to them. On the very day of the assault there
had been several smarter shocks than usual, and some of the more
thoughtful among the inhabitants remembered that it was on an unusually
dry summer, similar to the one that was then passing, that a terrible
earthquake had visited the province of Venezuela and entirely demolished
the city of Caraccas. But the sudden attack of the rebels had for the
time banished all thought of earthquakes.

It was while the people of the town were pursuing their enemies that
another shock of the earthquake occurred, and it was so violent that
many of the pursuers paused, while others turned at once and ran back to
the town. Here they found the women and children in a state of
consternation, for they had more thoroughly realised the force of the
shock; and the dreadful scenes that had taken place in Caraccas, when
upwards of ten thousand of the inhabitants perished, were still fresh in
their memory. Another shock occurred just as Don Pedro, Will Osten, and
his friends galloped into the principal square of the town. Here there
were hundreds of cattle which had been driven there for safety, and
crowds of people hurrying to and fro. The horsemen rode towards the
principal church of the town, which had been made a place of temporary
retreat for the women and children. They had got within a few hundred
yards of it when there came a shock so terrible that it seemed as if the
binding forces of nature were being dissolved. Hollow thunderings were
heard deep in the bowels of the earth, which heaved and undulated almost
as if it had been in a semi-liquid state, while great rents and fissures
occurred here and there. Will Osten's horse stumbled into one of these
and threw him, but he leaped up unhurt. Don Pedro and the others pulled
up and dismounted hastily. Before they could make up their minds which
way to turn or what to do, another shock occurred; the houses on either
side of them began to sway to and fro, and one not far distant fell.
Just then a terrible crash was heard, and Will Osten turned round in
time to see the large church in the act of falling. Women and children
were rushing out of it frantically, but those within were doomed. One
wild and awful shriek mingled with the roar of the tumbling edifice, and
five hundred souls were instantaneously buried in a common grave.

Terrible though this event was, much of the impression it was fitted to
make on those who witnessed it was l