It may--may, I say--have killed this poor fellow on the spot--he may have been dead before ever he fell down that quarry." It was only by an enormous effort of will that Mallalieu prevented himself from yielding to one of his shaking fits.
"But--but mightn't he ha' got that with striking his head against them rocks as he fell ?" he suggested.

"It's a rocky place, that, and the rocks project, like, so----" "No!" said the doctor, doggedly.

"That's no injury from any rock or stone or projection.

It's the result of a particularly fierce blow dealt with great force by some blunt instrument--a life preserver, a club, a heavy stick.

It's no use arguing it.