Quick as thought the bottle was at the sick man's lips.

He was a heavily built man with powerful limbs.

Guy seized his arm, closed with him, and for a moment there was a deadly struggle, while the pungent odour of the poison filled the atmosphere.

At last Guy fell back on art: he tripped his father cleverly, and they both rolled on the floor.
The sick man still gripped the bottle, but he could not get it to his lips.

He poured some of the stuff over his son's face, but fortunately missed his eyes.