04 Volcano Adventure (12 page)

‘I’ve had enough of this,’ said Captain Ike. ‘Like it or not. I’m taking the Lady out of this hell-hole.’ He gave orders to Omo and the ship was smartly brought about and headed for the pass.

An unhappy surprise awaited the little ship. She arrived at the rim only to find that there was no pass. The earthquakes had tumbled millions of tons of rock down into the thirty-foot channel, filling it completely from one side to the other. Where there had been clear water there was now a wall of rock twenty feet high.

‘Now you’ve done it,’ stormed Captain Ike, venting his anger on Dr Dan. ‘Got us trapped in a live volcano. What’ll you do about that?’

‘Your guess is as good as mine,’ admitted Dr Dan. ‘We probably can’t do anything until morning. Then perhaps we can land and cross the island and escape on the Matua.’

‘And leave the Lively Lady here?’ exclaimed Captain Ike. ‘Not on your life! I’m not going to abandon this ship to be burned and sunk. If she stays, I stay. You got her in here - you’d better stir your volcanic brains to get her out of here because I’m not leaving until she does.’

The Lively Lady put about and sailed to the side of the lake farthest away from the thirty craters. Even here the shower of ashes, cinders, blocks and bombs was continuous and dangerous.

Terrified natives on top of the ridge signalled to the ship, but there was nothing the Lively Lady could do for them. Conversation was impossible at such a distance and the cliff was too steep at this point for anyone to climb up or down.

Every moment more houses burst into flame. Their thatch roofs and basket-like walls made them burn as easily as paper.

The sails of the Lively Lady were tight-furled and hoses were kept busy sprinkling her down and putting out the small fires that repeatedly burst forth in spite of all that could be done.

So far the great crater in which lay the lake had appeared to be dead, except for a few spurts of steam here and there. But now it began to show signs of fiery life. Three small islands in the lake, each with its own little crater, began to grumble and smoke.

They were little craters in comparison with the chief crater three miles wide, but Hal estimated that even the smallest of them was a thousand feet across. Soon the three island craters were bellowing like bulls and throwing up blazing volleys of blocks and bombs. The bombs exploded like cannon.

‘Close your eyes,’ Roger said, ‘and you’d think it was a naval battle.’

‘But you’d better not close your eyes,’ said Hal, ‘or you’ll get a whack on the head.’

It was necessary to keep constant watch above to avoid the falling rocks. They could be seen long before they arrived. It was fairly easy to step out of their way at the last moment and let them whang into the deck.

Easy, unless they came a dozen or more close together and you couldn’t get out of the way of one without getting into the way of another.

As night came on they glowed in the darkness and looked like fireballs dropping out of the sky. Hundreds of the bombs exploded in mid-air, flinging red-hot slivers

in all directions. It was like a grand display of fireworks.

‘Remember the fireworks we saw at the New York State Fair?’ Roger said. ‘It cost them two million dollars. And we get this for nothing.’

Hal laughed. ‘Just born lucky, I guess,’ and he jumped to dodge another block.

‘You fellows had better get below,’ said Captain Ike

briskly as he passed with a bucket of water to put out a

fire.

The boys seized the deck hose and helped him. When the blaze was out Hal said:

‘You need us up here. Besides, we wouldn’t want to miss the fun.’

Captain Ike growled. ‘What fools you young-uns can be! So this is fun! When you get as old as me and have a ship to look after you won’t think it’s fun to get caught in a blowing-up volcano.’

‘Guess you’re right,’ said Hal and began industriously hosing off the heavy load of ashes that lay on the deck.

Roger seized a shovel and went about looking for heavy chunks. While he searched, he kept the shovel over his head like a steel helmet - blocks whanged down upon it and bounded away. When he found blocks, bombs, pumice stones, or pasty-blobs of hot lava, he shovelled them off into the water. Where he saw fire starting he called his brother, and Hal came running with the hose.

So they kept working feverishly for two hours to save the ship. Then they breathed more easily as the three island craters quietened and the shower of fire ceased. They began to hope that the eruption was dying down.

