es of rock began to rain around them. A falling stone struck
Pauline's head, and she fell. The doctor, who held her hand, seized her
in his arms and bore her away. A few minutes more and they were all
safe on board again.

But there was no time for congratulations. The sea which had before
been agitated, now heaved in wild waves, though there was no wind. It
was then seen that Big Island was actually crumbling--sinking into the
water! The continuous rumbling of the volcano was terrible.
Intermittent explosions were frequent. To add to the horrors of the
scene the darkness deepened. As the island went down the sea rushed
tumultuously in to overwhelm it. Then it was that the stout cable,
under God, saved them from immediate destruction. The ship was hurled
from side to side like a cork on the boiling flood. But no cable could
long withstand such a strain. The chain snapped at last, and they
seemed to be rushing with railway speed to their fate amid surrounding
fire and overwhelming water, and roaring thunders, and raining ashes,
when, suddenly, there was a perceptible diminution in the turmoil, and,
gradually, the waves calmed down. With feelings of intense thankfulness
the terrified people let go their second anchor, though the darkness was
by that time so thick that they could barely see each other.

It may be imagined what a night of anxiety they spent. With Pauline and
some others it was a night of earnest prayer.

When the light of day at last broke faintly in the east it revealed the
fact that Refuge Islands had actually and totally disappeared, and that
our settlers were floating on the bosom of the open sea!

CHAPTER TWELVE.

LAST CHAPTER.

An Island Queen no longer, Pauline Rigonda sits on the quarter-deck of
the emigrant ship gazing pensively over the side at the sunlit sea.
Dethroned by the irresistible influences of fire and water, our heroine
has retired into the seclusion of private life.

After escaping from the volcano, as described in the last chapter, the
settlers resolved to proceed, under the guidance of Malines as captain,
and Morris as mate, to the port for which they had originally been bound
when the disaster on Refuge Islands had arrested them.

Of course this was a great disappointment to poor Pauline and her
brothers, who, as may be imagined, were burning with anxiety to get back
to England. Feeling, however, that it would be unreasonable as well as
selfish to expect