lying thick in Fleet Street.
The traffic is all held up. Judging by the last telegrams, the whole
world----"

His voice had been sinking, and suddenly stopped. An instant later I
heard through the telephone a muffled thud, as if his head had fallen
forward on the desk.

"Mr. McArdle!" I cried. "Mr. McArdle!"

There was no answer. I knew as I replaced the receiver that I should
never hear his voice again.

At that instant, just as I took a step backwards from the telephone, the
thing was on us. It was as if we were bathers, up to our shoulders in
water, who suddenly are submerged by a rolling wave. An invisible hand
seemed to have quietly closed round my throat and to be gently pressing
the life from me. I was conscious of immense oppression upon my chest,
great tightness within my head, a loud singing in my ears, and bright
flashes before my eyes. I staggered to the balustrades of the stair. At
the same moment, rushing and snorting like a wounded buffalo, Challenger
dashed past me, a terrible vision, with red-purple face, engorged eyes,
and bristling hair. His little wife, insensible to all appearance, was
slung over his great shoulder, and he blundered and thundered up the
stair, scrambling and tripping, but carrying himself and her through
sheer will-force through that mephitic atmosphere to the haven of
temporary safety. At the sight of his effort I too rushed up the steps,
clambering, falling, clutching at the rail, until I tumbled half
senseless upon by face on the upper landing. Lord John's fingers of
steel were in the collar of my coat, and a moment later I was stretched
upon my back, unable to speak or move, on the boudoir carpet. The woman
lay beside me, and Summerlee was bunched in a chair by the window, his
head nearly touching his knees. As in a dream I saw Challenger, like a
monstrous beetle, crawling slowly across the floor, and a moment later I
heard the gentle hissing of the escaping oxygen. Challenger breathed two
or three times with enormous gulps, his lungs roaring as he drew in the
vital gas.

"It works!" he cried exultantly. "My reasoning has been justified!" He
was up on his feet again, alert and strong. With a tube in his hand he
rushed over to his wife and held it to her face. In a few seconds she
moaned, stirred, and sat up. He turned to me, and I felt the tide of
life stealing warmly through my arteries. My reason told me that it was
but a little respite, and yet, care