delight and half of pain. Leaning on the shoulder of his friend, he
gazed around him, and heard, with deepening awe, the rumbling of the
earth below, the wheels and voices of the Ministry of Nature in her
darkest and most inscrutable recess. Suddenly, as a bomb from a shell,
a huge stone was flung hundreds of yards up from the jaws of the crater,
and falling with a mighty crash upon the rock below, split into ten
thousand fragments, which bounded down the sides of the mountain,
sparkling and groaning as they went. One of these, the largest fragment,
struck the narrow space of soil between the Englishman and the guide,
not three feet from the spot where the former stood. Merton uttered
an exclamation of terror, and Glyndon held his breath and shuddered.
"Diavolo!" cried the guide; "descend, Excellencies, descend! We have not
a moment to lose; follow me close."

So saying, the guide and the peasant fled with as much swiftness as they
were able to bring to bear. Merton, ever more prompt and ready than his
friend, imitated their example; and Glyndon, more confused than alarmed,
followed close. But they had not gone many yards before, with a rushing
and sudden blast, came from the crater an enormous volume of vapor. It
pursued, it overtook, it overspread them; it swept the light from the
heavens. All was abrupt and utter darkness, and through the gloom was
heard the shout of the guide, already distant, and lost in an instant
amidst the sound of the rushing gust and the groans of the earth
beneath. Glyndon paused. He was separated from his friend, from the
guide. He was alone with the Darkness and the Terror. The vapor rolled
sullenly away; the form of the plumed fire was again dimly visible,
and its struggling and perturbed reflection again shed a glow over the
horrors of the path. Glyndon recovered himself, and sped onward. Below,
he heard the voice of Merton calling on him, though he no longer saw
his form. The sound served as a guide. Dizzy and breathless, he bounded
forward, when hark! a sullen, slow, rolling sound in his ear! He halted,
and turned back to gaze. The fire had overflowed its course; it had
opened itself a channel amidst the furrows of the mountain. The
stream pursued him fast, fast, and the hot breath of the chasing and
preternatural foe came closer and closer upon his cheek. He turned
aside; he climbed desperately, with hands and feet, upon a crag that, to
the right, broke the scathed and blasted level of