Page:Amazing Stories Volume 01 Number 04.djvu/84

372 It was quite evident that we were being cast up- wards by eruptive matter; under the raft there was a mass of boiling water, and under this was a heav- ing mass of lava, and an aggregate of rocks which on reaching the. summit of the water would be dis- persed in every direction. That we were inside the chimney of a volcano there could no longer be the shadow of a doubt. Nothing more terrible could be conceived ! But on this occasion, instead of Sneffels, an old and extinct volcano, we were inside a mountain of fire in full activity. Several times I found myself asking, what mountain was it, and on what part of the world we should be shot out. As if it were of any consequence! In the northern regions, there could be no reasonable doubt about that. Before it went decidedly mad, the compass had never made the slightest mistake. From the cape of Saknus- sem, we had been swept away to the northward many hundreds of leagues. Now the question was, were we once more under Iceland — should we he belched forth on to the earth through the crater of Mount Hecla, or should we reappear through one of the other seven fire- funnels of the island? Tak- ing in my mental vision a radius of five hundred leagues to the westward, I could Bee. under this parallel only the little-known volcanoes of the northwest coasts of America. To the east one only existed somewhere about the eightieth degree of latitude, the Esk, upon the island of Jean Mayen, not far from the frozen regions of Spitzbergen. It was not craters that were wanting, and many of them were big enough to vomit a whole army; all I wished to know was the particular one towards whjch we were making with such fearful velocity. I often think now of my folly.; as if I should have expected to escape ! Towards morning, the ascending motion became greater and greater. If the degree of heat in- creased instead of decreasing, as we approached the surface of the earth, it was simply because the causes were local and wholly due to volcanic in- fluence. Our very style of locomotion left in my mind no doubt upon the subject. An enormous force, a force of some hundred of combined atmos- pheres produced by vapors accumulated and long compressed in the interior of the earth, were hoist- ing us upwards with irresistible power. But though we were approaching the light of day, to what fearful dangers were we about to be ex- posed? Instant death appeared the only fate which we could expeet or contemplate. The Worst Period of the Ascent SOON a dim, sepulchral light penetrated the vertical gallery, which became wider and wider. I could make out to the right and left long dark corridors like immense tunnels, from which awful and horrid vapors poured out. Ton- gues of fire, sparkling and crackling, appeared about to lick us up. The hour had come ! "Look, uncle, look!" I cried. "Well, what you see are the great sulphurous flames. Nothing more common in connection with an eruption." "But if they lap us round!" I angrily replied. "They will not lap us round," was his quiet a'nJ serene answer. "But it will he all the same in the end if they stifle us," I cried. "We shall not be stifled. The gallery is rapidly becoming wider and wider, and if it be necessary, we will presently leave the raft and take refuge in some fissure in the rock." "But the water, the water, which is continually ascending?" I despairingly replied. "There is no longer any water, Harry," he an- swered, "but a kind of lava paste, which is heaving us up, in company with itself, to the mouth of the crater." In truth, the liquid column' of water had wholly disappeared to give place to dense masses of seeth- ing eruptive matter. The temperature was becoming utterly insupportable, and a thermometer exposed to this atmosphere would have marked between 189 and 190 degrees Fahrenheit. Perspiration rushed from every pore. But for the extraordinary rapidity of our ascent we should have been stifled. Nevertheless, the Professor did not carry out his proposition of abandoning the raft; and he did quite wisely. Anyway, those few ill-joined beams offered a solid surface — a support which elsewhere must have utterly failed us. Towards eight o'clock in the morning a new in- cident startled us. The ascensional movement sud- denly ceased. The raft became still and motionless. "What is the matter now?" I said querulously, very much startled by this ehange. "A simple halt," replied my uncle. "Is the eruption about to fail?" I asked. "I hope not." Without making any reply, I rose. I tried to look around me. Perhaps the raft, checked by some projecting rock, opposed a momentary resistance to the eruptive mass. In this case, it was absolutely necessary to release it as quickly as possible. Nothing of the kind had occurred. The column of cinders, of scoria?, of broken rocks and earth, had wholly ceased to ascend. "I tell you, uncle, that the eruption has stopped," was my oracular decision. "Ah," said my uncle, "you think so, my boy. You are wrong. Do not be in the least alarmed; this sudden moment of calm will not last long, be as- sured. It has already endured five minutes, and be- fore we are many minutes older we shall be con- tinuing our journey to the mouth of the crater." All the time he was speaking the Professor con- tinued to consult his chronometer, and he was probably right in his prognostics. Soon the raft resumed its motion, in a very rapid and disorderly way, which lasted two minutes or thereabout; and then again it stopped as suddenly as before. "Good," said my uncle, observing the hour, "in ten minutes we shall start again." "In ten minutes?" "Yes — precisely. We have to do with a volcano, the eruption of which is intermittent. We are com- pelled to breathe just as it does. A Long, Lasting Delirium as Escape Approaches, NOTHING could be more true. At the exact minute he had indicated, we were- again launched on high with extreme rapidity. Not to be cast off the raft, it was necessary to hold on to the beams. Then the hoist again ceased. Many times Since have I thought of this singular,