unpleasant that he pushed aside the cup and
sat down on the edge of his bunk without any further desire to eat
anything.

A glass of water from the carafe did not seem to rid him of the
subtle, disagreeable taste lingering in his mouth--in fact, the water
itself seemed to be tainted with it.

He sat for a few moments fumbling for his cigarette case, feeling
curiously uncomfortable, as though the slight motion of the ship were
affecting his head.

As he sat there looking at the unlighted cigarette in his hand, it
fell to the carpet at his feet. He started to stoop for it, caught
himself in time, pulled himself erect with an effort.

Something was wrong with him--very wrong. Every uneven breath he drew
seemed to fill his lungs with the odour of that strange and volatile
flavour he had noticed. It was beginning to make him giddy; it seemed
to affect his vision, too.

Suddenly a terrible comprehension flashed through his confused mind,
clearing it for a moment.

He tried to stand up and reach the electric bell; his knees seem
incapable of sustaining him. Sliding to the floor, he attempted to
crawl toward the olive-wood box; managed to get one arm around it,
grip the handle. Then, with a last desperate effort, he groped in his
breast pocket for the automatic pistol, freed it, tried to fire it.
But the weapon and the unnerved hand that held it fell on the carpet.
A muscular paralysis set in like the terrible rigidity of death; he
could still see and hear as in a thickening dream.

A moment later, from the corridor, a slim hand was inserted between
the door and jamb; the supple fingers became busy with the rubber band
for a moment, released it. The door opened very slowly.

For a few seconds two dark eyes were visible between door and curtain,
regarding intently the figure lying prone upon the floor. Then the
curtain was twitched noiselessly aside; a young woman in the garb of a
trained nurse stepped swiftly into the stateroom on tip-toe, followed
by a big, good-looking, blue-eyed man wearing a square golden beard.

The man, who carried with him a pair of crutches, but who did not
appear to require their aid, hastily set the dinner-tray and
camp-table outside in the corridor, then closed and bolted the door.

Already the nurse was down on her knees beside the fallen man, trying
to loosen his grasp on the box. Then her face blanched.

"It's like the rigor of death itself," she whispered fearfully over
her shoulder