rofessor crawled out through a hole and we followed him.

In the piazza we saw sights that tore our hearts, and we wept as we
thought of those poor unhappy children left without parents or
relations. And we thanked God who had saved us from such a great
disaster. Every few moments there came more shocks, and there were
we weeping and recommending ourselves to the Lord.

As day broke we saw many wretched creatures being dragged out from
under the heaps of rubbish and being put on carts or laid on the
ground.

We began to feel hungry and begged our professor to buy us some
bread, but he replied:

"There is no place where bread can be bought, we must therefore take
courage, climb back into the house and get a few nuts."

[This re-entering the house was dangerous because it might have
fallen when they were inside, but they managed it in safety and
returned with some maccaroni and bread, also some nuts and two sticks
of dried figs which were there for the festa of Christmas.]

We began to eat the food and, seeing some children near us who also
were hungry, were moved to compassion for their condition and gave
them each something.

In this way we supported life for two days, but on the third day the
food was finished.

[During these two days they were in the ruins of a fish-market, which
was better than being out in the open, but not much because the roof
was broken. They only had such clothes as they had snatched up in
their haste and these were wet through and saturated with mud up to
the knees. They caught colds and the professor was ill for months.]

All day long, bodies were being extricated from the ruins and we
could hardly bear the stench; to make matters worse it was raining,
the houses were on fire, the air was heavy with smoke and there were
constant shocks of earthquake. It seemed like the end of the world.

On the third day I went with our professor to the port to inquire
whether the survivors would be taken to Naples. The captain replied
"Yes." We returned to the market and our path lay among the wounded
and the dead.

When we had reached shelter our professor said:

"Let us take courage and return into the house to bring out some
clothes and linen and the certificates of my niece." We went to the
house, but the door was jammed by reason of t