OUR BOYS & GIRLS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 889, 15 March 1889, Page 5

OUR BOYS & GIRLS.

’ AIMEE. Mahy E. Vandyke. (Continued.) Last night, and many times before, Aimee had heard stories of earthquakes, for the beautiful Riviera often had been visited by these calamities. In olden times people built their houses low upon the ground ; they fastened them upon great rocks and they strengthened them by broad arches so that when the earth trembled they should be as secure as possible. But many, very many, years had since passed. Many towns on the shores of the blue Mediterranean had been visited and destroyed by earthquake shocks ; yet no such calamity had befallen the beautiful cities of southern France. Of late, wiseacres had foretold that the shocks would come soon again. But the inhabitants had not been frightened by the warnings and little or no precautions had been taken.

But where was Flossie ? Some minutes had passed since she had entered the ruin. Why had she not heard AimeeVcall ? Had she been deaf to the strange voice of the wind ? Had she not seen the darkened sky or felt the trembling of the walls about her, of the ruined floor beneath her feet ?

With one timorous glauos at the broken ceiling above her head, the wide seams and gaps in the tottering walls, the half-dislodged blocks of stone all ready to fall, Aimee sprang within the archway. A sweet voice, crying * Peep !’ attracted her attention, and with one bound she reached the staircase. Flying up the broken, half-ruined steps, she caught sight of Flossie's little form in a remote corner. As swiftly as possible she crossed the apartment, and clasped the little girl in her arms. At this moment another low rumbling sound tilled the air. Flossie had fancied that she saw her way to a capital game of ‘hide-and-seek.’ This had made her ignore Aimee’s call, and the walls of the chateau had prevented her from noticing tho darkened sky. Of the noise she thought little. A very tiny clap of thunder would have sounded much louder. Ainffie, grasped Flossie’s wrist, drew her toward the head of the staircase, crying in her ear meanwhile : ‘Hurry, hurry, it is an earthquake !’ Had she not spoken they might have escaped from the building. But at this word Flossie was startled, lost her footing and fell.

The sudden weight upon her hand loosened Aimde’s grasp. The little girl rolled sideways and over the unguarded side of the staircase ! .Aimee saw the fall, and as the little form disappeared a cry of anguish buist from her lips. But no mortal ear heard, or could ha 76 heard it, for with a voice of muffled thunder the solid earth heaved and writhed beneath their feet, the walls shook, and groaned, and fell about them, stone 3 were hurled here and there, and over all settled a cloud of thick dust which it was impossible to see through, or to breathe.

After the shock there was a strange silence, broken only by the occasional rattle of a loose stone, here and there, or the settling of the ruined masses into a closer heap. Aimee lay upon the stone staircase, breathless and powerless, but unhurt. For a moment she was too frightened even to move. Then she sat up and tried to look about her.

What made it so dark ? Try as she might, she could not see anything. She called Flossie. No answer came, but in the course of a few minutes Aimee fancied she could hear a low sobbing. She called louder and was answered by the child’s voice : ‘ Here I am, Aimde, here !’

Sore and bruised as she was, Aimde could move without difficulty, and creeping carefully down the steps, made her way to Flossie’s side. The child flung both arms about her, and for a few moments they could do nothing but sob in each other’s arms. ‘ Are you hurt, Flossie ?’ ‘Oh yes, yes 1’ ‘ * Where ?‘

‘My arm. Oh !itis so sore, and my head ! —it hurts me so !’ Oh, Ainffie, what has happened? Are we killed? What makes it so dark ?’

AimtSe felt the poor head very carefully and found that it was only bruised. Tho arm was wet with something she knew mußt be blood ; but Flossie could move it. So, fortunately it was not broken. Tearing her handkerchief into strips, Aimee bound the injured limb as well as she could and then gathered the little one closer in her arms.

Yes, the earthquake had come. It was probably not very severe, for if it had been, they must have been killed. But the wall of the old chateau had fallen and had made them prisoners in the darkness. ‘ But, if we look about, shall we not find a way out V asked Flossie. Ainffie’s voice trembled. *I am afraid not, but we will try. First let us thank God for saving us from a dreadful death.’ ‘Yes, indeed we will,’ was Flossie’s reply. ‘ And Aimde, we will ask Him to show us a way out and let us go home. Oh, Mamma ! Mamma !’

In the darkness, surrounded by the fallen debris and nearly suffociated with the dust, the two little girls knelt, and the prayer was said. Soon after Flossie bnried her head in Aimde’s breast, and cried bitterly for her Mamma.

And now began a long, sad vigil. Aimdo remembered the stories she had heard of good men and women in prison, who had suffered from privation of every kind, and some of whom .had died before they were released. Suddenly a thought struck her. They had nothing to eat or drink ! Would they sit there, clasped in each other’s arms until they grew hungry and faint, and finally unconscious, and died of starvation or thirst ? Oh, the idea was too dreadful ! Her little lips trembled, and the prayers she was trying to say became very incoherent. What were, the chances of their being rescued ? How soon would they be missed ? In the dreadful confusion the earthquake must have caused, who would think to look for them? No one knew they had come to the old chateau. It wa3 only aD old ruin. Excursionists came sometimes, or travellers from abroad, and now and then a peasant would seek the shade of the ruined walls as he rested from his labours in tho neighbouring fields. And even if the people knew they were there, how long would it take to dig away thoso terrible masses of stone and cement that had filled tho old doorway? How deeply were they buried in the old ruin? How thick was the barrier that lay between them and the light of day, the beautiful outside world, and home, and love ?

Aioffie sat very quietly, thinking. Flossie had sobbed herself to sleep in the darkness, and lay dreaming of Mamma and home, witk her head in Aimde’a lap Suddenly Aimee fancied that she heard the sound of water. She listened intently. Yes, surely, it was water. Then she remembered that she had heard there was a spring near the old chateau. Yes, but not within it. that low ripple mean ’ Of course it was impossible for Aim4e to know that what seems almost a miracle had been worked in behalf of the little prisoners. The earthquake, in its course, had so shaken the rocks anu the ground about the spring, that the course of its waters was changed, and a portion of the tiny streamlet flowing from it, now ran through a chink in the castle wall, and was dripping from a ledge not far from where she sat. And not only did the stream come to her, but it told her where it was. The quiet drip, drip, seemed to be calling, ‘ Aim6e,V Aiuffie’; and when, presently, Flossie awoke and cried for water, she was able to help the little girl to crawl within its reach. Drop by drop it fell into their little upturned mouths, and the agonies of thirstjwere averted. The hours passed slowly, and again Flossie fell asleep. This time Ainffie slept, too. Of course they both were hungry, and, as hungry people do, they dreamed of food. All at once, Aim£e awoke with a start. Sho had been dreaming of her little sewingbasket, and of the luncheons she used to pack into it, when she started for her con-vent-school. And surely she had packed a luncheon, when she and Flossie went out in the garden that morning! That had been part of their plan—to have a little tea-party iu the garden. (To be concluded.)