Червона чума
Chapter 3
“Themanwhosentthisnews,thewirelessoperator,wasalonewithhisinstrumentonthetopofaloftybuilding. Thepeopleremaininginthecity—heestimatedthematseveralhundredthousand—hadgonemadfromfearanddrink,andonallsidesofhimgreatfireswereraging. Hewasahero,thatmanwhostaidbyhispost—anobscurenewspaperman,mostlikely.
“Fortwenty-fourhours,hesaid,notransatlanticairshipshadarrived,andnomoremessageswerecomingfromEngland. Hedidstate,though,thatamessagefromBerlin—that’sinGermany—announcedthatHoffmeyer,abacteriologistoftheMetchnikoffSchool,haddiscoveredtheserumfortheplague. Thatwasthelastword,tothisday,thatweofAmericaeverreceivedfromEurope. IfHoffmeyerdiscoveredtheserum,itwastoolate,orotherwise,longerethis,explorersfromEuropewouldhavecomelookingforus. WecanonlyconcludethatwhathappenedinAmericahappenedinEurope,andthat,atthebest,someseveralscoremayhavesurvivedtheScarletDeathonthatwholecontinent.
“ForonedaylongerthedespatchescontinuedtocomefromNewYork. Thenthey,too,ceased. Themanwhohadsentthem,perchedinhisloftybuilding,hadeitherdiedoftheplagueorbeenconsumedinthegreatconflagrationshehaddescribedasragingaroundhim. AndwhathadoccurredinNewYorkhadbeenduplicatedinalltheothercities. ItwasthesameinSanFrancisco,andOakland,andBerkeley. ByThursdaythepeopleweredyingsorapidlythattheircorpsescouldnotbehandled,anddeadbodieslayeverywhere.
