utes to two, just as I got up, I heard a noise outside
like a big electric fan. It sounded like it came from directly
overhead and I went to the window and looked out. I couldn't see
anything, although I could hear it pretty plainly, and then I heard a
noise like something had fallen on the roof. Almost at the same time
there came a sort of high-pitched whine, a good deal like the noise an
electric motor makes when it is running at high speed.

"I thought of giving an alarm, but I didn't want to stir things up
unless I was sure that there was some necessity for it, so I started
for the door to ask one of the outside guards if he had heard
anything. As I turned toward No. 9764 I saw that he had been sitting
up in bed while my back was turned. As soon as he saw that I noticed
him, he lay back real quick and pulled the covers over his head. He
moved pretty quick, but not so quick that I couldn't see that he had
something that glittered like glass before his face. I started over
toward his bed to see what he was doing and then it was that the
lights started to get dim!"

"Go on!" said the doctor as Bailley paused. His eyes were glittering
brightly now.

"Well, sir, Doctor, I don't hardly know how to describe what happened
next. The lights were getting dim, but not as they ordinarily do when
the current starts to go off. The filaments were shining as bright as
they ever did, but the light didn't seem to be able to penetrate the
air. The whole room seemed to be filled with a blackness that stopped
the light. No, sir, it wasn't like fog; it was more like something
more powerful than the lights was in the room and was killing them.

* * * * *

"It wasn't only the lights which were affected, it was me as well.
This blackness, whatever it was, was getting into me as well as into
the room, and I couldn't seem to make myself think like I wanted to. I
tried to yell to give an alarm, and I found that I could hardly
whisper. I went toward the bed and then I saw No. 9764 sit up again.
He had a goldfish bowl pulled down over his head and it was evident
that it was keeping the blackness away, for I could see him plainly
and his eyes were as bright as ever.

"The nearer I got to him, the funnier I felt, and I began to be afraid
that I would go out. No. 9764 got up out of bed, and I could see him
grinning at me through the bowl. He reached up and adjusted that bowl,
and all of a sudden I realized that