THE ISLAND OF FLAMING DOOM

by Henry T. Sperry

Part One
Ralph Boyd and his father, with uncertain emotions, watched the boiling white line-which split the darkness
ahead of them It meant land, of course—but with a fifty-mile gale off their stern, and bare steerageway through
billows that tossed their little forty-foot yawl about like a cockle-shell, it might very well spell disaster, too.
With a shredded mainsail and broken aftermast there was no choice but head directly for the coast under what
was left of the flying jib. Was this, Ralph wondered, to be the end of the gallant little vessel which had safely borne
him and his father over 25,000 miles of ocean during the past three years? There was more than a possibility that it
would mean his end, too, and his father's—if that ever-widening band of churning foam ahead meant what it
appeared to mean. Half of these South Sea archipelagos were made up of coral reefs and islands, and—if it turned out
there was a reef ahead of them, instead of a beach...
There was nothing to do but wait. Ralph cast one glance astern where his father held the wheel against the
ripping strength of the waves and currents, then turned forward and braced himself for the coming shock.
"Jump clear and swim hard when she hits," shouted the elder Boyd above the roar of the storm. "I'll be right
behind you."
Ralph didn't answer. He had suddenly sighted what seemed to be a break in the reef and his eyes watched it while
the boat crested a billow for a moment. It was a patch of pure blackness between the tossing lines of creamy foam. It
might be a passage through—or merely an optical illusion The darkness of the night was so intense it was impossible
to tell.
But it was worth investigating. "Bear a couple of points to sta'board, Dad," he yelled. "I think there's a break—"
A shout of rejoicing from his father interrupted him. Mr. Boyd's more accustomed eyes could not fail to identify
that black patch the moment they lit on it. "Hold tight, son!" he called "We're going to shoot for it!"
The opening, as they bore down on it, turned out to be hardly wider than the beam of their craft, and the water
was flushing through it with the speed of a millrace. It was, Ralph reflected, like trying to dot an i at fifty paces with a
22.
A cross current, set up by the terrific backwash from he reef ridges on either side of the channel increased the
difficulties of the situation. The Albatross, as the Boyds' yawl was named reared and bucked like a young stallion but
she showed the cleanness of her lines and the skill which had gone into her construction by the manner in which she
minded her helm against the turbulent forces striving to capsize her or rip her to pieces.
Suddenly a great wave lifted the little boat and literally threw her at the reef. The elder Boyd yelled a warning and
threw the wheel hard down to port, as she threatened to jibe into the trough and be broached on the craggy coral
which seemed to thrust hungry fingers toward her forward strakes.
Ralph calmly prepared to dive overboard, grimly determined that he would make for shore only after he was
certain his father was safe. Just then the rudder caught a cross current and whipped the bow straight. The following
breaker slapped the transom a blow which shook the little craft from stem to stern—and shot her through the narrow
opening in the reef as true at an arrow released from a bow. Two minutes later the Albatross was riding high and
easily in comparatively smooth water.

***

Making their way through the stygian darkness of the island, after they had safely moored their little boat; Ralph
and his father suddenly were heartened to see a faint gleam of light ahead of them, coming through a break in the
dense, ram-drenched foliage. A few minutes later they emerged in front of a small but apparently well-built house of
bamboo, thatched heavily with palm leaves. The light came through the windows, seemingly cast by an oil lamp.
Mr Boyd walked up to the door and rapped resoundingly. He paused, and rapped again. There was no answer.
Then, placing his shoulder against the door he pushed—and the portal suddenly burst open.
With Ralph close at his heels, the elder Boyd took a couple of steps into the lighted room—and came to a halt.
Standing on the other side of the room with a leveled rifle pointing straight at the two interlopers was one of the
strangest-looking creatures either of them had ever seen.
It was a man, taller by a foot than the elder Boyd, who was well over six feet, and built in proportion. A huge
tangled mat of beard spread out over the giant's chest reaching almost to his waist. The upper part of his body was
unclothed, his only garment being a pair of unbelievably filthy and ragged dungarees. His enormous feet were bare.
But the thing which caused a pang of apprehension to shoot through Ralph's heart was the wild, mad light in the
creature's eyes. Although, strangely enough, it seemed to be an expression of fear rather than ferocity.
For several seconds the tableau held, the giant pointing his rusty rifle at Ralph and his father, and the latter
gaping in astonishment at the strange figure opposite them. Then, in a calm voice the elder Boyd said:
"We beg your pardon, sir, for breaking in on you in this manner. It would be inexcusable but for the fact that we
were blown upon this island in the storm. We moored our boat inside the reef and came here seeking shelter from the
rain. If you would be good enough to accommodate us for the night—"
The rumbling voice of the giant broke in, "Then—then ye ain't dead? Ye ain't no spirruts come back to plague me
fer what I done—?"
There was a moment's silence while the two Boyds digested this strange speech, then, smiling a little, Mr. Boyd
replied "Why—no. sir. We aren't spirits. We're lucky enough to be alive. We've been making a world cruise in our
yawl for the past three years."
Suddenly the giant lowered his rifle and came toward them with a shaking hand outstretched. "Then—ye got a
boat? Ye'll take me with ye when ye leave?" The fellow was actually trembling with eagerness.
"Indeed we will." answered Mr. Boyd. "And we'll leave tomorrow, if the weather is good. You, I suppose, were
shipwrecked here some time ago?"
The latter turned out to be the case. The man's name was Stanley Mills. He said that he had been first officer of
the Mary Anne, a sailing vessel in the copra trade between Batavia in Java and Panama, which had been wrecked on
the reef ten years before. Mills was one of five survivors, all of whom, excepting him, had since died. He also
volunteered the information that the island was volcanic, and that an eruption had been threatening for the past three
days....

