cinders, tying pillows over their heads to prevent their being beaten
down. The day had come by this time, but not the dawn--for it was still
pitch dark as night. They went down to their boats upon the shore; but
the sea raged so horribly that there was no getting on board of them.
Then Pliny grew tired, and made his men spread a sail for him, and lay
down on it; but there came down upon them a rush of flames, and a
horrible smell of sulphur, and all ran for their lives. Some of the
slaves tried to help the Admiral upon his legs; but he sank down again
overpowered with the brimstone fumes, and so was left behind. When they
came back again, there he lay dead, but with his clothes in order and his
face as quiet as if he had been only sleeping. And that was the end of a
brave and learned man--a martyr to duty and to the love of science.

But what was going on in the meantime? Under clouds of ashes, cinders,
mud, lava, three of those happy cities were buried at once--Herculaneum,
Pompeii, Stabiae. They were buried just as the people had fled from
them, leaving the furniture and the earthenware, often even jewels and
gold, behind, and here and there among them a human being who had not had
time to escape from the dreadful deluge of dust. The ruins of
Herculaneum and Pompeii have been dug into since; and the paintings,
especially in Pompeii, are found upon the walls still fresh, preserved
from the air by the ashes which have covered them in. When you are older
you perhaps will go to Naples, and see in its famous museum the
curiosities which have been dug out of the ruined cities; and you will
walk, I suppose, along the streets of Pompeii and see the wheel-tracks in
the pavement, along which carts and chariots rumbled 2000 years ago.
Meanwhile, if you go nearer home, to the Crystal Palace and to the
Pompeian Court, as it is called, you will see an exact model of one of
these old buried houses, copied even to the very paintings on the wells,
and judge for yourself, as far as a little boy can judge, what sort of