CAME UNEXPECTEDLY ON A CAVERN.”—Paae 112,.—(Frontispicve. BLOWN TO BITS OR THE LONELY MAN OF RAKATA. a Tale of the Malan Archipelago. BY R. M. BALLANTYNE, AUTHOR OF “‘BLUE LIGHTS, OR HOT WORK IN THE SOUDAN;” ‘‘THE FUGITIVES ;” ‘*RED ROONEY ;” ‘‘THE ROVER OF THE ANDES ;’’ ‘‘ THE WILD MAN OF THE WEST;” “THE RED ERIC;”’ ‘"FREAKS ON THE FELLS;’’ “‘THE YOUNG TRAWLER };” ‘*DUSTY DIAMONDS;” ‘'THE BATTERY AND THE BOILER;” ‘‘ POST HASTE;” ‘‘BLACK IvoRY 3” ‘‘THE IRON HORSE;”’ ‘FIGHTING THE FLAMES;” ‘THE LIFEBOAT; ’ ETC. ETC, GHith Elvstrations by the Author. EIGHTH THOUSAND. LONDON: JAMES NISBET & CO., 21 BERNERS STREET. 1894, PREFACE. THE extremely violent nature of the volcanic eruption in Krakatoa in 1883, the peculiar beauty of those parts of the eastern seas where the event occurred, the wide-spread influences of the accom- ‘panying phenomena, and the tremendous devasta- tion which resulted, have all inspired me with a desire to bring the matter, in the garb of a tale, before that portion of the juvenile world which accords me a hearing. For most of the facts connected with the eruption which have been imported into my story, J have to acknowledge myself indebted to the recently published important and exhaustive “Report” of the Krakatoa Committee, appointed by the Royal Society to make a thorough investigation of the whole matter in all its phases. I have also to acknowledge having obtained iv PREFACE, | much interesting and useful information from the following among other works:—Zhe Malay ie 7 a pre Safe UE AEE oe Se ART ON THE KEELING ISLANDS.—Pace 36. OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 37 for me. The more I work at it, the more I find to ‘admire. May I look now at what you have done ?” “Oh yes, but I have done not much, I am slow,” said the girl, as Nigel rose and looked over her shoulder. “Why !—what—how beautiful !—but—but — what do you mean ?” exclaimed the youth. “T don’t understand you,” said the girl, looking up in surprise. “Why, Kathy, I had supposed you were drawing that’ magnificent, landscape all this time, and— and you’ve only been drawing a group of shells. Splendidly done, I admit, but wh ” He stopped at that moment, for her eyes sud- denly filled with tears. “Forgive me, dear child,” said Nigel, hurriedly ; “TY did not intend to hurt your feelings. I was only surprised at your preference.” “You have not hurt me,” returned Kathy in a low voice, as she resumed her work, “but what you say calls back to me—my father was very fond of shells,” She stopped, and Nigel, blaming himself for having inadvertently touched some tender chord, hastened, somewhat clumsily, to change the subject. “You draw landscape also, I doubt not ?” “Oh yes—plenty. If you come home to me to-night, I will show you some.” 38 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE “T shall be only too happy,” returned the youth, sitting down again to his sketch, “and perhaps I may be able to give you a hint or two—especially in reference to perspective—for I’ve had regular training, you know, Kathy, and I dare say you have not had that here.” “Not what you will think much, perhaps, yet I have study a little in school, and very much from Nature.” “Well, you have been under the best of mas- ters,” returned Nigel, “if you have studied much from Nature. And who has been your other teacher ?” “A brother of Mr. Ross. I think he must under- stand very much. He was an engineer, and has explained to me the rules of perspective, and many other things which were at first very hard to under- stand. But I do see them now.” “Perhaps then, Kathleen,” said Nigel, in that drawling, absent tone in which artists are apt to indulge when busy at work—* perhaps you may be already too far advanced to require instruction from me.” “Perhaps—but I think no, for you seems to understand a great deal. But why you call me Kathleen just now ?” “Because I suppose that is your real name— Kathy being the short for it. Is it not so?” OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 39 “Well, p’raps it is. I have hear mother Holbein say so once. [ like Kathleen best.” “Then, may I call you Kathleen?” “Tf you like.” At this point both artists had become so engrossed in their occupation that they ceased to converse, and for a considerable time profound silence reigned —at least on their part, though not as regarded others, for every now and then the faint sound of laughter came floating over the tranquil lagoon from that part of the coral strand where Captain Roy was still tickling the fancies and expanding the imagina- tions and harrowing or soothing the feelings of the Cocos-Keeling juveniles. Inferior animal life was also in ceaseless activity -around the sketchers, filling the air with those indescribably quiet noises which are so suggestive of that general happiness which was originally in terrestial paradise and is ultimately to be the lot of redeemed creation. Snipe and curlews were wading with jaunty step and absorbed inquiring gaze in the shallow pools. Hermit crabs of several species and sizes were scuttling about searching for convenient shells in ‘which to deposit their naturally homeless and tender tails. Overhead there was a sort of sea-rookery, the trees being tenanted by numerous gannets, frigate birds, and terns—the first gazing with a 40 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE stupid yet angry air; the last—one beautiful little snow-white species in particular—hovering only a few feet above the sketchers’ heads, while their large black eyes scanned the drawings with the owlish look of wisdom peculiar to connoisseurs. Noddies also were there, and, on the ground, lizards and spiders and innumerable ants engaged in all the varied activities connected with their several domestic arrangements. Altogether it was a scene of bright peaceful felicity, which seemed to permeate Nigel’s frame right inward to the spinal marrow, and would have kept him entranced there at his work for several hours longer if the cravings of a healthy appetite had not warned him to desist. “Now, Kathleen,” he said, rising and stretching himself as one is apt to do after sitting long in a constrained position, “it seems to me about time to —by the way, we’ve forgotten to bring something to eat!” His expression as he said this made his companion look up and laugh. “Plenty cocoa-nuts,” she said, pointing with her pencil to the overarching trees. “True, but I doubt my ability to climb these long straight stems; besides, I have got only a small clasp-knife, which would be but a poor weapon with which to attack the thick outer husk of the nuts.” OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 41 “But I have got a few without the husks in the boat,” said the girl, rising and running to the place where the cockleshell had been left. She returned immediately with several nuts ‘divested of their thick outer covering, and in the condition with which we are familiar in England. Some of them were already broken, so that they had nothing to do but sit down to lunch. “Here is one,” said Kathy, handing a nut to Nigel, “that has got no meat yet in it—only milk. Bore a hole in it and drink, but see you bore in the right hole.” “The right hole?” echoed the youth, “are some of them wrong ones ?” “Oh yes, only one of the three will do. One of our crawbs knows that and has claws that can bore through the husk and shell. We calls him cocoa- nut crawb.” “Indeed! That is strange; I never heard before of a crab that fed on cocoa-nuts.” “This one do. He is very big, and also climbs trees. It goes about most at night. Perhaps you see one before you go away.” The crab to which Kathy referred is indeed a somewhat eccentric crustacean, besides being un- usually large. It makes deep tunnels in the’ ground larger than rabbit burrows, which it lines with cocoa-nut fibre. One of its claws is developed 42 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE into an organ of extraordinary power with which it can break a cocoa-nut shell, and even, it is said, a man’s limb! It never takes all the husk off a cocoa-nut—that would be an unnecessary trouble, but only enough off the end where the three eyelets are, to enable it to get at the inside. Having pierced the proper eye with one of its legs it rotates the nut round it until the hole is large enough to admit the point of its great claw, with which it continues the work. This remarkable creature also climbs the. palm-trees, but not to gather nuts; that is certain, for its habits have been closely watched and it has been ascertained that it feeds only on fallen nuts. Possibly it climbs for exercise, or to obtain a more extended view of its charming habitat, or simply “for fun.” Why not? All this and a great deal more was told to Nigel by Kathleen, who was a bit of a naturalist in her tendencies—as they sat there under the graceful fronds of the palm-trees admiring the exquisite view, eating and drinking cocoa-nuts. “I suppose you have plenty of other kinds of food besides this?” said Nigel. “Oh yes, plenty. Most of the fish in our lagoon be good for eating, and so also the crawbs, and we have turtle too.” “Indeed! How do you catch the turtle? An- other nut, please —Thank you.” OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 43 “The way we gets turtle is by the men diving for them and catching them in the water. We has pigs, too—plenty, and the wild birds are some very nice.” } ‘When the artists had finished they proceeded to the shore, and to their surprise and amusement found the cockleshell in possession of a piratical urchin of about four years of age in a charmingly light state of clothing. He was well known to Kathleen, and it turned out that, having seen the cockle start at too great a distance to be hailed, and having set his heart on joining in the excursion, he had watched their movements, observed their land- ing on the islet-—which was not far from the main circlet of land—and, running round till he came opposite to it, swam off and got into the boat. Being somewhat tired he had lain down to rest and fallen sound asleep. On the way home this urchin’s sole delight was to lean over the bow and watch the fish and coral groves over which they skimmed. In this he was imitated by Nigel who, ungallantly permitting his companion to row, also leaned over the side and gazed down into the clear crystal depths with unwearying delight. ™ We recommend those’ who desire more curious information on the fauna and flora of the Keeling Islands to apply to Henry O. Forbes’ most interesting book, A Naturalists Wanderings in the Eastern Archipelago.—(Sampson Low.) 44 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE For the wonderful colours displayed in those depths must be seen to be believed. Not only is the eye pleased with the ever-varying formations of the coral bowers, but almost dazzled with the glittering fish—blue, emerald, green, scarlet, orange, banded, spotted, and striped—that dart hither and thither among the rich-toned sea-weed and the variegated anemones which spread their tentacles upwards as if inviting the gazer to come down! Among these, crabs could be seen crawling with undecided motion, as if unable to make up their minds, while in out of the way crevices clams of a gigantic size were gaping in deadly quietude ready to close with a snap on any unfortunate creature that should give them the slightest touch. Nigel was sharply awakened from his dream by a sudden splash. Looking up he observed that the small boy was gone. With a bound he stood erect, one foot on the gunwale and hands clasped ready to dive, when a glance revealed the fact that Kathy was smiling broadly ! “Don’t jump!” she said. “He is only after a fish.” Even while she spoke Nigel saw the brown little fellow shooting about like a galvanised tadpole, with a small harpoon in his hand ! Next moment he appeared on the surface shout+ ing and spluttering, with a splendid fish on the end OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 45 of his harpoon! Both were hauled into the boat, and very soon after they drew near to land. In the shallow water Nigel observed some re- markable creatures which resembled hedgehogs, having jaws armed with formidable teeth to enable them to feed, Kathy said, on coral insects. File- fishes also drew his attention particularly. These were magnificently striped and coloured, and ap- parently very fearless. “What convenient tails they have to lay hold of,” remarked our hero, as they slowly glided past one; “I believe I could catch it with my hand !” Stooping swiftly as he spoke, he dipped his arm into the water, and actually did grasp the fish by its tail, but dropped it again instantly—-to the shrieking delight of the urchin and Kathy,—for the tail was armed with a series of sharp spines which ran into his hand like lancets. This was an appropriate conclusion to a day that would have been otherwise too enjoyable. Poor Nigel’s felicity was further diluted when he met his father. “We'll have to sleep a-board to-night,” said the captain, “for there’s a fair breeze outside which seems likely to hold, and the mast has been tem- porarily rigged up, so we ‘ll have to up anchor, and away by break of day to-morrow.” Nigel’s heart sank. 46 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE “To-morrow ! father ?” “ Ay, to-morrow. Business first, pleasure after- wards.” “Well, I suppose you are right, but it seems almost a shame to leave such a heaven upon earth as this in sucha hurry. Besides, is it not unkind to such hospitable people to bolt off after you’ve got all that you want out of them?” “ Can’t help that, lad— ** Dooty first, an’ fun to follow, That’s what beats creation hollow.” “Come father, don’t say that you quote that from mother!” __ , “No more I do, my boy. It’s my own—home- made. I put it together last night when I couldn’t sleep for your snorin’.” “Don’t tell fibs, father. You know I never snore. But—really—are we to start at daylight 2?” “We are, if the wind holds. But you may stay as late as you choose on shore to-night.” Nigel availed himself of the opportunity to see as much of the place and people as was possible in the limited time. Next morning the good though damaged brig was running in the direction of Sunda Straits before a stiff and steady breeze. OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 47 CHAPTER V. CAPTAIN ROY SURPRISES AND GRATIFIES HIS SON, WHO SURPRISES A NEGRO, AND SUDDENLY FORMS AN ASTONISHING RESOLVE. ARRIVED in Batavia—the low-lying seaport and capital of the Dutch island of Java—Captain Roy had his brig examined, and found that the damage she had sustained was so serious that several months would probably elapse before she would ‘be again ready for sea. “Now, Nigel, my lad,” said the old gentleman, on the morning after the examination had been made, “come down below with me; I want to have a confabulation with ’ee.” “Why, father,” said the youth, when seated at the small cabin table opposite his rugged parent, “you seem to be in an unusually solemn frame of mind this morning. Has anything happened ?” “Nothin’, boy—nothin’. Leastwise nothin’ in particular. You know all about the brig, an’ what a deal o’ repair she’s got to undergo 2?” “Of course I do. You know I was present when 48 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE you talked the matter over with that fellow— what ’s-’is-name—that gave you his report.” “Just so. Well now, Nigel, you don’t suppose, do you, that I’m goin’ to keep you here for some months knockin’ about with nothin’ to do—eatin’ your grub in idleness ?” “Certainly not,” said the youth, regarding the stern countenance of his parent with an amused look. “I have no intention of acting such an ignoble part, and I’m surprised at you askin’ the question, for you know IT am not lazy—at least not more so than average active men—and there must be plenty of work for me to do in looking after the cargo, superintending repairs, taking care of the ship and men. I wonder at you, father. You must either have had a shock of dotage, or fallen into a poetical vein. What is a first mate fit for if ——” “Nigel,” said Captain Roy, interrupting, “I’m the owner an’ commander of the Sunshine, besides bein’ the paternal parent of an impertinent son, and I claim to have the right to do as I please—there- fore, hold your tongue and listen to me.” “ All right, father,” replied the young man, with a benignant grin ; “ proceed, but don’t be hard upon me; spare my feelings.” “Well now, this is how the land lies,” said the old seaman, resting his elbows on the table and OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 49 clasping his hands before him. “As Mr. Moor and I, with the stooard and men, are quite sufficient to manage the affairs o’ the brig, and as we shall cer- tainly be here for a considerable time to come, I’ve made up my mind to give you a holiday. You're young, you see, an’ foolish, and your mind needs improvin’. In short, you want a good deal o’ the poetry knocked out o’ you, for it’s not like your mother’s poetry by any means, so you needn’t flatter yourself—not built on the same.lines by a long way. Well—where was I?” “Only got the length of the holiday yet, father.” “QOnly,indeed. You ungrateful dog! It’s a con- siderable length to get, that, isn’t it? Well, I also intend to give you some money, to enable you to move about in this curious archipelago—not much, but enough to keep you from starvation if used with economy, so I recommend you to go into the town, make general inquiries about everything and every- where, an’ settle in your mind what you'll do, for I give you a rovin’ commission an’ don’t want to be “bothered with you for some time to come.” « Are you in earnest, father?” asked Nigel, who had become more interested while the captain un- folded his plan. “ Never more in earnest in my life—except, p’raps, when I inquired over twenty years ago whether you was a boy or a gurl.” D 50 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE “Well, now, that is good of you, father. Of course I need not say that I am charmed at the prospect you open up tome. And—and when may I start ?” “At once. Up anchor and away to-night if you choose.” “ But—where ?” “ Anywhere—everywhere, Java, Sumatra, Borneo all Malaysia before you where to choose. Now be off, and think over jit, for I’ve got too much to do to waste time on you at present,” said the captain. rising, “and, stay—Nigel.” “Well?” said the youth, looking back as he was about to leave the cabin. “Whatever you do, don’t grow poetical about it. You know it is said somewhere, that mischief is found for idle hands to do.” ‘ “All right, father. I’ll keep clear of poetry— leave all that sort o’ nonsense to you. I ’Il— ‘* T'll flee Temptation’s siren voice, Throw poesy to the crows, ind let my soul’s ethereal fire Gush out in sober prose.” It need scarcely be said that our hero was not slow to take advantage of the opportunity thus thrown in his way. He went off immediately through the town, armed with the introduction of his father’s well-known name, and made inquiries OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 51 of all sorts of people as to the nature, the conditions, the facilities, and the prospects of travel in the Malay Archipelago. In this quest he found himself sorely perplexed for the very good reason that “all sorts” of people, having all sorts of ideas and tastes, gave amazingly conflicting accounts of the region and its attractions, Wearied at last with his researches, he sauntered towards afternoon in the direction of the port, and began in a listless sort of way to watch the move- ments of a man who was busily engaged with a boat, as if he were making preparations to put to sea. Now, whatever philosophers may say to the con- trary, we hold strongly to the opinion that likings and dislikings among men and women and children are the result of some profound occult cause which has nothing whatever to do with experience. No doubt experience may afterwards come in to modify or intensify the feelings, but it is not the originating cause. If you say it is, how are we to account for love at first sight? Beauty has nothing necessarily to do with it, for men fall in love at first sight with what the world calls plain women—happily! Character is not the cause, for love assails the human - breast, ofttimes, before the loved object has uttered a word, or perpetrated a smile, or even fulminated a glance to indicate character. So, in like manner, affection may arise between man and man. 52 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE It was so on this occasion with Nigel Roy. As he stood abstractedly gazing at the boatman he fell in love with him—at least he took a powerful fancy to him, and this was all the more surprising that the man was a negro,—a woolly-headed, flat-nosed, thick-lipped nigger ! We would not for a moment have it supposed that it is unnatural to love such a man. Quite the reverse. But when such a man is a perfect stranger, has never uttered a word in one’s presence, or vouch- safed so much as a glance, and is gravely, stolidly engaged in the unsavoury work of greasing some of the tackling of a boat, it does seem unaccountable that he should be unwittingly capable of stirring up in another man’s bosom feelings of ardent good- will, to put it mildly. After watching him for some time, Nigel under an almost involuntary impulse shouted “Hullo!” “Hullo!” replied the negro, looking up with a somewhat stern frown and a pout of his thick lips, as much as to say—“ Who are you?” Nigel smiled, and made that suggestive motion with his forefinger which signifies “ Come here.” The frown fied and the pout became a smile as the negro approached, wiping his hands on a piece of cotton-waste. “ What you want wi’ me, sar?” he asked. “Well, upon my word,” said Nigel, somewhat OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 53 perplexed, “I can’t very well say. I suppose some- thing must have been in my mind, but—anyhow, I felt a desire to have a talk with you; that is, if you can spare the time.” The first part of this reply induced a slight re- currence of the frown and pout, but at its conclusion the black brow cleared and the mouth expanded to such a gum-and-teeth-exposing extent that Nigel fairly burst into a laugh. “You’s bery good, sar,” said the man, “an’.I’s hab much pleasure to make your acquaintance. Der an’t no grease on ’em now.” The last remark had reference to the enormous black paw which he held out. Nigel at once grasped it and shook it heartily. “I’s bery fond ob a talk, sar,” continued the negro, “so as you wants one, heabe ahead.” Thus efcouraged,. our hero began by remarking that he seemed to be preparing for a trip. “Dat’s zackly what I’s a-doin’, sar.” « A long one ?” . “Well, dat depends on what you call short. Goin’ to Sunda Straits, which p’raps you know, sar, is nigh a hundred miles fro’ here.” « And what may you be going to do there?” asked Nigel. “@Goin’ home to Krakatoa.” “Why, I thought that was an uninhabited island. 54 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE I passed close to it on my way here, and saw no sign of inhabitants.” “Da’s cause I was absint fro’ home. An’ massa he keeps indoors a good deal.” “ And pray who is massa ?” asked Nigel. “Sar,” said the negro, drawing up his square sturdy frame with a look of dignity; “fair-play is eberyt’ing wid me. You’ve ax me a_ heap ry questions. Now’s my-turn. Whar you comes fro’.2” “From England,” replied Nigel. “ An’ whar you go to?” “Well, you’ve posed me now, for I really don’t know where I’m going to. In fact that is the very thing I have been trying to find out all day, so if you'll help me I'll be much obliged.” Here Nigel explained his position and difficulties, and it was quite obvious, judging from the glittering eyes and mobile mouth, that he poured his tale into peculiarly sympathetic ears, When he had finished, the negro stood for a considerable time gazing in meditative silence at the sky. “Yes,” he said at last, as if communing with himself, “I t’ink—I ain’t quite sure, but I t’?ink— I may ventur’.” “Whatever it is you are thinking about,” re- marked Nigel, “you may venture to say anything you like to me.” OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 55 The negro, who, although comparatively short of stature, was herculean in build, looked at the youth with an amused expression. “You’re bery good, sar, but da’s not what I’s tinkin’ ob. ’I’s tinkin’ whedder I dar’ ventur’ to introdoce you to my massa. He’s not fond 0’ company, an’ it might make ’im angry, but he came by a heaby loss lately an’ p’raps he may cond’send to receibe you. Anyhow you’d be quite safe, for he’s sure to be civil to any friend ob mine.” “Is he then so fierce?” asked Nigel, becoming interested as well as amused. “ Fierce! no, he’s gentle as a lamb, but he’s awr- ful when he’s roused—tigers, crokindiles, ’noceroses is nuffin’ to him!” “Indeed ! what’s his name, and what does he do? How does he live?” The negro shook his head. “Da’s more’n I dar tell till I ax his leave, sar. I kin only say de peepil around calls ’im the hermit ob Rakata, ’cause he libs by his self (wid me, ob course, but J counts for nuffin), close under de ole voleano ob Krakatoa. Dey tink—some ob de foolish peepil—dat he hab sold his-self to de dibil, but I knows better. He’s a good man, and you’d hab great fun if you stop wid him. Now, what I’s a-gwine to advise you is, come wid me an’ see de hermit. If he lets you stop, good. If not, I fetch you ober to de main land 56 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE —whar you please—an’ you kin come back here or go whar you choose. Its wort’ your while to take your chance, anyhow.” The negro said this with such an earnest look that Nigel made up his mind on the spot to accept this curious invitation. “T’ll go!” he exclaimed with sudden energy. “When do you start ?” “ To-morrer at daybreak, sar.” “Well, I shall have to talk it over first with my father, but I’m sure he won't object, so you may look out for me here at daybreak. Shall I have to fetch any provisions with me for the voyage ?” “No, nuffin’. Boat’s crammed wi’ grub. But you'd better bring a gun o’ some sort an’ a ‘volver, an’ a big knife, an’ a mortal big appetite, for a man’s no good widout dat.” “T always carry that about with me,” said the youth, “ whatever else I may leave behind; and I’ll see to the other things.—By the way, what’s your name?” “ Moses.” ” «Ts that all 2” “Isn't dat enuff?” returned the negro with a look of dignity. . “Quite; but I have the advantage of you there, Moses, for I have two names—Nigel Roy.” OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 57 “Well, I don’t see much use ob two, but which does you like to be called by—Nadgel or Roy 2” “Whichever you please, Moses; I'll answer to either. So now, good-bye for the present, and look out for me to-morrow at daylight.” “ Good-bye, Massa Nadgel, till to-morrer.” The negro waved his hand and, sauntering slowly back to his boat, remarked in an undertone, “I lub dat young feller!” Saying which, he resumed his greasing operations. Of course Captain Roy made no objection to his son’s proposal, though he freely gave his opinion that it was a wild-goose chase. “ However, lad, please yourself and you'll please me,” he added; “and now, be particular to bear in mind that you ’ve got to write to me every time you get within hail of a post-office or a passing ship or steamer that may chance to be comin’ this way, and in each letter be sure to tell me where you’re goin’ to next, so as I may send a letter there to you in case I want you to return sudden or otherwise. We mustn’t lose touch, you see. You needn’t write long screeds. JI only want to know your whereabouts from time to time. For the rest—you can spin it out in yarns when you come back.” 58 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE CHAPTER VI. THE HERMIT OF RAKATA INTRODUCED. Nortuine worthy of particular note occurred during the boat-voyage along the northern shore of Java to Sunda Straits. A fair, steady breeze wafted them westward, and, on the morning of the third day, they came in sight of the comparatively small un- inhabited island of Krakatoa, The boat in which they voyaged, although a little one, had a small portion of the bow decked over, so that our hero and his sable friend could find shelter from the night air when disposed to sleep and from the fierce rays of the sun at noon. By the advice of his father, Nigel had changed his sailor costume for the “‘shore-goin’ toggery ” in which he had landed on the Keeling Islands, as being more suitable to his new character as a traveller, namely, a white cloth cap with a peak in front and a curtain behind to protect his neck, a light-grey tunic belted at the waist, and a pair of strong canvas trousers. He had also purchased OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 59 an old-fashioned double-barrelled fowling-piece, muzzle-loading and with percussion locks. “For you see, Nigel,” the captain had said, “it’s all very well to use breech-loaders when you've got towns and railways and suchlike to supply you wi’ cartridges, but when you’ve got to cruise in out-o- _ the-way waters, there’s nothin’ like the old style. It’s not difficult to carry a few thousand percus- sion-caps an’ a bullet-mould about wi’ you wherever you go. As to powder, why, you’ll come across that "most everywhere, an’ lead too; and, for the matter o’ that, if your life depended on it you could shove a handful of gravel or a pen-knife or tooth-pick into your gun an’ blaze away, but with a breech-loader. if you run out o’ cartridges, where are you ?” So, as Nigel could not say where he was, the per- cussion-gun had been purchased. The peak of Rakata—the highest in the island— a little over 2600 feet, came in sight first ; gradually the rest of the island rose out of the horizon, and ere long the rich tropical verdure became dis- tinguishable. Krakatoa—destined so soon to play a thrilling part in the world’s history ; to change the aspect of the heavens everywhere; to attract the wondering gaze of nearly all nations, and to devastate its immediate neighbourhood—is of volcanic origin, and, at the time we write of (1883) was beginning to 60 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE awaken from a long, deep slumber of two hundred years. Its last explosion occurred in the year 1680. Since that date it had remained quiet. But now the tremendous subterranean forces which had originally called it into being were beginning to re- assert their existence and their power. Vulcan was rousing himself again and beginning once more to blow his bellows. So said some of the sailors who were coustantly going close past the island and through Sunda Straits, which may be styled the narrows of the world’s highway to the China seas. Subterranean forces, however, are so constantly at work more or less violently in those regions that people took little notice of these indications in the comparatively small island of Krakatoa, which was between five and six miles long by four broad. As we have said, it was uninhabited, and lying as it does between Sumatra and Java, about sixteen miles from the former and over twenty miles from the latter, it was occasionally visited by fisher- men. The hermit whom Nigel was about to visit might, in some sort, be counted an inhabitant, for he had dwelt there many years, but he lived ina cave which was difficult of access, and held com- munication with no one. How he spent his time was a mystery, for although his negro servant went to the neighbouring town of Anjer in Java for OF THE MALAY ARCIIIPELAGO. 61 supplies, and sometimes to Batavia, as we have seen, no piece of inanimate ebony from the forest could have been less communicative than he. Indeed, our hero was the first to unlock the door of his lips, with that key of mysterious sympathy to which reference has already been made. Some of the bolder of the young fishermen of the neighbouring coasts had several times made futile efforts to find out where and how the hermit lived, but the few who got a glimpse of him at a distance brought back such a report that a kind of superstitious fear of him was generated which kept them at a respect- ful distance. He was ten feet high, some romancers said, with shoulders four feet broad, a chest like a sugar-hogs- head, and a countenance resembling a compound of orang-utan and tiger. Of course our hero knew nothing of these rumours, and as Moses declined to give any informa- tion regarding his master beyond that already given, he was left to the full play of his imagination. Moses was quite candid about it. He made no pretence to shroud things in mystery. “You mus’ know, Massa Nadgel,” he said, as they slowly drew near to the island, “I’s ’fraid ob ’im dough I lub im.” “ But why do you love him, Moses ?” “’*Cause he sabe my life an’ set me free.” 62 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE “Indeed ? well, that is good reason. And why do you fear him ?” “Da’s what I don’ know, massa,” replied the negro with a puzzled look. “Ts he harsh, then?” “ No.” “ Passionate ?” “No. Gentle as a lamb.” “ Strong ?” “Yes—oh ! mighty strong an’ big.” “Surely you’re not afraid of his’ giving you a licking, Moses ?” “Oh no,” returned the negro, with a smile of expansive benignity; “I’s not “fraid ob dat. I’s bin a slabe once, got used to lickin’s. Don’t care nuffin’ at ali for a lickin’ !” “Then it must be that you’re afraid of hurting his feelings, Moses, for I know of no other kind of fear.” “Praps da’s it!” said the negro with a bright look, “ now I wouldn’t wonder if you’s right, Massa Nadgel. It neber come into my head in dat light before. I used to be t’ink, t'inkin’ ob nights—when I’s tired ob countin’ my fingers an’ toes—But I couldn’t make nuffin’ ob it. Mow I knows! It’s *fraid I am ob hurtin’ his feelin’s.” In the excess of his satisfaction at the solution of this long-standing puzzle, Moses threw back his OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 63 head, shut his eyes, opened his enormous mouth and chuckled. By the time he had reversed this process they were sufficiently near to Krakatoa to distinguish all its features clearly, and the negro began to point out to Nigel its various localities. There were three prominent peaks on it, he said, named respectively, Perboewatan about 400 feet high, at the northern end of the island; Danan, near the centre, 1500 feet ; and Rakata, at the southern end, over 2600 feet. It was high up on the sides of the last cone that the residence of the hermit was situated. “And you won't tell me your master’s name?” said Nigel. Moses shook his woolly head. “No, sar, no. I’s *fraid ob him—he ! he! ’fraid ob hurtin’ his feelin’s !” “ Well, never mind; I’ll find it out from himself soon. By the way, what were you telling me about explosions yesterday when that little white gull came to admire your pretty face, and took off our attention ?” “Well, I dun know. Not got much to tell, only dar’s bin rumblin’ an’ grumblin’s an’ heavin’s lately in de mountains as didn’t use to be, an’ cracks like somet'in’ bustin’ down b’low, an’ massa he shook ’is head two or t’ree times an’ look solemn. He don’t often do dat—shook ’is head, I mean—for he mostly always looks solemn.” 