redible fury followed; the sheaf dispersed
and fell down in marvellous fireworks and thousands of sparks. Slowly,
in a fiery stream the lava flowed back to the bottom. Then another
explosion and another, the thumping increased, one of the other
openings worked, spitting viciously in all directions, the noise
became unbearable. All one's senses were affected, for the din was
too violent to touch one's hearing only. Then there was silence;
the cloud rose, and beside it we saw the stars in the pure sky,
and heard the surf beat peacefully, consolingly, as if there were no
volcano and no glowing lava anywhere near.

While we were standing on the brink as if fascinated, the silver
moon rose behind us, spread a broad road of light on the quiet sea,
played round us with her cool light, shone on the opposite wall of
the crater, and caressed the sulphurous cloud. It was a magical sight,
the contrast of the pure moonlight and the dirty glare of the volcano;
an effect indescribably grand and peculiar, a gala performance of
nature, the elements of heaven and hell side by side.

At last we left. Behind and above us thundered the volcano, below
us lay the desert, silvery in the moonlight, in quiet, simple lines;
far away rolled the sea, and in the silence the moon rose higher and
higher, and our shadows followed us as we traversed the plain and
gained the friendly shade of the palm grove.

CHAPTER XVI

THE SANTA CRUZ ISLANDS

After my return to Port Vila, where I again had the honour of being
Mr. King's guest, and having practically finished my task in the
New Hebrides, I decided not to leave this part of the world without
visiting the Santa Cruz Islands, a group of small islands north of
the New Hebrides and east of the Solomon Islands. This archipelago
has not had much contact with civilization, and is little known. I had
a good opportunity to go there, as the steam yacht Southern Cross of
the Anglican mission in Melanesia was expected to stop at Vila on her
way to the Solomons. She touched at the Santa Cruz island of Nitendi
going and returning, and could therefore drop me and take me up again
after about six weeks. While waiting for her arrival, I investigated
some caves on Leleppa, near Port Havannah, which the natives reported
to be inhabited by dwarfish men; but the results were insignificant.

Passage having been granted me by the skipper of the Southern Cross,
I once more sailed the well-known route northward