without stopping to think-for if i had , i might not have risked both our lives-i brushed past morgan and went to my knees before them , the tormented malachi and the prostrate warthrop , and the boy turned his tear-stained face , contorted with anger and bewilderment , toward mine beseechingly , as if in my eyes he might find the answer to that unspeakable , unanswerable question : why ?