64 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE A few minutes later the boat, running through a narrow opening among the rocks into a small circular harbour not more than fifty yards in diameter, rested its keel gently on a little bed of pure yellow sand. The shore there was so densely covered with bushes that the harbour might easily have been passed ‘without being observed. Jumping ashore, Moses made the painter fast to a tree. “What a quiet, cosy place!” said Nigel, as he sprang on the beach and looked admiringly round. “Yes, an’ not easy to find if you don’t knows ‘im. We will leabe de boat here-—no danger ob bein’ tooked away—an’ den go up to de cave.” “Ts it far?” asked Nigel. “A good bit—near de top ob de mountain,’— answered the negro, who looked at his companion somewhat uneasily. “Why, what’s the matter, Moses?” “ Nuffin’—oh ! nuffin-—but—but when massa axes you who you is, an’ what you bin up to, an’ whar your a-gwine to, an’ what wages you want, jist you - answer ‘im in a sorter permiscuous way, an’ don’t be too partikler.” “Wages! man, what d’ ye mean?” “ Well, you’ll ’scuse me, sar,” returned the negro with an air of profound humility, “but my massa lost a old sarvint—a nigger like myself—only last OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 65 munt’, an’ he wants to go on one ob his usual expe- ditions jus’ now, so he sends me to Batavia to git anoder man—‘a good one, you know, says.massa, —an’ as you, sar, was good ‘nuff to ax me what you should do, an’ you looked a pritty smart man, I——” “You scoundrel!” cried Nigel, interrupting him, “do you really mean to tell me that you’ve brought me here as a hired servant ?” “Well, not zackly,” returned Moses, with solemn simplicity, “you needn’t ax no wages unless you like.” “But what if I don’t want to take service?” demanded our hero, with a savage frown. “You kin go home agin,’ answered Moses, humbly. Nigel could contain himself no longer. As he observed the man’s deprecatory air, and thought of his own position, he burst into a fit of hearty laughter, whereupon the negro recovered himself and smiled the smile of the guiltless, “Come,” said Nigel at last. “Lead on, you rascal ! When I see your master I shall know what to say.” “All right, Massa Nadgel, but mind what you say, else I won’t answer for de consikences. Foller me an’ look arter your feet, for de road is roughish.” The negro’s last remark was unquestionably true, for the road—if a mere footpath merits the name —was rugged in the extreme—here winding round E 66 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE . the base of steep cliffs, there traversing portions of luxuriant forest, elsewhere skirting the margin of the sea. Moses walked at such a pace that Nigel, young . and active though he was, found it no easy matter to keep up with him. Pride, however, forbade him to show the slightest sign of difficulty, and made him even converse now and then in tones of simu- lated placidity. At last the path turned abruptly towards the face of a precipice and seemed to terminate in a small shallow cave. Any one follow- ing the path out of mere curiosity would have naturally imagined that the cave was the termina- tion of it; and a very poor termination too, seeing that it was a rather uninteresting cave, the whole of the interior of which could be seen at a single glance from its mouth. But this cave served in reality asa blind. Climb- ing by one or two projecting points, the negro, closely followed by Nigel, reached a narrow ledge and walked along it a short distance. On coming to the end of the ledge he jumped down into a mass of undergrowth, where the track again became visible—winding among great masses of weather- worn lava. Here the ascent became very steep, and Moses put on what sporting men call a spurt, which took him far ahead of Nigel, despite the best efforts of the latter to keep up. Still our hero scorned to OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 67 run or call out to his guide to wait, and thereby - admit himself beaten. He pushed steadily on, and managed to keep the active Moses in view. Presently the negro stepped upon a platform of rock high up on the cliffs, where his form could be distinctly seen against the bright sky. There Nigel observed that he was joined by a man whose tall commanding figure seemed in such a position to be of gigantic proportions. The two stood engaged in earnest conversation while watching Nigel. The latter immediately slackened his pace, in order at once to recover breath and approach with a leisurely aspect. “The wild man of the island, I suppose,” he thought as he drew near; but on coming still nearer he saw that he must be mistaken, for the stranger who advanced to meet him with gracious ease and self-possession was obviously a gentleman, and dressed, not unlike himself, in a sort of mixed tra- velling and shooting costume. “TI must apologise, Mr. Roy, for the presumption of my man, in bringing you here under something like false pretences,” said the stranger, holding out his hand, which Nigel shook heartily. “Moses, I find, has failed to execute my commission, and has par- tially deceived you; but as you are now here, the least I can do is to bid you welcome, and offer you the hospitality of my roof.” 68 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE There was something so courteous and kindly in the tone and manner of the stranger, and something so winning in his soft gentle tones, which contrasted strangely with his grand towering figure and massive bearded countenance, that Nigel felt drawn to him instantly. Indeed there was a peculiar and mysteri- ous something about him which quite fascinated our hero as he looked up at him, for, bordering on six feet though Nigel was, the stranger stood several inches above him. “You are very kind,” said the visitor, “and I don’t think that Moses can fairly be charged with deceiving me, although he has been somewhat un- wise in his way of going about this business, for I had told him I wanted to see something of these regions, and perhaps it may be to my advantage to travel in your service—that is, if I can be of any use to you; but the time at my disposal may be too limited.” “How much time have you to spare?” asked the stranger. “Well, say perhaps three months.” “That will do,” returned his questioner, looking thoughtfully at the ground. “We will talk of this hereafter.” . “ But—excuse me,” said Nigel, “your man spoke of you as a hermit—a sort of—of—forgive me —a wild-man-of-the-island, if I may——” OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 69 “No, I didn’t, Massa Nadgel,” said the negro, the edge of whose flat contradiction was taken off by the extreme humility of his look. “Well,” returned Nigel, with a laugh; “you at least gave me to understand that other people said something of that sort.” “Da’s right, Massa Nadgel—kite right. You’re k’rect now.” “People have indeed got some strange ideas about me, I believe,” interposed the hermit, with a grave almost sad expression and tone. “But come, let me introduce you to my hermitage and you shall judge for yourself.” So saying, this singular being turned and led the way further up the rugged side of the peak of Rakata. After about five minutes’ walk in silence, the trio reached a spot where there was a clear view over the tree-tops, revealing the blue waters of the strait, with the Java shores and mountains in the distance. Behind them there yawned, dark and mysterious, a mighty cavern, so black and high that it might well suggest a portal leading to the regions below, where Vulcan is supposed to stir those tremendous fires which have moulded much of the configuration of the world, and which are ever seething—an awful Inferno—under the thin crust of the globe on which we stand. Curiously formed and large-leaved trees of the 70 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE tropics, with their pendent parasites, as well as rank grasses, sprouting from below and hanging from above, partially concealed this cavern from Nigel when he first turned towards it, but a few steps further on he could see it in all its rugged grandeur. “My home,” said the hermit, with a very slight smile and the air of a prince, as he turned towards his visitor and waved his hand towards it. “A magnificent entrance at all events,” said Nigel, returning the smile with something of dubiety, for he was not quite sure that his host was in earnest. “Follow me,” said the hermit, leading the way down a narrow well-worn path which seemed to lose itself in profound darkness. After being a few minutes within the cavern, however, Nigel’s eyes became accustomed to the dim light, and he per- ceived that the roof rapidly lowered, while its walls narrowed until they reached a spot which was not much wider than an ordinary corridor. Here, how- ever, it was so dark that it was barely possible to see a small door in the right-hand wall before which they halted. Lifting a latch the hermit threw the door wide open, and a glare of dazzling light almost blinded the visitor. Passing through the entrance, Nigel followed his guide, and the negro let the heavy door shut behind him with a clang that was depressingly suggestive of a prison. OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO, 71 “Again I bid you welcome to my home,” said the hermit, turning round and extending his hand, which Nigel mechanically took and pressed, but without very well knowing what he did, for he was almost dumfounded by what he saw, and for some minutes gazed in silence around him. And, truly, there was ground for. surprise. The visitor found himself in a small but immensely high and brilliantly lighted cavern or natural chamber, the walls of which were adorned with drawings of scenery and trees and specimens of plants, while on various shelves stood innumerable stuffed birds, and shells, and other specimens of natural history. : A table and two chairs stood at one end of the cave, and, strangest of all, a small but well-filled book-case ornamented the other end. “ Arabian Nights!” thought Nigel. “I must be dreaming.” His wandering eyes travelled slowly round the cavern until they rested at last on the door by which they had entered, beside which stood the negro with a broad grin on his sable visage. 72 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE CHAPTER VII. WONDERS OF THE HERMIT’S CAVE AND ISLAND. THE thing that perhaps surprised Nigel most in this strange cavern was the blaze of light with which it was filled, for it came down direct through a funnel-shaped hole in the high roof and bore a _marvellous resemblance to natural sunshine. He was well aware that unless the sun were shining absolutely in the zenith, the laws of light forbade the entrance of a direct ray into such a place, yet there were the positive rays, although the sun was not yet high in the heavens, blinding him while he looked at them, and casting the shadows of himself and his new friends on the floor. There was the faintest semblance of a smile on the hermit’s face as he quietly observed his visitor, and waited till he should recover self-possession. As for Moses—words are wanting to describe the fields of teeth and gum which he displayed, but no sound was suffered to escape his magnificent lips, which closed like the slide of a dark lantern when OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 73 the temptation to give way to feeling became too ‘strong. “My cave interests you,” said the hermit at last. “Tt amazes me,” returned our hero, recovering himself and looking earnestly at his host, “for you seem not only to have all the necessaries of life around you in your strange abode, but many of the luxuries; among them the cheering presence of sunshine—though how you manage to get it is beyond my powers of conception.” “It is simple enough, as you shall see,” returned the hermit. “You have heard of the saying, no doubt, that ‘all things are possible to well-directed labour’ ?” “Yes, and that ‘nothing can be achieved without it.” “Well, I have proved that to some extent,” continued the hermit. “You see, by the various and miscellaneous implements on my shelves, that IT am given to dabbling a little in science, and thus have made my lonely home as pleasant as such a home can be—but let us not talk of these matters just now. You must be hungry. Have you had breakfast ?” “No, we have not—unless, at least, you count a sea biscuit dipped in salt water a breakfast. After - all, that may well be the case, for hermits are noted for the frugality of their fare.” 74 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE “Tam not a genuine hermit,” remarked his host gravely. “Men do indeed call me the Hermit of Rakata, because I dwell alone here under the shadow of this particular cone of Krakatoa, but 1 do not ape the austere life of the conventional her- mit, as you see, either in my domestic arrangements or food. Come, your breakfast is ready. From my outlook I saw your boat approaching some hours ago, and knew that it was mine, so I made ready for your arrival, though I did not-guess that Moses was bringing me a guest instead of a servant!” So saying, he led the way through a short natural passage to an inner cave, the entrance to which, like the outer one, was boarded. On opening a small door, Nigel was again greeted as before with brilliant rays of sunshine, and, in addition, with a gush of odours that were exceedingly grateful to a hungry man. A low “Ho! ho!” behind him told that his black companion was equally gratified. The inner cave or mess-room, as the host styled it, combined dining-room and kitchen, for while in one corner stood a deal table with plates, cups, etc., but no tablecloth, in another stood a small stove, heated by an oil lamp, from which issued puffing and sputtering sounds, and the savoury odours above referred to. Nigel now perceived that although his strange host necessarily spoke a good deal while welcoming OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 75 him and offering him the hospitalities of his abode, he was by no means communicative. On the contrary, it was evident that he was naturally reserved and reticent, and that although polite and gentle in the extreme, there was a quiet grave dignity about him which discouraged familiarity. It must not be supposed, however, that he was in any degree morosely silent. He was simply quiet and undemonstrative, said little except when asked questions, and spoke, alike to Nigel and Moses, in the soft, low, kindly tones with which one might address very young people. Going to the stove he took a coffee-pot therefrom and set it on the table. At the same time, Moses, without requiring to be told, opened the oven and brought forth fried fish, meat of some kind, and cakes of he knew not what, but cared little, for their excellence was unquestionable. During the meal that followed, Nigel ventured as far as politeness permitted—indeed a little further, if truth must be told—to inquire into the circum- stances and motives of his entertainer in taking up his abode in such a strange place, but he soon found that his eccentric friend was not one who could be “pumped.” ~ Without a touch of rudeness, and in the sweetest of voices, he simply assumed an ab- sent manner and changed the subject of discourse, when he did not choose to reply, by drawing at- 76 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE tention to some irrelevant matter, or by putting a counter question which led away from the subject. Nigel also found that his host never laughed and rarely smiled, though, when he did so the smile was so slight as merely to indicate a general feeling of urbanity and goodwill, and it was followed in- stantly by a look of gravity, if not sadness. Alto- gether the guest was much perplexed about the host at first, and somewhat constrained in con- sequence, but gradually he began to feel at ease. Another discovery that he soon made was, that the hermit treated Moses not as a servant, but as if he were in all respects an equal and a comrade. After eating for some time in silence, and having tried to draw out his host without success, Nigel changed his tacties and said— “You were so kind as to speak of me as your guest, Mr. ——Mr. I beg pardon, may I i “My name is Van der Kemp,” said the hermit. quietly. ; “Well, Mr. Van der Kemp, I must tell you that I am quite willing to accept the position for which Moses hired me——” “No, I didn’t,” contradicted the negro, flatly yet very gently, both in tone and manner, for long residence with the hermit had apparently imbued him with something of his spirit. ; “Well, then,” said Nigel, “the position for which OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 77 Moses should have hired some one else. (‘ K’rect now, whispered Moses.) Of course I do not intend to ask for or accept wages, and also, of course, I accept the position on the understanding that you think me fit for the service. May I ask what that service is to be, and where you think of going to?” “The service,” returned the hermit slowly and with his eyes fixed on the floor as if pondering his reply, “is to accompany me as my attendant and companion, to take notes as occasion may serve, and to paddle a canoe.” At this reply our hero almost laughed, but was prevented from doing so by his host asking abruptly if he understood canoeing. “Well, yes. At least Ican manage what in England is known as the Rob Roy canoe, having possessed one in my boyhood.” “That will do,” returned the hermit gravely. “Can you write shorthand ?” “Ican. A friend of mine, a reporter on one of the London dailies, once gave me a few lessons, and, becoming fond of the subject, I followed it up.” “That is well; you did well. It is of immense advantage to a man, whatever his position in life, that he should be able to write shorthand with facility. Especially useful is it in commerce. I know that, having had some experience of com- mercial life.” 78 : BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE At this point in the conversation Nigel was startled by what was to him an absolutely new sensation, namely a shaking or trembling of the whole cavern, accompanied by faint rambling sounds as if in deeper caverns below him. He glanced quickly at his host and at the negro, but to his surprise these remarkable men seemed not to be aware of the shaking, although it was severe enough to cause some of the furniture to rattle. Observing his look of surprise, Moses re- marked, with a benignant though capacious smile,. “Mountain ’s got de mulligrumps pritty bad jist now.” ; We are pretty well accustomed to that,” said the host, observing that Nigel turned to him for an explanation. “No doubt you are aware that this region is celebrated for earthquakes and volcanoes, so much so that the inhabitants pay little attention to them unless they become unusually’ violent: This island of Krakatoa is itself the fragment of an extinct volcano; but the term ‘extinct’ is scarcely applicable to volcanoes, for it is well known that many which were for centuries supposed to be extinct have awakened to sudden and violent activity— ‘quiescent’ might be a more appropriate term.” “Yes,” said Moses, ceasing to masticate for pur- poses of speech ; “ dem ’stinkt volcanoes hab got an okard habit ob unstinkin’ dereselves hereabouts OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 79 when you don’ ’spect it of ’em. Go on, massa. I ax yer pard’n for ’truptin’.” The hermit’s peculiar good-natured little smile played for a moment on his massive features, and then faded away as he continued— “Perhaps you may have heard that this is the very heart of’ the district that has long been recog- nised as the greatest focus of volcanic activity on the globe ?” “T have heard something of the sort,” answered Nigel, “ but I confess that my knowledge is limited and my mind hazy on the subject.” “TI doubt it not,” returned his friend, “for geo- graphical and scientific training in primary schools anywhere is not what it might be. The island of Java, with an area about equal to that of England, contains no fewer than forty-nine great volcanic mountains, some of which rise to 12,000 feet above the sea-level. Many of these mountains are at the present time active (‘ Yes, much foo active? muttered the negro), and more than half of them have been seen in eruption since Java was occupied by Euro- peans. Hot springs, mud-volcanoes, and vapour- vents abound all over the island, whilst earthquakes are by no means uncommon. There is a distinct line in the chain of these mountains which seems to point to a great fissure in the earth’s crust, caused by the subterranean fires. This tremendous crack 80 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE or fissure crosses the Straits of Sunda, and in con- sequence we find a number of these vents—as vol- canic mountains may be styled—in the Island of Sumatra, which you saw to the nor’ard as you came along. But there is supposed to be another great crack in the earth’s crust—indicated by several volcanic mountains—which crosses the other fis- sure almost at right angles, and at the exact point where these two lines intersect stands this island of Krakatoa ! “TI emphasise the fact,” continued the hermit after a pause, “ first, because, although this has been a quiescent volcano since the year 1680, and people have come to regard it as extinct, there are indica-_ tions now which lead me to believe that its energy is reviving ; and, second, because this focus where fissures cross each other—this Krakatoa Island— is in reality part of the crater of an older and much larger volcanic mountain, which must have been literally blown away in prehistoric times, and of which Krakatoa and the neighbouring islets of Varlaten, Polish Hat, Lang Island, and the rest, are but the remnants of the great crater ring. If these rumblings and minor earthquakes, which I have noticed of late—and the latest of which you have just experienced—are the precursors of another ex- plosion, my home here may be rendered untenable.” “ Hi!” exclaimed Moses, who had been listening OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 81 with open mouth and eyes to this discourse, which was obviously news to him, “I hope, massa, he ain’t a-gwine to ’splode to-day—anyhow, not till arter breakfast !” “You must have studied the subject of volcanoes a good deal, I suppose, from what you say,” ebserved Nigel. “Naturally ; living as I do almost on the top of one. My library, which I will show you presently, contains many interesting works on the subject. But come, if you have finished we will ascend the Peak of Rakata and I will introduce you to my sunshine.” He rose and led his guest back to the outer cavern, leaving Moses still busy with knife and fork, apparently meditating on the pleasure of breakfast- ing with the prospect of a possible and immediate explosion. “ In passing through the first chamber, Nigel observed, in a natural recess, the library just referred to. He also noted that, besides stuffed birds and other specimens and sea-shells, there were chisels, saws, hammers, and other tools, besides something like a forge and carpenter’s bench in a side-chamber opening out of the large one, which he had not at first seen—from all which he concluded that the hermit was imbued with mechanical as well as scientific and literary tastes. F 82 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE At the further and darker end of the outer cave there was a staircase, partly natural, and partly improved by art, which led upward into profound darkness. “Let me take your hand here,” said the hermit, looking down upon his guest with his slight but winning smile; “it is a rough and dark staircase. You will be apt to stumble.” Nigel placed his hand in that of his host with perfect confidence, and with a curious feeling— aroused, probably, by the action—of having returned to the days of childhood. The stair was indeed rugged as well as winding, and so pitchy dark that the youth could not have advanced at all without stumbling, unless his host had held him all the way. At last a glimmer of light was seen in the distance. It seemed to in- crease suddenly,-and in a few moments the two emerged from total darkness into dazzling sunshine. When Nigel looked round him he saw that they had gained a plateau, high up on the very summit of the mountain, which appeared to be absolutely inaccessible by any means save that by which they had reached it. “This is what I call my observatory,” said the hermit, turning to his guest. “We have passed right through the peak of Rakata, and reached its northern side, which commands, as you see, a OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 83 view of all the northern part of the island. I come here often in the night to study the face of the heavens, the moon, and stars, and meditate on their mysterious Maker, whose ways are indeed’ wonderful and past finding out; but all which must, in the nature of things, be right.” As this was the first mention that the hermit had made of the Creator, and the reference was one requiring more thought than Nigel had yet bestowed on it, he made no rejoinder. “ Have you studied astronomy, Mr. Roy ?” “No—at least not more of it than was needful for navigation. But pray, sir, do not call me Mr. Roy,” said the youth, with a somewhat embarrassed air. “If I am to be your assistant and familiar companion for two or three months, I hope that you will agree to call me Nigel. Your man has done so already without asking leave !” “T will, on one condition.” “ And that is ——?” “That you also dispense with the ‘ Mr.’ and ‘ sir,’ and call me Van der Kemp.” “ Agreed,” said Nigel, “though it does not seem so appropriate in me as in you, considering the ‘difference of our years.” “Look here,” said the hermit, turning abruptly to a small wooden shed which had hitherto escaped the youth’s observation, so covered was it with over- 84 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE hanging boughs and tropical creeping plants, “ these are my astronomical instruments.” He pointed to a table in the hut on which stood “several telescopes—and microscopes as well—one of the former being a large instrument, certainly not less than six feet long, with a diameter of appa- rently six or eight inches. _ “Here, you see, I have the means of investigating the wonders of Nature in her grandest as well as . her minutest scales. And there,” he added, point- ing to a couple of large reflecting mirrors in strong wooden frames, erected on joints in such a way that they could be turned in any direction,— there you have the secret of my sunshine. One of these mirrors catches the sunshine direct and reflects it ov the other, which, as you see, is so arranged that it transmits the rays down the natural funnel or chimney into the cave. By means of chains connected with the mechanism, and extending below, I can change the direction of the mirrors as the sun changes its place in the sky, without requiring to come up here.” “Very ingenious!” said Nigel; “but how do you manage when the mountain comes between you and the sun, as I see it cannot fail to do during some part of the day ?” “Simply enough,” returned the hermit, pointing to a distant projecting cliff or peak. “On yon OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 85 summit I have fixed four mirrors similar to these. When the sun can no longer be reflected from this pair, the first of the distant mirrors takes it up and shoots a beam of light over here. When the sun passes from that, the second mirror is arranged to catch and transmit it, and so on to the fourth. After that I bid good-bye to the sun, and light my lamp!” Nigel felt an almost irresisttble tendency to smile at this, but the grave simplicity of the man forbade such familiarity. “Look yonder,’ continued the hermit, sweeping one of his long arms towards Sumatra, “in that direction runs the line of volcanic disturbance—the fissure of which I have already spoken. Focus this telescope to suit your sight. Now, do you see the little island away there to the nor’-west ?” “Yes.” “Well, that is Varlaten. I mentioned it when at breakfast. Sweep your glass round to the nor’ard, the little island there is Polish Hat, and you see Lang Island in the nor’-east. These, with Krakatoa, are merely the higher parts still remain- ing above water of the ring or lip of the ancient crater, This will give you some idea what an enormous mountain the original of this old volcano must have been. This island-mountain is estimated to have been twenty-five miles in circumference, and 10,000 to 12,000 feet high, It was blown 86 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE into the air in 1680, and this island, with the few islets I have pointed out, is all that remains of it! Now, cast your eye down the centre of the island on which we stand ; you see several cones of various sizes. These are ancient vents, supposed to be extinct-—_” “But one of them, the one furthest away,” interrupted Nigel, steadying his telescope on the branch of a tree, “seems to be anything but extinct, for I see a thin column of white smoke or steam rising from it.” “That is just what I was going to point out. They call that Perboewatan. It is the lowest peak on the island, about 400 feet high, and stands, I should say, in the very centre of the ancient crater, where are the two fissures I have mentioned. For two hundred years Perboewatan has not smoked like that, and, slight though it is at present, I cannot help thinking that it indicates an impending eruption, especially when I consider that earthquakes have become more numerous of late years, and there was one in 1880 which was so violent as to damage seriously the lighthouse on Java’s First Point.” “Then you have resided here for some time?” said Nigel. * “Yes, for many years,” replied the hermit, in a low, sad tone. “But is it wise in you to stay if you think an OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO, 87 explosion so likely? Don’t you needlessly run considerable risk ?” “T do not fear to die.” Nigel looked at his new friend in surprise, but there was not a shadow of boastfulness or affectation either in his look or tone. “ Besides,” he continued, “the explosion may be but slight, and Perboewatan is, as you see, about four miles off. People in the neighbourhood of the straits and passing ships are so accustomed to volcanic explosions on a more or less grand scale that they will never notice this little cloud hanging over Krakatoa. Those who, like myself, know the ancient history of the island, regard it in a more serious light, but we may be wrong. Come, now, we will descend again and have a ramble over part of the island. It will interest you. Not many men have penetrated its luxuriant forests or know their secrets. I have wandered through them in all directions, and can guide you. Indeed, Moses could do that as well as I, for he has lived with me many years. Come.” Returning to the cavern they found that the active negro had not only finished his breakfast, but had washed the dishes and cleared up the kitchen, so that he was quite ready to shoulder a wallet and a gun when his master bade him prepare for a day in the forest. 88 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE It is not, however, our intention to follow the trio thither. Matters of greater interest, if not importance, claim our attention at present. Let it suffice to say, therefore, that after a most delightful day, spent in wandering amongst the luxuriant tropical vegetation with which the island was densely covered, visiting one of the extinct craters, bathing in one of the numerous hot springs, and collecting many objects of interest to the hermit, in the shape of botanical and geological specimens, they returned in the evening to their cavern-house not only ready but eager for sustenance and repose. OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 89 CHAPTER VIIL PERBOEWATAN BECOMES MODERATELY VIOLENT. THE cave was enshrouded in almost total darkness when they entered it, but this was quickly dispelled, to Nigel’s no little surprise, by the rays of a magni- ficent oil lamp, which Moses lighted and placed on the table in the larger cave. A smaller one of the same kind already illuminated the kitchen. Not much conversation was indulged in during the progress of the supper that was soon spread upon the rude table. The three men, being un- commonly hungry and powerfully robust, found in food a sufficient occupation for their mouths for some time. After supper they became a little, but not much, more sociable, for, although Nigel’s active mind would gladly have found vent in conversation, he experienced some difficulty in making headway against the discouragement of Van der Kemp’s very quiet disposition, and the cavernous yawns with which Moses displayed at once his desire for slumber and his magnificent dental arrangements. 90 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE “We always retire early to rest after a day. of this sort,” said the hermit at last, turning to his guest. “Do you feel disposed for bed ?” “Indeed I do,” said Nigel, with a half-suppressed yawn, that was irresistibly dragged out of him by the sight of another earthquake on the negro’s face. “Come, then, I will show you your berth; we have no bedrooms here,” said the hermit, with a sort of deprecatory smile, as he led. the way to the darker end of the cavern, where he pointed to a little recess in which there was a pile of something that smelt fresh and looked like heather, spread on which there was a single blanket. “Sailors are said to be indifferent to sheets. You won't miss them, I daresay ?” “Not in the least,” returned Nigel, with a laugh. “Good-night,” he added, shaking hands with his host and suppressing another yawn, for Moses’ face, even in the extreme distance, was irresistibly infectious ! Our hero was indifferent not only to sheets, but also, in certain circumstances, to the usual habili- ments of night. Indeed, while travelling in out-of- the-way regions he held it to be a duty to undress but partially before turning in, so that he might be ready for emergencies. On lying down he found his mattress, whatever it was, to be a springy, luxurious bed, and was OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 91 about,to resign himself to slumber when he observed that, from the position in which he lay, he could see the cavern in all its extent. Opening his half- closed eyes, therefore, he watched the proceedings of his host, and in doing so, as well as in speculat- ing on his strange character and surroundings, he became somewhat wakeful. He saw that Van der Kemp, returning to the other end of the cave, sat down beside the lamp, the blaze of which fell full on his fine calm counten- ance. A motion of his head brought Moses to him, who sat down beside him and entered into earnest conversation, to judge from his gestures, for nothing could be heard where Nigel lay save the monoton- ous murmur of their voices. The hermit did not move. Except for an occasional inclination of the head he appeared to be a grand classic statue, but it was otherwise with the negro. His position in front of the lamp caused him to look if possible even blacker than ever, and the blackness was so uniform that. his entire profile became strongly pronounced, thus rendering every motion distinct, and the varied pouting of his huge lips remarkably obvious. The extended left hand, too, with the frequent thrusting of the index finger of the other into the palm, was suggestive of argument, and of much reasoning effort—if not power. After about half-an-hour of conversation, Moses 92 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE arose, shook his master by the hand, appeared to say “ Good-night” very obviously, yawned, and retired to the kitchen, whence, in five minutes or so, there issued sounds which betokened felicitous repose. Meanwhile his master sat motionless for some time, gazing at the floor as if in meditation. Then he rose, went to his book-case and took down a large thick volume, which he proceeded to read. Nigel had by that time dropped into a drowsy condition, yet his interest in the doings of his _strange entertainer was so great that he struggled hard to keep awake, and partially succeeded. “T wonder,’ he muttered, in sleepy tones, “if that’s a f{—fam—'ly Bible he’s reading—or—or—a vol’m o’ the En—Encyclopida Brit——”. He dropped off at this point, but, feeling that he had given way to some sort of weakness, he struggled back again into wakefulness, and saw that the hermit was bending over the large book with his massive brow resting on the palms of both hands, and his fingers thrust into his iron-grey hair. It was evident, however, that he was not reading the book at that moment, for on its pages was lying what seemed to be a miniature or photograph case, at which he gazed intently. Nigel roused himself to consider this, and in doing so again dropped off —not yet soundly, however, for curiosity induced one more violent struggle, and he became aware of OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 93 the fact that the hermit was on his knees with his face buried in his hands. The youth’s thoughts must have become inextri- cably confused at this point, yet their general drift was indicated by the muttered words: “I—I’m glad o’ that—a good sign—an’—an’ it’s not th’ Ency- clop ” Here Morpheus finally conquered, and he sank into dreamless repose. How long this condition lasted he could not tell, but he was awakened violently by sensations and feelings of dread, which were entirely new to him. The bed on which he rested seemed to heave under him, and his ears were filled by sharp rattling sounds, something like—yet very different from— the continuous roll of musketry. Starting up, he sprang into the large cavern where he found Van der Kemp quietly tightening his belt and Moses hastily pulling on his boots, “Sometin’s bu’sted an’ no mistake!” exclaimed the latter. “An eruption from one of the cones,” said the hermit. “I have been for a long time expecting it. Come with us.” He went swiftly up the staircase and passages which led to the observatory as he spoke. The scene that met their eyes on reaching the ledge or plateau was sublime in the extreme, as well as terrific. 