"Please don't think and talk that way. God knows, a man should give help where it is most needed at such a time. This is Mrs. Bodine?"
"Yes, she fainted before the first shock. We have been unable to revive her. At the last shock my daughter carried her down."
"Miss Bodine!" exclaimed George in surprise and admiration.
She gave him a swift glance through her tears, and then, dropping her eyes, resumed her efforts to revive her cousin.
"You may well exclaim," said her father. "How she did it I do not know.
Excitement gave strength, I suppose."
"Everything these kind friends and I can do for her seems useless," Ella faltered.
"Let me get my wind a little," said George, eagerly, "and I will carry her to the square, where my father is. A good physician is with him."
At this instant came a third and severer shock than the last, and with it the new terror which sickened the bravest. "O God," cried Ella, "will there be no respite?" Then observing for the first time the pillars of light and smoke rising at different points, she cried in still deeper fear, "Oh, papa, can those be volcanic fires?"
"No, no, my child."
"I saw a fire kindling in a deserted house as I came," George added excitedly. "Truly, Captain Bodine, this is no place for your family; or," turning to the groups near, "for you either, friends. Ah, see! there is a house almost opposite beginning to burn. Come;" and without further hesitation he lifted Mrs. Bodine and strode away.