"No, no, Ma.s.sa Nadgel--'s not dat. But he was awrful fond ob his wife an' darter, an' I know he's got a photogruff ob 'em bof togidder, an' I t'ink he'd sooner lose his head dan lose dat, for I've seed him look at 'em for hours, an' kiss 'em sometimes w'en he t'ought I was asleep."

The return of the hermit here abruptly stopped the conversation. The canoe was carried down and put into the water, watched with profound interest by hundreds of natives and traders, who were all more or less acquainted with the hermit of Rakata.

It was still 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, ma.s.sa," 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, ma.s.sa. 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, ma.s.sa, 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 eggsh.e.l.l 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 ma.s.ses 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 sh.o.r.e 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 sh.o.r.e 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 ma.s.s of Rakata rose between them and the part of Krakatoa which was in eruption, preventing their seeing anything that was pa.s.sing except the dense ma.s.ses of smoke, steam, and dust which rose many miles into the heavens, obstructing the light of day, but forming cloud-ma.s.ses 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, ma.s.sa," 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 ma.s.s 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 pa.s.sed 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 ma.s.ses 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 a.s.sailed 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 ba.s.s 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, ma.s.sa, 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."