Tony followed. He hid in a dark corner so they would not see him.
"Here we have the forms of some of the ancient people found in the ruins," explained the guide. "They are, however, only hollow forms. They have been surrounded by lava."
"What is lava, Mama?" squeaked a tourist child.
[Illustration: A STREET IN POMPEII _Photo by Courtesy of Italian Tourist Information Office_]
"I want some if it is to eat!" howled the child.
"Lava," said the guide, "is the fiery fluid which comes out of a volcano during an eruption. When it cools it hardens and becomes like rock."
"I don't want to eat any!" decided the child.
"Here is the form of a dog," went on the guide.
"I want a 'hot dog,' Mama!" whined the child.
They finally left the building. Tony heard the child's irritable voice far down the street. He came out from his corner. The building was empty.
He looked at the strange, rock-covered images. The little dog was about the size of Tina. He shivered. He went outside. The sun had dropped behind a hill. He could see Vesuvius puffing, puffing on her pipe.
"Oh, you--you wicked one!" He shook his fist at the mountain.
His head began to spin. The streets were more silent than ever, for the sight-seers had all gone. Tall columns, like black knights, stood guard over the buried city.
Tony had heard the guide say that at a certain hour the gates would close. Was that hour now past? Was he locked in the deserted city, alone? Trapped, like victims of the volcano so long ago?
He felt ill. He was burning with fever. He started toward the gate, squeezing Tina until she grunted.
Then, all at once, his legs seemed to disappear beneath him and he sank to the earth.
The ruins of Pompeii whirled all about him. Vesuvius blew a great column of smoke in his face, and he knew no more!
The next thing Tony knew, he was in ancient Pompeii. He was in the buried city before it had been buried!
"How could this be?" you ask. "A person cannot live in the past!"
Ah, but Tony had arrived upon a queer ship. The name of the ship was _Fever, Fear, and Troubled Sleep_.
Tony really and truly lay upon the ground dreaming. He lay where he had fallen when we last left him. But, in his dream, he was in old Pompeii. Old Pompeii appeared to him just as Anna's father and the guide had told about it.
