Like a wave it rose and
fell. The foot-hills below us separated, reft into awful chasms. I
looked toward our home. Just then cried Pippity:
"Oh, our palace! Our palace!"
"Ah, ah! It falls! It falls! See, see, how the huge rocks rive and
crumble!"
What a fall was there! A crash that echoed terribly in that circle of
mountain wildness!
A cloud of dust rolled in fearful mockery where one moment before had
stood the proud pinnacle. An enormous mass of rocks fell into the lake
below, and the vapors rose in a rival cloud. High in the firmament they
curled and twisted, their wreathing forms together telling a woful tale
of destruction.
We forgot our own danger in watching all our grandeur dashed to
nothingness.
Destruction as it was, it was grand!
But Grilly! Where was he? "Ah, Grilly, Grilly!" cried I, "I fear he is
lost!"
"Come, come!" said Pippity. "Where's Grilly? Find Grilly! Quick,
quick!"
But there was some rough country to get over. Gaps, masses of uprooted
trees, rocks, earth and vegetation mingled in confusion.
At last we arrived at home--no, not home! Nothing but a heap of ruins!
And where was Grilly? We searched, but found him not.
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