"Look!" he exclaimed, pointing. "What this all means we don't know
yet. How long it's been we can't tell. But to judge by the appearance
up here, it's even longer than I thought. See, the very tiles are
cracked and crumbling.

"Tilework is usually considered highly recalcitrant--but _this_ is
gone. There's grass growing in the dust that's settled between the
tiles. And--why, here's a young oak that's taken root and forced a
dozen slabs out of place."

"The winds and birds have carried seeds up here, and acorns," she
answered in an awed voice. "Think of the time that must have passed.
Years and years.

"But tell me," and her brow wrinkled with a sudden wonder, "tell me
how we've ever lived so long? _I_ can't understand it.

"Not only have we escaped starvation, but we haven't frozen to death
in all these bitter winters. How can _that_ have happened?"

"Let it all go as suspended animation till we learn the facts, if we
ever do," he replied, glancing about with wonder.

"You know, of course, how toads have been known to live embedded in
rock for centuries? How fish, hard-frozen, have been brought to life
again? Well--"

"But we are human beings."