"I wouldn't have asked you.

It probably means death." "Very well," I gasped, irritated.

"But why borrow trouble ?" He reached out, touched me.
"You're right, Walter," he grinned.

"It does--seem--like carrying coals--to Newcastle." There was a thunderous booming behind us; a shattering crash.

A cloud of smoke and dust hung over the northern end of the ruined fortress.
It lifted swiftly, and I saw that the whole side of the structure had fallen, littering the road with its fragments.