s
came nearer. At their approach I hesitated no longer. That fate was
too terrible: I must fly.

But before I fled I turned in fury to wreak vengeance upon them for
their crimes. Full of rage and despair, I discharged my remaining
rifle-barrel into the midst of the crowd. Then I fled toward the boat.
On the way I had a frightful thought that she might have been sent
adrift; but, on approaching the place, I found her there just as I had
left her. The savages, with their usual fearlessness, still pursued.
For a moment I stood on the shore, with the grapple in my hand and the
boat close by, and as they came near I discharged my pistol into the
midst of them. Then I sprang into the boat; the swift current bore me
away, and in a few minutes the crowd of pursuing demons disappeared
from view.

CHAPTER V

THE TORRENT SWEEPING UNDER THE MOUNTAINS

The boat drifted on. The light given by the aurora and the low moon
seemed to grow fainter; and as I looked behind I saw that the distant
glow from the volcanic fires had become more brilliant in the
increasing darkness. The sides of the channel grew steeper, until at
last they became rocky precipices, rising to an unknown height. The
channel itself grew narrower, till from a width of two miles it had
contracted to a tenth of those dimensions; but with this lessening
width the waters seemed to rush far more swiftly. Here I drifted
helplessly, and saw the gloomy, rocky cliffs sweep past me as I was
hurled onward on the breast of the tremendous flood. I was in despair.
The fate of Agnew had prepared me for my own, and I was only thankful
that my fate, since it was inevitable, would be less appalling. Death
seemed certain, and my chief thought now was as to the moment when it
would come. I was prepared. I felt that I could meet it calmly,
sternly, even thankfully; far better was a death here amid the roar of
waters than at the hands of those abhorrent beings by whose treachery
my friend had fallen.

As I went on, the precipices rose higher and seemed to overhang, the
channel grew narrower, the light grew fainter, until at last all
around me grew dark. I was floating at the bottom of a vast chasm,
where the sides seemed to rise precipitously for thousands of feet,
where neither watery flood nor rocky wall was visible, and where, far
above, I could see the line of sky between the summits of the cliffs,
and watch the glowing stars. And as I watched them there came to me
the th