Mother Ambroisine, who slept with one eye open, told a longer tale. She had heard the dishes rattling4 on the kitchen dresser; some plates had even rolled off and broken in falling to the ground. Mother Ambroisine was thinking it was perhaps some misdeed of the cat’s, when it seemed to her that strong arms seized the bed and shook it twice from head to foot and from foot to head. It was over in the twinkling of an eye. The worthy5 woman was so frightened that, throwing the covers over her head, she commended her soul to God.
Mathieu and his son were away at the time: they were returning home from the fair, and were making the journey by night. The weather was fine—no wind, and bright moonlight. They were chatting about their affairs when a dull, deep noise was heard, coming from under the ground. It sounded like the roar of the big mill-dam. At the same moment they staggered as if the ground had been giving way under them. Then nothing more. The moon continued to shine, the night was calm and serene6. It was so soon over that Mathieu and his son wondered whether they had not dreamed it.
These were among the more serious incidents related. Meanwhile there was passing from mouth to mouth, moving some to incredulous smiles and others to grave reflections, the terrible word “earthquake.”
In the evening Uncle Paul was surrounded by his auditors7, eager for some explanation of the great news of the day.
“Is it true, Uncle,” asked Jules, “that the earth sometimes trembles?”
“Nothing is truer, my dear child. Sometimes here, sometimes elsewhere, suddenly there is a movement of the ground. In our privileged countries we are far from having any exact idea of these terrible agitations8 of the earth. If once in a while a slight trembling is felt, it is talked of for days as a curiosity; then it is forgotten. Many tell to-day of the events of the past night without attaching much importance to them, not knowing that the force revealed to us by a light movement of the earth can, in its brutal9 power, bring about frightful10 disasters. Jacques has told you of the bellowing of the cattle and Azor’s outcry. Mother Ambroisine has described to you her fright when her bed was shaken twice. In all that there is nothing very terrifying; but earthquakes are not always harmless. Alas11, no; and may God preserve us from ever undergoing the sad experience!”
“Is an earthquake, then, very serious?” Jules again inquired. “For my part, I thought it only meant a few plates broken and some furniture displaced.”
“It seems to me,” said Claire, “that if the movement were strong enough houses would fall down. But Uncle is going to tell us about a violent earthquake.”
“Earthquakes are often preceded by subterranean12 noises, a dull rumbling13 that swells14, abates15, swells again, as if a storm were bursting in the depths of the earth. At this rumbling, full of menacing mysteries, every creature becomes quiet, mute with fear, and every one turns pale. Warned by instinct, animals are struck with stupor16. Suddenly the earth shivers, bulges17 up, subsides18 again, whirls, cracks open, and discloses a yawning gulf19.”
“Oh, my goodness!” Claire exclaimed. “And what becomes of the people?”
“You will see what becomes of them in these terrible catastrophes20. Of all the earthquakes felt in Europe, the most terrible was that which ravaged21 Lisbon in 1775, on All Saints’ Day. No danger appeared to menace the festal town, when suddenly there burst from under-ground a rumbling like continuous thunder. Then the ground, shaken violently several times, rose up, sank down, and in a moment the populous22 capital of Portugal was nothing but a heap of ruins and dead bodies. The people that were still left, seeking refuge from the fall of the ruins, had retired23 to a large quay24 on the seashore. All at once the quay was swallowed up in the waters, dragging with it the crowd and the boats and ships moored25 there. Not a victim, not a piece of wreck26 came back to float on the surface. An abyss had opened, swallowing up waters, quay, ships, people, and, closing up again, kept them for ever. In six minutes sixty thousand persons perished.
“While that was happening at Lisbon and the high mountains of Portugal were shaking on their bases, several towns of Africa—Morocco, Fez, Mequinez—were overthrown27. A village of ten thousand souls was swallowed up with its entire population in an abyss suddenly opened and suddenly closed.”
