TI1E POISON BELT , 
69 
were asleep with their staring eves, and stiff 
limbs, and that awful death-grin on their 
faces ! ” 
“ It can only have been the condition that 
is called catalepsy/’ said Challenger. “It has 
been a rare phenomenon in the past and has 
constantly been mistaken for death. While it 
endures the temperature falls, the respiration 
disappears, the heart-beat is indistinguishable 
— in fact, it is death, save that it is evanescent. 
Even the most comprehensive mind ” — here 
he closed his eves and simpered — “ could 
hardly conceive a universal outbreak of it in 
this fashion.” 
“ You may label it. catalepsy/’ remarked 
Summerlee, “ but, after all, that is only a 
name, and we know as little of the result as 
we do of the poison which has caused it. The 
most we can say is that the vitiated ether 
has produced a temporary death.” 
Austin was seated all in a heap on the 
step of the car. It was his coughing which 
1 had heard from above. He had been 
holding his head in silence, but now he was 
muttering to himself and running his eyes 
over the car. 
“ Young fat-head ! ” he grumbled. “ Can’t 
leave things alone ! ” 
“ What’s the matter, Austin ? ” 
“ Lubricators left running, sir. Someone 
has been fooling with the car. I expect it’s 
that young garden boy, sir.” 
Lord John looked guilty. 
“ I don’t know what’s amiss with me,” 
continued Austin, staggering to his feet. “ I 
expect I came over queer when 1 was hosing 
her down. 1 seem to remember flopping 
over by the step. But I’ll swear I never left 
those lubricator taps on.” 
In a condensed narrative the astonished 
Austin was told what had happened to him- 
self and the world. The mystery of the drop- 
ping lubricators was also explained to him. 
He listened with an air of deep distrust when 
told how an amateur had driven his car, and 
with absorbed interest to the few sentences 
in which our experiences of the sleeping City 
were recorded. I can remember his comment 
when the story was concluded. 
“ Was you outside the Bank of England, 
sir ? ” 
“ Yes, Austin.” 
“ With all them millions inside and every- 
body asleep ? ” 
“ That was so.” 
“ And 1 not there ! ” fie groaned, and turned 
dismally once more to the hosing of his car. 
There was a sudden grinding of wheels upon 
gravel. The old cab had actually pulled up 
V<>]. xlvi.— 8. 
at Challenger’s door. I saw the young occu- 
pant step out from it. An instant later the 
maid, who looked as tousled and bewildered 
as if she had that instant been roused from 
the deepest sleep, appeared with a card upon 
a tray. Challenger snorted ferociously as 
he looked at it, and ins thick black hair seemed 
to bristle up in his wrath. 
“ A Pressman ! ” he growled. Then, with 
a deprecating smile : “ After all, it is natural 
that the whole world should hasten to know 
what T think of such an episode.” 
“ That can hardly be his errand,” said 
Summerlee, “ for he was on the road in his 
cab before ever the crisis came.” 
I looked at the card : “ James Baxter, 
London Correspondent New York Monitor .” 
“ You’ll see him ? ” said I. 
“ Not I.” 
“ Oh, George ! You should be kinder and 
more considerate to others. Surely you have 
learned something from what we have under- 
gone.” 
He tut-tutted and shook his big, obstinate 
head. 
“ A poisonous breed ! Eh, Malone ? The 
worst weed in modern civilization, the ready 
tool of the quack and the hindrance of the 
self-respecting man ! When did they ever 
say a good word for me ? ” 
“ When did you ever say a good word to 
them ? ” I answered. (c Come, sir, this is a 
stranger who has made a journey to see you. 
1 am sure that you won’t be rude to him.” 
“ Well, well,” lie grumbled, “ you come 
with me and do the talking. I protest in 
advance against any such outrageous in- 
vasion of my private life.” Muttering and 
mumbling, he came rolling after me like an 
angry and rather ill-conditioned mastiff. 
The dapper young American pulled out 
his notebook and plunged instantly into his 
subject. 
“ I came down, sir,” said he, “ because our 
people in America would very much like to 
hear more about this danger which is, in your 
opinion, pressing upon the world.” 
“ I know of no danger which is now press- 
ing upon the world,” Challenger answered, 
gruffly. 
The Pressman looked at him in mild 
surprise. 
“ I meant, sir, the chances that the world 
might run into a belt of poisonous ether.” 
“ I do not now apprehend any such danger,” 
said Challenger. 
The Pressman looked even more perplexed. 
“ You are Professor Challenger, are you 
not ? ” he asked. 
