At the same time, but only semi-consciously, he heard the loud shouts of men. As in a dream, he felt himself grasped roughly and lifted from the ground. Soon he knew that he was back in the shed again. He saw a man standing above him holding his machine.
He felt strangely detached—as if he were not there at all. He saw the man look at the machine; look at the door; look at the chain; look at the hole in the wall; look at the light cord. He saw the man connecting his machine to the light cord; he felt powerless to warn the man that he might be connecting it wrong—that there were two ways: one right, one wrong....
An explosion threw the man heavily against the wall. He could see the man struggling slowly up—coming towards him—kicking him. But he could hardly feel the kick at all—and everything got dark....
When light came back it was just a small square above him. That puzzled him, until he reached out and found wooden walls all around him—very close. He was in a box. He became suddenly fully conscious of the fact. Looking down at him from above he saw the faces of two of the men of Toon.
He cried out involuntarily, struggling to escape. One of the creatures shook a heavy piece of metal threateningly over his head. He cowered down, shuddering, at sight of the merciless gleam in its eyes. The light was blotted out, as they placed a cover over him; and he was deafened by a long and thunderous pounding.
Then began a time of horror in the darkness. His active mind had nothing to feed upon but fear. Only too clearly was it brought to him that he did not know the ways of these creatures of Toon. What was deadly fear to him might be commonplace to them. He had hoped to find them friendly, merciful—yet friendship and mercy were qualities of his own experience in a world different from theirs. Why had he thought to find them here?
He had no measure of time. For endless hours he lay there in the dark, bracing himself against the sides to protect his head and body as much as possible; for the box seemed almost constantly in motion—jolting, tilting, and bumping until he was weak and breathless from the strain.
His mind, worn out by its relentless self-torture, sank at last to semi-consciousness.
Suddenly light returned, and he was dragged roughly from his prison. He was in a large room where the combination of odor, heat, and noise was overpowering. Great numbers of the men of Toon were there, hurrying in all directions, seemingly very busy. He noted immediately that their clothing was different from that which he had seen, and wondered what the significance of that might be.... He felt strangely calm, now.