“But the whole tract will again be fertilized now, I think,” said Mr. Graham. “Those ashes have a great deal of good loam mixed with them, and it will be very productive, I think.”
“Yes, the animals will find as good grazing here as in any other part of the Reserve, at some future day,” said Mr. Bruce.
“Look,” said Mr. Graham, “what is that black object away there in the distance? It is moving, is it not?”
They all looked and came to the conclusion that it must be some sort of animal, but what, they could not say. As they proceeded the black spot grew larger and larger, but they could now see that the animals, or whatever they might be, were not moving but standing still. They had now come to the hole in the side of the mountain and concluded to enter this first, and investigate the black spot later. Accordingly they entered the hole and lighting a torch turned to the right and moved toward the upper end of the cave. From where they were, they could see no change in the crevice, but there might be nearer the crater, for it was from this that the stream of lava was running. They hurried on for they had much to look after before returning, and already half of the day had passed. The end wall was at last reached and they turned to follow this until they had reached the small tunnel, through which had run the lava. Arriving at this they were not surprised to find it considerable wider than it had been before the lava had found its way through it. The lava had raised the floor of it to quite a height, but this new flooring was cool now and they decided to follow up the tunnel for some distance, and see what had taken place in the farther end.
As they advanced up the tunnel the air got somewhat warmer, but still not excessively so: The lava bed also grew thicker as they advanced until the floor had become so raised, they could extend their hands and touch the ceiling. They at last reached the end of the tunnel and were surprised to see that the crack had widened until it was nearly five feet broad.
“Shall we enter?” asked Mr. Bruce, as they all stood looking at the crack rather hesitatingly.
“Most assuredly, if there is no danger,” replied Mr. Graham.
“I cannot answer for the safety of it,” said Mr. Bruce, “but I can say that it would be interesting to look into it a ways.”
“Let us proceed then,” said the King, who was fast becoming as curious as his white companions.
The party then, headed by Mr. Bruce, stepped rather gingerly into the passage-way, and moved along slowly. The side-walls were still very hot and very soon the soles of their feet became almost burned with the hot flooring, for the hot lava had passed through there so recently, that it could hardly be expected to be very cool yet. They had gone some distance into the crack when Mr. Bruce suddenly stopped and said: