“You will set me free,” she said, me from under her brows, “without any or treaty?”
“I will set you free on those terms,” I answered, “unless we here decide that it is for Atlantis that I should die, in which case the will be of your own taking.”
“My lord plays a game.”
“Tut, tut,” I said.
“But I shall not to take the full of my bond, unless my are most to me.”
“Tut,” I said, “you women, how you can play out the time needlessly. Show me cause, and you shall kill me where and how you please. Come, the accusation.”
“You are a tyrant.”
“At least I have not my in Atlantis these twenty years. Why, Nais, I did but land yesterday.”
“You will not you came from Yucatan for a purpose.”
“I came I was sent for. The Empress no for her recalls. She her will; and we who her without question.”
“Pah, I know that old dogma.”
“If you my at the like this, I we shall not with our unravelling.”
“My lord must be simple,” said this woman scornfully, “if he is of what all Atlantis knows.”
“Then you must me down. Over in Yucatan we were too well up in our own needs and to have to much over the news which out to us from Atlantis—and, in truth, little came. By example, Phorenice (whose office be adored) is a great here at home; but over there in the we so much as her name. Here, since I have been ashore, I have many new wonders; I have been by a mammoth; I have sat at a banquet; but in what new there are afoot, I have yet to be schooled.”
“Then, if you do not know it, let me repeat to you the common tale. Phorenice has of her life.”
“Stay there. I will no word against the Empress.”
“Pah, my lord, your are most decorous. But I did no more than repeat what the Empress had public by proclamation. She is to take to herself a husband, and nothing of the best is good for Phorenice. One after another has been put up in turn as favourite—and been wanting. Oh, I tell you, we here in Atlantis have her with jumping hearts. First it was this one here, then it was that one there; now it was this just returned from a victory, and a day later he had been packed to his camp, to give place to some who had revenues from his province. But every ship that came from the West said that there was a man than any of these in Yucatan, and at last the Empress the of her vow. ‘I’ll have Deucalion for my husband,’ said she, ‘and then we will see who can against my wishes.’”
“The Empress (whose name be adored) can do as she in such matters,” I said guardedly; “but that is the argument. I am here to know how it would be for Atlantis that I should die?”
“You know you are the man in the kingdom.”
“It you to say so.”
“And Phorenice is the woman.”
“That is doubt.”
“Why, then, if the Empress takes you in marriage, we shall be under a tyranny. And her alone is more than we can already.”
“I pass no on Phorenice’s rule. I have not it. But I your mercy, Nais, on the into this kingdom. I am strong, say you, and therefore I am a tyrant, say you. Now to me this is faulty.”
“Who should a man use for, if not for himself? And if for himself, why that tyranny. You will all your heart’s desires, my lord, and you will that many a thousand of the common people will have to pay for them.”
“And this is all your accusation?”
“It to be black enough. I am one that has a for my fellow-men, my lord, and of that you see me what I am to-day. There was a time, not long passed, when I slept as soft and ate as as any in Atlantis.”
I smiled. “Your speech told me that much from the first.”
“Then I would I had the speech off, too, if that is also a of the tyrant’s class. But I tell you I saw all the myself from the oppressor’s side. I was high in Phorenice’s then.”
“That, too, is easy of credence. Ylga is the fan-girl to the Empress now, and second lady in the kingdom, and those who have Ylga make an easy at the of Nais.”
“We were the of one birth; but I do not count with either Zaemon or Ylga now. Ylga is the of Phorenice, and Phorenice would have all the people of Atlantis and in chains, so that she might them the easier. And as for Zaemon, he is no friend of Phorenice’s; he with brain and to the old authority to those on the Sacred Mountain; and that, if it come on us again, would only be the of one of for another.”
“It to me you bite at all authority.”
“In fact,” she said simply, “I do. I have too much of it.”
“And so you think a of no-rule would be best for the country?”
“You have put it in for me. That is my to-day. That is the of all those yonder, who in the and this city. And we number on our side, now, all in Atlantis save those in the city and a on the priests’ Mountain.”
I my head. “A of desperation, if you like, Nais, but, me, a creed. Since man was out of the and the of this earth, and his way the cooler-places, he has been always on his fellow-men. And where two are together, one must be chief, and order how are to be governed—at least, I speak of men who have a wish to be higher than the beasts. Have you set in Europe?”
