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-The Project Gutenberg eBook of Polaris and the Goddess Glorian, by

-Charles B. Stilson

-

-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and

-most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions

-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms

-of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at

-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you

-will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before

-using this eBook.

-

-Title: Polaris and the Goddess Glorian

-

-Author: Charles B. Stilson

-

-Release Date: January 7, 2022 [eBook #67121]

-

-Language: English

-

-Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed

-             Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

-

-*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POLARIS AND THE GODDESS

-GLORIAN ***

-

-

-

-

-

-                    Polaris and the Goddess Glorian

-

-                         By Charles B. Stilson

-

-            _Copyright 1917 by Popular Publications, Inc._

-

-

-

-

-                             Introduction

-

-

-In the antarctic wilds far below Ross Sea, Polaris Janess (Polaris--of

-the Snows), was born, of a mother he never knew, and grew to manhood's

-years knowing one human face only, that of his father. When that father

-died, the young man set his face to the north, to find the world of

-men, of which his father and his books had told him; and to deliver

-to the National Geographic Society in Washington a packet containing

-scientific data compiled by his explorer sire.

-

-Journeying through the silent wastes with his dog team, the son of the

-snows found Rose Emer, an American heiress, who had strayed from an

-exploring party, and who waited death in the icy wilderness.

-

-Hurled southward again in a breakup of the ice floes where they had

-camped, Polaris and the girl came upon the kingdom of Sardanes--a

-valley girded by volcanic hills which warmed it, and peopled by a lost

-fragment, some two thousand strong, of the ancient Greeks.

-

-The adventures of the man of the snows and the American maid in

-Sardanes; how they escaped thence; how their love bloomed amid

-the eternal snows; and how they won at last to America, where the

-Geographic Society hailed the dead Stephen Janess as the first man to

-set foot on the Southern Pole--all these things have been related.

-

-Zenas Wright, friend of Polaris's father, and a celebrated student

-of volcanic phenomena, told Polaris that the fires which had warmed

-Sardanes for centuries were passing away from the valley, and that all

-life in the ancient kingdom must perish.

-

-Chartering the United States second-class cruiser _Minnetonka_,

-Polaris, Wright, and Captain James Scoland set sail to rescue the

-Sardanians. Scoland, who loved Rose Emer, deserted Janess and Wright in

-the wilderness and went back to America to woo the Rose-maid. But Rose

-Emer refused him, and gray Marcus, Polaris's dog, protected her from

-Scoland's profaning lips and tore the recreant captain so horribly that

-the man went mad, and in his madness revealed his inhuman treachery.

-

-Again the _Minnetonka_ turned her nose to the mysterious South, and

-Rose Emer went down the bitter seas to find her sweetheart.

-

-Meanwhile Polaris and old Zenas Wright found Sardanes a waste of snows,

-its volcanic girdle cold and dead, its people, led by the mad priest

-of Analos, gone to their doom through the fiery "Gateway" of their

-god Hephaistos. Only Minos, the kind, and his bride, the Lady Memene,

-remained alive, hidden in a cave in the hills. Those four, Polaris,

-Wright, and the two Sardanians, were picked up by the _Minnetonka_ near

-the Antarctic Circle as they were making their perilous way northward

-in a small launch which they had found in the wreck of Captain

-Scoland's supply ship.

-

-In the story which follows will be related the tale which was brought

-back to America by old Zenas Wright--what befell Polaris and his

-companions after the _Minnetonka_ turned northward--homeward.

-

-

-

-

-                               CHAPTER I

-

-                          THE GOLDEN STRANGER

-

-

-On the bridge of the cruiser _Minnetonka_ stood Minos, the Sardanian

-king, staring southward in the wake of the ship, southward where his

-lost, dead kingdom lay buried under the soft, cruel snows beyond the

-unchartered antarctic seas. Ahead of the ship, full of promise, full

-of hope, was America. For the _Minnetonka_ had rounded the Horn that

-morning and was on her long straight course for the port of home.

-

-Below him, in her cabin, was the girl bride of Minos, the Lady Memene,

-so strangely won and saved from the crowning horror of his kingdom's

-fall. It was mid-forenoon of a cloudless day. Gay voices echoed along

-the decks of the cruiser. Gladness was in the very air the voyagers

-breathed--the gladness of the homeward-bound.

-

-But the mien of the king was somber. There was a shadow on his brow

-and deeper shadows in his dark eyes gazing so steadily into the south.

-Bright as were his prospects, memory still whispered sadly to him of

-the only spot on earth which had been home to him. He could not forget.

-

-Far away on the dancing, sparkling waters something caught the eye of

-the king, a something which flashed and disappeared and flashed again,

-as the wave on which it rode dipped and arose among its fellows. Minos

-watched it curiously.

-

-Leaning against the rail beside the king, so close that their elbows

-almost touched, was Lieutenant Irwin Everson, commander of the

-_Minnetonka_, trim in his naval blue. Minos touched his shoulder and

-said:

-

-"Yonder--something shines on the water."

-

-Everson followed with his eyes the course indicated by the pointing

-finger of the king. Again the distant object flashed in the sunlight,

-far away on the starboard quarter. "Might be ice; but I've seen enough

-of that lately to know that it isn't," muttered Everson as he, too,

-caught the flash, "and no wave ever shone like that."

-

-Stepping into the pilothouse, the lieutenant returned with his glasses.

-Their lenses revealed to his eyes a glittering patch from which the

-rays of the sun were reflected as it rose and fell with the waves. But

-even the powerful binoculars were inadequate to distinguish the form

-and substance of the thing.

-

-"I can't make it out," Everson said as he lowered the glasses. "But

-here comes the keenest pair of eyes on the ship." He leaned from the

-bridge and called down to a tall man who was crossing the deck below.

-

-"Oh, Mr. Janess! Can you spare us a moment? We need your eyesight."

-

-Polaris turned a smiling face in response to the call. He, too, was

-glad of the home-going; no man on the ship more so. In a moment he

-joined the king and the lieutenant on the bridge.

-

-Though he was not so tall by the breadth of a hand as the Sardanian,

-who was indeed a giant, the tawny head of the son of the snows was

-inches above that of the young naval man. As they stood one on either

-side of him, Everson involuntarily stepped back a pace. He felt puny

-and absurd, and he was by no means a small man.

-

-For the half of a minute, Janess gazed through the glasses, altering

-their focus slightly. He lowered them suddenly and swung on his heel to

-face Everson.

-

-"Put the ship--" He stopped and his face flushed. "I beg pardon," he

-continued. "It is not mine to give orders, but yonder a man floats. He

-lies face downward across a piece of wreckage."

-

-Lieutenant Everson hurried into the pilot house, and down to old

-MacKechnie among his boilers was flashed the signal which swung the

-gray cruiser off her course in a long arc to the southward.

-

-"A man, you say?" the commander queried as he rejoined Polaris and the

-king. "But what is it that glitters so?"

-

-Polaris, with the glasses at his eyes again, did not at once reply.

-When he did, the answer was surprising.

-

-"It is the man that glitters. If he be not of metal himself, then is he

-clothed in it from head to toe, and it glimmers--" He turned to Minos

-and lapsed into the Greek of Sardanes. "It glimmers, Minos, as did that

-suit of armor which thou didst leave behind thee in the cave on the

-Mount of Latmos," he said.

-

-The king stirred to quick interest. The eyes of the naval lieutenant

-widened with amazement as Polaris repeated his remark in English.

-

-"A man clothed in metal! In armor!" he exclaimed. "And floating here

-in the South Atlantic! What can that mean? Poor chap; whoever he is,

-he will never tell us. He must have been dead for days. But it's well

-worth the investigation."

-

-Impatiently the three men stood at the rail of the bridge as the ship

-swung on.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-At an eighteen-knot clip, the _Minnetonka_ cut swiftly through the

-waves, nearer and nearer to the flashing burden of the waves. Soon

-other eyes not so keen as those of Polaris could descry the strange

-objective of the ship. Forward along the rail, sailors clustered,

-shouting their surprise, and staring at the unusual spectacle of the

-glittering man afloat.

-

-Presently, with a deep thrumming of her valves, the _Minnetonka_ slowed

-down. With a word to Everson, Polaris left the bridge and hastened

-across the deck. As a boat was swung over the side in the davits, he

-sprang into it with the sailors. Less than two-score strokes of the

-oars took the boat alongside the floating mystery.

-

-Then, indeed, had the sailors cause to stare with open mouths.

-

-On a crisscross tangle of slender beams, oddly twisted and broken, lay

-the body of a man. So small was the raft of wreckage which supported

-him that his head and feet projected at each side, and as the waves

-tossed his unstable craft, first his face and then his heels were

-dipped beneath the water. Very wide of shoulder was the stranger and

-powerfully framed, if the outlines of the garb he wore did not belie

-him.

-

-From crown to sole he was dressed in jointed armor, cunningly fashioned

-and decorated, and the whole of which gleamed in the sunlight as only

-burnished copper or red gold can gleam. His hands only were bare;

-smooth, strong hands, clenched fast about two of the broken beams

-beneath him.

-

-But it was none of those things, and they were strange enough, that

-caused the coxswain to cry out hoarsely as the boat wore alongside, or

-that caused Polaris Janess, bent over with outstretched hands, to draw

-them back from the floating stranger, while his lips parted and his

-breath came hard.

-

-"He's alive! By the grace of God, he's alive!" cried the coxswain.

-

-Face downward the stranger lay, as Polaris had said, loose-flung and

-inert, and sprawled as though some force had pitched him there. But

-though his head was more often under the water than above it, his broad

-shoulders heaved and fell regularly. He was alive.

-

-The supreme wonder of it, and that which awed Polaris and the sailors,

-was that _the man breathed when his head was under water_!

-

-When a wave tilted the raft so that his face was raised, his breath was

-expelled with a wheezing, whistling sound. When he was submerged, a

-stream of small bubbles arose about his neck and clung to the surface

-of his metal helmet.

-

-For a long moment Polaris stood and looked down at this amazing thing.

-Then he reached out and very gently took the stranger by the shoulders

-to turn his face to the sky. So tight was the clutch of those strong

-bare hands about the two beams of the raft which they held that the

-entire structure tipped when the son of the snows laid hold. In vain he

-tried to loosen that grasp. It was not to be done without breaking the

-man's fingers. To make an end of it, Janess took an axe from the hands

-of the coxswain and cut through the beams.

-

-Still gripping the wooden fragments, the man turned over on his back.

-

-Then the mystery of the stranger's breathing was partially made clear.

-Under the flare of the helmet he wore his brow was hidden. His eyes

-were fast closed. Fitting tightly over the bridge of his nose and

-extending down so that it covered his mouth and part of his chin, was

-a projecting masklike contrivance of metal and leather. Its straps

-covered the man's ears and were made fast somewhere at the back of his

-head under the helmet. So tightly was the mask affixed that its straps

-cut into the flesh of the man's cheeks. It much resembled the masks

-worn by the soldiers in modern warfare to protect themselves from the

-gas attacks of their enemy.

-

-Through its mechanism the breath of its wearer hissed and whistled like

-escaping steam.

-

-Alive though the man was, and under circumstances which made his

-discoverers marvel, he was near death. Above and below the confines of

-the mask he wore, the bones of his face seemed almost thrusting through

-the flesh. The flesh itself was wasted and puckered by the action of

-the sea water, and the skin was cracked and raw. His hands, which clung

-so tenaciously to the bits of broken wood, were bleeding about the

-nails, and his wrists were gashed and water-eaten.

-

-"Now, here is work for Dr. Marsey," Polaris said. He gathered the limp

-form of the stranger into his arms and lifted him into the boat.

-

-At the rail of the _Minnetonka_ as the boat was shipped, a curious

-crowd met the advent of the man from the sea. Carrying him as lightly

-as though he had been a child, Polaris laid the man on the deck. The

-ship's doctor pushed through the wondering sailors and bent over him.

-

-"Not dead?" he exclaimed when he saw the stranger's face. "A most

-amazing thing!"

-

-"What resurrection from antiquity have we here?" said old Zenas Wright,

-falling on his knees beside Polaris, who was supporting the man's

-head. "No museum I ever saw boasted a suit of armor like this one."

-The scientist ran a finger over the delicate tracery on the glittering

-corselet of the stranger.

-

-Polaris sought and found the catch which released the chin strap and

-laid the open helmet on the deck. Another chorus of exclamations

-greeted the appearance of the stranger's head. It was covered with a

-mass of wavy red hair, so red that it shone like flames in the sunlight.

-

-Rumors of the wonder on deck had drawn the grizzled MacKechnie up from

-his beloved engines.

-

-"Mark me, yon laddie's a Scot--if he isna' of the wild Irish," was his

-dry comment when he saw the fiery head on the deck.

-

-Undoing its buckle, Janess next laid aside the odd mask from the face

-of the stranger. Except that he had a high, bold nose and a mouth that

-closed in a thin, firm line, little could be made of the features of

-the man, they were so damaged by his long immersion in the sea and

-impressed by the tightly drawn trappings of the mask. But he apparently

-was a young man, of not more than thirty years.

-

-In vain Dr. Marsey endeavored to force the man's clenched teeth apart

-so that he might apply the neck of the brandy flask which a steward had

-fetched. The jaw of the stranger was set like a rock and resisted all

-effort, and the doctor was compelled to pour the liquor between the

-locked teeth.

-

-"If that doesna' fetch him, nothing whatever will," said MacKechnie,

-the nostrils of his ruddy old nose twitching.

-

-"Ah, he's getting it!" said Zenas Wright. With the first trickle of

-the brandy down his throat, the unconscious man stirred faintly. His

-mouth opened and closed again with a snap, and his hands unclenched and

-let fall the bits of beams they had held so long. He coughed weakly. A

-faint tinge of color flowed into his face. His eyelids twitched, but

-did not open.

-

-Dr. Marsey touched the man's temples and then his wrists with practised

-fingers.

-

-"I think that we shall hear his story yet," he said. "What he needs

-now is a bed and nourishment. Bring him below."

-

-Polaris looked into the battered face and was strangely stirred. The

-grim plight of the man he had rescued, the mystery of him, the strength

-of the spirit that seemed to dominate even that unconscious body; all

-struck an answering chord in the nature of the son of the snows. For

-he, too, had suffered and endured, almost to the gates of death, and

-had remained steadfast. Was it a premonition that made him feel so

-strongly that this man, should he live, would be his friend above many?

-

-When the sailors would have taken up the stranger, Polaris waved them

-aside, and himself carried the inert body below, the blazing head

-resting on his shoulder.

-

-MacKechnie gazed after him thoughtfully as he strode across the deck.

-

-"Beware, laddie lad, beware!" the Scotchman muttered softly. "'Tis only

-ill luck he'll be bringin' to ye, yon gowden mon. For ye hae saved him

-from the sea."

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Shivering throughout the length of her steel hull, the _Minnetonka_

-drove southward. A shrieking wilderness of wind and wave surrounded the

-ship. Reft from all guidance, she sheared through the furious waters

-with no more of volition than some monster projectile launched by the

-battling elements. Twice had the stout cruiser come free of scathe from

-the white portals of the Antarctic. Now she seemed winged by death to

-enter them once more and forever. In the grip of the tempest the ship

-was no more than a toy--a helpless, beaten thing.

-

-Calamity, like a black dog, had crept hard upon the heels of the

-bizarre stranger. He had not been on the cruiser for six hours when a

-storm burst, the like of which for violence no man on board the ship

-ever had seen.

-

-In an attempt to breast the gale and make for some port of safety,

-one of the propeller shafts--weakened perhaps by the pounding of the

-ice-drift months before--had snapped short off. Unequal to the double

-task, its twin had sprung beyond all use. Thereafter the scant mercy of

-chance ruled the destinies of the ship and of all she bore.

-

-Nor was the damage to the shafting all that disaster had wrought. In

-her great peril the ship was stricken dumb and could not summon aid.

-Her wireless was out of commission. She could send no call across the

-face of the waters to sister ships, bidding them to hasten to her

-succor.

-

-MacKechnie's dismal prophecy was likely to be visited, not on Polaris

-Janess alone, but upon the entire ship's company.

-

-In the pilothouse, with the gale screeching outside his windows,

-Lieutenant Everson bent above his charts; but he was helpless and

-well-nigh hopeless. Down in the engine room, its busy clamor stilled,

-MacKechnie sat and stared bitterly at the mechanism which he so loved.

-It was useless now, its splendid powers crippled, its fires dying away

-to embers. If the inward prayers of the engineer were fervent, the

-flow of Scotch profanity which passed his lips at whiles was far more

-eloquent. He, too, was helpless. He cursed the day when he had decided

-with Everson to round the Horn and take the eastern route. They had

-learned at Dunedin, in New Zealand, that the Panama Canal was closed by

-another Culebra slide, and they had thought that this was the quicker

-way to the port of home.

-

-Better the delay than this!

-

-On all the ship two hearts only were unshaken by the catastrophe. One

-was that of the stranger.

-

-Freed of his armor, his body cleared and his scarred face and arms in

-bandages, he lay tossing in a bunk in one of the cabins. Dr. Marsey was

-unremitting in his care of the patient whom the sea had given him. Hot

-gruel and small doses of brandy, administered alternately, had turned

-the ebbing tide of the man's vitality. He was gathering strength. But

-his consciousness still strayed beyond the powers of any tempest to

-disturb it.

-

-Another who thought nothing of the gale and its accompanying terrors

-was Zenas Wright.

-

-Coupled with his keen and scientific mind, there was in the old

-geologist the enthusiasm of a boy, and an overmastering curiosity to

-learn new things. Many and wild had been the guesses which had followed

-the finding of the red-haired stranger. That he had been shipwrecked

-was plain enough to all. But who and what was he?

-

-Some star out of _opéra-bouffe_, said one, out of a job and reduced to

-the necessity of wearing one of his own costumes. A lunatic, another

-said, and found more to agree with him. But whence the armor and the

-mask?

-

-Let guessers guess and tempests roar, said Zenas Wright to himself. He

-was on the trail of knowledge. So he slipped into the cabin where the

-stranger lay. He stood at the head of the bunk and looked down where

-the red hair of the derelict flared on the pillow. The impressions left

-by the straps of his mask had filled out, and the lineaments of the man

-were more distinguishable than they had been. It was an agreeable face,

-thought Zenas Wright; all of it that the bandages did not hide. There

-were distinct lines of humor at the corners of the straight mouth and

-tiny wrinkles at the base of the craggy nose--lines which said that the

-wearer of them was a hearty fellow, who ofttimes had laughed long and

-merrily at jokes, whether of his own or another's making.

-

-"But," thought Zenas to himself, "Marsey's been giving the fellow

-altogether too much brandy, or else he is in a rare fever." The

-geologist laid the back of his hand to the man's cheek. He found

-it cool. But it was ruddy to the ears, with the ruddiness that is

-associated with an intimate camaraderie with the wine cups.

-

-At the touch of the old man's fingers, the stranger ceased his tossing.

-His eyes opened. One flash from them Zenas Wright caught, and he saw

-that they were sea-blue, bright and leaping eyes. Then their lids

-closed. The man shook his head wearily, and from his lips trembled what

-might have been a moan or a muttered word. The scientist bent hastily

-to listen, but the man made no further sound. As the old man watched

-him, his form relaxed and he lay apparently in a dreamless, voiceless

-slumber.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-From the floor, Wright took up the shining helmet, and from a stand

-the queerly fashioned mask. He was about to leave the cabin when

-his attention was arrested by the garb which the stranger had worn

-underneath his armor and which was flung across the back of a chair.

-One garment it was, even to the feet of it, like the sleeping suit of a

-child. It was of a soft, fine fabric, almost of the thinness of gauze,

-yet firmly and closely woven and warm to the feel. But it was neither

-of cotton nor of wool, nor yet of silk, or any other material with

-which the scientist was familiar.

-

-He shook his head over it; and then, with the mask and helmet, he left

-the cabin.

-

-Straight to the deserted ship's laboratory the geologist went, and shut

-himself in. And there, some time afterward, Polaris, threading his way

-through the swaying corridors with Rose Emer clinging to his arm, found

-him.

-

-So busy with his work was old Zenas that he did not see or hear the

-entrance of Janess and the girl. For a time they stood in silence and

-watched him. They saw him spill drops from a vial on the surface of

-the helmet. Then he went at it with a small drill which he had fetched

-from the machine shop. That was a bit of hard work, for he puffed and

-mopped his brow. He collected with care the particles which fell under

-the bite of the drill. Those he tested with drops from another bottle,

-and then again, opening and discarding a number of chemicals. At length

-he got a reaction which appeared to satisfy him, for he chirruped

-gleefully and nodded his white old head.

-

-Next Wright donned the mask and fastened its straps. Polaris and Rose

-heard the whistling of his breath through it. He then drew a bucket of

-water from a tap, set it on one of the laboratory stands, ascended a

-stool, and suddenly plunged his head into the pail.

-

-Zenas had not stopped to figure out the displacement of the container

-of a well-developed scientific brain. It was considerable. Much of

-the water splashed out on the floor, and not a little of it went down

-inside the scientist's collar. Nothing daunted by the cold trickle of

-the inundation, he bravely kept his head in the bucket, from which

-arose at once a prodigious gurgling and bubbling.

-

-The old man's shoulders shook as though a fit of coughing had seized

-him. One minute, two, three, passed. Zenas stood so still that Polaris

-became alarmed. He stepped to the geologist's side and shook him by the

-arm. The only response he got was an impatient gesture of a hand, which

-seemed to say, "Go away and don't bother me."

-

-Presently Wright raised his head from the depths of the bucket, and

-ludicrous enough he looked, with the odd snout of the mask projecting

-from his face, his white thatch of hair all plastered flat and the

-water running from his beard and making a mess of his cravat and shirt

-front. But above the mask his little dark eyes were triumphant. When he

-saw Polaris at his side, he could scarcely wait to unfasten the mask.

-

-"There," he shouted, and he shook the thing above his head, "there is

-one of the greatest inventions of modern times. I don't know what is in

-the inside of it, or just what it does, but I'll find out. If that chap

-yonder is the inventor of it, he can take it to the United States, take

-out a patent on it and make a scandalous amount of dollars, and we can

-all become human submarines. How long was I down?"

-

-"About five minutes, Daddy Wright," said the girl, who had taken a

-strong liking to the plucky old geologist and his bluff ways.

-

-"Five minutes!" Wright's tones were awestruck. "And I took every breath

-regularly and naturally, except when I had to sneeze! And it was real

-oxygen I got, too. Not a drop of water came through this thing, and it

-was very good breathing. Well, I've made two discoveries."

-

-"And those are?" Polaris questioned.

-

-"That our friend yonder with the red topknot can live under the water

-like a fish, _and that he wears armor of gold which makes a light in

-the dark_. Look here."

-

-Wright took up the open helmet. Stepping to the switch, he shut off the

-lights in the laboratory.

-

-Faintly at first, and then strongly and more strongly, the helmet

-glowed in the darkness. The light grew, until the two men and the girl,

-standing close together, could dimly see each other's faces.

-

-It was uncanny, this strange metal headpiece with its fan-shaped crest,

-all luminous with a flickering and phosphorescent radiance.

-

-"What does it?" Rose Emer whispered, the tempest for the time forgotten.

-

-Zenas Wright turned on the lights.

-

-"I cannot tell," he replied. "But if it's not radium, it is something

-that is closely akin to radium. The outer surface of the helmet is of

-gold. I've tested it with acids. The gold is laid--not plated, but laid

-on thickly--over an inner shell of steel. And finely tempered steel it

-is, too, as my drill will bear me witness. But the light comes from

-still another metal, which is inlaid upon the tracery in the gold here."

-

-He turned the helmet in his hands. Over all of its surfaces were the

-fine lines of a design of twining vinery, with here and there small,

-conventionally shaped flowers. In the lines of the chasing was inlaid,

-as Wright had said, another metal. It seemed to be a reddish and rusty

-dust, which clung in the surface of the gold along all of the lines of

-the graven design. It was that which made the light.

-

-"That chap over there is no actor, and he's not a crazy man," said the

-geologist earnestly; "but an enigma that I'm going to solve, if the

-good Lord will give me the time. We had on this ship before he came two

-survivors of a history to make an archeologist weep tears of joy. Now

-we have a third, and, to my mind, more wonderful even than are they!

-

-"Boy--" He turned and clapped Polaris on the shoulder. "I only hope

-that I shall live long enough to pen the 'finis' to the book that I'm

-going to write some day!"

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-For seven days, fraught with perils through every passing hour, the

-hurricane belabored the staggering ship. South by southeast, the storm

-drove her on. The whip of the gale and the shock of the mighty waves

-which arose to meet its lash were incessant.

-

-Past the Falklands, their rocky headlands dimly seen through the flying

-scud; past the Aurora Island group, and on past lonely Georgia, the

-hard-pressed _Minnetonka_ fled down the raging sea path under the goads

-of the storm demons. Nowhere might she tarry. Candlemas Island and

-Saunders and Montague in turn were left behind, and then Thule, last

-link between the South Atlantic and the frigid wastes of the Antarctic

-Sea.

-

-Off the adamant cliffs of far Thule the cruiser nearly left her bones.

-She struck a hidden rock, struck so fiercely that the massive steel ram

-was torn from her prow, and with it the triple rails, with which she

-had been equipped to withstand the ice-shocks, in her antarctic voyage,

-were stripped from her entire starboard side.

-

-When Thule had disappeared in the murk, the swing of the tempest

-turned, and the cruiser was forced eastward in a whirling race of

-current and gale. Like a smitten thing that seeks a lonesome spot in

-which to die, the ship passed on into the mysteries of the uncharted,

-treacherous seas which lie east by south from Thule.

-

-Helpless still the cruiser rode. Unable to make repairs to her

-shafting, Lieutenant Everson did the only thing that he could do; he

-kept her head-on with the seas and let her run before the tempest.

-

-Through all those days and nights of peril the stranger lay in his

-cabin. His consciousness had returned, and at times he sat up and gazed

-curiously at those who visited him; but he seemed to be in a mental

-haze. He ate heartily of what was given to him, and his strength grew.

-He spoke to no one.

-

-Among the men on the _Minnetonka_ were those who, one or another, were

-conversant in nearly all of the languages of the civilized world. One

-by one they were called in by Zenas Wright to try their tongues on the

-stranger. He met them all with blank looks, sometimes with smiles; but

-he answered none. He seemed to comprehend none.

-

-Polaris visited the cabin often. His liking for the man grew. He

-imagined that the stranger was more cordial to him than to any of

-those who attended him. Once or twice the son of the snows surprised a

-wistful regard in the bright blue eyes of the man, an expression that

-was lost almost as soon as perceived. And once the stranger reached

-Janess's hand and held it with his own for a moment, turning it and

-feeling of its wonderful thews with his fingers. It was then that he

-seemed the nearest to speech. Presently he let the hand fall with a

-smile and a flash of white teeth.

-

-It was after that last disaster, off the hard coasts of Thule, that

-Engineer Ian MacKechnie went quite daft.

-

-What had come upon the ship had seemed to numb the Scotchman. By day

-and by night he sat in his silent engine room beside the lifeless

-boilers, his cold pipe clenched between his set teeth, his lips

-working. Occasionally he stumped heavily up the steel stairways to the

-decks. His stays above were brief always, and always he returned to the

-engine room. When he slept at all, it was only to nod in his chair.

-Before his bloodshot eyes strange fantasies played themselves through,

-and were sequeled in his fitful dreams. Always, they had the same

-grisly climax.

-

-In one of the night watches the old man appeared on the cruiser's

-bridge. Everson, almost as sleepless as the engineer, was in the

-pilothouse. The fury of the gale had subsided somewhat; but it still

-roared on with a vigor that chilled the strong heart of the commander.

-He saw the engineer as he came onto the bridge, and went out to speak

-to him.

-

-"Meester Everson," MacKechnie said, raising his voice to a shout to

-cope with the shrieking clamor of the storm, "Meester Everson, wull ye

-do a strange act and save the bonnie ship and a'?"

-

-"Why, what is it, Mac? What do you advise now?" the lieutenant asked.

-

-"'Tis you mon that the laddie plucked from the sea," replied

-MacKechnie. "Wull ye no gi' orders to cast him o'er the side again, and

-save the ship?"

-

-Everson answered with a short laugh. "This is a poor time for joking,

-Mac," he said.

-

-"'Tisna' jokin' wi' me, Meester Everson," MacKechnie said. His tones

-were deadly earnest. "Yon's no' a proper mon, whatever. He's one that

-has sorely angered the big sea, and the deep rages mightily for him. If

-ye dinna gi' him up, we'll all be ganging our way wi' him, down to auld

-Davy Jones." His voice rose shrilly. "I'm fey," he cried. "I'm fey, and

-I hae the secon' seeght! Heed me, mon!"

-

-Everson shifted his position so that he got the light from the

-pilothouse full on MacKechnie's face. It was drawn and wild-eyed.

-

-"You're a superstitious fool, Mac," the lieutenant said. "You had

-better go below and turn in. You look as though you had not had a wink

-in a week."

-

-"Supersteetious! Aye, mon, maybe, and a fu' to bootie," rejoined the

-Scot. "And I've been havin' no sleep, I grant ye. Ma certes, how can a

-mon sleep wi' _him_ glarin' and glommerin' yonder i' the engine room?

-Heave him o'er the side, I'm tullin' ye, Meester Everson, as was done

-wi' the prophet Jonah. 'Tis the only way whatever to save the ship.

-

-"Supersteetious! An' are ye no supersteetious yer ain sel', Meester

-Everson? Haven't I seen that ye always throw the deuces fra' yer hand

-when ye play for siller at poker? I tull ye, yon's a deuce-mon. He

-mustna' remain. Think it o'er, laddie; think it o'er. When ye hae seen

-what I hae seen--"

-

-He turned away, and the rest of his words were lost in the skirl of the

-wind. Suddenly he backed up, clutching at the bridge rail and colliding

-violently with Everson.

-

-"See! See!" he screamed. "He's comin' for me the noo! I lockit him fast

-i' the great kist i' the boiler room; but such as him are na' held by

-bolts or bars. He's comin' for me!"

-

-Moaning in abject terror, MacKechnie went down on his knees. He pointed

-at the decks below with a trembling arm.

-

-Everson looked in the direction indicated by the shaking finger of the

-Scot.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-A light hung at the foot of the bridge ladder. In the patch of radiance

-it made, stood the stranger. He was dressed from head to foot in his

-golden armor. His helm was on his head, and the whole flashed and

-shimmered in the rays from the lamp.

-

-As Everson stared at him, the man turned away from the foot of the

-ladder and walked to the rail of the ship. There he stood gazing out

-into the darkness and the storm.

-

-Unnerved by the sudden appearance of the object of their discussion,

-Everson hesitated for a moment. Then he started for the ladder to

-descend to the deck. MacKechnie, his teeth chattering with fright, laid

-hold of the lieutenant by the leg, but Everson shook off his grasp and

-went on. As the commander set foot on the ladder, the stranger quit the

-rail and came back toward the bridge.

-

-Everson, half-way down the ladder, called sharply as the man came

-opposite him. But the stranger did not pause or look up. He passed

-the bridge with steady steps and crossed the deck toward the main

-companionway. The lieutenant was about to proceed to the deck and

-follow, when a wild and wailing cry behind him, piercing above the

-booming of the seas, halted his step. He turned.

-

-It was MacKechnie who had screamed. He was on his feet and coming along

-the bridge. In the set face of the Scot was a look of such frozen

-horror that it shook the lieutenant. With eyes glaring straight ahead,

-the engineer passed Everson by as though he did not see him, descended

-the ladder to the deck, and walked to the rail. He paused where the

-stranger had stood only a moment before. He raised his hand as if to

-strike at some shape visible to him alone. Again he cried out wildly.

-

-Before Everson could move to stay him, the Scot climbed the rail and

-threw himself into the sea.

-

-Shouting to the men of the watch to fetch lanterns, Everson ran aft

-along the side. It was useless. The crazed MacKechnie, whirled away in

-a raging swirl of waters in which no man could live, was gone beyond

-their ken. No cry came back to his fellows from the blackness. Only the

-wind roared and the tortured waters thundered. In the plight of the

-ship it was impossible even to attempt to pick up the lost man.

-

-Far aft Everson clung to the rail, dazed, stunned at the suddenness of

-his old comrade's taking off. Knowing that he could do nothing to save

-the mad Scotchman, the lieutenant at length turned back and went below,

-to the cabin of the stranger. He threw open the door. The cabin was

-dark, except where the curious armor shed its glow along the floor. For

-that phenomenon Everson was prepared. Zenas Wright had told him of the

-luminous metal. What did surprise the lieutenant was that the armor lay

-on the floor. And so recently he had seen it on the cruiser's deck, and

-its owner inside of it. To that he could swear. He turned on a light.

-

-The stranger lay quietly in his bunk, apparently in slumber, his broad

-chest rising and falling regularly. Not the flicker of an eyelid

-betrayed that he was conscious of the keen scrutiny which the commander

-bent upon him. Almost then did Everson give way to the superstitious

-imaginings of MacKechnie. Then his searching eyes saw the gleam of

-drops of sea water which beaded the golden corselet and helm. He drew

-a long breath of relief; for he knew that he had not dreamed. Pursuing

-his investigations no further, the lieutenant returned to his vigil on

-the bridge.

-

-Next day, to the gratification of Dr. Marsey and to the general

-surprise of the others on the ship, the stranger left his cabin.

-Clothing had been provided for him, but he would have none of it and

-appeared on the deck clad in his armor. He proved to be an exceedingly

-curious man, the stranger. He went everywhere about the ship,

-apparently in fear of nothing, although the gale still ran high. He

-watched all of the operations of seamanship with the closest interest,

-but was careful to get in the way of no one.

-

-His ruddy face and flaming hair, with the outer trappings which he

-wore, made the man the object of much comment on the part of the

-sailors of the _Minnetonka_; comment which was not untinged with

-awe. All of that he heeded not at all. In the full possession of his

-faculties, he still was speechless. What communication anyone on the

-ship had with him was by means of signs, and that necessarily was

-limited. He took his meals with those who shared the officers' mess.

-Although it evidently was unfamiliar to him, he was quick to observe

-and to imitate the table etiquette of his companions.

-

-Only Everson was not surprised at his appearance. The lieutenant kept

-his counsel and waited.

-

-Word of the mad act of MacKechnie went abroad through the ship, spread

-by the men of the watch. Among the sailors, superstitious after the

-manner of their kind, grew a hostility to the strange man, an enmity

-that became more and more pronounced as the hours brought to the

-cruiser no relief from the battering of the elements. So strong did the

-feeling grow that Lieutenant Everson feared for the safety of the man,

-and told Polaris of it. Thereafter the son of the snows constituted

-himself a bodyguard for the stranger in his wanderings about the ship,

-and remained with him as much as possible. Zenas Wright, too, watched

-over his prize with the jealous zeal of a proper scientist.

-

-Not for worlds would the explorer allow this living conundrum to come

-to harm until he had solved him. The old man continually plied the

-stranger with English words, pointing out to him their equivalents and

-seeking to encourage speech. For, unless the man might be taught to

-talk, Zenas felt that his chances of learning more of him were slim

-indeed.

-

-To all of those advances the man answered with smiles only. He was very

-courteous, extremely good-natured, but beyond the ring of silence which

-he had drawn about himself, he would not or could not go.

-

-Everson was little surprised, although he was mightily angered, when,

-on the third day following the death of MacKechnie, he was waited upon

-by a delegation of his sailors with a demand that the stranger be sent

-from the ship. They did not ask his death--merely that he be set adrift

-in one of the cruiser's small boats. A sea was running in which such a

-craft could not survive for two minutes.

-

-Shamefacedly, but sullenly, the men listened to the stern rebuke of

-their commander. When they had left him reluctantly--and their ears

-must have tingled to his opinions of their superstitions--Everson

-redoubled his precautions for the safety of the stranger. The

-lieutenant was morally certain that at the first opportunity that

-should offer, an "accident" would befall the man from the sea.

-

-Abruptly as it had struck, the storm of wind subsided. It was succeeded

-by a torrential downpour of rain. The cruiser was left tossing on a

-choppy sea. Dead ahead to the south was land--what land, no one on

-the ship could say. A scant five miles away it loomed up before them

-through the mists and the driving rain, a long and towering coastline,

-the peaks of its frowning cliffs almost touching the low-rolling clouds.

-

-In this, the first respite from many hours of perils, Lieutenant

-Everson at once set about the task of repairing his crippled ship.

-

-Then the crown was placed upon the work of calamity.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Lashed no longer by the flail of the tempest, the _Minnetonka_ was laid

-to. Hope returned to those who rode upon her. Those who gathered on her

-decks were almost gay again.

-

-For the first time in many days the two Sardanians came up from their

-cabin. The Lady Memene had proved a poor sailor, and in her deathly

-illness that came of the buffeting of the ship, Minos never had left

-her side, but had nursed her with all the tenderness of a woman. The

-king remembered well a time, not long before, when he had lain near

-death, and her soft hands had soothed him, and her care had kept the

-spark of life within him.

-

-It was nearly noon. Chatting of their experiences in the storm, and

-laughing at their appearance in the oilskins which they wore against

-the rain, a little group gathered on the forward deck of the cruiser.

-Almost it seemed that the hand of fate collected and placed them there.

-Polaris Janess and Rose Emer, the Sardanians, old Zenas Wright, and

-Ensign Willis Brooks, a happy-go-lucky youth of large dimensions and an

-inexhaustible supply of good spirits, who was the second in command on

-the _Minnetonka_, made up the party.

-

-Presently Lieutenant Everson, his repair work well under way, came

-up from below and joined the others. Dr. Marsey might have been with

-them also, but the kindly physician delayed below to attend one of

-the engineers who lay ill of a fever. Before he had finished his

-ministrations, the stroke fell which was so strangely to alter the life

-course of every one of that party, and the good doctor was too late to

-be numbered among them.

-

-Almost on the heels of Everson the red-haired stranger ascended the

-companionway. With his armor on as usual, but dangling his helmet and

-his mask from his hand, he clanked across the deck, all unheedful of

-the anathemas that the sailors mouthed as he stalked past them.

-

-From the port in his cabin he, too, had seen the new land that lay

-ahead. He strode by the group on the forward deck, but his eyes were

-not for them. Ever watchful, Zenas Wright noted that the mien of the

-stranger was curiously excited. His blue eyes gleamed. His lips were

-parted. Something seemed deeply to concern him. He stood at the rail

-and studied the looming coastline long and searchingly. In his face was

-the rapt expression of the man who greets again a well-loved friend

-after an absence of many days. From the shore he turned his eyes to the

-sea and scrutinized it keenly.

-

-Zenas Wright, watching, started. What was the man about? Was he

-signaling? And whom? The explorer took a hasty step toward the rail to

-investigate.

-

-Beneath his feet he felt the deck of the cruiser heave like the breast

-of an unquiet sleeper. A terrific roar burst from the bowels of the

-ship, and she quivered in every plate of steel and oaken beam.

-

-"The magazine!" cried Everson. The commander dashed for the

-companionway, but he never reached it.

-

-Amidships the decks heaved up and opened in a yawning wound that rent

-the cruiser almost from rail to rail. Through the gap shot skyward an

-immense column of smoke, laced with spurts of flame, and spread fanwise

-many feet in the air. With it there ascended a mass of débris torn from

-the vitals of the ship. For yards around the waves splashed to the fall

-of the splintered wreckage. The swaying decks were littered with it.

-And some of the fragments were of steel and iron that clanged as they

-fell, and others were horrible shreds of men, and made no clangor.

-

-Paralyzed in his tracks, his eyes distended, his very flesh stirring

-from his bones at the horror of it, Everson faced the wraith of ruin

-that arose in his path. A new manifestation tore speech from his lips.

-

-"Look!" he shouted aloud in a strained and unnatural voice. "My God,

-look! _The color!_"

-

-In the heart and center of the standing column of smoke, seen faintly

-at first and then in blazing brilliance, towered a mighty pillar of

-light. But it was not like any light that any of those who gazed

-upon it had ever known. For it was neither of red nor white, nor yet

-of violet, yellow, or green, or any other color or hue of the solar

-spectrum. Radiant, scintillant, indescribably beautiful, it thrust up

-through the murk of disaster steadily and cruelly as the flaming sword

-of an unkind fate. It was this that had pierced the ship and exploded

-the magazine.

-

-Zenas Wright, who had looked unshaken on many strange things, looked

-upon this and cried out, even as had Everson:

-

-"The color! A new color! Impossible; yet it _is_!"

-

-With chaos and death linked together and roaring in front of him, the

-old man, true scientist to the last, bent his eyes on the flaming

-pillar in a challenging and analytical stare. If this was to be his

-final vision, why, he would learn what he might from it before he went

-into the shadow where all learning is valueless.

-

-Like painted puppets carved from wood, the men and women on the deck

-stood and gazed at the appalling ruin of that fell disaster. It was

-only a moment in the happening, but a moment that bore the burden of

-many moments in its intensity.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-The pillar of light moved, and those that watched saw that everything

-that it touched it destroyed. It swayed toward them, and the deck

-crumpled away before its advance. It swung back. In its path was one of

-the massive steel turrets of the cruiser. The light played against it.

-The turret tottered; the steel of it seemed to melt and disintegrate.

-The entire structure crumbled and crashed down, disappearing through

-the gash in the decking. With the fall of the turret the light vanished

-also.

-

-From the companionway came the horrid remnant of a man who crossed the

-deck to Everson. One of his arms had been torn away between the wrist

-and elbow. His features were blackened and marred beyond recognition.

-An eye was gone. His clothing hung about him in tatters, and the

-tatters were burning. He halted in front of the lieutenant and raised

-the maimed arm, from which the blood was spurting, in the semblance of

-a salute.

-

-"The ship--sinks. The--sea--on fire."

-

-He croaked the words brokenly, and fell, and died at the feet of his

-commander.

-

-Up through the gap in her bottom surged the sea water, and the ship

-began to settle. The _Minnetonka_ was sinking.

-

-Everson pulled himself out of the daze which in that moment of dread

-had benumbed his faculties. A glance he gave to the settling decks and

-the useless boats. He had neither men nor the time to unship them.

-

-He turned to his companions.

-

-"Those who have prayers to say had best say them; for this is the end

-of our traveling," he said simply. Suiting his action to the words, he

-knelt on the deck.

-

-At the side of Polaris Janess appeared the red-haired stranger. As he

-had once before, he now caught up the hand of the son of the snows.

-Holding it, he looked into Polaris's face and smiled, a fearless and

-whimsical smile.

-

-"A strong hand, my brother, strong to hold a kingdom. This is not your

-death that is coming. I will save you and these with you. I promise,"

-he said--and the marvel to Polaris and to the others was that the man

-who before had been speechless now spoke readily and in excellent

-English.

-

-Not waiting for the answer, which, in his surprise, Polaris was slow to

-give, the stranger left his side and ran across the deck. He strapped

-his odd mask over his face, clapped his helmet on his head and fastened

-it. He caught up from the deck a length of steel chain. With a run and

-a leap, he was gone--over the fast settling rail and into the sea.

-

-Scarcely had the golden helmet disappeared over the side when the waves

-crossed the decks to meet the water that was spouting from the interior

-of the cruiser.

-

-"A madman!" Polaris muttered. He turned and gathered Rose Emer in his

-arms. She clung to him, sobbing softly.

-

-"Be brave, dear heart," he whispered. "It isn't hard to die, and

-wherever we are going, we shall go together."

-

-Around them rose the waves.

-

-Held fast in the swirl of the sinking ship, every soul on the

-_Minnetonka_ went down with her. From Everson, kneeling on his deck, to

-the lowliest coal-passer in the depths of the cruiser, there was no man

-but bowed his face to the waters.

-

-Clasping his sweetheart with one arm, Polaris struck out fiercely. For

-a moment he cherished the hope that he might keep to the surface and

-reach the land beyond. But the suction of the sinking ship was too

-strong for even his giant strength. He saw the others, his friends

-struggling about him. The water came between his dear lady's face

-and his. He strove to reach her lips with his own. His lungs seemed

-bursting. His senses swayed.

-

-Through the green waters he saw a great golden shape like a globe

-approaching him. Another fantasy. Strong hands gripped him. They, too,

-must be dreams.

-

-The blackness became absolute.

-

-

-

-

-                              CHAPTER II

-

-                     THE LONG BLACK ROAD TO ADLAZ

-

-

-In illimitable darkness a spark glowed and lived, and the soul of

-Polaris Janess awoke and once more knew it was a soul. The silence

-of oblivion was broken by a roaring as of a thousand mighty rivers

-torrenting on their courses far underground. One by one the man endured

-the tortures that those must endure who come back from the claim

-of the sea. Slowly and with exquisite agony came the consciousness

-that his body still lived--an agony so keen that he fain would have

-wrenched himself free of the flesh and departed it. Fire, liquid and

-intolerable, raced through his every vein and artery. His head, no

-longer tenanted by a brain, it seemed, was a vast and empty cavern,

-through which wild winds moaned.

-

-An age it was in seeming that the soul fought its way through travail,

-back to command of the faculties it had quitted, until it had regained

-the mastery of its two provinces, the brain and the body. The fiery

-rivers were quenched. The winds ceased their roaring. With a groan and

-a shudder the son of the snows once more took up the burden of living.

-Weak and dizzy and deathly sick, he opened his eyes.

-

-He lay on a soft bed of furs in a small and swaying room. Almost at

-his elbow he heard the splash of waves against metal walls. Above him,

-an expression of sympathy and concern on his ruddy face, bent the

-red-haired stranger.

-

-When he saw the eyes of Polaris quiver open, the man smiled, a rare and

-winning smile.

-

-"Now, by the four rivers," he said, "I am glad to see you return to the

-living. So long did you tarry in the beyond that I thought that I had

-lost you."

-

-For a moment Polaris gazed into that rubicund countenance in

-bewilderment, but for a moment only. With the floods of life came

-memory. He tried to spring to his feet, but the struggle in the water

-and the nausea of his returning vitality had sapped the strength from

-him. He fell weakly back. The look he bent upon the stranger was

-poignant with its question.

-

-"Rose--the Rose-maid? Where is she?" he gasped, wresting the words out

-painfully.

-

-With a graceful gesture, the stranger drew to one side and pointed

-across the room.

-

-"Your lady? She is there," he said.

-

-On the other side of the room, only a few feet away, was another couch,

-similar to the one on which Polaris had found himself. Rose Emer lay

-upon it. The oilskins she had worn were in a crumpled heap upon the

-floor. Her gown, sodden with sea water, clung to her limbs. A careful

-hand had partly covered her with the folds of a robe of soft, dark

-furs. The coils of her long, chestnut hair, disheveled and damp, had

-fallen about her face and neck. Her long lashes lay upon her cheeks.

-Her lips were slightly parted. One arm hung down from the edge of the

-couch, its hand relaxed and open, the fingers limp.

-

-Long and earnestly Polaris looked at her. He could see only her

-profile. Her face was very white and still, outlined there against

-the furs. The light went out of his tawny eyes, and he set his teeth

-and turned his face to the wall. The sob that arose in his throat

-was wrung from the depths of a spirit sorely stricken. Now death were

-welcome indeed.

-

-"Grieve not so," the stranger said hastily. "She is not dead, and I

-am a fool to bring such fright upon you. She did but swoon when you

-yourself were overlong in returning to the realm of the living. Here."

-

-He passed an arm under the shoulders of Polaris, and assisted him to

-rise and cross to the other couch.

-

-Swaying like a drunken man, the son of the snows bent and touched the

-wrist of the girl with his fingers. When he felt the tides of the

-life-blood leaping through the warm flesh, a joy welled up within him

-that was akin to pain in its throbbing. Come what might, his lady

-lived, and once again there was light in his world. He laid his cheek

-against hers and he was near to tears in his weakness.

-

-Presently he raised his head, and for the first time gave a thought to

-his surroundings. The room he was in was shaped like the quarter of a

-circle. The couch on which he had lain was along the curved side of the

-room, and there the wall was of steel or iron, against which he could

-hear the lapping of waters. At each end, where the cabin narrowed to

-the points of its arc, were cabinets carved of polished woods. At the

-side where the girl lay the wall was of wood, also, and was pierced by

-a small door. A number of garments hung from pegs in the paneling. Near

-to the door, in a golden sheath, swung a heavy, short-bladed sword.

-

-Overhead was a crisscross of slender wooden beams, and in the midst of

-them was set a translucent globe of porcelain or clouded glass, through

-which a strong light was shed, light that was almost as clear in its

-quality as that of day.

-

-At the sight of those crossed beams, Polaris's memory stirred quickly.

-Where had he seen such before? Ah, he had it! It was just such a

-lattice-work that had made a raft for the stranger when he had found

-him floating in the sea. What was the meaning of it?

-

-The screaming fury of the tempest, with its menace to all that he held

-dearest; the terrible moments when the _Minnetonka_ went roaring down

-to ruin; the struggle in the sea; the agony of resuscitation; the grim

-fear that had choked him when he saw his dear lady lying there so pale

-and still--all those transitions had shaken even the strong will and

-cool brain of the son of the snows. He shook his head impatiently, as

-though the fog through which his mind groped were a physical fact, to

-be dismissed so.

-

-Here at his side was the living answer to the questions that now

-trooped thick and fast--the man who had promised him life on the

-sinking deck of the cruiser and who had made that promise good.

-

-"Where are we, and who and what are you?" Polaris asked him.

-

-The answer was as ready as it was surprising.

-

-"We are under the sea in the captain's cabin of a fademe in the navy

-of the great king, Bel-Ar. And I"--he bowed slightly and smiled--"I am

-the Captain Oleric the Red, also of the navy of the great king, but at

-present without a fademe to command."

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-So unusually circumstanced from his very birth had been the life of

-Polaris Janess that he long before had accepted and made his own the

-philosophy which the Prince of Denmark taught to Horatio. Things that

-the ordinary man would scoff at and reject as preposterous had been

-the incidents of his everyday existence. So now the extraordinary

-declaration of him who named himself Oleric the Red did not move him to

-any great show of surprise.

-

-Instead, there came to him the sorrowful vision of the good gray

-cruiser, sundered and wrecked and going down to the ocean's bed,

-bearing with her many a man whom he had been glad to call his

-friend--men who twice had risked their lives in the antarctic perils

-that others might live. With that picture in his mind came a thought

-that drove all the mists from his brain and made it burn with a sense

-of outrage and anger.

-

-He snapped himself erect, and with hands clenched and blazing eyes

-looked down on Oleric.

-

-"The breaking of the good ship yonder came not from within, but from

-without," he said sternly. "That great ray of strange light that

-cut her like a knife was some devil's device of these that you call

-fademes. Is it not true?"

-

-Over the face of Oleric passed a shadow that made it sad. But his eyes

-were steadfast and unflinching.

-

-"It is true," he answered. "I would have prevented it if I could have.

-Your ship has gone the way of all others which have come to the coasts

-of Maeronica."

-

-"Is it, then, the custom of your 'great king' so to greet strangers who

-come to his shores?" asked Polaris.

-

-"Such have been the orders of the king of Maeronica," replied Oleric.

-"Many a long century has rolled into the past since any ship, save the

-fademes, cast anchor in the harbor of the city of Adlaz. It is the law.

-It is so writ upon the sacred column. But it is a bad law."

-

-"An hour ago we had not guessed of the existence even of this land of

-Maeronica of yours, with its city of Adlaz and its rule of death in

-the sea," said Polaris. "All that we asked was to go our ways in peace

-and a safe journey to America. Now, because of the evil law of an evil

-land, a great ship's company is food for the fishes. You say well that

-it is a bad law.

-

-"And, hark you, Oleric the Red, I count the reckoning between this King

-Bel-Ar of yours and me as both long and heavy. I do not know how it

-will fall about, or when; but my heart tells me that some time I shall

-make settlement of that score."

-

-Rose Emer stirred and moaned, and Polaris turned to her. He knelt again

-at the side of her couch and chafed her hands.

-

-Running his fingers through his red hair, Oleric looked down at

-Polaris. A strange light shone in the blue eyes of the captain, and

-over his face spread a crafty and satisfied smile. He nodded his head

-as though a thought had come to him that pleased him much.

-

-"Yourself and the lady here are not the only ones saved from the ship,"

-he said at length.

-

-"What? There are others that live?" Polaris asked quickly. "Who, and

-where are they?"

-

-"In the opposite cabin of the fademe is the old man Zenas," Oleric

-replied, "and with him is the large and fat young man who made all

-of the jokes at the table on the ship. And in another fademe is the

-captain--Everson--and the two you saved from Sardanes, the giant Minos

-and the dark and splendid lady, Memene."

-

-"What know you of Sardanes?" Polaris asked. "And how comes it that you

-speak our English speech, now that your tongue is loosened?"

-

-Oleric smiled. "Though my tongue was idle on your ship yonder, my

-ears were not," he said, "nor were my eyes, and they gathered me much

-information. I know that you, whom they call the son of the snows, have

-lived a strange life and looked upon many wonders. But they are as

-nothing to the wonders which you are to see presently--and I, Oleric

-the Red, shall show them to you." He laughed soundlessly.

-

-"But the language--where learned you the English tongue?" Polaris asked

-again. "Surely it is not spoken in this Maeronica, this land whereof no

-man has ever heard."

-

-"Many years ago I learned it--from the lips of a slave. He, too, had

-been taken from the deck of a ship which was sunk by the fademes," was

-the answer of Oleric. He regarded Polaris keenly. Nor was that reply

-without its effect.

-

-"Slaves!" Polaris cried. "Is this another of the laws of this land of

-yours--to make slaves of strangers?"

-

-"It is the law of the great king," Oleric said. "Few such have been

-taken alive, but they have lived as slaves or died on the sands of the

-arena to make sport for the people at the great games which are a part

-of the Feast of Years."

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-For a moment, even Rose Emer was forgotten. Polaris looked up at the

-Maeronican captain with a blaze in his eyes that boded little of

-submission to the laws of Bel-Ar, the king.

-

-When he spoke, it was very quietly. "Law or no law, backs shall break

-and spirits set out on their journeys before I shall become slave to

-any man."

-

-"But the maid here," interposed Oleric--"would you bring doom upon her

-as well as upon yourself? Be not so rash, my brother. 'All things come

-to him that waits,' was a saying of that slave from whom I learned your

-tongue--O'Connell, he did call his name. I know not if his saying be

-true. I know he waited many long years, and death came to him."

-

-Polaris shook his head slowly.

-

-"There is little cheer in these words of yours, Oleric the Red," he

-said. "And I do not know why you should call me brother, for whom you

-foretell a life of slavery. But these things are bridges to be crossed

-when met." He turned back to Rose Emer. "Have you such a thing as wine

-on this ship?" he asked. "This swoon is long in passing."

-

-Again the red captain regarded the broad back with satisfaction and

-smiled his craftful smile.

-

-He stepped to the end of the cabin, and from the cabinet there fetched

-a tall glass flagon, bound with golden filagree-work, and a slender,

-twisted goblet. The liquor which he poured from the flagon was

-cherry-red, and sent forth a pleasing aroma.

-

-"Here is of the best in Maeronica," he said. "Trust a captain of the

-fademes to know it."

-

-Lifting Rose's head on his arm, Polaris held the goblet to her lips

-and let the red wine trickle down. As he did so, the door of the cabin

-was opened from without. A man thrust his head through and shouted to

-Oleric in a strange though not unmusical tongue. The captain answered

-him a word or two, and the door was closed again. Polaris saw that the

-man wore armor of a pattern similar to that of Oleric, and that, like

-the captain's, his face was ruddy. But his hair was black, and he wore

-a short, curling beard. While the door was opened, the purr of smoothly

-running machinery could be heard, and with it a steady hissing,

-bubbling noise, like that of escaping steam.

-

-Rose sat up suddenly and glanced around her with frightened eyes. She

-threw her arms around Polaris's neck and clung to him.

-

-"You lay so still," she sobbed, "I thought that you were dead. But you

-are alive--alive!"

-

-Oleric bent forward and spoke hurriedly.

-

-"We are nearing the harbor of the city of Adlaz," he said. "I do not

-know when I shall have opportunity to talk with you again. But if it be

-not soon, wait; and accept with patience, even though it shall try you

-sorely, all that shall happen.

-

-"Just now you asked me why I called you 'brother.' You saved me from

-the sea. On the ship yonder you and the old man Zenas, and another whom

-I grieve that I could not save, tended me when you thought that I was

-near to death. And after, when your sailors murmured, and they would

-have cast me into the sea, you guarded me from harm. All those things I

-know and shall not forget. That is why I call you brother. And back of

-all of those things there is still another reason, of which I hope to

-tell you soon. I learned from the slave O'Connell that the shake of the

-hands between men is a bond of friendship. Will you shake my hand, my

-brother?"

-

-Polaris took the proffered hand in a grip that made its owner wince.

-"It seems that despite the laws of Bel-Ar, the king, I have found a

-friend," he said. "I shall try to be patient, Oleric."

-

-"Hold your hand from anger," enjoined the red captain earnestly, "even

-though you be put to serve as a slave in the mines of Bel-Ar. And

-instruct your companions that they do likewise. Great days are coming

-upon Maeronica, and I promise you faithfully that you shall play a

-great part in them--"

-

-He broke his speech suddenly.

-

-Again the door swung open. Somewhere in the depths of the fademe a bell

-rang clearly. The noise of the mechanism ceased. The black-bearded man

-who had thrust his head into the cabin before, stood in the doorway and

-beckoned to Oleric.

-

-"Remember," warned the captain as he passed Polaris. "Patience and that

-strong heart of yours shall carry you far before your sun goes down."

-

-He went out and the door closed after him.

-

-"What does he mean, with his talk of slaves and the mines and all those

-strange names?" Rose Emer asked wonderingly. "Where are we?"

-

-Polaris told her all that he had learned from the captain. She heard

-him with wide eyes.

-

-"_You_--a slave!" she cried. "Ah, no, not that? Is it to be like this

-all our lives--to see happiness just ahead of us, but never reach it?

-Fate cannot be so cruel. Think what you have endured. And now to be a

-slave here in this terrible foreign land!"

-

-Perhaps Fate was listening then--Fate, who can be both cruel and kind,

-sordid and splendid, according to her whim. She had played many strange

-tricks on this man. But she now decreed that he should never serve the

-king Bel-Ar as a slave.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Soon after the departure of Oleric, the door of the cabin was opened

-again, and an armored man entered. It was he of the black beard, whom

-Polaris rightly guessed to be the captain of the fademe. With him came

-three other men, unarmored, who evidently were members of the crew of

-the craft.

-

-Sturdy, black-haired fellows these were, dressed alike in loose,

-neckless blue tunics of some woven material, with elbow-sleeves,

-and belted in at the waist. Beneath the tunics they wore long,

-close-fitting nether garments like the hose of the Middle Ages, only

-these were both hose and trousers, too. On their feet were shoes of

-soft leather, the tops of which came nearly to their knees, and which

-were laced with gay-colored cords. Their heads were covered with flat

-caps of cloth which resembled somewhat the tam-o'-shanters of the

-Scots. Those, too, were dyed in bright colors.

-

-With a motion of his arm the captain indicated to Rose and Polaris that

-they were to leave the cabin. The girl still was weak from her swoon,

-and tottered when she stood, and her garments were wet and bedraggled.

-Polaris wrapped her in the robe of furs with which Oleric had covered

-her, and lifted her in his arms. As he did so, one of the sailors spoke

-harshly and snatched at the robe. He was clumsy, and his fingers caught

-in Rose's unbound hair and pulled it so that she winced.

-

-Polaris set the girl down and in the same motion spun on his heel and

-struck the man under the ear.

-

-Well it was for the Maeronican sailor that the son of the snows, quick

-as was his anger at the affront to the girl, remembered the counsel of

-Oleric. Even as he struck, he remembered, and he opened his hand; else

-the stroke, directed by his mighty thews, had ended all things for the

-sailor. As it was, the blow partly lifted the man from his feet and

-shot him sprawling through the open door to fall heavily outside.

-

-From its peg on the wall the captain caught down the short-bladed sword

-and tore it from the sheath. At a word from him, his two remaining men

-plucked knives from their belts and closed in.

-

-Prospects of battle cleared the last of the numbness from the limbs of

-Polaris. He thrust Rose Emer behind him. He ran his eyes hastily over

-the cabin in search of a weapon, but saw none which would serve him. In

-another instant he would have sprung barehanded against the Maeronican

-steel.

-

-At that juncture a voice cried out, and Oleric the Red stepped over

-the fallen sailor and entered the cabin. Whatever may have been the

-failings of the red captain, slowness in action was not one of them.

-Gripping the two crouching sailors, each by the belt from behind, he

-tugged so mightily that their feet flew from under them, and they sat

-hard on the cabin floor. With a catlike leap, Oleric reached the side

-of the captain of the fademe and struck the sword from his hand. As the

-blade clanged on the floor, Oleric set his foot across it. Then, and

-not until then, did he seek to learn the trouble's cause.

-

-"What now, comrade," he said to Polaris. "Do you then court death so

-soon?"

-

-But when he heard of the sailor's action, he nodded his red head.

-

-"So would I have done," he said shortly. He turned on the other captain

-and spoke to him sternly in the Maeronican tongue. Almost choking in

-his rage, the commander answered him in sneering tones, and with a

-shrug of his shoulders stalked from the cabin. The sailors slunk after

-him.

-

-Oleric watched their departing backs with a hard and level stare.

-"Daelo grows insolent," he said. "He thinks, because I have had the

-misfortune to lose a fademe, that I shall get no pretty welcome from

-Bel-Ar. Maybe he is right. Bel-Ar loves not to lose his ships. Ah,

-well--" He, too, shrugged his shoulders, and then he smiled.

-

-"And you, my brother--" He shook his finger at Polaris. "Unless you

-learn to curb that fine spirit of yours, I need to be no prophet to

-foretell what shall befall you. But come; let us leave this place. The

-air of it grows foul."

-

-With Rose in his arms, Polaris stepped from the cabin and gazed

-curiously about him.

-

-He stood in a long gallery or corridor, some nine feet wide by thirty

-in extent. It was lighted brightly by a number of globes similar to

-that in the cabin. The flooring was of wood, the ceiling of steel.

-Opposite him was the door of another cabin. A few feet along the

-corridor ahead of him, toward the prow of the fademe, the floor was

-pierced to admit a large post or beam, which thrust up through it and

-disappeared through another opening in the ceiling of the gallery.

-Around the beam spiraled a slender winding stair of yellow metal.

-

-Oleric led on toward the bow. As he passed the stairway, Janess saw

-that it led to a small, towerlike structure above. A glance through the

-opening in the floor showed him another gallery, or deck, below, and he

-had a glimpse of a mass of mechanism and shafting. It was the engine

-room of the fademe into which he looked. Near the prow, the flooring

-was cut away again to allow the passage of what seemed to be a pillar

-of solid, yellow glass, as large around as the body of a man.

-

-As they passed the second pillar by, Oleric struck it lightly with his

-palm.

-

-"There is what brought death to your good ship, my brother," he said.

-"It is the secret of the power of the navy of Bel-Ar."

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-At the end of the corridor was an open door. Beyond it was a small

-chamber and another door. The chamber was constructed entirely of

-steel. Both of its doors were circular in shape, and they were fitted

-with valves and bars which made them resemble the breechblocks of

-enormous cannon. From beyond the second door came the sound of the

-splashing of waves and the hum of many human voices.

-

-Oleric passed through the chamber. At the outer door he paused and

-gave Polaris a hand with his burden. A breeze of salt air fanned their

-faces. Through the door Polaris saw an expanse of blue water alight

-with shafts of sunshine--for the rain had ceased--and the line of a

-rocky wall.

-

-"The harbor of the city of Adlaz," the red captain said.

-

-They stood on a metal deck six feet square on the extreme prow of the

-fademe. From the deck a narrow, swaying gangplank reached to the edge

-of the quay that was built of massive blocks of masonry, alongside of

-which the fademe was moored.

-

-At their right was the tossing blue and white of a harbor large enough

-to have given shelter to the ships of all the navies of the world,

-could they have come to it. Nearly three miles in width and length it

-lay, the whole girt round by the ring of a lofty mountain wall, in

-which on the seaward side there was not a notch or a break. Two hundred

-feet up from the water's edge the sheer cliffs towered, their faces

-smooth and precipitous.

-

-It was more a lake than a harbor that held the navy of Bel-Ar. Later

-the Americans learned that its only entrance from the sea was a natural

-tunnel many feet below the level of the water, through which the

-fademes passed out and in. The harbor was the giant cup or crater of a

-volcano, ages quenched.

-

-Along the wharves of stone and anchored in the lake rocked the fademes

-of the Maeronican fleet, each one resembling nothing so much as a

-monstrous goldfish carrying a glass tower on its back. Gold they were,

-indeed--and they shimmered and glittered in the sunlight as only gold

-can glitter.

-

-Like immense, flattened globes the fademes were fashioned--globes forty

-feet through their lengthened axes, and drawn to points at their stems

-and sterns. Where the dorsal fin of a fish projects from its spine,

-each fademe bore a small, round deckhouse with ribs of metal and sides

-of polished crystal.

-

-Yes; the harbor of Adlaz was very like a vast bowl with many goldfish

-(the fleet of fademes must have numbered one hundred and fifty). But

-they were far from being the harmless toys of children, these golden

-ships of the underseas. Deadly enspine, each fademe bore a small, round

-bee sent forth on cruel errands.

-

-On the dancing surface of the lake and in and out among the gleaming

-fademes plied a number of small open boats, driven by oarsmen, and

-here and there in the anchorage were scattered undersea craft of a make

-smaller by half and more slender than the fademes. These were called

-marizels.

-

-Back of the quays and the wharves was a line of low buildings of black

-and red stone, well constructed, with doors of wood and glass windows.

-Except that their architecture was quaint and ran much to carved faces

-of men and beasts, interspersed with squat domes and spires, they might

-have been the warehouses of some well-to-do port of the old world.

-

-An open space, a number of acres in extent, lay beyond the buildings

-and reached to the frowning face of the cliff-wall. The wall itself was

-pierced by a broad arch or tunnel wide enough for a squadron of cavalry

-to have ridden through it abreast and so high that a galleon's masts

-would not have touched its vaulted roof.

-

-Above the center of the arch, and carved in the rock of the cliffside,

-was a great round face, many feet across. It was a piece of sculpture

-to crook the fingers of a miser; for it was covered with beaten gold,

-so that it resembled a rising sun. That semblance was heightened

-further by long shafts or rays which extended from the face across the

-surface of the rock in all directions. They, too, were of gold. Work of

-a master-sculptor, it was, who had guided his chisel in bold, strong

-strokes. The features were noble, but the smiling lips were cruel, and

-there was cruelty in the golden eyes which looked down on the golden

-ships in the harbor.

-

-All these things Polaris saw from the forward deck of the fademe, and

-more. The quays and the court were black with people. At one side of

-the archway was drawn up a line of horsemen clad in steel armor. In

-the midst of the throng in the court a man in a yellow tunic and cap

-was cleaving his way through the press toward the wharf on a big black

-horse.

-

-As he crossed the swaying plank to the wharf with Rose Emer in his

-arms, Polaris heard a great cry of wonder go up from the crowd. In a

-moment he learned that it was not the appearance of the strangers that

-had caused the outcry. It was the return of Oleric the Red, who had

-long been given up as lost. Evidently the red captain was a popular man

-in his land. People crowded around him and clapped him on the back and

-gave him words of welcome home. Greetings none the less hearty for that

-they were tinged with a note of apprehension for his future welfare,

-which even Polaris could sense, though he understood no word of it all.

-

-Down from his horse sprang the man in the yellow tunic and enfolded

-Oleric in a mighty embrace. "Ah, old red bear, it is good for the eyes

-to see you once again. We had thought the fishes had you. But"--and he

-lowered his voice--"you will have to think of a pretty tale to tell to

-Bel-Ar. He raves at the loss of a fademe."

-

-"That he does," answered Oleric, "but I am good at the telling of

-tales, as you know. Besides, I have with me a matter of a small sack,

-which was not lost with the fademe, and which shall make the eyes of

-his queen to glisten. So mayhap I shall find forgiveness."

-

-The other ran his eye over Polaris and Rose. "What, more slaves?" he

-asked. "Orlas already has brought in three, and one of them a giant."

-

-"Yes, Brunar, more slaves." Oleric's face grew sober. "Poor souls. My

-heart is heavy for them, for they did save my life out yonder on the

-sea, and treat me kindly."

-

-"Here, old bear, take you my horse and ride on to Adlaz," said Brunar.

-"I have business here. I will come on anon through the canal in a

-marizel. And, if the hand of Bel-Ar lie not too heavy upon you, there

-will be a rare night to-night, a rare night; eh, old bear?" Laughing,

-he tossed the reins to Oleric and disappeared in the crowd.

-

-From the stern of the fademe they had quitted sounded a high-pitched

-voice in notes of vituperation. Oleric looked back. The captain Daelo

-stood on the rear deck of his vessel. When he saw Oleric turn, he shook

-his clenched fist at the red captain. With a laugh, Oleric flung back a

-remark of such import that it made Daelo dance upon his deck with rage.

-

-"Now there's a fool," grumbled Oleric, "who may be troublesome. I have

-the best of him this time, though. Back to sea patrol he goes. And

-there is a maid in Adlaz town--a sweet and comely maid, for love of

-whom he's well-nigh witless. I just did tell him that I'd comfort her

-in his absence." The captain tossed his head and laughed his soundless

-laugh.

-

-Bidding a lad hold his horse, Oleric led Polaris and Rose into one

-of the buildings near the end of the wharf. There, under a guard of

-sailors, they found old Zenas, the two Sardanians, Everson, and Brooks.

-Lacking an interpreter, such as Oleric, these others were in sore

-bewilderment. The stunning blow of the loss of the _Minnetonka_ had

-cast them in a depth of gloom, which the appearance of Polaris and

-Rose Emer and the few explanations they were able to give did little

-to lighten. Everson, especially, was like a man distraught. Even the

-scientific zeal of Zenas Wright for once was quenched, and he met the

-marvels about him with a listless eye.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Under orders from Oleric, men fetched from stables near the quays a

-long, low car, to which two span of horses were attached, and the

-Americans were bidden to take their places in it. Wild and reckless

-drivers these Maeronicans were. Two of them climbed into the car,

-turned their horses' heads toward the great archway and whipped them

-into a gallop. With a yell, the crowd parted. The hoofs of the horses

-rang on the stones of the paved courtyard. As they passed from the

-court into the tunnel, the line of steel horsemen came clattering after

-them. Oleric rode at the side of the car.

-

-At intervals in the walls of the tunnel were set translucent globes

-like those on the fademe, which shed a strong white light along the

-way. The flooring was paved and smooth. For perhaps five minutes the

-cavalcade thundered through the passage in the rock, and then it

-emerged again into the light of day.

-

-Ahead stretched a long, wide roadway, paved from side to side with

-blocks of black stone, fast embedded in a cement of the same hue.

-At both sides of the road were low walls, and beyond the walls were

-handsome mansions and grounds, where fair trees tossed their greenery

-and bright flowers bloomed amid a wealth of shrubbery. From the

-splendid and fragrant lawns men and women looked forth as the car

-whirled past, and children left their play to run to the walls and

-stare wide-eyed at the strangers.

-

-Most of the men were garbed as had been those of the fademe's crew and

-also the crowd at the harbor, in loose, belted tunics and hose, but

-finer in texture and more showy in coloring than those of the commoner

-sort.

-

-Some of the old men wore flowing gowns. The women and children were

-clad in short kirtles. Everywhere was a riot of color. The garments

-of the people were gay with many tints and hues. The grounds were

-flecked with flowers. The dwellings, all of which were built of stone,

-made their brave show of colors, too. The quarries from which the

-masonry was cut yielded white and black and red stone, and in their

-construction work the builders had varied them pleasingly.

-

-From the tunnel's mouth at the base of the ancient hill, the long,

-black road sloped up gradually. Far ahead loomed the walls and domes

-of a great city. Oleric rose in his stirrups and pointed to where they

-were outlined against the sky.

-

-"Yonder lies Adlaz, chief city of the Children of Ad," he cried.

-

-Midway in their course to the city, the shouting drivers pulled their

-horses suddenly to one side of the road, and the riders of the escort

-scattered to right and left to leave a clear passage. From far up the

-wonderful street sounded the clash and clatter of pounding hoofs in

-desperate haste.

-

-But no horse it was that galloped so madly from Adlaz town to the sea,

-but a giant, bronze-coated bull. On he came, head down and tail aloft,

-his hoofs striking fire from the smooth, hard rock of the roadway. At

-intervals he gave voice to a deep-throated bellow.

-

-He was still three hundred yards from the car when Rose Emer screamed

-out in horror. "Ah, the child! Save the child!" she cried.

-

-From one of the mansions farther up the street, a child had strayed,

-a baby girl, a fragile, black-haired little thing, not more than five

-years old. Shrieking with laughter, she had eluded her mother and run

-out through the gateway to the center of the road. Half-way across the

-pavement, she slipped and fell. Down the street on thundering hoofs

-came the great bronze death.

-

-Upsetting one of the drivers in his haste, Polaris leaped down over

-the wheel of the car. Scarcely had his feet touched the roadway, when

-Minos, the Sardanian, was down behind him. Snatching a short spear from

-the hand of one of the steel riders, the son of the snows bounded up

-the street to meet the bull, going at a speed which few living things

-could have equaled. Over his shoulder he called to Minos:

-

-"Care for the child, Minos; leave the beast to me."

-

-Just beyond where the baby girl lay, he met the furious mass of

-charging flesh. The little red eyes of the oncoming monster saw the man

-in its path, and for an instant the bull seemed to halt in its stride,

-and its hoofs slid on the smooth pavement. Then it lowered its head

-still farther and charged on with a roar.

-

-From the tail of his eye, Janess saw the Sardanian snatch the baby from

-the perilous path and leap to one side. Behind them the red captain,

-shouting and cursing, alone of all the troop of riders strove to urge

-his affrighted horse forward.

-

-"Hold! Hold!" he shouted in English. "Let the beast go!"

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Even had he heard, Polaris would have been little minded to let the

-bull go free. It was plain that the animal was mad. A bloody froth

-dripped from its jaws as it ran. Behind the son of the snows, right

-where the bull was headed, were his friends, and among them one who

-meant more to him than all of the rest of the world.

-

-Directly in the path of the lowered horns, that were coming on with

-the power of a mighty battering-ram, Polaris stood. Then he sprang

-sidewise, turning as he leaped. So narrowly did he time the onset that

-the shoulder of the bull grazed his knee. As the huge body passed him,

-the man drove the short spear home behind its shoulder, guiding the

-steel with the strength of arm and the keenness of eye that had helped

-him to survive through the long years when combat with the beasts of

-the wild was a part almost of his daily existence.

-

-The stroke was true. So deeply did the steel spear bite, that its shaft

-was wrenched from the hands of Polaris, and he was pitched on his side

-on the pavement.

-

-Unhurt, the man was up in an instant, but his work was done. That bull

-would charge no more. He lay dead at the side of the roadway, his

-tongue thrust out, his eyes glazing, and his life-blood making a pool

-on the stones. The Maeronican spear was set fast in his heart.

-

-Hardly was Polaris on his feet again when the armored horsemen rode

-down on him with lifted spears, cursing him in their own tongue. Oleric

-had conquered his horse, and he now interposed to prevent another

-struggle which would have been all too one-sided. For, weaponless as

-they were, the three other American men clambered down and ran to the

-aid of Polaris.

-

-Minos, who had returned the child to her mother, who knelt half

-fainting in her gateway, was the first to reach his side. Though he

-bore no weapon, the giant Sardanian squared his mighty figure and made

-ready to withstand the onset of horse and steel.

-

-Polaris leaped to the side of the fallen bull and tore the spear from

-its body. Then he turned on the horsemen. He could not guess the cause

-of their sudden anger, but he, too, was ready.

-

-Before blows could be struck, Oleric thrust his horse into the

-open space between the friends and the Maeronican riders. By dint

-of persuasion, interlarded with not a few threats, he induced his

-followers to forego their hostile intentions.

-

-"You fools!" he shouted. "Would you cheat Bel-Ar of the terrible

-vengeance he is sure to take, and have a part of it fall back on you

-for balking him?"

-

-When he had quieted his men, the captain turned gloomily to Polaris.

-

-"My brother, your doom is sealed, indeed," he said. "This is one of the

-sacred bulls from the temple of Shamar, the great sun, that you have

-slain. When one of these goes mad, as did this one, no man in the land

-does aught to stay it. That is the law. From its horns to its hoofs,

-every hair of it is sacred. Bel-Ar may forgive me the loss of a fademe,

-though it will be a great vexation to him; but the death of one of

-these sacred bulls of Shamar he will not forgive any man. Sooner might

-you expect mercy if you declared yourself a follower of the Goddess

-Glorian of Ruthar. In this matter I cannot hope to persuade him. By

-the bones of the ten thousand kings, I am sorry that this thing has

-happened!"

-

-But later, as they rode on toward the city of Adlaz, the red captain

-seemed to be far from rueful. He rode behind the car, and, when he

-thought none was observing him, he smiled to himself, as though the

-course events were taking pleased him very well indeed.

-

-

-

-

-                              CHAPTER III

-

-                            THE KING JUDGES

-

-

-Like the shape of a mighty wheel with four spokes was the plan of

-the city of Adlaz--or more like a circle drawn around the angles of

-a cross, the curved line of the outer boundary passing through the

-far-flung arms. Built in a long-ago time of perils and wars, Adlaz

-was a walled city, and its wall was both stout and high, and set with

-many castellated towers. It was also a very ancient wall, to which its

-moss-grown, weather-worn gray stones bore witness.

-

-In all of the sweeping circumference of the outer wall, which enclosed

-some ten square miles of street and square, there were four breaks

-only, and those were protected by ponderous gates of bronze and guarded

-well by soldiers of the king. Those breaks were where the rim of the

-wheel met its four spokes. The wall was the rim. The spokes were four

-wide roadways, which ran east, west, north and south from the city's

-center. The hub of the wheel was a park or esplanade, fronted on all

-sides by magnificent buildings in which the colored rocks hewn from the

-Maeronican quarries were blended splendidly. In the very center towered

-the massive structure of the Temple of the Sun, built all of white

-marble, the tips of its hundred spires capped with solid gold.

-

-Other and many streets were laid out in all directions within the

-angles of the four great avenues; but none was so wide as they by many

-feet. Within the wall dwelt nearly half a million souls, Maeronicans,

-if one named them from their country, but loving to call themselves the

-Children of Ad, after their city, which in turn drew its name from a

-certain mighty king, the time of whose rule was so lost in the mists of

-dim antiquity that he was little more than a tradition in the mouths of

-the people.

-

-Across from the Temple of the Sun, and in the northeast angle of the

-arms of the cross, stood the palace of the kings of Maeronica, another

-immense pile of masonry, built also of a solid color, not dazzling

-white as was the marble of the house of the god, but the deep, rich

-red of granite porphyry. Back of the palace lay the barracks of the

-king's guard of half a thousand picked men, his stables, and the

-quarters of countless servants. In the southwest angle was the Place of

-Games--a hippodrome and circus, with an amphitheater of black basalt

-of an age and splendor that would not have shamed the proudest days of

-seven-hilled Rome itself, although its foundation stones were laid long

-before Remus leaped over his brother's wall.

-

-Around the hub and extending to the wall were the homes of the Children

-of Ad--nobles, captains, rich idlers, merchants, money-lenders, and the

-common people. In latter years, since Adlaz, strong and triumphant,

-defied her enemies, it had been the pleasure of many of her wealthier

-sons to build their mansions beyond the sheltering wall of the city,

-and along the four splendid roadways stretched many a fair and wide

-estate. Such were those the prisoners from the fademes saw as their car

-was driven up the long, black road from the harbor in the mountain.

-

-It was late afternoon, and the sun was casting his last slant rays over

-the distant mountain-rim, when the car was halted at the bronze gates

-of the western entrance to Adlaz. The red captain trotted his horse

-forward to parley with the captain of the gate-guard and explain why he

-led Brunar's horsemen, and who were these whom he brought with him to

-the city. That parleying was added to by one of the riders in steel.

-Whatever he told the gate-captain, it did not add to that worthy's

-esteem for the captives, for he favored them with an exceedingly evil

-look as they rode through his gates.

-

-"Ugh-h," remarked Ensign Brooks, "I can't say that I care for that

-party. He has a lean and hungry look. Speaking of hunger, I wonder how

-soon we will get where we are going to, and whether it will be supper

-time when we get there. I could eat cat right now, I'm so near to

-starvation."

-

-Oleric heard him and replied with a smile. "You shall eat soon, and of

-good fare. So much at the least I can promise."

-

-To which the ensign replied with a stare. For the young naval man did

-not like the red captain and his ways, whom he blamed partly for the

-loss of the _Minnetonka_ and all of the rest of the troubles, of which

-this land seemed to hold a plenty.

-

-Soon after the car entered the gates, the sunlight faded into dusk, and

-then white-capped messengers passed through the streets, plucking the

-cloth hoods from globes which were fixed on posts of stone at intervals

-along all of the ways. From each globe, as its hood was removed, sprang

-a broad circle of white light. On the tall buildings and their many

-spires and on the towers of the city wall similar lights flared up.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Except for the quaint architecture of the place, and the strange

-garb of the folk who thronged its streets, the Americans might have

-imagined themselves entering some stately capital of the modern world,

-and not Adlaz of Maeronica, the oldest of all peopled cities of the

-earth--older, indeed, than many among the buried ruins in which

-archeologists love to delve.

-

-For its pavements were curbed and guttered, and between them and the

-building fronts and lawns were walks of stone, bordered by well-ordered

-rows of trees and many shrubs and beds of flowers. The people who

-walked the streets, too, were quiet and orderly folk. They stared hard

-at those who rode in the car, but there was no unseemly outcry. Only

-an occasional shout of surprise and welcome went up as some group of

-strollers recognized the merry face and flaming poll of Oleric the Red.

-

-At all of these marvels the two Sardanians gazed wonderingly and talked

-together of them in their tongue.

-

-"Ah, surely here is one of the greatest cities of the world of men,

-my prince," said the Lady Memene. "Note the mighty towers yonder and

-how they flash and gleam. And the folk! In one short ride we have seen

-enough of them to people two lands like our own lost Sardanes."

-

-"Aye, Memene, these be wonders, indeed," Minos answered. "And here

-is a kingdom and a city well worth the ruling over. Yet these, even

-these, must be as nothing to the things beyond in the greater world,

-whereof Polaris hath told us. I wonder if we shall ever reach them.

-For myself, though, I find this land and its folk more to my manner of

-understanding than the world-dwellers way to the north. Here, methinks,

-one might, did opportunity offer, carve out a kingdom for the king that

-is to come."

-

-Memene flushed and hung her head, and the two of them lapsed into

-thoughtful silence.

-

-Truly, Minos of Sardanes lacked not in ambition.

-

-"Too late, now, to hope to meet Bel-Ar the king before the morrow,"

-Oleric said. "And perhaps that is as well. By another coming of Shamar

-his wrath may have cooled somewhat, though 'twill still burn hot

-enough, I'll wager."

-

-The charioteers drove their car to the front of a long, low building,

-the façade of which verged almost upon the pavement of the black avenue

-which was known as Chedar's Flight, because of an ancient battle which

-had been fought along its course. There, the riders of Brunar left the

-car and clattered away up the street to their own place. A group of

-street idlers surrounded the car and began to discuss its passengers,

-taking note especially of the giant form of Minos and the beauty of the

-two ladies.

-

-"This was a palace, once, but it serves as a prison, now," Oleric said

-to Polaris, as gates of bronze were thrust back and the charioteers

-drove through and into a roomy court, partly paved and partly lawn and

-trees. "Sorry I am, comrade, that this must be, but 'tis not of my

-working."

-

-"I blame you not, friend," said Polaris. "But other days bring other

-fortunes. I do not think that I shall stay long in your prison. And it

-comes to me also that your king best had let this party depart his land

-in peace, else the next turn of the wheel may bring to him that which

-he least desires. And I think that you may have a hand in that turn,

-Oleric."

-

-"Are you a prophet, my brother?" exclaimed Oleric, searching the face

-of Polaris for a hidden meaning. "For if you be not one, then you have

-a rare spirit."

-

-"No prophet I," Polaris answered. He sprang down over the wheel and

-stretched his weary limbs. "Only at times, when all seems black, my

-heart does whisper courage, and then all things turn well. It did so

-just now, when I saw the lights spring up along that splendid street

-out there." He held up his arms and assisted Rose Emer to alight from

-the car.

-

-Oleric gazed at him curiously. "So you think that the wheel will turn,

-and that I will have a hand in it, my brother, do you?" he whispered to

-himself. "Perchance I shall."

-

-He swung down from his horse and cast the reins to an attendant.

-

-"What! Mordo! Where do you tarry? Here be guests for you," he shouted.

-

-They stood in the dusk under the spreading boughs of an ancient oak and

-waited while a tall, loosely built man, black-bearded, and clad in the

-armor of gold that was the badge of power in Maeronica, came down from

-a pillared porch on the other side of the court and shambled across.

-They noticed that his step was somewhat uncertain, and once or twice he

-stumbled as he approached.

-

-"Mordo, captain, and keeper of the king's prison house," Oleric

-muttered to Polaris. "He's a good fellow, but does love his wine cup

-exceeding well."

-

-As the prison keeper came across the stones and the grass, he shouted,

-and an underling ran to him, swinging a lighted globe encaged in a

-metal net. Mordo took the lamp and cast its rays on the party. His face

-was flushed, and his eyes rolled until they saw Oleric. Then his mouth

-gaped in a delighted grin.

-

-"Hoy! Hoy!" he exclaimed. "By the wall and the beasts and the shadows

-of the fathers of Ad, if it is not my old bottle-crony come sailing

-home again! I thought my ears had lied when I heard that voice in the

-dark." He set the lamp down and pitched forward, steadying himself with

-his hands on Oleric's shoulders. "And the same old dekkar, eh?" (A

-dekkar was a broad goldpiece of the coin of Maeronica.) "They said that

-you were gone across the black river, but I believed them not. 'Not

-Oleric,' I told them. 'Not so long as there is left unemptied a single

-one of those long-stemmed bottles in old Mordo's cellar.' And I was

-right, eh, old firetop? Ah! Many a glass shall clink to-night, and many

-a rack be made lighter when Brunar and the others come."

-

-Mordo threw his head back and laughed, a roaring gale of mirth.

-

-"Why, I was so lonely to-night that already I have cracked two flagons,

-just for the good wine's company."

-

-"So it seems," put in Oleric, sniffing. "Are you sure there were only

-two of those flagons?"

-

-"Mayhap it was three; I care not; there's still space for more, as you

-well know," Mordo replied, still shaking with laughter. He took up his

-lantern again.

-

-"But whom do you bring with you to Mordo's house?" he asked, peering

-once more at the strangers. "Women, too! And pretty ones!"

-

-"Have an end to your banter, Mordo," Oleric interposed. "These be six

-guests for whom Bel-Ar will ask accounting. Hold them well. And harken,

-old friend; treat them kindly and to the best you have, for they did

-befriend me when I was in evil straits and sore in need of friends.

-That tale you shall hear later. Now hasten and bestow them. They are

-weary. And bethink you, man, your wine grows stale with waiting to be

-drunk, and my throat aches for the smack of it."

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Through his porch and into the depths of the building beyond, Mordo led

-the party. Along many halls and passages he led, and through gates and

-doors of bronze and steel, whereof an attendant bore the keys.

-

-An ill place, this, to come out of, thought Polaris, noting the

-strength and number of the gates. Nor did the son of the snows relish

-at all the grim clanking of chains which issued from certain of the

-chambers which they passed along their route.

-

-At length the jailer paused, in a hall so wide that its boundary walls

-could be seen only dimly by the light of the few globes which hung from

-its pillars of black stone, and so lofty that the pillars' tops were

-lost in the upper dusk. The hall was circular, and all around its walls

-were the doors to lesser chambers.

-

-"Here may your stranger friends from the sea await the pleasure of

-Bel-Ar in peace," hiccoughed Mordo. "And 'tis better by far for them

-than some of the places that I have below, as you know, Oleric. Kings

-have sat in judgment here, and the beds in yonder chambers--queens have

-slept on them. May your guests sleep well, old fox; I can offer them

-no better, no better lodging place than the audience-hall of the great

-King Bel-Tisam. I'll send them meat and wine. Now haste we to those

-bottles. Shamar send that Brunar be not long delayed."

-

-"Here I must leave you for a space, my friends," Oleric said. "I

-would have you believe that I am not ungrateful for many good deeds

-remembered, and I hope yet to find the means to repay them. To-morrow I

-will go with you before Bel-Ar the king."

-

-He bowed and went out with Mordo.

-

-Presently came men with an abundance of fresh-cooked meats and

-trenchers and tall bottles of Maeronican wine.

-

-Little heart for conversation was there among the seven friends. Each

-was busy with bitter thoughts. They ate, sitting on cushions about a

-low table which the attendants spread for them at the foot of one of

-the pillars. The two women, weary from the events of the day, soon went

-to their rest. Old Zenas Wright was not long in following their example.

-

-"I'm growing old, boys," he said as he left the table. "And this has

-been a hard day--a terribly hard day. We appear to have strayed far

-into the yesterdays. To-morrow we will talk, and it will be strange

-if we cannot between us figure our way out. I don't want to leave my

-old bones in this place. I intend that they shall be buried in Woodlawn

-Cemetery in Buffalo, near where I was born; ah me, where I was born. I

-vow and vum, I've seen some mighty queer sights since I walked up Main

-Street last."

-

-The geologist turned and trudged sturdily away to the chamber which he

-had selected for his own.

-

-Soon only Polaris and Lieutenant Everson were left in the great hall,

-Janess lying stretched on the floor, his head pillowed on his hand, and

-the lieutenant standing gloomily with folded arms, his back resting

-against one of the pillars. For many minutes those two talked of the

-things which had befallen; but neither one had a plan to offer.

