St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1858-07-15

fOur-hide within reach of my sIgnai,
if it he necessary. Are your fellows
to be trusted 2"
TO the very jaws Of DEATH re-
piled the pirate leader. 49,,
IT'S well,' said EumoIpus: :.
doubt not Of success If requisite,
we must secure labc0, too; can
drop him on some island far enough
away. Once at Carprca, ! shall find
ready Il trircmo bound for Syracuse
or Crete. Is the moon yet up!
There will be light enough for all
we want replied the pirate.
otis well will but take my man
lie. nv helm and sword, and follow to
the spot where VIC arc like to meet
with those | seek !" and presently
the two men, muillcd and armed, took,
by an unfrcquented path, the way to
the Sarnus.
The groves grew thick and dense,
and through the foliage, in which no
longer the cool sca-brcczc was play
ing, the flashing of lights coming
from where some scmi-rustic festival
was being held, exhibited q scene of
Pagan rcvcIry such as we now find
handed down in old paintings, dug
out of the wreck of the fair city, after
the lapse of so many generations.
But avoiding these groups, and
having come upon number OF men
hidden in ambush, whom, at the di-
roction of Eumolpus, the rover divi
dCd into two parties-the one remain
ing with the latter, while the forme
hurried ON, and leaping over low
wall, which was washed by the wa
tiers of the Sarnus, as the mouth OF
the galley lay close to the shore, nc
suddenly became aware of the pre-
scnce of two forms walking together
in that loving confidence Of an aflec,
ton requited and mutual, which made
his traitorous heart black with envy.
He scarcely gave himself time to
listen to their words, though the few
lie heard made him grind his teeth
He was in the garden of the tribune,
and his coveted prize before him
while the man he hated and envict
was also within his grasp.
A hasty whispor--a hurried rush
the striking down of Labeo, who,
dreamless Of danger, carried no weap,
on, and who fell with groan, the ell
veloping of both in the mantlcs ready
prepared for them. the carrying OF
Labeo by a couple of sturdy rowers,
and the lifting up Of the fainting The
seis, who had swooned through fear
was all the work of a moment.
They will believe she hath fled
with her lover" muttered Eumolpus,
with baleful smile, "and, while |
am on the seas, Medon will seek his
daughter at Rome. On---on--forward
there One of you bid your leader
hail the galley, and let us aboard."-
And away they hurried with their
prizes
Stretching down TO the shores of a
beautiful bay, and where an umbrage-
GUS cork-tree sheltered the light galley,
they followed the pathway bordering
the river, and having now rejoined
the pirate and his myrmidons, at the
pirates whistle the galley drew near
the shore, whence, with a little wading,
the ravishers bore their prize and pris-
oner ON board, and presently, under
the stout arms of the rowcrs, the gal
ley made seaward, stretching toward
Caprae, with all the speed that sails
and oars could make.
-ur--.,o~ s~~.~- 49, n----.N ,,o;do,
to recover herself from her fright an(
alarm, in a small cabin where a fe
male slave attended her, and LabeC
to find his hurt roughly washed and
bound, in the foremost part Of the fly
ing galley, where he had been con
signed to the custody of a couple Of the
pirates. Let us now approach that
appalling catastrophe which, for more
than fifteen hundred years, buried
two of the most beautiful cities of the
Roman world, together with their i'll
habitants, in an impenctrable tomb
we mean the earthquake and the
eruption Of Vesuvius, which occurred,
according to the best approved COM
putations, on the night Of the oath of
August, A. d. 63.
The evening had already darkencd
into night, but so much had the profit
gate Eumolpus and the pirate leader
been engaged in their design, that not
until they were traversinG the half
deck of the galley-a species of plank
ing running from end to end between
the rowers--was their attention called
to the startling aspect which the skies
were wearing.
The outline of the city, reaching
to Herculaneum, was defined by the
lights which began at the mole, and
fought for time with lurid shadows
obscuring the purple tints of evening.
The mountain, looming grim and
gray, began TO wear strange and
spectral aspect. A fierce tongue of
fire leaped with snake-like undulation
from its cone, and occasionally broad
ened and grew dense like a flaming
crown, while round it's rugged head
there grew and gathered threaten
ing cincture of vapors, changing into
hues and forms half of fire, with alter
mating glitter and obscurity.
There was troubled sound over
inc sea--a groaninG as though from
dceps far beneath it. There was
hot, sulphurous opprcssivcness in
the atmosphere that made the rowers
gasp for breath, and there was, as the
background to all, the hinge, far
stretching sable pail OF the heavens,
having in them a strange transparency,
tinted with the hues of fire and blood,
and lurid glcaminSs and dartings to
and fro, against which were the
towering mountain--the cities and the |
sloplng hills up to the far Apprentices.
What does this mean 2" demand
cd Eumolpus, as the galley still tore
forward "why this heaving and
swelling of the sca--this unnatural
calm in the air, and, above all, the
LOOK OF yonder mountain? Are we
gong to have a tempest 2"