VESUVIUS.--WONDERFUL ASCENT OF THE CONE.--WONDERFUL DESCENT INTO THE
CRATER.--AND MOST WONDERFUL DISAPPEARANCE OF MR. FIGGS, AFTER WHOM
ALL HIS FRIENDS GO, WITH THEIR LIVES IN THEIR HANDS.--GREAT SENSATION
AMONG SPECTATORS.
To every visitor to Naples the most prominent object is Vesuvius. The
huge form of the volcano forever stands before him. The long pennon of
smoke from its crater forever floats out triumphantly in the air. Not
in the landscape only, but in all the picture-shops. In these
establishments they really seem to deal in nothing but prints and
paintings of Vesuvius.
It was a lovely morning when a carriage, filled with Americans, drew
up on an inn near the foot of the mountain. There were guides
without number waiting, like beasts of prey, to fall on them; and
all the horses of the country--a wonderful lot--an amazing lot--a
lean, cranky, raw-boned, ill-fed, wall-eyed, ill-natured, sneaking,
ungainly, half-foundered, half-starved lot; afflicted with all the
diseases that horse-flesh is heir to. There were no others, so but
little time was wasted. All were on an equal footing. To have a
preference was out of the question, so they amused themselves with
picking out the ugliest.
When the horses were first brought out Mr. Figgs looked uneasy,
and made some mysterious remarks about walking. He thought such nags
were an imposition. He vowed they could go faster on foot. On foot!
The others scouted the idea. Absurd! Perhaps he wasn't used to such
beasts. Never mind. He mustn't be proud. Mr. Figgs, however, seemed
to have reasons which were strictly private, and announced his
intention of walking. But the others would not hear of such a thing.
They insisted. They forced him to mount. This Mr. Figgs at length
accomplished, though he got up on the wrong side, and nearly pulled
his horse over backward by pulling at the curb-rein, shouting all
the time, in tones of agony, "Who-a!"
At length they all set out, and, with few interruptions, arrived at
a place half-way up the mountain called The Hermitage. Here they
rested, and leaving their horses behind, walked on over a barren
region to the foot of the cone. All around was the abomination of
desolation. Craggy rocks, huge, disjointed masses of shattered
lava-blocks, cooled off into the most grotesque shapes, mixed with
ashes, scoriae, and pumice-stones. The cone towered frowningly above
their heads. Looking up, the aspect was not enticing. A steep slope
ran up for an immense distance till it touched the smoky canopy.
On one side it was covered with loose sand, but in other places it
was all overlaid with masses of lava fragments. The undertaking
seemed prodigious.
The Senator looked up with a weary smile, but did not falter; the
Doctor thought they would not be able to get up to the top, and
proposed returning; the others declined; whereupon the Doctor
slowly sauntered back to the Hermitage. Mr. Figgs, whom the ride had
considerably shaken, expressed a desire to ascend but felt doubtful
about his wind. Dick assured him that he would find plenty when he
got to the top. The guides also came to his relief. Did he want to
go? Behold them. They had chairs to carry him up or straps to pull
him. Their straps were so made that they could envelop the traveller
and allow him to be pulled comfortably up. So Mr. Figgs gracefully
resigned himself to the guides, who in a short time had adjusted
their straps, and led him to the foot of the cone.
Now for the ascent.
[Illustration: The Ascent Of Vesuvius.]
Buttons went first. Like a young chamois this youth bounded up,
leaping from rock to rock, and steering in a straight line for the
summit. Next the Senator, who mounted slowly and perseveringly, as
though he had a solemn duty to perform, and was determined to do it
thoroughly. Then came Dick. More fitful. A few steps upward: then a
rest; then a fresh start; followed by another rest. At length he sat
down about one-third of the way up and took a smoke. Behind him Mr.
Figgs toiled up, pulled by the panting guides. Three stout men in
front--two others boosting from behind.
A long description might be given of this remarkable ascent. How Mr.
