As we crossed the hall the telephone-bell rang, and we were theinvoluntary auditors of Professor Challenger's end of theensuing dialogue. I say "we," but no one within a hundred yardscould have failed to hear the booming of that monstrous voice,whichreverberated through the house. His answers lingered in my mind.

"Yes, yes, of course, it is I.... Yes, certainly, THE ProfessorChallenger, the famous Professor, who else?... Of course, everyword of it, otherwise I should not have written it.... Ishouldn't be surprised.... There is every indication of it....Within a day or so at the furthest.... Well, I can't help that,can I?... Very unpleasant, no doubt, but I rather fancy it willaffect more important people than you. There is no use whiningabout it.... No, I couldn't possibly. You must take yourchance.... That's enough, sir. Nonsense! I have something moreimportant to do than to listen to such twaddle."

He shut off with a crash and led us upstairs into a large airyapartment which formed his study. On the great mahogany deskseven or eight unopened telegrams were lying.

"Really," he said as he gathered them up, "I begin to think thatit would save my correspondents' money if I were to adopt atelegraphic address. Possibly `Noah, Rotherfield,' would be themost appropriate."

As usual when he made an obscure joke, he leaned against thedesk and bellowed in a paroxysm of laughter, his hands shakingso that he could hardly open the envelopes.

"Noah! Noah!" he gasped, with a face of beetroot, while LordJohn and I smiled in sympathy and Summerlee, like a dyspepticgoat, wagged his head in sardonic disagreement. FinallyChallenger, still rumbling and exploding, began to open histelegrams. The three of us stood in the bow window and occupiedourselves in admiring the magnificent view.

It was certainly worth looking at. The road in its gentle curveshad really brought us to a considerable elevation--seven hundredfeet, as we afterwards discovered. Challenger's house was on thevery edge of the hill, and from its southern face, in which wasthe study window, one looked across the vast stretch of theweald to where the gentle curves of the South Downs formed anundulating horizon. In a cleft of the hills a haze of smokemarked the position of Lewes. Immediately at our feet there laya rolling plain of heather, with the long, vivid green stretchesof the Crowborough golf course, all dotted with the players. Alittle to the south, through an opening in the woods, we couldsee a section of the main line from London to Brighton. In theimmediate foreground, under our very noses, was a small enclosedyard, in which stood the car which had brought us from thestation.

An ejaculation from Challenger caused us to turn. He had readhis telegrams and had arranged them in a little methodical pileupon his desk. His broad, rugged face, or as much of it as wasvisible over the matted beard, was still deeply flushed, and heseemed to be under the influence of some strong excitement.

"Well, gentlemen," he said, in a voice as if he was addressinga public meeting, "this is indeed an interesting reunion, and ittakes place under extraordinary--I may sayunprecedented--circumstances. May I ask if you have observedanything upon your journey from town?"

"The only thing which I observed," said Summerlee with a soursmile, "was that our young friend here has not improved in hismanners during the years that have passed. I am sorry to statethat I have had to seriously complain of his conduct in thetrain, and I should be wanting in frankness if I did not saythat it has left a most unpleasant impression in my mind."

"Well, well, we all get a bit prosy sometimes," said Lord John."The young fellah meant no real harm. After all, he's anInternational, so if he takes half an hour to describe a game offootball he has more right to do it than most folk."

"Half an hour to describe a game!" I cried indignantly. "Why, itwas you that took half an hour with some long-winded story abouta buffalo. Professor Summerlee will be my witness."

"I can hardly judge which of you was the most utterly wearisome,"said Summerlee. "I declare to you, Challenger, that I never wishto hear of football or of buffaloes so long as I live."

"I have never said one word to-day about football," I protested.

Lord John gave a shrill whistle, and Summerlee shook his headsadly.

"So early in the day too," said he. "It is indeed deplorable. AsI sat there in sad but thoughtful silence----"

"In silence!" cried Lord John. "Why, you were doin' a music-hallturn of imitations all the way--more like a runaway gramophonethan a man."

Summerlee drew himself up in bitter protest.

"You are pleased to be facetious, Lord John," said he with aface of vinegar.

"Why, dash it all, this is clear madness," cried Lord John."Each of us seems to know what the others did and none of usknows what he did himself. Let's put it all together from thefirst. We got into a first-class smoker, that's clear, ain'tit? Then we began to quarrel over friend Challenger's letter inthe Times."

