nd near them
was obviously unsafe, for it bent under pressure like thin ice, and at
some of the cracks and fissures the sulphurous vapour was so hot that
the hand could not be held to it without being scalded.

Nigel and the stranger walked close behind the native guide, both,
apparently, being anxious to get as near as possible to the central
pond. But the guide stopped suddenly, and, looking back, said to Van der
Kemp that it was not safe to approach nearer.

Nigel at once stopped, and, looking at the stranger, was struck by the
wild, incomprehensible expression of his face as he continued to
advance.

"Stop! stop, sir!" cried the hermit on observing this, but the man paid
no attention to the warning.

Another instant and the crust on which he stood gave way and he sank
into a horrible gulf from which issued a gust of sulphurous vapour and
steam. The horror which almost overwhelmed Nigel did not prevent him
bounding forward to the rescue. Well was it for him at that time that a
cooler head than his own was near. The strong hand of the hermit seized
his collar on the instant, and he was dragged backward out of danger,
while an appalling shriek from the stranger as he disappeared told that
the attempt to succour him would have been too late.

A terrible event of this kind has usually the effect of totally
changing, at least for a time, the feelings of those who witness it, so
as to almost incapacitate them from appreciating ordinary events or
things. For some days after witnessing the sudden and awful fate of this
unknown man, Nigel travelled as if in a dream, taking little notice of,
or interest in, anything, and replying to questions in mere
monosyllables. His companions seemed to be similarly affected, for they
spoke very little. Even the volatile spirit of Moses appeared to be
subdued, and it was not till they had reached nearly the end of their
journey that their usual flow of spirits returned.

Arriving one night at a village not very far from the southern shores
of Sumatra they learned that the hermit's presentiments were justified,
and that the volcano which was causing so much disturbance in the
islands of the archipelago was, indeed, the long extinct one of
Krakatoa.

"I've heard a good deal about it from one of the chief men here," said
the hermit as he returned to his friends that night about supper-time.
"He tells me that it has been more or less in moderate eruption ever
since we left the island,