pped up the horses, and soon the
other guides and the beggars, with all their noise and clamor, were left
behind.

"You managed it very well, Rollo," said Mrs. Gray.

"Yes, Rollo," said Rosie, "you did it very well indeed. Next time I
shall not be at all afraid."

After riding a little farther, the coachman turned into a sort of lane,
and after going on for some way in the lane, he stopped. The boy got
down, and said that it would be necessary for them to walk the rest of
the way. So the whole party descended from the carriage, and began their
walk.

After going on for nearly a quarter of a mile, they passed through a
gate which seemed to be connected with some rude sort of manufactory,
and then, walking on a little farther, they found themselves within the
crater. It was a small, circular valley, surrounded on all sides by a
ridge of earth, apparently one or two hundred feet high. The valley
might have been about a third or a quarter of a mile in diameter. The
bottom of it was level, and was covered with a scanty vegetation. The
soil was very white, as if it were formed of substances calcined by
exposure to the fire.

An old man met them at the gate, and led the way in towards the middle
of the crater, along a sort of cart road. After a while he stopped, and
took up a large stone--as large as a man's head. This stone he threw
down with great force upon the ground two or three times, to show how
hollow the ground sounded. It did sound very hollow indeed, and the
peculiar resonance which is produced here by this experiment is
generally considered as proving that there is a great void space below
the surface, and that the bottom of the crater may some day or other
fall in.

At a little distance farther on, on the other side of the crater, and
close at the foot of the ridge of earth that surrounds it, there was to
be seen a column of dense smoke, or rather of vapor, coming up out of
the ground.

The guide led the way towards this place, and all the party followed
him. As they approached it, they heard a roaring sound, which grew
louder and louder as they drew near. When they arrived at the spot, they
saw that the steam was issuing from the mouth of a cavern that opened
there; and as it came out, it made a noise like the roaring of a steam
pipe when the engineer is blowing off steam.

Mrs. Gray and the three children stood gazing at this phenomenon for
some time in silence. At length Rollo said, "What an astonish