I wondered, too, how Jack would
succeed in getting Peterkin out of the cave without my assistance; and
I trembled when I thought that he might lose presence of mind, and
begin to kick when he was in the tunnel! These thoughts were suddenly
interrupted and put to flight by a bright red blaze which lighted up
the horizon to the southward and cast a crimson glow far over the sea.
This appearance was accompanied by a low growling sound, as of distant
thunder, and at the same time the sky above us became black, while a
hot, stifling wind blew around us in fitful gusts.
The crew assembled hastily on deck, and most of them were under the
belief that a frightful hurricane was pending; but the captain, coming
on deck, soon explained the phenomena.
"It's only a volcano," said he. "I knew there was one hereabouts, but
thought it was extinct. Up there and furl top-gallant sails; we'll
likely have a breeze, and it's well to be ready."
As he spoke a shower began to fall, which we quickly observed was not
rain but fine ashes. As we were many miles distant from the volcano,
these must have been carried to us from it by the wind. As the captain
had predicted, a stiff breeze soon afterwards sprang up, under the
influence of which we speedily left the volcano far behind us; but
during the greater part of the night we could see its lurid glare and
hear its distant thunder. The shower did not cease to fall for several
hours, and we must have sailed under it for nearly forty miles, perhaps
farther.
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