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Jack at Sea, a novel by George Manville Fenn |
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Chapter 39. The Last Adventure |
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_ CHAPTER THIRTY NINE. THE LAST ADVENTURE. From that day the collecting went on merrily, for it seemed as if, to use Ned's words, "the niggers" had had "a regular sickener," excursion after excursion being made with careful precautions, which as the weeks rolled on were more and more relaxed. Naturally at every landing traces of the terrible havoc made by the hurricane were seen; but, as Captain Bradleigh said, the sun was hard at work repairing damages, and there were endless lovely places which had completely escaped. The men were never happier than when they were forming guards or porters for the various expeditions, and the naturalists' cases grew fuller and fuller of gorgeously-painted or armoured birds. The display of butterflies and wondrously-shaped flies and beetles was extensive, and as Jack and his henchman handled gun, butterfly-net, dredge, or fishing-line, the very existence of inimical natives not many miles away began to be forgotten, just as Jack's life before he was roused from his dreaming existence into that of a strong, manly English lad seemed to be a thing of the past. Many months had elapsed since they left England, and in spite of the way in which the provender was supplemented by fish and fresh meat in the shape of pork, kid, and a small kind of deer discovered in one valley, as the captain said, stores would not last for ever, and they must soon either turn homeward, or run to one of the ports where supplies could be obtained. Sir John said that another fortnight must end their stay at the island, and then they would sail for Hong Kong, take in stores, and start for their journey homeward round the world. One thing had been kept for the last, and that was an ascent of the volcano, and three days before the fortnight had elapsed, the yacht was run round to the foot of the valley where the canoe had lain and from here a strong party was to start at daybreak, carrying provisions and canvas for a couple of tents, so that they could sleep somewhere up the mountain, and descend on the other side, where the yacht was to meet them. Full of excitement over this, which he looked upon as the great event of the voyage, Jack was awake before Ned came to summon him, and headed by Sir John and the doctor, the captain remaining on board, the expedition, which included ten well-armed men from the crew, who were provided with axes, ropes, and light tent-poles, started in the highest of spirits. No collecting was to be done, but every effort directed to scaling the mountain, which had several times shown a brighter light from its top, and in anticipation of strange sights and the discovering of fresh wonders, Jack stepped to the front with Ned, their experience being sufficient to warrant their acting as guides. It proved to be a stiff climb, but at sunset they had reached a sheltered hollow where there was a sufficiency of scrubby dwarfed trees to supply them with wood and a screen to keep off the keen wind which blew pretty hard at five thousand feet above sea level, and after watching the sun set from the grand elevation supper was eaten, and a watch set, the rest lying down eager for morning and their ascent of the final slope of some hundred feet to the crater. These long tramps and climbs in the open air had the effect generally of making the night's rest seem astoundingly brief to Jack, who lay down, be the bed hard or soft, took a few deep breaths, and then all was oblivion till it was time to rise. And it was so here high up on the mountain slope, upon a bed of soft grey ashes, with a thin canvas loosely hung tent fashion. One minute he was awake, thinking of the coolness of the wind at that height, the next fast asleep, and then, so it appeared, directly after staring at Ned, who had shaken him to announce breakfast, while a scent of newly-made coffee floated in through the opening in the canvas. In half-an-hour they were climbing the yielding slope of ashes diagonally, with the sun just appearing at the edge of the sea, glorifying the mists and the island below in a way that forced them to halt and gaze in wonderment at the beauty of the scene. Then up and up once more, but so slowly that a good two hours were spent over what had seemed to be to Jack the work of a few minutes. For the sides were deep in cindery stones which gave at every step, and ran down in little avalanches, leaving beneath a bed of fine silvery ash into which their feet sank deeply. To have gone straight up would have been impossible, but by a side movement the way was slowly won, and at last Jack paused for a few moments to get his breath, then hurried up the rest of the way, reached the top first, and was seen by those below to pass over what seemed to be a sharp edge and disappear. Ned shouted in alarm and rushed up after him, Sir John and the doctor next, for there was no reply to the shouts, and as just then a puff of smoke suddenly shot into the air, a horrible dread assailed the little group. But when they reached the edge they saw that their alarm was needless, for Jack had dropped into a sitting position upon the soft ashes, and was gazing down into a great cup-like depression about half-a-mile across, and gradually dipping down till the centre of the hollow was about five hundred feet below the top. "Not much to see, Ned," said Jack as the man joined him. "That must be where the bright glow comes from at night." He pointed down over the dark silvery grey