ertain in my own mind that such is the case.
I do not believe the present mild activity causing the earthquakes will
subside. But more than that, I believe the activity will grow in a
particularly disastrous way."

The scientist pointed to the volcano. "I have examined this cone. It is
ancient, covered with jungle growth. It is clearly stable. The crater is
filled in with compacted, weathered lava. If there should be a normal
eruption, it would have to vent through the hot springs, which is the
only active channel. Notice that the town of Calor would then be right
in line with the eruption."

Rick could see it clearly. The contours of the terrain were such that a
lava flow of any magnitude would engulf the little city.

"I believe the volcano will vent through the hot springs," Balgos went
on. "But my examination of the volcano leads me to expect that it will
vent with fantastic violence. The hot-springs channel is purely seepage.
There is no open vent. This means the mountain will resist the growing
forces under it until it is forced to give with great suddenness. To be
as concise as possible, what I see here is another Krakatoa."

There was a concerted gasp from the assembled group. Rick felt his
scalp prickle. He had expected nothing like this. Krakatoa, he knew from
his reading, had been the greatest cataclysm in recorded history. The
volcano, in the East Indies, had blown up with enormous violence. The
island on which it was located had been literally blasted to bits;
nothing was left. Nearby islands were blazed clean. No one knew how many
people had perished instantly. The blast was felt completely around the
world, and the dust of Krakatoa had so filled the world's skies that the
weather was changed. Winters came earlier and stayed longer, until the
dust settled at last.

"This is our problem," Balgos said simply. "It is made more difficult by
two things, our people and our politics. The people are superstitious
fatalists. I know them too well to expect that they will move from the
island. And where would they move? San Luz is claimed by three
countries: England, Colombia, and Venezuela. But we consider ourselves
independent. We have our own legislature. We cannot go to any one
country for help without acknowledging its sovereignty over us. We
cannot go to all three at once, because the diplomatic difficulties of
getting three nations together would take too much time. Besides, I do
not know what any nation