The Ordeal of Waiting.

“Early on the Sunday morning Buckeridge and I went out to Waimangu, taking the dinghy. During that afternoon the geyser was very active and burst into eruption every few minutes; some of the explosions of the crater lake sent the water and mud and stones about a thousand feet into the air. Quite a crowd of people came out, but I kept away from them. I didn't wish them to speak to me. I camped that night in the Government accommodation house on the hill above the geyser.

“I slept fairly well, and was awakened in the very early hours of the morning (Monday) by people who had come out betimes so as to be sure of seeing me on the geyser.

“By noon there were nearly two hundred people, most of them women, on the hills and slopes around the geyser basin. My workmen had come out early to carry the dinghy to the edge of the basin and wait for me.