The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1876-08-03

and winding road, and L knew tAIa
phrase to indicate one of those occasion
al outbreaks Of the vulcanic forces below
by which fresh crater Is established
My first intention had been to pre-
soryo the money and stores which bo
lonSed to the Government, but already
the hints were burning, and the disorder
SO general That nona needed my sum
mons. I should have followed the re-
treating mob, when turning my head, I
behald q spectacle which caused my very
heart to cease beating, so great was the
horror of it. Some fifty yard; Of, on
scanned the eprtii like the gaping month
of some monstrous beast Of prey, stood
alone the pretty English child, with
golden hair hanging lii wavy ringlats,
WHO had previously attracted ny notice.
She had strayed, doubtless, from her
friends in the confusion, and now stood
to all appearance amused, but not alarm
ef, az she gazed at The bright hues OF
the incandescent sulphur, EOw cherry
red, now saffron, then paiesb pink Or
darkening amethyst, that bubblad at her
feet. It was fearful to see the innocent
young thing, so unconscious OF her dam
ger, smiling, as it were, in the very jaws
Of Death.
Had The risk been q greater one, ]
could not have resisted the impulse
which prompted me and almost before
1 had time to realize what was doing,
I had bounded across the glowing fis-
sure and snatched up the child in my
arms.
Then, for the first time, s!l commenc-
ed TO cry aloud
ooh, mamma, mamma. help me y
Hastily [ did my best to soobhe her,
and the sound Of the familiar English
words and voice, aad my assurance that
I had come to take her to her mother,
quieted her; but as I turned to retrace
my steps, a dense cloud of suffocating
smoke arose, cutting off all view of the
plateau, and when it dispersed I found
the chasm had widened to IN extent such
as precluded all hope OF striding or leap
ing across it, while another roar, and a
shower of hot ashes mixed with blocks
of pumice-stone, warned me that to lin
ger was as perilous as to fly. Only one
mode Of escape seemed practicable, and
accordingly [ skirtcd tie chasm, making
for spot some three hundred yards
away, where q rock appeared to form a
naJaral bridge over the red-hot fissure.
Wrapping my sllagged sailors jacket
around the child, to screen her as far as
possible from the hot ashes that fell at
intervals, [ pushed resolutely on.
I shall never, to my dying day, forget
what underwent in the passage of those
three hundred yards. Gasping, and half
suffocated by the pestilental vapors,
blinded by the smoke, and with eyes
scared by the glare, and feet scorched
by the almost intoierable heat of the
earth, staggered on with my burden i'll
my arms. Twice the thin crust that
heaved beneath me seemed to be break
ing under our weight, and [ gave myself
up for lost but at length, dizzy and
breathless, reached the rock, and saw
beyond it a broad space cleared by wood
cutters, probably, for only the stumps
Of trooc Iopor einaa alloI ,>roE,,,,lo1 f,.,>,
the soil. As [ did so, with q crash the
rock fell in, and the flames leaped up
like splashing water but [ managed to
plant one foot upon a corner of the great
stone, and with desperate bound,
cleared the chasm, with the child in my
arms. and fell exhausted on the turf be-
yond.
It was late at night when, spent and
worn, I descended the mountain road,
and passed the Catania, still carrying
the child, who had sometime since fallen
asleep with her fair little head upon my
shoulder. All that she could tell me
was that her name was Emma Harding,
and that her family were lodged in a
large hotel fronting the sea, and which
from the description I conjcctured to be
the Albergo Reale. SO it proved to be,
and [ had the satisfaction of restoring
the lost lamb to her sorrowing relatives,
who had mourned her as dead, so utterly
certain had her fate appeared when she
70, Lax
ing mountain.
While the child's mother, weeping,
caught her darling to her heart, Mr.
Harding approached the spot where [
stood, foot-sore and weary, with hair
and garments singed, and shoes that had
crumbled away piecemeal from the
scorched feet they had sheltered, and
wrung my hand.
s'I am not man of many words" he
said, ''but you have laid NE under a
very deep debt of gratitude, Mr.. Glenn
ents, and"
did not hear the rest, save as a con
fused hum like that Of q hive Of bees, for
now the floor seemed to slide away from
under my feet, and the walls to revolve,
and then all grew dark. They laid me
on a bed-for had fainted-and sprin-
kled water on my forehead, and gave me
cordials and wine, and gradually my
strength came back to me; but Tor weeks
[ was too lame to be able to walk with
ont the support OF crutch.
am well enough now, and they cab
mo Captain GiarneuiS for am / not cOn1-
mander of fine ship in the Australian
trade, to which Mr.. Harding, her owner.
gave the panae of Emma, i'll honor of the
i.,n,. littla Hat hid h.al,la.atia