own into the air, or the whole
island itself, for what they could tell. Adair and his officers
endeavoured to quiet their alarm.

The "jollies," having recovered from their fright, were ready to pull
down their barracks and rebuild them at a short distance only from the
vent-hole, the surgeon assuring them that they would be better off than
their shipmates in the winter season, by having warm ground under their
feet. As all hands turned to, the huts were shifted to another spot, a
little above their former site, and before evening the work was
completed.

Two days afterwards, however, a rocking motion was felt, accompanied by
a low, rumbling sound, and immediately afterwards two fresh jets of
steam burst forth. Day after day the rumblings were heard, and those
who wandered to a distance from the town brought word that they had
seen, not only jets of steam, but of smoke and fire, while certain
rocks, which they had remarked rising above the water, had disappeared,
and others, in different places, had come to the surface. Although
Adair did not believe that any violent convulsion would take place, he
naturally became more anxious than before to escape from the rock. Any
spot in the neighbourhood of an active volcano is no pleasant place to
live in. Still more disagreeable did the officers and ship's company of
the hapless _Empress_ feel it to find themselves on the side of a
mountain which might at any moment be overturned or sink into the ocean,
without the possibility of making their escape. As, however, Adair saw
no prospect of averting the evil, should it overtake them, he
endeavoured to keep up his own spirits and those of his people by
persuading himself and them that such an event as they feared was highly
improbable.

After a time the men got accustomed to the appearance of jets of steam,
and the "jollies" even made use of them by putting their pots on them to
boil their fish. At length the public mind became perfectly
tranquillised, and things went on much as before. Still the captain
could not help feeling it more than possible that a fresh outbreak might
occur, and he found that the surgeon and first lieutenant were of the
same opinion.

A sharp look-out had of course been kept for any passing sail. The
royals of two ships had been seen, but the signal-gun was probably not
heard; nor could the flag have been sighted. The time spent on the rock
was, meanwhile, not altogether uneventful.

Week a