re were, what
is this thing that we call _death_, that we should fear it? Compose
yourself, young man; there is as yet no danger. I have been forewarned
of this scene, and not a soul of us shall perish."

Regarding him as a madman, I tore the door from its hinges with the
strength of despair, and rushing to the side of the ship, was in the
very act of plunging overboard, when a united shriek of all the
passengers rose upon my ear, and I paused involuntarily to ascertain the
new cause of alarm. Scarcely did I have time to cast one look at the
mountain, ere I discovered that the flames had all been extinguished at
its crater, and that the air was darkened by a mass of vapor, rendering
the sunlight a mockery and a shadow. But this eclipse was our
redemption. The next moment a sheet of cool water fell upon the ship,
and in such incredible masses, that many articles were washed overboard,
and the door I held closely in my hands was borne away by the flood. The
fire was completely extinguished, and, ere we knew it, the danger over.

Greatly puzzled how to account for the strange turn in our affairs, I
was ready at the moment to attribute it to Judge E----, and I had almost
settled the question that he was a necromancer, when he approached me,
and putting an open volume in my hand, which I ascertained was a
"History of the Republic of Guatemala," I read the following incident:

Nor is it true that volcanoes discharge only fire and molten lava
from their craters. On the contrary, they frequently shower down
water in almost incredible quantities, and cause oftentimes as
much mischief by floods as they do by flames. An instance of this
kind occurred in the year 1542, which completely demolished one
half the buildings in the city of Guatemala. It was chiefly owing
to this cause that the site of the city was changed; the ancient
site being abandoned, and the present locality selected for the
capital.[A-109]

[Footnote A-109: Thompson's History of Guatemala, p. 238.]

Six months after the events recorded above, I dismounted from my mule
near the old _cabilda_ in the modern village of Palenque. During that
interval I had met with the usual fortune of those who travel alone in
the interior of the Spanish-American States. The war of castes was at
its height, and the cry of _Carrera_ and _Morazan_ greeted the ear of
the stranger at almost every turn of the road. Morazan represented the
aristocratic idea,