And you that are not saved, take care that you receive this message, of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Believe it. Fling yourself right on to this as a man commits himself to his life vest amid the surging billows.

Now, you could no longer diminish what was happening by translating it into human dimensions. This was not a play. This was the hurling into the sky of thousand-ton blocks of ice, glinting and roseate in the thundering night. This was the discharge of millions of gallons of boiling water, plunging down from the mountain in a wild dashing glitter, outrunning the billows of its own pink-flushed steam.This was a spectacle of red and gold flames, of spinning fire-balls, of swathes and columns of sparkling ashes and sand. This was the crack of thunder and the roar of explosions and the massive, evil susurration of the deluge, coninuous as the hiss of the sea. This was the Twilight of the Gods.