94 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE “ As I thought,” said Van der Kemp, in a low tone. “It is Perboewatan that has broken out.” “The cone from which I observed smoke rising ?” asked Nigel. “The same. The one over the very centre of the old crater, showing that we were wrong in sup- posing it to be extinct: it was only slumbering. It is in what vulcanologists term moderate eruption now, and, perhaps, may prove a safety-valve which will prevent a more violent: explosion.” That the cone of Perboewatan was indeed in a state of considerable activity, worthy of a stronger term than “moderate,” was very obvious. Although at a distance, as we have said, of four miles, the glare of its fires on the three figures perched near the top of Rakata was very intense, while explosion after explosion sent molten lava and red-hot rocks, pumice, and dust, high into the thickening air— clouds of smoke and steam being vomited forth at the same time, The wind, of which there was very little, blew it all away from the position occupied by the three observers. “What if the wind were to change and blow it all this way ?” asked Nigel, with very pardonable feelings of discomfort. “We could return to the cavern,” said the hermit. “But what if Rakata itself should become active?” OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 95 It was evident from the very solemn expression on the negro’s face that he awaited the reply to Nigel’s question with some anxiety. “Rakata,” answered the hermit thoughtfully, “although the highest cone, is the one most distant from the great centre of activity. It is therefore not likely that the volcanic energy will seek a vent here while there are other cones between us and Perboewatan. But we shall soon see whether the one vent is likely to suffice. There is undoubtedly no diminution in the explosions at present.” There certainly was not, for the voice of the speaker was almost drowned by the horrible din caused, apparently, by the hurtling of innumerable fragments of rock and stones in the air, while a succession of fiery flashes, each followed by a loud explosion, lit up the dome-shaped mass of vapour that was mounting upwards and spreading over the sky. Vivid flashes of lightning were also seen playing around the vapour-column. At the same time, there began a fall of fine white dust, resem- bling snow, which soon covered the foliage and the ground of all the lower part of the island. The sea around was also ere long covered with masses of pumice, which, .being very light, floated away into the Indian ocean, and these were afterwards encoun- tered in large quantities by various vessels passing through Sunda Straits, 96 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE The Scientific Committee, which ultimately wrote on the details of this eruption in Krakatoa, mention this first outburst as being a phase of moderate activity, similar to that which is said to have been exhibited for some’ months during the years 1680 and 1681, and they added that “the outburst was one of considerable violence, especially at its commence- ment,” that falls of dust were noticed at the distance of three hundred miles, and that “the commander of the German war-vessel Hlizabeth estimated the height of the dust-column issuing from the volcano at 11 kilometres (36,000 feet 01 about 7 miles).” 1 To our hero, however, and to Moses, the outburst seemed anything but “moderate,” and that night as they two sat together in the cave after supper, listening with awe-struck faces to the cannonading and wild musketry going on as it seemed under their very feet, the negro solemnly imparted to Nigel in a low whisper that he thought “de end ob de wurld hab come at last !” Returning at that moment from his observatory, to which he had ascended for a few minutes to view the scene through one of his glasses, Van der Kemp relieved their anxieties somewhat by remarking, in his quiet manner, that there was a distinct 1 See The Eruption of Krakatoa and Subsequent Phenomena, p. 11. (Triibner and Co., London.) OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 97 diminution in the violence of the explosions, and that, from his knowledge and experience of other volcanoes in Java, Sumatra, and elsewhere, he thought it probable they had seen the worst of it at that time, and that none of the other cones would be likely to break out. “T’m glad to hear you say so,” observed Nigel, “ for although the sight is extremely magnificent and very interesting, both from a scientific and artistic point of view, I cannot help thinking that we should be safer away from this island at present—at least while the volcano is active.” The hermit smiled almost pitifully. “I do not apprehend danger,” he said, “at least nothing unusual. But it happens that my business requires me to leave in the course of a few days at any rate, so, whether the eruption becomes fiercer or feebler, it will not matter to us. I have prepara- tions to make, however, and I have no doubt you won't object to remain till all is ready for a start ?” “Oh, as to that,” returned the youth, slightly hurt by the implied doubt as to his courage, “if you are willing to risk going off the earth like a sky- rocket, I am quite ready to take my chance of following you!” “ An’ Moses am de man,” said the negro, smiting his broad chest with his fist, “what’s ready to G a - 98 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE serve as a rocket-stick to bof, an’ go up along wid you!” The hermit made the nearest approach to a laugh which Nigel had yet seen, as he left the cave to undertake some of the preparations above referred to. OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 99 CHAPTER IX. DESCRIBES, AMONG OTHER THINGS, A SINGULAR MEETING UNDER PECULIAR CIRCUMSTANCES. THERE is unquestionably a class of men—especially Englishmen—who are deeply imbued with the idea that the Universe in ‘general, and our world in particular, has been created with a view to afford them what they call fun. “Tt would be great fun,” said an English com- mercial man to a friend who sat beside him, “to go and have a look at this eruption. They say it is Krakatoa which has broken out after a sleep of two centuries, and as it has been bursting away now for nearly a week, it is likely to hold on for some time longer. What would you say to charter a steamer and have a grand excursion to the volcano?” The friend said he thought it would indeed be “capital fun!” We have never been able to ascertain who these Englishmen were, but they must have been men of influence, or able to move men of influence, for they at once set to work and organised an excursion. 100 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE The place where this excursion was organised was Batavia. Although that city was situated in Java, nearly a hundred miles distant from Krakatoa, the inhabitants had not only heard distinctly the explosions of the volcano, but had felt some quakings of the earth and much rattling of doors and windows, besides a sprinkling of ashes, which indicated that the eruption, even in that eruptive region, was of unusual violence. They little imagined to what mighty throes the solid rocks of Krakatoaewere yet to be subjected before those volcanic fires could find a vent. Meanwhile, as we have said, there was enough of the unusual in it to warrant our merchants in their anticipation of a considerable amount of fun. A steamer was got ready; a number of sight- seeing enthusiasts were collected, and they set forth on the morning of the 26th of May. Among these excursionists was our friend Captain David Roy— not that he was addicted to running about in search of “fun,” but, being unavoidably thrown idle at the time, and having a poetical turn of mind—derived from his wife—he thought he could not do better than take a run to the volcano and see how his son was getting along. The party reached the scene of the eruption on the morning of the 27th, having witnessed during the night several tolerably strong explosions, which OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 101 were ‘accompanied by earthquake shocks. It was found that Krakatoa and all the adjoining islands were covered with a fine white dust, like snow, and that the trees on the northern part of the former island and Varlaten had been to a great extent de- prived of their leaves and branches by falling pumice, while those on Lang Island and Polish Hat, as well as those on the Peak of Rakata, had to a great extent escaped—no doubt owing to the pre- vailing direction of the wind. It: was*scon seen that Perboewatan on Krakatoa was the cone in active eruption, and the steamer made for its neighbourhood, landing her party within a short distance of its base. Explosions were occurring at intervals of from five to ten minutes. Each explosion being accompanied by an uncovering of the molten lava in the vent, the overhanging steam-cloud was lighted up with a grand glow for a few seconds. Some of the party, who seemed to be authorities on such matters, estimated that the vapour-column rose to a height of nearly 10,000 feet, and that fragments of pumice were shot upwards to a height of 600 feet. “That’s a sign that the violence of the eruption is diminished,” remarked the young merchant, who was in search of fun, as he prepared to wade ankle- deep in the loose pumice up the slopes of the cone. “Diminished!” repeated our captain, who had 102 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE fraternised much with this merchant during their short voyage. “If that’s what you call diminishin’, I shouldn’t like to be here when it’s increasin’.” “Pooh!” exclaimed the merchant, “ that’s nothing. I’ve seen, at other volcanoes, pieces of pumice blown up so high that they’ve been caught by the upper currents of the atmosphere and carried away in an opposite direction to the wind that was blowing below at the time. Ay, I believe that dust is sometimes blown miles up into the air.” As Captain Roy thought that the merchant was drawing the long bow he made no reply, but changed the subject by asking what was the height of Perboewatan. “Three hundred feet or thereabouts,” replied his friend. “T hope my son will have the sense to clear out of the island if things look like gittin’ worse,” muttered the captain, as an unusually violent explosion shook the whole side of the cone. “No fear of him,” returned the merchant. “If he is visiting the hermit of Rakata, as you tell me, he’ll be safe enough. Although something of a dare-devil, the hermit knows how to take care of himself. I’m afraid, however, that you’ll not find it so easy to ‘look up’ your son as you seem to think. Just glance round at these almost impene- trable forests. You don’t know what part of the + OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO, 108 island he may be in just now; and you might as well look for a needle in a bundle of -hay as look for him there. He is probably at the other end of Krakatoa—four or five miles off—on the South side of Rakata, where the hermit’s cave is supposed to be, for no one seems to be quite sure as to its where- abouts. Besides, you'll have to stick by the ex- cursionists if-you wish to return to Batavia.” Captain Roy paused for a moment to recover breath, and looking down upon the dense tropical forest that stretched between him and the Peak of . Rakata, he shook his head, and admitted that the merchant was right. Turning round he addressed himself. once more to the ascent of the cone, on the sides of which the whole excursion party now straggled and struggled, remarking, as he panted along, that hill-climbing among ashes and cinders didn’t “ come easy to a sea-farin’ man.” Now, nothing was more natural than that Van der Kemp and his guest should be smitten with the same sort of desire which had brought these ex- cursionists from Batavia. The only thing that we do not pretend to account for is the strange coinci- _ dence that they should have been so smitten, and had so arranged their plans, that they arrived at Perboewatan almost at the same time with the excursionists——only about half an hour before them! Their preliminary walk, however, through the 104 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE tangled, almost impassable, forest had been very slow and toilsome, and having been involved in its shadow from daybreak, they were, of .course, quite unaware of the approach of the steamer or the land- ing of the excursion party. “Tf the volcano seems quieting down, ” said Nigel to his host, “shall you start to-morrow ?” “Yes ; by daybreak. Even if the eruption does not quiet down I must set out, for my business presses.” Nigel felt much inclined to ask what his business- was, but there was a quiet something in the air of the hermit, when he did not choose to be questioned, which effectually silenced curiosity. Falling behind a little, till the negro came up with him, Nigel tried to obtain information from him, for he felt that he had a sort of right to know at least something about the expedition in which he was about to act a part. j “Do you know, Moses, what business your master is going about?” he asked, in a low voice. “No more nor de man ob de moon, Massa Nadgel,” said Moses, with an air at once so truthful and so solemn that the young man gave it up with a laugh of resignation. On arriving at Perboewatan, and ascending its sides, they at last became aware of. the approach of the excursion steamer. OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO, 105 “Strange,” muttered the hermit, “vessels don’t often touch here.” ; “ Perhaps they have run short of water,’ suggested Nigel. “Even if they had it would not be worth their while to stop here for that,” returned the hermit, resuming the ascent of the cone after an interven- ing clump of trees had shut out the steamer from view. It was with feelings of profound interest and ‘considerable excitement that our hero stood for the first time on the top of a voleanic cone and gazed down into its glowing vent. . The crater might be described as a huge basin of 3000 feet in diameter. From the rim of this basin on which the visitors stood the sides sloped so gradually inward that the flat floor at the bottom was not more than half that diameter. This floor— which was about 150 feet below the upper edge— was covered with a black crust, and in the centre of it was the tremendous cavity—between one'and two hundred feet in diameter—from which issued the great. steam-cloud. The cloud was mixed with quantities of pumice and fragments of what appeared to be black glass. The roar of this huge vent was deafening and stupendous. If the reader will reflect on the wonderful hubbub that can be created even by a kitchen kettle when superheated, and on the 106 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE exasperating shrieks of a steamboat’s safety-valve in action, or the bellowing of a fog-horn, he may form some idea of the extent of his incapacity _ to conceive the thunderous roar of Krakatoa when it began to boil over. When to this awful sound there were added the intermittent explosions, the horrid crackling of millions of rock-masses meeting in the air, and the bubbling up of molten lava—verily it did not require the imagination of a Dante to see in all this the very vomiting of Gehenna! So amazed and well-nigh stunned was Nigel at the sights and sounds that he neither heard nor saw the arrival of the excursionists, until the equally awe-stricken Moses touched him on the elbow and drew his attention to several men who suddenly appeared on the crater-brim not fifty yards. off, but who, like themselves, were too much absorbed with the volcano itself to observe the other visitors. Probably they took them for some of their own party ‘who had reached the summit before them. Nigel was yet looking at these visitors in some surprise, when an elderly nautical man suddenly stood not twenty yards off gazing in open-mouthed amazement, past our hero’s very nose, at the volcanic fires. “ Hallo, Father!” shouted the one. “Zounds! Nigel!” exclaimed the other. OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 107 Both men glared and were speechless for several seconds. Then Nigel rushed at the captain, and the captain met him half-way, and they shook hands with such hearty goodwill as to arrest in his operations for a few moments a photographer who was hastily setting up his camera ! Yes, science has done much to reveal the mar- vellous and arouse exalted thoughts in the human mind, but it has also done something to crush enthusiasts and shock the romantic. Veracity constrains us to state that there he was, with his tripod, and his eager haste, and his hideous black cloth, preparing to “take” Perboewatan on a “ dry plate”! And he “took” it too! And you may see it, if you will, as a marvellous frontispiece to the volume by the “ Krakatoa Committee ”—a work which is apparently as exhaustive of the subject of Krakatoa as was the great explosion itself of those internal fires which will probably keep that volcano quiet for the next two hundred years. But this was not the Great Eruption of Krakatoa —only a rehearsal, as it were. “What brought you here, my son?” asked the captain, on recovering speech. _ & My legs, father.” - “Don’t be insolent, boy.” “It’s not insolence, father. It’s only poetical licence, meant to assure you that I did not come 108 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE by ’bus or rail though you did by steamer! But let me introduce you to my friend, Mr. He stopped short on looking round, for Van der Kemp was not there. “He goed away wheneber he saw de peepil comin’ up de hill,” said Moses, who had watched the meeting of father and son with huge delight. “But you kin interdooce me instead,” he added, with a crater-like smile. “True, true,” exclaimed Nigel, laughing. “This is Moses, father, my host’s servant, and my very good friend, and a remarkably free-and-easy friend, as you see. He will guide us back to the cave, since Van der Kemp seems to have left us.” “'Who’s Van der Kemp ?” asked the captain. “The hermit of Rakata, father—that’s his name. His father was a Dutchman and his mother an English or Irish woman—I forget which. He’s a splendid fellow; quite different from what one would expect; no more like a hermit than a hermit- crab, except that he lives in a cave under the Peak of Rakata, at the other end of the island. But you must come with us and pay him a visit. He will be delighted to see you.” , “What! steer through a green sea ‘of leaves like that?” said the captain, stretching his arm towards the vast forest that lay stretched out below them, “and on my legs, too, that have been used all OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 109 their lives to a ship’s deck? No, my son. [I will content myself with this lucky meetin’. But, I say, Nigel, lad,” continued the old man, somewhat more seriously, “ what if the Peak o’ Ra—Ra, what’s- ‘is-name, should take to spoutin’ like this one, an’ you, as you say, livin’ under it?” “Ha! das ’zackly what J say,” interposed Moses. “Das what I oftin says to massa, but he nebber answers. He only smile. Massa’s not always so purlite as he might be!” “There is no fear,” said Nigel, “not at present, anyhow, for Van der Kemp says that the force of this eruption is diminishin, 3 “Tt don’t look much like it,” muttered the captain, as the volcano at that moment gave vent to a burst which seemed like a sarcastic laugh at the hermit’s opinion, and sent the more timid of the excursionists sprawling down the cinder-slope in great alarm. “There ’s reason in what you say, father,” said Nigel, when the diminution of noise rendered speech more easy; “and after all, as we start off on our travels to-morrow, your visit could not have been a long one.” “Where do you go first?” asked the captain. “Not sure. Do you know, Moses?” “No; no more ’n de man ob de ‘moon. P’r’aps Borneo. He go dar sometimes.” At this point another roar from the volcano, and 110 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE a shout from the leader of the. excursionists to re- turn on board, broke up the conference. “Well, lad, I’m glad I’ve seen you. Don’t for- get to write your whereabouts. They say there’s a lot o’ wild places as well as wild men and beasts among them islands, so keep your weather-eye open an’ your powder dry. Good-bye, Nigel. Take care of him, Moses, and keep him out o’ mischief if ye cau—which is more than ever I could. Good-bye, my boy.” “ Good-bye, father.” They shook hands vigorously. In another minute the old seaman was sailing down the cinder-cone at the rate of fourteen knots an hour, while his son, setting off under the guidance of Moses towards a different point of the compass, was soon pushing his way through the tangled forest in the direction of the hermit’s cave, OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 111 CHAPTER X. A CURIOUS SEA-GOING CRAFT—THE UNKNOWN VOYAGE BEGUN. Iv was early next morning when Van der Kemp. and his man left their couches and descended to the shore, leaving their visitor enjoying the benefit of that profound slumber which bids defiance to turmoil and noise, however stupendous, and which seems to be the peculiar privilege of healthy infants and youthful seamen. Perboewatan had subsided considerably towards morning, and had taken to that internal rumbling, which in the feline species indicates mitigated indignation. The hermit had therefore come to the conclusion that the outburst was over, and went with Moses to make arrangements for setting forth on his expedition after breakfast. They had scarcely left the cave when Nigel awoke. Feeling indisposed for further repose, he got up and went out in that vague state of mind which is usually defined as “having a look at the weather.” Whether or not he gathered much information from 1 112 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE the look we cannot tell, but, taking up his short gun, which stood handy at the entrance of the cave, he sauntered down the path which his host had followed a short time before. Arrived at the shore, he observed that a branch path diverged to the left, and appeared to run in the direction of a high precipice. He turned into it, and after pro- ceeding through the bushes for a short way he came quite unexpectedly on a cavern, the mouth of which resembled, but was much higher and wider than that which led to the hermit’s home. Just as he approached it there issued from its gloomy depths a strange rumbling sound which induced him to stop and cock his gun. A curious feeling of serio-comic awe crept over him as the idea of a fiery dragon leaped into his mind! At the same time, the fancy that the immense abyss of darkness might be one of the volcanic vents diminished the comic and increased the serious feeling. Ere long the sound assumed the definite tone of footsteps, and the dragon fancy seemed about to become a reality when he beheld a long narrow thing of uncertain form emerging from the darkness. “It must be coming out tail-foremost!” he muttered, with a short laugh at his semi-credulity. Another instant and the hermit emerged into the blazing sunshine, and stood pictured against OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 113 the intense darkness like a being of supernatural radiance, with the end of a long narrow canoe on his shoulder. As Nigel passed round a bush to reach him he perceived the dark form of Moses emerging from the depths and supporting the body of the canoe. “T see you are active and an early riser,” said the hermit, with a nod of approval on seeing our hero. “I almost took you for a Krakatoa monster!” said Nigel, as they came out in front of the cavern and laid the canoe on the ground. “Why, you’ve- got here one of the craft which we in England call a Rob Roy canoe!” ; “Tt is fashioned on the same pattern,” said the hermit, “but with one or two alterations of my own devising, and an improvement—as I think—founded on what I have myself seen, when travelling with the Eskimos of Greenland.” Van der Kemp here pointed out that the canoe was not only somewhat broader than the kind used in England, but was considerably longer, and with three openings or manholes in the deck, so that it was capable of holding three persons. Also, that there was a large rounded mass of wood fixed in front of.the three manholes. “These saddles, as I call them,” said the hermit, “have been suggested to me by the Eskimos, who, instead of wearying their arms by supporting the H 114 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE double-bladed paddle continuously, rest it on the saddle and let it slide about thereon while being used. Thus they are able to carry a much longer and heavier paddle than that used in the Rob Roy canoe, the weight of which, as it rests on the saddle, is not felt. Moreover it does not require nearly so much dip to put it in the water. I have heard of a sort of upright with a universal joint being applied to the English canoe, but it seems to me a much more clumsy and much less effective, because rigid, contrivance than the Eskimo saddle. Inside, under the deck, as I will show you by and by, I have lighter and shorter paddles for use when in narrow rivers, but I prefer the long heavy paddle when traversing great stretches of ocean.” “You don’t mean to say you ever go to sea in an eggshell like that!” exclaimed Nigel in surprise. “Indeed we do,” returned the hermit, “and we are fitted out for longish voyages and rough weather. Besides, it is not so much of an eggshell as you suppose. I made it myself, and took care that it should be fit for the work required of it. The wood of which it is made, although light, is very tough, and it is lined with a skin of strong canvas which is fixed to the planks with tar. This makes the craft watertight as well as strong. The ribs also are very light and close together, and every sixth rib is larger and stronger than the others and OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO, 115 made of tougher wood. All these ribs are bound together by longitudinal pieces, or laths, of very tough wood, yet so thin that the whole machine is elastic without being weak. Besides this, there are two strong oiled-canvas partitions, which divide the canoe into three water-tight compartments, any two of which will float it if the third should get filled.” “Is this then the craft in which you intend to voyage ?” asked Nigel. “Tt is. We shall start in an hour or two. I keep it in this cave because it is near the landing- place. But come, you will understand things better when you see us making our arrangements. Of course you understand how to manage sails of every kind?” “Tf I did not it would ill become me to call myself a sailor,” returned our hero. “That is well, because you will sit in the middle, from which position the sail is partly managed. I usually sit in the bow to have free range for the use of my gun, if need be, and Moses steers.” Van der Kemp proceeded down the track as he said this, having, with the negro, again lifted the canoe on his shoulder. ; A few minutes’ walk brought them to the beach at the spot where Nigel had originally landed. Here a quantity of cargo lay on the rocks ready to be placed in the canoe. There were several small 116 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE bags of pemmican, which Van der Kemp had learned to make while travelling on the prairies of North America among the Red Indians,—for this singular being seemed to have visited most parts of the habitable globe during his not yet very long life. There were five small casks. of fresh water, two or three canisters of gunpowder, a small box of tea and another of sugar, besides several bags of biscuits. There were also other bags and boxes which did not by their appearance reveal their contents, and all the articles were of a shape and size which seemed most suitable for passing through the manholes, and being conveniently distributed and stowed in the three compartments of the canoe. There was not very much of anything, however, so that when the canoe was laden and ready for its voyage, the hermit and his man were still able to raise and carry it on their shoulders without the assistance of Nigel. There was one passenger whom we have not yet mentioned, namely, a small monkey which dwelt in the cave with the canoe, and which, although per- fectly free to come and go when he pleased, seldom left the cave except for food, but seemed to have constituted himself the guardian of the little craft. Spinkie, as Moses had named him, was an intensely affectionate creature, with a countenance of pathetic melancholy which utterly belied his character, for mischief and fun were the dominating OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 117 qualities of that monkey. He was seated on a water-cask when Nigel first caught sight of him, holding the end of his long tail in one hand, and apparently wiping his nose with it. “Ts that what he is doing?” asked Nigel of the negro. “Oh no, Massa Nadgel,” said Moses. “Spinkie nebber ketch cold an’ hab no need ob a pocket- hangkitcher. He only tickles his nose wid ’is tail, But he’s bery fond ob doin’ dat.” Being extremely fond of monkeys, Nigel went forward to fondle him, and Spinkie being equally fond of fondling, resigned himself placidly—after one interrogative gaze of wide-eyed suspicion—into the stranger’s hands. spark was at OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 287 last kindled, but as they were about to apply it to a handful of dry bamboo scrapings, an extra spirt of rain extinguished it. For an hour and more they made ineffectual attempts to strike a light. Even the cessation of the rain was of no avail. “Vat must ve do now?” asked the professor in tones that suggested a wo-begone countenance, though there was no light by which to distinguish it. , “Grin and bear it,” said Nigel, in a voice sugges- tive of a slight expansion of the mouth—though no one could see it. “Dere’s nuffin’ else left to do,” said Moses, in a tone which betrayed such a very wide expansion that Nigel laughed outright. . F “Hah! you may laugh, my yoong frond, bot if zee tigers find us out ‘or zee elephants trample on us, your laughter vill be turned to veeping. Vat is zat? Is not zat vonderful ?” The question and exclamation were prompted by the sudden appearance of faint mysterious lights among the bushes. That the professor viewed them as unfriendly lights was clear from the click of his rifle-locks which followed. “Tt is only phosphoric light,” explained Van der Kemp. “TI have often seen it thus in electric states of the atmosphere. It will probably increase— meanwhile we must seat ourselves on our boxes and 288 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE do the best we can till daylight. Are you there, boys?” This question, addressed to {the bearers in their native tongue, was not answered, and it was found, on a feeling examination, that, in spite of leeches, tigers, elephants, and the whole animal creation, the exhausted porters had flung themselves on the wet ground and gone to sleep while their leaders were discussing the situation. Dismal though the condition of the party was, the appearances in the forest soon changed the pro- fessor’s woe into eager delight, for the phosphor- escence became more and more pronounced, until every tree-stem blinked with a palish green light, and it trickled like moonlight over the ground, bringing out thick dumpy mushrooms like domes of light. Glowing caterpillars 4nd centipedes crawled about, leaving a trail of light behind them, and fire- flies darting to and fro peopled the air and gave additional animation to the scene. In the midst of the darkness, thus made singularly visible, the white travellers sat dozing and nodding on their luggage, while the cries of metallic-toned horned frogs and other nocturnal sounds peculiar to that weird forest formed their appropriate lullaby. ‘But Moses neither dozed nor nodded. With a pertinacity peculiarly his own he continued to play a running accompaniment to the lullaby with his OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 289 flint and steel, until his perseverance was rewarded with a spark which caught on a dry portion of the tinder and continued to burn. By that time the phosphoric lights had faded, and his spark was the only one which gleamed through intense dark- ness. How he cherished that spark! He wrapped it in swaddling clothes of dry bamboo scrapings with as much care as if it had been the essence of his life. He blew upon it tenderly as though to fan its delicate brow with the soft zephyrs of a father’s affection. Again he blew more vigorously, and his enormous pouting lips came dimly into view. Another blow and his flat nose and fat cheeks emerged from darkness. Still another—with grow- ing confidence—and his huge eyes were revealed glowing with hope. At last the handful of com- bustible burst into a flame, and was thrust into a prepared nest of twigs. This, communicating with a heap of logs, kindled a sudden blaze which scattered darkness out of being, and converted thirty yards of the primeval forest into a chamber of glorious light, round which the human beings crowded with joy enhanced by the unexpectedness of the event, and before which the wild things of the wilderness fled away. When daylight came at last, they found that the village for which they had been searching was only T 290 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE two miles beyond the spot where they had en- camped. Here, being thoroughly exhausted, it was resolved that they should spend that day and night, and, we need scarcely add, they spent a considerable portion of both in sleep—at least such parts of both as were not devoted to food. And here the professor dis- tinguished himself in a way that raised him greatly in the estimation of his companions and caused the natives of the place to regard him as something of a demi-god. Of course we do not vouch for the truth of the details of the incident, for no one save him- self was there to see, and although we enter- tained the utmost regard for himself, we were not sufficiently acquainted with his moral character to answer for his strict truthfulness. As to the main event, there was no denying that. The thing happened thus :— Towards the afternoon