cotch, Irish, Yorkshire, and South country dialects, tumbling over each
other, some sprawling on the ground, many without caps or jackets, some
making their way to the town, others down to the harbour, others
scrambling away up to the hill.

"What's the matter, my man?" asked Adair, as soon as he got one of them,
who happened to be an Irishman, to stop.

"Arrah! your honour, captain dear, we're blown up entirely. Sure there
must be a big fire or an engine of some sort under the barracks, and we
would have been roasted or boiled, if it had been at night an' we had
all been in our beds."

The column of steam, for Adair saw that it was not smoke, continued to
ascend.

"There must be some volcanic agency at work," observed Desmond; "and I
am not surprised at the fellows being frightened when it burst out
suddenly in their midst."

"We'll examine it, at all events," said Adair. "If there's a vent-hole,
I don't suppose we need apprehend any danger."

"Don't go near it, cap'n, it may go off again," exclaimed the Irishman,
as he saw Adair and Desmond making their way into the huts.

Several of the men, who recognised their captain, shouted to their
companions to stop, and the greater number came back, forming a circle
round the spot, ashamed probably of their sudden flight. On examining
the place, Adair found that directly under where the men's table had
stood, a jet of steam had burst forth and upset it, when it must have
fallen with no small force against the men seated on one side. Two poor
fellows were still under the table. At first Adair feared that they
were killed, but they appeared only to be stunned or frightened into
unconsciousness, and in no way injured, for the table had saved them
from being scalded.

The orifice was nearly a foot in diameter, and was apparently
increasing, as fresh columns of steam, issuing from it, ascended high
into the air, having blown off the canvas roof of the hut. The captain
and Desmond summoned the men within hail, ordering them to carry their
injured comrades to the hospital, where the surgeons, who had come up on
hearing the noise, examined them.

The whole population had by this time turned out, and various were the
surmises as to what might occur. One thing was certain, that the island
was volcanic. What might ultimately happen it was impossible to say.
The "croakers" feared that it was but the commencement of disasters, and
that at any moment the town might be bl