They laid him upon a couch, and Joseph obeyed the order. Graham's head
swung helplessly on one side. His eyes opened, however, and he
struggled for consciousness. His lips twitched for a moment. In these
long hours he had almost forgotten the habit of speech. The words, when
they came, sounded strange to him.

"What--where am I? What do you want with me?"

Fischer laid his hat and stick upon a table, on which also stood a
telephone instrument.

"The formula, my young friend," he replied, "for that wonderful
explosive of which you spoke in the lobby."

A sudden accession of nervous strength brought something almost like
passion into the young man's reply, although to himself there still
seemed some unreality in the words which might have come from the walls
or the roof--surely not from his lips.

"I'll see you damned first!"

Fischer smiled. The man was good-looking, in his way, but this was a
pale and ugly smile.

"My request was merely a matter of courtesy," he remarked. "The
difficulty of searching you is not formidable. It would have been
undertaken long ago but for the fact that the restaurant has been
crowded and gags sometimes slip. Besides, there was no hurry. Observe!"