of that same day the travellers began to wake up, stretch themselves, and think about supper. In the course of conversation it transpired that a tiger had been prowling about the village for some days, and had hitherto success- fully eluded all attempts to trap or spear it. They had tethered a goat several times near a small pond and watched the spot from safe positions among the trees, with spears, bows and arrows, and blow-pipes ready, but when they watched, the tiger did not come, OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 291 and when they failed to watch, the tiger did come and carried off the goat. Thus they had been bafiled. “Mine frond,” said the professor to the hermit on hearing this. “I vill shot zat tiger! I am resolved. Vill you ask zee chief to show me zee place ant zen tell his people, on pain of def, not to go near it all night, for if zey do I vill certainly shot zem—by accident of course!” The hermit did as he was bid, but advised his sanguine friend against exposing himself recklessly. The chief willingly fell in with his wishes. “Won't you tell us what you intend to do, pro- fessor ?” asked Nigel, “and let us help you.” “No, I vill do it all by mineself—or die! I vill vant a shofel or a spade of some sort.” The chief provided the required implement, con- ducted his visitor a little before sunset to the spot, just outside the village, and left him there armed with his rifle, a revolver, and a long knife or kriss, besides the spade. When alone, the bold man put off his glasses, made a careful inspection of the ground, came to a conclusion—founded on scientific data no doubt—as to the probable spot whence the tiger would issue from the jungle when about to seize the goat, and, just opposite that spot, on the face of a slope about ten yards from the goat, he dug a hole deep enough to contain his own person. The soil was sandy 292 : BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE easy to dig,and quite dry. It was growing dusk when the professor crept into this rifle-pit, drew his weapons and the spade in after him, and closed the mouth of the pit with moist earth, leaving only a very small eye-hole through which he could see the goat standing innocently by the brink of the pool. “Now,” said he, as he lay résting on his elbows with the rifle laid ready to hand and the revolver beside it; ‘now, I know not vezer you can smell or not, but I have buried mineself in eart’, vich is a non-conductor of smell. Ve shall see!” It soon became very dark, for there was no moon, yet not so dark but that the form of the goat could be seen distinctly reflected in the pond. Naturally the professor’s mind reverted to the occasion when Nigel had watched in the branches of a tree for another tiger. The conditions were different, and so, he thought, was the man! - “Mine yoong frond,” he said mentally, “is brav’, oondoubtedly, but his nerves have not been braced by experience like mine. It is vell, for zere is more dancher here zan ina tree. It matters not. I am resolf to shot zat tigre—or die!” In this resolute and heroic frame of mind he commenced his vigil. It is curious to note how frequently the caleu- lations of men fail them—even those of scientific OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 293 men! The tiger came indeed to the spot, but he came in precisely the opposite direction from that which the watcher expected, so that while Ver- kimier ‘was staring over the goat’s head at an opening in the jungle beyond the pond, the tiger was advancing stealthily and slowly through the bushes exactly behind the hole in which he lay. Suddenly the professor became aware of some- thing! He saw nothing consciously, he heard nothing, but there stole over him, somehow, the feeling of a dread presence! Was he asleep? Was it nightmare? No, it was night-tiger! He knew it, somehow; he fel¢ it—but he could not see it. To face death is easy enough—according to some people—but to face nothing at all is at all times trying. Verkimier felt it to be so at that moment. But he was a true hero and conquered himself. “Come now,” he said mentally, “don’t be an ass! Don't lose your shance by voomanly fears. Keep kviet.” Another moment and there was a very slight sound right over his head. He glanced upwards— as far as the little hole would permit—and there, not a foot from him, was a tawny yellow throat! with a tremendous paw moving slowly forward— so slowly that it might have suggested the imper- ceptible movement of the hour-hand of a watch, 294 “BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE or of a glacier. There’ was indeed motion, but it was not perceptible. The professor’s perceptions were quick. He did not require to think. He knew that to use the tifle at such close quarters was absolutely im- possible. He knew that the slightest motion would betray him. He could see that as yet he was un- discovered, for the animal’s nose was straight for the goat, and he concluded that either his having buried himself was a safeguard against being smelt, or that the tiger had a cold inits head. He thought for one moment of bursting up with a yell that would scare the monster out of his seven senses— if he had seven—but dismissed the thought as cowardly; for it would be sacrificing success to safety. He knew not what to do, and the cold per- spiration consequent upon indecision at a supreme moment broke out all over him. Suddenly he thought of the revolver! Like lightning he seized it, pointed it straight up and fired. The bullet—a large army revolver one—entered the throat of the animal, pierced the root of the tongue, crashed through the palate ob- liquely, and entered the brain. The tiger threw one indescribable somersault and fell—fell so promptly that it blocked the mouth of the pit, all the covering earth of which had been blown away by the shot, and Verkimier could feel the hairy side of the OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 295 creature, and hear the beating of its heart as it gasped its life away. But in his cramped position he could not push it aside. Well aware of the tenacity of life in tigers, he thought that if the creature revived it would certainly grasp him even in its dying agonies, for the weight of its body and its struggles were already crushing in the upper part of the hole. To put an end to its sufferings and his own danger, he pointed the revolver at its side and again fired. The crash in the confined hole was tremendous—so awiul that the professor thought the weapon must have burst. The struggles of the, tiger became more violent than ever, and its weight more oppressive as the earth crumbled away. Again the cold perspiration broke out all over the man, and he became unconscious. It must not be supposed that the professor’s friends were unwatchful. Although they had pro- mised not to disturb him in his operations, they had held themselves in readiness with rifle, revolver, and spear, and the instant the first shot was heard, they ran down to the sceneof action. Before reaching it the second shot quickened their pace as they ran down to the pond—a number of natives yelling and waving torches at their heels. “ Here he is,” cried Moses, who was first on the scene, “dead as mutton!” 296 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE “What! the professor?” cried Nigel in alarm. “No; de tiger.” “Where’s Verkimier?” asked the hermit as he came up. “I dun know, massa,” said Moses, looking round him vacantly. “Search well, men, and be quick, he may have been injured,” cried Van der Kemp, seizing a torch and setting the example. “Let me out!” came at that moment from what appeared to be the bowels of the earth, causing every one to stand aghast gazing in wonder around and on each other. “ Zounds! vy don’t you let me out?” shouted the. voice again. There was an indication of a tendency to flight on the part of the natives, but Nigel’s asking “Where are you?” had the effect of inducing them to delay for the answer. “ Here—oonder zee tigre! Kveek, I am suffocat!” Instantly Van der Kemp seized the animal by the tail, and, with a force worthy of Hercules, heaved it aside as if it had been a dead cat, reveal- ing the man of science underneath—alive and well, but dishevelled, scratched, and soiled—also, as deaf as a door-post! . OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 297 CHAPTER XXII. A PYTHON DISCOVERED AND A GEYSER INTERVIEWED. “Ir never rains but it pours” is a well-known proverb which finds. frequent illustration in the experience of almost every one. At all events Verkimier had reason to believe in the truth of it at that time, for adventures came down on him, as it were, in a sort of deluge, more or less astounding, insomuch that his enthusiastic spirit, bathing, if we may say so, in an ocean of scientific delight, pronounced Sumatra to be the very paradise of the student of nature. We have not room in this volume to follow him in the details of his wonderful experiences, but we must mention one adventure which he had on the very day after the tiger-incident, because it very nearly had the effect of separating him from his travelling companions. Being deaf, as we have eee to the explosion of his revolver in the hole—but not necessarily dumb, the . professor, after one or two 298 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE _futile attempts’ to hear and converse, deemed it wise to go to bed and spend the few conscious minutes that might precede sleep in watching Van der Kemp, who kindly undertook to skin his tiger -for him. Soon the self-satisfied man fell into a sweet infantine slumber, and dreamed of tigers, in which state he gave vent to sundry grunts, gasps, and half-suppressed cries, to the immense delight of Moses, who sat watching him, indulging in a running commentary suggestive of the recent event, and giving utterance now and then to a few imita- tive growls by way of enhancing the effect of the dreams ! . “Look! look! Massa Nadgel, he’s twitchin’ all ober. De tiger’s comin’ to him now.” “ Looks like it, Moses.” “Yes—an’, see, he grip de ’volver—no, too soon, or de tiger’s goed away, for he’s stopped twichin’— dare; de tiger comes agin !” A gasp and clenching of the right hand seemed to warrant this assumption. Then a yell rang through the hut; Moses displayed all, and more than all his teeth, and the professor, springing up on one elbow, glared fearfully. “T’n’t it awrful?” inquired Moses in a low tone. The professor awoke mentally, recognised the situation, smiled an imbetile smile, and sank back again on his pillow with a sigh of relief. OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 299 After that, when the skinning of the tiger was completed, the dreams appeared to leave him, and all his comrades joined him in the land of Nod. He was first to awake when daylight entered their hut the following morning, and, feeling in a fresh, quiescent state of mind after the excitement of the preceding night, he lay on his back, his eyes fixed contentedly on the grand tiger-skin which hung on the opposite wall. By degrees his eyes grew wearied of that object, and he allowed them to travel languidly upwards and along the roof until they rested on the spot directly over his head, where they became fixed, and, at the same time, opened out to a glare, com- pared to which all his previous glaring was as nothing —for there, in the thatch, looking down upon him, was the angular head of a huge python, The snake was rolled up in a tight coil, and had evidently spent the night within a yard of the professor's head! Being unable to make out what sort of snake it was, and fearing that it might be a poisonous one, he crept quietly from his couch, keeping his eyes fixed on the reptile as he did so. One result of this mode of action was that he did not see where he was going, and inadvertently thrust one finger into Moses’ right eye, and another into his open mouth. The negro naturally shut his mouth with a snap, while the professor opened his z 300 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE with a roar, and in another moment every man was on his feet blinking inquiringly. “Look! zee snake!” cried the professor, when Moses released him. “We must get him out of that,” remarked Van der Kemp, as he quietly made a noose with a piece of rattan, and fastened it to the end of a long pole. With the latter he poked the creature up, and, when it had uncoiled sufficiently, he slipped the noose deftly over its head. “ Clear out, friends,” he said, looking round. All obeyed with uncommon promptitude except the professor, who valiantly stood his ground. Van der Kemp pulled the python violently down to the floor, where it commenced a tremendous scuffle among the chairs and posts. The hermit kept its head off with the pole, and sought to catch its tail, but failed twice. Seeing this the professor caught the tail as it whipped against his legs, and spring- ing down the steps so violently that he snapped the cord by which the hermit held it, and drew the crea- ture straight out—a thick monster full twelve feet long, and capable of swallowing a dog or a child. “Out of zee way!” shouted the professor, making a wild effort to swing the python against a tree, but the tail slipped from his grasp, the professor fell, and the snake went crashing against a log, under which it took refuge. OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 301 Nigel, who was nearest to it, sprang forward, fortunately caught its tail, and, swinging it and himself round with such force that it could not coil up atall, dashed it against a tree. -Before it could recover from the shock, Moses had caught up a hatchet and cut its head off with one blow. The tail wriggled for a few seconds, and the head gaped once or twice, as if in mild surprise at so sudden a finale. “ Zat is strainch—very strainch,” slowly remarked the professor, as, still seated on the ground, he solemnly noted these facts. “Not so very strange, after all,” said Van der Kemp; “I’ve seen the head of many a bigger snake cut off at one blow.” “Mine frond, you mistake me. It is zee vorking of physical law in zee spiritual vorld zat perplexes me. Moses has cut zee brute in two—physical fact, substance can be divided. Zee two parts are still alife, zerfore, zee life—zee spirit—has also been divided !” . “Tt is indeed very strange,” said Nigel, with a laugh. “Stranger still that you may cut a worm in- to several parts, and the life remains in each, but, strangest of all, that you should sit on the ground, professor, instead of rising up, while you philoso- phise. You are not hurt, I hope—are you ?” “T razer zink I am,” returned the philosopher with a faint smile ; “mine onkle, I zink, is spraint.” 302 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE This was indeed true, and it seemed as if the poor man’s wanderings were to be, for a time at least, brought to an abrupt close. Fortunately it was found that a pony could be procured at that village, and, as they had entered the borders of the moun- tainous regions, and the roads were more open and passable than heretofore, it was resolved that the professor should ride until his ankle recovered. We must now pass over a considerable portion of time and space, and convey the reader, by a forced march, to the crater of an active voleano. By that time Verkimier’s ankle had recovered and the pony had been dismissed. The heavy luggage, with the porters, had been left in the low grounds, for the mountain they had scaled was over 10,000 feet above the sea-level. Only one native from the plain below accompanied them as guide, and three of their porters whose inquiring minds tempted them to make the ascent. At about 10,000 feet the party reached what the natives called the dempo or edge of the volcano, whence they looked down into the sawah or ancient crater, which was a level space composed of brown soil surrounded by cliffs, and lying like the bottom of a cup 200 feet below them. It had a sulphurous odour, and was dotted here and there with clumps of heath and rhododendrons. In the centre of this was a cone which formed the true—or modern— OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 303 crater. On scrambling up to the lip of the cone and looking down some 300 feet of precipitous rock they beheld what seemed to be a pure white lake set in a central basin of 200 feet in diameter. The surface of this lakelet smoked, and although it reflected every passing cloud as if it were a mirror, it was in reality a basin of hot mud, the surface of which was about thirty feet below its rim. “ You will soon see a change come over it,” said the hermit, as the party gazed in silent admiration at the weird scene. He had scarcely spoken, when the middle of the lake became intensely black and scored with dark streaks. This, though not quite obvious at first from the point where they stood, was caused by the slow formation of a great chasm in the centre of the seething lake of mud. The lake was sinking into its own throat. The blackness increased. Then a dull sullen roar was heard, and next moment the entire lake upheaved, not violently, but in a slow, majestic manner some hundreds of feet into the air, whence it fell back into its basin with an awful roar which reverberated and echoed from the rocky walls of the caldron like the singing of an angry sea. An immense volume of steam—the motive power which had blown up the lake—was at the same time liber- ated and dissipated in the air. The wave-circles died away on the margin of the 304 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE lake, and the placid, cloud-reflecting surface was restored until the geyser had gathered fresh foree for another upheaval. « Amazing!” exclaimed Nigel, who had gazed with feelings of awe at this curious exhibition of the tremendous internal forces with which the Creator has endowed the earth. “Vonderful!” exclaimed the professor, whose astonishment. was such, that his eyebrows rose high above the rim of his huge blue binoculars. Moses, to whom such an exhibition of the powers of nature was familiar, was, we are sorry to say, not much impressed, if impressed at all! Indeed he scarcely noticed it, but watched, with intense teeth- and-gum disclosing satisfaction, the faces of two of the native porters who had never seen anything of the kind before, and whose terrified expressions suggested the probability of a precipitate flight when their trembling limbs became fit to resume duty. “Will it come again soon?” asked Nigel, turning to Van der Kemp. “Every fifteen or twenty minutes it goes through that process all day and every day,” replied the hermit. ‘ “But, if I may joodge from zee stones ant scoriae around,” said the professor, “zee volcano is not alvays so peaceful as it is joost now.” OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 305 “You are right. About once in every three years, and sometimes oftener, the crops of coffee, bananas, rice, etc., in this region are quite destroyed by sulphur-rain, which covers everything for miles around the crater.” “Hah! it vould be too hote a place zis for us, if zat vas to happin joost now,” remarked Verkimier with a smile. “Tt cannot be far off the time now, I should think,” said Van der Kemp. All this talk Moses translated, and embellished, to the native porters with the solemn sincerity of a true and thorough-paced hypocrite. He had scarcely finished, and was watching with immense ‘delight the changeful aspect of their whitey-green faces, when another volcanic fit came on, and the deep- toned roar of the coming explosion was heard. It was so awesome that the countenance even of Van der Kemp became graver than usual. As for the two native porters, they gazed and trembled. Nigel and the professor also gazed with lively expectation. Moses—we grieve to record it—hugged himself internally, and gloated over the two porters. Another moment and there came a mighty roar. Up went the mud-lake hundreds of feet into the air ; out came the steam with the sound of a thousand trombones, and away went the two porters, head ever heels, down the outer slope of the cone and U 306 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE across the sawah as if the spirit of evil were after them. There was no cause, however, for alarm. The roud-lake, falling back into its native cup, resumed its placid aspect and awaited its next upheaval with as much tranquillity as if it had never known dis- turbance in the past, and were indifferent about the future. That evening our travellers encamped in close proximity to the crater, supped on fowls roasted in an open crevice whence issued steam and sul- phurous smells, and slept with the geyser’s inter- mittent roar sounding in their ears and re-echoing in their dreams. OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 307 CHAPTER XXIIL TELLS OF VOLCANIC FIRES AND A STRANGE RETURN “ HOME.” Tats tremendous introduction to volcanic fires was but the prelude to a period of eruptive action which has not been paralleled in the world’s history. For a short time after this, indeed, the genial nature of the weather tended to banish from the minds of our travellers all thoughts of violence either in terrestrial or human affairs, and as the professor devoted himself chiefly to the compara- tively mild occupation of catching and transfixing butterflies and beetles during the march southward, there seemed to be nothing in the wide universe above or below save peace and tranquillity—except, perhaps, in the minds of beetles and butterflies! Throughout all this period, nevertheless, there were ominous growlings, grumblings, and tremors —faint but frequent—which indicated a condition of mother earth that could not have been called easy. “ Some of the volcanoes of Java must be at work, 308 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE I think,” said Nigel one night, as the party sat in a small isolated wood-cutter’s hut discussing a supper of rice and fowls with his friends, which they were washing down with home-grown coffee. “It may be so,” said Van der Kemp in a dubious tone; “but the sounds, though faint, seem to me a good deal nearer. I can’t help thinking that the craters which have so recently opened up in Krakatoa are still active, and that it may be neces- sary for me to shift my quarters, for my cave is little more, I suspect, than the throat of an ancient volcano.” : “Hah! say you so, mine frond? Zen I vould advise you to make no delay,” said the professor, critically examining a well-picked drumstick. “You see, it is not pleasant to be blown up eizer by the terrestrial eruptions of zee vorld or zee celestial explosions of your vife.—A leetle more rice, Moses if you please. Zanks.” “Now, mine fronds,” he continued, after having disposed of a supper which it might have taxed a volcano’s throat to swallow, “it is viz great sorrow zat I must part from you here.” “Part! Why?” asked the hermit in surprise. “Vy, because I find zis contrie is heaven upon eart’. Zat is, of course, only in a scientific point of view. Zee voods are svarming, zee air is teeming, ant zee vaters are vallo’ing vit life. I cannot tear. OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 309 myself avay. But ve shall meet again—at Telok Betong, or Krakatoa, or Anjer, or Batavia.” It was found that the man of science was also a man of decision. Nothing would persuade him to go a step further. The wood-cutter’s hut suited him, so did the wood-cutter himself, and so, as he said, did the region around him. ‘With much regret, therefore, and an earnest invitation from the hermit to visit his cave, and range the almost un- explored woods of his island, the travellers parted from him; and our three adventurers, dismissing all attendants and hiring three ponies, continued their journey to the southern shores of Sumatra. As they advanced it soon became evident that the scene of volcanic activity was not so far distant as the island of Java, for the air was frequently darkened by the falling of volcanic dust which covered the land with a greyish powder. As, however, at least sixteen volcanoes have been registered in the island of Sumatra, and there are probably many others, it was impossible to decide where the scene of eruption was that caused those signs. One afternoon the travellers witnessed a cata- strophe which induced them to forego all idea of spending more time in examining the country. They had arrived at a village where they found a traveller who appeared to be going about without any special object in view. He spoke English, but 310 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE with a foreign accent. Nigel naturally felt a desire to become sociable with him, but he was very taciturn and evidently wished to avoid intercourse with chance acquaintances. Hearing that there were curious hot-water and mud springs not far off, the stranger expressed a desire to visit them. Nigel also felt anxious to see them, and as one guide was sufficient for the party the stranger joined the party and they went together. The spot they were led to was evidently a mere crust of earth covering fierce subterranean fires. In the centre of it a small pond of mud was boiling and bubbling furiously, and round this, on the indurated clay, were smaller wells and craters full of boiling mud. The ground near them was obviously unsafe, for it bent under pressure like thin ice, and at some of the cracks and fissures the sulphurous vapour was so hot that the hand could not be held to it without being scalded. Nigel and the stranger walked close behind the native guide, both, apparently, being anxious to get as near as possible to the central pond. But the guide stopped suddenly, and, looking back, said to Van der Kemp that it was not safe to approach nearer. Nigel at once stopped, and, looking at the stranger, was struck by the wild, incomprehensible expression of his face as he eontinued to advance. OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 311 “Stop! stop, sir!” cried the hermit on observ- ing this, but the man paid no attention to the warning: Another instant and the crust on which he stood gave way and he sank into a horrible gulf from which issued a gust of sulphurous vapour and steam. The horror which almost overwhelmed Nigel did not prevent him bounding forward to the rescue. Well was it for him at that time that a cooler head than his own was near. The strong hand of the hermit seized his collar on the instant, and he was dragged backward out of danger, while an appalling shriek from the stranger as he disappeared told that. the attempt to succour him would have been too late. A terrible event of this kind has usually the effect of totally changing, at least for a time, the feelings of those who witness it, so as to almost incapacitate them from appreciating ordinary events or things. For some days after witnessing the sudden and awful fate of this unknown man, Nigel travelled as if in a dream, taking little notice of, or interest in, anything, and replying to questions in mere mono- syllables. His companions seemed to be similarly affected, for they spoke very little. Even the volatile spirit of Moses appeared to be subdued, and it was not till they had reached nearly the end of their journey that their usual flow of spirits returned. 312 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE Arriving one night at a village not very far from the southern shores of Sumatra they learned that the hermit’s presentiments were justified, and that the volcano which was causing so much disturbance in the islands of the archipelago was, indeed, the long extinct one of Krakatoa. “T’ve heard a good deal about it from one of the chief men here,” said the hermit as he returned to his friends that night about supper-time. “He tells me that it has been more or less in moderate eruption ever since we left the island, but adds that nobody takes much notice of it, as they don’t expect it to increase much in violence. I don’t agree with them in that,” he added gravely. “Why not.?” asked Nigel. “ Partly because of the length of time that has elapsed since its last eruption in 1680; partly from the fact that that eruption—judging from ap-. pearances—must have been a very tremendous one, and partly because my knowledge of volcanic action leads me to expect it; but I could not easily explain the reason for my conclusions on the latter point. T have just been to the brow of a ridge not far off whence I have seen the glow in the sky of the Krakatoa fires. They do not, however, appear to be very fierce at the present moment.” As he spoke there was felt by the travellers a. blow, as if of an explosion under the house in OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO, 313 which they sat. It was a strong vertical bump which nearly tossed them all off their chairs. Van der Kemp and his man, after an exclamation or two, continued supper like men who were used to such interruptions, merely remarking that it was an earthquake. But Nigel, to whom it was not quite so familiar, stood up for a few seconds with a look of anxious uncertainty, as if undecided as to the path of duty and prudence in the circumstances. Moses relieved him. “Sot down, Massa Nadgel,” said that sable worthy, as he stuffed his mouth full of rice; “it’s easier to sot dan to stand w’en its eart’quakin’.” Nigel sat down with a tendency to laugh, for at that moment he chanced to glance at the rafters above, where he saw a small anxious-faced monkey gazing down at him. He was commenting on this creature when an- other prolonged shock of earthquake came. It was not a bump like the previous one, but a severe vibration which only served to shake the men in their chairs, but it shook the small monkey off the rafter, and the miserable little thing fell with a shriek and a flop into the rice-dish ! “Git out o’ dat—you scoundril!” exclaimed Moses, but the order was needless, for the monkey bounced out of it like indiarubber and sought to hide its confusion in the thatch, while Moses helped 314 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE himself to some more of the rice, which, he said, was none the worse for being monkeyfied ! At last our travellers found themselves in the town of Telok Betong, where, being within forty-five miles of Krakatoa, the hermit could both see and hear that his island-home was in violent agitation ; tremendous explosions occurring frequently, while dense masses of smoke were ascending from its craters, “I’m happy to find,” said the hermit, soon after their arrival in the town, “that the peak of Rakata, on the southern part of the island where my cave lies, is still quiet and has shown no sign of break- ing out. And now I shall go and see after my canoe.” ; “Do you think it safe to venture to visit your cave?” asked Nigel. “Well, not absolutely safe,” returned the hermit with a peculiar smile, “but, of course, if you think it unwise to run the risk of -———” “TJ asked a simple question, Van der Kemp, with- out any thought of myself,’ interrupted the youth, as he flushed deeply. “Forgive me, Nigel,” returned the hermit quickly and gravely, “it is but my duty to point out that we cannot go there without running some risk.” “And it is my duty to point out,” retorted his hurt friend, “that when any man, worthy of the OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 315 name, agrees to follow another, he agrees to accept all risks.” To this the hermit vouchsafed no further reply than a slight smile and nod of intelligence. There- after he went off alone to inquire about his canoe, which, it will be remembered, his friend, the captain of the steamer, had promised to leave for him at this place. “ Telok Betong, which was one of the severest sufferers by the eruption of 1883, is a small town at the head of Lampong Bay, opposite to the island of Krakatoa, from which it is between forty and fifty miles distant. It is built on a narrow Strip of land at the base of a steep mountain, but little above the sea, and is the chief town of the Lampong Residency, which forms the most southerly province of Suma- tra, At the time we write of, the only European residents of the place were connected with Govern- ment. The rest of the population was composed of a heterogeneous mass of natives mingled with a number of Chinese, a few Arabs, and a large fluctu- ating population of traders from Borneo, Celebes, New Guinea, Siam, and the other innumerable isles of the archipelago. These were more or less con- nected with praus laden with the rich and varied merchandise of the eastern seas. As each man in the town had been permitted to build his house according to his own fancy, picturesque irregularity 316 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE was the agreeable result. It may be added that, as zach man spoke his own language in his own tones, Babel and noise were the consequence. In a small hut by the waterside the hermit found the friend—a Malay—to whom his canoe had been consigned, and, in a long low shed close by, he found the canoe itself with the faithful Spinkie in charge. “Don’t go near the canoe till you ‘ve made friends with the monkey,” said the Malay in his own tongue, as he was about to put the key in the door. “Why not?” asked the hermit. “Because it is the savagest brute I ever came across,” said the man. “It won't let a soul come near the canoe. I would have killed it long ago if the captain of the steamer had not told me you wished it to be taken great care of. There, look out! The vixen is not tied up.” He fiung open the shed-door and revealed Bpiniie seated in his old place, much deteriorated in appear- ance and scowling malevolently. The instant the poor creature heard its master’s voice and saw his form—for his features must have been invisible against the strong light—the scowl vanished from its little visage. With a shriek of joy it sprang like an acrobat from a spring-board and plunged into the hermit’s bosom—to the alarm of the Malay, who thought this was a furious attack. OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 317 We need not say that Van der Kemp received his faithful little servant kindly, and it was quite touching to observe the monkey’s intense affection for him. It could not indeed wag its tail like a dog, but it put its arms round its master’s neck with a wondrously human air, and rubbed its little head in his beard and whiskers, drawing itself back now and then, putting its black paws on his cheeks, turning his face round to the light and opening its round eyes wide—as well as its round little mouth—as if to make sure of his identity—then plunging into the whiskers again, and sometimes, when unable to contain its joy, finding a safety- valve in a little shriek. When the meeting and greeting were over, Van der Kemp explained that he would require his canoe by daybreak the following morning, ordered a few provisions to be got ready, and turned to leave. “You must get down, Spinkie, and watch the canoe for one night more,” said the hermit, quietly. But Spinkie did not seem to perceive the ne- cessity, for he clung closer to his master with a remonstrative croak. “Get down, Spunlae,’ said the hermit firmly, “and watch the canoe.” The poor beast had iene learned that Medo- Persic law was not more unchangeable than Van der Kemp’s commands! At all events it crept down 318 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE his arm and leg, waddled slowly over the floor of the shed with bent back and wrinkled brow, like a man of ninety, and took up its old position on the deck, the very personification of superannuated woe, The hermit patted its head gently, however, thus relieving its feelings, and probably introducing hope into its little heart before leaving. Then he re- turned to his friends and bade them prepare for immediate departure. It was the night of the 24th of August, and as the eruptions of the volcano appeared ‘to be getting more and more violent, Van der Kemp’s anxiety to reach his cave became visibly greater. “T have been told,” said the hermit to Nigel, as they went down with Moses to the place where the canoe had been left, “the history of Krakatoa since we left. A friend informs me that a short time after our departure the eruptions subsided a little, and the people here had ceased to pay much attention - to them, but about the middle of June the volcanic activity became more violent, and on the 19th, in particular, it was observed that the vapour column and the force of the explosions were decidedly on the increase.” . “At Katimbang, from which place the island can be seen, it was noticed that a second column of vapour was ascending from the centre of the island, OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 319 and that the appearance of Perboewatan had en- tirely changed, its conspicuous summit having ap- parently been blown away. In July there were some explosions of exceptional violence, and I have now no doubt that it was these we heard in the interior of this island when we were travelling hither, quite lately. On the 11th of this month, I believe, the island was visited in a boat by a government officer, but he did not land, owing to the heavy masses of vapour and dust driven about by the wind, which also prevented him from making a careful examination, but he could see that the forests of nearly the whole island have been de- stroyed—only a few trunks of blighted trees being left standing above the thick covering of pumice and dust. He reported that the dust near the shore was found to be twenty inches thick.” “Tf so,” said Nigel, “I fear that the island will be no longer fit to inhabit.” “I know not,” returned the hermit sadly, in a musing tone. “The officer reported that there is no sign of eruption at Rakata, so that my house is yet safe, for no showers of pumice, however deep, can injure the cave.” Nigel was on the point of asking his friend why he was so anxious to revisit the island at such a time, but, recollecting his recent tiff on thaf sub- ject, refrained. Afterwards, however, when Van der 320 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE Kemp was settling accounts with the Malay, he put , the question to Moses. “T can’t help wondering,” he said, “that Van der Kemp should be so anxious to get back to his cave just now. If he were going in a big boat to save some of his goods and chattels I could understand it, but the canoe, you know, could carry little more than her ordinary lading.” “Well, Massa Nadgel,” said Moses, “it’s my opinion dat he wants to go back ’cause he’s got an uncommon affekshnit heart.” “How? Surely you don’t mean that his love of the mere place is so strong that ” “No, no, Massa 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’ J tink he’d sooner lose his head dan lose dat, for I’ve seed him look at ’em for hours, an’ kiss *em sometimes wen 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. OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 321 “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 Roy felt a more eerie sensation in his breast than he ever remem- bered 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. x 322 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE “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,” 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 Kraka- toa. Nearer than this the steamboat could not take them without going out of her course, but as Van cried Moses as he caught OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 323 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. 