140 FOR THE FLAG

the facility of communication with Hamilton and St.
George. Their strong boats, rigged like cutters, exported
the fish,and imported in exchange various commodities
needed for their support.

Why, then, had they abandoned the islet, and without
any intention of ever returning ? Were they no longer in
security ?

Two months before, the fisher folk had been at first sur-
prised and afterwards alarmed by hollow rumblings which
came from the interior of Backcup. At the same time
smoke and flames issued from the top of the island—
the bottom of the up-turned cup. Now no one had
suspected that the island was of volcanic origin, or that
its summit former a crater, because its sides were so
steep it was impossible to scale them. But it could
no longer be doubted that Backcup was an old volcano,
and now threatened the village with an immediate
eruption.

During those two months the internal noises increased,
the rocky foundation of the island trembled perceptibly,
long jets of flame issued from the crater—generally at
night—and sometimes there were formidable explosions.
Such symptoms were the unmistakable preface to a violent
disturbance.

The families exposed to this imminent catastrophe, on a
sea-beach which offered no shelter from the streams of lava,
and fearing the complete destruction of Backcup, lost no
time in making their escape.

They placed all their possessions on the fishing sloops