“No.”
“I have. Years I there, slaves. What did I see? A country without or order. Tyrants they were, to be sure, but they were the beasts. The men and the were the savages, nothing of the arts, in skins and uncleanness, in and the tree-tops. The about where they would, and them unchecked.”
“Still, they you for their liberty?”
“Never once. They how was their freedom. Even to their dull, it was a sure thing that no be worse; and to that you, and your friends, and your theories, will Atlantis, if you the upper hand. But, then, to argue in a circle, you will it. For to conquer, you must set up leaders, and once you have set them up, you will them again.”
“Aye,” she said with a sigh, “there is truth in that last.”
The had the captain’s room with a smoke, but the was pale. Dawn was in through a arrow-slit, and with it and again the from some out of sight, which was of fire. With it also were of rocks, and tremblings, which had all the night through, and I that earth was in one of her moods, and would the day offer us some discomforts.
On this account, perhaps, my were to which would otherwise have me a suspicion; and also, there is no that my was by another matter. This woman, Nais, me out of the common; the presence of her to warm the organs of my interior; and she was there, all my and were present in the room of the captain of the gate in which we sat.
But of a the of the and away me, and in a of dust, and litter, and of the captain’s plunder, I (still seated on the flagstone) into a which had been it. With the of the descent, and the of all these articles about my head, I was in no condition for action; and I was still half-stunned by the shock, and long I my into service again, I had been seized, and bound, and half-strangled with a of hide. Voices were that I should be at once out of the way; but one in authority out that, killing me at leisure, and as a prisoner, promised more sport; and so I was on the floor, a whole army of men in over me to the attack.
What had was clear to me now, though I was powerless to do anything in hindrance. The with more than any one had to them, had a from their under the ground, so to make an entrance into the of the city. In their ignorance, and having no one of in mensuration, they had sadly in direction and length, and so had ended their under this of the captain of the gate. The great in its had, it appeared, four of them to death, but these were little noticed or lamented. Life was to them a of the price, and a of others pressed through the opening, for the fight, and nothing of their and perils.
Half-choked by the air of the galley, and on by this great of feet, it was little I do to help my self much less the more city. But when the of the had passed through, and there came only here and there one to take his at the gate, a of me up out of the on the floor, and me through the of the the that gave it entrance.
Twenty times we were by others to the attack, either from for fight, or from for what they steal. But we came to the open at last, and half-suffocated though I was, I to do obeisance, and say the prayer to the most High Gods in for the fresh, sweet air which They had provided.
Our Lord the Sun was on the of for His day, and all were shown. Before me were the of the capital, with the of its and higher above them. And on the walls, the walked their paces, or took against in the provided for them.
The of the gate rose high into the air, and the of the cave-tigers told that they too were taking their of the melee. But the of the all the from our view, and which party was the upper hand we not guess. But the told how tight a was being out in those narrow boundaries, and my to be once more at the old trade, and to be doing my share.
But there was no about the who me by my bonds. They me into a small temple near by, which once had been a in much with travellers, who to for the safe to the capital, but which now was and ruined, and they to the entrance gate and it, me to with myself. Presently, they told me, I should be put to death by torments. Well, this to be the new of Atlantis, and I should have to it as best I could. The High Gods, it appeared, had no use for my services in Atlantis, and I was not in the mood then to bite very much at their decision. What I had of the country since my return had not me very much with its new conditions.
The little temple in which I was had been and of all its furnishments. But the light-slits, where at hours of the day the of our Lord the Sun had upon the image of the God, this had been taken away, gave me places from which I see over the of these besiegers, and a it was. The people to have off the of centuries in as many months, and to have gone for the most part to brutishness. The majority on the ground. Few owned shelter, and these were of and branches.
They and themselves for food, their meat raw, and their (when they had it) unground. Many who passed my I saw were the soft of tree bark.
The where they fell. The and the no hand to them. Great man-eating about the or about, with gorging, the hovels, and no one had public to give them battle. The of the place rose up to as a a pestilence. There was no order, no of anywhere. With three hundred well-disciplined it to me that I have sent those in panic to the forest.
However, there was no very space of time me for out the policy of this to any great depth. The attack on the gate had been delivered with suddenness; the was not slow. Of what took place in the galleries, and in the the two sets of gates, the detail will be told in full.
