Connery shut the window.
As the surgeon carefully and deliberately pulled back the bedclothing and exposed the body of the man clothed in pajamas, the others watched him. Sinclair made first an examination of the head; completing this, he unbuttoned the pajamas upon the chest, loosened them at the waist and prepared to make his examination of the body.
"How long has he been dead?" Connery asked.
"He is not dead yet."
"You mean he is still dying?"
"I did not say so."
"You mean he is alive, then?"
"Life is still present," Sinclair answered guardedly. "Whether he will live or ever regain consciousness is another question."
"One you can't answer?"
"The blow, as you can see,"—Sinclair touched the man's face with his deft finger-tips,—"fell mostly on the cheek and temple. The cheekbone is fractured. He is in a complete state of coma; and there may be some fracture of the skull. Of course, there is some concussion of the brain."