waste, dotted with stones of all sizes, to where a pool lay on one side, apparently of water, for a shimmering light played over it, and a faint mist was rising slowly into the air. "Couldn't come from water, sir," said Ned. "I didn't expect to see a pond up here; but I suppose it's hot, and that's steam." "Oh yes, that's hot enough," said the doctor, who was panting with his exertions. "Liquid fire, eh, Jack?" "Wouldn't it be molten metal of some kind, father?" cried the boy. "No, my lad, it is molten stone--rock. Lava." "But it puzzles me," cried Jack, "how stone can melt. You said something to me one day about a flux." "Yes, of course. People who smelt metals found that out long enough ago, and it is the same with making glass. If you expose some minerals separately to great heat they merely become powder; but if you combine them--say flinty sand with soda or potash--they run together and become like molten metal. I believe if ironstone and limestone are mixed, the ironstone becomes fluid, so that it can be cast like a metal--in fact becomes the metal itself." "Then that pool down there, if emptied out, would run like the volcanic glass we have found below?" "Most likely." "Let's go down this slope so as to see the pool from nearer." "Rather a risky proceeding, my boy," said Sir John; "suppose we were to break through." "Break through? Why, you don't think it is hollow under here?" "I should rather believe that there was a stony crust hardened by cooling, and that a very short distance beneath us the rocks are all molten." "But all these great stones lying about don't break through. Let's go a little way down." "Don't be rash then. Will you come, Instow?" "Oh yes, if it's safe. Let's go cautiously." Just then the sailors, who had had to pack up and carry the camping-out necessaries, appeared at the edge, and waited there watching the little party as they slowly descended toward the shimmering pool, threading their way in and out among the blocks of lava and pumice which lay in their road. Sir John led, with Jack close beside him, and the doctor and Ned followed a little way behind, to their right. But they had not descended a hundred yards before Sir John stopped short. "No farther!" he said. "The heat is getting intense, and overpowering gases are escaping from the ashes. We must go back, Jack." "I suppose so," said the lad unwillingly. "We don't see the pool any the better for being here either. Oh, look at that!" There was no need to call attention, for all were startled by a sudden report, and a glow of heat swept past their faces as a huge fountain of fire suddenly played up some sixty or seventy feet like a geyser, and fell back with a heavy splash, lower and lower, still playing till there was only a slight eminence, as if bubbling in the middle of the pool. Then it was perfectly level again, and a cloud of white smoke floated away. "That would have been grand by night," shouted the doctor. "It was grand now," replied Sir John. "Well, I think we had better turn back," said the doctor. "There is no doubt about its being molten fire below here, for the heat gets fiercer. Look." He had been resting on the climbing pole he brought up with him, and found that the end had gone down a couple of feet, while as he drew it out the point was charred and smoking. This induced Sir John and Jack to do the same, and theirs were burnt as well. "Yes, get back at once!" shouted Sir John in startled tones. "Quick, all of you; our weight is acting upon the ashes, and they are gliding down with us." "Hi! look out below, gen'lemen," shouted Lenny from the edge, "that there's bending like thin ice." The warnings were none too soon, for as the pair turned sharply and began to climb back, it was quite plain that though the blocks of stone about lay or half floated upon the ash-covered surface, any further weight was sufficient to produce a change, and before they had taken many steps, one huge mass not twenty yards from Sir John was seen to be sinking slowly, then faster and faster, and disappeared through the ashes, which changed rapidly to a shimmering fluid, and sent forth a terrible heat. "Don't hurry--open out slowly so as to spread the weight!" cried Sir John; and the doctor and Ned obeyed; but Jack saw that at every step his father's feet sank lower, and that his alpen-stick gave him no support, but went right in. "Do you hear me, Jack?" shouted Sir John. "Yes, father, but I can't leave you," cried the lad. "Here, give me your hand, or take hold of the end of my staff." "Go on! Obey me, boy, or you will destroy us both," cried Sir John sternly, and Jack continued to climb up the slope, finding it more and more yielding, and as if below the ashes and stones there was a quivering or bubbling going on. "That's right! go on, Jack; go on," cried Sir John. "It isn't far now." They pressed on with a horrible feeling of panic attacking them now, for the quivering beneath them increased, the surface over which they toiled was trembling, and several of the blocks they passed began to settle slowly down. "Only another fifty feet!" shouted the doctor. "Come on." But at that moment a yell of warning came from the sailors, and Jack looked round to see that the ashes where his father climbed up were changing colour; then he noted that the slope was growing steeper and steeper; and to his horror his father threw himself at full length and began to crawl. "Below there!" yelled Lenny. "Look out, Sir John." "Below there! look out, Mr Jack," cried another sailor; and a couple of ropes flew down the slope in rapidly opening rings, and so accurately pitched that Jack caught his just as he felt that he was sliding downward. Before