_?"

"Maybe he quit taking them?" Pilar made it half a question.

"It's possible," agreed Smathers. "A hypochondriac will sometimes leave
off dosing himself if there's a doctor around to do it for him. As long
as the subconscious need is filled, he's happy." But he was shaking his
head.

"What's the matter?" Pilar asked.

Smathers pointed at the bottles. "Some of those are mislabeled. They all
say vitamins of one kind or another on the label, but the tablets inside
aren't all vitamins. MacNeil's been giving himself all kinds of things."

Pilar's eyes widened a trifle. "Do you suppose--"

"That one of them is an antidote?" Smathers snorted. "Hell, anything's
possible at this stage of the game. The best thing we can do, I think,
is give him a dose of everything there, and see what happens."

* * * * *

"Yeah, Doc, yeah," said MacNeil smiling weakly, "I feel a little better.
Not real good, you understand, but better."

Under iron control, Dr. Smathers put on his best bedside manner, while
Pilar and Petrelli hovered in the background.

"Now, look, son," said Smathers in a kindly voice, "we found the
medicines in your locker box."

MacNeil's face fell, making him look worse. He'd dropped down close to
death before the conglomerate mixture which had been pumped into his
stomach had taken effect, and Smathers had no desire to put too much
pressure on the man.

"Now, don't worry about it, son," he said hurriedly; "We'll see to it
that you aren't punished for it. It's all right. We just want to ask you
a few questions."

"Sure, Doc; anything," said MacNeil. But he still looked apprehensive.

"Have you been dosing yourself pretty regularly with these things?"

"Well ... uh ... well, yeah. Sometimes." He smiled feebly. "Sometimes I
didn't feel so good, and I didn't want to bother the medics. You know
how it is."

"Very considerate, I'm sure," said Smathers with just the barest trace
of sarcasm, which, fortunately, fell unheeded on MacNeil's ears. "But
which ones did you take every day?"

"Just the vitamins." He paused. "And ... uh ... maybe an aspirin. The
only things I took real regular were the vitamins, though. That's all
right ain't it? Ain't vitamins food?"

"Sure, son, sure. What did you take yesterday morning, before you got so
sick?"

"Just the vitamins," MacNeil said stoutly. "I figured that since you
docs was takin' care of me, I didn't need no medicine."

Dr. Smat