The next night was appointed for a visit to the bottom of the crater, for we desired to traverse its floor and see the "North Lake" (of fire) which lay two miles away, toward the further wall.

After dark half a dozen of us set out, with lanterns and native guides, and climbed down a crazy, thousand-foot pathway in a crevice fractured in the crater wall, and reached the bottom in safety.
The irruption of the previous evening had spent its force and the floor looked black and cold; but when we ran out upon it we found it hot yet, to the feet, and it was likewise riven with crevices which revealed the underlying fires gleaming vindictively.

A neighboring cauldron was threatening to overflow, and this added to the dubiousness of the situation.

So the native guides refused to continue the venture, and then every body deserted except a stranger named Marlette.

He said he had been in the crater a dozen times in daylight and believed he could find his way through it at night.