gh of pain.

At last he said, "They died swiftly. You are alone."

She sat down on a piece of broken timber and put one arm across her
face. He waited--then, approaching his lips to her ear, "Let us go," he
whispered.

"Never--never from here," she cried out, flinging her arms above her
head.

He stooped over her, and her raised arms fell upon his shoulders. He
lifted her up, steadied himself and began to walk, looking straight
before him.

"What are you doing?" she asked feebly.

"I am escaping from my enemies," he said, never once glancing at his
light burden.

"With me?" she sighed helplessly.

"Never without you," he said. "You are my strength."

He pressed her close to him. His face was grave and his footsteps
steady. The conflagrations bursting out in the ruins of destroyed
villages dotted the plain with red fires; and the sounds of distant
lamentations, the cries of "Misericordia! Misericordia!" made a desolate
murmur in his ears. He walked on, solemn and collected, as if carrying
something holy, fragile and precious.

The earth rocked at times under his feet.

IX

WITH movements of mechanical care and an air of abstraction old General
Santierra lighted a long and thick cigar.

"It was a good many hours before we could send a party back to the
ravine," he said to his guests. "We had found one-third of the town laid
low, the rest shaken up; and the inhabitants, rich and poor, reduced to
the same state of distraction by the universal disaster. The affected
cheerfulness of some contrasted with the despair of others. In the
general confusion a number of reckless thieves, without fear of God or
man, became a danger to those who from the downfall of their homes had
managed to save some valuables. Crying 'Misericordia' louder than any at
every tremor, and beating their breasts with one hand, these scoundrels
robbed the poor victims with the other, not even stopping short of
murder.

"General Robles' division was occupied entirely in guarding the
destroyed quarters of the town from the depredations of these inhuman
monsters. Taken up with my duties of orderly officer, it was only in the
morning that I could assure myself of the safety of my own family.

"My mother and my sisters had escaped with their lives from that
ball-room, where I had left them early in the evening. I remember those
two beautiful young women--God rest their souls--as if I saw them this
moment, in the garden of our destroye