Now, my passage across the great of Atlantis, if and by many dangers, need not be in detail here. Only one did I make of any duration, and that was unavoidable. I had killed a one day, it after a long in an open savannah. I the air carefully, to see if there was any other which do me reach, and that the place was safe, set about my meat, and making a into a for carriage.
But the there was a great worm, a green thing, very in its bite; and presently as I moved I it with my heel, and like the of light it with its and me with its in the thigh. With my knife I cut through its and it to and and its hundred into all manner of contortions; and then, my in the ground, I with it all the wound, so that the blood might and wash the from its lodgement. And then with the blood from my heel, I the meat and off, for being so well of what might have itself a very adventure.
As I walked, however, my leg to be with a and which every hour, and presently it to also, till the skin was like parchment. I was taken, too, with a sickness, that me violently, and if one of the and more had come upon me then, he would have me without a fight. With the of I managed to myself up into a tree, and there in the of a limb, in and pain the night.
With the dawn, when the night had gone to their lairs, I again, and on my spear, through the along my way. The which on the northern of each tree was my guide, but I to note that I was all the trees, and, in fact, was light-headed with the pain and the of the limb. But still I pressed with my journey, my last being to the of the High Council, and so the of Nais as had been promised.
My last memory was of being met by someone in the black who me, and there my took into forgetfulness.
But after an interval, returned, and I myself on a of in a two rocks, which was with some skill, and with and against the entrance of the larger beasts. My was with a of herbs, and at the other of the there a woman, cooking a of wood-grubs and over a fire of sticks.
“How came I here?” I asked.
“I you,” said she.
“And who are you?”
“A nymph, they call me, and I as such, and the of those that come to me, telling fortunes, and making predictions. In return I what each can afford, and if they do not pay according to their means, I clap on a to make them wither. It’s a when and the have left so to live in the land.”
“Do you visit Atlantis?”
“Not I. Phorenice would have me in brine, living, if she easy hands on me. Our Empress no magic but her own. They say she is for the Priests off their Mountain now.”
“So you do news of the city?”
“Assuredly. It is my to good news, or otherwise how I tell to the vulgar? You see, my lord, I your quality by your speech, and you are not one of those that come to me for spells, and potions, I have no in speaking to you plainly.”
“Tell me then: Phorenice still reigns?”
“Most vilely.”
“As a maiden?”
“As the mother of sons. Tatho’s her husband now, and has been these three years.”
“Tatho! Who him as of Yucatan?”
“There is no Yucatan. A nation of little men, so the goes, from the West the country. They had of with as their only arm, but numbers their weapon. They had no for plunder, or the taking of slaves, or the of cities. To eat the of Atlanteans was their only lust, and they it prodigiously. Their numbers were like the in a swarm.
“They came to each of the of Yucatan in turn, and though the them in thousands, the weight of numbers always prevailed. They ate clean each city they took, and left it to the of the forest, and on to the next. And so in time they the towns, and Tatho and the that took ship, and home. They ate Tatho’s wife for him. They must be things, these little men. The Gods send they do not across the to Atlantis, or they would be to the country than Phorenice.”
Now I had of these little before, and though I had them, I had that they were a little less than and a little more than bestial; a link so to speak the two orders; and in check by the Gods in solitudes. Also I had learned that on occasion, when was needful, they be set as a army upon men, all them. But I said nothing of this to the nymph, she being but a woman, and silly, as is always the case with these self-styled who the ignorant, common folk. But myself I was at the of that of Yucatan, in which I had such an of pains to do my of the building.
But it did not my purpose to have my name and quality till the time was full, and so I said nothing to the about Yucatan, but let the talk continue upon other matters. “What about Egypt?” I asked.
“In its darkness, so they say. Who for Egypt these years? Who for anyone or anything for that for himself and his own proper estate? Time was when the country and the me to this for piety’s sake. But now they come near unless they see a way of good value in return for their gifts. And, by result, of and hearty, I make off and grubs. It’s a life, a nymph’s, in these years I tell you, my lord. It’s the fashion for all to in no of now.”
“What manner of is this you spoke of?”
“I have not it. Thank the Gods it has not come this way. But they do say that it has from the Phorenice has slain, and unburied. She is always slaying, and so the than the and can eat them. For which of our sins, I wonder, did the Gods let Phorenice come to reign? I wish that she and her were alive in they came an of the and her living.
“They say she has put an image of herself in all the temples of the city now, and has ordered prayers and to be night and morning. She has all other Gods to herself and their worship, and those of the people that are not for her taste, have their by their to them into a attitude.—Will you eat of my and honey? There is nothing else. Your was with meat when I met you, but you had your load. You must either taste this of mine now, or go without.”
I with that in six days, she using her and to my leg the while, and when I was recovered, I the and killed her a cloven-hoofed as payment, and then along my ways.
