Some time later he awoke with a start and looked about him.
The paper had fallen from his hand and lay upon the floor. He himself had slumped down so that his back was resting on the edge of the chair. A little more and he would have slipped off it altogether.
“What do you know about that?” he muttered to himself in surprise. “I must have been asleep. Queer for me to have dropped off that way in the day time. Oh, well, I suppose I just dozed off for a moment.”
He looked at his watch and gave an exclamation of surprise. It had been about two o’clock when he had settled down in the chair. It was now nearly five. A glance at the changed position of the sun told him that there was nothing the matter with the watch.
“Beats me,” he murmured. “First time since I was a kid that I’ve done anything like that.”
He pressed his hand against the arm of the chair as he rose, and his own arm almost gave way under him.
“What in thunder!” he exclaimed.
At the same time he was conscious of a prickling sensation in his arm as though a thousand little needle points were jabbing it.