She went direct to Mrs. Allanby, never losing her presence of mind, though she seemed to see at a glance what had happened. She took Mrs. Allanby's hand.
"Hush," she said imperiously, but very low. "You mustn't say such things; for his sake and for your own, and for the sake of his wife."
"It has bitten him," cried Mrs. Allanby, "and I fainted when I saw it, and there's been time lost. Can't you do anything? Oh, can't you do anything? But I know you can't. It's deadly"
And then she was seized with a fit of shuddering.
Lady Waveryng shook her off, as though she too had been a reptile, and rushed to her brother's side.
"Take care, Em," he said. "I'm done for, dear, and the beast is there yet."
And on the flat top of the rock, sluggish, stunted of shape, and with the cruel broad head of the deadly reptile, was the death adder which had bitten him.
Mr. Craig killed it. Frank Hallett had his knife out in a twinkling. "Where?" he said.
Lord Horace held out his hand. Frank made one or two transverse cuts, and then unhesitatingly put his mouth to the wound and sucked the blood, while Minnie Pryde's squatter tied a ligature tightly round the arm.
"Too late, old chap," said Lord Horace, faintly. "It's all up with me. All I can do is to die game, and whatever we Gages were, bad or good, we all of us could do that—couldn't we, Em?"
Lady Waveryng's eyes gave the answer. She was very pale, almost stunned by the blow, but she never lost her self-possession, a contrast to the weeping panic-stricken woman whom Lord Horace loved.
"Can nothing be done?" she said, turning to Frank, and sweeping Mrs. Allanby with her gaze. "Brandy, ammonia—is there no ammonia?"
They had already begun pouring brandy down Lord Horace's throat. No one had ammonia, an omission for which Frank cursed himself; he usually carried his inject-
