"If there were the slightest chance that Ala could have escaped," he
said, after a few minutes, "I would remain here, and search for her, but
it is only too clear what her fate has been. She was really our only
friend, and now that she is gone, we must get away from the sight and
memory of these things as quickly as possible."
Seeing that his strength was gradually coming back to him, and secretly
rejoicing that he bore this terrible blow so stoically, I felt that we
might now converse about the catastrophe which we had witnessed.
"What do you think was the cause of the sudden outburst of fire?" I
asked.
"It could hardly have been the direct action of the sunlight," he
replied. "It must have resulted from some accidental concentration of the
solar rays upon an inflammable substance by a mirror."
"I recall seeing a large concave glass on the principal platform in which
they were fond of looking at their magnified images," I said.
"Yes, and no doubt that was the instrument chosen by fate to bring about
this terrible end. The power of the sunbeams is twice as great here as
upon the earth, and the heat in the focus of a mirror a couple of feet in
diameter would suffice to set fire to the flimsy materials which abounded
on the tower.
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