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The Invisible Man
Chapter 14. THE MAN WHO WAS RUNNING
In the early evening, Dr. Kemp was sitting in his study in the belvedere on the hill overlooking Burdock.
It was a pleasant little room.
It had three windows facing north, west, and south.
Bookshelves were full of books and scientific papers.
A wide writing-table stood in the room.
Under the north window were a microscope, glass slips, small tools, cultures, and bottles of chemicals.
Dr. Kemp's solar lamp was lit though the sky was still bright with the sunset.
His blinds were up because there was no one outside who could look in.
Dr. Kemp was a tall and thin young man.
He had light hair and a moustache almost white.
He hoped his work would earn him a place in the Royal Society.
He thought very highly of it.
And his eye, moving away from his work, caught the sunset shining at the back of the hill across from his own.
For a minute perhaps he sat, pen in mouth.
He enjoyed the rich golden color above the hilltop.
Then his attention was caught by a small figure.
It was a dark black man running over the hill toward him.
He was a short little man, and he wore a tall hat.
And he was running so fast that his legs really moved quickly.
"Another one of those fools," said Dr. Kemp.
"Like that idiot who ran into me this morning around a corner, with 'The Invisible Man is coming, sir!' I can't imagine what's wrong with people."
"You'd think we were in the thirteenth century."
He got up, went to the window, and stared at the dark hillside, and the small dark figure running down it.
"He seems in a terrible hurry," said Dr. Kemp.
"But he doesn't seem to be making progress. If his pockets were full of lead, he couldn't run heavier."
"He's trying hard, sir," said Dr. Kemp.
In another moment, the highest of the houses that had climbed the hill from Burdock hid the running figure.
He was visible again for a moment, and again, and then again, three times between the next three separate houses.
Then the row of houses hid him.
"Idiots!" said Dr. Kemp, turning around and walking back to his writing-table.
But those who saw the runner and fear on his sweating face, on the open road, did not share the doctor's dislike.
The man ran hard, and as he ran, he made a sound like a full purse being shaken.
He looked neither to the right nor to the left.
His wide eyes stared straight downhill where the lamps were being lit and the people were crowded in the street.
And his ugly mouth hung open, and a wet foam lay on his lips, and his breath came rough and loud.
Everyone he passed stopped, looked up and down the road, and asked with worry why he was in such a hurry.
A dog playing on the hill yelped and ran under a gate.
Then something rushed by, it sounded like wind, padding footsteps, and heavy breathing.
People screamed, People jumped off the road.
It passed with shouts, it passed by feeling down the hill.
They were shouting in the street before Marvel was halfway there.
They were running into houses and closing the doors behind them, with the news.
He heard it and made one last, desperate effort.
Fear came striding by, rushed ahead of him, and in a moment had taken the town.
"The Invisible Man is coming! The Invisible Man!"