Meanwhile, the thirty yell, as with
one voice, that it is a dangerous proceeding, and call to us to
come back; frightening the rest of the party out of their wits.
What with their noise, and what with the trembling of the thin
crust of ground, that seems about to open underneath our feet and
plunge us in the burning gulf below (which is the real danger, if
there be any); and what with the flashing of the fire in our faces,
and the shower of red-hot ashes that is raining down, and the
choking smoke and sulphur; we may well feel giddy and irrational,
like drunken men. But, we contrive to climb up to the brim, and
look down, for a moment, into the Hell of boiling fire below.
Then, we all three come rolling down; blackened, and singed, and
scorched, and hot, and giddy: and each with his dress alight in
half-a-dozen places.
You have read, a thousand times, that the usual way of descending,
is, by sliding down the ashes: which, forming a gradually-
increasing ledge below the feet, prevent too rapid a descent. But,
when we have crossed the two exhausted craters on our way back and
are come to this precipitous place, there is (as Mr.
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