here, among the masses of stone,limbs were seen protruding,--there the lower part of the body crushed,while the person was yet alive, hopelessly striving to extricatehimself; others, more happy, already lay dead, with huge stones on theirbreasts: but wherever they passed, cries, and shrieks, and groansassailed their ears.
As they proceeded, Pedro gave an account of his adventures. "Oh,senhor, I thought the end of the world was come," he said, "and I neverexpected to see anybody I knew again when first this dreadful earthquakecame on. I scarcely know what happened till I found myself in theSquare of Saint Paul's, and the church, and all the buildings round,tumbling about in all directions, and many of the stones almost touchingme as they fell; so, not liking that situation, I clambered over theruins of the church, which had just fallen, crushing hundreds of peoplebeneath it, and reached the broad quay by the river's side, where Ithought I should be safer that anywhere else; but I had not been theremore than two minutes when a second shock came on, and I was thrown withmy face flat on the ground, and had just risen again, when I heard ageneral cry that the sea was coming in on us. I looked towards theriver, and though there was no wind blowing, I beheld an immense wave,rising like a mountain, of its own accord, come foaming and roaringtowards the shore. I cast not another look at it, but ran for my life,regardless of the falling stones in the streets; but the water camefaster than I could fly, and had I not caught hold of a beam of timberprojecting from some ruins, I should have been swept away, as many otherunfortunate people were; for the river immediately returned again to itsproper level. Thinking there was as much danger from the sea as fromthe land, I returned back, by the way I came, to the Square of SaintPaul's; but, when I had remained there a minute or so, another shockcast down a great number of buildings which had escaped, and the waterrushed even there, so I gave up all hopes of being saved. The water,however, again retired, when I bethought me of my master; for, Iconfess, before that, my only idea was of taking care of myself. I hadbeen running about in every direction, but could meet nobody even whoknew him, till I found you on the top of the hill, where I hoped he toomight have gone."
By the time Pedro had concluded his narration, they reached the house ofthe friend of whom the captain had spoken; and though that had notfallen, the family had deserted it, and were assembled in an open spacein the garden, with numerous friends, who had hastened there for safety.They charitably received Senhor Mendez among them, promising to dotheir best to assist him, when Captain Pinto, without even waiting totake any refreshment, hurried back, followed by Pedro, in search ofLuis.
On their way, through the captain's forethought, they procured two ironbars, to aid them in digging among the ruins, should they, by anychance, discover a clue to where he was last seen, though theyentertained but slight hopes of discovering him, either dead or alive,had he not escaped uninjured. The horrors and destruction which theywitnessed on their way have never been surpassed, if even equalled,during the annals of the world. In many places, also, the buildings hadcaught fire, and were blazing up furiously on all sides, so that theywere obliged to make wide circuits to avoid them. The only clue whichPedro could afford, was that, when his master had parted from him, hehad taken a direction by which he must pass by the Convent of SantaClara, and the captain being in the secret of his friend's feelings,concluded that he might very possibly have remained in theneighbourhood, in the faint hopes of seeing his mistress. Though thechance of discovering him was truly desperate, they determined topersevere; and, not being aware of the entire destruction of thatconvent, they thought that they might possibly hear something of himfrom some persons in the neighbourhood, as he would be remarked frombeing on horseback. After great labour they approached the place; butthey looked in vain for the convent--not a wall was standing. As theywere crossing a street which led to the square in which it had stood,Pedro's eye was attracted by a dark object beneath the fallen wall of ahouse; he hastened towards it, and, to his horror, recognised the horsehis master had ridden. He wrung his hands in despair, as Captain Pintocame up, pointing to the dead steed, whose head lay crushed by a stone.The captain understood the sign, and joined Pedro in endeavouring toturn over the masses of masonry which thickly covered the ground; thelatter, narrowly examining the saddle, to assure himself that he notbeen mistaken regarding the horse, shook his head mournfully when hefound that his fears were too correct. For a long time they plied theirtask in silence, except when the captain gave some necessary order,expecting every moment to discover the crushed remains of him theysought; for they could scarce indulge a hope that he could by anymiracle have escaped. With great labour, and at imminent risk, theycleared away the stones in every direction round the dead horse, the yetstanding walls threatening every instant to destroy them, large blockscontinually falling with loud crashes near them; but their toil was invain; and at length, overcome with fatigue, they were compelled, indespair, to desist. Selecting a safe spot, at a distance from thetottering walls, they seated themselves on a mound of ruins, to consulton the next measure to be taken, while they recovered strength toproceed.
