"]
We went over to them, and when we got nearer they chastely scuttled
into their tents and thrust out a row of heads--heads hideous with
curl-papers.
"What was that awful noise? An earthquake?" shrilled the Reverend Dr.
Jones. "I think I'll go home."
"Was it an avalanche?" demanded Mrs. Batt, in a deep and shaky voice.
"Are we in any immediate danger, young man?"
I said that it was probably a flying-star which had happened to strike
the lake and explode.
"What an awful region!" wailed Miss Dingleheimer. "I've had my money's
worth. I wish to go back to New York at once. I'll begin to dress
immediately--"
"It might be a million years before another meteor falls in this
latitude," I said, soothingly.
"Or it might be ten minutes," sobbed Miss Dingleheimer. "What do _you_
know about it, anyway! I want to go home. I'm putting on my stockings
now. I'm getting dressed as fast as I can--"
Her voice was blotted out in a mighty crash from the lake. Appalled, I
whirled on my heel, just in time to see another huge jet of water rise
high in the starlight, another, another, until the entire lake was but
a cluster of gigantic geysers exploding a hundred feet in the air, while
through them, falling back into the smother of furious foam, great
silvery bulks dropped crashing, one after another.
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