Chapter 42 - Page 2

Americans. The more
they saw her stirred up, the more they hated the fellows they
caught--and the worse they treated them. They were hellish to Jackson!"

He had stopped at this point and Coombe had noted a dreaded look dawning
in his eyes.

"Don't go on, my boy. It's bad for you," he broke in.

Donal shook his head a little as if to shake something away.

"I won't go on with--that," he said. "But the dream--I must tell you
about that. It saved me from going mad--and Jackson did. He believed in
a lot of things I'd not heard of except as jokes. He called them New
Thought and Theosophy and Christian Science. He wasn't clever, but he
_believed_. And it helped him. When I'm stronger I'll try to tell you.
Subconscious mind and astral body came into it. I had begun to see
things--just through starvation and agony. I told him about Robin when I
scarcely knew what I was saying. He tried to hold me quiet by saying her
name to me over and over. He'd pull me up with it. He began to talk to
me about dreaming. When your body's not fed--you begin to see clear--if
your spirit is not held down."

He was getting tired and panting a little. Coombe bent nearer to him.

"I can guess the rest. I have been reading books on such subjects. He
told you how to concentrate on dreaming and try to get near her. He
helped you by suggestion himself--"

"He used to lie awake night after night and do it--and I began to
dream-- No, it was not a dream. I believe I got to her-- He did it--and
they killed him!"

"Hush! hush!" cried Coombe. "Of all men he would most ardently implore
you to hold yourself still--"

Donal made some strange effort. He lay still.

"Yes, he would! Yes--of all the souls in the other world he'd be
strongest. He saved me--he saved Robin--he saved the child--you--all of
us! Perhaps he's here now! He said he'd come if he could. He believed he
could."

He lay quiet for a few seconds and then the Donal smile they had all
adored lighted up his face.

"Jackson, old chap!" he said. "I can't see you--but I'll do what you
want me to do--I'll do it."

He fainted the next minute and the doctors came to him.

The facts which came later still were that Jackson had developed
consumption, and exposure and brutality had done their worst. And Donal
had seen his heart wringing end.

"But he knew America would come in. I believed it too, because he did.
Just at the right time. 'All the rest have fought like mad till they're
tired--though they'll die fighting,' he said. 'America's not tired.
She's got everything and she sees red with frenzy at the bestiality.