“Never, Uncle, have I heard of such terrible things,” declared Jules.
“And I laughed,” said Emile, “when Mother Ambroisine told us of her fright. It was nothing to laugh at. If it had been God’s will, our village might last night have disappeared from the earth with us all, as did that one in Africa.”
“Listen to this, too,” Uncle Paul continued. “In February, 1783, in Southern Italy, convulsions began that lasted four years. During the first year alone nine hundred and forty-nine were counted. The surface of the ground was wrinkled in moving waves like the surface of a stormy sea, and on this unstable28 ground people felt nauseated29 as if on the deck of a vessel30. Sea-sickness reigned31 on land. At every undulation, the clouds, really immobile, seemed to move bruskly, just as they do at sea when we are on a vessel tossed by the winds. Trees bowed in the terrestrial wave and swept the earth with their tops.
“In two minutes the first shock overthrew32 the greater part of towns, villages, and small boroughs33 of Southern Italy, as well as of Sicily. The whole surface of the country was thrown into confusion. In several places the ground was creviced with fissures35, resembling on a large scale the cracks in a pane36 of broken glass. Vast tracts37 of ground, with their cultivated fields, their dwellings38, vines, olive-trees, slid down the mountain-sides and went considerable distances, to settle finally on other sites. Here, hills split in two; there, they were torn from their places and transported to some other part. Elsewhere, there was nothing to uphold the ground, and it was engulfed39 in yawning abysses, taking with it dwellings, trees, and animals, which were never seen again; in still other places, deep funnels40 full of moving sand opened, forming presently vast cavities that were soon converted into lakes by the inrush of subterranean waters. It is estimated that more than two hundred lakes, ponds, and marshes41 were thus suddenly produced.
“In certain places the ground, softened42 by waters turned from their channels or brought from the interior by the crevices43, was converted into torrents44 of mud that covered the plains or filled the valleys. The tops of trees and the roofs of ruined farm buildings were the only things to be seen above this sea of mud.
“At intervals45 sudden quakes shook the ground to a great depth. The shocks were so violent that street pavements were torn from their beds and leaped into the air. The masonry46 of wells flew out from below the surface in one piece, like a small tower thrown up from the earth. When the ground rose and split open, houses, people, and animals were instantly swallowed up; then, the ground subsiding47 again, the crevice34 closed once more, and, without leaving a vestige48, everything disappeared, crushed between the two walls of the abyss as they drew together. Some time afterward49, when, after the disaster, excavations50 were made in order to recover valuable lost objects, the workmen observed that the buried buildings and all that they contained were one compact mass, so violent had been the pressure of this sort of vise formed by the two edges of the closed-up crevice.
“The number of persons who perished in these terrible circumstances is estimated at eighty thousand.
“Most of these victims were buried alive under the ruins of their houses; others were consumed by fires that sprang up in these ruins after each shock; others, fleeing across the country, were swallowed up in the abysses that opened under their feet.
“The sight of such calamities51 ought to have awakened pity in the hearts of barbarians52. And yet—who would believe it?—except for a very few acts of heroism53, the conduct of the people was most infamous54. The Calabrian peasants ran to the towns, not to give help, but to pillage55. Without any concern about the danger, they traversed the streets in the midst of burning walls and clouds of dust, kicking and robbing the victims even before the breath had left their bodies.”
“Miserable creatures!” cried Jules. “Horrid rascals56! Ah, if I had only been there!”
“If you had been there, what would you have done, my poor child? There were plenty there with as good hearts and better fists than yours, but they could do nothing.”
“Are those Calabrians very wicked?” asked Emile.
“Wherever education has not been introduced there are brutal natures that, in time of trouble, spring up, no one knows whence, and frighten the world with their atrocities57. Another story will teach you more of the Calabrian peasants.”
