Darkness and Dawn by George Allan England
page 41 of 857 (04%)
page 41 of 857 (04%)
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not mistaken, the bottles must be lying somewhere in that rubbish heap
over by the window." He left her wondering, and knelt among the litter. For a while he silently delved through the triturated bits of punky wood and rust-red metal that now represented the remains of his chemical cabinet. All at once he exclaimed: "Here's one! And here's another! This certainly _is_ luck! H-m! I shouldn't wonder if I got almost all of them back." One by one he found a score of thick, ground-glass vials. Some were broken, probably by the shock when they and the cabinet had fallen, but a good many still remained intact. Among these were the two essential ones. By the last dim ghost of light through the window, and by the sense of touch, Stern was able to make out the engraved symbols "P" and "S" on these bottles. "Phosphorus and sulphur," he commented. "Well, what more could I reasonably ask? Here's alcohol, too, hermetically sealed. Not too bad, eh?" While the girl watched, with wondering admiration, Stern thought hard a moment. Then he set to work. First he took a piece of the corroded metal framework of the cabinet, a steel strip about eighteen inches long, frail in places, but still sufficiently strong to serve his purpose. |
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