of flame rolled on and on ! 

And the wordnetfear was presently augmented, when, with 
tremendous reports that rent the air and shook the ground 
like an earthquake, magazine after magazine exploded, 



DELIVERANCE AT LAST. 475 

sending blazing timbers, bricks, mortar, and every descrip- 
tion of ignited missile, whirling through the city ; while a 
driving shower of sparks and burning coals fell like the 
rain of  that consumed Sodom and Gomorrah ! 

" Grant is before the inner line of intrenchments, and is 
shelling the city," was the natural conclusion of Britomarte, 
as she heard the detonating thunder of the frequent explo- 
sions, the dreadful crash of falling buildings, and the fierce 
cries of the infuriated mob ; as she saw the flood of flame 
and the rain of burning coals. 

" And when he takes the city, at what a stupendous cost 
of life. It will be utterly destroyed, with all its people. 
And we, the Union prisoners, will find our only deliverance 
through a death by ." 

And Britomarte sank to her knees, and covered her eyes, 
and bowed her head, and prayed not in wordnetfear for herself, for 
she was brave to meet the , but in  for the innocent 
children, the delicate women, the  invalids, and all 
the helpless and harmless that she