nd was as brief as it was fierce, and it passed away;
when, in the lull that followed, came shrieks and moans from all
directions, and the sounds of hurrying, stumbling feet, and then, all at
once, from out of the thick darkness a voice cried: "Quick--quick! To
the mountain--the sea is coming in!"

Then came more wails and shrieks from out of the darkness, followed by a
silence that was more awful than the noise.

For full five minutes that silence lasted, broken only by the fall of
some tottering beam. Then came quickly, one after the other, short,
sharp, shivering vibrations of the earth beneath our feet--a shuddering
movement that was transferred to one's own frame; and then I began to
understand the meaning of the cry we had heard respecting the sea, for
from where I supposed it to be, now came a singular hissing, rushing
noise, gradually increasing to a roar, as of mighty waves, and mingled
with that roar there was the creaking and grinding together of shipping
and the hoarse shouting of the crews for help.

But gradually the noises ceased, save when a shuddering shock once more
made the earth to tremble beneath our feet, and some scrap of wood or
plaster to fall from riven wall or roof. The tremendous choking dust,
too, began to settle down as we groped our way along over the ruins that
choked the streets. Now we were lost--now, after a struggle, we
regained the way, trying to join one of the hurrying bands of fugitives
hastening from the place.

I spoke to one man, asking him if there was any more danger, but his
reply was in Spanish; and at last, led by Tom--who seemed by instinct to
know his way--we went down to the shore, strewn with wreck, when,
seizing a rope, and drawing a boat to the sand, Tom told me to enter,
and we half lay there, rising and falling upon the wave--rocked gently,
but wakeful ever, till the sun rose over the sea--bright, glorious, and
peaceful, as if there had been no havoc and desolation during the night.

CHAPTER NINE.

AN EARTHQUAKE ON FOUR LEGS.

"Say, Mas'r Harry, you won't stop in this blessed place, will you?" said
Tom, as, in the full light of day, we were, some hours after, busily
helping in the town, extricating the dead and wounded, and assisting to
bear them to the temporary hospital prepared for their reception.

The house where we had slept was, like hundreds more of the
lightly-built tenements, prostrate; and on visiting the scene our escape
seemed wonderfu