-

-"We must trust to the wit of this Oleric, of which I think he has

-plenty," said Polaris at length. "I believe that he wished us no ill,

-and I believe, too, that he forms some scheme for our advantage, though

-what it is I cannot guess."

-

-"I don't like him," Everson said bluntly. "He is one of this nation of

-devils whose submarine sank my ship. Oh, for a few files of marines and

-a couple of twelve-inch guns!"

-

-When Everson had gone, Polaris still lay at the foot of the pillar,

-thinking and planning, for he was a man in whom hope never died. He

-dozed at length, but suddenly he was wide awake. And, though he did not

-at once open his eyes, his wilderness-trained faculties, keen as those

-of any animal, were alert and watchful.

-

-Something had come into the hall.

-

-Nothing in living shape ever had struck fear into the heart of Polaris,

-and he had a healthy disbelief in the supernatural. He was not afraid

-now. But he felt that the presence that had entered the hall was both

-baleful and menacing. He felt the fixed regard of hidden eyes, and it

-sent an uneasy thrill through the roots of his hair at the back of his

-head. Whatever it was that had wakened him, it was not in the direction

-of the chambers where the others of his party lay, but far across the

-hall.

-

-Cautiously he opened his eyes.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-At first he could make out nothing. Then something stirred soundlessly

-from behind a far pillar near the wall. Polaris stared hard, and his

-eyes were almost more than mortal keen. For a fleeting instant he saw

-it clearly--the shape of a tall old man with snowy beard and hair, and

-with piercing eyes, full of evil. The man was dressed in flowing robes

-of white, on the breast of which glittered some object of burnished

-metal.

-

-For an instant only the vision persisted on Polaris's retina. Then it

-was gone, and with no sound that even his sharp ears could catch.

-

-Polaris snapped himself to his feet and bounded across the hall on

-the balls of his feet, almost as noiselessly as the shadow which had

-departed. And it had departed. Along the wall and behind the pillars

-Polaris glanced quickly. There was nothing there. Back of the pillar

-where he had seen the white shape was the closed door of a chamber. He

-tried the door and found it fast. He listened.

-

-From the darkness beyond the closed door, he thought he heard the ghost

-of a thin chuckle. Immediately his attention was drawn to another

-quarter. Close behind him arose a deep growl, which had nothing ghostly

-in its quality, but was most material. Polaris spun upon his heels.

-

-Some ten feet from him, and beside one of the pillars, from the foot

-of which it evidently had arisen, stood a huge dog. It was the first

-animal of its kind which the son of the snows had seen in Maeronica,

-and the largest he ever had set eyes on in his life; larger by far even

-than gray old Marcus, his friend and comrade that he'd left behind in

-Boston town.

-

-This brute was neither Great Dane nor mastiff, though in points it

-resembled both of those breeds. Its jaws were square, and its head and

-neck were massive. The tips of its powerful shoulders were a long yard

-up from the stone floor where it stood.

-

-It was smooth of coat and of a glossy, blue-black color, except on its

-breast, where was a triangular patch of tawny yellow. Its ears had

-been clipped and stood erect and pointed. As it regarded the man, its

-big eyes glittered in the dim light. Its lips were writhed back from

-formidable teeth.

-

-Another low growl rumbled from its deep chest.

-

-Instinctively, dogs trusted Polaris. He had had much experience with

-their kind, and never had he seen one that in the end he could not make

-his friend. Unhesitatingly he extended his hand and crossed the floor

-to where the big beast stood. He guessed that it must have come in

-with the old man whom he had glimpsed, and had been left behind when

-the silent visitor had made his hurried departure. As he drew nearer,

-Polaris saw that the animal wore a broad leather collar, bossed with

-gold.

-

-Unhurriedly, the son of the snows approached the brute until there was

-not the space of a yard between them. There he paused. The dog neither

-shrank nor cowered, but waited with muscles tensed and teeth exposed.

-Polaris was very watchful.

-

-"Good fellow," he said.

-

-At the sound of the man's voice, the dog shifted his position slightly.

-His head swayed. From Polaris's face he glanced to the outstretched

-hand. The bristling hackles at his neck subsided. He took a stiff

-step forward, then another. The tip of his cold muzzle touched the

-man's fingers. He sniffed. A long, red tongue crept forth and licked

-Polaris's hand. Another step, and the brute rubbed his great head

-against the man's thigh.

-

-"Ah; I thought you would," said Polaris. "Come on." He turned and

-crossed the hall to his sleeping chamber. The dog padded beside him on

-silent feet. The last thing the son of the snows heard, after he had

-called Brooks to take the watch, and closed his eyes to slumber, was

-the sigh of the huge beast as it stretched itself before his open door.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Worn of body and of nerves, Polaris slumbered deeply. Shamar rose high

-in the east and lighted the golden spires of his mighty temple in Adlaz

-town; still the man slept on, and as he slept, he dreamed. Far into the

-white, mysterious southland his fancies led, to a waste of ice and snow

-and bitter winds. He drove a team of splendid dogs--his gray brothers

-they seemed to be in the dream, those tried friends who had given their

-lives for their master, and of whom Marcus, if he still lived, was the

-last.

-

-On the sledge which the dogs drew, rode Rose Emer, wrapped in furs,

-as in truth she once had ridden. There, too--and even in the dream he

-seemed strangely out of place--was the Maeronican captain. Yes, Oleric

-the Red trudged through the snows beside the sledge, clad in his golden

-armor, his teeth chattering in the chill blasts of the wilderness, and

-bearing in his hand a naked sword.

-

-Danger, unseen, unknown, but frightful, encompassed the wanderers in

-the snow path. The dogs snarled and tore at their harness. Oleric ran

-forward, waving his sword, which seemed to drip blood on the white

-snows, and shouting.

-

-"Up, brother, and call off this beast of yours!" the red captain cried.

-"For soon must we go before Bel-Ar."

-

-With those words ringing in his ears, Polaris awoke. He sprang from his

-couch to the middle of the chamber. No dream's part was the shouting of

-Oleric. He stood in the hall before the chamber door, his lips still

-parted and a smile on his ruddy face.

-

-And the snarling of a dog--that, too, was real.

-

-Planted squarely in the doorway, hackles bristling, ears erect and

-fangs bared, was the immense animal with which Polaris had made friends

-in the night watches. All through the dark hours and the dawning, the

-beast had guarded the door, suffering none to approach it. He now

-barred the way to Oleric, and the chamber echoed to his angry challenge.

-

-"By the ten kings!" exclaimed the captain with a laugh. "You do raise

-up friends wherever you go, my brother. Here is one that dearly would

-love to make a breakfast off my lean shanks, armored as they are, and

-all because I would tell you that Shamar has brought to us another day."

-

-At the call of Polaris, the dog backed out of the doorway, but still

-with a wary and suspicious eye to the movements of the red captain.

-

-Mordo, the prison captain, was not in attendance, but certain of his

-servants were spreading the table near the center of the hall. The

-Americans and the Sardanians were gathered in a group about one of the

-pillars.

-

-Everson looked wan, like one whose pillow had been ridden by evil

-visions. The others of the party seemed in better spirits and were

-talking among themselves. Zenas Wright gave evidence that his

-scientific zeal had only lain dormant. For now he noted all about him

-with a keen and kinding interest, paying his attention especially to

-the architecture of the lordly hall which had housed them, and its

-sculptures, of which there were many. Young Brooks' interest was fully

-as keen, if more material, as that of the geologist. The eyes of the

-ensign were all for the table preparations.

-

-Seeing the party thus, and the broad bands of sunlight which streamed

-into the hall through windows of crystal high in the masonry, Polaris

-grew shamefaced.

-

-"Now it seems that I alone, who of all should be wakeful, have slept

-dully like a wintered bear," he muttered.

-

-"'Tis well. You have gained strength which perhaps shall not come

-amiss," Oleric answered.

-

-Near the center of the hall a fountain played, its spray falling

-through a bar of sunshine which changed the silver drops to gold as

-they fell. Calling his morning greetings to his friend, Polaris went

-thither and laved his face and hands and smoothed his mass of tawny

-hair. The dog followed close at heel and lapped greedily from the

-fountain's basin.

-

-"Strange that this brute should be here," said Oleric. "Do you know

-what manner of beast this is that so befriends you, Polaris?"

-

-Polaris shook his head; nor did he at that time see fit to acquaint

-Oleric with the circumstances of the dog's appearance.

-

-"This is one of the dogs the priests keep at the temple of Shamar," the

-captain informed. "There are few of the breed in the land, and all are

-at the temples of the god in the cities. Almost as sacred are these

-brutes as are the bulls, whereof you already know, and are likely to

-learn more. The holy men do say of them that they are dwelt in by the

-souls of heroes passed away, whom Shamar chooses to guard his temple

-gates, even as the bulls are inhabited by the souls of dead kings.

-

-"I do not believe such tales," he added quickly. "But now you will

-see why Bel-Ar will be more than passing wroth at the death of the

-bull, believing as he does that it is a dwelling place for one of his

-ancestors, and that you may, indeed, have slain his father or his

-grandfather."

-

-Oleric, who had breakfasted, sat by while the others ate. The dog,

-from the collar of which the captain read the name Rombar, signifying

-thunder, stood behind the seat of Polaris and ate with dignity whatever

-his self-appointed master passed to him. But he would take food from no

-other hand, not even from Rose Emer, who liked all dogs.

-

-Thereafter, sleeping or waking, the huge beast remained at Polaris's

-side, and none could coax him thence. And many Maeronicans deemed that

-strange. But as no man, not even Shamar's priests, dared to interfere

-with the sacred brutes, except when they played their parts in the

-ceremonials of the god, the attendance of Rombar upon the stranger was

-permitted.

-

-Under a guard of mailed foot-soldiers, led by Brunar, who was a captain

-in the palace regiment, the prisoners were marched from the ancient

-palace of Bel-Tisam to the newer palace of Bel-Ar. At their right, as

-they passed up the street called Chedar's Flight, was the wall, pierced

-by many gateways, of the Place of Games, with its basalt amphitheater

-and its arena.

-

-As they passed they heard the hoofs of galloping steeds, the rumble of

-chariot wheels, and the cries of the charioteers, where the young lords

-of Adlaz exercised their horses. From slits in the wall low down near

-the pavement, issued the howling and snarling of wild beasts; for a

-menagerie was a part of the equipment of the Place of Games.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Beyond the hippodrome, their way led around half the circle of the

-broad drive on which the four main avenues gave, and which surrounded

-the wonderful gardens of the Temple of the Sun. The Americans, three

-of whose number were widely traveled, marveled anew at the splendor of

-that mighty pile of white marble, its lofty columns, towers and domes,

-dazzling in the sunlight, their golden caps ablaze. Luxor and Karnac in

-the days when Pharaoh Rameses ruled in Egypt could not have shown the

-equal of this structure.

-

-With armed men clanking on each side, the captives entered through a

-massive peristyle of vari-colored pillars which was the portal to the

-house of the king. Along a corridor in which four elephants might have

-found way and clearance to walk abreast, the guards conducted them. At

-each end of the corridor there stood ajar tall gates of bronze, their

-bars interlaced with heavy patterns of gleaming gold, encrusted with

-the luminous metal, known in Maeronica as orichalcum, and set with many

-precious gems.

-

-Through the second gateway the prisoners were marched, and were in the

-audience chamber of Bel-Ar, the great king. It was similar in shape to

-the place where they had been quartered for the night; but there all

-similitude ceased. Bel-Tisam of old had sat in a plain and massive hall

-and been content. The house of Bel-Ar held treasures in metals and gems

-on its sculptured walls and pillars, aye, and on its floors, too, which

-could have paid the national debt of a wide and wasteful state.

-

-Dull gold smoldered underfoot in the mosaic of the pavement. Gold

-and orichalcum glittered and shimmered on pillar and wall. Chairs

-and tables of stone and bronze and polished woods were heavy with

-the precious metal. Set in the bases of the seventy and six pillars

-which upheld the roof were patterns gorgeous in agate, lapis-lazuli,

-turquoise, quartz, and rock-crystal. Other and similar panels

-adorned the walls. Farther up, where the work in gold and orichalcum

-began--placed so high, perhaps, to be out of reach of avaricious

-fingers--were more precious stones. There topaz, moonstone, amethyst,

-opal, sapphire, diamond, and priceless ruby and emerald flaunted their

-hundred fires.

-

-"Lordy!" muttered Zenas Wright under his breath to Ensign Brooks as

-they crossed the hall. "Give me a pick and a ladder and a half hour

-alone in which to use them, and you may have and welcome the rubies of

-Sardanes which went down with the _Minnetonka_."

-

-Near a fountain, the jets of which fell and flowed over a grotto of

-opalescent glass lighted from within, sat the master of all this

-splendor, Bel-Ar, king of Maeronica and lord of the underseas. On no

-raised dais or lofty throne sat this monarch who was absolute in his

-own land. A high-backed chair of carved black wood sufficed him, raised

-from the flooring on a single slab of red porphyry, scarcely twelve

-inches high. On another chair at his right sat his queen. The two

-were in the center of a wide crescent of seats and benches, whereon

-sat the nobles and ladies of Maeronica who made up the court. Without

-the semicircle stood attendants and slaves. Farther back, ranged in

-a double line, was one full company, one hundred men, of the palace

-guard, all in bronze mail, and each carrying his bared sword.

-

-Like a dull moth among a concourse of gaudy and fluttering butterflies

-was this powerful Maeronican king. He was attired simply in cloth

-of dark blue. A cloak of the same material had fallen back from his

-shoulders. On his knee rested a flat black cap of the same pattern

-that his meanest sailors wore. Only a light circlet of twisted gold,

-fashioned in the semblance of a slender serpent, set on his heavy

-black hair above his temples, and a short, broad sword which swung at

-his belt, distinguished the garb of Bel-Ar from that of the ordinary

-citizen of Adlaz.

-

-Seeing these things, one looked into the king's face for royalty,

-and found it there. He sat with an elbow on the arm of his chair,

-his chin cupped in his right hand, so that it hid his mouth. His

-forehead was broad and low, his nose short and tilted slightly at

-its tip. His cheeks were rounded and well-shaped. His ears, almost

-hidden in the black hair, which was cut evenly around his neck, were

-small and delicately turned as a woman's. But every other feature was

-cast into insignificance and forgotten, when one looked at the king's

-eyes. Set far apart, they were extraordinarily large, and black, so

-that iris and pupil seemed as one. They were the eyes of a mystic, a

-far-seeing dreamer, but filled with subdued fires; eyes of a strong and

-self-willed man, one not to be tampered with or led. In contrast to

-them, the skin of the face was fair, almost pallid. The king's figure

-was above medium height, broad and powerfully framed. His years were

-not more than thirty-seven.

-

-As the prisoners were brought near to him, Bel-Ar had fallen into a fit

-of abstraction. He gazed fixedly across the hall, seeing it not, nor

-its people and its walls. At his feet a little slave boy sat asleep,

-his head leaned against the leg of his king's chair, his small golden

-harp fallen across his lap.

-

-If Bel-Ar was the dull moth, his consort, Queen Raissa, who sat beside

-him, was the most gorgeous of all the butterflies. She was younger than

-the king, by a full ten years. Her face was small and flower-like, with

-pouting lips and proud blue eyes that shone like stars. Hair yellow as

-the golden, shell-shaped comb which was set in it, was piled high on

-her head, and was yet in such abundance that two heavy braids fell down

-across her shoulders. She was robed in a graceful gown of pale blue,

-the bodice of which blazed with gems. Her fingers toyed with a costly

-fan, whereof the stem was ivory and the sticks the colored plumes of

-rare birds. She gazed curiously at the strangers whom the soldiers

-brought in, and when her eyes alighted upon Oleric they became eager.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-At the edge of the open space just beyond the semicircle of the

-courtiers, the guards halted. For a few moments the silence in the hall

-was broken only by the low-toned gossip of gay lords and ladies, who

-paid scant attention to guards or prisoners. Then the queen touched

-Bel-Ar's knee with her fan and spoke a few words in his ear. He started

-from his reverie.

-

-"Come hither, Brunar," he said in a deep, low voice. As he raised his

-head, it was to be seen that his chin was square and heavy, but that

-his mouth was lacking in the strength of his other features.

-

-Brunar made his report, and was replaced by Oleric the Red, who bowed

-low before the king, his ready smile playing about his lips.

-

-"You would make report of a fademe lost, Captain Oleric," said the

-king. "Doubtless a small matter to you, but meaning much to me, who ill

-can spare my fademes." He frowned.

-

-"Not so, O king," replied the captain, composing his features and

-speaking earnestly. "As you know, not all of our engineers have learned

-to govern wisely the mighty force that gives the fademes life."

-

-Bel-Ar nodded. "That is true," he said. "Now what of this engineer of

-yours?"

-

-"Why, he was a careless fellow, and whoof! one day under his hands went

-engine and fademe. They lie in fragments on the sea-bottom near the

-great south cape on the way to the ocean named Pacific, and the crew

-lies with them."

-

-"How is it, then, that you stand here to make report?"

-

-"My star watched over me, O king. I floated to the surface, alone of

-all the fademe's crew. On the wreckage of the cabin I floated. I had

-by me my hamess (mask). I donned it. Later my senses departed me. I

-was taken up by a ship from the northern world, and was treated with

-kindness by these whom you see here. Driven by storm, that ship came to

-the coast of Maeronica, and--"

-

-"Enough; I had the rest of the tale from Brunar," interposed Bel-Ar.

-

-"But of your mission to the far Pacific? What of that?" questioned

-Raissa, leaning forward eagerly.

-

-Again Oleric smiled, and smiling, drew from his belt a small leather

-bag. He advanced, and kneeling, handed the bag to the queen.

-

-"Oh! Lovely!" she gasped as she poured a part of its contents into her

-palm--pearls, five score or more of them, as fine as ever came from the

-ocean bed, she held. One great and lustrous globe of faint rose-pink

-she seized upon with a cry of delight. She held it out toward the

-king. "See! Is it not beautiful?" she exclaimed. She turned to the red

-captain.

-

-"You have done well, indeed, good Oleric," she said quickly. "My king

-shall forgive you for the lost fademe, the losing of which was surely

-no fault of yours. And these--these be worth many fademes to me." She

-selected two of the pearls of fair size and goodly sheen and gave them

-to Oleric.

-

-"You did venture your life to get them. Perchance some maid of Adlaz

-town shall look on you more kindly for the gift," she said.

-

-Bel-Ar frowned; then he smiled, too.

-

-"Well, Raissa has said it. I must agree, I suppose. I forgive you the

-fademe," he said, somewhat dryly, while the lords and ladies laughed.

-"Only sail no more ships at present, captain. Get you to the harbor,

-and there for a space relieve Atlo as captain of the port. I have need

-of him at the Kimbrian Wall, where the robbers of Ruthar have grown

-overbold.

-

-"Now, another matter." The king's brow clouded. "Which of these

-foreigners slew the bull of Shamar? This one surely." He pointed to

-Minos. "Never saw I such a man."

-

-"No, O king, not he," Oleric said. "He is from a far land in the

-southern snow wastes, which was destroyed by the earth-fires. There he

-was the king. The other one, the golden-haired man, it was, who slew

-the bull--to save a child--"

-

-"Have done. The reason for the deed avails him not," Bel-Ar broke in.

-"Have him come hither, that I may judge."

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Oleric fetched Polaris Janess into the space before the throne. The son

-of the snows advanced with a firm step and halted directly in front of

-Bel-Ar, where he gazed at the king with steady eyes. Close at his heels

-came the great dog Rombar.

-

-"Why does the man not bow?" inquired Bel-Ar harshly. "Where learned he

-his manners? And how does it come that he is attended by a sacred dog

-of Shamar, that seems ready to do battle for him?"

-

-In truth, Rombar, who feared not kings, was ready for battle. He stood

-at the side of Polaris, his hackles raised and a rumbling challenge in

-his throat.

-

-Bel-Ar regarded the pair of them sternly, though many in his court

-found much to admire in the powerful form and steadfast demeanor of the

-son of the wilderness.

-

-Oleric spoke hastily in English. "Bow, brother; bow to the king; though

-I fear that 'twill not mend matters," he grumbled.

-

-Polaris inclined his head shortly and continued to meet the gaze of the

-angered king. "His bow is grudging enough," said Bel-Ar to the captain;

-"but no matter."

-

-Just then a tall old man in white and flowing robes came forward to

-the left of Bel-Ar's seat. He was lean of face, like an ancient hawk,

-and like a hawk's was his thin, curved beak. His eyes glittered with

-malice. On his breast, done in gold in the garment he wore, was the

-likeness of the rising sun, the insignia of the priests of Shamar.

-

-Well Polaris knew that shape and face. It was the master chuckler that

-had disturbed him the night before.

-

-"This man is marked by Shamar," the priest said in a high, cracked

-voice, and regarding Polaris hatefully. "As for the dog, 'tis sent by

-the god to watch that the man escape not his doom."

-

-"Oleric, hold your peace," said Bel-Ar, as the stout captain was about

-to speak. "And flout not the holy Rhaen, lest it be the worse for

-you. I will judge." The king paused and ran his eyes over the other

-prisoners.

-

-"He that slew the sacred bull, he shall be given over to the servants

-of Shamar, to be done with as the god shall will at the feast of years.

-He that was a king, he shall now serve a greater king. Let him be sent

-to the harbor, where strong backs are always welcome. The other two

-young men shall go into my mines. The old one shall be a scullion in my

-kitchens, as harder work doubtless would kill him.

-

-"Take the two women and the slayer of the bull to the prison and keep

-them fast until Shamar claims them for the feast. The women must die.

-The law commands that no foreign woman, however fair, shall live in

-Maeronica. So may the ancient blood never be tainted. I have judged.

-Let it be so, and so writ down, unless the holy Rhaen, chief servant to

-Shamar, has other claims." Bel-Ar looked inquiringly at the priest.

-

-Now it chanced that Lieutenant Everson, face to face with the man by

-whose decree his ship had perished, had fixed on the king a glance of

-undying hatred. None had noted it except the priest, Rhaen, who saw all

-things. He now asked that the naval man be turned over to the god along

-with Polaris. Bel-Ar nodded his assent.

-

-At a sign from the king, Oleric led Polaris back to his companions.

-The judgment was ended. The guards closed in around the prisoners and

-marched them away.

-

-

-

-

-                              CHAPTER IV

-

-                       "DEAD MEN ARE BEHIND US"

-

-

-Along the black avenue, back to the prison house of Mordo, the captives

-were marched. For Oleric, through the friendship Brunar bore him, won

-from that captain the half of a day for his friends, that they might

-pass it together before the separation decreed by Bel-Ar.

-

-Understanding little of what had taken place, and no word of what had

-been said in the audience-chamber of the king--for Oleric the Red was

-their only interpreter--the prisoners still had the heart to look with

-curiosity upon the doings in that part of Adlaz town which lay along

-the way that they traversed.

-

-As Zenas Wright trudged, his bright old eyes were busy, and he shook

-his white head often at the marvels which he saw. A group of the

-young bloods of Maeronica clattered by on horses. As they passed, the

-old geologist stared and stopped in his tracks, so that an impatient

-soldier of the guard hustled him with the butt of a spear.

-

-"Gold, gold, everywhere," muttered Zenas as he started on. "They even

-shoe their horses with it."

-

-In the hall where they had slept the friends gathered for council.

-Oleric had come in with them, and all eyes were turned to him. Before

-he would speak the captain insisted that meat and wine should be

-brought, and he set his helmet on the floor and ate with them.

-

-Fate willed that it should be the last time that the seven friends

-should sit at the same table.

-

-When the meal was ended, Oleric told simply and briefly of the judgment

-of Bel-Ar, holding back nothing.

-

-For a moment, silence was his answer. Then Zenas Wright brought his

-jaws together with a snap.

-

-"What! Me a scullion in that barbarian's greasy kitchen!" he barked.

-"Why not nursemaid to the royal brats?" Then Zenas groaned as his anger

-was swallowed in the realization of what was to befall the friends he

-whom had come to love so well.

-

-With his topaz eyes ablaze, Polaris Janess sprang up from the table and

-stood over the captain.

-

-"You, Oleric, who call yourself my friend, why did you not interpret

-this to us while we were in the hall yonder?" he asked quietly. "Then

-had this kingdom been kingless." He glanced down at his sinewy hands.

-Suddenly he bent over and snatched the captain's sword from its sheath.

-So he, who had seen so much of fighting, made ready to fight again, and

-for the last time. For what else was left him but to give his life for

-his lady and go to his appointed place?

-

-"Of those who come to take us, some at least shall go a long journey

-with us," he said as he toyed with the heavy blade.

-

-Everson and Brooks, picked men who had sailed the seas for Uncle Sam,

-nodded their heads, saying nothing. There have been traditions in that

-service of which they were officers. When their time came they would

-uphold them.

-

-White and straight, the Lady Memene stood up from the table and fixed

-her glorious eyes upon the Sardanian king. She plucked from the bosom

-of her gown a small, keen dagger, a blade of ilium, which a certain

-Kard the Smith had forged for her in far-away Sardanes. She reached the

-weapon across the table and into the hands of Minos.

-

-"If I understand the words of this man aright, death waiteth," she said

-in the ancient Greek of her native land. "Memene prefers it at thy

-hands, O king of mine. Slay thou me and--and the unborn king, Minos."

-Her lips trembled pitifully, and her voice broke. Then she became hard

-again, and with a fire in her eyes. "Join thou then with our good

-brother here, and slay, and slay, and slay--for this is an evil land.

-And begin with this man whom we saved from the sea, and who is evil,

-also. See! He smileth, while we are about to die."

-

-Oleric, who had made no move when his sword was taken from him, sat

-quietly, studying the faces about him and smiling his enigmatical smile.

-

-"What does the lady say?" he asked of Polaris.

-

-Janess told him.

-

-When Rose Emer heard, she threw her arms about the Sardanian princess

-and hid her face in Memene's bosom. Presently she looked up, a mist of

-tears in her gray eyes, but her voice was clear and steady as she said:

-

-"If we are to die, let us die together. Polaris, let me go with Memene."

-

-Oleric's smile vanished. He held up his hand.

-

-"Let there be no more talk of dying--at least not for many long years,"

-he said, and there were both feeling and strength in his tones.

-

-The others looked at him, wondering what his words portended.

-

-"Now the time has come for me to avow myself," continued the red

-captain. "I will speak all that has been in my mind, and you shall

-judge if I be worthy of your trust--for trust to me you must, if we are

-to see a straight way out of this tangle."

-

-He turned to Polaris.

-

-"My brother," he said, "do you recall that yesterday, when you had

-slain the bull of Shamar, I said to you that Bel-Ar would be as little

-likely to forgive you that deed as to forgive one who confessed himself

-a follower of the Goddess Glorian of Ruthar?"

-

-Polaris nodded. "I remember," he answered, "but understand not."

-

-"That is my crime," said Oleric. "I am of Ruthar, a follower of the

-Goddess Glorian, and a faithful one. I will make clear to you what you

-do not understand. Listen. I will make the tale brief.

-

-"In the long ago, the very long ago--so long that most of the world

-you know was wilderness and its peoples barbarians--a mighty people

-flourished on an island in the ocean that you name Atlantic. They

-called themselves the Children of Ad, or Adlaz, after the eldest of the

-ten kings that once ruled in that land. Tradition has it that their

-island was the first cradle of civilization; for they, because of their

-isolation, alone of all the peoples of the earth, dwelt in peace and

-plenty, and were not wasted by wars.

-

-"If the ancient maps were truly drawn, that island of Adlaz lay

-opposite and southward from the straits of a fair sea, and the straits

-were known as the Pillars of Heracles. With time and the growth of

-the nation of Ad came greed upon her children, greed and the love of

-conquest. Great navies carried their armies east and west. Along both

-shores of that blue sea, which you know as Mediterranean, they gained a

-foothold, and made the nations bend to their yoke. Westward they sailed

-to another continent across the ocean, conquering the red men of the

-wildernesses there, and founding provinces and building cities.

-

-"Then in the flower of her pride and conquests, Adlaz was cut down.

-Both sides of the Mediterranean she held as far as the gates of Egypt

-and the islands of the Hellenes. But the nation of the Hellenes was

-the rock on which the fortunes of Adlaz split. A wise and crafty king

-led the Hellenes in battle to withstand the flood of invasion from the

-island empire. He beat their army and nearly destroyed it. He trapped

-the mighty navy that had sailed from Adlaz against the Hellenes. While

-Egypt sat quaking, waiting to bend the neck to the heel of the invader,

-the Hellenes, under their wise leader, turned the tide.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-"Balked and broken, those who had gone forth to conquer returned to

-their island. But the great sea-god whom they worshiped must have been

-sorely angered at their failure. For in one day he arose and swallowed

-their island. The land heaved and split; the mountains were rent, and

-vomited up both fires and waters, and the entire island disappeared

-into the depths of the sea. East and west on the two continents, the

-barbarians rose against the colonies of Adlaz, and they too perished.

-O'Connell, the slave, who was learned, told me that so utterly was the

-race of Adlaz wiped from the earth that naught remains, excepting the

-half-buried ruins of some of their cities, which stand in the jungles

-of the western continent, concerning the very origin of which the minds

-of men are vague. And of the island of Adlaz itself, he told that it

-was only a dim tradition, a myth, the truth of which is doubted even by

-the learned.

-

-"But all of Adlaz did not perish. A part, a small part, of the mighty

-fleet which had sailed against the Hellenes was not lost, but was

-driven southward in the tidal-waves of the inundation which swallowed

-the island.

-

-"Afloat, but with every hand in the world turned against them, their

-colonies crumbling before the wrath of the barbarians, those chiefs of

-Adlaz turned for guidance to the son of one of their princes who was on

-one of the ships. Of his wisdom that prince told them that since they

-were hated of all the world, and that even the hand of the sea-god was

-set against them--why, they would sail to the end of the world to find

-them an abiding place, until in the fulness of time they should once

-more rule the earth. So they passed like a flame down the coasts of the

-western continent until they reached this place; and here they stopped

-and stayed, maintaining the old traditions of their race, keeping

-themselves apart--a hateful people, waiting for the day of which their

-leader told them, when they shall once more conquer the world.

-

-"But even in those days they found this land, which is warmed strangely

-by the ocean currents, was inhabited. A free and fearless race of

-barbarians dwelt here, and them the warriors of Adlaz were never able

-to subdue. Great beasts dwelt here, also--beasts so mighty that the

-earth shook when they walked--and the Children of Ad found themselves

-beset by troubles in their new land. But they throve. Though they

-could not conquer the barbarians, they drove them from the north of

-the island. And though they could not slay the mighty beasts, they

-affrighted them with fire, burning whole forests, and forced them also

-to the south. At one point the land is narrow, scarcely sixty of your

-English miles across. There the Children of Ad builded them a wall so

-tall and thick that even the beasts might not push it down.

-

-"On the other side of that wall--the Kimbrian Wall--lies Ruthar, a land

-of forests and hills and rivers, but a fair land. And there dwell the

-Rutharians and the beasts; and down through all the years to this day

-there has been war across the wall.

-

-"Now to the meat of this tale of mine, which grows long. In Ruthar

-there is a prophecy, also, to match that of those who call themselves

-Maeronicans. It is that there shall come up from the sea a mighty man

-with yellow hair like unto gold, who shall break down the Kimbrian

-Wall and let the beasts pass through, and who shall lead the chiefs

-of Ruthar in a warfare that shall break the power of Adlaz, and cast

-down the hateful kings and the cruel religion of Shamar. For that man

-the Rutharian chieftains always wait, and with them waits the Goddess

-Glorian, who is more than any king or chief."

-

-Oleric paused, and looked long and earnestly into the face of Polaris.

-

-"That is my tale, my brother," he said. "And if you are not the man of

-the ancient prophecy of Ruthar, at least I believe that you will serve."

-

-Breathlessly Zenas Wright had followed the course of the red captain's

-words. The scientist could contain himself no longer.

-

-"_Atlantis!_" he cried. From face to face about the table he looked,

-with a shadow of awe in his eager eyes. "Just so surely as we are

-sitting here--if this man tells the truth, and I think that he does--we

-are among the descendants of the people of the lost continent of

-Atlantis. Word for word, his story fits in with that which the old

-Egyptian priest at Sais told to Solon, the Greek, and which Plato

-recorded. I have read it all in the compilation by Ignatius Donnelly,

-in which he gathered all the evidence which he could find in the world

-to prove that Atlantis was not a myth."

-

-Zenas sat back with half-closed eyes. A long, low whistle passed his

-lips.

-

-"What do you call the luminous metal with which your helmet and armor

-are decorated?" he asked of Oleric.

-

-"It is called orichalcum," replied the captain.

-

-Wright nodded. "It is the same," he said. "Plato wrote that such was

-the name of a similar metal, of which the Atlanteans had the secret.

-They delved it from the ground. It was far more precious to them than

-gold. In their temples stood columns of it, on which their laws were

-carved."

-

-"O'Connell told me that there were still traditions in the world of the

-continent that was; but he never told me this," Oleric said. "You are

-right. In the Temple of Shamar, here in Adlaz, such a column stands,

-and on it the laws are writ. On it, too, is the prophecy of Maeronica,

-against which I now match the prophecy of Ruthar, whose son I am."

-

-He looked at Polaris. "Say, brother, how is it with you? Are you minded

-to come with me to Ruthar and try a tilt at the Kimbrian Wall--a tilt

-for a kingdom?"

-

-Polaris had heard the tale of Oleric with grave and earnest attention,

-studying the face of the captain as he talked. Now the son of the snows

-laughed dryly.

-

-"Mad talk, Oleric the Red," he said. "I am not the hero of your

-prophecy; and if I were, how are we to come from Adlaz to this Ruthar

-of which you tell us so glibly; and when we are come there, if that be

-possible, how are we to break down the wall which has stood against

-your armies for years--"

-

-"So it must seem to you," interrupted Oleric, with clouding brow. "Mad

-talk, indeed; and perhaps it is. But here in Adlaz is death--death and

-slavery. I know a way to Ruthar. For the matter of the wall, I have one

-question to put. Well answered, all will be well.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-"Here in Maeronica there are some few things in which the folk have

-progressed as far ahead of the rest of the world as the world has

-outstripped them in most others. Of these are the fademes and their

-power of destruction--the mighty force of which even I know can only be

-used beneath the sea. On land, that force is powerless except to use

-as a light. In battle the Maeronicans fight as did their forefathers,

-bearing the arms that you have seen. I know that out in the world men

-have mastered the secret of engines which slay from afar, casting

-globes of metal which fly apart with a loud noise, rending all that is

-near. Such I saw on the ship yonder.

-

-"We have, as you reckon time, nearly six months before the Feast of

-Years, when doom will be meted out to those who are marked for death.

-I know that is not time enough, nor do I think we have the means to

-construct such engines. But, say--has no one among you the knowledge to

-make the stuff which you feed into them? If there is such a one, why,

-I know in Ruthar a laboratory where he might work, with many willing

-hands to do his bidding. I have tried it myself, but have discovered

-nothing. Surely one of you, who are instructed, shall do better. So

-might we destroy even the great wall."

-

-He paused, and gazed hard at Zenas Wright and then at Lieutenant

-Everson.

-

-"_An explosive!_" Zenas Wright almost shouted the words. "You have a

-brain in that red head, my boy. With the proper chemicals it might be

-done." He clapped Everson on the shoulder. "With you to help me, it

-might be done. What do you think, lieutenant?"

-

-"I would do most anything to get a chance at this nest of devils," said

-Everson, and his eyes glittered. "I have not trusted this man. I do

-not know that I trust him now. But if he is playing fair, there seems

-no other way. Whatever you decide to do, I am with you, and will do my

-best. If we can find the chemicals, we can make an explosive powerful

-enough to move a few tons of stone, if that will do any good."

-

-"Break you the wall, and I will promise you the rest of the trick,"

-the captain cried, "or Ruthar will die to the last man on the road to

-Adlaz!"

-

-He considered for a moment.

-

-"One man I can surely take with me to Ruthar," he said. "Two will

-double, aye more than double the risk; and three would more than triple

-it. Still, it may be accomplished. I must have a little time; but I

-will do my best.

-

-"Now, my brother, what say you? If I can bring it about so that you and

-the old man here, Father Zenas, and this other, who, though he trust me

-not, I will yet play fair by--if I can manage it that these go with me

-to Ruthar--will you come, also?"

-

-"What of these others?" Polaris asked, and looked at Rose Emer.

-

-"Here they must stay," Oleric answered.

-

-"'Twill be hard enough to take the three of you--and slaying will be

-done before it is accomplished. It is impossible to take more. By the

-way which we shall go, no woman might pass undetected. But I tell you

-they shall come to no harm in your absence. The very law of the land

-protects them. They be marked for the ceremonies of Shamar. Until the

-appointed time, not even the king himself dare harm them. Bethink you,

-brother; this is the only way."

-

-"Yonder on the ship you made a promise, Oleric," replied Polaris. "I

-think you will try to keep it. I trust you. But there are other things

-to consider." He addressed himself to Rose Emer.

-

-"Lady, you have heard this madness, which yet, as says the captain,

-does seem to be the only road save that to death. In such things

-ofttimes the heart of a woman is wiser than the brains of men. Let your

-heart answer. Shall I go to Ruthar, and with this man and his people

-fight my way back to Adlaz, if it may be done?"

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-"The future of this company hangs on your word, lady," put in Oleric.

-"And I make another promise. By day and by night I will not leave the

-side of my brother. If he shall find that in any word I have lied, if

-he shall meet with any treachery through me, then let him wring this

-red head from off my shoulders."

-

-"If we stay here, we must die to-day, or be separated and die later,"

-Rose Emer said with a shudder. "And our friends, if they do not die,

-face a life of slavery." She looked into the face of Polaris, and

-though her lips trembled and the tears started to her gray eyes, she

-said bravely:

-

-"Go to Ruthar, and come back if you can. If you do not come, I will

-know that you have done all that a man can do."

-

-"I will go with you, Oleric," Polaris said simply. "Now, what is your

-plan?"

-

-"This," answered the captain. "When the guards come, as they will

-presently, you, my brother, will go with them to the dungeons that lie

-below this house. Though they are cut in the rock they are lighted well

-and are not terrible. You will not fare badly there. The ladies will be

-quartered above here, and I will exert my influence to see that they

-are treated well. These others will not fare so well; but they are men,

-and can stand it. Let them do as they are bid without protest. Within

-ten days from this day I will plan to have you out of your prison, and

-will contrive, also, to bring with me Father Zenas and the captain

-of the ship. By stealth or by force, we shall seize a marizel, pass

-through the hidden canal from Adlaz to the harbor, thence to the sea

-and down the coast to Ruthar.

-

-"I shall have some aid; for within the walls of Adlaz there is one

-other man of Ruthar who is faithful to me. You may wonder how it is

-that I, who am of Ruthar and hate Adlaz, yet am a captain in the

-service of Bel-Ar. Years ago I passed the Kimbrian Wall, coming as a

-spy and giving it out that I was the son of Maeronican parents taken

-captive in a foray; that I had been born in Ruthar, but had escaped

-into my own country. Here I have stayed at the bidding of the Goddess

-Glorian, ready against the time for which all Ruthar waits. Bel-Ar

-likes men of brains. I have some, and I have risen to be one of his

-captains. Also, I have learned much. That is all my story."

-

-"Who is the Goddess Glorian?" Rose Emer asked. "Is she the queen of

-Ruthar?"

-

-Oleric's eyes widened at the question; but he answered readily enough:

-

-"Yes, lady; she is the queen."

-

-"You say that there are great beasts in Ruthar," said Zenas Wright.

-"What are they--elephants?"

-

-"No; they are not what you call elephants," replied the captain.

-"O'Connell thought they were until he saw them. Then he gave them

-another name, which I have forgot. He told me of elephants; but they

-must be puny beasts compared to those which dwell in the forests of

-Ruthar. We call them amalocs. This man is a giant." He pointed to

-Minos, who stood six feet eight on his naked feet. "But were he twice

-as tall, he could not look across the back of an amaloc. But they are

-shaped like the elephants of which O'Connell told, and, like them, they

-are tusked. Their bodies are covered with red wool--almost as red as is

-my own thatch."

-

-"_Elephas primigenius!_ Mammoths, no less," said Zenas. And he added

-under his breath, "I will believe that when I see them, my friend."

-

-Low as were his words, Oleric heard them.

-

-"You shall see them, Father Zenas," he said, and laughed.

-

-Presently came the guards, and the friends were separated. Some of them

-were never to be reunited.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Deep in the rock below the old palace of Bel-Tisam, where Mordo ruled,

-the guards led Polaris Janess, and left him there. Oleric had spoken

-truly concerning the place, and the captive might have fared much worse

-in a modern prison in a civilized land. For the place was roomy and

-well ventilated, and, above all, it was clean. A chamber or cell, it

-was, some forty feet square by thirty feet in height. Its outer wall

-was the living rock. On the other three sides was masonry. A circular

-door of bronze, small and of great strength, was its only entrance.

-

-Through that door from the corridor without stepped Polaris, and behind

-him, close as a shadow, padded the huge dog, Rombar, rumbling in his

-throat so that the guards shrank from him. The door clanged shut, and

-the bars and wards clashed into place. The guards had neither bound

-nor chained Polaris. They had not even searched his clothing. The

-thickness of the dungeon walls was their guarantee that he would do no

-mischief; and besides, they went well armed.

-

-Air entered the chamber through mortises in the wall near the ceiling

-and above the ground level, where began the foundation of the

-palace. It was lighted by a single globe, with its enclosed curious

-battery--mitzl, the Maeronicans called it; but the Americans had

-decided that the source of the light was some new application of

-electricity.

-

-By the light from the globe Polaris saw that he was not alone in the

-cell. A small man, whose features were concealed by a mat of unkempt

-gray hair and a shaggy beard, sat on a low cot in the angle of the wall

-nearest to the door. He was clothed in rags.

-

-This man did not look up when another was thrust in to break his

-solitude, but bent low over something which he had on the cot, swaying

-back and forth as he sat, and crooning softly to himself.

-

-Polaris cast his fellow prisoner a glance, and then fell to pacing

-up and down the length of the cell. His mood was gloomy. Above him

-somewhere through those gray walls dwelt his dear lady; but, ah, how

-far away! For he was powerless now to comfort her or to aid. Oleric

-would keep faith. Of that he was sure; but his heart misgave him

-mightily lest the plans of the captain should go awry.

-

-Yes; above him were Rose and Lady Memene, who through the long weeks of

-their prisonment, each night when they went to rest, would kneel and

-pray for his welfare and that of Minos and the others, and that all

-plans might prevail.

-

-Presently the son of the snows sat himself on a second cot on the far

-side of the chamber, and fell to fondling Rombar and toying with the

-dog's pointed ears.

-

-"Good Rombar," he said. "Good fellow and comrade."

-

-At his words, the man in the corner sprang up from his cot as though

-fire had touched him. He shrieked hoarsely and tottered across the

-floor, moving and clawing at the air with his hands. Unheeding the

-snarling menace of Rombar, he came on until he stood in front of the

-cot where Polaris sat holding the dog back by the collar.

-

-The man bent over, resting his hands on his knees, and peered into

-Polaris's face with darkling, rheumy eyes.

-

-"Hinglish!" he croaked, gasping for his breath. "Hinglish! Did Hi 'ear

-a Hinglish word, or was I a-dreamin'? Sye?"

-

-He trembled in a terrible eagerness.

-

-"You did, indeed," Polaris said gently. "Now tell me how you came here,

-who speak it also, and who are you?"

-

-"Gor'bly me; Hi never 'oped to 'ear another Hinglish word in this

-life--me wot's rottin' 'ere into my grave!" the man said. "Gor'! Gor'!"

-He subsided into a tattered heap on the floor of the cell, covered his

-eyes with his shaking, grimy hands, and sobbed hysterically.

-

-Restraining the dog, which would have sprung upon the weeping man,

-Polaris leaned forward and patted the poor fellow on the shoulder.

-

-"Who are you, and how do you come to be in a Maeronican dungeon?" he

-asked.

-

-"Jack Melton's me nyme, sir," the man said brokenly. "Hi'm from old

-Lunnon, Gor' bless 'er! Hi was cook on the ship _Aldine_, sir, from

-'Ong-Kong to Durban, round the Cape. We got off our course, and the

-bloody devils sunk us--skewered us like a mutton shank, sir, with a

-streak of light. An' w'y in 'ell they did it, sir, is more than Hi can

-tell.

-

-"Hi floated free on a cask--a biscuit cask, sir. Or mayhap it was a

-'encoop; Hi've forgot, Hi was that flustered. Hup bobs a bloomin' big

-gold ball from the sea--it's Gord's truth. They took me aboard, an'

-they brought me ashore. They sets me to work in their mines; but Hi'd

-not do a stroke for them, sir. Hi near killed one of the bosses. Then

-they brought me here, sir. Oh, Gor'! Oh, Gor'-a-me!"

-

-He broke out weeping afresh and rocked himself back and forth.

-

-"How long have you been here?" questioned Polaris.

-

-"That Hi can't tell, sir," Melton replied. "Hi used to keep count of

-the weeks an' months; but Hi lost it. Mayhap 'alf a year; mayhap a

-year."

-

-Melton fell silent for a time. Then he chuckled to himself and tottered

-to his feet.

-

-"_Hi'll_ get even with 'em, sir," he said. "Never fear; _Hi'll_ get

-even. Come an' see, sir."

-

-He took Polaris by the hand and led him across the floor to the other

-cot. "Look!" he said, and fumbled back the ragged covers.

-

-Beady black eyes glistened among the rags. A sharp and whiskered gray

-snout was thrust forth, twitching and sniffing; then another and

-another. A mother rat and two half-grown young ones were hidden in

-Melton's bed. Out they crept to their master's coaxing, only to scurry

-back, squeaking, when Rombar thrust his head from behind Polaris,

-whining with eagerness to be at them.

-

-"Keep the tyke back, sir," said Melton. "'E frights 'em. This 'ere's

-'Enrietta, an' 'ere's Bobby an' Bill. 'Enrietta's an old fool, an'

-Bobby's no better; but Bill, 'e's a wonner, sir. See!"

-

-From his breast he took a splinter of wood, to which was attached a bit

-of frayed red rag, on which he had rudely drawn in black the lines of

-the Union Jack. He placed one of the young rats on his palm, and laid

-the sliver with its frayed shred of bunting in front of the little

-animal. Softly he began to whistle the bars of "God Save the King."

-

-"Come, Bill; 'urry," he said, and resumed his low whistling. The rat

-took up the flag in its teeth and sat on its haunches in its master's

-hand. As long as the whistling continued the little beast shook its

-head vigorously, waving the tiny emblem. When Melton ceased the anthem,

-Bill let fall the flag and swarmed, squeaking, down the man's arm, to

-nestle away among the rags at his breast.

-

-"Gor'bly me, Bill, you're a wonner!" Melton said with pride. He placed

-his strange pet back with the others and pulled the coverlet over them.

-

-"Listen. Hi'll tell you wot no man knows," he whispered to Janess.

-"They're hoff a plyge-ship. 'Enrietta an' Bobby an' Bill is. They

-carried it to us from a bloomin' junk at 'Ong-Kong. The cap'n was

-dyin' of it in 'is cabin when the ship went down, sir. And Hi'm

-a-nursin' of 'em along, sir. Hi saved 'Enrietta, and she became a

-mother, sir. When there's enough of them, Hi shall loose them, sir.

-That's 'ow Hi'll get even. Gor'bly me! Hi'll kill hevery beggar in this

-land with the plyge. 'Enrietta an' Bobby an' Bill will do it, sir."

-

-Melton sat down on his cot again, and crooned to himself over his pets.

-He seemed to forget the presence of Janess. Neither then or afterward

-did he ask Polaris any questions as to how he came to share his prison.

-Polaris drew away from him and went back to his own side of the cell.

-He saw that the man was mad.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Twice each day one of Mordo's guards brought the captives their

-meals--bread and meat and water in generous measure, enough for the men

-and the dog. Melton from his rations fed his whiskered family.

-

-With his pocket-knife and a bit of wood from the frame of his cot, the

-son of the snows made shift to keep track of the passing of the days,

-cutting a nick in the wood for each. "God send that they be not many

-before the coming of Oleric," he prayed fervently.

-

-One night he was startled from his sleep by an uproar in the chamber.

-Melton's cursing and shrieking was intermingled with the angry snarls

-of Rombar. Polaris sprang up and threw off the cloth with which he was

-wont to darken the mitzl globe when he slept.

-

-Melton was crouched in the middle of the cell. His face was livid and

-contorted. Tears of rage were on his cheeks, and his breath was coming

-in gasps. His lips were writhed away from his ragged teeth. In front

-of him, tensed and ready to spring, was Rombar. On the floor, where it

-had dropped from the dog's jaws, lay a little bundle of gray fur, still

-twitching feebly.

-

-Before the impending grapple, Polaris bounded between them and jerked

-the dog back by the collar.

-

-"What is it?" he cried. "What ails you, Melton?"

-

-Then Janess saw the maimed little fragment of life on the floor, and

-his face saddened.

-

-"'Fore Gord, 'e's murdered my 'Enrietta!" howled Melton. "The tyke's

-murdered 'er, Hi sye! And Hi'll kill 'im, Hi will--and you, too, if you

-tries to stop me! And you, too, Hi says!"

-

-He staggered toward Janess and lunged out with his right hand.

-Something glistened in the light as he struck. Polaris avoided the

-blow, and caught and wrenched the outstretched arm. A slender bar of

-iron fell tinkling to the floor. Janess picked it up. Where it had come

-from he did not know; but Melton, by patient rubbing against the stones

-of the wall, had ground it to a needle point.

-

-"Let me at 'im!" the crazed man shrieked. "Hi'll tear 'im with me bare

-'ands!"

-

-Polaris pushed him back.

-

-"I am sorry, very sorry, for what he has done," he said. "But he is my

-good friend, and I shall not let him come to harm. He did but follow

-the instincts of his nature."

-

-Melton stared at him for a moment, and then, weeping and cursing,

-retired to his cot. Far into the night Polaris heard him moaning and

-mumbling to himself, and pitied him.

-

-Janess hid the weapon under his own pillow. Then with strips of his

-bedding he wove a stout cord, and thereafter when he slept he tied

-Rombar fast to a leg of the bed.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Days passed away--ten days, eleven, twelve, and still another. And yet

-there was no sign of Oleric. Polaris's stout heart sank.

-

-In the dark hours of the fourteenth day he awoke. He heard the grating

-of bronze hinges. At the side of his bed, Rombar growled softly.

-Polaris snatched the hood from the light.

-

-The door of bronze was open. The mitzl rays shone on the tall form of

-a man in golden armor.

-

-Oleric had come!

-

-"I am late at my tryst," whispered the red captain, "but I could not

-manage it sooner. Now we must haste, or 'twill be too late forever."

-He grinned. "I see your beard has grown somewhat," he said. "Perchance

-those bristles shall serve well. You are an ill man to disguise. Who is

-here?" he asked as he caught sight for the first time of Melton, who

-had not awakened.

-

-"A poor crazed English sailor," Polaris answered. He crossed the

-chamber, with Rombar at his heels; for he had stopped to undo the rope.

-

-"What? The brute, too?" groaned Oleric.

-

-"I fear we must," Polaris said. "If I leave him, he will rouse the

-prison with his howling, and I will not slay him. He has been too good

-a friend. Can we not manage to take him?"

-

-"Aye; bring him," grumbled the captain. "First fetch yonder light."

-

-Janess took down the globe. As he swung it toward Oleric, he saw that

-the hands of the captain were splashed red with blood. Oleric noted his

-glance.

-

-"Dead men are behind us," he said. "Thrice to-night have I used my

-sword--once at the mines, where I got Everson, and twice above. Two of

-the men of Mordo will turn no more prison keys. Come!"

-

-He stepped cautiously out through the door.

-

-Polaris glanced across to where the mad Cockney lay breathing heavily.

-

-"Some day, if it be given me, I will open this door again and set you

-free, John Melton," he whispered.

-

-He stooped and went out through the doorway, and Rombar followed.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Outside the door of the dungeon-chamber Polaris stumbled over the form

-of a tall man in armor, who lay with his face to the floor.

-

-"More death?" Janess asked of Oleric, who busied himself with the bolts

-of the bronze door.

-

-"Not so," said the captain with a chuckle, as he shot the last bar home

-in its socket. "Only the death that good wines bring. He has the best

-part of seven bottles in his skin."

-

-He looked up at Polaris apologetically.

-

-"Bel-Ar would flay him for this night's work, did he find him," he

-said. "You say the dog has been a good friend to you. Well, this man

-Mordo, with all his glum ways, is a good fellow. I will not leave my

-old drinking companion to the mercy of Bel-Ar."

-

-Without answer, Polaris handed the light to Oleric, and stooped and

-swung the limp figure of Mordo to his shoulder.

-

-Oleric glanced at the keys in his hand and then at the door.

-

-"I'll not turn the locks," he said. "I would not have the poor slave

-within starve while they made new keys."

-

-He led the way along the corridor, past a broad stone stairway, to the

-south wall of the old palace, where it fronted on the black avenue

-called Chedar's Flight. There in the wall were other doors of bronze.

-Oleric paused before one of them.

-

-"Will I ever enter Mordo's wine-cellars again, I wonder?" he said. He

-found the key and opened the heavy door. Within, the light disclosed

-rack after rack, seemingly without end, of dust-covered flagons. They

-threaded their way among them until Oleric found what he sought. In

-the stone floor of the chamber in a far corner was a round trap-door

-of bronze. The captain had to tug one of the wine-racks to one side to

-disclose it.

-

-"Lay Mordo down, comrade, and help," he said, when his utmost strength

-had failed to stir the door.

-

-Polaris, still balancing his burden on his shoulder, bent down and

-caught the ancient ring of the door in one hand. Before Oleric could

-lay hold to help him he straightened, the mighty muscles of his back

-cracking with the effort. The door was open.

-

-The trap yawned on a dark stairway leading down through the rock. Far

-below sounded the plashing of waters. "Mind where you set your feet,"

-warned Oleric as he started down.

-

-"Where are Everson and the old man?" asked Polaris.

-

-"They wait us below in the hidden canal--they and one other," replied

-the captain. "They entered by another way, while I was busied in the

-house of Mordo."

-

-Oleric closed the trap and left the keys on the stair-top. Down fully

-threescore steps they went, and stood on a wharf of stone at the edge

-of a narrow canal that had been cut in the rock. Overhead, the roof was

-arched and vaulted. At the lip of the wharf was moored a small marizel,

-the golden plates of which caught the rays of the lamplike fire.

-

-"All the way from the Temple of the Sun to the harbor of Adlaz this

-canal leads, cut through the rock underneath Chedar's Flight," said

-Oleric. He stepped on the rear deck of the little craft and struck

-softly on its door, which was opened at once. A short man of middle

-age came onto the deck. He was clothed in the garb of a sailor. As the

-light fell on him, Polaris saw that his hair was almost as red as that

-of Oleric.

-

-"Now here is another good man of Ruthar," said the captain. And to the

-man he said, "Urk, this is the man whereof I have told you." From head

-to foot, Urk gave the son of the snows a long and searching glance.

-Then he folded his arms on his breast and bowed low.

-

-With Mordo on his shoulder, Polaris stepped onto the deck and through

-the door, followed by Rombar.

-

-Oleric closed the double doors of the craft, and Urk, who was skilled

-about the engines, at once got her under way. Submerged and showing no

-light, they crept cautiously down the canal toward the sea.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-In the cabin of the marizel were Everson and Wright--though Polaris had

-to look twice and then again to recognize the geologist. Zenas wore the

-mean black of a servant in the king's kitchens. His white hair had been

-bobbed and his beard shaved from him. But his little black eyes were as

-bright and restless as ever, and his voice was hearty as he wrung the

-hand of Polaris and said:

-

-"Lordy, son, but it's good to see you."

-

-Everson, who had discarded the dirty garments of a delver in the earth

-for the full golden armor of a Maeronican captain, caught Polaris's

-hand as Zenas relinquished it.

-

-"Our work has begun," he said, "and begun well. I shall distrust this

-man no more." He pointed to Oleric. "He has kept his promise in blood.

-He released me to-night, and he killed a man to do it."

-

-As they neared the harbor, Oleric explained that they would be forced

-to leave the marizel in the canal and cross the open court of the

-harbor to the wharves.

-

-"Else we must undergo inspection by the guards at the mouth of the

-canal," he said. "There is a gate there, and no marizel may pass

-without inspection. My lucky star it was that made Bel-Ar name me

-captain of the port in Atlo's stead. But even I could not pass you

-through the guards. Their eyes are keen, and one of us at least is a

-marked man in Adlaz." He glanced at Polaris. "There be too many of

-them to slay," he added. "I would have fitted you out with a suit of

-mail, brother; but there is none in Maeronica of a size to cover those

-shoulders of yours--unless it be that of Bel-Ar, which I could not well

-borrow."

-

-"When we leave this craft, what then, Oleric?" Polaris asked.

-

-"I have another waiting at the end of the southern quay," replied

-Oleric. "Urk knows the harbor as he knows the palm of his hand. Once

-through the outer channel, then down the coast to Ruthar."

-

-They left the marizel moored in the canal and went up through a passage

-in the rock to where a door led into the great arched tunnel above,

-where Chedar's Flight ended at the harbor of Adlaz town. Now there was

-only the crossing of the wharf and all would be well.

-

-But hark! As Oleric laid his hand on the door of the passage, came the

-thunder of hoofs through the tunnel, and a steel rider on a white horse

-flashed past and clattered across the court to the warehouses. He rode

-furiously, and as he neared the quays he cried out.

-

-Oleric tore the door open.

-

-"Our work behind there is overtaking us!" he cried. "We must run for

-it!"

-

-Polaris shifted Mordo's weight from his shoulder to his arms and

-bounded across the pavement at the heels of the captain. Behind came

-Wright, Everson, and Oleric's Rutharian henchman. Rombar leaped at the

-side of Polaris.

-

-Lights flashed ahead of them as they ran. When they neared the south

-quay, they saw that the way to it was barred by a thin line of men in

-steel, among whom glittered the golden armor of the captain of the

-canal guard.

-

-Casting a glance over his shoulder as he ran, to note the disposal of

-his own party, Oleric drew his sword and charged the line. The guard

-captain leaped out to meet him, shield up and sword aloft. Him Oleric

-cut down with a single stroke, laughing as he struck. In another

-instant Everson's blade was out and busy. His cutlass exercises at

-old Annapolis stood him well. The line of steel gave. The other three

-fugitives, running together, dashed through and gained the quay. But

-behind them came many men.

-

-Polaris laid Mordo on the wharf and looked about him for a weapon.

-The door of the nearest warehouse was made fast with a bar of bronze

-or steel, nearly eight feet in length. Janess tore it from its rests.

-At the end of the quay he saw the marizel of Oleric riding in its

-moorings, and saw that Urk had clambered aboard it and was making all

-ready to cast off.

-

-Whirling his ponderous weapon, which was a weight to tax the strength

-of an ordinary man to lift from the ground, Polaris rushed into the

-thick of the press, where the red captain and the naval lieutenant

-fought side by side.

-

-"Get you to the boat!" he shouted. "When all is ready, whistle that I

-may know."

-

-_Clang!_ The metal bar fell, and three men in steel went down under its

-sweep. With the agility of a panther, the son of the snows leaped and

-struck again. At his side black Rombar raged like a demon. Before those

-terrible blows no man, however well begirt in steel, could stand and

-live.

-

-The Maeronican fighting men drew back, aghast. The way to the wharf was

-clear.

-

-Laughing aloud, Oleric drew out of the fight and ran along the wharf to

-the marizel. Everson paused at the side of Polaris.

-

-"Best go on," Janess told him. "I shall need no aid. Or, if you stay,

-stand to one side a bit. I have need for much room."

-

-Once more the Maeronican men-at-arms closed in. Polaris, with his bar,

-charged them, shouting; for his blood was up. They should take him back

-to no dungeon when his freedom beckoned so near. Two more armored men

-fell, their mail cracking like egg-shell under the clanging flail that

-opposed them. Another went down under the murderous jaws of Rombar who

-fought at his master's thigh.

-

-Loud and clear then sounded the whistle of Oleric. Hurling the bar in

-the faces of the bewildered men of the guard, the son of the snows ran

-to the end of the wharf and sprang to the deck of the marizel. Everson

-entered the door just ahead of him. Oleric and Urk already had stowed

-Mordo within the vessel and cut loose the mooring ropes.

-

-As he paused for an instant on the rear deck to call the great dog to

-him, Polaris saw a giant figure come from one of the stone warehouses

-and run out to the end of the next quay. In the dusk, and at that

-distance, he yet was able to recognize Minos.

-

-"It is I, Polaris!" Janess shouted. "We leave for Ruthar, if we may win

-through. Farewell for a space, until we come again."

-

-Back came the deep voice of the king in answer:

-

-"Fare thee well, my brother!" he cried in the ancient Greek of

-Sardanes. "May the high God guide thy footsteps."

-

-Many a time in after years did the son of the snows recall to mind

-that scene: the great, circular basin of the harbor of Adlaz, dim under

-the light from the stars; the glittering fademes that were riding at

-anchor; the twinkling of mitzl globes along the wharves, where men

-ran to and fro; the court and its huge, black archway; the armored

-men of the guard coming on across the wharf; and the tall form of the

-Sardanian king standing at the end of the quay and waving farewell.

-

-Reenforcements had come to the Maeronican guards, and they rushed

-the quay. But Urk had his engine going. The marizel shot out into

-the harbor. In a moment more the little craft had dived beneath the

-surface. Like an arrow, it clove through the under water. Crafty

-steersman was Urk. Through the harbor he drove the marizel in safety,

-and through the tunnel to the sea, meeting no incoming danger. Once out

-of the channel, he turned the nose of the craft southward, down the

-coast toward Ruthar.

-

-Miles away, amid the dim Rutharian forests, fierce-eyed men gripped

-their sword-hilts firmer, and prayed to their stars and their goddess

-for the safe making of that journey and the glory of the war that

-was to come. For word had come to Ruthar--over the Kimbrian Wall it

-had come--that Oleric the Red had turned his face toward home again,

-bringing with him the man for whom a nation waited.

-

-

-

-

-                               CHAPTER V

-

-                     WHERE THE ILLIA MEETS THE SEA

-

-

-In the watches of the night arose a great clamor and outcry in the old

-palace of Bel-Tisam. So loud was the din that it aroused Rose Emer and

-the Lady Memene from their slumbers in the chamber off the ancient hall

-where they were quartered. In the outer corridors they heard the clang

-of feet of armored men and their hoarse shouts as they called to one

-another. This grew faint and passed away, and then swelled loud and

-near again, as of men who had penetrated into the lower dungeons of the

-prison and returned.

-

-Sitting up in their bed and holding each other by the hand for comfort,

-the two women were afraid for what might have happened.

-

-"Something untoward is on foot," said Memene. "Perhaps this is the

-night chosen by the red man from the sea" (for so she called Oleric)

-"to go forth as he did promise, although it is past the time he set

-for his going."

-

-"Do you think that they have discovered the plan, and that

-he--Polaris--is taken again? I pray to God that is not so," whispered

-Rose.

-

-"Something has greatly stirred the guards," Memene replied. "But I do

-not think that the mighty man of the wilderness and his red friend are

-taken. Those shouts we heard but now were those of disappointed men."

-

-As the uproar continued through the rooms of the old prison, Rose and

-Memene arose and donned their garments. Sleep, for that night, had fled

-them.

-

-Presently they heard, but faint and muffled through the intervening

-walls, the clatter of hoofs on the pavement of the black avenue as a

-horse passed by, ridden at furious speed.

-

-A little later the door from the corridor outside the hall of audience

-was opened, and through it came that captain of the palace-guard who

-was named Brunar. From Oleric, the captain had learned a few words

-of the English tongue, and he now made shift with them to tell the

-two fair prisoners that Polaris and Oleric, and likewise the captain,

-Mordo, had gone. The escape of Zenas Wright and Everson had not been

-discovered as yet. Two dead guards in the rooms of Mordo, and the

-absence of the marizel from its moorings in the hidden canal near the

-Temple of the Sun, accounted for part of the story. A rider on the

-fleetest horse in the stables of Bel-Ar, said Brunar, had been sent to

-the harbor to warn the guards there, so they might trap the fugitives.

-

-From the manner in which his news was received, the captain was able

-to guess that Rose and Memene knew something of what was on foot. But

-this Brunar was a very courteous man, and he forbore to question them

-closely, if indeed he had enough English to do so. In the morning he

-came again, and told them of the fight at the harbor and the sailing

-of the marizel; for Brunar now took up his abode in the palace of

-Bel-Tisam and looked after the duties of Mordo. His two wards found

-him a kindly jailer, and as indulgent as circumstances would permit

-him to be, who could not set them free. Brunar was angry indeed at the

-supposed treachery of Oleric and of Mordo, not knowing that the one was

-a spy of Ruthar and that the other had had no will in the manner of his

-going forth from Adlaz.

-

-Report was made later in the day of the escape of Everson from the

-mines, and of Zenas Wright from the household of the king, and men

-marveled at the daring of the deed and the craft of it. But the two

-women in their prison, or Ensign Brooks in the mines, or Minos at the

-harbor, got no more news of the fugitives for many a long day.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-With Urk, the sailor, squatting among the levers of his engine, the

-marizel of Oleric swam steadily and swiftly down the western coast of

-Maeronica. Under water she went, well off from the shore and showing no

-lights. Oleric showed his passengers the marvelous valves in the sides

-of the little vessel which were similar in construction to the mask

-with which they already were familiar, and by means of which the air in

-the marizel was replenished with oxygen drawn from the sea water.

-

-Also, he told them somewhat of the land to which they were journeying,

-explaining why it was that Ruthar, though smaller and more sparsely

-populated by far than Maeronica, had never been conquered by the larger

-power. It was a land of forests and mountains, he said, and all the

-way around its ragged coastline were huge, precipitous cliffs, the

-overhanging crags of which were a natural barrier to invasion. Wherever

-had been a break in the cliff-line, the Rutharians, by dint of great

-labors, had filled the breaks with walls, closing the gaps so that the

-only places where one might land on Ruthar from the sea were certain

-spots where narrow stretches of beach lay at the foot of the towering

-cliffs.

-

-At only one point could one come at the interior of the country from

-the sea, Oleric said, and that was at the mouth of a river named Illia.

-That place was closely guarded, and nature and the hand of man had

-united to make of it a way where one man might defy a thousand.

-

-Years before, the red captain said, the Rutharians had had a few small

-ships. But they had little use for them, and with the perfection of

-the fademes by the Maeronicans, nearly a century before, the Rutharian

-vessels had been promptly sent to the bottom. Metals were easily mined,

-and in abundance, especially gold, in Maeronica. But the materials

-which produced the power for the fademes and for their terrible

-destroyers were scarce and precious. Therefore, the growth of the navy

-of Adlaz had been slow.

-

-But with the fulfillment of the mighty destiny of the Children of Ad

-in mind, the scientists labored unceasingly, and it was in the mind

-of Bel-Ar that he was to be the man to see the accomplishment of that

-destiny. He waited but the equipment of a few more fademes to send

-his dreadful messengers forth to take and hold all the seas on earth,

-compelling the nations of the world to bow to the power of Adlaz, as

-tradition told him they once had bowed before.

-

-"Now Ruthar, if her stars shine brightly, shall put a big stone before

-his chariot-wheels and break his power," Oleric said, "repaying evil

-with evil until good come of it, and the Goddess Glorian reigns from

-the capes at the north to the southern seas. And in that I pray that

-my part shall not be small." With a laugh he added, "This is a strange

-game for me to play--Oleric the Red, loose-mouthed soldier and slayer

-of men--who in Ruthar am known as Oleric the learned, a professor in

-the University of Nematzin, which is hard by the hill of Flomos, on the

-banks of the river Illia."

-

-"And this Goddess Glorian--" asked Zenas Wright curiously. "Is she a

-statue in a temple, or the good star of Ruthar, or is she merely a

-name?"

-

-For once the readiness in answer of the red captain deserted him, and

-he stared at the geologist with open mouth. Then he said soberly:

-

-"No statue in a temple is the Goddess Glorian. Good star of Ruthar she

-is surely, and, in addition, she is the fairest woman on whom Shamar

-ever had looked down from the skies. And now her time comes on, for

-which she has waited many a hun--"

-

-Oleric broke off suddenly and turned his eyes on Polaris with a strange

-look.

-

-"Nay," he said; "for the rest you must learn from the goddess herself.

-My tongue does clack like a shepherd-wife's." Nor would he then or

-thereafter tell more of Ruthar and its goddess.

-

-Zenas Wright mused to himself, and the train of his musings ran thus:

-"Oleric, you seem to keep your promises, and you are a good fighter,

-for I have seen you fight. But when it comes to your tales of living

-mammoths in this twentieth century, and of a goddess in the shape of

-a woman who has _waited many a hundred years_--for that was what you

-almost said, my friend--why, then, I can't follow you; and I think you

-like to draw the long bow."

-

-Swiftly as the marizel traveled, that night wore into dawn, and day and

-darkness came, and still another dawning, ere Urk turned off his power

-and filled the air-chambers which raised the vessel to the surface of

-the sea. They had rounded the southern coast of Ruthar and beat up

-along the eastern shores, and here, as they arose from the depths,

-straight ahead of them lay the mouth of the river Illia. When the

-voyagers saw it, they did not wonder that Adlaz found little fortune in

-attacking Ruthar by sea.

-

-An irregular fissure in the frowning face of the cliff discharged the

-river into the sea. That rift was nearly thirty yards wide at its

-bottom, and narrowed almost to nothingness far above, where the red

-granite of the headlands towered many hundreds of feet in height. Down

-the glen in the fissure the river Illia tripped to the sea like a lady

-down a stately stairway. For the rock of the river-bed was shelving,

-in strata which varied from less than a foot to nearly three feet in

-height, and some of the shelves were as much as ten yards in breadth;

-so that the water came down that great natural stair in a series of

-broad cascades.

-

-"Up yonder stairway lies the path into Ruthar," Oleric said, pointing,

-as they stood on the deck of the marizel, and Urk laid the vessel as

-near to the shelving bank below the river-mouth as he could. "Here we

-must leave the marizel, and to the kindness of the waves; for there is

-no harbor in which to store her."

-

-Oleric clambered from the deck and stood up to his knees on the

-lowermost step of the Illia's wide stairway. The others followed, Urk

-last of all, haling before him the captain, Mordo, with his hands bound.

-

-For Mordo had proved an unruly passenger. When the fumes of the wine

-cleared from his brain, which was not for many hours, he had so cursed

-and raged at Oleric, forswearing all friendship that had been between

-them, that the Rutharian had lost his temper. He told Mordo roundly

-that he wished that he had left him to the mercy of Bel-Ar and the

-priests of Shamar.

-

-"Better that than the company of a traitorous hound," growled Mordo out

-of a soul in which no gratitude dwelt. Oleric deemed that it was best

-to bind him, lest he do mischief.

-

-Ascent of the river-stair was not difficult at first, for the steps

-were broad, and at that season of the year the volume of water coming

-down them was not so strong but that a man might keep his footing if he

-used care.

-

-Hardly were the climbers well within the shadow of the glen when there

-arose from the foot of the stair a mighty shouting and splashing.

-Oleric spun round with a curse on his lips.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Quickly as they had come from Adlaz town, their destination had been

-guessed, and others had come almost as quickly. As the fugitives

-turned, they saw a Maeronican fademe swing alongside the lowermost step

-of the ascent, her fore and after decks crowded with men, who swarmed

-off her onto the rock and ran up the stairway. Foremost among them,

-gorgeous in his golden armor, was the Captain Daelo, and he matched the

-curse of Oleric with another as he shook his gauntleted fist at his

-enemy.

-

-"Haste! Haste!" Oleric cried, then pursed his lips and sent a long

-whistle skirling up the glen. As he did so he lost his footing, clawed

-wildly at the air and the rocks, and went down.

-

-Though the push of the down-rushing waters of the Illia was not strong

-enough to sweep a man from his feet if he were cautious, it was yet

-of sufficient power to keep him going once he fell. From shelf to

-shelf down the great stairway Oleric went, his armor clanging. More

-than that, he swept Mordo and the sturdy Urk from their footing, also;

-and all three of them slid straight into the hands of Daelo's men,

-outstretched to receive them.

-

-As the soldiers seized Oleric and stood him upright, he wrenched free

-one arm and waved it at his companion.

-

-"Tarry not for me!" he shouted. "Go on! There be friends waiting at the

-top--" A soldier smote him on the mouth and silenced him.

-

-On the step where he stood Polaris halted. He bent, and with his strong

-fingers snapped the strings of his shoes and removed them--for he still

-wore his own clothing in which he had been dragged from the sea. With

-his feet bared, he had a better grip on the slippery rock. He snatched

-the sword of Everson from its sheath and went down the river-path, all

-unarmored as he was, to meet the swordsmen of Daelo. On they clambered,

-cursing and shouting; but the way was difficult for their mailed feet,

-and the son of the snows leaped down at them like an avalanche. With

-him, breast-deep in the current, went Rombar.

-

-First man to meet the descending danger was Daelo, and he paid the

-penalty of his temerity with his life. Polaris, striking from above,

-smote him from his foothold, a blow that shore away half of his golden

-helm and split the skull within it, and the Captain Daelo pitched

-backward into the sea.

-

-Another bound and a stroke so bitter that it hewed off the arm of a

-steel-clad soldier, severing it between wrist and elbow, and the son of

-the snows had freed Oleric from the hands that held him. Straightway

-the red captain drew sword and took up the tale. Daelo's men, of whom

-there were nearly a score, faltered, staggering and slipping on the

-rocky shelves. Almost their courage was broken, when Polaris caught

-his naked foot in a crevice in the rock and tripped. Before he could

-recover, a heavy sword-blade fell upon his unprotected head from

-behind. He let fall his own blade and sank to his knees and then to his

-face on the steps of Illia.

-

-Short-lived was the triumph of the Maeronicans. The cry of exultation

-which greeted the fall of their dreaded enemy was turned into a howl of

-dismay as half a hundred fierce-eyed fighting men of Ruthar poured down

-the glen, waving their bared swords and shouting:

-

-"For the Goddess Glorian! Slay the Maeronican dogs!"

-

-That tide overwhelmed the company of Daelo to the last man, and with

-them died black Mordo. Less by one more fademe was the navy of King

-Bel-Ar.

-

-When the warriors of the forests turned up the stair once more, they

-found Oleric kneeling in the water, supporting Polaris's head on his

-arm, while old Zenas and Everson bound with strips torn from their

-clothing the gaping wound which the sword-blade had left at the back of

-his head. Beside the group, Rombar, standing nearly to his neck in the

-wash of the river, lifted up his head and howled dolefully.

-

-Six strong men took up the limp form of the fair-haired giant and bore

-it away up the river staircase.

-

-So Polaris came at last to Ruthar.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Up the rocky shelves of Illia the Rutharians trudged and splashed, the

-chasm becoming ever narrower and more gloomy. With the narrowing of the

-rift, the water became deeper and its current stronger. Then one of the

-party uncoiled a long rope from his shoulder, and the party marched on

-in single file, each clinging to the rope like Alpine climbers.

-

-Oleric urged haste and more haste.

-

-Presently the water was too deep for Rombar, and the current set so

-strongly that the dog could not swim against it. At an order from

-Oleric, two Rutharian hunters seized the brute by the collar, and

-though one of them got a gashed hand for his pains, they bound Rombar's

-jaws and feet with ropes and carried him on their shoulders--a task

-which neither they nor Rombar found pleasant.

-

-At a point in the ascent where further progress against the deepening

-stream was impossible, the party left the bed of the river and

-clambered to the right, where a flight of steep and narrow steps had

-been cut in the rock along a fissure which branched from the main

-gorge. Up nearly two hundred of those steps they toiled, until Zenas

-Wright and Everson, unused to such exertions, nearly fainted with

-exhaustion. At the top of the stairs they emerged into a forest of tall

-trees, oak and pine and chestnut, which grew almost to the edge of the

-cliffs.

-

-No sooner had he stepped from the rock stairway than Oleric knelt and

-kissed the black earth.

-

-"This, my friends, is Ruthar," he said as he arose and faced the two

-Americans.

-

-From among the trees came a tall, white-bearded chieftain, who was

-armored from head to heel in a wonderful suit of chain mail, links of

-steel that shone like silver. At his back swung a two-handed sword

-which was nearly the length of a man.

-

-He advanced to Oleric and laid his hands on the captain's shoulders.

-

-"You are Oleric the Red, and no other," he said. "Well do I remember

-you. Once I was your pupil. But that was more than three times ten

-years ago." He shook his head wonderingly. "You serve Ruthar well," he

-added.

-

-Now, had Zenas Wright been able to understand the speech of Ruthar, he

-certainly would have set this chieftain down as a hoary-headed liar.

-For how could he have been a pupil to Oleric the Red more than thirty

-years before, when it was plain for any one to see that the captain

-must at that time have been a babe in his mother's arms?

-

-"Aye, Jastla, it is the old red fox come back to his hole again,"

-Oleric answered, striking the old chief fondly across his broad

-shoulders.

-

-"Which of these with you is the man--the hope of Ruthar?" questioned

-Jastla. His eyes passed the stubby form of Zenas Wright by and rested

-inquiringly on the square and soldierly Everson.

-

-Oleric's ruddy face went sober. His voice choked as he answered:

-

-"Nay, Jastla, neither of these. He comes yonder--and I fear that he is

-sorely smitten."

-

-As he spoke the six Rutharians who bore Polaris Janess came over the

-brink of the stair and laid their burden down.

-

-Jastla strode to the side of Polaris and looked down at him.

-

-"A mighty man, with golden hair--and comely, as was written in the

-prophecy," he muttered into his beard. "What has befallen him?" he

-asked of Oleric.

-

-While the captain told of the fight at the river-mouth, Zenas Wright

-knelt at Polaris's head and rearranged the bandages, which had become

-loosened in the rough journey through the gorge. Rombar, who had been

-that moment untrussed, pushed growling through the group of men and

-crouched and licked at his master's face.

-

-"Will he live, Father Zenas? Will he live?" Oleric asked. "Tell us,

-you, who are skilled."

-

-"God knows," groaned Zenas. The hand which he laid on the steel cheek

-of Polaris shook so that he snatched it away and hid it. "God only

-knows. There is a little life in him yet."

-

-"He plucked me from the sea," said Oleric wildly. "That was fated of

-the gods. Twice has he fought at my side. This day perchance he has

-given his life for me; and that was of his own strong spirit. I tell

-you, Father Zenas, that if it would do my brother any good, here would

-Oleric fall upon his sword and render up his soul unto those that sent

-it forth." Then he controlled himself. "Can he be moved? Can you keep

-the vital spark within him for a little space, good father? We must

-haste and get him to the Goddess Glorian. If his soul be not sped when

-he reaches her, she can hold it back, if any on earth can. Say, Father

-Zenas, can you do it?"

-

-"I will try," answered Zenas. "If I had a little wine, now--"

-

-"Wine!" Oleric shouted. "Bring wine, some one of you, and haste, though

-your lungs burst. And slay a kid, so that we may have broth."

-

-A fleet-footed Rutharian lad set off through the forest, running with

-the speed of a deer.

-

-"Now, Jastla, see you to a horse-litter. Two gentle beasts, mind you,

-but speedy. For we must travel fast and far. I take my brother to the

-Hill of Flomos. And send on a swift messenger to the Goddess Glorian,

-to tell her that the hope of Ruthar lies wounded in the forests and is

-near to death. Haste, Jastla; haste!"

-

-Wine was brought, and it was good wine; for the grapes that grow in

-the valleys of Ruthar are the finest in all the world. Zenas Wright

-forced apart the set jaws of the stricken man, using a sword-point

-to do it, and even as Dr. Marsey, who was dead, had done for Oleric,

-poured the purple wine and a little broth into Polaris's mouth. The

-kindly old geologist could only pray that some of it penetrated to the

-man's stomach, for most of it was spilled out again when they moved him.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Chief Jastla brought a horse-litter. In it, between two powerful

-beasts, Polaris was slung. The Rutharians wrapped him closely with

-blankets and furs. The sun had turned to his northward journey, and in

-the forests of Ruthar the air was keen with the tang of approaching

-winter--felt there in the uplands long before it reached to the plains

-and valleys of Maeronica.

-

-Horses were fetched for Oleric, Wright and Everson, and they set off at

-once along the mountain trails skirting the mighty cañon of the Illia.

-An escort of half a score of Rutharian hunters rode with them.

-

-All that day and night and until sunset of the next day they rode with

-only brief stops at small Rutharian hamlets, where they ate hurriedly

-and changed horses. Word had been sent on before of their coming, and

-fresh horses were always in waiting. Sleep they did not, save in their

-saddles, and the two Americans felt that they might die from sheer

-weariness.

-

-Oleric did not sleep at all, though of all the party his vitality

-seemed the least impaired by that racking journey. His face grew

-haggard and gaunt, and his eyes red-rimmed, but a wonderful

-determination seemed to sustain his body. He spoke seldom, and then to

-urge his faltering companions to renewed efforts.

-

-Rombar ran with the horses until he was utterly done up. Then Oleric

-left the dog at one of the mountain villages, to be brought on later.

-

-In the morning of the second day the party swung to the right, away

-from the gorge of the Illia, to come to it again about noon and cross

-it on a bridge of steel and stone that spanned it three hundred feet up

-from the torrent's course.

-

-Everson, looking at those piles and trusses, judged the building of

-that bridge to be the feat of no mean engineer. Though there had been a

-waste of material, the structure would have stood comparison with many

-a bridge in Europe or America.

-

-Throughout the long ride, Polaris lay like a log in the litter.

-Occasionally, at the stopping places, the scientist redressed the

-wound, smearing it with a healing balsam which an old woman in one of

-the villages had given him. It was a fearsome gash, and Zenas shook his

-head over it whenever he saw it. The point of the sword had laid open

-the scalp at the back of Polaris's head for a matter of inches, then

-had glanced from the bone beneath and bitten deeply into the neck near

-the spinal column.

-

-Wright sheared the hair away from the wound and stitched it as neatly

-as he could. Despite his care the edges of the cut turned blue, as

-is the way with such hurts if they have not expert attention. In the

-afternoon of that second day's ride he found that Polaris's hands and

-feet were becoming cold, and that the geologist deemed the worst sign

-of all.

-

-Shortly after they had crossed the bridge the contour of the country

-became less wild. They emerged from among the crags and peaks of the

-mountains into the foot-hills, where the forests were not so dense as

-above, and from time to time they came upon large spaces of cleared

-lands with tilled fields and many vineyards.

-

-In one of the forest glades the party passed a spot where a number

-of fair-sized trees had been uprooted and partly stripped of their

-branches and bark. Others, still standing, were mere distorted stubs of

-trees, their trunks scored and twisted and their foliage gone.

-

-"I hope such storms as the one that did this damage are not frequent

-hereabouts," said Zenas, pointing out the wrecks to Everson.

-

-Oleric heard the remark.

-

-"'Storms,' say you, Father Zenas?" he said. "The storm that went

-through here walked on four feet. When we of Ruthar see such a sight in

-the forest, we know that an amaloc has breakfasted there. I forget the

-high-sounding name you call him by."

-

-"That lad should have been a writer of fiction," said Zenas to himself

-when the captain had ridden on. "He almost makes me believe in him."

-

-"Gorry-me," Zenas groaned, easing himself in his saddle, "I wish we

-were at the end of this ride, wherever it is. I do not think that I

-shall ever be able to walk again. You," he said to Everson, "you ride

-along there in your golden armor like--what is it?--a paladin of old,

-and never a word out of you. Well, I'd sooner stand it, at that,

-than to go back to that roasting-spit I was put to tend in the King's

-kitchen." Zenas grunted as recollection stung him.

-

-"Why, do you know, one day I was figuring out a bit of calculus in my

-head, just for practise, and I let the meat scorch; and the head cook

-actually laid a dog-whip across my back. Yes, sir; me, a fellow in the

-National Geographic Society, whipped across a kitchen by a greasy-faced

-dough-slinger who doesn't know gneiss from rotten-stone!"

-

-Wright grunted again at the memory of that indignity, and then rambled

-on:

-

-"But we've got to stand it all for the boy here, and for the folks we

-left behind. God knows I'm willing to for their sakes, and worse yet,

-if it's to come. But I must grumble once in a while, and I can't help

-it. Say, Everson, do you believe any of that chaff of our red-headed

-friend about the mammoths?"

-

-The lieutenant did not answer, and Wright, peering into his face, saw

-that he was asleep in the saddle.

-

-Well down upon his course was the sun, and the shadows of the trees

-were lengthening eastward, when the travelers, who for some time had

-been following a smooth, straight road through rolling hills, came to

-an old Rutharian villa, which stood among its gardens a considerable

-distance back from the highway. A low wall bordered the grounds at the

-front along the roadway, a wall with a pillared gateway, where a drive

-led in from the road. At the foot of each of the pillars, sitting his

-horse like a statue, was a Rutharian gentleman.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-As the weary cavalcade came down the road the two riders left their

-posts and advanced to meet it, parleying with Oleric. Scarcely half a

-dozen words passed back and forth when the red captain set up a joyful

-shout. When he reached the gateway he turned his horse in, bidding the

-others to follow.

-

-"Here's hoping that some one will introduce me to a bed before I clean

-forget what one feels like," said Zenas.

-

-At the side of the ancient house the riders dismounted, Everson reeling

-from his horse like a drunken man and throwing himself face downward on

-the grass.

-

-Oleric superintended the removal of Polaris from the litter.

-

-The geologist was bending over his charge as the hunters bore him along

-when he became aware of the tall figure of a woman that came down from

-the porch of the mansion and hastened along the walk. She had thrown a

-long, dark red cloak about her shoulders. In the dusk of the garden the

-scientist could not distinguish her features, but he saw that her hair

-was dark, or seemed to be, and that she was taller than most women and

-splendidly formed.

-

-"The Goddess Glorian!" Oleric cried aloud. "Oh, by the stars of Ruthar,

-but you are welcome!"

-

-Down on one knee sank the captain and kissed her hand.

-

-"Oh, goddess, after all these years I have brought you the hope of

-Ruthar. But he is sorely wounded--dying--and you alone can save him. We

-were bringing him to Flomos with all the speed we might, and thought

-not to find you here."

-

-"Where else should Glorian be, but on the way to meet this man?" she

-answered simply. "Jastla's messenger reached Flomos this morning. He

-rode four horses to their deaths upon his way. You have done well,

-Oleric the Learned."

-

-When he heard the silvery cadences of that voice, though he understood

-not a word save the name of the captain, a thrill passed through Zenas

-Wright, old as he was, and through his aged veins he felt the blood

-course faster. The woman came nearer. He smelled the warm perfume of

-her hair as she bent and touched the cheek of Polaris with her hand.

-

-"Bring him within, Oleric," she said, "and, oh, haste, for--" Her

-glorious voice broke. "For he is nearly gone."

-

-Swinging the still form of Polaris shoulder high, the Rutharian hunters

-passed on and into the mansion, leaving Zenas behind.

-

-"Now, what do you know about that?" gasped the scientist as he sank

-wearily to the ground beside Everson. "Goddess, indeed! What, I want

-to know, will Rose Emer say when she learns of this young person? Well,

-I hope she saves the lad; but she'll need to be a doctor of parts, or

-I'm a donkey. Poor boy! Poor boy!"

-

-In a few moments came Oleric to show Wright and Everson to their

-quarters for the night in the rear of the house. And a rare time he had

-to arouse the lieutenant sufficiently to lead him to bed.

-

-White and still, Polaris Janess lay on a bed in an upper chamber of the

-old house. By the light from a mitzl globe--trophy of some Rutharian

-chieftain in a foray over the Kimbrian Wall--the Goddess Glorian bent

-above him and studied his pale features.

-

-"My friend, my poor friend," she said brokenly. "How often through the

-weary years I have seen you in my dreams--and now to find you--only to

-lose you."

-

-Hot tears ran down her cheeks and fell on the stricken man's face.

-

-"Oh! It shall not be!" she said fiercely. "You shall not die--not if

-Glorian must give her soul to hold you back from the gates of darkness."

-

-Throwing aside her cloak, she drew a chair to the bedside. With her

-fingers she lifted Polaris's eyelids and held them open. She gazed deep

-into the tawny eyes, now, alas, so dull and lifeless. For hours she sat

-there, with no more apparent movement than the man she watched over.

-The whole strength of her being seemed concentrated in some inward,

-unyielding struggle.

-

-And as the long hours passed a change came over the sick man. He did

-not stir. He scarcely seemed to breathe. But his face became less gray

-and haggard, and the icy chill of death was driven from his hands and

-feet.

-

-Long after midnight it was when the Goddess Glorian stood up from that

-bedside and in her heart said wildly, "I have won!"

-

-Summoning her women, who waited without the door, she bade them dress

-anew the now festering wound and pour a little wine and broth into his

-throat.

-

-All night long the Goddess Glorian sat and watched him.

-

-In the morning, when Oleric came to the door in answer to her summons,

-she looked up at him with a wan smile.

-

-"Fear no longer," she said. "The man will live."

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-On the third day after his arrival at the old Rutharian mansion,

-Polaris left it. But he knew nothing of that going. He still lay in

-the heavy stupor which was to hold him thrall for many days. Zenas

-Wright doubted much the wisdom of moving a man so ill. The scientist

-himself, after two days' rest, felt scarcely equal to the journey, and

-the thought of again bestriding a horse made him shudder. Still, he

-reasoned that it was by a miracle that Janess lived at all, and if she

-who had wrought that miracle, the Goddess Glorian, said he might be

-moved in safety, why, doubtless she knew what she was about.

