"Don't pull off the dressings! I won't have it. Do you hear, doctor? Don't pull. I won't have it."
Then he would begin to tremble nervously all over his body and to say:
"I am quite calm! Oh, I am really calm. See, Michelet, see, Brugneau, I am calm. Doctor, see, I am quite calm."
Meantime the dressings were gradually loosening under a trickle of water, and Paga muttered between his teeth:
"He's pulling, he's pulling.... Oh, the cruel man! I won't have it, I won't have it."
Then suddenly, with flaming cheeks:
"That's right. That's right! See, Michelet, see, Brugneau: the dressings have come away. Sergeant, Sergeant, the dressings are loosened."
He clapped his hands, possessed by a furtive joy; then he suddenly became conscious, and with a deep furrow between his brows, he began to give orders again.
"Not any tincture of iodine to-day, doctor. Take away those forceps, doctor, take them away."
Meanwhile the implacable forceps did their work, the tincture of iodine performed its chilly function; then Paga yelled: