"Hello," he said and his voice sounded far away from him.
"Hello," said Brennan, "how are you feeling?"
"My head aches," he said.
"You'll be all right," said the surgeon. "You fainted from nervous exhaustion and loss of blood and we brought you down here and fixed you up. You cracked two knuckles of your right hand and you have lacerations that we sutured on your forehead and your cheek. You can get up as soon as you feel strong enough."
"What time is it?" he asked.
"It's a little after midnight," Brennan replied, as the surgeon left the room.
"Tell me," he asked, "how did it happen that you got there in time to save me?"
"I telephoned to P. Q. after dinner to tell him that I had Ben Smith's transcript and he told me about Murphy," Brennan explained. "He told me to find you at the receiving hospital here. When I got here they told me you had gone to the detective bureau and at the bureau I learned that you had gone to Murphy's room. I hurried down there and as I got near the door of the room I heard a crash. It must have been when you threw the water pitcher.
"Luckily I had my gun with me. I drew it and pushed open the door. As soon as they saw me standing there with the gun in my hand they lifted their hands above their heads and started backing up. You know the rest of it."
"You saved my life," said John.