careless both of the present and future, paralyzed by
the dreadful misfortune which* had come upon them.
Their little all was swept away in a moment. Many
of them were asleep when the first wave broke over
the city, and had just time to escape with their lives ;
first by ladders to the first story, and then by boats,
as the waters invaded them there, to other parts of the
city. (I should remind your readers that the lower floor
is called here piano terreno, the ground floor ; and that
the stories are only numbered from the one above it).
