stillness, the next a vision of fire and
sounds that rent the mountain air.

"It's like looking into the bottomless pit," shivered Delia.

"Oh, but it's magnificent!" gasped Peachy.

"I'd no idea it would be so grand as this," said Irene. "I wouldn't
have missed it for worlds."

"Come along, girls. The guides can take us farther," said Miss Morley.
"Don't be frightened, for it's perfectly safe, and they won't let us go
into any danger."

So they went some way along the mountain and turned down a side path
towards the crater. It was difficult walking, for they were all among
lava and sliding cinders, but the guides kept close by them, and helped
them over difficult places. When they had descended perhaps a hundred
feet or so, the ground became percolated with steam, jets of it poured
from holes among the rocks, and the cinders upon which they stood felt
warm to their boots. The guides brought the party to a halt upon a ledge
of volcanic rock, from below which ran a sheer slide of hot cinders into
the ravine. From here there was a splendid near view of the cone, its
top yellow with sulphur, and at its base a lake of molten lava. One of
the guides, a venturesome fellow, climbed down by another path and
fetched lumps of sulphur as souvenirs for the girls, and the other guide
pressed upon them pieces of lava into which, while hot, he had inserted
coins, so that they had set into the mass when cool. They were naturally
immensely delighted with these mementoes, and put them in their pockets,
quite unsuspecting of the sequel that was to ensue.

It was a fearful scramble back up the steep path over the sliding
cinders. The guides held out a stick or a hand to help at awkward
corners, and being young and active the party managed to scale the side
of the ravine and regain the summit of the mountain without any
accidents, though Delia confessed afterwards that she had fully expected
to tumble backwards and roll into the lava, a fear which Miss Morley
pooh-poohed entirely.

"There was no danger unless you fainted, and the guides were close at
your elbow the whole time," she declared.

The smiling officials in the gray uniforms and red-banded caps had
indeed seemed the good geniuses of the excursion, but alack! they
exhibited a different aspect when they had conducted their party back to
the entrance of the funicular railway. Not satisfied with the payment
which the government tariff allowed them to charge, they demanded fr