"Oh, you did, did you?" rumbled our host, his eyelids beginningto droop.

"You said, Summerlee, that there was no possible truth in hiscontention."

"Dear me!" said Challenger, puffing out his chest and strokinghis beard. "No possible truth! I seem to have heard the wordsbefore. And may I ask with what arguments the great and famousProfessor Summerlee proceeded to demolish the humble individualwho had ventured to express an opinion upon a matter ofscientific possibility? Perhaps before he exterminates thatunfortunate nonentity he will condescend to give some reasonsfor the adverse views which he has formed."

He bowed and shrugged and spread open his hands as he spoke withhis elaborate and elephantine sarcasm.

"The reason was simple enough," said the dogged Summerlee. "Icontended that if the ether surrounding the earth was so toxicin one quarter that it produced dangerous symptoms, it washardly likely that we three in the railway carriage should beentirely unaffected."

The explanation only brought uproarious merriment fromChallenger. He laughed until everything in the room seemed torattle and quiver.

"Our worthy Summerlee is, not for the first time, somewhat outof touch with the facts of the situation," said he at last,mopping his heated brow. "Now, gentlemen, I cannot make my pointbetter than by detailing to you what I have myself done thismorning. You will the more easily condone any mental abberationupon your own part when you realize that even I have had momentswhen my balance has been disturbed. We have had for some yearsin this household a housekeeper--one Sarah, with whose secondname I have never attempted to burden my memory. She is a womanof a severe and forbidding aspect, prim and demure in herbearing, very impassive in her nature, and never known withinour experience to show signs of any emotion. As I sat alone atmy breakfast--Mrs. Challenger is in the habit of keeping herroom of a morning--it suddenly entered my head that it would beentertaining and instructive to see whether I could find anylimits to this woman's inperturbability. I devised a simple buteffective experiment. Having upset a small vase of flowers whichstood in the centre of the cloth, I rang the bell and slippedunder the table. She entered and, seeing the room empty,imagined that I had withdrawn to the study. As I had expected,she approached and leaned over the table to replace the vase. Ihad a vision of a cotton stocking and an elastic-sided boot.Protruding my head, I sank my teeth into the calf of her leg.The experiment was successful beyond belief. For some momentsshe stood paralyzed, staring down at my head. Then with a shriekshe tore herself free and rushed from the room. I pursued herwith some thoughts of an explanation, but she flew down thedrive, and some minutes afterwards I was able to pick her outwith my field-glasses traveling very rapidly in a south-westerlydirection. I tell you the anecdote for what it is worth. I dropit into your brains and await its germination. Is itilluminative? Has it conveyed anything to your minds? What doYOU think of it, Lord John?"

Lord John shook his head gravely.

"You'll be gettin' into serious trouble some of these days ifyou don't put a brake on," said he.

"Perhaps you have some observation to make, Summerlee?"

"You should drop all work instantly, Challenger, and take threemonths in a German watering-place," said he.

"Profound! Profound!" cried Challenger. "Now, my young friend,is it possible that wisdom may come from you where your seniorshave so signally failed?"

And it did. I say it with all modesty, but it did. Of course,itall seems obvious enough to you who know what occurred, but itwas not so very clear when everything was new. But it came on mesuddenly with the full force of absolute conviction.

"Poison!" I cried.

Then, even as I said the word, my mind flashed back over thewhole morning's experiences, past Lord John with his buffalo,past my own hysterical tears, past the outrageous conduct ofProfessor Summerlee, to the queer happenings in London, the rowin the park, the driving of the chauffeur, the quarrel at theoxygen warehouse. Everything fitted suddenly into its place.

"Of course," I cried again. "It is poison. We are allpoisoned."

"Exactly," said Challenger, rubbing his hands, "we are allpoisoned. Our planet has swum into the poison belt of ether, andis now flying deeper into it at the rate of some millions ofmiles a minute. Our young friend has expressed the cause of allour troubles and perplexities in a single word, `poison.'"

We looked at each other in amazed silence. No comment seemed tomeet the situation.

