Here then was the manner of my in the of Atlantis, and some at her new policies. I to my own and limpness; but it was all deliberate. The old of lost, or at least in one another. Beforetime, to the king was to the Clan of the Priests, from which he had been chosen, and he constituted. But Phorenice was self-made, and appeared to be a herself; if Zaemon was to be trusted, he was the of the Priests, and their Clan had set her at defiance; and how was a man to choose on the the two?
But cold told me that governments were set up for the good of the country at large, and I said to myself that there would be my choice. I must out which promised best of Atlantis, and do my best to it into full power. And here at once there opened up another path in the maze: I had some talk of rebels; of another of Atlanteans who, their might be, were at any to the capital; and to any final decision, it would be as well to take their in with the rest. So on the night of that very same day on which I had just re-planted my on the old country’s shores, I set out to for myself on the matter.
No one the me. The had ended with the terrible that I have set above on these tablets, for with Tarca on the floor, and out the of his leprosy, the most had little for gorging. Phorenice on the for a while longer in fury, but saying no word; and then her on me, though somewhat.
“You may be an man, Deucalion,” she said, at length, “but you are a cold one. I wonder when you will thaw?” And here she smiled. “I think it will be soon. But for now I you farewell. In the we will take this country by the shoulders, and see it in some new order.”
She left the banqueting-hall then, Ylga following; and taking of my rank, I out next, all others and salutation. But I by Tarca first, and put my hand on his flesh. “You are an man,” I said, “but I can a soldier. If can be for your plague, I will use to it for you.”
The man’s thanks came in a from his mouth, and some of those near in disgust. I on them with a black brow: “Your charity, my lords, of as small account as your courage. You a of Zaemon’s sayings, and a for his priesthood, but when it comes to a hand on him, you a which, in the old days, we should have called by an name. I had be Tarca, with all his uncleanness, than any of you now as you stand.”
With which leave-taking I waited till they gave me my salutation, and then walked out of the banqueting-hall without a another glance. I took my way to the gate of the pyramid, called for the officer of the guard, and exit. The man was enough, but he opened with some demur.
“My lord’s have not yet come up?”
“I have none.”
“My lord the of the streets?”
“I did twenty years back. I shall be able to my way.”
“My lord must that the city is beleaguered,” the persisted. “The people are hungry. They in after nightfall, and—I make no question that my lord would in a against odds, but—”
“Quite right. I no to-night. Lend me, I pray you, a of men. You will know best what are needed. For me, I am to a city with streets.”
A score of were off for my escort, and with them in a file on either hand, I out from the close air of the into the moonlight of the city. It was my purpose to make a of the and to out of the of these rebels.
But the Gods saw fit to give me another education first. The city, as I saw it that night walk, was no longer the old that I had known, the just of the ages, the of and splendour. The was there, increased. Whole had been away to make space for new palaces, and new of the wealthy, and I not but have an for the skill and the brain which possible such monuments.
And, indeed, at them there under the of the moonlight, I almost the of the Europeans and other which them to all such great as Gods, since they them too and to be set up by hands unaided.
Still, if it was easy to admire, it was also to see plain of the cost at which these great had been reared. From each of ground, where one of these under the moon, a hundred families had been and left to as they pleased in the open; and, as a consequence, now every had its of sleepers, and every its of wild creatures, to out and or all of less than their own.
Myself, I am no of the common people. I say that, if a man be left to and shiver, he will work to him food and raiment; and if not, why then he can die, and the State is well of a fellow. But here us, as we through many wards, were marks of oppression; bodies, with the starting through the skin, in the gutter; and it was plain that, save for the few, the people of the great were under a most oppression.
But at this, though I might it abominably, I make no complaint. By the law of the land all the people, great and small, were the of the king, to be put without question to what purposes he chose; and Phorenice in the place of the king. So I to think no treason, but with a passed on, my above the and the of the roadway, and sending out my to the which in the night above, and to the High Gods which them, seeking, if it might be, for for my policies. And so in time the of the us to the walls, and, these and answer to the who their as we passed, we came in time to that great gate which was a to the captain of the garrison.
Here it was plain there was some special commotion. A noise of up into the still night air, and with it now and again the and of a great beast, and now and again the of a man. But might be afoot, it was not a to come upon suddenly. The entrance gates of our great were designed by their to be no less than the themselves. Four of were there, each a of two man-heights square, and a man-height thick, and the was to them, an open its two parts. The four gates themselves were set one at the inner, one at the of each of these walls, and a so them, that of each set one not open till the other was closed; and as for them without engines, one might as try to push the with the hand.