At the the great cave-tigers were set loose, and these against and foe. Of those that in through the tunnel, not one in ten returned, and there were of these but what a wound. Some, with the still in them, plunder; one along with him the of the captain of the gate; and them they out two of the who were wounded, and had them to take as prisoners.
Over these two last a now arose, that likely to over into blows. Every voice out for them what he the most fate. Some were for burning, some for skinning, some for impaling, some for other things: my as I their yells. Those that had been to the trouble of making them were still from the fight, and were aside; and it to me that the would be into death any was upon, which all would pass as terrific. Never had I such a tumult, such a mob. But, as always has happened, and always will, the men by of louder voices and more got their plans to at last, and the others had to give way.
A of them set off running, and presently returned at snails’ pace, with them (with many from wheels) one of those with which are to great and other into the they against. They ran it up just of the walls, and it with and to the earth. Then setting their arms to the windlasses, they the great tree which the till its place the ground, and in the at its they one of the prisoners, helplessly, so that he not himself over the side.
Then the rude, savage, skin-clad back, and one who had himself the catch that the great in place.
With a and a the upwards, and the man was away from its with the speed of a flash. He sang through the air, over and over with rapidity, and the great of their in as they watched. He passed high above the city wall, a in the now, and then the of his to lower. The of a new-built in the path of his flight, and he it with a out to us afterwards, and then he out of our sight, a red on the of the as he fell.
With a the the success of their device, and out to Phorenice, and to the Gods: a they themselves. And then with shouts, they upon the other warder, him also into a missile, and meanwhile the engine in again for another shot.
But for my part I saw nothing of this scene. I the against the door of the little temple in which I was imprisoned, and was to give these of a surprise. I had myself of my enough; I had my to that perfect which is always a fight; and I had planned to out so soon as the door was swung, and kill those that came with on the and chin.
They had not my name, it was clear, for my and were nothing out of the ordinary; but if my and power had been to me to a vice-royalty like that of Yucatan, and let me alive in that government twenty hard-battling years, why, it was likely that this of would see something that was new and in the of arms the weight of their numbers me down. Nay, I did not of free altogether. I must me a from those that came up to battle, with which I signatures, and I must attempt no fights. Gods! but what a the did send through me as I there waiting.
A man, history, might have said that always, else, he in mind the the less. But for me—I to be honest, and own myself human. In my at that fight—which promised to be the and most I had in all a long life of battling—I will that Atlantis and her were clean forgot. I should go out an unknown man from the little of a temple, I should do my work, and then, I took with me, or I came at last myself on a of slain, these people would without being told the name, that here was Deucalion. Gods! what a we would have made!
But the door did not open wide to give me space for my rush. It on its pivots, and a hand and a white arm inside, me to quietude. Here was some woman. The door wider, and she came inside.
“Nais,” I said.
“Silence, or they will you, and remember. At present those who you here are killed, and unless by some one into this shrine, you will not be found.”
“Then, if that is so, let me go out and walk these people as one of themselves.”
She her head.
“But, Nais, I am not here. I am a man in very plain and mud-stained robe. I should be in no remarkable.”
A her face. “My lord,” she said, “wears no beard; and his is the only clean in the camp.”
I joined in her laugh. “A on my want of then. But I am somewhat. It comes to my mind that we still have that small of ours the length of my life. Have you to cut it off from of mischief, or do you to give me span?”
She to me with a look of distress. “My lord,” she said, “I would have you that talk of mine. This last two hours I you were in truth.”
“And you were not relieved?”
“I that the only man was gone out of the world—I mean, my lord, the only man who can save Atlantis.”
“Your give me a confidence. Then you would have me go and husband to Phorenice?”
“If there is no other way.”
“I you I shall do that, if she still so it, and if it to me that that will be best. This is no hour for private or dislikings.”
“I know it,” she said, “I it. I have no now, save only for Atlantis. I have myself once more to that.”
“And at present I am in this little box of a temple. A minute ago, you came, I had promised myself a to my of abode.”
“There must be nothing of that. I will not have these people unnecessarily. Nor do I wish to see my lord to a risk. This place, such as it is, has been to me as an abode, and, if my lord can till in a maiden’s chamber, he may at least be sure of quietude. I am a person,” she added simply, “that in this has some respect. When comes, I will take my lord to the sea and a boat, and so he may come with to the and the watergate.”
