ut like the waves of the sea, or thrown into the
air like straws. The atmosphere was darkened with dust, and leaves,
and branches.

"God be merciful to us! Rowley! where are ye?--No answer. What is
become of them all?"

A second blast more furious than the first. Can the mountains resist
it? will they stand? By the Almighty! they do not. The earth trembles;
the hillock, on the leeside of which we are, rocks and shakes; and the
air grows thick and suffocating--full of dust and saltpetre and
sulphur. We are like to choke. All around is dark as night. We can see
nothing, hear nothing but the howling of the hurricane, and the
thunder and rattle of falling trees and shivered branches.

Suddenly the hurricane ceases, and all is hushed; but so suddenly that
the charge is startling and unnatural. No sound is audible save the
creaking and moaning of the trees with which the ground is cumbered.
It is like a sudden pause in a battle, when the roar of the cannon and
clang of charging squadrons cease, and nought is heard but the
groaning of the wounded, the agonized sobs and gasps of the dying.

The report of a pistol is heard; then another, a third, hundreds,
thousands of them. It is the flood, _las aguas_; the shots are drops
of rain; but such drops! each as big as a hen's egg. They strike with
the force of enormous hailstones--stunning and blinding us. The next
moment there is no distinction of drops, the windows of heaven are
opened; it is no longer rain nor flood, but a sea, a cataract, a
Niagara. The hillock on which I am standing, undermined by the waters,
gives way and crumbles under me; in ten seconds' time I find myself in
the barranca, which is converted into a river, off my horse, which is
gone I know not whither. The only person I see near me is Rowley, also
dismounted and struggling against the stream, which is already up to
our waists, and sweeps along with it huge branches and entire trees,
that threaten each moment to carry us away with them, or to crush us
against the rocks. We avoid these dangers, God knows how, make violent
efforts to stem the torrent and gain the side of the barranca;
although, even should we succeed, it is so steep that we can scarcely
hope to climb it without assistance. And whence is that assistance to
come? Of the Mexicans we see or hear nothing. They are doubtless all
drowned or dashed to pieces. They were higher up on the hillock than
we were, must consequently have been swept down wit