CATANIA 207 



and turned it from its course. The stream, thus 

 turned, coasted the ramparts of the town within pis- 

 tol-shot, and turned toward the sea." 



"I was very much afraid for those poor Cata- 

 nians," interposed Emile, "when you spoke of that 

 wall of fire, high as a house, going straight toward 

 the town. " 



' All is not over yet," his uncle proceeded. "The 

 stream, I told you, was going toward the sea. There 

 was, then, a formidable battle between the water and 

 the fire. The lava presented a perpendicular front 

 of 1500 meters in extent and a dozen meters high. 

 At the touch of that burning wall, which continued 

 plunging further and further into the waves, enor- 

 mous masses of vapor rose with horrible hissings, 

 darkened the sky with their thick clouds, and fell in 

 a salt rain over all the region. In a few days the 

 lava had made the limits of the shore recede three 

 hundred meters. 



"In spite of that, Catania was still menaced. The 

 stream, swollen with new tributaries, grew from day 

 to day and approached the town. From the top 

 of the walls the inhabitants followed with terror the 

 implacable progress of the scourge. The larva 

 finally reached the ramparts. The fiery flood rose 

 slowly, but it rose ceaselessly; from hour to hour it 

 was found to have risen a little higher. It touched 

 the top of the walls, whereupon, yielding to the pres- 

 sure, they were overthrown for the length of forty 

 meters, and the stream of fire penetrated the town." 



"My goodness!" cried Claire. "Those poor peo- 

 ple are lost!" 



