"And suppose he doesn't hold out at all?"
"What do you mean?"
"Suppose he himself expires, from too violent an effort, heart-failure, a clot of blood to the head?"
"Well?"
"Well, his death would destroy the only hope we have of learning where François is hidden, his death would be François' undoing!"
But Don Luis was inflexible:
"He won't die!" he cried. "Vorski's sort doesn't die of a stroke! No, no, he'll talk, he'll talk within an hour. Just time enough to deliver my lecture."
Patrice Belval began to laugh in spite of himself:
"Have you a lecture to deliver?"
"Rather! And such a lecture!" exclaimed Don Luis. "The whole adventure of the God-Stone! An historical treatise, a comprehensive view extending from prehistoric times to the thirty murders committed by the Superhun! By Jove, it's not every day that one has the opportunity of reading a paper like that; and I wouldn't miss it for a kingdom! Mount the platform, Don Luis, and fire away with your speech!"