My with the which from the such a summons, and a came to an arrow-slit, and did of our and business. His survey was according to the of words, which is long, and this was still more by the noise from within, which and again all speech us entirely.
But at last the had been with, and he the and of stone, and one of the door. Into the within—a from the of the the two doors—I and my crowded, and then the with his to the which had been opened, and came to me again through the press of my escort, low to the ground.
“I have no to give you,” I said abruptly. “Get on with your duty. Open me that other door.”
“With respect, my lord, it would be that I should my lord’s presence. There is a going in the circus, and the are as yet savages, and no of persons.”
“The what?”
“The tigers, if my lord will permit them the name. They are a of with the two great which the Empress (whose name be adored) has sent here to us keep the gate. But if my lord will, there are the rooms leading off this passage, and the which out from them the circus, and from there my lord can see the sport undisturbed.”
Now, the for killing only in me, but I the orders of the Empress in this matter, and had a to see her scheme. So I into the warder’s lodge, and on into the which the with their arrow-slits. The old of the place had these for a second line of defence, for, the doors all forced, an enemy be in the circus, without being able to give a in return, and so would only into a death-trap. But as a gazing-place on a they were no less useful.
The was by the moonlight, and the air which came in to me from it was with the of blood. There was no sport in what was going forward: as I said, it was killing, and the me. I am no about this matter. Give a his weapons, put him in a with of strength, and let him to a if you choose, and I can look on there and the strokes. The prisoner, being a prisoner, has death by natural law, and to his last in blood than to be by the headsman’s axe. And it is any man’s luxury either to help or watch a fight. But this in the the gates was no like that.
To with, the were no for single men. In fact, twenty men might well have from them. When the said tigers, I he meant the great cats of the woods. But here, in the circus, I saw a pair of the most of all the fur-bearing land beasts, the great of the caves—huge monsters, of such that in they will a mammoth, if they can him away from his herd.
How they had been I not tell. Hunter of though I had been for all my days, I take no in saying that I always approached the of a cave-tiger with and caution. To it alive and it to a city on a was my most schemes, and I have been with more new than one. But here it was in fact, and I saw in these a new certificate for Phorenice’s genius.
The purpose of these two cave-tigers was plain: they were in the circus, and loose, no being from one gate to the other. They were a new and to the of the capital. A of was the of each, and on the was a which to the wall, where it be out or in by means of a in one of the galleries. So that at ordinary moments the two be tethered, one close to either end of the circus, as the of and other showed, free passage-way the two sets of doors.
But when I there by the arrow-slit, looking into the moonlight of the circus, these were (though men by the of each), and the great were about the with the and in their wake. Lying on the were the of some eight men, and uneaten; and though the cave-tigers stopped their now and again to these, and them about with paw-blows, they no at a meal. It was clear that this sport had common to them, and they there were other yet to be added to the tally.
Presently, sure enough, as I watched, a of the gate an arm’s length, and a prisoner, resisting, was out into the circus. He on his face, and after one look around him he still, with on the ground his fate. The of the gate to in its place; the cave-tigers in their prowlings; and a of ran to and the the arrow-slits.
It there were of in this game. There was a as the were manned, and the were in by a score of links. One of the cave-tigers crouched, its tail, and on a spring. The tautened, the sang to the strain, and the great gave a which the walls. It had missed the man by a hand’s breadth, and the the arrow-slits their delight. The other tiger also and missed, and again there were of pleasure, which with the voices of the beasts. The man in his form. One more cowardly, or one more brave, might have from death, or it; but this the middle course—he permitted death to come to him, and had of to wait for it without stir.
The great cave-tigers were used, it appeared, to this sport. There were no more wild springs, no more at the end of the chains. They on the pavement, and presently to purr, on to their and themselves luxuriously. The still in his form.
By slow the each to the end of its and to at the man with out-stretched forepaw. The male not touch him; the female just him with the of a claw; and I saw a red start up in the skin of his at every stroke. But still the would not stir. It to me that they must out more of one of the tigers’ chains, or let the play into tediousness.
