The young man bowed his face on his hand.
"I would have been willing—would have cheerfully died," said he, "in helping poor Mary; but to perish far away from that girl without having lifted a hand in her defense is very mortifying!"
"Ay, ay," said Turk, "and this is a lesson to me never to give advice in the futur'—if there be any futur' left for me on this arth! I'm as sorry as you can be, that I got you to give up follerin' the lass at once!"
For several moments the two men stood, glancing up through the opening in the trunk, which being directly beneath the volcano, afforded them a good view of it.
The huge crater was spouting showers of flame and sparks, which seemed to increase in quantity every moment.
Meanwhile the roaring noise of the subterranean fires was becoming louder. The ground shook with the thunder in its bosom, until the very tree in which the two men were ensconced began to tremble.
"The 'castrophy' must soon take place!" exclaimed Turk; "wish you'd l'arn me to say a few prayers before we are swallered up! That is," continued the old tar, "I did l'arn my catechism, once upon a time, but it's so long ago that the idee has been blowed out of my head by the squalls and gales I've weathered, do you see!"
Harry answered not. His mind was full of bitter reflections, in the midst of which his Mary, suffering in the hands of the savages, occupied a prominent part.
"Perhaps we may burrow out of this!" he exclaimed, at length, "at all events, let us try!"