Bradford opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1874-1881, 1876-06-10

emily saw the dry moss and dead leave
3 on the outskirts Of the wood suddenl.
= take fire, as though the flaming breatl
) OF the giant serpent had kindled them
, And then 1 felt that mischief WIS in
| deed at hand, and uplifted my voice Il
the utmost to give the alarm.
, A mightier voice than mine drowned
my feeble accents. There was roa
, as if o thousand cannon had been free
, at once, and then there scared up to tn
: sky cloud Of red.hot ashes, falling il
fiery rain on lawn and wood, while
moss, grass, and brush, and oven entire
trees, begun to blaze and crackle. Mo-
was this all, for the treacherous crust ol
the volcanic mountain heaved and
cracked. opening out into flaming fis
sures which, in the form of a circle rude
ly traced, seemed threatening to sur
round us. =. L.. -sa
An indcscribable 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 festivity, and absorbed
in the one impulse of self-preservation.
1t was to no purpose that endeavored
to preserve something like discipline
among our own men. Fear was too
strong for my efforts to be availing, and
inspector and visitors, guides. servants
and miners seemed to contend in the
frantic race for safety.
The gulf!-the gulf of fire !"-such
were the words that repeatedly reached
me as the crowd hurried down tho steep
and winding road, and I knew the
phrase to indicate one of those occa-
sional outbreaks of the volcanic forces
below by which a fresh crater is estab:
lished.
Ny first intention had been to pre-
serve the money and stores which be-
long to government, but already the
huts were burning, and the disorder so
general that none needed my summons.
I should have followed the retreating
mob, when, turning my head, I beheld
spectacle which caused my very heart
to cease beating, SO great was the horror
OF it. Some fifty yards of, on the other
side OF fiery chasm, that scanned the
earth like the gaping mouth of some
monstrous beast of prey, stood alone the
pretty English child, with golden hair
hanging in wavy ringlets, who had pre-
viously attracted my notice. She had
strayed, doubtless, from her friends in
the confusion, and now stood to all ap.
pearance amused, but not alarmed, as
she gazed at the bright hues of the in
candescent sulphur, now cherry red,
now saffron, then palest pink or darken-
ing amethyst, that bubbled at her feet.
1t was fearful to sec the innocent young
thing, SO unconscious Of her danger,
smiling as it were 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 fs-
sure and snatched up the child in my
,riIIs.
Then for the first time she began to
cry aloud:
Oh, mamma, mamma, help me !"
Hastily I did my best to soothe her,
and the sound of the familiar English |
words and voice, and my assurance that
had come to take her to her mother,
quieted her; but as I turned to retrace
my steps, dense cloud of suffocating
smoke arose, cutting off all view of the
plateau, and when it dispersed I found
the chasm had widened to an extent
such as precluded all hope of striding
or leaping across it, while another roar,
and 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 I skirted the chasm,
making for q spot some three hundred
yards away, where a rock appeared to
form natural bridge over the red-hot
fissure. Wrapping my shaggy sailors
jacket around the child, to screen her as
far as possible from the hot ashes that
fell at intervals, I pushed resolutely on.
shall never, to my dying day, forget
what I underwent in the passage of
those three hundred yards. Gasring
and half suffocated by tho pestilential
vapors, blinded by the smoke, and 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 I
gave myself up for lost; but at length, !
lizzy and breathless, reached the rock,
md saw beyond it broad space cleared
oy woodcutters, probably, for only the
'tumps Of trees long since felled pro-
;ruded from the soil. AS did so, with 6
| crash the rock fell in, and the flames 9
eaped up like splashing water; but I I
to plant one foot upon cor '
Ter of the great stone, and, with des-. 6
oerate bound, cleared the chasm, with c
he child in my arms, and fell exhausted
IN the turf beyond.
1t was late at night when, spent and '
worm, 1 descended the mountain road, s
md passed the Cantania, still carrying q
he child, who had sometime since fallen '
sleep with her fair little head upon my '
houlder. All that she could tell me |
vas that her name was Emma Harding, L
nd that her family were lodged in large G
lotel fronting the sea, and which from t
he description conjectured to be the q
Albergo Reale. So it proved to be, aud
had the satisfaction of restoring the
ost lamb to her sorrowing relatives,
7ho had mourned her as dead, so utterly s
ertain had her fate appeared when she p
'as known to have been left on the t
urning mountain. o
While the child's mother, weeping, t
aught her darling to her heart, Mr.. S
iarding approached the spot where I a
TODD, footsore and weary, with hair and s
arments singed, and shoes that had "
rumbled away piecemeal from the h
corched feet they had sheltered, and C
'rung my hand. b
GO I am not man of many Words" he A
aid, "but you have laid me under q a
cry deep debt of gratitude, Mr.. h
dement's, and = Y
1 did not hear the rest, save as a con- o
lsed hum like that of hive of bees, a
IL now the floor seemed to slide away h
nder my feet, and the walls to revolve, n
nd then all grew dark. They laid me "
n a bed-for 1 had fainted-and
orinkled water on my forehead, and "
ave me cordials and wine, and gradually il
" strength came back to me; but for E
ooks I xuaa too lama to 1,o oh1a IN xuo1k VI