But I had more to learn yet. The male tiger, either by his own devilishness, or by those that were his keepers, had still another in store. He rose to his and round, against the chain. A of from the men the arrow-slits told that they what was in store; and then the beast, to the of its length, with one paw.
I the of the prisoner’s as the him, and at that same moment the wretch’s was away by the blow, as one might a fruit with the hand. But it did not travel far. It was clear that the she-tiger this of her mate’s. She the man on his bound, over him for a minute, and then him high into the air, and up to the full of her after him.
Those other it magnificent; their said as much. But for me, my rose at the sight. Once the had him, the man had been killed, it is true, without any lingering. Even a light from those would the man living. But to see the two cave-tigers with the was an to the of our race.
However, I was not there to the of man to the beasts, and the and of man to be insulted. I had come to learn for myself the new of in the of Atlantis, and so I at my place the arrow-slit with a still face. And presently another in this play was enacted.
The cave-tigers of their sport, and one and then the other once more to over the pavements, with the and in their wake. They no to on the provided for them. That would be for afterwards. In the present, the of was big in them, and they had that it would be further. It that they their entertainers.
Again the clanked, and the the great clear of the doorway; and again a of the door ajar, and another was into the circus. A me when I saw that this was a woman, but still, in view of the object I had in hand, I no interruption.
It was not that I had sent to death before. A general, who has done his fighting, must in his day have killed with men; yes, and them earn their death-blow by battling. Yet there something so in this of a woman prisoner, that I had a with myself to avoid interference. Still it is the case that the must be to a policy, and so as I say, I on, cold and impassive.
I too (I it freely) with a heart. Here was no like the last. She may have been more (as some are), she may have been (as many have themselves); but, at any rate, it was clear that she was going to make a for her life, and to do damage, it might be, she it up. The the arrow-slits this. Their wagers, and the of their appreciation, the ring of the circus.
They their prisoners, they them out to this death, of all the they might carry, for have a value; and so the woman there bare-limbed in the moonlight.
She her to the great door by which she had entered, and with eye. Gods! there have been times in early years when I have out and jumped down, and for her there for the of such a battle. But now policy me. The might want a helping hand, but it was more and more clear that Atlantis wanted a minister also; and these great needs, the ones must perish. Still, be it noted that, if I did not jump down, no other man there that night had to the opportunity.
My as I her. She a from the on the and off its by against the wall. Then with her teeth she the point to still sharpness. I see her teeth white in the as she with them.
The cave-tigers, which as high as her as they walked, came nearer to her in their prowlings, yet neglected her. This was part of their of torment, and the woman it well. There was something in their noiseless, over the pavement. I see the prisoner’s as she them. A terror such as that would have many a and helpless.
But this one was than I had thought. She did not wait for a spring: she the attack herself. When the she-tiger its her, and was in the act of turning, she herself into a leap, at its with her bone. A from the the stroke. The cave-tiger’s undarkened, but the had it a wound, and with a great of and pain it away to space for a and a spring.
But the woman did not its charge. With a she forward, at the full of her speed across the moonlight directly that part of the I had my place; and then, every of her into the spring, the that surely any being accomplished, when on by the of terror and desperation. In an after day I it, and though of a she must have added much to the by the of her run, which her up the surface of the wall, it is a sure thing that in that her must have a man-height and a above the pavement.
I say it was prodigious, but then the was more than the ordinary, and the woman herself was out of the common in and intelligence; and the end of the left her with five in the of the arrow-slit from which I watched. Even then she must have if she had been left to herself, for the sloped, and the was smooth; but I out my hand and hers by the wrist, and she up with on the sills, and her to my in her turn.
And now you will she out prayers and promises, only of safety and enlargement. There was nothing of this. With she took fresh on the with her hand, and with it through the arrow-slit. With the hand that mine she me her, so as to give the the chance, and so was I for such an attack, and with such did she deliver it, that the was near me my quietus. But I with the as as might be—the of the us always—and her of her weapon, and her till she might herself.
“That was an blow,” I said. “But for my hand you’d have and be the sport of a tiger’s this minute.”
“Oh, I must kill some one,” she panted, “before I am killed myself.”
“There will be time to think upon that some other day; but for now you are off meeting harm.”
“You are to me. You will me to the as soon as I my grip. I know your kind: you will not be of your sport.”
“I will go so as to prove myself to you,” said I, and called out for the who had the doors below. “Bid those be on a chain,” I ordered, “and then go into the circus, and help this lady to the ground.”