-

-A low, four-wheeled car was brought. Across the box of it the hunters

-lashed light and springy poles and on them piled robes and blankets,

-making a soft and easy bed for the sick man. At the head of that couch

-rode the Goddess Glorian, cloaked and hooded, and at its foot crouched

-black Rombar, who had been brought in from the village where he had

-been left, and who seemed little the worse for his long jaunt. Wright

-and the lieutenant occupied another smaller car in the rear, and in

-a third vehicle rode a number of the women of Glorian's household.

-Oleric, mounted and aglitter in chain armor of steel--for he had

-discarded as soon as might be the hated golden livery of Bel-Ar--rode

-at the side of the first car. For escort the party had the company of

-nearly a score of young Rutharian zinds--zind was the only title of

-nobility in Ruthar.

-

-So they set out for Flomos, traveling by easy stages and with many

-rests. The roads were smooth and the country more even than that they

-had left behind. All along the way, be the time of day what it might,

-they rode between two long lines of people--people silent for the most

-part, who stood with bowed heads as the cars and the riders passed by.

-

-Far and wide throughout the land had gone the word that the man who

-had come to be known as the hope of Ruthar was journeying to Flomos,

-and the circumstances of that journey. These who lined the road were

-gathered there to do him silent homage. Satisfied were they if they

-only caught a fleeting glimpse of his still face on its pillow of furs.

-Over all of Ruthar went up a many-voiced and ceaseless prayer for his

-welfare.

-

-"H'm, Everson, folks will never stand like that for us, living or

-dead," said Zenas Wright to the lieutenant, when Oleric had told them

-the meaning of the silent lines of people. Despite his banter, the old

-geologist was deeply touched.

-

-Two days and part of a third they traveled--for they did not

-hurry--stopping for the nights at the homes of Rutharian gentlemen

-along the road. It was nearly afternoon of the third day when they

-followed the winding of the highway around the last low hills of the

-mountain range and came out upon a plateau-plain of wide extent, in

-the center of which was a wooded eminence, and on its crest the white

-pillars of a temple shone in the sunlight.

-

-The road stretched straight across the plain through a broad expanse

-of tilled lands and gardens, which ringed a city that stood at the

-foot of the hill. It was scarcely a fifth the proportions of Adlaz,

-this ancient town of Ruthar, which was called Zele-omaz, or City by

-the River; but it was a pretty place of broad streets shaded by many

-trees, gardens and low-built, pleasant homes, with here and there the

-statelier dwellings of some zind or wealthy man.

-

-Here, too, was the Illia, rock-bound no longer, but a fair and gentle

-stream, winding through the town and spanned by many bridges.

-

-Skirting the city at the right, the travelers followed a sloping path

-that led up the hill to where the temple stood.

-

-"Yonder," Oleric said, pointing down to where a group of low buildings

-of gray stone rambled at the waterside under spreading yew trees, "is

-the University of Nematzin, of which I am a professor. And there is the

-laboratory of which I spoke, where we shall make the thunder-dust to

-shake down the Kimbrian Wall."

-

-"One more day's rest, and I will be fit for anything," answered Everson.

-

-"What do you teach in this university, friend?" Zenas queried.

-

-"A little of the science of the stars, Father Zenas--or I did, for it

-is many years since I have sat among my pupils--somewhat of history and

-of language," replied the red captain.

-

-"Humph; you must have been a young teacher," said Zenas Wright, and he

-ran his fingers through the sprouting stubble of his beard, as he had a

-habit of doing when things vexed him. Suddenly he jumped in his seat,

-though the wrench to his sore flesh cost him a wry face.

-

-"Hey! Everson! Look at that, and then tell me if I'm dreaming."

-

-The "that" was a gateway through which the car was about to pass.

-Oleric followed with a glance the direction in which the geologist

-pointed and then rode on with a smile.

-

-It was a very curious gate, so curious that, if it still stands, and

-it doubtless does, for it was built to endure, there is none other

-just like it in the world. At each side of the roadway was a section

-of black stone wall, extending along the path a matter of a dozen feet

-and some ten feet high. At intervals along the tops of the two walls

-were set round, squat pillars, also of stone. Those had been hollowed

-out and served as bases for enormous ivory tusks, which were embedded

-in cement in the hollowed pillars, and from them curved up to meet over

-the center of the roadway, where their tips were made fast with double

-sockets of bronze.

-

-Ivory the tusks were; there was no doubting that; weather-checked and

-stained yellow by age and the elements, but still ivory. But the size

-of them! No elephant that ever walked the earth bore ivories of such

-proportions. For they were as large around at their bases as the chest

-of an average man; and from base to tapering tip there was none of them

-that did not measure eleven feet. Seven pair of them there were, and

-all splendidly matched.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Zenas stared back at that marvelous arch--for it was more an archway

-than a gate--as hard as he could stare. Not until a turn of the road

-hid it, did he relax into his seat.

-

-"Maybe he isn't so great a liar, after all," he said, and he meant

-Oleric. "Everson, those are mammoth's tusks--sure's I'm a sinner."

-

-"Strange land, strange things," answered Everson laconically.

-

-The home or temple of the Goddess Glorian on the hill of Flomos was a

-small thing by comparison with the mighty Temple of Shamar, but in its

-way was quite as beautiful. Like the temple of the sun-god, the house

-of Glorian was built all of white marble. Fronting north toward the

-city of Zele-omaz was a façade of four-and-twenty sixty-foot pillars.

-A broad, paved porch, reached by half a hundred steps, lay at the foot

-of the façade. Back of the pillars were twelve double doors of bronze,

-leading into a lofty hall, the marble dome of which towered high above

-the pillars and could be seen from the countryside for miles about when

-the sun shone on it.

-

-Back of the hall the structure was divided into three floors, or

-stories, each of many roomy chambers and corridors. The whole was well

-lighted by windows of clear glass, of which an abundance was used in

-both Maeronica and Ruthar. Behind the temple, southward down the hill,

-were the dwellings of Glorian's personal retainers and servants.

-

-Well back from the center of the domed hall and near the foot of a

-grand staircase which led to the second floor, was a raised dais of

-marble, whereon Glorian was wont to sit and give judgment in matters of

-state which were too high for the administration of the zinds who ruled

-in the different cities and provinces. Once Ruthar had had its dynasty

-of kings, but that was many years before. The royal line died out, and

-because of certain circumstances at that time the people raised up no

-more kings. At the time of the coming of the strangers the Goddess

-Glorian was the absolute power in Ruthar.

-

-On the dais in the throne-room was another wonder for Zenas Wright to

-see. It was a massive, double-seated chair, constructed, even to the

-pegs which held its parts together, of ivory like in the giant tusks

-of the arch. An artist of surpassing skill had wrought that chair and

-had carved it into the semblance of tall lily-stalks with heavy-headed,

-drooping blossoms and slender fronds. All around the larger stalks were

-cut the clinging tendrils of a creeping vine, a tracery as fine as lace.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Wright and Everson were given rooms on the second floor of the temple

-at its western side. Polaris was borne to a chamber on the upper

-story, where he was tended by Glorian herself and the servants of her

-household. Rombar took up his quarters in that chamber also, and only

-Oleric could lure the dog forth from his master's side, and then not

-for long at a time.

-

-Soon after their arrival at the hill of Flomos, and when they had

-rested some of the stiffness from their joints, Everson and the

-scientist went down with Oleric to the laboratories of Nematzin to

-begin their work. Though the students of Ruthar were not unskilled in

-chemistry of a sort, they knew nothing of explosives. So Zenas prepared

-himself for a series of tests to discover the materials of which he was

-in need, or, if he could not find what he desired, some combination

-which would serve.

-

-In that constructive analysis the naval lieutenant could be of little

-aid. Oleric then found a task for him which was more to his liking. It

-was the drilling of men.

-

-From her center to her rock-bound coasts, Ruthar hummed with the

-preparation for war.

-

-"If we are to fight, let us first know how many men we can raise, and

-how they will be disposed," said Everson. "What is the population of

-this country, and how will it match up, man for man, with Maeronica?"

-

-All told, Ruthar's people numbered something like a million and a

-quarter, Oleric informed him; and in Maeronica the population was near

-to three and one-half millions, at least a half a million of which

-dwelt in the great city of Adlaz.

-

-"As it is figured in the world, your army then will be made up of one

-fighting man to every ten persons," the lieutenant said. "If the spirit

-of the people is with us, we should be able to put at least one hundred

-and twenty-five thousand men in the field--and Bel-Ar, three hundred

-and fifty thousand. Those are heavy odds."

-

-"Ruthar shall do better even than that," Oleric said with pride. "I

-promise you that two hundred thousand men shall march when they hear

-the war-drums--and more may be found if the need grows bitter."

-

-"Can you equip and maintain them?" Everson asked.

-

-"In Ruthar every man is a soldier. They will equip themselves. This day

-has been awaited for long. Ruthar is ready to give all for the uses of

-her warrior sons. Fear not. Besides, though I will not deny that the

-men of Ad are good fighters and their country is far the richer, yet

-many of them are fat city dwellers and traders, of whom two are not a

-match for one of the hardy men of the mountains who will march under

-the banners of the Goddess Glorian. Show them the ruins of the Kimbrian

-Wall, and were the armies of Ad twice their strength, yet they should

-not turn Ruthar from her purpose."

-

-Everson nodded thoughtfully. "How will this force be divided?" he

-asked. "Have you many horsemen? In such a war as this promises to be,

-cavalry will be invaluable."

-

-The red captain knit his brow in calculation.

-

-"Forty thousand wild horsemen of the hills and mountains, who know

-not fear, can I promise," he said at length. "Five thousand chariots

-we can muster, each of two horses, and carrying each two fighting men

-and a driver to guide the horses; twenty thousand skilled archers;

-ninety thousand heavily armed men with swords and spears; ten thousand

-slingers; and twenty thousand men armed with javelins--these last to

-serve as skirmishers."

-

-Everson's eyes kindled at the recital of that tale of men, and he

-smiled--one of the few smiles that had lightened his face since his

-ship had been lost.

-

-"We must gather them into camps at once," he said. "The time is all too

-short in which to make an enemy out of raw levies. We must drill them

-all winter, and that will be a man's job."

-

-Straightway he threw himself into the task with tireless energy. And

-he vowed to himself that the men who had dared to sink a United States

-cruiser should learn a lesson of tears and death, and that he would

-have a hand in the teaching of the lesson.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Oblivion, like a deep and dreamless sleep, was the portion of Polaris

-Janess. It seemed that his soul had withdrawn itself to some place of

-peace to wait until its racked and weary body should once more be fit

-for tenancy. The wound in his neck closed and healed. Somewhat of color

-crept back into his cheeks. His body began to thrive, but there was in

-it seemingly little more of sentient life than in a tree which draws

-its nourishment from the soil and knows not of days and nights and the

-cares thereof.

-

-"It is a blood-clot that presses somewhere on the brain," Glorian told

-his friends, who stood often at his quiet bedside. "'Twill pass away

-ere long, and he will be whole again."

-

-To the surprise of Zenas and Everson, Glorian and a number of the

-learned men of the college of Nematzin spoke English almost with the

-facility of Oleric, from whom, indeed, they had learned it. And this

-was a great source of delight to the old geologist, who liked to talk

-and grumble over his labors. And what use is there in grumbling, if

-there is no one to hear and understand?

-

-Came a day when the curtain lifted from the brain of the sick man, and

-memory peopled the vacant stage, as once before it had done when he lay

-ill in the cabin on the ship _Felix_ on his first journey from his home

-in the wilderness.

-

-Wondering, he lay still with closed lids, as he had a trick of doing

-when he waked from slumber. He began to reconstruct. The wreck of the

-_Minnetonka_ passed before him, and then, like a series of pictures,

-the events which had followed the sinking of the ship; the stranger

-people; the judgment of the king; the parting from his love; the coming

-of the red captain in the night and the flight from Adlaz; the fight at

-the wharves and the farewell of Minos; the great stairway of the Illia--

-

-There the pictures ceased. He could not then, or ever afterward, recall

-the fight in the river, where he had gone down to aid Oleric and come

-by his wound.

-

-Into his nostrils was wafted a breath of faint perfume. A cool hand

-was laid against his cheek. He opened his eyes. The details of a high,

-arched room he saw; windows of glass at the north, where the sun shone

-thinly and big flakes of snow were floating slowly down--for winter had

-come to Ruthar; at his cheek a long, wonderfully shaped, white hand,

-with tapering, ringless fingers; a slender wrist; beyond it a face. He

-closed his lids again, with a frown of disbelief. The beauty of that

-face was such as no mortal ever saw, save in a dream.

-

-The hand stirred, and he looked again.

-

-From the times of Helen of Troy on down through the pages of all

-recorded history, those pages have been made bright by the faces of

-fair women who were their nations' boast. Here, before the eyes of the

-sick man, was a face that was the peer of any that ever shone in fable

-or in fact. A broad, high forehead above two dark and well-defined

-arches; beneath them, delicately veined lids and long dark lashes,

-veiling red-brown eyes. Eyes so wonderfully alive with expression that

-their change was like the bewildering melting of colors in a sunset;

-between their marvelous valleys, a slenderly bridged nose with a hint

-of the Roman. A rich, full-lipped mouth that was the playground of

-smiles, but which showed also the quality of rare determination, a

-promise sustained by the firmly rounded chin beneath it, a skin so fine

-of texture that through it might be traced the ebb and flow of life, as

-flames show roseate through a marble vase.

-

-Her head had the poise of an empress, and at its shapely crown, piled

-high, were lustrous coils of hair which at first glance seemed black;

-but when the light struck on it, glowed as an ember glows when a breath

-renews its dullness into fire.

-

-Such was the beauty of the woman on whom Polaris looked--and as he

-gazed, acknowledgment was forced within him that here was one that

-surpassed in fairness even the Rose-maid whom he loved. And there was

-no disloyalty in that acknowledgment. Rose Emer was a beautiful woman;

-but she who sat before him, and who seemed of nearly the same age and

-whose figure much resembled that of his own dear lady, she had the

-beauty of unearthly things.

-

-For a moment he stared in silence.

-

-"Where am I, and who are you?" he asked, and smiled faintly in response

-to her little exclamation of delight that his senses had come back to

-him. Before she could speak, he muttered, "I had forgotten; she will

-not understand."

-

-"But I do understand, my poor friend," she said, "and can make answer

-in your own tongue--if we keep to simple talk."

-

-As the quality of that voice had thrilled old Zenas, so now it sent a

-tremor through the veins of the son of the snows.

-

-"You are in the city of Zele-omaz, and I, who have watched while you

-lay wounded and ill, am a poor lady of wild Ruthar," she continued.

-

-"'Poor' and 'wild' are words that ill beseem you, lady," replied

-Polaris in the quaint expression that in the long years when his father

-had been his sole companion, he had absorbed from the pages of Scott's

-romantic "Ivanhoe," and which contact with modern English had not worn

-away.

-

-"I think that one Oleric has spoken oft of you, and that I can guess

-the name you bear--and I find it a most fitting name."

-

-Rose-pink the Goddess Glorian flushed, in a most mortal fashion, and

-was glad that at that moment black Rombar thrust his head forward over

-the edge of the bed to claim a share in the attention of his master.

-

-Polaris stirred his hands, and then looked up wonderingly.

-

-"I am weak," he said. "How long have I lain ill, and what misfortune

-befell me to so lay me by the heels? I understand it not at all; for my

-memory has tricked me."

-

-Toying with Rombar's collar, Glorian told him what she had learned from

-the others of the fight at the mouth of the Illia.

-

-"And I do thank you for the life of my faithful captain," she said,

-"as he will presently. It was a brave deed, a very brave deed. Now

-you must talk no more, and no more must I weary you. You are worn with

-sickness, and it will be many days before your strength comes back.

-Rest and fret not. All things are going well."

-

-She left him, and presently he slept.

-

-

-

-

-                              CHAPTER VI

-

-                          ZOAR OF THE AMALOCS

-

-

-Beyond their knowledge of the working of metals, in which they had

-great facility, Zenas Wright soon found that the scientists of Nematzin

-could avail him little in his search for explosive compounds. Ordinary

-gunpowder, indeed, he knew he could make easily enough, after a

-fashion, but he sought for something more powerful by far than that.

-From the descriptions which he had heard of the Kimbrian Wall, he

-judged that it would be a rare task to shake it down.

-

-"We might do it with nitroglycerin," he told Everson. "But we would

-have to set all of the old wives of Ruthar to soap-making to get our

-glycerin, and it would be a difficult job to get it pure enough to

-serve our turn. Besides, nitroglycerin is mean and uncertain to handle."

-

-The two men sat before a ruddy coal fire in the big laboratory room

-which had been turned over to the uses of the geologist--a fire well

-screened from the rest of the room, so that no flying spark should

-raise mischief among the experiments of Zenas. Three weeks had elapsed

-since their arrival at Zele-omaz. Polaris Janess was well along

-the road to health. Everson and Oleric, laboring tirelessly, had

-established five great training camps, one on the plain near the city,

-and four others in the forests to the north beyond the Illia. Already

-the levies of Ruthar were pouring into the camps, where they were

-drilled by the zinds and captains, under the direction of the naval

-lieutenant and the red captain.

-

-Everson had thrown his whole heart into the work. Already he had made

-considerable progress in the learning of the Rutharian language. He

-was beginning to take a vast pride in the army he was welding. Born

-soldiers he found these Rutharians, amenable to the strict discipline

-which he preached, and to whom his word was law.

-

-He had ridden in this day from a tour of inspection of his camps to

-visit Wright and learn of the progress of the work on which depended

-their entire scheme of campaign.

-

-"Nitroglycerin," said Everson. "So you have found a source of nitric

-acid, then?"

-

-"Yes," replied Wright. "One of the first things which took my eye among

-a number of specimens of rock which I found in a case here, was a chunk

-of sodium nitrate. You know the stuff--Chile saltpeter, they call it."

-

-"Why not a picrate powder, if you have nitrates to work with?"

-suggested the lieutenant.

-

-"Picrate--nitric acid--phenol," said old Zenas. "That's the way of it.

-And to get phenol--lots of it--"

-

-He broke off and stared into the depths of the fire.

-

-"Hey!" he cried, and jumped to his feet so suddenly that Everson

-started. Zenas pointed at the fire, his little black eyes dancing and

-his beard wagging with his excitement.

-

-"Well?" queried Everson.

-

-"Coal, my boy, coal! There's oodles of it here. All I've got to do is

-to rig up a kiln for the distillation of coal-tar oil, and I'll have

-the phenol. God knows, these beggars are handy enough in the gentle

-art of blacksmithing. Tell your red-headed master of ceremonies to

-give me a little help--say two hundred or two hundred and fifty of his

-armorers, till I get a few kilns in operation and build me a bank of

-Glover towers, and I'll show you a line of stuff that will beat all of

-the Fourth of July celebrations you ever saw. Picrates! Humph! I'll

-turn out a brand of melinite for you that will jar the back door of

-hell off its hinges--if I don't whiff us all to kingdom come while I'm

-at the stuff."

-

-Oleric was summoned. The red captain turned over to Zenas Wright not

-two hundred, but nearer five hundred men, and the old university was

-straightway turned into a munitions plant, the stench and the fires of

-which ascended to heaven by day and by night.

-

-"And bring me about all the fat you can find in the kingdom," directed

-Zenas. "I'll need it to mix with my nice little patty-cakes."

-

-"You shall have it, Father Zenas," Oleric replied. "And it will not

-come amiss to make all that you can of this pastry. After the Kimbrian

-Wall is down, we may find some of it useful at the gates of Adlaz."

-

-So interested did Zenas become in this new work of his that he

-scarcely stopped for meals, and he slept on a cot of skins beside

-his fire in the old laboratory. One day, as he labored among his

-test-tubes, the outer door opened, and a tall figure robed in

-furs strode across the room and stood beside him. Zenas looked up

-impatiently.

-

-"Oh, Lordy, laddie!" he cried, his face lighting up. "It's good to see

-you on your feet again."

-

-It was Polaris--still somewhat gaunt and tottery, but with a welcome

-color in his cheeks and a brightness in his topaz eyes that augured

-well.

-

-"Aye, old friend, 'tis I," he answered. "While you do wear yourself

-thin in this place of many smells, and Everson rides his flesh off his

-bones, shall I then be doing nothing but to lie in a soft bed and dream

-the days away? I will have no more of it."

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-From that day strength came back to the son of the snows with

-surprising rapidity, considering that he had been so ill. Nor would he

-chafe in restless idleness, but demanded work to do. Soon in the five

-great camps of fighting men his figure and that of the huge black dog

-which followed him like a shadow were as well known to the soldiers as

-were those of Everson and the lieutenant. Under the tutelage of the

-Goddess Glorian, he had advanced in mastery of the Rutharian tongue

-much faster than either of the other two Americans; for he was a

-natural linguist and did not find the ancient language difficult.

-

-Old Jastla had come down out of his hills, and it was his particular

-pride to superintend the training of the son of the snows in the use of

-the arms of Ruthar. At his first trial, weakened though he was by his

-illness, Polaris cast a javelin farther by half a score of paces than

-could any warrior of Ruthar. Within a fortnight, although they might

-touch him by tricks of fence, there was not a swordsman in the five

-armies who could wear him down in the play of blades.

-

-Jastla boasted of him throughout the land.

-

-But though he took pleasure in all these things, he knew anxiety with

-the passing of the days, and in his heart pined mightily for news of

-his lady in Adlaz town. For that strong, true heart could not forget.

-Occasionally Oleric had word from over the wall from some of his secret

-spies in Maeronica, but never a word of the welfare of the stranger

-captives.

-

-All of his story Polaris had one day told to Glorian. And she had

-smiled and cheered him with brave words. And then, when he had gone,

-she had sat for the half of a day in her chamber, looking out at the

-snow-capped hills of Ruthar, striving to remember that she was a

-goddess, and to forget that she also was a woman. Too late she found

-that the woman conquered.

-

-Five weeks went by from the day when Polaris first went down to the

-workshop of Zenas. And then the geologist announced that he would give

-a show. He had some wares which he was anxious to display, he said.

-

-Near the south bank of the Illia, above the city and beyond the camp,

-stood an old stone tower which long had been crumbling into decay and

-which Atra, the zind who ruled in Zele-omaz, had purposed some day to

-tear down. There it was that the geologist said he would stage his

-performance, and all the camp and a goodly part of the citizens of the

-town went thither to see what he would do.

-

-At the appointed hour, early in the afternoon, the scientist rode out

-to the tower, attended by three of his assistants from the laboratory.

-With them they took a number of cakes of what looked remarkably like

-the bars of brown soap wherewith the American housewife labors o'

-Mondays. As much as two men could carry of the stuff they took. The

-third man bore a rude battery which Zenas had contrived, and a coil of

-copper wire which the Rutharian smiths had drawn for him, and which he

-had insulated with woven fiber dipped in gums from the forests.

-

-The tower had been a massive old structure, covering nearly a half acre

-of ground, and the lower parts of it were still solid. Its roof was

-gone, and portions of the upper walls had fallen in.

-

-Zenas found that there were a number of chambers below the ground level

-of the structure. In the central one of them he bestowed his precious

-cakes, and with them the end of his copper wire. He directed his

-assistants to cover the whole over with heavy stones.

-

-"And handle them with care," he cautioned, "or you will come a lot

-closer to the stars than you are ever likely to be by any other means."

-

-His preparations completed, the geologist bade his henchmen to make

-themselves scarce, which they were very glad to do. Bidding every one

-in the neighborhood of the tower to withdraw to a distance of several

-hundred feet, Zenas uncoiled his wire, of which he had brought a

-quantity sufficient to keep him out of harm's way. He squatted down

-behind the bole of a big yew-tree and struck the knob of his battery.

-

-For an instant nothing happened, and Zenas, peering forth from behind

-his tree, felt his heart sink with disappointment. Then very quietly

-the entire structure of the tower, which was nearly seventy feet in

-height, quitted the earth. For a second it seemed to hang suspended in

-the air like some enchanted thing. A hollow booming reverberated across

-the plain. The tower flew into fragments. The ice-bound surface of the

-Illia was shattered by the falling rocks. A gust of air rushed across

-the plain and through the ranks of the Rutharian soldiery and with it a

-shower of smaller débris, which fell among them like a storm. From the

-spot where the tower had stood, a column of greenish-yellow smoke arose

-and hung heavily.

-

-From the camp and the crowds of citizens went up a low moan of awe,

-followed by a shout of triumph from thirty thousand throats. Men ran

-across the meadows to view the aftermath of this wonder--such a thing

-as never had been seen in Ruthar. Where the tower had stood was a hole

-in the earth, wherein the structure itself might almost have been

-buried. No vestige of the masonry was left. Not one stone remained upon

-another, and many of the larger foundation rocks had been sundered into

-fragments by the terrific force of the released gases of the melinite.

-

-Rutharians from that day on called Zenas Wright "Father of the

-Thunders," and accorded him a respect second only to that in which they

-held Polaris.

-

-Janess, the red captain, and Everson, who had been witnesses to his

-experiment, ran to the side of the geologist and wrung his hand.

-

-"And now do you, Father Zenas, stay away from that laboratory," said

-Oleric.

-

-"See to it that my men keep to the trick of making this stuff; but

-do you keep away. Some careless fellow might let a cake of your

-earth-shaker fall--and we cannot spare you."

-

-"Now show me this Kimbrian Wall," was the comment of Zenas. But the

-scientist yielded to the entreaties of his friends, and thereafter

-went no more to the laboratories, except once a day only, to test the

-purity of the chemicals with which his workmen wrought.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Soon after the destruction of the tower, Oleric, with Polaris and the

-lieutenant, rode down through the forests to visit the Kimbrian Wall.

-Now that they were assured of a means to open the way to Adlaz, they

-were all of them impatient to map out their plan of campaign, in which,

-as he alone of them all was skilled in such matters, they looked to

-Everson for counsel.

-

-Three days riding brought the party to the great barrier which the

-Children of Ad had built far back in the dim centuries to separate them

-from their hated enemies.

-

-As the riders approached the wall, they found the land narrowed to an

-isthmus, which Oleric told them was nearly eighty miles in extent, by

-something less than sixty across. The Kimbrian Wall crossed the neck of

-land nearly midway to its length, but if anything, a few miles nearer

-to the mainland of Maeronica than it was to Ruthar. On the hither side

-of the barrier stretched thick forests of oak and pine. Along the

-isthmus and near its western sea-border lay the course of an ancient

-road, which once had connected the two countries. To this old highway

-Everson gave careful attention. In some places it was broken up and

-overgrown with timber, but the lieutenant thought that little work

-would be required to put it in shape for travel.

-

-From a pine-clad knoll in the forest they had their first glimpse of

-the wall, and a mighty work it was. Built of gray stone, now moss-grown

-and weather-aged, it stretched away to the right and left as far as

-they could see and ended sheer with the precipitous cliffs above the

-sea. So enormous were the stones of which it was constructed that it

-reminded Everson of remnants of the cyclopean masonry, which are to be

-found in the old countries and which tradition used to tell were built

-by a race of giants. Probably this work was as old as they.

-

-The wall was nearly fifty feet high, and so broad as its top that two

-chariots might pass thereon. At intervals of a mile all along its

-length were watchtowers, garrisoned by the border-soldiers of Bel-Ar.

-In addition to all those points of strength, the wall had been so

-constructed that near its top there was an overhang of a number of

-feet, making it exceedingly difficult for scaling.

-

-Still, Oleric said, it had been scaled, and many times, by small

-parties of raiders from both sides--and some of them had never returned.

-

-"Look!" the captain exclaimed. "Here comes one of the patrols."

-

-From the nearest tower to the east three men on horseback came riding

-along the top of the wall, clearly outlined against the pale sky. As

-they came nearer the forest-watchers could see that the riders were

-muffled in cloaks. A sharp wind was sweeping down from the south, and

-it must have been bitter indeed on the unprotected eminence of the wall.

-

-"Ha! 'Tis Atlo himself--the captain whom I replaced at the port," said

-Oleric as the patrol came opposite him. "See, the foremost of the

-riders."

-

-Sight of his enemies riding by so close proved too much of a temptation

-to one of the Rutharian fighting men who had ridden down with the party

-to the wall. He was a master bowman. While the eyes of his companions

-were fixed on the three riders, he dismounted and slipped away among

-the trees to the left. In the shadow of a pine he paused and set an

-arrow to the string.

-

-It was a long shot--nearly a hundred yards--but the winged shaft flew

-straight and true. It smote the captain, Atlo, on the shoulder, and

-the riders in the forest could hear the faint clink as the point fell

-blunted from the armor which he wore beneath his cloak.

-

-Atlo started in his saddle, then turned and waved his hand, with a

-laugh. He rode on as if the arrow were a matter of little moment. The

-other two riders were more timorous than their captain, and they sent

-many a glance back toward the dark forest shadow as they rode along.

-

-Oleric shouted to the archer to loose no more arrows.

-

-"Let no more raids be made over the wall," Everson directed, "and have

-a force of men clear and rebuild the old road yonder. Bring it up as

-near to the wall as may be, without attracting attention. We must

-attack and take them unawares. We will have to mine underground from

-the forest to the wall and place our explosives. As soon as the wall

-is down, we shall throw a force of infantry through the breach, starve

-the garrison off the wall and hold the territory on the other side

-against all attack until we can clear the wreck of the wall and lay a

-road through the gap so that our cavalry and charioteers may pass it.

-Otherwise, the Maeronicans will hold the breach against us, in which

-case there would be a delay which we cannot afford--if, indeed, we

-should be able to fight our way through at all."

-

-Oleric pondered on the plan for a few moments. He looked up with

-shining eyes.

-

-"A wise counsel," he said. "All of these things shall be done, and

-right speedily."

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Almost miracles are the things which may be accomplished by human

-brains and hands, if there be enough of them and they are united to

-their work by a common and all-pervading purpose.

-

-Into the old forests above the Kimbrian barrier the Rutharian zinds

-threw a force of two thousand men and half again as many horses. The

-ancient roadway through the wood to the foot of the wall was cleared

-and rebuilt as though by magic. Everson, visiting the scene of the

-work, reflected somewhat bitterly on the contrast between the manner

-of this labor and any similar task to be done in the land where he was

-born.

-

-There, he knew, there would have been the delays caused by failure to

-supply the necessary materials, and failure again to get them to their

-appointed places on contract time. There would have been labor strikes,

-jealousies and bickering among leaders. In the end, of course, the work

-would have been done, and well done--but with much trouble.

-

-But in Ruthar there were no walking delegates. Happy were the workmen

-to labor from sun to sun, and others to take up the task in the hours

-of darkness. Materials were free and inexhaustible, and the zinds and

-leaders worked together like brothers, each doing what was required of

-him, as though his very life depended upon it.

-

-Within a fortnight of his first view of the Kimbrian Wall, the

-lieutenant deemed that the time to strike was nearly ripe. Two months

-and nearly a half of another of the allotted six were past. Three

-months and a half remained before Adlaz would gather for the Feast

-of Years. Three months and a half in which to conquer a nation and

-take a walled city, the strength of which was a tradition! Yet it

-must be done. And Everson, when he saw the tools with which he had to

-work, hoped high. This was an archaic people; but he found its sons

-good companions; sturdy, truthful, straightforward as their own long

-sword-blades. He believed they would follow to the death and that they

-would not come too late to the Adlaz gates.

-

-One day, Glorian, who of late had avoided Polaris, summoned the son of

-the snows and bade him bring with him his American comrades and Oleric

-the Red.

-

-"I know that you are nearly ready to go up against the Kimbrian Wall

-and the hosts of Bel-Ar," she said. "But before that day comes, there

-is a pilgrimage that must be made to one without the aid of whom

-perchance your greatest effort would be in vain. Bring horses; for on

-this journey I ride with you."

-

-Polaris rode a splendid black stallion, splotched with white at

-forehead and fetlock, which had been the gift of Jastla, of the hills.

-When they were ready to leave the temple gates, Rombar came barking at

-the horses' heels.

-

-"Best to leave the dog behind, brother," said Oleric. "We go upon a

-path where he may find ill-favor."

-

-Cloaked in a wondrous robe of red fox-skins, Glorian rode on a

-cream-colored palfrey, attended by one of her women in waiting only.

-Never had she seemed more fair and queenly. Like some bright daughter

-of the white North of the long ago, was she, of whom the skalds have

-sung in their undying sagas.

-

-From her he glanced to Polaris, who rode beside her. The son of the

-snows was clad from head to heel in the glittering chain armor which

-Rutharian smiths had forged for him, and cloaked in the black skin

-of a forest bear. At his back swung a two-handed sword. A winged

-helm, brilliant with gold-work and curtained with a hood and cape of

-delicately wrought links, sat upon his tawny hair. Long since a razor

-of keen bronze had swept the beard from his cheeks and chin.

-

-Only in the amber eyes had the troubles of the years left their mark--a

-shadow of sadness when they were thoughtful or in repose, but which did

-not ill become them.

-

-"She may be a goddess," thought Zenas to himself, "and she is beautiful

-enough to be a real one; but if she hasn't gone silly as a cow-girl

-over this lad of ours, then I'm a donkey, and a blind one, to boot. O

-Trouble, you've worn skirts ever since you quit fig-leaves."

-

-Zenas shook his head. The geologist had never married.

-

-It was no brief pleasure-jaunt on which Glorian led, but nearly

-two days' hard riding into the northwest from Zele-omaz, across

-heavily-wooded mountains and through valleys deep with snow.

-

-Leaving the hills at last, the party came to a vast, dark forest,

-silent, somber and covering the rolling land like a black pall. Into

-its soundless glades the riders penetrated and rode for miles.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Presently they saw ahead of them a clearing in the depths of the wood,

-and a stretch of long buildings, built of stone, and with their windows

-set high in the walls near their roofs.

-

-It was late afternoon when the riders entered the clearing and

-approached the buildings, which stood about the four sides of a square,

-enclosing a space of nearly three acres. As they rode into this court,

-following a path between two of the buildings, the travelers saw that a

-number of smaller structures of stone and wood occupied a part of the

-square. Here and there in the court, fires of brush were burning--for

-it was bitter cold in the forest depths--and dark figures of men passed

-to and fro about the fires. A pack of shaggy, wolf-bred dogs came

-yapping at the horses' heels.

-

-"Who comes?" cried a voice. Men bearing spears ran forward from the

-fires.

-

-"Glorian of Ruthar comes to visit Zoar of the Amalocs," answered Oleric.

-

-Straightway the armed men knelt in the courtyard, and one in a stern

-voice called back the dogs.

-

-A door in one of the houses near the center of the square was opened,

-and the form of a man stood there, silhouetted against a flaring light

-within the dwelling.

-

-"Methought that I heard a voice well known to me, speaking of Glorian

-of Ruthar and of Zoar of the Amalocs." The tones of the man in the

-doorway were low, but clear and sonorous as a bell. "I thought it the

-voice of one Oleric the Learned," the man went on. He bent forward and

-shaded his eyes with his hand. "Are you indeed come, red one? Ride

-forward that I may see."

-

-Oleric's answer was drowned in a terrific chorus of squealing groans,

-which seemed to issue from the larger buildings on all three sides of

-the square. So unearthly and piercing was the din, that Zenas Wright

-would have clapped his hands to his ears; but he found his best efforts

-needed to control his horse. The steeds of all the party snorted and

-reared in terror of that hideous outburst. They would have bolted, but

-knew not where to bolt; and presently the clamor was ceased, and they

-stood still and trembling.

-

-"What demons of the place are these?" cried Polaris. He sprang down

-from his horse, tossed the reins to the man nearest him, and ran to the

-head of Glorian's palfrey, which was curveting and threatening to pitch

-its mistress from her saddle.

-

-"Those are the pets of Zoar," Oleric answered, "the amalocs. They know

-his voice and answer him in their own fashion." Spurring his restive

-horse, the red captain rode forward to the porch of the dwelling.

-

-"So, 'tis you, indeed," said Zoar as the captain advanced into the ring

-of firelight. This time the man spoke softly, almost in a whisper, and

-was not again interrupted. He stepped to the side of the captain's

-horse and took him by the hand. "Who rides with you, and why do you

-ride to seek Zoar?" he asked. "Is the time come, red one? Is it come?"

-

-"Aye; the time is here, Zoar," said Oleric soberly. "Our years have not

-been in vain. Yonder sits the Goddess Glorian, and holding her horse's

-head is the hope of Ruthar, whom I have brought up from the sea."

-

-"And the Kimbrian Wall?" Zoar asked.

-

-"It waits but the coming of the amalocs, when we will push it down like

-a barrier of straw," Oleric answered. "Ruthar stands in arms as she

-never has before, and the land rustles with banners. We have come to

-ask your aid. When we know that Zoar of the amalocs is on the march,

-then will the war-drums be sounded."

-

-"Has the ancient crown touched his brow?" asked Zoar.

-

-"Not yet; we wait your word."

-

-"It is given." Zoar lifted his face to the dim sky. "Beyond the mists

-the stars of Ruthar shine, never so brightly," he muttered. He laid his

-hand on the captain's arm.

-

-"On the third day from now Zoar of the Amalocs will march," he

-said. "Now bring your party within, and they shall enjoy what poor

-hospitality I have for them, who entertain so few guests."

-

-Men led away the horses, and the travelers entered the hall of Zoar.

-

-"Ah, daughter of the stars," he said, and bowed, as Glorian crossed his

-threshold, "many years have gone since I last looked into your eyes;

-but I find that the will burns strongly still, and your beauty has not

-dimmed. But I grow old, daughter, old and very weary."

-

-Gravely and courteously Zoar welcomed his guests, and bade them rest

-and sit at meat with him. It was a plain place into which he ushered

-them; yet was it rich, as the world counts riches, and its wealth was

-all of ivory. Seats, tables, cabinets, even the casings of the windows

-and the doors were of ivory--wonderful, finely grained stuff, some of

-it white as alabaster, and some of it cream-yellow with the tint of

-age. And the carvings on it must have been the work of years.

-

-Zoar, the host, the travelers found quite as remarkable as his ivory

-treasure. He was a slight, short man, hardly so tall as Zenas Wright

-and not so stocky as the geologist. He wore a long white beard, and his

-hair, of the same silver, flowed across his shoulders. His eyes, under

-bushy brows, were bright and kindly. His step was quick and firm, nor

-did his limbs or hands tremble. Yet there was on him the stamp of an

-unutterable, incredible age.

-

-His skin was as yellow-pale as the oldest of his ivory, and the whole

-surface of it was fretted with thousands of infinitesimal wrinkles.

-When he spoke or moved it was with spirit and animation; but when he

-fell into fits of abstraction--and that was often--Zoar looked very

-like a mummy fresh-stripped from its tomb.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Polaris the old man regarded with especial interest, and when the meal

-had been cleared away he sat and talked with him and Glorian for many

-minutes, recalling odd, old tales of the history of Ruthar, with which

-he showed remarkable familiarity.

-

-"But Ruthar's greatest story is yet to be made," he said in conclusion

-of his tales. Then he called his servants to show his guests to their

-chambers.

-

-"What! Have I ridden all these miles, friend Oleric, and then to be

-put to bed without the chance to tell you that these wonderful beasts

-about which you have bragged so much are only elephants after all?"

-said Zenas Wright, forgetting in his stubbornness the ivory gateway at

-Zele-omaz.

-

-The red captain grinned and put a question to Zoar. The old man

-answered with a shake of his head:

-

-"The amalocs love not to be disturbed at night, and especially they

-love not fires or lights. If you and your friends would sleep in peace

-this night, I counsel that you wait till daybreak to see the beasts.

-Otherwise they may revile you in such fashion as will shake your

-couches and drive all sleep from your pillows."

-

-So Zenas was forced to be content and go to his bed with no chance to

-crow over Oleric. All night long there penetrated occasionally through

-the geologist's slumbers the noise of raucous trumpeting and the

-padding stamp of ponderous feet.

-

-When they had broken their fast in the morning, Zoar led his guests

-into the court and sent men to throw open the great bronze doors in the

-front of the nearest of the stone buildings.

-

-"Now for an elephant," muttered Zenas. "Perhaps a mighty big one, but

-still an elephant." Then Zenas stopped, amazed.

-

-Out through the doors of bronze and into the open court stalked a

-mountain of flesh and ivory and stood swaying restlessly from one foot

-to another, flapping ears that would have made a bed covering, and

-looking keenly about with little, inflamed eyes. Elephantine in shape

-only was this monster. The points of its shoulders were fifteen feet

-from the ground--a full yard taller than the most stalwart elephant

-that ever bore the howdah of a mogul emperor.

-

-Tusks that were ten feet long projected from its massive skull, curving

-downward where they left the bone and then out and up in such fashion

-that if they had been continued farther they would have formed spirals.

-The body of the monster was covered with a coarse and woolly growth of

-reddish-brown hair, through which there pricked long, black bristles.

-On the trunk the wool was sparse and the bristles shorter, and one

-could see that the hide of the beast was a drab-gray. Neck it had none;

-but along the spine, just back of the skull and extending beyond the

-shoulders, was a ridge or mane of coarse, black hair.

-

-His face gone white and his eyes round and goggling, Zenas Wright stood

-and stared up at this Gargantuan offspring of the hinder ages.

-

-"_Loxodon!_" he breathed.

-

-Never in all his life had the geologist felt so small and insignificant

-as in the presence of that towering survivor of the prehistoric past.

-

-Zoar stepped forward in front of the beast.

-

-"Ixstus!" he called gently.

-

-The great ears inclined forward to attention.

-

-"_Stekkar mal!_" the old man commanded.

-

-Down swung the vast, wrinkled trunk in a huge loop, into which Zoar

-stepped and was hoisted to the table of the monstrous skull--a flat

-place where five men might have sat and played at cards.

-

-Another word of command, and the mammoth advanced a couple of paces.

-The snakelike trunk groped forward, and Zenas, wriggling some as he

-went, was swung aloft and found himself seated breathlessly by the side

-of Zoar.

-

-The master of the beasts smiled at the other old man.

-

-"When you come again to your own land, you may tell your children's

-children, if you have them, that you have sat on the head of an amaloc,

-the grandfather of all beasts," said Zoar.

-

-While Zenas appreciated that honor, it might be said that he was much

-relieved when he got his feet on the ground again.

-

-From building to building of the immense stables, the scientist was led

-with growing wonder. Ninety and three of the giant mammals there were,

-of which no one stood less than twelve feet high. But Ixstus was the

-champion and patriarch of the herd.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-As the riders journeyed back to Zele-omaz, Oleric told again how the

-Children of Ad had driven the beasts southward from their lands with

-fire, and how the men of Ruthar likewise had made war upon them, until

-they were in danger of becoming extinct.

-

-"But then came the prophecy, and men of wisdom set themselves to study

-and tame the beasts," he said. "And now, when the wall is down, and

-Ruthar takes the road to Adlaz, the amalocs shall lead the way, and

-Zoar and his servants shall drive them against the hosts of Bel-Ar."

-

-"Won't the Maeronicans scare them again with fires?" asked Everson.

-

-"Nay; that has been provided against," said the captain.

-

-"Lady," Polaris said to Glorian, "I have heard and seen many strange

-things in this country of yours, and I have learned much. One more

-thing I would ask that you make clear to me. Oleric has, and last night

-the old man back yonder did again speak of things of the long ago, in

-which you had a part. What did they mean? You are scarcely of mine own

-years."

-

-Glorian glanced hastily at Oleric, and then she answered:

-

-"When the world was younger, men had the secret of years. The slave

-O'Connell told Oleric that it was written in your sacred book out

-yonder in the world that such was so. That secret was lost. For ages it

-was lost. But it was found again in Ruthar. I am one of those to whom

-it has been imparted."

-

-"You mean, lady, that _you_--" Polaris gasped.

-

-"My friend, I first saw the light on Ruthar's hills well-nigh three

-hundred years ago," Glorian replied, and as he involuntarily shrank

-in his saddle, she added hastily, "It is a matter of the inward will

-that holds the spirit and the flesh. To only a few is it given to have

-the will to prevail for a time against time itself. And they are not

-immortal. Presently old age will come to me as it has to Zoar, and I

-shall shrivel away--and die." She shuddered.

-

-Polaris looked at this fair, fresh woman, beautiful as a goddess

-indeed, and by all earthly standards in the first bloom of her young

-womanhood, and he felt that this matter was beyond his comprehension.

-

-"Are there, then, any others, besides you and Zoar?" he asked.

-

-"One other only--and he rides at your side," she answered. "Oleric the

-Learned is younger than I by only fifty years."

-

-"Now, my brother, are some of my wild sayings explained to you," Oleric

-said. "We do not ask that you believe, for this thing is new to you and

-contrary to all that you have learned. Only the years will show you the

-truth of what we tell you--if they pass without accidents. For we are

-not proof against mischance. A sword-stroke may end my days as swiftly

-as any man's."

-

-"Would you that I impart the secret to you?" asked Glorian. And she

-turned and looked deep into Polaris's eyes. "You have a will that is

-stronger than most, and I think that you might well exert it to hold

-back the years, were you instructed. Say, shall we teach it you?"

-

-"Nay, lady," said Polaris. "I will live my appointed years, be they few

-or many, and die when my time comes. One short human life, it seems,

-can hold all the troubles for which a man has heart. And I would not,

-if this thing be possible, see my friends grow old and die, while I

-lived on."

-

-Glorian sighed. Then she seemed struck by a new thought, and asked:

-

-"What will happen if Ruthar is too late, and you reach not your friends

-in Adlaz--and the lady Rose, of whom Oleric has told me? What if you

-come not to Adlaz in time to save them?"

-

-"I think that I shall be in time," Polaris said grimly. "If I am not,

-then I think death shall find me on the road--and be welcome."

-

-Zenas Wright, hearing these things, and marveling, became troubled.

-

-"Wow!" he said to the lieutenant. "I can believe anything now. To-day I

-have seen a living mammoth, and I felt about three thousand years old

-myself. And now, too, look out for squalls."

-

-

-

-

-                              CHAPTER VII

-

-                       POLARIS MAKES HIS CHOICE

-

-

-Dawn, the cheerless gray of clouded winter, crept over the city of

-Adlaz. In her bed in the prison-palace of Bel-Tisan the dark-haired

-Princess Memene of Sardanes lay, and beside her was her new little

-son. But Memene was not well, and Rose knew she would not live.

-

-"Oh, that Minos were here to see!" Memene said faintly. And again--"It

-is the king he was so sure of." She smiled at Rose. "It is the king,

-my sister. And he shall be named Patrymion, after a man who is dead--a

-very brave man." And smiling, she passed away.

-

-When she could control her grief--she had come to love Memene

-dearly--Rose summoned Brunar and told him what had befallen. The

-captain heard her sorrowfully, for he had honored and admired the

-Sardanian princess and pitied her sad circumstance. He sent the old

-woman out to fetch a younger one to care for the child. And then he

-brought men to bear Memene away. Out of the kindness that was in him,

-the captain looked to it that she lay in a fair and pleasant spot, and

-not where the common people of Ad buried their dead.

-

-Persuaded by Rose, and because he had some knowledge of English and

-could bear the message, Brunar took horse at noon and rode down to the

-harbor, there to seek Minos.

-

-This happening was nearly two months after the departure of Polaris and

-the others who had gone to Ruthar. In the intervening time, Oleric the

-Red had tried and tried again to get word through to Adlaz, informing

-those who were left behind of the fair progress of events. Always he

-had failed until one of his men, by craft and waiting, had gained a

-place with the prison guard.

-

-With him Rose Emer managed to get speech, and they arranged that on

-the following day he should slip away and try to reach Ruthar again,

-bearing a message from her to Polaris.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-On one of the quays in the harbor of Adlaz sat Minos, the Sardanian. It

-was cold on the quay, but he did not feel it. His back was weary with

-carrying burdens, but he was unconscious of that weariness. Why should

-the body live when the soul is dead within it? Nor did his eyes see

-the dancing waters of the harbor, where the fademes of Bel-Ar rode at

-their anchors. Until this day he had counted the hours with hope, and

-had borne his tasks with patience. Now hope had gone, and the taste of

-living was as dry dust.

-

-For Memene was dead.

-

-When Brunar had brought him the news, he had heard the captain through,

-and thanked him gravely. Then he had turned twice in his tracks and

-fallen like a stone. So long had he lain that Brunar deemed him dead.

-When he had come back from that swoon, Minos would work no more; nor

-did any seek to force him. He had wandered aimlessly out on the quay.

-When night fell, it found him still sitting there.

-

-It was a wild night. The moon shone but dimly, and often was veiled

-by scudding snow-clouds, and the stars were wan. Far to the south,

-over Ruthar, a faint rose-pink against the sky told that the southern

-lights, aurora australis, were playing. Somewhere beneath their

-flickering radiance lay the lost kingdom of Sardanes that the snows had

-covered deep. A wind, gusty and fitful, leaped over the mountain-rim

-and tossed the waters of the crater-lake so that the fademes swung

-restlessly and clanked their anchor-chains. One by one the mitzl globes

-among the warehouses and along the quays were hooded, until only the

-watch-lights were burning.

-

-A soldier of the guard hailed Minos; but the Sardanian answered not,

-stirred not.

-

-"Now let the fool sit and freeze," said the soldier impatiently. And

-then he added, "Poor fellow." For he had heard the story of the fallen

-king, and had a good wife and bairns of his own in Adlaz town.

-

-In Sardanes, Minos had been known as the smiling prince. But for all

-his patient, kindly ways, he was high-spirited. And once roused, none

-was quicker to strike than he. Events of the last few weeks had galled

-his temper. Now, coming out of the stupor into which this final blow

-had cast him, he was near to madness.

-

-Willingly would have Minos found his way to Adlaz, plucked Bel-Ar

-from his gilded bed and broken him across his knee. But the way was

-treacherous, and there were many guards, and he knew that he could not

-reach the king. Into the south he would have gone, to seek Polaris and

-to play a man's part in the great war. But that way was closed to him

-also. The few men that he might slay in the attempt before they pulled

-him down and slew him would be all too few to satisfy the fires within

-him that burned fiercely for vengeance. With only a great calamity

-would Minos be content.

-

-Uneasily tossed the fademes in the harbor, their anchor-chains

-rattling.

-

-Finally Minos heard them. Then he knew why they were calling to him.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Many times in his work about the harbor of Adlaz the Sardanian had been

-on board the fademes. He had helped to discharge the cargoes of those

-which came in from the fair islands of the southern seas, bringing

-strange tropical fruits, dainties for the lords and ladies of Adlaz,

-and other articles of the commerce which their captains carried on

-with the savage islanders. On many an atoll of the Pacific the brown

-Melanesians knew all the steel and gold clad white men who came up from

-the sea to trade with them.

-

-But they kept out of the track of civilization; for that was their law.

-Civilized men saw them not, though they sometimes heard tales of them

-among the savages--tales which, of course, they did not believe.

-

-Working on the ships as he had, Minos had learned much of the mode of

-their operation. Himself no mean worker in metals, the mysteries of

-these wonderful ships of the underseas had caught his fancy, and he

-had studied them. He knew that such a lever turned would start the

-fademe forward; that such another halted it; and others which caused

-it to turn and to dive beneath the surface or emerge at the will of

-its engineer. He also knew where were the levers which controlled

-the mighty power in the four great shafts of yellow glass and which

-released the terrible rays of light, the rays of the nameless color,

-before which all things were destroyed, and which turned even the water

-that they met into surging vapor.

-

-With that knowledge in his mind and the red fury in his heart, Minos

-knew why the clanging anchor-chains were calling to him.

-

-It was past midnight when the Sardanian king stood up at the end of

-the quay. He stretched wide his arms and the iron-sinewed thews of

-his shoulders and back cracked as he stretched. He glanced up at the

-distant stars.

-

-"Once aforetime, so told the red man from the sea, those Hellenes who

-were my ancestors did turn back this nation when it was swollen with

-conquest and would have mastered all the world," he whispered. "Once

-more the power of Adlaz rides high, and it makes ready to go forth and

-subdue it again--and what I leave, may my brother Polaris finish."

-

-In the shadow of a warehouse the king rubbed and strained his chilled

-muscles back to life. At the side of the wharf he found an open boat,

-and fetched its oars. Then he rowed cautiously out into the harbor.

-

-Scarce a score of yards from the quays rode the nearest of the fademes.

-Minos boarded it on noiseless feet, and cast his boat adrift.

-

-In the cabin of the fademe were sleeping two sailors of its crew and

-the engineer. Them Minos slew with his bare hands. And though the

-engineer ere he died slashed the king's shoulder deeply with a dagger,

-he heeded it not, scarcely felt it.

-

-Going on deck again, he unhooked the chain of the anchor and let it

-slip quietly into the water. Then he closed the double doors fore and

-aft, and made them fast.

-

-Under the lights in the lower gallery, Minos studied the levers and

-the engines. At a turn of his hand he felt the vessel sink beneath the

-surface. Another lever wrenched, and the fademe started gently ahead,

-and the king felt that he was safely launched on his dangerous venture.

-

-Before he had submerged the vessel, Minos had set in his mind the

-location of the fademes. There were nearly one hundred and fifty of

-them in the harbor. Five he knew were on patrol duty constantly off

-the Maeronican headlands. There were perhaps another dozen sailing the

-outer seas on the missions of Bel-Ar. Those at anchor in the harbor

-were disposed in three long, irregular lines, with nearly fifty ships

-in a line.

-

-Minos had submerged the fademe, which he had taken, some forty feet.

-When he reached a point which he thought must be nearly under the first

-vessel in the southern line, he turned off the power and halted. He

-fetched ropes and tied them, one to the starting lever and one to that

-which would stop the fademe. Carrying with him the other ends of the

-ropes, he climbed the ladders to the pilothouse, which rode like a

-small tower at the top of the fademe.

-

-Here in the pilothouse was a powerful revolving searchlight. Here,

-also, were the levers which controlled the tubes of glass which

-projected the deadly light-rays.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Swinging the searchlight to point upward through the crystal roof of

-the pilothouse, Minos unhooded it, and its bright, white bar of light

-thrust upward through the water. By its radiance he saw that he was not

-yet under the first of the fademes. Its golden hull glittered just a

-few feet beyond the radius of his light. A twitch of the rope which he

-had adjusted below sent his own vessel ahead.

-

-Under the first fademe he halted; and with a grim prayer that the

-destroying agency might not be out of order, he pressed the lever that

-controlled the upper shaft of the glass.

-

-With a mighty hissing and seething of the water, the indescribable

-light-ray leaped upward, so dazzlingly brilliant in its unknown color

-that it nearly blinded the man who had loosed it.

-

-Full on the bottom of the fademe above him the light ray struck and

-played, with the water boiling around it. The metal hull crumpled away

-like solder before the tinsmith's point. So swift and furious was its

-action that in an instant Minos saw the vessel above come sinking down.

-He had barely time to pull his rope and get his own fademe from under.

-As it was, the descending wreck grazed the stern of his vessel with a

-jar that nearly unseated him. Thereafter he went more swiftly.

-

-From ship to ship he went down the long line, scarcely pausing under

-each. Ship after ship he left behind him--sunken and useless wrecks.

-

-Minos had finished with the first row of fademes, and was coming back

-on the second line, when a guardsman on shore saw an upthrust of

-furious light from the deck of one of the golden ships, and then saw

-the doomed fademe plunge down.

-

-Throwing up his hands, the soldier ran across the harbor court,

-shouting that some captain had gone mad and was destroying the fleet.

-

-Then the harbor that had been still became alive. Lights flashed up.

-Men ran hither and thither. A messenger was dispatched to Adlaz to

-report to the king. Some sober-minded and brave men launched small

-boats into the harbor to go out and warn the engineers of the other

-fademes.

-

-Well near the end of his second line was Minos when he bethought him

-that his activities must draw attention to him. Then he loosed in

-succession the other three tubes, and their deadly rays shot forth, one

-from each side and one below. The king let them roar unchecked, and all

-around his vessel the water was turned into a boiling inferno. Like the

-evil genius of Adlaz, he rode on, leaving only wreckage in his wake.

-

-Part way down the last northern line, the end found him.

-

-Engineers on the other fademes had been awakened. Hastily they plunged

-their vessels beneath the surface and set out against the destroyer.

-Because of the fierce play of his four rays, they could not come at him

-from either side or from above or below.

-

-But one pilot steered in behind and, with the blazing peril a fair

-target, loosed the destroying ray from his own fademe.

-

-From behind him Minos heard a roar of steam and water entering in.

-A blinding radiance shot through the gallery below the pilothouse,

-withering all things as it passed. The structure of the fademe crumpled

-away beneath him.

-

-"Memene!" he cried. "I come!"

-

-Then the rising waters and the great darkness.

-

-So by the hand of Minos of Sardanes perished the mighty navy which

-the king Bel-Ar had amassed to go forth and conquer the world. Of his

-hundred and fifty fademes that had ridden in the harbor of Adlaz, a

-bare score remained to him. And this is the tale which Brunar, the

-captain, told in the morning to Rose Emer in the old prison-palace of

-Bel-Tisam, and which she set down and sent by messenger to cross the

-Kimbrian Wall to Polaris Janess in Ruthar.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Meanwhile, scarcely had the riders from the forest home of Zoar of the

-Amalocs come again to Zele-omaz when Everson was off to see to the

-course of his operations at the Kimbrian Wall. He snatched only a few

-hours of rest and sleep, and rode out in the night.

-

-On the day after the return, which also was the day on which Zoar had

-promised to set out with his mighty herd on the road to the barrier,

-Oleric the Red sought Polaris in the camp to the west of the city, and

-bade him accompany him to the Temple of Glorian.

-

-Oleric told naught of the meaning of the summons, but rode with Janess

-through the city, saying little and staring at his horse's ears. Never

-had Polaris seen the red captain so silent and so thoughtful.

-

-"What ails you, friend?" asked the son of the snows. "Why so moody, as

-is not your wont? Has aught gone amiss?"

-

-"Nothing amiss," the captain answered. "But a matter is toward that

-concerns yourself closely--and I know not if I have been wise to keep

-it from you so long."

-

-He would say no more, and presently they were at the temple.

-

-Oleric led Polaris into the high-domed audience-hall, which they found

-empty, save for the Goddess Glorian, who sat in one of the seats on

-the double throne, and who looked on Polaris with kindling eyes as he

-crossed the hall.

-

-To the northern wall led Oleric, and they paused before an ancient

-panel of black rock, which had been set into the marble at about the

-height of a man's head. So old was this slab or block of adamant that

-its surface was all crackled, yet it was smooth as polished slate.

-Across its face ran carven lines of writing, like the lines of a runic

-legend.

-

-"This stone bears the ancient prophecy of Ruthar," Oleric said. "Here

-in the long ago were writ the words of that which we believe is now to

-come to pass. See how the stone shines. It has been worn smooth by the

-lips of countless chiefs of Ruthar."

-

-With unwonted solemnity the captain gazed into the eyes of his friend.

-"Give close heed, and I will read it you," he said, and read:

-

-    "In a far time--more than the length of years of three amalocs--a

-    mighty, fair-haired man shall come up from the sea. He shall break

-    down the wall at the north. He shall lead Ruthar and the beasts of

-    Ruthar through the wall. And they shall take Adlaz and destroy the

-    king of Adlaz--"

-

-The captain paused, and again looked strangely at Polaris. He concluded

-the reading:

-

-    "And the man shall be king over Ruthar and Adlaz."

-

-Janess stared at the ancient writing in silence, and his brow clouded

-over.

-

-"This is the whole of the prophecy of Ruthar--the part of which I have

-kept concealed from you--though every lad in Ruthar knows it," said

-Oleric hastily. "I beg of you, my brother, that you will forgive me if

-I have done ill. But I have thought it wise to keep silence this far.

-Now is come the time when nothing must be kept back."

-

-He stopped speaking, and both he and Glorian gazed earnestly at the

-doubtful face of Polaris.

-

-"You mean that I shall be king of Ruthar," Polaris said at length. From

-one to the other of them he glanced.

-

-The red captain nodded slowly.

-

-"So it is writ in the prophecy," said Glorian. She left the throne, and

-came and took Polaris by the hand.

-

-"And, O man from the sea, for whom Ruthar has waited so long and

-patiently, you cannot gainsay us now," she pleaded. A smile of

-appealing sweetness came to her aid.

-

-"But, lady, to be a king I did not bargain when I came hither with the

-captain; though," and he smiled, "I was in an ill place to drive a

-bargain, and might have yielded almost anything. But to be a king--I

-like it not. I am neither of Ruthar nor of Ad. I am a simple American

-of common birth. I do not wish to be a king, but merely to go hence

-with my own people, if I may. And if I did wish it, what of the people?

-Would they relish the thought of an outlander on their throne?"

-

-Again Glorian answered him:

-

-"It is so writ in the prophecy."

-

-And Oleric said: "And the prophecy is known to all the people, as it

-has been for centuries. From the wall to the southern cliffs, there is

-no man or woman in all Ruthar who does not already look upon you as the

-king. Think well, my brother."

-

-"But would it not do as well if I were to serve you and Ruthar for a

-while, and those with me, as leaders? Then, when we have won, if we

-_do_ win, might I not go hence? Would that not serve as well?"

-

-Glorian smiled faintly, and Oleric shook his head.

-

-"Nay, my brother," the captain replied. "You must put your hands in the

-hands of the zinds of Ruthar and swear the oath of kingship. That is

-the only way. 'And the man shall be king over Ruthar and Adlaz,' runs

-the prophecy." Oleric traced the writing on the slab with his finger.

-"By those words do the zinds and the people hold. It is the only way."

-

-"And if I refuse?"

-

-"Then," said Glorian, "the army will not march to-morrow, nor will Zoar

-drive on the beasts--unless all of the prophecy shall be fulfilled.

-Then we who have stood as sponsors for you will be derided as cheats

-and fools, if, indeed, worse things do not befall you and us. And

-bethink you--those whom you love, who are in Adlaz, will perish

-miserably, while Bel-Ar and the priests of Shamar mock their miseries.

-Without you we fail, and without us and the hosts of Ruthar you, too,

-are powerless."

-

-"You argue strongly, lady, and you, too, comrade," Polaris said.

-"Still, I like not this prospect of being king. I must have a little

-space in which to ponder it over."

-

-"It is now nearly noon," Oleric said. "To-day the zinds from every

-province and city of Ruthar ride into Zele-omaz--to greet their king.

-Until to-night, my brother."

-

-"Then to-night will I give my answer--here in this hall," Polaris said,

-and he turned and went to seek out old Zenas Wright. And neither of the

-two whom he left behind could have guessed at what his answer would be,

-though it seemed to them that there could only be one answer. For they

-had come to know him as a man of surpassing determination, and here was

-a path in which he did not want to set his feet.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-In the old laboratory Janess found Zenas. The work of the geologist

-was completed. Melinite he had turned out of his workshops by the ton,

-and the most of it had been transported carefully, and was stored in

-the forests near to the Kimbrian Wall. Now his thunder factory was

-deserted. Every last man of his force had gone to join the army.

-

-"Yes, my lad, I know," said Zenas, after one glance at Polaris's face.

-"They have told you about this king business. I know, too--for I know

-you--that you are bucking it--hard."

-

-"I do not want to be a king, old Zenas, but--"

-

-"Yes, there's a 'but' in it, and a big one. What are you going to do

-about it? Our red-headed, two-hundred-and-fifty-year-old youngster, the

-antique lady, and their old father, Methuselah Zoar, have it all cut

-and dried. If you can see any way out of it except their way, you have

-devilish keen eyes. I can't, and I've been looking at it for quite a

-few days. Oleric told me about it all some time ago. Take it, boy; take

-it. And make the most of it. It isn't every day that one gets a chance

-to be absolute ruler over a rich country and nearly five millions of

-people. You'll make a better king than any they've ever had on either

-side of the wall. That I'll guarantee." And the old man looked at his

-troubled friend with bright eyes and patted him on the knee.

-

-While they sat and talked this matter over, came a man to the door,

-crying out that a messenger had come through from Adlaz bringing a

-written word to Polaris.

-

-The courier was brought in. He proved to be that same Rutharian who had

-gained a place with the prison guard under Brunar. Already he had told

-in the city of the destruction of the fademes of Bel-Ar, and Zele-omaz

-was going wild with the news.

-

-When Polaris had read the letter sent him by Rose Emer, and he and

-Zenas had heard what the messenger had to add to its news, the face of

-the son of the snows grew very stern. The kindly old scientist's eyes

-were moist. After the man was gone, neither of them spoke for quite a

-time. The two who were gone had been dear friends, and the friendship

-had been knit by perils and hardships, in which each had learned the

-worth of the others.

-

-"Now is the score that I have to settle with this king of Adlaz grown

-long indeed," Polaris said at length, "and I am minded to tilt him for

-his kingdom, as these folk would have me do. He made a good ending, did

-Minos; and I do not think that Bel-Ar, even if he come free of Ruthar,

-will live to see the day when another fleet shall lie ready to go out

-and win the world for him."

-

-He became silent. While the town, filling up with the arrival of zinds

-and their retinues, gave itself to rejoicing at the blow that had been

-struck Bel-Ar, and the old man sat by the fire and dozed, Polaris paced

-moodily up and down the long laboratory. An hour passed, and the half

-of another. Then he struck one hand hard into the other.

-

-"Now in all these happenings I think I see my way at last," he muttered.

-

-With the fall of night he cloaked himself and went up to the temple on

-the hill, and Zenas went with him.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-From every principality and town in Ruthar the zinds had come to

-Zele-omaz. Those who were too old or infirm to make the journey had

-sent their sons or representatives. In the hall of Glorian these were

-gathered to the number of one hundred-and-seven--tall and stately men,

-most of them, clad in chain armor plated with silver and bossed with

-plates of steel--for they had come to fight for their king as well as

-to crown him. A shout went up that made the torches flare, when a guard

-opened one of the doors of bronze, and Polaris Janess and Zenas came

-into the hall.

-

-Eager-eyed, they pressed around the son of the snows, to welcome him

-whom their prophets and their goddess had said would redress their

-ancient wrongs.

-

-Polaris met their greetings with a heightened color and a glow in his

-eyes. Almost, he thought, it would be a joy to be the king of such as

-these--he, the dweller in no-man's land, a waif from the eternal snows.

-

-And the Goddess Glorian, watching him from her ivory throne, smiled

-to herself, though there was a pang at her heart that she could not

-manage to quench or still.

-

-Presently Polaris stood in the open space at the foot of the throne.

-The zinds gathered before him in a glittering semicircle, and made

-silence in the hall.

-

-"Chieftains of Ruthar," he began, lifting his voice so that all might

-hear, "this day have I been asked to become your king, to take your

-crown upon my head, to sit upon your throne, to lead you in battle, and

-to rule over you as wisely as I may--all this because of certain words

-on a stone which, it seems, may not be changed. Is this your wish, men

-of Ruthar--to have me, an outlander, as your king?"

-

-A deep-voiced shout was the answer, and every voice said "Aye."

-

-"Then this is my answer, men of Ruthar, seeing that there is no dissent

-among you: when I came unwillingly to the shores of Maeronica, there

-came with me a friend, a true man. You have heard much of him to-day.

-It was he that sank the fademes of Bel-Ar. He was named Minos, and he

-was the king of a nation that has passed away. That man is dead by a

-glorious means. Yonder in the harbor he struck a great blow for Ruthar

-and for the world. He gave his life.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-"To-day word reached me by the messenger who brought the tidings of

-that deed, and the word was that this Minos who is dead, left behind

-him a son, an infant newly born.

-

-"Now I will yield me to your wishes, chieftains of Ruthar. I will go

-with you to the Kimbrian Wall, and beyond it. I will fight with you

-to overthrow Bel-Ar. I will do all that a man may to be the king you

-wish me. But it is my will that when this son of Minos the Sardanian is

-grown to manhood's years and wisdom, he shall relieve me of my kingship

-and become your king, and his son after him, if he have one. That is my

-answer, men of Ruthar. I thank you for the high honor you would do me."

-

-He turned and bowed deeply to the Goddess Glorian, and then stood back

-at the side of the throne.

-

-A murmur of surprise arose in the hall, and then was silenced, for

-Glorian arose to speak.

-

-"Zinds of my people," she said in her clear, low voice, "to the weight

-of this man's words add that of Glorian's. He comes, this man, from a

-land where there are no kings. He is willing to fight for you--to die

-with you. What he promises will fulfil the prophecy by which we hold.

-It is a noble choice that he has made. It is my rede that you accept

-it--mine and that of Oleric the Learned, to whom you sometimes have

-looked for counsel."

-

-As she reseated herself, the red captain stood forth and said simply:

-

-"My brother has chosen well. I stand with him. Should you not agree, I

-still stand with him, and he and I and such as are faithful to us will

-break the Kimbrian Wall and perish on the road to Adlaz."

-

-For a short time the zinds took counsel among themselves. When they had

-done, an aged man--he was Atra, the ruler of Zele-omaz--stood out from

-among them.

-

-"We are agreed, O goddess," he said. "We will have this man as king

-until the prophecy is fulfilled and for so long afterward as he will,

-until the babe be grown to manhood. He is a true man. We are content,

-and perhaps"--here Atra smiled--"with the passing of the years he may

-change his mind."

-

-They brought the crown of Ruthar--a heavy torque of gold set with

-fire-opals--and led Polaris to the ivory throne, and set him beside the

-Goddess Glorian and crowned him. And he put his hands in the hands of

-the zinds and swore the oath of kingship.

-

-"Yonder in Adlaz is a larger palace and a wider throne," said Glorian.

-

-"Aye, lady," he answered. "To-morrow I shall go to seek it."

-

-A great feast followed the coronation. When it was done, all night

-long through the streets of Zele-omaz and across the bridges of Illia,

-sounded the rumbling of chariot-wheels and the tramp of marching feet.

-Ruthar was on the march at last, and the destination was the Kimbrian

-Wall.

-

-So it fell out that the ambition of Minos of Sardanes had not been so

-vain of attainment. He had won a kingdom for "the king that was to

-come."

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-As near as they dared, Everson's army of workmen had pushed the

-completion of their broad highway to the Kimbrian Wall, clearing and

-building up the old, disused road. Trees had been felled and removed

-where it was necessary, and rocks had been dragged away with much

-labor--and all with as little noise as possible, so that the men of

-Atlo who garrisoned the wall might know nothing of the work, and that

-when the time should come, Maeronica could be taken unawares.

-

-To do that the road-makers had been forced to halt their work two

-hundred yards from the wall, where a belt of thick forest was left

-standing across the way which effectually screened their operations.

-

-When the roadway had been completed to that point, molelike, the

-engineers and sappers dug into the earth and pushed on. The old

-roadway, suiting their purposes well, led to the wall at a point nearly

-midway between two of the watchtowers, which were distant from one

-another about a mile. Another circumstance which was favorable to the

-lieutenant's plan was that the neck or isthmus which connected Ruthar

-to Maeronica was, though high above the sea, comparatively level.

-

-Back of a knoll in the forest the miners sank their shaft. Twelve feet

-down in the earth they struck the living rock and proceeded along that,

-excavating a tunnel, or gallery, eight feet high by ten feet across.

-This work was done swiftly, for the tunnel was wide enough so that four

-men might work in it abreast, and as fast as one quartet was wearied

-another took its place, and the picks were swinging day and night. As

-the diggers went on, a multitude of workers behind them carried back

-the loosened earth and shored the gallery up with timbers so that it

-might not cave.

-

-When Everson returned from the ride to the place of Zoar, he found that

-his tunnel was ended--against the face of the Kimbrian Wall, which was

-founded on the rock itself. Following his instructions, the sappers had

-branched the tunnel right and left along the wall, until the working

-was in the shape of an elongated letter "T", the cross-arm of which lay

-along the foundation stones of the wall and was sixty feet long.

-

-With the same ceaseless industry that had built the tunnel so swiftly,

-they then had attacked the face of the wall with chisels and sledges,

-cutting in at intervals of about ten feet. This had been difficult

-work and perilous. The rock of the wall was adamant-hard. However, by

-attacking the cement in which the stones were set, the miners had been

-able to remove numbers of the great blocks entire, rolling them by

-dint of herculean effort across the gallery and into cavities made to

-receive them.

-

-In that work had been the danger. Eight men had been crushed under

-falling fragments--first toll of Ruthar in the warfare.

-

-The excavations had been carried into the foundation of the wall a

-matter of fifteen feet when Everson arrived. He at once ordered that

-work stopped. Remained only the placing of the explosive. That he

-superintended in person.

-

-Bar by bar--for the lieutenant would suffer no man to carry more than

-one of old Zenas's patty-cakes at a time--and with extreme care, the

-melinite was borne in through the tunnel and packed in the cavities

-in the wall. The geologist's workshop had turned out a plenty of the

-stuff, and it was used without stint. Everson judged that he placed

-nearly two tons of the explosive in each of the six chambers under the

-wall.

-

-Banks of loose, dry earth were piled about the melinite charges;

-Everson laid his wires, and his workmen then filled the cavities with

-fragments of the rock taken from the wall.

-

-Still further to retard the release of the gases when the charges

-should be set off, the lieutenant set his men to wall up the openings

-to the chambers, using heavy rocks and cement, having done which, they

-filled in the cross-arm of the "T" with earth and fragments of stone,

-tamping all in firmly.

-

-Very workmanlike was the finished task over which Everson nodded his

-approval and told his grimy legion, "Well done."

-

-During all the progress of the labor the patrols of Bel-Ar rode to and

-fro along the wall, and never guessed that sixty feet below them in the

-rock their enemies were planting the fearful seeds that would put forth

-the red flower of war.

-

-It was midnight of the third day after the gathering of the zinds

-in the temple of Glorian at Zele-omaz, when Everson walked out of

-the tunnel for the last time, his wires laid, his batteries ready.

-Retiring to one of the shelters which had been built in the forest, the

-lieutenant threw himself on a couch for a few brief hours of sleep.

-

-Five hours later one of his engineers awakened him and told him that

-the zinds of Ruthar with a great host had gone into camp for the night

-along the roadway ten miles back from the wall, and that the levies of

-the upper hills, the light-armed archers, slingers and javelin men,

-were pouring into the vast camp which had been prepared nearby in the

-forest.

-

-"And these last swear that when they sleep again it will be beyond the

-wall," the engineer added.

-

-"Many of them, poor chaps, are likely to sleep there forever," said

-Everson. "Where is the king?"

-

-"With the zinds."

-

-The lieutenant arose and went out on the hillside; for he knew that

-the time had come.

-

-Calling a messenger, he told him to go and summon the skirmishers from

-the camp. Presently he saw them coming, long, silent files of men,

-ghostly in the gray light, picking their way over the snow-covered

-slopes and among the trees, some of the lines led by zinds and others

-by their captains.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-In the forests opposite the wall, Everson posted a wedge of five

-thousand javelin men, who were armed also with short swords. These were

-to rush the breach in the wall and deploy on the other side to hold

-the gap from any assault from beyond until the gap could be cleared

-and the roadway brought up and through the breach to connect with the

-Maeronican highway which lay on the other side of the barrier. Back of

-that force gathered the miners and road-builders.

-

-Right and left along the wall the lieutenant sent bodies of archers and

-slingers, so they might command the top of the wall and prevent the

-garrisons of the watchtowers from galling the men at work in the breach.

-

-At each of the sixty towers along the stretch of the wall were

-stationed some twenty men--a force of nearly twelve hundred in all.

-Everson foresaw that these in all probability, or most of them, would

-come to the breach from either side, leaving but few soldiers to man

-the towers. So he sent two parties of a thousand men each east and

-west, to lie in the forests near the wall. These were heavy-armed

-swordsmen and spearsmen. They bore long ladders with them, and it was

-to be their task to scale the wall, flank the men of Bel-Ar at its

-summit, and take and hold the watchtowers.

-

-A few miles below the wall lay a Maeronican hilltown, and there Bel-Ar

-maintained a prominent garrison, composed of a section of his standing

-army, some ten thousand men strong. These soldiers had proved the bane

-of many a Rutharian raiding party, and they now gave Everson much

-trouble in his mind. If they should come up quickly to the wall and

-drive back his force or retake the towers, his thrust would be all but

-ill delivered and fail of much of its power. That must be chanced--and

-he judged by the look of these fighting men of Ruthar that they would

-stand considerable driving and still not be driven.

-

-Silently the long lines stole into position, and the men sank out of

-sight among the trees. A small patrol party of Maeronican soldiers rode

-down the wall from the watchtower to the west, where the mitzl lights

-burned pale against the sky. They passed on, met the patrol from the

-east, and both returned--seeing nothing of the menace that lay hidden

-in the shadows of the pines.

-

-Ruthar had been quiet of late, and a few noises in the forest meant

-nothing to these soldiers, strong in their position on the mighty wall.

-Of such things as the pastries of Zenas Wright they had never even

-dreamed.

-

-In a clump of trees Everson attached his wires to his batteries. He

-knelt by one of them, and five of his sappers knelt with him.

-

-"One--two--_three_!" he counted.

-

-The six poised hands fell as one.

-

-For a moment, silence; then a burst of hell from the bowels of the

-earth.

-

-From end to end, down all its length, the roof of Everson's

-subterranean gallery was torn out by the rending gases. From the mouth

-of the tunnel a mass of rocks, beams and loose earth was belched down

-the slope with such force that trees fell before it.

-

-Through clouds of falling earth and a drift of smoke, the distended

-eyes of the Rutharian soldiery saw the basalt structure of the Kimbrian

-Wall that had stood firm for thirty centuries heave up, sunder, and

-open, as a gate opens, then come thundering down to ruin. Right in the

-midst of the chaos of falling rock an awful sheet of green flame arose

-like a giant fan and stood for an instant against the sky.

-

-Then came the noise. It was neither a crash nor a roar, but a sustained

-rumbling bellow--as though Mother Earth herself were muttering at this

-desecration of her aged bones. Such was the power of that tremulous

-diapason that the forests shook and the hills trembled. Followed a

-moment of the silence of the pit, and then the clatter and spat of the

-débris as it showered the slopes and the forests.

-

-"Shields up!" shouted a tall zind of Ruthar, and the next moment he was

-stretched senseless by a fragment of rock because he had not been quick

-to obey his own order. Many others were injured, and some were killed.

-But what did a few deaths matter now? The Kimbrian Wall was down. For

-eighty feet the gap extended wide and free!

-

-And beyond lay Maeronica.

-

-In the forests and on the hills the companies cheered wildly as they

-saw the path the melinite had opened, and cheered again when they saw

-that the watchtower to the west had been shaken from its perch by the

-terrific concussion and lay a crumble of stonework at the foot of the

-wall.

-

-"Into the breach!" shouted Everson. "Through the wall!"

-

-From their lair on the hillsides the five thousand javelin bearers

-arose gleefully and crossed the space to the gap in the wall at a

-swinging trot, singing as they went.

-

-So clean had been the sweep of the melinite that it had torn away every

-vestige of the wall down to the living rock of the isthmus, leaving a

-wide trench or ditch, stone-bottomed and with sloping sides of earth,

-which it was an easy matter for the light-armed men to scramble across.

-But first the soldiers had to throw loose earth into the bottom of the

-trench; for the terrific pressure of the melinite against the rock had

-heated it until it was almost molten.

-

-For hundreds of feet around, heaps of earth and pulverized stone sent

-up columns of the greenish, acrid vapor of the explosive.

-

-On the heels of the javelin men pressed the engineers and road-men,

-swarming into the breach to fill the trench and make a way for the

-charioteers and the amalocs of Zoar, which were to follow. Along the

-screen of forest at the end of the road axes rang, and the trees began

-to fall.

-

-One of the first men into the breach after the skirmishers had crossed

-the ragged ditch, was Everson. With Mazoe, chief of his sappers, the

-lieutenant directed the work at the trench; for now was the time for

-haste.

-

-Shaken from their beds by the dull thunder of Everson's fireworks,

-Bel-Ar's steel riders at the eastern tower came clattering down their

-wall. Before ever they reached the gap, a trumpet sounded on the

-hillside, the archers and the slingers arose like wraiths from the

-forests, and the horsemen were met by a shower of shafts and stones

-that rattled and clanged on their armor and drove them back.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Messengers sped east and west from tower to tower. Within an hour

-every garrison along the barrier knew that the gods of Ruthar had

-rifted their fortress and the hillsmen were pouring through. But these

-soldiers of Bel-Ar were picked men, and they did not fear. Every

-man-at-arms that could be spared from the turrets was horsed, and they

-came riding recklessly down their lofty pathway, firm in the belief

-that their own god presently would have a say in this matter.

-

-At the third tower to the east of the breach was Atlo, captain of the

-wall. The tremor of the explosion reached even there. While the captain

-and his men wondered at what it might be, a messenger reached them.

-Atlo at once sent a horseman down the curving path, one of which led

-from each tower to the ground on the northern side of the wall, to ride

-through the forest to the town of Barme and arouse the army there.

-

-Then Atlo armed himself, gathered his men and started west. Straight

-to the brink of the gap he rode, heeding neither arrows nor stones. At

-the edge of the breach he dismounted, and while the long shafts of the

-archers hummed around him and the missiles of the slingers dented his

-golden armor, he knelt and peered into the gorge below him.

-

-Much the captain marveled at the force which had broken the barrier.

-His quick eyes of the soldier took in the disposition of the men and

-fathomed the plan of the enemy. He saw that a swarm of javelin men and

-a number of companies of heavier armed infantry were through the wall

-and prepared to defend their ground. More he saw; that the trench below

-was black with men who labored to fill it in; on the southern side of

-the wall another army of laborers was laying a broad road over which

-chariots might pass; and beneath him in the breach a man in mud-stained

-garments stood on a point of rock directing his grimy toilers.

-

-Breathing a curse, Atlo lifted his spear and cast with all his might.

-Then he mounted and rode back to the nearest tower to await the coming

-of his garrisons.

-

-Too late did the archers in the forests shout their warning when they

-saw that spear-arm poised.

-

-At the foot of the rock Everson fell and lay face downward among his

-workmen.

-

-Tenderly they bore him out of the trench and up the slope of the

-forest, those sturdy men of Ruthar who had worked with him and loved

-him. Four of his engineers carried him, and Mazoe walked beside, trying

-to stanch the flow of blood. Atlo's spear-point had bitten deeply just

-above the collar-bone.

-

-At the crest of the rise Everson spoke in a weak voice and bade them

-set him down. Mazoe knelt and held him.

-

-Through dim eyes the lieutenant peered back toward the sundered wall.

-He lifted his hand slowly and with infinite effort and pointed.

-

-"We have done--good work," he said. "Go on--with it. I fear I

-shall--not--be with you."

-

-His eyes closed, and Mazoe, who thought that he was spent, burst into

-tears.

-

-Below in the camp arose a mighty clamor of shouting. Everson's eyelids

-fluttered open.

-

-"Why do the soldiers cheer?" he asked.

-

-Mazoe listened intently to the shouting.

-

-"They cheer because the king is coming," he answered.

-

-Everson smiled faintly.

-

-"Tell him--I have made--a way--for him--"

-

-His voice trailed away, and he sank into unconsciousness. And though

-he did not die, he sailed so near to the quiet coasts that it was many

-weeks before he knew that the work he had begun had gone on without

-him, and had been done well.

-

-

-

-

-                             CHAPTER VIII

-

-                        BEL-AR HEARS THE DRUMS

-

-

-In the early brightness of the morning, the king of Ruthar rode up the

-southern stretch of the slope toward the wall. With him came old Zenas

-and Oleric the Red.

-

-Bedight in chain mail rode the king, a shield of shining steel on his

-arm, his two-handed sword at his back, dagger in belt, and spear and

-battle-ax at saddle-bow. Behind him clattered a company of zinds. Back

-of them, down the long road as far as the eye could see, marched rank

-on rank of men-at-arms. These were to pass the wall at once, and push

-on along the isthmus to meet and hold any force which the captains of

-Bel-Ar might throw against them.

-

-In the camp in the forest, ready to ride when the way should be

-cleared, were thousands of the wild horsemen of the hills. As soon as

-they might pass the breach, they would outstrip the heavy-marching

-infantry, spread and harry the country, and dash into the mountain

-passes at the northern end of the isthmus, which must be taken and held

-before any considerable force could come up from Maeronica and occupy

-them.

-

-Behind, the horsemen would push on the footmen and the chariots which

-made up the main host of Ruthar. Such was the plan which had been laid

-by Everson, Polaris, and Oleric.

-

-As they neared the top of the rise, Polaris and those with him met a

-little clump of downcast men plodding along the road and carrying a

-burden. Then Mazoe saw the riders and ran to meet them, holding his

-arms above his head and weeping.

-

-"What says he? Everson--"

-

-Polaris sprang down from his horse and pushed through the tramping men.

-Behind him an army halted while he stood and looked into the still face

-of Everson. In the heart of the son of the snows there entered a pang

-as keen as that which had stabbed it when he had heard of the passing

-of the Sardanian King Minos and his lady.

-

-But Zenas Wright, who had bent over the lieutenant, and bared his

-breast and listened to his heart, spoke up:

-

-"This boy has been hard hit; but he's still alive. With good care--and

-he's going to get it--I think he has a chance. This jab over the

-shoulder isn't so bad as it looks."

-

-"Look at him, Father Zenas," said Polaris. "Let no effort that this

-land can produce be spared to make him whole again; for he is a gallant

-gentleman, and deserves no such death. His reward from Ruthar for what

-he has done shall be great."

-

-Mazoe told all his story, and Polaris bent and took the earth-stained

-hand of the unconscious man in his own.

-

-"Fare you well for a time, Everson," he said softly. "I shall not

-forget. And I shall find the way you made."

-

-Mazoe and the engineers bore Everson to the camp, and Zenas Wright went

-with them.

-

-Polaris touched the red captain on the shoulder.

-

-"Captain Oleric, bide you here at the wall until the path is prepared.

-I make you general-in-chief of the army. Carry out the work which

-our friend has so well begun. Father Zenas will give you of his good

-counsel. Build the road as Everson and you have planned it."

-

-"But you--where are you going?" Oleric asked.

-

-Polaris pointed northward to the breach in the Kimbrian Wall.

-

-"I am going to tread the way he made for me," he answered. "When all is

-well, come on and find me on the other side."

-

-Giving the reins of his horse to a servant, Polaris reached his spear

-from the saddle and placed himself in the first rank of the footmen,

-under the great, blood-red banner of Ruthar. A mighty cheer swept down

-the ranks as he joined them. The horsemen drew out to the side of the

-roadway; a blare of trumpets sounded the advance; the crimson standard

-dipped and went forward. Over the seamed and broken hill, past the

-masses of fallen ruin, across the melinite-blasted trench, and through

-the breach in the wall flowed the iron stream.

-

-As far as they could see it, the little group on the hilltop watched

-the tall form that strode under the tossing banner.

-

-"This king of ours has a will of his own," muttered Oleric. "Now to do

-the work he bade us."

-

-But first of all the red captain sent for old Jastla of the hills. When

-the white-bearded chieftain stood before him, Oleric said:

-

-"The king has gone yonder through the wall, Jastla. Take a hundred of

-your best men--men who know how to die as well as fight. Find the king.

-Ring him round with a band of steel. Guard him with your lives." Oleric

-grinned as he added, "'Twill be a task to your liking, old bear. Ever

-you loved fighting, and this man will lead you to where it is thicker

-than earth-berries. I have seen him at the game. But watch him well,

-Jastla; he is of a reckless temper when his blood is stirred, and

-caution is not his watchword."

-

-Lifting his arm in salute, Jastla replied:

-

-"When harm comes to the king, it shall have set its foot on Jastla's

-corpse." The chief drew a deep breath of pride and satisfaction. "I

-thank you, Oleric the Learned, for this task. I have trained the lad,

-and I love him."

-

-Jastla hurried into the forest to the camp. Presently he, too, was gone

-through the wall on his mission.

-

-When the last of the armed force had passed the gap, another army took

-its place--an army of pick and shovel men, with chains and ropes and

-tugging, sweating horses. Speedily the last of the screen of trees was

-down and the stumps torn out. On a foundation of crushed rock Oleric

-built up his roadway, and brought it through to the shadow of the

-Kimbrian Wall; and there he met trouble.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-All of the day on which Everson was stricken, and through the night and

-the forenoon following, the builders wrought at the road. Wherever was

-room for a pair of hands to labor, the hands were not lacking. Still

-the work was not completed, nor was the ditch filled in.

-

-And the reason for the delay was--Atlo.

-

-From the turrets along the wall to the east the captain had collected

-a force of nearly five hundred fighting men, and led them in person.

-Leaving their horses behind them, these warriors marched to the lip of

-the breach and harassed the workmen of Oleric. Nor could the Rutharian

-bowmen and slingers come at them with their weapons to do them much

-scathe. The edge of the wall had a coping which was nearly breast-high.

-Behind that the defenders were sheltered, and might creep, which they

-did, to the very brink of the gap, whence they showered the men in the

-trench with arrows and javelins.

-

-Following the example of Atlo, the under captains of the towers on the

-western stretch of the wall gathered another half a thousand men and

-came to the end of the breach on their side. Between the activities

-of these two parties, the task of the besiegers was made heavy and

-perilous.

-

-Time and again the red captain was forced to withdraw his laborers

-from the cross-fire of deadly missiles which the warriors on the wall

-rained into the ditch. His losses were appalling. Still his men did not

-falter. When the order was given, they swarmed into the gaping trench,

-and those who died there were content if they but cast one shovel of

-earth before the spirit fled.

-

-Oleric groaned in spirit as he watched this havoc, which he had little

-power to hinder. The distance to the top of the wall was too great to

-allow of effective javelin-casting, and such weapons as did reach the

-summit were seized upon by the enemy and turned back on the attackers.

-Having the advantage of the sheltered height from which to cast and

-shoot, one of Atlo's soldiers was worth in efficiency a hundred of

-those on the ground.

-

-"Swords and axes on the top of the wall, and that only, will clear out

-that nest," said Oleric to Zenas, when the geologist had come back from

-the camp, where for hours he had labored over Everson, and of whose

-condition he now had high hopes.

-

-"Where are our ladder-men tarrying?" snarled Oleric, and the captain

-ground his teeth as he saw his workmen decimated and driven back again.

