Angels and Women (1924)

12 ANGELS AND WOMENand the energies of the entire party weredevoted to the work of deciphering. Underthe supervision of our learned archeologistgood progress was made, though, in ourhaste and ignorance, great freedom of translationwas unavoidable, and frequently ourinsight into obscure passages was scarcelymore than conjecture.It was fortunate that no delay was suffered;the delicate characters rapidly fadedin the light; the tissue, hermetically sealedfor so many ages, had lost its tenacity; dayby day it became disintegrated in the unaccustomedatmosphere, and almost beforethe last pages were finished it crumbled topowder.The beautiful but frail casket in which ithad been preserved was accidentally shiveredand, but for the story which had so marvelouslycome into our possession, the adventurein the Syrian mountains might havevanished from memory like a dream of themorning.