324 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE CHAPTER XXIV. AN AWFUL NIGHT AND TERRIBLE MORNING. Ir 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.” OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO, 325 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 tief bin here, massa,” said Moses, looking over the side of the canoe. “I see de boat!” He pointed downwards as he spoke, and on look- ing 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 326 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE 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 sub- limity 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 fascina- tion, 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 OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 327 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. 328 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE 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 out- side 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 THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 329 Of all this the Hermit took no notice, but, hasten- ing into the inner cavern, opened a small box, and took therefrom a bundle of papers and a little ob- ject 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 breast- pocket of his coat and then turned to his companions with a sigh as if of relief. “T 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 voleano—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 330 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE 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.” “JT tink, 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 ob- jection 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?” _ “T 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 ex- plosions 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 semi- circle of a few yards there was a continuous rain of OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 331 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, and Moses—who had taken the precaution to carry up some provisions in a bag from the canoe—proceeded to prepare a meal. “Stummicks must be attended to,’ he murmured to himself as he moved about the cave-kitchen and shook his head gravely. “Collapses in dat region is wuss, a long way, dan ’splosion of the eart’!” Meanwhile, Nigel and the hermit went to examine the passage leading to the observatory. The erup- tion had evidently done nothing to it, for, having passed upwards without difficulty, they finally emerged upon the narrow ledge. The scene that burst upon their astonished gaze here was awful in the extreme. It will be re- membered that while the hermit’s cave was on the southern side of Krakatoa, facing Java, the stair and passage leading to the observatory completely penetrated the peak of Rakata, so that when stand- ing on the ledge they faced northward and were thus in full view of all the craters between them 332 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE and Perboewatan. These were in full blast at the time, and, being so near, the heat, as well as the dust, molten lava, and other missiles, instantly drove them back under the protection of the passage from which they had emerged. Here they found a small aperture which appeared to have been recently formed—probably by a blow from a mass of falling rock—through which they were able to obtain a glimpse of the pandemonium that lay seething below them. They could not see much, however, owing to the smoke which filled the air. The noise of the almost continuous explosions was so loud, that it was impossible to converse save by placing the mouth to the ear and shouting. Fortunately soon after their ascent the wind shifted and blew smoke, fire, and- dust away to the north- ward, enabling them to get out on the ledge, where for a time they remained in comparative safety. “Look! look at your mirrors!” exclaimed Nigel suddenly, as his wandering gaze happened to turn to the hermit’s sun-guides. . And he might well exclaim, for not only was the glass of these ingenious machines shivered and melted, but their iron frameworks were twisted up into fantastic shapes. “Lightning has been at work here,” said Van der Kemp. . It did not at the moment occur to either of them OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 333 that the position on which they stood was peculiarly liable to attack by the subtle and dangerous fluid which was darting and zig-zagging everywhere among the rolling clouds of smoke and steam. A louder report than usual here drew their attention again to the tremendous scene that was going on in front of them. The extreme summit of Perboewatan had been blown into a thousand fragments, which were hurtling upwards and crack- ling loudly as the smaller masses were impelled against each other in their skyward progress. This crackling has been described by those who heard it from neighbouring shores as a “strange rustling sound.” To our hermit and his friend, who were, so to speak, in the very midst of it, the sound rather resembled the continuous musketry of a battle-field, while the louder explosions might be compared to the booming of artillery, though they necessarily lose by the comparison, for no invention of man ever produced sounds equal to those which thundered at that time from the womb of Krakatoa. Immediately after this, a fountain of molten lava at white heat welled up in the great throat that had been so violently widened, and, overflowing the edges of the crater, rolled down its sides in fiery rivers. All the other craters in the island became active at the same moment and a number of new ones burst forth. Indeed it seemed to those who watched 334 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE them that if these had not opened up to give vent to the suppressed forces the whole island must have been blown away. As it was, the sudden generation of so much excessive heat set fire to what remained of trees and everything combustible, so that the island appeared to be one vast seething conflagration, and darkness was for a time banished by a red glare that seemed to Nigel far more intense than that of noonday. It is indeed the partiality (if we may say so) of conflagration-light which gives to it the character of impressive power with which we are all so familiar —the intense lights being here cut sharply off by equally intense shadows, and then grading into dull reds and duller greys. The sun, on the other hand, bathes everything in its genial glow so completely that all nature is permeated with it, and there are no intense contrasts, no absolutely black and strik- ing shadows, except in caverns and holes, to form startling contrasts. “These safety-valves,” said the hermit, referring to the new craters, “have, under God, been the means of saving us from destruction.” “Tt would seem so,” said Nigel, who was too overwhelmed by the sight to say much. Even as he spoke the scene changed as if by magic, for from the cone of Perboewatan there issued a spout of liquid fire, followed by a roar so OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 335 tremendous that the awe-struck men shrank within themselves, feeling as though that time had really come when the earth is to melt with fervent heat! .The entire lake of glowing lava was shot into the air, and lost in the clouds above, while mingled smoke and steam went bellowing after it, and dust fell so thickly that it seemed as if sufficient to extinguish the raging fires. Whether it did so or not is un- certain. It may have been that the new pall of black vapour only obscured them. At all events, after the outburst the darkness of night fell sud- denly on all around. Just then the wind again changed; and the whole mass of vapour, smoke, and ashes came sweeping like the very besom of destruction towards the giddy ledge on which the observers stood. Nigel was so entranced that it is probable he might have been caught in the horrible tempest and lost had not his cooler companion grasped his arm and dragged him violently into the passage—where they were safe, though half suffocated by the heat and sulphurous vapours that followed them. At the same time the thunderous roaring became so loud that conversation was impossible. Van der Kemp therefore took his friend’s hand and led him down to the cave, where the sounds were so greatly subdued as to seem almost a calm by contrast. 336 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE “We are no doubt in great danger,” said the hermit, gravely, as he sat down in the outer cave, “but there is no possibility of taking action to- night. Here we are, whether wisely or unwisely, and here we must remain—at least till there is a lull in the eruption. ‘God is our refuge.’ He ought to be so at all times, but there are occasions when this great, and, I would add, glorious fact is pressed upon our understandings with unusual power. Such a time is-this. Come—we will see what His word says to us just now. To Nigel’s surprise, and, he afterwards confessed, to his comfort and satisfaction, the hermit called the negro from his work, and, taking down the large Bible from its shelf, read part of the 46th Psalm, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.” He stopped reading at the verse where it is written, “Be still, and know that I am God.” Then, going down on his knees,—without even the familiar formula, “ Let us pray ’—he uttered a brief but earnest prayer for guidance and de- liverance “ in the name of Jesus.” Rising, he quietly put the Bible away, and, with the calmness of a thoroughly practical man, who looks upon religion and ordinary matters as parts OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 337 of one grand whole, ordered Moses to serve the supper. Thus they spent part of that memorable night of 26th August 1883 in earnest social intercourse, _ conversing chiefly and naturally about the character, causes, and philosophy of volcanoes, while Per- boewatan and his brethren played a rumbling, illustrative accompaniment to their discourse. The situation was a peculiar one. Even the negro was alive to that fact. “ Ain’t it koorious,’ he remarked solemnly in a moment of confidence after swallowing the last bite of his supper. “Ain’t it koorious, Massa Nadgel, dat we ’re a sottin’ here comf’rably enjoyin’ our wittles ober de mout’ ob a v'licano as is quite fit to blow us all to bits an’ hois’ us into de bery middle ob next week—if not farder ?” “It is strange indeed, Moses,” said Nigel, who however added no commentary, feeling indisposed to pursue the subject. Seeing this, Moses turned to his master. “Massa,” he said. “You don’ want nuffin’ more to-night, I s’pose ?” “No, Moses, nothing.” “ An’ is you quite easy in your mind ?” “Quite,” replied the hermit with his peculiar little smile. “Den it would be wuss dan stoopid for me to Y 338 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE be oneasy, so I’ll bid ye bof good-night, an’ turn in.” In this truly trustful as well as philosophical state of mind, the negro retired to his familiar couch in the inner cave, and went to sleep. Nigel and the hermit sat up for some time longer. © “Van der Kemp,” said the former, after a pause, “T—I trust you won't think me actuated by impertinent curiosity if I venture to ask you about —the—photograph that I think you” “My young friend!” interrupted the hermit, taking the case in question from his breast pocket; “I should rather apologise to you for having appeared to make any mystery of it—and yet,” he added, pausing as he was about to open the case, “I have not shown it to a living soul since the day that—— Well, well,—why should I hesitate? It is all I have left of my dead wife and child.” He placed the case in the hands of Nigel, who almost sprang from his seat with excitement as he beheld the countenance of a little child of appar- ently three or four years of age, who so exactly resembled Kathy Holbein—allowing of course for the difference of age—that he had now no doubt whatever as to her being the hermit’s lost daughter. He was on the point of uttering her name, when uncertainty as to the effect the sudden disclosure might have upon the father checked him. OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 339 “You seem surprised, my friend,” said Van der Kemp gently. “Most beautiful!” said Nigel, gazing intently at the portrait. “That dear child’s face seems so familiar to me that I could almost fancy I had seen it.” He looked earnestly into his friend’s face as he spoke, but the hermit was quite unmoved, and there was not a shadow of change in the sad low tone of his voice as he said— “Yes, she was indeed beautiful, like her mother. As to your fancy about having seen it—mankind is formed in groups and types. We see many faces that resemble others.” The absent look that was so common to the solitary man here overspread his massive features, and Nigel felt crushed, as it were, back into him- self. Thus, without having disclosed his belief, he retired to rest in a very anxious state of mind, while the hermit watched. “Don't take off your clothes,” he said. “If the sounds outside lead me to think things are quieting down, I will rouse you and we shall start at once.” It was very early on the morning of the 27th when Van der Kemp roused our hero. “ Are things quieter?” asked Nigel as he rose. “Yes, a little, but not much—nevertheless we must venture to leave.” 340 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE “Ts it daylight yet ?” “No. There will be no daylight to-day!” with which prophecy the hermit left him and went to rouse Moses. “Massa,” said the faithful negro. “Isn’t you a goin’ to take nuffin’ wid you? None ob de books or tings?” “No—nothing except the old Bible. All the rest I leave behind. The canoe could not carry much. Besides, we may have little time. Get ready ; quick! and follow me.” Moses required no spur. Tlie three men left the cave together. It was so intensely dark that the road could not be distinguished,. but the hermit and his man were so familiar with it that they could have followed it blindfold. ‘On reaching the cave at the harbour, some light was obtained from the fitful outbursts of the volcano, which enabled them to launch the canoe and push off in safety. Then, without saying a word to each other, they coasted along the shore of the island, and, finally, leaving its dangers behind them, made for the island of Java—poor Spinkie sitting in his accustomed place and looking un- commonly subdued ! Scarcely had they pushed off into Sunda Straits when the volcano burst out afresh. They had happily seized on the only quiet hour that the day OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 341 offered, and had succeeded, by the aid of the sails, in getting several miles from the island without receiving serious injury, although showers of stones and masses of rock of all sizes were falling into the sea around them. Van der Kemp was so far right in his prophecy that there would be no daylight that day. By that time there should have been light, as it was nearly seven o'clock on the memorable morning of the 27th of August. But now, although the travellers were some miles distant from Krakatoa, the gloom was so impervious that Nigel, from his place in the centre of the canoe, could not see the form of poor Spinkie—which sat clinging to the mast only two feet in front of him—save when a blaze from Per- boewatan or one of the other craters lighted up island and ocean with a vivid glare. At this time the sea began to run very high and the wind increased to a gale, so that the sails of the canoe, small though they were, had to be reduced. “Lower the foresail, Nigel,” shouted the hermit. “I will close-reef it. Do you the same to the mainsail.” « Ay, ay, sir,” was the prompt reply. Moses and Nigel kept the little craft straight to the wind while the foresail was being reefed, Van der Kemp and the former performing the same duty while Nigel reefed the mainsail. Suddenly there came a brief but total cessation of 342 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE the gale, though not of the tumultuous heaving of the waters. During that short interval there burst upon the world a crash and a roar so tremendous that for a few moments the voyagers were almost stunned ! It is no figure of speech to say that the world heard the crash. Hundreds, ay, thousands of miles did the sound of that mighty upheaval pass over land and sea to startle, more or less, the nations of the earth. The effect of a stupendous shock on the nervous system is curiously various in different individuals. The three men who were so near to the volcano at that moment involuntarily looked round and saw by the lurid blaze that an enormous mass of Kraka- toa, rent from, top to bottom, was falling headlong into the sea; while the entire heavens were alive with flame, lightning, steam, smoke, and the upward- shooting fragments of the hideous wreck! The hermit calmly rested his paddle on the deck and gazed around in silent wonder. Nigel, not less smitten with awe, held his paddle with an iron grasp, every muscle quivering with tension in readi- ness for instant action when the need for action should appear. Moses, on the other hand, turning round from the sight with glaring eyes, resumed paddling with unreasoning ferocity, and gave vent at once to his feelings and his opinion in the sharp exclamation—* Blown to bits!” BLOWN TO BITS.—Pace 342, OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO, 3438 CHAPTER XXV. ADVENTURES OF THE ‘‘ SUNSHINE” AND AN UNEXPECTED REUNION. WE must request the reader to turn back now for a brief period to a very different scene. A considerable time before the tremendous cata- strophe described in the last chapter—which we claim to have recorded without the slightest exag- geration, inasmuch as exaggeration were impossible —Captain David Roy, of the good brig Sunshine, re- ceived the Jetter which his son wrote to him while in the jungles of Sumatra. The captain was seated in the back office of a Batavian merchant at the time, smoking a long clay pipe—on the principle, no doubt, that moderate poisoning is conducive to moderate health ! As he perused the letter, the captain’s eyes slowly opened ; so did his mouth, and the clay pipe, falling to the floor, was reduced to little pieces. But the captain evidently cared nothing for that. He gave forth a prolonged whistle, got up, smote upon his thigh, and exclaimed with deep-toned emphasis— 344 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE “The rascal!” Then he sat down again and re-perused the letter, with a variety of expression on his face that might have recalled the typical April day, minus the tears. “The rascal!” he repeated, as he finished the second reading of: the letter and thrust it into his pocket. “I knew there was somethin’ i’ the wind wi’ that little girl! The memory o’ my own young days when I boarded and captured the poetess is strong upon me yet. I saw it in the rascal’s eye the very first time they met—an’ he thinks I’m as blind as a bat, I’ll be bound, with his poetical reef-point-pattering sharpness. But it’s a strange discovery he has made and must be looked into. The young dog! He gives me orders as if he were the owner.” Jumping up, Captain Roy hurried out into the street. In passing the outer office he left a message with one of the clerks for his friend the merchant. “Tell him,” he said, “ that I ll attend to that little business about the bill when I come back. I’m going to sail for the Keeling Islands this afternoon.” “The Keeling Islands?” exclaimed the clerk in surprise. : “Yes—I’ve got business to do there. I'll be back, all bein’ well, in a week—more or less.” The clerk’s eyebrows remained in a raised posi- tion for a few moments, until he remembered that OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 345 Captain Roy, being owner of his ship and cargo, was entitled to do what he pleased with his own and himself. Then they descended, and he went on with his work, amusing himself with the thought that the most curious beings in the world were seafaring men. “Mr. Moor,” said the captain somewhat excitedly, as he reached the deck of his vessel, “are all the men aboard ? < “ All except Jim Sloper, sir.” “Then send and hunt up Jim Sloper at once, for we sail this afternoon for the Keeling Islands.” “Very well, sir.” Mr. Moor was a phlegmatic man; a self-contained and a reticent man. If Captain Roy had told him to get ready to sail to the moon that afternoon, he would probably have said “Very well, sir,” in the same tone and with the same expression. “May I ask, sir, what sort of cargo you expect there?” said Mr. Moor; for to his practical mind some re-arrangement of the cargo already on board might be necessary for the reception of that to be picked up at Keeling. “The cargo we'll take on board will be a girl,” said the captain. “ A what, sir?” “ A girl.” “Very well, sir.” 346 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE This ended the business part of the conversation. “Thereafter they went into details so highly nautical that we shrink from recording them. An amateur detective, in the form of a shipmate, having captured Jim Sloper, the Sunshine finally cleared out of the port of Batavia that evening, shortly before its namesake took his departure from that part of the southern hemisphere. Favouring gales carried the brig swiftly through Sunda Straits and out into the Indian Ocean. Two days and a half brought her to the desired haven. On the way, Captain Roy took note of the condition of ‘Krakatoa, which at that time was quietly working up its subterranean forces with a view to the final catastrophe; opening a safety- valve now and then to prevent, as it were, pre- mature explosion. “ My son’s friend, the hermit of Rakata, said the captain to his second mate, “will find his cave too hot to hold him, I think, when he returns.” “Looks like it, sir,” said Mr. Moor, glancing up at the vast clouds which were at that time spread- ing like a black pall over the re-awakened volcano. “Do you expect ’em back soon,-sir ?” “Yes—time’s about up now. I shouldn’t wonder if they reach Batavia before us.” Arrived at the Keeling Islands, Captain Roy was received, as usual, with acclamations of joy, but he OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 347 found that he was by no means as well fitted to act the part of a diplomatist as he was to sail a ship. It was, in truth,.a somewhat delicate mission on which his son had sent him, for he could not assert definitely that the hermit actually was Kathleen Holbein’s father, and her self-constituted parents did not relish the idea of letting slip, on a mere chance, one whom they loved as a daughter. “Why not bring this man who claims to be her father here?” asked the perplexed Holbein. “ Because—because, praps he won't come,” answered the puzzled mariner, who did not like to say that he was simply and strictly obeying his son’s orders. “Besides,” he continued, “the man does not claim to be anything at all. So far as I understand it, my boy has not spoken to him on the subject, for fear, I suppose, of raisin’ hopes that ain’t to be realised.” “He is right in that,” said Mrs. Holbein, “and we must be just as careful not to raise false hopes in dear little Kathy. As your son says, it may be a mistake after all. We must not open our lips to her about it.” “Right you are, madam,” returned the captain. “Mum ’s the word; and we ’ve only got to say she’s goin’ to visit one of your old friends in Anjer— which ‘Il be quite true, you know, for the landlady o’ the chief hotel there is a great friend o’ yours, 348 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE and we'll take Kathy to her straight. Besides, the trip will do her health a power o’ good, though I’m free to confess it don’t need no good to be done to it, bein’ A.1 at the present time. Now, just you agree to give the girl a holiday, an’ Ill pledge myself to bring her back safe and sound—with_ her father, it he’s him; without him if he isn’t.” With such persuasive words Captain Roy at length overcame the Holbein objections. With the girl herself he had less difficulty, his chief anxiety being, as he himself said, “to give her reasons for wishin’ her to go without tellin’ lies.” “Wouldn’t you like a trip in my brig to Anjer, my dear girl?” He had almost said daughter, but thought it best not to be too precipitate. “Oh! I should like it so much,” said Kathleen, clasping her little hands and raising her large eyes to the captain’s face. « Dear child!” said the se to himself. Then aloud, “ Well, I’ll take you.” “But I—I fear that father and mother would not like me to go—perhaps.” “No fear o’ them, my girl,” returned the captain, putting his huge rough hand on her pretty little head as if in an act of solemn appropriation, for, unlike too many fathers, this exemplary man con- sidered only the sweetness, goodness, and personal worth of the girl, caring not a straw for other OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 349 matters, and being strongly of opinion that a man should marry young if he possess the spirit of a man or the means to support a wife. As he was particularly fond of Kathleen, and felt quite sure that his son had deeper reasons than he chose to express for his course of action, he entertained a strong hope, not to say conviction, that she would also become fond of Nigel, and that all things would thus work to- gether for a smooth course to this case of true love. . It will be seen from all this that Captain David Roy was a sanguine man. Whether his hopes were well grounded or not remains to be seen. Meanwhile, having, as Mr. Moor said, shipped the cargo, the Sunshine set sail once more for Sunda Straits in a measure of outward gloom that formed a powerful contrast to the sunny hopes within her commander’s bosom, for Krakatoa was at that time progressing rapidly towards the consummation of its designs, as partly described in the last chapter. Short though that voyage was, it embraced a period of action so thrilling that ever afterwards it seemed a large slice of life’s little day to those who went through it. We have said that the culminating incidents of the drama began on the night of the 26th. Before that time, however, the cloud-pall was fast spread- ing over land and sea, and the rain of pumice and ashes had begun to descend. 350 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE The wind being contrary, it was several days before the brig reached the immediate neighbour- hood of Krakatoa, and by that time the volcano had begun to enter upon the stage which is styled by vulcanologists “ paroxysmal,” the explosions being extremely violent as well as frequent. “Tt is very awful,” said Kathleen in a low voice, as she clasped the captain’s arm and leaned her slight figure on it. “I have often heard the thunder of distant volcanoes, but never been so near as to hear such terrible sounds.” “Don’t be frightened, my ducky,” said the cap- tain in a soothing tone, for he felt from the appear- ance of things that there was indeed some ground for alarm. “Volcanoes always look worse when you ’re near them.” “I not frightened,” she replied. “Only I got strange, solemn feelings. Besides, no danger .can come till God allows.” “That ’s right, lass. Mrs. Holbein has been a true mother if she taught you that.” “No, she did not taught me that. My father taught me that.” “What! Old Holbein ?” “No—my father, who is dead,” she said in a low voice, . “Oh! I see. My poor child, I should have understood you. Forgive me.” OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 351 As the captain spoke; a tremendous outburst on Krakatoa turned their minds to other subjects. They were by that time drawing near to the island, and the thunders of the eruption seemed to shake not only the heavens but even the great ocean itself. Though the hour was not much past noon the darkness soon became so dense that it was difficult to perceive objects a few yards distant, and, as pieces of stone the size of walnuts, or even larger, began to fall on the deck, the captain sent Kathleen below. “There’s no saying where or when a big stone may fall, my girl,” he said, “and it’s not the habit of Englishmen to let women come under fire, so you'll be safer below. Besides, you’ll be able to see something of what’s goin’ on out o’ the cabin windows.” With the obedience that was natural to her, Kathleen went down at once, and the captain made everything as snug as possible, battening down the hatches and shortening sail so as to be ready for whatever might befall. “T don’t like the look o’ things, Mr. Moor,” said © the captain when the second mate came on deck to take his watch. “No more do JI, sir,” answered Mr. Moor calmly. The aspect of things was indeed very changeable. Sometimes, as we have said, all nature seemed to be steeped in thick darkness, at other times the fires 352 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE of the volcano blazed upward, spreading a red glare on the rolling clouds and over the heaving sea. Lightning also played its part as well as thunder, but the latter was scarcely distinguishable from the volcano’s roar. Three days before Sunday the 26th of August, Captain Roy—as well as the crews of several other vessels that were in Sunda Straits at the time—had observed a marked though gradual increase in the violence of the eruption. On that day, as we read in the Report of the Krakatoa Com- mittee of the Royal Society, about 1 p.m. the de- tonations caused by the explosive action attained such violence as to be heard at Batavia, about 100 English miles away. At 2 P.M. of the same day, Captain Thompson of the Medea, when about 76 miles E.N.E. of the island, saw a black mass rising like clouds of smoke to a height which has been estimated at no less than 17 miles! And the detona- tions were at that time taking place at intervals of ten minutes. But, terrible though these explosions must have been, they were but as the whisperings “ of the volcano. An hour later they had increased so much as to be heard at Bandong and other places 150 miles away, and at-5 pm. they had become so tremendous as to be heard over the whole island of Java, the eastern portion of which is about 650 miles from Krakatoa. And the sounds thus heard were not merely like OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 353 distant thunder. In Batavia—although, as we have said, 100 miles off—they were so violent during the whole of that terrible Sunday night as to prevent the people from sleeping. They were compared to the “ discharge of artillery close at hand,” and caused a rattling of doors, windows, pictures, and chandeliers. Captain Watson of the Charles Bal, who chanced to be only 10 miles south of the volcano, also com- pared the sounds to discharges of artillery, but this only shows the feebleness of ordinary language in at- tempting to describe such extraordinary sounds, for if they were comparable to close artillery at Batavia, the same comparison is inappropriate at only ten miles’ distance. He also mentions the crackling noise, probably due to the impact of fragments in the atmosphere, which were noticed by the hermit and Nigel while standing stunned and almost stupefied on the giddy ledge of Rakata that same Sunday. About five in the evening of that day, the brig Sunshine drew still nearer to the island, but the commotion at the time became so intense, and the intermittent darkness so profound, that Captain Roy was afraid to continue the voyage and shortened sail. Not only was there a heavy rolling sea, but the water was seething, as if about to boil. “Heave the lead, Mr. Moor,” said the captain, who stood beside the wheel. Zz 354 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE “Yes, sir,” answered the imperturbable second mate, who thereupon gave the necessary order, and when the depth was ascertained, the report was “Ten fathoms, sand, with a ’ot bottom.” “A hot bottom! what do you mean?” “The lead ’s ’ot, sir,” replied the sailor. This was true, as the captain found when he applied his hand to it. “I do believe the world’s going on fire,” he muttered ; “but it’s a comfort to know that it can’t very well blaze up as long as the sea lasts!” Just then a rain of pumice in large pieces, and quite warm, began to fall upon the deck. As most people know, pumice is extremely light, so that no absolute injury was done to any one, though such rain was excessively trying. Soon, however, a change took place. The dense vapours and dust- clouds which had rendered it so excessively dark were entirely lighted up from time to time by fierce flashes of lightning which rent as well as painted them in all directions. At one time this great mass of clouds presented the appearance of an immense pine-tree with the stem and branches formed of volcanic lightning. Captain Roy, fearing that these tremendous sights and sounds would terrify the poor girl in the cabin, was about to look ‘in and reassure her, when the words “Oh! how splendid!” came through the OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 355 slightly opened door. He peeped in and saw Kathleen on her knees on the stern locker, with her hands clasped, gazing out of one of the stern windows. “Hm! she’s all right,” he muttered, softly re- closing the door and returning on deck. “If she thinks it’s splendid, she don’t need no comfortin’! It’s quite clear that she don’t know what danger means—and why should she? Humph! there go some more splendid sights for her,’ he added, as what appeared to be chains of fire’ascended from the volcano to the sky. Just then a soft rain began to fall. It was warm, and, on examination at the binnacle lamp, turned out to be mud. Slight at first, it soon poured down in such quantities that in ten minutes it lay six inches thick on the deck, and the crew had to set to work with shovels to heave it overboard. At this time there was seen a continual roll of balls of white fire down the sides of the peak of Rakata, caused, doubtless, by the ejection of white-hot frag- ments of lava. Then showers of masses like iron cinders fell on the brig, and from that time onward till four o'clock of the morning of the 27th, ex- plosions of indescribable grandeur continually took place, as if the mountains were in a continuous roar of terrestrial agony—the sky being at one moment of inky blackness, the next in a blaze of 356 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE light, while hot, choking, and sulphurous smells almost stifled the voyagers. At this point the captain again became anxious about Kathleen and went below. He found her in the same place and attitude—still fascinated ! “My child,” he said, taking her hand, “you must lie down and rest.” “Oh! no. Do let me stay up,” she begged, entreatingly. “But you must be tired—sleepy.” “Sleepy! who could sleep with such wonders going on around? Pray don’t tell me to go to bed!” It was evident that poor Kathy had the duty of obedience to authority still strong upon her. Perhaps the memory of the Holbein nursery had _ not yet been wiped out. “Well, well,” said the captain with a pathetic smile, “you are as safe—comfortable, I mean—here as in your berth or anywhere else.” _ As there was a lull in the violence of the tinted just then, the captain left Kathleen in the cabin and went on deck. It was not known at that time what caused this lull, but as it preceded the first of the four grand explosions which effectually evis- cerated—emptied—the ancient crater of Krakatoa, we will give, briefly, the explanation of it as con- jectured by the men of science. OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 357 Lying as it did so close to the sea-level, the Krakatoa volcano, having blown away all its cones, and vents, and safety-valves—from Perboewatan southward, except the peak of Rakata—let the sea rush in upon its infernal fires. This result, ordinary people think, produced a gush of steam which caused the grand terminal explosions. Vulcanologists think otherwise, and with reason—which is more than can be said of ordinary people, who little know the power of the forces at work below the crust of our earth! The steam thus produced, although on so stupendous a scale, was free to expand and therefore went upwards, no doubt in a sufficiently effective gust and cloud. But nothing worthy of being named a blow-up was there. The effect of the in-rushing water was to cool the upper surface of the boiling lava and convert it into a thick hard solid crust at the mouth of the great vent. In this condition the volcano resembled a boiler with all points of egress closed and the safety- valve shut down! Oceans of molten lava creating expansive gases below; no outlet possible under- neath, and the neck of the bottle corked with tons of solid rock! One of two things must happen in such circumstances: the cork must go or the bottle must burst! Both events happened on that terrible night. All night long the corks were going, and at last—Krakatoa burst ! 