d burst open and was vomiting forth vast volumes of flame and
smoke. As they looked the top of the hill visibly crumbled and melted
away, the flames shot up in fiercer volumes, vast quantities of red-hot
ashes, mingled with huge masses of glowing incandescent rock, were
projected far into the air; a terrific storm of thunder and lightning
suddenly burst forth to add new terrors to the scene; and to crown all,
a new rift suddenly burst open in the side of the hill, out of which
there immediately poured a perfect ocean of molten lava.

In the face of this stupendous phenomenon Captain Staunton's order to
make sail passed unheeded; the entire faculties of every man on board
the schooner were wholly absorbed in awe-struck contemplation of the
terrific spectacle.

Onward rolled the fiery flood. It wound in a zigzag serpentine course
down the side of the hill, and soon reached the thick wood at its base
and at the head of the valley. The stately forest withered, blazed for
a brief moment, and vanished in its fatal embrace, and now it came
sweeping down the steep declivity toward the bay.

This terrible sight aroused and vivified the paralysed energies of those
on board the _Petrel_. Without waiting for a repetition of the order to
make sail they sprang with panic-stricken frantic haste to cast off the
gaskets, and in an incredibly short time the schooner was under canvas.

Still there was no wind. Not the faintest breath of air came to stir
the flapping sails of the now gently rolling vessel; and her crew could
do nothing but wait in feverish anxious expectancy for the long-delayed
breeze, watching meanwhile the majestic irresistible onward sweep of
that fiery deluge.

At last, thank God! there was a faint puff of wind; it came, sighed
past, and died away. And now, another. The sails caught it, bellied
out, flapped again, filled once more, and the _Petrel_ gathered way.
She had gradually swung round until her bow pointed straight for the
capstan-house; and Captain Staunton sprang to the wheel, sending it with
a single vigorous spin hard over. The breeze was still very light, and
the craft responded but slowly to her helm; but at length she came up
fairly upon a wind and made a short stretch to the eastward, tacking the
moment that she had gathered sufficient way to accomplish the manoeuvre.
She was now on the port tack, stretching obliquely across the bay in a
southerly direction, when a startled call from Poole,