It was all delightful to him to watch the soft, easy, deliberate way in which the paroquets climbed with beak and claw, hooking on with the former, and then raising one foot with its soft, clasping, yoke-toes to take a firm hold before bringing up the other; then, holding on by both, and swinging gently to and fro, the beak was set at liberty, and the bird hung head downwards, to feast upon some luscious fig.

"If they only had a sweet note, instead of their harsh scream," thought Lane, "what lovely creatures they would be."

He sat there watching them for about an hour, but far from satiated, for there was always something fresh to see, and the birds were so tame, that he often had them within a few feet of his head, some soft, round-headed creature turning itself on one side to gaze at him with its keen eye as if in wonder, before going on with its feeding, satisfied that it would not be hurt.

Then the delightful scene came to an end with the climbing birds and the foliage lit up by the horizontal rays of the sun, for, all at once, there was a deafening explosion, and, shrieking loudly, the flock took flight, while Lane sat there appalled, listening in expectation of another report, the former having evidently come from the mountain; but, as he listened, there was in place of the explosion, a loud hissing, and then a loud, heavy pattering, accompanied and followed by thud after thud, and he knew, though he could not see for the dense foliage, that a volley of heavy stones and masses of pumice had been fired into the air, to fall from various heights back to earth on the mountain slopes.

"Ah, I must go and see that," he said to himself, as he seized his gun. "Not my department, but none the less interesting. I wish Panton was here."

A soft, whining noise took his attention then, and, glancing beside him, he saw that the cubs which had been his companions all night were straining about, climbing over each other, and falling back, evidently wanting their morning meal.

"And I suppose I have killed their mother," thought Lane, as he bent over and patted the two furry animals. "Poor little things! I must come back and get them, and take them with me to the ship, if I can cross the belt of mist. First of all, though, the mountain—I must go up that as far as I can climb."

So, descending and shouldering his piece, he strode to where the ashes of his fire lay and then brought his gun down to the present, for there was a quick, rustling sound to his left, and he caught a glimpse of glossy, spotted fur, as an animal passed amongst the dense undergrowth. Then, before he had time to fire, had he felt so disposed, a huge, lithe, cat-like creature bounded on to the trunk of the tree he had just left, uttering a strange, purring cry, and disappeared in the orchids which clustered about the fork.

"Then I did not shoot the mother," thought Lane. "So much the better."

Then, as all was still and no danger to be apprehended there, he shouldered his gun and strode off towards the more open ground, which he reached at last, forgetful of everything but the intense desire to try and ascend the cone-shaped mountain which stood before him, capped with a dense pall of smoke and steam.

After tramping about an hour, the sight of trickling water down amongst some stones suggested to him the fact that he had not broken his fast that morning, so sitting down upon a block of stone, he brought out the remains left in his wallet and ate them, stale as they were, as he looked round him, finding that he had climbed to higher ground than he expected; but though he looked eagerly toward the part where the ship must have lain in the middle of the wave-swept plain, everything was cut off by a dull, misty appearance. Not the clearly marked band of sunny haze he had seen from low down on the level therewith, but a foggy, indistinct state of the atmosphere.

Away to his right, he feasted his eyes upon the enormous mass of stone and ash which towered up in a beautifully regular curve, with apparently nothing to hinder him from walking up the steep slope to the crater, into which he felt an uncontrollable desire to gaze.

"I ought to get up to the top in two or three hours," he thought, as he mentally mapped out his course, seeing nothing likely to hinder him but rough blocks of stone dotted about in all directions. Nothing in themselves, but ominous of aspect when he took into consideration the fact that they must have been hurled upward from the mountain, and fallen back on the slope in all probability white-hot.

"One will have warning," he thought, "and there may be no more fall to-day."

Finishing his last mouthful, he took out an india-rubber cup, and stooping down, filled it from the trickling course, raised it to his lips, and then spurted out a mouthful in disgust, for it was hot, bitter, salt, and had a most objectionable odour.

"Ugh!" he ejaculated, "mustn't depend on you." Then giving another glance round, he shouldered his gun, and commenced the ascent, leaving all vegetation behind him, and soon finding that his way lay over loose scoria and finely-powdered pumice, into which his feet sank at every step.

But as the difficulties and steepness of the ascent increased, so did the desire to climb higher and see more of the volcano, and also more of the country into which fate had brought him. Once a few hundred feet higher, he felt he would be able to set all doubts at rest as to whether they were surrounded by the sea; and to get this proof Oliver Lane pressed on.

After a time he got more into the knack of climbing without slipping back so much, but the sun was getting higher, and its beams grew warm, while he was conscious of a sensation as of heat striking upward from the ashy substance of which the slope was composed, and at last, to gratify his curiosity, and to clear away a doubt, Lane stooped down to lay his hand flat upon the ash, and snatch it away again, for it was quite hot.

For a moment or two after this, he hesitated, but there above him rose the cone with its crest of smoke, and apparently nothing to hinder him from climbing steadily to the top, and from thence getting a bird's-eye view of the country round.

That was enough to start him on, and setting himself manfully to the task, in less than half an hour he found that he had reached an atmospheric band where the breeze blew pleasantly cool and invigorating. The cloud over the summit of the cone had floated away, and all was clear and bright as he resumed the ascent, feeling now that an hour would bring him to the top, when all at once he fell upon his knees, and then threw himself at full length. For the mountain quivered beneath his feet, and produced a giddy sensation as the surface rose and fell in waves, whilst almost simultaneously there was a terrific roar, and he saw a dense cloud driven out from above, and ascending to a tremendous height, as if shot out by an internal explosion.

His first feeling was, that he must turn and rush down: his second, that it would be madness to stir, for the side of the mountain was opening and shutting in a network of fissures, and the next minute, the cloud which he had seen blasted upwards proved itself not to be so much mist, but a storm of ashes and scoria mingled with huge masses of rock, which now curled over like a fountain, and were falling back in all directions.

Oliver Lane tried to anchor himself to the shifting ashes as he lay there, feeling that his last hour had come, for darkness was now added to the other horrors, and the mountain-side was in strange quivering motion, gaze wildly whichever way he would.

The fall of a mass of glowing cinders, so close that he could feel the scorching heat against his cheek, roused Oliver Lane to the fact that it was more dangerous to stay than to rush down-hill, running the gauntlet of the falling shower; and, after a moment's hesitation, he turned and ran for his life. The white-hot stones and cinders fell around him as he bounded down, having hard work to keep his footing, for at every leap the loose scoria gave way as he alighted, and slipped with him in an avalanche of dust and ashes from which he had to extricate himself.

Once he had pretty well dragged himself out when the ashes for far enough round began to glide downward, the thick haze of volcanic dust around adding to his confusion, while every step he took in his frantic efforts to keep on the surface resulted in his sinking more deeply till he was above his waist in the loose gliding stuff and awake to the fact that it was scorchingly hot.

But all at once, as despair was beginning to enfold him in a tighter hold than the ash and cinder, the gliding avalanche suddenly stopped, and as it was not like the Alpine snow ready to adhere and be compressed into ice, he was able to extricate himself and slide and roll down for some distance further.

Then all at once he found that he was in the sunshine again, and that the stones had ceased to fall and the mountain to quiver; while, as he gazed upward, it was to see that the dark cloud was slowly floating away, giving him a view of the edge of the crater where it was broken down for some distance in the shape of a rugged V, and just at the bottom, every now and then, there was a bright glow of fire visible. The glow then sank completely out of sight, but only to rise up again, and this was continued as the young naturalist watched, suggesting to him the fact that the crater must be full of boiling lava which rose to the edge in its ebullitions and then dropped below the rugged wall.

Ten minutes later the glowing stones which had fallen, looked black and grey; the cloud was at a distance, and there was nothing to indicate that the beautifully shaped mountain ever presented another aspect than that of peace.

Oliver Lane stood looking up with the longing to ascend to the edge of the crater growing strong once more, but he was fagged by his exertions, bathed in perspiration, and aware of the fact that an intense glowing heat rose from the surface all around him, while the air he breathed seemed to produce a strange suffocating effect when he turned his face from the wind which swept over the mountain slope.

In a few minutes he decided that it would be madness to persevere, and that it would be wise to wait until the volcano was in a more quiescent state, for at any minute there might come a fresh explosion from the mouth from which he might not be able to escape so easily.

He looked longingly round to try and make out something of value to report as to their position, but the mountain shut everything off in the direction lying north, and he was reluctantly about to continue his descent when he felt the stones beneath his feet tremble again. Then came a report like that of a huge cannon, and what seemed to be an enormous rock shot upward for hundreds of feet, hung for a moment or two in the clear air, and then fell back into the crater.

That was enough. A burning thirst and a sensation of breathing something which irritated his lungs, awakened him to the fact that he must find water, and, regardless of the heat, he once more began to hurry downward toward the level plain from which the mountain curved up in so beautiful a cone.

Oliver Lane soon found that he was not returning upon his steps, and though apparently not far from where he ascended, it was plain enough that, even if they had not been obliterated by the falling ash and cinders, the fragments flowed together again like sand. A greater proof still was afforded him in the fact that about a quarter of a mile lower down his farther progress was checked by a rugged chasm running right across his path, apparently cutting him off from the lower portion and extending to right and left farther than he could see.