-"We have not the time to spare to starve these birds from their perch.

-Yet if I fill that hole now it will be with the bodies of brave men

-dead and not with earth and stone."

-

-Bethinking himself of another plan, the captain ordered three companies

-of heavy-armed foot-soldiers up from the camp and sent them into the

-working to shelter the laborers under their shields. By that means a

-little progress was made; but the work was slow and cumbersome and the

-toll in lives was still heavy.

-

-Long-delayed relief came in the shape of the fighting men whom Everson

-had sent out along the wall with ladders. These had lain in the forests

-until they saw the turrets depleted of their garrisons. Then they

-had crept up to the wall and erected their scaling ladders, choosing

-points a number of miles from the breach. That attack was not without

-its perils and losses. Scant in numbers, but desperate, the defenders

-sallied out on the wall to turn the storming parties. Many warriors

-died under the javelins and arrows from above. Comrades took their

-places as they fell, and at length, by dint of hard fighting, gained

-footing on the crest of the wall.

-

-Guessing how matters must stand at the breach, the Rutharian swordsmen

-paid no further attention to the turrets which lay between them and the

-sea, but set themselves to the taking of those toward the gap. As soon

-as they carried one of these they were able to augment their numbers

-from the forces which earlier had passed the wall through the breach,

-and which now were besieging the towers from the north side, where the

-sloping pathways were defended by gates and doors of bronze.

-

-By the time the men at the east had taken the last of the watchtowers

-which intervened between them and the battle at the roadway, their

-brothers on the western stretch of the wall had passed the ruins of

-the toppled turret there and fallen furiously on the rear of the

-Maeronicans who were baiting the trenchmen of Oleric.

-

-From across the chasm where he fought, Atlo saw the new turn of the

-battle and bethought him of his own flank. Too late! The shouts of

-dismay from his rear were mingled with the thunder of galloping hoofs.

-

-At the eastern tower the men of Ruthar had found the horses which the

-defenders had left behind. While the stubborn conflict of swordsmen

-was waging on the western wall, these warriors mounted the Maeronican

-steeds and charged down the stone road between the copings, sweeping

-everything before them.

-

-Brave men, these of the King of Adlaz. Cut off from behind and with

-the yawning chasm before, they arose from their crouching and turned

-to meet the new foe. Then a grim and pitiless struggle began on

-the ancient wall, in which the clangor and clash of arms and the

-cursing of death-locked foeman was commingled with the screaming of

-pain-maddened horses.

-

-To the rear, which had become the front, went Atlo. He rallied his men

-and charged into the teeth of the oncoming horsemen, and kept charging

-until he died. Neither side asked quarter or gave it. The last of the

-Maeronican fighting men were pushed over the brink of the gap by the

-rushing horsemen and died under the merciless blades in the trench.

-

-At the west the fighting was more prolonged and bitter; but the

-superior numbers of the Rutharians prevailed, and the end was the same.

-

-The Kimbrian Wall was taken at a fearful cost. But Ruthar paid the toll

-smiling. Now Oleric might push through with his wall speedily and in

-peace.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-When the night of the passing of Minos had worn into morning and

-disclosed the extent of the destruction which the Sardanian had wrought

-in the harbor of Adlaz, Vedor, the port captain, Nealdo, head of the

-harbor guardsmen, and such captains of the fademes as had escaped with

-their lives met in council in one of the offices at the wharves. Fear

-sat heavy at the hearts of all; for there was not one of them that

-dared go up to the city and make a report to the king of the loss of

-his fademes.

-

-"Not I," Vedor said hastily, when it was suggested that he, as captain

-of the port, was the logical bearer of the news. "It were worth a man's

-life to tell the king that a slave has shattered his fleet. Besides, my

-duties here do not allow me to absent myself. Choose ye some other to

-carry the tidings to Bel-Ar."

-

-Listening to the discussion was a rough old soldier of the guard.

-Brenak was his name, and he was a brave man. When it seemed that none

-of the gilded captains had heart for the task, Brenak stepped forward.

-

-"I will carry the news," he volunteered. "Lend me a horse, and give me

-a few dekkars to buy wine at the wine-shops in the Street of Sherne,

-and I will go. It may be my last drinking, though I think not. I fought

-with the king in the wars, and I am known to him. I think he will spare

-me."

-

-So Brenak rode up to the city and bought his wine. From the wine-shops

-he went to the palace and gained admittance to the king and told the

-tidings, which already were flying from mouth to mouth through the

-streets.

-

-"Fool! You are crazed!" Bel-Ar exclaimed when Brenak had made a short

-tale of it. But in the eyes of the soldier the king saw the truth, and

-his pallid face turned a shade more pale. In his fury, scarce knowing

-what he did, he struck Brenak with his closed fist so that the soldier

-died from it.

-

-For days thereafter the temper of the king was such that those who

-must come near him did so with fear and trembling. Even his queen, the

-petulant, flower-faced Raissa, who dared him more than most, avoided

-him and kept to her own apartments.

-

-Weeks before, when it became known that the captives had escaped,

-little heed had been paid to their going. They were only slaves, and

-who cared what became of a slave! Interest in them had been swallowed

-up in the general indignation at the defection of Oleric the Red and

-the supposed treachery of Mordo. Only Bel-Ar and Rhaen, the arch-priest

-of Shamar, had chafed, and that because of the escape of the man whom

-they had doomed for the slaying of the sacred bull. The king had sent

-fademes to scour the sea, and one to go up the coast to Ruthar to head

-the fugitives, should they have gone that way. That fademe had never

-returned.

-

-These happenings had irked the pride of the king, who, like all

-despots, was of a wild and ungovernable temper that flared to madness

-when he was crossed.

-

-Came then the blow of Minos--a calamity which shook the nation and

-struck the foundation of Bel-Ar's dearest ambition. Without his

-fademes, his dreams of world-conquest vanished. Small wonder that his

-lords and ladies feared him and quaked at his approach.

-

-But the king was of a courage and perseverance equal to his temper.

-When the first shock of the catastrophe had worn away, he took stock of

-the damage and set about to repair so much of it as might be. At the

-bottom of the harbor his divers labored among the sunken fademes. Some

-few of the vessels were raised and rehabilitated. By far the most of

-them were useless, save for the metal in their hulks. Minos had done

-his work thoroughly, and the priceless engines, the living power of

-which was mined from the depths of the earth only by great labor, were

-nearly all ruined.

-

-Increasing his forces, both underground and in his workshops, Bel-Ar

-drove his miners and his builders ceaselessly to the replacement of

-what he had lost.

-

-Some weeks after the destruction of the fademes, rumor came down from

-the south--fleeting words in the mouths of the people, of which no man

-could trace the source--that a great host was gathering in Ruthar to

-assail the Kimbrian Wall. That report the king laughed at and did not

-believe, or if he did believe, it fretted him not at all. The Kimbrian

-Wall had stood an unshakable barrier since it had been completed,

-nearly thirty centuries before. It would go on standing to the end of

-time. It was well garrisoned, and Atlo was a good captain and vigilant.

-Ruthar must be mad if it thought to march against the wall.

-

-Rumor, again traceless, spoke further and told that Oleric the Red had

-appeared in Ruthar, and with him the slaves who had gone with him from

-Adlaz, and that they had hands in this matter of the wall-storming.

-Bel-Ar heard that also, and smiled grimly. Let Oleric and the slaves,

-if they were indeed in Ruthar, keep well within its boundaries, if they

-set any store by life.

-

-Progress was being made with the reconstruction of his fleet, and the

-king's poise was returning. Once more his court, that had been silent

-and almost deserted, echoed to the laughter of the gay courtiers, and

-Raissa sat upon her throne and toyed with the pearls that she loved.

-

-Then one afternoon a wan and haggard-faced man, spurring a weary horse

-to its utmost speed, rode in through the southern gates of Adlaz and

-clattered up the broad avenue to the palace. From the mountain town of

-Barme he had come, riding two days and a night by relays of horses and

-leaving some of his hard-ridden beasts dead along the road. So nearly

-dead was the rider himself from the rack of that journey that he fell

-from his horse at the palace gates, and men of the guard carried him

-before the king.

-

-From the floor of the audience-chamber where they laid him, the soldier

-raised his arm in salute and cried weakly:

-

-"The Kimbrian Wall is sundered, O king. She whom they name the Goddess

-Glorian of Ruthar cracked the wall in twain with thunders and green

-lightning that shook the land like a hammer." (So the messenger

-described the melinite mines of Everson.) "Through the wall poured a

-great host, which is rolling down upon Barme. Atlo is dead at the break

-in the wall. From the center to the sea-wall, the towers are held by

-Ruthar. Men say that the dreadful beasts of the forest are coming to

-make war on the children of Ad. Ruthar has crowned a king--a giant

-with hair of gold, who came up from the sea with Oleric the Red, who

-was your captain--and he leads the armies against Barme."

-

-Ending his tidings, the man lost grip of his wits. His head fell on his

-arm, and he slept. Nor could he be roused for many hours.

-

-"Now, here is a message with meat and spirit," said the king. Bel-Ar,

-who went near to madness when he heard of the loss of his fademes,

-could laugh when he heard that an army was marching against him. Of all

-the news only one thing galled him, and that was that the yellow-haired

-slave from the hated world to the north was kinging it in Ruthar.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Summoning his captains, the king banished his court of fluttering

-butterflies and filled his audience-chamber with the clash of golden

-armor. No sluggard was Bel-Ar when his foe was on the march, but a

-wise and resourceful leader. When his mind was not clouded by the

-rages which at times came upon him, he could plan with the best of his

-generals.

-

-Bel-Ar in his early youth had been a soldier, and he, too, had fought

-Ruthar at the Kimbrian Wall. Since coming to the throne of Maeronica he

-had put down two rebellions, leading his armies in person and waging

-with a strong and ruthless hand a warfare that had entailed the taking

-of cities.

-

-First move of the king was to despatch his messengers south and north

-to raise all the levies of Maeronica and the garrisons of the cities

-which were tributary to Adlaz. These he directed should be assembled

-at the crook of the river Thebascu, as the birds fly, ninety miles to

-the south of Adlaz. He sent Fanaer, one of his most trusted captains,

-in hot haste into the south to gather what forces he might and stem the

-tide of invasion until the main host could be mustered and brought up.

-Before nightfall the war-drums were beating in every city and hamlet of

-Maeronica.

-

-"If these rash forest wolves and their slave-king win through Barme and

-the mountain passes and overwhelm Fanaer, which I doubt, then we will

-meet them beyond the Thebascu, on the plains of Nor," said Bel-Ar to

-his councilors.

-

-"How they have broken through the wall, I know not; but warrant that it

-is some trick of the strangers.

-

-"As for the great beasts whereof the soldier spoke, I believe that they

-were all dead many years ago. Surely no man of Ad can say with truth

-that he ever has set eyes on one. They are but a myth wherewith Ruthar

-would affright us. And if they be alive, and as terrible as tradition

-tells, I am not afeared of them. We will drive them back with fire, as

-once before our ancestors drove them, in the days before the wall.

-

-"Friends, I welcome this war that has come to seek me, for I was

-growing dull and rusty with inaction.

-

-"If the wall be truly down, then will we drive Ruthar speedily to

-the other side of it--and having so done, we will follow on and bend

-the necks of these stubborn mountain boors to the yoke that has long

-awaited them."

-

-So he dreamed; so he spoke and heartened his captains.

-

-Two days later the trumpets blew at the southern gates, and with a

-rumbling of drums and a tossing of banners overhead, the first division

-of the garrison and the levies of the city of Adlaz, thirty thousand

-strong, marched out the Mazanion Road for the plains of Nor. At their

-head, under the rustling folds of his war-standard of gold and blue,

-rode Bel-Ar, the king.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-To Rose Emer, grown pale with waiting, Brunar brought these tidings in

-the prison of Bel-Tisam.

-

-When she heard that the wall was down, and that Polaris had set his

-face toward Adlaz, her joy, which she strove to conceal from the

-captain, knew no bounds. After Brunar was gone, the girl bent over the

-cradle of the little Patrymion, now a thriving youngster.

-

-"Ah, little mischief," said Rose, and shook her finger at him, "not

-much longer in this prison for you and me. Friends are coming,

-Patrymion; friends who will set us free."

-

-Patrymion, who had small care for what destiny had in store for him, so

-that his immediate requirements in goats' milk were satisfied, sucked a

-pink thumb and blinked up at her out of sleepy eyes.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-In the meantime, telling off companies of men to east and west to aid

-in the fight at the wall by laying siege to the towers, Polaris pushed

-straight ahead through the forests toward the town of Barme. Counting

-in the forces of light-armed soldiery who had preceded him through the

-wall, the son of the snows had in command a division of nearly seven

-thousand men. Of these there were a thousand archers, fifteen hundred

-slingers, two thousand and a half of javelin men, and nearly two

-thousand more of heavy armored footmen with swords and spears.

-

-Two hours along the way, Jastla and his picked hundred passed swiftly

-up the lines and joined the vanguard. Tall and stately men of the hills

-were these, led by the old chieftain, scarcely a one of the company

-under six feet, and splendidly armed after the fashion of their land.

-

-"Here be a few lads of the rocks who would have a tale to tell to their

-sweet-hearts when they go home again," said Jastla as he fell in beside

-Polaris.

-

-With small scouting parties thrown out ahead of him, Polaris hastened

-on. It was his plan to meet and intercept any expedition which might be

-sent from Barme to the relief of Atlo at the wall, and so to prevent

-interference with Oleric's work at the breach. In this fortune favored.

-For the javelin men ambushed and cut down no less than three riders

-sent from the wall to rouse the garrison at Barme; so that the first

-news that reached the town and the Captain Broddok, who commanded

-there, was brought in by the peasantry of the hills who fled through

-the forests before the advance of Polaris.

-

-Mightily disturbed, and not knowing the strength of the force which was

-marching against him, Broddok held his men under arms in indecision

-until it was too late for him to go to the wall. In the evening of the

-day after the breaching of the wall a battered soldier who had escaped

-from one of the turrets and slipped through the Rutharian cordons

-brought word to Broddok of the end of the Kimbrian fighting and the

-fall of Atlo. Then the Maeronican commander dispatched a relay-rider to

-Adlaz and made ready to defend his own gates, around which the jaws of

-Ruthar were closing.

-

-From the lower end of the isthmus a number of passes led through the

-mountains into the forests, beyond which were the plains of Nor.

-Through only one of these defiles lay a direct road, broad and suitable

-to the speedy passage of an army with its impedimenta and provision

-trains. That path was bestridden by the town of Barme.

-

-Midway of the pass and near the foot of its western precipice was a

-low, bald hill, over which the road lay. Around the lower slopes of

-the hill straggled the town, and at its summit was the walled citadel.

-It was a strong place, made so both by nature and by man. So closely

-did it nestle to the towering face of the defile's acclivity, and so

-rounding was the bulge of the mountain wall, that if one climbed to the

-top and looked down the precipice, he would see only the houses of the

-lower town and the citadel would be entirely hidden from him by the

-rock. At each side of the hill was rocky, wooded land, cut through by

-many gullies and the ravines of mountain streams.

-

-A hard place to come at, Polaris thought, as he stood in the gorge and

-looked at the hill by the dim light of the stars--for he came to Barme

-in the night. Yet it must be taken, and that speedily. The swiftest

-road into Maeronica lay over the hill, and the citadel's gates were the

-gates of the road also.

-

-An hour before the dawn he occupied the town, from which most of the

-people had fled, and attacked the fortress furiously, thereby losing

-many men. Though the walls of the place were not high, they were ably

-defended. Broddok was a skilled general, and his garrison was superior

-in numbers to the force which laid siege to his stronghold. Still

-Polaris, counting on the speedy arrival to his support of the van of

-his main army, kept up the assault until well into the day, trying in

-turn every point of the fortress--and failing at every turn.

-

-Finding that attempts against the wall availed them nothing, for they

-were without siege machinery, and Broddok's swordsmen clustered so

-thickly on the parapets that no footing could be gained thereon with

-ladders, the Rutharians boldly assailed the main gate to the citadel.

-Cutting a tree from the forest, threescore stout men bore it to the

-gate. While the archers and slingers from the tops of the nearest

-houses of the town swept the citadel walls with clouds of missiles,

-the men in the street swung their battering-ram until their arms were

-weary. But Broddok's doors were strongly built of oak, reinforced with

-bars of steel and set well within the arch of the gateway. Beyond the

-snapping of a few chains, the ram did them little damage.

-

-Maeronicans on the battlements mocked the men of Polaris with sharp

-words and sharper weapons, and through mortises in the vault of the

-arch poured down streams of boiling water. The Rutharians lost fifty

-men-at-arms before they desisted from the assault.

-

-"Smoke them out," was the counsel of Jastla.

-

-Fagots were fetched up from the town and drenched with oil, and men set

-fire to them and ran and cast them blazing into the archway.

-

-This means might have succeeded in burning away the stubborn oak. But

-the Maeronican captain, tiring of the din at his gates, mounted five

-hundred horsemen, opened his portals, and charged so fiercely through

-the fire that he cleared the street, and for a time his doors were

-unmolested.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Through the defile a chill wind swept from the north, carrying with it

-a light drift of snow, and Polaris's men found it cold work roosting

-without the walls. They had left their camp carrying food for only a

-two days' march. The country through which they had come was wild and

-sparsely settled, and offered little opportunity for foraging. When

-they began to feel the pinch of hunger, Polaris ordered his men to go

-among such of the townsmen of Barme as had not been frightened from

-their homes, and gather provisions, paying for all that they took with

-gold, for he would have no looting.

-

-And those orders were in part, at least, obeyed.

-

-Smoke was curling from the chimney of a small house in a side street

-near where they stood, and Jastla said to the king:

-

-"While these fellows are filling their bellies, let us look to our own.

-I could eat the wolf for which I am named, I am that hungered. See;

-here is a house and fire. Let us go and seek food."

-

-When they had struck upon the door, it was opened by a little lad, who

-stared at them, round-eyed, and then fled screaming across the room.

-

-"Ai! Raula!" he cried. "Here be two giants from the forests. Will they

-eat us, think you, as Darno said they would?"

-

-"Not so, small man," called Polaris gently, who had learned somewhat

-of the Maeronican tongue from Oleric. "We are two hungry men, indeed;

-but we would not harm little boys; and Darno, whoever he may be, should

-not affright you with such tales."

-

-At his words, a lean and fierce-eyed girl stood up from the fireplace

-where she had been crouched and came to the door. She clutched a baby

-to her breast. While she eyed the two men sourly, there was no fear in

-her regard.

-

-"Now who may you be, who wear the arms of a forest raider, yet who know

-our tongue and bespeak a child so fairly?" she asked of Polaris.

-

-"I am a soldier of Ruthar, lady," Polaris said, bowing to her. "My

-comrade here and myself are cold and hungry. May we be warmed at your

-fire and eat a little of the bread and meat yonder on the table? We

-have had no food for many hours. We will pay you well."

-

-The girl pressed closer and peered up at him.

-

-"Ah! I know who you are now," she said triumphantly. "You are no robber

-of the hills, though belike your comrade is," and she shot a glance of

-no favor at Jastla. "You are neither of Maeronica or Ruthar. You are

-the mighty man who came up from the sea to lead the south against the

-north and take Adlaz." She laughed discordantly. "Well, you have made a

-good beginning, they say; but you have a man's task ahead of you.

-

-"Come in and eat and be warmed. I care not. All the menfolks have fled

-the house to the hills in fear of you. I stayed, I and little Telo,

-here. I fear no soldiers. Nay, close that door behind you, old man; I

-would not that winter came in with you and sat at meat."

-

-Laughing grimly into his beard, Jastla made fast the door. While the

-two men sat and ate, the girl resumed her crouching by the fire, where

-she crooned over the babe, at times staring furtively at Polaris. Telo

-soon conquered his fear of the strangers and climbed to the knees of

-Polaris, where he fingered the big man's chain armor curiously and

-prattled many childish questions.

-

-When the hungry men had finished their meal, the girl spoke up again:

-

-"Say, man from the sea, I have heard that there is a beautiful lady who

-waits for you in a prison in Adlaz town. Is that true?"

-

-"Yes, lady, it is true," Polaris said; and he sighed.

-

-"And you lead a great host thither to set her free?" the girl persisted.

-

-"Yes, if I may."

-

-"But to get on the way to Adlaz, you must take this fortress of Barme;

-and you find it a hard nut to crack. Is that not so?"

-

-"That is true, also, lady."

-

-"Well, hark you, man." The girl stood up and came to the table. "You

-who are true to a woman as few men are ever true; perhaps the poor,

-despised, cast-off Raula may aid you somewhat in this undertaking."

-

-While Polaris stared at her and Jastla grunted, she went on:

-

-"Oh, for your wars, and for who is king, I care not. Still, I would

-see that lady in Adlaz town go free--if you are strong enough to pass

-Bel-Ar and his army. Those matters you must look after later. But

-listen. Other men are not so true as you are. There is one in the

-fortress yonder who once thought Raula fair. Now she is a deserted

-wife, while he seeks other maids to listen to his lies. Oh! how I hate

-him!" She spat the words and stamped fiercely on the floor.

-

-"I would see that man humbled and cast down. I would see his red blood

-on the stones at my feet.

-

-"There is a way into the fort, a hidden way, which is known to none but

-me and Telo.

-

-"Now, Telo here shall show you that way. There is a spring on the hill.

-'Tis back of the stables, in a grove of stunted trees. It flows down

-through the rock under the wall and escapes on the hillside. Years ago,

-when I tended cows on the hill, I found the entrance. The water has so

-worn the stone that one may climb its course from the old cowpath to

-the brow of the hill. If a girl can clamber there, surely active men

-will not find it at all hard to do.

-

-"When night is fallen, bid your men to storm the gate again. Then, if

-your force is strong enough to make the venture, take a part of it and

-gain the hill. While those of Broddok's men who do not watch the walls

-are sleeping, you may fall upon them and open the gates."

-

-Polaris and Jastla looked on the girl, amazed.

-

-"Stare not at me," she said. "I am an outcast and reckless woman--and I

-would be revenged. Besides, we poor folk care little what the fate of

-Bel-Ar may be, who does oppress us so that life is a great weariness."

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-It was arranged that they should come back at nightfall for the boy,

-and Polaris and Jastla left the house. When the chieftain fingered his

-pouch and would have paid her for the entertainment, Raula would have

-none of his gold.

-

-"This night's work will be pay enough for Raula," she said.

-

-After they had gone, Jastla set a soldier to watch the house and report

-to him if any left it; for Jastla trusted no woman and feared a trap.

-His fears proved to be unfounded. No one left or visited the house

-through the afternoon.

-

-For the remainder of the day Polaris rested his soldiers, and kept

-up only the semblance of an attack on the walls of Barme citadel. He

-wondered much at the delay of the army of Ruthar, having as yet learned

-nothing of the fighting at the Kimbrian breach; but he was resolved to

-delay not himself, but make the attempt on the fortress as the girl

-Raula had suggested.

-

-With the fall of night he brought the bulk of his force up into the

-cross-streets near the gate and posted sentries to see that none passed

-from the town to the fort. Then he went to the house of Raula and

-fetched the lad. Telo was afraid of the night and the many armed men,

-and would go only if Polaris, whom he trusted, would carry him.

-

-"Show him the spring at the head of the old cowpath, Telo," said

-Raula, and to Polaris, "Bend down the clump of evergreen bushes above

-the spring, and you will find the way through the rock. Beware of the

-sentries at the stables. Once one of them nearly slew me when I came

-suddenly on him out of the dark." She bent nearer and whispered:

-

-"Perchance you will meet and slay Broddok, the captain. I pray you do.

-And ere you smite, tell him that Raula, daughter of Hecar, sent you to

-him."

-

-As Polaris went out to the street, with the lad on his shoulder, he

-heard the girl's shrill laughter within the house--laughter that made

-him shiver.

-

-Followed by a thousand of his swordsmen, including the hundred men

-of Jastla, Polaris marched silently around rough devious streets

-to the side of the hill, and then into the rough ground where the

-boy directed. It was a dark night, for the stars were dimmed by

-storm-clouds, and the going was slow. Raula had said it would take at

-least an hour and the half of another to gain the crest of the hill,

-and Polaris had ordered his men in the town to hold their hands until

-they should hear his trumpets, and then to attack the gates of the

-citadel with trees and fire.

-

-At the spring the clump of bush was found easily, and behind it in the

-face of the hill was a hole in the rock, so low that a man must bend

-nearly double to enter it. Here Polaris gave Telo into the arms of a

-young Rutharian soldier, bidding him bear the lad safely back to his

-sister.

-

-Bending down, the son of the snows entered the hole. Jastla, who never

-let his charge beyond arm's reach, crowded in at his heels. For six

-feet or more they walked with their knees nearly to their chins, and

-then were able to stand upright. The girl had told them that a light

-in the passage could not be seen from above because of the trees, and

-one of the soldiers had nursed a smouldering torch under his cloak.

-That was brought in and whirled into flame, and they proceeded along a

-narrow gully, over the floor of which the water trickled.

-

-"Oof! That maid must have been very love-sick, or she has the courage

-of a fighting man, to have climbed this place in the dark," muttered

-Jastla, as he surveyed the gloomy cavern.

-

-For nearly three hundred yards the party followed the subterranean

-ravine, the floor of which sloped upward sharply. It ended in a shaft

-that was nearly perpendicular, which the men must climb by the aid of

-jagged rocks where the course of the stream had been worn for centuries.

-

-The torchbearer was posted at the angle, so that the light might be

-shed both down the passage and through the shaft. Wrapping his sword

-and spear in his cloak to prevent them from clanging against the

-stones, Janess, insisting that he should be first, went silently up

-through the rock, and Jastla followed close behind. They came out at

-the top through thick bushes into a basin or pool, where the water was

-ankle-deep. They were inside the wall of the fortress on the western

-side of the hill-crest. Around the pool was a grove of stunted trees,

-to the east of which lay the low, wooden stable buildings. South of the

-stables were the stone barracks of the garrison.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Man by man, the Rutharians came up through the darksome hole and took

-cover among the trees, until the grove bristled with swords. Polaris

-and Jastla worked their way to the edge of the wood nearest the stables.

-

-The chieftain pointed to the wooden buildings.

-

-"We will fire them," he whispered, "and have a light to fight by."

-

-As he spoke, a sentry paced out from the shadow of the stables and

-passed along the edge of the grove to the wall. So near he passed

-to the hidden men that they might have reached out and touched his

-shoulder.

-

-"Now that man must be disposed of," muttered Polaris, "and I like it

-not, this smiting of men from behind."

-

-No such niceties of warfare ruled Jastla. When the man came back, the

-chieftain stepped noiselessly from the trees behind him. For a pace

-or two the big mountaineer trod in the tracks of the unsuspecting

-sentry. Then Jastla sprang, and a brief and wordless struggle under the

-trees followed. A dagger flashed. Arising, Jastla took the cloak of

-the fallen man and stepped calmly into his beat. At the corner of the

-stable the chieftain met and slew the second sentry.

-

-At the side of the stable the Rutharian swordsmen formed for battle.

-A man with a torch ran from point to point along the rear of the

-buildings and set fire to the timbers. As they caught and the flames

-leaped crackling up, the frightened horses began to pound and scream.

-

-Polaris bade his trumpeter blow. The notes blared piercing clear. The

-swordsmen broke cover with a roar and charged the stone barracks.

-Lighting torches at the blazing barns, men ran with them to light

-the way. Hardly were they half-way across the intervening space when

-there was an answering flare from the streets below, and the thunder

-of the battering-ram announced that the fight at the gates was on with

-redoubled fury.

-

-While half of his force entered the barracks and fell upon the

-bewildered men there, Polaris, with the remainder, swept down the broad

-roadway, past the dwelling of the officers. Cutting their way through

-the defenders of the gate, the Rutharians tore out the bars, and their

-comrades in the streets swarmed through and up the hillside.

-

-In the midst of the wild mêlée that followed, Broddok did the only

-thing that he could do to save his skin. He rallied such of his men

-as were under arms, fought through to the stables, and released the

-fear-maddened horses. All who could of the Maeronicans mounted in

-haste. For a moment it seemed that the captain would give the order to

-charge down the street into the fighting press, where the men of Ruthar

-were putting his comrades to the sword. But Broddok thought better of

-it.

-

-With nearly four hundred men, the captain rode down the northern slope

-of the hill, opened the road-gates there, and galloped off through the

-pass, leaving his leaderless garrison to fend for itself.

-

-When that became known, the Maeronican soldiers, beset on both sides

-and confused and disheartened by the suddenness of the stroke, threw

-down their arms and surrendered, on promise of their lives.

-

-So fell the strong fortress of Barme, because its captain had broken

-faith with a woman.

-

-With the first light of morning, Polaris sent his prisoners south

-toward Ruthar under a strong guard. Leaving a thousand men under one of

-Jastla's hill-captains to hold the citadel, the son of the snows pushed

-on through the pass with the remainder of his division.

-

-That move of his came near to costing Ruthar a king.

-

-

-

-

-                              CHAPTER IX

-

-                       THE COMING OF THE BEASTS

-

-

-Seated on her ivory throne in the empty hall of her temple, the Goddess

-Glorian fought within her heart a battle that was every whit as fierce

-and hard as that of Ruthar in the field. In that sounding citadel two

-forces stood arrayed, one for good and one for evil, and the conflict

-between them was passing bitter. It was the world-old war of duty and

-love that has ever torn the heart of woman.

-

-No outward signal of the struggle marred the supernal beauty of her

-face. She sat as one sits who is thoughtful and somewhat weary.

-Light-rays that stole down from the windows in the lofty dome wrought

-strange effects of fire in the wonder of her hair--fire which smoldered

-and glowed and ran in tiny sparks along the silklike filaments. Her

-head was slightly bowed. The slender hands, which lay in her lap, were

-quiet and listless. Only in the depths of her eyes was she betrayed. In

-those red-brown deeps, could one have seen them through the half-closed

-lids, one would have found a pleading misery that would not still,

-almost a terror.

-

-Compelled by the ancient secret and a will that never slept, the

-passing years had dealt splendidly by Glorian. Experience they had

-given her, which is more than knowledge, and patience, and an almost

-supernatural poise; but they had not made her more than human.

-

-And a man had come.

-

-Why should she give way to this other woman? Why should she not reach

-out and take that for desire of which her soul yearned and her heart

-was consumed by flame? 'Twould be easy. A delay, a word in the ear of

-Zoar, a seeming mischance--and the priests of Shamar in Adlaz would

-clear her way. Why should she shrink and hesitate?

-

-The man had said that, were he too late, he would die upon the road.

-Well, that might be prevented. Besides, men do not die so easily, and

-time will heal all heart-wounds. But will it? And were that other woman

-dead, could Glorian win him to herself--this man whose will was as

-strong as her own?

-

-He was through the wall now and on the road to Adlaz. Oleric had sent

-messengers to tell her that. And they had told her, too, of that

-brave friend of his, who had nearly given his life while opening the

-way. Many had died--her own countrymen--and many more would die--and

-why? Because of an ambition which she herself had nurtured and kept

-bright--now hollow and of no appeal. What should Glorian care who held

-dominion over Adlaz or over Ruthar--she, who desired only peace and to

-rule in the heart of a man?

-

-All of a long afternoon she sat there, and a statue were not more

-still. For the better part of the night the struggle raged on above her

-pillow, and left it drenched with tears. Then evil fled the field, and

-she who had mastered her spirit slept dreamlessly until the morrow.

-

-In the morning she sent away her tire-women, and ordered that a horse

-be equipped for a warrior and left at the temple doors.

-

-When that steed went down the hill there was no one in all Ruthar who

-would have known that the Goddess Glorian was the rider. For she was

-arrayed in the glittering armor, silver-wrought above its steel, of a

-Rutharian zind. She wore a closed and vizored helm. A sword swung at

-her back, and there were both ax and spear at her saddle-bow.

-

-"I will go down with him into the battle," she whispered, "and let

-things fall out as they may. Some day, somewhere, my time will come. My

-soul has promised it."

-

-She crossed the Illia and rode northward through the forests.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-After the fall of Atlo the fighting went on at the wall for the rest

-of that day, the Rutharians storming tower after tower, until they held

-every turret from sea to sea. Through the afternoon and the night and

-the next day Oleric pushed on with his road, working his men in relays,

-and snatching for himself only brief spells of sleep. Through the night

-in which the king of Ruthar stormed and took Barme, the sappers and

-miners labored on at the breach.

-

-Morning saw the task completed.

-

-First through the breach went a flying squadron of the horsemen from

-the hills, six thousand strong, led by two of the mountain zinds,

-Maxtan and Albar. After them marched a great division of infantry,

-nearly fifty thousand of them, the chest of the army, each section

-carrying with it a number of companies of archers and slingers. Then

-a force of nearly thirteen thousand chariots rumbled through the

-breach--these following the infantry because they would be of little

-use until the host should pass the mountain defiles to more level

-fighting ground. Followed an endless train of baggage and provision

-wains.

-

-No siege machinery was carried, for two reasons. Rutharians long ago

-had found such engines as their skill had devised to be powerless

-against the Kimbrian Wall, and had lost faith in them. Secondly,

-certain carefully handled bundles from the laboratories of Nematzin

-were judged to be of more avail than any catapult, ram or mantelet.

-

-At intervals Oleric halted the divisions to allow of the passage of

-more cavalry, which spread out at each side of the main array and rode

-down through the forest paths of the isthmus.

-

-For more than twelve hours Ruthar poured her armed men through the

-breach in the barrier, with scarcely a break--and the way was wide.

-Reserves in the camp and on the wall cheered the various regiments as

-they went by, marching under their banners and to the music of pipe and

-drum.

-

-Last of all, over the slope and through the gap came Zoar of the

-Amalocs with no less than fifty-eight of the monsters of his herd.

-In single file the amalocs marched, each holding fast with his trunk

-to the tail of the beast ahead, as elephants are wont to do. Ixstus,

-father and patriarch of the herd, led the line, and on the mighty head

-of Ixstus rode Zoar, the master.

-

-On they came, these mountains of red-wooled flesh, swinging their

-gleaming wealth of ivories. Though their shambling tread was soft and

-padding, the roadway, made smooth and hard by the passing of thousands

-of feet and hoofs and wheels, shook under their advance.

-

-Zoar had been preparing against this day for many years. All of his

-beasts were armored for battle. Their heads were protected by immense

-bosses or shields of steel. He had also armor for their forelegs, with

-chains, which could be attached in such a manner that they would swing

-out when the animals charged, and strike down any living thing that

-came near them. The tips of the spreading tusks were equipped with

-sockets, to which sharp steel points could be fitted. More than half of

-the great brutes bore fighting turrets on their backs, in each of which

-was room for a half a score of men. A few tons more or less of metal

-and men meant nothing to the boundless strength of an amaloc.

-

-Until he saw that Zoar had passed the breach, Oleric waited. Then he

-took horse and rode forward. Zenas and certain of his workmen had gone

-through with the first of the cavalry. With them had gone the dog

-Rombar. The animal had escaped from the laboratories in Zele-omaz,

-where Polaris had left him, and had come into the camp half starved

-and nearly frantic with anxiety to find his master. Zenas could not

-withstand the appeal of the brute's dumb search, so he took Rombar

-along. Everson, getting better of his wound, still sick and delirious,

-had been transferred to Zele-omaz and lay at the house of Zind Atra,

-tended by the best medical skill in Ruthar.

-

-When the head of the host was some six hours upon its way, it met the

-first of the long lines of captives, which Polaris had sent back from

-the storming of Barme. The cheering which greeted the tale of that

-exploit of their king passed down the marching regiments like a gale

-and through the Kimbrian breach into Ruthar. When Zenas, with the

-riders, clattered up the hill in the gorge and saw the strength of the

-citadel that had been taken, his heart beat high with pride for what

-his boy had done.

-

-Learning there that the king had passed on to the north, the horsemen,

-their numbers continually augmented by new companies from the rear,

-pushed on along the road in the hope of overtaking him.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-In a dark and narrow glen, wild with rocks and trees, with a mountain

-wall at his back and steel death, many-handed and triumphant, closing

-in along his front, a tawny-haired giant crouched warily among his

-thinning ranks of fighting men. If ever a man was hard beset, it

-was the king of Ruthar. Hemmed in where there was no way of escape,

-he waited with his dwindling company the fifth charge of a horde of

-Maeronican warriors, who were forming for the rush at the mouth of the

-glen. Gone wild with glee were the sons of Ad. They had trapped the

-king of Ruthar like a wounded bear. Great would be their reward from

-Bel-Ar if they took him.

-

-Among the rocks and bushes lay a grim reminder in shattered men of four

-previous charges. Some comfort it was to those who waited above to know

-that for every one of Ruthar who had gone to the stars, at least two of

-Bel-Ar's men had traveled the same path--or perhaps to the sun; for the

-Maeronicans prayed to Shamar.

-

-After leaving Barme, Polaris had led his followers along the main road,

-and they had almost reached the end of the pass, where it debouched

-into the forests of upper Maeronica, before mischance overtook them. It

-came in the shape of that same Captain Broddok, whom they had driven

-from his blazing hold at Barme.

-

-Broddok had ridden through the pass at speed, and beyond it had met a

-strong outpost of cavalry and five regiments of foot-soldiers, sent up

-to hold the passes. For Captain Fanaer had already arrived in upper

-Maeronica.

-

-Scouts brought word of the advance of Polaris with the most of his

-force through the principal pass. He, too, had sent out small parties

-to explore through the outer defiles, of which there were four, and

-bring him word of the lay of the land.

-

-"Now let him come on," counseled Broddok to the Maeronican commander,

-"and we shall have a surprise for him."

-

-Swiftly galloping riders at once swarmed into the four smaller passes,

-overwhelmed the Rutharians whom they found there and drove them into

-the hills. The horsemen then joined forces and swept down the road in

-the rear of Polaris, having come into the defile by bridle paths over

-the hills which were known to them.

-

-Turning his front to meet this menace, the son of the snows was beset

-from behind by both cavalry and infantry, and his force was split up

-before it could be massed or a place be found suitable for defense.

-With nearly a thousand of his men of mixed armament, Janess had been

-driven into the glen, discovering too late that it was a cul-de-sac,

-from which there was no escape.

-

-Four charges the Rutharians had met, and their numbers were now less

-than three hundred. But Jastla's ring of steel still held, and Polaris

-himself was not even wounded. Where the fighting had been the thickest,

-there he had gone; but ever when some perilous blow fell, there was

-one of Jastla's mountaineers to meet it or to die under it. Of the

-hundred men less than fifty lived, and scarcely a score of those were

-scatheless.

-

-"All that you can do here, you have done, O king," said Jastla

-earnestly, as they waited for the fifth charge. "A man unhindered might

-scale yonder rocks and escape into the hills. Do you make the attempt?

-I and these with me will hold back these howling whelps of Bel-Ar.

-Haste you, or 'twill be too late."

-

-Polaris turned on him sternly.

-

-"And you have been comrade to me, Jastla, and did train and make me

-skilled with arms, and yet think that I am so small of spirit," he

-said. "Jastla, I take it ill of you. You and these men are fighting for

-the man whom Ruthar has crowned king. What sort of a king would he be,

-think you, who deserted when he had those still lines yonder before him

-for example?" He pointed down where the dead warriors lay.

-

-"Here I may die, and here I may buried be; but I will not turn back."

-

-Under his shaggy brows old Jastla's eyes were moist.

-

-He grunted loudly.

-

-"I didn't think that you would go. Forgive me that I spoke of it," he

-said. He turned to his hillsmen, and the word went round that every

-last one of the wolves of Ruthar was to die in his tracks. There would

-be no giving back before the next charge.

-

-Broddok on foot waved his sword and gave the word, and the Maeronicans

-raised their battle-cry and came swarming up through the rocks to the

-attack. The mountaineers answered them with a deep-voiced shout:

-

-"For the king! For Polaris!"

-

-None of the combatants heard a thin cry far above them at the brink of

-the cliff and the frenzied barking of a dog.

-

-On came the Maeronicans, Broddok leading, his face flushed with triumph

-and hatred. In the captain's way was a large fragment of rock. As he

-sprang around it, it split in twain and flew into splinters, belching

-green flame. That flash was the last thing the captain ever saw; the

-thunderous roar that shook the hillside was the crack of doom for him.

-A sliver of rock smote him on the temple. Raula was avenged.

-

-Another terrific explosion tore up the earth and boulders right in the

-midst of the startled Maeronicans, and then another. Men were dying by

-the hundred. Bel-Ar's men turned and fled shrieking for the roadway.

-The charge was turned into a rout. Hardly were they out of the glen

-where such fearsome happenings had befallen them, when a cloud of

-Rutharian cavalry rolled down through the main pass and swept Bel-Ar's

-men and their supports into headlong flight toward the lowlands.

-

-On the brow of the rock a small, white-haired old man, clad in armor

-several sizes too large for him, stood up from his knees and patted a

-great black dog on the head.

-

-"Good shots those were, Rombar," he said. "Used to be a baseball

-pitcher once, and haven't lost my wing yet. By golly! I was just in

-time."

-

-Presently Zenas was down in the road with the others to greet Polaris.

-The geologist made light of what he had done, but Janess and the others

-knew that they owed their lives to his quick wit.

-

-Soldiers who had been driven into the hills had met the Rutharian

-riders and told them of the plight of their king. While the cavalry

-engaged the Maeronicans in the pass and cleared it, the old man and

-a small party, carrying melinite bombs, some few of which Zenas had

-fashioned in his laboratories, had ridden by a bridle-path to the top

-of the cliff.

-

-"Be careful, son," said Zenas, when Polaris threw an arm lovingly

-across his shoulder. "This chain jerkin of mine is packed with enough

-of that green hell-cake to spread us over two counties. And keep the

-brute away."

-

-For Rombar had found his master and was leaping about him like a crazed

-thing and barking as if to tell the whole army about it.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Despite the utmost efforts of Fanaer, the most trusted of Bel-Ar's

-captains and a general skilled in all the arts of war, Ruthar held

-the isthmus and the mountain passes, and through the Kimbrian defile

-poured down with horse and foot and chariot into upper Maeronica.

-Failing to hold back the host of the invader and fortify the passes, as

-he had hoped to do, Fanaer began a harrying, guerrilla warfare. From

-sea to sea he made the land barren of supplies for his enemy, sending

-the peasants and hill-dwellers with their cattle and provisions down

-to the coast cities of Zeddar and Aklon. He sent swarms of light

-riders into the hills, where by sally and ambuscade and the breaking

-of bridges and a hundred other means they fretted the advance of the

-Rutharian army.

-

-Did the way lie through a forest, Fanaer fired it, and Ruthar marched

-in flames and smoke. Did the road follow the turn of a hill, there were

-men at the crest to roll huge rocks down on the tramping legions. Was a

-gorge to be passed, the bridges were ruined.

-

-Days wore away, days which Ruthar could ill spare, and which Polaris

-counted with a sinking heart, seeing his army go forward so slowly.

-Still it did advance--slowly, painfully, but surely, the steel lines

-made progress.

-

-Craft against craft Oleric matched with Fanaer. Ruthar had her light

-horsemen, too. Right and left Oleric sent them into the uplands to

-clear his path of the stinging pests of Fanaer. Scores of times in

-a day, on hilltop or in wooded glen, short, fierce engagements were

-fought, but never a pitched battle. Maeronica was playing for delay.

-Far behind the shifting screen of Fanaer's operations Bel-Ar and his

-generals were consolidating the main strength of Maeronica in the

-lowlands along the river Thebascu.

-

-When hill-riding and skirmishing was done, the generals of both armies

-knew that the real war would begin--that the issue would be joined and

-decided on the plains of Nor.

-

-Careful as any general in modern warfare was Oleric with regard to

-his flanks and rear. Well he knew, did the red captain, that in the

-slow-moving trains of provisions that crept ceaselessly along the

-isthmus from Ruthar was the strength of his host in the field. Once

-that line was cut, Bel-Ar might laugh indeed.

-

-It took many men to keep the rear ways open and man the isthmian

-passes. On the morning when the Rutharian army writhed forth from the

-forests like a wounded but tenacious serpent onto the level stretches

-of the plains of Nor, Oleric had under his banners a scant hundred

-thousand men. Thirty thousand more warded the rear. Fifty thousand in

-reserves were massed in the forests and on the isthmus. Twenty thousand

-were with the slain.

-

-The sun was shining as the host wound out from the gloom of the

-forests. To right and to left were wooded hills and beyond them the

-peaks of mountain ranges, blue against the skies. Ahead, the plains, a

-reach of level land some thirty miles broad from east and west and a

-score of miles across, were divided by the gleaming, irregular ribbon

-of the river Thebascu.

-

-In a loop of the river in a camp that was strongly entrenched, for all

-the haste with which it had been constructed, lay the army of Ad, fresh

-and unwearied and ready for battle. And it outnumbered the host of

-Ruthar by nearly two to one. Across the river, down the hundred miles

-to Adlaz, the Mazanion Road was choked with supply trains and reserves.

-

-Snow still lay in patches in the forest defiles; but the plains were

-faintly green with a promise of the spring-time. On the trees the buds

-were swelling. Through a month of wearisome marching Ruthar had come.

-In less than forty-five days the trumpets would sound from the towers

-of Adlaz for the Feast of Years.

-

-"Now by her who sits at Flomos," said Oleric to Polaris, as they sat

-their horses on a hillside and looked across the plains to where the

-gold and blue standards fluttered, "here will be a battle worth the

-waiting of all my years."

-

-Somewhat worn with anxiety was the face of the son of the snows; but

-his eyes were bright and his strength was unimpaired. He, too, was

-ready.

-

-"Shall we not strike at the nearest point of the river?" he asked,

-pointing to the west of Bel-Ar's camp. "If we gain the bank of the

-stream, it will shorten our front, and it seems that we shall not

-easily be flanked."

-

-Oleric swore that the plan was good, and Ruthar's army began to fight

-its way across the plain. It could scarcely be said that battle was

-beginning. All the way through the forests had been one long, unending

-struggle with Fanaer. Already on the plains cavalry skirmishes were in

-progress. Now was to come the climax of a month of conflict.

-

-Steadily Ruthar pressed on, and with the fall of night pitched her

-tents on the plain, her left wing resting on the river below the

-Maeronican camp. By common consent, the fighting ceased at dusk and the

-armies rested on their arms. The next day would tell the tale, and they

-were content to await it. Such was the contour of the land that there

-was little ground for strategy and juggling of men. This was to be a

-battle, front to front, with victory to the strongest arms. And though

-their force was the greater, there was much of doubt in the hearts

-of the men of Ad. Tales had been brought in of the prowess of these

-mountain warriors.

-

-Other camp gossip had put uneasiness upon the soldiers of Bel-Ar. How,

-for instance, had the Kimbrian Wall been sundered, if it were not the

-work of the gods? And the beasts, the mighty red beasts, against which

-men were as flies. Rumor had told that they had come into Maeronica

-and would fight in the field against Adlaz. The sun set that night in

-a sea of fire. Men did not know how to interpret that omen. Was Shamar

-angered? And if he was, on whose heads would his blows fall on the

-morrow? The stars shone calm and clear. Ruthar worshiped the stars.

-

-Those and other thoughts caused many a stout Maeronican to shake his

-head over his campfire. But most of all they feared the beasts.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Wary Oleric had kept Zoar and his herd well to the rear. Never in the

-march had the amalocs gone forward until the way had been cleared. None

-of the Maeronican fighting men had set eyes on them. The beasts were

-Ruthar's strongest hope. If even the thought of them struck terror into

-the hearts of the Children of Ad, Oleric reasoned that their sudden

-appearance in battle might be counted upon to produce a panic.

-

-Ruthar would try a tilt against Maeronica, the red captain planned, and

-if she might would win her battle by force of arms alone. But if the

-fight should swing against her, then the beasts would be better than an

-army in reserve. So he bade Zoar camp in the forests, and he surrounded

-the encampment with a strong guard and cordons of sentries.

-

-In the morning Ruthar's stars paled, and Shamar came up smiling--seeing

-which the men of Bel-Ar took fresh heart.

-

-Scarcely had the first shafts of light thrust over the mountain-tops

-when Oleric, from the shadows of the forest, launched a great bolt of

-cavalry across the plain. Another division which had been moved in the

-night swept east along the south bank of the river. While the riders of

-Bel-Ar went out to meet them, the trumpets of the king of Ruthar were

-sounded in the center of the camp, and long files of men-at-arms crept

-forth into the dawn behind the screen of dashing horsemen.

-

-In three deep columns Polaris moved his footmen into battle, with lanes

-between them, into which the cavalry might retire, and through which

-the charioteers would charge when the time came. Each of the marching

-columns was tipped with regiments of swiftly moving javelin men, and

-behind them came the archers, stringing their long bows and singing a

-lilting chorus as they moved out on the plain.

-

-Mounted on his black stallion, Polaris led the center, riding behind

-the first ranks of his swordsmen and accompanied by the men of Jastla

-and some score of the Rutharian zinds, all in full armor. Far to the

-right rode Oleric the Red. The left was headed by Tarnos, one of the

-zinds. That post Polaris had offered to old Jastla of the hills, but

-the chieftain had declined it.

-

-"'Tis a great honor, O king," he said when the proffer was made, and

-his eyes shone. "But I pray you give it not to me. I would fight at

-your side. That post will be troublesome enough, as I well know."

-Jastla grinned broadly. "Give the command to a nobler man."

-

-"There is none nobler, old wolf," Polaris replied. "But have it as you

-will."

-

-So Tarnos led the left, along the river Thebascu, and Jastla and his

-ring of steel rode with his king, and he was content.

-

-Midway between the camps, as Oleric had ordered it, the charging

-horsemen swerved aside, doubled, and, as though in fear, plunged

-back between the advancing columns. Hard on their flying heels came

-the shouting riders of Ad. As they came the javelin men cast, and

-the archers bent bows and loosed a bitter flight from their twanging

-strings that shrieked among the horsemen like a white drift of blizzard

-through the mountain trees. Then, before the eyes of the Maeronican

-riders, the horsemen they pursued were gone; the bowmen and the

-javelin-throwers melted away; fanwise the heads of the three columns

-spread out and joined each to each, their front ranks kneeling; and

-Ruthar received her plunging foemen on an unbroken front of leveled

-spears.

-

-Fell ruin awaited that splendid charge. Unable to turn back because

-of the surging squadrons behind them, the foremost ranks were dashed

-against the grim steel barrier, and went down in a horrible tangle of

-struggling men and horses.

-

-Into the mêlée, through the lines and over the shoulders of their

-comrades, leaped the light-armed footmen with their javelins and

-daggers, and slew hundreds of horses, whose riders fell easy prey to

-the two-handed blades that now were aloft and busy.

-

-At the rear the Rutharian cavalry formed again, and dashing around the

-flanks of the columns in two flying wedges, closed like nippers behind

-Bel-Ar's confused squadrons.

-

-First cast in the game had gone to Ruthar. The horsemen of Ad were

-routed and pushed back--all those who could go. Those that remained

-were done with fighting.

-

-From the earthen wall of his camp, standing among his golden-armored

-generals, Bel-Ar saw his cavalry broken and flung back--saw it, and

-laughed aloud.

-

-"They fight well, these mountain wolves," he said. "But that was the

-play of children. Now will we send them a taste of the swords of Ad."

-

-Beyond the wall of the camp were massed the legions of the Maeronican

-heavy infantry, flower of the fighting men of seven cities, the core

-of which was formed of the garrison of Adlaz itself, fifteen thousand

-veteran men-at-arms.

-

-Bidding his captains go forward, the king called for his horse.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Somber as he had appeared in his dull garments in the midst of his

-butterfly court, Bel-Ar, among his captains, offered an even greater

-contrast. He loved the pomp and pride of power, its show and its

-glitter, but not in his own person. While his generals rode in gold,

-and the armor of some of them blazed with gems and patterns in

-orichalcum that made them glow like fireflies in the night, the king

-wore a simple suit of arms of black steel, plain of design and undecked

-by any flashing gauds. Only the majesty that dwelt in his pallid face

-and the fires of his mystic's eyes distinguished him from some humble

-gentleman of poor estate.

-

-Mounting his war-horse, a gaunt, powerful roan beast of vicious temper,

-the king, with a number of his favorite captains, rode down the field

-in the wake of his advancing phalanxes. With them was advanced the blue

-and gold battle-standard.

-

-Bel-Ar marshaled his legions in wide divisions, each of nearly a

-thousand men, marching in quadruple lines, and the divisions in such

-close touch that they might form, when there was need, a solid front.

-At the wings of the force were stationed the light-armed men and

-archers. Behind those, two wedge-shaped masses of chariots rolled forth

-from the camp gates and rumbled across the plain.

-

-At the foot of a gentle dip of the land the Rutharians had met and

-hurled back the horsemen. There they elected to remain and await the

-enemy's sterner onset.

-

-On came the shimmering lines of Ad across the meadows now dewed with

-blood; on with a rattle of drums, a brazen peal of trumpets, the clank

-and clash of armor mingling with the pounding hoofs on the hard turf,

-the thumping of chariot-wheels, and the shouted commands of the file

-leaders--the ancient, many-tongued clamor that stirs the soul of Mars.

-

-Silent and watchful, the men of mountainous Ruthar crouched low behind

-their shields and waited.

-

-Over the bodies of their dead comrades, over the fallen horses, the

-phalanxes marched. Then, closing into a living wall, they took the last

-tangled barrier of corpses with a rush and a shout, and the battle was

-joined. All across the field echoed the hollow thunder of the meeting

-shields as the lines closed. Followed a clanging as of a thousand

-trip-hammers. For now the spears were down and the swords were at work.

-

-Following their custom, the Rutharians cast their shields behind them

-after the first shock of the onset, and plied their long blades with

-both hands, making them serve both as swords and bucklers.

-

-On pushed the Maeronican wall under its tossing banners. So fierce was

-the rush and pressure of those charging thousands that Ruthar's line,

-strive as her warriors might, was bent backward like a bow. A wild

-cheering went up from the ranks of Ad when they saw the red standard

-give back. Gathering themselves again, they swept the mountain legions

-to the crest of the rise.

-

-Sitting his charger on the slope behind the line of his men-at-arms,

-Polaris looked down into that hell of combat. Like the unfolding vista

-of a hideous dream, it seemed to him, which he was powerless to break

-or to hinder. Yet above the din of the blood-maddened legions the sky

-was blue and calm, the sun shone bright, and back there in the forests

-the birds of spring were calling to their mates.

-

-Under his fascinated eyes the line of his warriors bent and came

-nearer. The red banner of Ruthar--a moment ago it had been planted

-at the foot of the slope, and now it was almost touching his horse's

-muzzle! Down there in the field another flag was coming, and with it a

-company of riders whose armor flashed back the sunlight from plates and

-shields of burnished gold.

-

-The spell was broken.

-

-Rising in his stirrups, the son of the snows drew his two-handed sword

-from over his shoulder. Among the Maeronican generals his keen eyes had

-seen a face that he remembered well.

-

-"Zinds of Ruthar!" he cried, his voice ringing above the clamor.

-"Yonder rides Bel-Ar of Adlaz. Let us go and greet him."

-

-All around him he heard the clinking of closing vizors. The zinds were

-ready.

-

-Casting down his shield, Polaris called to the swordsmen in front to

-open and make way. Before the Maeronican soldiery could advantage

-themselves of the gap, he was down the slope and upon them like a

-living thunderbolt. Under the urge of the spurs, his horse reared

-and struck out with its forefeet as it met the foemen. Leaning well

-over the good beast's shoulder, the rider whirled his heavy blade and

-struck so fast and so fiercely that eyes could not follow the blows.

-Adlaz's stoutest warriors shrank bewildered from the menace of that

-lightning-stroke and those steel-shod hoofs. Before one might count ten

-he was through them, leaving a wake of crumpled men. Behind him rode

-gray Jastla and the zinds of Ruthar.

-

-As they passed, one of the zinds bent and snatched the crimson banner

-from the standard-bearer.

-

-A roar like that of angry lions went down the Rutharian front when

-the hillsmen saw their flaming standard rise over the heads of the

-fighting men and advance into the field. Where their king led, no wall

-of steel could hold them back. As though the string had been released,

-the mighty bow straightened. All down that long, grim battle-line the

-two-handed swords clove through.

-

-Rallying around their king, the golden captains waited the shock that

-was coming.

-

-For Polaris had one goal, and one only, on all that stricken field.

-Outstripping the fleetest of his riders, he hewed his way through the

-Maeronican nobles, nor stopped until his sable war-horse was shoulder

-to shoulder with the steed of Bel-Ar, the king.

-

-"By Shamar, 'tis the slave-king!" shouted Bel-Ar, as the apparition in

-steel and silver burst through his gilded riders and bore down upon

-him. Sword and shield he lifted to meet the assault, fending himself

-with that skill of arms by which he oft had made good the boast of

-Adlaz that he was the hardiest fighting man in the two kingdoms.

-

-While the battle on the plain raged around them unheeded, king met king

-in the play of swords.

-

-First stroke of Polaris fell on the rounded shield and beat it down so

-that Bel-Ar reeled in his saddle. Before the great blade could swing

-again, the Maeronican straightened and smote with his own good sword of

-tempered bronze. A clang as of a descending hammer rang in the ears of

-Polaris. Under the trampling feet of the horses lay one of the golden

-wings of his helmet. Another stroke fell on his shoulder, cracking a

-steel boss of his armor and thrilling his arm with a sting of pain.

-Heeding it not, he rose in the saddle and swung his sword to his two

-arms' height. No shield or arm would stay that blow.

-

-For the fraction of a second Bel-Ar's doom hung poised in air. Ere it

-fell, Polaris's stallion reared, screaming. The mighty stroke that the

-rider sped fell on empty air. Overbalanced by the weight of his own

-effort, Polaris bent nearly to his saddle-bow. Beneath him the black

-stallion shuddered and went down. An unhorsed captain of Adlaz had run

-in and thrust the animal through the vitals with a spear.

-

-Janess sprang free from the falling horse. Above him, Bel-Ar shouted

-in triumph and hewed down with his bronze sword. But the zinds of

-Ruthar had torn through Bel-Ar's riders to the support of their king,

-upsetting both men and horses as they came. One of them, a slender

-youth in silver armor, leaped from his steed and flashed between Bel-Ar

-and his dismounted and helpless foeman, taking the king's sword-stroke

-on his head.

-

-Jastla closed his steel ring, then, and Bel-Ar was carried away in a

-swirling press of his own cavalry, which had charged fiercely in to

-save him.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Polaris knelt beside his fallen horse and lifted the still form of the

-man who had saved him. The red banner of Ruthar, held by Zind Albar,

-floated above them. Around the circle of riders which Jastla had drawn

-the battle whirled like a seething maelstrom around a rock in a sea of

-clashing steel.

-

-"Who is he?" Polaris asked of Albar, and pillowed the head in its

-silver helm on his knee. In vain he tried to lift the vizor. The

-sword-stroke of the Maeronican king had shattered the upper flare of

-the helmet and bent down its crest so that the vizor would not yield.

-

-"I know him not," said Albar, who was a hillsman. "Some zind of the

-lower cities, I judge, from the armor he wears. Whoever he is, he is a

-brave man. He has this day saved the life of the king of Ruthar, and

-I fear that he has lost his own in the deed. Bel-Ar strikes bitterly.

-See; he has cracked the helmet like an egg. Ah-h--!"

-

-Striking the steel-shod shaft of the standard into the earth, Albar

-leaped down from his horse and knelt beside Polaris.

-

-While the zind had been speaking, the fingers of the son of the snows

-had loosed the clasps of the helmet and lifted it. From under the

-cloven silver shell rippling coils of red-brown hair slipped down and

-flowed over his arm and his knee, where the sunlight caught and turned

-them into dancing flames. The pale face turned up to the sky, unmarred

-save by a small stain of blood at one of the temples, was that of the

-Goddess Glorian of Ruthar!

-

-Janess groaned. Albar stared like a man transfixed. But Glorian was not

-dead. As the air struck her face she moved her head faintly and her

-lips trembled.

-

-"Illia--roars--loudly to-day," she murmured. "It must be--the

-freshets--of spring."

-

-She opened her eyes, saw the faces bent above her, and smiled wanly at

-Polaris.

-

-"Then I was not too late?" she said, the halting gone out of her voice.

-"'Tis well."

-

-"Lady, why did you come hither--into the battle?" asked Polaris. "And

-why--" His voice broke; for the courage of this woman moved him almost

-to tears; the memory of that crushing stroke of bronze which she had

-taken in his stead made him shudder.

-

-Glorian smiled again.

-

-"Vex yourself not about me," she said. "Shall Ruthar's bravest shed

-their lives for their land and king, and Glorian not do her part?" She

-lifted her hand and pointed to the standard. "Where Ruthar's banner

-goes, there goes Glorian also--even into the battle. And I am not

-dying, or greatly hurt, only dizzied, and my head hums. See; I can

-arise."

-

-And arise she did, with Polaris's arm to support her. Around Jastla's

-narrowing circle broke the shock of the battle-tide. But for the moment

-neither the man nor the woman heeded it.

-

-"But you are wounded, lady," Janess said. "There is blood on your

-forehead."

-

-She slipped a hand from its gauntlet and raised it to her head.

-

-"Hardly a scratch," she said.

-

-Just at the roots of her long tresses a splinter from the shivered

-helmet had scarred the scalp--a tiny cut, scarcely a quarter of an inch

-in length.

-

-Now Albar the zind, who had hung on every word, came out of the spell

-of horror that had bound him. He swung himself onto his horse. Then for

-the one time in his life Albar gave orders to a king.

-

-"Guard you the goddess and the banner," he cried to Polaris. "I go to

-tell the men of Ruthar that which shall put in each one the strength of

-ten!"

-

-He rode to Jastla's side.

-

-"Gray wolf, may your ring be strong till I come again," he said. "You

-have within it a king and a goddess."

-

-Down rang his vizor, and setting spurs to his horse Albar set out to

-cross the field and find Oleric the Red.

-

-No longer was the fight on the plains one of ordered lines of men. The

-charge of Polaris had broken the Maeronicans' long front, and they

-had not been able to close up the gap he had made. So they had swung

-into the smaller phalanxes of their legions, and the battle was one of

-division against division, with many breaks between. Here and there

-the divisions had split up into still smaller groups, and occasionally

-there might be seen two warriors who fought alone, one laying on for

-Ruthar and one for Ad.

-

-Gray Jastla, fighting with his face to the west, heard Albar's words as

-the zind flashed past him. To find their meaning, the chieftain cast a

-hurried glance over his shoulder. He saw Polaris and Glorian standing

-together under the crimson standard, and was near to letting his sword

-fall in his surprise. Next instant he rose in his stirrups and clove a

-Maeronican from shoulder to breastbone. Out rang the chief's voice in a

-hollow roar through his vizor:

-

-"Strike as ye never struck before! Behind you is the Goddess Glorian,

-come to see that ye do well. Would ye have these Maeronican hounds take

-her? Strike!"

-

-Around the circle echoed the war-cry:

-

-"For the Goddess Glorian! Strike!"

-

-Like living sword-blades did the Rutharian zinds answer that fierce

-appeal. The circle grew smaller and drew in upon itself, but it did not

-break. Under their resistless blades the zinds piled a rampart of dead

-Maeronicans to defend their goddess. A riderless horse backed into the

-circle, and Polaris, quitting Glorian's side, mounted the steed with

-his two-handed steel and joined the zinds.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Standing up on the body of Polaris's fallen war-horse, supporting

-herself with one hand on the staff of the banner, Glorian watched that

-deadly fray. With her long hair flowing on her shoulders, she looked in

-her warlike gear like one of the valkyries of Adin come down to earth

-from Valhalla to watch the passing of the souls of heroes. Ever her

-gaze followed Polaris. And if she seemed like one of the Norse god's

-daughters, the man who fought under her eyes was a fitting part of the

-simile.

-

-His sword wrenched from his grasp in the body of a man he had slain, he

-snatched the heavy ax that swung at his saddle-bow, and with it laid on

-like Thor with his hammer.

-

-Aid was coming.

-

-Down the field as he rode Albar spread the tidings. From mouth to mouth

-flew the word that the Goddess Glorian was on the plains of Nor, and

-that she and the king were in sore peril yonder where the red standard

-flew. The effect was instantaneous. Each warrior became a host in

-himself. Wounded men who had turned to the rear heard and forgot their

-hurts and staggered into the fight again.

-

-When Albar reached Oleric the Red on the right, the zind found that his

-news had preceded him.

-

-"Get you to Maxtan," shouted Oleric. "Charge with every horse that can

-bear a rider. A messenger has gone into the forests, and another charge

-is coming. Clear the way for the amalocs."

-

-Maxtan and Albar gathered their wild horsemen and charged and charged

-again. So well did they do their work that they hacked a way to the

-first rank of the Maeronican chariots, deep between the two horns of

-which was waging the struggle around the red banner.

-

-Vainly Oleric urged his own charioteers forward. Bel-Ar's blood was up,

-and he was smiling no longer. Battalion on battalion of his infantry he

-sent in to meet the steeds and feed the blades of Ruthar. Almost within

-his grasp the Maeronican king saw victory. Already he counted as taken

-the slave whom his foeman had crowned. Sooner than give back a foot, or

-allow that little band of riders to go free, he was prepared to spend

-his army to the last man, and himself with it.

-

-No less than three horses Oleric had killed under him. When the last

-was gone, he climbed into a chariot and fought at the point of his

-rumbling wedge. Behind him from the forests a force entered the plain

-and the conflict that was mightier than all the red captain's horsemen

-and battalions.

-

-Zoar had come.

-

-In the shadow of the tall trees where the bending limbs swept their

-mighty backs, Zoar marshaled thirty of his amalocs and set them in

-battle array--a single line, with twenty intervening feet between each

-beast. If Zoar knew aught of amalocs, and he thought that he did, there

-would be need for no second line. A hundred men and as many horses ran

-about the legs of the monsters, tightening the broad girths that held

-the basketlike turrets on the mammoths' shoulders. The beasts stood

-quietly, swinging their huge trunks and weaving from side to side,

-as was their habit. Occasionally one of them cocked forward a great

-blanket of an ear as though in lazy wonderment at the din on the plains.

-

-On the head of each, with his back to the turret, and clutching his

-keen-pointed ankus, sat a driver in full armor.

-

-When all was ready, the spear-throwers and archers clambered up by

-rope-ladders and took their places in the towers.

-

-At the left of the line, and nearest to the river, was Ixstus,

-patriarch and giant of the herd. And on the broad head of Ixstus beside

-the driver rode Zoar of the many years.

-

-Along the line from beast to beast passed the word:

-

-"We are ready, Father Zoar."

-

-"Ixstus!" said the old man. The sail-like ears gave attention. "Ixstus,

-I have raised you since a calf, and I think you love me after your

-fashion. Do not fail me now, Ixstus. Go forward, fearing nothing. _Akko

-dor!_"

-

-Zoar's last words were spoken loudly. Thirty vast trunks lifted up.

-From thirty huge proboscides pealed forth the amaloc trumpet-call--such

-a call as might have shaken the forests in the ages before the first

-puny man began his life of fear.

-

-For of amalocs the records of the Garden of Eden make no mention.

-

-Swaying their ponderous heads, and with the turrets on their shoulders

-heaving and tossing like boats on a troubled sea, the amalocs went

-forward.

-

-Far in the turmoil of the fight Oleric heard that trumpeting. Over his

-shoulder he looked and saw the mighty red bulk of Ixstus push out from

-among the trees.

-

-With their trunks curled out of harm's way, their thick and ropy tails

-stretched straight out behind, and their ears flapping to their stride,

-the amalocs came down the grim lanes of battle. Though the legs that

-were as the trunks of trees for size swung with no apparent haste,

-the beasts came on at a pace that it would have troubled a trotting

-horse to distance. The lengths of chain fastened to their knee-harness

-whistled through the air like flails.

-

-From division to division along Ruthar's jagged battle-line sped the

-warning cry:

-

-"Way! Way for Zoar! Make way for the amalocs!"

-

-Under the tossing ivory fronts the divisions parted and drew aside.

-Zoar increased the distance between his beasts. Into thirty wide

-aisles the army split. From forest to front, save for the dead, the

-way was clear. From the wild vortex of the battle rose a stormy burst

-of cheering as the amalocs thundered down the aisles, and Ruthar's

-exultant warriors welcomed their gigantic allies.

-

-Wilder still was the cheering when it was seen that at the ends of the

-pathways the phalanxes of Bel-Ar's men-at-arms were crumbling away.

-Flesh and blood could not abide the onset that was coming, and the

-Maeronican legions broke and fled ingloriously across the plains in

-droves, many of them casting away their arms and shields as they ran.

-

-Bidding his charioteer pull in his horses, Oleric climbed up on the

-high front of his chariot to watch how Bel-Ar would meet this new

-stroke. What would meet the drive of the amalocs? As he reached his

-vantage-point, the answer came--a cavalry charge!

-

-From the wall of his camp, where he had been taken, nursing an arm

-that was numb from wrist to shoulder, the Maeronican king ground his

-teeth in fury as he saw the new force enter the battle and witnessed

-the melting of his legions. Once before, in the morning, his cavalry

-had been rudely handled, and he had laughed. Now, with tears of rage

-in his eyes, he dispatched his shattered squadrons in the teeth of the

-oncoming peril.

-

-White-faced captains and quaking men scrambled into their saddles to

-do their king's bidding, and the horsemen rode desperately to meet the

-beasts.

-

-What happened was simple. The amalocs plowed through the clouds of

-cavalry that opposed them with scarcely a break in their stride,

-overthrowing men and horses as though they had been of paper, and

-leaving ghastly ruins behind them where their ponderous feet had

-trodden.

-

-One such onset was enough. No horse that ever lived could have been

-forced to face another. For the amalocs, when they joined battle, set

-up such a din of squealing and trumpeting as nearly split the ears that

-heard it. The horse that could have met that grievous onslaught must

-have been both blind and deaf.

-

-From above, in the basket-turrets, the archers and spearsmen poured

-down a deadly hail of missiles on the riders. Did a horseman avoid the

-thrashing chains and get near enough to the vast side of an amaloc to

-strike--and not many did so--he found his spear-point rebound from

-the tough hide. The utmost power of his stroke was not a pin-prick to

-an amaloc. Even as the swordsmen had fled, so fled now the riders,

-betaking themselves in a fear-maddened stream to their camp, whither

-the charioteers had preceded them.

-

-"The beasts of Ruthar are a myth," had said Bel-Ar, the king. And his

-soldiers had believed him, had fostered confidence with the thought

-that the frightful tales that had been told of the strength and fury

-of the amalocs were mere traditions which had come down from the days

-of old. Now here before the camp were the beasts, red and awesome and

-raging--more terrible by far than even tradition had painted them--and

-among the Children of Ad there was none who had the heart to go out

-and face them--unless, indeed, it were the king himself. Bel-Ar in his

-rage would have fronted the overlord of all evil that day had he come

-against him.

-

-So it came about that the ring of Jastla, the chief, found the

-pressure of assault slackening and falling away. Maeronicans who had

-been fiercest to meet the sword-blades, now were stumbling over each

-other's legs in their haste to escape the amalocs. What was left of the

-ring--barely a score and five of battered men and horses--opened, and

-through its gap strode Ixstus and paused beside the red banner.

-

-

-

-

-                               CHAPTER X

-

-                     THE GODDESS GLORIAN'S DECREE

-

-

-Zoar quit the straps where he had held and stood on the head of Ixstus.

-A triumph shone in the eyes of the master of the amalocs, and a smile

-spread over his mummified old-ivory features as he looked down at

-Glorian.

-

-"Daughter, they told me that I would find you here--in the forefront of

-the battle," he said. "And so it is. Your zeal for Ruthar has carried

-you far--so far that Oleric the Learned could not follow, and sent

-Father Zoar to find you." He laughed in his bell-like tones.

-

-"But for the King of Ruthar and these brave men here, you would have

-had a longer journey, Father Zoar," Glorian replied. "It might have

-been to the camp of Bel-Ar yonder, or--to the stars. Take me up with

-you, Zoar, for I am weary."

-

-"_Stekkar deen!_" commanded Zoar, and Ixstus looped his trunk and swung

-Glorian gently to a seat beside his master.

-

-Glorian looked around at the little circle of wearied men--so wearied

-that they reeled in their saddles. She looked at those others, who lay

-where they had fallen, and to whom the long rest had come. Her eyes

-filled with tears.

-

-"I thought to thank you," she said, "but I find no words splendid

-enough."

-

-Old Jastla lifted his arm in salute. "Lady, to those of us who live,

-it is sufficient to know that you live also. Those who are dead, died

-gladly to make it so. We have held our goddess safe, and our king has

-held himself." And he turned and saluted Polaris.

-

-Of the hundred zinds and fifty tall hillsmen who had formed in Jastla's

-ring, five and twenty were left. Not one was unwounded. Jastla's beard

-was red with blood, where a spear-point had penetrated through the

-bars of his vizor and torn his mouth. In addition to the bruised and

-stiffening shoulder caused by the blow of Bel-Ar that had broken his

-armor, Polaris had been gashed on the cheek by an arrow. Otherwise he

-was the least harmed of the party.

-

-It was midafternoon when Ixstus set foot in the circle. Presently

-Oleric arrived in his chariot. Behind him came the host of

-Ruthar--weary and with many of its battalions sadly thinned, but still

-a host, and ready to go on if need be.

-

-Another amaloc rolled up alongside of Ixstus. Over the edge of the

-wicker basket it bore, a white old head bobbed up with the suddenness

-of a jack-in-the-box.

-

-"Hey, son," said Zenas Wright to Polaris, "will you never quit your

-foolhardy ways? Look what you have made me do--come a-hunting you,

-riding on the back of one of these animated stacks of red hay, that

-should have been dead and fossilized six thousand years ago. Well,

-well; we've given his majesty Bel-Ar a bellyful, I'm thinking." Out of

-his basket and down the rope-ladder Zenas clambered to shake Polaris by

-the hand.

-

-"Oh, boy," the geologist said, "you're a better king than those

-heathen will see again, if they all live to be as old as Father

-Methuselah yonder says he is. But be careful, lad, be careful."

-

-On the head of Ixstus the Goddess Glorian stood and pointed toward the

-camp of Bel-Ar, and her beautiful face grew stern.

-

-"There are still three hours of daylight, Father Zoar," she said. "Let

-us go and finish what we have begun."

-

-"As well now as ever, daughter," Zoar replied. "I am minded to teach

-this Maeronican king a lesson that shall become a tradition in the

-land. What passes in the camp? My eyes are too dim to see."

-

-"Confusion, father, and the running to and fro of many men. They are

-adding to the height of their earthen walls. They are piling their

-gateways with timbers and the fragments of broken chariots."

-

-Zoar laughed. "Think they with walls of mud to stop my amalocs?" he

-muttered. He lifted his voice, and word was passed down the line that

-the beasts were to be advanced against the camp.

-

-Under the orders of Polaris, the dead zinds and men of his guard were

-borne off the field, and those who were still living, but wounded,

-were carried tenderly to the rear. When he learned that the amalocs

-were to attack the camp, he climbed with Zenas to the turret which the

-geologist had occupied. Jastla and the others he urged to seek rest.

-But they were men of great spirit, and only one or two of them went.

-The most of them sent for fresh horses, determined to see the fighting

-through to its end.

-

-At a word from Glorian, Jastla took up the war-standard of Ruthar and

-passed it to the fighting men of Zoar, who set it fast in the wicker

-tower on the back of Ixstus. Glorian caught its floating folds and

-kissed it.

-

-"Now Ixstus bears our banner. Who shall withstand it?" she said.

-

-A blare of trumpets, a ruffle of drums, sounded the advance of Ruthar.

-Louder and above all arose the roar of the thirty amalocs, strident and

-deafening, as the shaggy, red line surged forward.

-

-In the camp of Bel-Ar that call found answer in the howl of hate and

-terror that went up from the ranks of the Maeronicans when they saw

-that their terrible foes were coming.

-

-"Fire!" shouted Bel-Ar to his generals. "We must meet and turn the

-beasts with fire! Man the walls with torches and set a blaze before

-each gate."

-

-Bel-Ar had pitched his encampment in a loop of the River Thebascu,

-a broad, swift stream, now swollen by the spring freshets into a

-dun-colored torrent. From bank to bank across the loop, the soldiers

-had constructed a wall of earth and stones, ten feet high, and pierced

-by six wide gateways, wherein were set heavy gates of steel and oak.

-Inside the line of the outer wall, with some fifty feet of space

-intervening, was another rampart, also of earth, and a few feet higher

-than the first. Outside of the works the camp was protected further by

-a semicircular ditch, or moat, spanned at each of the gateways by a

-solid bridge of timbers. The Maeronican engineers had turned the waters

-of the river into the moat and filled it level full. At the rear of the

-camp was the crossing of the Thebascu--three wide bridges of stone,

-which had been built in the long ago.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-When they saw the advance of the amalocs, soldiers swarmed from the

-camp with ropes and horses, and strove to pull the timber bridges away

-from the ditch. But the weight of the passing and repassing of the

-army had sunk the beams into the earth so deeply that they could not

-be stirred. Failing in that attempt, the Maeronicans piled débris on

-the floors of the bridges and set fire to it, hoping to burn away the

-approaches. That, too, was a failure. The water of the moat, nearly

-level with the side-beams, was ankle-deep on the bridge-floors, and had

-soaked the timbers so that they would not catch from the fires.

-

-As Zoar and his monsters came to the moat, the men of Bel-Ar shot at

-them with arrows, stones, and javelins. But Ruthar could play that

-game, too. Oleric lined the ditch between the bridges with slingers

-and archers, who kept up so thick a bombardment that they killed many

-men, and soon drove the Maeronicans to the shelter of their walls. As

-they went in, Bel-Ar's men touched flames to the piles of timbers and

-wrecked chariots before their gateways and closed their gates.

-

-"Shall we cross the bridges and clear the way, Father Zoar?" asked

-Oleric.

-

-"Nay," the master of the beasts replied, "that would be at the expense

-of many men, and yon is an ill place to fight in. Methinks I know a

-better plan."

-

-Under his directions, his foresters ungirthed one of the mammoths and

-took from its back the wicker turret. Zoar called the driver of the

-beast to him. Whatever it was that the old man said, the amaloc-driver

-blanched somewhat at the words. He cast a quick glance toward the armed

-camp, and under his swarthy skin his face turned pale. Then he drew

-himself up proudly, saluted, and went back to his beast.

-

-Clambering to his perch, the man found and pulled two small chains

-connected with the armored plates which protected the skull of his

-ponderous steed. These drew into place and closed fast two small doors,

-or lids, cunningly wrought of steel, and devised to cover the eyes of

-the beast. So blinded, the heart within the vast bulk became uneasy,

-and the mammoth began to back and sway, groping before it with its

-trunk.

-

-While the army stood breathless to see what he would do, the driver

-struck with his ankus, and with a shout launched the amaloc straight at

-the center gate of the camp.

-

-Deprived of its eyesight, the mammoth obeyed the superior will

-expressed by the voice that it knew and loved. Across the bridge, where

-ordinarily it would have paused and tested the timbers carefully before

-trusting its immense bulk upon them, it now charged blindly, trumpeting

-as it went.

-

-Showers of missiles from the camp of Ad fell on the beast; ahead of it

-roared the blazing pile. It screamed out with pain and terror when the

-flames touched it, but it did not stop. Scattering the burning tangle

-like fiery chaff, it tore on, and its armored frontlet clanged on the

-bars of the gateway.

-

-That shock tore the gates from their hinges and brought the amaloc to

-its knees. For an instant it knelt on the fallen gate, then, trumpeting

-with rage, rose up and danced on the ruin.

-

-On the head of the beast the driver lay flat on his belly, his arms and

-legs thrust under the leather bands placed there to hold him. Ahead,

-scarcely fifty feet away, was the second gateway. With voice and steel

-the man urged the amaloc on, and it crashed through that gate as it had

-through the first, and plunged into the center of the Maeronican camp.

-

-Began then a mad rout for safety. No one thought of fighting the terror

-that had come among them; but each man for himself ran for the river,

-casting away anything that might weight down his legs. Soon all three

-bridges of the Thebascu were black with a horrid, writhing mêlée--a

-tangle of fear-maddened men, cursing and striking at each other for

-way, and screaming, terrified horses. Many soldiers, unable to fight

-into the jams on the bridges, threw themselves into the swift stream

-with all their armor on, and some swam across and others were seen no

-more.

-

-To and fro through the encampment raged the now thoroughly crazed

-amaloc, sundering and crushing all that it met. The long, red wool

-had caught fire from the blaze at the gateway and burned fiercely up

-over its shoulders. Wild with the pain of it, the beast ran hither and

-thither, seeking to escape from the flames. A two-horsed chariot was

-in its path at one moment. It scooped it up like a toy and carried it

-forward on its mighty tusks, the horses dangling in their harness. Then

-with a heave of its vast shoulders the monster cast the wreck in the

-air. Lying on his face, the driver closed his eyes and prayed wildly to

-his stars.

-

-At length, smelling the water of the river, the amaloc turned thither,

-to quench its agonies in the rushing stream. On it drove, across the

-camp, upsetting everything in its way. It reached the river to the

-left of one of the bridges. In its path a horse bearing a steel-clad

-rider slipped and fell. The groping trunk that sought the water found

-the man, plucked him from the ground, whirled him aloft, and dashed

-him against an abutment of the bridge so that his armor cracked like a

-nutshell and his blood ran down the stones.

-

-With a final shriek of fury, the amaloc plunged into the river. The

-waters closed over its upthrown trunk, and its mad career was ended.

-With it went the driver, well content to give his life for Ruthar.

-

-This one beast in the outpouring of its majestic strength had done

-more to shatter the power of Adlaz than had the legions of Ruthar in a

-month's fighting.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Soon after the death of the amaloc, night fell swiftly across the

-plains of Nor. The other beasts of Zoar, made uneasy by the experiences

-through which they had passed, and stirred by the screaming of their

-flame-maddened comrade, were in such a state that their master deemed

-it unwise to attempt to urge them farther in the darkness and against

-the fires. So he drove them back to the forest, and Ruthar camped on

-the plain.

-

-In the night was heard a clamor as of men who fought on the other side

-of the Thebascu, and when morning came it was seen that the host of

-Bel-Ar was divided. The royal standards waved over the bridge-heads at

-the crossing of the river. Farther down the stream, and opposite to the

-camp of Ruthar was gathered by far the greater part of the Maeronican

-host.

-

-When the dawn was full, a boat crossed the river, bearing messengers

-to Ruthar from the lords of the six cities which had fought for Adlaz.

-These heralds came to Oleric and asked what terms he would make them.

-

-"For," said they, "did we have to fight with men only, we would stand

-firm until the end, and with our united power sweep Ruthar from the

-field and crush her. But against such as the great beasts no men may

-war."

-

-The red captain referred them to the king of Ruthar for their answer.

-Polaris bade them go back to the lords of the cities and say that he

-wished to make war on none save Adlaz and the king thereof--but that

-war he would wage until the death or the submission of Bel-Ar.

-

-"Our lords will not join ye in war against Adlaz," said one of the

-heralds hastily. "We be not such traitors; but our soldiers will bear

-arms against the terrible beasts no more."

-

-"Ruthar asks no help in her warfare against Bel-Ar," Polaris replied.

-"Take your armies to their homes in peace."

-

-That answer satisfied the lords of the cities, and they sent word that

-so they would do; and if Polaris in the end prevailed against Adlaz,

-they would bend the knee to his rule. Secretly they hoped that he

-would win. Bel-Ar had been a hard master, and those who had seen the

-tawny-haired king of Ruthar deemed him to be the better man to serve,

-outlander though he was.

-

-So that host was dispersed and went its various ways homeward. The

-soldiers of Adlaz and the levies from the lands around the city were of

-a different kidney. To a man they stood firm for their king. Beasts or

-no beasts, they swore, they would die for him, did he wish it.

-

-It seemed likely that their promise would be required of them. Bel-Ar,

-stubborn and high of spirit, was resolved to fight on. He still

-mustered under his banners a force of nearly sixty thousand men,

-veterans of his former wars and the flower of the fighting men of the

-land. Besides, he held the advantage of position.

-

-When Ruthar would have gone on against him in the morning, it was

-found that his engineers, working through the night, had piled the

-bridge-heads with barricades of stones, so thick and high that

-no amaloc charge would beat them down. Behind those barriers the

-Maeronican generals reorganized their broken forces and sent in the

-front fresh soldiers drawn from the reserves that were waiting along

-the Mazanion Road.

-

-Not for many weary miles was there another crossing of the

-Thebascu--if, indeed, there were any on the course of the river where

-were bridges strong enough to support an army and the weight of the

-amalocs.

-

-Taking counsel together, Polaris and Oleric and their generals decided

-that they must hammer their way through at the three bridges. They

-might have blown up the barriers with melinite; but they dared not, for

-fear of destroying the structures of the bridges also; and they had not

-the time to build new bridges. Only a sustained frontal attack, at the

-cost of many men, would clear the way.

-

-For a score and ten days and nights the furious struggle was waged at

-the Thebascu. Then one of the bridges was taken. Polaris, his great

-frame grown gaunt from continual fighting, and his face sunken and

-haggard with anxiety and loss of sleep, saw through hollow and burning

-eyes his hosts swing across the river and into the Mazanion Road.

-

-Fourteen days were left him, and then--the Feast of Years, and the end.

-

-Summer was coming, and with it the feast of the return of Shamar, that

-could not be set forward or delayed. Though the foe were hammering at

-its gates, Oleric said, the feast would be held in the city. Such was

-the ancient law laid down in the early days of Adlaz.

-

-On the Mazanion Road they found the captain Fanaer once more, tireless

-and vengeful. As he had harried them all the way from the isthmian

-passes to the plains of Nor, so he harried them now. Every foot of

-the hundred miles down the Mazanion Road he fought them, and with him

-fought Bel-Ar, his master. Wall after wall they built and lost.

-

-It was not until afternoon of the last day that the Rutharian vanguard,

-so worn with battle that it staggered as it rode, broke through the

-final barrier and marched through the gorgeous suburban estates to the

-wall of Adlaz. Under the leadership of Fanaer, the remnant of Bel-Ar's

-army made a last desperate stand, but was swept away.

-

-As night came on, the Maeronican king, broken-hearted, but still

-defiant, entered his city and closed his gates--there to sit down and

-wait for the coming of the Goddess Glorian.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-It was nine o'clock of a morning--the morning of the third day of the

-Maeronican month of Kanar, corresponding to the fifteenth of November;

-or, to reverse the seasons to the terms of our northern clime, the

-sixteenth of May. A man who bore a heavy heart within his golden armor

-faced a white-faced maid in the ancient audience-hall of the dead king

-Bel-Tisam.

-

-"Now am I in my heart almost a traitor to my king and land, lady,"

-Brunar said. "For I have almost wished that your lover might prevail

-over Bel-Ar and save you. But the day has come and the time is at

-hand, and Ruthar is still without the walls. Would that I might save

-you, lady--I think that to do so I would willingly give my life. But

-Shamar's servants have watched this place by day and by night. It

-cannot be. Already they wait for you without the doors to lead you to

-the temple."

-

-For an instant the girl's eyes swam with terror. She gazed hither

-and yon about the hall like a hunted thing. Then the heritage of her

-northern race came to her aid and saved her from collapse.

-

-Bravely she faced and spoke to the captain.

-

-She stepped to the cradle of the little Patrymion and kissed the babe.

-

-"I am ready," she said, then.

-

-At the doors of the prison a chariot waited, and with it were four of

-the white-robed priests of Shamar. The girl was lifted into the car.

-The charioteer drove up the side avenue of Chedar's Flight, past the

-Place of Games, now standing empty and silent, to the grounds of the

-Temple of the Sun. They saw many armed men in the street as they passed

-along. As they entered the gateway of the temple grounds they heard a

-dull booming that beat up with the wind from the south, where Ruthar

-hammered at the Mazanion gates.

-

-The priests carried the girl up the hundred white marble steps to

-the western entrance to the temple and through the splendid arch of

-a doorway that was fifty feet from pave to vault. Within all was dim

-twilight, except in the mighty dome, two hundred feet aloft. There it

-was light, indeed.

-

-At the doorway the party halted, and two soldiers shackled Rose with

-fetters of heavy gold at her wrists and ankles. Around her waist they

-set a girdle of the same yellow metal, to which chains were attached.

-That done, they placed a gag in her mouth and led her into the temple.

-

-Here was a place of wonders, such as had its like nowhere in the world.

-All around the hall, supporting the ring of masonry on which the dome

-rested, were magnificent pillars of marble. The circle of the pavement

-which was enclosed by the pillars, and which was nearly a hundred feet

-across, was bare, except at its center. There an oblong slab of black

-basalt lay from west to east across the gleaming white floor. That

-block was the height of a man's waist from the pavement, some six feet

-across, and at least ten yards in length.

-

-On one end of the slab, that which pointed west, stood a solid column

-of orichalcum, more than a yard in diameter and fifteen feet tall, its

-whole substance glowing in the half-light like a pillar of lambent

-flame. From base to top the surface of this marvelous plinth was carved

-with Maeronican characters and mystic signs. It was the ancient Column

-of Laws, whereon was written the prophecy of the future dominion of

-Adlaz over all the world.

-

-Over across from the fiery pillar, at the other extremity of the slab,

-was a vase, cut out of solid rock-crystal, as tall as a man, but

-slenderly fashioned, and as fragile in structure as thin-blown glass.

-

-This basalt block, with its gleaming column and crystal vase, was the

-altar of Shamar.

-

-Though the light was dim in the hall below, high in the arch of the

-dome was a dazzling play of light and colors. Through prismatic

-windows the rays of the sun poured and were translated into all of

-the changing hues of the spectrum, and as the prisms were turned by a

-concealed mechanism operated from below, the multiplying and shifting

-color-shafts, reflected back from the marble walls, combined into a

-bewildering and fairy display.

