el, when I say that this was about four
times as bad--"

"Please saddle my horse."

"Yes, marm. Wisht I could have got out of bed. I'd like to have seen if
the earth rose and fell in a long wave like the shake of '68. Land's
sakes, but those chickens did squawk." And although he saddled Kaiser
rapidly, he never paused in his reminiscence of the last Northern
California earthquake to pass into history. "But this one! By Jiminy!
Well, I guess we take the cake in everything out here, earthquakes
included."

Isabel patted the still shaking horse. "Get the launch ready," she said,
as she mounted; and Mac nodded. It was characteristic that neither
thought of the danger of sudden shoals, of the always possible tidal
wave, or of some new and diabolical trick of nature. The nerves were
still keyed too high for anything so shabby as prudence.

Kaiser, no doubt glad to put himself into motion, bounded forward as his
mistress lifted the bridle, and although Isabel did give an occasional
glance ahead, to make sure the earth was not yawning, she never drew
rein, and the horse galloped with all his might towards Rosewater. As
the marsh narrowed she saw that the town was still there, and that there
were no fires. As she approached the great iron bridge that connected
Rosewater with the continuation of the county road, a horseman entered
at its other end and galloped across, regardless of the law or a graver
danger still. The next moment Isabel and Gwynne had shaken hands
casually, and were riding towards Old Inn.

His eyes were shining and almost black. "I saw the mountains rock!" he
exclaimed. "Rock? Dance. Then I thought they would plunge down into the
earth and disappear. And St. Peter is flat. All the business district,
including the four hotels, are down, and everybody in them buried in the
ruins. A man dashed up as I was mounting, and I told all the men on the
place to go to the rescue. The news came just in time to prevent the
murder of Imura by Carlos, for not admitting that we had had the
greatest earthquake in the history of the world. It was the first
symptom of patriotic fire I ever saw in Imura, but he stoutly maintained
that in the matter of earthquakes Japan could do as well as California."

"That is all very well, but I have read a lot about Japanese
earthquakes, and never of such an _extraordinary_ one as this. Has
anything terrible happened in Rosewater?"

"I saw a few chimneys down, but no buildings except th