uel and scarcely could
be forced through the pipes. Every few minutes, from the hills around
the village, avalanches of ashes could be heard, the terrible clouds of
debris flying over the town and adding to the choking smother.

Orders were given for all people to gather on the vessel or the wharf.
By ten o'clock the last of the gray ash-covered ghosts was mustered in,
185 people on the vessel, 149 in the warehouse on the wharf. Blinded by
ash, with throats so burned by the acrid fumes that even a hoarse
whisper was agony, with nostrils bleeding from constant effort to keep
them from being clogged with the fine dust, and with a stabbing pain in
the lungs with every breath one drew, the people were at the extremity
of their endurance. The situation looked desperate both for the
residents and for the officers and crew of the Coast Guard cutter.

The officers of the _Bear_ worked incessantly. In the dark they were
here, there and everywhere, and Eric, filled with the spirit of the
service, was on the jump. He was busy in the storehouse shortly before
eleven o'clock in the morning when a man groped his way in, saying that
he had just escaped an avalanche and that several men were marooned in a
steamer lying off the cannery wharf half a mile below the dock. This was
Eric's chance. So often had he made the trip from the ship to the
storehouse that morning that even in the dark and through the flying
spume of yellow horror he made his way direct to the first lieutenant,
and saluted.

[Illustration: GOING TO PIECES FAST.

Courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard.]

[Illustration: "WE SAVED 'EM ALL."

Coast Guard crew (including the dog) which rescued every sailor of
wrecked vessel's crew.

Courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard.]

"Yes, Mr. Swift?"

"I have information, sir," he said, "that there are seven men cut off
either in a steamer near the cannery, or in the cannery itself, half a
mile below the pier. I am told there is neither food nor water in the
building and that it is at the base of a hill from which it may be
overwhelmed by an avalanche at any minute. I think, sir, that a party
could reach them."

The lieutenant nodded and sought the captain. He returned a few moments
later.

"There are high hills between the village and the cannery," he said,
"and the road winds along the beach. We have absolutely no means of
knowing what the conditions may be. Under the circumstances the captain
does not feel justified in ordering