-

-Seated in a stone chair at the foot of one of the pillars in the

-northern arc of the circle was Bel-Ar. He was in full armor of black

-steel. His pallid face made a ghastly patch in the dusk. Except for the

-large, glowing eyes, it might have been taken for the face of a dead

-man. Back of the king, filling in the spaces between the pillars with

-silent rows of bronze, were the five companies of the palace-guard.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Immediately upon the arrival of the girl the ceremonies were opened.

-Followed by a train of his priests, chanting a deep-voiced hymn

-of praise, the arch-priest of Shamar, the aged Rhaen, entered the

-hall through the western portals. Thrice the procession of singing,

-white-robed attendants of the god passed around the circle within the

-pillars. Then they massed themselves in the space to the south of the

-altar. Rhaen retired, to come forth again, clad in a surplice of pale

-blue, and with a tall cap of the same color atop of his white locks. As

-he passed Rose, she fancied that she saw a frightened look in his keen

-old hawk's eyes.

-

-Four men brought in the head of one of the sacred bulls, freshly slain

-in the courtyard.

-

-This gory trophy was laid on the altar, a few feet from the crystal

-vase.

-

-At a command from Rhaen, a company of the priests bore the struggling

-form of a man from behind the pillars and proceeded to chain him down

-on the basalt slab near its center. He was fettered and gagged; but

-even so trussed up, he fought frantically, giving the priests much

-trouble before they had him chained in such a fashion that he could

-scarcely move a limb.

-

-Now came the turn of Rose.

-

-As the priests bore her to the altar and lifted her, she saw that the

-man who lay there was Ensign Brooks, of the _Minnetonka_. He had been

-fetched from the mines by order of Rhaen to take the place of Everson.

-When the girl saw the young sailor, chubby and cheerful no longer, but

-worn to skin and bones, and with eyes that glared in their sockets, she

-would have cried out in horror and pity--for to the last she thought

-not of herself--but she was gagged and helpless to utter one word of

-comfort.

-

-Brooks saw her as she was borne past him, and he struggled terribly.

-His utmost effort resulted only in a violent shaking of his head.

-

-The servants of Rhaen chained Rose to the rock midway between the

-sailor and the head of the bull. Aided by his priests, Rhaen clambered

-onto the rock and took his stand at the foot of the orichalcum pillar.

-He bent his head in prayer. While his lips moved, the priests knelt on

-the pavement with lifted hands and upturned faces. Every eye was fixed

-on the dome. Whatever was to come, it was evident that it would proceed

-thence.

-

-Lying on the black altar, doomed to be the first sacrifice to Shamar

-in the Feast of Years, Rose for a time was dazed and near to fainting.

-Then her mind cleared, and a mad whirl of tortured thought began.

-What of Polaris? With the memory of her lover came a stab of grief so

-keen that it banished all fear of the priests and what they could do.

-No pain that they could bring to her body could be so terrible as this

-anguish that made her very soul quail.

-

-Minutes passed. Again she became calm and fell to studying her

-surroundings. What manner of doom was coming? Fire in some shape, she

-was sure. She had noticed that the surface of the basalt slab was

-deeply scored down its center, where she and Brooks were chained,

-and its substance was crumbled and calcined as if by the passing of

-a fierce heat many times repeated. She besought her God that before

-Shamar struck, her senses might leave her, so might she die in peace.

-

-Rhaen prayed on. Above in the dome the brilliant colors played and

-shifted. Their magnificence hurt the girl's eyes, and she closed them.

-Would the end never come? Out in the city the din of war swelled louder.

-

-Bel-Ar spoke harshly, bidding Rhaen delay not. The arch-priest quit his

-mumbled prayer long enough to reply with some show of spirit that the

-doings of the god could not be hastened.

-

-The truth of the matter was, Rhaen was proceeding slowly, and with a

-reason. Rhaen was a politician. He had watched through the long weeks

-the course of war, and he did not find it hard to guess whose would be

-the ultimate victory. When that time came, what mercy would the king of

-Ruthar show to those who had given his lady to the tortures of Shamar?

-He lifted his hands high above his head, finally, and led his priests

-in a sonorous chant.

-

-As the notes of the song arose, the prismatic colors ceased in the

-dome. The prisms disappeared. Doors glided back in the golden roof, and

-an immense circular plate, or lens, of crystal made its appearance. So

-high was the arch of the dome where the crystal lens was hung, that it

-was impossible from the floor to judge its size; but it must have been

-at least thirty feet in diameter. It was set in a metal rim, and the

-whole was swung into place by chains, the mechanism doubtless operated

-by servants of Rhaen concealed in the vault of the dome.

-

-Tilted slightly to the east, the crystal hung. Above it a round

-aperture suddenly appeared in the roof. Through that opening shot a

-splendid shaft of sunshine that pierced the gloom of the temple-hall

-like an arrow of light. Blinding in its radiance, it cut downward and

-struck on the basalt altar, full on the head of the bull.

-

-Immediately arose the stench of burning hair and sizzling flesh. The

-power of the crystal lens so condensed the light-ray that where it fell

-its heat was all-consuming. Within half a minute naught was left of the

-head of the sacred bull save a few cinders and bits of calcined bone

-and charred tips of the horns.

-

-Where the head had been, the basalt rock glowed ruby-red in the path of

-that awful lance of fire. Inch by inch, and very slowly, the consuming

-ray crept along the altar toward the head of the girl.

-

-Rose had been nearly blinded, even through her closed lids, by the

-flash of light from the dome. Although she could not turn her head to

-see, she could smell the scorching flesh of the bull, and could guess

-what was coming.

-

-"Good-by, my love, good-by," she said in her heart. Then He to whom she

-had prayed made answer, and she fainted.

-

-Louder rose the chant of the priests. The merciless finger of their god

-moved on. Bel-Ar strained forward in his stone seat and stared at the

-sacrifice as though fascinated.

-

-Some five feet were yet to be traversed by the ray before it would

-reach the girl, when a soldier ran up the southern steps of the temple

-and hurled himself through the kneeling ranks of the priests. Behind

-him a wild clamor of battle arose in the street.

-

-"Adlaz is lost!" shouted the soldier, as he broke into the open space

-before the king. "Already is the foe at the very gates of Shamar!"

-

-Without stirring in his seat, hardly removing his eyes from the altar,

-Bel-Ar gave an order to the captains behind him. The silent files of

-the palace-guard came from behind the pillars and ranged themselves

-before the four entrances of the temple.

-

-Across the face of the altar the relentless fire-beam seared its way.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Meanwhile, at the walls of Adlaz the Rutharian army had halted.

-

-Night had found the men of the hills battering at the Mazanion gates.

-Urged on by the tireless energy of Polaris and the equally indomitable

-zeal of Oleric--for the red captain had made a promise--the zinds

-mustered their weary legions for a night of sleepless battle. War-worn

-by a quarter-year's conflict, the echoes of which would go whispering

-down their history for centuries to come, the king's battalions did not

-fail him. Every man in the army knew the terrible stake that was set

-for the game. None faltered. None complained.

-

-Assault on assault was directed at the gates, but still the southern

-doors of Adlaz remained unshaken. Riders had made the round of the city

-and had reported that the other three gateways had been walled up with

-stone masonry that it would be a work of days to dislodge--and they had

-only seventeen hours to reach the temple of Shamar. Oleric, who knew,

-said that the sacrifice of the Feast of Years would begin at noon of

-the next day, and not one moment sooner.

-

-Fanaer, Ruthar's most dreaded antagonist, was manning his last

-barricade. As soon as he had drawn his shattered army within the gates

-before the advance of his foemen, the captain ordered great rocks,

-which had been brought to the top of the walls in preparation for his

-purpose, cast down until they formed a jagged but powerful defense

-before the gates. That was to keep back the amalocs.

-

-Vainly the infantry of Ruthar charged over that irregular wall. Did

-any of them reach the gates, their battle-axes were but puny weapons

-against the bronze and steel of the doors. In vain they tried to carry

-in and place the melinite with which Zenas supplied them. Fanaer

-showered them with stones and blazing timbers. Three times men carrying

-the deadly cakes of explosive were stricken so that the melinite blew

-up and tore them to shreds.

-

-All night long the attack was maintained. All the night Polaris raged

-helplessly before that stubborn barrier of stone. In the morning light

-he counseled with Oleric, Zenas, and Zoar.

-

-"If you could but clear a way for my beasts!" groaned Zoar. "Then I

-would send them against the gates, though it killed them--which might

-well happen, for those gates are heavy enough to challenge even the

-strength of an amaloc."

-

-Zenas sprang up and beat himself on the forehead.

-

-"Doddering fool that I am!" he cried. "Here we have wasted men and

-time, and because my wits were sleeping in my boot-heels. Get your

-amalocs ready, Zoar."

-

-While Oleric sent one more assault against the gates, the geologist

-directed his engineers, under the cover of the attack, to mine, not

-the gates, but the pile of stones itself, with the melinite. Four big

-charges of the explosive they placed in Fanaer's barricade, and Zenas,

-with a tap of his finger on the battery, blew the barrier against the

-wall.

-

-Hardly had the stones quit falling when an amaloc rushed the gateway.

-Zoar spoke truly when he said those gates were strong. Fearful as

-was the impetus of the beast's charge, and though it cracked the

-great steel plates which protected its head with the impact, it did

-not shatter the gates. It withdrew from the onset somewhat sick and

-groggy--if that word may be applied to the mental condition of the

-amaloc. Zoar sent in another.

-

-Four of the monsters were launched successively against the portals

-before the gates crashed down. The last shock was so fearful that the

-beast which delivered it fell just beyond the gateway and died with a

-broken skull in the midst of the ruin it had made.

-

-Through the gap and into the Mazanion avenue, almost under the lee

-of the falling mammoth, flashed Polaris, mounted and in full armor.

-Hard behind him rode Oleric. Ahead of them the wide street was choked

-with Maeronican soldiery, and the son of the snows would have charged

-without pause; for the time that was left him was reduced to minutes

-now. Taking of the gates had not been quick or easy, and Shamar was

-high in the heavens.

-

-But the red captain caught at his bridle-rein.

-

-"Hold, friend and king; you will peril your life needlessly," he

-shouted. "Leave this desperate scum to Zoar, and follow where he leads.

-Ah! here he comes! Now see them scatter!"

-

-Oleric threw back his head and laughed. But Polaris, with that sun

-riding high above him, was in no mood for laughter.

-

-In through the rifted gateway thrust Ixstus. The giant amaloc was

-in his full panoply of war. On his head he bore proudly his master,

-Zoar the aged, and in the turret behind Zoar rode the Goddess

-Glorian--Glorian coming to the end to take what gift fate had in store.

-

-Under the swaying tusks of Ixstus terror shouted aloud in the street.

-Behind him, his sons and grandsons were pushing in through the gap in

-the wall. Bel-Ar's battered soldiers had had enough and full measure of

-Ixstus and his family. They did not wait now for the first screaming

-trumpet-call, but cast down their arms and scampered away--anywhere, so

-that they might put strong walls between themselves and the tribe of

-Ixstus.

-

-Then the general Fanaer rode forward and surrendered his sword to

-Oleric. He was a small, thin man, this famous warrior, with a twisted

-nose between pale-blue eyes, and curling, yellow beard.

-

-"I have fought you my best for the king, my master," he said. "But

-you have taken Adlaz, and my work is done." He glanced curiously at

-Polaris. "Haste you, king of Ruthar," he said, not unkindly. "They are

-doing sacrifice in Shamar's temple."

-

-Like an arrow from a bow, Polaris shot forward, spurring his horse.

-Oleric galloped after him. Behind them thundered Ixstus, shaking the

-pavement with his tread. Nor, strive as the fleet horses might, could

-they more than barely keep ahead of the amaloc. A race with death had

-begun.

-

-Lest harm befall, the zind Maxtan led a squadron of his mounted

-hillsmen in the wake of the speeding riders. Gray Jastla rode in the

-front rank.

-

-Before Polaris's galloping steed leaped and barked the great dog

-Rombar, who was more fleet of foot than any horse. To keep him out of

-harm's way in the battles, Rombar had been chained in hateful captivity

-for months. When the Mazanion gates were down and the amalocs cleared

-the street, the man who had charge of Rombar slipped his leash and let

-him go.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-They rode madly through the splendid grounds of the temple, where the

-sacred bulls fled bellowing before the approach of Ixstus. At the foot

-of the long stairway, Polaris and Oleric threw themselves from their

-steeds, and, drawing their swords, dashed up the marble steps. But

-Zoar with a word of command, set Ixstus to the ascent, and the amaloc

-distanced the running men.

-

-Scarce two feet of Shamar's black altar separated the head of Rose Emer

-from the fiery danger, and the rock where she lay was almost blistering

-hot, when Ixstus, with a scream of triumph, burst through the ranks of

-the guard at the southern door and strode into the lofty shrine. As the

-beast paused, blinking and stretching out an inquiring trunk in the

-direction of the puzzling shaft of light, two armored men ran around

-his ponderous bulk and leaped onto the altar.

-

-Rhaen would have given the word then to close the dome and stop the

-ray; but the strain of his anxiety had been too much for the aged

-priest. As he opened his mouth to shout, his knees loosened, and he

-fell in a swoon at the base of the orichalcum pillar.

-

-With four strokes of his sword, Polaris severed the golden chains and

-swept the senseless form of Rose from the altar. Oleric the Red did

-the like service for Brooks. Now might the finger of Shamar move on

-unheeded.

-

-Polaris knelt with his love in his arms. As he bent over her, Oleric

-shouted in warning. The son of the snows leaped to his feet in time to

-catch on his sword the blade of Bel-Ar, the king.

-

-Once again Ruthar and Ad, personified in their two rulers, were face to

-face.

-

-From the four doorways came the devoted men of the palace-guard.

-Bel-Ar, who had fallen back a pace, lifted his hand.

-

-"There is that between this man and me which only death may take away,"

-he said. "Let none interfere--unless the slave is afraid to fight." He

-fixed his burning eyes on Polaris. At that last remark Oleric the Red

-laughed loudly.

-

-Under other circumstances, Janess might have been minded to let Bel-Ar

-go free. Whatever were his faults, the Maeronican king was a brave

-man, one who did not bow down and weep when misfortune overtook him.

-But Polaris had just seen his dear lady chained to the horror of the

-sacrificial stone because of this man, and his fell religion and

-relentless practices against strangers. Minos, Memene, Everson, the

-company of the _Minnetonka_, the fallen of the hosts of Ruthar and of

-Ad--for all those deaths Bel-Ar was responsible. Surely his doors were

-haunted by many ghosts!

-

-With no word in answer to the king's taunt, Polaris swung his sword,

-and the fight began. Bel-Ar pressed in with a shower of blows, seeking

-to bear his adversary down by the sheer weight and fury of his attack.

-He was a powerful man, perhaps the strongest warrior in all his broad

-lands, as he had boasted--but he had met a stronger now.

-

-With the skill in fence that had been taught him by Jastla, the son of

-the snows guarded himself against those lightning blows, letting Bel-Ar

-weary himself until an opening should come--as his patience had told

-him it always would, no matter how hardy the fighter.

-

-Jastla himself stood by the altar and watched his pupil fight. For

-Maxtan and his cavalry had reached the temple. On one side of the

-altar stood the men of Ruthar and Ixstus. On the other were ranged the

-gleaming bronze lines of Bel-Ar's guard.

-

-Harder and harder the Maeronican pressed the fight. His blade swung

-like a circle of flame. Warily Polaris fended. Came a clash and a

-clang of falling steel, and a cry of dismay from the Rutharians. Under

-the stout bronze of Bel-Ar their champion's sword had snapped short off

-at the hilt.

-

-With a yell of exultation, Bel-Ar sprang in to make an end. And those

-who watched the fray were bound by honor not to interfere. Oleric

-groaned, and Jastla tugged at his white beard and ground his teeth in

-dismay. Then he sent up a roaring shout:

-

-"Well thrown! Oh, well thrown!"

-

-Under the vengeful sweep of the singing blade Polaris had leaped and

-caught the Maeronican around the middle. The blow of the sword fell

-harmless. But Polaris swung Bel-Ar up to his shoulder, aye, and over

-it, and dashed him down on the marble floor.

-

-One of the golden captains of the guard ran to the king's side and

-unhelmed him. Bel-Ar was dead, his back broken by the terrible fall.

-

-"Heard ever a man the like?" roared Jastla. "The strongest warrior in

-Adlaz tossed like a toy and slain by an unarmed man!"

-

-Through the fierce fray Glorian had sat like a statue, unable to stir

-or speak. As the Rutharians shouted in triumph, she roused and cried

-out:

-

-"Look to the priest! Haste! He burns!"

-

-Unnoticed in the stir of the combat, the ray of Shamar had moved on

-down the length of the altar. The priests in the dome had fled their

-posts in terror, and there had been none to stay the mechanism. In

-the path of Shamar's finger lay Rhaen, Shamar's priest, swooned and

-helpless. The ray struck him. Aid was too late.

-

-Rhaen was a horrid sight when he was pulled from the altar. His soul

-had gone--perhaps to seek the god whom he had served.

-

-On Ixstus's head stood Glorian in her silver armor.

-

-"So ends the religion of Shamar!" she cried. With the battle-ax she

-carried, she bent over and struck the crystal vase and shattered it.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-At the other end of the altar of basalt the great ray beat on the

-pillar of orichalcum, so that the surface of the metal was melted and

-the cruel laws of Ad were effaced. With the laws perished the prophecy.

-

-Water was dashed on the face of Rose Emer, and presently she opened

-her eyes and sat up and realized that she was not dead. Before them

-all, Polaris took her into his arms and kissed her--for such is the

-privilege of kings. Glorian, watching from Ixstus's back, turned white

-with agony and clenched her slender fingers so that the nails bit into

-her palms.

-

-"Oh, be strong, my heart," she whispered to herself. "My soul has said

-it--_my time will come_!"

-

-Zenas Wright came soon, and at the altar of Shamar was held a reunion

-where hearts were too full for talking, until Ensign Brooks spoke up

-and Said:

-

-"Lead me to a dinner-table, somebody. First they worked the flesh off

-my bones. Then they tried to roast me along with a bull's head and a

-pretty woman--but never once did they give me a decent meal."

-

-"You shall have your dinner," said Polaris. "But first there is

-something which I will have done, here and now, if may be." He turned

-to Oleric, while Rose Emer's cheeks, that had been so wan, flamed rosy

-red.

-

-"Has one of these priests here the power to perform a marriage

-ceremony?" Janess asked.

-

-"Surely," replied Oleric. And then the red captain smiled broadly as he

-caught the import of the question. "Hale one of them here, Jastla," he

-said.

-

-Jastla came soon, gripping a sadly scared priest of Shamar by the slack

-of his gown. "Do you, Oleric, who understand more of his jargon than I

-do, listen that he does a good job of it," grumbled the chieftain. "For

-if he doesn't, I'll flay him."

-

-But Glorian was great-hearted, even befitting her title of goddess. She

-now stepped down from the amaloc to the altar.

-

-"In this let Glorian of Ruthar serve you," she said. "I have the power,

-and the knot that I shall tie, though it shall be more gentle than if

-done by this dog of Shamar, yet will it be as binding."

-

-So, after the long years and their perils, Polaris and his Rose-maid

-were wedded, Oleric the Red producing the ring. And when she had

-pronounced the words which made them one, Glorian took Rose in her arms

-and kissed her on the forehead.

-

-"May you be very happy, my sister," she whispered.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Now here the pen that has written this history ceases, to give place to

-that of one of its chief actors, who has a parting word to tell.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-I, Zenas Wright, now in my sixty-seventh year, and being in full

-possession of my health, mind, and faculties (as lawyers write it in

-the wills) having been asked by the writer of the foregoing work to

-make some comment on it, do hereby aver, asseverate, maintain, etc.,

-that it is in the main a faithful account of certain events in which it

-has been my privilege to play a small part. In fact, I cannot well do

-otherwise, seeing that I furnished him the information.

-

-Such changes as I might be tempted to make in the history he has

-written would only vex the writer, and so I'll let it be. They would be

-in the nature of scientific details, anyhow, and I fear would make only

-dry reading for any but brother scientists.

-

-I have told the author that he has made altogether too much of my part

-in the events which he has described. I am not a hero, and never will

-be; but in this description of that brush in the Kimbrian defile--which

-was altogether a matter of chance--he has made me almost heroic. I have

-asked him to amend the account; but he will not listen to it, and so I

-suppose that it will have to stand. I hereby disclaim it.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-It is more than six months since the fademe _Oaron_ dropped anchor in

-the Potomac (where its arrival created a fine sensation), and I landed

-once more in Washington. With me came Lieutenant Everson. He did not

-get to Adlaz until some weeks after it had been taken, and he's not the

-man yet that he was before he got that jab from Atlo's spear. But he's

-improving. He had the loss of a cruiser to report; but he brought with

-him a sum in gold and gems, sent by the king of Ruthar and Maeronica,

-sufficient to reimburse the Government for the loss of the ship, and

-with a splendid sum left over to be distributed among the relatives of

-those who went down with her. The king is a man who doesn't do things

-by halves.

-

-Ensign Brooks came with us also. He was pining for a peep up Broadway

-and a whiff of "America's strongest cigarette." I hope that he has had

-enough to eat since he came back.

-

-Through the kindness of Oleric, I was enabled to bring with me a

-splendid pair of mammoth's tusks, which I took great pleasure in adding

-to the collection of the Smithsonian Institution. Some time I hope

-to be the means of bringing to these shores specimens of the _Elephas

-primigenius_ themselves, which the Rutharians call amalocs.

-

-Before this history comes to the eyes of the world--if it ever does, of

-which I have some doubt--I shall have gone back to the south. I thought

-that I wanted to end my days in my home in Buffalo and be buried there;

-but I don't. I'm going back to be with my boy. He is making a wise

-ruler there in Adlaz. Perhaps an old man's life will not be altogether

-useless there, where there is so much to be done.

-

-Before I left Adlaz, two small princes were playing in the royal

-palace--Patrymion, the boy of Minos, who eventually will be king if he

-lives, and another youngster, who must stagger through life under the

-burden of the name of Polaris Zenas Janess. Guess that's pretty good

-for an old rock-splitter--to have the first-born son of a real king

-named after him. Constituting himself the special guardian of the two

-little chaps is a simple-minded little cockney sailor, whom Polaris

-found in prison, Jack Melton by name. Sunlight has cured him of some of

-his hallucinations, and he no longer hates Rombar.

-

-There is one thing more, which I did not find in the history, and will

-now add here. It concerns that remarkable woman, Glorian of Ruthar.

-One day when we were discussing the power which she and Oleric declare

-they have to prolong their lives (privately, I think it is rank bosh),

-Glorian told me that it was possible for one who knew the secret to

-make use of it to keep another person alive, and without that person

-knowing about it. Now Glorian is living in Adlaz, where she has had

-the temple of Shamar fixed over to suit her. She sees Polaris often.

-I am of the opinion that, if she has any such power--mind you, I'm

-not admitting she has--she is using it on Polaris, and is planning

-to outwait Mrs. Janess (Queen Rose, I suppose I should call her) and

-eventually have him for herself. The outcome of this, only time will

-tell, and I shall not live to know it. I have not the means to prolong

-my life--and would not if I had.

-

-By the way, Zoar of the Amalocs died shortly after the taking of Adlaz.

-The excitement of the war was too much for his heart.

-

-Oh, yes! And Oleric married Bel-Ar's widow, the Queen Raissa; and that

-is all.

-

-Good-by.