"There is a mental inhibition by which such symptoms can bechecked and controlled," said Challenger. "I cannot expect tofind it developed in all of you to the same point which it hasreached in me, for I suppose that the strength of our differentmental processes bears some proportion to each other.But no doubt it is appreciable even in our young friend here.After the little outburst of high spirits which so alarmed mydomestic I sat down and reasoned with myself. I put it to myselfthat I had never before felt impelled to bite any of myhousehold. The impulse had then been an abnormal one. In aninstant I perceived the truth. My pulse upon examination was tenbeats above the usual, and my reflexes were increased. I calledupon my higher and saner self, the real G. E. C., seated sereneand impregnable behind all mere molecular disturbance. Isummoned him, I say, to watch the foolish mental trickswhich the poison would play. I found that I was indeed themaster. I could recognize and control a disordered mind. It wasa remarkable exhibition of the victory of mind over matter, forit was a victory over that particular form of matter which ismost intimately connected with mind. I might almost say thatmind was at fault and that personality controlled it. Thus, whenmy wife came downstairs and I was impelled to slip behind thedoor and alarm her by some wild cry as she entered, I was ableto stifle the impulse and to greet her with dignity andrestraint. An overpowering desire to quack like a duck was metand mastered in the same fashion.

Later, when I descended to order the car and found Austinbending over it absorbed in repairs, I controlled my open handeven after I had lifted it and refrained from giving him anexperience which would possibly have caused him to follow in thesteps of the housekeeper. On the contrary, I touched him on theshoulder and ordered the car to be at the door in time to meetyour train. At the present instant I am most forcibly tempted totake Professor Summerlee by that silly old beard of his and toshake his head violently backwards and forwards. And yet, as yousee, I am perfectly restrained. Let me commend my example toyou."

"I'll look out for that buffalo," said Lord John.

"And I for the football match.""It may be that you are right, Challenger," said Summerlee in achastened voice. "I am willing to admit that my turn of mind iscritical rather than constructive and that I am not a readyconvert to any new theory, especially when it happens to be sounusual and fantastic as this one. However, as I cast my mindback over the events of the morning, and as I reconsider thefatuous conduct of my companions, I find it easy to believe thatsome poison of an exciting kind was responsible for theirsymptoms."

Challenger slapped his colleague good-humouredly upon theshoulder. "We progress," said he. "Decidedly we progress."

"And pray, sir," asked Summerlee humbly, "what is your opinionas to the present outlook?"

"With your permission I will say a few words upon that subject."He seated himself upon his desk, his short, stumpy legs swingingin front of him. "We are assisting at a tremendous and awfulfunction. It is, in my opinion, the end of the world."

The end of the world! Our eyes turned to the great bow-windowand we looked out at the summer beauty of the country-side, thelong slopes of heather, the great country-houses, the cozyfarms, the pleasure-seekers upon the links.

The end of the world! One had often heard the words, but theidea that they could ever have an immediate practicalsignificance, that it should not be at some vague date, but now,to-day, that was a tremendous, a staggering thought. We were allstruck solemn and waited in silence for Challenger to continue.His overpowering presence and appearance lent such force to thesolemnity of his words that for a moment all the crudities andabsurdities of the man vanished, and he loomed before us assomething majestic and beyond the range of ordinary humanity.Then to me, at least, there came back the cheering recollectionof how twice since we had entered the room he had roared withlaughter. Surely, I thought, there are limits to mentaldetachment. The crisis cannot be so great or so pressing afterall.

`You will conceive a bunch of grapes," said he, "which arecovered by some infinitesimal but noxious bacillus. The gardenerpasses it through a disinfecting medium. It may be that hedesires his grapes to be cleaner. It may be that he needs spaceto breed some fresh bacillus less noxious than the last. He dipsit into the poison and they are gone. Our Gardener is, in myopinion, about to dip the solar system, and the human bacillus,the little mortal vibrio which twisted and wriggled upon theouter rind of the earth, will in an instant be sterilized out ofexistence."

Again there was silence. It was broken by the high trill of thetelephone-bell.

"There is one of our bacilli squeaking for help," said he witha grim smile. "They are beginning to realize that theircontinuedexistence is not really one of the necessities of the universe."

He was gone from the room for a minute or two. I remember thatnone of us spoke in his absence. The situation seemed beyond allwords or comments.

"The medical officer of health for Brighton," said he when hereturned. "The symptoms are for some reason developing morerapidly upon the sea level. Our seven hundred feet of elevationgive us an advantage. Folk seem to have learned that I am thefirst authority upon the question. No doubt it comes from myletter in the Times. That was the mayor of a provincial townwith whom I talked when we first arrived. You may have heard meupon the telephone. He seemed to put an entirely inflated valueupon his own life. I helped him to readjust his ideas."

