“Been so bad?” said Nic thoughtfully. “Why have I been so bad? It’s very strange.”
Pete Burge made no reply, and there was silence again, till it was broken by Nic, who said suddenly:
“Have you been very bad too?”
“Me, zir? Yes, horrid. Thought I was going to the locker, as they call it. Doctor zaid I ought to have been took to the hospital.”
“Were you nearly drowned?” said Nic after a pause, during which he had to fight hard to keep his thinking power under control.
“Was I nearly drowned, zir?” said the man, with a low chuckle. “Zeems to me I was nearly everythinged. Head smashed, chopped, choked, and drowned too.”
Nic was silent again, for he could not take in so many ideas as this at once, and it was some minutes before he could collect himself for another question.
“But you are better now?”
“Oh yes, zir, I’m better now. Doctor zays I’m to get up to-morrow.”
“The doctor! Was that the doctor whom I heard talking yesterday?”