The Mystery of the Green Ray by William le Queux

Author:William le Queux
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ManyBooks.net

CHAPTER XI.

HOW THE UNEXPECTED HAPPENED.

When I came to myself I was lying with my head pillowed on Garnesk's arm. My coat and collar were on the ground beside me, and my head and shoulders were dripping with water.

"Ah!" said my companion, with a sigh of relief, "that's better. You'll be all right in a few minutes, Ewart. Take it easy, old chap, and rest."

"Where am I?" I asked. "Good heavens!" I exclaimed, as I heard my own voice, and sat bolt upright in my astonishment, "I thought I was dumb!"

"Well, never mind about that now, old fellow," Garnesk advised. "We'll hear all about that later. Shut your eyes and rest a minute."

"All right," I agreed, "pass me my pipe and I will."

Garnesk laughed aloud as he leaned over to reach my coat pocket.

"When a man shouts for his pipe he's a long way from being dead or dumb or anything else," he said.

Truth to tell, I was feeling very queer. I was dizzy and confused, but I felt that I wanted my pipe to help me collect my thoughts. So I lay there for some minutes quietly smoking, and indeed I felt as if I could have stayed like that for ever.

"I must have fainted," I explained presently, overlooking the fact that Garnesk probably knew more about my ridiculous seizure than I did myself. "I don't know when I did a thing like that before," I added, beginning to get angry with myself.

"Well, I hope you won't do it again," said my friend fervently. "It's not a thing to make a hobby of. And don't you come near this infernal river any more until we know something definite."

"You mean that the place has got on my nerves," I said. "I suppose it has; I'm very sorry."

"Do you feel well enough to tell me all about it?" he asked, "or would you rather wait till we get up to the house?"

"Oh, I'll tell you now," I agreed readily. "We mustn't say anything about this at the house." So I told him exactly how I had felt.

"When did it first come on?" he asked.

"When I heard you shout, and jumped up to see what it was. By the way, what was it?"

"Well," he replied, "we'll discuss the matter if you wouldn't mind releasing my arm?"

"My dear fellow," I cried, sitting up suddenly, as I realised that he was still propping up my head, "I'm most awfully sorry."

"Now then," he said, as he lighted his pipe and made himself comfortable, "we'll go into the latest development. You remember what made me rush off and leave you there?"

"I remember saying something about the sunlight, and you suddenly dashed off."

"To tell you the truth, I had very little faith in the theory that at this hour, above all, the spook of the Chemist's Rock was active, until you pointed out that only about that time is the whole of the river course up to the rock, and the whole of the rock itself, flooded with sunlight.

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