Page:The crater; or, Vulcan's peak.djvu/110

 104 THE CRATER; how long, Mark knew not, but probably for a thousand years, if not for thousands of years, in its nakedness was about to be covered with verdure, and blest with fruitful- ness. The inert principles which, brought to act together, had produced this sudden change from barrenness to fer tility, had probably been near neighbours to each other all that time, but had failed of bringing forth their fruits, for the want of absolute contact. So Mark reasoned, for he nothing doubted that it was Betts s guano that had stimu lated the otherwise barren deposit of the volcano, and caused his seed to germinate. The tillage may have aided, as well as the admission of air, light and water; but some thing more than this, our young gardener fancied, was wanting to success. That something the manure of birds, meliorated and altered by time, had supplied, and lo ! the glorious results were before his eyes. It would not be easy to pourtray to the reader all the delight which these specks of incipient verdure conveyed to the mind of Mark Woolston. It far exceeded the joy that would be apt to be awakened by a relief from an ap prehension of wanting food at a distant day, for it resem bled something of the character of a new creation. He went from hill to hill, and everywhere did he discover plants, some just peeping through the ashes, others already in leaf, and all seemingly growing and thriving. Fortu nately, Kitty had not been on the mount for the last fort night, her acquired habits, and the total nakedness of the hills, having kept her below with the other animals, since her first visits. Mark saw the necessity of keeping her off the elevation, which she would certainly climb the in stant anything like verdure caught her eyes from below. He determined, therefore, to confine her to the ship, until he had taken the precautions necessary to prevent her as cending the mount. This last was easily enough done, On the exterior of the hills there were but three places where even a goat could get up. This was owing to the circumstance that the base of the ascent rose like a wall, for some ten or twelve feet, everywhere but at the three points mentioned. It appeared to Mark as if the sea had formerly washed around the crater, giving this form to its bottom, for so wall-like was the rock for these ten or twelve