358 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE *-. ‘ In the hurly-burly of confusion, smoke, and noise, no eye could note the precise moment when the island was shattered, but. there were on the morning of the 27th four supreme explosions, which rang loud and high above the horrible average din. These occurred—according to the careful investigations made, at the instance of the Dutch Indian Govern- ment, by the eminent geologist, Mr. R. D. M. Verbeek—at the hours of 5.30, 6.44, 10.2, and 10.52 in the morning. Of these the third, about 10, was by far the worst for violence and for the wide- spread devastation which it produced. At each of these explosions a tremendous sea- wave was created by the volcano, which swept like a watery ring from Krakatoa as a centre to the surrounding shores, It was at the second of these explosions—that of 6.44—that the fall of the mighty cliff took place which was seen by the hermit and. his friends as they fled from the island, and, on the crest of the resulting wave, were carried along they scarce knew whither. As the previous wave—that of 5.30—had given the brig a tremendous heave upwards, the captain, on hearing the second, ran down below for a moment to tell Kathleen there would soon be another wave, but that she need fear no danger. “The brig is deep and has a good hold o’ the water,” he said, “so the wave is sure to slip under OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. . 359 her without damage. I wish I could hope it would ‘do as little damage when it reaches the shore.” As he spoke 4 strange and violent crash was heard overhead, quite different from volcanic explosions, like the falling of some heavy body on the deck. “One o’ the yards down!” muttered the captain as he ran to the cabin door. “Hallo, what’s that, Mr. Moor ?” “ Canoe just come aboard, sir.” “A canoe?” «Yes, sir. Crew, three men and a monkey. All insensible—hallo ! ” The “hallo!” with which the second mate finished his remark was so unlike his wonted tone, and so full of genuine surprise, that the captain ran forward with unusual haste, and found a canoe smashed to pieces against the foremast, and the mate held a lantern close to the face of one of the men while the crew were examining the others. ‘A single glance told the captain that the mud- bespattered figure that lay before him as if dead was none other than his own son! The great wave had caught the frail craft on its crest, and, sweeping it along with lightning speed for a short distance, had hurled it on the deck of the Sunshine with such violence as to completely stun the whole crew. Even Spinkie lay in.a melancholy little heap in the lee scuppers. © 360 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE You think this a far-fetched coincidence, good reader! Well, all we can say is that we could tell you of another—a double—coincidence, which was far more extraordinary than this one, but as it has nothing to do with our tale we refrain from inflicting it on you. Of THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 361 CHAPTER XXVI. A OLIMAX. Turn of those who had tumbled thus uncere- moniously on the deck of the Sunshine were soon sufficiently recovered to sit up and look around in dazed astonishment—namely Nigel, Moses, and the monkey—but the hermit still lay prone where he had been cast, with a pretty severe wound on his head, from which blood was flowing freely. “Nigel, my boy !” “Father!” exclaimed the youth. “Where am I? What has happened ?” “Don’t excite yourself, lad,” said the mariner, stooping and whispering into his son’s ear. “We've got her aboard !” No treatment could have been more effectual in bringing Nigel to his senses than this whisper. “Js—is—Van der Kemp safe?” he asked anxiously. “ All right—only stunned, I think. That’s*him 362 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE they’re just goin’ to carry below. Put ‘im in my bunk, Mr. Moor.” “ Ay ay, sir.” Nigel sprang up. “Stay, father,” he said in a low voice. “She must not see him for the first time like this.” “All right, boy. I understand. You leave that to me. My bunk has bin shifted for'id—more amidships—an’ Kathy’s well aft. They shan’t be let run foul of.each other. You go an’ rest on the main hatch till we get him down. Why, here’s a nigger! Where did you pick him——oh! I re- member. You’re the man we met, I suppose, wi’ the hermit on Krakatoa that day o the excursion from Batavia.” “Yes, das me. But we'll meet on Krakatoa no more, for dat place am blown to bits.” “I’m pretty well convinced o’ that by this time, my man. Not hurt much, I hope?” “No, sar—not more’n I can stan’. But I’s ’fraid dat poor Spinkie’s a’most used up—hallo! what you gwine to do with massa?” demanded the negro, whose wandering faculties had only in part returned. “He’s gone below. All right. Now, you go and lie down beside my son on the hatch. I’ll see to Van der Kemp.” But Captain David Roy’s intentions, like those of OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 363 many men of greater note, were frustrated by the hermit himself, who recovered consciousness just as the four men who carried him reached the foot of the companion-ladder close to the cabin door. Owing to the deeper than midnight darkness that prevailed a lamp was burning in the cabin—dimly, as if, infected by the universal chaos, it were un- willing to enlighten the surrounding gloom. On recovering consciousness Van der Kemp was, not unnaturally, under the impression that he had fallen into the hands of foes. With one effectual convulsion of his powerful limbs he scattered his bearers right and left, and turning—like all honest men—to the light, he sprang into the cabin, wrenched a chair from its fastenings, and, facing round, stood at bay. Kathleen, seeing this blood-stained giant in such . violent action, naturally fled to her cabin and shut the door. As no worse enemy than Captain Roy presented himself at the cabin door, unarmed, and with an anxious look on his rugged face, the hermit set down the chair, and feeling giddy sank down on it with a groan. “T fear” you are badly hurt, sir. Let me tie a handkerchief round your wounded head,” said the captain soothingly. “Thanks, thanks. Your voice is not unfamiliar 364 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE to me,” returned the hermit with a sigh, as he sub- mitted to the operation. “I thought I had fallen somehow into the hands of pirates. Surely an ac- cident must have happened. How did I get here? Where are my comrades—Nigel and the negro?” “My son Nigel is all right, sir, and so is your man Moses. Make your mind easy—an’ pray don’t speak while I’m working at you. I’ll explain it all in good time. Stay, I’ll be with you in a moment.” The captain—fearing that Kathleen might come out from curiosity to see what was going on, and remembering his son’s injunction—went to the girl’s berth with the intention of ordering her to keep close until he should give her leave to come out. Opening the door softly and looking in, he was startled, almost horrified, to see Kathleen stand- . ing motionless like a statue, with both hands pressed tightly over her heart. The colour had fled from her beautiful face; her long hair was flung back; her large lustrous eyes were wide open and her lips slightly parted, as if her whole being had been concentrated in eager expectancy. “What’s wrong, my girl?” asked the captain anxiously. “You’ve no cause for fear. I just looked in to——.” , “That voice!” exclaimed Kathleen, with some- thing of awe in her tones—“Oh! I’ve heard it so often in my dreams.” OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO, 365 “Hush! sh! my girl,” said the captain in a low tone, looking anxiously round at the wounded man. But his precautions were unavailing,—Van der Kemp had also heard a voice which he thought had long been silent in death. The girl’s. expression was almost repeated in his face. Before the well- meaning mariner could decide what to do, Kathleen brushed lightly past him, and stood in the cabin gazing as if spell-bound at the hermit. “Winnie!” he whispered, as if scarcely daring to utter the name. “Father !” She extended both hands towards him as she spoke. Then, with a piercing shriek, she staggered backward, and would have fallen had not the captain caught her and let her gently down. Van der Kemp vaulted the table, fell on his knees beside her, and, raising her light form, clasped her to his heart, just as Nigel and Moses, alarmed by the scream, sprang into the cabin. “Come, come; away wi’ you—you stoopid gram- pusses!” cried the captain, pushing the intruders out of the cabin, following them, and closing the door behind him. “This is no place for bunglers like you an’ me. We might have known that natur’ would have her way, an’ didn’t need no help from the like o’ us. Let’s on deck. There’s enough work there to look after that’s better suited to us.” 366 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE Truly there was enough—and more than enough —to claim the most anxions attention of all who were on board of the Sunshine that morning, for hot mud was still falling in showers on the deck, and the thunders of the great volcano were still shaking heaven, earth, and sea. To clear the decks and sails of mud occupied every one for some time so earnestly that they failed ‘to notice at first that the hermit had come on deck, found a shovel, and was working away like the rest of them. The frequent and prolonged blazes of intense light that ever and anon banished the dark- ness showed that on his face there sat an expression of calm, settled, triumphant joy, which was strangely mingled with a look of quiet humility. “T thank God for this,” said Nigel, going forward when he observed him and grasping his hand. “You knew it?” exclaimed the hermit in sur- prise. “Yes. I knew it—indeed, helped to bring you together, but did not dare to tell you till I was quite sure. I had hoped to have you meet in very different circumstances.” “Tt is not in man that walketh to direct his steps, ” returned the hermit reverently. “God bless you, Nigel. If you have even aimed at bringing this about, I owe you more than my life.” “You must have lost a good deal of blood, Van OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 367 der Kemp. Are you much hurt?” asked Nigel, as he observed the bandage round his friend’s head. “Somewhat. Not much, I hope—but joy, as well as blood, gives strength, Nigel.” A report from a man who had just been ordered to take soundings induced the captain at this time to lay-to. “Tt seems to me,” he said to Nigel and the hermit who stood close beside him, “that we are getting too near shore. But in cases o’ this kind the bottom o’ the sea itself can’t be depended on.” “What part of the shore are we near, d’ you think, father ?” “Stand by to let go the anchor!” roared the ' captain, instead of answering the question. “ Ay, ay, sir,” replied the second mate, whose cool, sing-song, business-like tone at such a moment actually tended to inspire a measure of confidence in those around him. Another moment, and the rattling chain caused a tremor through the vessel, which ceased when the anchor touched bottom, and they rode head to wind. Coruscations of bluish light seemed to play about the masts, and balls of electric fire tipped the yards, throwing for a short time a ghastly sheen over the ship and crew, for the profound darkness had again settled down, owing, no doubt, to another choking of the Krakatoa vent. 368 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE Before the light referred to went out, Moses was struck violently on the chest by something soft, which caused him to stagger. It was Spinkie! In the midst of the unusual horrors that surrounded him, while clinging to the unfamiliar mizzen shrouds on which in desperation the poor monkey had found a temporary refuge, the ‘electric fire showed him the dark figure of his old familiar friend standing not far off. With a shriek of not quite hopeless despair, and an inconceivable bound, Spinkie launched himself into space. His early training in the forest stood him in good stead at that crisis! As already said he hit the mark fairly, and clung to Moses with a tenacity that was born of mingled love and desperation. Finding that nothing short of cruelty would unfix his little friend, Moses stuffed him inside the breast of his cotton shirt. In this haven of rest the monkey heaved a sigh of profound contentment, folded his hands on his bosom, and meekly went to sleep. Two of the excessively violent paroxysms of the voleano, above referred to, had by that time taken place, but the third, and worst—that which occurred about 10 4.m.—was yet in store for them, though they knew it not, and a lull in the roar, accompanied by thicker darkness than ever, was its precursor. There was not, however, any lull in the violence of the wind. “T don't like these lulls,” said Captain Roy to the OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 369 hermit, as they stood close to the binnacle, in the feeble light of its lamp. “What is that striking against our sides, Mr. Moor?” “Looks like floating pumice, sir,” answered the second mate, “and I think I see palm-trees amongst it.” “ Ay, I thought so, we must be close to land,” said the captain. “We can’t be far from Anjer, and I fear the big waves that have already passed us have done some damage. Lower a lantern over the side, —no, fetch an empty tar-barrel and let’s have a flare. That will enable us to see things better.” While the barrel was being fastened to a spar so as to be thrust well out beyond the side of the brig, Van der Kemp descended the companion and opened the cabin door. “Come up now, Winnie, darling.” “ Yes, father,” was the reply, as the poor girl, who had been anxiously awaiting the summons, glided out and clasped her father’s arm with both hands. “ Are things quieting down?” “They are, a little. It may be temporary, but— Our Father directs it all.” “True, father. I’m so glad of that!” “Mind the step, we shall have more light on deck. There is a friend there who has just told me he met you on the Cocos-Keeling Island, Nigel Roy ;—you start, Winnie ?” 2A 370 BLOWN To BITS, A TALE “Y—yes, father. I am so surprised, for it is hds father who sails this ship! And I cannot imagine how he or you came on board.” “Well, I was going to say that I believe it is partly through Nigel that you and I have been brought together, but there is mystery about it that I don’t yet understand; much has to be explained, and this assuredly is not the time or place. Here, Nigel, is your old Keeling friend.” “ Ay—friend! humph!” said old Roy softly to himself. “My dear—child!” said young Roy, paternally, to the girl as he grasped her hand. “I cannot tell you how thankful I am that this has been brought about, and—and that Z have had some little hand in it.” “There’s more than pumice floating about in the sea, sir,? said Mr. Moor, coming aft at the moment and speaking to the captain in a low tone. “You'd better send the young lady below—or get some one to take up her attention just now.” “Here, Nigel. Sit down under the lee of the companion, an’ tell Kathy how this all came about,” said the captain, promptly, as if issuing nautical orders. “I want you here, Van der Kemp.” So saying, the captain, followed by the hermit, went with the second mate to the place where the flaming tar-barrel was casting a lurid glare upon the troubled sea, OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 371 CHAPTER XXVIL ‘“BLOWN TO BITS.” Tue sight that met their eyes was well calculated to shock and sadden men of much less tender feeling than Van der Kemp and Captain Roy. The water had assumed an appearance of inky blackness, and large masses of pumice were floating past, among which were numerous dead bodies of men, women, and children, intermingled with riven trees, fences, and other wreckage from the land, showing that the two great. waves which had already passed under the vessel had caused terrible devastation on some parts of the shore. To add to the horror of the scene large sea-snakes were seen swimming wildly about, as if seeking to escape from the novel dangers that surrounded them. The sailors looked on in awe-stricken silence for some time, “P’raps some of ’em may be alive yet pered one. “Couldn’t we lower a boat?” “Impossible in such a sea,” said the captain, who 1” whis- 372 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE overheard the remark. “ Besides, no life could exist there.” “Captain Roy,” said Van der Kemp earnestly, “let me advise you to get your foresail ready to hoist at a moment's notice, and let them stand by to cut the cable.” “Why so? There seems no need at present for such strong measures.” “ You don’t understand volcanoes as I do,” returned the hermit. “This lull will only last until the im- prisoned fires overcome the block in the crater, and the longer it lasts the worse will be the explosion: From my knowledge of the coast I feel sure that we are close to the town of Anjer. If another wave like the last comes while we are here, it will not slip under your brig like the last one. It will teat her from her anchor and hurl us all to destruction. You have but one chance; that is, to cut the cable and run in on the top of it—a poor chance at the best, but if God wills, we shall escape.” “If we are indeed as near shore as you think,” said the captain, “I know what you say must be true, for in shoal water such a wave will surely carry all before it. But are you certain there will be another explosion ?” “No man can be sure of that. If the last explosion emptied the crater there will be no more. If it did not, another explosion is certain, All I OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 373 ‘advise is that you should be ready for whatever is coming, and ready to take your only chance,” “Right you are, sir. Send men to be ready to cut the cable, Mr. Moor. And stand by the top- sail halyards.” “ Ay, ay, sir.” During the anxious minutes that followed, the hermit rejoined Winnie and Nigel on the quarter- deck, and conversed with the latter in a low voice, while he drew the former to his side with his strong arm. Captain Roy himself grasped the wheel and the men stood at their various stations ready for action. “Let no man act without orders, whatever happens,” said the captain in a deep powerful voice which was heard over the whole ship, for the lull that we have mentioned extended in some degree to the gale as well as to the volcano. Every one felt that some catastrophe was pending. “Winnie, darling,” said the hermit tenderly, as he bent down to see the sweet face that had been restored to him. “I greatly fear that there is sure to be another explosion, and it may be His will that we shall perish, but comfort yourself with the certainty that no hair of your dear head can fall without His permission—and in any event He will not fail us.” “TI know it, father. I have no fear—at least, only a little!” 374 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE “ Nigel,” said the hermit, “stick close to us if you can. It may be that, if anything should befall me, your strong arm may succour Winnie; mine has lost somewhat of its vigour,” he whispered. “Trust me—nothing but death shall sunder us,” said the anxious youth in a burst of enthusiasm. It seemed as if’ death were indeed to be the immediate portion of all on board the Sunshine, for a few minutes later there came a crash, followed by a spout of smoke, fire, steam, and molten lava, compared to which all that had gone before seemed insignificant ! The crash was indescribable! As we have said elsewhere, the sound of it was heard many hundreds of miles from the seat of the volcano, and its effects were seen and felt right round the world. The numerous vents which had previously been noticed on Krakatoa must at that moment have been blown into one, and the original crater of the old voleano—said to have been about six miles in diameter—must have resumed its destructive work. All the eye-witnesses who were near the spot at the time, and sufficiently calm to take note of the terrific events of that morning, are agreed as to the splendour of the electrical phenomena displayed during this paroxysmal outburst. One who, at the time, was forty miles distant speaks of the great vapour-cloud looking “like an immense wall or OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO, 375 blood-red curtain with edges of all shades of yellow, and bursts of forked lightning at times rushing like large serpents through the air.” Another says that “ Krakatoa appeared to be alight with flicker- ing flames rising behind a dense black cloud.” A third recorded that “the lightning struck the main- mast conductor five or six times,” and that “the mud-rain which covered the decks was phosphor- escent, while the rigging presented the appearance of St. Elmo’s fire.” It may be remarked here, in passing, that giant steam-jets rushing through the orifices of the earth’s crust constitute an enormous hydro-electric engine ; and the friction of ejected materials striking against each other in ascending and descending also gener- ates electricity, which accounts to some extent for the electrical condition of the atmosphere. In these final and stupendous outbursts the vol- cano was expending its remaining force in breaking up and ejecting the solid Java which constituted its framework, and not in merely vomiting forth the lava-froth, or pumice, which had characterised the earlier stages of the eruption. In point of fact—as was afterwards clearly ascertained by careful sound- ings and estimates, taking the average height of the missing portion at 700 feet above water, and the depth at 300 feet below it—two-thirds of the island were blown entirely off the face of the earth. The 376 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE mass had covered an area of nearly six miles, and is -estimated as being equal to 14 cubic miles of solid matter which, as Moses expressed it, was blown to bits ! If this had been all, it would have been enough to claim the attention and excite the wonder of the intelligent world—but this was not nearly all, as we shall see, for saddest of all the incidents connected with the eruption is the fact that upwards of thirty- six thousand human beings lost their lives, The manner in which that terrible loss occurred shall be shown by the future adventures of the Sunshine. OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 377 CHAPTER XXVIII THE FATE OF THE ‘‘ SUNSHINE.” StunnepD at first, for a few minutes, by the extreme violence of the explosion, no one on board the Sunshine spoke, though each man stood at his post ready to act. “ Strange,” said the captain atlast. “There seems to be no big wave this time.” “That only shows that we are not as near the island as we thought. But it won’t be long of —— See! There it comes,” said the hermit. “Now, Winnie, cling to my arm and put your trust in God.” Nigel, who had secured a life-buoy, moved close to the girl’s side, and looking anxiously out ahead saw a faint line of foam in the thick darkness which had succeeded the explosion. Already the distant roar of the billow was heard, proving that it had begun to break. “The wind comes with it,” said Van der Kemp. “Stand by!” cried the captain, gazing intently over the side. 878 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE Next moment came the sharp order to hoist the foretopsail and jib, soon followed by “Cut the cable !” There was breeze enough to swing the vessel quickly round. In a few seconds her stern was presented to the coming wave, and her bow cleft the water as she rushed upon what every one now knew was her doom. To escape the great wave was no part of the captain’s plan. To have reached the shore before the wave would have been fatal to all. Their only hope lay in the possibility of riding in on the top of it, and the great danger was that they should be unable to rise to it stern first when it came up, or that they should turn broadside on and be rolled over. They had not long to wait. The size of the wave, before it came near enough to be seen, was indicated by its solemn, deep-toned, ever-increasing roar. The captain stood at the wheel himself, guiding the brig and glancing back from time to time uneasily. Suddenly the voleano gave vent to its fourth and final explosion. It was not so violent as its predecessors had been, though more so than any that had occurred on the day before, and the light of it showed them the full terrors of their situation, for it revealed the mountains of Java—apparently OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 379 quite close in front, though in reality at a con- siderable distance—with a line of breakers beating white on the shore, But astern of them was the most appalling sight, for there, rushing on with awful speed and a sort of hissing roar, came the monstrous wave, emerging, as it were, out of thick darkness, like a mighty wall of water with a foaming white crest, not much less—according to an average of the most reliable estimates—than 100 feet high. Well might the seamen blanch, for never before in all their varied experience had they seen the like of that. On it came with the unwavering force of Fate. To the eye of Captain Roy it appeared that up its huge towering side no vessel made by mortal man could climb. But the captain had too often stared death in the face to be unmanned by the prospect now. Steadily he steered the vessel straight on, and in a quiet voice said— “Lay hold of something firm—every man!” The warning was well timed. In the amazement, if not fear, caused by the unwonted sight, some had neglected the needful precaution. As the billow came on, the bubbling, leaping, and seething of its crest was apparent both to eye and ear. Then the roar became tremendous. “Darling Winnie,” said Nigel at that moment, “T will die for you or with you!” 380 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE The poor girl heard, but no sign of appreciation moved her pale face as she gazed up at the approach- ing chaos of waters. Next moment the brig seemed to stand on its bows. Van der Kemp had placed his daughter against the mast, and, throwing his long arms round both, held on. Nigel, close to them, had grasped a handful of ropes, and every one else was holding on for life. Another moment and the brig rose as if it were being ‘tossed up to the heavens. Immediately thereafter it resumed its natural position in a perfect wilderness of foam. They were on the summit of the great wave, which was so large that its crest seemed like a broad, rounded mass of tumbling snow with blackness before and behind, while the roar of the tumult was deafening. The brig rushed onward at a speed which she had never before equalled even in the fiercest gale—tossed hither and ‘ thither by the leaping foam, yet always kept going straight onward by the expert steering of her captain. “Come aft—all of you!” he shoutea, when it was evident that the vessel was being borne surely forward on the wave’s crest. “The masts will go- for certain when we strike.” The danger of being entangled in the falling spars and cordage was so obvious that every one except the hermit and Nigel obeyed. OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 381 “Here, Nigel,” gasped the former. “I—I’ve— lost blood—faint |” Our hero at once saw that Van der Kemp, fainting from previous loss of blood, coupled with exertion, was unable to do anything but hold on. Indeed, he failed even in that, and would have fallen to the deck had Nigel not caught him by the arm. “Can you run aft, Winnie ?” said Nigel anxiously. “Yes!” said the girl, at once understanding the situation and darting to the wheel, of which and of Captain Roy she laid firm hold, while Nigel lifted the hermit in his arms and staggered to the same spot. Winnie knelt beside him immediately, and, forgetting for the moment all the horrors around her, busied herself in replacing the bandage which had been loosened from his head. “Oh! Mr, Roy, save him !