I was too weak to notice these things right away, too weak to care
much about them, or about anything else.
"Are you all right now, old man?" he asked, bending over me.
"Y-Yes," I gasped, clutching at the choking sensation in my
throat. "What has happened?"
Perhaps I had best tell it as though I were not the chief actor;
for it came to me in such disjointed fragmentary form, that it was
some time before I could piece it together.
Craig had seen Burke, and had found that everything was all right.
Then he had made the few little investigations that he intended.
But he had not been to the laboratory. There had been no light
there that night.
At last when he arrived home, he had found a peculiar odour in the
hall, but had thought nothing of it, until he opened our door.
Then there rushed out such a burst of it that he had to retreat,
almost fainting, choking and gasping for breath.
His first thought was for me; and protecting himself as best he
could he struggled through to my room, to find me lying on the
bed, motionless, almost cold.
He was by this time too weak to carry me. But he managed to reach
the window and throw it wide open. As the draught cleared the air,
he thought of the telephone and with barely strength enough left
called up one of the gas companies and had a pulmotor sent over.
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