He got up from his own chair, as if to move it, and, as Portersham hitched nearer the table, the senator managed to get right behind him.
At the same instant he thrust his hand into an inside pocket.
If the acting governor had chanced to turn, he would have observed that the good-humored expression had entirely left his visitor’s face. His lips had drawn down at the corners, while his eyes seemed to narrow and come closer together.
There was a strange ferocity in the whole countenance, curiously at variance with the light and pleasant words with which he had entered the room.
When Senator Garnford’s hand came out of his pocket, it did not hold papers. Instead, he brought forth a small bottle and a folded pad of white cloth.
Keeping a wary eye on Portersham, who was trying to get his chair into a convenient position at the table, the senator gently drew the cork from the bottle in his hand.
He placed the pad of cloth over the neck of the bottle and let the contents saturate it through and through.
“What’s that?” exclaimed the acting governor, as he began to turn in his chair. “I thought I smelled a strange——”
He did not get any further. Senator Garnford seized him around the throat in an iron grip and pulled his head back.
“Let go!” gasped Portersham. “What the——”