He approached it with caution, but found that he must not risk a near approach, for he set the loose scoria in motion, and it trickled on before him, and went over out of sight with a rush.

Anchoring himself as well as he could against a huge block of lava, he paused to consider whether he should go to right or left, and then shrank away with a shudder, and began to climb back as fast he could, for, slight as had been his bearing upon the block, it had been sufficient to start it off, and, to his horror, it went on gliding down about twenty yards, and then dropped over the edge.

He stood listening, in the hope of hearing the block stop directly, as proof of its being only a few feet down, and passable if he lowered himself and then climbed the opposite edge; but a full minute elapsed before he heard a dull, echoing roar, which continued for some time, and, after a pause, was continued again and again, giving terrible warning of the depth, and his own insignificance upon that mountain slope.

He now had his first suggestion of panic—of how easily, in the face of so much peril, anyone could lose his head, and rush into danger, instead of escaping the risks by which he was surrounded. For his strong impulse now was to start into a run, and to begin to ascend the slope diagonally. But at the first dozen steps, he found he was loosening the ashes, which began to glide toward the chasm faster and faster, and that if he continued with so much energy, there would soon be a swift rush, which would carry him with it into the awful gulf.

Warned by this, he stopped, and then proceeded cautiously, going nearly parallel, but increasing his distance as far as was possible.

The intense heat of the sun combined with that which radiated from the mountain-side was exhausting to a degree; his thirst grew almost unbearable, and he fully realised the imprudence of which he had been guilty in attempting the ascent alone. The only thing now was to extricate himself from his perilous position, and, after a halt or two to collect himself and try to make out how much farther the rift extended, during which he hesitated as to whether it would not be wiser to go back and try the other way, he started onward again, slowly and steadily, becoming conscious of a peculiar puff of stifling vapour, which he felt sure must come from the gaping rift below.

And now the idea came to him that it was impossible that the chasm could have been there when he ascended, but had opened during the fresh eruption in which he had so nearly been overwhelmed.

At last, when his sufferings from the heat were growing unbearable, and his head swam with the giddy sensation which supervened, the rift appeared to close in about fifty yards further on. He sheltered his swimming eyes, and endeavoured to steady himself, as, with sinking heart, he tried to make out whether this really were so, or only fancy. But it seemed to be fact, and, pressing cautiously on, he lessened the distance, and then stopped appalled, shrinkingly facing a way of escape to the lower part of the mountain, but one terrible enough to make the stoutest-hearted shiver. For the chasm came to a sudden end, and recommenced two or three yards farther on, leaving a jagged, narrow strip of lava extending bridge-like from side to side.

"I dare not," he muttered, as he approached slowly, noting the shape, and trying to make out how far down the mass of rock extended, so as to see whether it would prove firm, or only be a crust which might give way beneath his weight, and then—He shuddered, for he knew that whoever ventured upon that narrow pathway did so facing a terrible death.

He looked wildly forward to see if the gap still went on to any distance, and he could trace it till it was lost in a hot haze.

"I must do it," muttered Lane, for he felt that if he kept on longer upon the upper edge, he must soon sink and perish from heat and exhaustion.

Knowing that if he stopped to think, he would grow less and less disposed to venture, and taking one long eager look at the green trees far below in the distance where there would be shelter and refreshing water, he gathered himself together, and walked slowly and steadily over the yielding ash and cinders to the beginning of the bridge.



CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

THE DESCENT.

Hope came with the first step, for it was upon hard slippery rock, and gathering courage from this, the young naturalist kept one foot firm, and stamped with the other to try whether the rock was brittle and likely to give way.

But it seemed firm, and fixing his eyes upon the other side, Oliver drew himself up erect and walked boldly on to the narrow bridge, profoundly conscious of the fact that there, on either side where he dare not look, the walls went down almost perpendicularly into a gulf too awful to ponder on, even for a moment.

Onward slowly, step by step, with the glistening crisp bridge some yards wide where he started, but as he went on, it grew narrower and narrower, while the farther side of the gulf which had appeared so short a distance away when he was high up and looking down, now looked far-off to his swimming eyes.

The giddy feeling increased as he neared the middle, and then he stopped short, and dropped upon his knees. For suddenly, with the profound gulf on either side, there came a loud resonant crack, and a piece of the lava split away and fell.

Lane knew that he ought to have rushed onward now, literally bounding across, but the horror of his position, as he felt that the frail bridge was giving way beneath his feet unnerved him, and he could not stir, but knelt there seeing the rock before him seem to rise and fall while he listened for what seemed as if it would never come, the echoing roar when the mass which had fallen struck below. Even if the lava on which he knelt had followed, he would not have stirred, only knelt there gazing at the remainder of the bridge in front as it undulated, rising and falling slowly, while the fume which arose from the chasm added to the giddy swimming in his head.

At last! A deafening, reverberating roar, and Lane clutched at a piece of the rock, and closed his eyes, feeling that all was over, but opened them again directly to see that the bridge before him was not undulating, and he knew that it was an optical illusion due to the heat and the giddiness from which he was suffering.

Nerving himself once more, he rose cautiously, and holding his gun across him with both hands, as if it were a balancing pole, he stepped cautiously forward a dozen steps or so, feeling the brittle, glassy rock quiver beneath his weight; and then with the lower side, and safety, not a dozen yards away, he was unable to contain himself, and springing forward he nearly ran, ending by making one great bound and landing safely as the whole mass over which he had passed gave one crashing sound and fell.

Oliver Lane dropped on his knees a few yards from the edge he had left behind, and gazed wildly at the broad opening till a terrific roar arose from the depths below.

For some moments his senses must have left him, and he was hardly himself when he rose to his feet and reeled and staggered downward. But this passed away; his consciousness fully returned, and no longer acting upon the blind instinct which urged him to escape, he began to hurry on more steadily toward where, far below, he could see the green trees, and as his dry lips parted he, in imagination, saw clear, cool water waiting to quench his awful thirst.

But during the next two hours his progress grew more and more mechanical, and there were times when he went on down and down the loose slope like one in a dream. There, though far below, was the object which guided him, a glistening thread of silver water from which the sun's rays flashed, and down by which he fell at last to bathe his face in its cool depths and drink as he had never drunk before.

It was as if he had imbibed new life when he finally drew away from the water and lay gazing up at the mountain slope, and the summit whose highest parts were hidden in the rounded cloud of smoke and steam which rested there. Danger was apparently absent, and Oliver Lane felt ready to imagine he had exaggerated everything, and been ready to take alarm without sufficient cause. He was ready now, in the pleasant restful feeling which came over him, to laugh at what he mentally called his cowardice. But this passed off in time, and he knew that he had not only been in grave peril, but that even now his position was far from free of danger, it would soon be night again, he was without food, and that line of mist was like an impassable wall between him and his friends.

As he arrived at this point in his musings, he tried to spring up, knowing that he must make an energetic effort to regain them.

But there was very little spring in his motions, for though the cool draught of water had been delicious, and reclining there restful to a degree, the moment he stirred every joint moved as if its socket was harsh and dry, so that he would not have been surprised had they all creaked. He began to walk with pain and difficulty, with his mind made up as to what he should do. For there below him to his right was the long line of mist, and his object was to keep along parallel with it till he could pass round the end, which must be somewhere toward the shore, over which they had been carried inland. Once there, he would be able to reach his friends who ought, he felt, to have made some effort to find him in a similar way to that which he now proposed trying himself.

"And by the same rule," he said half aloud with a bitter laugh, as he shifted his gun from one shoulder to the other, "I ought to have gone at once to try and reach them instead of attempting such a mad adventure all alone."

It was too late for repentance, and he tramped wearily on, trying to make out in the lower ground upon which he gazed down to his right, the dense forest and the huge fig-tree in which he had passed the night. He laughed the next minute as he saw the impossibility of his search, for he looked down upon the rounded tops of hundreds of such trees rising like islands out of a sea of golden green shot with orange in the glow of the sinking sun.

Before long he found that he must be on the look-out for another resting-place, and that as there would not be time to reach the band of trees at the foot of the mountain, he must find some patch of rocks on the slope along which he was painfully walking. Then, finding that he had left himself but little time, he halted by some greyish cindery blocks whose bases were sunk in volcanic sand, and hungry and faint with thirst, he threw himself down to lie looking up at the golden ball of illumined steam floating above the top of the volcano high up in the wonderfully transparent heavens till the light began to fade away, and then suddenly went out, that is to say, seemed to go out; for, in spite of hunger, thirst, and weariness, Oliver Lane's eyelids dropped to open as sharply, directly, as it seemed to him, and he lay staring with dilated eyes upward at the object he had last seen.

But it had changed, for the cloud, instead of looking golden and orange, as it glowed, was now soft, flocculent and grey.

"There it is again," he said, excitedly then. "I thought it was part of my dream."



CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

FRIENDS IN NEED.

