Dismounting

“ Perhaps the full blast of the simoom may last an hour—perhaps two or even three hours. In lighter strain it may continue a whole day. When, finally, it ceases the air is thick with fine dust; one can see scarcely a rod away. Sun and sky are hidden, and the blackness of a tornado or of a London fog prevails. The fine dust floating in the air may not settle for several days. Perhaps a week afterward there may be a haze that partly obscures the sun. The dust, finer than the finest flour, pervades everything in the desert. One's clothing is full of it; one's hair becomes harsh and matted ”

“ Mother Earth is the greatest of all explosive manufacturers.
Water seeping down into the earth’s crust and trapped in large quantities in the neighborhood of volcanoes sometimes becomes heated to high incandescence—heated until it is no longer water or steam, but mingled [21] oxygen and hydrogen, far above the temperature of their dissociation—under a pressure so great that they occupy a space no larger than the original water; consequently the entrapped waters exert a pressure as great as the strongest dynamite. ”

“ But almost as suddenly as it had been formed the vacuum was filled by a cyclonic rush of air. There was a detonation as of a hundred vicious thunderclaps made one, and, through the howling, shrieking blasts of wind, there rained down upon the valley, plain and metaled mountain a veritable avalanche of debris: bent, twisted, and broken rails and beams, splintered timbers, masses of concrete, and thousands of cubic yards of soil and rock. ”

“ When a cloud of dust, on a hot summer's day, rises and flies along the thirsty road, making the passenger close his eyelids, and dusting the leaves of wayside vegetation,—it is a miniature of the terrible simoom, which blows from the desert sands, scattering death and devastation in its track.
When steam issues from the tea-urn, and becomes condensed in minute drops upon the window-pane,—the miniature is of the earth's heat, evaporating the waters, and the cold air of night condensing the vapours into dew.
When grass and corn bend before the wind, and are beaten down by its force ”

“ This steam was at first of a brown colour, having embodied a great deal of the dust; as it rose it gradually recovered its pure white colour, depositing the dust in the shape of a shower of muddy rain. While this was being accomplished, renewed eruptions of hot cinders and dust were quickly succeeding each other; while forked lightning, accompanied by rattling thunder, darted about in all directions within the column, now darkened with dust, and greatly increased in volume, and distorted by sudden gusts and whirlwinds. ”

“ White spray rose above the bows. The sky was black. The speeding craft fled before the oncoming storm.
But the wall of rain swept down upon them with a whistle and a howl. The streaming sheets of water poured from the dark sky, whirled onward by the raging wind. The boat rocked in the tossing waves.
Frank crouched at the helm, his jaw set, his face stern. The girls huddled in the stern, seeking protection from the sudden downpour.
Joe found a sheet of tarpaulin in a locker, and gave it to the two girls, who draped it over their heads, and it afforded them some shelter. ”

“ Even the attraction of the moon, which causes the tides, would rip the crust across, the molten rock would well up through the fissures, and the whole world was a glare with fire shining red and reflected on the low-hung clouds of swirling steam. Every century the skin of land grew slightly thicker, though wrinkled and crumpled by the constant wrench and cleavage, first by the daily tides, then by the spring tides, and at last it remained steadfast, save when the frequent volcanic eruptions and earthquakes cracked the crust across. ”

“ The yellow beam of light revealed the pallid leaves of the bushes by the shore and the naked walls of rock above. But although Frank turned the flashlight in every direction about the cove there was no sign of the rowboat in which the two men had arrived.
It had vanished utterly.
Although the lads were prepared for the disappearance of the smugglers, they were not prepared for the disappearance of the rowboat. But they searched for it in vain. The light revealed nothing of the craft. ”

“ I’m sorry I did not remain quietly in my cot,” said Desmond; “it seems to me as if the world were coming to an end. I should not be surprised to see flames spouting up out of the sea. It looks as if some big fires were burning away under it.”
“Don’t you ken, Gerald, that the water would be putting the fire out,” observed Archie; “though from the appearance of some of those islands there has been fire enough below them at one time or other. They have all been raised up out of the ocean by volcanic agency.” ”

“ Like volcanic outbursts, - 218 - geyser eruptions doubtless originate in the escape of bubbles of steam through a liquid mass, and this liberation of steam follows any relief of pressure. In districts where vast masses of lava are slowly cooling down from a state of incandescence, and surface waters are finding their way downwards while subterranean waters are finding their way upwards, there can be no lack of the necessary conditions for such outbursts. ”

“ If we wait until to-morrow it may be too late."
The storm grew rapidly worse. The snowfall was so heavy that it obscured even the tops of the great masses of rock and it quickly drifted over the trail so that the boys were forced to follow the path by memory. This was difficult, as in some places the trail had wound about through tumbled masses of boulders and when it was hidden by snow they had to guess at its intricate windings. Several times Frank lost it altogether, but he was always able to pick up the trail again in some place that was sheltered from the storm. ”

“ The next moment the vivid moon was suddenly obscured by drifting wisps of cloud. As the green light blurred to an emerald haze, the creature under the crag came slithering out toward Dixon.
He had a vague glimpse of a monster such as one should see only in nightmares—a huge loathesome spider-form with a bloated body as long as that of a man, and great sprawling legs that sent it half a dozen yards nearer Dixon in one effortless leap.
he onslaught proved too much for Dixon's morale, half-dazed as he was by the green moon's paralyzing rays. ”

“ The compacted dust, sand or gravelly detritus found in necks, and comprised under the general name of Tuff, consists partly of the finer particles produced during the violent disruption of already solidified rocks, partly of the detritus arising from the friction and impact of stones ascending and descending above an active vent during times of eruption, and partly of the extremely light dust or ash into which molten lava may be blown by violent volcanic explosions. ”

