The Magic Vault - Black Giant (1932)

[Music] the unexpected often happens but not always on such a scale as in this story in Ecuador stands the great volcano October our a flat pile of rocks frequently covered with snow 30 miles away lies the town of Rio Bamber where I spent several enjoyable weeks looking for purpose to carry my packs to the summit of this sleeping giant no one was anxious to take part in such an adventure as this but after much talking a number of men agreed to go they all belong to the same family fine energetic fellows the youngest member of the household could not come important beauties kept him at home [Music] with everything in readiness we turned our backs on Rio Bamba and the kindly people who had done so much to help us amongst many interesting facts which they told us was that the black giant we were on our way to visit had been asleep for 50 years as we wound our way over a well-defined trail the occasional glimpses we got fingered our summit showed us they were still slumbering peacefully the way it had been for half a century conditions could not have been more perfect for our adventure but had we known what was in store for us our mules would have been headed in another direction deep gorges and Swift rivers now began to bar our progress in this wild Valley we left our mules behind us and started to climb the mountainside on foot around the corner conditions did not look encouraging storm clouds were driving over the mountaintops and before we knew it we were enveloped in mist for two days we struggled upwards through fog and rain on the afternoon of the second day we came out on an open shoulder where all cloud life seats here we passed the last Sentinel of the vegetable world where it had stood for centuries bent and twisted but until defying the fury of the elements in a secluded niche we made our camp and as the clouds lifted we saw the summit of the black giant towering over our heads to our surprise steam was seen pouring out of the crater we spent a chilly night and at the first streak of dawn were on our way again up the bare cinder slope where one false step would have sent us rolling to eternity [Music] at last the summit after three hours steady climb in here at 16,000 feet the air was well for coming out from amongst the rocks where innumerable jets of steam this was no sleeping volcano at all but a bonfire such as Giants bill without losing further time we hurried over to the main crater and cautiously approached the brink before us was a great hole for deep down into the heart of the earth the huge gaping mouth was streaked with many colors of which purple and red predominated all was still except for the gentle mistress teams and the sighing of wind that blew faintly from the east round about us jagged rocks chatted up into the line this was indeed a strange and fantastic world the like of which I had never seen before [Music] dense clouds now began together the wind increased in violence and the sound escaping steam grew louder in our ears it seems as if the sleeping giant resented this intrusion on his privacy gradually the din increase the noise of the escape his team became terrific that in spite of our foreboding we could not resist down the giant boat the ferry knew a deafening roar rent the air and everything went black the board [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] and that's we wrote my way in such a favors were here in the confusion [Music] reunited we waited in a sheltered spot for the West to pass within an hour so we made ready for our return as we did so a sinister glow came from the main crater it had acted up like moths to a flame to the edge of that inferno we went again and peering into the great abyss below we saw this pool of molten lava boiling we watch the spectacle spellbound we realize to our dismay the quieted liquid was rising rapidly it was madness to delay any longer so seizing our belongings we headed for home now in the mountainside we hurried as we did so more grumbling sounded underfoot rocks were dislodged by the tremors of the earth and came rolling down the slope just as we reached the safety of our camp the frequency of the Sharks increased a downward follow and looking back we saw the most awe-inspiring sight which humanized had ever rested on [Music]