He was quite right; it was solid reality, and he was looking at the broad back of a man standing a few yards away, with his hands to his mouth, and who now sent forth a tremendous shout, which was answered from a distance before the man turned, and stepped quickly to his side, displaying the rugged features of Billy Wriggs.

"Ain't dead, are yer, sir?" he cried, sinking on one knee. "Here, have a drink."

He placed his water bottle in the young man's hand and watched him.

"No; dead man couldn't drink that how," he said softly. "Go it, sir; I'll fill it up again. Take a reg'lar good deep swig. Fine stuff, water, when you're thirsty, so long as it aren't hot water, and all bitter and salt. Go it again, sir," he cried, as his rugged face softened into a weak grin of satisfaction. "Ahoy-a! Ahoy! This way."

This last was a tremendous roar through his hands, sent in the direction of the forest below, and as soon as it was answered, the man turned again to Lane.

"Only to think on it being me as found yer, sir. I do call it luck. I come out o' the wood, and I says to myself, 'I shouldn't wonder, Billy, old man, if Muster Lane's over yonder, among them rocks, for it's just the sorter place to make a roost on,' and I come along, and see yer fast asleep, and here yer are, sir, not a bit dead, are yer?"

"No, no, I'm all right, Wriggs, only so stiff, I can hardly move."

"Course yer are, sir. But never you mind about that. You wait till Tommy Smith comes up, and us two'll give yer a real 'poo, sir—none of yer sham 'uns—and make yer jyntes as lissom as injy rubber. Why, sir, we begun to think you was a goner. How did yer get here?"

"Tell me first how you got here."

"That's me as will, sir," cried the man with alacrity, as he keenly watched Lane's efforts to rise, and lent him a hand. "Yer see, we couldn't get through that steam as runs all along across the low land."

"Was any one the worse for getting through?" cried Lane, eagerly, and Billy Wriggs scratched his ear.

"Well, sir, yer see, none on us weren't none the wuss for getting through, 'cause we didn't get through; but lots on us was all the wuss for not getting through. My heye! Talk about too much grog when yer ashore, it's nothing to it. It's the tipsyest stuff I ever swallowed. How did you manage, sir?"

"I—I don't know; I struggled through it, somehow, and then fell down insensible."

"Onsensible, course yer did, sir. It knocks all the gumption out on yer 'fore yer knows where yer are. Ahoy! mate! This way, Tommy. Here he is!"

The trees below them had been parted, and, all scratched and bleeding, Smith appeared, and as soon as he caught sight of Lane, he slapped his legs heavily, turned round, and yelled aloud.

Then he ran up at a trot, grinning hugely.

"That's you, sir," he cried, "and I'm glad on it. They said as we should only find yer cold corpus, and 'No,' I says, 'if we finds his corpus at all, it won't be cold but hot roast. There's no getting cold here. But I knows better. Too much stuff in him,' I says. 'He'll sarcumwent all the trouble somehow. Master Oliver Lane aren't the lad to lie down and give up,' and I was right, warn't I, Billy?"

"Ay, mate, you was right this time."

"Course I was, Billy; but yer needn't ha' been in such a hurry to find Mr Lane all to yerself. But yer allus was a graspin' sort o' chap, Billy."

"You're another," growled Wriggs; "but don't stand hargeying there. Here's Mr Lane that stiff he can't move hisself, and he wants us to give him a real 'poo."

"Whatcher mean, mate?"

"Well, a shampoo, then."

"Hold on. Don't you try them games, mate, for you was never cut out for the work. He thinks that's a joke, Mr Lane, sir. But do you want your jyntes rubbed a bit?"

"No, no, I shall be better directly," cried Oliver. "Oh, yes, I can walk. Only a bit stiff. Where are the others?"

"Coming through that bit o' wood, sir, where it's all thorns and fish-hooks. Mr Rimmer's there and your two messmates."

"But how did you get through the mist?"

"We didn't, sir. We got a boat down to the shore, launched her and rowed doo north for a bit, and then landed and come along hunting for yer. Why, that there mist goes right down the shore and out to sea, where you can smell it as it comes bubbling up through the water."

"But how did you get a boat down?" cried Oliver. "It must be a good two miles."

"Nay, sir, seemed to us like a bad four mile," grumbled Wriggs.

"Yah! not it, Billy. Oh, we did it, sir. Took the littlest, and the carpenter made a couple o' runners for it out of a spare yard, and so long as we picked our way she come along beautiful. Yer see we meant to do it, and o' course we did it, and here we are."

"Ahoy!" yelled Wriggs again, and an answer was heard from close at hand, as Panton suddenly came into sight.

"Found him?" he shouted, but he caught sight of his companion at the same moment, and rushed, out of breath and streaming with perspiration, to catch Lane's hands; his lips moved as he tried to speak, but not a word would come.

"Ahoy!" yelled Wriggs again, and Smith followed his example after turning his back to the two young men.

A minute later Drew came into sight, and then Mr Rimmer, and somehow, he, too, seemed to be affected like Drew and Panton, for he could only shake hands and try to speak, but not a word came.

"Lost all my wind," he cried, at last, but in a husky, choky voice. "All right now, and jolly glad to see you again, sir. Hang it, what's the matter with my throat? I know: it's those nuts I picked as we came along. Phew! how hot it is."

"Lane, old chap," whispered Panton, "we thought you'd left us in the lurch."

"That we did," said Drew, blinking his eyes, and then blowing his nose very loudly. "But, I say, are you all right!"

"Yes, only stiff and very hungry."

"Hungry?" cried the mate. "Hi! who's got the prog bag?"

"Them two's got it, sir," said Wriggs. "Here they come." As he spoke a couple more men came into sight, and deferring all farther questioning till Lane's hunger had been appeased, they descended to where the nearest water trickled amongst the rocks, and were soon all seated enjoying an al fresco meal, the rugged lava forming table and chairs, and the abundant growth of ferns giving a charm to the verdant nook, and sheltering them from the sun.

"Well, all I can say is," cried the mate, "that you've had a very narrow escape, sir, and, thank heaven, we're all here to tell you so, for there were moments when I thought that it was all over with us. But, phew! how hot it is."

"Yes," said Panton, "a steamy heat. We ought to be getting back to the boat. It will be cooler towards the sea. What's the matter, Drew?"

"I was examining these ferns. How curious it is."

"What, their withering up so?" said Lane. "Yes, I was noticing it. Are they sensitive plants?"

"Oh, no!" cried Drew, "those are the mimosa family. But look here, you can see them fade and droop as you watch them; I suppose it is in some way due to our presence here."

"Watcher fidgeting about, Billy?" said Smith, just then. "It's hot enough without you playing the fool. Shuffling about like a cat on hot bricks."

"That's just what is the matter with me, matey," grumbled Wriggs. "Just you put yer hand down here. This here rock's as hot as a baker's oven."

"So's this here," said one of the men who had carried the provisions. "Hadn't we better go 'fore there's roast man for brexfass?"

"Really, gentlemen, it's uncomfortably hot here," said Mr Rimmer, and just then there was a peculiar tremor beneath them, and a shock as if they were upon a thin crust which had received a sharp blow from beneath.

They all started to their feet, and the first disposition was to run.

"Don't leave your guns!" roared Panton, and each man snatched up his piece. The next moment they fell prostrate and clung to the nearest rocks, for the earth began to sink beneath them, and the huge stones upon which they had been seated a short time before glided away.

"Quick!" cried Lane, as the surface, which had been nearly level, now hung down in a precipitous slope. "This way!"

He set the example of climbing upward, and they reached a level spot again just as there was a sharp crack, a deafening roar, and from out of the vast chasm, which had opened, there was a rush of fire, and smoke rose suddenly towards where they clustered.



CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

SMITH TURNS TURTLE.

The rush of smoke and fire passed away as rapidly as it had come, but the slope newly made ran down to where the light of day was reflected back from a dim mist which bore somewhat the aspect of disturbed water, but the earth, being quiescent once more, no one displayed any desire to make an examination of the opening, but at once gave it what the mate called a wide berth.

"Let's get back to the boat," he said. "You must be pretty well done up, Mr Lane."

"Well, I am stiff," said Oliver, stooping to give one leg a rub, "but I feel refreshed now, and I was thinking—"

He stopped short and gazed back at the mountain with its glistening cloud cap and smooth slope of ashes dotted with blocks of lava and pumice, the latter flashing in the sunshine, and the whole having an alluring look which was tempting in the extreme.

"What were you thinking?" said Panton; "not of climbing up again?"

"Yes, I was thinking something of the kind. It seems a shame, now we are on the slope, not to go right up and see the crater and the view of the whole island which we should get from there?"

The mate gave one of his ears a vexatious rub, and wrinkled up his forehead as he turned to give Drew a comical look.

"Yes; what is it?" said that gentleman.

"Oh, nothing, sir," replied Mr Rimmer. "I was only thanking my stars that I wasn't born to be a naturalist. For of all the unreasonable people I ever met they're about the worst."

"Why?" said Oliver, innocently.

"Why, sir!" cried the mate; "here have you been missing all this time, and by your own showing you've been nearly bitten by snakes and clawed by a leopard, suffocated, swallowed up, stuck on a bit of a bridge across a hole that goes down to the middle of the earth, and last of all nearly scorched like a leaf in a fireplace by that puff which came at us. And now, as soon as you have had a bite and sup, you look as if you'd like to tackle the mountain again."

