Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1946-04-12
CHAPTER XII

| you damned BRUTE" He continued
with epithets worse than that. He
had never been addicted to profan-
ity and was surprised to find such
language coming so readily to his
lips. But the words were there and
he used them, and continued. using
them every time he saw the doctor.
Later he asked Jacoby if he had
understood anything of what he had
been saying then. Jacoby smiled
with the grim humor Arthur had
learned to recognize. mot the vo-
cabulary. But I did not need the
vocabulary to understand what you
were saying to me, and just then
I did not blame you."
But at that time Jacoby paid no
| attention to the protests. He simply
left Arthur there to contemplate his
shattered body and 60 wild with the
prospect of being forced to live in it.
There was nothing else Jacoby could
do. He was working eighteen hours
a day, on pittance of food that in
pre-war Germany would not have
been thought enough for an idle
man. Besides, since he knew so lit
tie English and Arthur knew no Ger
man at all, he had to let Arthur 60
on believing what he believed.
There was no way then for ia
CODY to explain that four years of
this war had almost annihilated his
faith in the human soul. There was
no way for him to say that he too
was on the edge of despair, search
ing desperately for some reason to
believe that men could be saved
from the evil they had wrought.
These were the four years he had
just lived through. The physical
wrecks brought to him had been
dreadful enough, but they were not
the worst.
Arthur had been brought to him
when he had begun to feel himself
giving in to brutal cynicism. When
he examined Arthur, he suddenly
felt that here was man who could
prove the ultimate test. not of hui
man body to recover, but of human
courage to overcome disaster. When
this American realized what had
been done to him his mind would be
black with hate and horror, even if
it had never been before. At first
he had wondered if he had the right
to prolong such life as this. But
after several of those examinations
under which Arthur had screamed
and cursed at him, Jacoby had
convinced himself that with labor
and patience he could guarantee
that his patient would not be help
less. Arthur would have something
to work with. If he could be made
to use what he had, and with it re-
gain any wisdom or generosity in
spite of what he had lost, Jacoby
promised himself that he would take
it as meaning that humanity could
do the same. AS he worked with
him, as he saw Arthur's fury and
despair, Arthur became to him a
symbol of the worlds wreckage. If
this shattered American could come
back, there was hope. The damage
of the war was done to the world
as it was done to Arthur, but if Ar
thur could be made to 60 on, could
be made to want to 60 on, there
was a reason for living. BY this
time Jacoby was not sure that there
was. But he was going to find out.
Arthur still hated him. He had
ceased to doubt that Jacoby meant
exactly what he said: Jacoby was
not going to let him die, but was
going to restore as much as he could
of what had been lost. That there
was so much he could not restore
made no difference to his eagerness.
Much of the work was necessarily
experimental. "But it's the sort
of experiment he looks for" Arthur
told himself bitterly. "It's not
often he finds patient who simply
can't be any worse off, no matter
how many mistakes he makes. When
he gets one like that he gives him
the works. One man is better than
thousand guinea pigs. I can see
the reasoning. Only I never thought
of its happening to me-"
When he did have chance to talk
to Arthur again, Jacoby's difficulty
with the language was so great that
he could tell him very little. But
after many attempts he managed to
say,
when you were begging me to
let you alone, was trying to make
sure you would keep your right arm.
Believe me, Kit, if you had lost
both arms, or if there had been
blindness with all the rest, l should
have done what you asked me-"
Arthur said angrily, "Why don't
you do it now?"
Jacoby gave him a look of real
surprise. "Do you still want me
to-"
Eyes. I do not want to be a SUBJ
ject for vivisection."
''Kitt, do you still think that is
what am doing to your"