Chapter 1 A Dangerous Job

Harry Dalton loved volcanoes. He had the most dangerous and exciting job in the world. He was a scientist, and he wanted to understand volcanoes. 'Volcanoes kill people,' he said. 'When we understand volcanoes, we can tell people: "This mountain is going to explode", and then they can move away'. He flew round the world. Was a volcano ready to explode? Harry Dalton was there.

His girlfriend Marianne loved volcanoes too. Then one day in South America they stayed too long near an exploding volcano. The mountain sent rock and ash up into the sky. A small rock came down on to their car, hit Marianne, and she died.

Harry was never the same again. He worked harder - too hard. He wanted to understand everything about volcanoes before a volcano killed anybody again. Marianne was dead: no others must die.

Some months later, his boss, Paul Dreyfus, called him into his office. 'Harry,' he said, 'you must take a holiday. You're tired. You're not twenty now, you're thirty-six. I'm sorry about Marianne, but volcanoes are going to explode. You can't stop them.'

Harry took a holiday. He went round the world — but there are volcanoes all round the world. So he always found work. After a year, he came back to the office. His friends — Terry Furlong, Stan Tzima, Nancy Field and Greg Esmail - all smiled when Harry came back. 'We knew it,' they said. 'You love your work. "Harry will come back soon", we said. And here you are.'

'Harry,' said Paul Dreyfus two or three days later, 'something is happening up in the Cascades. Our equipment shows that one of the mountains there is moving, but not much. Nobody there knows it, but our equipment is good.'

'In the Cascades?' Harry said. 'Here in the United States... in Washington?'

'That's right. Dante's Peak, near Mount Washington. We all remember 1980 when Mount St Helen's exploded. Can you go?'

'I'm leaving now, 'said Harry.

He put some equipment in the back of his off-road car, and drove to Washington. There were tall trees thick on the mountains. 'It's very beautiful here.' Harry thought. He saw the morning sun on mountain lakes to the left of the road.

The mountain stood tall over the small town of Dante's Peak. Only seven thousand people lived there. It was quiet.

Harry drove to the centre of the town and found the hotel. Mr Cluster showed him to his room. Then Harry asked, 'Where's Mayor Wando? Do you know?'

'Yeah,' said Cluster. 'She's speaking to the people of the town today at the school. A newspaper called Dante's Peak "The Second Best Town in America" and they're giving the newspaper photograph of the town to the people.'