spread all around, darkening the atmosphere as far as we could
see. I called Chief Engineer Farrish to the deck.

"'Do you see that over there?' I asked, pointing to the eruption, for
it was the second eruption of Mont Pelee. He saw it all right. Captain
Freeman's story was fresh in my mind.

"'Well, Farrish, rush your engines as they have never been rushed
before,' I said to him. He went below, and soon we began to burn coal
and pile up the feathers in our forefoot.

"I was on watch with Second Officer Gibbs. At once we began to furl
awnings and make secure against fire. The crew were all showing an
anxious spirit, and everybody on board, including the four passengers,
were serious and apprehensive.

"We began to cut through the water at almost twelve knots. Ordinarily we
make ten knots. We could see no more of the land contour, but everything
seemed to be enveloped in a great cloud. There was no fire visible, but
the lava dust rained down upon us steadily. In less than an hour there
were two inches of it upon our deck.

"The air smelled like phosphorus. No one dared to look up to try to
locate the sun, because one's eyes would fill with lava dust. Some of
the blue lava dust is sticking to our mast yet, although we have swabbed
decks and rigging again and again to be clear of it.

"After a little more than an hour's fast running we saw daylight ahead
and began to breathe easier. If I had not talked with Captain Freeman
and heard from him just how the black swirl of wind and fire rolled down
upon him, I would not have been so apprehensive, but would have thought
that the darkness and cloud that came down upon us meant just an
unusually heavy squall."

CHIEF ENGINEER FARRISH'S STORY

"The Etona's run from Montevideo was a fast one--I think a record
breaker. We were 22 days and 21 hours from port to port. Off Martinique
I stared at the coast for about an hour, and then went below. The blue
lava that covered everything faded into the haze that hung over the
island so that nothing was distinctly visible. Through my glass I
discovered a stream of lava, though. It stretched down the mountain
side, and seemed to be flowing into the sea. It was not clearly and
distinctly visible, however.

"About 3 o'clock I went below to take forty winks. I had been in my
berth only a few minutes when the steward told me the captain wanted me
on the bridge.

"'Do you see that, Farrish?' he asked, pointing at the land. An outbu