There was a grim look on Gerry’s face. He too, I gathered, was beginning to understand what was meant by that black cloud which now rolled between us and the sun like some monstrous umbrella. Denvarre was looking at Gwen, and she, I gathered from the sudden motion of her face as I turned toward her, had but lately been staring at me, trying, I suppose, to understand what I thought of it. Garlicke eyed the phenomenon through his eye-glass, viewing it as if it was some second-rate performance which had to be endured, but equally to be depreciated. Lessaution gaped up at it open-mouthed; he nodded like a mandarin, showing by his expression his complete satisfaction with these arrangements for further volcanic demonstrations. Vi looked on with placid astonishment, being by now used to vagaries in this strange land of topsy-turvydom, and not wishing to appear unnecessarily surprised. The members of the crew made unanimous use of the common adjective to opine that the smoke was sanguinarily droll, and at that they left it. Waller’s lips were compressed, though moving now and again in what I took to be sotto voce swearings. He shared no doubt with me a silent uneasiness that he preferred not to express.
An earthquake is no joke. One has absolute belief in the stability of the ground beneath one’s feet—a belief which it takes much to destroy. When therefore you see the land shake like an ill-made jelly, when it grins and grimaces at you like a third-rate comedian, the traditions of a lifetime are undermined. That upon which you have planked the whole of your confidence deceives you. Faith is no longer a rock. Belief of every kind is vain. Stability in leaving the earth leaves all else unstable, and your spirit dies within you. Nothing is impregnable or unassailable thereafter. You are, to put it tersely, most horribly afraid.
At any rate I was. For at least six weeks and possibly for a year we were to live under this shadow of death. The cave, that we had chosen as a refuge should the Beast crawl down upon us, had now become a possible death-trap more horrible than his maw itself. The mountain was obviously volcanic, and as obviously was the cleft the result of volcanic action. Suppose it to close when we were in it. Like worms beneath a cart-wheel we should be crushed. Suppose it to suddenly widen. Like worms again should we be dropped into the very bowels of earth to be hopelessly cast away.
So again I cursed my fate and those who had been its arbiters, and assumed a cheerful countenance.
“I think that’s all for the present,” I remarked courteously to the company at large, “so if you have seen all you require perhaps you’ll return to business.”
They turned from their starings at the mountain, and Gerry chucked down the lever he still held with a surly air.
“So we’re to start all over again?” said he.
“Have you anything else to suggest?”
He found no answer but a grunt, and I explained that Captain Waller’s proposition seemed the only feasible one. We must reduce the launch to sections, and carry them one by one to the cliff-top. I invited amendments, but none were forthcoming, and collecting spanners, we turned wearily to work again.
By good luck the lost plan of construction turned up. It was ingenious, but fiendishly intricate, and it was hours before we properly mastered it. Then with wrenches and screwdrivers we flung ourselves upon the boat, covering ourselves with dirt and wretchedness. This, however, only after stupendous wranglings over the writing and the interpretation thereof; in which wordy mêlée Gerry and Lessaution nearly came to blows, sneering over every mortice, and displaying directly opposite views concerning every nut and screw.