-from left to right.

Thunder, lightning, and wind ceased all at once.

There! from the granaries sounded a shrill scream. The light flamed up
brightly, and then disappeared.

But the woman in the street also uttered a low cry of fear, for now she
could no longer doubt--the earth quaked under her.

A slight movement; then two, three strong shocks, as if the ground had
heaved from left to right like a wave.

Screams of fear rose from the city.

The people rushed out of the doors of the Basilica.

Another shock!

The woman kept her feet with difficulty.

And, from the farther side of the city, sounded a dull and distant
crash, as if of heavy falling masses.

A fearful earthquake had shaken all Ravenna.

CHAPTER XX.

As the woman turned in the direction of the sound, she stood for a
moment with her back to the granaries. But she suddenly looked round,
for she thought she heard the bang of a heavy door. She looked
attentively in that direction, but it was too dark to see anything. She
heard, however, something rustling along close to the outer wall of the
building, and she thought she caught the sound of a low sigh.

"Stop!" she cried, "who moans there?"

"Peace, peace!" whispered a strange voice. "The earth--disgusted--shook
and trembled! The last day has come--it will reveal all. He will soon
know.--Oh!"

A groan of pain--a rustle of garments--then complete silence.

"Where art thou? Art thou wounded?" asked the woman, seeking on the
ground.

A flash of lightning--the first since the earthquake--showed her a
shrouded form lying at her feet. A woman dressed in white and blue.

The Gothic woman stretched out her hand, but the prostrate form sprang
up at her touch, and, with a scream, disappeared into the darkness.

All this had passed rapidly, and seemed like some frightful dream, but
a broad gold bracelet, ornamented with a green serpent in emeralds,
remained in the Gothic woman's hand, a proof of the reality of the
mysterious vision.

And again the iron steps of the Gothic patrol approached.

"Hildebad, Hildebad, help!" cried Wisand.

"I am here! What is the matter? Where shall I go?" asked Hildebad,
advancing with his men.

"To the Gate of Honorius! The wall has fallen, and the tower of AEtius
lies in ruins. Help! Into the breach!"

"I come! Poor, poor Fridugern!"

Outside, in the camp of the Byzantines, Cethegus the Prefect rushed
into Belisarius's tent.