"The gentleman's name—I came with—is Chaffinger——"
"You said——?"
"Chaffinger."
She was too close to him to notice that he too had suddenly become white. He still held her, but slowly half a cubic foot of air came from his chest. Probably with a purely mechanical movement he set her on her feet. His hand was at his sound ear.
"Will you say it again, m'm?" he said huskily.
Louie did so.
"Cap-Captain Chaffinger, m'm?"
"Oh," Louie choked, "don't call me 'm'm'!"
"You did say Captain Chaffinger?"
Then, leaning limply against the shaft, Louie began to speak low and rapidly.