“I thought so,” said Mr. Ridgeway. “They couldn’t get enough whiskey in as dry a land as this is now to affect them like this. Besides, their pupils; do you see them?”
“Contracted to nothing,” said Doctor Lansing. He prepared a hypodermic needle and made an injection in each left forearm.
“If there is no response of the heart action after fifteen minutes,” he said, “I will know that they are suffering from one of the three newly discovered anesthetics which are so deadly in the hands of a criminal.”
“Don’t you think we had better get them to the hospital at once?” asked Mr. Ridgeway.
“Not until the fifteen minutes pass,” said the doctor. “If the needle takes effect, they will be all right in an hour or two; at least they could be taken home, but if it is the other, we will have a long tussle with them.”
“Well, this settles one thing,” said Mr. Ridgeway decidedly. “We have had every office building in this and every other large city supplied with house physicians for the last three years, but another law must be made requiring every building over a certain size to equip a hospital room for first-aid.”
“It would be a great thing,” said Doctor Lansing, his keen eyes on his two patients, “both for the patients and the doctors. I have had to send many a sufferer home or to the hospital when some slight surgical or electrical care would have finished the matter within a short time, and with a great deal less suffering.” He took out his stethoscope, listened to each heart, and rose. “Well, Mr. Ridgeway, these men are suffering from administration, by themselves or others, of one of the new poisons. Do you know who they are?”
“Yes,” said Mr. Ridgeway. “I can tell you about them, but first get them to the hospital.” He called for an ambulance, and as soon as he had seen the unconscious victims of an unknown villain’s dastard hand carried away, he turned and beckoned Lawrence to follow him into his private office. Sinking down in his chair, he passed a hand through the thick masses of grey hair and sighed.
“There you have it, Lawrence,” he said.
“I don’t believe I understand,” replied Lawrence.