they turned in the other. Their only remaining chance was in its dark
shadow. They understood it. It came on them as a lugubrious flash,
followed by the relapse of horror. That which is intelligible to the
dying man is as what is perceived in the lightning. Everything, then
nothing; you see, then all is blindness. After death the eye will
reopen, and that which was a flash will become a sun.

They cried out to the doctor,--

"Thou, thou, there is no one but thee. We will obey thee, what must we
do? Speak."

The doctor answered,--

"The question is how to pass over the unknown precipice and reach the
other bank of life, which is beyond the tomb. Being the one who knows
the most, my danger is greater than yours. You do well to leave the
choice of the bridge to him whose burden is the heaviest."

He added,--

"Knowledge is a weight added to conscience."

He continued,--

"How much time have we still?"

Galdeazun looked at the water-mark, and answered,--

"A little more than a quarter of an hour."