he could turn to look at his father the rope tightened, and he was rapidly drawn up out of a heat that was terrible; but as he reached the edge of the crater he wrenched himself round in time to see that Sir John was nearly up; and the next minute he too was well over the side, the doctor and Ned, who had reached the top unaided, coming up white and trembling. It was none too soon, for a minute later the slope down toward the pool, which had been easy, had now become, from the sinking of the centre, tremendously steep, and the pool itself suddenly began to spread out more and more, till half the expanse below was covered with the shimmering molten lava, and the heat became so intense that they were all glad to retreat down the side. "What an escape, my boy!" panted Sir John, as he grasped his son's arm. "It was dreadful," whispered Jack. "But are you hurt?" "Nothing much; a little scorched." Sir John held up one of his feet, and Jack could see that the leather of the boots was crushed up and drawn out of shape, while this drawing his attention to his own feet, which he now felt were uncomfortable and strange, he saw that his heavy boots were wrinkled up in the same way. But they had to hurry their steps down the mountain side, for an earthquake-like quivering made the earth feel as if a wave was running beneath them, while in quick succession two thunderous explosions came from below; huge stones were thrown high in the air, and could be heard falling back into the crater with an awe-inspiring sound. There was no temptation to pause and watch what was evidently the commencement of an eruption, and which might at any moment grow in force, so every effort was made to reach the shore, as nearly as they could judge about the part of the island off which the yacht was expected to lie. They were fortunate on hitting upon one of the ravines which scored the mountain side some time before noon, and after a brief halt for refreshment, pushed on down its precipitous sides hour after hour, for the explosions from the crater grew more frequent, and all felt that they might culminate in some terrible cataclysm that would overwhelm them all. Darkness did not overtake them that night, for long before it was sundown they were conscious of a peculiar glow above them, and the final part of their descent was illuminated by an intense light, which as night fell was reflected from the clouds which had gathered, and helped them to reach the shore not above half-a-mile from where the yacht lay with her lights burning. A shot or two brought a boat to where they were waiting, and weary though they all were, they sat for hours gazing up at a great glowing stream of fire, which was plainly enough the beginning of one of the lava-streams which flowed down the mountain's sides. "Notice to quit, I think, sir," said the captain quietly. "Yes," said Sir John, "it would be foolhardy to stay here longer now." "Then by your leave, sir, I'll take the yacht outside at once, for one never knows what may happen when a volcano begins to work. There! look at that! We'll get out while we can." A terrific explosion reached their ears as he spoke, and without a moment's delay orders were given for steam to be got up, and before morning the yacht glided out through the reef, and past a flotilla of canoes which looked as if on their way to the island, but were lying-to as if startled from landing by the explosions which kept coming from the crater. "Quite time our adventures ceased, Jack," said Sir John, "when they were becoming as dangerous as this. It seems that we have just had another escape." "Yes, father," said Jack quietly. "I am sorry to leave the place; but, as you say, it was quite time to go." Peaceful sea voyages in fine weather, from one of the well-known ports to the other for coal and other supplies, have been described too often for Jack Meadows' quiet journey to China, from thence to Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and then round the Horn to Rio, Barbadoes, and then homeward, to need recapitulation here. Let it suffice that it was within six weeks of two years from starting that Sir John's yacht steamed into Dartmouth harbour once more. Two years--from sixteen to eighteen--work strange alterations in some lads; they had done wonders here, and Sir John and the doctor exchanged glances as Jack stepped down into the boat amid the cheers of the men, after he had shaken hands all round. "Good-bye!" he shouted. "Remember that in six months we start on another cruise." A deafening cheer was the answer to this, and the men sprang up into the rigging, to stand waving their caps to the lad--the young man who had been almost carried on board. That evening as the express steamed into Paddington, and Ned met his master on the platform to say that the luggage was all right, the man seized the opportunity to whisper to Jack-- "Home again, sir! I say, what will they think of you there? They won't know you!" "Not know me, Ned? Am I so much changed?" "Changed, sir? What, don't you know it?" "I--I think I'm stronger, Ned, and grown a little." "Why, sir, you're as strong and as big as me." "My cure, Jack!" said the doctor, shaking hands with him as they reached the old home. "I say, Meadows, what am I to charge for this?--No: I'm paid already in the sight of my old friend's son." It's rather a hard thing to do, but it is to be done. I mean for three people to shake hands at once. These three--Sir John, the doctor, and Jack Meadows--did in self-congratulation at being safe and sound at home. It is done like this--No, you can find that out yourselves. [THE END] _ |
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