But old Tin Can was only drawing in his breath and getting ready to burst out with a new performance. The god of the underworld had failed to wipe out these human ants with one trick, so he would try another.

With a deafening roar the cliff above their heads split open and a jet of flame shot out. With it came strange greenish clouds that rolled and tumbled and then sank towards the ship.

‘Gas,’ said Dr Dan. | wonder what kinds.’

He began sniffing as eagerly as if he were smelling a fragrant rose. The gases had a very bad smell.

‘Sulphur dioxide, ammonia, azote…’ Dr Dan named them off. ‘But the worst are the ones you can’t see or smell - carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide.’

Everyone began to cough and choke. Soon they were gasping like fish out of water. It seemed to Hal as if a heavy blanket had been laid over his nose and mouth. He was suffocating.

At the same time a drowsy laziness was stealing through him. All he wanted to do was to lie down and sleep. It no longer seemed important to save the ship or to save himself. Nothing mattered any more.

He roused himself fiercely. He knew what was happening - the carbon gases were getting them down. But how could they escape them?

‘Let’s sail out into the lake,’ he suggested. ‘Perhaps it won’t be so bad out there.’

There’s no wind,’ objected Captain Ike. ‘But I can use the engine/

‘Don’t do that!’ yelled Dr Dan, but he was too late. Omo, who was as quick as a cat, had already jumped to

the motor and pressed the starter. At once there was a deafening explosion and a blaze of flame and Omo was thrown ten feet across the deck. The motor conked out.

‘Lucky that was just a small pocket of gas,’ said Dr Dan. ‘If it had been a big one it would have taken all of us and the ship too. Some of these gases are highly explosive. We can’t use the motor.’

‘Then we’re stuck,’ said Captain Ike, sitting down heavily on a hatch cover, pressing his hand against his dizzy head.

‘Are there any gas masks on board?’ Dr Dan asked.

Captain Ike snorted. ‘Gas masks! Whoever heard of a ship carrying gas masks?’

He relaxed and lay down on the hatch cover. That seemed a sensible thing to do. Everyone felt the same way - why not give up and relax?

‘Gas masks,’ Hal mumbled dreamily. Then a sudden thought stirred him awake. ‘Gas masks! Why of course we have gas masks, or something just as good. The aqualungs!’

They stared at each other, trying to clear their brains. Along with the suffocating gas had come intense heat and the perspiration rolled down their faces. It was hard to think. The idea began to penetrate. The aqualungs -yes, why not?

They got unsteadily to their feet and hurried as fast as their wobbly legs would take them down the companionway to get the aqualungs. They brought them to the deck and put them on. When the mouthpieces were in place they began to breathe the sweet and blessed air from the tanks.

It was like gradually coming out of some horrible dream. The mists that had clouded their brains slowly cleared. In the light of the burning houses far above they could see each other’s faces becoming less tight and drawn and the drooping eyes opening with new hope. Life began to seem rather important after all.

But were they to be free of the gas only to be baked in the heat? The sweat rolled down their bodies as the temperature steadily climbed higher and higher. Out of the vent in the cliff came the breath of fires twenty miles down, fires hot enough to make iron run like molasses.

Hal leaned heavily upon the rail and looked down into the black water. It had never looked more cool and inviting. If he could only bury himself in it! It was pretty sad to be so close to coolness and yet perish of the heat.

Bury himself in it - why not? Why hadn’t he thought of it before?

The others were astonished to see him suddenly break into a laugh and beckon them to the rail and point downwards. Then, without bothering to undress, he climbed over the rail and let himself down into the water.

At any other time it would have seemed warm, for, although the fires were not directly beneath it, its temperature had been raised a little by the hot objects that had fallen into it. But to Hal in his superheated condition it seemed delightfully cool. He felt new life flowing through his parched body.

He waited anxiously for the others to join him, hoping they would not be overcome by the heat before they

could enjoy this delicious relief. They were soon with him and floated about with their heads above water, broad smiles on their faces.

But the heat on their heads was still terrific and they presently sought refuge beneath the surface. Down they went, ten feet deep to escape the warmer surface water. There they hung, breathing easily, comfort and coolness stealing into their bones.

