn't wishing more than ever that they had more and better supplies, or better yet, a way back home to a doctor. They had no bandages or any clean cloth of any kind, but since Frank's shirt was already ripped anyway, Chet and Biff took it and washed it and then cut it up to use as bandages for the worse cuts.

When that was done, it was time to attempt to set the bone. They were all squeamish enough that no one wanted to stay to watch it who didn't have to. For that matter, Phil's face was rapidly losing color.

"I could use some help," Phil said aside to the others. "It would be easier if I could do this without Frank expecting the exact moment."

They glanced at each other.

"Okay," Joe offered. "I can distract him, at least."

Chet, Biff, and Tony made a hasty retreat after that. Joe sat down next to Frank, while Phil knelt on the left side.

"We'll have to straighten the arm out," Frank said, already trying to untie the splint that Joe had made.

"Right," Phil said. "Let me do that."

The splint was removed, and Phil straightened the arm as gently as he could. Nonetheless, Frank couldn't help grunting from the pain. Phil let out a couple of long breaths and then nodded at Joe.

Joe moved over to the opposite side of Frank, so that he would have to turn his head away from Phil. "I've got a funny story for you, Frank."

Frank took one last glance at Phil and then turned to Joe. "I'll bet."

"I've been saving this one for just the right occasion," Joe went on. "It's a good one. Okay. So this woman is going to have twins, a boy and a girl, but she gets in an accident and goes into a coma for several months. Before she wakes up, the kids are born."

"I'm pretty sure none of this would work," Frank said.

"It's a joke. Forget the science," Joe replied, trying not to glance at Phil, who was holding Frank's wrist loosely, waiting for him to be distracted. "Anyway, the woman wakes up and the doctor tells her that the kids were born and everything went fine. He also says that, fortunately, the woman's brother was there, and so he was able to name the kids. And the woman is all like, 'Not my brother! He probably named them something stupid.'"

"If her brother's anything like my brother…" Frank said.

Joe continued the story without comment. "'Well,' the doctor says, 'he named the girl Denise.' 'Whew,' the woman replies. 'That's not so bad. What did he name the boy?' And the doctor says, 'Denephew.'"

Phil had been just about to make his move as Joe said the punchline, but instead he almost choked laughing. "That's got to be the worst joke I've ever heard."

In spite of himself, Frank couldn't help grinning slightly. "You were supposed to distract me, not Phil."

"Sorry," Joe replied. "I've got more."

Frank pretended to groan. "Please, no."

Then his pretended groan turned into the real thing as Phil gave his arm a hard yank. In fact, he only kept from screaming by biting his lip so hard it started to bleed.

"Are you okay?" Phil asked.

"I'll tell you in a few minutes," Frank replied faintly.

Joe scooted over to where he could see the arm. "Do you think you got it, Phil?"

"I don't know."

"It looks straight," Joe said after a moment. "We'd better get the splint back on it. Frank, maybe you'd better lie back down in case you pass out."

"Probably a good idea," Frank replied. He was paler than ever.

Joe and Phil helped him to lie back and then they replaced the splint. By the time they had finished, both Joe and Phil were pale and shaky. Frank was exhausted, so they told him to rest and they went outside. Phil leaned against the outside wall.

"Thanks for doing that," Joe said. "I don't think I could have."

"I just hope I didn't make things worse," Phil replied.

Their three companions appeared around the corner of the cabin when they heard their voices.

"How did it go?" Chet asked.

"It's done. That's about all the more we can say for now," Joe told him.

"That gash on his head looks kind of bad," Tony commented. "He could have a concussion, too. Doesn't that mean we shouldn't let him sleep?"

"I think we're just supposed to wake him up every so often to make sure he's okay," Phil replied.

"It's not like we have an emergency room to take him to if he's not," Joe muttered, turning away.

The others looked at one another. This was a situation that they hadn't thought about beforehand, although they felt now that they should have. Yet no amount of advance preparation would have helped. None of them had any medical training beyond basic first aid, and they had no supplies, not even a band-aid.

"We can take turns keeping an eye on him," Phil said after a few moments. "I'm sure he'll be okay. I mean, we've all been through worse."

"When?" Joe retorted before walked away.

"Joe?" Biff tried to call him back.

"Let him be," Phil advised. He lowered his voice to ensure no one else would hear. "Look, guys, let's not try to dance around how serious this is. I mean, we've already been suspecting that Eli died from an infection after breaking his leg. I'm not saying that's going to happen, but it's probably on Joe's mind."

The others looked at the ground for a minute or so. The idea wasn't far from any of their minds.

"How long do you think it would be before Frank is out of any danger?" Chet asked.

Phil sighed. "I have no idea."