Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1898-10-08

The very air, stirred by the punka,
felt thick and heavy, and the drowsy
creak, as the great fan swung slowly
to and fro, and an occasional sleepy
cry from the street were all the sounds
heard as I muttered, Fifty bales,
seventy-fve, hundred"-and then l
stopped, for the table was trembling
under my hands, and strange, groan-
ing sounds were coming from the
walls.
"Terremoto earthquake-senor."
said Miguel, calmly.
There had been several slight
shocks during the last few days, but
none heavy enough to disturb us, and
we had become quite used to them. so
] merely waited moment, and then
went on: Zone twenty-five, one fifty"
and that was as far US Igot that day.
At this point heavy iarring came;
and horrid, up-and-down, sideways
and diagonal movement of everything
around us, together with the loud
grinding OF big timbers, warned us
that this was no ordinary shake-up.
Indoors was then no place for those
who valued life and limb, SO Miguel
and the new punkero and waited no
longer, but dropped everything and
dashed for the door.
I remembered, long afterward, that
old Miguel, in the midst of danger
more appalling to the mind than any
other l know Of, stood aside, with the
instructive courtesy of the old days, to
let me, the younger man, but his gefe
-chief-pass out first.
The clerks had stampeded at the
first shudder. AS / went on the fiy-
ing Jump down the stairs, which were
swaying and cracking apart, heavy
crash somewhere told of falling
beam. I reached the street just i'll
time to see huge sheet of galvanized
iron slide from the roof of the build
ing opposite and come swinging and
changing down, while a shower OF
broken tiles, shaken from the roof OF
our building, clattered on the sidewalk
close beside me.
From every doorway and good
many windows terrified people were
running or jumping, and Twas carried
along with the mob of shrieking, pray.
ing and gesticulating natives and
Cinnamon, with here and there pale
but silent Englishman, toward the
open square at the end of the street.
A couple of ponies, struggling in their
harness, added their maddened
screams to the uproar, and great,
tame buffalo, stupid with fear, lay
down in the road and allowed the
crowd to surge over him.
By the time we reached the open
space the earthquake had thundered
itself far away to the south, and old
mother earth was in her right mind
once more.
"By Jove," exclaimed young
Briton, elbowing his way toward me,
"that was the heaviest ever felt,
H.! How long do you think it was?"
A Scotchman, just out from home,
> vowed that it had seemed to him about
two hours, but q more minute calcula-
ton brought it down to something like
fifteen seconds.
Nothing on earth would have in
duced native to re-enter building
that evening, and we "Ingleses" felt
a mutual disinclination 10 dc so our
, selves. I had put things away and
closed the safe just before Miguel
, came in, so concluded to let things
! remain as they might be until morn
ing, and to go home and see how my
house in the suburbs had borne the
excitement.
, found everything intact, with the
exception of my servants nerves and
few trifes in the way of crockery,
and at last got to bed in state OF
thankfulness that things were no
, worse.
Mother earth, having played her
, little joke, behaved in manner more
t BETTING her age that night, and I
1 rose in the morning to find the well
come rain at last pouring as it only
can pour in the tropics, and the air
r cool and fresh. On arriving at the
Z office building, found my entire
! clerical force assembled outside, wait
, ing for the encouragement of my pres
8 ence before entering, and headed a
t small procession up the rickety, but
8 still serviceable stairs.
' The office was in fairly good shape,
4 all things considered. The safe was
e rakishly askew, and presented the ap.
I pearance of trying to look around the
corner; and the old table had de.
g tached itself from the wall, vanquished
its solitary leg, and lay in the middle
8 of the room, leaving a ragged gap in
+ the walls, while the floor was strewr
D with Miguel's tally-sheets. I set the
Q clerks to work gathering these up
I while I endeavored to open the safe
n Suddenly clerk on his hands and
o knees in the corner exclaimed, Mira
senor!"
I "Que hay-what is it?" said I,
e struggling with the refractory door.
!, "Pesos-l lollars-senor A lot O
8 them!"
"What are you talking about?" sale
s I, slipping over to him.
4 There on the floor lay a scattered
| heap of silver dollars, mingled will
: the fragments of an old inkstand ant
h.. odds and ends of stationery.
n picked up several pieces, and OF
y examining the dates, found them t.
9 be all OF the coinage of over thirt.
Q years before. I was STOPPING IL
j. amazement for another handful, wher
:. old Miguel, with strange cry, shovel
Q me aside with scant ceremony, ant
e throwing himself down on his knees
plunged his hands into the heap ant
n examining them with feverish excite
}, ment. like the most grasping old miser
h "Que tiene tu-what is the matte
it with you-Miguel?" 1 demanded
e rather testify, as I recovered my bal
% ance.
a The old man slowly looked up
If "They said was thief, senior! An
1t see, here is the money! and in
g flash saw how it had all happened
d 1 sat down in the nearest chair AM
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