thousands upon thousands! They rushed
from the heights--they poured down in the direction of the Egyptian. In
vain did the aedile command--in vain did the praetor lift his voice and
proclaim the law. The people had been already rendered savage.

Arbaces stretched his hand on high; over his lofty brow and royal
features there came an expression of unutterable solemnity and command.
"Behold!" he shouted with a voice which stilled the roar of the crowd;
"behold the gods protect the guiltless! The fires of the avenging Orcus
burst forth against the false witness of my accusers!"

The eyes of the crowd followed the gesture of the Egyptian, and beheld,
with ineffable dismay, a vast vapor shooting from the summit of
Vesuvius, in the form of a gigantic pine tree; the trunk,
blackness,--the branches, fire,--a fire that shifted and wavered in its
hues with every moment, now fiercely luminous, now of a dull and dying
red, that again blazed terrifically forth with intolerable glare.

There was a dead heart-sunken silence. Then there arose on high the
universal shrieks of women; the men stared at each other, but were dumb.
At that moment they felt the earth shake beneath their feet; the walls
of the theater trembled; and beyond in the distance, they heard the
crash of falling roofs; an instant more and the mountain-cloud seemed
to roll towards them, dark and rapid, like a torrent; at the same time,
it cast forth from its bosom a shower of ashes mixed with vast fragments
of burning stone! Over the crushing vines,--over the desolate
streets,--over the amphitheater itself,--far and wide,--with many a
mighty splash in that agitated sea,--fell that awful shower! The crowd
turned to fly--each dashing, pressing, crushing, against the other.
Trampling recklessly over the fallen--amidst groans, and oaths, and
prayers, and sudden shrieks, the enormous crowd vomited itself forth
through the numerous passages; prisoner, gladiator and wild beast now
alike freed from their confines.

Glaucus paced swiftly up the perilous and fearful streets, having
learned that Ione was yet in the house of Arbaces. Thither he fled to
release--to save her! Even as he passed, however, the darkness that
covered the heavens increased so rapidly, that it was with difficulty he
could guide his steps. He ascended to the upper rooms--breathless he
paced along, shouting out aloud the name of Ione; and at length he
heard, at the end of a gallery, a voice--her voice, in