"Well?" he was asked; and lifted his stock up.
"Impossible," he said.
"Why impossible?" James asked Urquhart, having none of the language, but guessing at the word.
Urquhart and the man talked; the latter was eloquent.
"He says," Urquhart told them, "that there's a great cornice, and a drop of forty feet or so. Then he thinks there's another; but he's not sure of that. He intends to go back. I knew he did before he went out to look. It's a beastly nuisance."
James looked at Lingen, who was now on his feet. "Well," he said, "what do you feel about it?"
Lingen, red in the face, said, "You'll excuse me, but I shall do what the guide proposes, though I admit to great fatigue. I don't think it would be right, under the circumstances, to do otherwise. I feel a great responsibility; but I gather that, in any case, he himself would decline to go down. You will think me timid, I dare say."
"No, no," James said. "That's all right, of course. Personally, I should be inclined to try the first cornice anyhow. There's always a chance, you know."
Urquhart looked at him keenly. "Do you mean that?" he asked him.
"Yes," James said. "Why do you ask?" Urquhart turned away. When he faced James again he was strangely altered. His eyes were narrower; lines showed beside his mouth. Temptation was hot in the mouth. "We'd better talk about it," he said, and jerked his head sideways.