THE WAR WAS OVER
Raphael began to worry about Cassandra. ‘I can stop this volcano,’ he tried to reassure himself, ‘by raising my hand. But how long would the Sorcerer hold out? Until he and Cassandra were buried in the awful ruin of the city?’ The boy began to walk nervously up and down, up and down. The eagles huddled behind him.
A quarter of an hour passed. There was still no sign of surrender, though the noise of conflict in the city was dying away. Now and then a powerful explosion would shake the plain. And a strange smell filled the air. Raphael thought with sudden horror of the poison gas. Had the tanks exploded? Was this the end? The destruction of everything? Instead of saving Cassandra and the world, had he hurried on the fate which hung over them? At any rate, the Sorcerer would never rule. The boy stamped to and fro, muttering, ‘Surrender, surrender.’ He began to feel sick. Was he dizzy? He stopped and looked intently at the river. No, he wasn’t dizzy yet. Gas. Poison gas. How terrible!
A puff of wind sprang up, and drove the ashes in eddying clouds. Raphael suddenly saw above the city a great white balloon floating. How long had it been there? What was it doing? Then he knew. The Sorcerer had surrendered. It was the white flag of failure. The ashes blew back again and settled over the city. Was he too late? Had he seen in time? Raphael raised his hand and commanded the volcano to cease.
The war was over.
Immediately the volcano was still. The earth ceased to rumble, the ashes fell no more, and overhead the sun broke through the clouds in a sudden golden flame over the desolation below.
CHAPTER XV
VICTORY AND DEFEAT
Raphael ran down the hill to the plain followed by the eagles, who trailed him in great fluttering hops. Ruin spread before them: blackened walls smouldered under the bright sky; no sound broke the stillness except the hiss of escaping steam; white smoke drifted up like summer mist from a lake.
They came to broad rivers of lava which they flew across. In the thick stream was caught wreckage; automobiles and trucks with bent and twisted wheels lay upside down like dead insects. Steam engines and steam shovels, railroad and fire engines, crumpled and cast aside, lay scattered here and there, dried currants in a monstrous pudding.