The Amphitheatre of Jet
For hours the black-haired had been across the bridges, along the by and by hundreds, toward the seven-terraced temple I had as yet seen, and from exterior, indeed, I had always been away—unobtrusively, but none the less decisively—to prevent any observation. The structure, I had estimated, nevertheless, not less than a thousand above its base, and the of its was about the same.
I what was the into Lora, and where they were vanishing. All of them were flower-crowned with the luminous, blooms—old and young, slender, mocking-eyed girls, youths, mothers with their babes, oldsters—on they poured, for the most part and sullen—a that as their subtle, half-sinister, half-gay into little keen-edged flames, oddly, defiant.
There were many of the green-clad soldiers along the way, and the of the only I see had been doubled.
Wondering still, I from my point of and my way to our pavilion, that Larry, who had been with Yolara for the past two hours, had returned. Hardly had I it Rador came up, in his manner a with what in anyone else I would have called a nervousness.
"Come!" he I speak. "The Council has decision—and Larree is you."
"What has been decided?" I as we along the path that to the house of Yolara. "And why is Larry me?"
And at his answer I my pause in its and through me a of panic and eagerness.
"The Shining One dances!" had answered the green dwarf. "And you are to worship!"
What was this dancing of the Shining One, of which so often he had spoken?
Whatever my forebodings, Larry had none.
"Great stuff!" he cried, when we had met in the great now empty of the dwarfs. "Hope it will be seeing—have to be something good, though, to catch me, after what I've of at the front," he added.
And remembering, with a little of apprehension, that he had no knowledge of the Dweller my of it—for there are no actually to what that of and was—I what Larry O'Keefe would say and do when he did it!
Rador to impatience.
"Come!" he urged. "There is much to be done—and the time short!"
He us to a room in the white were concentrated, pearl-like and in their rim.
"Bathe!" he commanded; and set the example by himself and within. Only a minute or two did the green allow us, and he us as we were about to our clothing.
Then, to my embarrassment, without warning, two of the black-haired girls entered, of a dull-blue hue. At our Rador's out. He took the from the pair, them to us, and, still laughing, one around me. Its was soft, but metallic—like some metal to the of a spider's thread. The at the throat, was at the waist, and, this cincture, to the floor, its being together by a half-dozen cords; from the a a monk's cowl.
Rador this over my head; it my face, but was of so a that I see, though mistily, through it. Finally he us a pair of long of the same material and high stockings, the of which were gloved—five-toed.
And again his out at our surprise.
"The of the Shining One not trust the Shining One's Voice," he said at last. "And these are to against any sudden—errors. And not, Goodwin," he on kindly. "Not for the Shining One itself would Yolara see come to Larree here—nor, of him, to you. But I would not much on the great white one. And for him I am sorry, for him I do like well."
"Is he to be with us?" asked Larry eagerly.
"He is to be where we go," the soberly.
Grimly Larry and from his his automatic. He a fresh into the pocket of his girdle. The pistol he high up his arm-pit.
The green looked at the curiously. O'Keefe it.
"This," said Larry, "slays than the Keth—I take it so no shall come to the blue-eyed one name is Olaf. If I should it—be you not in its way, Rador!" he added significantly.
The again, his sparkling. He a hand out to of us.
"A comes," he said. "What it is I know not, how it will fall. But this remember—Rador is more friend to you than you yet can know. And now let us go!" he ended abruptly.
He us, not through the entrance, but into a passage in a wall; touched a symbol there, and it opened, as had the of the Moon Pool Chamber. And, just as there, but smaller, was a passage end, a low a not black as had been that of darkness, but luminescent. Rador over the wall. The and started; the door shut; the of the car into place, and we the passage; overhead the wind whistled. In a moments the moving to slow down. It stopped in a closed no larger than itself.
Rador his and twice upon the with its hilt. Immediately a moved away, a space with faint, radiance. And at each of the open portal four of the men, grey-headed, old, in of white, each pointing toward us a rod.