The country from there had at one time a population which its own firmly, and, as its numbers grew, took in more ground, and more afield. The houses were in trees for the most part, as there they were out of of cave-bear and cave-tiger and the other more beasts. But others, and these were the ones, were on the ground, of so and so and that the not them down, and once a house of this fashion its owners were safe, and at any through the the logs, and often wound, sometimes make a kill.
But not one in ten of these remained. The houses were when I them, the fire-hearth the door weed-grown, and the of vegetables taken by the of the into and jungle. And on, when villages to appear, strongly-walled as the is, to off the of beasts, the which had the in a undergrowth, and but the to prove that once they had tenants. Phorenice’s to have spread as though it were some over the whole of what was once a and an easy-living land.
So I had met with little from any men I had come across. Many had with their into the of the at the of me; some their ground with a face, but no offer to attack, that I did not offer them first; and a few, a very few, offered me and provision. But as I the city, and to come upon paths, I passed through governments that were more populated, and here appeared of delay. The in the tower which is set above each village would me and cry: “Here is a man,” and then the people that were would out with to me of my weapons, and to me as a labourer.
I had no to these folk, being with at the to which they had fallen; and often me to make them from the path, and at my fierceness, and let me go my ways. And when at other times had no avail, I to as as be, my object being to with my and no me. Indeed, having the modern way of these villages, it to be my to turn off into the forest, and make a I came of their garbage.
Similarly, too, when I got on, and came also, I challenge of their walls, having no mind to from the of any new law which might to be set up by their governors. My progress might be slinking, but my did not me very loudly; indeed, the of me so and I had little space for other emotions.
But at last I myself a half-day’s the city of Atlantis itself, with the Sacred Mountain and its ring of high it, and the call for accentuated. Everywhere that the country had been of its men. Everywhere prayed that the might end with the of the Priests or the killing of Phorenice, so that the land might have peace and time to its wounds.
An army was the Sacred Mountain, and its one approach was most guarded. Even after having so far, it as if I should have to without being able to out the orders which had been upon me by the High Council, and earn the which had been promised. Force would be here. I should have one good fight—a fight—one man against an army, and my usefulness would be ended.... No; this was the occasion for guile, and I in the of a wood, and there my brain for a plan.
Across the plain me the great of the city, with the of its temples, and its palaces, and its beyond. The step-sides of the my eye. Phorenice had some of her new-found store of gold in their with of yellow metal. But it was not that that moved me. I was that, in the square the pyramid, there a of with the and the hand, and in the the was Nais, my love, asleep these eight years now of the that had been to her, but alive still, and waiting for me, if only I on my part make a way to the place where Zaemon the Empress, and my coming.
In that of the I a day and a night with myself for not some plan to the of the Sacred Mountain, but in the which followed, there came a man me running.
“You need not me with your weapons,” he cried. “I no harm. It that you are Deucalion; though I should not have you myself in those and skins, and that of and beard. You will give me your good word I know. Believe me, I have not unduly.”
He was a I knew, and in little esteem; his name was Ro, a and not of trust. “From do you come?” I asked.
“Zaemon a on me. He came to my house, though how he got there I cannot tell, that Phorenice’s army all possible passage to and from the Mountain. I told him I to be mixed with none of his schemings. I am a peaceful man, Deucalion, and have taken a wife who nourishment. I still in the same temple, though we have out the old Gods by order of the Empress, and put her image in their place. The people are nowadays, those that are left of them, and the is easy. Yes, I tell you there are more now than there were in the old days. And so I had no wish to be mixed with which might well make me be of a post, and my to boot.”
“I can it all of you, Ro.”
“But there was no Zaemon. He into one of his black furies, and while he spoke at me, I tell you I as good as dead. You know his powers?”
“I have some of them.”
“Well, the Gods alone know which are the true Gods, and which are the others. I the one that me employment. But those that Zaemon give him power, and that’s denying. You see that right hand of mine? It is and from the wrist, and that is a gift of Zaemon. He it, he said, to make me my attention. Then he said more hard what he was pleased to term my apostasy, not me put up a word in my own of how the was upon me. And finally, said he, I might either do his on a to the letter, or take that which my away from the old Gods had earned. ‘I shall not kill you,’ said he, ‘but I will all your with a paralysis, such as you have already, and when at length death you in some gutter, you will welcome it.’”
“If Zaemon said those words, he meant them. So you the alternative?”
“Had I, with a wife on me, any other choice? I asked his pleasure. It was to you when you came in here from some part of the land, and deliver to you his message.
“‘Then tell me where is the meeting place,’ said I, ‘and when.’
“‘There is none appointed, is the day fixed,’ said he. ‘You must watch and search always for him. But when he comes, you will be to his place.’ Well, Deucalion, I think I was guided, but how, I do not know. But now I have you, and if there’s such a thing as gratitude, I ask you to put in your word with Zaemon that this be taken away from my hand. It’s an thing for a man to be to go through life like this, for no fault of his own. And Zaemon it from where he sat, if he was so minded.”
