e time absent, and we were expecting
their return, when a fearful squall, such as has not occurred since the
time when the brig was lost, broke over the island. Mr Thudicumb and
the kind old boatswain tried to persuade me that I need not be alarmed,
but I cannot help feeling most fearful anxiety. The boat is so small,
and not at all calculated to contend with a heavy sea. And then that
Malay Ali--ought he to have been trusted? I have heard that the Malays
are dreadfully treacherous, and he may have taken this opportunity of
getting away to join his own people. I could not have thought that he
had been so heartless and cruel as to injure Walter, and yet I know it
is possible. Poor dear Grace can scarcely lift up her head; she has
been in tears all day, and Oliver feels it dreadfully. If we had
another boat we might go and search for him, and Oliver has been trying
to persuade Mr Thudicumb and the rest to build one; but he says it
would take a long time to do so, as no timber is ready for the purpose.
It would, indeed, take almost as much time to build a boat as it would
to finish the vessel, and he thinks that it is more important to do
that. Our uncle and Mr Hooker are very anxious, I see, notwithstanding
all they say. This morning before daybreak a strange rumbling noise was
heard, and we felt the house shake, and several articles which had been
placed carelessly on shelves fell down. On running out into the
verandah, a bright light was seen towards the mountains in the interior,
caused by flames issuing from a high peak, above which black wreaths of
smoke ascended to the sky. Mr Hooker says that although there might be
an eruption of the mountain, yet, as we are a long way from it, we
should have every prospect of escaping injury. I am nearly certain that
they said this to calm our alarm, for, unintentional, I heard them
talking together, when Mr Hooker observed he did not like the look of
things; that we are living at the mouth of a broad ravine, and that if
any large stream of lava were to come down, it would very likely take
our direction.

"That is what I am afraid of," said my uncle; "but as we have no means
of avoiding it, it would be a pity to put the idea into the minds of the
rest."

"Don't you think that we ought to have a large raft built?" Mr Hooker
observed. "If the lava were to come down, we might get upon that and
escape being burned, for the whole forest would quickly be in a blaze."