It was incredible to David as he thought it over afterwards, but he
actually slept away that wonderful night on the railroad! When he
climbed on to the shutting-up shelf behind red and green striped
curtains, nothing had been further from his mind than sleep. It was
his intention to sit bolt upright and watch the lamps swinging in the
aisle, to crane his neck over the top of the curtains and look out of
the small hinged window at the smoke all thick with sparks from the
locomotive engine, and at the mountains with the stars hanging over
them, and--at the Horseshoe Curve!
But instead of seeing all these wonders that he and Dr. Lavendar had talked about for the last few
weeks, no sooner had he been lifted into his berth than, in a flash,
the darkness changed to bright daylight. Yes; the dull, common, every-
night affair of sleep, had interfered with all his plans. He did not
speak of his disappointment the next morning, as he dressed--somehow--
in the jostling, swaying little enclosure where the washstands were;
but he thought about it, resentfully. Sleep! "When I'm a man, I'll
never sleep," he assured himself; then cheered up as he realized that
absence from Sarah had brought at least one opportunity of manhood--he
would not have to wash behind his ears! But he brooded over his
helplessness to make up for that other loss. He was so silent at
breakfast in the station that Dr. Lavendar thought he did not like his
food.
"You can have something else, David. What do you want?"
"Ice-cream," David said, instantly alert.
"At breakfast!" David nodded, and the ice-cream appeared. He ate it in
silence, and when he had scraped the saucer, he said, "Can you ever get back behind, sir?"
"Behind what?" Dr. Lavendar asked. He was looking at David and
wondering what was different about the child; he did not have quite
his usual aspect. "I must have left off some of his clothes," Dr.
Lavendar thought anxiously, and that question about getting back
behind suggested buttons. "Are your braces fastened?" he asked.
"And do it over again," David said. "Is there any way you can get back
behind, and do it over again?"
"Do what over again?" Dr. Lavendar said. "If they've come unfastened--
"
"I don't like sleeping," said David. "If I could get behind again, I
wouldn't."
Dr. Lavendar gave it up, but he fumbled under David's little coat and
discovered that the buttons were all right. "There seems to be
something different about you, David," he said, as they pushed their
chairs from the table. David had no explanation to offer, so Dr.
Lavendar consulted the waitress: "Is there anything wrong about this
little boy's clothing? He doesn't look just right--"