nce 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