Read this original fiction passage set in the nineteenth century.
At the mouth of the abandoned mine, Elias raised his lantern. The foreman’s call came faintly from below. Elias leaned towards the shaft, then stepped back when gravel slipped beneath his boot. For a moment, he stared at the strip of daylight behind him. He turned his back on the daylight and knotted the rescue rope around his waist. Taking a slow breath, he lowered himself onto the first rung.
Identify the sentence which first shows that Elias’s sense of duty has become stronger than his fear.