Figgs aggravated the guides almost beyond endurance by mere force of
inertia. Having committed himself to them he did it thoroughly, and
not by one single act of exertion did he lessen their labor. They
pulled, pushed, and shouted; then they rested; then they rose again
to pull, to push, to shout, and to rest as before; then they implored
him in the most moving terms to do something to help them, to put
one foot before the other, to brace himself firmly--in short, to do
any thing.
In vain. Mr. Figgs didn't understand a word. He was unmovable. Then
they threatened to drop him and leave him half-way. The threat was
disregarded. Mr. Figgs sat on a stone while they rested and smiled
benignantly at them. At last, maddened by his impassibility, they
screamed at him and at one another with furious gesticulations, and
then tearing off the straps, they hurried up the slope, leaving him
on the middle of the mount to take care of himself.
It might be told how the Senator toiled up slowly but surely, never
stopping till he had gained the summit; or how Buttons, who arrived
there first, spent the time in exploring the mysteries of this
elevated region; or how Dick stopped every twenty paces to rest and
smoke; how he consumed much time and much tobacco; and how he did not
gain the summit until twenty minutes after the serene face of the
Senator had confronted the terrors of the crater.
Before these three there was a wonderful scene. Below them lay the
steep sides of the cone, a waste of hideous ruin--
"Rocks, crags, and mounds confusedly hurled,
The fragments of a ruined world."
Before them was the crater, a vast abyss, the bottom of which was
hidden from sight by dense clouds of sulphurous smoke which forever
ascended. Far away on the other side rose the opposite wall of
abyss--black, rocky cliffs that rose precipitously upward. The side
on which they stood sloped down at a steep angle for a few hundred
feet, and then went abruptly downward. A mighty wind was blowing
and carried all the smoke away to the opposite side of the crater,
so that by getting down into the shelter of a rock they were quite
comfortable.
The view of the country that lay beneath was superb. There lay
Naples with its suburbs, extending for miles along the shore, with
Portici, Castellamare, and the vale of Sorrento. There rose the hills
of Baiae, the rock of Ischia, and the Isle of Capri. There lay
countless vineyards, fields forever green, groves of orange and
fig-trees, clusters of palms and cypresses. Mountains ascended all
around, with many heights crowned with castles or villages. There lay
the glorious Bay of Naples, the type of perfect beauty. Hundreds of
white sails dotted the intense blue of its surface. Ships were
there at anchor, and in full sail. Over all was a sky such as is
seen only in Italy, with a depth of blue, which, when seen in
paintings, seems to the inexperienced eye like an exaggeration.
The guides drew their attention from all this beauty to a solid fact.
This was the cooking of an egg by merely burying it in the hot sand
for a few minutes.
Buttons now proposed to go down into the crater. The guides looked
aghast.
"Why not?"
"Impossible, Signor. It's death."
"Death? Nonsense! come along and show us the way."
"The way? There is no way. No one ever dares to go down. Where can
we go to? Do you not see that beyond that point where the rock
projects it is all a precipice?"
"That point? Well, that is the very spot I wish to go to. Come
along."
"Never, Signor."
"Then I'll go."
"Don't. For the sake of Heaven, and in the name of the most Holy
Mother, of St. Peter in chains, of all the blessed Apostles and
Martyrs, the glorious Saints and--"
"Blessed Botheration," cried Buttons, abruptly turning his back
and preparing to descend.
"Are you in earnest, Buttons?" asked Dick. "Are you really going
down?"
"Certainly."
"Oh, then I'll go too."
Upon this the others warned, rebuked, threatened, remonstrated,
and begged. In vain. The Senator interposed the authority of years
and wisdom. But to no purpose. With much anxiety he sat on the edge
of the crater, looking for the result and expecting a tragedy.
The slope down which they ventured was covered with loose sand. At
each step the treacherous soil slid beneath them. It was a mad and
highly reprehensible undertaking. Nevertheless down they went--further
and further. The kind heart of the Senator felt a pang at every step.