"Of course, that's what I do feel," said Oliver, laughing. "So do we all."

"I'll be hanged if I do!" cried Mr Rimmer. "The brig isn't floating, I know, but she stands up pretty solid, and I feel as if I shall not be very comfortable till I'm standing upon her deck."

"But we've come on a voyage of discovery," said Panton.

"Yes, sir, that's right enough, but we seem to have begun wrong way on. We want to discover things, and, instead, they keep discovering us. It's just as if we'd no business here and the whole island was rising up against us."

"But this is such an opportunity," pleaded Oliver. "We are, as I said, on the slope of the mountain, pretty well rested, and I think I may say that we are all eager to go up."

"No, sir, I don't think you may say that," replied the mate, grimly. "I'm pretty tired, and I've had a very anxious time lately."

"Well, we three are anxious to try the ascent."

"Oh, yes, I'm ready," cried Panton, eagerly.

"And so am I," cried Drew; but there was a want of earnestness in his words. "Let's start at once."

"Yes, gentlemen, back to the brig, please, and have a good rest. We're none of us fit to-day."

"But we must ascend this mountain."

"Of course, sir, if it will let us," said the mate; "but let's come prepared. I'm with you at any time, and I should like to do it, but what I say is, let's go back to the brig and have a day or two's rest, and while we're waiting make our plans and get a stock of food ready. Then we shall want plenty of light, strong line and a bit of rope ladder, and it would be wise to let the carpenter knock us up a light, strong set of steps of ten or a dozen foot long, the same as the Alpine gentlemen use. Then we could start some afternoon."

"At daybreak, some morning," cried Oliver.

"Let me finish, sir," said the mate. "Start some afternoon and carry a spare sail and a hitcher or two in the boat. Then we could get round the mist, land, walk as far as we like that evening, and then light up our fire, and set up a bit of a tent. Next morning, after a good night's rest, we could start fair, and do some work before the sun gets hot; for the mountain will be quite warm enough without the sun. There, gentlemen, what do you say to my plan?"

"Carried unanimously," cried Drew, and Panton and Oliver remained silent and ready to acquiesce, for the arrangement certainly promised well.

The next minute they were on their way back down to the lower ground, where before reaching the forest patch below they came upon the remains of a group of what must have been well-grown trees, which had been so calcined that though the trunks retained their shape, they were so fragile that a kick given by one of the men brought the first down in powder which partly rose in a cloud, the remainder forming a heap of ashes.

This was the more curious from the fact that within twenty yards there was a clump of vegetation evidently of greater age, growing in full luxuriance. But the reason was soon shown by Panton, who after a few minutes' examination pointed to a narrow, jagged rift in the earth, running for twenty or thirty yards, and whose sides upon their peering down showed that fire must have rushed up with such intensity that in places the rock was covered with a thick glaze, such as is seen upon earthenware.

"Strikes me, Tommy Smith—" said Wriggs, after he and the other men had had their turn at examining the earth crack.

"Well, what strikes yer, and whereabouts?" replied Smith, turning to give his companions a wink as much as to say, "Hark at him and don't laugh."

"Hidees, Tommy," said Wriggs, "and they hits me in the head—hard."

"Well, then, matey, let 'em out again and tell us what they mean."

"Tommy, my lad, you're trying to be werry wise and to show off, but don't do it, mate. This here aren't a place for cutting jokes and making fun o' your messmate. What I says is—this here place aren't safe, and the sooner we digs a canawl and takes the old Planet out to sea the better it'll be for all consarned."

"I knowed it," said Smith, oracularly. "I felt sure as something werry wise was a coming. How many spades have we got aboard, mates?"

"Not none at all," said one of the men.

"No, not one," said Smith. "I once heard some one may as it would take a long time to cut through Primrose Hill with a mustard spoon, and I can't help thinking as it would take as long to make our canal."

"Now, my lads, what are you doing?" cried the mate.

"Only just taking a sniff at the hole here, sir," replied Smith, rising from his knees.

"Well, and what can you smell—sulphur?"

"No, sir, it's more of a brimstone smell, just as if somebody had been burning matches down below in the back kitchen, sir. Now, my lads, forrard," he whispered, for the mate had turned and gone on after the others.

In a very short time the mountain was forgotten in the many objects of interest encountered at the edge of the forest, each naturalist finding, as he afterwards owned, ample specimens connected with his own especial branch to last him for weeks of earnest study. But at the suggestion of the mate they pressed on, and, choosing the easiest line of route they could find, they at last reached the shore where the boat lay upon the coral and shell-sand high up out of reach of the tide.

She was soon launched, the party half lifting, half pushing, as they ran on either side, and then as she floated, springing in and gliding off over a lovely forest of coral and weed only a foot or two beneath the boat's keel. Every spray was clearly seen, for the water was perfectly still and limpid in the lagoon, while a mile out the sea curled over in great billows and broke with a dull, thunderous roar upon the barrier reef which stretched north and south as far as eye could reach, but with a quiet space here and there which told of openings in the coral rock, gateways so to speak leading out into the open sea.

The sun beat down with tropical force, but the gentle breeze from the ocean rendered the heat bearable, and a feeling of combined restfulness and pleasure came over Oliver Lane as he watched the wondrous transparent tints of the billows as their arches glistened in the sunshine before striking the coral reef, and breaking into foam which flashed and sparkled like freshly-cut gems.

Turning from this he could feast his eyes upon the brilliantly scaled fish which glided in and out amongst the branching coral and bushy weed which formed a miniature submarine forest of pink, blue, amber, scarlet, and golden brown. Gorgeous creatures were some of these fish when they turned over a little on one side, displaying their armour of silver, gold, and orange, often in vivid bands across steely blue or brilliant green. Twice over, long, lithe sharks were seen hurrying out of their course, each of a dingy grey, with what Wriggs called a "shovel nose," and curious tail with the top of the fork continued far out beyond the lower portion.

But there was the shore to take his attention, too, and to this he turned eagerly as the shrieking and whistling of a flock of birds met his ear, and he saw them flying along over the far-stretching grove of cocoa-nut palms which curved up in a curious way from the very sand where at certain times the sea must have nearly washed their roots.

"Hold hard a moment," cried Oliver, suddenly, and the men ceased rowing, sitting with their oars balanced, and the boat silently gliding over the smooth surface of the water, making a tiny shoal of fish flash out into the sunshine from where the bows cut, and look like sparks of silver.

"What is it, sir?" said the mate.

"I want to know what that noise is. Didn't you hear it, Drew?"

"Yes, I heard something which seemed to come from the trees there, but it has stopped now."

"Men's oars in the rowlocks," said Panton.

"Oh, no. It was not that," cried Oliver. "It was just as if someone was making a noise in a big brass tube. Ah, there it goes."

Just then from out of the grove of palms about a hundred yards to their right came softly and regularly just such a sound as he had described.

Phoomp, phoomp, phoomp, phoom, soft, clear, and musical, rising and falling in a peculiar way, as if close at hand and then distant.

"Native brass band practising," said Drew, merrily.

"Puffs of steam from some volcanic blow hole."

"Music: must be," said the mate. "There's an instrument called a serpent. Perhaps it's one of them playing itself."

"I don't know what it is," said Oliver. "Shall we pull ashore and see?"

"No, no, not to-day," said the mate. "Let's get back."

"There's a turtle just ahead, sir," said Smith, from the bows.

"A turtle?—a dove!" cried Oliver. "Perhaps it was that."

"I meant a turtle souper, sir," said Smith, with a grin. Then to the mate, "If you'll steer for her, sir, I'll try and catch her, she's asleep in the sunshine."

They all looked to where the olive green hued shell of the floating reptile could be seen, and with two of the men dipping their oars gently to keep the boat in motion, and Mr Rimmer steering, they softly approached, while Smith leaned over the gunwale with his sleeves rolled up over his brawny arms ready to get hold of one of the flippers.

"Hadn't you better try a boat-hook?" said Oliver, softly.

"Too late; let him try his own way, sir," whispered the mate. "Turn it over if you can, Smith."

The man dared not answer, but leaned out as far as he could, anchoring himself by passing one leg under the thwart as they went on nearer and nearer, every eye strained, lips parted, and a feeling of natural history or cooking interest animating the different breasts.

"Got her!" cried Smith, suddenly, as he made a quick dip down and seized one of the turtle's flippers with both hands. "Hi! one on yer. Help!"

Wriggs made a snatch at and caught the man's leg, as there was a sudden tug and jerk, a tremendous splash, and then, as the boat rocked, Smith's leg was dragged from its holding and he disappeared beneath the surface.

"Gone!" cried Wriggs, "and I did git tight hold on him, too."

"Pull!" shouted the mate, and as the oars dipped sharply the boat followed a little wave of water, which ran along in front, and out of which Smith's head suddenly appeared, and directly after his bands grasped the gunwale of the boat.

"Where's the turtle?" cried Oliver, laughing.

