"I am as fresh as ever," he answered. "It is true that I have the
happy faculty of sleeping when I get a chance and that no preoccupation
disturbs my appetite."
Keyork Arabian was in a very cheerful frame of mind. He was conscious
of having made a great stride towards the successful realisation of his
dream. Israel Kafka's ignorance, too, amused him, and gave him a fresh
and encouraging proof of Unorna's amazing powers.
By a mere exercise of superior will this man, in the very prime of youth
and strength, had been deprived of a month of his life. Thirty days were
gone, as in the flash of a second, and with them was gone also something
less easily replaced, or at least more certainly missed. In Kafka's mind
the passage of time was accounted for in a way which would have
seemed supernatural twenty years ago, but which at the present day is
understood in practice if not in theory. For thirty days he had been
stationary in one place, almost motionless, an instrument in Keyork's
skilful hands, a mere reservoir of vitality upon which the sage had
ruthlessly drawn to the fullest extent of its capacities. He had been
fed and tended in his unconsciousness, he had, unknown to himself,
opened his eyes at regular intervals, and had absorbed through his ears
a series of vivid impressions destined to disarm his suspicions, when
he was at last allowed to wake and move about the world again.
Pages:
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213