Above them was a red glow and at one side was the black shadow of the hull of the Lively Lady. Fish swam over their heads making black silhouettes against the gleam of the fires. They could only hope that the fish would all be small and friendly. Hal thought of the shark that had taken the mail swimmer.

Perhaps there were no sharks in the lagoon. On the other hand, there might be more sharks here than outside because the refuse from the villages was probably thrown into the lake.

But he felt it would be more pleasant to be nibbled by a shark than slowly roasted to death by volcanic heat.

A greater shadow now lay overhead, shutting out the glow. It was too broad to be a shark, and too still. What would be that broad? A moon fish would be only four or five feet wide - this was much wider.

It could be a sea bat or manta ray, that great pancake of a fish that measures ten feet or more across. Hal looked for the long whip tail that could cut like a knife, but could not see it.

Roger had also noticed the thing and decided to find out what it was. Before Hal could stop him he swam up and poked his fist into the black object. All he got for his pains were a few bruised knuckles but the black thing did not move.

Hal and Dr Dan joined in the investigation. Touching the bottom of the mass, they swam out until they reached its edge. Then they raised their heads above water and found that the thing was a small island of pumice, the rock that floats. The pumice blocks were piled almost three feet high.

Roger, who could never let well enough alone, gleefully clambered up on to the island.

‘This is something to tell them when I get home,’ he crowed. ‘Afloat on a raft made of rock.’

Then the raft suddenly gave way beneath him and he dropped through the hole into the water, scratching himself plentifully on the sharp-edged rocks as he passed.

Hal and Dr Dan also retreated again underwater, for the heat above was still intense.

How long would they have to stay below? The air in the aqualungs would last for only one hour. Then they would have no choice. They must come up, or drown.

Their watery prison seemed to be growing darker and darker. Hal hoped this meant that the fires above were dying down. But he was afraid that this explanation was too simple. He suspected a different reason for the growing darkness - more pumice was drifting in to cover the surface. A rock roof was forming over their heads that might become so thick and so broad that their escape would be cut off.

They would be like the divers he had heard of who had gone down in arctic waters to explore a wreck that lay on the bottom. The ice floes closed in over their

heads and they never came up. This situation would be the same except that the roof would be rock instead of ice.

He could see Dr Dan looking up and knew that the scientist was also aware of the growing danger. Would it excite him, cause him to do wild things, or freeze him in one of his strange trances? Then the air intake would drop from his mouth and he would be finished.

Hal thought of the bitter and untrue things the doctor had said of him. He had practically called him a coward and a sneak. If it had been anybody else, thought Hal, he would have given him a sound thrashing. But he couldn’t thrash a sick man. There was nothing for Hal to do but to swallow his resentment and play nurse to this crackpot, and hope that some day whatever was wrong in that brilliant brain would be corrected.

When Hal judged that three-quarters of an hour had passed he went up to investigate. He had to search for several minutes before he could find a hole in the pumice. He thrust out his head.

The flame spouting from the fissure in the cliff was no longer white-hot, only red-hot. The heat that lay on the water was less terrific than before, but still too much for a human body to bear. Hal felt his head steaming as if it had been poked into an oven and his eyes began to ache.

He dropped again below the surface and saw the light above him fade as the pumice closed in and filled the hole.

He could not see a thing. He could only hope that the others were still near by. He groped about in the dark, hoping to lay his hands upon Roger, Dr Dan, anybody.

At last he got hold of something cool and smooth -but it Jumped away from him with such speed that he concluded it must be a surprised fish.

Then bis hand closed upon someone’s wrist. It was a fairly small wrist and might be Roger’s - he hoped so.

Keeping his grip, he continued the search with his free hand. Finally, he clutched a trembling something that might be the tentacle of a giant octopus - no, it was a human arm, and it would hardly be Captain Ike’s or Omo’s for he could not conceive of any power on earth making those hard-bitten sailors tremble. It must be Dr Dan, and his nerves had begun to slip. The arm jerked once or twice but Hal held on.