ancing, he
might have had the same fate as the guide. Lifting up the spade, what
was his horror to find that it was wet!

With quick alarm Eric realized that the rescue party was in the utmost
peril. They had wandered from the shore and were in very truth within a
few inches of disaster. They were walking on the sea! The layer of
floating ash, though several feet thick, was but a treacherous surface
which might break through at any moment and land them in the water
below. There, certain death awaited them, for they would smother and
drown under the hideous pall. With his heart in his throat Eric turned
sharply to the right, trusting only to a vague sense of direction. A
score of steps brought him to a slight billowing of the ash, and with a
sigh of relief he knew he was on solid ground again.

The danger was little less upon the shore. Huge avalanches could be
heard hurtling down the mountain-side and with each new slide the air
became, if possible, more unbreathable than before. A new fear possessed
the lad. It might be that they would return alive to the ship, but
might not every member of the party be made helpless for life by the
clogging of the lung-passages with dust?

Presently he felt a tug at the line which roped the members of the party
together, and he stopped.

"What's the trouble?" he passed back word.

"Duncan's gone under, sir."

Eric made an uncomplimentary reference to Duncan under his breath, then
questioned,

"Unconscious?"

Came back the answer,

"Yes, sir; completely collapsed."

The boy was puzzled what to do. He could detach two members of the party
to carry back the unconscious sailor, but that would reduce his strength
from eight men to five. He could not leave the man alone, for if he lay
on the ground for even ten minutes, he would be covered with volcanic
ash and could never be found again.

"The two men nearest on the line pick Duncan up and bring him along," he
ordered, and the party proceeded.

They had covered another hundred yards, when overhead they heard a
fearful roar. In the murk and blinding confusion no one could tell what
new peril was threatening, but a piece of pumice almost the size of an
apple came whistling down, midway of the party. One of the sailors, with
great presence of mind, whipped out his sheath knife and cut the rope,
shouting,

"Forward! Quick as you can!" then doubled on those behind him, crying,
"Back! Back!"

He was not a moment too soon, for