on which, should the boats strike,
they must inevitably be lost. A keen lookout was kept ahead, but
nothing could be seen besides the dark, tumbling, foam-crested seas. It
was a time to try the hearts of the stoutest. Gradually the island grew
more and more distinct.

"Haul aft the sheet!" cried Green, and the boats sailed on with the sea
abeam.

Now was the most dangerous time, for a sea striking the side might in an
instant, without allowing anyone a chance of escaping, have capsized the
boats, and sent them to the bottom. The seas seemed to rush forward
with greater fury even than before, as if eager to seize their prey
before it had escaped them. Happily it did not last long; on shooting
under the lee of a lofty precipice which rose sheer out of the water,
they were almost immediately becalmed, though still fearfully tumbled
about by the waves as they swirled round the base of the cliff.

"Get out your oars, my lads, and give way," cried Green.

The order was quickly obeyed, and after pulling for a few hundred yards,
the boats lay in comparatively calm water. The island mountain rose
like a dark spectre above their heads, without any beach that could be
discovered on which the boats could be hauled up, or any cove to afford
them shelter. Green had a lead-line on board; it was let fall over the
side, but no bottom was found.

"Perhaps by pulling on a little farther we may find some place in which
we can bring up for the night; if not, we must keep the oars moving,"
said Green.

They pulled on accordingly.

"Hilloa!" cried Tom; "what's that?"

The moment he spoke a bright light appeared on the summit of the
mountain; it rapidly increased, and presently a vast stream of
incandescent lava came flowing down the side, now moving in a broad
sheet, now rushing down in a cataract of fire, again to unite at the
foot of a precipice, as it rushed down in a dozen different streams,
some close to where the boats lay, till reaching the water they suddenly
disappeared.

"Very fortunate that we were not on shore, or we should have been all
burnt into cinders," said Tom; "we are even now nearer than is
altogether pleasant."

"If we get farther off we shall be in the middle of a cross-sea which
will quickly swamp us," observed Green; "I see the crests of the waves
dancing about, not many cables' lengths away, with the light from the
mountain reflected on them. We will pull back a short distance to the
eastward an