“‘How deep it is,’ she said.
“‘Yes,’ he replied, ‘it holds thirty feet of water, when full.’
“The water crept up inch by inch.
“‘Why don’t you open the gates, and let it in quickly?’ she asked.
“‘It would not do for it to come in too quickly,’ he explained to her; ‘we shall half fill this lock, and then open the sluices at the other end, and so let the water pass through.’
“The woman looked at the smooth stone walls and at the iron-plated gates.
“‘I wonder what a man would do,’ she said, ‘if he fell in, and there was no one near to help him.’
“The man laughed. ‘I think he would stop there,’ he answered. ‘Come, the others are waiting for us.’
“‘if a man fell in, and there was no one near to help him?’”