Drawing up the sleeve from the woman’s shapely arm, he plunged the needle through the fair skin and injected the contents of the syringe, which he then replaced on the bureau.
Nolan then put a chair near the side of the bed and sat down to await the result of this treatment.
He had not long to wait.
Scarce five minutes had passed when a tinge of color appeared in the woman’s pale cheeks.
Her lips parted slightly and Nolan then could detect that she was breathing. Another minute brought a deep-drawn sigh and a low moan, soon followed by a fluttering of her eyelids.
“She’s still in the ring, all right,” Nolan congratulated himself. “They were a clever bunch, for fair, that did this job. Ten bucks, eh? I’ll soon see about that ten bucks’ gag. They’ll come down handsomely for this, those two rats. Ah, now her lamps are lighted!”
The woman had opened her eyes.
She stared up at Nolan vacantly for several moments, too dazed and prostrated for returning consciousness to bring any immediate appreciation of her surroundings and what had befallen her.
Nolan did not speak, but waited patiently, knowing it then would be vain to question her.
The woman broke the silence. She seemed to be slowly grasping the situation, for she suddenly faltered vacantly, scarce above a whisper: