Now I can say it with all truth that, till the met us in the mouth of the gulf, I had little of my as a for the Empress. But the in wait for us of those ships, and the wild with which they so that I might into their hands, were which the not fail to read. It was clear that I was to play a part in the of the nation.
But if our had been for by it that Phorenice also had her scouts; and these saw us from the mountains, and news to the capital. The arm of the sea at the of which the city of Atlantis stands, in width. In places where the have over-boiled, and sent their liquid to hard below, the has a river’s wideness, and then beyond, for the next half-day’s sail it will out into a lake, with the visible. Moreover, its is winding, and so a who his way across the flats, and the swamps, and the which along the shore, and did not overcome by fire-streams, or water, or beasts, news from to than the most of it along the water.
Of there were that a would not make a safe passage by this land route, if he were to all to speed. But Phorenice was no with her couriers. She sent a of twenty to the that the sea-entrance to the straits; they started with the news, each on his own route; and it says much for their speed and cleverness, that no than seven of these came through with their tidings, and of the others it was said that three were to have survived.
Still, about this we had no means of at the time, and pushed on in that our was unheralded. The on the galley’s row-banks were for the most part from Europe, and the of them was so that the all its pleasures; and as, moreover, the wind with it an of small from some fire mountain, we were to as little as possible. Besides, if I may to such a thing without being degraded, although by my I had been stoicism, and that all the was in the hands of the Gods, I was still to have a very as to what would be the of my own at Atlantis. I myself taken a on landing, and set on a trial to answer for my of the of Yucatan; I myself unknown and unnoticed, and after a lapse, being sent for by the Empress to take up new duties; but the manner of my welcome was a thing I did not at.
We came in of the of the mountain, with its of which the city, one with the day’s break, and the of the more vehemently, so that those should give the a final spurt. The wind was adverse, and no sail be spread, but under alone we a pace, and the of the longer, and presently the of the in the city, the towers of the higher buildings, to themselves as though they upon the water. It was twenty years since I had Atlantis last, and my with the of again upon her paving-stones.
The city out of the sea as we approached, and to every of the oars, the nearer. I saw the temple where I had been to manhood; I saw the in I had been to the small mysteries; and then (as the objects discernible) I out the house where a father and a mother had me, and my as the memories rose.
We up the white of the harbour, as the law was, and the and in over the oar-looms. For thus there is, generally, a of waiting, for a port-captain is to be so of his own dignity, that he must e’en keep waiting to prove it to them. But here for us it might have been that the port-captain’s was waiting. The was from the two at the harbour’s entrance, the which them was dropped, and a ten-oared out from the as fast as drive her. She up alongside and the questions were put:
“That should be Dason’s galley?”
“It was,” said Tob.
“Oh, I saw Dason’s on your beak,” said the port-captain. “You were Tatho’s captain?”
“And am still. Tatho’s was sent by Dason and his friends to the sea-floor, and so we took this to the in, that it was the only left afloat.”
The port-captain was his over the group of us who on the after-deck. “I me, captain, that you’ll have but a reception. I do not see my Lord Deucalion. Or he come with some other navy? Gods, captain, if you have let him killed under your charge, the Empress will have the skin slowly off you living.”
“What with Phorenice and Tatho so for his welfare,” said Tob, “my Lord Deucalion but a passenger. But I shall save my this voyage.” He at me with his thumb. “He’s there to put in a word for me himself.”
The port-captain for a moment, as if unbelieving, and then, as though satisfied, like a well used to ceremonial. “I trust my lord, in his strength, will my in not him by his before. But truth to tell, I had looked to see my lord more apparelled.”
“Pish,” I said; “if I choose to dress simply, I cannot object to being for a man. It is not my to my quality by the on my garb. If you think are to me, I pray of your that this may end.”
The was all and obsequiousness. “I am the of my lord’s servants,” he said. “It will be my to pilot my lord’s into the in harbour.”
The ahead, and our galley-slaves into again. Tob me with a as he the men at the helms.
“Well,” I said, his whim, “what is it?”
“I’m thinking,” said Tob, “that my Lord Deucalion will me only as a very when he steps all this gentility.”
“You don’t think,” said I, “anything of the kind.”
“Then I must prove my refinement,” said Tob, “and not contradict.” He up my hand in his huge, hard fist, and pressed it. “By the Gods, Deucalion, you may be a great prince, but I’ve only you as a man. You’re the of and men that walks this world to-day, and I love you for it. That spear-stroke of yours on the is a thing the singers in the shall make about.”
We into the harbour, the soldiers in the entrance their in welcome as we passed them. The captain of the port had up my banner to the of his boat, having been provided with one for this purpose of announcement, and from the quays, across the of the harbour, there presently came to us the of musicians, and the of fires, dancing under the sunlight. I was almost to think that an Empress of Atlantis had come to such as to an like this in any returning subject.
