"He didn't have it bad this time," the big guard said to Frank. "It was a mild attack. He always imagines he's an explorer in a savage country, and that the cannibals are going to kill him. Not very pleasant, but it's nothing to what some of 'em think. You're having quite a night of it. But never mind, I guess they'll quiet down now."
Frank was beginning to lose hope. All his plans seemed likely to come to naught. He was so sure the man in room twenty-eight was sane, yet, soon after conversing with him, during which time the man had talked as rationally as could be desired, he had suddenly turned into a raving maniac.
"I can't understand it," said Frank. "What shall I do? Oh, if I only had someone to help and advise me. I can't go to a soul. If the boys—" he stopped suddenly. "Yes, why not? Why not tell them the whole story? They could help me! That's what I'll do. I'll make one more attempt by myself, and then, if it fails, I'll ask them to aid me. I must see him again. Perhaps this fit was only temporary, and will not come again for a long time. I must have another talk with him."
The long night came to an end at last. Frank was relieved by a young man who told him to go and get breakfast, and then to go to bed.
"You'll have day work after to-night," he said, and Frank was glad to hear it. The darkness was made worse by the sudden alarms from the patients' rooms.
Frank slept late that day, and went on duty about four o'clock in the afternoon. That night passed quietly, but he did not dare knock on the door of room twenty-eight. He was afraid the man might be suffering from one of his insane attacks. The boy had almost lost heart but he had not altogether given up.
Not until the next day did he get a chance to talk with the patient on whom, for him, so much depended. He found the man anxious and waiting to see him.
"Come in, where we can talk quietly," the patient said, and Frank entered, looking to see that no one observed him, for he was breaking the rules. He removed the dark glasses when he was in the room, for they hurt his nose and ears.
The two had a long talk and planned many things. The boy's courage and hope came back to him, and he grew so enthusiastic in arranging to help the patient leave the institution, in order that the mystery might be cleared up, that he spoke louder than he intended.
"Quiet!" the man cautioned. "The attendants will hear you, and you will be dismissed."