daylight when they paddled out into Lampong Bay, but the
volumes of dust which rose from Krakatoa--although nearly fifty miles
off--did much to produce an unusually early twilight.

"Goin' to be bery dark, massa," remarked Moses as they glided past the
shipping. "Shall I light de lamp?"

"Do, Moses, but we shan't need it, for as we get nearer home the
volcanic fires will light us on our way."

"De volcanic dust is a-goin' to powder us on our way too, massa. Keep
your hands out o' the way, Spinkie," said the negro as he fixed a small
oil-lamp to the mast, and resumed his paddle.

"After we get out a bit the wind will help us," said the hermit.

"Yes, massa, if he don't blow too strong," returned Moses, as a squall
came rushing down the mountains and swept over the bay, ruffling its now
dark waters into foaming wavelets.

Altogether, what with the increasing darkness and the hissing squall,
and the night-voyage before them, and the fires of Krakatoa which were
now clearly visible on the horizon, Nigel Boy felt a more eerie
sensation in his breast than he ever remembered to have experienced in
all his previous life, but he scorned to admit the fact--even to
himself, and said, mentally, that it was rather romantic than otherwise!

Just then there burst upon their ears the yell of a steam-whistle, and a
few moments later a steamer bore straight down on them, astern.

"Steamer ahoy!" shouted Van der Kemp. "Will ye throw us a rope?"

"Ay! ay!--ease 'er!--stop 'er! where are 'ee bound for?" demanded an
unmistakably English voice.

"Krakatoa!" replied the hermit. "Where are you?"

"Anjer, on the Java coast. Do 'ee want to be smothered, roasted, and
blown up?" asked the captain, looking down on the canoe as it ranged
alongside the dark hull.

"No, we want to get home."

"Home! Well, you're queer fellows in a queer eggshell for such waters.
Every man to his taste. Look out for the rope!"

"All right, cappen," cried Moses as he caught the coil.

Next moment the steamer went ahead, and the canoe ploughed over the
Sunda Straits at the rate of thirteen miles an hour, with her sharp prow
high out of the water, and the stern correspondingly low. The voyage,
which would have otherwise cost our three travellers a long laborious
night and part of next day, was by this means so greatly shortened that
when daybreak arrived they were not more than thirteen miles to the east
of Krakatoa. Nearer than this the steamboat could not take them without
going out of her course, but as Van der Kemp and Nigel gratefully
acknowledged, it was quite near enough.

"Well, I should just think it was rather too near!" said the captain
with a grin.

And, truly, he was justified in making the remark, for the explosions
from the volcano had by that time become not only very frequent, but
tremendously loud, while the dense cloud which hung above it and spread
far and wide over the sky covered the sea with a kind of twilight that
struggled successfully against the full advent of day. Lightning too was
playing among the rolling black masses of smoke, and the roaring
explosions every now and then seemed to shake the very heavens.

Casting off the tow-rope, they turned the bow of their canoe to the
island. As a stiffish breeze was blowing, they set the sails,
close-reefed, and steered for the southern shore at that part which lay
under the shadow of Rakata.




CHAPTER XXIV.

AN AWFUL NIGHT AND TERRIBLE MORNING.


It was a matter of some satisfaction to find on drawing near to the
shore that the peak of Rakata was still intact, and that, although most
other parts of the island which could be seen were blighted by fire and
covered deeply with pumice dust, much of the forest in the immediate
neighbourhood of the cave was still undestroyed though considerably
damaged.

"D'you think our old harbour will be available, Moses?" asked Van der
Kemp as they came close to the first headland.

"Pr'aps. Bes' go an' see," was the negro's practical reply.

"Evidently Rakata is not yet active," said Nigel, looking up at the grey
dust-covered crags as the canoe glided swiftly through the dark water.

"That is more than can be said for the other craters," returned the
hermit. "It seems to me that not only all the old ones are at work, but
a number of new ones must have been opened."

The constant roaring and explosions that filled their ears and the rain
of fine ashes bore testimony to the truth of this, though the solid and
towering mass of Rakata rose between them and the part of Krakatoa which
was in eruption, preventing their seeing anything that was passing
except the dense masses of smoke, steam, and dust which rose many miles
into the heavens, obstructing the light of day, but forming cloud-masses
from which the lurid flames of the volcano were reflected downward.

On reaching the little bay or harbour it was found much as they had left
it, save that the rocks and bushes around were thickly covered with
dust, and their boat was gone.

"Strange! at such a time one would scarcely have expected thieves to
come here," said the hermit, looking slowly round.

"No t'ief bin here, massa," said Moses, looking over the side of the
canoe. "I see de boat!"

He pointed downwards as he spoke, and on looking over the side they saw
the wreck of the boat at the bottom, in about ten feet of water, and
crushed beneath a ponderous mass of lava, which must have been ejected
from the volcano and afterwards descended upon the boat.

The destruction of the boat rendered it impossible to remove any of the
property of the hermit, and Nigel now saw, from his indifference, that
this could not have been the cause of his friend's anxiety and
determination to reach his island home in spite of the danger that such
a course entailed. That there was considerable danger soon became very
obvious, for, having passed to some extent at this point beyond the
shelter of the cliffs of Rakata, and come partly into view of the other
parts of the island, the real extent of the volcanic violence burst upon
Nigel and Moses as a new revelation. The awful sublimity of the scene at
first almost paralysed them, and they failed to note that not only did a
constant rain of pumice dust fall upon them, but that there was also a
pretty regular dropping of small stones into the water around them.
Their attention was sharply aroused to this fact by the fall of a lump
of semi-molten rock, about the size of a cannon shot, a short distance
off, which was immediately followed by not less than a cubic yard of
lava which fell close to the canoe and deluged them with spray.

