CHAPTER VIII

The long mid-day twilights came first, uncertain and gray to begin with, but getting brighter and more lovely as time went on.  It was as if Nature were trying her hand in painting the sky to give the great king of day a glorious welcome.

But one day the snow on the mountain peaks changed to a bright red, while above floated just one streak of crimson cloud; higher up, the stars shone in a strange, green light, and all the horizon was of the richest orange colour.

“Oh, surely,” cried Pansy, “the sun will rise to-day!”

But the red faded from the mountain-top, the little cloud turned brown, then gray, then black, and it was night once more.

“No, little sister,” said Tom kindly; “but the sun will rise to-morrow.”

All went to bed early that night, and were up very early in the morning.  In fact, breakfast was finished before the stars had begun to pale in the west.  Then came twilight itself, and, long though it was, its intense beauty was the best reward for the waiting, watching little Crusoes.

Every heart was beating quickly, and Pansy was standing on brave Tom’s shoulder, just to be “nearer the sky”, she said.

All were silent.

The sun came at last, and with such a silvery sheen, too, that the children were dazzled.

This was best, for they could not thus see the tears that slowly trickled down each other’s faces.

“Look! look! look!” was all Pansy could say.

“Oh, isn’t it splendid!” said Tom, as soon as he could speak.

“Uncle is sure to come now,” said Aralia firmly.

“I’ll go and fish,” Flossy seemed to say as she sprang three times her length in the air, and turned head over heels like the clown in a circus.

“Come on, Veevee,” cried the mastiff, “come for a run in the sunshine.”  And off they set.

But the day soon ended, for the sun quickly disappeared.  Yet the Crusoes had seen it, and that was joy enough for once.

And now the days began to lengthen out, but at the same time earthquakes and thunder-storms became more and more frequent.  The lake felt hot again, and the water tossed about so much at times, that even Flossy was afraid to venture in to catch the fish she could not live without.

There was a most terrible earthquake-storm about two weeks after the first sunrise.

Even Tom himself was frightened this time, for the thunderings and lightnings and explosions were awful, and lasted for three long days.  It was pitch dark all the time, and the rain came down in sheets.

To make matters worse, smoke of a strange red colour was seen on the hills.  It looked as if it came from rents in the mountain-sides, and there was a smell like burning sulphur in the air.

But this season of terror ended at last; the stars shone out, there was a fine display of northern lights, and, soon after, the sun rose.  A stiff breeze sprang up, and all the clouds and vapours were blown away, the last thing seen being a rainbow in the east.