"Lane!" shouted Panton, hurrying forward toward where his friend had
disappeared.
"Mind! take care!" yelled Drew. "Here, you Smith, run back to the ship
for ropes and help."
"And leave him like that, sir?" cried the sailor. "Not me; I'm a-going
after him, that's my job now."
The man stepped quickly forward to where Panton had paused, holding on
by a mass of lava, and peering into the huge rift.
"Hold on a moment, sir," cried the man, who had now set aside his dread
of the serpents, and placing his hand to his mouth, he sent forth a
tremendous "Mr Lane, ahoy!"
His voice echoed right away into the depths, and set some fragments of
stone falling with a low whispering sound but there was no reply.
"Mind!" cried Panton, excitedly, and seizing the sailor's arm, he jerked
him away so roughly, that the man caught his heel and fell backwards
over and over among the stones and creeping growth at the mouth of the
rift, while Panton himself beat a rapid retreat.
"I see him," grumbled Smith, "but I warn't going to him now," and he
rose to his knees, as the wounded serpent so rudely seized by Oliver
Lane glided by him, hissing loudly; "I say, never mind that thing now,
gents. Come and help Mr Lane."
A couple of reports came close upon his words, for Drew had fired at the
escaping serpent, which now writhed in amongst the bushes, evidently in
its death throes.
"Why, here's t'other bit under me," said Smith, as he rose to his feet
and looked down at where, half hidden, the other serpent had crawled
back to its lair to die. In fact the man had fallen upon it, and its
soft body had saved him from a severe contusion.
But somehow the horror of the reptile was gone in one far greater, and,
trembling with eager excitement, Smith began to make his way cautiously
inward again, stepping carefully on till a stone gave way, and fell
rattling down what was evidently a very steep slope.
"I shall have to go down," muttered the man, "I can't leave the poor lad
there. Ah, that's right!" he cried as Panton's voice rang out,--"Ropes.
Bring ropes."
"Yes, I may as well have a rope round me," muttered Smith. Then loudly,
"Mr Lane, ahoy!"
There was no answer, and he called again and again without avail. Then
a thought striking him, he got out his matchbox, struck a light, lit
several, waited till the splints were well ablaze, and let them fall
down burning brightly, but revealing nothing.
"I can't stand this here," he muttered, and feeling his way cautiously,
he lowered himself down till he could get good foothold, and was in the
act of descending farther, when steps approached, and the mate's voice
was heard in company with Panton's.
"Here, one of you, run back for a lantern," cried the mate as he hurried
to the mouth of the chasm. "Ahoy there, Mr Lane; Smith!"
"Ahoy it is, sir," came from below.
"Hold hard, my lad, and make this rope fast around you. Know where Mr
Lane is?"
The man made no answer for a minute, as he caught and secured the rope
about him.
"No, sir, I can't make out, but I'm a-going to see," he muttered between
his teeth--"I mean feel, for we're having nothing but darkness this
voyage."
"I'll send a lantern down after you directly, my lad. Ready?"
"Ay, ay, sir. Lower away."
"No, better wait for the light. It is like pitch down there."
"Ay, 'tis, sir, but that poor lad's waiting for help."
"Yes, I know, my man, but you must try to see where he is. Hi! anybody
coming with that light?"
"Yes, the man's coming," cried Drew.
"What's that?" said the mate, sharply, as he leaned over the yawning
hollow, rope in hand; "that peculiar odour?"
"What, that smell, sir?" said Smith. "I dunno, sir, it's like as if
someone had been burning loocifers. Why, of course, I struck some and
let 'em fall."
"Ah, that's better!" cried the mate, as a lantern was handed to him by
Panton; and, passing the free end of the rope through the handle, he ran
it along till it was all through, and he could let the light glide down
to the sailor.
"That's all right, sir. Now, then, shall I climb or will you lower me
down?"
"Try both, we'll keep a good hold. Heaven help him, I hope he has not
gone far. Take hold here. No, Mr Panton, let the men. They are
better used to handling a rope. Now, then lower away."
Smith began to descend with the lantern, and, as the mate and Panton
gazed down, they could dimly make out that below them was a wide jagged
crack, descending right away; while in front, a portion of the crack
through the stone ran forward at a gradual slope, forming a cavern.
"Keep a sharp look out, my lad. Ah! mind! don't kick the stones down."
"Can't help it, sir. It's all a big slope here, with the stones waiting
to go down with a jump."
Proof of this came directly, a touch sending pieces bounding and rushing
down in a way that must have been fatal to anyone below.