—save him!” cried the poor child, appealing in an agony to Nigel, for she felt instinctively that when the crash came her father would be utterly helpless even to save him- self, Nigel had barely time to answer when a wild shout from the crew caused him to start up and look round. A flare from the volcano had cast a red light over the bewildering scene, and revealed the fact that the brig was no longer above the ocean’s bed, but was passing in its wild career right through, or rather over, the demolished town of 382 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE Anjer. A few of the houses that had been left standing by the previous waves were being swept— hurled—away by this one, but the mass of rolling, rushing, spouting water was so deep, that the vessel had as yet struck nothing save the tops of some palm-trees which bent their heads like straws before the flood. Even in the midst of the amazement, alarm, and anxiety caused by the situation, Nigel could not help wondering that in this final and complete destruction of the town no sign of struggling human beings should be visible. He forgot at the moment, what was terribly proved afterwards, that the first waves had swallowed up men, women, and children by hundreds, and that the few who survived had fled to the hills, leaving nothing for the larger wave to do but complete the work of devastation on inanimate objects. Ere the situation had been well realised the volcanic fires went down again, and left the world, for over a hundred sur- rounding miles, in opaque darkness. Only the humble flicker of the binnacle light, like a trusty sentinel on duty, continued to shed its feeble rays on a few feet of the deck, and showed that the compass at least was still faithful to the pole! Then another volcanic outburst revealed the fact that the wave which carried them was thundering on in the direction of a considerable cliff or OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 383 precipice—not indeed quite straight towards it, but sufficiently so to render escape doubtful. At the same time a swarm of terror-stricken people were seen flying towards this cliff and clambering up its steep sides. They were probably some of the more courageous of the inhabitants who had summoned courage to return to their homes after the passage of the second wave. Their shrieks and cries could be heard above even the roaring of the water and the detonations of the voleano. “God spare us!” exclaimed poor Winnie, whose trembling form was now partially supported by Nigel. As she spoke darkness again obscured everything, and they could do naught but listen to the terrible sounds—and pray. On—on went the Sunshine, in the midst of wreck and ruin, on this strange voyage over land and water, until a check was felt. It was not a crash as had been anticipated, and as might have naturally been expected, neither was it an abrupt stoppage. There was first a hissing, scraping sound against the vessel’s sides, then a steady checking— we might almost say a hindrance to progress—not violent, yet so very decided that the rigging could not bear the strain. One and another of the back- stays parted, the foretopsail burst with a cannon- 384 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE like report, after which a terrible rending sound, followed by an indescribable crash, told that both masts had gone by the board. Then all was comparatively still—comparatively we say, for water still hissed and leaped beneath them like a rushing river, though it no longer roared, and the wind blew in unfamiliar strains and laden with unwonted odours. At that moment another outburst of Krakatoa revealed the fact that the great wave had borne the brig inland for upwards of a mile, and left her imbedded in a thick grove of cocoa-nut palms! OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO, 385 CHAPTER XXIX. TELLS CHIEFLY OF THE WONDERFUL EFFECTS OF THIS ERUPTION ON THE WORLD AT LARGE, THE great explosions of that morning had done more damage and had achieved results more astounding than lies in the power of language adequately to describe, or of history to parallel. Let us take a glance at this subject in passing. An inhabitant of Anjer—owner of a hotel, a ship-chandler’s store, two houses, and a dozen boats —went down to the beach about six on the morning of that fateful 27th of August. He had naturally been impressed by the night of the 26th, though, accustomed as he was to volcanic eruptions, he felt no apprehensions as to the safety of the town; He went to look to the moorings of his boats, leaving his family of seven behind him. While engaged in this work he observed a wave of immense size approaching. He leaped into one of his boats, which was caught up by the wave and swept inland, carrying its owner there in safety. But this was the wave that sealed the doom of the 2B 386 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE town and most of its inhabitants, including the hotel-keeper’s family and all that he possessed. This is one only out of thousands of cases of bereavement and destruction. A lighthouse-keeper was seated in his solitary watch-tower, speculating, doubtless, on the probable continuance of such a violent outbreak, while his family and mates—accustomed to sleep in the midst of elemental war—were resting peacefully in the rooms below, when one of the mighty waves suddenly appeared, thundered past, and swept the lighthouse with all its inhabitants away. This shows but one of the many disasters to lighthouses in Sunda Straits. A Dutch man-of-war—the Berouw—was lying at anchor in Lampong Bay, fifty miles from Krakatoa. The great wave came, tore it from its anchorage, and carried it—like the vessel of our friend David Roy—nearly two miles inland! Masses of coral of immense size and weight were carried four miles inland by the same wave. The river at Anjer was choked up; the conduit which used to carry water into the place was destroyed, and the town itself was laid in ruins. But these are only a few of the incidents of the great catastrophe. Who can conceive, much less tell of, those terrible details of sudden death and disaster to thousands of human beings, resulting OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 387 from an eruption which destroyed towns like Telok ' Betong, Anjer, Tyringin, etc., besides numerous villages and hamlets on the shores of Java and Sumatra, and caused the destruction of more than 36,000 souls ? But it is to results of a very different kind, and on a much more extended scale, that we must turn if we would properly estimate the magnitude, the wide-spreading and far-reaching influences, and the extraordinary character, of the Krakatoa outburst of 1883. In the first, place, it is a fact, testified to by some of the best-known men of science, that the shock of the explosion extended appreciably right round the world, and seventeen miles (some say even higher!) up into the heavens. Mr. Verbeek, in his treatise on this subject, estimates that a cubic mile of Krakatoa was pro- pelled in the form of the finest dust into the higher regions of the atmosphere—probably about thirty miles! The dust thus sent into the sky was of “ultra-microscopic fineness,” and it travelled round and round the world in a westerly direction, pro- . ducing those extraordinary sunsets and gorgeous effects and afterglows which became visible in the British Isles in the month of November following the eruption; and the mighty waves which caused such destruction in the vicinity of Sunda Straits 388 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE travelled—not once, but at least—six times round the globe, as was proved by trustworthy and inde- - pendent observations of tide-gauges and barometers made and recorded at the same time in nearly all lands—including our own. Other volcanoes, it is said by those who have a right to speak in regard to such matters, have ejected more “stuff,” but not one has equalled Krakatoa in the intensity of its explosions, the appalling results of the sea-waves, the wonderful effects in the sky, and the almost miraculous nature of the sounds. Seated on a log under a palm-tree in Batavia, on that momentous morning of the 27th, was a sailor who had been left behind sick by Captain Roy when he went on his rather Quixotic trip to the Keeling Islands. He was a somewhat delicate son of the sea. Want of self-restraint was his complaint —leading to a surfeit of fruit and other things, which terminated in a severe fit of indigestion and indisposition to life in general. He was smoking— that being a sovereign and infallible cure for indi- gestion and all other ills that flesh is heir to, as every one knows! “Tsay, old man,” he inquired, with that cheerful tone and air which usually accompanies incapacity for food. “Do it always rain ashes here ?” The old man whom he addressed was a veteran Malay seaman. OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 389 “No,” replied the Malay, “sometimes it rain mud —hot mud.” “Do it? Oh! well—anything for variety, I s’pose,” returned the sailor, with a growl which had reference to internal disarrangements. “Ts it often as dark as this in the daytime, an’ is the sun usually green?” he asked carelessly, more for the sake of distracting the mind from other matters than for the desire of knowledge. “Sometime it’s more darker,” replied the old man. “T’ve seed it so dark that you couldn't see how awful dark it was.” As he spoke, a sound that has been described by ear-witnesses as “deafening” smote upon their ftympanums, the log on which they sat quivered, the earth seemed to tremble, and several dishes .in a neighbouring hut were thrown down and broken. “T say, old man, suthin’ busted there,” remarked the sailor, taking the pipe from his mouth and quietly ramming its contents down with the end of his blunt forefinger. The Malay looked grave. “The gasometer?” suggested the sailor. “No, that never busts.” “A noo mountain come into action, p’raps, an’ blow’d its top off?” | , “Shouldn’t wonder if that’s it—close at hand 390 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE too. We’s used to that here. But them’s bigger cracks than or’nar’.” The old Malay was right as to the cause, but wrong as to distance. Instead of being a volcano “close at hand,” it was Krakatoa eviscerating itself a hundred miles off, and the sound of its last grand effort “extended over 50 degrees = about 3000 miles.” On that day all the gas lights were extinguished in Batavia, and the pictures rattled on the walls as though from the action of an earthquake. But there was no earthquake. It was the air-wave from Kra- katoa, and the noise produced by the air-waves that followed was described as “ deafening.” The effect of the sounds of the explosions on the Straits Settlements generally was not only striking but to some extent amusing. At Carimon,in Java —355 miles distant from Krakatoa—it was supposed that a vessel in distress was fiting guns, and several native boats were sent off to render assistance, but no distressed vessel was to be found! At Acheen, in Sumatra—1073 miles distant—they supposed that a fort was being attacked and the troops were turned out under arms. At Singapore—522 miles off—they fancied that the detonations came from a vessel in distress and two steamers were despatched to search for it. And here the effect on the tele- phone, extending to Ishore, was remarkable. On raising the tubes a perfect roar as of a waterfall OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 391 was heard. By shouting at the top of his voice, the clerk at one end could make the clerk at the other end hear, but he could not render a word intelligible. At Perak—770 miles off—the sounds were thought to be distant salvos of artillery, and Commander Hon. F. Vereker, R.N., of H.M.S. Mag- pie, when 1227 miles distant (in lat. 5° 52’ N. long. 118° 22’ E.), states that the detonations of Krakatoa were distinctly heard by those on board his ship, and by the inhabitants of the coast as far as Banguey Island, on August 27th. He adds that they resembled distant heavy cannonading. In a letter from St. Lucia Bay—1116 miles distant—it was stated that the eruption was plainly heard all over Borneo. A government steamer was sent out from the Island of Timor—1351 miles off—to ascertain the cause of the disturbance! In South Australia also, at places 2250 miles away, explosions were heard on the 26th and 27th which “awakened” people, and were thought worthy of being recorded and reported. From Tavoy, in Burmah—1478 miles away—the report came—‘ All day on August 27th unusual sounds were heard, resembling the boom of guns. Thinking there might be a wreck or a ship in distress, the Tavoy Superintendent sent out the police launch, but they * could see nothing.” And so on, far and near, similar records were made, the most distant spot where the sounds were re- 392 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE ported to have been heard being Rodriguez, in the Pacific, nearly 3000 miles distant ! One peculiar feature of the records is that some ships in the immediate neighbourhood of Krakatoa did not experience the shock in proportionate severity. Probably this was owing to their being so near that a great part of the concussion and sound flew over them—somewhat in the same way that the pieces of a bomb-shell fly over men who, being too near to escape by running, escape by fling; ing themselves flat on the ground. Each air-wave which conveyed these sounds, commencing at Krakatoa as a centre, spread out in an ever-increasing circle till it reached a distance of 180° from its origin and encircled the earth at its widest part, after which it continued to advance in a contracting form until it reached the antipodes of the voleano; whence it was reflected or reproduced and travelled back again to Krakatoa. Here it was turned right-about-face and again despatched on its long journey. In this way it oscillated backward and forward not fewer than six times before traces of it were lost. We say “traces,” because these remarkable facts were ascertained, tracked, and corroborated by independent barometric observation in all parts of the earth, For instance, the passage of the great air-wave from Krakatoa to its antipodes, and from its anti- OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 393 podes back to Krakatoa, was registered six times by the automatic barometer at Greenwich. The instru- ‘ment at Kew Observatory confirmed the records of Greenwich, and so did the barometers of other places in the kingdom. Everywhere in Europe also this fact was corroborated, and in some places even a seventh oscillation was recorded. The Greenwich record shows that the air-waves took about thirty- six hours to travel from pole to pole, thus proving that they travelled at about the rate of ordinary sound-waves, which, roughly speaking, travel at the rate of between six and seven hundred miles an hour, The height of the sea-waves that devastated the neighbouring shores, being variously estimated at from 50 to 135 feet, is sufficiently accounted for by the intervention of islands and headlands, etc., which, of course, tended to diminish the force, height, and volume of waves in varying degrees. These, like the air-waves, were also registered— by self-acting tide-gauges and by personal observa- tion—all over the world, and the observations coin- cided as to date with the great eruptions of the 26th and 27th of August. The influence of the sea- waves was observed and noted in the Java sea— which is shallow and where there are innumerable obstructions—as far as 450 miles, but to the west they swept over the deep waters of the Indian 394 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE Ocean on to Cape Horn, and even, it is said, to the English Channel. The unusual disturbance of ocean in various places was sufficiently striking. At Galle, in Ceylon, where the usual rise and fall of the tide is 2 feet, the master-attendant reports that on the afternoon of the 27th four remarkable waves were noticed in the port. The last of these was preceded by an unusual recession of the sea to such an ex- tent that small boats at their anchorage were left aground—a thing that had never been seen before. The period of recession was only one-and-a-half minutes; then the water paused, as it were, for a brief space, and, beginning to rise, reached the level of the highest high-water mark in less than two minutes, thus marking a difference of 8 feet 10 inches instead of the ordinary 2 feet. At one place there was an ebb and flood tide, of unusual extent, within half-an-hour. At another, a belt of land, including a burying-ground, was washed away, so that according to the observer “it appeared as if the dead had sought shelter with the living in a neighbouring cocoa-nut garden!” Elsewhere the . tides were seen to advance and recede ten or twelve times—in one case even twenty times—on the 27th. At Trincomalee the sea receded three times and returned with singular force, at one period leaving part of the shore suddenly bare, with fish struggling OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 395 in the mud. The utilitarian tendency of mankind was at once made manifest by some fishermen who, seizing the opportunity, dashed into the struggling mass and began to reap the accidental harvest, when—alas for the poor fishermen !—the sea rushed in again and drove them all away. In the Mauritius, however, the fishers were more fortunate, for when their beach was exposed in a similar manner, they succeeded in capturing a good many fish before the water returned. Even sharks were disturbed in their sinister and slimy habits of life by this outburst of Krakatoa— and no wonder, when it is recorded that in some places “the sea looked like water boiling heavily in a pot,” and that “the boats which were afloat were swinging in all directions.” At one place several of these monsters were flung out of their native home into pools, where they were left struggling till their enemy man terminated their career. Everywhere those great waves produced pheno- mena which were so striking as to attract the atten- tion of all classes of people, to ensure record in most parts of the world, and to call for the earnest investigation of the scientific men of many lands— and the conclusion to which such men have almost universally come is, that the strange vagaries of the sea all over the earth, the mysterious sounds heard in so many widely distant places, and the wonderful 396 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE effects in the skies of every quarter of the globe, were all due to the eruption of the Krakatoa volcano in 1883. With reference to these last—the sky-effects— a few words may not be out of place here. The superfine “ultra-microscopic” dust, which was blown by the Volcano in quantities so enorm- ous to such unusual heights, was, after dropping its heavier particles back to earth, caught by the breezes which always blow in the higher regions from east to west, and carried by them for many months round and round the world. The dust was thickly and not widely spread at first, but as time went on it gradually extended itself on either side, becoming visible to more and more of earth’s inhabitants, and at the same time becoming neces- sarily less dense. Through this medium the sun’s rays had to pene- trate. In so far as the dust-particles were opaque they would obscure these rays ; where they were trans- parent or polished they would refract and reflect them. That the material of which those dust-particles was composed was very various has been ascertained, proved, and recorded by the Krakatoa. Committee. The attempt to expound this matter would probably overtax the endurance of the average reader, yet it may interest all to know that this dust-cloud travelled westward within the tropics at the rate of OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 397 about double the speed of an express train—say 120 miles an hour; crossed the Indian Ocean and Africa in three days, the Atlantic in two, America in two, and, in short, put a girdle round the world in thirteen days. Moreover, the cloud of dust was so big that it took two or three days to pass any given point. During its second circum- navigation it was considerably spread and thinned, and the third time still more so, having expanded enough to include Europe and the greater part of North America, It had thinned away altogether and disappeared in the spring of 1884. Who has not seen—at least read or heard of— the gorgeous skies of the autumn of 1883? Not only in Britain, but in all parts of the world, these same skies were seen, admired, and commented on as marvellous. And so they were. One of the chief peculiarities about them, besides their splendour, was the fact that they consisted chiefly of “after- glows ”’—that is, an increase of light and splendour after the setting of the sun, when, in an ordinary state of things, the grey shadows of evening would have descended on the world. Greenish-blue suns; pink clouds; bright yellow, orange, and crimson afterglows; gorgeous, magnificent, blood-red skies —the commentators seemed unable to find language adequately to describe them. Listen to a German observer's remarks on the subject :— 398 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE “The display of November 29th was the grandest and most manifold. I give a description as exactly as possible, for its overwhelming magnificence still presents itself to me as if it had been yesterday. When the sun had set about a quarter of an hour there was not much afterglow, but I had observed a remarkably yellow bow in the south, about 10° above the horizon. In about ten minutes more this are rose pretty quickly, extended itself all over the east and up to and beyond the zenith. The sailors declared, ‘Sir, that is the Northern Lights.” I thought I had never seen Northern Lights in greater splendour. After five minutes more the light had faded, though not vanished, in the east and south, and the finest purple-red rose up in the south-west ; one could imagine one’s-self in Fairyland.” All this, and a great deal more, was caused by the dust of Krakatoa ! “But how—how—why ?” exclaims an impatient and puzzled reader. “ Ay—there’s the rub.” Rubbing, by the way, may have had something to do with it. At ail events we are safe to say that whatever there was of electricity in the matter resulted from friction. Here is what the men of science say—as far as we can gather and condense, The fine dust blown out of Krakatoa was found, under the microscope, to consist of excessively thin, OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 399 transparent plates or irregular specks of pumice— which inconceivably minute fragments were caused by enormous steam pressure in the interior and the sudden expansion of the masses blown out into the atmosphere. Of this glassy dust, that which was blown into the regions beyond the clouds must have been much finer even than that which was examined. These glass fragments were said by Dr. Fliigel to ‘contain either innumerable air-bubbles or minute needle-like crystals, or both. Small though these vesicles were when ejected from the volcano, they would become still smaller by bursting when they suddenly reached a much lower pressure of atmo- sphere at a great height. Some of them, however, owing to tenacity of material and other causes, might have failed to burst and would remain float- ing in the upper air as perfect microscopic glass balloons. Thus the dust was a mass of: particles of every conceivable shape, and so fine that no watches, boxes, or instruments were tight enough to exclude from their interior even that portion of the dust which was heavy enough to remain on earth! Now, to the unscientific reader it is useless to say more than that the innumerable and varied positions of these glassy particles, some transparent, others semi-transparent or opaque, reflecting the sun’s rays in different directions, with a complex modification of colour and effect resulting from the 400 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE blueness of the sky, the condition of the atmosphere, and many other causes—all combined to produce the remarkable appearances of light and colour which aroused the admiration and wonder of the world in 1883. The more one thinks of these things, and the deeper one dives into the mysteries of nature, the more profoundly is one impressed at once with a humbling sense of the limited amount of one’s knowledge, and an awe-inspiring appreciation of the illimitable fields suggested by that comprehensive expression: “THE WONDERFUL WORKS oF GoD.” OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 401 CHAPTER XXX. COMING EVENTS, ETC.—WONDERFUL CHANGES AMONG THE ISLANDS. Some days after the wreck of the Sunshine, as described in a previous chapter, Captain Roy and his son stood on the coast of Java not far from the ruins of Anjer. A vessel was anchored in the offing, and a little boat lay on the shore. All sign of elemental strife had passed, though a cloud of smoke hanging over the remains of Kra- katoa told that the terrible giant below was not dead but only sleeping—to awake, perchance, after a nap of another 200 years. “ Well, father,” said our hero with a modest look, “it may be, as you suggest, that Winnie Van der Kemp does not care for me more than for a fathom of salt water-——” “TI did not say salt water, lad, I said bilge—a fathom o’ bilge water,” interrupted the captain, who, although secretly rejoiced at the fact of his son having fallen over head and ears in love with the pretty little Cocos-Keeling islander, deemed it his 2c 402 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALK duty, nevertheless, as a sternly upright parent, to make quite sure that the love was mutual as well as deep before giving his consent to anything like courtship. “It matters not ; salt or bilge water makes little difference,” returned the son with asmile. “ But all I can say is that I care for Winnie so much that her love is to me of as much importance as sunshine to the world—and we have had some experience lately of what the want of that means.” “ Nonsense, Nigel,” returned the captain severely. “You’re workin’ yourself into them up-in-the- clouds, reef-point-patterin’ regions again—which, by the way, should be pretty well choked wi’ Kra- katoa dust by this time. Come down out o’ that if ye want to hold or’nary intercourse wi’ your old father. She’s far too young yet, my boy. You must just do as many a young fellow has done before you, attend to your dooties and forget her.” “Forget her!” returned the youth, with that amused, quiet expression which wise men some- times assume when listening to foolish suggestions. “TI could almost as easily forget my mother!” “ A very proper sentiment, Nigel, very —especially the ‘ almost’ part of it.” “ Besides,” continued the son, “she is not so very young—and that difficulty remedies itself every hour. Moreover, I too am young. I can wait.” OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 403 “The selfishness of youth is only equalled by its presumption,” said the captain. “How d’ ee know she will wait?” “TI don’t know, father, but I hope she will—I— I—think she will.” “Nigel,” said the captain, in a tone and with a look that were meant to imply intense solemnity, “have you ever spoken to her about love?” “No, father.” “ Has she ever spoken to you?” “ No—at least—not with her lips.” “Come, boy, you’re humbuggin’ your old father. Her tongue couldn’t well do it without the lips Tendin’ a hand.” “Well then—with neither,” returned the son. “She spoke with her eyes—not intentionally, of course, for the eyes, unlike the lips, refuse to be under control.” “Hm! I see—reef-point-patterin’ poetics again ! An’ what did she say with her eyes?” “Really, father, you press me too hard; it is difficult to translate eye-language, but if you Il only. let memory have free play and revert to that time, nigh quarter of a century ago, when you first met with a certain real poetess, perhaps ” “Ah! you dog! you have me there. But how dare you, sir, venture to think of marryin’ on nothin’ ?” 404 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE “T don’t think of doing so. Am I not a first mate with a handsome salary ?” “No, lad, you’re not. You’re nothin’ better than a seaman out o’ work, with your late ship wrecked in a cocoa-nut grove!” “ That’s true,” returned Nigel with a laugh. “But is not the cargo of the said ship safe in Batavia ? Has not its owner a good bank account in England ? Won't another ship be wanted, and another first mate, and would the owner dare to pass over his own son, who is such a competent seaman—according to your own showing? Come, father, I turn the tables on you and ask you to aid rather than resist me in this matter.” “Well, I will, my boy, I will,” said the captain heartily, as he laid his hand on his son’s shoulder. “ But, seriously, you must haul off this little craft and clap a stopper on your tongue—ay, and on your eyes too—till three points are considered an’ made quite clear. First, you must find out whether the hermit would be agreeable. Second, you must look the matter straight in the face and make quite sure that you mean it. For better or for worse. No undoin’ that knot, Nigel, once it’s fairly tied! And, third, you must make quite sure that Winnie is sure of her own mind, an’ that—that “We're all sure all round, father. Quite right. I agree with you. ‘All fair an’ aboveboard’ should OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 405 be the sailing orders of every man in such matters, especially of every seaman. But, will you explain how I am to make. sure of Winnie's state of mind without asking her about it?” “Well, I don’t exactly see my way,” replied the. captain slowly. “What d’ee say to my soundin’ her on the subject ?” “Qouldn’t think of it! You may be first-rate at deep-sea soundings, father, but you couldn’t sound the depths of a young girl’s heart. I must reserve that for myself, however long it may be delayed.” “So be it, lad. The only embargo that I lay upon you is—haul off, and mind you don’t let your figurehead go by the board. Meanwhile, here comes the boat. Now, Nigel, none o’ your courtin’ till everything is settled and the wind fair—dead aft my lad, and blowin’ stiff. You and the hermit are goin’ off to Krakatoa to-day, I suppose ?” “Yes. I am just now waiting for him and Moses,” returned Nigel. “Is Winnie going ?” “Don’t know. I hope so.” “Humph! Well, if we have a fair wind I shall soon be in Batavia,” said the captain, descending to business matters, “and I expect without trouble to dispose of the cargo that we landed there, as well as that part o’ the return cargo which I had 406 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE bought before I left for Keeling—at a loss, no doubt,” but that don’t matter much, Then I’ll come back here by the first craft that offers—arter which. Ay !—Ay! shove her in here. Plenty o’ water.” The last remark was made to the seaman who steered the boat sent from the vessel in the offing. A short time thereafter Captain Roy was sailing away for Batavia, while his son, with Van der Kemp, Moses, Winnie, and Spinkie, was making for Kraka- toa in a native boat. The hermit, in spite of his injuries, had recovered his wonted appearance, if not his wonted vigour. Winnie seemed to have suddenly developed into a mature woman under her recent experiences, though she had lost none of her girlish grace and attractiveness. As for Moses—time and tide seemed to have no effect whatever on his ebony frame, and still less, if possible, on his indomitable spirit. “Now you keep still,” he said in solemn tones and with warning looks to Spinkie. “If you keep fidgitin’ about you ll capsize de boat. You hear?” Spinkie veiled his real affection for the negro under a look of supreme indifference, while Winnie went off into a sudden giggle at the idea of sucha small creature capsizing the boat. Mindful of his father’s. warning, Nigel did his best to “haul off” and to prevent his “figurehead” OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 407 from going “by the board.” But he found it un- commonly hard work, for Winnie looked so inno- cent, so pretty, so unconscious, so sympathetic with everybody and everything, so very young, yet so wondrously wise and womanly, that he felt an irre- sistible desire to prostrate himself at her feet in abject slavery. “Dear little thing,” said Winnie, putting her hand on Spinkie’s little head and smoothing him down from eyes to tail. Spinkie looked as if half inclined to withdraw his allegiance from Moses and bestow it on Winnie, but evidently changed his mind after a moment's reflection. “O that I were a monkey!” thought Nigel, para- phrasing Shakespeare, “that I might——-” but it is not fair to our hero to reveal him in his weaker moments ! There was something exasperating, too, in being obliged, owing to the size of the boat, to sit so close to Winnie without having a right to touch her hand! Who has not experienced this, and felt himself to be a very hero of self-denial in the cir- cumstances ? “ Mos’ awrful hot!” remarked Moses, wiping his forehead with the sleeve of his shirt. “ You hot!” said Nigel in surprise. “I thought nothing on earth could be too hot for you.” 408 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE “Dat’s your ignerance,” returned Moses calmly. “Us niggers, you see, ought to suffer more fro’ heat dan you whites.” “ How so?” “Why, don’t your flossiphers say dat black am better dan white for ’tractin’ heat, an’ ain’t our skins black? I wish we’d bin’ born white as chalk. I say, Massa Nadgel, seems to me dat dere’s not much left ob Krakatoa.” ” They had approached near enough to the island by that time to perceive that wonderful changes had indeed taken place, and Van der Kemp, who had been for some time silently absorbed in con- templation, at last turned to his daughter and said— “J had feared at first, Winnie, that my old home had been blown entirely away, but I see now that the Peak of Rakata still stands, so perhaps I may yet show you the cave in which I have spent so many years.” “But why did you go to live in such a strange place, dear father?” asked the girl, laying her hand lovingly on the hermit’s arm. Van der Kemp did not reply at once. He gazed in his child’s face with an increase of that absent air and far-away look which Nigel, ever since he met him, had observed as one of his characteristics. At this time an anxious thought crossed him,—that OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 409 perhaps the blows which his friend had received on his head when he was thrown on the deck of the Sunshine might have injured his brain. “Tt is not easy to answer your question, dear one,” he said after a time, laying his strong hand on the girl’s head, and smoothing her luxuriant hair which hung in the untrammelled freedom of nature over her shoulders. “TI have felt sometimes, during the last few days, as if I were awaking out of a long long dream, or recovering from a severe illness in which delirium had played a prominent part. Even now, though I see and touch you, I sometimes tremble lest I should really awake and find that it is all a dream. I have so often—so very often— dreamed something like it in years gone by, but never so vividly as now! I cannot doubt—it is sin to doubt—that my prayers have been at last answered. God is good and wise. He knows what is best and does not fail in bringing the best to pass. Yet I have doubted Him—again and again.” Van der Kemp paused here and drew his hand across his brow as if to clear away sad memories of the past, while Winnie drew closer to him and looked up tenderly in his face. “When your mother died, dear one,” he resumed, “it seemed to me as if the sun had left the heavens, and when you were snatched from me, it was as though my soul had fled and nought but animal 410 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE life remained. I lived as if in a terrible dream. I cannot recall exactly what I did or where I went for a long long time. I know I wandered through the archipelago looking for you, because I did not believe at first that you were dead. It was at this time I took up my abode in the cave of Rakata, and fell in with my good faithful friend Moses——.” “Your sarvint, massa,” interrupted the negro humbly. “I’s proud to be call your frind, but I’s only your sarvint, massa.” “Truly you have been my faithful servant, Moses,” said Van der Kemp, “ but not the less have you been my trusted friend. He nursed me through a long and severe illness, Winnie. How long, I am not quite sure. After a time I nearly lost hope. Then there came a very dark period, when I was forced to believe that you must be dead. Yet, strange to say, even during this dark time I did not cease to pray and to wander about in search of you. I suppose it was the force of habit, for hope seemed to have died. Then, at last, Nigel found you. God used him as His instrument. And now, praise to His name, we are reunited—for ever!” “Darling father!” were the only words that, Winnie could utter as she laid her head on the hermit’s shoulder and wept for joy. Twa ideas, which had not occurred to him before, struck Nigel with great force at that moment. The OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 411 one was that whatever or wherever his future house- hold should be established, if Winnie was to be its chief ornament, her father must of necessity become a member of it. The other idea was that he was- destined to possess a negro servant with a consequent and unavoidable monkey attendant! How strange the links of which the chain of human destiny is formed, and how wonderful the powers of thought by which that chain is occasionally forecast! How to convey all these possessions to England and get them comfortably settled there was a problem which he did not care to tackle just then. “See, Winnie,” said Van der Kemp, pointing with interest to a mark on the side of Rakata, “yonder is the mouth of my cave. I never saw it so clearly before because of the trees and bushes, but every- thing seems now to have been burnt up.” ‘ “Das so, massa, an’ what hasn’t bin bu’nt up has bin blow’d up!” remarked the negro. “Looks very like it, Moses, unless that is a haze which enshrouds the rest of the island,” rejoined the other, shading his eyes with his hands. It was no haze, however ; for they found, on draw- ing nearer, that the greater part of Krakatoa had, as we have already said, actually disappeared from the face of the earth. When tle boat finally rounded the point which hid the northern part of the island from view, a 412 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE sight was presented which it is not often given to human eyes to look upon. The whole mountain named the Peak of Rakata (2623 feet high) had ‘been split from top to bottom, and about one-half of it, with all that part of the island lying to the northward, had been blown away, leaving a wall or almost sheer precipice which presented a grand section of the volcano. Pushing their boat into a creek at the base of this precipice, the party landed and tried to reach a position from which a commanding view might be obtained. This was not an easy matter, for there was not a spot for a foot to rest on which was not covered deeply with pumice-dust and ashes. By dint of perseverance, however, they gained a ledge whence the surrounding district could be observed, and then it was clearly seen how wide- spread and stupendous the effects of the explosion had been. Where the greater part of the richly wooded island had formerly flourished, the ocean now rippled in the sunshine, and of the smaller islands around it Lang Island had been considerably increased in bulk as well as in height. Verlaten Island had been enlarged to more than three times its former size and also much increased in height. The island named Polish Hat had disappeared altogether, and two entirely new islets—afterwards OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 413 named Steers and Calmeyer Islands—had arisen to the northward. “ Now, friends,” said Van der Kemp, after they had noted and commented on the vast and wonderful changes that had taken place, “we will pull round to our cave and see what has happened there.” Descending to the boat they rowed round the southern shores of Rakata until they reached the little harbour where the boat and canoe had formerly been kept. 414 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE CHAPTER XXXI. ENDS WITH A 8TRUGGLE BETWEEN INCLINATION AND DUTY. “Des cave ’s blowed away too!” was the first re- mark of Moses as they rowed into the little port. ‘A shock of disappointment was experienced by Winnie, for she fancied that the negro had referred to her father’s old home, but he only meant the lower cave in which the canoe had formerly been kept. She was soon relieved as to this point, how- ever, but, when a landing was effected, difficulties that seemed to her almost insurmountable presented themselves, for the ground was covered knee-deep with pumice-dust, and the road to the upper cave was blocked by rugged masses of lava and ashes, all heaped up in indéscribable confusion. On careful investigation, however, it was found that after passing a certain point the footpath was almost unencumbered by volcanic débris. This was owing to the protection afforded to it by the cone of Rakata, and the almost overhanging nature of some of the cliffs on that side of the mountain; still the OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 415 track was bad enough, and in places so rugged, that Winnie, vigorous and agile though she was, found it both difficult and fatiguing to advance. Seeing this, her father proposed to carry her, but she laughingly declined the proposal. Whereupon Nigel offered to lend her a. hand over the rougher places, but this she also declined. Then Moses, stepping forward, asserted his rights. “Tt’s my business,’*he said, “to carry t’ings wen dey’s got to be carried. Mr’r’over, as I’s bin obleeged to leabe Spinkie in charge ob de boat, I feels okard widout somet’ing to carry, an’ you ain’t much heavier dan Spinkie, Miss Winnie—so, come along.” He stooped with the intention of grasping Winnie as if she were a little child, but with a light laugh the girl sprang away and left Moses behind. “’S’my opinion,” said Moses, looking after her with a grin, “dat if de purfesser was here he’d net her in mistook for a bufferfly. Dar!