With a fearful howl, they rushed upon him; the shriek of despair was heard for an instant, then the terrible explosion which caused the rocks to tremble, while the flames rose with a momentary flash amidst clouds of dust and smoke, scaring the beasts of the forest, and scattering stones and beams, and hundreds of dismembered limbs, far through the valley, and over the houses of the terrified inhabitants!
When the smoke had dissipated, a heap of ruins stood in the place of
Numa's dwelling.
The sun rose and smiled upon the earth, which was strewed with the last leaves of autumn, but where were those who had assembled at the spring-time of the year?
The evening breezes whispered mournfully through the ruined walls, and strewed the faded leaves upon eleven grassy mounds.
The pen trembles in my hand—my heart sickens at the recital of such misery.
Would that I could believe it an imagination—the ghostly horror of a fevered brain!
Would that I could bid my gentle readers check the falling tear or tell them: "Start not with horror; it is but romance—the creation of some fearful dream—let us awake and see it no more!"
FOOTNOTES TO THIRTEEN AT TABLE:
[1: There is a race of the Hungarians in the Carpath who, unlike the Hungarians of the plain, have blue eyes and often fair hair.]
[2: Part of the free corps raised in 1848.]