Chapter XII

For three weeks after his injury Jurgis never got up
from bed. It was a very obstinate sprain; the swelling
would not go down, and the pain still continued. At the
end of that time, however, he could contain himself no
longer, and began trying to walk a little every day, labor~
ing to persuade himself that he was better. No arguments
could stop him, and three or four days later he declared
that he was going back to work. He limped to the cars
and got to Brown's, where he found that the boss had kept
his place -- that is, was willing to turn out into the snow
the poor devil he had hired in the meantime. Every now
and then the pain would force Jurgis to stop work, but he
stuck it out till nearly an hour before closing. Then he
was forced to acknowledge that he could not go on with~
out fainting; it almost broke his heart to do it, and he
stood leaning against a pillar and weeping like a child.
Two of the men had to help him to the car, and when he
got out he had to sit down and wait in the snow till some
one came along.

So they put him to bed again, and sent for the doctor, as
they ought to have done in the beginning. It transpired
that he had twisted a tendon out of place, and could never
have gotten well without attention. Then he gripped the
sides of the bed, and shut his teeth together, and turned
white with agony, while the doctor pulled and wrenched
away at his swollen ankle. When finally the doctor left,
he told him that he would have to lie quiet for two months,
and that if he went to work before that time he might lame
himself for life.

Three days later there came another heavy snow-storm,
and Jonas and Marija and Ona and little Stanislovas all set

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v?