The mate uttered a low ejaculation, and Panton drew in his breath with a
peculiar hiss, as they heard the fragments go on bounding and rebounding
below in the awful darkness, while the peculiar odour which the mate had
noticed came up more strongly now.
"See him?" cried Mr Rimmer.
"No, sir. Lower away."
"Lower away, my lads. Here, you Tomlin, run back and get a couple more
lengths. Quick."
The man darted off, and his comrades lowered away, while Panton and Drew
stood with their heads bent and eyes strained to catch a glimpse of
their friend in the dim light cast by the lantern now far below.
"It's all one slope, sir, right away down," cried Smith.
"Yes, can you make out the bottom?"
"No, sir. Don't seem to be none. Lower away."
"Ahoy. Help!"
The cry was faint, but it sent a thrill through all gathered at the
mouth of the chasm.
"Ahoy!" roared Smith, as he violently agitated the rope. "All right, my
lad, coming. Aloft there with the line. No, no, no, don't lower; haul.
I'm too low down now."
The men gave a cheer, and began to haul up till the mate checked them.
"That right?" he cried to the sailor.
"Little higher, sir. Couple o' fathom. He's on a bit of a shelf,
'cross a hole, and I shall have to swing to him."
"That do?" cried the mate in the midst of the breathless excitement.
"Yes, that's about it, sir. Now, then, make fast. I'm going to swing."
"Right!"
Then the lantern began to pass to and fro, like a pendulum, and at every
thrust given with his feet by the swinging man, the loose blocks of lava
and pumice went rumbling and crashing down, sending up whispering echoes
and telling of a depth that was absolutely profound.
"Can you manage?" shouted the mate.
"Yes, sir. That was nearly it," came from below. "This time does it."
They saw the light swing again a couple of hundred feet beneath them.
Then it was stationary, and every man's breath came with a catch, for
all at once the stones began to glide again; increasing their rush till
it grew tremendous, and the watchers felt that all was over, for the
light disappeared and the odour that ascended was stifling.
"Haul! Haul!" came from below, sending a spasm of energy through all at
the mouth as they pulled in the rope.
"Steady, steady, my lads," cried the mate. "Got him?" he shouted.
"Ay, ay! Haul quick!" came in a stifled voice, and the mate and his
companions felt a chill run through them as they grasped the fact that
Smith was either exhausted or being overcome by the foul gas set at
liberty by the falling stones.
"Haul steady, my lads, and quick," said the mate, as he went down on one
knee. "No; walk away with the rope."
His order was obeyed, and the next minute he was reaching down as the
dimly seen lantern came nearer and nearer, revealing Smith's ghastly
upturned face and the strange-looking figure he held. Then, almost flat
upon his chest, the mate made a clutch, which was seconded by Drew,
Panton aiding, and Oliver Lane was lifted out of the chasm and borne
into the open sunshine, slowly followed by Smith, as the men cheered
about the peculiar-looking figure--for clothes, face, hair, Lane was
covered with finely-powdered sulphur, in a bed of which he had been
lying.
"Better get him back to the brig," said the mate.
"No, no!" cried Oliver, rousing himself. "I shall be better directly; I
struck my head against a block of stone, or one of them struck me. It
was so sudden. They gave way all at once, and it was hardly a fall, but
a slide down. I was stunned though for a few moments."
"A few moments!" cried the mate with a grim laugh. "Why, my lad, we
were ever so long before we could make you answer."
Oliver looked at him wonderingly, and then turned and held out his hand
to Smith.
"Thank you," he said. "It was very plucky of you to come down and fetch
me up."
"Oh, I dunno, sir," said the sailor in a half-abashed way. "Course I
come down; anyone on us would. But it arn't a nice place, is it?"
"Nice place!" cried Panton, who was full of eager interest as he
examined the fine sulphur clinging to his companion's clothes. "Why it
must be one of the old vents of the mountain. You can smell the gases
here."
"You could smell 'em there, sir," said Smith gruffly. "'Scaping orful.
Thought they'd be too much for me. Felt as if I must let go."
"I'm better now," said Oliver, rising and drawing a long breath. "I
say, Mr Rimmer, I'm very sorry to have given you all this trouble."
"Don't say a word about it, sir; but don't go tumbling into any more of
these holes."
"Not if I can help it," said Oliver, smiling. "But the serpent--what
became of it?"
The mate laughed and shrugged his shoulders.
"We've got them both out here," said Drew.
"Both bits, sir?" asked Smith eagerly.
