see a strange
cloud which had been hanging for some time over the top of Mount
Vesuvius. It was in shape just like a pine-tree; not, of course, like
one of our branching Scotch firs here, but like an Italian stone pine,
with a long straight stem and a flat parasol-shaped top. Sometimes it
was blackish, sometimes spotted; and the good Admiral Pliny, who was
always curious about natural science, ordered his cutter and went away
across the bay to see what it could be. Earthquake shocks had been very
common for the last few days; but I do not suppose that Pliny had any
notion that the earthquakes and the cloud had aught to do with each
other. However, he soon found out that they had, and to his cost. When
he got near the opposite shore some of the sailors met him and entreated
him to turn back. Cinders and pumice-stones were falling down from the
sky, and flames breaking out of the mountain above. But Pliny would go
on: he said that if people were in danger, it was his duty to help them;
and that he must see this strange cloud, and note down the different
shapes into which it changed. But the hot ashes fell faster and faster;
the sea ebbed out suddenly, and left them nearly dry, and Pliny turned
away to a place called Stabiae, to the house of his friend Pomponianus,
who was just going to escape in a boat. Brave Pliny told him not to be
afraid, ordered his bath like a true Roman gentleman, and then went into
dinner with a cheerful face. Flames came down from the mountain, nearer
and nearer as the night drew on; but Pliny persuaded his friend that they
were only fires in some villages from which the peasants had fled, and
then went to bed and slept soundly. However, in the middle of the night
they found the courtyard being fast filled with cinders, and, if they had
not woke up the Admiral in time, he would never have been able to get out
of the house. The earthquake shocks grew stronger and fiercer, till the
house was ready to fall; and Pliny and his friend, and the sailors and
the slaves, all fled into the open fields, amid a shower of stones and
cinders, tying pillows over their heads to prevent their being beaten
down. The day had come by this time, but not the dawn--for it was still
pitch dark as night. They went down to their boats upon the shore; but
the sea raged so horribly that there was no getting on board of them.
Then Pliny grew tired, and made his men spread a sail for him, and lay
down on it; but the