—she’s down!” he shouted, springing forward, but Nigel was before him. Winnie had tripped and fallen. “Are you hurt, dear—child?” asked Nigel, raising her gently. “Oh no! only a little shaken,” answered Winnie, with a little laugh that was half hysterical. «I am strong enough to go on presently.” 416 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE “Nay, my child, you must suffer yourself to be carried at this part,” said Van der Kemp. “Take her up, Nigel, you are stronger than I am now. I would not have asked you to do it before my accident! ” Our hero did not need a second bidding. Grasp- ing Winnie in his strong arms he raised her as if she had been a feather, and strode away at a pace so rapid that he soon left Van der Kemp and Moses far behind. “Put me down, now,” said Winnie, after a little while, in a low voice. “I’m quite recovered now and can walk.” ; “Nay, Winnie, you are mistaken. The path is very rough yet, and the dust gets deeper as we ascend, Do give me the pleasure of helping you a little longer.” , Whatever Winnie may have felt or thought she said nothing, and Nigel, taking silence for consent, bore her swiftly onward and upward,—with an “Excelsior” spirit that would have thrown the Alpine youth with the banner and the strange device considerably into the shade,—until he placed her at the yawning black mouth of the hermit’s cave. But what a change was there! The trees and flowering shrubs and ferns were all gone, lava, pumice, and ashes lay thick on everything around, and only a few blackened and twisted stumps of OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 417 the larger trees remained to tell that an umbrageous forest had once flourished there. The whole scene might be fittingly described in the two words— grey desolation. “That is the entrance to your father’s old home,” said Nigel, as he set his fair burden down and pointed to the entrance. “What a dreadful place!” said Winnie, peering into the black depths of the cavern. “Tt was not dreadful when I first saw it, Winnie, with rich verdure everywhere; and inside you will find it surprisingly comfortable. But we must not enter until your father arrives to do the honours of the place himself.” They had not to wait long. First Moses arrived, and, shrewdly suspecting from the appearance of the young couple that they were engaged in con- versation that would not brook interruption, or, perhaps, judging from what might be his own wishes in similar circumstances, he turned his back suddenly on them, and, stooping down, addressed himself to an imaginary creature of the animal kingdom. “What a bootiful bufferfly you is, to be sure! up on sitch a place too, wid nuffin’ to eat ’cept Krakatoa dust. I wonder what your moder would say if she knowd you was here. You should be ashamed ob yourself!” 2D 418 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE “Hallo! Moses, what are you talking to over there?” “Nuffin’, Massa Nadgel. I was on’y habin’ a brief conv’sation wid a member ob de insect wurld in commemoration ob de purfesser. Leastwise, if it warn’t a insect it must hab bin suffin’ else. Won't you go in, Miss Winnie ?” “No, I’d rather wait for father,” returned the girl, looking a little flushed, for some strange and totally unfamiliar ideas had recently floated into her brain and caused some incomprehensible flutter- ings of the heart to which hitherto she had been a stranger. Mindful of his father’s injunctions, however, Nigel had been particularly careful to avoid increasing these flutterings. In a few minutes the hermit came up. “Ah! Winnie,” he said, “there has been dire devastation here. Perhaps inside things may look better. Come, take my hand and don’t be afraid. The floor is level and your eyes will soon get accustomed to the dim light.” “T’s afeared, massa,” remarked Moses, as they entered the cavern, “dat your sun-lights won’t be wu'th much now.” . “You are right, lad. Go on before us and light the lamps if they are not broken.” It was found, as they had expected, that, the only OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 419 light which penetrated the cavern was that which entered by the cave’s mouth, which of course was very feeble. Presently, to Winnie’s surprise, Moses was seen issuing from the kitchen with a petroleum lamp in one hand, the brilliant light of which not only ‘glittered on his expressive black visage but sent a ruddy glare all over the cavern. Van der Kemp seemed to watch his daughter intently as she gazed in a bewildered way around. There was a puzzled look as well as mere surprise in her pretty face. “Father,” she said earnestly, “you have spoken more than once of living as if in a dream. Perhaps you will wonder when I tell you that I experience something of that sort now. Strange though this place seems, I have an unaccountable feeling that it is not absolutely new to me—that I have seen it before.” “J do not wonder, dear one,” he replied, “for the drawings that surround this chamber were the handiwork of your dear mother, and they decorated the walls of your own nursery when you were a little child at your mother’s knee. For over ten long years they have surrounded me and kept your faces fresh in my memory—though, truth to tell, it needed no such reminders to do that. Come, let us examine them.” 420 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE It was pleasant to see the earnest face of Winnie as she half-recognised and strove to recall the memories of early childhood in that singular cavern. It was also a sight worth seeing—the countenance of Nigel, as well as that of the hermit, while they watched and admired her eager, puzzled play of feature, and it was the most amazing sight of all to see the all but superhuman joy of Moses as he held the lamp and listened to facts regarding the past of his beloved master which were quite new to him—for the hermit spoke as openly about his past domestic affairs as if he and Winnie had been quite alone. “He either forgets that we are present, or counts us as part of his family,” thought Nigel with a feel- ing of satisfaction. © “What a dear comoonicative man!” thought Moses, with unconcealed pleasure. “Come now, let us ascend to the observatory,” said the hermit, when all the things in the library had been examined. “There has been damage done there, I know ; besides, there is a locket there which belonged to your mother. I left it by mistake one day: when I went up to arrange the mirrors, and in the hurry of leaving forgot to return for it. Indeed, one of my main objects in re-visiting my old home was to fetch that locket away. It contains a lock of hair and one of those miniatures which men used OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 421 to paint before photography drove such work off the field.” Winnie was nothing loth to follow, for she had reached a romantic period of life, and it seemed to her that to be led through mysterious caves and dark galleries in the very heart of a still active volcano by her own father—the hermit of Rakata— was the very embodiment of romance itself. But a disappointment awaited them, for they had not proceeded halfway through the dark passage when it was found that a large mass of rock had fallen from the roof and almost blocked it up. “There is a space big enough for us to creep through at the right-hand corner above, I think,” said Nigel, taking the lantern from Moses and examining the spot. “Jump up, Moses, and try it,” said the hermit. “Tf your bulky shoulders get through, we can all. manage it.” “The negro was about to obey the order when Nigel let the lantern fall and the shock extin- guished it. “Oh! Massa Nadgel; das a pritty business!” “Never mind,” said Van der Kemp. “I’ve got matches, I think, in my no, I haven’t. Have you, Moses?” “No, massa, I forgit to remember him.” “No matter, run back—you know the road well 422 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE enough to follow it in the dark. We will wait here till you return. Be smart, now!” Moses started off at once and for some moments the sound of clattering along the passage was heard. “ T will try to clamber through in the dark. Look after Winnie, Nigel—and don’t leave the spot where you stand, dear one, for there are cracks and holes about that might sprain your little ankles.” “Very well, father.” “All right. I’ve got through, Nigel; I'll feel my way on for a little bit. Remain where you are.” “Winnie,” said Nigel when they were alone, “doesn’t it feel awesome and strange to be standing here in such intense darkness ?” “It does—I don’t quite like it.” “ Whereabouts are you ?” said Nigel. He carefully stretched out his hand to feel, as he spoke, and laid a finger on her brow. “Oh! take care of my eyes!” exclaimed Winnie with a little laugh. “JT wish you would turn your eyes towards me for I’m convinced they would give some light— to me at least. Here, do let me hold your hand It will make you feel more confident.” To one who is at all familiar with the human frame, the way from the brow to the hand is com- paratively simple. Nigel soon possessed himself of the coveted article. Like other things of great \ OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 423 value the possession turned the poor youth's head! He forgot his father’s warnings for the moment, forgot the hermit and Moses and Spinkie, and the thick darkness—forgot almost everything in the light of that touch! “Winnie!” he exclaimed in a tone that quite alarmed her; “I—I—” He hesitated. The solemn embargo of his father recurred to him. “What is it! Is there danger?” exclaimed the poor girl, clasping his hand tighter and drawing nearer to him. This was too much! Nigel felt himself to be con- temptible. He was taking unfair advantage of her. “Winnie,” he began again, in a voice of forced calmness, “there is no danger whatever. I’m an ass—a dolt—that’s all! The fact is, I made my father a sort of half promise that I would not ask your opinion on a certain subject until—until I found out exactly what you thought about it, Now the thing is ridiculous—impossible—for how can I know your opinion on any subject until I have asked you ?” “Quite true,” returned Winnie simply, “so you better ask me.” “Ha! ha!” laughed Nigel, in a sort of desperate amusement, “I—I—Yes, I will ask you, Winnie! But first I must explain-——” “Hallo! Nigel!” came at that moment from the 424 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE other side of the obstruction, “are you there~ all right ?” “Yes, yes—I’m here—not all right exactly, but I'll be all right some day, you may depend upon that!” shouted the youth, in a tone of indignant exasperation. “What said you?” asked Van der Kemp, putting his head through the hole. “Hi! I’s a-comin’, look out, dar!” hallooed Moses in the opposite direction. “Just so,” said Nigel, resuming his quiet tone and demeanour, “we'll be all right when the light comes, Here, give us your hand, Van der Kemp.” The hermit accepted the proffered aid and leaped down amongst his friends just as Moses arrived with the lantern. “Tt’s' of no use going further,’ he said. “The passage is completely blocked up—so we must go round to where the mountain has been split off and try to clamber up. There will be daylight enough yet if we are quick. Come.” OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 425 CHAPTER XXXIL THE LAST, DeEscENnDING to the boat they rowed round to the face of the great cliff which had been so suddenly laid bare when the Peak of Rakata was cleft from its summit to its foundations in the sea. It was a wonderful sight—a magnificent section, affording a marvellous view of the internal mechanism of a volcano. But there was no time to spend in contemplation of this extraordinary sight, for evening approached and the hermit’s purpose had to be accomplished. High up near the top of the mighty cliff could be seen a small hole in the rock, which was all that remained of the observatory. “Tt will be impossible, I fear, to reach that spot,” said Nigel; “there does not appear to be foothold for a goat.” “T will reach it,” said the hermit in a low voice, as he scanned the precipice carefully. “So will I,” said the negro. 426 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE “No, Moses, I go alone. You will remain in the boat and watch. If I fall, you can pick me up.” “Pick you up!” echoed Moses. “If you tumbles a vousand feet into de water how much tink you will be lef’ to pick up?” It was useless to attempt to dissuade Van der Kemp. Being well aware of this, they all held their peace while he landed on a spur of the riven cliff. , The first part of the ascent was easy enough, the ground having been irregularly broken, so that the climber disappeared behind masses of rock at times, while he kept as much as possible to the western edge of the mountain where the cleavage had occurred ; but as he.ascended he was forced to come out upon narrow ledges that had been left here and there on the face of the cliff, where he seemed, to those who were watching far below, like a mere black spot on the face of a gigantic wall. Still upward he went, slowly but steadily, till he reached a spot nearly level with the observatory. Here he had to go out on the sheer precipice, where his footholds were invisible from below. Winnie sat in the boat with blanched face and tightly clasped hands, panting with anxiety as she gazed upwards. “Tt looks much more dangerous from here than it is in reality,” said Nigel to her in d reassuring tone. OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 427 “Das true, Massa Nadgel, das bery true,” inter- posed Moses, endeavouring to comfort himself as well as the others by the intense earnestness of his manner. De only danger, Miss Winnie, lies in your fadder losin’ his head at sitch a t’viffic height, an’ dar’s no fear at all ob dat, for Massa neber loses his head—pooh! you might as well talk ob him losin’ his heart. Look! look! he git close to de hole now—he put his foot—yes—next step—dar! he’ve done it!” With the perspiration of anxiety streaming down his face the negro relieved his feelings by a wild prolonged cheer. Nigel obtained the same relief by means of a deep long-drawn sigh, but Winnie did not move; she seemed to realise her father’s danger better than her companions, and remembered that the descent would be much more difficult than the ascent. They were not kept long in suspense. In a few minutes the hermit reappeared and began to retrace his steps—slowly but steadily—and the watchers breathed more freely. Moses was right; there was in reality little danger in the climb, for the ledges which appeared to them like mere threads, and the footholds that were almost invisible, were in reality from a foot to three feet wide. The only danger lay in the hermit’s head being unable to stand the trial, but, as Moses had remarked, there was no fear of that. 428 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE The watchers were therefore beginning to feel somewhat relieved from the tension of their anxiety, when a huge mass of rock was seen to slip from the face of the cliff and descend with the thunderous roar of an avalanche. The incident gave those in the-boat a shock, for the landslip occurred not far from the spot which Van der Kemp had reached, but as he still stood there in apparent safety there seemed no cause for alarm till it was observed that the climber remained quite still for a long time and seemed to have no intention of moving. “God help him!” cried Nigel in sudden alarm, “the ledge has been carried away and he cannot advance! Stay by the boat, Moses, I will run to help him !” “No, Massa Nadgel,” returned the negro, “I go to die wid ‘im. Boat kin look arter itself.” He sprang on shore as he spoke, and dashed up the mountain-side like a hunted hare. Our hero looked at Winnie for an instant in hesitation. “Go!” said the poor girl. “You know I can manage a boat—quick !” Another moment and Nigel was following in the track of the negro. They gained the broken ledge together, and then found that the space between the point which they had reached and the spot. on which the hermit stood was a smooth face of OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 429 perpendicular rock—an absolutely impassable gulf! Van der Kemp was standing with his back flat against the precipice and his feet resting on a little piece of projecting rock not more than three.inches wide. This was all that lay between him and: the hideous depth below, for Nigel found on carefully drawing nearer that the avalanche had been more ex- tensive than was apparent from below, and that the ledge beyond the hermit had been also carried away —thus cutting off his retreat as well as his advance. “T can make no effort to help myself,” said Van der Kemp in a low but calm voice, when our hero’s foot rested on the last projecting point that he could gain, and found that with the utmost reach of his'arm he could not get within six inches of his friend’s outstretched hand. Besides, Nigel himself stood on so narrow a ledge, and against so steep a cliff, that he could not have acted with his wonted power even if the hand could have been grasped. Moses stood immediately behind Nigel, where the ledge was broader and where a shallow recess in the rock enabled him to stand with comparative ease. The poor fellow seemed to realise the situation more fully than his companion, for despair was written on every feature of his expressive face. “ What is to be done?” said Nigel, looking back. “ De boat-rope,” suggested the negro. 430 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE “Useless,” said Van der Kemp, in a voice as calm and steady as if he were in perfect safety, though the unusual pallor of his grave countenance showed that he was fully alive to the terrible situation. “T am resting on little more than my heels, and the strain is almost too much for me even now. I could not hold on till you went to the boat and returned. No, it seems to be God’s will—and,” added he humbly, “His will be done.” “O God,.send us help!” cried Nigel in an agony of feeling that he could not master. “If I had better foothold I might spring towards you and catch hold of you,” said the hermit, “but I cannot spring off my heels. Besides, I doubt if you could bear my weight.” “Try, try!” cried Nigel, eagerly extending his hand. “Don’t fear for my strength—I’ve got plenty of it, thank God! and see, I have my right arm wedged into a crevice so firmly that nothing could haul it out.” But Van der Kemp shook his head. “TI cannot even make the attempt,” he said. “The slightest move would plunge me down. Dear boy! I know that you and your father and Moses will care for _my Winnie, an ” “Massa!” gasped Moses, who while the hermit was speaking had been working his body with mysterious and violent energy; “massa! couldn’t OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 431 you fall dis way, an’ Nadgel could kitch your hand, an’ I’s got my leg shoved into a hole as nuffin’ ‘Il -haul it out ob. Dere’s a holler place here. If Nadgel swings you into dat, an’ I only once grab you by de hair—you ‘re safe!” “Tt might be done—tried at least,” said the hermit, looking anxiously at his young friend. “Try it!” cried Nigel, “I won’t fail you.” It is not possible for any except those who have gone through a somewhat similar ordeal to under- stand fully the test of cool courage which Van der Kemp had to undergo on that occasion. . . Shutting his eyes for a moment in silent prayer, he deliberately worked with his shoulders upon the cliff against which he leaned until he felt himself to be on the point of falling towards his friend, and the two outstretched hands almost touched. “ Now, are you ready?” he asked. “Ready,” replied Nigel, while Moses wound both his powerful arms round his comrade’s waist and held on. Another moment and the hands clasped, Nigel uttered an irrepressible shout as the hermit swung off, and, coming round with great violence to the spot where the negro had fixed himself, just succeeded in catching the edge of the cliff with his free hand. “Let go, Nigel,” he shouted ;—“ safe!” 432 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE The poor youth was only too glad to obey, for the tremendous pull had wrenched his arm out of the crevice in which he had fixed it, and for a moment he swayed helplessly over the awful abyss. “Don’t let me go, Moses!” he yelled, as he made a frantic but futile effort to regain his hold, —. for he felt that the negro had loosened one of his arms though the other was still round him like a hoop of iron. : “No fear, Nadgel,” said Moses, “I’s got you tight —only don’ wriggle. Now, massa, up you come.” Moses had grasped his master’s hair with a grip that well-nigh scalped him, and he held on until the hermit had got a secure hold pf the ledge with both hands. Then he let the hair go, for he knew that to an athlete like his master the raising him- self by his arms on to the ledge would be the work of a few seconds. Van der Kemp was thus able to assist in rescuing Nigel from his position of danger. But the expressions of heartfelt thankfulness for this deliverance which naturally broke from them were abruptly checked when it was found that Moses could by no means extract his leg out of the hole into which he had thrust it, and that he was suffering great pain. After some time, and a good deal of violent wrenching, during which our sable hero mingled a OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO, 433 few groans in strange fashion with his congratula- tions, he was got free, and then it was found that the strain had been too much for even his powerful bones and sinews, for the leg was broken. “My poor fellow!” murmured Van der Kemp, as he went down on his knees to examine the limb. “Don’ care a buttin for dat, massa. You're safe, an’ Nadgel’s safe—an’ it only cost a broken leg! Pooh! das nuffin’!” said Moses, unable to repress a few tears in the excess of his joy and pain! With considerable difficulty they carried the poor negro down to the boat, where they found Winnie, as might be supposed, in a half-fainting condition from the strain of prolonged anxiety and terror to which she had been subjected; but the necessity of at- tending to the case of the injured Moses was an antidote which speedily restored her. Do you think, good reader, that Nigel and Winnie had much difficulty in coming to an understanding after that, or that the hermit was disposed to throw any obstacles in the way of true love? If you do, let us assure you that you are mistaken. Surely this is information enough for any intelligent reader. Still, it may be interesting to add, difficulties did not all at once disappear. The perplexities that had already assailed Nigel more than once assailed him again—perplexities about a negro man-servant, and a household monkey, and a hermit father-in- 25 434 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE law, and a small income—to say nothing of a dis- consolate mother-poetess in England and a father roving on the high seas! How to overcome these difficulties gave him much thought and trouble ; but they were overcome at last. That which seemed impossible to man proved to be child’s-play in the hands of woman. Winnie solved the difficulty by suggesting that they should all return to the Cocos-Keeling Islands and dwell together there — for evermore! * * * * * Let us drop in on them, good reader, at a later period, have a look at them, and bid them all good-bye. _ On a green knoll by the margin of the lagoon stands a beautiful cottage with a garden around it, and a pleasure-boat resting on the white coral sand _ tfront. From the windows of that cottage there is a most magnificent view of the lagoon with its numerous islets and its picturesque palm-trees. Within that cottage dwell Nigel and Winnie, and a brown-eyed, brown-haired, fair-skinned baby girl who is “the most extraordinary angel that ever was born.” It has a nurse of its own, but is chiefly waited on and attended to by an antique poetess, who dwells in another cottage, a stone’s-cast off, on the same green knoll. There she inspires an ancient mariner with poetical sentiments—not your up-in- OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 435 the-clouds, reef-point-pattering nonsense, observe, but the real genuine article, superior to “that other fellow’s,’ you know—when not actively engaged with the baby. The first cottage is named Rakata, in honour of our hermit, who is one of its inhabitants. The second is named Krakatoa by its eccentric owner, Captain Roy. Tt must not be imagined, however, that our friends have settled down there to spend their lives in idle- ness. By no means. This probably would not be permitted by the “King of the Cocos Islands” even if they wished to do so. But they do not wish that. There is no such condition as idleness in the lives of good men and women. Nigel has taken to general superintendence of: the flourishing community in the midst of which he has cast his lot. He may be almost regardéd as the prime minister of the islands, in addition to which he has started an extensive boat-building business and a considerable trade in cocoa-nuts, etc., with the numerous islands of the Java Sea; also a saw-mill, and a forge, and a Sunday-school—in which last the pretty, humble-minded Winnie lends most efficient aid. Indeed it is said that she is the chief manager as well as the life and soul of that business, though Nigel gets all the credit. Captain Roy sometimes sails his son’s vessels, and 436 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE sometimes looks after the secular education of the Sunday-school children—the said education being conducted on the principle of unlimited story-telling with illimitable play of fancy. But his occupations are irregular—undertaken by fits and starts, and never to be counted on. His evenings he usually devotes to poetry and pipes—for the captain is obstinate, and sticks—like most of us—to his failings as well as his fancies. There is a certain eccentric individual with an enthusiastic temperament and blue binoculars who pays frequent and prolonged visits to the Keeling Islands. It need scarcely be said that his name is Verkimier. There is no accounting for the tastes of human beings. Notwithstanding all his escapes and experiences, that indomitable man of science still ranges, like a mad philosopher, far and wide over the archipelago in pursuit of “ booter- flies ant ozer specimens of zee insect vorld.” It is observed, however, even by the most obtuse among his friends, that whereas in former times the pro- fessor’s. flights were centrifugal they have now become centripetal—the Keeling Islands being the great centre towards which he flies. Verkimier is, and probably will always be, a subject of wonder and of profound speculation to the youthful inhabi- tants of the islands. They don’t understand him and he does not understand them. If they were insects OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 437 he would take deep and intelligent interest in them. As they are merely human beings, he regards them with that peculiar kind of interest with which men regard the unknown and unknowable. He is by no means indifferent to them. He is too kindly for that. He studies them deeply, though hopelessly, and when he enters the Sunday-school with his binoculars—which he often does, to listen—a de- gree of awe settles down on the little ones which it is impossible to evoke by the most solemn appeals to their spiritual natures. Nigel and Winnie have a gardener, and that gardener is black—as black as the Ace of Spades or the King of Ashantee. He dwells in a corner of the Rakata Cottage, but is addicted to spending much of his spare time in the Krakatoa one. He is as strong and powerful as ever, but limps slightly on his right leg—his “game” leg, as he styles it. He is, of course, an tnmense favourite with the young people—not less than with the old. He has been known to say, with a solemnity that might tickle the humorous and horrify the timid, that he wouldn’t “hab dat game leg made straight agin! no, not for a hundred t’ousand pounds. Cause why? —it was an eber-present visible reminder dat once upon a time he had de libes ob massa and Nadgel in his arms ahangin’ on to his game leg, an’ dat, trough Gracious Goodness, he sabe dem bof!” 438 BLOWN TO BITS, A TALE, Ha! You may smile at Moses if you will, but he can return the smile with kindly interest, for he is actuated by that grand principle which will sooner or later transform even the scoffers of earth, and which is embodied in the words—“ Love is the ful- filling of the law.” Even the lower animals testify to this fact when the dog licks the hand that smites it and accords instant forgiveness on the slightest encouragement. Does not Spinkie prove it also, when, issuing at call, from its own pagoda in the.sunniest corner of the Rakata garden, it forsakes cocoa-nuts, sugar-cane, fruits, and other delights, to lay its little head in joyful consecration on the black bosom of its be- nignant friend ? And what of Moses’ opinion of the new home? It may be shortly expressed in his own words— “It’s heaben upon eart’, an’ de most happiest time as eber occurred to me was dat, time when Sunda Straits went into cumbusti’n an’ Krakatoa was Blown to Bits.” THE END. . Printed by T. and A. ConsraBLe, Printers to Her Majesty, at the Edinburgh University Press. BY MR. R. M. BALLANTYNE. ‘With Illustrations. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d, each. ‘The fathers, mothers, guardians, uncles, and aunts who wish to find an acceptable . birthday present fot a healthy-minded boy of normal tastes, cannot possibly go wrong if they buy a book with Mr. Ballantyne’s name on the title-page.’-—Academy. The Hot Swamp: A Romance of Old Albion. The Buffalo Runners: A Tale of the Red River Plains. Charlie to the Rescue: A Tale of the Sea and the Rockies. Blown to Bits; or, The Lonely Man of Rakata: A Tale of the Malay Archipelago. Biue Lights; or, Hot Work in the Soudan. A Tale of Soldier Life. The Fugitives; or, The Tyrant Queen of Madagascar. 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Extra Crown 8vo. 5s. “The fathers, mothers, guardians, uncles, and aunts who wish to find an acceptable present for a healthy-minded boy cannot possibly go wrong if they buy a book with Mr. Ballantyne’s name on the title-page.”—Academy, THE WALRUS HUNTERS: A Tale of Esquimaux Land. Crown 8vo, With Illustrations. 3s, 6d. each. THE HOT SWAMP: A Romance of Old Albion, THE BUFFALO RUNNERS: A Tale of the Red River Plains. CHARLIE TO THE RESCUE! A Tale of the Sea and the Rockies. BLOWN TO BITS; or, The Lonely Man of Rakata, A Tale of the Malay Archipelago. BLUE LIGHTS ; or, Hot Work in the Soudan. THE FUGITIVES ; or, The Tyrant Queen of Madagascar. RED ROONEY ; or, The Last of the Crew. THE ROVER OF THE ANDES: A Tale of Adventure in South America. THE YOUNG TRAWLER: A Story of Life and Death and Rescue in the North Sea. DUSTY DIAMONDS, CUT AND POLISHED: A Tale of Arab City Life. 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The “Athenzum” says:—‘‘There is no more practical way of communicating elementary information than that which has been adopted in this series, When we see contained in 124 small pages (as in Fast in the Ice) such information as a man of fair education should possess about icebergs, northern lights, Esquimaux, musk- oxen, bears, walruses, &c., together with all the ordinary incidents of an Arctic voyage woven into a clear connected narrative, we must admit that a good work has been done, and that the author deserves the gratitude of those for whom the books are especially designed, and also of young people of all classes.” L FIGHTING THE WHALES; or, Doings and Dangers on a Fishing Cruise. IL AWAY IN THE WILDERNESS; or, Life among the Red Indians and Fur Traders of North America, Tit. FAST IN THE ICE; or, Adventures in the Polar Regions. IV. CHASING THE SUN; or, Rambles in Norway. v. SUNK AT SEA; or, The Adventures of Wandering Will in the Pacific, vi LOST IN THE FOREST; or, Wandering Will’s Adven- tures in South America. 8 James Nisbet & Cos List of MR. R. M. BALLANTYNE’S MISCELLANY—continued. VIL. OVER THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS; or, Wandering Will in the Land of the Red Skin, VIL SAVED BY THE LIFEBOAT; or, A Tale of Wreck and Rescue on the Coast. sp. THE CANNIBAL ISLANDS; or, Captain Cook’s Adven- tures in the South Seas, x. HUNTING THE LIONS ; or, The Land of the Negro. xI. DIGGING FOR GOLD; or, Adventures in California. xIL UP IN THE CLOUDS; or, Balloon Voyages. XII THE BATTLE AND THE BREEZE; or, The Fights and Fancies of a British Tar, xIv. THE PIONEERS: