en we came in sight of it, we saw at once
that the place was destroyed, but, until we reached it, had no idea of
the completeness of the destruction. We could not even find the road
that led to the inn where we had left you and Manuela; and it was not
till the following morning that we found the inn itself, and came up, as
you know, just in time to help you, though we had sought diligently all
night."

"Das so, massa," broke in Quashy, who had listened with glittering eyes
to Pedro's narrative, which of course was much more extended and full,
"an' you's got no notion how we's banged about our poor shins among dese
ruins afore we founded you. S'my b'lief but for de fires we'd nebber
hab founded you at all. And dem scoundrils--oh! dem scoundrils--"

Quashy's feelings at this point failed to find vent in words
sufficiently expressive, so he relieved them to some extent by shaking
his fist at scoundreldom in general, and grinding his teeth. No words
could have expressed his feelings half so well. By way of changing a
subject that appeared to be almost too much for him, he turned abruptly
to the Indian girl; and said, in Spanish quite as bad as that of
Lawrence--

"But where were _you_, senhorina, all the time?"

"Ay, Manuela, let's hear how it was that you escaped," said Pedro
quickly, in Indian.

"I escaped through the mercy of God," replied the girl, in a low voice.

"True, Manuela, true," replied the guide, "you never said a truer word
than that; but by what means was His mercy displayed?"

"I can scarcely tell," returned the girl; "when the earthquake came I
was sitting on my bed. Then the wall of the room seemed to fall on me,
and my senses were gone. How long I lay so, I cannot tell. When I
recovered my mind I felt as if buried alive, but I could breathe, and
although unable to rise, I could move. Then I heard cries, and I
replied; but my strength was gone, and I think no one heard me. Then I
prayed, and then, I think, I slept, but am not sure. At last I heard a
spade striking the earth above me. Soon an opening was made, and I was
dragged rudely out. The rest you know."

On this being interpreted to her companions, Quashy gave it as his
decided opinion that a miracle had been performed for her special
deliverance; but Lawrence thought that, without miraculous interference,
God had caused a mass of wall to fall over and protect her in much the
same way that he himself had been protected.

While