(_Lying on the floor, close to the wall._) Ah, if I could only escape! I was thinking a while ago that life was a shadow of something else, an adumbration, a thing built up point by point like the dots of a telautographed picture. Now if that were so I could get out of here. It would be a dream. I could wake. I could cry “Avaunt!” I could stir and it would all disappear and become as nothing. But here! Here--(_he pauses and stares. A company of dream soldiers on horseback gallop up and swing a cannon into position._) THE CAPTAIN OF THE DREAM SOLDIERS (_Dramatically._) Position! (_They unhook the horses and man the guns._) Load! (_A shell is put in._) Fire! (_It belches flame and smoke. A great hole is torn in the wall of the hut._) PATSY LAFERTY (_At the door._) Gee, dat las’ crack was a bold! If he kin sleep troo dat he soitenly won’t hear me--or maybe he ain’t home. Well, I might as well stand here. I can’t go back in dis. (_He decides to make himself comfortable in the doorway._) THE PROFESSOR (_Imagining he is crying._) Help! Help! Oh, save me! Save me! (_He realizes that he emits no sound, and groans._) FIRST DREAM OFFICER Once, more, men! Another shell here! (_Another is put in._) Fire! THE CANNON Poof! Boom! (_Another great hole is torn in the wall._) PATSY LAFERTY (_As a second electric crash occurs._) I don’t know wedder I’d better stay here. I don’t wanna get killed. (_He walks about uneasily._) THE PROFESSOR (_Heavily and desperately._) I am lost! I know it. Oh, if my idea were only true! What if all this turmoil and agony were a figment of the mind merely, a cell or dot picture? Here I am in this hut; these soldiers are about to destroy me. If I could just cry “Avaunt!” “Disappear!”--or if I could know that I am not real, and disappear myself. I wonder if I might not try it? (_He jumps to his feet._) A FLASH OF LIGHTNING Click--Sssssss! A CLAP OF REAL THUNDER Boom----! THE PROFESSOR (_To the dream soldiers, defiantly._) I defy you! Do your worst! You’re not real! I’m not real! This whole thing is a dream! I’m a dream, or I’m dreaming! I defy you! FIRST DREAM SOLDIER (_Drawing near with a rifle._) Is that so? You defy me, do you? I’ll show you whether I’m real or not. (_He takes deliberate aim._) SECOND DREAM SOLDIER Yes, kill him. That’s the way! THE PROFESSOR (_Lifting his hand._) Wait a moment! Don’t! I--I’m not sure! FIRST DREAM SOLDIER But I will, just the same. You say I’m not real? I’ll show you whether I am or not! (_He fires._) How does that feel? THE PROFESSOR