A Japanese miscellany - University of Oregon

300 Japanese Miscellany
him that to lie down in the presence of a possible
enemy is not good ; and by the same ghostly
wisdom he has divined that the smile of the sur-
geon was intended to deceive. ..." But it will
be so nice upon the table !
a young nurse ; — " see the pretty red cloth !
" — coaxingly observes
"
" lya ! " repeats the little man — made only more
wary by this appeal to esthetic sentiment. . . .
So they lay hands upon him — two surgeons and
two nurses, — lift him deftly, — bear him to the
table with the red cloth. Then he shouts his
small cry of war, — for he comes of good fight-
ing stock, — and, to the general alarm, battles
most valiantly, in spite of that broken arm. But
lo ! a white wet cloth descends upon his eyes
and mouth, — and he cannot cry, — and there is
a strange sweet smell in his nostrils, — and the
voices and the lights have floated very, very far
away, — and he is sinking, sinking, sinking into
wavy darkness. . . . The slight limbs relax ; —
for a moment the breast heaves quickly, in the
last fight of the lungs against the paralyzing
anassthetic : then all motion stops. . . . Now the
cloth is removed; and the face reappears — all
the anger and pain gone out of it. So smile the
little gods that watch the sleep of the dead. . . .