They had scarcely been seated there a minute, watching the groups whostood gazing in mute despair, or rushed about with frantic gesturesdeploring their loss, among the former being a few of the late inmatesof the convent, when a person rushed by, his head, sprinkled with whitehairs, being uncovered, his dress disordered, with hands outstretched,and eyes wildly gazing on every side. "My child, my child!" he cried,in piercing accents; "has any one beheld my child? I have been deprivedof my son, and if now my daughter is torn from me, I am childless!" Noone heeded him, for hundreds were uttering the same cries. At a shortdistance, a woman followed him, with loud shrieks. "My mistress, myyoung mistress! has any one seen her? Where have they hid her? where,where?" she was exclaiming, and then gave way again to screams andtears.
Pedro regarded them earnestly. "That is the fidalgo Goncalo Christovao.I know him, the father of Donna Clara; and that old woman is her nurse.Depend upon it, senhor, they are in search of the young lady. Alas,alas! I fear that it will be as hopeless as that for my master; but,with your leave, senhor, we will follow them; for I know that if DonLuis was alive, he would be searching for her also."
The captain agreed to the proposal, and hastened after the fidalgo, whono sooner perceived the group of nuns, than he rushed up to them, wildlyinquiring among them for his beloved daughter. The captain and Pedrocame up with him at the same time: not one of the nuns would venture tospeak. With tears he besought them to answer him; explaining, withbroken exclamations, that he was the father of a lady belonging to theirconvent. At length one of the sisterhood, pointing to the ruins,exclaimed, "Alas, senhor, we are the only survivors of the two hundredinhabitants of the convent; the rest lie buried beneath yon shatteredwalls!"
The hapless father heard no more. Had he not forced his daughter toenter that retreat, she might have been safe; and with a loud cry hefell backwards, and would have sunk to the ground, had not Captain Pintoand Pedro been at hand to support him.
Poor Senhora Gertrudes redoubled her cries, and wrung her hands indespair, as she seated herself on the ground near her master.Regardless of whatever else might happen, and calling on all the saintsto restore her young mistress, she would, every now and then, seeingthat the fidalgo was unable to comprehend her, reproach him for beingthe cause of her unhappiness; then she would abuse the convent forfalling, and the nuns for leaving her lady behind. Captain Pinto was ina dilemma how to act; he was anxious to search for his friend, at thesame time that he was unwilling to leave the fidalgo in his presentstate, and not a drop of water was to be found to assist in recoveringhim.
The unhappy father giving no signs of returning animation, the captaingrew weary of watching one with whom he was not even acquainted, whenhis aid was so much more required by others: placing him, therefore, ina situation as far removed as possible from danger, he at length broughtthe old nurse sufficiently to reason, to induce her to watch by the sideof her master, while he, a
nd Pedro, continued their search for Luis.His purpose was first to visit, if possible, the palace of the Conded'Almeida, in case Luis should have thought of returning homeward, andnot hearing of him in that neighbourhood, to work his way to theoutskirts of the city, and to make inquiries for him at every placewhere he found people collected, among whom he could discover any of hisacquaintance, intending either to return himself, or to despatch someone with assistance to Goncalo Christovao.
Volume 2, Chapter XII.
It would be impossible to describe, and difficult even to conceive, ascene in which a greater assemblage of crime, wretchedness, and filthwas to be found, than that which, at the time we write of, was offeredby the prison of Lisbon.
In a courtyard, where the prisoners were allowed to take whatever freshair descended within the precincts of that abode of wretchedness, werenow collected a