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from sliding farther down the slope. The body had an unnatural still-
ness and lay in a close, flaccid contact with the earth. There were no
eyes or even eyelids in the sockets. The cavities were filled with cin-
ders and bits of lava blasted into them by the force of the explosion.
The skin of his forehead was covered with gobbets of thickening blood.
His teeth showed through the black grit in his mouth in a ghastly and
frozen grimace. Most of the nose was torn away, revealing the two sep-
arate openings.
Thomas gasped and let out a moan. With Christopher s face now
a vision of death, he was hardly recognizable as his old mate of the
Dove. Thomas kneeled down and placed his hand on the carpenter s
chest but felt no heartbeat to reassure him that Christopher was alive.
There could be no doubt that his shipmate had died at the instant of
the explosion or soon after.
Thomas looked up accusingly at the officers. The blast has done
for him! he barked. This is what you meant for me. You daren t light
it yourself, but you would risk another s life for your mad idea. You
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are daft, aye, and cowardly withal. You speak of a murderer. If there
is one on this island, it is you! He jumped to his feet, and thrusting
his finger at the captain, shouted, Yes, you, a double murderer! And
all the deaths of the crew are on your head.
Mr. Morgen, unnerved and with his jaw agape, stared at the car-
penter. His right hand wiped away the blood that had dropped from
Harrison s face onto his forehead. The captain s eyes, though he looked
toward the body, were focused as if it were much farther away.
Suddenly a rumbling came from beneath their feet. A portion of
the slope under the rushing water was giving way, and the volume of
water shooting outward instantly doubled. The tree that had held Har-
rison s body shivered and eased lower. The side of the volcano vibrated
with the force and speed of the flying, brown stream. Farther below,
more trees were torn loose and carried down the slope in a tumble of
broken rocks, mud, and froth.
Take his legs! Thomas shouted over the roar of the water.
Quickly, or the mountain will fall from under us!
The mate grasped the carpenter s legs, and Thomas slipped his
hands under his arms to lift the body. In that fashion they managed
to carry him, but it was impossible to go up the slope with that bur-
den. Even climbing alone, it was two steps up and one step sliding
back in the loose material between the trees and bushes. Their only
choice was to travel diagonally along the side of the volcano toward
the hut. The two men struggled, stopping time after time to put Har-
rison down and clear a way through fallen limbs and ferns. Tobit, with
staring and obtuse eyes, lagged behind, and the mate paused several
times until he caught up close enough to see them and follow. Thomas
cursed to himself because he could not carry the carpenter s body alone
and go off, leaving the captain to blunder about through the forest to
fall somewhere and break his neck.
The mate halted at a tree that had toppled across their route, its
top leaning on the limbs of the trees growing lower on the slope. They
placed the body on the ground and rested for a few minutes. Before
they started again, Thomas climbed onto the trunk and walked
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shakily along its length to the higher end where he could see the land
below, close to the foot of the mountain. A fan of turbid water and
mud was rapidly spreading from the foot of the volcano and out onto
the flatland. More trees, limbs, roots, and all were tumbling and being
driven down with the rush of water. At times the boiling flood
came out colored brick red, then shifted to brown, and for moments
even changed to near-black. Its flow did not slacken as Thomas
expected it would, but kept increasing in volume and spreading across
the flatland.
The side of the volcano must be collapsing! he shouted to the
mate. We must hurry before we are taken down with it! He ran back
along the bole and jumped to the ground.
They lifted Harrison over the tree, crawled over it themselves, and
resumed picking their way along the mountainside with their load.
After a few minutes, the mate turned and nodded, indicating he wanted
to go back for the captain. The lad rested while Mr. Morgen hurried
back to the toppled tree. The mate found Tobit pacing back and forth
on its far side, maundering as he went.
He reached across and grabbed the captain s sleeve. Over here,
quickly, he called, or we will be carried away and drowned! By per-
sistent tugging and cajoling, he got the captain to crawl over the trunk
and walk toward Thomas. The three of them worked their way through
the thicket for a quarter of an hour, then suddenly broke out and
found themselves near their old route along the cascade. From there
on it was much easier going. There was no need to force their way
through bushes or climb over more downed trees.
An hour or more after they had started, the mate and Thomas
arrived at the hut and laid Harrison s body on the ground in the work
yard. The two men were exhausted. The mate dropped and sat on the
ground. Thomas stood over the body, panting, and stared at the still
form. Christopher must have known how much peril there was in
touching a glowing coal to the train, he reasoned, yet he was willing
to do it to stop the flogging. Why had he not tried something else? A
club? Two against one. . . . No, they would have had him beaten and
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