"We must go," said the hermit quietly. "No need to expose ourselves
here, though the watching of the tremendous forces that our Creator has
at command does possess a wonderful kind of fascination. It seems to me
the more we see of His power as exerted on our little earth, the more do
we realise the paltriness of our conception of the stupendous Might that
upholds the Universe."

While he was speaking, Van der Kemp guided the canoe into its little
haven, and in a few minutes he and Moses had carried it into the shelter
of the cave out of which Nigel had first seen it emerge. Then the lading
was carried up, after which they turned into the track which led to the
hermit's home.

The whole operation may be said to have been performed under fire, for
small masses of rock kept pattering continually on the dust-covered
ground around them, causing cloudlets, like smoke, to spring up wherever
they struck. Nigel and Moses could not resist glancing upward now and
then as they moved quickly to and fro, and they experienced a shrinking
sensation when a stone fell very near them, but each scorned to exhibit
the smallest trace of anxiety, or to suggest that the sooner they got
from under fire the better! As for Van der Kemp, he moved about
deliberately as if there was nothing unusual going on, and with an
absent look on his grave face as though the outbursts of smoke, and
fire, and lava, which turned the face of day into lurid night, and
caused the cliffs to reverberate with unwonted thunders, had no effect
whatever on his mind.

A short walk, however, along the track, which was more than ankle-deep
in dust, brought them under the sheltering sides of Rakata, up which
they soon scrambled to the mouth of their cave. Here all was found as
they had left it, save that the entrance was knee-deep in pumice dust.

And now a new and very strange sensation was felt by each of them, for
the loud reports and crackling sounds which had assailed their ears
outside were reduced by the thick walls of the cave to a continuous dull
groan, as it were, like the soft but thunderous bass notes of a
stupendous organ. To these sounds were added others which seemed to be
peculiar to the cave itself. They appeared to rise from crevices in the
floor, and were no doubt due to the action of those pent-up subterranean
fires which were imprisoned directly, though it may be very far down,
under their feet. Every now and then there came a sudden increase of the
united sounds as if the "swell" of the great organ had been opened, and
such out-gushing was always accompanied with more or less of
indescribable shocks followed by prolonged tremors of the entire
mountain.

If the three friends had been outside to observe what was taking place,
they would have seen that these symptoms were simultaneous with
occasional and extremely violent outbursts from the crater of
Perboewatan and his compeers. Indeed they guessed as much, and two of
them at least were not a little thankful that, awesome as their position
was, they had the thick mountain between them and the fiery showers
outside.

Of all this the hermit took no notice, but, hastening into the inner
cavern, opened a small box, and took therefrom a bundle of papers and a
little object which, at a first glance, Nigel supposed to be a book, but
which turned out to be a photograph case. These the hermit put carefully
into the breastpocket of his coat and then turned to his companions with
a sigh as if of relief.

"I think there is no danger of anything occurring at this part of the
island," he remarked, looking round the cave, "for there is no sign of
smoke and no sulphurous smell issuing from any of the crevices in walls
or floor. This, I think, shows that there is no direct communication
with Rakata and the active volcano--at least not at present."

"Do you then think there is a possibility of an outbreak at some future
period?" asked Nigel.

"Who can tell? People here, who don't study the nature of volcanoes
much, though surrounded by them, will expect things ere long to resume
their normal condition. I can never forget the fact that the greater
part of Krakatoa stands, as you know, exactly above the spot where the
two great lines of volcanic action cross, and right over the mouth of
the immense crater to which Perboewatan and all the other craters serve
as mere chimneys or safety-valves. We cannot tell whether a great
eruption similar to that of 1680 may not be in store for us. The only
reason that I can see for the quiescence of this peak of Rakata is, as I
said to you once before, that it stands not so much above the old crater
as above and on the safe side of its lip."

"I t'ink, massa, if I may ventur' to speak," said Moses, "dat de sooner
we git off his lip de better lest we tumble into his mout'."

"You may be right, Moses, and I have no objection to quit," returned the
hermit, "now that I have secured the photograph and papers. At the same
time I fear the rain of stones and lava is growing worse. It might be
safer to stay till there is a lull in the violence of the eruption, and
then make a dash for it. What say you, Nigel?"

"I say that you know best, Van der Kemp. I'm ready to abide by your
decision, whatever it be."

"Well, then, we will go out and have a look at the state of matters."

The view from the entrance was not calculated to tempt them to forsake
the shelter of the cave, however uncertain that might be. The latest
explosions had enshrouded the island in such a cloud of smoke and dust,
that nothing whatever was visible beyond a few yards in front, and even
that space was only seen by the faint rays of the lamp issuing from the
outer cave. This lamp-light was sufficient, however, to show that within
the semicircle of a few yards there was a continuous rain of grey ashes
and dust mingled with occasional stones of various sizes--some larger
than a man's fist.

"To go out in that would be simply to court death," said Nigel, whose
voice was almost drowned by the noise of the explosions and fall of
material.

As it was manifest that nothing could be done at the moment except to
wait patiently, they returned to the cave, where they lighted the
oil-stove,