His voice sounded mournfully through the rolling smoke that burst
through a million crevices, and at times hid the adventurers from
view. But down they went. Sometimes they slid fearfully. Then they
would wait and cautiously look around. Sometimes the vapors covered
them with such dense folds that they had to cover their faces.
"If they ain't dashed to pieces they'll be suffocated--sure!" cried
the Senator, starting up, and unable to control his feelings. "I can't
stand this," he muttered, and he too stepped down.
The guides looked on in horror. "Your blood will be on your own
heads!" they cried.
As the Senator descended the smoke entered his eyes, month, and
nostrils, making him cough and sneeze fearfully. The sand slid; the
heat under the surface pained his feet; every step made it worse.
However, he kept on bravely. At length he reached the spot where the
others were standing.
[Illustration: The Descent Of Vesuvius.]
At the foot of the declivity was an angular rock which jutted out
for about twelve feet. It was about six feet wide. Its sides went
down precipitously. The Senator walked painfully to where they were
standing. It was a fearful scene. All around arose the sides of
the crater, black and rocky, perpendicular on all sides, except
the small slope down which they had just descended--a vast and
gloomy circumference. But the most terrific sight lay beneath.
The sides of the crater went sheer down to a great depth enclosing
a black abyss which in the first excitement of the scene the
startled fancy might well imagine extending to the bowels of the
earth from which there came rolling up vast clouds dense black
sulphurous which at times completely encircled them shutting out
every thing from view filling eyes nose mouth with fumes of
brimstone forcing them to hold the tails of their coats or
the skirts it's all the same over their faces so as not to be
altogether suffocated while again after a while a fierce blast
of wind driving downward would hurl the smoke away and dashing it
against the other side of the crater gather it up in dense volumes
of blackest smoke in thick clouds which rolled up the flinty cliffs
and reaching the summit bounded fiercely out into the sky to pass
on and be seen from afar as that dread pennant of Vesuvius which is
the sign and symbol of its mastery over the earth around it and the
inhabitants thereof ever changing and in all its changes watched with
awe by fearful men who read in those changes their own fate now
taking heart as they see it more tenuous in its consistency anon
shuddering as they see it gathering in denser folds and finally
awe-stricken and all overcome as they see the thick black cloud rise
proudly up to heaven in a long straight column at whose upper
termination the colossal pillar spreads itself out and shows to the
startled gaze the dread symbol of the cypress tree the herald of
earthquakes eruptions and--
--There--I flatter myself that in the way of description it would not
be easy to beat the above. I just throw it off as my friend Tit-marsh,
poor fellow, once said, to show what I could do if I tried. I have
decided not to put punctuation marks there, but rather to let each
reader supply them for himself. They are often in the way,
particularly to the writer, when he has to stop in the full flow
of a description and insert them--
But--
We left our friends down in the crater of Vesuvius. Of course they
hurried out as soon as they could, and mounting the treacherous steep
they soon regained the summit, where the guides had stood bawling
piteously all the time.
Then came the descent. It was not over the lava blocks, but in
another place, which was covered with loose sliding sand. Away they
started.
Buttons ahead, went with immense strides down the slope. At every
step the sliding sand carried him about ten feet further, so that
each step was equal to about twenty feet. It was like flying. But it
was attended by so many falls that the descent of Buttons and Dick
was accomplished as much by sliding and rolling as by walking.
The Senator was more cautious. Having fallen once or twice, he tried
to correct this tendency by walking backward. Whenever he found
himself falling he would let himself go, and thus, on his hands and
knees, would let himself slide for a considerable distance. This plan
gave him immense satisfaction.
"It's quite like coasting," said he, after he had reached the bottom;
"only it does come a little hard on the trowsers."
On their arrival at the Hermitage to their surprise they saw nothing
of Mr. Figgs. The Doctor had been sleeping all the time, but the
landlord said he had not been that way. As they knew that the
neighborhood of Vesuvius was not always the safest in the world, they
all went back at once to search after him.
[Illustration: Where's Figgs?]