***

As he slept fitfully on a pile of palm leaves in the hut, that night, Ralph turned the man's words over endlessly in
his mind. His manner had been suspicious, furtive—and Ralph could not forget his strange query: "Ye ain't no spirruts
come back to plague me fer what I done—?" What had he done?... But maybe the poor fellow's mind was unbalanced
a little by so many years of loneliness on the island.... Then Ralph thought about what Mills had said concerning the
volcano on the island, and it seemed to him that he could hear faint rumblings, now and then, coming from deep in
the ground....
At last, unable to sleep, Ralph got up quietly, so as not to disturb his father, and crept out of the little house. The
rain had stopped and the skies had cleared with that suddenness which is characteristic of tropical storms. The moon
was out and shining brightly.
Led by a desire to see that the Albatross was still safely anchored, although he was sure that it was, he headed for
the coral lagoon inside the reef—but he had taken no more than a few steps when he came to a sudden halt. Blackly
silhouetted against the skyline to the right was the figure of an enormous man, bearing a great box or chest on his
shoulder, heading down toward the lagoon. There could be no doubt that it was Mills. Ralph watched him until he
disappeared behind the trees at the edge of the water, and then crept after him.
When he reached the open beach, he suddenly felt his heart leap into his throat. The Albatross had a new
aftermast and mainsail. Evidently Mills had spent the hours of the night making them—and now he had loaded his
box aboard and was raising the sail. Obviously he was planning to sail away and leave Ralph and his father
marooned!
Ralph opened his mouth to shout a protest—and just then the whole world seemed to shake with a terrific
explosion which came from behind him. Ralph whirled about—and saw the heavens shine with unearthly flames
which spouted like a giant torch from the west end of the island. Great billows of smoke and fire vaulted into the star-
lit heavens, and again the earth trembled with the deafening roar of explosion after explosion. The volcano had begun
to erupt!

Part Two
Ralph Boyd and his father, stranded on a tiny, volcanic island in the South Seas, became the guests of a man who
had been shipwrecked there ten years before. But, Ralph sleepless, wandered down to the beach near dawn and
found their host loading a mysterious box aboard their boat, the Albatross, and preparing to sail away without them.
Just then the volcano at the west end of the island began to erupt!
What should he do? If he ran back to get his father, Mills would sail away, leaving them stranded forever on this
perilous spot of land in the wastes of the southern seas. Ralph hesitated but a moment, then he dashed toward the
beach and dove into the waters of the lagoon. He had little hope of being able to best the gigantic Mills in a physical
struggle, but perhaps he would find some means of persuading the treacherous fellow to abandon his criminally
selfish plan.
He swam out to the stern of the boat and hoisted himself aboard. Mills turned with a snarl.
"Get offen thar!" he yelled.
Ralph got to his feet and walked toward the man. "See here, Mills," he said, "you can't do this. We told you we'd
take you off the island —but this it our boat, and—"
"Naw 'tain't!" yelled Mills as he started to come aft toward Ralph. "This yere 's my boat, an' I don't want no one
else on her. Git off!"
There was a mad light in the huge fellow's eyes, and Ralph realized that he was dangerously insane Then the man
made a lunge and the next instant Ralph hit the deck violently with his assailant on top of him.
Ralph Boyd was a husky young man and in excellent physical condition, but he was no match for the monster
above him. He struggled frantically, but he felt the iron fingers of the man, who called himself Stanley Mills, closing
inexorably about his throat. He alternately tore at those implacable hands and battered at the bearded face of the
mad giant, but the latter paid no more attention to the blows than if they had been those of a child. Pinwheels and
lights began dancing before Ralph's eyes, and he knew that it was only a matter of seconds before unconsciousness
would sweep over him—and then, death!
But just as objects were beginning to grow dim, he heard a slight, splashing noise, and felt the fingers about his
throat partially relax. Mills, too, had heard the noise and had looked up. Instinctively Ralph knew what had caused it:
his father had noticed his absence, come out to look for him—and discovered what was happening to him aboard the
boat. He was coming to his son's rescue!
But if Ralph had divined this, so, apparently had Mills. The giant, with a warning roar like that of a beast, released
Ralph and stumbled to his feet. He seized a belaying pin from the gunwale and and started aft, just as Mr. Boyd's head
showed over the transom. Ralph staggered dizzily to his feet. He threw himself at the giant, pinning his arms to his
sides. The fellow roared again, and whipped his body violently about in an effort to throw off his weak assailant But,
for a few moments, Ralph was able to hang on.
Those few moments were all Mr. Boyd needed. He scrambled aboard, snatched the belaying pin from the giant's
grip and hit him over the head with it—a good solid blow. The fellow collapsed senseless to the deck.

