"Oi gewoldt!" Abe exclaimed. He rushed to the office for a glass of water, but even before he had reached the cooler he stopped suddenly. A great wailing cry came from the showroom and when he ran back with the water a bearded old man lay prostrate across Harkavy's body.
Only Miss Cohen, the bookkeeper, kept a clear head during the confusion that followed. She despatched Nathan, the shipping clerk, for a doctor and directed her frightened employers to loosen the shirt-bands of the unconscious men.
"Some whiskey!" Morris shouted—and one of the cutters produced it bashfully from his hip-pocket.
"Never try to force whiskey on a fainting person," Miss Cohen cried. "It might get into their lungs and suffocate 'em."
"I wasn't going to," Morris said hastily, as he took a yeoman's pull at the bottle. "I am feeling faint myself."
"Mir auch," Abe said, taking the bottle from his partner's grasp. After a refreshing draught he passed it on to Pincus, who returned it empty to the crestfallen cutter just as a physician dashed out of the elevator.
"What caused this trouble?" he asked Abe as he knelt down by the side of Harkavy.
Abe looked helplessly at Morris and turned to Pincus Levin, who commenced to tremble violently.
"Hold on there!" Morris shouted. "He's going to faint too."
Abe seized the glass of ice-water and flung its contents into Pincus Levin's face. He gasped and sat down suddenly.