n's name, can it be?" ejaculated the skipper as he
turned his startled gaze upon Lance.

"Impossible to say," answered the latter. "One thing, however, is
certain; no _human_ lungs could possibly give utterance to such a sound.
And yet I don't know; the echoes of the place may have the property of
magnifying and prolonging it. Hillo, there! is there anyone below?" he
continued, raising his torch aloft and peering with craned neck down
into the black depths of the chasm.

There was no response. And the light of the torch was quite inadequate
to the illumination of more than a few feet from the surface.

"It is possible that, if there _is_ anyone down there, he may be unable
to hear me. Sound _rises_, you know. Here, Bowles, come across to this
side. We will unite our voices and see if that will evoke any
response," said Lance.

Bowles scrambled nimbly along the narrow and dangerous pathway, which,
having traversed it so often, now had no terrors for any of them, and
speedily joined the others.

"Now," said Lance, "I will count three, and then we will all shout
together, `Hillo!' One, two, three--Hillo!"

The cry went pealing away right and left of them along the dark gallery,
the echoes taking it up and tossing it wildly from side to side, up and
down, until it seemed as though every rock in the vast cavern had found
a voice with which to mock them; but no answering cry came from below.

"There is no one there," said Lance. "Indeed there _can_ be no one
there; nobody has been missed, and--"

"Hark! what was that?"

A long-drawn sobbing sigh, such as a child will utter after it has cried
itself to sleep, but very much louder; and immediately afterwards a gust
of hot air, which brought with it a distinct odour of sulphur, swept
past them down the gallery.

"God of mercy! can it be possible?" ejaculated Lance. "Yes, it must be.
Fly for your lives; we may not have a moment to lose."

"What is it?" gasped Captain Staunton, as the three started at a run up
the gallery in the direction of the great cavern.

"A _volcano_," answered Lance. "There are subterranean fires in
activity at no great depth beneath our feet, and they may break into
open eruption at any moment."

This was enough; his companions wanted to hear no more. The few words
they had already heard lent wings to their feet, and in an incredibly
short time they found themselves, panting and exhausted with their
unwonted exertions, once more