Dick had fought bravely all through the campaign, and was a man but little given to emotion, yet so unnerved was he by the fearful catastrophe that had happened, that he buried his face in his hands and almost wept in the intensity of his agony. Maurice and Helena also were paralyzed with dread, for, however daring human beings may be, the most resolute quail before the gigantic powers of nature, and, high-spirited as they all were, their hearts thrilled with[with] fear as they recognized in what a death-trap they were snared.
Only Justinian preserved a certain amount of calmness,—Justinian, who suffered more than the others, for this was the crowning blow, and his whole untiring labor of forty years had been swept away as naught in a single hour.
“It is not a valley,” he cried, looking downward in despair; “it is a tomb enclosing many dead. Oh, my poor Melnosians!”
“How did you discover it, Dick?” asked Maurice in an awed tone.
“After you went away this morning, sir. I walked down to the valley, in order to get my messmates to go on with that mining work in the pass; but I felt a bit headachy and queer. However, I did not think about it, and went down the stair. Just as I got down half-way, I felt a poisonous breath of air wafted up from below, which seized me by the throat, and made me fall down insensible by that statue of Apollo. I don’t know how long I lay; but it was lucky I was not farther down, or else I would have been stifled; as it was, little breaths of the gases floated up, but the cool air above revived me somewhat, and I managed to crawl up higher. Then I came along, sir; and you helped me here.”
“And are they all dead?”
“They must be,” said Justinian in a tone of despair. “I see how it is we escaped. You know the Grotto del Cane at Naples, Maurice, where a man can enter freely, but a dog dies? that is because the vapors only rise a certain height. Down below there, when all were sleeping, the gases must have been breathed slowly from the mouth of the volcano, and stifled every soul. They could not rise higher on account of their weight, so we managed to escape death. Look at that valley!” cried the Demarch, with a passionate gesture; “it is a smiling death-trap. We can see nothing; but half-way up the cup it is filled with deadly poison, which would kill us were we to descend. Oh, my poor people! dead! dead! all dead!”
He hid his face in his hands, overcome with horror at the sight; and Dick, somewhat cured of the poisonous vapors he had inhaled, arose to his feet with an effort.
“We must get away from here, Mr. Maurice. We dare not stay another night, for even if that volcano does not burst out, the gases will rise and rise until the Acropolis will be below their level. We must fly.”
“And how can we fly?” asked Justinian abruptly. “We have no boats—those scoundrels of Caliphronas’ have destroyed them all. The only thing we can do is to abandon the Acropolis, and go to the sea-shore, in order to wait the arrival of Crispin to save us.”