ught to be a big cloud approaching them. Before they could reach a
place of safety the building was lifted up and carried up Stony creek
for about one-quarter of a mile. As the water rushed they turned into
the river and were carried about three-quarters of a mile further on.
All the people were in the attic and as the house was hurled with
terrific force against the wreckage piled up against the Pennsylvania
Railroad bridge Higson called to them to jump. They failed to do so,
but at the second command Miss Thomas leaped through the window, the
others followed, and after a dangerous walk over fifty yards of broken
houses safely reached the shore.

[Illustration: CHILD FOUND THUMPING ON A WRECKED PIANO.]

CHAPTER XIII.

Digging for the Dead.

A party started in early exploring the huge mass of debris banked
against the Pennsylvania Railroad bridge. This collection, consisting of
trees, sides of houses, timber and innumerable articles, varies in
thickness from three or four feet to twenty feet. It is about four
hundred yards long, and as wide as the river. There are thousands of
tons in this vast pile. How many bodies are buried there it is
impossible to say, but conservative estimates place it at one thousand
at least.

The corps of workmen who were searching the ruins near the Methodist
Church late this evening were horrified by unearthing one hundred
additional bodies. The great number at this spot shows what may be
expected when all have been recovered.

When the mass which blazed several days was extinguished it was simple
to recover the bodies on the surface. It is now a question, however, of
delving into the almost impenetrable collection to get at those lodged
within. The grinding tree trunks doubtless crushed those beneath into
mere unrecognizable masses of flesh. Those on the surface were nearly
all so much burned as to resemble nothing human.

Meanwhile the searchers after bodies, armed with spikes, hooks and
crowbars, pry up the debris and unearth what they can. Bodies, or rather
fractions of them, are found in abundance near the surface.

Tracing Bodies by the Smell.

I was here when the gang came across one of the upper stories of a
house. It was merely a pile of boards apparently, but small pieces of a
bureau and a bed spring from which the clothes had been burned showed
the nature of the find. A faint odor of burned flesh prevailed exactly
at this spot. "Dig here," said the physician t