Pagina 255 van 416

Now as they approached St. Andrew's his determination was as

strong as ever, but his resources were exhausted. Double-guarded

and without weapons, he found himself helpless. The fevered

excitement of the past four days had subsided into a dull apathy

of hurt in which his brain was as delicate and alert as the

mainspring of a watch. He was resigned to the worst if it came,

but was ready, like a panther in a tree, to spring at the

slightest false move of his enemies.

Now for the last time he went over his little eight-by-ten

prison. He examined the chair as though it were some instrument

of the Inquisition. He pulled the bed to pieces and handled every

inch of the frame. He emptied every compartment of the queer

hanging cabinet that had been stuffed with books and

miscellanies; he examined every article in the room.