e of which had been washed down by the sea, the
black jagged rock and barren aspect being suggestive of this having been
once the scene of an eruption.

As they stood on the rocks gazing down before them there was a slight
quivering to be felt, and soon after a dull heavy explosion, which
sounded as if it had taken place far below, while directly after a ball
of vapour shot up out of the conical mountain, here about a couple of
miles inland, right from the head of the bay.

It was a wild and desolate scene, for instead of the volcano being shut
off in its lower parts by bands of vegetation, there rose from the water
great swarthy walls of basaltic rock, all looking as if they had lately
cooled down after being in a state of incandescence; while to add to the
weird aspect of the place, so strange in the midst of so much verdure
and lush growth, the waters of the little bay were of pitchy blackness,
and hardly showed a ripple upon the jetty sand.

Desolation in its wildest form, but at that moment it seemed the framing
of one of the most attractive pictures the travellers could find; for
half hidden by rocks, but as it were just at their feet, lay the
blackened hull of the ship, just as it had drifted ashore and been
heaved up and tossed higher and dryer by the late earthquake wave.

No time was lost in climbing down to the black sands, while the burnt
and torn-off remains of the shrouds which hung over the side of the hull
rendered an ascent to the deck quite easy, the captain leading, Mark
following, and the others rapidly joining them where they stood. But as
it was, only Mark heard the low groan the captain uttered as he stood
and gazed about him on the charred deck of his ship.

It was a pitiable spectacle indeed, for the planks were almost entirely
black; three charred stumps showed where the great masts had been, and
saving that the bowsprit was nearly intact the fire had made a clean
sweep of the deck, even the greater portion of the bulwarks having been
burned away.

Here and there the planks were so completely burned through that the
greatest care was needed to avoid a fall below, but by picking their way
they were able to go from end to end of the charred hull. As the
burning masts had fallen they had carried with them over the sides the
greater part of the standing and running rigging with every spar, while
the shrouds and ropes that had been dragged across the deck were reduced
to cinders which crumbl