From this hollow vapors were rising as from a witch's cauldron, but every now and then the wind dispersed them as if lifting a veil, revealing a glimpse of the crater.
At the bottom of the ravine stood a great cone, from the mouth of which poured dense clouds of smoke, and between the smoke could be seen fire, as if the interior of the cone were a red-hot furnace.

Sometimes the vapors were shadowy as gray phantoms, sometimes glowing red with the reflection of the fire within, and as they whirled round the dim ravine loud explosions broke the silence.

The view was as fleeting and evanescent as a landscape in a dream; one minute there would be nothing but a bank of mist and deadly stillness, the next a vision of fire and sounds that rent the mountain air.
"It's like looking into the bottomless pit," shivered Delia.
"Oh, but it's magnificent!" gasped Peachy.
"I'd no idea it would be so grand as this," said Irene.

"I wouldn't have missed it for worlds." "Come along, girls.

The guides can take us farther," said Miss Morley.
"Don't be frightened, for it's perfectly safe, and they won't let us go into any danger." So they went some way along the mountain and turned down a side path towards the crater.