“Nurse,” he strove valiantly to make his voice strong, casual. He even smiled weakly. “Did I—er—talk under the ether?”
“No, not a word. Now rest quietly and I’ll come back after a while.” And she went out.
Donaldson sighed. He was still safe. She had told him so. She would not deceive a sick man. And yet—wouldn’t she? He remembered reading somewhere that patients were always told they had not talked, lest the knowledge excite them and hinder their recovery.
That was why she had said it. They wanted him to get well, so they could put the chains on him. Hadn’t she hesitated a bit before she answered? He had thought she looked at him a bit suspiciously. Now he was sure of it. And that was why. They didn’t want him to know they knew. They wanted to be sure they’d get him.
Just then Donaldson’s thoughts were interrupted by a noise on the street. Some vehicle clattering over the pavement and the sound of a bell. The door was standing slightly ajar. Two nurses were passing in the hall, and Donaldson’s straining ear caught their voices:
“What is all the noise about?” asked one.
“I don’t know,” replied the other. “It sounds like a police patrol.”
They were after him! What should he do? He threw back the bedclothes. His mind was working like lightning. They would never get him. He slipped to the floor. How he got to the door he never knew. Fear lends strength. He closed it and stumbled back across the floor, half-falling against the bed.
He knew what he was going to do. He pulled up the bed-clothes from the foot of the bed with feverish haste. The sheet—that was what he wanted! He ripped open the hem a few inches, turning it back so that he could get the raw edge of the material. Then he tore off a strip the whole length of the sheet. He laughed excitedly. They’d never get him!
By this time, the cut in his side had re-opened, but he did not notice it. He knew nothing but his one mad purpose. His senses seemed to have deserted him. It was as though he were in a dream. He felt as though his mind were standing off, directing his body to do these things, and as though he were putting a senseless and inanimate other half of him through certain prescribed motions.