-

-*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POLARIS AND THE GODDESS

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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 67121 ***
+
+                    Polaris and the Goddess Glorian
+
+                         By Charles B. Stilson
+
+            _Copyright 1917 by Popular Publications, Inc._
+
+
+
+
+                             Introduction
+
+
+In the antarctic wilds far below Ross Sea, Polaris Janess (Polaris--of
+the Snows), was born, of a mother he never knew, and grew to manhood's
+years knowing one human face only, that of his father. When that father
+died, the young man set his face to the north, to find the world of
+men, of which his father and his books had told him; and to deliver
+to the National Geographic Society in Washington a packet containing
+scientific data compiled by his explorer sire.
+
+Journeying through the silent wastes with his dog team, the son of the
+snows found Rose Emer, an American heiress, who had strayed from an
+exploring party, and who waited death in the icy wilderness.
+
+Hurled southward again in a breakup of the ice floes where they had
+camped, Polaris and the girl came upon the kingdom of Sardanes--a
+valley girded by volcanic hills which warmed it, and peopled by a lost
+fragment, some two thousand strong, of the ancient Greeks.
+
+The adventures of the man of the snows and the American maid in
+Sardanes; how they escaped thence; how their love bloomed amid
+the eternal snows; and how they won at last to America, where the
+Geographic Society hailed the dead Stephen Janess as the first man to
+set foot on the Southern Pole--all these things have been related.
+
+Zenas Wright, friend of Polaris's father, and a celebrated student
+of volcanic phenomena, told Polaris that the fires which had warmed
+Sardanes for centuries were passing away from the valley, and that all
+life in the ancient kingdom must perish.
+
+Chartering the United States second-class cruiser _Minnetonka_,
+Polaris, Wright, and Captain James Scoland set sail to rescue the
+Sardanians. Scoland, who loved Rose Emer, deserted Janess and Wright in
+the wilderness and went back to America to woo the Rose-maid. But Rose
+Emer refused him, and gray Marcus, Polaris's dog, protected her from
+Scoland's profaning lips and tore the recreant captain so horribly that
+the man went mad, and in his madness revealed his inhuman treachery.
+
+Again the _Minnetonka_ turned her nose to the mysterious South, and
+Rose Emer went down the bitter seas to find her sweetheart.
+
+Meanwhile Polaris and old Zenas Wright found Sardanes a waste of snows,
+its volcanic girdle cold and dead, its people, led by the mad priest
+of Analos, gone to their doom through the fiery "Gateway" of their
+god Hephaistos. Only Minos, the kind, and his bride, the Lady Memene,
+remained alive, hidden in a cave in the hills. Those four, Polaris,
+Wright, and the two Sardanians, were picked up by the _Minnetonka_ near
+the Antarctic Circle as they were making their perilous way northward
+in a small launch which they had found in the wreck of Captain
+Scoland's supply ship.
+
+In the story which follows will be related the tale which was brought
+back to America by old Zenas Wright--what befell Polaris and his
+companions after the _Minnetonka_ turned northward--homeward.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER I
+
+                          THE GOLDEN STRANGER
+
+
+On the bridge of the cruiser _Minnetonka_ stood Minos, the Sardanian
+king, staring southward in the wake of the ship, southward where his
+lost, dead kingdom lay buried under the soft, cruel snows beyond the
+unchartered antarctic seas. Ahead of the ship, full of promise, full
+of hope, was America. For the _Minnetonka_ had rounded the Horn that
+morning and was on her long straight course for the port of home.
+
+Below him, in her cabin, was the girl bride of Minos, the Lady Memene,
+so strangely won and saved from the crowning horror of his kingdom's
+fall. It was mid-forenoon of a cloudless day. Gay voices echoed along
+the decks of the cruiser. Gladness was in the very air the voyagers
+breathed--the gladness of the homeward-bound.
+
+But the mien of the king was somber. There was a shadow on his brow
+and deeper shadows in his dark eyes gazing so steadily into the south.
+Bright as were his prospects, memory still whispered sadly to him of
+the only spot on earth which had been home to him. He could not forget.
+
+Far away on the dancing, sparkling waters something caught the eye of
+the king, a something which flashed and disappeared and flashed again,
+as the wave on which it rode dipped and arose among its fellows. Minos
+watched it curiously.
+
+Leaning against the rail beside the king, so close that their elbows
+almost touched, was Lieutenant Irwin Everson, commander of the
+_Minnetonka_, trim in his naval blue. Minos touched his shoulder and
+said:
+
+"Yonder--something shines on the water."
+
+Everson followed with his eyes the course indicated by the pointing
+finger of the king. Again the distant object flashed in the sunlight,
+far away on the starboard quarter. "Might be ice; but I've seen enough
+of that lately to know that it isn't," muttered Everson as he, too,
+caught the flash, "and no wave ever shone like that."
+
+Stepping into the pilothouse, the lieutenant returned with his glasses.
+Their lenses revealed to his eyes a glittering patch from which the
+rays of the sun were reflected as it rose and fell with the waves. But
+even the powerful binoculars were inadequate to distinguish the form
+and substance of the thing.
+
+"I can't make it out," Everson said as he lowered the glasses. "But
+here comes the keenest pair of eyes on the ship." He leaned from the
+bridge and called down to a tall man who was crossing the deck below.
+
+"Oh, Mr. Janess! Can you spare us a moment? We need your eyesight."
+
+Polaris turned a smiling face in response to the call. He, too, was
+glad of the home-going; no man on the ship more so. In a moment he
+joined the king and the lieutenant on the bridge.
+
+Though he was not so tall by the breadth of a hand as the Sardanian,
+who was indeed a giant, the tawny head of the son of the snows was
+inches above that of the young naval man. As they stood one on either
+side of him, Everson involuntarily stepped back a pace. He felt puny
+and absurd, and he was by no means a small man.
+
+For the half of a minute, Janess gazed through the glasses, altering
+their focus slightly. He lowered them suddenly and swung on his heel to
+face Everson.
+
+"Put the ship--" He stopped and his face flushed. "I beg pardon," he
+continued. "It is not mine to give orders, but yonder a man floats. He
+lies face downward across a piece of wreckage."
+
+Lieutenant Everson hurried into the pilot house, and down to old
+MacKechnie among his boilers was flashed the signal which swung the
+gray cruiser off her course in a long arc to the southward.
+
+"A man, you say?" the commander queried as he rejoined Polaris and the
+king. "But what is it that glitters so?"
+
+Polaris, with the glasses at his eyes again, did not at once reply.
+When he did, the answer was surprising.
+
+"It is the man that glitters. If he be not of metal himself, then is he
+clothed in it from head to toe, and it glimmers--" He turned to Minos
+and lapsed into the Greek of Sardanes. "It glimmers, Minos, as did that
+suit of armor which thou didst leave behind thee in the cave on the
+Mount of Latmos," he said.
+
+The king stirred to quick interest. The eyes of the naval lieutenant
+widened with amazement as Polaris repeated his remark in English.
+
+"A man clothed in metal! In armor!" he exclaimed. "And floating here
+in the South Atlantic! What can that mean? Poor chap; whoever he is,
+he will never tell us. He must have been dead for days. But it's well
+worth the investigation."
+
+Impatiently the three men stood at the rail of the bridge as the ship
+swung on.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At an eighteen-knot clip, the _Minnetonka_ cut swiftly through the
+waves, nearer and nearer to the flashing burden of the waves. Soon
+other eyes not so keen as those of Polaris could descry the strange
+objective of the ship. Forward along the rail, sailors clustered,
+shouting their surprise, and staring at the unusual spectacle of the
+glittering man afloat.
+
+Presently, with a deep thrumming of her valves, the _Minnetonka_ slowed
+down. With a word to Everson, Polaris left the bridge and hastened
+across the deck. As a boat was swung over the side in the davits, he
+sprang into it with the sailors. Less than two-score strokes of the
+oars took the boat alongside the floating mystery.
+
+Then, indeed, had the sailors cause to stare with open mouths.
+
+On a crisscross tangle of slender beams, oddly twisted and broken, lay
+the body of a man. So small was the raft of wreckage which supported
+him that his head and feet projected at each side, and as the waves
+tossed his unstable craft, first his face and then his heels were
+dipped beneath the water. Very wide of shoulder was the stranger and
+powerfully framed, if the outlines of the garb he wore did not belie
+him.
+
+From crown to sole he was dressed in jointed armor, cunningly fashioned
+and decorated, and the whole of which gleamed in the sunlight as only
+burnished copper or red gold can gleam. His hands only were bare;
+smooth, strong hands, clenched fast about two of the broken beams
+beneath him.
+
+But it was none of those things, and they were strange enough, that
+caused the coxswain to cry out hoarsely as the boat wore alongside, or
+that caused Polaris Janess, bent over with outstretched hands, to draw
+them back from the floating stranger, while his lips parted and his
+breath came hard.
+
+"He's alive! By the grace of God, he's alive!" cried the coxswain.
+
+Face downward the stranger lay, as Polaris had said, loose-flung and
+inert, and sprawled as though some force had pitched him there. But
+though his head was more often under the water than above it, his broad
+shoulders heaved and fell regularly. He was alive.
+
+The supreme wonder of it, and that which awed Polaris and the sailors,
+was that _the man breathed when his head was under water_!
+
+When a wave tilted the raft so that his face was raised, his breath was
+expelled with a wheezing, whistling sound. When he was submerged, a
+stream of small bubbles arose about his neck and clung to the surface
+of his metal helmet.
+
+For a long moment Polaris stood and looked down at this amazing thing.
+Then he reached out and very gently took the stranger by the shoulders
+to turn his face to the sky. So tight was the clutch of those strong
+bare hands about the two beams of the raft which they held that the
+entire structure tipped when the son of the snows laid hold. In vain he
+tried to loosen that grasp. It was not to be done without breaking the
+man's fingers. To make an end of it, Janess took an axe from the hands
+of the coxswain and cut through the beams.
+
+Still gripping the wooden fragments, the man turned over on his back.
+
+Then the mystery of the stranger's breathing was partially made clear.
+Under the flare of the helmet he wore his brow was hidden. His eyes
+were fast closed. Fitting tightly over the bridge of his nose and
+extending down so that it covered his mouth and part of his chin, was
+a projecting masklike contrivance of metal and leather. Its straps
+covered the man's ears and were made fast somewhere at the back of his
+head under the helmet. So tightly was the mask affixed that its straps
+cut into the flesh of the man's cheeks. It much resembled the masks
+worn by the soldiers in modern warfare to protect themselves from the
+gas attacks of their enemy.
+
+Through its mechanism the breath of its wearer hissed and whistled like
+escaping steam.
+
+Alive though the man was, and under circumstances which made his
+discoverers marvel, he was near death. Above and below the confines of
+the mask he wore, the bones of his face seemed almost thrusting through
+the flesh. The flesh itself was wasted and puckered by the action of
+the sea water, and the skin was cracked and raw. His hands, which clung
+so tenaciously to the bits of broken wood, were bleeding about the
+nails, and his wrists were gashed and water-eaten.
+
+"Now, here is work for Dr. Marsey," Polaris said. He gathered the limp
+form of the stranger into his arms and lifted him into the boat.
+
+At the rail of the _Minnetonka_ as the boat was shipped, a curious
+crowd met the advent of the man from the sea. Carrying him as lightly
+as though he had been a child, Polaris laid the man on the deck. The
+ship's doctor pushed through the wondering sailors and bent over him.
+
+"Not dead?" he exclaimed when he saw the stranger's face. "A most
+amazing thing!"
+
+"What resurrection from antiquity have we here?" said old Zenas Wright,
+falling on his knees beside Polaris, who was supporting the man's
+head. "No museum I ever saw boasted a suit of armor like this one."
+The scientist ran a finger over the delicate tracery on the glittering
+corselet of the stranger.
+
+Polaris sought and found the catch which released the chin strap and
+laid the open helmet on the deck. Another chorus of exclamations
+greeted the appearance of the stranger's head. It was covered with a
+mass of wavy red hair, so red that it shone like flames in the sunlight.
+
+Rumors of the wonder on deck had drawn the grizzled MacKechnie up from
+his beloved engines.
+
+"Mark me, yon laddie's a Scot--if he isna' of the wild Irish," was his
+dry comment when he saw the fiery head on the deck.
+
+Undoing its buckle, Janess next laid aside the odd mask from the face
+of the stranger. Except that he had a high, bold nose and a mouth that
+closed in a thin, firm line, little could be made of the features of
+the man, they were so damaged by his long immersion in the sea and
+impressed by the tightly drawn trappings of the mask. But he apparently
+was a young man, of not more than thirty years.
+
+In vain Dr. Marsey endeavored to force the man's clenched teeth apart
+so that he might apply the neck of the brandy flask which a steward had
+fetched. The jaw of the stranger was set like a rock and resisted all
+effort, and the doctor was compelled to pour the liquor between the
+locked teeth.
+
+"If that doesna' fetch him, nothing whatever will," said MacKechnie,
+the nostrils of his ruddy old nose twitching.
+
+"Ah, he's getting it!" said Zenas Wright. With the first trickle of
+the brandy down his throat, the unconscious man stirred faintly. His
+mouth opened and closed again with a snap, and his hands unclenched and
+let fall the bits of beams they had held so long. He coughed weakly. A
+faint tinge of color flowed into his face. His eyelids twitched, but
+did not open.
+
+Dr. Marsey touched the man's temples and then his wrists with practised
+fingers.
+
+"I think that we shall hear his story yet," he said. "What he needs
+now is a bed and nourishment. Bring him below."
+
+Polaris looked into the battered face and was strangely stirred. The
+grim plight of the man he had rescued, the mystery of him, the strength
+of the spirit that seemed to dominate even that unconscious body; all
+struck an answering chord in the nature of the son of the snows. For
+he, too, had suffered and endured, almost to the gates of death, and
+had remained steadfast. Was it a premonition that made him feel so
+strongly that this man, should he live, would be his friend above many?
+
+When the sailors would have taken up the stranger, Polaris waved them
+aside, and himself carried the inert body below, the blazing head
+resting on his shoulder.
+
+MacKechnie gazed after him thoughtfully as he strode across the deck.
+
+"Beware, laddie lad, beware!" the Scotchman muttered softly. "'Tis only
+ill luck he'll be bringin' to ye, yon gowden mon. For ye hae saved him
+from the sea."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Shivering throughout the length of her steel hull, the _Minnetonka_
+drove southward. A shrieking wilderness of wind and wave surrounded the
+ship. Reft from all guidance, she sheared through the furious waters
+with no more of volition than some monster projectile launched by the
+battling elements. Twice had the stout cruiser come free of scathe from
+the white portals of the Antarctic. Now she seemed winged by death to
+enter them once more and forever. In the grip of the tempest the ship
+was no more than a toy--a helpless, beaten thing.
+
+Calamity, like a black dog, had crept hard upon the heels of the
+bizarre stranger. He had not been on the cruiser for six hours when a
+storm burst, the like of which for violence no man on board the ship
+ever had seen.
+
+In an attempt to breast the gale and make for some port of safety,
+one of the propeller shafts--weakened perhaps by the pounding of the
+ice-drift months before--had snapped short off. Unequal to the double
+task, its twin had sprung beyond all use. Thereafter the scant mercy of
+chance ruled the destinies of the ship and of all she bore.
+
+Nor was the damage to the shafting all that disaster had wrought. In
+her great peril the ship was stricken dumb and could not summon aid.
+Her wireless was out of commission. She could send no call across the
+face of the waters to sister ships, bidding them to hasten to her
+succor.
+
+MacKechnie's dismal prophecy was likely to be visited, not on Polaris
+Janess alone, but upon the entire ship's company.
+
+In the pilothouse, with the gale screeching outside his windows,
+Lieutenant Everson bent above his charts; but he was helpless and
+well-nigh hopeless. Down in the engine room, its busy clamor stilled,
+MacKechnie sat and stared bitterly at the mechanism which he so loved.
+It was useless now, its splendid powers crippled, its fires dying away
+to embers. If the inward prayers of the engineer were fervent, the
+flow of Scotch profanity which passed his lips at whiles was far more
+eloquent. He, too, was helpless. He cursed the day when he had decided
+with Everson to round the Horn and take the eastern route. They had
+learned at Dunedin, in New Zealand, that the Panama Canal was closed by
+another Culebra slide, and they had thought that this was the quicker
+way to the port of home.
+
+Better the delay than this!
+
+On all the ship two hearts only were unshaken by the catastrophe. One
+was that of the stranger.
+
+Freed of his armor, his body cleared and his scarred face and arms in
+bandages, he lay tossing in a bunk in one of the cabins. Dr. Marsey was
+unremitting in his care of the patient whom the sea had given him. Hot
+gruel and small doses of brandy, administered alternately, had turned
+the ebbing tide of the man's vitality. He was gathering strength. But
+his consciousness still strayed beyond the powers of any tempest to
+disturb it.
+
+Another who thought nothing of the gale and its accompanying terrors
+was Zenas Wright.
+
+Coupled with his keen and scientific mind, there was in the old
+geologist the enthusiasm of a boy, and an overmastering curiosity to
+learn new things. Many and wild had been the guesses which had followed
+the finding of the red-haired stranger. That he had been shipwrecked
+was plain enough to all. But who and what was he?
+
+Some star out of _opéra-bouffe_, said one, out of a job and reduced to
+the necessity of wearing one of his own costumes. A lunatic, another
+said, and found more to agree with him. But whence the armor and the
+mask?
+
+Let guessers guess and tempests roar, said Zenas Wright to himself. He
+was on the trail of knowledge. So he slipped into the cabin where the
+stranger lay. He stood at the head of the bunk and looked down where
+the red hair of the derelict flared on the pillow. The impressions left
+by the straps of his mask had filled out, and the lineaments of the man
+were more distinguishable than they had been. It was an agreeable face,
+thought Zenas Wright; all of it that the bandages did not hide. There
+were distinct lines of humor at the corners of the straight mouth and
+tiny wrinkles at the base of the craggy nose--lines which said that the
+wearer of them was a hearty fellow, who ofttimes had laughed long and
+merrily at jokes, whether of his own or another's making.
+
+"But," thought Zenas to himself, "Marsey's been giving the fellow
+altogether too much brandy, or else he is in a rare fever." The
+geologist laid the back of his hand to the man's cheek. He found
+it cool. But it was ruddy to the ears, with the ruddiness that is
+associated with an intimate camaraderie with the wine cups.
+
+At the touch of the old man's fingers, the stranger ceased his tossing.
+His eyes opened. One flash from them Zenas Wright caught, and he saw
+that they were sea-blue, bright and leaping eyes. Then their lids
+closed. The man shook his head wearily, and from his lips trembled what
+might have been a moan or a muttered word. The scientist bent hastily
+to listen, but the man made no further sound. As the old man watched
+him, his form relaxed and he lay apparently in a dreamless, voiceless
+slumber.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+From the floor, Wright took up the shining helmet, and from a stand
+the queerly fashioned mask. He was about to leave the cabin when
+his attention was arrested by the garb which the stranger had worn
+underneath his armor and which was flung across the back of a chair.
+One garment it was, even to the feet of it, like the sleeping suit of a
+child. It was of a soft, fine fabric, almost of the thinness of gauze,
+yet firmly and closely woven and warm to the feel. But it was neither
+of cotton nor of wool, nor yet of silk, or any other material with
+which the scientist was familiar.
+
+He shook his head over it; and then, with the mask and helmet, he left
+the cabin.
+
+Straight to the deserted ship's laboratory the geologist went, and shut
+himself in. And there, some time afterward, Polaris, threading his way
+through the swaying corridors with Rose Emer clinging to his arm, found
+him.
+
+So busy with his work was old Zenas that he did not see or hear the
+entrance of Janess and the girl. For a time they stood in silence and
+watched him. They saw him spill drops from a vial on the surface of
+the helmet. Then he went at it with a small drill which he had fetched
+from the machine shop. That was a bit of hard work, for he puffed and
+mopped his brow. He collected with care the particles which fell under
+the bite of the drill. Those he tested with drops from another bottle,
+and then again, opening and discarding a number of chemicals. At length
+he got a reaction which appeared to satisfy him, for he chirruped
+gleefully and nodded his white old head.
+
+Next Wright donned the mask and fastened its straps. Polaris and Rose
+heard the whistling of his breath through it. He then drew a bucket of
+water from a tap, set it on one of the laboratory stands, ascended a
+stool, and suddenly plunged his head into the pail.
+
+Zenas had not stopped to figure out the displacement of the container
+of a well-developed scientific brain. It was considerable. Much of
+the water splashed out on the floor, and not a little of it went down
+inside the scientist's collar. Nothing daunted by the cold trickle of
+the inundation, he bravely kept his head in the bucket, from which
+arose at once a prodigious gurgling and bubbling.
+
+The old man's shoulders shook as though a fit of coughing had seized
+him. One minute, two, three, passed. Zenas stood so still that Polaris
+became alarmed. He stepped to the geologist's side and shook him by the
+arm. The only response he got was an impatient gesture of a hand, which
+seemed to say, "Go away and don't bother me."
+
+Presently Wright raised his head from the depths of the bucket, and
+ludicrous enough he looked, with the odd snout of the mask projecting
+from his face, his white thatch of hair all plastered flat and the
+water running from his beard and making a mess of his cravat and shirt
+front. But above the mask his little dark eyes were triumphant. When he
+saw Polaris at his side, he could scarcely wait to unfasten the mask.
+
+"There," he shouted, and he shook the thing above his head, "there is
+one of the greatest inventions of modern times. I don't know what is in
+the inside of it, or just what it does, but I'll find out. If that chap
+yonder is the inventor of it, he can take it to the United States, take
+out a patent on it and make a scandalous amount of dollars, and we can
+all become human submarines. How long was I down?"
+
+"About five minutes, Daddy Wright," said the girl, who had taken a
+strong liking to the plucky old geologist and his bluff ways.
+
+"Five minutes!" Wright's tones were awestruck. "And I took every breath
+regularly and naturally, except when I had to sneeze! And it was real
+oxygen I got, too. Not a drop of water came through this thing, and it
+was very good breathing. Well, I've made two discoveries."
+
+"And those are?" Polaris questioned.
+
+"That our friend yonder with the red topknot can live under the water
+like a fish, _and that he wears armor of gold which makes a light in
+the dark_. Look here."
+
+Wright took up the open helmet. Stepping to the switch, he shut off the
+lights in the laboratory.
+
+Faintly at first, and then strongly and more strongly, the helmet
+glowed in the darkness. The light grew, until the two men and the girl,
+standing close together, could dimly see each other's faces.
+
+It was uncanny, this strange metal headpiece with its fan-shaped crest,
+all luminous with a flickering and phosphorescent radiance.
+
+"What does it?" Rose Emer whispered, the tempest for the time forgotten.
+
+Zenas Wright turned on the lights.
+
+"I cannot tell," he replied. "But if it's not radium, it is something
+that is closely akin to radium. The outer surface of the helmet is of
+gold. I've tested it with acids. The gold is laid--not plated, but laid
+on thickly--over an inner shell of steel. And finely tempered steel it
+is, too, as my drill will bear me witness. But the light comes from
+still another metal, which is inlaid upon the tracery in the gold here."
+
+He turned the helmet in his hands. Over all of its surfaces were the
+fine lines of a design of twining vinery, with here and there small,
+conventionally shaped flowers. In the lines of the chasing was inlaid,
+as Wright had said, another metal. It seemed to be a reddish and rusty
+dust, which clung in the surface of the gold along all of the lines of
+the graven design. It was that which made the light.
+
+"That chap over there is no actor, and he's not a crazy man," said the
+geologist earnestly; "but an enigma that I'm going to solve, if the
+good Lord will give me the time. We had on this ship before he came two
+survivors of a history to make an archeologist weep tears of joy. Now
+we have a third, and, to my mind, more wonderful even than are they!
+
+"Boy--" He turned and clapped Polaris on the shoulder. "I only hope
+that I shall live long enough to pen the 'finis' to the book that I'm
+going to write some day!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+For seven days, fraught with perils through every passing hour, the
+hurricane belabored the staggering ship. South by southeast, the storm
+drove her on. The whip of the gale and the shock of the mighty waves
+which arose to meet its lash were incessant.
+
+Past the Falklands, their rocky headlands dimly seen through the flying
+scud; past the Aurora Island group, and on past lonely Georgia, the
+hard-pressed _Minnetonka_ fled down the raging sea path under the goads
+of the storm demons. Nowhere might she tarry. Candlemas Island and
+Saunders and Montague in turn were left behind, and then Thule, last
+link between the South Atlantic and the frigid wastes of the Antarctic
+Sea.
+
+Off the adamant cliffs of far Thule the cruiser nearly left her bones.
+She struck a hidden rock, struck so fiercely that the massive steel ram
+was torn from her prow, and with it the triple rails, with which she
+had been equipped to withstand the ice-shocks, in her antarctic voyage,
+were stripped from her entire starboard side.
+
+When Thule had disappeared in the murk, the swing of the tempest
+turned, and the cruiser was forced eastward in a whirling race of
+current and gale. Like a smitten thing that seeks a lonesome spot in
+which to die, the ship passed on into the mysteries of the uncharted,
+treacherous seas which lie east by south from Thule.
+
+Helpless still the cruiser rode. Unable to make repairs to her
+shafting, Lieutenant Everson did the only thing that he could do; he
+kept her head-on with the seas and let her run before the tempest.
+
+Through all those days and nights of peril the stranger lay in his
+cabin. His consciousness had returned, and at times he sat up and gazed
+curiously at those who visited him; but he seemed to be in a mental
+haze. He ate heartily of what was given to him, and his strength grew.
+He spoke to no one.
+
+Among the men on the _Minnetonka_ were those who, one or another, were
+conversant in nearly all of the languages of the civilized world. One
+by one they were called in by Zenas Wright to try their tongues on the
+stranger. He met them all with blank looks, sometimes with smiles; but
+he answered none. He seemed to comprehend none.
+
+Polaris visited the cabin often. His liking for the man grew. He
+imagined that the stranger was more cordial to him than to any of
+those who attended him. Once or twice the son of the snows surprised a
+wistful regard in the bright blue eyes of the man, an expression that
+was lost almost as soon as perceived. And once the stranger reached
+Janess's hand and held it with his own for a moment, turning it and
+feeling of its wonderful thews with his fingers. It was then that he
+seemed the nearest to speech. Presently he let the hand fall with a
+smile and a flash of white teeth.
+
+It was after that last disaster, off the hard coasts of Thule, that
+Engineer Ian MacKechnie went quite daft.
+
+What had come upon the ship had seemed to numb the Scotchman. By day
+and by night he sat in his silent engine room beside the lifeless
+boilers, his cold pipe clenched between his set teeth, his lips
+working. Occasionally he stumped heavily up the steel stairways to the
+decks. His stays above were brief always, and always he returned to the
+engine room. When he slept at all, it was only to nod in his chair.
+Before his bloodshot eyes strange fantasies played themselves through,
+and were sequeled in his fitful dreams. Always, they had the same
+grisly climax.
+
+In one of the night watches the old man appeared on the cruiser's
+bridge. Everson, almost as sleepless as the engineer, was in the
+pilothouse. The fury of the gale had subsided somewhat; but it still
+roared on with a vigor that chilled the strong heart of the commander.
+He saw the engineer as he came onto the bridge, and went out to speak
+to him.
+
+"Meester Everson," MacKechnie said, raising his voice to a shout to
+cope with the shrieking clamor of the storm, "Meester Everson, wull ye
+do a strange act and save the bonnie ship and a'?"
+
+"Why, what is it, Mac? What do you advise now?" the lieutenant asked.
+
+"'Tis you mon that the laddie plucked from the sea," replied
+MacKechnie. "Wull ye no gi' orders to cast him o'er the side again, and
+save the ship?"
+
+Everson answered with a short laugh. "This is a poor time for joking,
+Mac," he said.
+
+"'Tisna' jokin' wi' me, Meester Everson," MacKechnie said. His tones
+were deadly earnest. "Yon's no' a proper mon, whatever. He's one that
+has sorely angered the big sea, and the deep rages mightily for him. If
+ye dinna gi' him up, we'll all be ganging our way wi' him, down to auld
+Davy Jones." His voice rose shrilly. "I'm fey," he cried. "I'm fey, and
+I hae the secon' seeght! Heed me, mon!"
+
+Everson shifted his position so that he got the light from the
+pilothouse full on MacKechnie's face. It was drawn and wild-eyed.
+
+"You're a superstitious fool, Mac," the lieutenant said. "You had
+better go below and turn in. You look as though you had not had a wink
+in a week."
+
+"Supersteetious! Aye, mon, maybe, and a fu' to bootie," rejoined the
+Scot. "And I've been havin' no sleep, I grant ye. Ma certes, how can a
+mon sleep wi' _him_ glarin' and glommerin' yonder i' the engine room?
+Heave him o'er the side, I'm tullin' ye, Meester Everson, as was done
+wi' the prophet Jonah. 'Tis the only way whatever to save the ship.
+
+"Supersteetious! An' are ye no supersteetious yer ain sel', Meester
+Everson? Haven't I seen that ye always throw the deuces fra' yer hand
+when ye play for siller at poker? I tull ye, yon's a deuce-mon. He
+mustna' remain. Think it o'er, laddie; think it o'er. When ye hae seen
+what I hae seen--"
+
+He turned away, and the rest of his words were lost in the skirl of the
+wind. Suddenly he backed up, clutching at the bridge rail and colliding
+violently with Everson.
+
+"See! See!" he screamed. "He's comin' for me the noo! I lockit him fast
+i' the great kist i' the boiler room; but such as him are na' held by
+bolts or bars. He's comin' for me!"
+
+Moaning in abject terror, MacKechnie went down on his knees. He pointed
+at the decks below with a trembling arm.
+
+Everson looked in the direction indicated by the shaking finger of the
+Scot.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A light hung at the foot of the bridge ladder. In the patch of radiance
+it made, stood the stranger. He was dressed from head to foot in his
+golden armor. His helm was on his head, and the whole flashed and
+shimmered in the rays from the lamp.
+
+As Everson stared at him, the man turned away from the foot of the
+ladder and walked to the rail of the ship. There he stood gazing out
+into the darkness and the storm.
+
+Unnerved by the sudden appearance of the object of their discussion,
+Everson hesitated for a moment. Then he started for the ladder to
+descend to the deck. MacKechnie, his teeth chattering with fright, laid
+hold of the lieutenant by the leg, but Everson shook off his grasp and
+went on. As the commander set foot on the ladder, the stranger quit the
+rail and came back toward the bridge.
+
+Everson, half-way down the ladder, called sharply as the man came
+opposite him. But the stranger did not pause or look up. He passed
+the bridge with steady steps and crossed the deck toward the main
+companionway. The lieutenant was about to proceed to the deck and
+follow, when a wild and wailing cry behind him, piercing above the
+booming of the seas, halted his step. He turned.
+
+It was MacKechnie who had screamed. He was on his feet and coming along
+the bridge. In the set face of the Scot was a look of such frozen
+horror that it shook the lieutenant. With eyes glaring straight ahead,
+the engineer passed Everson by as though he did not see him, descended
+the ladder to the deck, and walked to the rail. He paused where the
+stranger had stood only a moment before. He raised his hand as if to
+strike at some shape visible to him alone. Again he cried out wildly.
+
+Before Everson could move to stay him, the Scot climbed the rail and
+threw himself into the sea.
+
+Shouting to the men of the watch to fetch lanterns, Everson ran aft
+along the side. It was useless. The crazed MacKechnie, whirled away in
+a raging swirl of waters in which no man could live, was gone beyond
+their ken. No cry came back to his fellows from the blackness. Only the
+wind roared and the tortured waters thundered. In the plight of the
+ship it was impossible even to attempt to pick up the lost man.
+
+Far aft Everson clung to the rail, dazed, stunned at the suddenness of
+his old comrade's taking off. Knowing that he could do nothing to save
+the mad Scotchman, the lieutenant at length turned back and went below,
+to the cabin of the stranger. He threw open the door. The cabin was
+dark, except where the curious armor shed its glow along the floor. For
+that phenomenon Everson was prepared. Zenas Wright had told him of the
+luminous metal. What did surprise the lieutenant was that the armor lay
+on the floor. And so recently he had seen it on the cruiser's deck, and
+its owner inside of it. To that he could swear. He turned on a light.
+
+The stranger lay quietly in his bunk, apparently in slumber, his broad
+chest rising and falling regularly. Not the flicker of an eyelid
+betrayed that he was conscious of the keen scrutiny which the commander
+bent upon him. Almost then did Everson give way to the superstitious
+imaginings of MacKechnie. Then his searching eyes saw the gleam of
+drops of sea water which beaded the golden corselet and helm. He drew
+a long breath of relief; for he knew that he had not dreamed. Pursuing
+his investigations no further, the lieutenant returned to his vigil on
+the bridge.
+
+Next day, to the gratification of Dr. Marsey and to the general
+surprise of the others on the ship, the stranger left his cabin.
+Clothing had been provided for him, but he would have none of it and
+appeared on the deck clad in his armor. He proved to be an exceedingly
+curious man, the stranger. He went everywhere about the ship,
+apparently in fear of nothing, although the gale still ran high. He
+watched all of the operations of seamanship with the closest interest,
+but was careful to get in the way of no one.
+
+His ruddy face and flaming hair, with the outer trappings which he
+wore, made the man the object of much comment on the part of the
+sailors of the _Minnetonka_; comment which was not untinged with
+awe. All of that he heeded not at all. In the full possession of his
+faculties, he still was speechless. What communication anyone on the
+ship had with him was by means of signs, and that necessarily was
+limited. He took his meals with those who shared the officers' mess.
+Although it evidently was unfamiliar to him, he was quick to observe
+and to imitate the table etiquette of his companions.
+
+Only Everson was not surprised at his appearance. The lieutenant kept
+his counsel and waited.
+
+Word of the mad act of MacKechnie went abroad through the ship, spread
+by the men of the watch. Among the sailors, superstitious after the
+manner of their kind, grew a hostility to the strange man, an enmity
+that became more and more pronounced as the hours brought to the
+cruiser no relief from the battering of the elements. So strong did the
+feeling grow that Lieutenant Everson feared for the safety of the man,
+and told Polaris of it. Thereafter the son of the snows constituted
+himself a bodyguard for the stranger in his wanderings about the ship,
+and remained with him as much as possible. Zenas Wright, too, watched
+over his prize with the jealous zeal of a proper scientist.
+
+Not for worlds would the explorer allow this living conundrum to come
+to harm until he had solved him. The old man continually plied the
+stranger with English words, pointing out to him their equivalents and
+seeking to encourage speech. For, unless the man might be taught to
+talk, Zenas felt that his chances of learning more of him were slim
+indeed.
+
+To all of those advances the man answered with smiles only. He was very
+courteous, extremely good-natured, but beyond the ring of silence which
+he had drawn about himself, he would not or could not go.
+
+Everson was little surprised, although he was mightily angered, when,
+on the third day following the death of MacKechnie, he was waited upon
+by a delegation of his sailors with a demand that the stranger be sent
+from the ship. They did not ask his death--merely that he be set adrift
+in one of the cruiser's small boats. A sea was running in which such a
+craft could not survive for two minutes.
+
+Shamefacedly, but sullenly, the men listened to the stern rebuke of
+their commander. When they had left him reluctantly--and their ears
+must have tingled to his opinions of their superstitions--Everson
+redoubled his precautions for the safety of the stranger. The
+lieutenant was morally certain that at the first opportunity that
+should offer, an "accident" would befall the man from the sea.
+
+Abruptly as it had struck, the storm of wind subsided. It was succeeded
+by a torrential downpour of rain. The cruiser was left tossing on a
+choppy sea. Dead ahead to the south was land--what land, no one on
+the ship could say. A scant five miles away it loomed up before them
+through the mists and the driving rain, a long and towering coastline,
+the peaks of its frowning cliffs almost touching the low-rolling clouds.
+
+In this, the first respite from many hours of perils, Lieutenant
+Everson at once set about the task of repairing his crippled ship.
+
+Then the crown was placed upon the work of calamity.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Lashed no longer by the flail of the tempest, the _Minnetonka_ was laid
+to. Hope returned to those who rode upon her. Those who gathered on her
+decks were almost gay again.
+
+For the first time in many days the two Sardanians came up from their
+cabin. The Lady Memene had proved a poor sailor, and in her deathly
+illness that came of the buffeting of the ship, Minos never had left
+her side, but had nursed her with all the tenderness of a woman. The
+king remembered well a time, not long before, when he had lain near
+death, and her soft hands had soothed him, and her care had kept the
+spark of life within him.
+
+It was nearly noon. Chatting of their experiences in the storm, and
+laughing at their appearance in the oilskins which they wore against
+the rain, a little group gathered on the forward deck of the cruiser.
+Almost it seemed that the hand of fate collected and placed them there.
+Polaris Janess and Rose Emer, the Sardanians, old Zenas Wright, and
+Ensign Willis Brooks, a happy-go-lucky youth of large dimensions and an
+inexhaustible supply of good spirits, who was the second in command on
+the _Minnetonka_, made up the party.
+
+Presently Lieutenant Everson, his repair work well under way, came
+up from below and joined the others. Dr. Marsey might have been with
+them also, but the kindly physician delayed below to attend one of
+the engineers who lay ill of a fever. Before he had finished his
+ministrations, the stroke fell which was so strangely to alter the life
+course of every one of that party, and the good doctor was too late to
+be numbered among them.
+
+Almost on the heels of Everson the red-haired stranger ascended the
+companionway. With his armor on as usual, but dangling his helmet and
+his mask from his hand, he clanked across the deck, all unheedful of
+the anathemas that the sailors mouthed as he stalked past them.
+
+From the port in his cabin he, too, had seen the new land that lay
+ahead. He strode by the group on the forward deck, but his eyes were
+not for them. Ever watchful, Zenas Wright noted that the mien of the
+stranger was curiously excited. His blue eyes gleamed. His lips were
+parted. Something seemed deeply to concern him. He stood at the rail
+and studied the looming coastline long and searchingly. In his face was
+the rapt expression of the man who greets again a well-loved friend
+after an absence of many days. From the shore he turned his eyes to the
+sea and scrutinized it keenly.
+
+Zenas Wright, watching, started. What was the man about? Was he
+signaling? And whom? The explorer took a hasty step toward the rail to
+investigate.
+
+Beneath his feet he felt the deck of the cruiser heave like the breast
+of an unquiet sleeper. A terrific roar burst from the bowels of the
+ship, and she quivered in every plate of steel and oaken beam.
+
+"The magazine!" cried Everson. The commander dashed for the
+companionway, but he never reached it.
+
+Amidships the decks heaved up and opened in a yawning wound that rent
+the cruiser almost from rail to rail. Through the gap shot skyward an
+immense column of smoke, laced with spurts of flame, and spread fanwise
+many feet in the air. With it there ascended a mass of débris torn from
+the vitals of the ship. For yards around the waves splashed to the fall
+of the splintered wreckage. The swaying decks were littered with it.
+And some of the fragments were of steel and iron that clanged as they
+fell, and others were horrible shreds of men, and made no clangor.
+
+Paralyzed in his tracks, his eyes distended, his very flesh stirring
+from his bones at the horror of it, Everson faced the wraith of ruin
+that arose in his path. A new manifestation tore speech from his lips.
+
+"Look!" he shouted aloud in a strained and unnatural voice. "My God,
+look! _The color!_"
+
+In the heart and center of the standing column of smoke, seen faintly
+at first and then in blazing brilliance, towered a mighty pillar of
+light. But it was not like any light that any of those who gazed
+upon it had ever known. For it was neither of red nor white, nor yet
+of violet, yellow, or green, or any other color or hue of the solar
+spectrum. Radiant, scintillant, indescribably beautiful, it thrust up
+through the murk of disaster steadily and cruelly as the flaming sword
+of an unkind fate. It was this that had pierced the ship and exploded
+the magazine.
+
+Zenas Wright, who had looked unshaken on many strange things, looked
+upon this and cried out, even as had Everson:
+
+"The color! A new color! Impossible; yet it _is_!"
+
+With chaos and death linked together and roaring in front of him, the
+old man, true scientist to the last, bent his eyes on the flaming
+pillar in a challenging and analytical stare. If this was to be his
+final vision, why, he would learn what he might from it before he went
+into the shadow where all learning is valueless.
+
+Like painted puppets carved from wood, the men and women on the deck
+stood and gazed at the appalling ruin of that fell disaster. It was
+only a moment in the happening, but a moment that bore the burden of
+many moments in its intensity.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The pillar of light moved, and those that watched saw that everything
+that it touched it destroyed. It swayed toward them, and the deck
+crumpled away before its advance. It swung back. In its path was one of
+the massive steel turrets of the cruiser. The light played against it.
+The turret tottered; the steel of it seemed to melt and disintegrate.
+The entire structure crumbled and crashed down, disappearing through
+the gash in the decking. With the fall of the turret the light vanished
+also.
+
+From the companionway came the horrid remnant of a man who crossed the
+deck to Everson. One of his arms had been torn away between the wrist
+and elbow. His features were blackened and marred beyond recognition.
+An eye was gone. His clothing hung about him in tatters, and the
+tatters were burning. He halted in front of the lieutenant and raised
+the maimed arm, from which the blood was spurting, in the semblance of
+a salute.
+
+"The ship--sinks. The--sea--on fire."
+
+He croaked the words brokenly, and fell, and died at the feet of his
+commander.
+
+Up through the gap in her bottom surged the sea water, and the ship
+began to settle. The _Minnetonka_ was sinking.
+
+Everson pulled himself out of the daze which in that moment of dread
+had benumbed his faculties. A glance he gave to the settling decks and
+the useless boats. He had neither men nor the time to unship them.
+
+He turned to his companions.
+
+"Those who have prayers to say had best say them; for this is the end
+of our traveling," he said simply. Suiting his action to the words, he
+knelt on the deck.
+
+At the side of Polaris Janess appeared the red-haired stranger. As he
+had once before, he now caught up the hand of the son of the snows.
+Holding it, he looked into Polaris's face and smiled, a fearless and
+whimsical smile.
+
+"A strong hand, my brother, strong to hold a kingdom. This is not your
+death that is coming. I will save you and these with you. I promise,"
+he said--and the marvel to Polaris and to the others was that the man
+who before had been speechless now spoke readily and in excellent
+English.
+
+Not waiting for the answer, which, in his surprise, Polaris was slow to
+give, the stranger left his side and ran across the deck. He strapped
+his odd mask over his face, clapped his helmet on his head and fastened
+it. He caught up from the deck a length of steel chain. With a run and
+a leap, he was gone--over the fast settling rail and into the sea.
+
+Scarcely had the golden helmet disappeared over the side when the waves
+crossed the decks to meet the water that was spouting from the interior
+of the cruiser.
+
+"A madman!" Polaris muttered. He turned and gathered Rose Emer in his
+arms. She clung to him, sobbing softly.
+
+"Be brave, dear heart," he whispered. "It isn't hard to die, and
+wherever we are going, we shall go together."
+
+Around them rose the waves.
+
+Held fast in the swirl of the sinking ship, every soul on the
+_Minnetonka_ went down with her. From Everson, kneeling on his deck, to
+the lowliest coal-passer in the depths of the cruiser, there was no man
+but bowed his face to the waters.
+
+Clasping his sweetheart with one arm, Polaris struck out fiercely. For
+a moment he cherished the hope that he might keep to the surface and
+reach the land beyond. But the suction of the sinking ship was too
+strong for even his giant strength. He saw the others, his friends
+struggling about him. The water came between his dear lady's face
+and his. He strove to reach her lips with his own. His lungs seemed
+bursting. His senses swayed.
+
+Through the green waters he saw a great golden shape like a globe
+approaching him. Another fantasy. Strong hands gripped him. They, too,
+must be dreams.
+
+The blackness became absolute.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER II
+
+                     THE LONG BLACK ROAD TO ADLAZ
+
+
+In illimitable darkness a spark glowed and lived, and the soul of
+Polaris Janess awoke and once more knew it was a soul. The silence
+of oblivion was broken by a roaring as of a thousand mighty rivers
+torrenting on their courses far underground. One by one the man endured
+the tortures that those must endure who come back from the claim
+of the sea. Slowly and with exquisite agony came the consciousness
+that his body still lived--an agony so keen that he fain would have
+wrenched himself free of the flesh and departed it. Fire, liquid and
+intolerable, raced through his every vein and artery. His head, no
+longer tenanted by a brain, it seemed, was a vast and empty cavern,
+through which wild winds moaned.
+
+An age it was in seeming that the soul fought its way through travail,
+back to command of the faculties it had quitted, until it had regained
+the mastery of its two provinces, the brain and the body. The fiery
+rivers were quenched. The winds ceased their roaring. With a groan and
+a shudder the son of the snows once more took up the burden of living.
+Weak and dizzy and deathly sick, he opened his eyes.
+
+He lay on a soft bed of furs in a small and swaying room. Almost at
+his elbow he heard the splash of waves against metal walls. Above him,
+an expression of sympathy and concern on his ruddy face, bent the
+red-haired stranger.
+
+When he saw the eyes of Polaris quiver open, the man smiled, a rare and
+winning smile.
+
+"Now, by the four rivers," he said, "I am glad to see you return to the
+living. So long did you tarry in the beyond that I thought that I had
+lost you."
+
+For a moment Polaris gazed into that rubicund countenance in
+bewilderment, but for a moment only. With the floods of life came
+memory. He tried to spring to his feet, but the struggle in the water
+and the nausea of his returning vitality had sapped the strength from
+him. He fell weakly back. The look he bent upon the stranger was
+poignant with its question.
+
+"Rose--the Rose-maid? Where is she?" he gasped, wresting the words out
+painfully.
+
+With a graceful gesture, the stranger drew to one side and pointed
+across the room.
+
+"Your lady? She is there," he said.
+
+On the other side of the room, only a few feet away, was another couch,
+similar to the one on which Polaris had found himself. Rose Emer lay
+upon it. The oilskins she had worn were in a crumpled heap upon the
+floor. Her gown, sodden with sea water, clung to her limbs. A careful
+hand had partly covered her with the folds of a robe of soft, dark
+furs. The coils of her long, chestnut hair, disheveled and damp, had
+fallen about her face and neck. Her long lashes lay upon her cheeks.
+Her lips were slightly parted. One arm hung down from the edge of the
+couch, its hand relaxed and open, the fingers limp.
+
+Long and earnestly Polaris looked at her. He could see only her
+profile. Her face was very white and still, outlined there against
+the furs. The light went out of his tawny eyes, and he set his teeth
+and turned his face to the wall. The sob that arose in his throat
+was wrung from the depths of a spirit sorely stricken. Now death were
+welcome indeed.
+
+"Grieve not so," the stranger said hastily. "She is not dead, and I
+am a fool to bring such fright upon you. She did but swoon when you
+yourself were overlong in returning to the realm of the living. Here."
+
+He passed an arm under the shoulders of Polaris, and assisted him to
+rise and cross to the other couch.
+
+Swaying like a drunken man, the son of the snows bent and touched the
+wrist of the girl with his fingers. When he felt the tides of the
+life-blood leaping through the warm flesh, a joy welled up within him
+that was akin to pain in its throbbing. Come what might, his lady
+lived, and once again there was light in his world. He laid his cheek
+against hers and he was near to tears in his weakness.
+
+Presently he raised his head, and for the first time gave a thought to
+his surroundings. The room he was in was shaped like the quarter of a
+circle. The couch on which he had lain was along the curved side of the
+room, and there the wall was of steel or iron, against which he could
+hear the lapping of waters. At each end, where the cabin narrowed to
+the points of its arc, were cabinets carved of polished woods. At the
+side where the girl lay the wall was of wood, also, and was pierced by
+a small door. A number of garments hung from pegs in the paneling. Near
+to the door, in a golden sheath, swung a heavy, short-bladed sword.
+
+Overhead was a crisscross of slender wooden beams, and in the midst of
+them was set a translucent globe of porcelain or clouded glass, through
+which a strong light was shed, light that was almost as clear in its
+quality as that of day.
+
+At the sight of those crossed beams, Polaris's memory stirred quickly.
+Where had he seen such before? Ah, he had it! It was just such a
+lattice-work that had made a raft for the stranger when he had found
+him floating in the sea. What was the meaning of it?
+
+The screaming fury of the tempest, with its menace to all that he held
+dearest; the terrible moments when the _Minnetonka_ went roaring down
+to ruin; the struggle in the sea; the agony of resuscitation; the grim
+fear that had choked him when he saw his dear lady lying there so pale
+and still--all those transitions had shaken even the strong will and
+cool brain of the son of the snows. He shook his head impatiently, as
+though the fog through which his mind groped were a physical fact, to
+be dismissed so.
+
+Here at his side was the living answer to the questions that now
+trooped thick and fast--the man who had promised him life on the
+sinking deck of the cruiser and who had made that promise good.
+
+"Where are we, and who and what are you?" Polaris asked him.
+
+The answer was as ready as it was surprising.
+
+"We are under the sea in the captain's cabin of a fademe in the navy
+of the great king, Bel-Ar. And I"--he bowed slightly and smiled--"I am
+the Captain Oleric the Red, also of the navy of the great king, but at
+present without a fademe to command."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+So unusually circumstanced from his very birth had been the life of
+Polaris Janess that he long before had accepted and made his own the
+philosophy which the Prince of Denmark taught to Horatio. Things that
+the ordinary man would scoff at and reject as preposterous had been
+the incidents of his everyday existence. So now the extraordinary
+declaration of him who named himself Oleric the Red did not move him to
+any great show of surprise.
+
+Instead, there came to him the sorrowful vision of the good gray
+cruiser, sundered and wrecked and going down to the ocean's bed,
+bearing with her many a man whom he had been glad to call his
+friend--men who twice had risked their lives in the antarctic perils
+that others might live. With that picture in his mind came a thought
+that drove all the mists from his brain and made it burn with a sense
+of outrage and anger.
+
+He snapped himself erect, and with hands clenched and blazing eyes
+looked down on Oleric.
+
+"The breaking of the good ship yonder came not from within, but from
+without," he said sternly. "That great ray of strange light that
+cut her like a knife was some devil's device of these that you call
+fademes. Is it not true?"
+
+Over the face of Oleric passed a shadow that made it sad. But his eyes
+were steadfast and unflinching.
+
+"It is true," he answered. "I would have prevented it if I could have.
+Your ship has gone the way of all others which have come to the coasts
+of Maeronica."
+
+"Is it, then, the custom of your 'great king' so to greet strangers who
+come to his shores?" asked Polaris.
+
+"Such have been the orders of the king of Maeronica," replied Oleric.
+"Many a long century has rolled into the past since any ship, save the
+fademes, cast anchor in the harbor of the city of Adlaz. It is the law.
+It is so writ upon the sacred column. But it is a bad law."
+
+"An hour ago we had not guessed of the existence even of this land of
+Maeronica of yours, with its city of Adlaz and its rule of death in
+the sea," said Polaris. "All that we asked was to go our ways in peace
+and a safe journey to America. Now, because of the evil law of an evil
+land, a great ship's company is food for the fishes. You say well that
+it is a bad law.
+
+"And, hark you, Oleric the Red, I count the reckoning between this King
+Bel-Ar of yours and me as both long and heavy. I do not know how it
+will fall about, or when; but my heart tells me that some time I shall
+make settlement of that score."
+
+Rose Emer stirred and moaned, and Polaris turned to her. He knelt again
+at the side of her couch and chafed her hands.
+
+Running his fingers through his red hair, Oleric looked down at
+Polaris. A strange light shone in the blue eyes of the captain, and
+over his face spread a crafty and satisfied smile. He nodded his head
+as though a thought had come to him that pleased him much.
+
+"Yourself and the lady here are not the only ones saved from the ship,"
+he said at length.
+
+"What? There are others that live?" Polaris asked quickly. "Who, and
+where are they?"
+
+"In the opposite cabin of the fademe is the old man Zenas," Oleric
+replied, "and with him is the large and fat young man who made all
+of the jokes at the table on the ship. And in another fademe is the
+captain--Everson--and the two you saved from Sardanes, the giant Minos
+and the dark and splendid lady, Memene."
+
+"What know you of Sardanes?" Polaris asked. "And how comes it that you
+speak our English speech, now that your tongue is loosened?"
+
+Oleric smiled. "Though my tongue was idle on your ship yonder, my
+ears were not," he said, "nor were my eyes, and they gathered me much
+information. I know that you, whom they call the son of the snows, have
+lived a strange life and looked upon many wonders. But they are as
+nothing to the wonders which you are to see presently--and I, Oleric
+the Red, shall show them to you." He laughed soundlessly.
+
+"But the language--where learned you the English tongue?" Polaris asked
+again. "Surely it is not spoken in this Maeronica, this land whereof no
+man has ever heard."
+
+"Many years ago I learned it--from the lips of a slave. He, too, had
+been taken from the deck of a ship which was sunk by the fademes," was
+the answer of Oleric. He regarded Polaris keenly. Nor was that reply
+without its effect.
+
+"Slaves!" Polaris cried. "Is this another of the laws of this land of
+yours--to make slaves of strangers?"
+
+"It is the law of the great king," Oleric said. "Few such have been
+taken alive, but they have lived as slaves or died on the sands of the
+arena to make sport for the people at the great games which are a part
+of the Feast of Years."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+For a moment, even Rose Emer was forgotten. Polaris looked up at the
+Maeronican captain with a blaze in his eyes that boded little of
+submission to the laws of Bel-Ar, the king.
+
+When he spoke, it was very quietly. "Law or no law, backs shall break
+and spirits set out on their journeys before I shall become slave to
+any man."
+
+"But the maid here," interposed Oleric--"would you bring doom upon her
+as well as upon yourself? Be not so rash, my brother. 'All things come
+to him that waits,' was a saying of that slave from whom I learned your
+tongue--O'Connell, he did call his name. I know not if his saying be
+true. I know he waited many long years, and death came to him."
+
+Polaris shook his head slowly.
+
+"There is little cheer in these words of yours, Oleric the Red," he
+said. "And I do not know why you should call me brother, for whom you
+foretell a life of slavery. But these things are bridges to be crossed
+when met." He turned back to Rose Emer. "Have you such a thing as wine
+on this ship?" he asked. "This swoon is long in passing."
+
+Again the red captain regarded the broad back with satisfaction and
+smiled his craftful smile.
+
+He stepped to the end of the cabin, and from the cabinet there fetched
+a tall glass flagon, bound with golden filagree-work, and a slender,
+twisted goblet. The liquor which he poured from the flagon was
+cherry-red, and sent forth a pleasing aroma.
+
+"Here is of the best in Maeronica," he said. "Trust a captain of the
+fademes to know it."
+
+Lifting Rose's head on his arm, Polaris held the goblet to her lips
+and let the red wine trickle down. As he did so, the door of the cabin
+was opened from without. A man thrust his head through and shouted to
+Oleric in a strange though not unmusical tongue. The captain answered
+him a word or two, and the door was closed again. Polaris saw that the
+man wore armor of a pattern similar to that of Oleric, and that, like
+the captain's, his face was ruddy. But his hair was black, and he wore
+a short, curling beard. While the door was opened, the purr of smoothly
+running machinery could be heard, and with it a steady hissing,
+bubbling noise, like that of escaping steam.
+
+Rose sat up suddenly and glanced around her with frightened eyes. She
+threw her arms around Polaris's neck and clung to him.
+
+"You lay so still," she sobbed, "I thought that you were dead. But you
+are alive--alive!"
+
+Oleric bent forward and spoke hurriedly.
+
+"We are nearing the harbor of the city of Adlaz," he said. "I do not
+know when I shall have opportunity to talk with you again. But if it be
+not soon, wait; and accept with patience, even though it shall try you
+sorely, all that shall happen.
+
+"Just now you asked me why I called you 'brother.' You saved me from
+the sea. On the ship yonder you and the old man Zenas, and another whom
+I grieve that I could not save, tended me when you thought that I was
+near to death. And after, when your sailors murmured, and they would
+have cast me into the sea, you guarded me from harm. All those things I
+know and shall not forget. That is why I call you brother. And back of
+all of those things there is still another reason, of which I hope to
+tell you soon. I learned from the slave O'Connell that the shake of the
+hands between men is a bond of friendship. Will you shake my hand, my
+brother?"
+
+Polaris took the proffered hand in a grip that made its owner wince.
+"It seems that despite the laws of Bel-Ar, the king, I have found a
+friend," he said. "I shall try to be patient, Oleric."
+
+"Hold your hand from anger," enjoined the red captain earnestly, "even
+though you be put to serve as a slave in the mines of Bel-Ar. And
+instruct your companions that they do likewise. Great days are coming
+upon Maeronica, and I promise you faithfully that you shall play a
+great part in them--"
+
+He broke his speech suddenly.
+
+Again the door swung open. Somewhere in the depths of the fademe a bell
+rang clearly. The noise of the mechanism ceased. The black-bearded man
+who had thrust his head into the cabin before, stood in the doorway and
+beckoned to Oleric.
+
+"Remember," warned the captain as he passed Polaris. "Patience and that
+strong heart of yours shall carry you far before your sun goes down."
+
+He went out and the door closed after him.
+
+"What does he mean, with his talk of slaves and the mines and all those
+strange names?" Rose Emer asked wonderingly. "Where are we?"
+
+Polaris told her all that he had learned from the captain. She heard
+him with wide eyes.
+
+"_You_--a slave!" she cried. "Ah, no, not that? Is it to be like this
+all our lives--to see happiness just ahead of us, but never reach it?
+Fate cannot be so cruel. Think what you have endured. And now to be a
+slave here in this terrible foreign land!"
+
+Perhaps Fate was listening then--Fate, who can be both cruel and kind,
+sordid and splendid, according to her whim. She had played many strange
+tricks on this man. But she now decreed that he should never serve the
+king Bel-Ar as a slave.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Soon after the departure of Oleric, the door of the cabin was opened
+again, and an armored man entered. It was he of the black beard, whom
+Polaris rightly guessed to be the captain of the fademe. With him came
+three other men, unarmored, who evidently were members of the crew of
+the craft.
+
+Sturdy, black-haired fellows these were, dressed alike in loose,
+neckless blue tunics of some woven material, with elbow-sleeves,
+and belted in at the waist. Beneath the tunics they wore long,
+close-fitting nether garments like the hose of the Middle Ages, only
+these were both hose and trousers, too. On their feet were shoes of
+soft leather, the tops of which came nearly to their knees, and which
+were laced with gay-colored cords. Their heads were covered with flat
+caps of cloth which resembled somewhat the tam-o'-shanters of the
+Scots. Those, too, were dyed in bright colors.
+
+With a motion of his arm the captain indicated to Rose and Polaris that
+they were to leave the cabin. The girl still was weak from her swoon,
+and tottered when she stood, and her garments were wet and bedraggled.
+Polaris wrapped her in the robe of furs with which Oleric had covered
+her, and lifted her in his arms. As he did so, one of the sailors spoke
+harshly and snatched at the robe. He was clumsy, and his fingers caught
+in Rose's unbound hair and pulled it so that she winced.
+
+Polaris set the girl down and in the same motion spun on his heel and
+struck the man under the ear.
+
+Well it was for the Maeronican sailor that the son of the snows, quick
+as was his anger at the affront to the girl, remembered the counsel of
+Oleric. Even as he struck, he remembered, and he opened his hand; else
+the stroke, directed by his mighty thews, had ended all things for the
+sailor. As it was, the blow partly lifted the man from his feet and
+shot him sprawling through the open door to fall heavily outside.
+
+From its peg on the wall the captain caught down the short-bladed sword
+and tore it from the sheath. At a word from him, his two remaining men
+plucked knives from their belts and closed in.
+
+Prospects of battle cleared the last of the numbness from the limbs of
+Polaris. He thrust Rose Emer behind him. He ran his eyes hastily over
+the cabin in search of a weapon, but saw none which would serve him. In
+another instant he would have sprung barehanded against the Maeronican
+steel.
+
+At that juncture a voice cried out, and Oleric the Red stepped over
+the fallen sailor and entered the cabin. Whatever may have been the
+failings of the red captain, slowness in action was not one of them.
+Gripping the two crouching sailors, each by the belt from behind, he
+tugged so mightily that their feet flew from under them, and they sat
+hard on the cabin floor. With a catlike leap, Oleric reached the side
+of the captain of the fademe and struck the sword from his hand. As the
+blade clanged on the floor, Oleric set his foot across it. Then, and
+not until then, did he seek to learn the trouble's cause.
+
+"What now, comrade," he said to Polaris. "Do you then court death so
+soon?"
+
+But when he heard of the sailor's action, he nodded his red head.
+
+"So would I have done," he said shortly. He turned on the other captain
+and spoke to him sternly in the Maeronican tongue. Almost choking in
+his rage, the commander answered him in sneering tones, and with a
+shrug of his shoulders stalked from the cabin. The sailors slunk after
+him.
+
+Oleric watched their departing backs with a hard and level stare.
+"Daelo grows insolent," he said. "He thinks, because I have had the
+misfortune to lose a fademe, that I shall get no pretty welcome from
+Bel-Ar. Maybe he is right. Bel-Ar loves not to lose his ships. Ah,
+well--" He, too, shrugged his shoulders, and then he smiled.
+
+"And you, my brother--" He shook his finger at Polaris. "Unless you
+learn to curb that fine spirit of yours, I need to be no prophet to
+foretell what shall befall you. But come; let us leave this place. The
+air of it grows foul."
+
+With Rose in his arms, Polaris stepped from the cabin and gazed
+curiously about him.
+
+He stood in a long gallery or corridor, some nine feet wide by thirty
+in extent. It was lighted brightly by a number of globes similar to
+that in the cabin. The flooring was of wood, the ceiling of steel.
+Opposite him was the door of another cabin. A few feet along the
+corridor ahead of him, toward the prow of the fademe, the floor was
+pierced to admit a large post or beam, which thrust up through it and
+disappeared through another opening in the ceiling of the gallery.
+Around the beam spiraled a slender winding stair of yellow metal.
+
+Oleric led on toward the bow. As he passed the stairway, Janess saw
+that it led to a small, towerlike structure above. A glance through the
+opening in the floor showed him another gallery, or deck, below, and he
+had a glimpse of a mass of mechanism and shafting. It was the engine
+room of the fademe into which he looked. Near the prow, the flooring
+was cut away again to allow the passage of what seemed to be a pillar
+of solid, yellow glass, as large around as the body of a man.
+
+As they passed the second pillar by, Oleric struck it lightly with his
+palm.
+
+"There is what brought death to your good ship, my brother," he said.
+"It is the secret of the power of the navy of Bel-Ar."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At the end of the corridor was an open door. Beyond it was a small
+chamber and another door. The chamber was constructed entirely of
+steel. Both of its doors were circular in shape, and they were fitted
+with valves and bars which made them resemble the breechblocks of
+enormous cannon. From beyond the second door came the sound of the
+splashing of waves and the hum of many human voices.
+
+Oleric passed through the chamber. At the outer door he paused and
+gave Polaris a hand with his burden. A breeze of salt air fanned their
+faces. Through the door Polaris saw an expanse of blue water alight
+with shafts of sunshine--for the rain had ceased--and the line of a
+rocky wall.
+
+"The harbor of the city of Adlaz," the red captain said.
+
+They stood on a metal deck six feet square on the extreme prow of the
+fademe. From the deck a narrow, swaying gangplank reached to the edge
+of the quay that was built of massive blocks of masonry, alongside of
+which the fademe was moored.
+
+At their right was the tossing blue and white of a harbor large enough
+to have given shelter to the ships of all the navies of the world,
+could they have come to it. Nearly three miles in width and length it
+lay, the whole girt round by the ring of a lofty mountain wall, in
+which on the seaward side there was not a notch or a break. Two hundred
+feet up from the water's edge the sheer cliffs towered, their faces
+smooth and precipitous.
+
+It was more a lake than a harbor that held the navy of Bel-Ar. Later
+the Americans learned that its only entrance from the sea was a natural
+tunnel many feet below the level of the water, through which the
+fademes passed out and in. The harbor was the giant cup or crater of a
+volcano, ages quenched.
+
+Along the wharves of stone and anchored in the lake rocked the fademes
+of the Maeronican fleet, each one resembling nothing so much as a
+monstrous goldfish carrying a glass tower on its back. Gold they were,
+indeed--and they shimmered and glittered in the sunlight as only gold
+can glitter.
+
+Like immense, flattened globes the fademes were fashioned--globes forty
+feet through their lengthened axes, and drawn to points at their stems
+and sterns. Where the dorsal fin of a fish projects from its spine,
+each fademe bore a small, round deckhouse with ribs of metal and sides
+of polished crystal.
+
+Yes; the harbor of Adlaz was very like a vast bowl with many goldfish
+(the fleet of fademes must have numbered one hundred and fifty). But
+they were far from being the harmless toys of children, these golden
+ships of the underseas. Deadly enspine, each fademe bore a small, round
+bee sent forth on cruel errands.
+
+On the dancing surface of the lake and in and out among the gleaming
+fademes plied a number of small open boats, driven by oarsmen, and
+here and there in the anchorage were scattered undersea craft of a make
+smaller by half and more slender than the fademes. These were called
+marizels.
+
+Back of the quays and the wharves was a line of low buildings of black
+and red stone, well constructed, with doors of wood and glass windows.
+Except that their architecture was quaint and ran much to carved faces
+of men and beasts, interspersed with squat domes and spires, they might
+have been the warehouses of some well-to-do port of the old world.
+
+An open space, a number of acres in extent, lay beyond the buildings
+and reached to the frowning face of the cliff-wall. The wall itself was
+pierced by a broad arch or tunnel wide enough for a squadron of cavalry
+to have ridden through it abreast and so high that a galleon's masts
+would not have touched its vaulted roof.
+
+Above the center of the arch, and carved in the rock of the cliffside,
+was a great round face, many feet across. It was a piece of sculpture
+to crook the fingers of a miser; for it was covered with beaten gold,
+so that it resembled a rising sun. That semblance was heightened
+further by long shafts or rays which extended from the face across the
+surface of the rock in all directions. They, too, were of gold. Work of
+a master-sculptor, it was, who had guided his chisel in bold, strong
+strokes. The features were noble, but the smiling lips were cruel, and
+there was cruelty in the golden eyes which looked down on the golden
+ships in the harbor.
+
+All these things Polaris saw from the forward deck of the fademe, and
+more. The quays and the court were black with people. At one side of
+the archway was drawn up a line of horsemen clad in steel armor. In
+the midst of the throng in the court a man in a yellow tunic and cap
+was cleaving his way through the press toward the wharf on a big black
+horse.
+
+As he crossed the swaying plank to the wharf with Rose Emer in his
+arms, Polaris heard a great cry of wonder go up from the crowd. In a
+moment he learned that it was not the appearance of the strangers that
+had caused the outcry. It was the return of Oleric the Red, who had
+long been given up as lost. Evidently the red captain was a popular man
+in his land. People crowded around him and clapped him on the back and
+gave him words of welcome home. Greetings none the less hearty for that
+they were tinged with a note of apprehension for his future welfare,
+which even Polaris could sense, though he understood no word of it all.
+
+Down from his horse sprang the man in the yellow tunic and enfolded
+Oleric in a mighty embrace. "Ah, old red bear, it is good for the eyes
+to see you once again. We had thought the fishes had you. But"--and he
+lowered his voice--"you will have to think of a pretty tale to tell to
+Bel-Ar. He raves at the loss of a fademe."
+
+"That he does," answered Oleric, "but I am good at the telling of
+tales, as you know. Besides, I have with me a matter of a small sack,
+which was not lost with the fademe, and which shall make the eyes of
+his queen to glisten. So mayhap I shall find forgiveness."
+
+The other ran his eye over Polaris and Rose. "What, more slaves?" he
+asked. "Orlas already has brought in three, and one of them a giant."
+
+"Yes, Brunar, more slaves." Oleric's face grew sober. "Poor souls. My
+heart is heavy for them, for they did save my life out yonder on the
+sea, and treat me kindly."
+
+"Here, old bear, take you my horse and ride on to Adlaz," said Brunar.
+"I have business here. I will come on anon through the canal in a
+marizel. And, if the hand of Bel-Ar lie not too heavy upon you, there
+will be a rare night to-night, a rare night; eh, old bear?" Laughing,
+he tossed the reins to Oleric and disappeared in the crowd.
+
+From the stern of the fademe they had quitted sounded a high-pitched
+voice in notes of vituperation. Oleric looked back. The captain Daelo
+stood on the rear deck of his vessel. When he saw Oleric turn, he shook
+his clenched fist at the red captain. With a laugh, Oleric flung back a
+remark of such import that it made Daelo dance upon his deck with rage.
+
+"Now there's a fool," grumbled Oleric, "who may be troublesome. I have
+the best of him this time, though. Back to sea patrol he goes. And
+there is a maid in Adlaz town--a sweet and comely maid, for love of
+whom he's well-nigh witless. I just did tell him that I'd comfort her
+in his absence." The captain tossed his head and laughed his soundless
+laugh.
+
+Bidding a lad hold his horse, Oleric led Polaris and Rose into one
+of the buildings near the end of the wharf. There, under a guard of
+sailors, they found old Zenas, the two Sardanians, Everson, and Brooks.
+Lacking an interpreter, such as Oleric, these others were in sore
+bewilderment. The stunning blow of the loss of the _Minnetonka_ had
+cast them in a depth of gloom, which the appearance of Polaris and
+Rose Emer and the few explanations they were able to give did little
+to lighten. Everson, especially, was like a man distraught. Even the
+scientific zeal of Zenas Wright for once was quenched, and he met the
+marvels about him with a listless eye.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Under orders from Oleric, men fetched from stables near the quays a
+long, low car, to which two span of horses were attached, and the
+Americans were bidden to take their places in it. Wild and reckless
+drivers these Maeronicans were. Two of them climbed into the car,
+turned their horses' heads toward the great archway and whipped them
+into a gallop. With a yell, the crowd parted. The hoofs of the horses
+rang on the stones of the paved courtyard. As they passed from the
+court into the tunnel, the line of steel horsemen came clattering after
+them. Oleric rode at the side of the car.
+
+At intervals in the walls of the tunnel were set translucent globes
+like those on the fademe, which shed a strong white light along the
+way. The flooring was paved and smooth. For perhaps five minutes the
+cavalcade thundered through the passage in the rock, and then it
+emerged again into the light of day.
+
+Ahead stretched a long, wide roadway, paved from side to side with
+blocks of black stone, fast embedded in a cement of the same hue.
+At both sides of the road were low walls, and beyond the walls were
+handsome mansions and grounds, where fair trees tossed their greenery
+and bright flowers bloomed amid a wealth of shrubbery. From the
+splendid and fragrant lawns men and women looked forth as the car
+whirled past, and children left their play to run to the walls and
+stare wide-eyed at the strangers.
+
+Most of the men were garbed as had been those of the fademe's crew and
+also the crowd at the harbor, in loose, belted tunics and hose, but
+finer in texture and more showy in coloring than those of the commoner
+sort.
+
+Some of the old men wore flowing gowns. The women and children were
+clad in short kirtles. Everywhere was a riot of color. The garments
+of the people were gay with many tints and hues. The grounds were
+flecked with flowers. The dwellings, all of which were built of stone,
+made their brave show of colors, too. The quarries from which the
+masonry was cut yielded white and black and red stone, and in their
+construction work the builders had varied them pleasingly.
+
+From the tunnel's mouth at the base of the ancient hill, the long,
+black road sloped up gradually. Far ahead loomed the walls and domes
+of a great city. Oleric rose in his stirrups and pointed to where they
+were outlined against the sky.
+
+"Yonder lies Adlaz, chief city of the Children of Ad," he cried.
+
+Midway in their course to the city, the shouting drivers pulled their
+horses suddenly to one side of the road, and the riders of the escort
+scattered to right and left to leave a clear passage. From far up the
+wonderful street sounded the clash and clatter of pounding hoofs in
+desperate haste.
+
+But no horse it was that galloped so madly from Adlaz town to the sea,
+but a giant, bronze-coated bull. On he came, head down and tail aloft,
+his hoofs striking fire from the smooth, hard rock of the roadway. At
+intervals he gave voice to a deep-throated bellow.
+
+He was still three hundred yards from the car when Rose Emer screamed
+out in horror. "Ah, the child! Save the child!" she cried.
+
+From one of the mansions farther up the street, a child had strayed,
+a baby girl, a fragile, black-haired little thing, not more than five
+years old. Shrieking with laughter, she had eluded her mother and run
+out through the gateway to the center of the road. Half-way across the
+pavement, she slipped and fell. Down the street on thundering hoofs
+came the great bronze death.
+
+Upsetting one of the drivers in his haste, Polaris leaped down over
+the wheel of the car. Scarcely had his feet touched the roadway, when
+Minos, the Sardanian, was down behind him. Snatching a short spear from
+the hand of one of the steel riders, the son of the snows bounded up
+the street to meet the bull, going at a speed which few living things
+could have equaled. Over his shoulder he called to Minos:
+
+"Care for the child, Minos; leave the beast to me."
+
+Just beyond where the baby girl lay, he met the furious mass of
+charging flesh. The little red eyes of the oncoming monster saw the man
+in its path, and for an instant the bull seemed to halt in its stride,
+and its hoofs slid on the smooth pavement. Then it lowered its head
+still farther and charged on with a roar.
+
+From the tail of his eye, Janess saw the Sardanian snatch the baby from
+the perilous path and leap to one side. Behind them the red captain,
+shouting and cursing, alone of all the troop of riders strove to urge
+his affrighted horse forward.
+
+"Hold! Hold!" he shouted in English. "Let the beast go!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Even had he heard, Polaris would have been little minded to let the
+bull go free. It was plain that the animal was mad. A bloody froth
+dripped from its jaws as it ran. Behind the son of the snows, right
+where the bull was headed, were his friends, and among them one who
+meant more to him than all of the rest of the world.
+
+Directly in the path of the lowered horns, that were coming on with
+the power of a mighty battering-ram, Polaris stood. Then he sprang
+sidewise, turning as he leaped. So narrowly did he time the onset that
+the shoulder of the bull grazed his knee. As the huge body passed him,
+the man drove the short spear home behind its shoulder, guiding the
+steel with the strength of arm and the keenness of eye that had helped
+him to survive through the long years when combat with the beasts of
+the wild was a part almost of his daily existence.
+
+The stroke was true. So deeply did the steel spear bite, that its shaft
+was wrenched from the hands of Polaris, and he was pitched on his side
+on the pavement.
+
+Unhurt, the man was up in an instant, but his work was done. That bull
+would charge no more. He lay dead at the side of the roadway, his
+tongue thrust out, his eyes glazing, and his life-blood making a pool
+on the stones. The Maeronican spear was set fast in his heart.
+
+Hardly was Polaris on his feet again when the armored horsemen rode
+down on him with lifted spears, cursing him in their own tongue. Oleric
+had conquered his horse, and he now interposed to prevent another
+struggle which would have been all too one-sided. For, weaponless as
+they were, the three other American men clambered down and ran to the
+aid of Polaris.
+
+Minos, who had returned the child to her mother, who knelt half
+fainting in her gateway, was the first to reach his side. Though he
+bore no weapon, the giant Sardanian squared his mighty figure and made
+ready to withstand the onset of horse and steel.
+
+Polaris leaped to the side of the fallen bull and tore the spear from
+its body. Then he turned on the horsemen. He could not guess the cause
+of their sudden anger, but he, too, was ready.
+
+Before blows could be struck, Oleric thrust his horse into the
+open space between the friends and the Maeronican riders. By dint
+of persuasion, interlarded with not a few threats, he induced his
+followers to forego their hostile intentions.
+
+"You fools!" he shouted. "Would you cheat Bel-Ar of the terrible
+vengeance he is sure to take, and have a part of it fall back on you
+for balking him?"
+
+When he had quieted his men, the captain turned gloomily to Polaris.
+
+"My brother, your doom is sealed, indeed," he said. "This is one of the
+sacred bulls from the temple of Shamar, the great sun, that you have
+slain. When one of these goes mad, as did this one, no man in the land
+does aught to stay it. That is the law. From its horns to its hoofs,
+every hair of it is sacred. Bel-Ar may forgive me the loss of a fademe,
+though it will be a great vexation to him; but the death of one of
+these sacred bulls of Shamar he will not forgive any man. Sooner might
+you expect mercy if you declared yourself a follower of the Goddess
+Glorian of Ruthar. In this matter I cannot hope to persuade him. By
+the bones of the ten thousand kings, I am sorry that this thing has
+happened!"
+
+But later, as they rode on toward the city of Adlaz, the red captain
+seemed to be far from rueful. He rode behind the car, and, when he
+thought none was observing him, he smiled to himself, as though the
+course events were taking pleased him very well indeed.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER III
+
+                            THE KING JUDGES
+
+
+Like the shape of a mighty wheel with four spokes was the plan of
+the city of Adlaz--or more like a circle drawn around the angles of
+a cross, the curved line of the outer boundary passing through the
+far-flung arms. Built in a long-ago time of perils and wars, Adlaz
+was a walled city, and its wall was both stout and high, and set with
+many castellated towers. It was also a very ancient wall, to which its
+moss-grown, weather-worn gray stones bore witness.
+
+In all of the sweeping circumference of the outer wall, which enclosed
+some ten square miles of street and square, there were four breaks
+only, and those were protected by ponderous gates of bronze and guarded
+well by soldiers of the king. Those breaks were where the rim of the
+wheel met its four spokes. The wall was the rim. The spokes were four
+wide roadways, which ran east, west, north and south from the city's
+center. The hub of the wheel was a park or esplanade, fronted on all
+sides by magnificent buildings in which the colored rocks hewn from the
+Maeronican quarries were blended splendidly. In the very center towered
+the massive structure of the Temple of the Sun, built all of white
+marble, the tips of its hundred spires capped with solid gold.
+
+Other and many streets were laid out in all directions within the
+angles of the four great avenues; but none was so wide as they by many
+feet. Within the wall dwelt nearly half a million souls, Maeronicans,
+if one named them from their country, but loving to call themselves the
+Children of Ad, after their city, which in turn drew its name from a
+certain mighty king, the time of whose rule was so lost in the mists of
+dim antiquity that he was little more than a tradition in the mouths of
+the people.
+
+Across from the Temple of the Sun, and in the northeast angle of the
+arms of the cross, stood the palace of the kings of Maeronica, another
+immense pile of masonry, built also of a solid color, not dazzling
+white as was the marble of the house of the god, but the deep, rich
+red of granite porphyry. Back of the palace lay the barracks of the
+king's guard of half a thousand picked men, his stables, and the
+quarters of countless servants. In the southwest angle was the Place of
+Games--a hippodrome and circus, with an amphitheater of black basalt
+of an age and splendor that would not have shamed the proudest days of
+seven-hilled Rome itself, although its foundation stones were laid long
+before Remus leaped over his brother's wall.
+
+Around the hub and extending to the wall were the homes of the Children
+of Ad--nobles, captains, rich idlers, merchants, money-lenders, and the
+common people. In latter years, since Adlaz, strong and triumphant,
+defied her enemies, it had been the pleasure of many of her wealthier
+sons to build their mansions beyond the sheltering wall of the city,
+and along the four splendid roadways stretched many a fair and wide
+estate. Such were those the prisoners from the fademes saw as their car
+was driven up the long, black road from the harbor in the mountain.
+
+It was late afternoon, and the sun was casting his last slant rays over
+the distant mountain-rim, when the car was halted at the bronze gates
+of the western entrance to Adlaz. The red captain trotted his horse
+forward to parley with the captain of the gate-guard and explain why he
+led Brunar's horsemen, and who were these whom he brought with him to
+the city. That parleying was added to by one of the riders in steel.
+Whatever he told the gate-captain, it did not add to that worthy's
+esteem for the captives, for he favored them with an exceedingly evil
+look as they rode through his gates.
+
+"Ugh-h," remarked Ensign Brooks, "I can't say that I care for that
+party. He has a lean and hungry look. Speaking of hunger, I wonder how
+soon we will get where we are going to, and whether it will be supper
+time when we get there. I could eat cat right now, I'm so near to
+starvation."
+
+Oleric heard him and replied with a smile. "You shall eat soon, and of
+good fare. So much at the least I can promise."
+
+To which the ensign replied with a stare. For the young naval man did
+not like the red captain and his ways, whom he blamed partly for the
+loss of the _Minnetonka_ and all of the rest of the troubles, of which
+this land seemed to hold a plenty.
+
+Soon after the car entered the gates, the sunlight faded into dusk, and
+then white-capped messengers passed through the streets, plucking the
+cloth hoods from globes which were fixed on posts of stone at intervals
+along all of the ways. From each globe, as its hood was removed, sprang
+a broad circle of white light. On the tall buildings and their many
+spires and on the towers of the city wall similar lights flared up.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Except for the quaint architecture of the place, and the strange
+garb of the folk who thronged its streets, the Americans might have
+imagined themselves entering some stately capital of the modern world,
+and not Adlaz of Maeronica, the oldest of all peopled cities of the
+earth--older, indeed, than many among the buried ruins in which
+archeologists love to delve.
+
+For its pavements were curbed and guttered, and between them and the
+building fronts and lawns were walks of stone, bordered by well-ordered
+rows of trees and many shrubs and beds of flowers. The people who
+walked the streets, too, were quiet and orderly folk. They stared hard
+at those who rode in the car, but there was no unseemly outcry. Only
+an occasional shout of surprise and welcome went up as some group of
+strollers recognized the merry face and flaming poll of Oleric the Red.
+
+At all of these marvels the two Sardanians gazed wonderingly and talked
+together of them in their tongue.
+
+"Ah, surely here is one of the greatest cities of the world of men,
+my prince," said the Lady Memene. "Note the mighty towers yonder and
+how they flash and gleam. And the folk! In one short ride we have seen
+enough of them to people two lands like our own lost Sardanes."
+
+"Aye, Memene, these be wonders, indeed," Minos answered. "And here
+is a kingdom and a city well worth the ruling over. Yet these, even
+these, must be as nothing to the things beyond in the greater world,
+whereof Polaris hath told us. I wonder if we shall ever reach them.
+For myself, though, I find this land and its folk more to my manner of
+understanding than the world-dwellers way to the north. Here, methinks,
+one might, did opportunity offer, carve out a kingdom for the king that
+is to come."
+
+Memene flushed and hung her head, and the two of them lapsed into
+thoughtful silence.
+
+Truly, Minos of Sardanes lacked not in ambition.
+
+"Too late, now, to hope to meet Bel-Ar the king before the morrow,"
+Oleric said. "And perhaps that is as well. By another coming of Shamar
+his wrath may have cooled somewhat, though 'twill still burn hot
+enough, I'll wager."
+
+The charioteers drove their car to the front of a long, low building,
+the façade of which verged almost upon the pavement of the black avenue
+which was known as Chedar's Flight, because of an ancient battle which
+had been fought along its course. There, the riders of Brunar left the
+car and clattered away up the street to their own place. A group of
+street idlers surrounded the car and began to discuss its passengers,
+taking note especially of the giant form of Minos and the beauty of the
+two ladies.
+
+"This was a palace, once, but it serves as a prison, now," Oleric said
+to Polaris, as gates of bronze were thrust back and the charioteers
+drove through and into a roomy court, partly paved and partly lawn and
+trees. "Sorry I am, comrade, that this must be, but 'tis not of my
+working."
+
+"I blame you not, friend," said Polaris. "But other days bring other
+fortunes. I do not think that I shall stay long in your prison. And it
+comes to me also that your king best had let this party depart his land
+in peace, else the next turn of the wheel may bring to him that which
+he least desires. And I think that you may have a hand in that turn,
+Oleric."
+
+"Are you a prophet, my brother?" exclaimed Oleric, searching the face
+of Polaris for a hidden meaning. "For if you be not one, then you have
+a rare spirit."
+
+"No prophet I," Polaris answered. He sprang down over the wheel and
+stretched his weary limbs. "Only at times, when all seems black, my
+heart does whisper courage, and then all things turn well. It did so
+just now, when I saw the lights spring up along that splendid street
+out there." He held up his arms and assisted Rose Emer to alight from
+the car.
+
+Oleric gazed at him curiously. "So you think that the wheel will turn,
+and that I will have a hand in it, my brother, do you?" he whispered to
+himself. "Perchance I shall."
+
+He swung down from his horse and cast the reins to an attendant.
+
+"What! Mordo! Where do you tarry? Here be guests for you," he shouted.
+
+They stood in the dusk under the spreading boughs of an ancient oak and
+waited while a tall, loosely built man, black-bearded, and clad in the
+armor of gold that was the badge of power in Maeronica, came down from
+a pillared porch on the other side of the court and shambled across.
+They noticed that his step was somewhat uncertain, and once or twice he
+stumbled as he approached.
+
+"Mordo, captain, and keeper of the king's prison house," Oleric
+muttered to Polaris. "He's a good fellow, but does love his wine cup
+exceeding well."
+
+As the prison keeper came across the stones and the grass, he shouted,
+and an underling ran to him, swinging a lighted globe encaged in a
+metal net. Mordo took the lamp and cast its rays on the party. His face
+was flushed, and his eyes rolled until they saw Oleric. Then his mouth
+gaped in a delighted grin.
+
+"Hoy! Hoy!" he exclaimed. "By the wall and the beasts and the shadows
+of the fathers of Ad, if it is not my old bottle-crony come sailing
+home again! I thought my ears had lied when I heard that voice in the
+dark." He set the lamp down and pitched forward, steadying himself with
+his hands on Oleric's shoulders. "And the same old dekkar, eh?" (A
+dekkar was a broad goldpiece of the coin of Maeronica.) "They said that
+you were gone across the black river, but I believed them not. 'Not
+Oleric,' I told them. 'Not so long as there is left unemptied a single
+one of those long-stemmed bottles in old Mordo's cellar.' And I was
+right, eh, old firetop? Ah! Many a glass shall clink to-night, and many
+a rack be made lighter when Brunar and the others come."
+
+Mordo threw his head back and laughed, a roaring gale of mirth.
+
+"Why, I was so lonely to-night that already I have cracked two flagons,
+just for the good wine's company."
+
+"So it seems," put in Oleric, sniffing. "Are you sure there were only
+two of those flagons?"
+
+"Mayhap it was three; I care not; there's still space for more, as you
+well know," Mordo replied, still shaking with laughter. He took up his
+lantern again.
+
+"But whom do you bring with you to Mordo's house?" he asked, peering
+once more at the strangers. "Women, too! And pretty ones!"
+
+"Have an end to your banter, Mordo," Oleric interposed. "These be six
+guests for whom Bel-Ar will ask accounting. Hold them well. And harken,
+old friend; treat them kindly and to the best you have, for they did
+befriend me when I was in evil straits and sore in need of friends.
+That tale you shall hear later. Now hasten and bestow them. They are
+weary. And bethink you, man, your wine grows stale with waiting to be
+drunk, and my throat aches for the smack of it."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Through his porch and into the depths of the building beyond, Mordo led
+the party. Along many halls and passages he led, and through gates and
+doors of bronze and steel, whereof an attendant bore the keys.
+
+An ill place, this, to come out of, thought Polaris, noting the
+strength and number of the gates. Nor did the son of the snows relish
+at all the grim clanking of chains which issued from certain of the
+chambers which they passed along their route.
+
+At length the jailer paused, in a hall so wide that its boundary walls
+could be seen only dimly by the light of the few globes which hung from
+its pillars of black stone, and so lofty that the pillars' tops were
+lost in the upper dusk. The hall was circular, and all around its walls
+were the doors to lesser chambers.
+
+"Here may your stranger friends from the sea await the pleasure of
+Bel-Ar in peace," hiccoughed Mordo. "And 'tis better by far for them
+than some of the places that I have below, as you know, Oleric. Kings
+have sat in judgment here, and the beds in yonder chambers--queens have
+slept on them. May your guests sleep well, old fox; I can offer them
+no better, no better lodging place than the audience-hall of the great
+King Bel-Tisam. I'll send them meat and wine. Now haste we to those
+bottles. Shamar send that Brunar be not long delayed."
+
+"Here I must leave you for a space, my friends," Oleric said. "I
+would have you believe that I am not ungrateful for many good deeds
+remembered, and I hope yet to find the means to repay them. To-morrow I
+will go with you before Bel-Ar the king."
+
+He bowed and went out with Mordo.
+
+Presently came men with an abundance of fresh-cooked meats and
+trenchers and tall bottles of Maeronican wine.
+
+Little heart for conversation was there among the seven friends. Each
+was busy with bitter thoughts. They ate, sitting on cushions about a
+low table which the attendants spread for them at the foot of one of
+the pillars. The two women, weary from the events of the day, soon went
+to their rest. Old Zenas Wright was not long in following their example.
+
+"I'm growing old, boys," he said as he left the table. "And this has
+been a hard day--a terribly hard day. We appear to have strayed far
+into the yesterdays. To-morrow we will talk, and it will be strange
+if we cannot between us figure our way out. I don't want to leave my
+old bones in this place. I intend that they shall be buried in Woodlawn
+Cemetery in Buffalo, near where I was born; ah me, where I was born. I
+vow and vum, I've seen some mighty queer sights since I walked up Main
+Street last."
+
+The geologist turned and trudged sturdily away to the chamber which he
+had selected for his own.
+
+Soon only Polaris and Lieutenant Everson were left in the great hall,
+Janess lying stretched on the floor, his head pillowed on his hand, and
+the lieutenant standing gloomily with folded arms, his back resting
+against one of the pillars. For many minutes those two talked of the
+things which had befallen; but neither one had a plan to offer.
+
+"We must trust to the wit of this Oleric, of which I think he has
+plenty," said Polaris at length. "I believe that he wished us no ill,
+and I believe, too, that he forms some scheme for our advantage, though
+what it is I cannot guess."
+
+"I don't like him," Everson said bluntly. "He is one of this nation of
+devils whose submarine sank my ship. Oh, for a few files of marines and
+a couple of twelve-inch guns!"
+
+When Everson had gone, Polaris still lay at the foot of the pillar,
+thinking and planning, for he was a man in whom hope never died. He
+dozed at length, but suddenly he was wide awake. And, though he did not
+at once open his eyes, his wilderness-trained faculties, keen as those
+of any animal, were alert and watchful.
+
+Something had come into the hall.
+
+Nothing in living shape ever had struck fear into the heart of Polaris,
+and he had a healthy disbelief in the supernatural. He was not afraid
+now. But he felt that the presence that had entered the hall was both
+baleful and menacing. He felt the fixed regard of hidden eyes, and it
+sent an uneasy thrill through the roots of his hair at the back of his
+head. Whatever it was that had wakened him, it was not in the direction
+of the chambers where the others of his party lay, but far across the
+hall.
+
+Cautiously he opened his eyes.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At first he could make out nothing. Then something stirred soundlessly
+from behind a far pillar near the wall. Polaris stared hard, and his
+eyes were almost more than mortal keen. For a fleeting instant he saw
+it clearly--the shape of a tall old man with snowy beard and hair, and
+with piercing eyes, full of evil. The man was dressed in flowing robes
+of white, on the breast of which glittered some object of burnished
+metal.
+
+For an instant only the vision persisted on Polaris's retina. Then it
+was gone, and with no sound that even his sharp ears could catch.
+
+Polaris snapped himself to his feet and bounded across the hall on
+the balls of his feet, almost as noiselessly as the shadow which had
+departed. And it had departed. Along the wall and behind the pillars
+Polaris glanced quickly. There was nothing there. Back of the pillar
+where he had seen the white shape was the closed door of a chamber. He
+tried the door and found it fast. He listened.
+
+From the darkness beyond the closed door, he thought he heard the ghost
+of a thin chuckle. Immediately his attention was drawn to another
+quarter. Close behind him arose a deep growl, which had nothing ghostly
+in its quality, but was most material. Polaris spun upon his heels.
+
+Some ten feet from him, and beside one of the pillars, from the foot
+of which it evidently had arisen, stood a huge dog. It was the first
+animal of its kind which the son of the snows had seen in Maeronica,
+and the largest he ever had set eyes on in his life; larger by far even
+than gray old Marcus, his friend and comrade that he'd left behind in
+Boston town.
+
+This brute was neither Great Dane nor mastiff, though in points it
+resembled both of those breeds. Its jaws were square, and its head and
+neck were massive. The tips of its powerful shoulders were a long yard
+up from the stone floor where it stood.
+
+It was smooth of coat and of a glossy, blue-black color, except on its
+breast, where was a triangular patch of tawny yellow. Its ears had
+been clipped and stood erect and pointed. As it regarded the man, its
+big eyes glittered in the dim light. Its lips were writhed back from
+formidable teeth.
+
+Another low growl rumbled from its deep chest.
+
+Instinctively, dogs trusted Polaris. He had had much experience with
+their kind, and never had he seen one that in the end he could not make
+his friend. Unhesitatingly he extended his hand and crossed the floor
+to where the big beast stood. He guessed that it must have come in
+with the old man whom he had glimpsed, and had been left behind when
+the silent visitor had made his hurried departure. As he drew nearer,
+Polaris saw that the animal wore a broad leather collar, bossed with
+gold.
+
+Unhurriedly, the son of the snows approached the brute until there was
+not the space of a yard between them. There he paused. The dog neither
+shrank nor cowered, but waited with muscles tensed and teeth exposed.
+Polaris was very watchful.
+
+"Good fellow," he said.
+
+At the sound of the man's voice, the dog shifted his position slightly.
+His head swayed. From Polaris's face he glanced to the outstretched
+hand. The bristling hackles at his neck subsided. He took a stiff
+step forward, then another. The tip of his cold muzzle touched the
+man's fingers. He sniffed. A long, red tongue crept forth and licked
+Polaris's hand. Another step, and the brute rubbed his great head
+against the man's thigh.
+
+"Ah; I thought you would," said Polaris. "Come on." He turned and
+crossed the hall to his sleeping chamber. The dog padded beside him on
+silent feet. The last thing the son of the snows heard, after he had
+called Brooks to take the watch, and closed his eyes to slumber, was
+the sigh of the huge beast as it stretched itself before his open door.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Worn of body and of nerves, Polaris slumbered deeply. Shamar rose high
+in the east and lighted the golden spires of his mighty temple in Adlaz
+town; still the man slept on, and as he slept, he dreamed. Far into the
+white, mysterious southland his fancies led, to a waste of ice and snow
+and bitter winds. He drove a team of splendid dogs--his gray brothers
+they seemed to be in the dream, those tried friends who had given their
+lives for their master, and of whom Marcus, if he still lived, was the
+last.
+
+On the sledge which the dogs drew, rode Rose Emer, wrapped in furs,
+as in truth she once had ridden. There, too--and even in the dream he
+seemed strangely out of place--was the Maeronican captain. Yes, Oleric
+the Red trudged through the snows beside the sledge, clad in his golden
+armor, his teeth chattering in the chill blasts of the wilderness, and
+bearing in his hand a naked sword.
+
+Danger, unseen, unknown, but frightful, encompassed the wanderers in
+the snow path. The dogs snarled and tore at their harness. Oleric ran
+forward, waving his sword, which seemed to drip blood on the white
+snows, and shouting.
+
+"Up, brother, and call off this beast of yours!" the red captain cried.
+"For soon must we go before Bel-Ar."
+
+With those words ringing in his ears, Polaris awoke. He sprang from his
+couch to the middle of the chamber. No dream's part was the shouting of
+Oleric. He stood in the hall before the chamber door, his lips still
+parted and a smile on his ruddy face.
+
+And the snarling of a dog--that, too, was real.
+
+Planted squarely in the doorway, hackles bristling, ears erect and
+fangs bared, was the immense animal with which Polaris had made friends
+in the night watches. All through the dark hours and the dawning, the
+beast had guarded the door, suffering none to approach it. He now
+barred the way to Oleric, and the chamber echoed to his angry challenge.
+
+"By the ten kings!" exclaimed the captain with a laugh. "You do raise
+up friends wherever you go, my brother. Here is one that dearly would
+love to make a breakfast off my lean shanks, armored as they are, and
+all because I would tell you that Shamar has brought to us another day."
+
+At the call of Polaris, the dog backed out of the doorway, but still
+with a wary and suspicious eye to the movements of the red captain.
+
+Mordo, the prison captain, was not in attendance, but certain of his
+servants were spreading the table near the center of the hall. The
+Americans and the Sardanians were gathered in a group about one of the
+pillars.
+
+Everson looked wan, like one whose pillow had been ridden by evil
+visions. The others of the party seemed in better spirits and were
+talking among themselves. Zenas Wright gave evidence that his
+scientific zeal had only lain dormant. For now he noted all about him
+with a keen and kinding interest, paying his attention especially to
+the architecture of the lordly hall which had housed them, and its
+sculptures, of which there were many. Young Brooks' interest was fully
+as keen, if more material, as that of the geologist. The eyes of the
+ensign were all for the table preparations.
+
+Seeing the party thus, and the broad bands of sunlight which streamed
+into the hall through windows of crystal high in the masonry, Polaris
+grew shamefaced.
+
+"Now it seems that I alone, who of all should be wakeful, have slept
+dully like a wintered bear," he muttered.
+
+"'Tis well. You have gained strength which perhaps shall not come
+amiss," Oleric answered.
+
+Near the center of the hall a fountain played, its spray falling
+through a bar of sunshine which changed the silver drops to gold as
+they fell. Calling his morning greetings to his friend, Polaris went
+thither and laved his face and hands and smoothed his mass of tawny
+hair. The dog followed close at heel and lapped greedily from the
+fountain's basin.
+
+"Strange that this brute should be here," said Oleric. "Do you know
+what manner of beast this is that so befriends you, Polaris?"
+
+Polaris shook his head; nor did he at that time see fit to acquaint
+Oleric with the circumstances of the dog's appearance.
+
+"This is one of the dogs the priests keep at the temple of Shamar," the
+captain informed. "There are few of the breed in the land, and all are
+at the temples of the god in the cities. Almost as sacred are these
+brutes as are the bulls, whereof you already know, and are likely to
+learn more. The holy men do say of them that they are dwelt in by the
+souls of heroes passed away, whom Shamar chooses to guard his temple
+gates, even as the bulls are inhabited by the souls of dead kings.
+
+"I do not believe such tales," he added quickly. "But now you will
+see why Bel-Ar will be more than passing wroth at the death of the
+bull, believing as he does that it is a dwelling place for one of his
+ancestors, and that you may, indeed, have slain his father or his
+grandfather."
+
+Oleric, who had breakfasted, sat by while the others ate. The dog,
+from the collar of which the captain read the name Rombar, signifying
+thunder, stood behind the seat of Polaris and ate with dignity whatever
+his self-appointed master passed to him. But he would take food from no
+other hand, not even from Rose Emer, who liked all dogs.
+
+Thereafter, sleeping or waking, the huge beast remained at Polaris's
+side, and none could coax him thence. And many Maeronicans deemed that
+strange. But as no man, not even Shamar's priests, dared to interfere
+with the sacred brutes, except when they played their parts in the
+ceremonials of the god, the attendance of Rombar upon the stranger was
+permitted.
+
+Under a guard of mailed foot-soldiers, led by Brunar, who was a captain
+in the palace regiment, the prisoners were marched from the ancient
+palace of Bel-Tisam to the newer palace of Bel-Ar. At their right, as
+they passed up the street called Chedar's Flight, was the wall, pierced
+by many gateways, of the Place of Games, with its basalt amphitheater
+and its arena.
+
+As they passed they heard the hoofs of galloping steeds, the rumble of
+chariot wheels, and the cries of the charioteers, where the young lords
+of Adlaz exercised their horses. From slits in the wall low down near
+the pavement, issued the howling and snarling of wild beasts; for a
+menagerie was a part of the equipment of the Place of Games.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Beyond the hippodrome, their way led around half the circle of the
+broad drive on which the four main avenues gave, and which surrounded
+the wonderful gardens of the Temple of the Sun. The Americans, three
+of whose number were widely traveled, marveled anew at the splendor of
+that mighty pile of white marble, its lofty columns, towers and domes,
+dazzling in the sunlight, their golden caps ablaze. Luxor and Karnac in
+the days when Pharaoh Rameses ruled in Egypt could not have shown the
+equal of this structure.
+
+With armed men clanking on each side, the captives entered through a
+massive peristyle of vari-colored pillars which was the portal to the
+house of the king. Along a corridor in which four elephants might have
+found way and clearance to walk abreast, the guards conducted them. At
+each end of the corridor there stood ajar tall gates of bronze, their
+bars interlaced with heavy patterns of gleaming gold, encrusted with
+the luminous metal, known in Maeronica as orichalcum, and set with many
+precious gems.
+
+Through the second gateway the prisoners were marched, and were in the
+audience chamber of Bel-Ar, the great king. It was similar in shape to
+the place where they had been quartered for the night; but there all
+similitude ceased. Bel-Tisam of old had sat in a plain and massive hall
+and been content. The house of Bel-Ar held treasures in metals and gems
+on its sculptured walls and pillars, aye, and on its floors, too, which
+could have paid the national debt of a wide and wasteful state.
+
+Dull gold smoldered underfoot in the mosaic of the pavement. Gold
+and orichalcum glittered and shimmered on pillar and wall. Chairs
+and tables of stone and bronze and polished woods were heavy with
+the precious metal. Set in the bases of the seventy and six pillars
+which upheld the roof were patterns gorgeous in agate, lapis-lazuli,
+turquoise, quartz, and rock-crystal. Other and similar panels
+adorned the walls. Farther up, where the work in gold and orichalcum
+began--placed so high, perhaps, to be out of reach of avaricious
+fingers--were more precious stones. There topaz, moonstone, amethyst,
+opal, sapphire, diamond, and priceless ruby and emerald flaunted their
+hundred fires.
+
+"Lordy!" muttered Zenas Wright under his breath to Ensign Brooks as
+they crossed the hall. "Give me a pick and a ladder and a half hour
+alone in which to use them, and you may have and welcome the rubies of
+Sardanes which went down with the _Minnetonka_."
+
+Near a fountain, the jets of which fell and flowed over a grotto of
+opalescent glass lighted from within, sat the master of all this
+splendor, Bel-Ar, king of Maeronica and lord of the underseas. On no
+raised dais or lofty throne sat this monarch who was absolute in his
+own land. A high-backed chair of carved black wood sufficed him, raised
+from the flooring on a single slab of red porphyry, scarcely twelve
+inches high. On another chair at his right sat his queen. The two
+were in the center of a wide crescent of seats and benches, whereon
+sat the nobles and ladies of Maeronica who made up the court. Without
+the semicircle stood attendants and slaves. Farther back, ranged in
+a double line, was one full company, one hundred men, of the palace
+guard, all in bronze mail, and each carrying his bared sword.
+
+Like a dull moth among a concourse of gaudy and fluttering butterflies
+was this powerful Maeronican king. He was attired simply in cloth
+of dark blue. A cloak of the same material had fallen back from his
+shoulders. On his knee rested a flat black cap of the same pattern
+that his meanest sailors wore. Only a light circlet of twisted gold,
+fashioned in the semblance of a slender serpent, set on his heavy
+black hair above his temples, and a short, broad sword which swung at
+his belt, distinguished the garb of Bel-Ar from that of the ordinary
+citizen of Adlaz.
+
+Seeing these things, one looked into the king's face for royalty,
+and found it there. He sat with an elbow on the arm of his chair,
+his chin cupped in his right hand, so that it hid his mouth. His
+forehead was broad and low, his nose short and tilted slightly at
+its tip. His cheeks were rounded and well-shaped. His ears, almost
+hidden in the black hair, which was cut evenly around his neck, were
+small and delicately turned as a woman's. But every other feature was
+cast into insignificance and forgotten, when one looked at the king's
+eyes. Set far apart, they were extraordinarily large, and black, so
+that iris and pupil seemed as one. They were the eyes of a mystic, a
+far-seeing dreamer, but filled with subdued fires; eyes of a strong and
+self-willed man, one not to be tampered with or led. In contrast to
+them, the skin of the face was fair, almost pallid. The king's figure
+was above medium height, broad and powerfully framed. His years were
+not more than thirty-seven.
+
+As the prisoners were brought near to him, Bel-Ar had fallen into a fit
+of abstraction. He gazed fixedly across the hall, seeing it not, nor
+its people and its walls. At his feet a little slave boy sat asleep,
+his head leaned against the leg of his king's chair, his small golden
+harp fallen across his lap.
+
+If Bel-Ar was the dull moth, his consort, Queen Raissa, who sat beside
+him, was the most gorgeous of all the butterflies. She was younger than
+the king, by a full ten years. Her face was small and flower-like, with
+pouting lips and proud blue eyes that shone like stars. Hair yellow as
+the golden, shell-shaped comb which was set in it, was piled high on
+her head, and was yet in such abundance that two heavy braids fell down
+across her shoulders. She was robed in a graceful gown of pale blue,
+the bodice of which blazed with gems. Her fingers toyed with a costly
+fan, whereof the stem was ivory and the sticks the colored plumes of
+rare birds. She gazed curiously at the strangers whom the soldiers
+brought in, and when her eyes alighted upon Oleric they became eager.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At the edge of the open space just beyond the semicircle of the
+courtiers, the guards halted. For a few moments the silence in the hall
+was broken only by the low-toned gossip of gay lords and ladies, who
+paid scant attention to guards or prisoners. Then the queen touched
+Bel-Ar's knee with her fan and spoke a few words in his ear. He started
+from his reverie.
+
+"Come hither, Brunar," he said in a deep, low voice. As he raised his
+head, it was to be seen that his chin was square and heavy, but that
+his mouth was lacking in the strength of his other features.
+
+Brunar made his report, and was replaced by Oleric the Red, who bowed
+low before the king, his ready smile playing about his lips.
+
+"You would make report of a fademe lost, Captain Oleric," said the
+king. "Doubtless a small matter to you, but meaning much to me, who ill
+can spare my fademes." He frowned.
+
+"Not so, O king," replied the captain, composing his features and
+speaking earnestly. "As you know, not all of our engineers have learned
+to govern wisely the mighty force that gives the fademes life."
+
+Bel-Ar nodded. "That is true," he said. "Now what of this engineer of
+yours?"
+
+"Why, he was a careless fellow, and whoof! one day under his hands went
+engine and fademe. They lie in fragments on the sea-bottom near the
+great south cape on the way to the ocean named Pacific, and the crew
+lies with them."
+
+"How is it, then, that you stand here to make report?"
+
+"My star watched over me, O king. I floated to the surface, alone of
+all the fademe's crew. On the wreckage of the cabin I floated. I had
+by me my hamess (mask). I donned it. Later my senses departed me. I
+was taken up by a ship from the northern world, and was treated with
+kindness by these whom you see here. Driven by storm, that ship came to
+the coast of Maeronica, and--"
+
+"Enough; I had the rest of the tale from Brunar," interposed Bel-Ar.
+
+"But of your mission to the far Pacific? What of that?" questioned
+Raissa, leaning forward eagerly.
+
+Again Oleric smiled, and smiling, drew from his belt a small leather
+bag. He advanced, and kneeling, handed the bag to the queen.
+
+"Oh! Lovely!" she gasped as she poured a part of its contents into her
+palm--pearls, five score or more of them, as fine as ever came from the
+ocean bed, she held. One great and lustrous globe of faint rose-pink
+she seized upon with a cry of delight. She held it out toward the
+king. "See! Is it not beautiful?" she exclaimed. She turned to the red
+captain.
+
+"You have done well, indeed, good Oleric," she said quickly. "My king
+shall forgive you for the lost fademe, the losing of which was surely
+no fault of yours. And these--these be worth many fademes to me." She
+selected two of the pearls of fair size and goodly sheen and gave them
+to Oleric.
+
+"You did venture your life to get them. Perchance some maid of Adlaz
+town shall look on you more kindly for the gift," she said.
+
+Bel-Ar frowned; then he smiled, too.
+
+"Well, Raissa has said it. I must agree, I suppose. I forgive you the
+fademe," he said, somewhat dryly, while the lords and ladies laughed.
+"Only sail no more ships at present, captain. Get you to the harbor,
+and there for a space relieve Atlo as captain of the port. I have need
+of him at the Kimbrian Wall, where the robbers of Ruthar have grown
+overbold.
+
+"Now, another matter." The king's brow clouded. "Which of these
+foreigners slew the bull of Shamar? This one surely." He pointed to
+Minos. "Never saw I such a man."
+
+"No, O king, not he," Oleric said. "He is from a far land in the
+southern snow wastes, which was destroyed by the earth-fires. There he
+was the king. The other one, the golden-haired man, it was, who slew
+the bull--to save a child--"
+
+"Have done. The reason for the deed avails him not," Bel-Ar broke in.
+"Have him come hither, that I may judge."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Oleric fetched Polaris Janess into the space before the throne. The son
+of the snows advanced with a firm step and halted directly in front of
+Bel-Ar, where he gazed at the king with steady eyes. Close at his heels
+came the great dog Rombar.
+
+"Why does the man not bow?" inquired Bel-Ar harshly. "Where learned he
+his manners? And how does it come that he is attended by a sacred dog
+of Shamar, that seems ready to do battle for him?"
+
+In truth, Rombar, who feared not kings, was ready for battle. He stood
+at the side of Polaris, his hackles raised and a rumbling challenge in
+his throat.
+
+Bel-Ar regarded the pair of them sternly, though many in his court
+found much to admire in the powerful form and steadfast demeanor of the
+son of the wilderness.
+
+Oleric spoke hastily in English. "Bow, brother; bow to the king; though
+I fear that 'twill not mend matters," he grumbled.
+
+Polaris inclined his head shortly and continued to meet the gaze of the
+angered king. "His bow is grudging enough," said Bel-Ar to the captain;
+"but no matter."
+
+Just then a tall old man in white and flowing robes came forward to
+the left of Bel-Ar's seat. He was lean of face, like an ancient hawk,
+and like a hawk's was his thin, curved beak. His eyes glittered with
+malice. On his breast, done in gold in the garment he wore, was the
+likeness of the rising sun, the insignia of the priests of Shamar.
+
+Well Polaris knew that shape and face. It was the master chuckler that
+had disturbed him the night before.
+
+"This man is marked by Shamar," the priest said in a high, cracked
+voice, and regarding Polaris hatefully. "As for the dog, 'tis sent by
+the god to watch that the man escape not his doom."
+
+"Oleric, hold your peace," said Bel-Ar, as the stout captain was about
+to speak. "And flout not the holy Rhaen, lest it be the worse for
+you. I will judge." The king paused and ran his eyes over the other
+prisoners.
+
+"He that slew the sacred bull, he shall be given over to the servants
+of Shamar, to be done with as the god shall will at the feast of years.
+He that was a king, he shall now serve a greater king. Let him be sent
+to the harbor, where strong backs are always welcome. The other two
+young men shall go into my mines. The old one shall be a scullion in my
+kitchens, as harder work doubtless would kill him.
+
+"Take the two women and the slayer of the bull to the prison and keep
+them fast until Shamar claims them for the feast. The women must die.
+The law commands that no foreign woman, however fair, shall live in
+Maeronica. So may the ancient blood never be tainted. I have judged.
+Let it be so, and so writ down, unless the holy Rhaen, chief servant to
+Shamar, has other claims." Bel-Ar looked inquiringly at the priest.
+
+Now it chanced that Lieutenant Everson, face to face with the man by
+whose decree his ship had perished, had fixed on the king a glance of
+undying hatred. None had noted it except the priest, Rhaen, who saw all
+things. He now asked that the naval man be turned over to the god along
+with Polaris. Bel-Ar nodded his assent.
+
+At a sign from the king, Oleric led Polaris back to his companions.
+The judgment was ended. The guards closed in around the prisoners and
+marched them away.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER IV
+
+                       "DEAD MEN ARE BEHIND US"
+
+
+Along the black avenue, back to the prison house of Mordo, the captives
+were marched. For Oleric, through the friendship Brunar bore him, won
+from that captain the half of a day for his friends, that they might
+pass it together before the separation decreed by Bel-Ar.
+
+Understanding little of what had taken place, and no word of what had
+been said in the audience-chamber of the king--for Oleric the Red was
+their only interpreter--the prisoners still had the heart to look with
+curiosity upon the doings in that part of Adlaz town which lay along
+the way that they traversed.
+
+As Zenas Wright trudged, his bright old eyes were busy, and he shook
+his white head often at the marvels which he saw. A group of the
+young bloods of Maeronica clattered by on horses. As they passed, the
+old geologist stared and stopped in his tracks, so that an impatient
+soldier of the guard hustled him with the butt of a spear.
+