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1
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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2
bellowing
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| v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的现在分词 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
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bellowed
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| v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的过去式和过去分词 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
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4
rattling
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| adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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serene
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| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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auditors
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| n.审计员，稽核员( auditor的名词复数 )；（大学课程的）旁听生 | |
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8
agitations
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| （液体等的）摇动( agitation的名词复数 )； 鼓动； 激烈争论； （情绪等的）纷乱 | |
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brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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subterranean
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| adj.地下的，地表下的 | |
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rumbling
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| n. 隆隆声, 辘辘声 adj. 隆隆响的 动词rumble的现在分词 | |
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14
swells
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| 增强( swell的第三人称单数 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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abates
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| 减少( abate的第三人称单数 )； 减去； 降价； 撤消（诉讼） | |
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stupor
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| v.昏迷；不省人事 | |
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bulges
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| 膨胀( bulge的名词复数 )； 鼓起； （身体的）肥胖部位； 暂时的激增 | |
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subsides
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的第三人称单数 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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gulf
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| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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catastrophes
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| n.灾祸( catastrophe的名词复数 )；灾难；不幸事件；困难 | |
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21
ravaged
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| 毁坏( ravage的过去式和过去分词 )； 蹂躏； 劫掠； 抢劫 | |
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populous
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| adj.人口稠密的，人口众多的 | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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quay
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| n.码头，靠岸处 | |
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moored
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| adj. 系泊的 动词moor的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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wreck
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| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
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overthrown
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| adj. 打翻的，推倒的，倾覆的 动词overthrow的过去分词 | |
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unstable
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| adj.不稳定的，易变的 | |
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nauseated
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| adj.作呕的，厌恶的v.使恶心，作呕( nauseate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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30
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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reigned
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| vi.当政，统治（reign的过去式形式） | |
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32
overthrew
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| overthrow的过去式 | |
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boroughs
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| （尤指大伦敦的）行政区( borough的名词复数 )； 议会中有代表的市镇 | |
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34
crevice
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| n.(岩石、墙等)裂缝；缺口 | |
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35
fissures
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| n.狭长裂缝或裂隙( fissure的名词复数 )；裂伤；分歧；分裂v.裂开( fissure的第三人称单数 ) | |
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pane
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| n.窗格玻璃，长方块 | |
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37
tracts
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| 大片土地( tract的名词复数 )； 地带； （体内的）道； （尤指宣扬宗教、伦理或政治的）短文 | |
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38
dwellings
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| n.住处，处所( dwelling的名词复数 ) | |
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39
engulfed
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| v.吞没，包住( engulf的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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40
funnels
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| 漏斗( funnel的名词复数 )； （轮船，火车等的）烟囱 | |
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41
marshes
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| n.沼泽，湿地( marsh的名词复数 ) | |
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42
softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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43
crevices
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| n.（尤指岩石的）裂缝，缺口( crevice的名词复数 ) | |
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44
torrents
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| n.倾注；奔流( torrent的名词复数 )；急流；爆发；连续不断 | |
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45
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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46
masonry
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| n.砖土建筑；砖石 | |
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47
subsiding
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的现在分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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48
vestige
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| n.痕迹，遗迹，残余 | |
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49
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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50
excavations
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| n.挖掘( excavation的名词复数 )；开凿；开凿的洞穴（或山路等）；（发掘出来的）古迹 | |
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51
calamities
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| n.灾祸，灾难( calamity的名词复数 )；不幸之事 | |
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52
barbarians
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| n.野蛮人( barbarian的名词复数 )；外国人；粗野的人；无教养的人 | |
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53
heroism
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| n.大无畏精神，英勇 | |
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54
infamous
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| adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的 | |
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55
pillage
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| v.抢劫；掠夺；n.抢劫，掠夺；掠夺物 | |
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56
rascals
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| 流氓( rascal的名词复数 )； 无赖； （开玩笑说法）淘气的人（尤指小孩）； 恶作剧的人 | |
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57
atrocities
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| n.邪恶，暴行( atrocity的名词复数 )；滔天大罪 | |
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