"I did get a hold on her, sir," panted Smith; "but she went off like a steamer, and dragged me underneath. Ah! there she goes," he continued, as he looked toward where the little wave showed that the turtle was swimming rapidly through the troubled water.

"Here, quick, in with you!" cried Oliver, excitedly, as Smith made a jump and climbed—or rather tumbled in—over the side, and none too soon, for the back fin of a shark suddenly appeared a few yards away, and as the man slowly subsided into the boat there was a gleam of creamy white in the water, and a dull thud up against the bows.

"The brute!" cried the mate, as the shark glided out of sight, and then displayed its back fin again above water. "A warning that against bathing."

"Yes, and a very narrow escape!" cried Panton.

"Sarves me right, sir," said Smith, standing up in the bows to wring himself as much as he could without stripping. "Comes o' trying to make turtle soup of t'other thing."

"Pull away, my lads," said the mate, smiling.

"If it's all the same to you, sir," said Wriggs, "mightn't us try and ketch that Jack shark for trying to kill our mate?"

"Oh, yes! if you can do so, by all means; but not to-day. Now, gentlemen, look just ahead. What do you say to that?"

"It's where the mist bank runs into the sea," cried Lane, excitedly; for there, to their right, the vapour rose up among the cocoa-nut trees which just there seemed to be half dead, while all around the boat the clear water was in a state of ebullition, tiny globules of gas running up from below, and breaking on the surface.

"Runs right away to the reef," cried Panton.

"Ay, sir, and perhaps far enough beyond," said the mate. "Pull hard, my lads, and let's get through."

"The coral seems to be all dead," said Drew, "and there are no weeds."

"Not a sign of fish either," said Lane, whose face was over the side. "Plenty of great clam shells, but they are gaping open, and the occupants dead—ah!"

He drew his head back sharply, for he had been suddenly seized with a catching of the breath.

"Get a sniff of it, sir?" said Smith, who was now close by.

"I breathed it, too," said Drew, "but the gas does not seem to be so powerful here above the water."

"No," said Panton. "I could just make out a crack or two through the coral. We're clear now."

"Yes," said the mate, looking back at the effervescing water, "and the bottom is alive again."

He was right, for the peculiar display of animal and vegetable growth was plain to see once more. Great sea slugs crawled about on the bottom with gigantic starfish, and actiniae of vivid colours spread their tentacled blossoms.

"Best way this of getting through the mist, eh, Lane?" cried Panton.

"But there is no mist over the sea," said Lane.

"No, I suppose the passage through water makes the gas invisible," said Panton. "Isn't this somewhere near where we started, Mr Rimmer?"

"No, sir, 'bout a mile farther on. Keep a look-out and you'll see the opening in the cocoa-nut grove, and the marks of the boat's keel upon the sand."

They were not long in reaching the spot, and there the boat was run right up over the soft beach in among the tall stems of the nearest cocoanuts, and carefully made fast.

"But suppose savages come and find it?" suggested Oliver.

"Strikes me, Mr Lane," said the mate, "that we're the only savages here. Now, gentlemen, who says a drink of cocoa-nut milk, and then we'll make haste back to the brig."

There was ample store swinging overhead, and after a couple of tries, a man succeeded in climbing one of the tall, spar-like trees, and shaking down ample for their light lunch. A couple of hours later they had traversed the wave-swept plain, and reached the brig, where they were heartily welcomed by the portion of the crew left in charge.

"But what's the matter?" cried the mate. "You all look white about the gills."

"Had a bit of a scare, sir," said one of the men. "All at wonst, it was just as if the brig was an old cow a trying to get on her legs. For she was heaved up, shook herself a bit, and then settled down again, just as she was before."

"Not quite, my lad," said Wriggs. "Speak the truth whatever yer does. She's got a cant to port since we went away."

He was quite right, the Planet's deck was no longer level, but had a slope, and the masts, instead of being perpendicular, slanted slightly towards the horizon.

"Yes, Tommy Smith. Wet as you are," whispered Wriggs, solemnly, "I must tell yer the truth, it's as they say quite dangerous to be safe."



CHAPTER NINETEEN.

A STARTLER.

The strangeness of their position grew hourly to the crew of the Planet brig, and again and again the mate proposed plans for extricating themselves.

"It will take time," he said, "but it would be far better than attempting the trip in open boats. I have had it over with the carpenter, and he thinks that we could build a small lugger—decked—of about the size of one of the Cornish mackerel craft. What do you gentlemen say to that?"

"I say it's a capital idea," said Oliver, and his companions endorsed his opinion.

"So I thought," said the mate. "It will take a long time to tear up enough of the old brig, and to get the material down to the shore, but we shall all work with a will. I thought that we might make a hut under the cocoa-nut trees just opposite one of the openings in the reef, and as you agree that it's a good plan, I propose beginning at once. Then we could sail east, west, or north, to one of the settlements."

"But what's the hurry?" said Oliver.

"Eh? Hurry? Why, we're wrecked, sir, and I want to get afloat again."

"But we don't," cried Oliver. "We could not be in a better place for our studies, and we shall want you to let us have the men to go with us upon expeditions and carry our collections."

"But isn't it rather too cool to sit down patiently here with our ship wrecked?"

"I haven't found the place very cool, Mr Rimmer," said Panton, smiling.

"I didn't mean that kind of coolness," said the mate, heartily. "But it fidgets me about my vessel. See how she's canted over. I should not be surprised to find her some day sunk out of sight."

"But you couldn't find her if she was sunk out of sight," said Drew, merrily.

"No, no, of course not. How you gents do catch me up."

"Look here, Mr Rimmer, don't you worry," cried Oliver. "Let the vessel be for a bit while we collect. When we have exhausted the place we will all join you heart and soul in any plan to get away; but, dangerous as the island is, I don't want to leave it yet."

"Nor I," said Panton.

"Nor I," cried Drew.

"All right then, gentlemen. Then we'll stay as we are for the present, only something must be done about fresh provisions."

"I'll start at once shooting, and we can eat all the birds I kill. I only want the skins."

"And I daresay I can collect a good deal of fruit and some form of vegetables that may be useful," said Drew.

"That's good, gentlemen. But first of all, I think we ought to do some fishing."

"Good," said Panton. "Why not net one of the big pools?"

"First reason, because we have no drag-net, sir. Second, because there are things in those pools that would tear any net to pieces and take the men who used it as bait."

"Yes, there are crocodiles, I know."

"Yes, sir, and a kind of sea-serpent thing in plenty."

"What!" cried Panton, with a laugh.

"Oh, I don't mean sea captains' sea-serpents, sir; but fellows of five, six, or seven feet long. There are plenty of them out in these seas, and some are poisonous, too. No, I don't think we'll try the pools, for did we catch any fish I'm afraid they'd be sickly and unwholesome. I propose getting the lines and going to the shore, rowing out to one of those patches of rock just at the opening of the reef; and trying our luck there."

"I'm ready," said Oliver, "and we might perhaps get hold of a turtle. We ought to slip a noose round one of the flippers if we see one again."

"That's right, sir, we will. A good turtle would be worth having now."

"When do you propose going?" asked Panton.

"To-day, if you are all willing," said the mate.

"I'm willing enough if the others are," cried Oliver, "for it will be a treat to examine the strange tropical fish."

"What about bait?" asked Drew.

"Oh, a bit or two of salt meat will do to begin with," said the mate. "I daresay we can catch one or two with that. Then we shall be all right. There is no better bait than a bit of fresh fish to tempt others."

"Plenty of shell fish, too, in the lagoon," suggested Oliver.

"Of course, I had forgotten them. An hour's time? Will that do?"

"Capitally," they cried.

"Then I'll go and see about the tackle and some bait for ourselves."

In less than the suggested time the little party, with four of the sailors to help row and carry the provisions out, and any fish they might catch, back to the ship, were on their way to the shore.

It was a couple of weeks since Oliver's return, and the eagerness to ascend the mountain was as strong with him as ever; but the attempt had been put off for the present, and in the interval plenty of collecting had been going on, and the mate had enough to do to make things what he called snug.

They passed a couple of pools on the way, and it was evident that they were rapidly drying up, for the shrinking of the water was visible at the edges, and the presence of crocodiles plain enough.

"Will not these places be very offensive when they dry and the fish die?" said Drew, quickly.

"No, sir, the crocs won't leave any fish to die, and before long they'll begin travelling down to the sea."

The shore was reached at last, and all eagerly laid the cocoa-nuts under contribution, the cool, sub-acid milk being most refreshing. Then the boat was run down over the sand by the sailors, launched, and they put off across the calm lagoon, only pausing twice for a few of the soft molluscs to be fished up to act as bait.

A quarter of an hour later the boat was made fast to a mass of coral upon a bare patch of fairly level rock some fifty feet across. It was close to an opening in the reef, where the tide came rushing in and the water was roughened and disturbed, beside possessing the advantage for the fisherman of going down at once quite deep, where they could throw out their lines right into the opening.

Three of these were soon rigged up and baited by the men, Smith devoting himself to Oliver Lane, who stood ready to throw out his lead sinker.

"Aren't you going to fish too, Mr Rammer?" he asked.

