mud-gagged mouth a half inch further towards free and spontaneous
speech. Very laboriously, very painstakingly, he spat out one by one two
stones and a wisp of ground pine and a brackish, prickly tickle of stale
golden-rod.

"Blankety-blank-blank--BLANK!" he announced in due time,
"Blankety-blank-blank-blank--BLANK! Maybe when you
two--blankety-blank--imbeciles have got through your blankety-blank
cackling you'll have the--blankety-blank decency to save my--my
blankety-blank-blank--blank--_blank-blank_ life!"

"Ha! Ha! Ha!" persisted the poor helpless White Linen Nurse with the
tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Hi! Hi! Hi!" snickered the poor Little Girl through her hiccoughs.

Feeling hopelessly crushed under two tons and a half of car, the Senior
Surgeon closed his eyes for death. No man of his weight, he felt quite
sure, could reasonably expect to survive many minutes longer the
apoplectic, blood-red rage that pounded in his ear-drums. Through his
tight-closed eyelids very, very slowly a red glow seemed to permeate. He
thought it was the fires of Hell. Opening his eyes to meet his fate like
a man he found himself staring impudently close instead into the White
Linen Nurse's furiously flushed face that lay cuddled on one plump cheek
staring impudently close at him.

"Why--why--get out!" gasped the Senior Surgeon.

Very modestly the White Linen Nurse's face retreated a little further
into its blushes.