midnight
The deck was deserted , all the passengers crowding into the smoking room and saloons to escape the lava dust . Few kept their rooms or ventured to sleep . At intervals a loud detonation from the volcano shook the air , and the mystery and awe of the enveloping gloom were so palpable as almost to be felt . Toward midnight the wind changed , driving the cloud of ashes to the southward and sufficiently clearing the atmosphere to allow the angry glow of the crater to be distinctly seen . Now it shot a pillar of fire thousands of feet straight into the heavens ; then it would darken and roll skyward great clouds that were illumined by the showers of sparks accompanying them . The windows of every cabin facing the volcano were filled with eager faces , and in the smoking room Uncle John clasped Beth around the waist with one arm and Patsy with the other and watched the wonderful exhibition through the window with a grave and anxious face . Tom Horton had taken a position at one side of them and the dark Italian at the other .