The pain of the fumes was bad enough, but the real hardship was the
dizziness I suffered. I blundered into the steward's pantry, and out
of it, missed the cross-hall, stumbled through the next starboard
opening in the long hall, and found myself bent double by violent
collision with the dining-room table.
But I had my bearings. Feeling my way around the table and bumping
most of the poisoned breath out of me against the rotund-bellied
stove, I emerged in the cross-hall and made my way to starboard.
Here, at the base of the chart-room stairway, I gained the hall that
led aft. By this time my own situation seemed so serious that,
careless of any collision, I went aft in long leaps.
Margaret's door was open. I plunged into her room. The moment I
drew the blanket-thickness from my eyes I knew blindness and a
modicum of what Bert Rhine must have suffered. Oh, the intolerable
bite of the sulphur in my lungs, nostrils, eyes, and brain! No light
burned in the room. I could only strangle and stumble for'ard to
Margaret's bed, upon which I collapsed.
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