Summerlee had risen and was standing by the window. His thin,bony hands were trembling with his emotion.

"Challenger," said he earnestly, "this thing is too serious formere futile argument. Do not suppose that I desire to irritateyou by any question I may ask. But I put it to you whether theremay not be some fallacy in your information or in yourreasoning. There is the sun shining as brightly as ever in theblue sky. There are the heather and the flowers and the birds.There are the folk enjoying themselves upon the golf-links andthe laborers yonder cutting the corn. You tell us that they andwe may be upon the very brink of destruction--that this sunlitday may be that day of doom which the human race has so longawaited. So far as we know, you found this tremendous judgmentupon what? Upon some abnormal lines in a spectrum--upon rumoursfrom Sumatra--upon some curious personal excitement which we havediscerned in each other. This latter symptom is not so markedbut that you and we could, by a deliberate effort, control it.You need not stand on ceremony with us, Challenger. We have allfaced death together before now. Speak out, and let us knowexactly where we stand, and what, in your opinion, are ourprospects for our future."

It was a brave, good speech, a speech from that stanch andstrong spirit which lay behind all the acidities andangularities of the old zoologist. Lord John rose and shook himby the hand.

"My sentiment to a tick," said he. "Now, Challenger, it's up toyou to tell us where we are. We ain't nervous folk, as you knowwell; but when it comes to makin' a week-end visit and findingyou've run full butt into the Day of Judgment, it wants a bit ofexplainin'. What's the danger, and how much of it is there, andwhat are we goin' to do to meet it?"

He stood, tall and strong, in the sunshine at the window, withhis brown hand upon the shoulder of Summerlee. I was lying backin an armchair, an extinguished cigarette between my lips, inthat sort of half-dazed state in which impressions becomeexceedingly distinct. It may have been a new phase of thepoisoning, but the delirious promptings had all passed away andwere succeeded by an exceedingly languid and, at the same time,perceptive state of mind. I was a spectator. It did not seem tobe any personal concern of mine. But here were three strong menat a great crisis, and it was fascinating to observe them.Challenger bent his heavy brows and stroked his beard before heanswered. One could see that he was very carefully weighing hiswords.

"What was the last news when you left London?" he asked.

"I was at the Gazette office about ten," said I. "There was aReuter just come in from Singapore to the effect that thesickness seemed to be universal in Sumatra and that thelighthouses had not been lit in consequence."

"Events have been moving somewhat rapidly since then," saidChallenger, picking up his pile of telegrams. "I am in closetouch both with the authorities and with the press, so that newsis converging upon me from all parts. There is, in fact, ageneral and very insistent demand that I should come to London;but I see no good end to be served. From the accounts thepoisonous effect begins with mental excitement; the rioting inParis this morning is said to have been very violent, and theWelsh colliers are in a state of uproar. So far as the evidenceto hand can be trusted, this stimulative stage, which variesmuch in races and in individuals, is succeeded by a certainexaltation and mental lucidity--I seem to discern some signs ofit in our young friend here--which, after an appreciableinterval, turns to coma, deepening rapidly into death. I fancy,so far as my toxicology carries me, that there are somevegetable nerve poisons----"

"Datura," suggested Summerlee."Excellent!" cried Challenger. "It would make for scientificprecision if we named our toxic agent. Let it be daturon. Toyou, my dear Summerlee, belongs the honour--posthumous, alas, butnone the less unique--of having given a name to the universaldestroyer, the Great Gardener's disinfectant. The symptoms ofdaturon, then, may be taken to be such as I indicate. That itwill involve the whole world and that no life can possiblyremain behind seems to me to be certain, since ether is auniversal medium. Up to now it has been capricious in the placeswhich it has attacked, but the difference is only a matter of afew hours, and it is like an advancing tide which covers onestrip of sand and then another, running hither and thither inirregular streams, until at last it has submerged it all. Thereare laws at work in connection with the action and distributionof daturon which would have been of deep interest had the timeat our disposal permitted us to study them. So far as I cantrace them"--here he glanced over his telegrams--"the lessdeveloped races have been the first to respond to its influence.There are deplorable accounts from Africa, and the Australianaborigines appear to have been already exterminated. TheNorthern races have as yet shown greater resisting power thanthe Southern. This, you see, is dated from Marseilles atnine-forty-five this morning. I give it to you verbatim:--

"`All night delirious excitement throughout Provence. Tumult ofvine growers at Nimes. Socialistic upheaval at Toulon. Suddenillness attended by coma attacked population this morning.PESTE FOUDROYANTE. Great numbers of dead in the streets.Paralysis of business and universal chaos.'