“You still to have a very full in some of the old Gods’ priests,” I said. “But so far, I do not see that your is done. I have had no message yet.”
“Why, the message is so that I do not see why he not have got some one else to it. You are to make a great blaze. You may fire the of the plain in of this if you choose. And on the night which follows, you are to go to that of the Sacred Mountain away from the city where the sheer, and there they will a rope and you up to their hands above.”
“It easy, and I thank you for your pains. I will ask Zaemon that your hand may be to you.”
“You shall have my prayers if it is. And look, Deucalion, it is a small matter, and it would be less likely to your memory if you saw to it at once on your landing. Later, you may be disturbed. Phorenice is to you off your up there now she has her mind to it. She fails, once she has set her hand to a thing. Indeed, if she was no Goddess at birth, she is making herself into one very rapidly. She has got all the learning of our Priests, and more besides. She has the Secret of Life these months—”
“She has that?” I cried, startled. “How? Tell me how? Only the Three know that. It is our knowledge who are members of the Seven.”
“I know nothing of her means. But she has the secret, and now she is as good an (so she says) as any of them. Well, Deucalion, it is for me to be missing from my temple overlong, so I will go. You will that we spoke of in your mind? It means much to me.”—His over my person—“And if you think my service is of value to you—”
“You see me poor, my man, and destitute.”
“Some small coin,” he murmured, “or a link of bronze? I am at great just now for my wife. Well, if you have nothing, you cannot give. So I’ll just you farewell.”
He took himself off then, and I was not sorry. I had liked Ro. But I no more time then. The up for a almost his were clear of it, and that night when the gave me cover, I took the of what might be prowling, and to the place appointed. There was no rope dangling, but presently one came the like some snake. I a loop, it over a leg, and hard as a signal. Those above to haul, and so I to the Sacred Mountain after an of so many and years. There were none to the ascent. Phorenice’s had no to that gaunt, bare, precipice.
The men who me up were old, and with their task, and, until I the reason, I why a of had not been for the duty. But I put no question. With us of the Priests’ Clan on the Sacred Mountain, it is always taken as that when an order is given, it is for the best. Besides, these did not offer themselves to question. They took me off at once to Zaemon, and that is what I have wished.
The old man me with the sign. “All to Deucalion,” he cried, “King of Atlantis, called by the High Council of the priests.”
“Is Phorenice dead?” I asked.
“It for you to her, and take your kingdom, if, indeed, when all is done, there a man or a of land to govern. The has gone out that she is to die, and it shall be into effect, though we have to set the most powers that are in the Ark of the Mysteries, and this in our effort. We have with her all these years by sent by the most High Gods; but now she has gone endurance, and They it is who have the word for her off.”
“You are one of the Three; I am only one of the Seven; you best know the cost.”
“There can be no the cost now, my brother, and my king. It is an order.”
“It is an order,” I formally, “so I obey.”
“If it were not to do so, it would be easy to this of the Gods. The woman has the throne; yet she was and on wisely. She has with our religion; yet she was forgiven. She has killed the of Atlantis in wars, and the country’s trade; yet she was forgiven. She has the old temples, and has set up in them images of herself to be as a deity; yet she was forgiven. But at last her has to her the Secret of Life and Death, and there she the of the High Gods’ forbearance.
“I myself to a final warning, and once more her in the great banqueting-hall. Solemnly I to her the edict, and she to take it as a challenge. She would live on herself and she would her knowledge with those that pleased her. Tatho that was her husband should also be immortal. Indeed, if she fit, she would the so that the common people might know it, and death from age would a legend.
“She no how she might the laws of Nature. She was Phorenice, and was the law of all. And she me there in that banqueting-hall and also the High Gods that my mouth. ‘My magic is as as yours, you fool,’ she cried, ‘and presently you shall see the two by upon their trial.’
“She to an army from that moment, and we on our part our preparations. It was by our that you still lived, and King of Atlantis you were by election. How you were summoned, you know as nearly as it is that one of your should know; how you came, you best yourself; but here you are, my brother, and being King now, you must order all as you see best for the of your high estate, and we others live only to give you obedience.”
“Then being King, I can speak without to make use of a threat. I must have my Queen first, or I am not to give my whole mind to this ruling.”
“She shall be here.”
“So! Then I will be a General now, and see to the of this place, and view the men who are here to them.”
I out of the then, Zaemon place and me. It was night still but there is no on the upper part of the Sacred Mountain. A ring of fires, from the earth-breath which up from below, one-half of the crest, it always as as day, and in no small part of its fortification. Indeed, it is said that, in the early of history, men came to the Mountain as a of the natural which the offered.
