B. M. Bower

“ He reached the exact point which he had planned to reach, drew one long breath in the full knowledge that it might be his last—and dropped. The impact of solid rock upon his boot soles jarred him as he flung himself forward and fell face downward on the floor of the passage. ”

“ The sound might have come down the narrow inlet to the pool, but Abington dismissed that possibility, probably because it was of no use to him, since he could not very well worm his way through an eight-inch crevice.
There must be some opening in the roof. If not, then one good archæologist was likely to be counted a martyr to science and finally forgotten—his own bones eventually becoming mere fossilized relics. ”

“ CHAPTER IX. A JUMP INTO SPACE. TWICE Abington circled the pool, pausing often to scan the carvings and to took up at the place where he had made his unexpected entrance. A real jump-off, that; more than twice the height of a tall man, and no possibility of climbing back unless one had a rope. ”