Arriving at the foot of the cone they went everywhere shouting his
name. There was no response. They skirted the base of the cone. They
walked up to where he had been. They saw nothing. The guides who had
thus far been with them now said they had to go. So they received
their pay and departed.
"Of all the mean, useless, chicken-hearted dolts that ever I see,"
said the Senator, "they are the wust!"
But meanwhile there was no Figgs. They began to feel anxious. At last
Buttons, who had been up to where Mr. Figgs was left, thought he saw
traces of footsteps in the sand that was nearest. He followed these
for some time, and at last shouted to the others. The others went to
where he was. They saw an Italian with him--an ill-looking, low-browed
rascal, with villain stamped on every feature.
"This fellow says he saw a man who answers the description of Figgs go
over in that direction," said Buttons, pointing toward the part of the
mountain which is furthest from the sea.
"There? What for?"
"I don't know."
"Is there any danger?"
"I think so--Figgs may have had to go--who knows?"
"Well," said the Senator, "we must go after him."
"What arms have you?" said the Doctor. "Don't show it before this
rascal."
"I have a bowie-knife," said Buttons.
"So have I," said Dick.
"And I," said the Senator, "am sorry to say that I have nothing at
all."
"Well, I suppose we must go," said the Doctor. "My revolver is
something. It is a double revolver, of peculiar shape."
Without any other thought they at once prepared to venture into a
district that for all they knew might swarm with robbers. They had
only one thought, and that was to save Figgs.
"Can this man lead us?" asked Dick.
"He says he can take us along where he saw Figgs go, and perhaps we
may see some people who can tell us about him."
"Perhaps we can," said the Senator, grimly.
They then started off with the Italian at their head. The sun was by
this time within an hour's distance from the horizon, and they had no
time to lose. So they walked rapidly. Soon they entered among hills
and rocks of lava, where the desolation of the surrounding country
began to be modified by vegetation. It was quite difficult to keep
their reckoning, so as to know in what direction they were going, but
they kept on nevertheless.
All of them knew that the errand was a dangerous one. All of them knew
that it would be better if they were armed. But no one said any thing
of the kind. In fact, they felt such confidence in their own pluck and
resolution that they had no doubt of success.
At length they came to a place where trees were on each side of the
rough path. At an opening here three men stood. Buttons at once
accosted them and told his errand. They looked at the Americans
with a sinister smile.
"Don't be afraid of us," said Buttons, quietly. "We're armed with
revolvers, but we won't hurt you. Just show us where our friend is,
for we're afraid he has lost his way."
At this strange salutation the Italians looked puzzled. They looked
at their guns, and then at the Americans. Two or three other men
came out from the woods at the same time, and stood in their rear.
At length as many as ten men stood around them.
"What are you staring at?" said Buttons again. "You needn't look so
frightened. Americans only use their revolvers against thieves."
The Doctor at this, apparently by accident, took out his revolver.
Standing a little on one side, he fired at a large crow on the top
of a tree. The bird fell dead. He then fired five other shots just
by way of amusement, laughing all the time with the Senator.
"You see," said he--"ha, ha--we're in a fix--ha, ha--and I want to
show them what a revolver is?"
"But you're wasting all your shot."
"Not a bit of it. See?" And saying this he drew a second chamber
from his pocket, and taking the first out of the pistol inserted
the other. He then fired another shot. All this was the work of a
few moments. He then took some cartridges and filled the spare
chamber once more.
The Italians looked on this display in great astonishment,
exchanging significant glances, particularly when the Doctor
changed the chambers. The Americans, on the contrary, took good care
to manifest complete indifference. The Italians evidently thought
they were all armed like the Doctor. Naturally enough, too, for if
not, why should they venture here and talk so loftily to them? So
they were puzzled, and in doubt. After a time one who appeared to
be their leader stepped aside with two or three of the men, and
talked in a low voice, after which he came to Buttons and said:
"Come, then, and we will show you."
"Go on."
The Captain beckoned to his men. Six of them went to the rear.
Buttons saw the manoeuvre, and burst into roars of laughter. The
Italians looked more puzzled than ever.
