After a time he slept, but it was a restless slumber filled with
troubled dreams. Twice he was half awake, and the second time it
seemed to him his nostrils sensed a sharper tang of smoke than
that of burning tobacco, yet he did not fully rouse himself, and
the hours passed, and new sounds and smells that rose in the night
impinged themselves upon him only as a part of the troublous
fabric of his dreams. But at last there came a shock, something
which beat over these things which chained him, and seized upon
his consciousness, demanding that he rouse himself, open his eyes,
and get up.
He obeyed the command, and before he was fully awake, found
himself on his feet. It was still dark, but he heard voices,
voices no longer subdued, but filled with a wild note of
excitement and command. And what he smelled was not the smell of
tobacco smoke! It was heavy in his room. It filled his lungs. His
eyes were smarting with the sting of it.
Then came vision, and with a startled cry he leaped to a window.
To the north and east he looked out upon a flaming world!
With his fist he rubbed his smarting eyes. The moon was gone. The
gray he saw outside must be the coming of dawn, ghostly with that
mist of smoke that had come into his room.
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