“ ‘I⁠—don’t know,’ he answered hesitatingly. ‘But something tells me so. Throck,’ he went on half earnestly, half laughingly, ‘the purely scientific part of me is fighting the purely human part of me. The scientific part is urging me to find some way to get that slab either down or open. The human part is just as strongly urging me to do nothing of the sort and get away while I can!’

“He laughed again⁠—shamefacedly.

“ ‘Which shall it be?’ he asked⁠—and I thought that in his tone the human side of him was ascendant.

“ ‘It will probably stay as it is⁠—unless we blow it to bits,’ I said.

“ ‘I thought of that,’ he answered, ‘and I wouldn’t dare,’ he added soberly enough. And even as I had spoken there came to me the same feeling that he had expressed. It was as though something passed out of the grey rock that struck my heart as a hand strikes an impious lip. We turned away⁠—uneasily, and faced Thora coming through a breach on the terrace.