It was clear that nothing was to be done by halves. The port-captain’s led, and we had no choice but to follow. Our was up alongside the and to its and of gold, all of which are to the house.
“If Dason only have this honour,” said Tob, with jest, “I’m sure he’d have in a to make fast on the of hemp. I’m sure there’d be a on Dason’s this minute, if the sun hadn’t it stiff. My Lord Deucalion, will you your way with over this common ship and on the they’ve spread for you on the yonder?”
The port-captain Tob’s and looked up with a of horror, and I remembered, with a small sigh, that would have no place here in Atlantis. Once more I must prepare myself for all the of rank, and make to the of and ceremonial.
But, be these how they may, a self-respecting man must his also, and though I to enter a of cloth, to me till the Empress should to arrive, there my ended. Again the of was upon. The three chamberlains, who had me to the shelter, me of with every of frippery, and would have me myself into a in fashion like their own.
Curtly enough, I to my garb, and when one of them to the Empress’s tastes I asked him with if he had got any on this from her mightiness.
Of course, he had to that there were none.
Upon which I that Phorenice had Deucalion, the man, to her, and had sent no word of her as to his casing.
“This dress,” I said, “suits my well. It my from the and the wind, and, moreover, it is clean. It to me, sirs,” I added, “that your of an impertinence.”
With one the their and pushed the me.
“It would be a favour,” said their spokesman, “if the great Lord Deucalion would take his now, of us to the hereafter.”
“Poof,” I said, “the is forgotten. You make too much of a little.”
Nevertheless, their action gave me some enlightenment. They were perfectly in in me the swords, and I that this was a different Atlantis that I had come home to, where a man had of the for a the cut of a coat.
There was a in the pavilion, and in that I myself gladly, though there was some added to the water that took away its power; and then I set myself to wait with all and placidity. The were too well-bred to into my calm, and I did not to small talk. So there we remained, the four of us, I sitting, they standing, with our Lord the Sun on the of the pavilion, the music blared, and the their from the great square without, which upon the quay.
It has been said that the great should always by those of waiting their pleasure, though for myself I must say I have always the and me. Phorenice also of this opinion, for (as she herself told me later) at the moment that Tob’s was reported as having its against the marble of the quay, at that moment did she start out from the palace. The was already marshalled, bedecked, and waiting only for its ornament, and as soon as she had to her steed, gave the order, and the began.
Sitting in the of the pavilion, I saw the who the of this from the great where it left the houses. They across to give me the salute, and then themselves on the of the square. Then came the Mariners’ Guild, then more soldiers, all making in their turn, and on to make room for others. Following were the merchants, the tanners, the spear-makers and all the other Guilds, (so it to me) that they might make a pageant; and most walked on foot, there were some who proudly on which they had into them this service.
But presently came the two of all that spectacle. From out of the of the houses there into the open no less a than a mammoth. The had in it almost to make me start. Many a time my life had I to kill the mammoth, when a of them had some village or under my charge. I had the in the wild ground, shaggy, horrid, monstrous; more than the cave-tiger or the cave-bear; most of all that with man for of the earth, save only for a of the lizards. And here was this creature, a mammoths, yet as any well-whipped slave, and upon its a great half-castle of gold, with the hand, and with snakes. Its were gilded, its was with flowers, and it on in the as though at such was the and end of its existence. Its a symbol of the of this new ruler of Atlantis.
Simultaneously with the mammoth, there came into that other and wonder, the mammoth’s mistress, the Empress Phorenice. The took my at the first, from its very hugeness, from its of power restrained; but the lady who sat in the half-castle on its away my gaze, and it from then with an attraction.
I to my when the people at Phorenice’s approach, and in the of my till her had in the centre of the square, and then I across the her.
“On your knees, my lord,” said one of the me, in a whisper.
“At least with head,” another.
But I had my own of what is to one’s own self-respect in these matters, and I across the open space with erect, the Empress for gaze. She was me up. I was doing the like by her. Gods! but those me see a woman such as I have lived.
I know I have it on record in this that, all the days of a long official life, have had no over me. But I have been quick to see that they often had a power over the of others, and as a I have it my to study them as I have men. But this woman who sat under the in her half-castle on the mammoth’s back, me. Of her I read no single syllable. I see a slight, supple, and moulded; in small. Her was a most perfect book of cleverness, yet she was fair, too, belief, with of a ruddiness, cut in the new fashion, and on her shoulders. And eyes! Gods! who the of Phorenice’s eyes, or in a of their heaven-made colour?
It was plain, also, that she in her turn was me to my very soul, and it that her was not without its satisfaction. She moved her in little as I near, and when I did the permitted to my rank, she me in a voice loud and clear for all at hand to hear, to put on the ground again on her so long as she in Atlantis.
