Omaha daily bee., 1896-06-13

OF the dying were broken by wild shrieks
OF women's terror-now near, now distant
which, when heard in the utter darkness,
were rendered doubly appalling by the
crushing sense OF helplessness and the
uncertainty Of the perils around; and clear
and distinct through all were the mighty
and various noises, from the fatal noun
tain; its rushing winds; its whirling tor
rents; and, from time to time, the burst
and roar of some more fiery and fierce ex-
plosion. And ever, as the winds swept
bowling along the street, they bore sharp
streams of burning dust and such sicken-
ing and p%oisnous vapors as took away, for
the instant, breath and Consciousness fol-
lowed by a rapid revulsion of the arrested
blood and a tingling sensation of agony
trembling through every nerve and fiber
of the frame.
Suddenly the place became lighted with
an intense and lurid glow. Bright and
gigantic through the darkness, which closed
around 1t like the walls of hell, the noun
tain shone-a pile of fret Its summit
seemed riven in two; or, rather, above its
surface there seemed to rise two monster
shapes. each confronting each, as demons
contending for a world. These were of
one deep blood-red hue of fire, which lighted
up the whole atmosphere far and wide;
but below the neither part of the mountain
was still dark and shrouded, save in three
places, adown which flowed, serpentine and
irregular, rivers of the molten lava. Darkly
red, through the profound gloom of their
banks, they flowed slowly on as toward the
devoted city. over the broadcast there
seemed to spring a dragged and stupendous
arch, from which, as from the jaws of hell,
gushed the sources of the sudden Phlege-
thon. And through the still air was heard
the rafting of the fragments of rock, hurl-
ing one upon another, as they were borne
down the fiery cataracts, darkening, for
one instant, the spot where they fell, and
suffused the next, in the FURNISHED hues of
the hnOd along which thpv dpatpd
A duller shade fell over the air. In
stinctively Glaucus turned to the mountain,
and behold! one of the two gigantic crests
into which the summit had been divided.
rocked and wavered to and fro, and then.
with a sound of the mightiness of which no
language can describe, it fell from its burn
ing base, and rushed, an avalanche of fire,
down the sides of the mountain! At the
same instant gushed forth a volume of
blacklist smoke-rolling on. over air. sea
and earth. Another-and another-and an
other shower of ashes. far more profuse
than before, scattered fresh desolation
along the streets. Darkness once more
wrapped them as a veil, and Glaucus, his
bold heart at last quelled and despairing,
sank beneath the cover of an arch, and,
clasping lone to his heart, a bride on that
couch of ruin, resigned himself to die"
THE END OF THE WORLD.
1.-THE sudden illumination, the bursts of
the floods of lava, and the earthquake.
CHANGED when Sallust and his party had
just gained the direct path leading from
the city to the port; and here they were
arrested by an immense crowd, more than
half the population of the city. They
spread along the field without the walls,
thousands upon thousands, uncertain whittier
to fly. The sea had retired far from the
shore, and they who had fled to 1t had been
so terrified by the agitation and prefer
natural shrinking of the element, the gasp
inc forms of tho tlnnnpfh a fhinuS uyhinh
the waves had left upon the sand, and by
the sound of the huge stones cast from the
mountain into the deep, that they had re-
turned again to the land, as presenting the
less frightful aspect of the two. Thus the
two streams of human beings, the one sea-
ward, the other from the sea, had met to-
gether, feeling a sad comfort in numbers;
arrested in despair and doubt. The world
is to be destroyed by fire. said an old man
in long, loose robes, a philosopher of the
Stole school. Stole and Epicurean wis
dom have alike agreed in this prediction,
and the hour is comet"
COMING OF THE DAWN.
"Meekly, softly, beautifully dawned at
last the light over the trembling deep
The winds were sinking into rest, the foam
died from the glowing azure of that deli
cious sea. Around the east thin mists
caught gradually the rosy ,hues that her
aided the morning; light was about to re-
sumo her reign. Yet. still, dark and mas
sive in the distance lay the broken frag-
ments of the destroying cloud, from which
red streaks, burning dimlier and more dim,
betrayed the yet rolling fires of the noun
tain of the 'scorched fields The white
walls and cleaning columns that had
adorned the lovely coasts were no more.
Sullen and dull were the shores so lately
crested by the cities of Herculaneum and
Pompeii. The darlings Of the deep were
snatched from her embrace. Century after
century shall the mighty mother stretch
forth her azure arms and know them not
moaning round the sepulchers of the lost.
There was no shout from the marines
ually and they were too weary for such
sudden bursts of joy-but there was a low,
deep murmur Of thankfulness amid those
watchers of the long night. They looked
at each other and smiled-they took heart
they felt once more that there was a world
around and a God above them. And in
the feeling that the worst was passed the
over-wearied ones turned round and fell
placidly to sleep. In the growing light
of the skies there came the silence which
night had wanted, and the bark drifted
calmly onward to its port. A few other
vessels, bearing similar fugitives, might be
seen in the exDanse, apparently motionless'
yet gliding also on. There was a sense
of security, of companionship and of hope
in the sight of their slender masts and white
sails. What beloved friends lost and
missed in the gloom might they not bear
to safety and to shelter?'
49, IG-a 81