The Dummy joined them, making a hideous and lamentable noise which so affected Ellis that he pretended to howl at it like a little dog overcome by mournful music.
But suddenly Ellis had an idea, crying out thickly, between two hiccoughs: "Hey, there, Van, do your dog-act for us! Go on! Bark for us!" By this time Vandover was very nearly out of his head, his drunkenness finishing what his nervousness had begun.

The attack was fast approaching culmination; strange and unnatural fancies began to come and go in his brain.
"Go on, Van!" urged Ellis, his eyes heavy with alcohol.

"Go on, do your dog-act!" All at once it was as though an angry dog were snarling and barking over a bone there under the table about their feet.

Ellis roared with laughter, but suddenly he himself was drunk.

All the afternoon he had kept himself in hand; now his intoxication came upon him in a moment.
The skin around his eyes was purple and swollen, the pupils themselves were contracted; they grew darker, taking on the colour of bitumen.
Suddenly he swept glasses, plates, castor, knives, forks, and all from off the table with a single movement of his arm.