day."

Then he turned to MacIan who was standing close behind him, and
whose face, now familiar in all its moods, told him easily that
Evan had heard the whole of the strange dialogue.

"Curse those cruel beasts!" cried Turnbull. "They've turned him
to an imbecile just by burying him alive. His brain's like a
pin-point now."

"You are sure he is a lunatic?" said Evan, slowly.

"Not a lunatic," said Turnbull, "an idiot. He just points to
things and says that they stick out."

"He had a notion that he could help us," said MacIan moodily, and
began to pace towards the other end of his cell.

"Yes, it was a bit pathetic," assented Turnbull; "such a Thing
offering help, and besides---- Hallo! Hallo! What's the matter?"

"God Almighty guide us all!" said MacIan.

He was standing heavy and still at the other end of the room and
staring quietly at the door which for thirty days had sealed them
up from the sun. Turnbull, following the other's eye, stared at
the door likewise, and then he also uttered an exclamation. The
iron door was standing about an inch and a half open.

"He said----" began Evan, in a trembling voice--"he offered----"