“Then you may try it,” decided the great man. “I believe there were two other men coming to see me this morning on this same errand. Step into my private office until I see them. Perhaps one or both will do to work in as mechanicians.”
Still in the dark as to what Mr. Ridgeway wanted him to undertake, Lawrence was about to go into the other room when a clerk rapped on the outer door and entered without waiting for a summons. His face was pale, and his eyes rolled wildly. “M-m-m-ister Ridgeway, sir,” he stuttered, “those two gentlemen who were waiting outside for you, they are both asleep.”
“Both what?” asked Mr. Ridgeway sharply.
“Both asleep, and we can’t wake either of them.”
“Drugged!” exclaimed Mr. Ridgeway, glancing at Lawrence. “Come on, you may as well see this thing out before you decide to cast your fortune in such dangerous places.” He rushed to the door, followed by Lawrence and the agitated clerk.
On a broad settee in the waiting-room two men were sprawled. Mr. Ridgeway took one keen glance at their pallid faces and half closed lids, between which their pupils, contracted to pin points, glared strangely.
“Drugged!” he said again. Then stepping to the telephone, he called the office of the great building and asked sharply, “Office, is the house doctor there? Ask him to come to Mr. Ridgeway’s office, nineteenth floor, immediately.”
He returned to the settee, where the men still sprawled. “Lay them flat on the floor,” he ordered.
Scarcely had this been done when the doctor, a small, keen young man, entered with a little bag in his hand. His sharp eyes swept the group and he nodded to Mr. Ridgeway as he hastened to the two men on the floor and dropped on one knee beside them.
“Drugged,” he said, glancing up.