Rador from his a ring and it out to the dwarf. He it, it to the one him, and not until each had the ring did they their weapons; of that energy they called the Keth, I thought; and later was to know that I had been right.
We out; the doors closed us. The place was enough. Its was a greenish-blue lazuli. On each were high of the same material. There were a score of these, but in the I not make out their outlines. A droning, upon our ears; the whole cavern.
"I the sea," said Larry suddenly.
The deep-toned, clamorous, and close in of us a opened. Twenty in width, it cut the and into the on each side. The was by one solid of not more than two yards wide. It had neither other protection.
The four leading out upon it one by one, and we followed. In the middle of the they knelt. Ten us was a of sea-water with speed walls. It gave the of depth. It as it by, and to the right was a low through which it disappeared. It was so that its surface like steel, and from it came the blessed, our worldly, familiar that my and me how earth-sick I was.
Whence came the stream, I marvelled, for the moment, as we passed on again, all else. Were we closer to the surface of earth than I had thought, or was this some through an opening in sea floor, Heaven alone how many miles above us, itself in these? How near and how this was from the truth I was to learn—and did truth come to man in more guise!
The away, the lessened. In of us a wide of steps, as those which had us into the of Nan-Tauach through the sea-gate. We it; it narrowed; from above light through a still opening. Side by Larry and I passed out of it.
We had upon an of what to be ivory. It us for a hundred yards or more and then into the white waters. Opposite—not a mile away—was that of Rador had called the Veil of the Shining One. There it in all its grandeur, on each of the Cyclopean pillars, as though a should up arms them a banner of glories. Beneath it was the curved, of the with its clustered, temples.
Before that brief, was done, there upon my a as of weight intolerable; a as though some was falling, pressing, me, I turned—and Larry me as I reeled.
"Steady! Steady, old man!" he whispered.
At all that my was an immensity, an that with it the same throat-gripping as comes from from some great height—then a of white faces—intolerable of hundreds upon thousands of eyes. Huge, huge, a of jet, a semi-circle, its the on which I stood.
It itself almost hundreds of up into the heavens, and on each its bulwarks—like paws. Now, the from its passing, I saw that it was an after tier, and that the white of against its blackness, the of were those of of the people who sat silent, flower-garlanded, their upon the and over me like a torrent—tangible, appalling!
Five hundred beyond, the smooth, high of the itself—above it the of the seats, and above this, the for another a thousand upward, set them like a panel, was a dead-black surface in which with a a disk; above it and around it a of smaller ones.
On each of me, the platform, were of small alcoves, a low across their fronts; delicate, them, save where in each an opening stared—it came to me that they were like those in Gothic for centuries had and people of my own on earth's face. And these were gathered, score upon score, the beauties, the men of the fair-haired folk. At my right, a from the opening through which we had come, a the stalls. Half-way us and the of the a rose. Up the to it a wide ascended; and on and and along the centre of the to where it the white waters, a of the flowers like a carpet.
On one of this dais, in a that no line or of her sweet body, white through its folds, Yolara; and opposite her, with a of stones, his bare, was Lugur!
O'Keefe a long breath; Rador touched my arm and, still dazed, I let myself be into the and through a that ran the alcoves. At the of one of these the green paused, opened a door, and us within.
Entering, I that we were opposite where the ran up to the dais—and that Yolara was not more than fifty away. She at O'Keefe and smiled. Her were with little dancing points of light; her to palpitate, the the skin to with little waves!
Larry softly.
"There's Marakinoff!" he said.
I looked where he pointed. Opposite us sat the Russian, as we were, forward, his his glasses; but if he saw us he gave no sign.
"And there's Olaf!" said O'Keefe.
Beneath the in which sat the Russian was an and it was Huldricksson. Unprotected by or by grills, opening clear upon the platform, near him the of flowers up to the great which Lugur and Yolara the guarded. He sat alone, and my out to him.
O'Keefe's softened.
"Bring him here," he said to Rador.
The green was looking at the Norseman, too, a of upon his face. He his head.
"Wait!" he said. "You can do nothing now—and it may be there will be no need to do anything," he added; but I that there was little of in his words.
