“I don’t think so,” rejoined the professor, “this must have been going on for centuries, and, as we know, the force of a volcano wanes instead of waxing stronger as the centuries pass by.”
“Hope so, I’m sure,” put in Walt, “I can tell you, I’ve had quite enough excitement for one day.”
“Well, I guess that is the case with all of us,” was the rejoinder, “but amid all these natural wonders and alarms we must not forget that we came here on a definite mission,—namely to carry back with us what we can of the reputed treasure.”
“That’s right,” agreed Coyote, “and so far as I’m concerned, I’m for pushing on.”
That seemed to be in accordance with the wishes of the entire little company, so, forward it was.
They plunged into the passage that the professor had indicated and traversed it for some distance before they struck anything out of the ordinary.
It was perhaps half an hour before they began to notice that the tunnel was beginning to be irradiated by a light far stronger than that thrown by their torches, a bright piercing glare that seemed to burn like white fire. It grew very much warmer, too, and the perspiration streamed down all their faces.
“We are approaching the subterranean fires,” said the professor, “in all probability some titanic flame of natural gas. By the roaring sound I hear, I believe that to be a correct statement of the facts.”
In the midst of a rock chamber, there arose a great flame of an almost white hue.