Ever and again he would be seized with a fit of deadly shuddering and groan aloud , and carrying the bottle to his lips , drink down the raw spirits by the mouthful . I stepped forward , came close behind him where he sat , and suddenly clapping my two hands down upon his shoulders -- `` Ah ! '' cried I. My uncle gave a kind of broken cry like a sheep 's bleat , flung up his arms , and tumbled to the floor like a dead man . I was somewhat shocked at this ; but I had myself to look to first of all , and did not hesitate to let him lie as he had fallen . The keys were hanging in the cupboard ; and it was my design to furnish myself with arms before my uncle should come again to his senses and the power of devising evil . In the cupboard were a few bottles , some apparently of medicine ; a great many bills and other papers , which I should willingly enough have rummaged , had I had the time ; and a few necessaries that were nothing to my purpose . Thence I turned to the chests . The first was full of meal ; the second of moneybags and papers tied into sheaves ; in the third , with many other things -LRB- and these for the most part clothes -RRB- I found a rusty , ugly-looking Highland dirk without the scabbard . This , then , I concealed inside my waistcoat , and turned to my uncle . He lay as he had fallen , all huddled , with one knee up and one arm sprawling abroad ; his face had a strange colour of blue , and he seemed to have ceased breathing . Fear came on me that he was dead ; then I got water and dashed it in his face ; and with that he seemed to come a little to himself , working his mouth and fluttering his eyelids . At last he looked up and saw me , and there came into his eyes a terror that was not of this world . `` Come , come , '' said I ; `` sit up . '' `` Are ye alive ? '' he sobbed . `` O man , are ye alive ? '' `` That am I , '' said I. `` Small thanks to you ! '' He had begun to seek for his breath with deep sighs . `` The blue phial , '' said he -- `` in the aumry -- the blue phial . '' His breath came slower still .
I ran to the cupboard , and , sure enough , found there a blue XXXXX of medicine , with the dose written on it on a paper , and this I administered to him with what speed I might .
aumry colour dirk first lips moneybags phial sheaves sighs third