Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1876-06-01

| on the outskirts of the wood suddenly
take IRE, as though the flaming breath OF
| the giant serpent had kindled them. And
then | felt that mischief was indeed at
hand. and uplifted my voice to the utmost
to give the alarm.
A mightier voice than mine drowned
| my feeble accents. There was roar as
If thousand cannon had been fred at
once, and then there scared up TO the
sky cloud of red-hot ashes, falling in a
hery rain on lawn and wood. while moss,
grass and brush, and even entire trees, be-
gan to blaze and crackle. Nor was this all,
Tor the treacherous crust of the volcanic
| mountain heaved and cracked, opening
out into flaming assures which, in the
| form OF circle rudely traced, seemed
threatening 10 surround us.
| An indescribable period of panic en-
sued. The gay picnic party broke up,
| and its members, mixed pell-mell with
| the terrified sulphur workers, hurried
headlong down the hillside, some on
mules, but most on foot, abandoning the
late scene OF testivity, and absorbed in
the one impulse OF self-preservation. 1t
was to no purpose that l endeavored to
preserve something like discipline among
our own men. Fear was too strong for
my efforts TO be awaiting, and inspector
| and visitors, guides, servants and miners
seemed TO contend in the frantic race for
| safety.
The gulf!-the gulf of fire s"-such
were the words that repeatedly reached
me as the crowd hurried down the steep
| and winding road, and / knew this
phrase 10 indicate one of those occasional
outbreaks OF the volcanic forces below
by which a fresh crater is established.
My first intention had been 10 preserve
the money and stores which belong TO
the Government, but already the huts
were burning, and the disorder so general
| that none Needed my summons. should
| have followed the retreating mob, when,
| turning my head, | beheld a spectacle
| which caused my very heart to cease beat
| ing, so great was the horror oft Some fifty
| yards Off on the other side of a fiery
| chasm, that scanned tie earth like the
gaping mouth of some monsuous beast
of prey, stood alone the pretty English
child, with golden hair hanging in wavy
| ringlets, who had previously attracted my
| notice. She had suayed, doubtless, from
| her friends in the confusion, and now
stood to all appearance amused, but not
| alarmed, as she gazed at the bright hues
| of the iEcandescent sulphur, now cherry
red, now saffron, then palest pink or
| daTkening amethyst, that dubbed at her
| feet 1t was fearful to see the innocent
young thing so unconscious of her dan
| ger, smiling, as it We're, in the very jaws
| of death.
| Had the risk been a greater one, could
not have resisted the impulse which
| prompted me; and almost before | had
time TO realize what / was doing, / had
bounded across the glowing assure and
| snatched up the child in my arms,
Then for the first time she began TO cry
aloud
"Oh, mamma, mamma, help mer
| Hastily did my best 10 sooth her, and
the sound of the familiar English words
and voice, and my assurance that ] had
come TO take her to her mother, quietcd
her; but as turned to retrsce my steps
dense cloud OF sutfocating smoke arose,
cutting off all view OF the plateau, and
when it dispersed found the chasm had
widened TO an extent such as precluded all
hope of striding or leaping across it, while
another roar, and a shower of hot ashes
mixed with blocks of pumice stone,
warned me that TO linger was as perilous
as to fly. Only one mode of escape
seemed practicable, and accordingly /
skirted the chasm, making for spot
some 300 yards away, where rock APP
peared TO form natural bridge over the
red-hot fissure. Wrapping my shaggy
sailors jacket around the child, to screen
her rs far as possible from the hot ashes
that fell at intervals, pushed resolutely
| on.
/ shall never, TO my dying day, forget
what | underwent in the passage OF those
three hundred yards. Gasping and half
sut1ocated by the pestilential vapors,
| blinded by the smoke, aud with eyes
scared by the glare, and feet scorched by
the almost intolerable heat Of the earth, |
staggered on with my burden in my arms.
| Twice the thin crust that heaved beneath
me seemed to be breaking under our
weight, and | gave myself up for lost; but
at length, dizzy and breathless, reached
the rock, and saw beyond il broad space
cleared by woodcutters, probably, for
only the stumps Of trees long since telled
protruded from the soil. AS | did 80,
with a crash the rock fell in, and the
flames leaped up like splashing water;
but managed to plant one foot upon
corner Of the great stone, and, with
| desperate bound, cleared the chasm, with
the child in my arms, and fell exhausted
on the turf beyond
1t was late at night when, spent and
worn, descended the mountain road, and
passed the Catania, still carrying the
child, who had some time 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 large
hotel fronting the sea, and which from
the description / conjectsred TO be the
Albergo Reale. So 1t proved - be, and |
| had the satisfaction of restoring the lost
| lamb TO her sorrowing relatives, who had
| mourned her rs dead, so utterly certain had
her fate appeared when she was known TO
have been left on the burning mountain.
While the child's mother, weeping,
caught her darling to her heart, Mr.. Hard
| ing approached the spot where i stood,
foo;sore and weary, with hair and gar
ments singed, and shoes that had crum.
bIed away piecemeal from the scorched
feet they had sheltered, and wrung my
hand.
81 am not a man Of many words" he
| said, "but you have laid me under very
deep debt of gratitude, Mr.. Clemens,
| and"