hour seemed to pass by as we thus knelt and prayed. Every
now and then we could not help starting up, as a more fearful crash than
usual sounded in our ears. Still the wished-for daylight did not
appear. The truth was, that since the commencement of the storm but a
short time only had elapsed, though in our desolation and solitude it
had appeared very long.

At length we heard a knocking at the door. I made my way, followed by
Maud, to open it, when two figures appeared, and I heard the voices of
Nanari and Lisele. During the moment the door was open I observed a
bright glare in the sky above the waving and bending trees, but it was
only for a moment, as immediately they were inside they closed the door
behind them.

"Are you safe, are you uninjured?" they exclaimed. "We could not bear
to leave you all alone, and, trusting to Jehovah's protection, we
ventured up here, hoping to comfort you."

We thanked them for coming, and I led the way into our sitting-room.
"What dreadful event is occurring in addition to the hurricane?" I
asked. "Can the forest be on fire?"

"The mountain has burst forth, and is sending up stones and ashes into
the air, while hot streams of lava are flowing down its sides," answered
Nanari. "Not one but many forests may be burned, but we are in the
hands of Jehovah, and should not fear, my daughter."

I inquired whether he thought that the ashes or streams of lava might
reach as far as the settlement, he believed that, shut in as we were, by
a separate range of hills, that the lava at all events would not run
down towards us; though, with regard to the ashes and stones, how far
they might be carried, he could not say, and again he added the same
consolation he had before offered.

Poor Lisele was in much affliction. Her father might probably be at
sea--as I feared mine was--and exposed to the dreadful tempest, and she
could not hope that he, having set forth against the warnings of his
Christian friends, would be under the protection of Jehovah. "Alas!
alas!" she exclaimed, wringing her hands, should he be driven out over
the ocean and lost, he will not have known the good and merciful God who
would--had he listened to the advice given him--have received him as a
son, and taken him to dwell with Him for ever in the glorious country
you have told me of beyond the skies.

"We have prayed for your father, and may continue to pray for him, my
child," said Nanari. "And Jehovah may sti