+"Gold, gold, everywhere," muttered Zenas as he started on. "They even
+shoe their horses with it."
+
+In the hall where they had slept the friends gathered for council.
+Oleric had come in with them, and all eyes were turned to him. Before
+he would speak the captain insisted that meat and wine should be
+brought, and he set his helmet on the floor and ate with them.
+
+Fate willed that it should be the last time that the seven friends
+should sit at the same table.
+
+When the meal was ended, Oleric told simply and briefly of the judgment
+of Bel-Ar, holding back nothing.
+
+For a moment, silence was his answer. Then Zenas Wright brought his
+jaws together with a snap.
+
+"What! Me a scullion in that barbarian's greasy kitchen!" he barked.
+"Why not nursemaid to the royal brats?" Then Zenas groaned as his anger
+was swallowed in the realization of what was to befall the friends he
+whom had come to love so well.
+
+With his topaz eyes ablaze, Polaris Janess sprang up from the table and
+stood over the captain.
+
+"You, Oleric, who call yourself my friend, why did you not interpret
+this to us while we were in the hall yonder?" he asked quietly. "Then
+had this kingdom been kingless." He glanced down at his sinewy hands.
+Suddenly he bent over and snatched the captain's sword from its sheath.
+So he, who had seen so much of fighting, made ready to fight again, and
+for the last time. For what else was left him but to give his life for
+his lady and go to his appointed place?
+
+"Of those who come to take us, some at least shall go a long journey
+with us," he said as he toyed with the heavy blade.
+
+Everson and Brooks, picked men who had sailed the seas for Uncle Sam,
+nodded their heads, saying nothing. There have been traditions in that
+service of which they were officers. When their time came they would
+uphold them.
+
+White and straight, the Lady Memene stood up from the table and fixed
+her glorious eyes upon the Sardanian king. She plucked from the bosom
+of her gown a small, keen dagger, a blade of ilium, which a certain
+Kard the Smith had forged for her in far-away Sardanes. She reached the
+weapon across the table and into the hands of Minos.
+
+"If I understand the words of this man aright, death waiteth," she said
+in the ancient Greek of her native land. "Memene prefers it at thy
+hands, O king of mine. Slay thou me and--and the unborn king, Minos."
+Her lips trembled pitifully, and her voice broke. Then she became hard
+again, and with a fire in her eyes. "Join thou then with our good
+brother here, and slay, and slay, and slay--for this is an evil land.
+And begin with this man whom we saved from the sea, and who is evil,
+also. See! He smileth, while we are about to die."
+
+Oleric, who had made no move when his sword was taken from him, sat
+quietly, studying the faces about him and smiling his enigmatical smile.
+
+"What does the lady say?" he asked of Polaris.
+
+Janess told him.
+
+When Rose Emer heard, she threw her arms about the Sardanian princess
+and hid her face in Memene's bosom. Presently she looked up, a mist of
+tears in her gray eyes, but her voice was clear and steady as she said:
+
+"If we are to die, let us die together. Polaris, let me go with Memene."
+
+Oleric's smile vanished. He held up his hand.
+
+"Let there be no more talk of dying--at least not for many long years,"
+he said, and there were both feeling and strength in his tones.
+
+The others looked at him, wondering what his words portended.
+
+"Now the time has come for me to avow myself," continued the red
+captain. "I will speak all that has been in my mind, and you shall
+judge if I be worthy of your trust--for trust to me you must, if we are
+to see a straight way out of this tangle."
+
+He turned to Polaris.
+
+"My brother," he said, "do you recall that yesterday, when you had
+slain the bull of Shamar, I said to you that Bel-Ar would be as little
+likely to forgive you that deed as to forgive one who confessed himself
+a follower of the Goddess Glorian of Ruthar?"
+
+Polaris nodded. "I remember," he answered, "but understand not."
+
+"That is my crime," said Oleric. "I am of Ruthar, a follower of the
+Goddess Glorian, and a faithful one. I will make clear to you what you
+do not understand. Listen. I will make the tale brief.
+
+"In the long ago, the very long ago--so long that most of the world
+you know was wilderness and its peoples barbarians--a mighty people
+flourished on an island in the ocean that you name Atlantic. They
+called themselves the Children of Ad, or Adlaz, after the eldest of the
+ten kings that once ruled in that land. Tradition has it that their
+island was the first cradle of civilization; for they, because of their
+isolation, alone of all the peoples of the earth, dwelt in peace and
+plenty, and were not wasted by wars.
+
+"If the ancient maps were truly drawn, that island of Adlaz lay
+opposite and southward from the straits of a fair sea, and the straits
+were known as the Pillars of Heracles. With time and the growth of
+the nation of Ad came greed upon her children, greed and the love of
+conquest. Great navies carried their armies east and west. Along both
+shores of that blue sea, which you know as Mediterranean, they gained a
+foothold, and made the nations bend to their yoke. Westward they sailed
+to another continent across the ocean, conquering the red men of the
+wildernesses there, and founding provinces and building cities.
+
+"Then in the flower of her pride and conquests, Adlaz was cut down.
+Both sides of the Mediterranean she held as far as the gates of Egypt
+and the islands of the Hellenes. But the nation of the Hellenes was
+the rock on which the fortunes of Adlaz split. A wise and crafty king
+led the Hellenes in battle to withstand the flood of invasion from the
+island empire. He beat their army and nearly destroyed it. He trapped
+the mighty navy that had sailed from Adlaz against the Hellenes. While
+Egypt sat quaking, waiting to bend the neck to the heel of the invader,
+the Hellenes, under their wise leader, turned the tide.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Balked and broken, those who had gone forth to conquer returned to
+their island. But the great sea-god whom they worshiped must have been
+sorely angered at their failure. For in one day he arose and swallowed
+their island. The land heaved and split; the mountains were rent, and
+vomited up both fires and waters, and the entire island disappeared
+into the depths of the sea. East and west on the two continents, the
+barbarians rose against the colonies of Adlaz, and they too perished.
+O'Connell, the slave, who was learned, told me that so utterly was the
+race of Adlaz wiped from the earth that naught remains, excepting the
+half-buried ruins of some of their cities, which stand in the jungles
+of the western continent, concerning the very origin of which the minds
+of men are vague. And of the island of Adlaz itself, he told that it
+was only a dim tradition, a myth, the truth of which is doubted even by
+the learned.
+
+"But all of Adlaz did not perish. A part, a small part, of the mighty
+fleet which had sailed against the Hellenes was not lost, but was
+driven southward in the tidal-waves of the inundation which swallowed
+the island.
+
+"Afloat, but with every hand in the world turned against them, their
+colonies crumbling before the wrath of the barbarians, those chiefs of
+Adlaz turned for guidance to the son of one of their princes who was on
+one of the ships. Of his wisdom that prince told them that since they
+were hated of all the world, and that even the hand of the sea-god was
+set against them--why, they would sail to the end of the world to find
+them an abiding place, until in the fulness of time they should once
+more rule the earth. So they passed like a flame down the coasts of the
+western continent until they reached this place; and here they stopped
+and stayed, maintaining the old traditions of their race, keeping
+themselves apart--a hateful people, waiting for the day of which their
+leader told them, when they shall once more conquer the world.
+
+"But even in those days they found this land, which is warmed strangely
+by the ocean currents, was inhabited. A free and fearless race of
+barbarians dwelt here, and them the warriors of Adlaz were never able
+to subdue. Great beasts dwelt here, also--beasts so mighty that the
+earth shook when they walked--and the Children of Ad found themselves
+beset by troubles in their new land. But they throve. Though they
+could not conquer the barbarians, they drove them from the north of
+the island. And though they could not slay the mighty beasts, they
+affrighted them with fire, burning whole forests, and forced them also
+to the south. At one point the land is narrow, scarcely sixty of your
+English miles across. There the Children of Ad builded them a wall so
+tall and thick that even the beasts might not push it down.
+
+"On the other side of that wall--the Kimbrian Wall--lies Ruthar, a land
+of forests and hills and rivers, but a fair land. And there dwell the
+Rutharians and the beasts; and down through all the years to this day
+there has been war across the wall.
+
+"Now to the meat of this tale of mine, which grows long. In Ruthar
+there is a prophecy, also, to match that of those who call themselves
+Maeronicans. It is that there shall come up from the sea a mighty man
+with yellow hair like unto gold, who shall break down the Kimbrian
+Wall and let the beasts pass through, and who shall lead the chiefs
+of Ruthar in a warfare that shall break the power of Adlaz, and cast
+down the hateful kings and the cruel religion of Shamar. For that man
+the Rutharian chieftains always wait, and with them waits the Goddess
+Glorian, who is more than any king or chief."
+
+Oleric paused, and looked long and earnestly into the face of Polaris.
+
+"That is my tale, my brother," he said. "And if you are not the man of
+the ancient prophecy of Ruthar, at least I believe that you will serve."
+
+Breathlessly Zenas Wright had followed the course of the red captain's
+words. The scientist could contain himself no longer.
+
+"_Atlantis!_" he cried. From face to face about the table he looked,
+with a shadow of awe in his eager eyes. "Just so surely as we are
+sitting here--if this man tells the truth, and I think that he does--we
+are among the descendants of the people of the lost continent of
+Atlantis. Word for word, his story fits in with that which the old
+Egyptian priest at Sais told to Solon, the Greek, and which Plato
+recorded. I have read it all in the compilation by Ignatius Donnelly,
+in which he gathered all the evidence which he could find in the world
+to prove that Atlantis was not a myth."
+
+Zenas sat back with half-closed eyes. A long, low whistle passed his
+lips.
+
+"What do you call the luminous metal with which your helmet and armor
+are decorated?" he asked of Oleric.
+
+"It is called orichalcum," replied the captain.
+
+Wright nodded. "It is the same," he said. "Plato wrote that such was
+the name of a similar metal, of which the Atlanteans had the secret.
+They delved it from the ground. It was far more precious to them than
+gold. In their temples stood columns of it, on which their laws were
+carved."
+
+"O'Connell told me that there were still traditions in the world of the
+continent that was; but he never told me this," Oleric said. "You are
+right. In the Temple of Shamar, here in Adlaz, such a column stands,
+and on it the laws are writ. On it, too, is the prophecy of Maeronica,
+against which I now match the prophecy of Ruthar, whose son I am."
+
+He looked at Polaris. "Say, brother, how is it with you? Are you minded
+to come with me to Ruthar and try a tilt at the Kimbrian Wall--a tilt
+for a kingdom?"
+
+Polaris had heard the tale of Oleric with grave and earnest attention,
+studying the face of the captain as he talked. Now the son of the snows
+laughed dryly.
+
+"Mad talk, Oleric the Red," he said. "I am not the hero of your
+prophecy; and if I were, how are we to come from Adlaz to this Ruthar
+of which you tell us so glibly; and when we are come there, if that be
+possible, how are we to break down the wall which has stood against
+your armies for years--"
+
+"So it must seem to you," interrupted Oleric, with clouding brow. "Mad
+talk, indeed; and perhaps it is. But here in Adlaz is death--death and
+slavery. I know a way to Ruthar. For the matter of the wall, I have one
+question to put. Well answered, all will be well.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Here in Maeronica there are some few things in which the folk have
+progressed as far ahead of the rest of the world as the world has
+outstripped them in most others. Of these are the fademes and their
+power of destruction--the mighty force of which even I know can only be
+used beneath the sea. On land, that force is powerless except to use
+as a light. In battle the Maeronicans fight as did their forefathers,
+bearing the arms that you have seen. I know that out in the world men
+have mastered the secret of engines which slay from afar, casting
+globes of metal which fly apart with a loud noise, rending all that is
+near. Such I saw on the ship yonder.
+
+"We have, as you reckon time, nearly six months before the Feast of
+Years, when doom will be meted out to those who are marked for death.
+I know that is not time enough, nor do I think we have the means to
+construct such engines. But, say--has no one among you the knowledge to
+make the stuff which you feed into them? If there is such a one, why,
+I know in Ruthar a laboratory where he might work, with many willing
+hands to do his bidding. I have tried it myself, but have discovered
+nothing. Surely one of you, who are instructed, shall do better. So
+might we destroy even the great wall."
+
+He paused, and gazed hard at Zenas Wright and then at Lieutenant
+Everson.
+
+"_An explosive!_" Zenas Wright almost shouted the words. "You have a
+brain in that red head, my boy. With the proper chemicals it might be
+done." He clapped Everson on the shoulder. "With you to help me, it
+might be done. What do you think, lieutenant?"
+
+"I would do most anything to get a chance at this nest of devils," said
+Everson, and his eyes glittered. "I have not trusted this man. I do
+not know that I trust him now. But if he is playing fair, there seems
+no other way. Whatever you decide to do, I am with you, and will do my
+best. If we can find the chemicals, we can make an explosive powerful
+enough to move a few tons of stone, if that will do any good."
+
+"Break you the wall, and I will promise you the rest of the trick,"
+the captain cried, "or Ruthar will die to the last man on the road to
+Adlaz!"
+
+He considered for a moment.
+
+"One man I can surely take with me to Ruthar," he said. "Two will
+double, aye more than double the risk; and three would more than triple
+it. Still, it may be accomplished. I must have a little time; but I
+will do my best.
+
+"Now, my brother, what say you? If I can bring it about so that you and
+the old man here, Father Zenas, and this other, who, though he trust me
+not, I will yet play fair by--if I can manage it that these go with me
+to Ruthar--will you come, also?"
+
+"What of these others?" Polaris asked, and looked at Rose Emer.
+
+"Here they must stay," Oleric answered.
+
+"'Twill be hard enough to take the three of you--and slaying will be
+done before it is accomplished. It is impossible to take more. By the
+way which we shall go, no woman might pass undetected. But I tell you
+they shall come to no harm in your absence. The very law of the land
+protects them. They be marked for the ceremonies of Shamar. Until the
+appointed time, not even the king himself dare harm them. Bethink you,
+brother; this is the only way."
+
+"Yonder on the ship you made a promise, Oleric," replied Polaris. "I
+think you will try to keep it. I trust you. But there are other things
+to consider." He addressed himself to Rose Emer.
+
+"Lady, you have heard this madness, which yet, as says the captain,
+does seem to be the only road save that to death. In such things
+ofttimes the heart of a woman is wiser than the brains of men. Let your
+heart answer. Shall I go to Ruthar, and with this man and his people
+fight my way back to Adlaz, if it may be done?"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"The future of this company hangs on your word, lady," put in Oleric.
+"And I make another promise. By day and by night I will not leave the
+side of my brother. If he shall find that in any word I have lied, if
+he shall meet with any treachery through me, then let him wring this
+red head from off my shoulders."
+
+"If we stay here, we must die to-day, or be separated and die later,"
+Rose Emer said with a shudder. "And our friends, if they do not die,
+face a life of slavery." She looked into the face of Polaris, and
+though her lips trembled and the tears started to her gray eyes, she
+said bravely:
+
+"Go to Ruthar, and come back if you can. If you do not come, I will
+know that you have done all that a man can do."
+
+"I will go with you, Oleric," Polaris said simply. "Now, what is your
+plan?"
+
+"This," answered the captain. "When the guards come, as they will
+presently, you, my brother, will go with them to the dungeons that lie
+below this house. Though they are cut in the rock they are lighted well
+and are not terrible. You will not fare badly there. The ladies will be
+quartered above here, and I will exert my influence to see that they
+are treated well. These others will not fare so well; but they are men,
+and can stand it. Let them do as they are bid without protest. Within
+ten days from this day I will plan to have you out of your prison, and
+will contrive, also, to bring with me Father Zenas and the captain
+of the ship. By stealth or by force, we shall seize a marizel, pass
+through the hidden canal from Adlaz to the harbor, thence to the sea
+and down the coast to Ruthar.
+
+"I shall have some aid; for within the walls of Adlaz there is one
+other man of Ruthar who is faithful to me. You may wonder how it is
+that I, who am of Ruthar and hate Adlaz, yet am a captain in the
+service of Bel-Ar. Years ago I passed the Kimbrian Wall, coming as a
+spy and giving it out that I was the son of Maeronican parents taken
+captive in a foray; that I had been born in Ruthar, but had escaped
+into my own country. Here I have stayed at the bidding of the Goddess
+Glorian, ready against the time for which all Ruthar waits. Bel-Ar
+likes men of brains. I have some, and I have risen to be one of his
+captains. Also, I have learned much. That is all my story."
+
+"Who is the Goddess Glorian?" Rose Emer asked. "Is she the queen of
+Ruthar?"
+
+Oleric's eyes widened at the question; but he answered readily enough:
+
+"Yes, lady; she is the queen."
+
+"You say that there are great beasts in Ruthar," said Zenas Wright.
+"What are they--elephants?"
+
+"No; they are not what you call elephants," replied the captain.
+"O'Connell thought they were until he saw them. Then he gave them
+another name, which I have forgot. He told me of elephants; but they
+must be puny beasts compared to those which dwell in the forests of
+Ruthar. We call them amalocs. This man is a giant." He pointed to
+Minos, who stood six feet eight on his naked feet. "But were he twice
+as tall, he could not look across the back of an amaloc. But they are
+shaped like the elephants of which O'Connell told, and, like them, they
+are tusked. Their bodies are covered with red wool--almost as red as is
+my own thatch."
+
+"_Elephas primigenius!_ Mammoths, no less," said Zenas. And he added
+under his breath, "I will believe that when I see them, my friend."
+
+Low as were his words, Oleric heard them.
+
+"You shall see them, Father Zenas," he said, and laughed.
+
+Presently came the guards, and the friends were separated. Some of them
+were never to be reunited.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Deep in the rock below the old palace of Bel-Tisam, where Mordo ruled,
+the guards led Polaris Janess, and left him there. Oleric had spoken
+truly concerning the place, and the captive might have fared much worse
+in a modern prison in a civilized land. For the place was roomy and
+well ventilated, and, above all, it was clean. A chamber or cell, it
+was, some forty feet square by thirty feet in height. Its outer wall
+was the living rock. On the other three sides was masonry. A circular
+door of bronze, small and of great strength, was its only entrance.
+
+Through that door from the corridor without stepped Polaris, and behind
+him, close as a shadow, padded the huge dog, Rombar, rumbling in his
+throat so that the guards shrank from him. The door clanged shut, and
+the bars and wards clashed into place. The guards had neither bound
+nor chained Polaris. They had not even searched his clothing. The
+thickness of the dungeon walls was their guarantee that he would do no
+mischief; and besides, they went well armed.
+
+Air entered the chamber through mortises in the wall near the ceiling
+and above the ground level, where began the foundation of the
+palace. It was lighted by a single globe, with its enclosed curious
+battery--mitzl, the Maeronicans called it; but the Americans had
+decided that the source of the light was some new application of
+electricity.
+
+By the light from the globe Polaris saw that he was not alone in the
+cell. A small man, whose features were concealed by a mat of unkempt
+gray hair and a shaggy beard, sat on a low cot in the angle of the wall
+nearest to the door. He was clothed in rags.
+
+This man did not look up when another was thrust in to break his
+solitude, but bent low over something which he had on the cot, swaying
+back and forth as he sat, and crooning softly to himself.
+
+Polaris cast his fellow prisoner a glance, and then fell to pacing
+up and down the length of the cell. His mood was gloomy. Above him
+somewhere through those gray walls dwelt his dear lady; but, ah, how
+far away! For he was powerless now to comfort her or to aid. Oleric
+would keep faith. Of that he was sure; but his heart misgave him
+mightily lest the plans of the captain should go awry.
+
+Yes; above him were Rose and Lady Memene, who through the long weeks of
+their prisonment, each night when they went to rest, would kneel and
+pray for his welfare and that of Minos and the others, and that all
+plans might prevail.
+
+Presently the son of the snows sat himself on a second cot on the far
+side of the chamber, and fell to fondling Rombar and toying with the
+dog's pointed ears.
+
+"Good Rombar," he said. "Good fellow and comrade."
+
+At his words, the man in the corner sprang up from his cot as though
+fire had touched him. He shrieked hoarsely and tottered across the
+floor, moving and clawing at the air with his hands. Unheeding the
+snarling menace of Rombar, he came on until he stood in front of the
+cot where Polaris sat holding the dog back by the collar.
+
+The man bent over, resting his hands on his knees, and peered into
+Polaris's face with darkling, rheumy eyes.
+
+"Hinglish!" he croaked, gasping for his breath. "Hinglish! Did Hi 'ear
+a Hinglish word, or was I a-dreamin'? Sye?"
+
+He trembled in a terrible eagerness.
+
+"You did, indeed," Polaris said gently. "Now tell me how you came here,
+who speak it also, and who are you?"
+
+"Gor'bly me; Hi never 'oped to 'ear another Hinglish word in this
+life--me wot's rottin' 'ere into my grave!" the man said. "Gor'! Gor'!"
+He subsided into a tattered heap on the floor of the cell, covered his
+eyes with his shaking, grimy hands, and sobbed hysterically.
+
+Restraining the dog, which would have sprung upon the weeping man,
+Polaris leaned forward and patted the poor fellow on the shoulder.
+
+"Who are you, and how do you come to be in a Maeronican dungeon?" he
+asked.
+
+"Jack Melton's me nyme, sir," the man said brokenly. "Hi'm from old
+Lunnon, Gor' bless 'er! Hi was cook on the ship _Aldine_, sir, from
+'Ong-Kong to Durban, round the Cape. We got off our course, and the
+bloody devils sunk us--skewered us like a mutton shank, sir, with a
+streak of light. An' w'y in 'ell they did it, sir, is more than Hi can
+tell.
+
+"Hi floated free on a cask--a biscuit cask, sir. Or mayhap it was a
+'encoop; Hi've forgot, Hi was that flustered. Hup bobs a bloomin' big
+gold ball from the sea--it's Gord's truth. They took me aboard, an'
+they brought me ashore. They sets me to work in their mines; but Hi'd
+not do a stroke for them, sir. Hi near killed one of the bosses. Then
+they brought me here, sir. Oh, Gor'! Oh, Gor'-a-me!"
+
+He broke out weeping afresh and rocked himself back and forth.
+
+"How long have you been here?" questioned Polaris.
+
+"That Hi can't tell, sir," Melton replied. "Hi used to keep count of
+the weeks an' months; but Hi lost it. Mayhap 'alf a year; mayhap a
+year."
+
+Melton fell silent for a time. Then he chuckled to himself and tottered
+to his feet.
+
+"_Hi'll_ get even with 'em, sir," he said. "Never fear; _Hi'll_ get
+even. Come an' see, sir."
+
+He took Polaris by the hand and led him across the floor to the other
+cot. "Look!" he said, and fumbled back the ragged covers.
+
+Beady black eyes glistened among the rags. A sharp and whiskered gray
+snout was thrust forth, twitching and sniffing; then another and
+another. A mother rat and two half-grown young ones were hidden in
+Melton's bed. Out they crept to their master's coaxing, only to scurry
+back, squeaking, when Rombar thrust his head from behind Polaris,
+whining with eagerness to be at them.
+
+"Keep the tyke back, sir," said Melton. "'E frights 'em. This 'ere's
+'Enrietta, an' 'ere's Bobby an' Bill. 'Enrietta's an old fool, an'
+Bobby's no better; but Bill, 'e's a wonner, sir. See!"
+
+From his breast he took a splinter of wood, to which was attached a bit
+of frayed red rag, on which he had rudely drawn in black the lines of
+the Union Jack. He placed one of the young rats on his palm, and laid
+the sliver with its frayed shred of bunting in front of the little
+animal. Softly he began to whistle the bars of "God Save the King."
+
+"Come, Bill; 'urry," he said, and resumed his low whistling. The rat
+took up the flag in its teeth and sat on its haunches in its master's
+hand. As long as the whistling continued the little beast shook its
+head vigorously, waving the tiny emblem. When Melton ceased the anthem,
+Bill let fall the flag and swarmed, squeaking, down the man's arm, to
+nestle away among the rags at his breast.
+
+"Gor'bly me, Bill, you're a wonner!" Melton said with pride. He placed
+his strange pet back with the others and pulled the coverlet over them.
+
+"Listen. Hi'll tell you wot no man knows," he whispered to Janess.
+"They're hoff a plyge-ship. 'Enrietta an' Bobby an' Bill is. They
+carried it to us from a bloomin' junk at 'Ong-Kong. The cap'n was
+dyin' of it in 'is cabin when the ship went down, sir. And Hi'm
+a-nursin' of 'em along, sir. Hi saved 'Enrietta, and she became a
+mother, sir. When there's enough of them, Hi shall loose them, sir.
+That's 'ow Hi'll get even. Gor'bly me! Hi'll kill hevery beggar in this
+land with the plyge. 'Enrietta an' Bobby an' Bill will do it, sir."
+
+Melton sat down on his cot again, and crooned to himself over his pets.
+He seemed to forget the presence of Janess. Neither then or afterward
+did he ask Polaris any questions as to how he came to share his prison.
+Polaris drew away from him and went back to his own side of the cell.
+He saw that the man was mad.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Twice each day one of Mordo's guards brought the captives their
+meals--bread and meat and water in generous measure, enough for the men
+and the dog. Melton from his rations fed his whiskered family.
+
+With his pocket-knife and a bit of wood from the frame of his cot, the
+son of the snows made shift to keep track of the passing of the days,
+cutting a nick in the wood for each. "God send that they be not many
+before the coming of Oleric," he prayed fervently.
+
+One night he was startled from his sleep by an uproar in the chamber.
+Melton's cursing and shrieking was intermingled with the angry snarls
+of Rombar. Polaris sprang up and threw off the cloth with which he was
+wont to darken the mitzl globe when he slept.
+
+Melton was crouched in the middle of the cell. His face was livid and
+contorted. Tears of rage were on his cheeks, and his breath was coming
+in gasps. His lips were writhed away from his ragged teeth. In front
+of him, tensed and ready to spring, was Rombar. On the floor, where it
+had dropped from the dog's jaws, lay a little bundle of gray fur, still
+twitching feebly.
+
+Before the impending grapple, Polaris bounded between them and jerked
+the dog back by the collar.
+
+"What is it?" he cried. "What ails you, Melton?"
+
+Then Janess saw the maimed little fragment of life on the floor, and
+his face saddened.
+
+"'Fore Gord, 'e's murdered my 'Enrietta!" howled Melton. "The tyke's
+murdered 'er, Hi sye! And Hi'll kill 'im, Hi will--and you, too, if you
+tries to stop me! And you, too, Hi says!"
+
+He staggered toward Janess and lunged out with his right hand.
+Something glistened in the light as he struck. Polaris avoided the
+blow, and caught and wrenched the outstretched arm. A slender bar of
+iron fell tinkling to the floor. Janess picked it up. Where it had come
+from he did not know; but Melton, by patient rubbing against the stones
+of the wall, had ground it to a needle point.
+
+"Let me at 'im!" the crazed man shrieked. "Hi'll tear 'im with me bare
+'ands!"
+
+Polaris pushed him back.
+
+"I am sorry, very sorry, for what he has done," he said. "But he is my
+good friend, and I shall not let him come to harm. He did but follow
+the instincts of his nature."
+
+Melton stared at him for a moment, and then, weeping and cursing,
+retired to his cot. Far into the night Polaris heard him moaning and
+mumbling to himself, and pitied him.
+
+Janess hid the weapon under his own pillow. Then with strips of his
+bedding he wove a stout cord, and thereafter when he slept he tied
+Rombar fast to a leg of the bed.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Days passed away--ten days, eleven, twelve, and still another. And yet
+there was no sign of Oleric. Polaris's stout heart sank.
+
+In the dark hours of the fourteenth day he awoke. He heard the grating
+of bronze hinges. At the side of his bed, Rombar growled softly.
+Polaris snatched the hood from the light.
+
+The door of bronze was open. The mitzl rays shone on the tall form of
+a man in golden armor.
+
+Oleric had come!
+
+"I am late at my tryst," whispered the red captain, "but I could not
+manage it sooner. Now we must haste, or 'twill be too late forever."
+He grinned. "I see your beard has grown somewhat," he said. "Perchance
+those bristles shall serve well. You are an ill man to disguise. Who is
+here?" he asked as he caught sight for the first time of Melton, who
+had not awakened.
+
+"A poor crazed English sailor," Polaris answered. He crossed the
+chamber, with Rombar at his heels; for he had stopped to undo the rope.
+
+"What? The brute, too?" groaned Oleric.
+
+"I fear we must," Polaris said. "If I leave him, he will rouse the
+prison with his howling, and I will not slay him. He has been too good
+a friend. Can we not manage to take him?"
+
+"Aye; bring him," grumbled the captain. "First fetch yonder light."
+
+Janess took down the globe. As he swung it toward Oleric, he saw that
+the hands of the captain were splashed red with blood. Oleric noted his
+glance.
+
+"Dead men are behind us," he said. "Thrice to-night have I used my
+sword--once at the mines, where I got Everson, and twice above. Two of
+the men of Mordo will turn no more prison keys. Come!"
+
+He stepped cautiously out through the door.
+
+Polaris glanced across to where the mad Cockney lay breathing heavily.
+
+"Some day, if it be given me, I will open this door again and set you
+free, John Melton," he whispered.
+
+He stooped and went out through the doorway, and Rombar followed.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Outside the door of the dungeon-chamber Polaris stumbled over the form
+of a tall man in armor, who lay with his face to the floor.
+
+"More death?" Janess asked of Oleric, who busied himself with the bolts
+of the bronze door.
+
+"Not so," said the captain with a chuckle, as he shot the last bar home
+in its socket. "Only the death that good wines bring. He has the best
+part of seven bottles in his skin."
+
+He looked up at Polaris apologetically.
+
+"Bel-Ar would flay him for this night's work, did he find him," he
+said. "You say the dog has been a good friend to you. Well, this man
+Mordo, with all his glum ways, is a good fellow. I will not leave my
+old drinking companion to the mercy of Bel-Ar."
+
+Without answer, Polaris handed the light to Oleric, and stooped and
+swung the limp figure of Mordo to his shoulder.
+
+Oleric glanced at the keys in his hand and then at the door.
+
+"I'll not turn the locks," he said. "I would not have the poor slave
+within starve while they made new keys."
+
+He led the way along the corridor, past a broad stone stairway, to the
+south wall of the old palace, where it fronted on the black avenue
+called Chedar's Flight. There in the wall were other doors of bronze.
+Oleric paused before one of them.
+
+"Will I ever enter Mordo's wine-cellars again, I wonder?" he said. He
+found the key and opened the heavy door. Within, the light disclosed
+rack after rack, seemingly without end, of dust-covered flagons. They
+threaded their way among them until Oleric found what he sought. In
+the stone floor of the chamber in a far corner was a round trap-door
+of bronze. The captain had to tug one of the wine-racks to one side to
+disclose it.
+
+"Lay Mordo down, comrade, and help," he said, when his utmost strength
+had failed to stir the door.
+
+Polaris, still balancing his burden on his shoulder, bent down and
+caught the ancient ring of the door in one hand. Before Oleric could
+lay hold to help him he straightened, the mighty muscles of his back
+cracking with the effort. The door was open.
+
+The trap yawned on a dark stairway leading down through the rock. Far
+below sounded the plashing of waters. "Mind where you set your feet,"
+warned Oleric as he started down.
+
+"Where are Everson and the old man?" asked Polaris.
+
+"They wait us below in the hidden canal--they and one other," replied
+the captain. "They entered by another way, while I was busied in the
+house of Mordo."
+
+Oleric closed the trap and left the keys on the stair-top. Down fully
+threescore steps they went, and stood on a wharf of stone at the edge
+of a narrow canal that had been cut in the rock. Overhead, the roof was
+arched and vaulted. At the lip of the wharf was moored a small marizel,
+the golden plates of which caught the rays of the lamplike fire.
+
+"All the way from the Temple of the Sun to the harbor of Adlaz this
+canal leads, cut through the rock underneath Chedar's Flight," said
+Oleric. He stepped on the rear deck of the little craft and struck
+softly on its door, which was opened at once. A short man of middle
+age came onto the deck. He was clothed in the garb of a sailor. As the
+light fell on him, Polaris saw that his hair was almost as red as that
+of Oleric.
+
+"Now here is another good man of Ruthar," said the captain. And to the
+man he said, "Urk, this is the man whereof I have told you." From head
+to foot, Urk gave the son of the snows a long and searching glance.
+Then he folded his arms on his breast and bowed low.
+
+With Mordo on his shoulder, Polaris stepped onto the deck and through
+the door, followed by Rombar.
+
+Oleric closed the double doors of the craft, and Urk, who was skilled
+about the engines, at once got her under way. Submerged and showing no
+light, they crept cautiously down the canal toward the sea.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the cabin of the marizel were Everson and Wright--though Polaris had
+to look twice and then again to recognize the geologist. Zenas wore the
+mean black of a servant in the king's kitchens. His white hair had been
+bobbed and his beard shaved from him. But his little black eyes were as
+bright and restless as ever, and his voice was hearty as he wrung the
+hand of Polaris and said:
+
+"Lordy, son, but it's good to see you."
+
+Everson, who had discarded the dirty garments of a delver in the earth
+for the full golden armor of a Maeronican captain, caught Polaris's
+hand as Zenas relinquished it.
+
+"Our work has begun," he said, "and begun well. I shall distrust this
+man no more." He pointed to Oleric. "He has kept his promise in blood.
+He released me to-night, and he killed a man to do it."
+
+As they neared the harbor, Oleric explained that they would be forced
+to leave the marizel in the canal and cross the open court of the
+harbor to the wharves.
+
+"Else we must undergo inspection by the guards at the mouth of the
+canal," he said. "There is a gate there, and no marizel may pass
+without inspection. My lucky star it was that made Bel-Ar name me
+captain of the port in Atlo's stead. But even I could not pass you
+through the guards. Their eyes are keen, and one of us at least is a
+marked man in Adlaz." He glanced at Polaris. "There be too many of
+them to slay," he added. "I would have fitted you out with a suit of
+mail, brother; but there is none in Maeronica of a size to cover those
+shoulders of yours--unless it be that of Bel-Ar, which I could not well
+borrow."
+
+"When we leave this craft, what then, Oleric?" Polaris asked.
+
+"I have another waiting at the end of the southern quay," replied
+Oleric. "Urk knows the harbor as he knows the palm of his hand. Once
+through the outer channel, then down the coast to Ruthar."
+
+They left the marizel moored in the canal and went up through a passage
+in the rock to where a door led into the great arched tunnel above,
+where Chedar's Flight ended at the harbor of Adlaz town. Now there was
+only the crossing of the wharf and all would be well.
+
+But hark! As Oleric laid his hand on the door of the passage, came the
+thunder of hoofs through the tunnel, and a steel rider on a white horse
+flashed past and clattered across the court to the warehouses. He rode
+furiously, and as he neared the quays he cried out.
+
+Oleric tore the door open.
+
+"Our work behind there is overtaking us!" he cried. "We must run for
+it!"
+
+Polaris shifted Mordo's weight from his shoulder to his arms and
+bounded across the pavement at the heels of the captain. Behind came
+Wright, Everson, and Oleric's Rutharian henchman. Rombar leaped at the
+side of Polaris.
+
+Lights flashed ahead of them as they ran. When they neared the south
+quay, they saw that the way to it was barred by a thin line of men in
+steel, among whom glittered the golden armor of the captain of the
+canal guard.
+
+Casting a glance over his shoulder as he ran, to note the disposal of
+his own party, Oleric drew his sword and charged the line. The guard
+captain leaped out to meet him, shield up and sword aloft. Him Oleric
+cut down with a single stroke, laughing as he struck. In another
+instant Everson's blade was out and busy. His cutlass exercises at
+old Annapolis stood him well. The line of steel gave. The other three
+fugitives, running together, dashed through and gained the quay. But
+behind them came many men.
+
+Polaris laid Mordo on the wharf and looked about him for a weapon.
+The door of the nearest warehouse was made fast with a bar of bronze
+or steel, nearly eight feet in length. Janess tore it from its rests.
+At the end of the quay he saw the marizel of Oleric riding in its
+moorings, and saw that Urk had clambered aboard it and was making all
+ready to cast off.
+
+Whirling his ponderous weapon, which was a weight to tax the strength
+of an ordinary man to lift from the ground, Polaris rushed into the
+thick of the press, where the red captain and the naval lieutenant
+fought side by side.
+
+"Get you to the boat!" he shouted. "When all is ready, whistle that I
+may know."
+
+_Clang!_ The metal bar fell, and three men in steel went down under its
+sweep. With the agility of a panther, the son of the snows leaped and
+struck again. At his side black Rombar raged like a demon. Before those
+terrible blows no man, however well begirt in steel, could stand and
+live.
+
+The Maeronican fighting men drew back, aghast. The way to the wharf was
+clear.
+
+Laughing aloud, Oleric drew out of the fight and ran along the wharf to
+the marizel. Everson paused at the side of Polaris.
+
+"Best go on," Janess told him. "I shall need no aid. Or, if you stay,
+stand to one side a bit. I have need for much room."
+
+Once more the Maeronican men-at-arms closed in. Polaris, with his bar,
+charged them, shouting; for his blood was up. They should take him back
+to no dungeon when his freedom beckoned so near. Two more armored men
+fell, their mail cracking like egg-shell under the clanging flail that
+opposed them. Another went down under the murderous jaws of Rombar who
+fought at his master's thigh.
+
+Loud and clear then sounded the whistle of Oleric. Hurling the bar in
+the faces of the bewildered men of the guard, the son of the snows ran
+to the end of the wharf and sprang to the deck of the marizel. Everson
+entered the door just ahead of him. Oleric and Urk already had stowed
+Mordo within the vessel and cut loose the mooring ropes.
+
+As he paused for an instant on the rear deck to call the great dog to
+him, Polaris saw a giant figure come from one of the stone warehouses
+and run out to the end of the next quay. In the dusk, and at that
+distance, he yet was able to recognize Minos.
+
+"It is I, Polaris!" Janess shouted. "We leave for Ruthar, if we may win
+through. Farewell for a space, until we come again."
+
+Back came the deep voice of the king in answer:
+
+"Fare thee well, my brother!" he cried in the ancient Greek of
+Sardanes. "May the high God guide thy footsteps."
+
+Many a time in after years did the son of the snows recall to mind
+that scene: the great, circular basin of the harbor of Adlaz, dim under
+the light from the stars; the glittering fademes that were riding at
+anchor; the twinkling of mitzl globes along the wharves, where men
+ran to and fro; the court and its huge, black archway; the armored
+men of the guard coming on across the wharf; and the tall form of the
+Sardanian king standing at the end of the quay and waving farewell.
+
+Reenforcements had come to the Maeronican guards, and they rushed
+the quay. But Urk had his engine going. The marizel shot out into
+the harbor. In a moment more the little craft had dived beneath the
+surface. Like an arrow, it clove through the under water. Crafty
+steersman was Urk. Through the harbor he drove the marizel in safety,
+and through the tunnel to the sea, meeting no incoming danger. Once out
+of the channel, he turned the nose of the craft southward, down the
+coast toward Ruthar.
+
+Miles away, amid the dim Rutharian forests, fierce-eyed men gripped
+their sword-hilts firmer, and prayed to their stars and their goddess
+for the safe making of that journey and the glory of the war that
+was to come. For word had come to Ruthar--over the Kimbrian Wall it
+had come--that Oleric the Red had turned his face toward home again,
+bringing with him the man for whom a nation waited.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER V
+
+                     WHERE THE ILLIA MEETS THE SEA
+
+
+In the watches of the night arose a great clamor and outcry in the old
+palace of Bel-Tisam. So loud was the din that it aroused Rose Emer and
+the Lady Memene from their slumbers in the chamber off the ancient hall
+where they were quartered. In the outer corridors they heard the clang
+of feet of armored men and their hoarse shouts as they called to one
+another. This grew faint and passed away, and then swelled loud and
+near again, as of men who had penetrated into the lower dungeons of the
+prison and returned.
+
+Sitting up in their bed and holding each other by the hand for comfort,
+the two women were afraid for what might have happened.
+
+"Something untoward is on foot," said Memene. "Perhaps this is the
+night chosen by the red man from the sea" (for so she called Oleric)
+"to go forth as he did promise, although it is past the time he set
+for his going."
+
+"Do you think that they have discovered the plan, and that
+he--Polaris--is taken again? I pray to God that is not so," whispered
+Rose.
+
+"Something has greatly stirred the guards," Memene replied. "But I do
+not think that the mighty man of the wilderness and his red friend are
+taken. Those shouts we heard but now were those of disappointed men."
+
+As the uproar continued through the rooms of the old prison, Rose and
+Memene arose and donned their garments. Sleep, for that night, had fled
+them.
+
+Presently they heard, but faint and muffled through the intervening
+walls, the clatter of hoofs on the pavement of the black avenue as a
+horse passed by, ridden at furious speed.
+
+A little later the door from the corridor outside the hall of audience
+was opened, and through it came that captain of the palace-guard who
+was named Brunar. From Oleric, the captain had learned a few words
+of the English tongue, and he now made shift with them to tell the
+two fair prisoners that Polaris and Oleric, and likewise the captain,
+Mordo, had gone. The escape of Zenas Wright and Everson had not been
+discovered as yet. Two dead guards in the rooms of Mordo, and the
+absence of the marizel from its moorings in the hidden canal near the
+Temple of the Sun, accounted for part of the story. A rider on the
+fleetest horse in the stables of Bel-Ar, said Brunar, had been sent to
+the harbor to warn the guards there, so they might trap the fugitives.
+
+From the manner in which his news was received, the captain was able
+to guess that Rose and Memene knew something of what was on foot. But
+this Brunar was a very courteous man, and he forbore to question them
+closely, if indeed he had enough English to do so. In the morning he
+came again, and told them of the fight at the harbor and the sailing
+of the marizel; for Brunar now took up his abode in the palace of
+Bel-Tisam and looked after the duties of Mordo. His two wards found
+him a kindly jailer, and as indulgent as circumstances would permit
+him to be, who could not set them free. Brunar was angry indeed at the
+supposed treachery of Oleric and of Mordo, not knowing that the one was
+a spy of Ruthar and that the other had had no will in the manner of his
+going forth from Adlaz.
+
+Report was made later in the day of the escape of Everson from the
+mines, and of Zenas Wright from the household of the king, and men
+marveled at the daring of the deed and the craft of it. But the two
+women in their prison, or Ensign Brooks in the mines, or Minos at the
+harbor, got no more news of the fugitives for many a long day.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+With Urk, the sailor, squatting among the levers of his engine, the
+marizel of Oleric swam steadily and swiftly down the western coast of
+Maeronica. Under water she went, well off from the shore and showing no
+lights. Oleric showed his passengers the marvelous valves in the sides
+of the little vessel which were similar in construction to the mask
+with which they already were familiar, and by means of which the air in
+the marizel was replenished with oxygen drawn from the sea water.
+
+Also, he told them somewhat of the land to which they were journeying,
+explaining why it was that Ruthar, though smaller and more sparsely
+populated by far than Maeronica, had never been conquered by the larger
+power. It was a land of forests and mountains, he said, and all the
+way around its ragged coastline were huge, precipitous cliffs, the
+overhanging crags of which were a natural barrier to invasion. Wherever
+had been a break in the cliff-line, the Rutharians, by dint of great
+labors, had filled the breaks with walls, closing the gaps so that the
+only places where one might land on Ruthar from the sea were certain
+spots where narrow stretches of beach lay at the foot of the towering
+cliffs.
+
+At only one point could one come at the interior of the country from
+the sea, Oleric said, and that was at the mouth of a river named Illia.
+That place was closely guarded, and nature and the hand of man had
+united to make of it a way where one man might defy a thousand.
+
+Years before, the red captain said, the Rutharians had had a few small
+ships. But they had little use for them, and with the perfection of
+the fademes by the Maeronicans, nearly a century before, the Rutharian
+vessels had been promptly sent to the bottom. Metals were easily mined,
+and in abundance, especially gold, in Maeronica. But the materials
+which produced the power for the fademes and for their terrible
+destroyers were scarce and precious. Therefore, the growth of the navy
+of Adlaz had been slow.
+
+But with the fulfillment of the mighty destiny of the Children of Ad
+in mind, the scientists labored unceasingly, and it was in the mind
+of Bel-Ar that he was to be the man to see the accomplishment of that
+destiny. He waited but the equipment of a few more fademes to send
+his dreadful messengers forth to take and hold all the seas on earth,
+compelling the nations of the world to bow to the power of Adlaz, as
+tradition told him they once had bowed before.
+
+"Now Ruthar, if her stars shine brightly, shall put a big stone before
+his chariot-wheels and break his power," Oleric said, "repaying evil
+with evil until good come of it, and the Goddess Glorian reigns from
+the capes at the north to the southern seas. And in that I pray that
+my part shall not be small." With a laugh he added, "This is a strange
+game for me to play--Oleric the Red, loose-mouthed soldier and slayer
+of men--who in Ruthar am known as Oleric the learned, a professor in
+the University of Nematzin, which is hard by the hill of Flomos, on the
+banks of the river Illia."
+
+"And this Goddess Glorian--" asked Zenas Wright curiously. "Is she a
+statue in a temple, or the good star of Ruthar, or is she merely a
+name?"
+
+For once the readiness in answer of the red captain deserted him, and
+he stared at the geologist with open mouth. Then he said soberly:
+
+"No statue in a temple is the Goddess Glorian. Good star of Ruthar she
+is surely, and, in addition, she is the fairest woman on whom Shamar
+ever had looked down from the skies. And now her time comes on, for
+which she has waited many a hun--"
+
+Oleric broke off suddenly and turned his eyes on Polaris with a strange
+look.
+
+"Nay," he said; "for the rest you must learn from the goddess herself.
+My tongue does clack like a shepherd-wife's." Nor would he then or
+thereafter tell more of Ruthar and its goddess.
+
+Zenas Wright mused to himself, and the train of his musings ran thus:
+"Oleric, you seem to keep your promises, and you are a good fighter,
+for I have seen you fight. But when it comes to your tales of living
+mammoths in this twentieth century, and of a goddess in the shape of
+a woman who has _waited many a hundred years_--for that was what you
+almost said, my friend--why, then, I can't follow you; and I think you
+like to draw the long bow."
+
+Swiftly as the marizel traveled, that night wore into dawn, and day and
+darkness came, and still another dawning, ere Urk turned off his power
+and filled the air-chambers which raised the vessel to the surface of
+the sea. They had rounded the southern coast of Ruthar and beat up
+along the eastern shores, and here, as they arose from the depths,
+straight ahead of them lay the mouth of the river Illia. When the
+voyagers saw it, they did not wonder that Adlaz found little fortune in
+attacking Ruthar by sea.
+
+An irregular fissure in the frowning face of the cliff discharged the
+river into the sea. That rift was nearly thirty yards wide at its
+bottom, and narrowed almost to nothingness far above, where the red
+granite of the headlands towered many hundreds of feet in height. Down
+the glen in the fissure the river Illia tripped to the sea like a lady
+down a stately stairway. For the rock of the river-bed was shelving,
+in strata which varied from less than a foot to nearly three feet in
+height, and some of the shelves were as much as ten yards in breadth;
+so that the water came down that great natural stair in a series of
+broad cascades.
+
+"Up yonder stairway lies the path into Ruthar," Oleric said, pointing,
+as they stood on the deck of the marizel, and Urk laid the vessel as
+near to the shelving bank below the river-mouth as he could. "Here we
+must leave the marizel, and to the kindness of the waves; for there is
+no harbor in which to store her."
+
+Oleric clambered from the deck and stood up to his knees on the
+lowermost step of the Illia's wide stairway. The others followed, Urk
+last of all, haling before him the captain, Mordo, with his hands bound.
+
+For Mordo had proved an unruly passenger. When the fumes of the wine
+cleared from his brain, which was not for many hours, he had so cursed
+and raged at Oleric, forswearing all friendship that had been between
+them, that the Rutharian had lost his temper. He told Mordo roundly
+that he wished that he had left him to the mercy of Bel-Ar and the
+priests of Shamar.
+
+"Better that than the company of a traitorous hound," growled Mordo out
+of a soul in which no gratitude dwelt. Oleric deemed that it was best
+to bind him, lest he do mischief.
+
+Ascent of the river-stair was not difficult at first, for the steps
+were broad, and at that season of the year the volume of water coming
+down them was not so strong but that a man might keep his footing if he
+used care.
+
+Hardly were the climbers well within the shadow of the glen when there
+arose from the foot of the stair a mighty shouting and splashing.
+Oleric spun round with a curse on his lips.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Quickly as they had come from Adlaz town, their destination had been
+guessed, and others had come almost as quickly. As the fugitives
+turned, they saw a Maeronican fademe swing alongside the lowermost step
+of the ascent, her fore and after decks crowded with men, who swarmed
+off her onto the rock and ran up the stairway. Foremost among them,
+gorgeous in his golden armor, was the Captain Daelo, and he matched the
+curse of Oleric with another as he shook his gauntleted fist at his
+enemy.
+
+"Haste! Haste!" Oleric cried, then pursed his lips and sent a long
+whistle skirling up the glen. As he did so he lost his footing, clawed
+wildly at the air and the rocks, and went down.
+
+Though the push of the down-rushing waters of the Illia was not strong
+enough to sweep a man from his feet if he were cautious, it was yet
+of sufficient power to keep him going once he fell. From shelf to
+shelf down the great stairway Oleric went, his armor clanging. More
+than that, he swept Mordo and the sturdy Urk from their footing, also;
+and all three of them slid straight into the hands of Daelo's men,
+outstretched to receive them.
+
+As the soldiers seized Oleric and stood him upright, he wrenched free
+one arm and waved it at his companion.
+
+"Tarry not for me!" he shouted. "Go on! There be friends waiting at the
+top--" A soldier smote him on the mouth and silenced him.
+
+On the step where he stood Polaris halted. He bent, and with his strong
+fingers snapped the strings of his shoes and removed them--for he still
+wore his own clothing in which he had been dragged from the sea. With
+his feet bared, he had a better grip on the slippery rock. He snatched
+the sword of Everson from its sheath and went down the river-path, all
+unarmored as he was, to meet the swordsmen of Daelo. On they clambered,
+cursing and shouting; but the way was difficult for their mailed feet,
+and the son of the snows leaped down at them like an avalanche. With
+him, breast-deep in the current, went Rombar.
+
+First man to meet the descending danger was Daelo, and he paid the
+penalty of his temerity with his life. Polaris, striking from above,
+smote him from his foothold, a blow that shore away half of his golden
+helm and split the skull within it, and the Captain Daelo pitched
+backward into the sea.
+
+Another bound and a stroke so bitter that it hewed off the arm of a
+steel-clad soldier, severing it between wrist and elbow, and the son of
+the snows had freed Oleric from the hands that held him. Straightway
+the red captain drew sword and took up the tale. Daelo's men, of whom
+there were nearly a score, faltered, staggering and slipping on the
+rocky shelves. Almost their courage was broken, when Polaris caught
+his naked foot in a crevice in the rock and tripped. Before he could
+recover, a heavy sword-blade fell upon his unprotected head from
+behind. He let fall his own blade and sank to his knees and then to his
+face on the steps of Illia.
+
+Short-lived was the triumph of the Maeronicans. The cry of exultation
+which greeted the fall of their dreaded enemy was turned into a howl of
+dismay as half a hundred fierce-eyed fighting men of Ruthar poured down
+the glen, waving their bared swords and shouting:
+
+"For the Goddess Glorian! Slay the Maeronican dogs!"
+
+That tide overwhelmed the company of Daelo to the last man, and with
+them died black Mordo. Less by one more fademe was the navy of King
+Bel-Ar.
+
+When the warriors of the forests turned up the stair once more, they
+found Oleric kneeling in the water, supporting Polaris's head on his
+arm, while old Zenas and Everson bound with strips torn from their
+clothing the gaping wound which the sword-blade had left at the back of
+his head. Beside the group, Rombar, standing nearly to his neck in the
+wash of the river, lifted up his head and howled dolefully.
+
+Six strong men took up the limp form of the fair-haired giant and bore
+it away up the river staircase.
+
+So Polaris came at last to Ruthar.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Up the rocky shelves of Illia the Rutharians trudged and splashed, the
+chasm becoming ever narrower and more gloomy. With the narrowing of the
+rift, the water became deeper and its current stronger. Then one of the
+party uncoiled a long rope from his shoulder, and the party marched on
+in single file, each clinging to the rope like Alpine climbers.
+
+Oleric urged haste and more haste.
+
+Presently the water was too deep for Rombar, and the current set so
+strongly that the dog could not swim against it. At an order from
+Oleric, two Rutharian hunters seized the brute by the collar, and
+though one of them got a gashed hand for his pains, they bound Rombar's
+jaws and feet with ropes and carried him on their shoulders--a task
+which neither they nor Rombar found pleasant.
+
+At a point in the ascent where further progress against the deepening
+stream was impossible, the party left the bed of the river and
+clambered to the right, where a flight of steep and narrow steps had
+been cut in the rock along a fissure which branched from the main
+gorge. Up nearly two hundred of those steps they toiled, until Zenas
+Wright and Everson, unused to such exertions, nearly fainted with
+exhaustion. At the top of the stairs they emerged into a forest of tall
+trees, oak and pine and chestnut, which grew almost to the edge of the
+cliffs.
+
+No sooner had he stepped from the rock stairway than Oleric knelt and
+kissed the black earth.
+
+"This, my friends, is Ruthar," he said as he arose and faced the two
+Americans.
+
+From among the trees came a tall, white-bearded chieftain, who was
+armored from head to heel in a wonderful suit of chain mail, links of
+steel that shone like silver. At his back swung a two-handed sword
+which was nearly the length of a man.
+
+He advanced to Oleric and laid his hands on the captain's shoulders.
+
+"You are Oleric the Red, and no other," he said. "Well do I remember
+you. Once I was your pupil. But that was more than three times ten
+years ago." He shook his head wonderingly. "You serve Ruthar well," he
+added.
+
+Now, had Zenas Wright been able to understand the speech of Ruthar, he
+certainly would have set this chieftain down as a hoary-headed liar.
+For how could he have been a pupil to Oleric the Red more than thirty
+years before, when it was plain for any one to see that the captain
+must at that time have been a babe in his mother's arms?
+
+"Aye, Jastla, it is the old red fox come back to his hole again,"
+Oleric answered, striking the old chief fondly across his broad
+shoulders.
+
+"Which of these with you is the man--the hope of Ruthar?" questioned
+Jastla. His eyes passed the stubby form of Zenas Wright by and rested
+inquiringly on the square and soldierly Everson.
+
+Oleric's ruddy face went sober. His voice choked as he answered:
+
+"Nay, Jastla, neither of these. He comes yonder--and I fear that he is
+sorely smitten."
+
+As he spoke the six Rutharians who bore Polaris Janess came over the
+brink of the stair and laid their burden down.
+
+Jastla strode to the side of Polaris and looked down at him.
+
+"A mighty man, with golden hair--and comely, as was written in the
+prophecy," he muttered into his beard. "What has befallen him?" he
+asked of Oleric.
+
+While the captain told of the fight at the river-mouth, Zenas Wright
+knelt at Polaris's head and rearranged the bandages, which had become
+loosened in the rough journey through the gorge. Rombar, who had been
+that moment untrussed, pushed growling through the group of men and
+crouched and licked at his master's face.
+
+"Will he live, Father Zenas? Will he live?" Oleric asked. "Tell us,
+you, who are skilled."
+
+"God knows," groaned Zenas. The hand which he laid on the steel cheek
+of Polaris shook so that he snatched it away and hid it. "God only
+knows. There is a little life in him yet."
+
+"He plucked me from the sea," said Oleric wildly. "That was fated of
+the gods. Twice has he fought at my side. This day perchance he has
+given his life for me; and that was of his own strong spirit. I tell
+you, Father Zenas, that if it would do my brother any good, here would
+Oleric fall upon his sword and render up his soul unto those that sent
+it forth." Then he controlled himself. "Can he be moved? Can you keep
+the vital spark within him for a little space, good father? We must
+haste and get him to the Goddess Glorian. If his soul be not sped when
+he reaches her, she can hold it back, if any on earth can. Say, Father
+Zenas, can you do it?"
+
+"I will try," answered Zenas. "If I had a little wine, now--"
+
+"Wine!" Oleric shouted. "Bring wine, some one of you, and haste, though
+your lungs burst. And slay a kid, so that we may have broth."
+
+A fleet-footed Rutharian lad set off through the forest, running with
+the speed of a deer.
+
+"Now, Jastla, see you to a horse-litter. Two gentle beasts, mind you,
+but speedy. For we must travel fast and far. I take my brother to the
+Hill of Flomos. And send on a swift messenger to the Goddess Glorian,
+to tell her that the hope of Ruthar lies wounded in the forests and is
+near to death. Haste, Jastla; haste!"
+
+Wine was brought, and it was good wine; for the grapes that grow in
+the valleys of Ruthar are the finest in all the world. Zenas Wright
+forced apart the set jaws of the stricken man, using a sword-point
+to do it, and even as Dr. Marsey, who was dead, had done for Oleric,
+poured the purple wine and a little broth into Polaris's mouth. The
+kindly old geologist could only pray that some of it penetrated to the
+man's stomach, for most of it was spilled out again when they moved him.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Chief Jastla brought a horse-litter. In it, between two powerful
+beasts, Polaris was slung. The Rutharians wrapped him closely with
+blankets and furs. The sun had turned to his northward journey, and in
+the forests of Ruthar the air was keen with the tang of approaching
+winter--felt there in the uplands long before it reached to the plains
+and valleys of Maeronica.
+
+Horses were fetched for Oleric, Wright and Everson, and they set off at
+once along the mountain trails skirting the mighty cañon of the Illia.
+An escort of half a score of Rutharian hunters rode with them.
+
+All that day and night and until sunset of the next day they rode with
+only brief stops at small Rutharian hamlets, where they ate hurriedly
+and changed horses. Word had been sent on before of their coming, and
+fresh horses were always in waiting. Sleep they did not, save in their
+saddles, and the two Americans felt that they might die from sheer
+weariness.
+
+Oleric did not sleep at all, though of all the party his vitality
+seemed the least impaired by that racking journey. His face grew
+haggard and gaunt, and his eyes red-rimmed, but a wonderful
+determination seemed to sustain his body. He spoke seldom, and then to
+urge his faltering companions to renewed efforts.
+
+Rombar ran with the horses until he was utterly done up. Then Oleric
+left the dog at one of the mountain villages, to be brought on later.
+
+In the morning of the second day the party swung to the right, away
+from the gorge of the Illia, to come to it again about noon and cross
+it on a bridge of steel and stone that spanned it three hundred feet up
+from the torrent's course.
+
+Everson, looking at those piles and trusses, judged the building of
+that bridge to be the feat of no mean engineer. Though there had been a
+waste of material, the structure would have stood comparison with many
+a bridge in Europe or America.
+
+Throughout the long ride, Polaris lay like a log in the litter.
+Occasionally, at the stopping places, the scientist redressed the
+wound, smearing it with a healing balsam which an old woman in one of
+the villages had given him. It was a fearsome gash, and Zenas shook his
+head over it whenever he saw it. The point of the sword had laid open
+the scalp at the back of Polaris's head for a matter of inches, then
+had glanced from the bone beneath and bitten deeply into the neck near
+the spinal column.
+
+Wright sheared the hair away from the wound and stitched it as neatly
+as he could. Despite his care the edges of the cut turned blue, as
+is the way with such hurts if they have not expert attention. In the
+afternoon of that second day's ride he found that Polaris's hands and
+feet were becoming cold, and that the geologist deemed the worst sign
+of all.
+
+Shortly after they had crossed the bridge the contour of the country
+became less wild. They emerged from among the crags and peaks of the
+mountains into the foot-hills, where the forests were not so dense as
+above, and from time to time they came upon large spaces of cleared
+lands with tilled fields and many vineyards.
+
+In one of the forest glades the party passed a spot where a number
+of fair-sized trees had been uprooted and partly stripped of their
+branches and bark. Others, still standing, were mere distorted stubs of
+trees, their trunks scored and twisted and their foliage gone.
+
+"I hope such storms as the one that did this damage are not frequent
+hereabouts," said Zenas, pointing out the wrecks to Everson.
+
+Oleric heard the remark.
+
+"'Storms,' say you, Father Zenas?" he said. "The storm that went
+through here walked on four feet. When we of Ruthar see such a sight in
+the forest, we know that an amaloc has breakfasted there. I forget the
+high-sounding name you call him by."
+
+"That lad should have been a writer of fiction," said Zenas to himself
+when the captain had ridden on. "He almost makes me believe in him."
+
+"Gorry-me," Zenas groaned, easing himself in his saddle, "I wish we
+were at the end of this ride, wherever it is. I do not think that I
+shall ever be able to walk again. You," he said to Everson, "you ride
+along there in your golden armor like--what is it?--a paladin of old,
+and never a word out of you. Well, I'd sooner stand it, at that,
+than to go back to that roasting-spit I was put to tend in the King's
+kitchen." Zenas grunted as recollection stung him.
+
+"Why, do you know, one day I was figuring out a bit of calculus in my
+head, just for practise, and I let the meat scorch; and the head cook
+actually laid a dog-whip across my back. Yes, sir; me, a fellow in the
+National Geographic Society, whipped across a kitchen by a greasy-faced
+dough-slinger who doesn't know gneiss from rotten-stone!"
+
+Wright grunted again at the memory of that indignity, and then rambled
+on:
+
+"But we've got to stand it all for the boy here, and for the folks we
+left behind. God knows I'm willing to for their sakes, and worse yet,
+if it's to come. But I must grumble once in a while, and I can't help
+it. Say, Everson, do you believe any of that chaff of our red-headed
+friend about the mammoths?"
+
+The lieutenant did not answer, and Wright, peering into his face, saw
+that he was asleep in the saddle.
+
+Well down upon his course was the sun, and the shadows of the trees
+were lengthening eastward, when the travelers, who for some time had
+been following a smooth, straight road through rolling hills, came to
+an old Rutharian villa, which stood among its gardens a considerable
+distance back from the highway. A low wall bordered the grounds at the
+front along the roadway, a wall with a pillared gateway, where a drive
+led in from the road. At the foot of each of the pillars, sitting his
+horse like a statue, was a Rutharian gentleman.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As the weary cavalcade came down the road the two riders left their
+posts and advanced to meet it, parleying with Oleric. Scarcely half a
+dozen words passed back and forth when the red captain set up a joyful
+shout. When he reached the gateway he turned his horse in, bidding the
+others to follow.
+
+"Here's hoping that some one will introduce me to a bed before I clean
+forget what one feels like," said Zenas.
+
+At the side of the ancient house the riders dismounted, Everson reeling
+from his horse like a drunken man and throwing himself face downward on
+the grass.
+
+Oleric superintended the removal of Polaris from the litter.
+
+The geologist was bending over his charge as the hunters bore him along
+when he became aware of the tall figure of a woman that came down from
+the porch of the mansion and hastened along the walk. She had thrown a
+long, dark red cloak about her shoulders. In the dusk of the garden the
+scientist could not distinguish her features, but he saw that her hair
+was dark, or seemed to be, and that she was taller than most women and
+splendidly formed.
+
+"The Goddess Glorian!" Oleric cried aloud. "Oh, by the stars of Ruthar,
+but you are welcome!"
+
+Down on one knee sank the captain and kissed her hand.
+
+"Oh, goddess, after all these years I have brought you the hope of
+Ruthar. But he is sorely wounded--dying--and you alone can save him. We
+were bringing him to Flomos with all the speed we might, and thought
+not to find you here."
+
+"Where else should Glorian be, but on the way to meet this man?" she
+answered simply. "Jastla's messenger reached Flomos this morning. He
+rode four horses to their deaths upon his way. You have done well,
+Oleric the Learned."
+
+When he heard the silvery cadences of that voice, though he understood
+not a word save the name of the captain, a thrill passed through Zenas
+Wright, old as he was, and through his aged veins he felt the blood
+course faster. The woman came nearer. He smelled the warm perfume of
+her hair as she bent and touched the cheek of Polaris with her hand.
+
+"Bring him within, Oleric," she said, "and, oh, haste, for--" Her
+glorious voice broke. "For he is nearly gone."
+
+Swinging the still form of Polaris shoulder high, the Rutharian hunters
+passed on and into the mansion, leaving Zenas behind.
+
+"Now, what do you know about that?" gasped the scientist as he sank
+wearily to the ground beside Everson. "Goddess, indeed! What, I want
+to know, will Rose Emer say when she learns of this young person? Well,
+I hope she saves the lad; but she'll need to be a doctor of parts, or
+I'm a donkey. Poor boy! Poor boy!"
+
+In a few moments came Oleric to show Wright and Everson to their
+quarters for the night in the rear of the house. And a rare time he had
+to arouse the lieutenant sufficiently to lead him to bed.
+
+White and still, Polaris Janess lay on a bed in an upper chamber of the
+old house. By the light from a mitzl globe--trophy of some Rutharian
+chieftain in a foray over the Kimbrian Wall--the Goddess Glorian bent
+above him and studied his pale features.
+
+"My friend, my poor friend," she said brokenly. "How often through the
+weary years I have seen you in my dreams--and now to find you--only to
+lose you."
+
+Hot tears ran down her cheeks and fell on the stricken man's face.
+
+"Oh! It shall not be!" she said fiercely. "You shall not die--not if
+Glorian must give her soul to hold you back from the gates of darkness."
+
+Throwing aside her cloak, she drew a chair to the bedside. With her
+fingers she lifted Polaris's eyelids and held them open. She gazed deep
+into the tawny eyes, now, alas, so dull and lifeless. For hours she sat
+there, with no more apparent movement than the man she watched over.
+The whole strength of her being seemed concentrated in some inward,
+unyielding struggle.
+
+And as the long hours passed a change came over the sick man. He did
+not stir. He scarcely seemed to breathe. But his face became less gray
+and haggard, and the icy chill of death was driven from his hands and
+feet.
+
+Long after midnight it was when the Goddess Glorian stood up from that
+bedside and in her heart said wildly, "I have won!"
+
+Summoning her women, who waited without the door, she bade them dress
+anew the now festering wound and pour a little wine and broth into his
+throat.
+
+All night long the Goddess Glorian sat and watched him.
+
+In the morning, when Oleric came to the door in answer to her summons,
+she looked up at him with a wan smile.
+
+"Fear no longer," she said. "The man will live."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+On the third day after his arrival at the old Rutharian mansion,
+Polaris left it. But he knew nothing of that going. He still lay in
+the heavy stupor which was to hold him thrall for many days. Zenas
+Wright doubted much the wisdom of moving a man so ill. The scientist
+himself, after two days' rest, felt scarcely equal to the journey, and
+the thought of again bestriding a horse made him shudder. Still, he
+reasoned that it was by a miracle that Janess lived at all, and if she
+who had wrought that miracle, the Goddess Glorian, said he might be
+moved in safety, why, doubtless she knew what she was about.
+
+A low, four-wheeled car was brought. Across the box of it the hunters
+lashed light and springy poles and on them piled robes and blankets,
+making a soft and easy bed for the sick man. At the head of that couch
+rode the Goddess Glorian, cloaked and hooded, and at its foot crouched
+black Rombar, who had been brought in from the village where he had
+been left, and who seemed little the worse for his long jaunt. Wright
+and the lieutenant occupied another smaller car in the rear, and in
+a third vehicle rode a number of the women of Glorian's household.
+Oleric, mounted and aglitter in chain armor of steel--for he had
+discarded as soon as might be the hated golden livery of Bel-Ar--rode
+at the side of the first car. For escort the party had the company of
+nearly a score of young Rutharian zinds--zind was the only title of
+nobility in Ruthar.
+
+So they set out for Flomos, traveling by easy stages and with many
+rests. The roads were smooth and the country more even than that they
+had left behind. All along the way, be the time of day what it might,
+they rode between two long lines of people--people silent for the most
+part, who stood with bowed heads as the cars and the riders passed by.
+
+Far and wide throughout the land had gone the word that the man who
+had come to be known as the hope of Ruthar was journeying to Flomos,
+and the circumstances of that journey. These who lined the road were
+gathered there to do him silent homage. Satisfied were they if they
+only caught a fleeting glimpse of his still face on its pillow of furs.
+Over all of Ruthar went up a many-voiced and ceaseless prayer for his
+welfare.
+
+"H'm, Everson, folks will never stand like that for us, living or
+dead," said Zenas Wright to the lieutenant, when Oleric had told them
+the meaning of the silent lines of people. Despite his banter, the old
+geologist was deeply touched.
+
+Two days and part of a third they traveled--for they did not
+hurry--stopping for the nights at the homes of Rutharian gentlemen
+along the road. It was nearly afternoon of the third day when they
+followed the winding of the highway around the last low hills of the
+mountain range and came out upon a plateau-plain of wide extent, in
+the center of which was a wooded eminence, and on its crest the white
+pillars of a temple shone in the sunlight.
+
+The road stretched straight across the plain through a broad expanse
+of tilled lands and gardens, which ringed a city that stood at the
+foot of the hill. It was scarcely a fifth the proportions of Adlaz,
+this ancient town of Ruthar, which was called Zele-omaz, or City by
+the River; but it was a pretty place of broad streets shaded by many
+trees, gardens and low-built, pleasant homes, with here and there the
+statelier dwellings of some zind or wealthy man.
+
+Here, too, was the Illia, rock-bound no longer, but a fair and gentle
+stream, winding through the town and spanned by many bridges.
+
+Skirting the city at the right, the travelers followed a sloping path
+that led up the hill to where the temple stood.
+
+"Yonder," Oleric said, pointing down to where a group of low buildings
+of gray stone rambled at the waterside under spreading yew trees, "is
+the University of Nematzin, of which I am a professor. And there is the
+laboratory of which I spoke, where we shall make the thunder-dust to
+shake down the Kimbrian Wall."
+
+"One more day's rest, and I will be fit for anything," answered Everson.
+
+"What do you teach in this university, friend?" Zenas queried.
+
+"A little of the science of the stars, Father Zenas--or I did, for it
+is many years since I have sat among my pupils--somewhat of history and
+of language," replied the red captain.
+
+"Humph; you must have been a young teacher," said Zenas Wright, and he
+ran his fingers through the sprouting stubble of his beard, as he had a
+habit of doing when things vexed him. Suddenly he jumped in his seat,
+though the wrench to his sore flesh cost him a wry face.
+
+"Hey! Everson! Look at that, and then tell me if I'm dreaming."
+
+The "that" was a gateway through which the car was about to pass.
+Oleric followed with a glance the direction in which the geologist
+pointed and then rode on with a smile.
+
+It was a very curious gate, so curious that, if it still stands, and
+it doubtless does, for it was built to endure, there is none other
+just like it in the world. At each side of the roadway was a section
+of black stone wall, extending along the path a matter of a dozen feet
+and some ten feet high. At intervals along the tops of the two walls
+were set round, squat pillars, also of stone. Those had been hollowed
+out and served as bases for enormous ivory tusks, which were embedded
+in cement in the hollowed pillars, and from them curved up to meet over
+the center of the roadway, where their tips were made fast with double
+sockets of bronze.
+
+Ivory the tusks were; there was no doubting that; weather-checked and
+stained yellow by age and the elements, but still ivory. But the size
+of them! No elephant that ever walked the earth bore ivories of such
+proportions. For they were as large around at their bases as the chest
+of an average man; and from base to tapering tip there was none of them
+that did not measure eleven feet. Seven pair of them there were, and
+all splendidly matched.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Zenas stared back at that marvelous arch--for it was more an archway
+than a gate--as hard as he could stare. Not until a turn of the road
+hid it, did he relax into his seat.
+
+"Maybe he isn't so great a liar, after all," he said, and he meant
+Oleric. "Everson, those are mammoth's tusks--sure's I'm a sinner."
+
+"Strange land, strange things," answered Everson laconically.
+
+The home or temple of the Goddess Glorian on the hill of Flomos was a
+small thing by comparison with the mighty Temple of Shamar, but in its
+way was quite as beautiful. Like the temple of the sun-god, the house
+of Glorian was built all of white marble. Fronting north toward the
+city of Zele-omaz was a façade of four-and-twenty sixty-foot pillars.
+A broad, paved porch, reached by half a hundred steps, lay at the foot
+of the façade. Back of the pillars were twelve double doors of bronze,
+leading into a lofty hall, the marble dome of which towered high above
+the pillars and could be seen from the countryside for miles about when
+the sun shone on it.
+
+Back of the hall the structure was divided into three floors, or
+stories, each of many roomy chambers and corridors. The whole was well
+lighted by windows of clear glass, of which an abundance was used in
+both Maeronica and Ruthar. Behind the temple, southward down the hill,
+were the dwellings of Glorian's personal retainers and servants.
+
+Well back from the center of the domed hall and near the foot of a
+grand staircase which led to the second floor, was a raised dais of
+marble, whereon Glorian was wont to sit and give judgment in matters of
+state which were too high for the administration of the zinds who ruled
+in the different cities and provinces. Once Ruthar had had its dynasty
+of kings, but that was many years before. The royal line died out, and
+because of certain circumstances at that time the people raised up no
+more kings. At the time of the coming of the strangers the Goddess
+Glorian was the absolute power in Ruthar.
+
+On the dais in the throne-room was another wonder for Zenas Wright to
+see. It was a massive, double-seated chair, constructed, even to the
+pegs which held its parts together, of ivory like in the giant tusks
+of the arch. An artist of surpassing skill had wrought that chair and
+had carved it into the semblance of tall lily-stalks with heavy-headed,
+drooping blossoms and slender fronds. All around the larger stalks were
+cut the clinging tendrils of a creeping vine, a tracery as fine as lace.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Wright and Everson were given rooms on the second floor of the temple
+at its western side. Polaris was borne to a chamber on the upper
+story, where he was tended by Glorian herself and the servants of her
+household. Rombar took up his quarters in that chamber also, and only
+Oleric could lure the dog forth from his master's side, and then not
+for long at a time.
+
+Soon after their arrival at the hill of Flomos, and when they had
+rested some of the stiffness from their joints, Everson and the
+scientist went down with Oleric to the laboratories of Nematzin to
+begin their work. Though the students of Ruthar were not unskilled in
+chemistry of a sort, they knew nothing of explosives. So Zenas prepared
+himself for a series of tests to discover the materials of which he was
+in need, or, if he could not find what he desired, some combination
+which would serve.
+
+In that constructive analysis the naval lieutenant could be of little
+aid. Oleric then found a task for him which was more to his liking. It
+was the drilling of men.
+
+From her center to her rock-bound coasts, Ruthar hummed with the
+preparation for war.
+
+"If we are to fight, let us first know how many men we can raise, and
+how they will be disposed," said Everson. "What is the population of
+this country, and how will it match up, man for man, with Maeronica?"
+
+All told, Ruthar's people numbered something like a million and a
+quarter, Oleric informed him; and in Maeronica the population was near
+to three and one-half millions, at least a half a million of which
+dwelt in the great city of Adlaz.
+
+"As it is figured in the world, your army then will be made up of one
+fighting man to every ten persons," the lieutenant said. "If the spirit
+of the people is with us, we should be able to put at least one hundred
+and twenty-five thousand men in the field--and Bel-Ar, three hundred
+and fifty thousand. Those are heavy odds."
+
+"Ruthar shall do better even than that," Oleric said with pride. "I
+promise you that two hundred thousand men shall march when they hear
+the war-drums--and more may be found if the need grows bitter."
+
+"Can you equip and maintain them?" Everson asked.
+
+"In Ruthar every man is a soldier. They will equip themselves. This day
+has been awaited for long. Ruthar is ready to give all for the uses of
+her warrior sons. Fear not. Besides, though I will not deny that the
+men of Ad are good fighters and their country is far the richer, yet
+many of them are fat city dwellers and traders, of whom two are not a
+match for one of the hardy men of the mountains who will march under
+the banners of the Goddess Glorian. Show them the ruins of the Kimbrian
+Wall, and were the armies of Ad twice their strength, yet they should
+not turn Ruthar from her purpose."
+
+Everson nodded thoughtfully. "How will this force be divided?" he
+asked. "Have you many horsemen? In such a war as this promises to be,
+cavalry will be invaluable."
+
+The red captain knit his brow in calculation.
+
+"Forty thousand wild horsemen of the hills and mountains, who know
+not fear, can I promise," he said at length. "Five thousand chariots
+we can muster, each of two horses, and carrying each two fighting men
+and a driver to guide the horses; twenty thousand skilled archers;
+ninety thousand heavily armed men with swords and spears; ten thousand
+slingers; and twenty thousand men armed with javelins--these last to
+serve as skirmishers."
+
+Everson's eyes kindled at the recital of that tale of men, and he
+smiled--one of the few smiles that had lightened his face since his
+ship had been lost.
+
+"We must gather them into camps at once," he said. "The time is all too
+short in which to make an enemy out of raw levies. We must drill them
+all winter, and that will be a man's job."
+
+Straightway he threw himself into the task with tireless energy. And
+he vowed to himself that the men who had dared to sink a United States
+cruiser should learn a lesson of tears and death, and that he would
+have a hand in the teaching of the lesson.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Oblivion, like a deep and dreamless sleep, was the portion of Polaris
+Janess. It seemed that his soul had withdrawn itself to some place of
+peace to wait until its racked and weary body should once more be fit
+for tenancy. The wound in his neck closed and healed. Somewhat of color
+crept back into his cheeks. His body began to thrive, but there was in
+it seemingly little more of sentient life than in a tree which draws
+its nourishment from the soil and knows not of days and nights and the
+cares thereof.
+
+"It is a blood-clot that presses somewhere on the brain," Glorian told
+his friends, who stood often at his quiet bedside. "'Twill pass away
+ere long, and he will be whole again."
+
+To the surprise of Zenas and Everson, Glorian and a number of the
+learned men of the college of Nematzin spoke English almost with the
+facility of Oleric, from whom, indeed, they had learned it. And this
+was a great source of delight to the old geologist, who liked to talk
+and grumble over his labors. And what use is there in grumbling, if
+there is no one to hear and understand?
+
+Came a day when the curtain lifted from the brain of the sick man, and
+memory peopled the vacant stage, as once before it had done when he lay
+ill in the cabin on the ship _Felix_ on his first journey from his home
+in the wilderness.
+
+Wondering, he lay still with closed lids, as he had a trick of doing
+when he waked from slumber. He began to reconstruct. The wreck of the
+_Minnetonka_ passed before him, and then, like a series of pictures,
+the events which had followed the sinking of the ship; the stranger
+people; the judgment of the king; the parting from his love; the coming
+of the red captain in the night and the flight from Adlaz; the fight at
+the wharves and the farewell of Minos; the great stairway of the Illia--
+
+There the pictures ceased. He could not then, or ever afterward, recall
+the fight in the river, where he had gone down to aid Oleric and come
+by his wound.
+
+Into his nostrils was wafted a breath of faint perfume. A cool hand
+was laid against his cheek. He opened his eyes. The details of a high,
+arched room he saw; windows of glass at the north, where the sun shone
+thinly and big flakes of snow were floating slowly down--for winter had
+come to Ruthar; at his cheek a long, wonderfully shaped, white hand,
+with tapering, ringless fingers; a slender wrist; beyond it a face. He
+closed his lids again, with a frown of disbelief. The beauty of that
+face was such as no mortal ever saw, save in a dream.
+
+The hand stirred, and he looked again.
+
+From the times of Helen of Troy on down through the pages of all
+recorded history, those pages have been made bright by the faces of
+fair women who were their nations' boast. Here, before the eyes of the
+sick man, was a face that was the peer of any that ever shone in fable
+or in fact. A broad, high forehead above two dark and well-defined
+arches; beneath them, delicately veined lids and long dark lashes,
+veiling red-brown eyes. Eyes so wonderfully alive with expression that
+their change was like the bewildering melting of colors in a sunset;
+between their marvelous valleys, a slenderly bridged nose with a hint
+of the Roman. A rich, full-lipped mouth that was the playground of
+smiles, but which showed also the quality of rare determination, a
+promise sustained by the firmly rounded chin beneath it, a skin so fine
+of texture that through it might be traced the ebb and flow of life, as
+flames show roseate through a marble vase.
+
+Her head had the poise of an empress, and at its shapely crown, piled
+high, were lustrous coils of hair which at first glance seemed black;
+but when the light struck on it, glowed as an ember glows when a breath
+renews its dullness into fire.
+
+Such was the beauty of the woman on whom Polaris looked--and as he
+gazed, acknowledgment was forced within him that here was one that
+surpassed in fairness even the Rose-maid whom he loved. And there was
+no disloyalty in that acknowledgment. Rose Emer was a beautiful woman;
+but she who sat before him, and who seemed of nearly the same age and
+whose figure much resembled that of his own dear lady, she had the
+beauty of unearthly things.
+
+For a moment he stared in silence.
+
+"Where am I, and who are you?" he asked, and smiled faintly in response
+to her little exclamation of delight that his senses had come back to
+him. Before she could speak, he muttered, "I had forgotten; she will
+not understand."
+
+"But I do understand, my poor friend," she said, "and can make answer
+in your own tongue--if we keep to simple talk."
+
+As the quality of that voice had thrilled old Zenas, so now it sent a
+tremor through the veins of the son of the snows.
+
+"You are in the city of Zele-omaz, and I, who have watched while you
+lay wounded and ill, am a poor lady of wild Ruthar," she continued.
+
+"'Poor' and 'wild' are words that ill beseem you, lady," replied
+Polaris in the quaint expression that in the long years when his father
+had been his sole companion, he had absorbed from the pages of Scott's
+romantic "Ivanhoe," and which contact with modern English had not worn
+away.
+
+"I think that one Oleric has spoken oft of you, and that I can guess
+the name you bear--and I find it a most fitting name."
+
+Rose-pink the Goddess Glorian flushed, in a most mortal fashion, and
+was glad that at that moment black Rombar thrust his head forward over
+the edge of the bed to claim a share in the attention of his master.
+
+Polaris stirred his hands, and then looked up wonderingly.
+
+"I am weak," he said. "How long have I lain ill, and what misfortune
+befell me to so lay me by the heels? I understand it not at all; for my
+memory has tricked me."
+
+Toying with Rombar's collar, Glorian told him what she had learned from
+the others of the fight at the mouth of the Illia.
+
+"And I do thank you for the life of my faithful captain," she said,
+"as he will presently. It was a brave deed, a very brave deed. Now
+you must talk no more, and no more must I weary you. You are worn with
+sickness, and it will be many days before your strength comes back.
+Rest and fret not. All things are going well."
+
+She left him, and presently he slept.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER VI
+
+                          ZOAR OF THE AMALOCS
+
+
+Beyond their knowledge of the working of metals, in which they had
+great facility, Zenas Wright soon found that the scientists of Nematzin
+could avail him little in his search for explosive compounds. Ordinary
+gunpowder, indeed, he knew he could make easily enough, after a
+fashion, but he sought for something more powerful by far than that.
+From the descriptions which he had heard of the Kimbrian Wall, he
+judged that it would be a rare task to shake it down.
+
+"We might do it with nitroglycerin," he told Everson. "But we would
+have to set all of the old wives of Ruthar to soap-making to get our
+glycerin, and it would be a difficult job to get it pure enough to
+serve our turn. Besides, nitroglycerin is mean and uncertain to handle."
+
+The two men sat before a ruddy coal fire in the big laboratory room
+which had been turned over to the uses of the geologist--a fire well
+screened from the rest of the room, so that no flying spark should
+raise mischief among the experiments of Zenas. Three weeks had elapsed
+since their arrival at Zele-omaz. Polaris Janess was well along
+the road to health. Everson and Oleric, laboring tirelessly, had
+established five great training camps, one on the plain near the city,
+and four others in the forests to the north beyond the Illia. Already
+the levies of Ruthar were pouring into the camps, where they were
+drilled by the zinds and captains, under the direction of the naval
+lieutenant and the red captain.
+
+Everson had thrown his whole heart into the work. Already he had made
+considerable progress in the learning of the Rutharian language. He
+was beginning to take a vast pride in the army he was welding. Born
+soldiers he found these Rutharians, amenable to the strict discipline
+which he preached, and to whom his word was law.
+
+He had ridden in this day from a tour of inspection of his camps to
+visit Wright and learn of the progress of the work on which depended
+their entire scheme of campaign.
+
+"Nitroglycerin," said Everson. "So you have found a source of nitric
+acid, then?"
+
+"Yes," replied Wright. "One of the first things which took my eye among
+a number of specimens of rock which I found in a case here, was a chunk
+of sodium nitrate. You know the stuff--Chile saltpeter, they call it."
+
+"Why not a picrate powder, if you have nitrates to work with?"
+suggested the lieutenant.
+
+"Picrate--nitric acid--phenol," said old Zenas. "That's the way of it.
+And to get phenol--lots of it--"
+
+He broke off and stared into the depths of the fire.
+
+"Hey!" he cried, and jumped to his feet so suddenly that Everson
+started. Zenas pointed at the fire, his little black eyes dancing and
+his beard wagging with his excitement.
+
+"Well?" queried Everson.
+
+"Coal, my boy, coal! There's oodles of it here. All I've got to do is
+to rig up a kiln for the distillation of coal-tar oil, and I'll have
+the phenol. God knows, these beggars are handy enough in the gentle
+art of blacksmithing. Tell your red-headed master of ceremonies to
+give me a little help--say two hundred or two hundred and fifty of his
+armorers, till I get a few kilns in operation and build me a bank of
+Glover towers, and I'll show you a line of stuff that will beat all of
+the Fourth of July celebrations you ever saw. Picrates! Humph! I'll
+turn out a brand of melinite for you that will jar the back door of
+hell off its hinges--if I don't whiff us all to kingdom come while I'm
+at the stuff."
+
+Oleric was summoned. The red captain turned over to Zenas Wright not
+two hundred, but nearer five hundred men, and the old university was
+straightway turned into a munitions plant, the stench and the fires of
+which ascended to heaven by day and by night.
+
+"And bring me about all the fat you can find in the kingdom," directed
+Zenas. "I'll need it to mix with my nice little patty-cakes."
+
+"You shall have it, Father Zenas," Oleric replied. "And it will not
+come amiss to make all that you can of this pastry. After the Kimbrian
+Wall is down, we may find some of it useful at the gates of Adlaz."
+
+So interested did Zenas become in this new work of his that he
+scarcely stopped for meals, and he slept on a cot of skins beside
+his fire in the old laboratory. One day, as he labored among his
+test-tubes, the outer door opened, and a tall figure robed in
+furs strode across the room and stood beside him. Zenas looked up
+impatiently.
+
+"Oh, Lordy, laddie!" he cried, his face lighting up. "It's good to see
+you on your feet again."
+
+It was Polaris--still somewhat gaunt and tottery, but with a welcome
+color in his cheeks and a brightness in his topaz eyes that augured
+well.
+
+"Aye, old friend, 'tis I," he answered. "While you do wear yourself
+thin in this place of many smells, and Everson rides his flesh off his
+bones, shall I then be doing nothing but to lie in a soft bed and dream
+the days away? I will have no more of it."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+From that day strength came back to the son of the snows with
+surprising rapidity, considering that he had been so ill. Nor would he
+chafe in restless idleness, but demanded work to do. Soon in the five
+great camps of fighting men his figure and that of the huge black dog
+which followed him like a shadow were as well known to the soldiers as
+were those of Everson and the lieutenant. Under the tutelage of the
+Goddess Glorian, he had advanced in mastery of the Rutharian tongue
+much faster than either of the other two Americans; for he was a
+natural linguist and did not find the ancient language difficult.
+
+Old Jastla had come down out of his hills, and it was his particular
+pride to superintend the training of the son of the snows in the use of
+the arms of Ruthar. At his first trial, weakened though he was by his
+illness, Polaris cast a javelin farther by half a score of paces than
+could any warrior of Ruthar. Within a fortnight, although they might
+touch him by tricks of fence, there was not a swordsman in the five
+armies who could wear him down in the play of blades.
+
+Jastla boasted of him throughout the land.
+
+But though he took pleasure in all these things, he knew anxiety with
+the passing of the days, and in his heart pined mightily for news of
+his lady in Adlaz town. For that strong, true heart could not forget.
+Occasionally Oleric had word from over the wall from some of his secret
+spies in Maeronica, but never a word of the welfare of the stranger
+captives.
+
+All of his story Polaris had one day told to Glorian. And she had
+smiled and cheered him with brave words. And then, when he had gone,
+she had sat for the half of a day in her chamber, looking out at the
+snow-capped hills of Ruthar, striving to remember that she was a
+goddess, and to forget that she also was a woman. Too late she found
+that the woman conquered.
+
+Five weeks went by from the day when Polaris first went down to the
+workshop of Zenas. And then the geologist announced that he would give
+a show. He had some wares which he was anxious to display, he said.
+
+Near the south bank of the Illia, above the city and beyond the camp,
+stood an old stone tower which long had been crumbling into decay and
+which Atra, the zind who ruled in Zele-omaz, had purposed some day to
+tear down. There it was that the geologist said he would stage his
+performance, and all the camp and a goodly part of the citizens of the
+town went thither to see what he would do.
+
+At the appointed hour, early in the afternoon, the scientist rode out
+to the tower, attended by three of his assistants from the laboratory.
+With them they took a number of cakes of what looked remarkably like
+the bars of brown soap wherewith the American housewife labors o'
+Mondays. As much as two men could carry of the stuff they took. The
+third man bore a rude battery which Zenas had contrived, and a coil of
+copper wire which the Rutharian smiths had drawn for him, and which he
+had insulated with woven fiber dipped in gums from the forests.
+
+The tower had been a massive old structure, covering nearly a half acre
+of ground, and the lower parts of it were still solid. Its roof was
+gone, and portions of the upper walls had fallen in.
+
+Zenas found that there were a number of chambers below the ground level
+of the structure. In the central one of them he bestowed his precious
+cakes, and with them the end of his copper wire. He directed his
+assistants to cover the whole over with heavy stones.
+
+"And handle them with care," he cautioned, "or you will come a lot
+closer to the stars than you are ever likely to be by any other means."
+
+His preparations completed, the geologist bade his henchmen to make
+themselves scarce, which they were very glad to do. Bidding every one
+in the neighborhood of the tower to withdraw to a distance of several
+hundred feet, Zenas uncoiled his wire, of which he had brought a
+quantity sufficient to keep him out of harm's way. He squatted down
+behind the bole of a big yew-tree and struck the knob of his battery.
+
+For an instant nothing happened, and Zenas, peering forth from behind
+his tree, felt his heart sink with disappointment. Then very quietly
+the entire structure of the tower, which was nearly seventy feet in
+height, quitted the earth. For a second it seemed to hang suspended in
+the air like some enchanted thing. A hollow booming reverberated across
+the plain. The tower flew into fragments. The ice-bound surface of the
+Illia was shattered by the falling rocks. A gust of air rushed across
+the plain and through the ranks of the Rutharian soldiery and with it a
+shower of smaller débris, which fell among them like a storm. From the
+spot where the tower had stood, a column of greenish-yellow smoke arose
+and hung heavily.
+
+From the camp and the crowds of citizens went up a low moan of awe,
+followed by a shout of triumph from thirty thousand throats. Men ran
+across the meadows to view the aftermath of this wonder--such a thing
+as never had been seen in Ruthar. Where the tower had stood was a hole
+in the earth, wherein the structure itself might almost have been
+buried. No vestige of the masonry was left. Not one stone remained upon
+another, and many of the larger foundation rocks had been sundered into
+fragments by the terrific force of the released gases of the melinite.
+
+Rutharians from that day on called Zenas Wright "Father of the
+Thunders," and accorded him a respect second only to that in which they
+held Polaris.
+
+Janess, the red captain, and Everson, who had been witnesses to his
+experiment, ran to the side of the geologist and wrung his hand.
+
+"And now do you, Father Zenas, stay away from that laboratory," said
+Oleric.
+
+"See to it that my men keep to the trick of making this stuff; but
+do you keep away. Some careless fellow might let a cake of your
+earth-shaker fall--and we cannot spare you."
+
+"Now show me this Kimbrian Wall," was the comment of Zenas. But the
+scientist yielded to the entreaties of his friends, and thereafter
+went no more to the laboratories, except once a day only, to test the
+purity of the chemicals with which his workmen wrought.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Soon after the destruction of the tower, Oleric, with Polaris and the
+lieutenant, rode down through the forests to visit the Kimbrian Wall.
+Now that they were assured of a means to open the way to Adlaz, they
+were all of them impatient to map out their plan of campaign, in which,
+as he alone of them all was skilled in such matters, they looked to
+Everson for counsel.
+
+Three days riding brought the party to the great barrier which the
+Children of Ad had built far back in the dim centuries to separate them
+from their hated enemies.
+
+As the riders approached the wall, they found the land narrowed to an
+isthmus, which Oleric told them was nearly eighty miles in extent, by
+something less than sixty across. The Kimbrian Wall crossed the neck of
+land nearly midway to its length, but if anything, a few miles nearer
+to the mainland of Maeronica than it was to Ruthar. On the hither side
+of the barrier stretched thick forests of oak and pine. Along the
+isthmus and near its western sea-border lay the course of an ancient
+road, which once had connected the two countries. To this old highway
+Everson gave careful attention. In some places it was broken up and
+overgrown with timber, but the lieutenant thought that little work
+would be required to put it in shape for travel.
+
+From a pine-clad knoll in the forest they had their first glimpse of
+the wall, and a mighty work it was. Built of gray stone, now moss-grown
+and weather-aged, it stretched away to the right and left as far as
+they could see and ended sheer with the precipitous cliffs above the
+sea. So enormous were the stones of which it was constructed that it
+reminded Everson of remnants of the cyclopean masonry, which are to be
+found in the old countries and which tradition used to tell were built
+by a race of giants. Probably this work was as old as they.
+
+The wall was nearly fifty feet high, and so broad as its top that two
+chariots might pass thereon. At intervals of a mile all along its
+length were watchtowers, garrisoned by the border-soldiers of Bel-Ar.
+In addition to all those points of strength, the wall had been so
+constructed that near its top there was an overhang of a number of
+feet, making it exceedingly difficult for scaling.
+
+Still, Oleric said, it had been scaled, and many times, by small
+parties of raiders from both sides--and some of them had never returned.
+
+"Look!" the captain exclaimed. "Here comes one of the patrols."
+
+From the nearest tower to the east three men on horseback came riding
+along the top of the wall, clearly outlined against the pale sky. As
+they came nearer the forest-watchers could see that the riders were
+muffled in cloaks. A sharp wind was sweeping down from the south, and
+it must have been bitter indeed on the unprotected eminence of the wall.
+
+"Ha! 'Tis Atlo himself--the captain whom I replaced at the port," said
+Oleric as the patrol came opposite him. "See, the foremost of the
+riders."
+
+Sight of his enemies riding by so close proved too much of a temptation
+to one of the Rutharian fighting men who had ridden down with the party
+to the wall. He was a master bowman. While the eyes of his companions
+were fixed on the three riders, he dismounted and slipped away among
+the trees to the left. In the shadow of a pine he paused and set an
+arrow to the string.
+
+It was a long shot--nearly a hundred yards--but the winged shaft flew
+straight and true. It smote the captain, Atlo, on the shoulder, and
+the riders in the forest could hear the faint clink as the point fell
+blunted from the armor which he wore beneath his cloak.
+
+Atlo started in his saddle, then turned and waved his hand, with a
+laugh. He rode on as if the arrow were a matter of little moment. The
+other two riders were more timorous than their captain, and they sent
+many a glance back toward the dark forest shadow as they rode along.
+
+Oleric shouted to the archer to loose no more arrows.
+
+"Let no more raids be made over the wall," Everson directed, "and have
+a force of men clear and rebuild the old road yonder. Bring it up as
+near to the wall as may be, without attracting attention. We must
+attack and take them unawares. We will have to mine underground from
+the forest to the wall and place our explosives. As soon as the wall
+is down, we shall throw a force of infantry through the breach, starve
+the garrison off the wall and hold the territory on the other side
+against all attack until we can clear the wreck of the wall and lay a
+road through the gap so that our cavalry and charioteers may pass it.
+Otherwise, the Maeronicans will hold the breach against us, in which
+case there would be a delay which we cannot afford--if, indeed, we
+should be able to fight our way through at all."
+
+Oleric pondered on the plan for a few moments. He looked up with
+shining eyes.
+
+"A wise counsel," he said. "All of these things shall be done, and
+right speedily."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Almost miracles are the things which may be accomplished by human
+brains and hands, if there be enough of them and they are united to
+their work by a common and all-pervading purpose.
+
+Into the old forests above the Kimbrian barrier the Rutharian zinds
+threw a force of two thousand men and half again as many horses. The
+ancient roadway through the wood to the foot of the wall was cleared
+and rebuilt as though by magic. Everson, visiting the scene of the
+work, reflected somewhat bitterly on the contrast between the manner
+of this labor and any similar task to be done in the land where he was
+born.
+
+There, he knew, there would have been the delays caused by failure to
+supply the necessary materials, and failure again to get them to their
+appointed places on contract time. There would have been labor strikes,
+jealousies and bickering among leaders. In the end, of course, the work
+would have been done, and well done--but with much trouble.
+
+But in Ruthar there were no walking delegates. Happy were the workmen
+to labor from sun to sun, and others to take up the task in the hours
+of darkness. Materials were free and inexhaustible, and the zinds and
+leaders worked together like brothers, each doing what was required of
+him, as though his very life depended upon it.
+
+Within a fortnight of his first view of the Kimbrian Wall, the
+lieutenant deemed that the time to strike was nearly ripe. Two months
+and nearly a half of another of the allotted six were past. Three
+months and a half remained before Adlaz would gather for the Feast
+of Years. Three months and a half in which to conquer a nation and
+take a walled city, the strength of which was a tradition! Yet it
+must be done. And Everson, when he saw the tools with which he had to
+work, hoped high. This was an archaic people; but he found its sons
+good companions; sturdy, truthful, straightforward as their own long
+sword-blades. He believed they would follow to the death and that they
+would not come too late to the Adlaz gates.
+
+One day, Glorian, who of late had avoided Polaris, summoned the son of
+the snows and bade him bring with him his American comrades and Oleric
+the Red.
+
+"I know that you are nearly ready to go up against the Kimbrian Wall
+and the hosts of Bel-Ar," she said. "But before that day comes, there
+is a pilgrimage that must be made to one without the aid of whom
+perchance your greatest effort would be in vain. Bring horses; for on
+this journey I ride with you."
+
+Polaris rode a splendid black stallion, splotched with white at
+forehead and fetlock, which had been the gift of Jastla, of the hills.
+When they were ready to leave the temple gates, Rombar came barking at
+the horses' heels.
+
+"Best to leave the dog behind, brother," said Oleric. "We go upon a
+path where he may find ill-favor."
+
+Cloaked in a wondrous robe of red fox-skins, Glorian rode on a
+cream-colored palfrey, attended by one of her women in waiting only.
+Never had she seemed more fair and queenly. Like some bright daughter
+of the white North of the long ago, was she, of whom the skalds have
+sung in their undying sagas.
+
+From her he glanced to Polaris, who rode beside her. The son of the
+snows was clad from head to heel in the glittering chain armor which
+Rutharian smiths had forged for him, and cloaked in the black skin
+of a forest bear. At his back swung a two-handed sword. A winged
+helm, brilliant with gold-work and curtained with a hood and cape of
+delicately wrought links, sat upon his tawny hair. Long since a razor
+of keen bronze had swept the beard from his cheeks and chin.
+
+Only in the amber eyes had the troubles of the years left their mark--a
+shadow of sadness when they were thoughtful or in repose, but which did
+not ill become them.
+
+"She may be a goddess," thought Zenas to himself, "and she is beautiful
+enough to be a real one; but if she hasn't gone silly as a cow-girl
+over this lad of ours, then I'm a donkey, and a blind one, to boot. O
+Trouble, you've worn skirts ever since you quit fig-leaves."
+
+Zenas shook his head. The geologist had never married.
+
+It was no brief pleasure-jaunt on which Glorian led, but nearly
+two days' hard riding into the northwest from Zele-omaz, across
+heavily-wooded mountains and through valleys deep with snow.
+
+Leaving the hills at last, the party came to a vast, dark forest,
+silent, somber and covering the rolling land like a black pall. Into
+its soundless glades the riders penetrated and rode for miles.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Presently they saw ahead of them a clearing in the depths of the wood,
+and a stretch of long buildings, built of stone, and with their windows
+set high in the walls near their roofs.
+
+It was late afternoon when the riders entered the clearing and
+approached the buildings, which stood about the four sides of a square,
+enclosing a space of nearly three acres. As they rode into this court,
+following a path between two of the buildings, the travelers saw that a
+number of smaller structures of stone and wood occupied a part of the
+square. Here and there in the court, fires of brush were burning--for
+it was bitter cold in the forest depths--and dark figures of men passed
+to and fro about the fires. A pack of shaggy, wolf-bred dogs came
+yapping at the horses' heels.
+
+"Who comes?" cried a voice. Men bearing spears ran forward from the
+fires.
+
+"Glorian of Ruthar comes to visit Zoar of the Amalocs," answered Oleric.
+
+Straightway the armed men knelt in the courtyard, and one in a stern
+voice called back the dogs.
+
+A door in one of the houses near the center of the square was opened,
+and the form of a man stood there, silhouetted against a flaring light
+within the dwelling.
+
+"Methought that I heard a voice well known to me, speaking of Glorian
+of Ruthar and of Zoar of the Amalocs." The tones of the man in the
+doorway were low, but clear and sonorous as a bell. "I thought it the
+voice of one Oleric the Learned," the man went on. He bent forward and
+shaded his eyes with his hand. "Are you indeed come, red one? Ride
+forward that I may see."
+
+Oleric's answer was drowned in a terrific chorus of squealing groans,
+which seemed to issue from the larger buildings on all three sides of
+the square. So unearthly and piercing was the din, that Zenas Wright
+would have clapped his hands to his ears; but he found his best efforts
+needed to control his horse. The steeds of all the party snorted and
+reared in terror of that hideous outburst. They would have bolted, but
+knew not where to bolt; and presently the clamor was ceased, and they
+stood still and trembling.
+
+"What demons of the place are these?" cried Polaris. He sprang down
+from his horse, tossed the reins to the man nearest him, and ran to the
+head of Glorian's palfrey, which was curveting and threatening to pitch
+its mistress from her saddle.
+
+"Those are the pets of Zoar," Oleric answered, "the amalocs. They know
+his voice and answer him in their own fashion." Spurring his restive
+horse, the red captain rode forward to the porch of the dwelling.
+
+"So, 'tis you, indeed," said Zoar as the captain advanced into the ring
+of firelight. This time the man spoke softly, almost in a whisper, and
+was not again interrupted. He stepped to the side of the captain's
+horse and took him by the hand. "Who rides with you, and why do you
+ride to seek Zoar?" he asked. "Is the time come, red one? Is it come?"
+
+"Aye; the time is here, Zoar," said Oleric soberly. "Our years have not
+been in vain. Yonder sits the Goddess Glorian, and holding her horse's
+head is the hope of Ruthar, whom I have brought up from the sea."
+
+"And the Kimbrian Wall?" Zoar asked.
+
+"It waits but the coming of the amalocs, when we will push it down like
+a barrier of straw," Oleric answered. "Ruthar stands in arms as she
+never has before, and the land rustles with banners. We have come to
+ask your aid. When we know that Zoar of the amalocs is on the march,
+then will the war-drums be sounded."
+
+"Has the ancient crown touched his brow?" asked Zoar.
+
+"Not yet; we wait your word."
+
+"It is given." Zoar lifted his face to the dim sky. "Beyond the mists
+the stars of Ruthar shine, never so brightly," he muttered. He laid his
+hand on the captain's arm.
+
+"On the third day from now Zoar of the Amalocs will march," he
+said. "Now bring your party within, and they shall enjoy what poor
+hospitality I have for them, who entertain so few guests."
+
+Men led away the horses, and the travelers entered the hall of Zoar.
+
+"Ah, daughter of the stars," he said, and bowed, as Glorian crossed his
+threshold, "many years have gone since I last looked into your eyes;
+but I find that the will burns strongly still, and your beauty has not
+dimmed. But I grow old, daughter, old and very weary."
+
+Gravely and courteously Zoar welcomed his guests, and bade them rest
+and sit at meat with him. It was a plain place into which he ushered
+them; yet was it rich, as the world counts riches, and its wealth was
+all of ivory. Seats, tables, cabinets, even the casings of the windows
+and the doors were of ivory--wonderful, finely grained stuff, some of
+it white as alabaster, and some of it cream-yellow with the tint of
+age. And the carvings on it must have been the work of years.
+
+Zoar, the host, the travelers found quite as remarkable as his ivory
+treasure. He was a slight, short man, hardly so tall as Zenas Wright
+and not so stocky as the geologist. He wore a long white beard, and his
+hair, of the same silver, flowed across his shoulders. His eyes, under
+bushy brows, were bright and kindly. His step was quick and firm, nor
+did his limbs or hands tremble. Yet there was on him the stamp of an
+unutterable, incredible age.
+
+His skin was as yellow-pale as the oldest of his ivory, and the whole
+surface of it was fretted with thousands of infinitesimal wrinkles.
+When he spoke or moved it was with spirit and animation; but when he
+fell into fits of abstraction--and that was often--Zoar looked very
+like a mummy fresh-stripped from its tomb.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Polaris the old man regarded with especial interest, and when the meal
+had been cleared away he sat and talked with him and Glorian for many
+minutes, recalling odd, old tales of the history of Ruthar, with which
+he showed remarkable familiarity.
+
+"But Ruthar's greatest story is yet to be made," he said in conclusion
+of his tales. Then he called his servants to show his guests to their
+chambers.
+
+"What! Have I ridden all these miles, friend Oleric, and then to be
+put to bed without the chance to tell you that these wonderful beasts
+about which you have bragged so much are only elephants after all?"
+said Zenas Wright, forgetting in his stubbornness the ivory gateway at
+Zele-omaz.
+
+The red captain grinned and put a question to Zoar. The old man
+answered with a shake of his head:
+
+"The amalocs love not to be disturbed at night, and especially they
+love not fires or lights. If you and your friends would sleep in peace
+this night, I counsel that you wait till daybreak to see the beasts.
+Otherwise they may revile you in such fashion as will shake your
+couches and drive all sleep from your pillows."
+
+So Zenas was forced to be content and go to his bed with no chance to
+crow over Oleric. All night long there penetrated occasionally through
+the geologist's slumbers the noise of raucous trumpeting and the
+padding stamp of ponderous feet.
+
+When they had broken their fast in the morning, Zoar led his guests
+into the court and sent men to throw open the great bronze doors in the
+front of the nearest of the stone buildings.
+
+"Now for an elephant," muttered Zenas. "Perhaps a mighty big one, but
+still an elephant." Then Zenas stopped, amazed.
+
+Out through the doors of bronze and into the open court stalked a
+mountain of flesh and ivory and stood swaying restlessly from one foot
+to another, flapping ears that would have made a bed covering, and
+looking keenly about with little, inflamed eyes. Elephantine in shape
+only was this monster. The points of its shoulders were fifteen feet
+from the ground--a full yard taller than the most stalwart elephant
+that ever bore the howdah of a mogul emperor.
+
+Tusks that were ten feet long projected from its massive skull, curving
+downward where they left the bone and then out and up in such fashion
+that if they had been continued farther they would have formed spirals.
+The body of the monster was covered with a coarse and woolly growth of
+reddish-brown hair, through which there pricked long, black bristles.
+On the trunk the wool was sparse and the bristles shorter, and one
+could see that the hide of the beast was a drab-gray. Neck it had none;
+but along the spine, just back of the skull and extending beyond the
+shoulders, was a ridge or mane of coarse, black hair.
+
+His face gone white and his eyes round and goggling, Zenas Wright stood
+and stared up at this Gargantuan offspring of the hinder ages.
+
+"_Loxodon!_" he breathed.
+
+Never in all his life had the geologist felt so small and insignificant
+as in the presence of that towering survivor of the prehistoric past.
+
+Zoar stepped forward in front of the beast.
+
+"Ixstus!" he called gently.
+
+The great ears inclined forward to attention.
+
+"_Stekkar mal!_" the old man commanded.
+
+Down swung the vast, wrinkled trunk in a huge loop, into which Zoar
+stepped and was hoisted to the table of the monstrous skull--a flat
+place where five men might have sat and played at cards.
+
+Another word of command, and the mammoth advanced a couple of paces.
+The snakelike trunk groped forward, and Zenas, wriggling some as he
+went, was swung aloft and found himself seated breathlessly by the side
+of Zoar.
+
+The master of the beasts smiled at the other old man.
+
+"When you come again to your own land, you may tell your children's
+children, if you have them, that you have sat on the head of an amaloc,
+the grandfather of all beasts," said Zoar.
+
+While Zenas appreciated that honor, it might be said that he was much
+relieved when he got his feet on the ground again.
+
+From building to building of the immense stables, the scientist was led
+with growing wonder. Ninety and three of the giant mammals there were,
+of which no one stood less than twelve feet high. But Ixstus was the
+champion and patriarch of the herd.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As the riders journeyed back to Zele-omaz, Oleric told again how the
+Children of Ad had driven the beasts southward from their lands with
+fire, and how the men of Ruthar likewise had made war upon them, until
+they were in danger of becoming extinct.
+
+"But then came the prophecy, and men of wisdom set themselves to study
+and tame the beasts," he said. "And now, when the wall is down, and
+Ruthar takes the road to Adlaz, the amalocs shall lead the way, and
+Zoar and his servants shall drive them against the hosts of Bel-Ar."
+
+"Won't the Maeronicans scare them again with fires?" asked Everson.
+
+"Nay; that has been provided against," said the captain.
+
+"Lady," Polaris said to Glorian, "I have heard and seen many strange
+things in this country of yours, and I have learned much. One more
+thing I would ask that you make clear to me. Oleric has, and last night
+the old man back yonder did again speak of things of the long ago, in
+which you had a part. What did they mean? You are scarcely of mine own
+years."
+
+Glorian glanced hastily at Oleric, and then she answered:
+
+"When the world was younger, men had the secret of years. The slave
+O'Connell told Oleric that it was written in your sacred book out
+yonder in the world that such was so. That secret was lost. For ages it
+was lost. But it was found again in Ruthar. I am one of those to whom
+it has been imparted."
+
+"You mean, lady, that _you_--" Polaris gasped.
+
+"My friend, I first saw the light on Ruthar's hills well-nigh three
+hundred years ago," Glorian replied, and as he involuntarily shrank
+in his saddle, she added hastily, "It is a matter of the inward will
+that holds the spirit and the flesh. To only a few is it given to have
+the will to prevail for a time against time itself. And they are not
+immortal. Presently old age will come to me as it has to Zoar, and I
+shall shrivel away--and die." She shuddered.
+
+Polaris looked at this fair, fresh woman, beautiful as a goddess
+indeed, and by all earthly standards in the first bloom of her young
+womanhood, and he felt that this matter was beyond his comprehension.
+
+"Are there, then, any others, besides you and Zoar?" he asked.
+
+"One other only--and he rides at your side," she answered. "Oleric the
+Learned is younger than I by only fifty years."
+
+"Now, my brother, are some of my wild sayings explained to you," Oleric
+said. "We do not ask that you believe, for this thing is new to you and
+contrary to all that you have learned. Only the years will show you the
+truth of what we tell you--if they pass without accidents. For we are
+not proof against mischance. A sword-stroke may end my days as swiftly
+as any man's."
+
+"Would you that I impart the secret to you?" asked Glorian. And she
+turned and looked deep into Polaris's eyes. "You have a will that is
+stronger than most, and I think that you might well exert it to hold
+back the years, were you instructed. Say, shall we teach it you?"
+
+"Nay, lady," said Polaris. "I will live my appointed years, be they few
+or many, and die when my time comes. One short human life, it seems,
+can hold all the troubles for which a man has heart. And I would not,
+if this thing be possible, see my friends grow old and die, while I
+lived on."
+
+Glorian sighed. Then she seemed struck by a new thought, and asked:
+
+"What will happen if Ruthar is too late, and you reach not your friends
+in Adlaz--and the lady Rose, of whom Oleric has told me? What if you
+come not to Adlaz in time to save them?"
+
+"I think that I shall be in time," Polaris said grimly. "If I am not,
+then I think death shall find me on the road--and be welcome."
+
+Zenas Wright, hearing these things, and marveling, became troubled.
+
+"Wow!" he said to the lieutenant. "I can believe anything now. To-day I
+have seen a living mammoth, and I felt about three thousand years old
+myself. And now, too, look out for squalls."
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER VII
+
+                       POLARIS MAKES HIS CHOICE
+
+
+Dawn, the cheerless gray of clouded winter, crept over the city of
+Adlaz. In her bed in the prison-palace of Bel-Tisan the dark-haired
+Princess Memene of Sardanes lay, and beside her was her new little
