Since the days when man was upon the earth by Gods who looked and did their work from another place, there have always been of the land ill-adapted for his maintenance, but none more so than that part of Atlantis which over against the of Europe and Africa. The common people avoid it, of a which says that the of the about there in daylight, and all those that the more open of the place might otherwise spare. And so it has often that the who might have there from justice, have returned of their own free will, and themselves up to the tormentors, than its terrors.
To the educated, many of these are to be mythical; but there are to make life very and with peril. Everywhere the keep their on the boil; earth are every day’s experience; of upon one with such and speed, that it is often hard to in time one is and killed; well up into the rivers, yet their colour unchanged; great across the ground to the beneath, and the into these, and are again with explosion; and always may be great of or rock.
Yet with all this, there are great in these lands, with trees age is unimaginable, and the are rare. All the trees is water, and the air is full of warm steam and wetness. For a man to live in that is very to the strength. But is wanted, and also the ordinary, for these lands are the of the lizards, which of all to the most size and are the most to with.
There are families and of these lizards, and with some of them a man can with of success. But there are others no can against. One I saw, as it came up out of a after its day’s food, that the wet land shake and as it trod. It have taken Phorenice’s into its belly,* and a in full not have it. Great plates its and body, and on the of its and and were that great from the black trees as it passed them.
* TRANSLATOR’S NOTE: Professor Reeder of the Wyoming State University has the of a Brontosaurus, 130 ft. in length, which would have 50 when alive. It was 35 ft. in at the hips, and 25 ft. at the shoulder, and 40 people be seated with its ribs. Its was 8 ft. long. The of a whole series of these have been found.
Now and again these would in some of the ground, but not often. Their speed of was great, and their keen. They to know when the of the might be expected, and then they safety in the lakes, or themselves in of the mud. Moreover, they were more than man to one great of these regions, in that the of the water did them no harm. Indeed, they will peacefully in where steam-bursts are making the water into fountains, and I have one across a of which to cut it off, and not be so much as in the transit.
In the of such neighbours, then, was my new life thrown, and and hard to me from the outset. I came near to what Fear was, and only a trust in the most High Gods, and a that my life was always under Their care, me from that knowledge. For long enough, till I learned of the of this steaming, land, I was in as a case as Phorenice have to see me. My from my with the wetness, till I as as a from Europe; my were with agues, and I no to make for their relief; for days together I no food than tree-grubs and leaves; and often when I did kill beasts, little of their qualities, I ate those that gave me pain and sickness.
But as man is to make himself to his surroundings, so as the months on did I learn the of this new life of mine, and some knowledge of its resources. As example: I a great black tree, with a core, and a into its middle near the roots. Here I harboured, till one night some lizard, weight the tree like a sapling, to me as a bird a from a log. I by the will of the Gods—I as much have done to a as that with my weapons—but I gave myself that this must not again.
So I cut myself a of on the of the till I had a point ten man-heights from the ground, and there cut other notches, and with tree a on which I might rest. Later, for luxury, I me arrow-slit in the of my chamber, and up for a hearth, so that I might cook my up there of a fire in all the of the open below.
By degrees, too, I to how the large-scaled fish of the and the might be more captured, and so my less to start through their proper of skin as the days on. But the of salads and I overcome. All the green meat was so powerfully with the taste of that I my to accept it. And of course, too, there the of the and the other native to the place.
But as the months to into years, and the part of my nature more satisfied, there came other which it was less easy to provide for. From the of a river horse’s tooth I had to me a of Nais as last I had her. But, though my might be loving, and my will good, my art was of the dullest, and the result—though I time and time again—was always and pitiful. Still, in my it some of the original—a here, an there, and it my old love me as I sat and ate it with my eyes. Yet it did little to satisfy my for the woman I had lost; it my to be with her again, or at least to have some knowledge of her fate.
Other men of the Priests’ Clan have come out and an in these Dangerous Lands, and by the flesh, have an with the Higher Mysteries which has them past what learning and teach. Indeed, here and there one, who from some and another has returned to the of men, has with him a knowledge that has him the the for the of magic and miracles, which—since all must be allowed which so a cause—have added very to the with which these common people the of the Gods. But for myself I not free my mind to the necessary for these studies. During that home from Yucatan I had with them with insight; but now my mind was not my own. Nais had a upon it, and to be ousted; and, in truth, her sweet was my solace.
But at last my no be denied. Through one of the arrow-slit of my tree-house I see away a great top with snow, which our Lord the Sun with blood every night of His setting. Night after night I used to watch that light with wide eyes. Night after night I used to that in days when I was entering upon the priesthood, it had been my to our great Lord as He rose for His day the of that very mountain. And always the on these musings, that from that I see across the to the Sacred Mount, which had the city it where I had my love alive.
So at last I gave way and set out, and a I of it. In the mists, which always on the ground, my way me, and I was it. Indeed, to say that I three times the direct is setting a low estimate. Throughout all those the great hunted, and as the country was new to me I did not know places of harbour, and a hundred times was an of being and at a mouthful. But the High Gods still me for Their own purposes, and the great beasts’ when I to as they passed. Twice of water across my path, and I had to till I black from the to that would give me ferriage.
