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- Стр. 23/31
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"
Then
it
was
that
the
horror
began
.
Leaving
the
dead
lie
,
we
forced
the
living
ones
to
segregate
themselves
in
another
room
.
The
plague
began
to
break
out
among
the
rest
of
us
,
and
as
fast
as
the
symptoms
appeared
,
we
sent
the
stricken
ones
to
these
segregated
rooms
.
We
compelled
them
to
walk
there
by
themselves
,
so
as
to
avoid
laying
hands
on
them
.
It
was
heartrending
.
But
still
the
plague
raged
among
us
,
and
room
after
room
was
filled
with
the
dead
and
dying
.
And
so
we
who
were
yet
clean
retreated
to
the
next
floor
and
to
the
next
,
before
this
sea
of
the
dead
,
that
,
room
by
room
and
floor
by
floor
,
inundated
the
building
.
"
The
place
became
a
charnel
house
,
and
in
the
middle
of
the
night
the
survivors
fled
forth
,
taking
nothing
with
them
except
arms
and
ammunition
and
a
heavy
store
of
tinned
foods
.
We
camped
on
the
opposite
side
of
the
campus
from
the
prowlers
,
and
,
while
some
stood
guard
,
others
of
us
volunteered
to
scout
into
the
city
in
quest
of
horses
,
motor
cars
,
carts
,
and
wagons
,
or
anything
that
would
carry
our
provisions
and
enable
us
to
emulate
the
banded
workingmen
I
had
seen
fighting
their
way
out
to
the
open
country
.
"
I
was
one
of
these
scouts
;
and
Doctor
Hoyle
,
remembering
that
his
motor
car
had
been
left
behind
in
his
home
garage
,
told
me
to
look
for
it
.
We
scouted
in
pairs
,
and
Dombey
,
a
young
undergraduate
,
accompanied
me
.
We
had
to
cross
half
a
mile
of
the
residence
portion
of
the
city
to
get
to
Doctor
Hoyle
's
home
.
Here
the
buildings
stood
apart
,
in
the
midst
of
trees
and
grassy
lawns
,
and
here
the
fires
had
played
freaks
,
burning
whole
blocks
,
skipping
blocks
and
often
skipping
a
single
house
in
a
block
.
And
here
,
too
,
the
prowlers
were
still
at
their
work
.
We
carried
our
automatic
pistols
openly
in
our
hands
,
and
looked
desperate
enough
,
forsooth
,
to
keep
them
from
attacking
us
.
But
at
Doctor
Hoyle
's
house
the
thing
happened
.
Untouched
by
fire
,
even
as
we
came
to
it
the
smoke
of
flames
burst
forth
.
"
The
miscreant
who
had
set
fire
to
it
staggered
down
the
steps
and
out
along
the
driveway
.
Sticking
out
of
his
coat
pockets
were
bottles
of
whiskey
,
and
he
was
very
drunk
.
My
first
impulse
was
to
shoot
him
,
and
I
have
never
ceased
regretting
that
I
did
not
.
Staggering
and
maundering
to
himself
,
with
bloodshot
eyes
,
and
a
raw
and
bleeding
slash
down
one
side
of
his
bewhiskered
face
,
he
was
altogether
the
most
nauseating
specimen
of
degradation
and
filth
I
had
ever
encountered
.
I
did
not
shoot
him
,
and
he
leaned
against
a
tree
on
the
lawn
to
let
us
go
by
.
It
was
the
most
absolute
,
wanton
act
.
Just
as
we
were
opposite
him
,
he
suddenly
drew
a
pistol
and
shot
Dombey
through
the
head
.
The
next
instant
I
shot
him
.
But
it
was
too
late
.
Dombey
expired
without
a
groan
,
immediately
.
I
doubt
if
he
even
knew
what
had
happened
to
him
.
"
Leaving
the
two
corpses
,
I
hurried
on
past
the
burning
house
to
the
garage
,
and
there
found
Doctor
Hoyle
's
motor
car
.
The
tanks
were
filled
with
gasoline
,
and
it
was
ready
for
use
.
And
it
was
in
this
car
that
I
threaded
the
streets
of
the
ruined
city
and
came
back
to
the
survivors
on
the
campus
.
The
other
scouts
returned
,
but
none
had
been
so
fortunate
.
Professor
Fairmead
had
found
a
Shetland
pony
,
but
the
poor
creature
,
tied
in
a
stable
and
abandoned
for
days
,
was
so
weak
from
want
of
food
and
water
that
it
could
carry
no
burden
at
all
.
Some
of
the
men
were
for
turning
it
loose
,
but
I
insisted
that
we
should
lead
it
along
with
us
,
so
that
,
if
we
got
out
of
food
,
we
would
have
it
to
eat
.
"
There
were
forty-seven
of
us
when
we
started
,
many
being
women
and
children
.
The
President
of
the
Faculty
,
an
old
man
to
begin
with
,
and
now
hopelessly
broken
by
the
awful
happenings
of
the
past
week
,
rode
in
the
motor
car
with
several
young
children
and
the
aged
mother
of
Professor
Fairmead
.
Wathope
,
a
young
professor
of
English
,
who
had
a
grievous
bullet-wound
in
his
leg
,
drove
the
car
.
The
rest
of
us
walked
,
Professor
Fairmead
leading
the
pony
.
"
It
was
what
should
have
been
a
bright
summer
day
,
but
the
smoke
from
the
burning
world
filled
the
sky
,
through
which
the
sun
shone
murkily
,
a
dull
and
lifeless
orb
,
blood-red
and
ominous
.
But
we
had
grown
accustomed
to
that
blood-red
sun
.
With
the
smoke
it
was
different
.
It
bit
into
our
nostrils
and
eyes
,
and
there
was
not
one
of
us
whose
eyes
were
not
bloodshot
.
We
directed
our
course
to
the
southeast
through
the
endless
miles
of
suburban
residences
,
travelling
along
where
the
first
swells
of
low
hills
rose
from
the
flat
of
the
central
city
.
It
was
by
this
way
,
only
,
that
we
could
expect
to
gain
the
country
.
"
Our
progress
was
painfully
slow
.
The
women
and
children
could
not
walk
fast
.
They
did
not
dream
of
walking
,
my
grandsons
,
in
the
way
all
people
walk
to-day
.
In
truth
,
none
of
us
knew
how
to
walk
.
It
was
not
until
after
the
plague
that
I
learned
really
to
walk
.
So
it
was
that
the
pace
of
the
slowest
was
the
pace
of
all
,
for
we
dared
not
separate
on
account
of
the
prowlers
.
There
were
not
so
many
now
of
these
human
beasts
of
prey
.
The
plague
had
already
well
diminished
their
numbers
,
but
enough
still
lived
to
be
a
constant
menace
to
us
.
Many
of
the
beautiful
residences
were
untouched
by
fire
,
yet
smoking
ruins
were
everywhere
.
The
prowlers
,
too
,
seemed
to
have
got
over
their
insensate
desire
to
burn
,
and
it
was
more
rarely
that
we
saw
houses
freshly
on
fire
.
