at were watering from
the fumes. He doubted that the gases were good for them, but he was
curious. He wanted to see where the volcano would blow its top, if it
was going to.

In spite of the irritating fumes, they persisted and got a quick look at
the former health area. There was a series of pools for bathers, ranging
from big ones for large groups to individual tublike affairs, all nicely
tiled. There was one area of mud baths. Rick had an impression of two
areas, one of bubbling mud, the other of steaming water. It was enough.
The boys turned and got out of there.

Back at the hotel, the scientists were working. All were present, except
for Brad Connel, who had asked to be excused. He was in his room,
apparently still badly upset over the accident.

Dr. Jeffrey Williams had obtained a large sheet of paper and had
sketched an outline of the volcano and the earth under it as seen in
cross section. As Hartson Brant read off data from the day's tracings,
Dr. Williams plotted points far underground. Now and then he connected
points, or put in a light line.

Rick and Scotty watched with interest. The tracings meant nothing to
them; analysis was a job for trained scientists. But Dr. Williams was
slowly producing a picture on the paper.

"That's all," Hartson Brant said finally. "How does it look, Jeff?"

The seismologist shook his head. "Not good." He held his pencil almost
flat to the paper and began shading in an area bounded by the points he
had made. "According to what we have, this is the shape of a magma
front." He drew in other lines, rising vertically through the earth into
the volcano. "Apparently these discontinuities indicate old channels,
now filled in. Notice that the magma is not following the original
channels. This seems to confirm what Esteben has been telling us."

The volcanologist nodded. "It seems to. Jeff, do you have any doubt
about this area being magma?"

"I'm afraid not. The data fits. Of course it's still pretty far below
the surface."

Rick could see that the ominous shading was nearly twice as far
underground as the top of the volcano was above sea level.

Julius Weiss spoke up. "The next step is to find out how fast the magma
is rising."

"A series of shots every day for the next few days should tell us that,"
Hartson Brant agreed. "Hobart, you've been pretty quiet. Any comments?"

"None of any importance," the big physicist boomed. "Only this: what can
we possibly do about a sit