stumbled continuously as he endeavoured to jot down his impressions in
the fat notebook. The Professor felt nothing mysterious about the place.
He had the bullet-proof skin of your cold analyst who yearns eternally
for facts.

"Wonderful geological formation!" he chattered. "My friend Professor
Hanlaw of Oakland would enjoy a glimpse of this spot. A geologist could
spend a lifetime here."

Leith's sallow face was disturbed by a grin as he listened to the old
science-crazed ancient disbursing information regarding the formation of
the rock. It troubled me little at that moment whether feldspar and
augite were the two largest components, and I knew that Holman and the
two girls were not interested. We knew that the place was ugly and
sinister, but feldspar and augite didn't give it that look.

The height of the walls increased as we advanced. We were in a narrow
roadway scarcely more than twelve feet across, while on each side rose
the nearly perpendicular rocks that blocked our view of the country
immediately beyond. The ground beneath our feet was covered with small
bits of lava from the crevices of which the moist flabby leaves of the
nupu plant stuck up like fat green fingers.

As we stared ahead we noted that the road seemed to dip suddenly as if
the highest point of the island was reached at that spot, and the
prospects of a walk upon a down grade were cheering after the stiff
climbs. As we neared the place, Soma, who was walking about ten paces in
front of the carriers, slackened speed, and the islanders dropped back
till Leith and the Professor led the procession.