***

"Quick!" panted Ralph's father. "Sheet home the mainsail and then take the wheel while I hoist the jib. If we don't
get away from this island within the next half hour we'll either be buried in ashes or swamped in the tidal wave. The
place is blowing itself into the ocean!"
Leaving Mills' body where it had fallen. Ralph did as he had been directed, and once headed for the gap in the
reef by which the boat had entered, he had time to look about him for the first time in several minutes.
As his father had said, the island certainly gave every symptom of trying to blow itself to pieces. The heavens
were aflame with the lurid green, yellow and red lights from the spouting volcano, and the whole world seemed to be
trembling with the force of gigantic explosions. Already a thick layer of pumice and hot ashes had rained down on the
ship, and the air was becoming increasingly difficult to breathe.
Fortunately, however, there was a good off-shore breeze, and Ralph calculated that if the ultimate cataclysm held
off for a few minutes longer, they would have put enough distance between themselves and the island to be
comparatively safe.
The little ship cleared the gap and set out under full sails toward the open sea. Mills apparently had salvaged
enough sail cloth from the wreck of his own ship to make the sails. Ralph glanced at his lax body lying there on the
deck and wondered if the man were really as evil as he seemed—or was only the unfortunate victim of his madness....
But the things which were happening on the island soon took his thoughts away from his late assailant, and he
turned his eyes toward the west end of the island where the volcano was thundering like a thousand cannon.
He was just in time to see the whole top of the fire-belching peak rise majestically, hundreds of feet into the air,
and followed by a huge column of solid fire—then instantly disappear in a terrific explosion which reduced it to great
clouds of black dust and smoke, and reverberated with the sound of a million thunder claps.
"Hold tight!" yelled Mr. Boyd above the deafening reverberations. "I think the whole island's going under!"
He had no sooner spoken than his prophecy proved only too accurate. Suddenly the sea seemed to lift its back
like a huge cat, so that the little yawl was raised high above its level, as though on a veritable mountain of water. At
the same instant another terrific thunder clap split the ear drums of the boat's occupants. The column of fire, which
appeared to be at least a hundred yards in diameter, blazed higher for a moment, accompanied by a series of rolling
explosions. Then, suddenly, the mountain of water slid out from under their keel, and they were left in an equally
tremendous valley with another vast hill rolling toward them. For an instant the little boat was threatened with instant
swamping, then with dizzy speed it ascended to the top of the gargantuan wave—and Ralph looked shoreward in
time to see the last of the island.
An enormous column of water had displaced the column of fire. It reared stark and white against the suddenly
black sky, like an unbelievably huge waterspout—and at that instant a wild scream came from amidships. Ralph
looked around and saw that Mills had regained consciousness, was standing on his feet gazing at the gigantic column
with lunatic terror in his eyes. "They're comin" fer me!" yelled Mills. "Their ghosts is comin' fer their share o' the
treasure—and to revenge theirselves on me fer killin' 'em, so's I could hog it all... Oh, God!..." And the next instant the
frantic man had sprung to the gunwale and jumped into the sea, sinking from sight.
Instinctively Ralph jumped to his feet and prepared to dive after the man. The voice of his father halted him. "It's
no use, son." he cautioned. "Mills will not come up—and no one could live in this sea. There's bound to be a terrible
undertow for several hours. He's found a way to pay for his sins—and for robbing his dead companions of this—" And
he held up a handful of glistening pearls.
Ralph saw, then, that his father had opened the box Mills had brought aboard. It was full to the brim with a
tremendous fortune in pearls!
Fearful that he would be compelled to share his treasure with Ralph and his father if he allowed them to escape
from the island with him, Mills had tried to leave them there and escape alone. But, as Mr. Boyd had said, Mills had
found a way to pay for his sins.