nger, Boris.'

"'Why should I watch?' demanded Boris. 'They will make enough noise
opening that door. I shall lie down a little, too.'

"He flung himself down beside his comrade, but in a minute or two
started up, taking deep breaths. 'My God!' he exclaimed. 'I can't
breathe lying down. I feel as if I should choke. And you, too, Louis;
you are snorting like a pig. Get up, man.'

"He shook the prostrate man roughly, but eliciting only a few drowsy
curses, resumed his restless pacing of the room. But not for long. Yawn
after yawn told me that the gas was already in his blood; and the loud
snoring of the other man indicated plainly the state of the air in the
lower part of the room. Presently Boris halted in his walk and sat down
by the stove, muttering as before. Soon he began to nod; then he nearly
fell forward on the stove. Finally he rose heavily, staggered across to
the mattress and once more flung himself down.

"I breathed more freely, notwithstanding that the gas, having partially
diffused upwards to the level of the opening, now began to filter
through to my side. I waited a minute or two listening to the breathing
of the two murderers as it grew moment by moment more stertorous and
irregular, and then, having filled up the stove, went down to the first
floor and sat awhile by the open window to breathe the relatively fresh
air.

"All was now quiet in the street. No doubt the guard had been
strengthened, but I did not look out. It was as well not to be seen at
that hour in the morning. As I sat by the window, I thought about the
two men in that deadly room. It was a thousand pities that they should
be lost to science. Yet there was no help for it. Even if I had decided
to acquire them I could not have done so, for, by the very worst of
luck, I had used up my last barrel and had neglected to lay in a fresh
stock. Besides, of course, the police knew they were there.

"I rested for half an hour or so and then went upstairs to see how
matters were progressing. No light now came through the opening in the
wall, for the paraffin lamp had either burned out or been extinguished
by the accumulating gas. I listened attentively. The harsh, metallic
ticking of a cheap American clock was plainly, even intrusively,
audible; otherwise no sound came from that chamber of death.

"I drew the sliding panel right back, held aside the dangling garments,
and, climbing through into the cupboard, pushed open the doors. A faint
gl