The Land of Mystery

  CHAPTER XXXII.

  THE BURNING MOUNTAIN.

  The tunnel through which Ashman propelled the canoe containing himselfand Ariel, was more than a hundred yards in length. It was only forthe smallest distance that the craft was in darkness, when the waterbegan to reflect light and reveal its outlines.

  A few minutes later the tunnel was passed, and they debouched into anexpansion of the enchanted lake. The second division was similar tothe other and almost as large, but its appearance was tenfold morewonderful.

  The sheet of water may be said to have been divided into two nearlyequal parts by the narrow tunnel running under the mass of rocksdescribed. One division was in the outer air, after the usual fashionof lakes, while the other was wholly underground.

  The interior lake was nearly circular in shape, with an arching roofhundreds of feet high. It was surrounded by towering crags, andvolcanic masses of stone, which gave it an appearance different fromanything on which Fred Ashman had ever looked. Nothing grander,wilder, more picturesque or romantic can be conceived. It was a scenewhich an explorer could stand for hours and contemplate in raptadmiration.

  But the most amazing feature of this underground lake was the way inwhich it was illuminated, so that every portion stood out in as boldrelief as if under the flaming sun of mid-day.

  At the western side, the shore, as was the case in nearly all otherdirections, was a mass of jagged rocks, piled upon each other in thewildest confusion. Beyond these rocks, was a vast chasm above thelevel of the lake, and extending right and left for a distance of fiftyrods. This huge chasm was one mass of crimson light, whose rayspierced every nook and cranny on every side of the lake.

  The eye gazing in that direction saw something similar to that whichgreets the traveller in the far north, when viewing the play of theaurora borealis in the horizon, or when the red sun is rising from itsocean bed.

  This enormous opening was so surcharged with light that Ashman, aftercontemplating it but a minute or two, did not need to ask its source.Beyond the area of illumination was the burning mountain whoseblood-red glow covered the entire surface and shores of the undergroundportion of the enchanted lake. The volcano had been aflame for ages,and was likely to continue to burn for centuries to come.

  Such an eternal conflagration must have an outlet for the vast quantityof vapor generated, and Ashman wondered that he had not noticed theascending smoke on his way thither. He recalled that when he and hisfriend were coming up the Xingu, far below the last rapids, theyobserved a dark cloud resting in the western horizon. There was nothought at that time that it was caused by a burning mountain, but suchmust have been the fact. The most singular fact was, that while on hisway across the lake to the tunnel, he had failed to notice and remarkit.

  There was a steady draft in the direction of the flaming cavern. Hehad observed it while paddling through the tunnel where it was strongenough to assist in the propulsion of the canoe. It was caused by theascent of the vapor through the chimney of the fiery mountain, andaverted the intolerable heat that otherwise would have been felt overevery portion of the lake. As it was, a moderate increase oftemperature was perceptible.

  Ashman was tempted to paddle the canoe to the black rocks whichseparated the chasm from the lake, and he timidly moved the blade,restrained by the fear of something in the nature of a "back draft,"which might consume them before they could escape.

  Ariel assured him that she had never encountered or heard of anythingof the kind, though she had often visited this remarkable region in thecompany of her father. Thereupon Ashman sent the boat ahead fasterthan before, and a minute later the bow touched the rocky wharf.

  Stepping out, he drew the bow upon the rocks, so as to hold it fast,and, extending his hand, assisted her to shore. Then he drew the craftstill further up, and, taking her hand again in his own, began pickingtheir way over the jagged bowlders and stones to the edge of thevolcano.

  From the margin of the lake to the other side of the mass of rocks wasa hundred feet. This may be defined as a solid wall, shutting out thewater from the burning mountain. The rocks rose to a height of a dozenrods or so, attaining which a spectator found himself half-way acrossthe dividing ridge, where, viewed from the lake, his figure looked asif stamped in ink on the crimson background.

  It was here that the lovers paused and viewed the striking picturespread out before their vision.

  That which they saw might properly be considered the crater of thevolcano. It was four or five acres in extent, irregular in contour,and so filled with gases and vapors that one could not see the bottom,while the jagged boundary on the farther side came out to view only atintervals, when the obstructing smoke was swept aside.

  Spiral columns of black vapor twisted swiftly upward from the fierydepths, sometimes side by side, and sometimes they would unite andclimb toward the opening above, like a couple of huge serpentsstruggling together. The air quivered and pulsated in certainportions, as if with fervid heat, and Ashman fancied once or twice thathe caught glimpses of a vast mass of molten stuff, far down in themountain, surging; seething and turning upon itself with terrificviolence. But the glare was so dazzling that it was like staring atthe sun, and he was compelled to withdraw his gaze.

  The opening above, through which all this vapor and gas effected itsescape into the clear atmosphere outside, was of irregular outline andno more than twenty feet across. It was at a great height above thespectators, and ought to have been visible many miles in everydirection.

  Now and then Ashman caught the odor of the sulphurous fumes rising fromthe naming depth, and he could not help reflecting that if theascending vapors should swerve toward them only for a minute or two,they would be asphyxiated before they could get away; but he could notshrink, when his lovely companion stood so boldly by his side, unmovedby the impressive scene.

  When he had become accustomed in a degree to the sight, the like ofwhich he had never viewed before, he recalled that they could notoccupy a more conspicuous position, in the event of being pursued bytheir enemies to the underground lake.

  As we have explained, they were standing on the highest portion of therocky wall, separating the burning mountain from the subterraneanportion of the enchanted lake. In this situation, they were in sightfrom every portion of the shore; any one entering by the tunnel, asthey had done, would descry them almost at once, because of the vividbackground against which their figures were thrown.

  This fact led Ashman to turn to his love and suggest that they shouldleave the spot. She nodded her head in acquiescence, and, stillclasping hands, they began picking their way down among the bowlders tothe spot where they had left their canoe a short time before.