There is no these or them. On either of their line for a hundred the ground with heat, and a man would be to who to it. Round full one-half the the make a unbreakable, and on the other the in one from the to the plain which spreads its foot. But it is on this that there is the only entrance way which passage to the of the Sacred Mountain from below. Running up the of the is a fissure, which (as man has more luxurious) have more easy to climb.
Looking at the additions, in the days, I can well that none but the most have the ascent. But one has a over a here, and another has cut into the and a there, till in these years there is a path with cut steps and such as the or most might with little or exertion. But always when these the obstacles, they were to in no possible way the natural but to add to them.
Eight gates of there were the pathway, each a straight, piece of the ascent, and each gate was a secure from arrow-shot, yet so that great be through in the of it, in such a manner that they must to a any men against it from below. And in out from the on either hand was a great of these stones, so that no enemy through of to a gate by its ammunition.
But though there were eight of these gates in the series, we had the whole number to on no longer. The gate was by a of Phorenice’s troops, who had a above them to protect their occupation. The gate had been by no of arms—it had been by threats, bribery, and promises; or, in other words, it had been up by the treachery.
And here the of the in our defence. The most perfect that brain can are without men to line them, and it was men we lacked. Of students entering into the of the Sacred Mountain, there had been none now for many a year. The little of the older Gods. Of the men that had up the groves, and offices there, many had in their and on only through habit, and an easy near them there; and these, when the began, their way over to the other side.
Phorenice was no to against strength. Her that peace and a good would be to those who to come out to her willingly; and as an she would kill by and those she in the place when she took it by storm, as she most would do she had with it. And so great was the of her name, that one-half of these that on the took themselves away from the defence.
There was no attempt to these sorry priests, was there any them as they went. Zaemon, indeed, was (so he told me with meaning himself) to give them some of their to away which would not wear out, but the others of the High Council him his hand. And so when I came to the place the numbered no more than eighty, old who walk; and of men not past their I a score.
Still, the of the passages which to each of the gates, up which in no place more than two men together, we were by no means in for the as yet; and if my new-given was so small, as it did in of the Sacred Mountain and no other part of Atlantis, at any there little of its being contracted.
Another of the wise of the men of old us in good then. In the times, when was as food, it came to be looked upon as the of wealth. Tribute was always paid from the people to their Priests, and presently, so the old say, it was that this should take the of grain, as this was a medium and fitting. And those of the people who had it not, were to their other produce for they pay this tribute.
On the Sacred Mountain itself were in the rock, and here the was in great yellow heaps, and each of those that were set over it, took a in adding to the accumulation.
In more modern days it had been a the and more of the Priests to at this provision, and to that a of gold, or weapons, or would have more value and no less of dignity; and more than once it has been a close thing these should not be out-voted. But as it was, the old had been preserved, and now in these years of trial the Clan the benefit. And so with these granaries, and a series of great and which the rainfall, there was no of Phorenice our by close investment, though she sat it for a score of years.
But it was the of men for the which me most. As I took my way about the of the Mountain, all points, the of the place me like a of blows. The groves, once so trim, were now and unpruned. Wind had the in upon the temple floors, and they there unswept. The college of no more now than a to that men had once been there. The of the higher Priests, at one time so after, many of them empty, not one candidate came now to for election.
Evil up me as I saw these things, that were direct promptings from the Gods. “There must be something wanting,” these whispered, “in a religion from which so many of its Priests at the pinch of persecution.”
I did what I to these me; but they to be from my brain; and so I a with myself: First, I would with the help that might be me, this Phorenice, and the which had been me to my own proper rule; and I would call a of the Seven and of the Three, and without if there was any in which our be to the more modern requirements. But this should not be done till Phorenice was and I was planted in her room. I would not be a party, to myself, to any plan which at all of surrender.
And there as I walked through the and the cold altars, the High Gods were pleased to their of my scheme, and to give me opportunity to myself to it with a and vow. At that moment from His resting-place in the East, our Lord the Sun up to another day. For long from where I the of the Mountain, He Himself would be invisible. But the great light of His spread into the sky, and against it the Ark of the Mysteries in black from the where it rested, and terrible.
For anyone to go nearer than a thousand to this of the Highest Mysteries meant death. On that day when I was as one of the Seven, I had been permitted to go near and once press my against its curves; and the rank of my gave me the to repeat that again once on each day when a new year was born. But what its great interior, and how it was entered, that was from the Seven, as it was from the other Priests and the common people in the city below. Only those who had been to the of the Three had a knowledge of the powers which were it.
I on my where I was, and Zaemon me, and together we the prayers which had been said by the Priests from the of time, thanks to our great Lord that He has come to another day. And then, with my on the black of the Ark of Mysteries I that, come what might, I at least would be true of the High Gods to my life’s end, and that my whole should be in Their and glory.
