"They'll be all right if the destruction and coagulation of tissue hadn't progressed too far before you checked it, Captain. Treat them now for simple lung cauterization and they ought to get well."
"I have some more of those crystals dissected out, Doctor."
"Keep them in the dark until Mr. Davis comes after them. I want to take a few of them back to Washington for study."
"You expect another attack to-night, Doctor?"
"Yes, sometime after sundown."
"What, in heaven's name, is it?"
"Heaven has nothing to do with it, Captain; the stuff comes from the devil's regions and it is the product of a Russian chemist, who I sometimes believe is verily the devil himself. How it's done and what it is, I haven't found out yet, but I am going to investigate a little to-night. The effect is what you have seen. Are you familiar with the various forms of oxygen?"
"The forms of oxygen? Why, there is only one, oxygen gas. Wait a minute though, there is another form, ozone. Are there any more?"
"None that have been previously listed and studied, but at least one other form exists. Those crystals are pure oxygen."
"Impossible! Oxygen is a gas at all ordinary temperatures."