beginning to feel quite warm to the touch, an indication, not to be
overlooked, that the substance of which the rock was composed was
metallic in its nature, and capable of conducting heat.

"Follow me!" shouted Servadac again; "we shall soon find a regular
stove!"

Onwards they made their way, until at last a sharp turn brought them
into a sudden flood of light. The tunnel had opened into a vast cavern,
and the gloom was exchanged for an illumination that was perfectly
dazzling. Although the temperature was high, it was not in any way
intolerable.

One glance was sufficient to satisfy the explorers that the grateful
light and heat of this huge excavation were to be attributed to a
torrent of lava that was rolling downwards to the sea, completely
subtending the aperture of the cave. Not inaptly might the scene be
compared to the celebrated Grotto of the Winds at the rear of the
central fall of Niagara, only with the exception that here, instead of
a curtain of rushing water, it was a curtain of roaring flame that hung
before the cavern's mouth.

"Heaven be praised!" cried Servadac, with glad emotion; "here is all
that we hoped for, and more besides!"

CHAPTER XXI. WINTER QUARTERS

The habitation that had now revealed itself, well lighted and thoroughly
warm, was indeed marvelous. Not only would it afford ample accommodation
for Hector Servadac and "his subjects," as Ben Zoof delighted to
call them, but it would provide shelter for the two horses, and for a
considerable number of domestic animals.

This enormous cavern was neither more or less than the common junction
of nearly twenty tunnels (similar to that which had been traversed by
the explorers), forming ramifications in the solid rock, and the pores,
as it were, by which the internal heat exuded from the heart of the
mountain. Here, as long as the volcano retained its activity, every
living creature on the new asteroid might brave the most rigorous of
climates; and as Count Timascheff justly remarked, since it was the only
burning mountain they had sighted, it was most probably the sole outlet
for Gallia's subterranean fires, and consequently the eruption might
continue unchanged for ages to come.

But not a day, not an hour, was to be lost now. The steam-launch
returned to Gourbi Island, and preparations were forthwith taken in hand
for conveying man and beast, corn and fodder, across to the volcanic
headland. Loud and hearty were the acclamation