Page:Rowland--The Mountain of Fears.djvu/308

  blinded man, with his high vitality and potent perceptions, one could not conceive of such a thing as reconciliation, nor did it arrive as such. . . ."

"The first inkling I had of the change was while we were going down the Red Sea. I had gone to pay my usual afternoon visit; one of the mess boys was coming from Dalton's room, and as he stepped into the corridor I heard Dalton's voice say peevishly:

Be sure to get it well done and plenty of gravy. . . do you hear, plenty of gravy.' "Ach! For no reason the words shocked me more than when he had told me of his wish to die! Plenty of gravy . . .! What could it matter to a man newly blind if his gravy were of gall and wormwood? What could it matter?"

"Dalton had before this time recovered from the physical effects of the shock; the epidermis of his face had not been deeply burned; the danger to his eyes was due to the fact that the irritation of the caustic had [ 292 ]