human
Of course, my uncle has given me a very full account of what he learned from Mr. Leavitt, and yet many things puzzle me--this Mr. Leavitt most of all.
gpt
A queer chap, I epitomized him.
human
Frankly, I don't quite make him out, Miss Stanleigh--marooning himself on that infernal island and seemingly content to spend his days there.
gpt
Is he so old?
human
No, he isn't, I reflected.
gpt
Of course, it's difficult to judge ages out here. The climate, you know. Leavitt's well under forty, I should say. But that's a most unhealthy spot he has chosen to live in.
human
Why does he stay there?
gpt
You can have no idea what an obsession it is with him. There isn't a square foot of its steaming, treacherous surface that he hasn't been over, mapping new fissures, poking into old lava-beds, delving into the crater itself on favorable days----
human
Isn't it dangerous?
gpt
In a way, yes. The volcano itself is harmless enough. It smokes unpleasantly now and then, splutters and rumbles as if about to obliterate all creation, but for all its bluster it only manages to spill a trickle or two of fresh lava down its sides--just tamely subsides after deluging Leavitt with a shower of cinders and ashes. But Leavitt won't leave it alone. He goes poking into the very crater, half strangling himself in its poisonous fumes, scorching the shoes off his feet, and once, I believe, he lost most of his hair and eyebrows--a narrow squeak. He throws his head back and laughs at any word of caution. To my notion, it's foolhardy to push a scientific curiosity to that extreme.
human
Is it, then, just scientific curiosity?