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Show The End of Arbaces. A Classical Chapter from "The Last Days of Pompeii." By E. BULWER LYTTON The groans of the dying were broken by the wild shrieks of women's terror now near, now distant which, when heard in the utter darkness, were rendered doubly appalling by the crushing sense of helplessness and the uncertainty of the perils around; and clear and distinct through all were the mighty and various noises from the fatal ninunraia. its rushing winds; its whirling torrents; and, from time to time, the burst and roar of some more fiery and fierce explosion. ex-plosion. And ever as the winds swept howling along the street, they bore sharp streams of burning dust, and such sickening and poisonous vapors as took away, for the instant, breath and consciousness, followed fol-lowed by a rapid revulsion of the arrested blood, and a tingling sensation sensa-tion of agony trembling through every nerve and fiber of the frame. "Oh, Glaucus, my beloved, my own take me to thy arms. One embrace, let me feel thy arms around me and in that embrace let me die I can no more." "For my sake, for my life courage, yet, sweet lone my life is linked with thine; and sec torches this way. Lo, how they brave the wind. Ha, they live through the storm doubtless, fugitives to the sea we will join them." As if to aid and reanimate the lovers, the winds and showers came U to a sudden pause; the atmosphere was profoundly still the moun-J moun-J tain seemed at rest, gathering, perhaps, fresh fury for its next burst; :j the torch-bearers moved quickly on. "We arc ncaring the sea," said, in a calm voice, the person at their head. "Liberty and wealth to each slave who survives this day. Courage I tell you that the gods themselves them-selves have assured me of deliverance On." Redly and steadily the torches flashed full in the eyes of Glaucus and lone, who lay trembling and exhausted on his bosom. Several slaves were bearing, by the light, panniers and coffers, heavily laden ; in front of them a drawn sword in his hand towered the lofty form of Arbaces. "By my faMiers," cried the Egyptian, "fate smiles upon me even through these horrors, and, amid the dreadest aspects of woe and death, bodes me happiness and love. Away, Greek. I claim my ward, lone." "Traitor and murderer," cried Glaucus, glaring upon his foe, ''Nemesis hath guided thee to my revenge a just sacrifice to the shades of Hades, that now seem loosed on earth. Approach touch but the hand of lone, and thy Avcapon shall be as a reed." Suddenly, as he spoke, the place became lighted with an intense and lurid glow. Bright and gigantic through the darkness, which closed around it like the walls of hell, the mountain shone a pile of fire. Its summit seemed riven in two; or rather, above its surface there seemed to rise two monster shapes, each confronting each, as demons contending for a world. These are of one deep blood-red hue of fire, which lighted up the whole atmosphere far and wide; but below, the nether part of the mountain was still dark and shrouded, save in three places, adown which flowed, serpentine and irregular, rivers of the molten lava. Darkly red through the profound gloom of their banks, they flowed slowly or as toward the devoted city. Over the broadest there seemed to spring a cragged and stupendous arch, from which, as from the jaws of hell, gushed the sources of the sudden -M Phlcgcthon. And through the stilled air was heard the rattling of the fragments of rock, hurtling one upon another, as they were borne down the fiery cataracts darkening, for one instant, the spot where they fell, and suffused the next in the burnished hues of the flood along which they floated. The slaves shrieked aloud, and, cowering, hid their faces. The 1M Egyptian himself stood transfixed to the spot, the glow lighting up his commanding features and jeweled robes. High behind him rose a tall column that supported the bronze statue of Augustus; and the im-pcrial im-pcrial image seemed changed to a shape of fire. 'fl With his left arm circled round the form of lone with his right 'H arm raised in menace, and grasping the stilus which was to have been his weapon in the arena, and which he still fortunately bore about him, with his brow knit, his lips apart, the wrath and menace of human passions, arrested as by a charm upon his features, Glaucus fronted the Egyptian. Arbaces turned his eyes from the mountain they rested on the form of Glaucus. He paused a moment. "Why," he muttered, "should I hesitate? Did not the stars foretell the only crisis of immi- H nent peril to which I was subjected? is not that peril past? H "The soul," cried he aloud, "can brave the wreck of worlds and the wrath of imaginary gods. By that soul will I conquer to the last. Advance, slaves Athenian, resist me, and thy blood be on thine own head. Thus, then, I regain lone." He advanced one step it was his last on earth. The ground shook H beneath him with a convulsion that cast all around upon its surface. A simultaneous crash resounded through the city, as down toppled many a roof and pillar the lightning, as if caught by the metal, lin-gered lin-gered an instant on the imperial statue then shivered bronze and column. Down fell the ruin, echoing along the street, and riving the solid pavement when it crashed. The prophecy of the stars was ful- H filled. The sound the shock, stunned the Athenian for several mo- ments. When he recovered the light still illumined the scene the H earth still slid and trembled beneath. lone lay senseless on the ground ; but he saw her not yet his eyes were fixed upon a ghastly face that seemed to emerge, without limbs or trunk, from the huge H fragments of the shattered column a face of unutterable pain, agony, and despair. The eyes shut and opened rapidly, as if sense were not H yet fled; the lips quivered and grinned then sudden stillness and H darkness fell over the features, vet retaining that aspect of horror H never to be forgotten. So perished the wise magician the great Arbaces the Hermes of H the Burning Belt thc last of the royalty of Egypt. H K V m A Common Role. Senator Gilchrist, discussing in Albany his insurance bill, said H of speculation: Speculative features, uncertainties, ought to be removed from our H life as much as possible. When I think of speculation, I think of a H man I know. This man, a conservative, suddenly took to stock H gambling At the end of a flurry I met him one afternoon and said : (Well, were you a bull or a bear today?" H "Neither," he answered, giving me a sour smile. "I was an ass." H Like Some Men. e TMrsB?lle Pc Rivcra- president of the Equal Suffrage League I of New York, said at a recent dinner : "We'd have had the suffrage, we women, long ago, were it not H that, where women arc concerned, men incline to be a little unfair a little churlish. "Their treatment of women is on a par with old Hiram Doo- I httle s treatment of his wife. He made her keep a cash account, and he would go over it every night, growling and grumbling like this: Look here. Hannah mustard plasters, 50 cents; three teeth H extracted, $2. There's $2.50 in one day spent for your own private H pleasure. Do you think I'm made of money?" " i wC A, Jaes for Plumb'n&. Steam and Gas Fitting, Steam and Hot Water Contractor. Estimates on all kinds of Plumbing gladly given. We give you honest figures. Both phones 379. 67 Last First South St., Salt Lake City, Utah. |