"Both nonsense, my man: both serpents! There were two. Here they are,
pretty well dead now."
Oliver forgot all about the sickening blow he had received, and his
narrow escape, in his eagerness to examine the reptiles which had caused
so much alarm, and his first steps were to ask the men to put a noose
around each, and draw them out into the open.
There was a little hesitation, but the men obeyed, and the two long
tapering creatures were soon after lying in the sun.
"Hadn't you better come and lie down for a bit?" said the mate.
"Oh, nonsense!" cried Oliver good-humouredly. "Just for a crack on the
head? I'm right enough, and I want to take the measurement of these
things before they are skinned."
"As you like," said the mate. "Then we may go back."
"That looks as if I were very ungrateful," cried Oliver, "and I'm not,
Mr Rimmer, believe me."
"Believe you? Why, of course I do, my lad," cried the mate, clapping
him warmly on the shoulder.
"And you don't want me to lie up for a thing like that, do you?"
"I want you to take care of yourself; that's all, sir. There, don't
give us another fright. I daresay you'll find plenty of other dangerous
places. But what did you say, Mr Panton--that great hole was a vent of
the mountain?"
"Yes, undoubtedly."
"What mountain, sir?"
"The one that was in eruption."
"Yes, but we don't see one!"
"We see its effects," said Panton, "and I daresay we shall see it as
soon as that line of vapour begins to clear away."
He pointed to the long misty bank in the distance, which completely shut
off the view beyond the stretch of forest to the northward.
"Well then, gentlemen, as I have a great deal to do on board, I suppose
I may leave you?"
"Unless you'd like to stop and help skin Lane's snakes?"
"Not I," said the mate merrily. "There, don't get into any more
trouble, please."
"We'll try not," said Panton; and after the men had neatly coiled up the
lines, they went back with the mate, all but Billy Wriggs, who offered
to stop and help skin the snakes.
"You don't mean it, do you, Billy?" whispered Smith. "Thought you was
too skeered?"
"So I am, mate; but I want to be long o' you to see their games. It's
unnatural like to be doin' dooty aboard a wessel as ain't in the water."
"But you won't touch one of they sarpents?"
"Well, I don't want to, mate; but it's all in yer day's work, yer know.
I thought you said it was only one in two halves?"
"So I did, mate--so I did--and so it ought to ha' been, 'cording to my
ideas, and the way I let go at it with a haxe. But there, one never
knows, and it was in the dark now, warn't it?"
"Seventeen feet, five inches," said Oliver, just then, as he wound up
his measuring tape, "and sixteen feet, four--extreme lengths," as Panton
entered the sizes in Oliver's notebook for him.
"Hark at that now!" said Billy Wriggs in a hoarse whisper. "Why, I
should ha' said as they was a hundred foot long apiece at least."
"And, arter all, they ain't much bigger than a couple o' worms."
Five minutes later the two men were hard at work skinning the reptiles;
the example set by Oliver in handling them shaming both into mastering
the repugnance they felt, and first one skin and then the other was
stretched over the limb of a tree to dry; while the bodies were dragged
to the cavernous chasm, and tossed down "to cook," as Smith put it.
Meanwhile Drew had been busy examining the trees and plants around; and
Panton had been fascinated, as it were, by the place, picking up
fragments of stone and sulphur-incrusted lava--when he was not listening
to a low hissing, gurgling sound, which told plainly enough that
volcanic action was still in progress, somewhere in the depths below.
"There!" cried Oliver. "I'm ready. Where next?"
"Are you fit to go on?" asked Drew.
"Fit? Yes. Let's get to a pool and have a wash, and then I'm ready for
anything."
"Some water over yonder, sir," said Smith, pointing to where the sun
flashed from a spot beyond the trees.
"Then let's get to it," said Oliver. "What do you say to exploring
onward toward the mist bank?"
"I say yes, and let's go through it," cried Panton. "I want to look at
the mountain. What's the matter, Smith? See anything?"
The man held up his hand.
"Hinjun, sir," he whispered.
"Eh! Where?" cried Drew, cocking his piece.
"Just yonder, sir, past that lot of blocks like an old stone yard; I see
one o' their heads peeping over, and they've got a fire, cooking
something, I should say, for--phew! they can't want it to warm
themselves, for it's hot enough without."
They looked in the direction pointed out, and there, plainly enough, was
the light, fine, corkscrew-like wreath of a pale blue smoke, rising
slowly up beyond quite a wilderness of coral rock, swept there by the
earthquake wave.