"Is that to keep us from getting away?" he cried--"ha, ha, ha,
ha, ha! Well, well!"
"He's putting a guard behind us. Laugh like fury, boys," said Buttons,
in English.
Whereupon they all roared, the tremendous laughter of the Senator
coming in with fearful effect.
"There's nothing to laugh at," said the man who appeared to be
Captain, very sulkily.
"It's evident that you Italians don't understand late improvements,"
said Buttons. "But come, hurry on."
The Captain turned and walked ahead sullenly.
"It's all very well to laugh," said the Doctor, in a cheerful tone;
"but suppose those devils behind us shoot us."
"I think if they intended to do that the Captain would not walk in
front. No, they want to take us alive, and make us pay a heavy
ransom."
After this the Club kept up an incessant chatter. They talked over
their situation, but could as yet decide upon nothing. It grew dark
at length. The sun went down. The usual rapid twilight came on.
"Dick," said the Doctor, "when it gets dark enough I'll give you my
pistol, so that you may show off with it as if it were yours."
"All right, my son," said Dick. Shortly after, when it was quite
dark, the Doctor slipped the pistol into the side-pocket of Dick's
coat. At length a light appeared before them. It was an old ruin
which stood upon an eminence. Where they were not a soul of them
could tell. Dick declared that he smelt salt water.
The light which they saw came from the broken windows of a
dilapidated hall belonging to the building. They went up some
crumbling steps, and the Captain gave a peculiar knock at the door.
A woman opened it. A bright light streamed out. Dick paused for a
moment, and took the Doctor's pistol, from his pocket. He held it up
and pretended to arrange the chamber. Then he carelessly put it in
his pocket again.
"You haven't bound them?" said the woman who opened the door to
the Captain.
"Meaning us, my joy?" said Buttons, in Italian. "Not just yet, I
believe, and not for some time. But how do you all do?"
The woman stared hard at Buttons, and then at the Captain. There
were eight or ten women here. It was a large hall, the roof still
entire, but with the plaster all gone. A bright fire burned at one
end. Torches burned around. On a stool near the fire was a familiar
form--a portly, well-fed form--with a merry face--a twinkle in his
eye--a pipe in his mouth--calmly smoking--apparently quite at home
though his feet were tied--in short, Mr. Figgs.
"Figgs, my boy!"
One universal shout and the Club surrounded their companion. In an
instant Buttons cut his bonds.
"Bless you--bless you, my children!" cried Figgs. "But how the
(Principal of Evil) did you get here? These are brigands. I've just
been calculating how heavy a bill I would have to foot."
The brigands saw the release of Figgs, and stood looking gloomily at
the singular prisoners, not quite knowing whether they were prisoners
or not, not knowing what to do. Each member of the Club took the most
comfortable seat he could find near the fire, and began talking
vehemently. Suddenly Buttons jumped up.
"A thousand pardons--I really forgot that there were ladies present.
Will you not sit here and give us the honor of your company?"
He made a profound bow and looked at several of them. They looked
puzzled, then pleased; then they all began to titter.
"Signor makes himself very much at home," said one, at length.
"And where could there be a pleasanter place? This old hall, this
jolly old fire, and this delightful company!"
Another bow. The Captain looked very sullen still. He was evidently
in deep perplexity.
"Come, cheer up there!" said Buttons. "We won't do you any harm;
we won't even complain to the authorities that we found our friend
here. Cheer up! Have you any thing to eat, most noble Captain?"
The Captain turned away.
Meanwhile Figgs had told the story of his capture. After resting
for a while on the slope he prepared to descend, but seeing sand
further away he went over toward it and descended there. Finding it
very dangerous or difficult to go down straight he made the
descent obliquely, so that when he reached the foot of the cone
he was far away from the point at which he had started to make
the ascent. Arriving there, he sat down to rest after his exertions.
Some men came toward him, but he did not think much about it.
Suddenly, before he knew what was up, he found himself a prisoner.
He had a weary march, and was just getting comfortable as they
came in.
