he valley. The lava was still so
hot that it was liable to blister the soles of their feet unless they
kept constantly moving. It would be many more days before the interior
of the mass became cold.

Through the forlorn, dust-covered vineyards they drove to San Guiseppe,
where a church roof had fallen in and killed one hundred and forty
people, maiming many more. The Red-Cross tents were pitched in the
streets and the whole town was one vast hospital. Ottajano, a little
nearer to the volcano, had been buried in scoria, and nine-tenths of
the roofs had fallen in, rendering the dwellings untenable.

From here a clear view of Mt. Vesuvius could be obtained. The shape of
the mountain had greatly altered and the cone had lost sixty-five feet
of its altitude. But when one gazed upon the enormous bulk of volcanic
deposit that littered the country for miles around, it seemed to equal a
dozen mountains the size of Vesuvius. The marvel was that so much ashes
and cinders could come from a single crater in so short a period.

Naples was cleaning house, but slowly and listlessly. The people seemed
as cheerful and light-hearted as ever. The volcano was one of their
crosses, and they bore it patiently. The theatres would remain closed
for some weeks to come, but the great Museo Nationale was open, and
Uncle John and his nieces were much interested in the bronze and marble
statuary that here form the greatest single collection in all the world.

It was at the Museum that Mr. Merrick was arrested for the first time
in his life, an experience he never afterward forgot.

Bad money is so common in Naples that Uncle John never accepted any
change from anyone, but obtained all his silver coins and notes directly
from the Banca Commerciale Italiana, a government institution. One
morning he drove with the girls to the museum and paid the cabman a
lira, but before he could ascend the steps the man was after him and
holding out a leaden coin, claiming that his fare had given him bad
money and must exchange it for good. This is so common a method of
swindling that Uncle John paid no heed to the demands of the cabman
until one of the Guard Municipale, in his uniform of dark blue with
yellow buttons and cap, placed a restraining hand upon the American's
shoulder.

Uncle John angrily shook him off, but the man persisted, and an
interpreter employed by the museum stepped forward and explained that
unless the cabman was given a good coin in exch