Page:Rowland--The Mountain of Fears.djvu/129

. The lusterless look had left his eyes, and even in my benumbed condition I detected a twitching of his thick fingers.

After you' I began, thickly, then realized that I was talking nonsense, but Lynch also had seen the movement. His hand fell upon the revolver.

" 'If you move a muscle you are a dead man, friend McAdoo,' he said, softly. 'I fear that you are no better than a dead man as it is—but I should advise you not to bring the matter to a climax until all of the evidence is in.'

"We waited in silence; even the clock had stopped its ticking; the journal was lying on the table. Lynch, I remember, was twisting the ends of his wiry mustache with his free hand. Perhaps the tension had cleared my head; perhaps the drugs, taken, as usual, four hours before the paroxysm was due, were be ginning to act; at any rate, my mind was active—abnormally so.

"The crisis had passed with McAdoo; he [ 113 ]