[Illustration: Mr Figgs.]
As they sat round the fire they found it very comfortable. Like
many evenings in Italy, it was damp and quite chilly. They laughed
and talked, and appeared to be any thing but captives in a
robber's hold. The Captain had been out for some time, and at
length returned. He was now very cheerful. He came laughingly up
to the fire.
"Well, Signori Americani, what do you think of your
accommodation?"
"Delightful! Charming!" cried Buttons and Dick.
"If the ladies would only deign to smile on us--"
"Aha! You are a great man for the ladies," said the Captain.
"Who is not?" said Buttons, sententiously.
After a few pleasant words the Captain left again.
"He has some scheme in his villainous head," said Buttons.
"To drug us," said the Doctor.
"To send for others," said Dick.
"To wait till we sleep, and then fall on us," said Mr. Figgs.
"Well, gentlemen," said the Senator, drawing himself up, "we're
more than a match for them. Why, what are these brigands? Is there
a man of them who isn't a poor, miserable, cowardly cuss? Not one.
If we are captured by such as these we deserve to be captives all
our lives."
[Illustration: The Ladies.]
"If we don't get off soon we'll have a good round sum to pay," said
Mr. Figgs.
"And that I object to," said Buttons; "for I promised my Governor
solemnly that I wouldn't spend more than a certain sum in Europe,
and I won't."
"For my part," said the Doctor, "I can't afford it."
"And I would rather use the amount which they would ask in some
other way," said Dick.
"That's it, boys! You're plucky. Go in! We'll fix their flints. The
American eagle is soaring, gentlemen--let him ascend to the zenith.
Go it! But mind now--don't be too hasty. Let's wait for a time to
see further developments."
"Richard, my boy, will you occupy the time by singing a hymn?"
continued the Senator. "I see a guitar there."
Dick quietly got up, took the guitar, and, tuning it, began to sing.
The brigands were still in a state of wonder. The women looked shy.
Most of the spectators, however, were grinning at the eccentric
Americans. Dick played and sang a great quantity of songs, all of a
comic character.
The Italians were fond of music, of course. Dick had a good voice.
Most of his songs had choruses, and the whole Club joined in. The
Italians admired most the nigger songs. "Oh, Susannah!" was greeted
with great applause. So was "Doo-dah;" and the Italians themselves
joined energetically in the chorus. But the song that they loved best
was "Ole Virginny Shore." This they called for over and over, and as
they had quick ears they readily caught the tune; so that, finally,
when Dick, at their earnest request, sang it for the seventh time,
they whistled the air all through, and joined in with a thundering
chorus. The Captain came in at the midst of it, and listened with
great delight. After Dick had laid down his instrument he approached
the Americans.
"Well, ole hoss," said the Senator, "won't you take an arm-chair?"
"What is it?" said the Captain to Buttons.
"He wants to know if your Excellency will honor him by sitting near
him."
The Captain's eye sparkled. Evidently it met his wishes. The Americans
saw his delight.
"I should feel honored by sitting beside the illustrious stranger,"
said he. "It was what I came to ask. And will you allow the rest of
these noble gentlemen to sit here and participate in your amusement?"
"The very thing," said Buttons, "which we have been trying to get them
to do, but they won't. Now we are as anxious as ever, but still more
anxious for the ladies."
"Oh, the ladies!" said the Captain; "they are timid."
Saying this he made a gesture, and five of his men came up. The whole
six then sat with the five Americans. The Senator insisted that the
Captain should sit by his side. Yet it was singular. Each one of the
men still kept his gun. No notice was taken of this, however. The
policy of the Americans was to go in for utter jollity. They sat thus:
The Captain.
The Senator.
Bandit Number 1.
Mr. Figgs.
Bandit Number 2.
The Doctor.
Bandit Number 3.
Dick.
Bandit Number 4.
Buttons.
Bandit Number 5.
Five members of the Club. Six bandits. In addition to these, four
others stood armed at the door. The women were at a distance.
But the sequel must be left to another chapter.