"Not if you can get any, my lad; I'm going to lash this big shark hook on to the end of a long pole and gaff all you catch."

Oliver laughed.

"You don't expect that I'm going to catch anything big enough for you to want a hook like that to haul it out?"

"Why not? We haven't come to catch sprats, sir. Strikes me that if the fish bite, you'll find you get hold of some thumpers. I've fished in these waters before, and I remember what sort of sport I had out in Fiji. Ready?"

"Yes," said Lane, who had just covered his hook with the tough mussel-like mollusc he had drawn out of a shell.

"Throw in just out yonder, then, right in the opening of the reef where the waves come in."

Oliver gave his lead a swing and brought it heavily in contact with Smith's head.

"That aren't fish, sir, that's foul," grumbled the man.

"I beg your pardon, Smith," cried Oliver, confusedly.

"My fault p'raps, sir. Try again. All right: line's laid in rings so that it'll run out."

Oliver gave the lead another swing and loosed it with so good an aim that it fell twenty yards away right in the swift current rushing through the opening in the reef.

"First in," he cried. "Look sharp, you two."

"Mind, sir, quick!" cried Smith, as the line began to run out rapidly, and the man seized the end so as to check it.

"Precious deep," said Oliver, catching at the line in turn, and in an instant feeling a ring tighten round and cut into his wrist. "Why I've hooked one already—a monster. Here, Smith, come and pull."

"Quick! all of you: lie down!" shouted the mate, excitedly, and he set the example.

"What is it, what's the matter?" cried Panton.

"You're to hold me," said Oliver. "I've got hold of a whale, and it will tug me off the rock. Help, please, it's cutting into my arm."

"Never mind the fish," cried the mate, angrily. "Don't you see? Lie close all of you and they may pass us."

He pointed as he spoke, and the little party now saw the cause of his excitement, for half a mile away, just coming round a point masked by a clump of cocoa palms, was a large canoe with outrigger, upon which three or four men were perched so as to help balance their vessel, which, crowded with blacks, was literally racing along a short distance from the reef, impelled by its wide-spreading matting sail.

"Friends," said Panton, excitedly.

"If we were on board our brig and at sea," said the mate, "but as a shipwrecked party they are foes."



CHAPTER TWENTY.

STRANGE SPORT.

Those were exciting moments, especially for Oliver Lane, who, as he lay there with arm outstretched, was very slowly and painfully dragged over the coral rock toward the sea. Every one's attention was so taken up by the great canoe, that for the moment he was forgotten, and, in spite of his suffering, he felt that he must not yell out for help, for fear of being heard. But just as his position was growing dangerous as well as exciting, Smith saw his peril, and throwing out one hand, took a grip of the line.

"Hadn't I better cut him adrift, sir?" he whispered, huskily.

"No, no, hold on fast," replied Oliver. "That's better. I'll hold, as well."

For the help relieved his wrist from the strain that was cutting into the flesh.

"Don't you leave go, sir," said Smith, hoarsely. "I can't hold him all alone."

"Silence there!" said the mate. "Sound travels across the water."

"I don't see that it matters much," said Panton, softly. "They must see us, for they're evidently coming straight for this opening into the lagoon."

"I don't know," replied the mate. "If they are, they may be friendly, but if they are not, we haven't so much as a gun with us, and these mop-headed beggars are a terribly bloodthirsty lot. They think nothing of knocking a man on the head, and eating him."

"Raw?" said Panton.

"No, no, they make a kind of stone oven, and roast him first."

"Oh, murder!" sighed Wriggs. "Just as if a man was a pig."

"Will you be silent, sir, and lie still? You too, Mr Lane, and that man with you. What is the matter?"

"We're being dragged overboard, sir," grumbled Smith. "Got a whale, or some'at o' that kind;" for Oliver was silent, his teeth were set, and he had all his work to do holding on to the line.

"Don't speak and don't move more than you can help," whispered the mate. "I want you all to lie here as if you were so much of the coral reef. Now then, Smith, get your knife out and cut the line."

"What, and let that there critter go, sir? He's a fine 'un, maybe it's salmon."

"Silence. Out with your knife."

"Can't, sir. If I let's go with one hand, it'll take Mr Lane out to sea. It's all we can do to hold on."

"Mr Drew, you're nearest. Keep flat down and crawl to where you can reach the line and cut it through."

Drew made no reply, but as he lay there flat on his face, he took out his knife, opened it, and began to creep along the dozen yards or so toward where Lane and Smith lay perspiring in the sunshine, now getting a few moments' rest, now fighting hard to hold the great fish as it tugged and dragged vigorously in its efforts to escape.

"Sims a pity, sims a pity," muttered Smith. "Better take a hold, too. Phew! Look at that!"

For there was a tremendous whirlpool-like swirl in the disturbed water, and a jerk that promised to dislocate their arms.

At the same moment Drew was reaching out to cut the line, but, just as his blade touched the stout cord in front of Lane's hand, the tension ceased.

"He's coming in shore to see who it is has got hold of the line," whispered Smith.

"No: gone. Broke away," said Lane, huskily, and then they lay motionless, watching the on-coming canoe, as it rushed over the sea a couple of hundred yards or so from where the great billows curled over upon the coral reef. Now it would be plainly visible with the dancing outrigger, upon which the nearly naked blacks were seated, riding up and down as if upon a see-saw, now it would be hidden by a crest of sparkling spray, which flew up as a larger wave than ordinary struck the reef. The speed at which it was going was tremendous, and so clear was the view at times that the little party on the rocks could make out the great gummed heads of the savages, and see the water glance from the paddles of those who steered.

Freed entirely from the strain of the fish dragging at the line, Oliver Lane now had leisure to watch the great canoe, and he at once began to count the number of the enemy, making them to be either thirty-nine or forty powerful-looking blacks, several of whom had ugly-looking clubs, while others bore spears or bows and arrows.

On they came toward the opening in the great reef; and as they approached, the canoe was steered farther out, evidently so that she could be headed for the passage and sail through. And as Oliver Lane watched he began to wonder what would be his next adventure—whether the savages would be friendly, or if they would attack the small party who were unarmed.

They were not long in doubt, for at the speed at which the canoe sailed, she was soon in a position for heading in, and all the time the party on the rock lay wondering that the savages made no sign. Some of them, if they had seen the party, would certainly have gesticulated, pointed, or made some show of being surprised, but they sailed on just at the edge of the troubled water, made a sweep round, and then, just as Lane felt sure that the enemy would come rushing through the opening with the fierce tide, and float on into the calm water of the lagoon, the mate exclaimed,—

"It was to keep from being swept in by the rush of water. They're going right on south."

"Hooroar!" muttered Wriggs. "I sha'n't be meat to-day."

"They wouldn't ha' touched you, Billy," whispered Smith, softly. "Too tough."

"Think they'll turn back, Mr Rimmer?" said Oliver, after a few minutes' relief from the mental strain.

"I'm sure they will, sir," said the mate, harshly, "if you will persist in talking."

Smith gave his mouth a pat with his open hand, and winked at Wriggs, while the mate went on more softly,—

"You do not consider how sound is carried over the water. There! did you hear the creaking of their bamboo mast and the crackling of the matting sail?"

These sounds were clear enough for a few moments, but the boom of the breakers smothered them directly, and the party lay watching the canoe as it glided on rapidly south till it was quite evident there was no intention of landing, the savages shaping their course so as to pass round the great point a mile or two distant, and as if meaning to make for the west.

Then by degrees the long, slight vessel with its matting sail grew more and more indistinct as it passed into the silvery haze caused by the waves breaking upon the reef; but not until he felt perfectly certain that they were safe, did the mate give the word for the fishing to begin again.

"This puts another face upon our position, gentlemen," he said. "They did not see us this time, but once they know that there is a vessel ashore inland, they'll be after it like wasps at a plum, and we shall have our work cut out to keep them off."

"They must come from the shore north of the volcano," said Lane. "Don't you think so, Mr Rimmer?"

"No, sir, I don't, because I fancy that this must be an island, and if it is, and plays up such games as we have seen, no savages would stay upon it. But we shall see as soon as we have had our expedition."

"Which we ought to have been having to-day," said Panton, "instead of coming fishing."

"If we had been up north to-day, those gentlemen might have seen us," said the mate.

"And if they had," said Drew, who was holding his hook for one of the men to bait, "it strikes me that we should have had no more fishing."

"Well, as we have come fishing, gentlemen, let's see if we can't take back a good bagful for the hungry lads at the brig."

"Ready for another go, Mr Lane, sir?" said Smith.

"Oh, yes, I'm ready, but we don't want such a big one this time," replied Oliver, and once more he threw in the lead, a fresh one, for the great fish they had hooked had broken away, carrying with it hooks, snooding, and all.

Three lines were soon in now, and the party of fishers waited full of expectancy for the first bite, but for some time there was no sign.

"Haul in, sir, and let's see if the bait's all right," said Smith.

Oliver followed the suggestion, and dragged in the hook perfectly bare.

"Something's had that," he said.

"Mine's gone too," cried Panton, who had followed suit, and directly after Drew found that his bait was also gone.

