ON A VOLCANIC ISLAND In an instant the ship was in confusion. The professor, followed by old Andy, Washington, Mark, Bill and Tom, came rushing from their berths, all in their night clothing, to see what the trouble was. They met in a tangled mass, stumbling over Jack at the foot of the steps. "Is the ship on fire?" called Mrs. Johnson from her cabin. "I hope not!" called the professor. "But something has happened. Don't be frightened!" By this time Jack, who had been somewhat stunned, recovered his senses and worked his way out of the mass of bodies. "The ghost! The ghost!" he cried. "I saw him again!" "Land a' massy!" yelled Washington. "What has happened to the ship?" cried the professor. "Is it a tidal wave?" "I was on deck," panted Jack. "I saw the white thing! I crept up on it! All at once the ship rose in the air!" "And it's still rising!" shouted the inventor. "I must see what this means!" He made his way to the deck, and his loud shout soon brought the others up to him. "Shut off the engine!" Mr. Henderson called down to Washington, who hurried to obey. "What has happened?" asked Andy, rushing towards him. "We have run upon an island," answered the professor. "This is the worst thing that has yet happened to us." "What sort of an island is it that shoots you up in the air?" asked the old hunter. "It's hard to say," replied Mr. Henderson. "We will have to wait until morning to find out." The boys and men went up on deck and there beheld a curious sight. The _Porpoise_ had been lifted bodily from the surface of the ocean where she had been sailing and was now raised about ten feet above the crest of the billows. It was too dark to see the extent of the island she rested on, but, from the circle of foam around the outer edge it did not appear to be very big. The excitement occasioned by the appearance of the ghost, Jack's yells and fall, and the rising of the ship, had subsided somewhat. Mrs. Johnson and her daughter, who were much frightened, were assured there was no immediate danger, and the men and boys put on more substantial clothing than that of their night robes. It seemed as if morning would never come, but at length there was a pale light in the east and soon it changed to a rosy glow, showing that the sun was coming. The professor was early on deck, and Mark and Jack were not far behind. As soon as it was light enough they could see that the ship was held fast on top of a small rocky isle, about one hundred feet in diameter, which rose abruptly from the water. "It's a volcanic island," decided the professor. "We are in the midst of subterranean disturbances and this is probably one of the effects of some under-sea eruption. The pinnacle of rock rose from the ocean, forced up by some power underneath, just as our ship came over it. That accounts for the sudden rising into the air of the _Porpoise_. No wonder we were all scared." "The next question," began old Andy, "is how are we to get off?"