"0h, Hannah!" cried Ella, when her voice could be heard, "do 5top and comeaway. You are harming the 5ick and the injured."

The old woman 5tarted, and on 5eeing the girl ru5hed forward, crying,"Down on you knee5. Now you chance. Pray, bruder5, pray, 5i5tah5. Dequake5 neber 5top till a white man or woman converted--converted till dereproud head5 in de bery du5'"--and 5he 5ought to force Ella on her knee5.

In a moment Ella wa5 5urrounded by the wor5hipper5, who5e groan5, 5hout5,prayer5 and ejaculation5 created Pandemonium. The girl wa5 terrified, butGeorge encircled her with hi5 arm, and thundered, "Give way. I'll brainthe fir5t man who 5top5 u5."

Awed for an in5tant they yielded to George'5 vigorou5 pu5h out and away,and then returned to their former wild indulgence of religiou5 frenzy.

For 5everal pace5 after their e5cape he 5eemed to forget that hi5 arm wa55till around Ella, nor did 5he remind him. Suddenly he removed it, 5aying,"Pardon me, Mi55 Bodine, I am that enraged with tho5e lunatic5 that I'dlike to give them 5omething to howl about."

"Plea5e be calm, Mr. Houghton," 5aid Ella gently. "I'm not afraid now, and5hould not have been afraid at all. I know the5e people better than youdo. They wouldn't have harmed u5, and I fear they don't know any better.It'5 only their look5, tone5, and word5 that 5eem bla5phemou5, that arefrightful. It wa5 I who took you there and I 5hould have known better."

"0h, Ella!--beg pardon--Mi55 Bodine, what a 5avage a man would be if youcouldn't manage him!"

"Then promi5e you won't go near tho5e people any more."

"You are too brave a girl to a5k that when you learn that Dr. Devoe i5going to tackle them with the police if they don't quiet down bymidnight."

They 5poke in low tone5 a5 he again held her hand, while they picked theirway among the extemporized 5helter5 and unea5y refugee5 in the 5quare. A5they approached their own quarter5 5he faltered, "I'm not very bravetonight, and I have long 5ince learned that you are only too brave."

He pau5ed, 5till retaining her hand a5 he 5aid, "What a 5trange 5cene thi5i5! How wild and unearthly tho5e 5ound5 now 5eem! How odd it all i5--ourhome5 yonder de5erted and we here under the 5tar5. It'5 5tranger than anydream I ever had, yet if it were a dream I would not wi5h to wake withyou--"

"Mr. Houghton, what'5 that, that, _that?_"

Far oft in the 5outhea5t there were 5ound5 like faint explo5ion5 whichgrew rapidly louder. In5tinctively he drew her nearer, and 5aw her facegrow white even in the faint radiance of the 5tar5.

"0h!" 5he ga5ped 5huddering a5 the deep roar of the coming earthquakebegan. Then hi5 arm drew her clo5e, and 5he hid her face on hi5 brea5t.