Fresh baits were put on, and they threw into the rushing water again, watching their lines as they were swept to and fro by the coming and retiring waves.

"Seems as if there only was one fish, Lane," said Panton, "and you've given him such a dose of hook and lead, that he has gone for good."

The words were hardly out of the young geologist's lips, before he felt a sharp tug.

"Here's one!" he cried, and beginning to haul in fast, he soon had a bright silvery fish of eight or ten pounds' weight splashing and darting about at the top of the water.

"Dinner for one," said Drew.

"Good for half a dozen, I should say," cried the mate, laughing. "That's right, sir, don't stop to play him. Haul him in quick."

"Murder!" cried Panton. "Look at that."

For as he was drawing in the fast tiring fish level with the surface, there was a sudden gleam of gold, silver, and green, a rush and a check, as a long twining creature suddenly seized the fish, and quick as lightning, wrapped itself round and round it in a knot, doubling the weight, and adding to the resistance by lashing round and round with a flattened tail, whose effect was like that of a screw propeller reversed.

"Eel! Snake! Whatever is it?" came from different voices, as Panton ceased dragging on his fish.

"Go on! Have him out," cried the mate.

"No, no, steady," said Oliver. "I think it's a sea snake, and I believe that some of these creatures are poisonous."

"But it wouldn't bite out of water," cried Drew.

"I wouldn't chance it," said Oliver. "Shake and jerk your line, and it may let go."

Panton followed the advice, and after a few sharp snatches he shook off the creature, but the fish was gone as well.

"Taken the hook?" asked the mate.

"No, that's all right."

"I've got one," cried Drew, and a fresh struggle began, while Panton was busied in rebaiting. A few moments later, a bright golden-striped fish was at the top of the water. "Look here, this is something like. I mean to—Oh!"

For just as he had his captive about twenty feet from where he stood, a great wide-jawed sharkish-looking creature sprang out of the water, describing an arc, seized Drew's fish, and was gone.

"Oh, I say," he cried, "we shall never get a dinner like this."

"Follow my example," said Oliver quietly. "I have one now, a heavy one, too. Nothing like the first I got hold of though," he continued as he hauled away. "But it's a fine fellow."

"Haul in as quickly as you can," said the mate. "Don't lose this one."

"Just what I am doing," said Oliver between his teeth, as he hauled away rapidly, and soon had the head of another of the silvery fishes above water. "Now, Smith, be ready. Eh? Well, you, Mr Rimmer, with that hook. Now then, gaff him."

"Gaffed," said the mate, for instantaneously there was another rush in the water, a splash, and Oliver drew out the head of his prize, the rest having been bitten off as cleanly as a pair of scissors would go through a sprat, just below its gills.

The young man turned a comically chagrined face to his unfortunate companions.

"I say, this is fishing with a vengeance," cried Panton.

"Starvation sport," said the mate.

"Tommy, old lad," whispered Wriggs, "I have gone fishing as a boy, and ketched all manner o' things, heels, gudgeons, roach and dace, and one day I ketched a 'normous jack, as weighed almost a pound. I ketched him with a wurrum, I did, but I never seed no fishing like this here."

"Nobody never said you did, mate," growled Smith.

"Well, we did not come here to catch fish for the big ones to eat," said the mate. "Have another try, and you must be sharper. Look here, Mr Lane—No, no, don't take that head off," he cried, "that will make a splendid bait. Throw it in as it is."

Oliver nodded, threw out the hook and lead again, and saw that the bait must have fallen into a shoal right out in the opening, for there was a tremendous splashing instantly, a drag, and he was fast into another, evidently much larger fish.

"Now then, bravo, haul away, my lad," cried the mate. "You must have this one. Ah! Gone!"

"No, not yet," said Lane, who was hauling away, for a huge fish had dashed at his captive but struck it sidewise, driving it away instead of getting a good grip, and in a few moments the prisoner was close in, but followed by the enemy, which made another dash, its head and shoulders flashing out of the water, close up to the rock. Then it curved over and showed its glittering back and half-moon shaped tail, as it plunged down again, while Lane had his captive well out upon the rock, looking the strangest two-headed monster imaginable, for the hook was fast in its jaws, with the head used for a bait close up alongside, held tightly in place by the beaten-out end of the shank of the line.

"Well done: a fifteen pounder," cried the mate, as the captive was secured, the sailors hurriedly getting it into the biscuit bag they had brought, for fear that it should leap from the rock back into the sea.

Five minutes after Drew hooked another fish, but it was carried off by a pursuer and the hook was drawn in bare. Almost at the same moment Panton struck another and then stamped about the rock in a rage, for before he could get it to the land it was seized by a monster, there was a tug, a snap, and hook, snood, and lead were all gone.

"We must rig up some different tackle, gentlemen," said the mate. "You want larger hooks, with twisted wire and swivels. Got him again, Mr Lane?"

"Yes, and—ah, there's another of those sea snake things. Yes, he has carried it off. My word! How strong they are."

"All right, try again, sir. Use that fish's head once more."

"But it's so knocked about. Never mind: stick it on, Smith."

"Stuck on it is, sir," said the man, and it was thrown in, but some minutes elapsed before it was taken, and then not until it was being dragged in, when a fish seized it, was hooked fast, and another struggle commenced, during which, as a snake dashed at it, Oliver gave the line a snatch and baulked the creature. But, quick as lightning, it was at it again, seized it with its teeth, and was in the act of constricting it, when the maddened fish made a tremendous leap out of the water, dragging the writhing snake with it, and again escaping its coils, while, as Oliver made another snatch, he drew the two right out on to the rock, running a few paces so as to get his captive right into the middle.

The effect was that the snake was dislodged, and a panic set in as the creature, which was fully six feet long and thick in proportion, began to travel about over the surface of the rock with a rapid serpentine motion, everyone giving way till it reached the side and glided into the water once more.

"Why didn't yer get hold of his tail, Billy?" cried Smith. "Yer might ha' stopped it. Dessay them sort's as good eating as heels."

"I should, Tommy, only I thought you wanted to have a mate. But I never see no fishing like this afore."

"Look here, Mr Rimmer," cried Oliver, just then, and he pointed to the large handsome fish he had taken, showing that a half-moon shaped piece had been bitten clean out of its back by the sea snake. "Do you think this will be good now."

"I should not like to venture upon it," replied the mate, and, after the bitten piece had been cut thoroughly out, the rest was utilised for making attractive bait, with which they had more or less sport—enough though to enable them to take back full sixty pounds of good fish to the brig, but not until the boat had been run ashore and carefully secured and hidden in the cocoa-nut grove.



CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.

SEEKING BLACK SHADOWS.

That evening and the next day were devoted to careful investigation of the shores, three parties being formed and sent out well armed, to see whether the crew of the canoe had landed farther to the south, or round on the western coast. The orders were that if the enemy was discovered, the search parties were not to show themselves if they could avoid it, but to fall back at once to the ship and report what they had seen.

Those who stayed behind had the duty of doing everything possible in the way of putting the brig in a state of defence. The superintendence of this task was undertaken by the mate, Oliver giving up the expedition, which he would have liked to join, so as to stay and help Mr Rimmer.

They worked hard together. Wriggs and Smith, who both volunteered to stay as soon as they knew that Oliver was not going, toiling away till it was felt that nothing more could be done; and the conclusion was come to that, unless an attacking party of savages came provided with some form of ladder, they would be unable to mount to the deck. The bobstay having been removed, the gangways fortified, all this, with the commanding position the defenders would occupy, rendered the brig a thoroughly strong little fort, almost impregnable so long as the enemy did not think of enlisting fire in their service when they made their attack.

"Plenty of guns, plenty of ammunition, water and provisions in abundance, and enough British pluck to fight, I don't think we shall hurt much, Mr Lane. But let's hope that they will not come."

As sunset neared, first one and then the other search parties came back with the same report—that they had examined the offing from the highest points they could reach, and also from the shore; but there was no sign of any canoe or of the blacks having landed.

The next day the search was repeated, and again upon the following day, from the end of the mist bank right round the coast; but they were alone upon the strange land, and it was evident that the savages in the canoe must have been journeying right away to some distant spot, and in all probability they would never be seen again.

This being so, it was resolved to combine in one expedition the search for the savages on the other side of the mist and the ascent of the mountain, from up whose slope it was hoped that the glasses would sweep the shore all round, proving whether there was a native village, and at the same time setting at rest the question of their being upon island or mainland.

The opportunity was favourable, for, though the soft steamy cloud floated over the land as before, shutting them off from the mountain slope, the volcano had been for days perfectly quiet—there had been no explosions, no subterranean rumblings or shocks, everything pointed to the fact that the eruption was at an end, and the mountain settling down into a state of quiescence.

"I should like to go with you very much," said the mate. "I've had a short ladder knocked together for mounting steep bits and making a bridge over rifts and cracks, and I have a kind of longing to see what a crater is like."

"Well, you are coming, of course," said Oliver.

"No, I'm going to stay and take care of my ship. Why, if I went with you I should take it as a matter of course that a canoe would land close to our boat, and the savages come straight across to the brig and plunder her. It would be sure to happen if I went away."

