Percival scarcely heard him. Japhra made an exclamation and caught him in his arms.
"Ima!"
She came from where she had waited behind her curtain.
"Help me here—then to Boss Maddox's van where they bring a doctor. This night hath struck down this heart of ours."
CHAPTER VII
JAPHRA AND IMA. JAPHRA AND AUNT MAGGIE
I
The van brought Percival back to Aunt Maggie.
Japhra and Ima, waiting the doctor's arrival, watched and tended the signs of how, as Japhra had said, the night had struck Percival down. From the moment of his collapse in Japhra's arms, his vitality no longer withstood the strain to which it had been pressed. His mind gave way beneath the attack of the events of the past hours; marshalled now by fever's hand they returned to him in riot of delirium. "Don't, Ima! Don't! ... No! No! I'm all right! I'm better standing! ... Only a kiss in fun, Ima! O God, if I had only known! ... Murdered! Where's Hunt? Murder! Poor old Hunt! ... In-fighting! I must get in! If only I can stick out this round! ... Ge' back! Ge' back! What's Boss Maddox yelling about? ... In!—I must get in! I will get in! ... Ima! For me! O God, what a thing to happen! Only in fun! Only in fun, Ima! ... Follow him! Follow him! I must get in at him...."