“I believe it, Ib; but we have a saying in my country that ‘God helps only those who try to help themselves.’”
“Where is the fire?” asked the Persian, not noticing the American’s quotation.
“I don’t know, but I have an idea.”
“What is it?”
“The fire we saw was an erratic eruption of some volcano. We are in the crater——”
“Wha-at?”
“We are in the crater, I repeat, at the present time. The boat is stationary, and if——”
“What?”
“If the eruption starts again we shall go ge-whiz, ker-slush, up there.”
As Max spoke Ibrahim looked up the shaft and shuddered.