"An hour later came the following, from the same source:--

"`We are threatened with utter extermination. Cathedrals andchurches full to overflowing. The dead outnumber the living. Itis inconceivable and horrible. Decease seems to be painless, butswift and inevitable.'"There is a similar telegram from Paris, where the developmentis not yet as acute. India and Persia appear to be utterly wipedout. The Slavonic population of Austria is down, while theTeutonic has hardly been affected. Speaking generally, thedwellers upon the plains and upon the seashore seem, so far asmy limited information goes, to have felt the effects morerapidly than those inland or on the heights. Even a littleelevation makes a considerable difference, and perhaps if therebe a survivor of the human race, he will again be found upon thesummit of some Ararat. Even our own little hill may presentlyprove to be a temporary island amid a sea of disaster. But atthepresent rate of advance a few short hours will submerge us all."

Lord John Roxton wiped his brow.

"What beats me," said he, "is how you could sit there laughin'with that stack of telegrams under your hand. I've seen death asoften as most folk, but universal death--it's awful!"

"As to the laughter," said Challenger, "you will bear in mindthat, like yourselves, I have not been exempt from thestimulating cerebral effects of the etheric poison. But as tothe horror with which universal death appears to inspire you, Iwould put it to you that it is somewhat exaggerated. If you weresent to sea alone in an open boat to some unknown destination,your heart might well sink within you. The isolation, theuncertainty, would oppress you. But if your voyage were made ina goodly ship, which bore within it all your relations and yourfriends, you would feel that, however uncertain your destinationmight still remain, you would at least have one common andsimultaneous experience which would hold you to the end in thesame close communion. A lonely death may be terrible, but auniversal one, as painless as this would appear to be, is not,in my judgment, a matter for apprehension. Indeed, I couldsympathize with the person who took the view that the horror layin the idea of surviving when all that is learned, famous, andexalted had passed away."

"What, then, do you propose to do?" asked Summerlee, who had foronce nodded his assent to the reasoning of his brother scientist.

"To take our lunch," said Challenger as the boom of a gongsounded through the house. "We have a cook whose omelettes areonly excelled by her cutlets. We can but trust that no cosmicdisturbance has dulled her excellent abilities. My Scharzbergerof '96 must also be rescued, so far as our earnest and unitedefforts can do it, from what would be a deplorable waste of agreat vintage." He levered his great bulk off the desk, uponwhich he had sat while he announced the doom of the planet."Come," said he. "If there is little time left, there is themore need that we should spend it in sober and reasonableenjoyment."

And, indeed, it proved to be a very merry meal. It is true thatwe could not forget our awful situation. The full solemnity ofthe event loomed ever at the back of our minds and tempered ourthoughts. But surely it is the soul which has never faced deathwhich shies strongly from it at the end. To each of us men ithad, for one great epoch in our lives, been a familiar presence.As to the lady, she leaned upon the strong guidance of hermighty husband and was well content to go whither his path mightlead. The future was our fate. The present was our own. Wepassed it in goodly comradeship and gentle merriment. Our mindswere, as I have said, singularly lucid. Even I struck sparks attimes. As to Challenger, he was wonderful! Never have I sorealized the elemental greatness of the man, the sweep and powerof his understanding. Summerlee drew him on with his chorus ofsubacid criticism, while Lord John and I laughed at the contestand the lady, her hand upon his sleeve, controlled thebellowings of the philosopher. Life, death, fate, the destiny ofman--these were the stupendous subjects of that memorable hour,made vital by the fact that as the meal progressed strange,sudden exaltations in my mind and tinglings in my limbsproclaimed that the invisible tide of death was slowly andgently rising around us. Once I saw Lord John put his handsuddenly to his eyes, and once Summerlee dropped back for aninstant in his chair. Each breath we breathed was charged withstrange forces. And yet our minds were happy and at ease.Presently Austin laid the cigarettes upon the table and wasabout to withdraw.

"Austin!" said his master.

"Yes, sir?"

"I thank you for your faithful service." A smile stole over theservant's gnarled face.

"I've done my duty, sir."

"I'm expecting the end of the world to-day, Austin."

"Yes, sir. What time, sir?"