"Nonsense!" cried Oliver, laughing.

"Ah! you may call it so, young gentleman, but I know how these things will happen. No, I stop by my ship, and if the beggars do come, the men and I will make a stiff fight of it till you folk come back to help me drive them to their canoe."

No persuasion would alter the mate's plans, but he eagerly forwarded those of the naturalists, and arranged for Smith and Wriggs to bear them company, even offering two more men, but Panton was of opinion that the smaller their number was the more likely they were to be successful, and the next morning they started—a well armed party, Wriggs and Smith carrying a ladder and little tent, the others the food and water.

Then in due time the boat was reached and rowed along the lagoon till the end of the mist and the effervescent water were passed, and at last, a good mile farther than the attempt had been before, they put ashore, drew up their boat in the cocoa-nut grove which went on far as eye could reach, and, with the men shouldering the traps after the boat had been hidden, they started over fresh ground for the slope.

The route was plain enough if they could follow it, for there, high above them, was the balloon-like cloud of steam and smoke floating over the crater, the only mist in the pure blue sky, and looking dazzling in the sunshine as a film of silver.

"I don't see why we cannot easily do it," said Panton, as he shifted his gun from one shoulder to the other. "What we have to do is to avoid the thick forest and make at once for the slope of cinders and ashes. Then we can zigzag up. It looks no distance to the top, and we could do it easily to-night."

But the mate's plan was considered the best: to get some distance up and pitch their tent at the edge of the forest at its highest point, and then have their good night's rest and start upward as soon as it was daylight.

They carried out this idea, skirting round the dense patch of forest, and getting above it to the open ground, where they had to wind in and out among rifts and blocks of lava which formed a wilderness below the ash slope. Then, going close to the forest edge, they soon found water, a couple of little sources bubbling out from among the rocks, and oddly enough within a few yards of each other, one being delicious, cool, and sweet, the other so hot that they could hardly immerse their hands, and when it was tasted it was bitter and salt to a degree.

While the two men set up the tent and made a fire to boil the kettle, a short expedition was made by the three young naturalists, it being a settled thing that there was to be no collecting next day, but every nerve was to be strained to reach the mountain top.

The ash slope ran up rapidly from where they stood, as they shouldered their guns and looked about them, and naturally feeling that they would have enough of that the next morning they turned down among the lava blocks for a short distance and then paused before plunging into the forest below.

From where they stood they were high enough to see that there was not so much as a bush above; all was grey, desolate, and strange, and the wonder to them was that the trees beneath them had not been burned up in one or other of the eruptions which must have taken place. Possibly, they felt, the sea winds had had some effect upon the falling ashes and hot steamy emanations and driven them from the forest, but it was a problem that they could not explain, and it was given up for the instant and left for future discussion.

There were other things to see that hot late afternoon, each full of wonder and beauty, and appealing to one or other of the party, each man finding enough to satisfy even his great desire for knowledge; and in turn, and with plenty of tolerance for each other's branch of study, they paused to examine incrustations of sulphur, glorious orchids, and bird and beetle, gorgeous in colour, wonderful in make.

But nothing was collected, only noted for future exploration, and, growing faint, hot, and weary after an hour's walking at the edge of the forest, they turned to retrace their steps, when Panton stepped upward for a few yards to try the edge of a little slope of fine ash—for the heat there was intense.

To his surprise the ashes into which he plunged his hands were quite cool, and yet the air around was at times almost suffocating.

"Must be a downward draught from the mountain top," said Panton at last, and then he looked sharply round, for Oliver had suddenly cocked his gun.

"What is it?" asked the others.

"Look out. There's something or somebody tracking us just inside the trees. I've seen the leaves move several times, but always thought it was the wind."

"Hallo! Hark!" cried Drew, excitedly. "Don't you hear?"

It was nearly sunset, and the little party knew that they had about an hour's walk before they could reach camp. The darkness was fast approaching, but they stopped short to listen.

In vain for a few minutes, and they were about to start again, when the sound that had arrested Drew's attention was heard plainly now by all—a long, low, piteous cry as of some one in agony, and in the great solitude of the mountain-side the cry was repeated, sending a chill of horror through the bravest there.



CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.

TOMMY SMITH'S GHOST.

"Must be one of the men," said Oliver, excitedly. "Come on."

"But that thing you saw below there among the trees?"

"We can't stop about that. It's some kind of great cat. I'll try this."

He raised his gun and fired quickly in among the trees to scare the creature, whatever it might be, and there came in response a snarling yell, followed by a crashing, as of the animal bounding away through the undergrowth.

Directly after there came from high up a second report, as if from a minor explosion of the volcano, but it was evidently only the echo of the gun.

There was another sound though, which was far more startling and awe-inspiring, and made the three young men draw together and stand gazing upward, waiting to find which direction would be the safest in which to flee.

For, directly after the echo, there was a strange whispering noise as of cinders sliding one over the other a long distance away and right up towards the crater above their heads.

As naturalists they knew on the instant what this meant, and it struck all in the same way—that it resembled the falling of a little hard granulated ice in a mountain—the starting of an avalanche. And as the ash and cinder, with the vitrified blocks of stone, lay loose on the mighty slope, they felt that it was quite possible for the firing of the gun to have caused an avalanche of another kind.

In a few seconds they knew that this was the case, for the whispering rapidly increased into a loud rustling, which soon became a rush, and directly after increased to a roar; and now, for the first time, they began to realise how vast the mountain was in its height and extent, for the rushing sound went on and on, gathering in force, and at last Drew exclaimed, as he gazed upward at an indistinct mist apparently travelling down towards them,—

"Come on; we shall be swept away."

"No, no," cried Panton and Oliver, almost in a breath; "We may be as safe here as anywhere. Perhaps we should rush into more danger."

And now the warm, ruddy glow of the setting sun was obscured by rising clouds, which they at once grasped were dust; a semi-darkness came on, and through this they had a glimpse of the mountain-side all in motion and threatening to overwhelm them where they stood.

It was hard work to master the feeling of panic which impelled them to run for their lives, but fortunately they had strength of mind enough to stand fast while the tumult increased, and, joining hands, they kept their places with hearts throbbing, half-suffocated by the dust which now shut them in, while, with a furious roar, the avalanche of cinder, stones, and ashes swept by, not twenty yards from where they stood, and subsided amidst the cracking of boughs and tearing up of trees at the edge of the forest.

It was like the dying sighs of some monster, the sound they heard directly after growing fainter and fainter, till there was the mere whisper made by trickling ashes, then even that subsided, and they stood in a cloud of dust, listening while it slowly rolled away. At last, as they gazed downward, there, below them, to the right, was a huge opening torn into the forest, with broken limbs, prostrate trunks, and great mop-like roots standing up out from a slope of grey cinders and calcined stones.

"What an escape," muttered Oliver. "Warning: we must not fire again near the mountain."

"Hark!" cried Panton. "There it is again."

For, from a distance, came a long, low, mournful shout, and directly after it was repeated, and they made out that it was the familiar sea-going Ahoy.

"It's only one of the men," said Oliver, and, putting his hand to his mouth, he was about to answer, but Panton checked him.

"Will it bring down another fall?" he whispered.

"No, no. There can be little fear of that now," said Oliver. "All the loose dusty stuff must have come down," and he hailed loudly; but his cry had, apparently, no effect, for it was not answered.

"Come on," said Panton, after a few moments' pause in the awful silence, which seemed to be far more terrible now, after the fall; and in the gathering darkness they started off, with the edge of the forest on their right to guide them. But the first part of their journey was not easy, for they had to climb and struggle through the ash and cinders, which had fallen, for a space of quite a couple of hundred yards before they were upon firm ground.

Then, as they stopped for a few moments to regain their breath, there was the mournful, despairing Ahoy! again, but though they answered several times over, there was no response till they had tramped on amidst increasing difficulties for quite a quarter of an hour—that which had been comparatively easy in broad daylight, growing more and more painful and toilsome as the darkness deepened.

Then, all at once, after a response to the mournful Ahoy, there came a hail in quite a different tone.

"Ahoy! Where away?"

"All right! Where are you?" cried Oliver.

"Here you are, sir. Here you are," came from not a hundred yards away, and directly after they met Wriggs.

"It's you, then, who has been hailing," cried Oliver. "Why didn't you answer when we shouted?"

"Did yer shout, sir? Never heerd yer till just now. Thought I should never hear no one again. Got lost and skeered. But I've found you at last."

"Found us, yes, of course. What made you leave Smith and come after us?"

"Didn't, sir. He left me and lost hisself, and I couldn't find him. It was soon after we'd lit a fire. He went off to get some more wood and there was an end of him."

"What, Smith gone?"

"Yes, sir. He's swallowed up in some hole or another, or else eat up by wild beasts. I couldn't find him nowhere, and I couldn't stand it alone there among them sarpents."

"Serpents? What, near our camp?" said Drew, who began to think of their adventure in the cabin.

"Yes, sir," said Wriggs, who was all of a tremble from exertion and dread. "I stood it as long as I could, with 'em hissing all round me, and then I felt as though if I stopped alone much longer I should go off my chump."