That difficulty we overcame at last by sinking a narrow well down to the level of the ancient tunnel of which I have spoken as having been shaken in by the earthquake.
Thus we, or rather Oliver and Quick with the Mountaineers, toiled on.
Higgs did his best, but after a while proved quite unable to bear the heat, which became too much for so stout a man.

The end of it was that he devoted himself to the superintendence of the removal of the rubbish into the Tomb of Kings, the care of the stores and so forth.

At least that was supposed to be his business, but really he employed most of his time in drawing and cataloguing the objects of antiquity and the groups of bones that were buried there, and in exploring the remains of the underground city.

In truth, this task of destruction was most repellent to the poor Professor.
"To think," he said to us, "to think that I, who all my life have preached the iniquity of not conserving every relic of the past, should now be employed in attempting to obliterate the most wonderful object ever fashioned by the ancients! It is enough to make a Vandal weep, and I pray heaven that you may not succeed in your infamous design.

What does it matter if the Abati are wiped out, as lots of better people have been before them?
What does it matter if we accompany them to oblivion so long as that noble sphinx is preserved to be the wonder of future generations?
Well, thank goodness, at any rate I have seen it, which is more, probably, than any of you will ever do.