Yermah did not hear him. He had caught a glimpse of the comet hanging low over the Golden Gate—a double crescent of fire joined together. Its tail bent out over Tlamco, and curved downward like a great broad-sword. It throbbed and panted like a living thing, sinister and awful, as Venus twinkled between its two horns, an evening star of horrible aspect. A tremor, ominous and indefinable, seized the populace, hushed and awed by the dreadful apparition. It was a premonition, followed instantly by a low, rumbling sound, an angry roar of waters, and then the earth shook under them like a leaf in the wind. A mad rush for the streets, an instinctive huddling together, a breathless wait for a second impact! A heavy, long boom, like a roll of distant artillery, and a wave mountain high, but crested in the center like a spine, rose up between them and the Golden Gate, and, for a moment, shut out from view the grinning, mocking comet. The ground surged up and down under their feet in simultaneous waves. Trees bent over and touched their tops together, houses rocked and swayed, and all that was breakable in them went down with a crash. Living close to the heart of Nature, her moods were not mysterious to these people; so, they waited for the third, and what they supposed would be the final shock. It came with such terrible force that the Observatory tower fell in a cloud of blinding dust, and all the other buildings were rent or cracked grievously, but were not overthrown simultaneously. A thievish wave stole in silently, and embraced the whole city. The stricken people looked into each other’s faces with dismay, as they stood waist-deep in water, a nameless fear chilling their hearts. The water retreated precipitously, while lurid streaks and tongues of flame lit up the whole eastern heavens. Shock after shock succeeded each other, while the clouds lowered heavy and sullen close overhead. Brokenly, but in unison, thousands of throats lent voice to prayerful entreaty: “Wilt thou blot us out forever, O Lord? Is this punishment intended not for our reformation, but for our total destruction?” One impulse seemed to move the entire concourse; and as if Nature heard, she answered by a gust of wind and a downpour of rain. * * * * * Ben Hu Barabe, Alcyesta and their attendants had a mad gallop for life. They were within an hour’s ride of Sacramento River when they saw thin, blue flames suddenly shoot up from the earth, followed by heavy cannonading of the internal elements.