TH OF OCTOBER--A TELEGRAM--A QUESTION--AN ANSWER--
DEPARTURE FOR THE CORRAL--THE NOTICE--THE ADDITIONAL WIRE--THE BASALT
COAST--AT HIGH TIDE--AT LOW TIDE--THE CAVERN--A DAZZLING LIGHT.

The colonists, warned by the engineer, left their work and gazed in
silence at the summit of Mount Franklin.

The volcano had awoke, and the vapour had penetrated the mineral layer
heaped up at the bottom of the crater. But would the subterranean fires
provoke any violent eruption? This was an event which could not be
foreseen. However, even while admitting the possibility of an eruption,
it was not probable that the whole of Lincoln Island would suffer from
it. The flow of volcanic matter is not always disastrous, and the
island had already undergone this trial, as was shown by the streams of
lava hardened on the northern slopes of the mountain. Besides, from the
shape of the crater--the opening broken in the upper edge--the matter
would be thrown to the side opposite the fertile regions of the island.

However, the past did not necessarily answer for the future. Often, at
the summit of volcanoes, the old craters close and new ones open. This
has occurred in the two hemispheres--at Etna, Popocatepetl, at Orizaba--
and on the eve of an eruption there is everything to be feared. In
fact, an earthquake--a phenomenon which often accompanies volcanic
eruptions--is enough to change the interior arrangement of a mountain,
and to open new outlets for the burning lava.

Cyrus Harding explained these things to his companions, and, without
exaggerating the state of things, he told them all the pros and cons.
After all they could not prevent it. It did not appear likely that
Granite House would be threatened unless the ground was shaken by an
earthquake. But the corral would be in great danger should a new crater
open in the southern side of Mount Franklin.

From that day the smoke never disappeared from the top of the mountain,
and it could even be perceived that it increased in height and
thickness, without any flame mingling in its heavy volumes. The
phenomenon was still concentrated in the lower part of the central
crater.

However, with the fine days work had been continued. The building of
the vessel was hastened as much as possible, and, by means of the
waterfall on the shore, Cyrus Harding managed to establish an hydraulic
saw-mill, which rapidly cut up the trunks of trees into planks and
joists. The mechanism of this app