Living close to the heart of Nature, her moods were not mysterious to these people; so, they waited for the third, and what they supposed would be the final shock. It came with such terrible force that the Observatory tower fell in a cloud of blinding dust, and all the other buildings were rent or cracked grievously, but were not overthrown simultaneously.
A thievish wave stole in silently, and embraced the whole city.
The stricken people looked into each other’s faces with dismay, as they stood waist-deep in water, a nameless fear chilling their hearts. The water retreated precipitously, while lurid streaks and tongues of flame lit up the whole eastern heavens. Shock after shock succeeded each other, while the clouds lowered heavy and sullen close overhead. Brokenly, but in unison, thousands of throats lent voice to prayerful entreaty:
“Wilt thou blot us out forever, O Lord? Is this punishment intended not for our reformation, but for our total destruction?”
One impulse seemed to move the entire concourse; and as if Nature heard, she answered by a gust of wind and a downpour of rain.
Ben Hu Barabe, Alcyesta and their attendants had a mad gallop for life. They were within an hour’s ride of Sacramento River when they saw thin, blue flames suddenly shoot up from the earth, followed by heavy cannonading of the internal elements.
In the cosmic mêlée they were tossed forth and back like a shuttle in a loom—so violently at first that the horses fell to their knees and were whirled in opposite directions. In terror the animals tried to lie down and roll over with their burdens; but their riders whipped and spurred vigorously, and the maddened creatures ran until they dropped exhausted on the river bank. A thick shower of ashes fell over them, and the air was like a blast from a furnace. Behind them came smoking streaks of lava, poured into the plain by a row of flame-mantled hills.
Flocks were scampering wildly in every direction, and the scattered herdsmen were taking to the boats and skiffs tied along the river bank.
Ben Hu Barabe and Alcyesta climbed into the balsa awaiting them, and their attendants hastened with them. They had scarcely pushed out into midstream, when the very bed of the river seemed to rise and hurl its waters forward. Waves rose in an undulating wall of water, breaking the banks of both sides, sending death and destruction broadcast over the valley. The boats were carried along by an irresistible impulse and with incredible swiftness, straight across sinuous windings of the stream onward toward the sea.