“I don’t know? It bothers me to think. I can’t think. If I had, maybe—a bit o’ drink—but I’m not sure, even then——”
“Look here, Bill,” said Tom, “let’s take him out to the boat.”
“What for?” demanded Bill.
“I see what Tom is after,” Nicky broke in. “When we give him some food and clean him up some, maybe we can quiz him.”
Mr. Gray, who had been quietly listening, nodded.
“You are a psychologist,” he said, amused at Nicky.
“Psy—? Oh, yes, Mr. Gray. Our instructor at Amadale told us about that. It’s studying people’s minds, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” nodded the scholar. “Scientists have watched people and studied them, just as we study animals, until they have learned that almost all people will act in much the same way under certain ways of stimulating them.”
“I know,” agreed Tom. “We all want to run when we are scared; we all do, if there is a fire and a panic.”
“Yes,” chimed in Cliff, “and when we think about something nice we smile, and if we think about a lemon, we act and feel almost as though we tasted it.”