It will be then that my was in a way tedious, but to me, after all those years of waiting, the time passed on feet. I had been from my love till I the no longer; let me but see from a the place where she lay, and my upon it for a while, and then I go to my in the tree and there the will of the Gods.
The air more as I to come out above the region of trees, on to that higher ground which on the of the world, and I and a of to protect my from the cold, which to upon me keenly. And later on, where the eternally, and was into gullies, and into solid banks and of ice, I had hard work to make any progress its mazes, and was so by the chill, that my natural was weakened. Overhead, too, me up with swoops, and occasionally so close that I had to it with my weapons, was one of those man-eating which live by and off any that their tell them is weakly, and likely soon to die.
But the ahead of me was to make these small, and though the air of the with me ill, and panting, I pressed on with what speed I the summit. Time after time I the next would surely me out to the view for which my yearned, but always there another bank of and ice yet to be climbed. But at last I the crest, and gave thanks to the most High Gods for Their protection and favour.
Far, away I see the Sacred Mountain with its ring of under the day, and although the city which at its not be from where I stood, I its position and I its plan, and my out to that of in the square the pyramid, where once, years before, I had my love. Had Phorenice left the unviolated?
I there on my spear, my with the prospect, to the of that I as old acquaintances. Gods! how my love me for this woman. My whole being gone out to meet her, and to room for nothing beside. For long a voice to be calling me, but I gave it no regard. I had come out to that top for with Nais alone, and I wanted none others to interrupt.
But at length the voice calling my name too loud to be neglected, and I myself out of my sweet with a start to think that here, for the time since with Tob and his company, I should see another fellow-being. I my and asked who called. The reply came from up the of mountain, and I saw a man me over the snows. He was old and feeble. His was bent, and his and were white as the ground on which he trod, and presently I him as Zaemon. He was me with speed for a man of his years and feebleness, but he in his hand the Symbol of our Lord the Sun, and from this would add to his powers.
He came close to me and the of the Seven, which I returned to him, with its completion, with and ceremony. And then he me in the manner as messenger by the High Council of the Priests seated the Ark of the Mysteries, and I him.
“In all I will the orders that you put me,” I said.
“Such is your duty, my brother. The is, that you return to the Sacred Mountain, so that if means may still prevail, you, as the most Atlantis her borders, may still save the country from final and punishment. The woman Phorenice in her infamies. The land under her heel. And now she has to our Sacred Mountain itself, and that not one shall be left alive in all Atlantis who not to her will.”
“It is a and I it. But let me ask of another that is to of us. What of Nais?”
“Nais rests where you left her, untouched. Phorenice by her arts—she has nearly all the knowledge now—that still you live, and she Nais the in the that some time she may use her as a against you. Little she the of our Priests’ creed, my brother. Why, I, that am the girl’s father, would her blithely, if her death or might do a of good to Atlantis.”
“You go me with your devotion.”
The old man at me, with brow. “What!”
“Or my old to the has been and by events. You must my full obedience, Zaemon, if you want it. Promise me Nais—and your I know can her—and I will be true to the High Council of the Priest, and will die in the last if need be for the out of order. But let me see Nais over to the of that woman, and I shall have no left, to take my vengeance, and to see Atlantis up in as her funeral-stone.”
Zaemon looked at me bitterly. “And you are the man the High Council to trust as they would trust one of themselves? Truly we are in an age of weak men and now. But, my lord—nay, I must call you still: we cannot be too in our to-day—you are the best there is, and we must have you. We little you would ask a price for your generalship, having once taken on the of the Ark of the Mysteries itself that always, come what might, you would be a of the High Council of the Clan without and without of advancement. But this is the age of vows, and you are going no more than with the fashion. Indeed, brother, I should thank you for being no more in your demands.”
“You may me your taunts. You, by self-denial and search into the of the higher Mysteries, have something than human; I have my humanity, and with it its powers and frailties; and it that each of us has his proper uses, or you would not be come now here to me. Rather you would have done the yourself.”
“You make a warm defence, my brother. But I have no now to you with argument. Come to the Sacred Mountain, me this wanton, Empress, and by my you shall have your Nais as you left her as a reward.”
“It is a of the High Council which shall be obeyed. I will come with my now, as soon as he is rested.”
“Nay,” said the old man, “I have no tiredness, and as for with me, there you will not be able. But at what you may.”
He and set off the of the and I followed; but he me; and so he on, with speed always increasing, till presently he passed out of my the of an ice-cliff, and I myself alone on the side. Yes, alone. For his in the from being deep, shallower, and less noticeable, so that I had to to see them. And presently they entirely, and the great mountain’s me trackless, and by the of man since time began.
I was not by any great amazement. Though it was my art to this thing myself, having my mind in more with memories of Nais than in study of those of the Higher Mysteries in which Zaemon was so wise, still I had some of his powers.
Zaemon I would be again in his on the Sacred Mountain, and breathless, I had an end to his in the snow, and it me to join him there in the possible time. I had his promise now for my reward, and I that he would it into effect. Beforetime I had an error. I had valued Atlantis most, and Nais, my private love, as only second. But now it was in my mind to be with others as with myself. Though all the world were on my choice, I but love my Nais most, and her and of all.
