The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1898-10-26

| lOTC6 IOT blule.
One day in July, the worst season
of the year until the rains come,
Miguel had appeared as usual with
his tally-sheets, and spread them out
for my inspection on the big table
which was built into the wall in one
corner, like q shelf. 1t had been a
handsome table in its day, made OF
some dark, polished native wood, cut
in heavy slabs. A massive, carved leg
supported the corner which extended
out into the room; bat its days Of
beauty were past.
The thousands of big silver dollars
that had been ratified and counted on
its surface had sadly dimmed its pol
ish; earthquakes had cracked it, as
well as the Office walls and ceiling,
and some great convulsion had caused
the walls in that corner to settle, so
that the old table tilted rather awk-
wardly. and everything deposited on
it had tendency to coast rapidly
down into the corner.
The day had been hotter and sui
trier than usual, with that ominous
stiffness in the air that always seems
to forebode some strange event, ard 1
felt tired aud stupid as L leaned over
the sheets and tried to foot up the
totals, while Miguel stood by, waiting
for my final approval.
The very air, stirred by the punka,
felt thick aud 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 l muttered, "Fifty bales,
seventy-five, a hundred" d"-and then
stopped, for the table was trembling
under my hands, and strange, groan-
ing sounds were coming from the
walls.
"Terremoto - earthquake-senor, I"
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
l merely waited moment, and then
went on: zone twenty-five, one fifty"
and that was as far Us got that day.
At this point heavy jarring 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 1 waited no
longer, but dropped everything and
dashed for the door.
remembered, long afterward, that
old Miguel, in the midst of danger
more appalling to the mind than any
other 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 I went on the fly
ing jump down the stairs, which were
swaying and cracking apart, a heavy
crash somewhere told of a falling
beam. ! reached the street just in
time to see huge sheet of galvanized
iron slide from the roof of the build
ing opposite and come swinging and
changing down, while 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 a 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 a 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 a young
Briton, elbowing his way toward me,
''that was the heaviest 1 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 more minute calcula-
ton brought it down to something like
fifteen seconds.
Nothing on earth would have in
duced q native to re-enter a building
that evening, and we 'Ingleses" felt
o mutual disinclination 10 do so our
selves. 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.
1 found everything intact, with the
exception of my servants nerves and
few trihes in the way of crockery,
and at last got to bed in a state Of
thankfulness that things were no
worse.
Mother earth, having played her
little joke, behaved in a manner more
beftting her age that night, and 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
cool and fresh. On arriving at the |
Office building, 1 found my entire
clerical force assembled outside, wait
ing for the encouragement of my pres
ence before entering, and 1 headed a
small procession up the rickety, but |