{S The Mountaineer 
two and one-half hours before. We were hungry, very tired, 
the excitement seemed over, the sun gone, darkness hurried 
after us, damp misty clouds wrapped us, chill-cold gripped us. 
We were suddenly alone in the night upon a mountain top, far 
from home and our beloved world below. 
Cries of piercing terror from the coolies made me look 
toward the crater. What I saw transfixed me to the spot 
spellbound—speechless—terrified. The sight was one of horror 
and awful power. The great crater was violently vomiting. 
The mountain shook. From the nether worlds came flame, 
murky smoke, and red-hot exploding rocks. The thing burned 
itself into me. I ean see it yet. The darkness, torn by livid 
flame, then made darker by the smoke, the reports of the burst- 
ing rocks, the crunching crashing of the rocks falling near us, 
the solemn awfulness of the place, the unexpectedness, the 
astounding manifestation of immeasurable hidden forces, and 
the intense uncertainty as to what was coming next, all com- 
bined to root me fast, overcome with awe and fear. The yawn- 
ing abyss gradually stopped its action and only an occasional 
sputter in the great yellow bottom of the cauldron gave evi- 
dence that it was not entirely dead. But our peace was gone. 
and more. 
Our early desire to be nearer was fully gratified 
We wished we were well out of it. Next morning we estimated 
that we had been 800 feet from the edge of the great hole when 
the eruption took place. Rocks had fallen to within a few feet 
of where we stood. Some weighed a quarter of a ton. We 
were fortunately just far enough away to miss the rain of 
rocks—and no further. 
We arranged to sleep just as far away from the crater as 
ever we could get. It was in a long, narrow crevasse which 
evidently was at one time a deep, painful, earthquake rent near 
the edge of the mountain crest. The falling ashes had soothed 
the wound to within a man’s height of the top. We were well 
sheltered by an improvised carpet-tent from the driving damp 
wind without and the dull damp floor beneath—but were not 
comfortable in mind. It was dark and dangerous outside and 
we could not escape from the mountain at night. Just before 
we slept there were tremors and another eruption, but this time 
of smoke only. Twice in the night I awoke to hear others and 
to wonder what next. We were under the edge of a soft, 
friable rock which a falling roek could easily crush down on 
