The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-05-18

stantiaI vapors were as the bodily forms
| Of gigantic foes-the agents OF terror
| and death.
The ashes in many places were al
| ready knee-Geep. and the boiling showers
which came from the sreaming breath Of
the volcano forced their way into the
houses. bearing with them strong and
suffocating vapor. In some places i'm
mense fragments of rock. hurled upon
the house roofs. bore down along the
streets masses OF confused ruin, whio-
yet more and more every hour obstructed
the way. and as the day advanced the
| motion of the earth was more sensibly
felt The footing seemed TO slide and
creep-no= could chariot or litter be kept
steady. even on the most steady ground.
Sometimes the huger stones. striking
against each other as they fell broke
into countless fragments emitting sparks
OF fire. which caught whatever was COM
bustible within their reach; and along
the plains beyond the city the darkness
was now terribly relieved for several
houses, and even vineyards had been set
on flames and at various intervals the
fires rose sullenly and fiercely against the
solid gloom To add TO this partial
lief Of the darkness. the citizens had,
here and there. in the more public places.
such as the porticoes Of temples and the
entrances to the forum. endeatored TO
place rows of torches. but these rarely
continued long. the showers and the
winds extinguished them. and the sudden
darkness into which their fitfuI light was
converted had something in it doubly
nd fr1,r, s=fr- he
impotence of human hopes, the lessons
of despair.
Frequenuy. by the momentary light Of
these torches. parties of fugitives en-
cOuntered each other some hurrying to-
ward the sea, others flying from the sea
back to the land; for the ocean had re-
treated rapidly from the shore-an utter
darkness lay over it. and. upon its groan-
ing and tossing waves. the storm of
cinders and rocks fell without the pro-
lection which the roofs and streets af-
forded to the land. Wild. haggard.
CHASTITY with supernatural fears. these
groups encountered each other but with
out the leisure TO speak, TO consult 70
advise for the showers fell now fire.
quently. though not continuously, extin-
gushing the lights. which showed to
each band the death-iIke faces of the
other. and hurrying all to seek refuge
beneath the nearest shelter. The whole
clements of civilization were broken up
Ever and anon by the pickering lights
you saw the thief Fastening by the most
solemn authorities of the law, laden
with his spoils and was marked by
with the fearfully chuckling over the
produce of his sudden gains. II in the
darkness wife was separated from hus-
band. or parent from child vain was the
hope of reunion. Each hurried blindly
and confusedly on. Nothing in all the
various and complicated machinery OF
social life was left save the primal law
OF self-preservation.
Suddenly the place became lighted
with an intense and lurid glow. Bright
and gigantic through the darkness.
which closed around it like the walls Of
hell, the mountain shone-a pile Of fire.
Its summit seemed riven in two or rather
above its surface there seemed to rise
two monster shapes. as demons contend
ing for 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 sun udTk ana SHrOuueu, save IN
three places adown which flowed, ser
pentine and irregular, rivers of the mol
ten lava. Darkly red through the pro-
found 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
hlegethon. and through the stilled air
was heard the rafting OF the fragments
OF rock, hurting one upon another as
they We're born down the fiery cata-
racts darkening for one instant the spot
where they fell and sunused the next
in the FURNISHED hues OF the food along
which they noated.
The ground shook with CONFUSION
that cast all around upon it's surface
A simultaneous crash resounded through
the city. as down toppled many a roof
and pilar-the lightning. as if caught
by the metal, fingered an instant on the
imperial statue-then shivered bronze and
column, Down fell the ruin. echoing
along the street. and irving the solid
pavement where it crashed.