“ As this water passes into the state of steam it tends to escape, and in so doing puts the whole mass into violent movement. When the steam rises to the surface, bubbles are formed, and the formation of these bubbles is promoted by the circumstance that the liquid mass, where exposed to the atmosphere, becomes chilled, and thereby rendered less perfectly fluid. By the bursting of these bubbles the pressure is partially relieved, and a violent escape of the pent-up steam takes place through the whole mass. ”

“ The gust came with such unexpected fury that it appeared to the travellers to shake the very rock on which they stood, and would have swept them from its surface like so many dry leaves, had it not been for the momentary precautions which they had taken for their safety. But as the wind rushed down the glen, it completely removed for the space of three or four minutes the veil of mist which former gusts had only served to agitate or discompose, and showed them the nature and cause of the interruption which they had met with so unexpectedly. ”

“ They were in a room that had evidently been used as a kitchen, and although rain came in slanting streaks through the open windows, the glass of which had long since been shattered, they were at least sheltered from the downpour that had assumed redoubled violence. The rain drummed on the roof of the old house and poured from black skies on the near-by wagon shed. Thunder rolled and rumbled threateningly, and every once in a while a sheet of lightning tore a band of lurid light across the gloom. ”

“ Floating pumice formed a layer on the ocean surface two and a half feet in thickness, through which vessels had difficulty in forcing their way.
The steam which rises in large volumes into the air may become suddenly condensed with the chill of the upper atmosphere and fall as rain, torrents of which often follow an eruption. The rain, falling through the clouds of volcanic dust, brings it to the earth as liquid mud, which pours in thick streams down the sides of the mountain. ”

“ He continues to describe the dust storm as follows:—“Some of them come on with great rapidity, as if at the rate of forty to sixty miles an hour. They occur at all hours, oftentimes near sunset.
The sky is clear and not a breath moving: presently a low bank of clouds is seen in the horizon, which you are surprised you did not observe before; a few seconds have passed, and the cloud has half filled the hemisphere, and there is no time to lose—it is a dust storm—and helter-skelter every one rushes to get into the house to escape being caught in it. ”

“ It was as though the tide of desolation had gone out, but would presently return, across innumerable acres of dazzling white geyser formation. There were no terraces here, but all other horrors. Not ten yards from the road a blast of steam shot up roaring every few seconds, a mud volcano spat filth to Heaven, streams of hot water rumbled under foot, plunged through the dead pines in steaming cataracts and died on a waste of white where green-grey, black-yellow, and pink pools roared, shouted, bubbled, or hissed as their wicked fancies prompted. ”

“ From this fissure large volumes of steam issue, accompanied by hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, hydrochloric acid, and sulphur dioxide. The hydrogen, apparently derived from the dissociation of water at a high temperature, flashes explosively into union with atmospheric oxygen, and, having exerted its explosive force, the steam condenses into cloud, heavy masses of which overhang the volcano, pouring down copious rains. This naturally disturbs the electrical condition of the atmosphere, so that thunder and lightning are frequent accompaniments of an eruption. ”

“ We'll be drenched."
"But what about Biff and Chet?" exclaimed Iola.
"I think they'll turn back too when they see what they're heading into," replied Frank. "It looks like a bad storm."
As though in corroboration of his words, a sheet of lightning and a violent clap of thunder heralded the beginning of the downpour. The wind came in from the sea with a violence that surprised them, came whistling down across the bay over a wide line of tossing whitecaps, driving before it a leaden wall of rain. ”

“ It was like an outlying rock with the water boiling up, streaming over, pouring off, beating round--like a rock in the surf to which shipwrecked people cling before they let go--only it rose, it sank, it rolled continuously, without respite and rest, like a rock that should have miraculously struck adrift from a coast and gone wallowing upon the sea. ”

“ That cannot be so. It is universally known that the Dismal Swamp is the healthiest place in the known world. Where can you find a location in which a death has not occurred in a hundred years? It cannot be named. ”

“ That light is what is technically termed "the eye of the Tempest."
When the Water spout, the horrible Typhoon, empties itself, human science and human daring are of no avail. Roaring, howling, shrieking, hissing, the storm fiends are at work above, below, around the luckless vessel. Suddenly there is a dead, a quite horrible silence, and there comes forth, seemingly, from the very centre of the water spout, a blinding flash, and a deafening report, and when you, at length, recover power to look aloft, you find that mast and spars have been shivered. ”

“ It is true that the hunted slave often heard the baying of the bloodhounds as he crouched in the cane-brake of the Dismal Swamp, or plunged into its central lake to break the trail, and true also that its hundreds of miles of waterlogged forest is infested with repulsive and deadly creatures, reptile and beast, bear, panther, wild-cat and snake; but it is not true that the Dismal Swamp is an irreclaimable wilderness, the pestilent source of miasma and malaria.
The Dismal Swamp is an agony of perverted nature. ”

“ In a storm of dust raised by a whirlwind, in the most violent tempest that agitates the ocean, not a single molecule of dust or of water finds its place by chance; or is without an adequate cause for occupying the precise point where it is found. ”

“ If the height of the reservoir bottle was so adjusted that the geyser didn’t quite know whether it was a geyser or a boiling spring, the soap made the decision, and the thing went off with a bang.
This simple group of experiments makes springs very real. The Yellowstone explosive springs differ from other springs in having superheated steam from live lavas to heat them. The rock is cracked and the water is doing a job of solution and deposition. It deposits stout tough silica around some openings and builds them up against the head of groundwater, and they become geysers. ”

“ Flashing jets of flame from the exploding shells cast a weird, unnatural light over the surroundings, and as if some mighty convulsion of nature was upheaving them, giant geysers of earth, mud and débris shot high in the air, while streams of iron and steel created havoc and destruction on every hand. ”