"I can't say, Austin. Before evening."

"Very good, sir."

The taciturn Austin saluted and withdrew. Challenger lit acigarette, and, drawing his chair closer to his wife's, hetook her hand in his.

"You know how matters stand, dear," said he. "I have explainedit also to our friends here. You're not afraid are you?"

"It won't be painful, George?"

"No more than laughing-gas at the dentist's. Every time you havehad it you have practically died."

"But that is a pleasant sensation."

"So may death be. The worn-out bodily machine can't record itsimpression, but we know the mental pleasure which lies in adream or a trance. Nature may build a beautiful door and hang itwith many a gauzy and shimmering curtain to make an entrance tothe new life for our wondering souls. In all my probings of theactual, I have always found wisdom and kindness at the core; andif ever the frightened mortal needs tenderness, it is surely ashe makes the passage perilous from life to life. No, Summerlee,I will have none of your materialism, for I, at least, am toogreat a thing to end in mere physical constituents, a packet ofsalts and three bucketfuls of water. Here--here"--and he beathis great head with his huge, hairy fist--"there is somethingwhich uses matter, but is not of it--something which mightdestroy death, but which death can never destroy."

"Talkin' of death," said Lord John. "I'm a Christian of sorts,but it seems to me there was somethin' mighty natural in thoseancestors of ours who were buried with their axes and bows andarrows and the like, same as if they were livin' on just thesame as they used to. I don't know," he added, looking round thetable in a shamefaced way, "that I wouldn't feel more homelymyself if I was put away with my old .450 Express and thefowlin'-piece, the shorter one with the rubbered stock, and aclip or two of cartridges--just a fool's fancy, of course, butthere it is. How does it strike you, Herr Professor?"

"Well," said Summerlee, "since you ask my opinion, it strikes meas an indefensible throwback to the Stone Age or before it. I'mof the twentieth century myself, and would wish to die like areasonable civilized man. I don't know that I am more afraid ofdeath than the rest of you, for I am an oldish man, and, comewhat may, I can't have very much longer to live; but it is allagainst my nature to sit waiting without a struggle like a sheepfor the butcher. Is it quite certain, Challenger, that there isnothing we can do?"

"To save us--nothing," said Challenger. "To prolong our lives afew hours and thus to see the evolution of this mighty tragedybefore we are actually involved in it--that may prove to bewithin my powers. I have taken certain steps----"

"The oxygen?"

"Exactly. The oxygen."

"But what can oxygen effect in the face of a poisoning of theether? There is not a greater difference in quality between abrick-bat and a gas than there is between oxygen and ether. Theyare different planes of matter. They cannot impinge upon oneanother. Come, Challenger, you could not defend such aproposition."

"My good Summerlee, this etheric poison is most certainlyinfluenced by material agents. We see it in the methods anddistribution of the outbreak. We should not A PRIORI haveexpected it, but it is undoubtedly a fact. Hence I am stronglyof opinion that a gas like oxygen, which increases the vitalityand the resisting power of the body, would be extremely likelyto delay the action of what you have so happily named thedaturon. It may be that I am mistaken, but I have everyconfidence in the correctness of my reasoning."

"Well," said Lord John, "if we've got to sit suckin' at thosetubes like so many babies with their bottles, I'm not takin'any."

"There will be no need for that," Challenger answered. "We havemade arrangements--it is to my wife that you chiefly oweit--that her boudoir shall be made as airtight as ispracticable. With matting and varnished paper.""Good heavens, Challenger, you don't suppose you can keep outether with varnished paper?"

"Really, my worthy friend, you are a trifle perverse in missingthepoint. It is not to keep out the ether that we have gone to suchtrouble. It is to keep in the oxygen. I trust that if we canensure an atmosphere hyper-oxygenated to a certain point, we maybe able to retain our senses. I had two tubes of the gas and youhave brought me three more. It is not much, but it issomething."

"How long will they last?"

"I have not an idea. We will not turn them on until our symptomsbecome unbearable. Then we shall dole the gas out as it isurgently needed. It may give us some hours, possibly even somedays, on which we may look out upon a blasted world. Our ownfate is delayed to that extent, and we will have the verysingular experience, we five, of being, in all probability, theabsolute rear guard of the human race upon its march into theunknown. Perhaps you will be kind enough now to give me a handwith the cylinders. It seems to me that the atmosphere alreadygrows somewhat more oppressive."