coolly as in her drawing-room at home, making observations
on the scenery, which we could scarcely hear, and were too breathless to
answer.

In about an hour we neared the summit, and got under a vast canopy of
sulphurous smoke, which, blown by the furious wind, rolled grim and
black over the serrated edge, stretched its impenetrable mass between us
and the sky, and then swooped down toward the bay, and dispersed in a
vast mist. Most parts of the plain, too, were covered with a low
ground-fog. It was a grand sight as we paused and looked back before the
last effort. The whole sweep of the bay was visible from Sorrento to
Baia, together with the islands, scattered like giant sentinels at the
mouth; but all looked strange and fantastic through the sulphurous
vapor. The sun was setting in a bath of blood and gold, just behind a
straight line of ebony clouds with a sharp rim, like a wall of black
marble. The white houses on the slopes of Castel a Mare were already
looking ghastly in the twilight.

Our temples throbbed with fatigue; but the guide cried "Forward," and we
soon came to the most disagreeable part of the business. The smoke was
forced by the wind in a kind of cascade some fifty yards down the
declivity, and as soon as we got into it an awful sense of suffocation
came on. The guide swore, and some of us talked of retreating. But the
majority were for persevering; and, panting and coughing, we dashed
upward, reached the summit, got into the midst of a fearful torrent of
black smoke, like that which is vomited by a steamer's funnel, and
staggered giddily about seeking which way to go. At this moment a slight
form glanced toward us, said a few words to the guide, and presently we
were running to the left along black and dizzy precipices, until
suddenly we emerged from the volcanic vapor, and were in full view at
the same time of the plain and the sea, and of all the wonders of
Vesuvius.

The girl whose acquaintance I had made in so strange a manner had come
to the assistance of the guide, and told him what direction to take in
order soonest to escape from the smoke. I spoke to her; but although she
recognized me, I think, she did not, or would not remember our former
interview. The idea suggested itself that she was touched in her
intellect, so I made no farther allusion to the subject. It was evident
the guide knew her, and had confidence in her. He asked her advice about
the path which it would be advisable to