As soon as the violent oscillation of the last quake had passed away, we took to our heels and ran for dear life. A rain of fine ashes had begun to fall from the sky; but this did not inconvenience us much, and we hoped soon to get beyond its influence. We occasionally heard stones and other débris striking the earth, but fortunately we escaped any injury from these dangerous projectiles.
Every moment it grew darker, and a heavy pall, huge and sombre, seemed to be gathering and hanging over the doomed island. There was no wind. A deadly calm seemed to prevail among the air-currents, as if they had been paralyzed by the awful convulsions that were going on below.
We stumbled on as rapidly as possible, but my breathing soon became so affected that I was forced to cling to my companions for support. The mephitic atmosphere did not seem to cause them any discomfort. The gunner appeared to have regained his usual courage and presence of mind, now that he found himself out of sight of the boiling and seething volcano mouth, every moment increasing his distance from it.
My coxswain had a good bump of locality, and led us by an almost unerring instinct. I soon saw, however, that he had no intention of following the pathway down to the creek where we had disembarked; for when we arrived within sight of the hut where we had seen the negroes hoeing, he turned off abruptly to the left, and made straight for a gap in a low ridge of hills just above us. Breathless and almost exhausted we reached this spot, and passed through to the other side. Here some huge boulders seemed to offer a temporary hiding-place, and I pointed them out to Ned.
“We’ll lie low there for a few minutes,” assented my coxswain; “I’m blest if I ain’t a bit done up myself.”
It was the first time he had spoken since we had fled from the burning crater; indeed it was only in the last ten minutes that it would have been of any use to attempt to do so. We were now, however, at a fairly safe distance—or at least so we thought—from the destructive volcano; and although we could still distinctly hear the hideous uproar that was going on in that great natural cauldron of occult powers, it was not loud enough to prevent our speaking to each other in peace. It was still very dark, and a certain amount of fine ashes was still falling; but from our present hiding-place the sky was almost obscured by overhanging rocks.
We were all gasping for breath when we flung ourselves on the ground.
“So far so good!” said Ned at last. “We’ve slipped our cables and got clear of them varmints of pirates, thanks to these mines and countermines and fireworks from the lower regions. The question now is, how we are to get clear of the island; for, to my mind, it ain’t a fit place for a respectable Christian to hang out in no longer than he can help.—What do you say, Mr. Gunner; for you’re the senior officer of this here party?”
Mr. Triggs seemed buried in a brown study.
“I think you were quite right not to make for the creek, Ned,” I remarked; “the pirates are certain to have gone in that direction, and we should have been recaptured as sure as eggs are eggs.”