“For others,” she said, “it is that they should do so, once, twice, or times, according to their rank and station, for I am Empress, and they are all so me; but you are Deucalion, my lord, and though till to-day I you only from pictures with tongues, I have you now, and have for myself. And so I make this decree: Deucalion is above all other men in Atlantis, and if there is one who not him obedience, that man is enemy also of Phorenice, and shall her anger.”
She a sign, and a was brought, and then she called to me, and I and sat her in the half-castle under the of snakes. The girl who in us with feathers, and at a word from Phorenice the was turned, us the by the way through which it had come. At the same time also all the other of was put in motion. The soldiers and the into and behind, and I noted that a of troops, armed, on each of the mammoth’s flanks.
Phorenice to me with a smile. “You me,” she said, “at first.”
“Your Majesty me with so much notice.”
“You looked at my you looked at me. A woman it hard to a like that.”
“I you the of your conquests, and do still. I have myself, and at times have killed, but I to think of taking one alive and it into tameness.”
“You speak boldly,” she said, still smiling, “and yet you can turn a compliment. Faugh! Deucalion, the way these people on me me a nausea. I am not of the same as they are, I know; but just I am the of Gods they must needs me on the of insincerity.”
So Tatho was right, and the was forgotten. Well, if she to keep up the she had made, it was not my part to her. Rightly or I was her servant.
“I have been this long for a meat than they can give,” she on, “and at last I have sent for you. I have been at some pains to my tongue-pictures of you, Deucalion, and though you do not know me yet, I may say I you with all we met. I can a man with a mind great to the of clothes, or the of feasts, or the of women.” She looked at her own and her jewels. “We like to upon our persons, but that is a different matter. And so I sent for you here to be my minister, and with me the of ruling.”
“There should be men in Atlantis.”
“There are not, my lord, and I who know them all by tell you so. They are all of my person; they me with their empty phrases and their importunities; and, though they are always with their of service, their own and the of their own comes with them. So I have sent for you, Deucalion, the one man in all the world. You at least will not to be my lover?”
I saw her for my answer from the of her eyes. “The Empress,” I said, “is my mistress, and I will be an minister to her. With Phorenice, the woman, it is likely that I shall have little to do. Besides, I am not the that with this toy they call love.”
“And yet you are a man enough,” she said thoughtfully. “But that still proves your strength, Deucalion. You at least will not your through weak for my looks and graces.”—She to the girl who us.—“Ylga, not so violently.”
Our talk off then for the moment, and I had time to look about me. We were through the in the fairest, the most city this world has seen. I had left it a score of years before, and was to note its increase.
In public the city had growth; there were new temples, new pyramids, new palaces, and everywhere. Its and me more than usual, returning to it as I did from such a of time and space, for, though the many of Yucatan might each of them be princely, this great was a place not to be with any of them. It was and words.
Yet most of all was I by the and which in such close touch with all this magnificence. In the that the there were and everywhere. Here and there one, a man or a woman, as as a in Europe, and yet to shame. Even the trader, with on his coat, the fashion for display, had a scared, look to his face, as though he had the name of safety, and a with his of prosperity.
Phorenice read the direction of my looks.
“The season,” she said, “has been of months. These people will not houses to my city, and they choose to live on in their squalid, kennels, there have been and other them, which make them for work. And then, too, for the moment, earning is not easy. Indeed, you may say is nearly stopped this last half-year, since the have been so at my city gates.”
I was out of my decorum.
“Rebels!” I cried. “Who are at the gates of Atlantis? Is the city in a of siege?”
“Of their condescension,” said Phorenice lightly, “they are us to-day, and so, happily, my welcome to you comes undisturbed. If they were fighting, your ears would have told you of it. To give them their due, they are noisy in all their efforts. My say they are making new for use against the walls, which you may out to-morrow and if it you amusement. But for to-day, Deucalion, I have you, and you have me, and there is peace us, and some of display. If you ask for more I will give it you.”
“I did not know of this rebellion,” I said, “but as Your Majesty has me your minister, it is well that I should know all about its scope at once. This is a we should be upon.”
“And do you think I cannot take it also?” she retorted. “Ylga,” she said to the girl that behind, “set my dress at the shoulder.”
And when the had the (as it to me with a very grace), she herself the fabric, the pure skin beneath, and me just the of the left a of linen.
“There is a of my yesterday, at any rate,” she said, looking at me sidelong. “The on a and that saved me. If it had between, Deucalion would have been my to-day of on this of mine which he so much. Your to itself most on the mammoth, Deucalion. Ah, me. I am not one of your creatures, and so it I shall be able to catch your regard. Ylga,” she said to the girl behind, “you may link my dress up again with its clasp. My Lord Deucalion has before, and there is nothing else here to him.”
