"What's—the—matter?" he murmured, in a feeble voice.
At this tears of joy flowed into the eyes of Uncle Moses, and his lips murmured inaudible words of prayerful gratitude.
"O, nothing," said Frank, who by this time had completely recovered from his fatigue. "Nothing of any consequence. Don't bother. You'll be all right soon."
Bob seemed too weak to say much, and even to think. He lay there in silence, and with an expression of bewilderment on his face, evidently trying to collect his scattered faculties, so as to account for his present situation.
And now, the question was how to get Bob home. The men with chairs and straps had gone away, so that this mode of conveyance seemed denied them. After waiting a short time, however, they saw a party approaching who were evidently about to try the ascent. They consisted of ladies and gentlemen, and were accompanied by some chair and strap men. Seeing Bob and his friends, they made inquiries; and on learning what had happened, the ladies refused to make the ascent on so unfavorable a day, but preferred postponing it to a more auspicious time. Michael Angelo therefore was able to obtain one of the chairs for Bob; and setting him upon it, they carried him towards the Hermitage, where they arrived without any further mishap.
Here Bob grew rapidly better, and was able to tell his story.
He had felt very anxious to see the crater, and equally anxious to see it first. Taking advantage of a time when the smoke had retreated, he had made a rush, and had just attained the very edge of the crater, when suddenly he found himself overwhelmed by a tremendous cloud of smoke. To resist it, or to endure it in any way, was impossible. He thought only of flight He turned mechanically, and ran, with this idea of flight alone in his mind. That was all he remembered. He must have run for at least a hundred feet, for that was about the distance which lay between the summit and the place where he was found.
Michael Angelo started off and got a carriage, by means of which Bob was taken to Naples. He did not seem to have suffered any very serious injury; but for some days he was quite languid and miserable, and complained of a taste of sulphur in his mouth; his coat, too, which on going up was of a dark-blue color, had become quite faded, from the action of the powerful sulphurous fumes.
On the whole, Bob, as well as the rest of the party, had ample reason to feel thankful.