The word was passed and these were done; and I too came out into the and joined the woman, who waiting under the moonlight. But the others who had these doings were by no means at the of plan. One of the great of the door opened hurriedly, and a man out, and flushed. “By all the Gods!” he shouted. “Who comes me and my pastime?”
I to the advance. “I fear, sir,” I said, “that you must your anger against me. By accident I gave that woman sanctuary, and I had not to her to your beasts.”
His to against his hilt.
“You have come to the market here with your qualms. I am captain here, and my word carries, only to Phorenice’s nod. Do you that? Do you know too that I can have you to those gate-keepers of mine for in here without an invitation?” He looked at me enough, but saw that I was a stranger. “But you a name, my man, which your impertinence?”
“Deucalion is my name,” I said, “but I cannot you will know it. I am but newly here, sir, and when I left Atlantis some score of years back, a very different man to you over these gates.” He had his on my by this time. “I had it from the Empress this night that she will to-morrow make a new of this kingdom’s dignities. Perhaps there is some you would wish me to her in return for your courtesies?”
“My lord,” said the man, “if you wish it, I can have a turn with those cave-tigers myself now, and you can look on from the and see them tear me.”
“Why tell me what is no news?”
“I wish to my lord of his power; I wish to of his clemency.”
“You your power to these prisoners; but from what here to be seen, of them have much of your clemency.”
“The orders were,” said the captain of the gate, as though he a word might be said here for his defence, “the orders were, my lord, that the should be and to killing.”
“Then, if you have orders, let me be the last to you. But it is my that this woman be respited, and I wish now to question her.”
The man got to his again with relief, though still low.
“Then if my lord will me by in my room that the gate, the will be forgotten.”
“Show the way,” I said, and took the woman by the fingers, leading her gently. At the two ends of the the about on chains, and muttering.
We passed through the door into the of the wall, and the captain of the gate us into his private chamber, a box the plain the city. He a from his lamp and it into a on the wall, and and walking backwards, left us alone, the door in place him. He was an fellow, this captain, to judge from the with which his was packed. There have come very in through that gate without his a private tribute; and so, that most of his had been come by, I had little at making a selection. It was not that the woman, being an Atlantean, should go of the of clothes, as though she were a from Europe; and so I about the captain’s for that would be befitting.
But, as I myself in this search for raiment, the and bales, with a hand and little in such business, I a which me to turn my head, and there was the woman with a she had from the floor, in the act of it from the sheath.
She my and the clear, but that I no her, or move to protect myself, waited where she was, and presently was took with a shuddering.
“Your designs of a riddle,” I said. “At you to kill me from which you explained, and which I understood. It in my power next to some small upon you, in of which you are here, and not—shall we say?—yonder in the circus. Why you should now to kill the only man here who can set you free, and these walls, is a thing it would me much to learn. I say nothing of the of ingratitude. Gratitude and are of little weight here. There is some in your mind.”
She pressed a hand hard against her breasts. “You are Deucalion,” she gasped; “I you say it.”
“I am Deucalion. So far, I have no to for my name.”
“And I come of those,” she cried, with a voice, “who bite against this city, they have their too with the land as it is ordered now. We of your from Yucatan. It was we who sent the to take you at the entrance to the Gulf.”
“Your gave us a fight.”
“Oh, I know, I know. We had our on the high land who us the tidings. We had an that. Where we with our army the here, we saw great off the to the mountains. But where the failed, I saw a where I, a woman, might—”
“Where you might succeed?” I sat me on a of the captain’s stuffs. It as if here at last that I should a for many things. “You a name?” I asked.
“They call me Nais.”
“Ah,” I said, and to her to take the that I had out. She was like, so my and said, to Ylga, the fan-girl of Phorenice, but as she had told me of no I asked for none then. Still her talk alone let me know that she was of none of the common people, and I up my mind understanding. “Nais,” I said, “you wish to kill me. At the same time I have no you wish to live on yourself, if only to from your people for what you have done. So here I will make a with you. Prove to me that my death is for Atlantis’ good, and I by our Lord the Sun to go out with you the walls, where you can me and then you gone. Or the—”
“I will not be your slave.”
“I do not ask you for service. Or else, I to say, I shall live so long as the High Gods wish, and do my best for this country. And for you—I shall set you free to do your best also. So now, I pray you, speak.”