+son. But Memene was not well, and Rose knew she would not live.
+
+"Oh, that Minos were here to see!" Memene said faintly. And again--"It
+is the king he was so sure of." She smiled at Rose. "It is the king,
+my sister. And he shall be named Patrymion, after a man who is dead--a
+very brave man." And smiling, she passed away.
+
+When she could control her grief--she had come to love Memene
+dearly--Rose summoned Brunar and told him what had befallen. The
+captain heard her sorrowfully, for he had honored and admired the
+Sardanian princess and pitied her sad circumstance. He sent the old
+woman out to fetch a younger one to care for the child. And then he
+brought men to bear Memene away. Out of the kindness that was in him,
+the captain looked to it that she lay in a fair and pleasant spot, and
+not where the common people of Ad buried their dead.
+
+Persuaded by Rose, and because he had some knowledge of English and
+could bear the message, Brunar took horse at noon and rode down to the
+harbor, there to seek Minos.
+
+This happening was nearly two months after the departure of Polaris and
+the others who had gone to Ruthar. In the intervening time, Oleric the
+Red had tried and tried again to get word through to Adlaz, informing
+those who were left behind of the fair progress of events. Always he
+had failed until one of his men, by craft and waiting, had gained a
+place with the prison guard.
+
+With him Rose Emer managed to get speech, and they arranged that on
+the following day he should slip away and try to reach Ruthar again,
+bearing a message from her to Polaris.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+On one of the quays in the harbor of Adlaz sat Minos, the Sardanian. It
+was cold on the quay, but he did not feel it. His back was weary with
+carrying burdens, but he was unconscious of that weariness. Why should
+the body live when the soul is dead within it? Nor did his eyes see
+the dancing waters of the harbor, where the fademes of Bel-Ar rode at
+their anchors. Until this day he had counted the hours with hope, and
+had borne his tasks with patience. Now hope had gone, and the taste of
+living was as dry dust.
+
+For Memene was dead.
+
+When Brunar had brought him the news, he had heard the captain through,
+and thanked him gravely. Then he had turned twice in his tracks and
+fallen like a stone. So long had he lain that Brunar deemed him dead.
+When he had come back from that swoon, Minos would work no more; nor
+did any seek to force him. He had wandered aimlessly out on the quay.
+When night fell, it found him still sitting there.
+
+It was a wild night. The moon shone but dimly, and often was veiled
+by scudding snow-clouds, and the stars were wan. Far to the south,
+over Ruthar, a faint rose-pink against the sky told that the southern
+lights, aurora australis, were playing. Somewhere beneath their
+flickering radiance lay the lost kingdom of Sardanes that the snows had
+covered deep. A wind, gusty and fitful, leaped over the mountain-rim
+and tossed the waters of the crater-lake so that the fademes swung
+restlessly and clanked their anchor-chains. One by one the mitzl globes
+among the warehouses and along the quays were hooded, until only the
+watch-lights were burning.
+
+A soldier of the guard hailed Minos; but the Sardanian answered not,
+stirred not.
+
+"Now let the fool sit and freeze," said the soldier impatiently. And
+then he added, "Poor fellow." For he had heard the story of the fallen
+king, and had a good wife and bairns of his own in Adlaz town.
+
+In Sardanes, Minos had been known as the smiling prince. But for all
+his patient, kindly ways, he was high-spirited. And once roused, none
+was quicker to strike than he. Events of the last few weeks had galled
+his temper. Now, coming out of the stupor into which this final blow
+had cast him, he was near to madness.
+
+Willingly would have Minos found his way to Adlaz, plucked Bel-Ar
+from his gilded bed and broken him across his knee. But the way was
+treacherous, and there were many guards, and he knew that he could not
+reach the king. Into the south he would have gone, to seek Polaris and
+to play a man's part in the great war. But that way was closed to him
+also. The few men that he might slay in the attempt before they pulled
+him down and slew him would be all too few to satisfy the fires within
+him that burned fiercely for vengeance. With only a great calamity
+would Minos be content.
+
+Uneasily tossed the fademes in the harbor, their anchor-chains
+rattling.
+
+Finally Minos heard them. Then he knew why they were calling to him.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Many times in his work about the harbor of Adlaz the Sardanian had been
+on board the fademes. He had helped to discharge the cargoes of those
+which came in from the fair islands of the southern seas, bringing
+strange tropical fruits, dainties for the lords and ladies of Adlaz,
+and other articles of the commerce which their captains carried on
+with the savage islanders. On many an atoll of the Pacific the brown
+Melanesians knew all the steel and gold clad white men who came up from
+the sea to trade with them.
+
+But they kept out of the track of civilization; for that was their law.
+Civilized men saw them not, though they sometimes heard tales of them
+among the savages--tales which, of course, they did not believe.
+
+Working on the ships as he had, Minos had learned much of the mode of
+their operation. Himself no mean worker in metals, the mysteries of
+these wonderful ships of the underseas had caught his fancy, and he
+had studied them. He knew that such a lever turned would start the
+fademe forward; that such another halted it; and others which caused
+it to turn and to dive beneath the surface or emerge at the will of
+its engineer. He also knew where were the levers which controlled
+the mighty power in the four great shafts of yellow glass and which
+released the terrible rays of light, the rays of the nameless color,
+before which all things were destroyed, and which turned even the water
+that they met into surging vapor.
+
+With that knowledge in his mind and the red fury in his heart, Minos
+knew why the clanging anchor-chains were calling to him.
+
+It was past midnight when the Sardanian king stood up at the end of
+the quay. He stretched wide his arms and the iron-sinewed thews of
+his shoulders and back cracked as he stretched. He glanced up at the
+distant stars.
+
+"Once aforetime, so told the red man from the sea, those Hellenes who
+were my ancestors did turn back this nation when it was swollen with
+conquest and would have mastered all the world," he whispered. "Once
+more the power of Adlaz rides high, and it makes ready to go forth and
+subdue it again--and what I leave, may my brother Polaris finish."
+
+In the shadow of a warehouse the king rubbed and strained his chilled
+muscles back to life. At the side of the wharf he found an open boat,
+and fetched its oars. Then he rowed cautiously out into the harbor.
+
+Scarce a score of yards from the quays rode the nearest of the fademes.
+Minos boarded it on noiseless feet, and cast his boat adrift.
+
+In the cabin of the fademe were sleeping two sailors of its crew and
+the engineer. Them Minos slew with his bare hands. And though the
+engineer ere he died slashed the king's shoulder deeply with a dagger,
+he heeded it not, scarcely felt it.
+
+Going on deck again, he unhooked the chain of the anchor and let it
+slip quietly into the water. Then he closed the double doors fore and
+aft, and made them fast.
+
+Under the lights in the lower gallery, Minos studied the levers and
+the engines. At a turn of his hand he felt the vessel sink beneath the
+surface. Another lever wrenched, and the fademe started gently ahead,
+and the king felt that he was safely launched on his dangerous venture.
+
+Before he had submerged the vessel, Minos had set in his mind the
+location of the fademes. There were nearly one hundred and fifty of
+them in the harbor. Five he knew were on patrol duty constantly off
+the Maeronican headlands. There were perhaps another dozen sailing the
+outer seas on the missions of Bel-Ar. Those at anchor in the harbor
+were disposed in three long, irregular lines, with nearly fifty ships
+in a line.
+
+Minos had submerged the fademe, which he had taken, some forty feet.
+When he reached a point which he thought must be nearly under the first
+vessel in the southern line, he turned off the power and halted. He
+fetched ropes and tied them, one to the starting lever and one to that
+which would stop the fademe. Carrying with him the other ends of the
+ropes, he climbed the ladders to the pilothouse, which rode like a
+small tower at the top of the fademe.
+
+Here in the pilothouse was a powerful revolving searchlight. Here,
+also, were the levers which controlled the tubes of glass which
+projected the deadly light-rays.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Swinging the searchlight to point upward through the crystal roof of
+the pilothouse, Minos unhooded it, and its bright, white bar of light
+thrust upward through the water. By its radiance he saw that he was not
+yet under the first of the fademes. Its golden hull glittered just a
+few feet beyond the radius of his light. A twitch of the rope which he
+had adjusted below sent his own vessel ahead.
+
+Under the first fademe he halted; and with a grim prayer that the
+destroying agency might not be out of order, he pressed the lever that
+controlled the upper shaft of the glass.
+
+With a mighty hissing and seething of the water, the indescribable
+light-ray leaped upward, so dazzlingly brilliant in its unknown color
+that it nearly blinded the man who had loosed it.
+
+Full on the bottom of the fademe above him the light ray struck and
+played, with the water boiling around it. The metal hull crumpled away
+like solder before the tinsmith's point. So swift and furious was its
+action that in an instant Minos saw the vessel above come sinking down.
+He had barely time to pull his rope and get his own fademe from under.
+As it was, the descending wreck grazed the stern of his vessel with a
+jar that nearly unseated him. Thereafter he went more swiftly.
+
+From ship to ship he went down the long line, scarcely pausing under
+each. Ship after ship he left behind him--sunken and useless wrecks.
+
+Minos had finished with the first row of fademes, and was coming back
+on the second line, when a guardsman on shore saw an upthrust of
+furious light from the deck of one of the golden ships, and then saw
+the doomed fademe plunge down.
+
+Throwing up his hands, the soldier ran across the harbor court,
+shouting that some captain had gone mad and was destroying the fleet.
+
+Then the harbor that had been still became alive. Lights flashed up.
+Men ran hither and thither. A messenger was dispatched to Adlaz to
+report to the king. Some sober-minded and brave men launched small
+boats into the harbor to go out and warn the engineers of the other
+fademes.
+
+Well near the end of his second line was Minos when he bethought him
+that his activities must draw attention to him. Then he loosed in
+succession the other three tubes, and their deadly rays shot forth, one
+from each side and one below. The king let them roar unchecked, and all
+around his vessel the water was turned into a boiling inferno. Like the
+evil genius of Adlaz, he rode on, leaving only wreckage in his wake.
+
+Part way down the last northern line, the end found him.
+
+Engineers on the other fademes had been awakened. Hastily they plunged
+their vessels beneath the surface and set out against the destroyer.
+Because of the fierce play of his four rays, they could not come at him
+from either side or from above or below.
+
+But one pilot steered in behind and, with the blazing peril a fair
+target, loosed the destroying ray from his own fademe.
+
+From behind him Minos heard a roar of steam and water entering in.
+A blinding radiance shot through the gallery below the pilothouse,
+withering all things as it passed. The structure of the fademe crumpled
+away beneath him.
+
+"Memene!" he cried. "I come!"
+
+Then the rising waters and the great darkness.
+
+So by the hand of Minos of Sardanes perished the mighty navy which
+the king Bel-Ar had amassed to go forth and conquer the world. Of his
+hundred and fifty fademes that had ridden in the harbor of Adlaz, a
+bare score remained to him. And this is the tale which Brunar, the
+captain, told in the morning to Rose Emer in the old prison-palace of
+Bel-Tisam, and which she set down and sent by messenger to cross the
+Kimbrian Wall to Polaris Janess in Ruthar.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Meanwhile, scarcely had the riders from the forest home of Zoar of the
+Amalocs come again to Zele-omaz when Everson was off to see to the
+course of his operations at the Kimbrian Wall. He snatched only a few
+hours of rest and sleep, and rode out in the night.
+
+On the day after the return, which also was the day on which Zoar had
+promised to set out with his mighty herd on the road to the barrier,
+Oleric the Red sought Polaris in the camp to the west of the city, and
+bade him accompany him to the Temple of Glorian.
+
+Oleric told naught of the meaning of the summons, but rode with Janess
+through the city, saying little and staring at his horse's ears. Never
+had Polaris seen the red captain so silent and so thoughtful.
+
+"What ails you, friend?" asked the son of the snows. "Why so moody, as
+is not your wont? Has aught gone amiss?"
+
+"Nothing amiss," the captain answered. "But a matter is toward that
+concerns yourself closely--and I know not if I have been wise to keep
+it from you so long."
+
+He would say no more, and presently they were at the temple.
+
+Oleric led Polaris into the high-domed audience-hall, which they found
+empty, save for the Goddess Glorian, who sat in one of the seats on
+the double throne, and who looked on Polaris with kindling eyes as he
+crossed the hall.
+
+To the northern wall led Oleric, and they paused before an ancient
+panel of black rock, which had been set into the marble at about the
+height of a man's head. So old was this slab or block of adamant that
+its surface was all crackled, yet it was smooth as polished slate.
+Across its face ran carven lines of writing, like the lines of a runic
+legend.
+
+"This stone bears the ancient prophecy of Ruthar," Oleric said. "Here
+in the long ago were writ the words of that which we believe is now to
+come to pass. See how the stone shines. It has been worn smooth by the
+lips of countless chiefs of Ruthar."
+
+With unwonted solemnity the captain gazed into the eyes of his friend.
+"Give close heed, and I will read it you," he said, and read:
+
+    "In a far time--more than the length of years of three amalocs--a
+    mighty, fair-haired man shall come up from the sea. He shall break
+    down the wall at the north. He shall lead Ruthar and the beasts of
+    Ruthar through the wall. And they shall take Adlaz and destroy the
+    king of Adlaz--"
+
+The captain paused, and again looked strangely at Polaris. He concluded
+the reading:
+
+    "And the man shall be king over Ruthar and Adlaz."
+
+Janess stared at the ancient writing in silence, and his brow clouded
+over.
+
+"This is the whole of the prophecy of Ruthar--the part of which I have
+kept concealed from you--though every lad in Ruthar knows it," said
+Oleric hastily. "I beg of you, my brother, that you will forgive me if
+I have done ill. But I have thought it wise to keep silence this far.
+Now is come the time when nothing must be kept back."
+
+He stopped speaking, and both he and Glorian gazed earnestly at the
+doubtful face of Polaris.
+
+"You mean that I shall be king of Ruthar," Polaris said at length. From
+one to the other of them he glanced.
+
+The red captain nodded slowly.
+
+"So it is writ in the prophecy," said Glorian. She left the throne, and
+came and took Polaris by the hand.
+
+"And, O man from the sea, for whom Ruthar has waited so long and
+patiently, you cannot gainsay us now," she pleaded. A smile of
+appealing sweetness came to her aid.
+
+"But, lady, to be a king I did not bargain when I came hither with the
+captain; though," and he smiled, "I was in an ill place to drive a
+bargain, and might have yielded almost anything. But to be a king--I
+like it not. I am neither of Ruthar nor of Ad. I am a simple American
+of common birth. I do not wish to be a king, but merely to go hence
+with my own people, if I may. And if I did wish it, what of the people?
+Would they relish the thought of an outlander on their throne?"
+
+Again Glorian answered him:
+
+"It is so writ in the prophecy."
+
+And Oleric said: "And the prophecy is known to all the people, as it
+has been for centuries. From the wall to the southern cliffs, there is
+no man or woman in all Ruthar who does not already look upon you as the
+king. Think well, my brother."
+
+"But would it not do as well if I were to serve you and Ruthar for a
+while, and those with me, as leaders? Then, when we have won, if we
+_do_ win, might I not go hence? Would that not serve as well?"
+
+Glorian smiled faintly, and Oleric shook his head.
+
+"Nay, my brother," the captain replied. "You must put your hands in the
+hands of the zinds of Ruthar and swear the oath of kingship. That is
+the only way. 'And the man shall be king over Ruthar and Adlaz,' runs
+the prophecy." Oleric traced the writing on the slab with his finger.
+"By those words do the zinds and the people hold. It is the only way."
+
+"And if I refuse?"
+
+"Then," said Glorian, "the army will not march to-morrow, nor will Zoar
+drive on the beasts--unless all of the prophecy shall be fulfilled.
+Then we who have stood as sponsors for you will be derided as cheats
+and fools, if, indeed, worse things do not befall you and us. And
+bethink you--those whom you love, who are in Adlaz, will perish
+miserably, while Bel-Ar and the priests of Shamar mock their miseries.
+Without you we fail, and without us and the hosts of Ruthar you, too,
+are powerless."
+
+"You argue strongly, lady, and you, too, comrade," Polaris said.
+"Still, I like not this prospect of being king. I must have a little
+space in which to ponder it over."
+
+"It is now nearly noon," Oleric said. "To-day the zinds from every
+province and city of Ruthar ride into Zele-omaz--to greet their king.
+Until to-night, my brother."
+
+"Then to-night will I give my answer--here in this hall," Polaris said,
+and he turned and went to seek out old Zenas Wright. And neither of the
+two whom he left behind could have guessed at what his answer would be,
+though it seemed to them that there could only be one answer. For they
+had come to know him as a man of surpassing determination, and here was
+a path in which he did not want to set his feet.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the old laboratory Janess found Zenas. The work of the geologist
+was completed. Melinite he had turned out of his workshops by the ton,
+and the most of it had been transported carefully, and was stored in
+the forests near to the Kimbrian Wall. Now his thunder factory was
+deserted. Every last man of his force had gone to join the army.
+
+"Yes, my lad, I know," said Zenas, after one glance at Polaris's face.
+"They have told you about this king business. I know, too--for I know
+you--that you are bucking it--hard."
+
+"I do not want to be a king, old Zenas, but--"
+
+"Yes, there's a 'but' in it, and a big one. What are you going to do
+about it? Our red-headed, two-hundred-and-fifty-year-old youngster, the
+antique lady, and their old father, Methuselah Zoar, have it all cut
+and dried. If you can see any way out of it except their way, you have
+devilish keen eyes. I can't, and I've been looking at it for quite a
+few days. Oleric told me about it all some time ago. Take it, boy; take
+it. And make the most of it. It isn't every day that one gets a chance
+to be absolute ruler over a rich country and nearly five millions of
+people. You'll make a better king than any they've ever had on either
+side of the wall. That I'll guarantee." And the old man looked at his
+troubled friend with bright eyes and patted him on the knee.
+
+While they sat and talked this matter over, came a man to the door,
+crying out that a messenger had come through from Adlaz bringing a
+written word to Polaris.
+
+The courier was brought in. He proved to be that same Rutharian who had
+gained a place with the prison guard under Brunar. Already he had told
+in the city of the destruction of the fademes of Bel-Ar, and Zele-omaz
+was going wild with the news.
+
+When Polaris had read the letter sent him by Rose Emer, and he and
+Zenas had heard what the messenger had to add to its news, the face of
+the son of the snows grew very stern. The kindly old scientist's eyes
+were moist. After the man was gone, neither of them spoke for quite a
+time. The two who were gone had been dear friends, and the friendship
+had been knit by perils and hardships, in which each had learned the
+worth of the others.
+
+"Now is the score that I have to settle with this king of Adlaz grown
+long indeed," Polaris said at length, "and I am minded to tilt him for
+his kingdom, as these folk would have me do. He made a good ending, did
+Minos; and I do not think that Bel-Ar, even if he come free of Ruthar,
+will live to see the day when another fleet shall lie ready to go out
+and win the world for him."
+
+He became silent. While the town, filling up with the arrival of zinds
+and their retinues, gave itself to rejoicing at the blow that had been
+struck Bel-Ar, and the old man sat by the fire and dozed, Polaris paced
+moodily up and down the long laboratory. An hour passed, and the half
+of another. Then he struck one hand hard into the other.
+
+"Now in all these happenings I think I see my way at last," he muttered.
+
+With the fall of night he cloaked himself and went up to the temple on
+the hill, and Zenas went with him.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+From every principality and town in Ruthar the zinds had come to
+Zele-omaz. Those who were too old or infirm to make the journey had
+sent their sons or representatives. In the hall of Glorian these were
+gathered to the number of one hundred-and-seven--tall and stately men,
+most of them, clad in chain armor plated with silver and bossed with
+plates of steel--for they had come to fight for their king as well as
+to crown him. A shout went up that made the torches flare, when a guard
+opened one of the doors of bronze, and Polaris Janess and Zenas came
+into the hall.
+
+Eager-eyed, they pressed around the son of the snows, to welcome him
+whom their prophets and their goddess had said would redress their
+ancient wrongs.
+
+Polaris met their greetings with a heightened color and a glow in his
+eyes. Almost, he thought, it would be a joy to be the king of such as
+these--he, the dweller in no-man's land, a waif from the eternal snows.
+
+And the Goddess Glorian, watching him from her ivory throne, smiled
+to herself, though there was a pang at her heart that she could not
+manage to quench or still.
+
+Presently Polaris stood in the open space at the foot of the throne.
+The zinds gathered before him in a glittering semicircle, and made
+silence in the hall.
+
+"Chieftains of Ruthar," he began, lifting his voice so that all might
+hear, "this day have I been asked to become your king, to take your
+crown upon my head, to sit upon your throne, to lead you in battle, and
+to rule over you as wisely as I may--all this because of certain words
+on a stone which, it seems, may not be changed. Is this your wish, men
+of Ruthar--to have me, an outlander, as your king?"
+
+A deep-voiced shout was the answer, and every voice said "Aye."
+
+"Then this is my answer, men of Ruthar, seeing that there is no dissent
+among you: when I came unwillingly to the shores of Maeronica, there
+came with me a friend, a true man. You have heard much of him to-day.
+It was he that sank the fademes of Bel-Ar. He was named Minos, and he
+was the king of a nation that has passed away. That man is dead by a
+glorious means. Yonder in the harbor he struck a great blow for Ruthar
+and for the world. He gave his life.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"To-day word reached me by the messenger who brought the tidings of
+that deed, and the word was that this Minos who is dead, left behind
+him a son, an infant newly born.
+
+"Now I will yield me to your wishes, chieftains of Ruthar. I will go
+with you to the Kimbrian Wall, and beyond it. I will fight with you
+to overthrow Bel-Ar. I will do all that a man may to be the king you
+wish me. But it is my will that when this son of Minos the Sardanian is
+grown to manhood's years and wisdom, he shall relieve me of my kingship
+and become your king, and his son after him, if he have one. That is my
+answer, men of Ruthar. I thank you for the high honor you would do me."
+
+He turned and bowed deeply to the Goddess Glorian, and then stood back
+at the side of the throne.
+
+A murmur of surprise arose in the hall, and then was silenced, for
+Glorian arose to speak.
+
+"Zinds of my people," she said in her clear, low voice, "to the weight
+of this man's words add that of Glorian's. He comes, this man, from a
+land where there are no kings. He is willing to fight for you--to die
+with you. What he promises will fulfil the prophecy by which we hold.
+It is a noble choice that he has made. It is my rede that you accept
+it--mine and that of Oleric the Learned, to whom you sometimes have
+looked for counsel."
+
+As she reseated herself, the red captain stood forth and said simply:
+
+"My brother has chosen well. I stand with him. Should you not agree, I
+still stand with him, and he and I and such as are faithful to us will
+break the Kimbrian Wall and perish on the road to Adlaz."
+
+For a short time the zinds took counsel among themselves. When they had
+done, an aged man--he was Atra, the ruler of Zele-omaz--stood out from
+among them.
+
+"We are agreed, O goddess," he said. "We will have this man as king
+until the prophecy is fulfilled and for so long afterward as he will,
+until the babe be grown to manhood. He is a true man. We are content,
+and perhaps"--here Atra smiled--"with the passing of the years he may
+change his mind."
+
+They brought the crown of Ruthar--a heavy torque of gold set with
+fire-opals--and led Polaris to the ivory throne, and set him beside the
+Goddess Glorian and crowned him. And he put his hands in the hands of
+the zinds and swore the oath of kingship.
+
+"Yonder in Adlaz is a larger palace and a wider throne," said Glorian.
+
+"Aye, lady," he answered. "To-morrow I shall go to seek it."
+
+A great feast followed the coronation. When it was done, all night
+long through the streets of Zele-omaz and across the bridges of Illia,
+sounded the rumbling of chariot-wheels and the tramp of marching feet.
+Ruthar was on the march at last, and the destination was the Kimbrian
+Wall.
+
+So it fell out that the ambition of Minos of Sardanes had not been so
+vain of attainment. He had won a kingdom for "the king that was to
+come."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As near as they dared, Everson's army of workmen had pushed the
+completion of their broad highway to the Kimbrian Wall, clearing and
+building up the old, disused road. Trees had been felled and removed
+where it was necessary, and rocks had been dragged away with much
+labor--and all with as little noise as possible, so that the men of
+Atlo who garrisoned the wall might know nothing of the work, and that
+when the time should come, Maeronica could be taken unawares.
+
+To do that the road-makers had been forced to halt their work two
+hundred yards from the wall, where a belt of thick forest was left
+standing across the way which effectually screened their operations.
+
+When the roadway had been completed to that point, molelike, the
+engineers and sappers dug into the earth and pushed on. The old
+roadway, suiting their purposes well, led to the wall at a point nearly
+midway between two of the watchtowers, which were distant from one
+another about a mile. Another circumstance which was favorable to the
+lieutenant's plan was that the neck or isthmus which connected Ruthar
+to Maeronica was, though high above the sea, comparatively level.
+
+Back of a knoll in the forest the miners sank their shaft. Twelve feet
+down in the earth they struck the living rock and proceeded along that,
+excavating a tunnel, or gallery, eight feet high by ten feet across.
+This work was done swiftly, for the tunnel was wide enough so that four
+men might work in it abreast, and as fast as one quartet was wearied
+another took its place, and the picks were swinging day and night. As
+the diggers went on, a multitude of workers behind them carried back
+the loosened earth and shored the gallery up with timbers so that it
+might not cave.
+
+When Everson returned from the ride to the place of Zoar, he found that
+his tunnel was ended--against the face of the Kimbrian Wall, which was
+founded on the rock itself. Following his instructions, the sappers had
+branched the tunnel right and left along the wall, until the working
+was in the shape of an elongated letter "T", the cross-arm of which lay
+along the foundation stones of the wall and was sixty feet long.
+
+With the same ceaseless industry that had built the tunnel so swiftly,
+they then had attacked the face of the wall with chisels and sledges,
+cutting in at intervals of about ten feet. This had been difficult
+work and perilous. The rock of the wall was adamant-hard. However, by
+attacking the cement in which the stones were set, the miners had been
+able to remove numbers of the great blocks entire, rolling them by
+dint of herculean effort across the gallery and into cavities made to
+receive them.
+
+In that work had been the danger. Eight men had been crushed under
+falling fragments--first toll of Ruthar in the warfare.
+
+The excavations had been carried into the foundation of the wall a
+matter of fifteen feet when Everson arrived. He at once ordered that
+work stopped. Remained only the placing of the explosive. That he
+superintended in person.
+
+Bar by bar--for the lieutenant would suffer no man to carry more than
+one of old Zenas's patty-cakes at a time--and with extreme care, the
+melinite was borne in through the tunnel and packed in the cavities
+in the wall. The geologist's workshop had turned out a plenty of the
+stuff, and it was used without stint. Everson judged that he placed
+nearly two tons of the explosive in each of the six chambers under the
+wall.
+
+Banks of loose, dry earth were piled about the melinite charges;
+Everson laid his wires, and his workmen then filled the cavities with
+fragments of the rock taken from the wall.
+
+Still further to retard the release of the gases when the charges
+should be set off, the lieutenant set his men to wall up the openings
+to the chambers, using heavy rocks and cement, having done which, they
+filled in the cross-arm of the "T" with earth and fragments of stone,
+tamping all in firmly.
+
+Very workmanlike was the finished task over which Everson nodded his
+approval and told his grimy legion, "Well done."
+
+During all the progress of the labor the patrols of Bel-Ar rode to and
+fro along the wall, and never guessed that sixty feet below them in the
+rock their enemies were planting the fearful seeds that would put forth
+the red flower of war.
+
+It was midnight of the third day after the gathering of the zinds
+in the temple of Glorian at Zele-omaz, when Everson walked out of
+the tunnel for the last time, his wires laid, his batteries ready.
+Retiring to one of the shelters which had been built in the forest, the
+lieutenant threw himself on a couch for a few brief hours of sleep.
+
+Five hours later one of his engineers awakened him and told him that
+the zinds of Ruthar with a great host had gone into camp for the night
+along the roadway ten miles back from the wall, and that the levies of
+the upper hills, the light-armed archers, slingers and javelin men,
+were pouring into the vast camp which had been prepared nearby in the
+forest.
+
+"And these last swear that when they sleep again it will be beyond the
+wall," the engineer added.
+
+"Many of them, poor chaps, are likely to sleep there forever," said
+Everson. "Where is the king?"
+
+"With the zinds."
+
+The lieutenant arose and went out on the hillside; for he knew that
+the time had come.
+
+Calling a messenger, he told him to go and summon the skirmishers from
+the camp. Presently he saw them coming, long, silent files of men,
+ghostly in the gray light, picking their way over the snow-covered
+slopes and among the trees, some of the lines led by zinds and others
+by their captains.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the forests opposite the wall, Everson posted a wedge of five
+thousand javelin men, who were armed also with short swords. These were
+to rush the breach in the wall and deploy on the other side to hold
+the gap from any assault from beyond until the gap could be cleared
+and the roadway brought up and through the breach to connect with the
+Maeronican highway which lay on the other side of the barrier. Back of
+that force gathered the miners and road-builders.
+
+Right and left along the wall the lieutenant sent bodies of archers and
+slingers, so they might command the top of the wall and prevent the
+garrisons of the watchtowers from galling the men at work in the breach.
+
+At each of the sixty towers along the stretch of the wall were
+stationed some twenty men--a force of nearly twelve hundred in all.
+Everson foresaw that these in all probability, or most of them, would
+come to the breach from either side, leaving but few soldiers to man
+the towers. So he sent two parties of a thousand men each east and
+west, to lie in the forests near the wall. These were heavy-armed
+swordsmen and spearsmen. They bore long ladders with them, and it was
+to be their task to scale the wall, flank the men of Bel-Ar at its
+summit, and take and hold the watchtowers.
+
+A few miles below the wall lay a Maeronican hilltown, and there Bel-Ar
+maintained a prominent garrison, composed of a section of his standing
+army, some ten thousand men strong. These soldiers had proved the bane
+of many a Rutharian raiding party, and they now gave Everson much
+trouble in his mind. If they should come up quickly to the wall and
+drive back his force or retake the towers, his thrust would be all but
+ill delivered and fail of much of its power. That must be chanced--and
+he judged by the look of these fighting men of Ruthar that they would
+stand considerable driving and still not be driven.
+
+Silently the long lines stole into position, and the men sank out of
+sight among the trees. A small patrol party of Maeronican soldiers rode
+down the wall from the watchtower to the west, where the mitzl lights
+burned pale against the sky. They passed on, met the patrol from the
+east, and both returned--seeing nothing of the menace that lay hidden
+in the shadows of the pines.
+
+Ruthar had been quiet of late, and a few noises in the forest meant
+nothing to these soldiers, strong in their position on the mighty wall.
+Of such things as the pastries of Zenas Wright they had never even
+dreamed.
+
+In a clump of trees Everson attached his wires to his batteries. He
+knelt by one of them, and five of his sappers knelt with him.
+
+"One--two--_three_!" he counted.
+
+The six poised hands fell as one.
+
+For a moment, silence; then a burst of hell from the bowels of the
+earth.
+
+From end to end, down all its length, the roof of Everson's
+subterranean gallery was torn out by the rending gases. From the mouth
+of the tunnel a mass of rocks, beams and loose earth was belched down
+the slope with such force that trees fell before it.
+
+Through clouds of falling earth and a drift of smoke, the distended
+eyes of the Rutharian soldiery saw the basalt structure of the Kimbrian
+Wall that had stood firm for thirty centuries heave up, sunder, and
+open, as a gate opens, then come thundering down to ruin. Right in the
+midst of the chaos of falling rock an awful sheet of green flame arose
+like a giant fan and stood for an instant against the sky.
+
+Then came the noise. It was neither a crash nor a roar, but a sustained
+rumbling bellow--as though Mother Earth herself were muttering at this
+desecration of her aged bones. Such was the power of that tremulous
+diapason that the forests shook and the hills trembled. Followed a
+moment of the silence of the pit, and then the clatter and spat of the
+débris as it showered the slopes and the forests.
+
+"Shields up!" shouted a tall zind of Ruthar, and the next moment he was
+stretched senseless by a fragment of rock because he had not been quick
+to obey his own order. Many others were injured, and some were killed.
+But what did a few deaths matter now? The Kimbrian Wall was down. For
+eighty feet the gap extended wide and free!
+
+And beyond lay Maeronica.
+
+In the forests and on the hills the companies cheered wildly as they
+saw the path the melinite had opened, and cheered again when they saw
+that the watchtower to the west had been shaken from its perch by the
+terrific concussion and lay a crumble of stonework at the foot of the
+wall.
+
+"Into the breach!" shouted Everson. "Through the wall!"
+
+From their lair on the hillsides the five thousand javelin bearers
+arose gleefully and crossed the space to the gap in the wall at a
+swinging trot, singing as they went.
+
+So clean had been the sweep of the melinite that it had torn away every
+vestige of the wall down to the living rock of the isthmus, leaving a
+wide trench or ditch, stone-bottomed and with sloping sides of earth,
+which it was an easy matter for the light-armed men to scramble across.
+But first the soldiers had to throw loose earth into the bottom of the
+trench; for the terrific pressure of the melinite against the rock had
+heated it until it was almost molten.
+
+For hundreds of feet around, heaps of earth and pulverized stone sent
+up columns of the greenish, acrid vapor of the explosive.
+
+On the heels of the javelin men pressed the engineers and road-men,
+swarming into the breach to fill the trench and make a way for the
+charioteers and the amalocs of Zoar, which were to follow. Along the
+screen of forest at the end of the road axes rang, and the trees began
+to fall.
+
+One of the first men into the breach after the skirmishers had crossed
+the ragged ditch, was Everson. With Mazoe, chief of his sappers, the
+lieutenant directed the work at the trench; for now was the time for
+haste.
+
+Shaken from their beds by the dull thunder of Everson's fireworks,
+Bel-Ar's steel riders at the eastern tower came clattering down their
+wall. Before ever they reached the gap, a trumpet sounded on the
+hillside, the archers and the slingers arose like wraiths from the
+forests, and the horsemen were met by a shower of shafts and stones
+that rattled and clanged on their armor and drove them back.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Messengers sped east and west from tower to tower. Within an hour
+every garrison along the barrier knew that the gods of Ruthar had
+rifted their fortress and the hillsmen were pouring through. But these
+soldiers of Bel-Ar were picked men, and they did not fear. Every
+man-at-arms that could be spared from the turrets was horsed, and they
+came riding recklessly down their lofty pathway, firm in the belief
+that their own god presently would have a say in this matter.
+
+At the third tower to the east of the breach was Atlo, captain of the
+wall. The tremor of the explosion reached even there. While the captain
+and his men wondered at what it might be, a messenger reached them.
+Atlo at once sent a horseman down the curving path, one of which led
+from each tower to the ground on the northern side of the wall, to ride
+through the forest to the town of Barme and arouse the army there.
+
+Then Atlo armed himself, gathered his men and started west. Straight
+to the brink of the gap he rode, heeding neither arrows nor stones. At
+the edge of the breach he dismounted, and while the long shafts of the
+archers hummed around him and the missiles of the slingers dented his
+golden armor, he knelt and peered into the gorge below him.
+
+Much the captain marveled at the force which had broken the barrier.
+His quick eyes of the soldier took in the disposition of the men and
+fathomed the plan of the enemy. He saw that a swarm of javelin men and
+a number of companies of heavier armed infantry were through the wall
+and prepared to defend their ground. More he saw; that the trench below
+was black with men who labored to fill it in; on the southern side of
+the wall another army of laborers was laying a broad road over which
+chariots might pass; and beneath him in the breach a man in mud-stained
+garments stood on a point of rock directing his grimy toilers.
+
+Breathing a curse, Atlo lifted his spear and cast with all his might.
+Then he mounted and rode back to the nearest tower to await the coming
+of his garrisons.
+
+Too late did the archers in the forests shout their warning when they
+saw that spear-arm poised.
+
+At the foot of the rock Everson fell and lay face downward among his
+workmen.
+
+Tenderly they bore him out of the trench and up the slope of the
+forest, those sturdy men of Ruthar who had worked with him and loved
+him. Four of his engineers carried him, and Mazoe walked beside, trying
+to stanch the flow of blood. Atlo's spear-point had bitten deeply just
+above the collar-bone.
+
+At the crest of the rise Everson spoke in a weak voice and bade them
+set him down. Mazoe knelt and held him.
+
+Through dim eyes the lieutenant peered back toward the sundered wall.
+He lifted his hand slowly and with infinite effort and pointed.
+
+"We have done--good work," he said. "Go on--with it. I fear I
+shall--not--be with you."
+
+His eyes closed, and Mazoe, who thought that he was spent, burst into
+tears.
+
+Below in the camp arose a mighty clamor of shouting. Everson's eyelids
+fluttered open.
+
+"Why do the soldiers cheer?" he asked.
+
+Mazoe listened intently to the shouting.
+
+"They cheer because the king is coming," he answered.
+
+Everson smiled faintly.
+
+"Tell him--I have made--a way--for him--"
+
+His voice trailed away, and he sank into unconsciousness. And though
+he did not die, he sailed so near to the quiet coasts that it was many
+weeks before he knew that the work he had begun had gone on without
+him, and had been done well.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER VIII
+
+                        BEL-AR HEARS THE DRUMS
+
+
+In the early brightness of the morning, the king of Ruthar rode up the
+southern stretch of the slope toward the wall. With him came old Zenas
+and Oleric the Red.
+
+Bedight in chain mail rode the king, a shield of shining steel on his
+arm, his two-handed sword at his back, dagger in belt, and spear and
+battle-ax at saddle-bow. Behind him clattered a company of zinds. Back
+of them, down the long road as far as the eye could see, marched rank
+on rank of men-at-arms. These were to pass the wall at once, and push
+on along the isthmus to meet and hold any force which the captains of
+Bel-Ar might throw against them.
+
+In the camp in the forest, ready to ride when the way should be
+cleared, were thousands of the wild horsemen of the hills. As soon as
+they might pass the breach, they would outstrip the heavy-marching
+infantry, spread and harry the country, and dash into the mountain
+passes at the northern end of the isthmus, which must be taken and held
+before any considerable force could come up from Maeronica and occupy
+them.
+
+Behind, the horsemen would push on the footmen and the chariots which
+made up the main host of Ruthar. Such was the plan which had been laid
+by Everson, Polaris, and Oleric.
+
+As they neared the top of the rise, Polaris and those with him met a
+little clump of downcast men plodding along the road and carrying a
+burden. Then Mazoe saw the riders and ran to meet them, holding his
+arms above his head and weeping.
+
+"What says he? Everson--"
+
+Polaris sprang down from his horse and pushed through the tramping men.
+Behind him an army halted while he stood and looked into the still face
+of Everson. In the heart of the son of the snows there entered a pang
+as keen as that which had stabbed it when he had heard of the passing
+of the Sardanian King Minos and his lady.
+
+But Zenas Wright, who had bent over the lieutenant, and bared his
+breast and listened to his heart, spoke up:
+
+"This boy has been hard hit; but he's still alive. With good care--and
+he's going to get it--I think he has a chance. This jab over the
+shoulder isn't so bad as it looks."
+
+"Look at him, Father Zenas," said Polaris. "Let no effort that this
+land can produce be spared to make him whole again; for he is a gallant
+gentleman, and deserves no such death. His reward from Ruthar for what
+he has done shall be great."
+
+Mazoe told all his story, and Polaris bent and took the earth-stained
+hand of the unconscious man in his own.
+
+"Fare you well for a time, Everson," he said softly. "I shall not
+forget. And I shall find the way you made."
+
+Mazoe and the engineers bore Everson to the camp, and Zenas Wright went
+with them.
+
+Polaris touched the red captain on the shoulder.
+
+"Captain Oleric, bide you here at the wall until the path is prepared.
+I make you general-in-chief of the army. Carry out the work which
+our friend has so well begun. Father Zenas will give you of his good
+counsel. Build the road as Everson and you have planned it."
+
+"But you--where are you going?" Oleric asked.
+
+Polaris pointed northward to the breach in the Kimbrian Wall.
+
+"I am going to tread the way he made for me," he answered. "When all is
+well, come on and find me on the other side."
+
+Giving the reins of his horse to a servant, Polaris reached his spear
+from the saddle and placed himself in the first rank of the footmen,
+under the great, blood-red banner of Ruthar. A mighty cheer swept down
+the ranks as he joined them. The horsemen drew out to the side of the
+roadway; a blare of trumpets sounded the advance; the crimson standard
+dipped and went forward. Over the seamed and broken hill, past the
+masses of fallen ruin, across the melinite-blasted trench, and through
+the breach in the wall flowed the iron stream.
+
+As far as they could see it, the little group on the hilltop watched
+the tall form that strode under the tossing banner.
+
+"This king of ours has a will of his own," muttered Oleric. "Now to do
+the work he bade us."
+
+But first of all the red captain sent for old Jastla of the hills. When
+the white-bearded chieftain stood before him, Oleric said:
+
+"The king has gone yonder through the wall, Jastla. Take a hundred of
+your best men--men who know how to die as well as fight. Find the king.
+Ring him round with a band of steel. Guard him with your lives." Oleric
+grinned as he added, "'Twill be a task to your liking, old bear. Ever
+you loved fighting, and this man will lead you to where it is thicker
+than earth-berries. I have seen him at the game. But watch him well,
+Jastla; he is of a reckless temper when his blood is stirred, and
+caution is not his watchword."
+
+Lifting his arm in salute, Jastla replied:
+
+"When harm comes to the king, it shall have set its foot on Jastla's
+corpse." The chief drew a deep breath of pride and satisfaction. "I
+thank you, Oleric the Learned, for this task. I have trained the lad,
+and I love him."
+
+Jastla hurried into the forest to the camp. Presently he, too, was gone
+through the wall on his mission.
+
+When the last of the armed force had passed the gap, another army took
+its place--an army of pick and shovel men, with chains and ropes and
+tugging, sweating horses. Speedily the last of the screen of trees was
+down and the stumps torn out. On a foundation of crushed rock Oleric
+built up his roadway, and brought it through to the shadow of the
+Kimbrian Wall; and there he met trouble.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+All of the day on which Everson was stricken, and through the night and
+the forenoon following, the builders wrought at the road. Wherever was
+room for a pair of hands to labor, the hands were not lacking. Still
+the work was not completed, nor was the ditch filled in.
+
+And the reason for the delay was--Atlo.
+
+From the turrets along the wall to the east the captain had collected
+a force of nearly five hundred fighting men, and led them in person.
+Leaving their horses behind them, these warriors marched to the lip of
+the breach and harassed the workmen of Oleric. Nor could the Rutharian
+bowmen and slingers come at them with their weapons to do them much
+scathe. The edge of the wall had a coping which was nearly breast-high.
+Behind that the defenders were sheltered, and might creep, which they
+did, to the very brink of the gap, whence they showered the men in the
+trench with arrows and javelins.
+
+Following the example of Atlo, the under captains of the towers on the
+western stretch of the wall gathered another half a thousand men and
+came to the end of the breach on their side. Between the activities
+of these two parties, the task of the besiegers was made heavy and
+perilous.
+
+Time and again the red captain was forced to withdraw his laborers
+from the cross-fire of deadly missiles which the warriors on the wall
+rained into the ditch. His losses were appalling. Still his men did not
+falter. When the order was given, they swarmed into the gaping trench,
+and those who died there were content if they but cast one shovel of
+earth before the spirit fled.
+
+Oleric groaned in spirit as he watched this havoc, which he had little
+power to hinder. The distance to the top of the wall was too great to
+allow of effective javelin-casting, and such weapons as did reach the
+summit were seized upon by the enemy and turned back on the attackers.
+Having the advantage of the sheltered height from which to cast and
+shoot, one of Atlo's soldiers was worth in efficiency a hundred of
+those on the ground.
+
+"Swords and axes on the top of the wall, and that only, will clear out
+that nest," said Oleric to Zenas, when the geologist had come back from
+the camp, where for hours he had labored over Everson, and of whose
+condition he now had high hopes.
+
+"Where are our ladder-men tarrying?" snarled Oleric, and the captain
+ground his teeth as he saw his workmen decimated and driven back again.
+"We have not the time to spare to starve these birds from their perch.
+Yet if I fill that hole now it will be with the bodies of brave men
+dead and not with earth and stone."
+
+Bethinking himself of another plan, the captain ordered three companies
+of heavy-armed foot-soldiers up from the camp and sent them into the
+working to shelter the laborers under their shields. By that means a
+little progress was made; but the work was slow and cumbersome and the
+toll in lives was still heavy.
+
+Long-delayed relief came in the shape of the fighting men whom Everson
+had sent out along the wall with ladders. These had lain in the forests
+until they saw the turrets depleted of their garrisons. Then they
+had crept up to the wall and erected their scaling ladders, choosing
+points a number of miles from the breach. That attack was not without
+its perils and losses. Scant in numbers, but desperate, the defenders
+sallied out on the wall to turn the storming parties. Many warriors
+died under the javelins and arrows from above. Comrades took their
+places as they fell, and at length, by dint of hard fighting, gained
+footing on the crest of the wall.
+
+Guessing how matters must stand at the breach, the Rutharian swordsmen
+paid no further attention to the turrets which lay between them and the
+sea, but set themselves to the taking of those toward the gap. As soon
+as they carried one of these they were able to augment their numbers
+from the forces which earlier had passed the wall through the breach,
+and which now were besieging the towers from the north side, where the
+sloping pathways were defended by gates and doors of bronze.
+
+By the time the men at the east had taken the last of the watchtowers
+which intervened between them and the battle at the roadway, their
+brothers on the western stretch of the wall had passed the ruins of
+the toppled turret there and fallen furiously on the rear of the
+Maeronicans who were baiting the trenchmen of Oleric.
+
+From across the chasm where he fought, Atlo saw the new turn of the
+battle and bethought him of his own flank. Too late! The shouts of
+dismay from his rear were mingled with the thunder of galloping hoofs.
+
+At the eastern tower the men of Ruthar had found the horses which the
+defenders had left behind. While the stubborn conflict of swordsmen
+was waging on the western wall, these warriors mounted the Maeronican
+steeds and charged down the stone road between the copings, sweeping
+everything before them.
+
+Brave men, these of the King of Adlaz. Cut off from behind and with
+the yawning chasm before, they arose from their crouching and turned
+to meet the new foe. Then a grim and pitiless struggle began on
+the ancient wall, in which the clangor and clash of arms and the
+cursing of death-locked foeman was commingled with the screaming of
+pain-maddened horses.
+
+To the rear, which had become the front, went Atlo. He rallied his men
+and charged into the teeth of the oncoming horsemen, and kept charging
+until he died. Neither side asked quarter or gave it. The last of the
+Maeronican fighting men were pushed over the brink of the gap by the
+rushing horsemen and died under the merciless blades in the trench.
+
+At the west the fighting was more prolonged and bitter; but the
+superior numbers of the Rutharians prevailed, and the end was the same.
+
+The Kimbrian Wall was taken at a fearful cost. But Ruthar paid the toll
+smiling. Now Oleric might push through with his wall speedily and in
+peace.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+When the night of the passing of Minos had worn into morning and
+disclosed the extent of the destruction which the Sardanian had wrought
+in the harbor of Adlaz, Vedor, the port captain, Nealdo, head of the
+harbor guardsmen, and such captains of the fademes as had escaped with
+their lives met in council in one of the offices at the wharves. Fear
+sat heavy at the hearts of all; for there was not one of them that
+dared go up to the city and make a report to the king of the loss of
+his fademes.
+
+"Not I," Vedor said hastily, when it was suggested that he, as captain
+of the port, was the logical bearer of the news. "It were worth a man's
+life to tell the king that a slave has shattered his fleet. Besides, my
+duties here do not allow me to absent myself. Choose ye some other to
+carry the tidings to Bel-Ar."
+
+Listening to the discussion was a rough old soldier of the guard.
+Brenak was his name, and he was a brave man. When it seemed that none
+of the gilded captains had heart for the task, Brenak stepped forward.
+
+"I will carry the news," he volunteered. "Lend me a horse, and give me
+a few dekkars to buy wine at the wine-shops in the Street of Sherne,
+and I will go. It may be my last drinking, though I think not. I fought
+with the king in the wars, and I am known to him. I think he will spare
+me."
+
+So Brenak rode up to the city and bought his wine. From the wine-shops
+he went to the palace and gained admittance to the king and told the
+tidings, which already were flying from mouth to mouth through the
+streets.
+
+"Fool! You are crazed!" Bel-Ar exclaimed when Brenak had made a short
+tale of it. But in the eyes of the soldier the king saw the truth, and
+his pallid face turned a shade more pale. In his fury, scarce knowing
+what he did, he struck Brenak with his closed fist so that the soldier
+died from it.
+
+For days thereafter the temper of the king was such that those who
+must come near him did so with fear and trembling. Even his queen, the
+petulant, flower-faced Raissa, who dared him more than most, avoided
+him and kept to her own apartments.
+
+Weeks before, when it became known that the captives had escaped,
+little heed had been paid to their going. They were only slaves, and
+who cared what became of a slave! Interest in them had been swallowed
+up in the general indignation at the defection of Oleric the Red and
+the supposed treachery of Mordo. Only Bel-Ar and Rhaen, the arch-priest
+of Shamar, had chafed, and that because of the escape of the man whom
+they had doomed for the slaying of the sacred bull. The king had sent
+fademes to scour the sea, and one to go up the coast to Ruthar to head
+the fugitives, should they have gone that way. That fademe had never
+returned.
+
+These happenings had irked the pride of the king, who, like all
+despots, was of a wild and ungovernable temper that flared to madness
+when he was crossed.
+
+Came then the blow of Minos--a calamity which shook the nation and
+struck the foundation of Bel-Ar's dearest ambition. Without his
+fademes, his dreams of world-conquest vanished. Small wonder that his
+lords and ladies feared him and quaked at his approach.
+
+But the king was of a courage and perseverance equal to his temper.
+When the first shock of the catastrophe had worn away, he took stock of
+the damage and set about to repair so much of it as might be. At the
+bottom of the harbor his divers labored among the sunken fademes. Some
+few of the vessels were raised and rehabilitated. By far the most of
+them were useless, save for the metal in their hulks. Minos had done
+his work thoroughly, and the priceless engines, the living power of
+which was mined from the depths of the earth only by great labor, were
+nearly all ruined.
+
+Increasing his forces, both underground and in his workshops, Bel-Ar
+drove his miners and his builders ceaselessly to the replacement of
+what he had lost.
+
+Some weeks after the destruction of the fademes, rumor came down from
+the south--fleeting words in the mouths of the people, of which no man
+could trace the source--that a great host was gathering in Ruthar to
+assail the Kimbrian Wall. That report the king laughed at and did not
+believe, or if he did believe, it fretted him not at all. The Kimbrian
+Wall had stood an unshakable barrier since it had been completed,
+nearly thirty centuries before. It would go on standing to the end of
+time. It was well garrisoned, and Atlo was a good captain and vigilant.
+Ruthar must be mad if it thought to march against the wall.
+
+Rumor, again traceless, spoke further and told that Oleric the Red had
+appeared in Ruthar, and with him the slaves who had gone with him from
+Adlaz, and that they had hands in this matter of the wall-storming.
+Bel-Ar heard that also, and smiled grimly. Let Oleric and the slaves,
+if they were indeed in Ruthar, keep well within its boundaries, if they
+set any store by life.
+
+Progress was being made with the reconstruction of his fleet, and the
+king's poise was returning. Once more his court, that had been silent
+and almost deserted, echoed to the laughter of the gay courtiers, and
+Raissa sat upon her throne and toyed with the pearls that she loved.
+
+Then one afternoon a wan and haggard-faced man, spurring a weary horse
+to its utmost speed, rode in through the southern gates of Adlaz and
+clattered up the broad avenue to the palace. From the mountain town of
+Barme he had come, riding two days and a night by relays of horses and
+leaving some of his hard-ridden beasts dead along the road. So nearly
+dead was the rider himself from the rack of that journey that he fell
+from his horse at the palace gates, and men of the guard carried him
+before the king.
+
+From the floor of the audience-chamber where they laid him, the soldier
+raised his arm in salute and cried weakly:
+
+"The Kimbrian Wall is sundered, O king. She whom they name the Goddess
+Glorian of Ruthar cracked the wall in twain with thunders and green
+lightning that shook the land like a hammer." (So the messenger
+described the melinite mines of Everson.) "Through the wall poured a
+great host, which is rolling down upon Barme. Atlo is dead at the break
+in the wall. From the center to the sea-wall, the towers are held by
+Ruthar. Men say that the dreadful beasts of the forest are coming to
+make war on the children of Ad. Ruthar has crowned a king--a giant
+with hair of gold, who came up from the sea with Oleric the Red, who
+was your captain--and he leads the armies against Barme."
+
+Ending his tidings, the man lost grip of his wits. His head fell on his
+arm, and he slept. Nor could he be roused for many hours.
+
+"Now, here is a message with meat and spirit," said the king. Bel-Ar,
+who went near to madness when he heard of the loss of his fademes,
+could laugh when he heard that an army was marching against him. Of all
+the news only one thing galled him, and that was that the yellow-haired
+slave from the hated world to the north was kinging it in Ruthar.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Summoning his captains, the king banished his court of fluttering
+butterflies and filled his audience-chamber with the clash of golden
+armor. No sluggard was Bel-Ar when his foe was on the march, but a
+wise and resourceful leader. When his mind was not clouded by the
+rages which at times came upon him, he could plan with the best of his
+generals.
+
+Bel-Ar in his early youth had been a soldier, and he, too, had fought
+Ruthar at the Kimbrian Wall. Since coming to the throne of Maeronica he
+had put down two rebellions, leading his armies in person and waging
+with a strong and ruthless hand a warfare that had entailed the taking
+of cities.
+
+First move of the king was to despatch his messengers south and north
+to raise all the levies of Maeronica and the garrisons of the cities
+which were tributary to Adlaz. These he directed should be assembled
+at the crook of the river Thebascu, as the birds fly, ninety miles to
+the south of Adlaz. He sent Fanaer, one of his most trusted captains,
+in hot haste into the south to gather what forces he might and stem the
+tide of invasion until the main host could be mustered and brought up.
+Before nightfall the war-drums were beating in every city and hamlet of
+Maeronica.
+
+"If these rash forest wolves and their slave-king win through Barme and
+the mountain passes and overwhelm Fanaer, which I doubt, then we will
+meet them beyond the Thebascu, on the plains of Nor," said Bel-Ar to
+his councilors.
+
+"How they have broken through the wall, I know not; but warrant that it
+is some trick of the strangers.
+
+"As for the great beasts whereof the soldier spoke, I believe that they
+were all dead many years ago. Surely no man of Ad can say with truth
+that he ever has set eyes on one. They are but a myth wherewith Ruthar
+would affright us. And if they be alive, and as terrible as tradition
+tells, I am not afeared of them. We will drive them back with fire, as
+once before our ancestors drove them, in the days before the wall.
+
+"Friends, I welcome this war that has come to seek me, for I was
+growing dull and rusty with inaction.
+
+"If the wall be truly down, then will we drive Ruthar speedily to
+the other side of it--and having so done, we will follow on and bend
+the necks of these stubborn mountain boors to the yoke that has long
+awaited them."
+
+So he dreamed; so he spoke and heartened his captains.
+
+Two days later the trumpets blew at the southern gates, and with a
+rumbling of drums and a tossing of banners overhead, the first division
+of the garrison and the levies of the city of Adlaz, thirty thousand
+strong, marched out the Mazanion Road for the plains of Nor. At their
+head, under the rustling folds of his war-standard of gold and blue,
+rode Bel-Ar, the king.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+To Rose Emer, grown pale with waiting, Brunar brought these tidings in
+the prison of Bel-Tisam.
+
+When she heard that the wall was down, and that Polaris had set his
+face toward Adlaz, her joy, which she strove to conceal from the
+captain, knew no bounds. After Brunar was gone, the girl bent over the
+cradle of the little Patrymion, now a thriving youngster.
+
+"Ah, little mischief," said Rose, and shook her finger at him, "not
+much longer in this prison for you and me. Friends are coming,
+Patrymion; friends who will set us free."
+
+Patrymion, who had small care for what destiny had in store for him, so
+that his immediate requirements in goats' milk were satisfied, sucked a
+pink thumb and blinked up at her out of sleepy eyes.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the meantime, telling off companies of men to east and west to aid
+in the fight at the wall by laying siege to the towers, Polaris pushed
+straight ahead through the forests toward the town of Barme. Counting
+in the forces of light-armed soldiery who had preceded him through the
+wall, the son of the snows had in command a division of nearly seven
+thousand men. Of these there were a thousand archers, fifteen hundred
+slingers, two thousand and a half of javelin men, and nearly two
+thousand more of heavy armored footmen with swords and spears.
+
+Two hours along the way, Jastla and his picked hundred passed swiftly
+up the lines and joined the vanguard. Tall and stately men of the hills
+were these, led by the old chieftain, scarcely a one of the company
+under six feet, and splendidly armed after the fashion of their land.
+
+"Here be a few lads of the rocks who would have a tale to tell to their
+sweet-hearts when they go home again," said Jastla as he fell in beside
+Polaris.
+
+With small scouting parties thrown out ahead of him, Polaris hastened
+on. It was his plan to meet and intercept any expedition which might be
+sent from Barme to the relief of Atlo at the wall, and so to prevent
+interference with Oleric's work at the breach. In this fortune favored.
+For the javelin men ambushed and cut down no less than three riders
+sent from the wall to rouse the garrison at Barme; so that the first
+news that reached the town and the Captain Broddok, who commanded
+there, was brought in by the peasantry of the hills who fled through
+the forests before the advance of Polaris.
+
+Mightily disturbed, and not knowing the strength of the force which was
+marching against him, Broddok held his men under arms in indecision
+until it was too late for him to go to the wall. In the evening of the
+day after the breaching of the wall a battered soldier who had escaped
+from one of the turrets and slipped through the Rutharian cordons
+brought word to Broddok of the end of the Kimbrian fighting and the
+fall of Atlo. Then the Maeronican commander dispatched a relay-rider to
+Adlaz and made ready to defend his own gates, around which the jaws of
+Ruthar were closing.
+
+From the lower end of the isthmus a number of passes led through the
+mountains into the forests, beyond which were the plains of Nor.
+Through only one of these defiles lay a direct road, broad and suitable
+to the speedy passage of an army with its impedimenta and provision
+trains. That path was bestridden by the town of Barme.
+
+Midway of the pass and near the foot of its western precipice was a
+low, bald hill, over which the road lay. Around the lower slopes of
+the hill straggled the town, and at its summit was the walled citadel.
+It was a strong place, made so both by nature and by man. So closely
+did it nestle to the towering face of the defile's acclivity, and so
+rounding was the bulge of the mountain wall, that if one climbed to the
+top and looked down the precipice, he would see only the houses of the
+lower town and the citadel would be entirely hidden from him by the
+rock. At each side of the hill was rocky, wooded land, cut through by
+many gullies and the ravines of mountain streams.
+
+A hard place to come at, Polaris thought, as he stood in the gorge and
+looked at the hill by the dim light of the stars--for he came to Barme
+in the night. Yet it must be taken, and that speedily. The swiftest
+road into Maeronica lay over the hill, and the citadel's gates were the
+gates of the road also.
+
+An hour before the dawn he occupied the town, from which most of the
+people had fled, and attacked the fortress furiously, thereby losing
+many men. Though the walls of the place were not high, they were ably
+defended. Broddok was a skilled general, and his garrison was superior
+in numbers to the force which laid siege to his stronghold. Still
+Polaris, counting on the speedy arrival to his support of the van of
+his main army, kept up the assault until well into the day, trying in
+turn every point of the fortress--and failing at every turn.
+
+Finding that attempts against the wall availed them nothing, for they
+were without siege machinery, and Broddok's swordsmen clustered so
+thickly on the parapets that no footing could be gained thereon with
+ladders, the Rutharians boldly assailed the main gate to the citadel.
+Cutting a tree from the forest, threescore stout men bore it to the
+gate. While the archers and slingers from the tops of the nearest
+houses of the town swept the citadel walls with clouds of missiles,
+the men in the street swung their battering-ram until their arms were
+weary. But Broddok's doors were strongly built of oak, reinforced with
+bars of steel and set well within the arch of the gateway. Beyond the
+snapping of a few chains, the ram did them little damage.
+
+Maeronicans on the battlements mocked the men of Polaris with sharp
+words and sharper weapons, and through mortises in the vault of the
+arch poured down streams of boiling water. The Rutharians lost fifty
+men-at-arms before they desisted from the assault.
+
+"Smoke them out," was the counsel of Jastla.
+
+Fagots were fetched up from the town and drenched with oil, and men set
+fire to them and ran and cast them blazing into the archway.
+
+This means might have succeeded in burning away the stubborn oak. But
+the Maeronican captain, tiring of the din at his gates, mounted five
+hundred horsemen, opened his portals, and charged so fiercely through
+the fire that he cleared the street, and for a time his doors were
+unmolested.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Through the defile a chill wind swept from the north, carrying with it
+a light drift of snow, and Polaris's men found it cold work roosting
+without the walls. They had left their camp carrying food for only a
+two days' march. The country through which they had come was wild and
+sparsely settled, and offered little opportunity for foraging. When
+they began to feel the pinch of hunger, Polaris ordered his men to go
+among such of the townsmen of Barme as had not been frightened from
+their homes, and gather provisions, paying for all that they took with
+gold, for he would have no looting.
+
+And those orders were in part, at least, obeyed.
+
+Smoke was curling from the chimney of a small house in a side street
+near where they stood, and Jastla said to the king:
+
+"While these fellows are filling their bellies, let us look to our own.
+I could eat the wolf for which I am named, I am that hungered. See;
+here is a house and fire. Let us go and seek food."
+
+When they had struck upon the door, it was opened by a little lad, who
+stared at them, round-eyed, and then fled screaming across the room.
+
+"Ai! Raula!" he cried. "Here be two giants from the forests. Will they
+eat us, think you, as Darno said they would?"
+
+"Not so, small man," called Polaris gently, who had learned somewhat
+of the Maeronican tongue from Oleric. "We are two hungry men, indeed;
+but we would not harm little boys; and Darno, whoever he may be, should
+not affright you with such tales."
+
+At his words, a lean and fierce-eyed girl stood up from the fireplace
+where she had been crouched and came to the door. She clutched a baby
+to her breast. While she eyed the two men sourly, there was no fear in
+her regard.
+
+"Now who may you be, who wear the arms of a forest raider, yet who know
+our tongue and bespeak a child so fairly?" she asked of Polaris.
+
+"I am a soldier of Ruthar, lady," Polaris said, bowing to her. "My
+comrade here and myself are cold and hungry. May we be warmed at your
+fire and eat a little of the bread and meat yonder on the table? We
+have had no food for many hours. We will pay you well."
+
+The girl pressed closer and peered up at him.
+
+"Ah! I know who you are now," she said triumphantly. "You are no robber
+of the hills, though belike your comrade is," and she shot a glance of
+no favor at Jastla. "You are neither of Maeronica or Ruthar. You are
+the mighty man who came up from the sea to lead the south against the
+north and take Adlaz." She laughed discordantly. "Well, you have made a
+good beginning, they say; but you have a man's task ahead of you.
+
+"Come in and eat and be warmed. I care not. All the menfolks have fled
+the house to the hills in fear of you. I stayed, I and little Telo,
+here. I fear no soldiers. Nay, close that door behind you, old man; I
+would not that winter came in with you and sat at meat."
+
+Laughing grimly into his beard, Jastla made fast the door. While the
+two men sat and ate, the girl resumed her crouching by the fire, where
+she crooned over the babe, at times staring furtively at Polaris. Telo
+soon conquered his fear of the strangers and climbed to the knees of
+Polaris, where he fingered the big man's chain armor curiously and
+prattled many childish questions.
+
+When the hungry men had finished their meal, the girl spoke up again:
+
+"Say, man from the sea, I have heard that there is a beautiful lady who
+waits for you in a prison in Adlaz town. Is that true?"
+
+"Yes, lady, it is true," Polaris said; and he sighed.
+
+"And you lead a great host thither to set her free?" the girl persisted.
+
+"Yes, if I may."
+
+"But to get on the way to Adlaz, you must take this fortress of Barme;
+and you find it a hard nut to crack. Is that not so?"
+
+"That is true, also, lady."
+
+"Well, hark you, man." The girl stood up and came to the table. "You
+who are true to a woman as few men are ever true; perhaps the poor,
+despised, cast-off Raula may aid you somewhat in this undertaking."
+
+While Polaris stared at her and Jastla grunted, she went on:
+
+"Oh, for your wars, and for who is king, I care not. Still, I would
+see that lady in Adlaz town go free--if you are strong enough to pass
+Bel-Ar and his army. Those matters you must look after later. But
+listen. Other men are not so true as you are. There is one in the
+fortress yonder who once thought Raula fair. Now she is a deserted
+wife, while he seeks other maids to listen to his lies. Oh! how I hate
+him!" She spat the words and stamped fiercely on the floor.
+
+"I would see that man humbled and cast down. I would see his red blood
+on the stones at my feet.
+
+"There is a way into the fort, a hidden way, which is known to none but
+me and Telo.
+
+"Now, Telo here shall show you that way. There is a spring on the hill.
+'Tis back of the stables, in a grove of stunted trees. It flows down
+through the rock under the wall and escapes on the hillside. Years ago,
+when I tended cows on the hill, I found the entrance. The water has so
+worn the stone that one may climb its course from the old cowpath to
+the brow of the hill. If a girl can clamber there, surely active men
+will not find it at all hard to do.
+
+"When night is fallen, bid your men to storm the gate again. Then, if
+your force is strong enough to make the venture, take a part of it and
+gain the hill. While those of Broddok's men who do not watch the walls
+are sleeping, you may fall upon them and open the gates."
+
+Polaris and Jastla looked on the girl, amazed.
+
+"Stare not at me," she said. "I am an outcast and reckless woman--and I
+would be revenged. Besides, we poor folk care little what the fate of
+Bel-Ar may be, who does oppress us so that life is a great weariness."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was arranged that they should come back at nightfall for the boy,
+and Polaris and Jastla left the house. When the chieftain fingered his
+pouch and would have paid her for the entertainment, Raula would have
+none of his gold.
+
+"This night's work will be pay enough for Raula," she said.
+
+After they had gone, Jastla set a soldier to watch the house and report
+to him if any left it; for Jastla trusted no woman and feared a trap.
+His fears proved to be unfounded. No one left or visited the house
+through the afternoon.
+
+For the remainder of the day Polaris rested his soldiers, and kept
+up only the semblance of an attack on the walls of Barme citadel. He
+wondered much at the delay of the army of Ruthar, having as yet learned
+nothing of the fighting at the Kimbrian breach; but he was resolved to
+delay not himself, but make the attempt on the fortress as the girl
+Raula had suggested.
+
+With the fall of night he brought the bulk of his force up into the
+cross-streets near the gate and posted sentries to see that none passed
+from the town to the fort. Then he went to the house of Raula and
+fetched the lad. Telo was afraid of the night and the many armed men,
+and would go only if Polaris, whom he trusted, would carry him.
+
+"Show him the spring at the head of the old cowpath, Telo," said
+Raula, and to Polaris, "Bend down the clump of evergreen bushes above
+the spring, and you will find the way through the rock. Beware of the
+sentries at the stables. Once one of them nearly slew me when I came
+suddenly on him out of the dark." She bent nearer and whispered:
+
+"Perchance you will meet and slay Broddok, the captain. I pray you do.
+And ere you smite, tell him that Raula, daughter of Hecar, sent you to
+him."
+
+As Polaris went out to the street, with the lad on his shoulder, he
+heard the girl's shrill laughter within the house--laughter that made
+him shiver.
+
+Followed by a thousand of his swordsmen, including the hundred men
+of Jastla, Polaris marched silently around rough devious streets
+to the side of the hill, and then into the rough ground where the
+boy directed. It was a dark night, for the stars were dimmed by
+storm-clouds, and the going was slow. Raula had said it would take at
+least an hour and the half of another to gain the crest of the hill,
+and Polaris had ordered his men in the town to hold their hands until
+they should hear his trumpets, and then to attack the gates of the
+citadel with trees and fire.
+
+At the spring the clump of bush was found easily, and behind it in the
+face of the hill was a hole in the rock, so low that a man must bend
+nearly double to enter it. Here Polaris gave Telo into the arms of a
+young Rutharian soldier, bidding him bear the lad safely back to his
+sister.
+
+Bending down, the son of the snows entered the hole. Jastla, who never
+let his charge beyond arm's reach, crowded in at his heels. For six
+feet or more they walked with their knees nearly to their chins, and
+then were able to stand upright. The girl had told them that a light
+in the passage could not be seen from above because of the trees, and
+one of the soldiers had nursed a smouldering torch under his cloak.
+That was brought in and whirled into flame, and they proceeded along a
+narrow gully, over the floor of which the water trickled.
+
+"Oof! That maid must have been very love-sick, or she has the courage
+of a fighting man, to have climbed this place in the dark," muttered
+Jastla, as he surveyed the gloomy cavern.
+
+For nearly three hundred yards the party followed the subterranean
+ravine, the floor of which sloped upward sharply. It ended in a shaft
+that was nearly perpendicular, which the men must climb by the aid of
+jagged rocks where the course of the stream had been worn for centuries.
+
+The torchbearer was posted at the angle, so that the light might be
+shed both down the passage and through the shaft. Wrapping his sword
+and spear in his cloak to prevent them from clanging against the
+stones, Janess, insisting that he should be first, went silently up
+through the rock, and Jastla followed close behind. They came out at
+the top through thick bushes into a basin or pool, where the water was
+ankle-deep. They were inside the wall of the fortress on the western
+side of the hill-crest. Around the pool was a grove of stunted trees,
+to the east of which lay the low, wooden stable buildings. South of the
+stables were the stone barracks of the garrison.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Man by man, the Rutharians came up through the darksome hole and took
+cover among the trees, until the grove bristled with swords. Polaris
+and Jastla worked their way to the edge of the wood nearest the stables.
+
+The chieftain pointed to the wooden buildings.
+
+"We will fire them," he whispered, "and have a light to fight by."
+
+As he spoke, a sentry paced out from the shadow of the stables and
+passed along the edge of the grove to the wall. So near he passed
+to the hidden men that they might have reached out and touched his
+shoulder.
+
+"Now that man must be disposed of," muttered Polaris, "and I like it
+not, this smiting of men from behind."
+
+No such niceties of warfare ruled Jastla. When the man came back, the
+chieftain stepped noiselessly from the trees behind him. For a pace
+or two the big mountaineer trod in the tracks of the unsuspecting
+sentry. Then Jastla sprang, and a brief and wordless struggle under the
+trees followed. A dagger flashed. Arising, Jastla took the cloak of
+the fallen man and stepped calmly into his beat. At the corner of the
+stable the chieftain met and slew the second sentry.
+
+At the side of the stable the Rutharian swordsmen formed for battle.
+A man with a torch ran from point to point along the rear of the
+buildings and set fire to the timbers. As they caught and the flames
+leaped crackling up, the frightened horses began to pound and scream.
+
+Polaris bade his trumpeter blow. The notes blared piercing clear. The
+swordsmen broke cover with a roar and charged the stone barracks.
+Lighting torches at the blazing barns, men ran with them to light
+the way. Hardly were they half-way across the intervening space when
+there was an answering flare from the streets below, and the thunder
+of the battering-ram announced that the fight at the gates was on with
+redoubled fury.
+
+While half of his force entered the barracks and fell upon the
+bewildered men there, Polaris, with the remainder, swept down the broad
+roadway, past the dwelling of the officers. Cutting their way through
+the defenders of the gate, the Rutharians tore out the bars, and their
+comrades in the streets swarmed through and up the hillside.
+
+In the midst of the wild mêlée that followed, Broddok did the only
+thing that he could do to save his skin. He rallied such of his men
+as were under arms, fought through to the stables, and released the
+fear-maddened horses. All who could of the Maeronicans mounted in
+haste. For a moment it seemed that the captain would give the order to
+charge down the street into the fighting press, where the men of Ruthar
+were putting his comrades to the sword. But Broddok thought better of
+it.
+
+With nearly four hundred men, the captain rode down the northern slope
+of the hill, opened the road-gates there, and galloped off through the
+pass, leaving his leaderless garrison to fend for itself.
+
+When that became known, the Maeronican soldiers, beset on both sides
+and confused and disheartened by the suddenness of the stroke, threw
+down their arms and surrendered, on promise of their lives.
+
+So fell the strong fortress of Barme, because its captain had broken
+faith with a woman.
+
+With the first light of morning, Polaris sent his prisoners south
+toward Ruthar under a strong guard. Leaving a thousand men under one of
+Jastla's hill-captains to hold the citadel, the son of the snows pushed
+on through the pass with the remainder of his division.
+
+That move of his came near to costing Ruthar a king.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER IX
+
+                       THE COMING OF THE BEASTS
+
+
+Seated on her ivory throne in the empty hall of her temple, the Goddess
+Glorian fought within her heart a battle that was every whit as fierce
+and hard as that of Ruthar in the field. In that sounding citadel two
+forces stood arrayed, one for good and one for evil, and the conflict
+between them was passing bitter. It was the world-old war of duty and
+love that has ever torn the heart of woman.
+
+No outward signal of the struggle marred the supernal beauty of her
+face. She sat as one sits who is thoughtful and somewhat weary.
+Light-rays that stole down from the windows in the lofty dome wrought
+strange effects of fire in the wonder of her hair--fire which smoldered
+and glowed and ran in tiny sparks along the silklike filaments. Her
+head was slightly bowed. The slender hands, which lay in her lap, were
+quiet and listless. Only in the depths of her eyes was she betrayed. In
+those red-brown deeps, could one have seen them through the half-closed
+lids, one would have found a pleading misery that would not still,
+almost a terror.
+
+Compelled by the ancient secret and a will that never slept, the
+passing years had dealt splendidly by Glorian. Experience they had
+given her, which is more than knowledge, and patience, and an almost
+supernatural poise; but they had not made her more than human.
+
+And a man had come.
+
+Why should she give way to this other woman? Why should she not reach
+out and take that for desire of which her soul yearned and her heart
+was consumed by flame? 'Twould be easy. A delay, a word in the ear of
+Zoar, a seeming mischance--and the priests of Shamar in Adlaz would
+clear her way. Why should she shrink and hesitate?
+
+The man had said that, were he too late, he would die upon the road.
+Well, that might be prevented. Besides, men do not die so easily, and
+time will heal all heart-wounds. But will it? And were that other woman
+dead, could Glorian win him to herself--this man whose will was as
+strong as her own?
+
+He was through the wall now and on the road to Adlaz. Oleric had sent
+messengers to tell her that. And they had told her, too, of that
+brave friend of his, who had nearly given his life while opening the
+way. Many had died--her own countrymen--and many more would die--and
+why? Because of an ambition which she herself had nurtured and kept
+bright--now hollow and of no appeal. What should Glorian care who held
+dominion over Adlaz or over Ruthar--she, who desired only peace and to
+rule in the heart of a man?
+
+All of a long afternoon she sat there, and a statue were not more
+still. For the better part of the night the struggle raged on above her
+pillow, and left it drenched with tears. Then evil fled the field, and
+she who had mastered her spirit slept dreamlessly until the morrow.
+
+In the morning she sent away her tire-women, and ordered that a horse
+be equipped for a warrior and left at the temple doors.
+
+When that steed went down the hill there was no one in all Ruthar who
+would have known that the Goddess Glorian was the rider. For she was
+arrayed in the glittering armor, silver-wrought above its steel, of a
+Rutharian zind. She wore a closed and vizored helm. A sword swung at
+her back, and there were both ax and spear at her saddle-bow.
+
+"I will go down with him into the battle," she whispered, "and let
+things fall out as they may. Some day, somewhere, my time will come. My
+soul has promised it."
+
+She crossed the Illia and rode northward through the forests.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+After the fall of Atlo the fighting went on at the wall for the rest
+of that day, the Rutharians storming tower after tower, until they held
+every turret from sea to sea. Through the afternoon and the night and
+the next day Oleric pushed on with his road, working his men in relays,
+and snatching for himself only brief spells of sleep. Through the night
+in which the king of Ruthar stormed and took Barme, the sappers and
+miners labored on at the breach.
+
+Morning saw the task completed.
+
+First through the breach went a flying squadron of the horsemen from
+the hills, six thousand strong, led by two of the mountain zinds,
+Maxtan and Albar. After them marched a great division of infantry,
+nearly fifty thousand of them, the chest of the army, each section
+carrying with it a number of companies of archers and slingers. Then
+a force of nearly thirteen thousand chariots rumbled through the
+breach--these following the infantry because they would be of little
+use until the host should pass the mountain defiles to more level
+fighting ground. Followed an endless train of baggage and provision
+wains.
+
+No siege machinery was carried, for two reasons. Rutharians long ago
+had found such engines as their skill had devised to be powerless
+against the Kimbrian Wall, and had lost faith in them. Secondly,
+certain carefully handled bundles from the laboratories of Nematzin
+were judged to be of more avail than any catapult, ram or mantelet.
+
+At intervals Oleric halted the divisions to allow of the passage of
+more cavalry, which spread out at each side of the main array and rode
+down through the forest paths of the isthmus.
+
+For more than twelve hours Ruthar poured her armed men through the
+breach in the barrier, with scarcely a break--and the way was wide.
+Reserves in the camp and on the wall cheered the various regiments as
+they went by, marching under their banners and to the music of pipe and
+drum.
+
+Last of all, over the slope and through the gap came Zoar of the
+Amalocs with no less than fifty-eight of the monsters of his herd.
+In single file the amalocs marched, each holding fast with his trunk
+to the tail of the beast ahead, as elephants are wont to do. Ixstus,
+father and patriarch of the herd, led the line, and on the mighty head
+of Ixstus rode Zoar, the master.
+
+On they came, these mountains of red-wooled flesh, swinging their
+gleaming wealth of ivories. Though their shambling tread was soft and
+padding, the roadway, made smooth and hard by the passing of thousands
+of feet and hoofs and wheels, shook under their advance.
+
+Zoar had been preparing against this day for many years. All of his
+beasts were armored for battle. Their heads were protected by immense
+bosses or shields of steel. He had also armor for their forelegs, with
+chains, which could be attached in such a manner that they would swing
+out when the animals charged, and strike down any living thing that
+came near them. The tips of the spreading tusks were equipped with
+sockets, to which sharp steel points could be fitted. More than half of
+the great brutes bore fighting turrets on their backs, in each of which
+was room for a half a score of men. A few tons more or less of metal
+and men meant nothing to the boundless strength of an amaloc.
+
+Until he saw that Zoar had passed the breach, Oleric waited. Then he
+took horse and rode forward. Zenas and certain of his workmen had gone
+through with the first of the cavalry. With them had gone the dog
+Rombar. The animal had escaped from the laboratories in Zele-omaz,
+where Polaris had left him, and had come into the camp half starved
+and nearly frantic with anxiety to find his master. Zenas could not
+withstand the appeal of the brute's dumb search, so he took Rombar
+along. Everson, getting better of his wound, still sick and delirious,
+had been transferred to Zele-omaz and lay at the house of Zind Atra,
+tended by the best medical skill in Ruthar.
+
+When the head of the host was some six hours upon its way, it met the
+first of the long lines of captives, which Polaris had sent back from
+the storming of Barme. The cheering which greeted the tale of that
+exploit of their king passed down the marching regiments like a gale
+and through the Kimbrian breach into Ruthar. When Zenas, with the
+riders, clattered up the hill in the gorge and saw the strength of the
+citadel that had been taken, his heart beat high with pride for what
+his boy had done.
+
+Learning there that the king had passed on to the north, the horsemen,
+their numbers continually augmented by new companies from the rear,
+pushed on along the road in the hope of overtaking him.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In a dark and narrow glen, wild with rocks and trees, with a mountain
+wall at his back and steel death, many-handed and triumphant, closing
+in along his front, a tawny-haired giant crouched warily among his
+thinning ranks of fighting men. If ever a man was hard beset, it
+was the king of Ruthar. Hemmed in where there was no way of escape,
+he waited with his dwindling company the fifth charge of a horde of
+Maeronican warriors, who were forming for the rush at the mouth of the
+glen. Gone wild with glee were the sons of Ad. They had trapped the
+king of Ruthar like a wounded bear. Great would be their reward from
+Bel-Ar if they took him.
+
+Among the rocks and bushes lay a grim reminder in shattered men of four
+previous charges. Some comfort it was to those who waited above to know
+that for every one of Ruthar who had gone to the stars, at least two of
+Bel-Ar's men had traveled the same path--or perhaps to the sun; for the
+Maeronicans prayed to Shamar.
+
+After leaving Barme, Polaris had led his followers along the main road,
+and they had almost reached the end of the pass, where it debouched
+into the forests of upper Maeronica, before mischance overtook them. It
+came in the shape of that same Captain Broddok, whom they had driven
+from his blazing hold at Barme.
+
+Broddok had ridden through the pass at speed, and beyond it had met a
+strong outpost of cavalry and five regiments of foot-soldiers, sent up
+to hold the passes. For Captain Fanaer had already arrived in upper
+Maeronica.
+
+Scouts brought word of the advance of Polaris with the most of his
+force through the principal pass. He, too, had sent out small parties
+to explore through the outer defiles, of which there were four, and
+bring him word of the lay of the land.
+
+"Now let him come on," counseled Broddok to the Maeronican commander,
+"and we shall have a surprise for him."
+
+Swiftly galloping riders at once swarmed into the four smaller passes,
+overwhelmed the Rutharians whom they found there and drove them into
+the hills. The horsemen then joined forces and swept down the road in
+the rear of Polaris, having come into the defile by bridle paths over
+the hills which were known to them.
+
+Turning his front to meet this menace, the son of the snows was beset
+from behind by both cavalry and infantry, and his force was split up
+before it could be massed or a place be found suitable for defense.
+With nearly a thousand of his men of mixed armament, Janess had been
+driven into the glen, discovering too late that it was a cul-de-sac,
+from which there was no escape.
+
+Four charges the Rutharians had met, and their numbers were now less
+than three hundred. But Jastla's ring of steel still held, and Polaris
+himself was not even wounded. Where the fighting had been the thickest,
+there he had gone; but ever when some perilous blow fell, there was
+one of Jastla's mountaineers to meet it or to die under it. Of the
+hundred men less than fifty lived, and scarcely a score of those were
+scatheless.
+
+"All that you can do here, you have done, O king," said Jastla
+earnestly, as they waited for the fifth charge. "A man unhindered might
+scale yonder rocks and escape into the hills. Do you make the attempt?
+I and these with me will hold back these howling whelps of Bel-Ar.
+Haste you, or 'twill be too late."
+
+Polaris turned on him sternly.
+
+"And you have been comrade to me, Jastla, and did train and make me
+skilled with arms, and yet think that I am so small of spirit," he
+said. "Jastla, I take it ill of you. You and these men are fighting for
+the man whom Ruthar has crowned king. What sort of a king would he be,
+think you, who deserted when he had those still lines yonder before him
+for example?" He pointed down where the dead warriors lay.
+
+"Here I may die, and here I may buried be; but I will not turn back."
+
+Under his shaggy brows old Jastla's eyes were moist.
+
+He grunted loudly.
+
+"I didn't think that you would go. Forgive me that I spoke of it," he
+said. He turned to his hillsmen, and the word went round that every
+last one of the wolves of Ruthar was to die in his tracks. There would
+be no giving back before the next charge.
+
+Broddok on foot waved his sword and gave the word, and the Maeronicans
+raised their battle-cry and came swarming up through the rocks to the
+attack. The mountaineers answered them with a deep-voiced shout:
+
+"For the king! For Polaris!"
+
+None of the combatants heard a thin cry far above them at the brink of
+the cliff and the frenzied barking of a dog.
+
+On came the Maeronicans, Broddok leading, his face flushed with triumph
+and hatred. In the captain's way was a large fragment of rock. As he
+sprang around it, it split in twain and flew into splinters, belching
+green flame. That flash was the last thing the captain ever saw; the
+thunderous roar that shook the hillside was the crack of doom for him.
+A sliver of rock smote him on the temple. Raula was avenged.
+
+Another terrific explosion tore up the earth and boulders right in the
+midst of the startled Maeronicans, and then another. Men were dying by
+the hundred. Bel-Ar's men turned and fled shrieking for the roadway.
+The charge was turned into a rout. Hardly were they out of the glen
+where such fearsome happenings had befallen them, when a cloud of
+Rutharian cavalry rolled down through the main pass and swept Bel-Ar's
+men and their supports into headlong flight toward the lowlands.
+
+On the brow of the rock a small, white-haired old man, clad in armor
+several sizes too large for him, stood up from his knees and patted a
+great black dog on the head.
+
+"Good shots those were, Rombar," he said. "Used to be a baseball
+pitcher once, and haven't lost my wing yet. By golly! I was just in
+time."
+
+Presently Zenas was down in the road with the others to greet Polaris.
+The geologist made light of what he had done, but Janess and the others
+knew that they owed their lives to his quick wit.
+
+Soldiers who had been driven into the hills had met the Rutharian
+riders and told them of the plight of their king. While the cavalry
+engaged the Maeronicans in the pass and cleared it, the old man and
+a small party, carrying melinite bombs, some few of which Zenas had
+fashioned in his laboratories, had ridden by a bridle-path to the top
+of the cliff.
+
+"Be careful, son," said Zenas, when Polaris threw an arm lovingly
+across his shoulder. "This chain jerkin of mine is packed with enough
+of that green hell-cake to spread us over two counties. And keep the
+brute away."
+
+For Rombar had found his master and was leaping about him like a crazed
+thing and barking as if to tell the whole army about it.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Despite the utmost efforts of Fanaer, the most trusted of Bel-Ar's
+captains and a general skilled in all the arts of war, Ruthar held
+the isthmus and the mountain passes, and through the Kimbrian defile
+poured down with horse and foot and chariot into upper Maeronica.
+Failing to hold back the host of the invader and fortify the passes, as
+he had hoped to do, Fanaer began a harrying, guerrilla warfare. From
+sea to sea he made the land barren of supplies for his enemy, sending
+the peasants and hill-dwellers with their cattle and provisions down
+to the coast cities of Zeddar and Aklon. He sent swarms of light
+riders into the hills, where by sally and ambuscade and the breaking
+of bridges and a hundred other means they fretted the advance of the
+Rutharian army.
+
+Did the way lie through a forest, Fanaer fired it, and Ruthar marched
+in flames and smoke. Did the road follow the turn of a hill, there were
+men at the crest to roll huge rocks down on the tramping legions. Was a
+gorge to be passed, the bridges were ruined.
+
+Days wore away, days which Ruthar could ill spare, and which Polaris
+counted with a sinking heart, seeing his army go forward so slowly.
+Still it did advance--slowly, painfully, but surely, the steel lines
+made progress.
+
+Craft against craft Oleric matched with Fanaer. Ruthar had her light
+horsemen, too. Right and left Oleric sent them into the uplands to
+clear his path of the stinging pests of Fanaer. Scores of times in
+a day, on hilltop or in wooded glen, short, fierce engagements were
+fought, but never a pitched battle. Maeronica was playing for delay.
+Far behind the shifting screen of Fanaer's operations Bel-Ar and his
+generals were consolidating the main strength of Maeronica in the
+lowlands along the river Thebascu.
+
+When hill-riding and skirmishing was done, the generals of both armies
+knew that the real war would begin--that the issue would be joined and
+decided on the plains of Nor.
+
+Careful as any general in modern warfare was Oleric with regard to
+his flanks and rear. Well he knew, did the red captain, that in the
+slow-moving trains of provisions that crept ceaselessly along the
+isthmus from Ruthar was the strength of his host in the field. Once
+that line was cut, Bel-Ar might laugh indeed.
+
+It took many men to keep the rear ways open and man the isthmian
+passes. On the morning when the Rutharian army writhed forth from the
+forests like a wounded but tenacious serpent onto the level stretches
+of the plains of Nor, Oleric had under his banners a scant hundred
+thousand men. Thirty thousand more warded the rear. Fifty thousand in
+reserves were massed in the forests and on the isthmus. Twenty thousand
+were with the slain.
+
+The sun was shining as the host wound out from the gloom of the
+forests. To right and to left were wooded hills and beyond them the
+peaks of mountain ranges, blue against the skies. Ahead, the plains, a
+reach of level land some thirty miles broad from east and west and a
+score of miles across, were divided by the gleaming, irregular ribbon
+of the river Thebascu.
+
+In a loop of the river in a camp that was strongly entrenched, for all
+the haste with which it had been constructed, lay the army of Ad, fresh
+and unwearied and ready for battle. And it outnumbered the host of
+Ruthar by nearly two to one. Across the river, down the hundred miles
+to Adlaz, the Mazanion Road was choked with supply trains and reserves.
+
+Snow still lay in patches in the forest defiles; but the plains were
+faintly green with a promise of the spring-time. On the trees the buds
+were swelling. Through a month of wearisome marching Ruthar had come.
+In less than forty-five days the trumpets would sound from the towers
+of Adlaz for the Feast of Years.
+
+"Now by her who sits at Flomos," said Oleric to Polaris, as they sat
+their horses on a hillside and looked across the plains to where the
+gold and blue standards fluttered, "here will be a battle worth the
+waiting of all my years."
+
+Somewhat worn with anxiety was the face of the son of the snows; but
+his eyes were bright and his strength was unimpaired. He, too, was
+ready.
+
+"Shall we not strike at the nearest point of the river?" he asked,
+pointing to the west of Bel-Ar's camp. "If we gain the bank of the
+stream, it will shorten our front, and it seems that we shall not
+easily be flanked."
+
+Oleric swore that the plan was good, and Ruthar's army began to fight
+its way across the plain. It could scarcely be said that battle was
+beginning. All the way through the forests had been one long, unending
+struggle with Fanaer. Already on the plains cavalry skirmishes were in
+progress. Now was to come the climax of a month of conflict.
+
+Steadily Ruthar pressed on, and with the fall of night pitched her
+tents on the plain, her left wing resting on the river below the
+Maeronican camp. By common consent, the fighting ceased at dusk and the
+armies rested on their arms. The next day would tell the tale, and they
+were content to await it. Such was the contour of the land that there
+was little ground for strategy and juggling of men. This was to be a
+battle, front to front, with victory to the strongest arms. And though
+their force was the greater, there was much of doubt in the hearts
+of the men of Ad. Tales had been brought in of the prowess of these
+mountain warriors.
+
+Other camp gossip had put uneasiness upon the soldiers of Bel-Ar. How,
+for instance, had the Kimbrian Wall been sundered, if it were not the
+work of the gods? And the beasts, the mighty red beasts, against which
+men were as flies. Rumor had told that they had come into Maeronica
+and would fight in the field against Adlaz. The sun set that night in
+a sea of fire. Men did not know how to interpret that omen. Was Shamar
+angered? And if he was, on whose heads would his blows fall on the
+morrow? The stars shone calm and clear. Ruthar worshiped the stars.
+
+Those and other thoughts caused many a stout Maeronican to shake his
+head over his campfire. But most of all they feared the beasts.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Wary Oleric had kept Zoar and his herd well to the rear. Never in the
+march had the amalocs gone forward until the way had been cleared. None
+of the Maeronican fighting men had set eyes on them. The beasts were
+Ruthar's strongest hope. If even the thought of them struck terror into
+the hearts of the Children of Ad, Oleric reasoned that their sudden
+appearance in battle might be counted upon to produce a panic.
+
+Ruthar would try a tilt against Maeronica, the red captain planned, and
+if she might would win her battle by force of arms alone. But if the
+fight should swing against her, then the beasts would be better than an
+army in reserve. So he bade Zoar camp in the forests, and he surrounded
+the encampment with a strong guard and cordons of sentries.
+
+In the morning Ruthar's stars paled, and Shamar came up smiling--seeing
+which the men of Bel-Ar took fresh heart.
+
+Scarcely had the first shafts of light thrust over the mountain-tops
+when Oleric, from the shadows of the forest, launched a great bolt of
+cavalry across the plain. Another division which had been moved in the
+night swept east along the south bank of the river. While the riders of
+Bel-Ar went out to meet them, the trumpets of the king of Ruthar were
+sounded in the center of the camp, and long files of men-at-arms crept
+forth into the dawn behind the screen of dashing horsemen.
+
+In three deep columns Polaris moved his footmen into battle, with lanes
+between them, into which the cavalry might retire, and through which
+the charioteers would charge when the time came. Each of the marching
+columns was tipped with regiments of swiftly moving javelin men, and
+behind them came the archers, stringing their long bows and singing a
+lilting chorus as they moved out on the plain.
+
+Mounted on his black stallion, Polaris led the center, riding behind
+the first ranks of his swordsmen and accompanied by the men of Jastla
+and some score of the Rutharian zinds, all in full armor. Far to the
+right rode Oleric the Red. The left was headed by Tarnos, one of the
+zinds. That post Polaris had offered to old Jastla of the hills, but
+the chieftain had declined it.
+
+"'Tis a great honor, O king," he said when the proffer was made, and
+his eyes shone. "But I pray you give it not to me. I would fight at
+your side. That post will be troublesome enough, as I well know."
+Jastla grinned broadly. "Give the command to a nobler man."
+
+"There is none nobler, old wolf," Polaris replied. "But have it as you
+will."
+
+So Tarnos led the left, along the river Thebascu, and Jastla and his
+ring of steel rode with his king, and he was content.
+
+Midway between the camps, as Oleric had ordered it, the charging
+horsemen swerved aside, doubled, and, as though in fear, plunged
+back between the advancing columns. Hard on their flying heels came
+the shouting riders of Ad. As they came the javelin men cast, and
+the archers bent bows and loosed a bitter flight from their twanging
+strings that shrieked among the horsemen like a white drift of blizzard
+through the mountain trees. Then, before the eyes of the Maeronican
+riders, the horsemen they pursued were gone; the bowmen and the
+javelin-throwers melted away; fanwise the heads of the three columns
+spread out and joined each to each, their front ranks kneeling; and
+Ruthar received her plunging foemen on an unbroken front of leveled
+spears.
+
+Fell ruin awaited that splendid charge. Unable to turn back because
+of the surging squadrons behind them, the foremost ranks were dashed
+against the grim steel barrier, and went down in a horrible tangle of
+struggling men and horses.
+
+Into the mêlée, through the lines and over the shoulders of their
+comrades, leaped the light-armed footmen with their javelins and
+daggers, and slew hundreds of horses, whose riders fell easy prey to
+the two-handed blades that now were aloft and busy.
+
+At the rear the Rutharian cavalry formed again, and dashing around the
+flanks of the columns in two flying wedges, closed like nippers behind
+Bel-Ar's confused squadrons.
+
+First cast in the game had gone to Ruthar. The horsemen of Ad were
+routed and pushed back--all those who could go. Those that remained
+were done with fighting.
+
+From the earthen wall of his camp, standing among his golden-armored
+generals, Bel-Ar saw his cavalry broken and flung back--saw it, and
+laughed aloud.
+
+"They fight well, these mountain wolves," he said. "But that was the
+play of children. Now will we send them a taste of the swords of Ad."
+
+Beyond the wall of the camp were massed the legions of the Maeronican
+heavy infantry, flower of the fighting men of seven cities, the core
+of which was formed of the garrison of Adlaz itself, fifteen thousand
+veteran men-at-arms.
+
+Bidding his captains go forward, the king called for his horse.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Somber as he had appeared in his dull garments in the midst of his
+butterfly court, Bel-Ar, among his captains, offered an even greater
+contrast. He loved the pomp and pride of power, its show and its
+glitter, but not in his own person. While his generals rode in gold,
+and the armor of some of them blazed with gems and patterns in
+orichalcum that made them glow like fireflies in the night, the king
+wore a simple suit of arms of black steel, plain of design and undecked
+by any flashing gauds. Only the majesty that dwelt in his pallid face
+and the fires of his mystic's eyes distinguished him from some humble
+gentleman of poor estate.
+
+Mounting his war-horse, a gaunt, powerful roan beast of vicious temper,
+the king, with a number of his favorite captains, rode down the field
+in the wake of his advancing phalanxes. With them was advanced the blue
+and gold battle-standard.
+
+Bel-Ar marshaled his legions in wide divisions, each of nearly a
+thousand men, marching in quadruple lines, and the divisions in such
+close touch that they might form, when there was need, a solid front.
+At the wings of the force were stationed the light-armed men and
+archers. Behind those, two wedge-shaped masses of chariots rolled forth
+from the camp gates and rumbled across the plain.
+
+At the foot of a gentle dip of the land the Rutharians had met and
+hurled back the horsemen. There they elected to remain and await the
+enemy's sterner onset.
+
+On came the shimmering lines of Ad across the meadows now dewed with
+blood; on with a rattle of drums, a brazen peal of trumpets, the clank
+and clash of armor mingling with the pounding hoofs on the hard turf,
+the thumping of chariot-wheels, and the shouted commands of the file
+leaders--the ancient, many-tongued clamor that stirs the soul of Mars.
+
+Silent and watchful, the men of mountainous Ruthar crouched low behind
+their shields and waited.
+
+Over the bodies of their dead comrades, over the fallen horses, the
+phalanxes marched. Then, closing into a living wall, they took the last
+tangled barrier of corpses with a rush and a shout, and the battle was
+joined. All across the field echoed the hollow thunder of the meeting
+shields as the lines closed. Followed a clanging as of a thousand
+trip-hammers. For now the spears were down and the swords were at work.
+
+Following their custom, the Rutharians cast their shields behind them
+after the first shock of the onset, and plied their long blades with
+both hands, making them serve both as swords and bucklers.
+
+On pushed the Maeronican wall under its tossing banners. So fierce was
+the rush and pressure of those charging thousands that Ruthar's line,
+strive as her warriors might, was bent backward like a bow. A wild
+cheering went up from the ranks of Ad when they saw the red standard
+give back. Gathering themselves again, they swept the mountain legions
+to the crest of the rise.
+
+Sitting his charger on the slope behind the line of his men-at-arms,
+Polaris looked down into that hell of combat. Like the unfolding vista
+of a hideous dream, it seemed to him, which he was powerless to break
+or to hinder. Yet above the din of the blood-maddened legions the sky
+was blue and calm, the sun shone bright, and back there in the forests
+the birds of spring were calling to their mates.
+
+Under his fascinated eyes the line of his warriors bent and came
+nearer. The red banner of Ruthar--a moment ago it had been planted
+at the foot of the slope, and now it was almost touching his horse's
+muzzle! Down there in the field another flag was coming, and with it a
+company of riders whose armor flashed back the sunlight from plates and
+shields of burnished gold.
+
+The spell was broken.
+
+Rising in his stirrups, the son of the snows drew his two-handed sword
+from over his shoulder. Among the Maeronican generals his keen eyes had
+seen a face that he remembered well.
+
+"Zinds of Ruthar!" he cried, his voice ringing above the clamor.
+"Yonder rides Bel-Ar of Adlaz. Let us go and greet him."
+
+All around him he heard the clinking of closing vizors. The zinds were
+ready.
+
+Casting down his shield, Polaris called to the swordsmen in front to
+open and make way. Before the Maeronican soldiery could advantage
+themselves of the gap, he was down the slope and upon them like a
+living thunderbolt. Under the urge of the spurs, his horse reared
+and struck out with its forefeet as it met the foemen. Leaning well
+over the good beast's shoulder, the rider whirled his heavy blade and
+struck so fast and so fiercely that eyes could not follow the blows.
+Adlaz's stoutest warriors shrank bewildered from the menace of that
+lightning-stroke and those steel-shod hoofs. Before one might count ten
+he was through them, leaving a wake of crumpled men. Behind him rode
+gray Jastla and the zinds of Ruthar.
+
+As they passed, one of the zinds bent and snatched the crimson banner
+from the standard-bearer.
+
+A roar like that of angry lions went down the Rutharian front when
+the hillsmen saw their flaming standard rise over the heads of the
+fighting men and advance into the field. Where their king led, no wall
+of steel could hold them back. As though the string had been released,
+the mighty bow straightened. All down that long, grim battle-line the
+two-handed swords clove through.
+
+Rallying around their king, the golden captains waited the shock that
+was coming.
+
+For Polaris had one goal, and one only, on all that stricken field.
+Outstripping the fleetest of his riders, he hewed his way through the
+Maeronican nobles, nor stopped until his sable war-horse was shoulder
+to shoulder with the steed of Bel-Ar, the king.
+
+"By Shamar, 'tis the slave-king!" shouted Bel-Ar, as the apparition in
+steel and silver burst through his gilded riders and bore down upon
+him. Sword and shield he lifted to meet the assault, fending himself
+with that skill of arms by which he oft had made good the boast of
+Adlaz that he was the hardiest fighting man in the two kingdoms.
+
+While the battle on the plain raged around them unheeded, king met king
+in the play of swords.
+
+First stroke of Polaris fell on the rounded shield and beat it down so
+that Bel-Ar reeled in his saddle. Before the great blade could swing
+again, the Maeronican straightened and smote with his own good sword of
+tempered bronze. A clang as of a descending hammer rang in the ears of
+Polaris. Under the trampling feet of the horses lay one of the golden
+wings of his helmet. Another stroke fell on his shoulder, cracking a
+steel boss of his armor and thrilling his arm with a sting of pain.
+Heeding it not, he rose in the saddle and swung his sword to his two
+arms' height. No shield or arm would stay that blow.
+
+For the fraction of a second Bel-Ar's doom hung poised in air. Ere it
+fell, Polaris's stallion reared, screaming. The mighty stroke that the
+rider sped fell on empty air. Overbalanced by the weight of his own
+effort, Polaris bent nearly to his saddle-bow. Beneath him the black
+stallion shuddered and went down. An unhorsed captain of Adlaz had run
+in and thrust the animal through the vitals with a spear.
+
+Janess sprang free from the falling horse. Above him, Bel-Ar shouted
+in triumph and hewed down with his bronze sword. But the zinds of
+Ruthar had torn through Bel-Ar's riders to the support of their king,
+upsetting both men and horses as they came. One of them, a slender
+youth in silver armor, leaped from his steed and flashed between Bel-Ar
+and his dismounted and helpless foeman, taking the king's sword-stroke
+on his head.
+
+Jastla closed his steel ring, then, and Bel-Ar was carried away in a
+swirling press of his own cavalry, which had charged fiercely in to
+save him.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Polaris knelt beside his fallen horse and lifted the still form of the
+man who had saved him. The red banner of Ruthar, held by Zind Albar,
+floated above them. Around the circle of riders which Jastla had drawn
+the battle whirled like a seething maelstrom around a rock in a sea of
+clashing steel.
+
+"Who is he?" Polaris asked of Albar, and pillowed the head in its
+silver helm on his knee. In vain he tried to lift the vizor. The
+sword-stroke of the Maeronican king had shattered the upper flare of
+the helmet and bent down its crest so that the vizor would not yield.
+
+"I know him not," said Albar, who was a hillsman. "Some zind of the
+lower cities, I judge, from the armor he wears. Whoever he is, he is a
+brave man. He has this day saved the life of the king of Ruthar, and
+I fear that he has lost his own in the deed. Bel-Ar strikes bitterly.
+See; he has cracked the helmet like an egg. Ah-h--!"
+
+Striking the steel-shod shaft of the standard into the earth, Albar
+leaped down from his horse and knelt beside Polaris.
+
+While the zind had been speaking, the fingers of the son of the snows
+had loosed the clasps of the helmet and lifted it. From under the
+cloven silver shell rippling coils of red-brown hair slipped down and
+flowed over his arm and his knee, where the sunlight caught and turned
+them into dancing flames. The pale face turned up to the sky, unmarred
+save by a small stain of blood at one of the temples, was that of the
+Goddess Glorian of Ruthar!
+
+Janess groaned. Albar stared like a man transfixed. But Glorian was not
+dead. As the air struck her face she moved her head faintly and her
+lips trembled.
+
+"Illia--roars--loudly to-day," she murmured. "It must be--the
+freshets--of spring."
+
+She opened her eyes, saw the faces bent above her, and smiled wanly at
+Polaris.
+
+"Then I was not too late?" she said, the halting gone out of her voice.
+"'Tis well."
+
+"Lady, why did you come hither--into the battle?" asked Polaris. "And
+why--" His voice broke; for the courage of this woman moved him almost
+to tears; the memory of that crushing stroke of bronze which she had
+taken in his stead made him shudder.
+
+Glorian smiled again.
+
+"Vex yourself not about me," she said. "Shall Ruthar's bravest shed
+their lives for their land and king, and Glorian not do her part?" She
+lifted her hand and pointed to the standard. "Where Ruthar's banner
+goes, there goes Glorian also--even into the battle. And I am not
+dying, or greatly hurt, only dizzied, and my head hums. See; I can
+arise."
+
+And arise she did, with Polaris's arm to support her. Around Jastla's
+narrowing circle broke the shock of the battle-tide. But for the moment
+neither the man nor the woman heeded it.
+
+"But you are wounded, lady," Janess said. "There is blood on your
+forehead."
+
+She slipped a hand from its gauntlet and raised it to her head.
+
+"Hardly a scratch," she said.
+
+Just at the roots of her long tresses a splinter from the shivered
+helmet had scarred the scalp--a tiny cut, scarcely a quarter of an inch
+in length.
+
+Now Albar the zind, who had hung on every word, came out of the spell
+of horror that had bound him. He swung himself onto his horse. Then for
+the one time in his life Albar gave orders to a king.
+
+"Guard you the goddess and the banner," he cried to Polaris. "I go to
+tell the men of Ruthar that which shall put in each one the strength of
+ten!"
+
+He rode to Jastla's side.
+
+"Gray wolf, may your ring be strong till I come again," he said. "You
+have within it a king and a goddess."
+
+Down rang his vizor, and setting spurs to his horse Albar set out to
+cross the field and find Oleric the Red.
+
+No longer was the fight on the plains one of ordered lines of men. The
+charge of Polaris had broken the Maeronicans' long front, and they
+had not been able to close up the gap he had made. So they had swung
+into the smaller phalanxes of their legions, and the battle was one of
+division against division, with many breaks between. Here and there
+the divisions had split up into still smaller groups, and occasionally
+there might be seen two warriors who fought alone, one laying on for
+Ruthar and one for Ad.
+
+Gray Jastla, fighting with his face to the west, heard Albar's words as
+the zind flashed past him. To find their meaning, the chieftain cast a
+hurried glance over his shoulder. He saw Polaris and Glorian standing
+together under the crimson standard, and was near to letting his sword
+fall in his surprise. Next instant he rose in his stirrups and clove a
+Maeronican from shoulder to breastbone. Out rang the chief's voice in a
+hollow roar through his vizor:
+
+"Strike as ye never struck before! Behind you is the Goddess Glorian,
+come to see that ye do well. Would ye have these Maeronican hounds take
+her? Strike!"
+
+Around the circle echoed the war-cry:
+
+"For the Goddess Glorian! Strike!"
+
+Like living sword-blades did the Rutharian zinds answer that fierce
+appeal. The circle grew smaller and drew in upon itself, but it did not
+break. Under their resistless blades the zinds piled a rampart of dead
+Maeronicans to defend their goddess. A riderless horse backed into the
+circle, and Polaris, quitting Glorian's side, mounted the steed with
+his two-handed steel and joined the zinds.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Standing up on the body of Polaris's fallen war-horse, supporting
+herself with one hand on the staff of the banner, Glorian watched that
+deadly fray. With her long hair flowing on her shoulders, she looked in
+her warlike gear like one of the valkyries of Adin come down to earth
+from Valhalla to watch the passing of the souls of heroes. Ever her
+gaze followed Polaris. And if she seemed like one of the Norse god's
+daughters, the man who fought under her eyes was a fitting part of the
+simile.
+
+His sword wrenched from his grasp in the body of a man he had slain, he
+snatched the heavy ax that swung at his saddle-bow, and with it laid on
+like Thor with his hammer.
+
+Aid was coming.
+
+Down the field as he rode Albar spread the tidings. From mouth to mouth
+flew the word that the Goddess Glorian was on the plains of Nor, and
+that she and the king were in sore peril yonder where the red standard
+flew. The effect was instantaneous. Each warrior became a host in
+himself. Wounded men who had turned to the rear heard and forgot their
+hurts and staggered into the fight again.
+
+When Albar reached Oleric the Red on the right, the zind found that his
+news had preceded him.
+
+"Get you to Maxtan," shouted Oleric. "Charge with every horse that can
+bear a rider. A messenger has gone into the forests, and another charge
+is coming. Clear the way for the amalocs."
+
+Maxtan and Albar gathered their wild horsemen and charged and charged
+again. So well did they do their work that they hacked a way to the
+first rank of the Maeronican chariots, deep between the two horns of
+which was waging the struggle around the red banner.
+
+Vainly Oleric urged his own charioteers forward. Bel-Ar's blood was up,
+and he was smiling no longer. Battalion on battalion of his infantry he
+sent in to meet the steeds and feed the blades of Ruthar. Almost within
+his grasp the Maeronican king saw victory. Already he counted as taken
+the slave whom his foeman had crowned. Sooner than give back a foot, or
+allow that little band of riders to go free, he was prepared to spend
+his army to the last man, and himself with it.
+
+No less than three horses Oleric had killed under him. When the last
+was gone, he climbed into a chariot and fought at the point of his
+rumbling wedge. Behind him from the forests a force entered the plain
+and the conflict that was mightier than all the red captain's horsemen
+and battalions.
+
+Zoar had come.
+
+In the shadow of the tall trees where the bending limbs swept their
+mighty backs, Zoar marshaled thirty of his amalocs and set them in
+battle array--a single line, with twenty intervening feet between each
+beast. If Zoar knew aught of amalocs, and he thought that he did, there
+would be need for no second line. A hundred men and as many horses ran
+about the legs of the monsters, tightening the broad girths that held
+the basketlike turrets on the mammoths' shoulders. The beasts stood
+quietly, swinging their huge trunks and weaving from side to side,
+as was their habit. Occasionally one of them cocked forward a great
+blanket of an ear as though in lazy wonderment at the din on the plains.
+
+On the head of each, with his back to the turret, and clutching his
+keen-pointed ankus, sat a driver in full armor.
+
+When all was ready, the spear-throwers and archers clambered up by
+rope-ladders and took their places in the towers.
+
+At the left of the line, and nearest to the river, was Ixstus,
+patriarch and giant of the herd. And on the broad head of Ixstus beside
+the driver rode Zoar of the many years.
+
+Along the line from beast to beast passed the word:
+
+"We are ready, Father Zoar."
+
+"Ixstus!" said the old man. The sail-like ears gave attention. "Ixstus,
+I have raised you since a calf, and I think you love me after your
+fashion. Do not fail me now, Ixstus. Go forward, fearing nothing. _Akko
+dor!_"
+
+Zoar's last words were spoken loudly. Thirty vast trunks lifted up.
+From thirty huge proboscides pealed forth the amaloc trumpet-call--such
+a call as might have shaken the forests in the ages before the first
+puny man began his life of fear.
+
+For of amalocs the records of the Garden of Eden make no mention.
+
+Swaying their ponderous heads, and with the turrets on their shoulders
+heaving and tossing like boats on a troubled sea, the amalocs went
+forward.
+
+Far in the turmoil of the fight Oleric heard that trumpeting. Over his
+shoulder he looked and saw the mighty red bulk of Ixstus push out from
+among the trees.
+
+With their trunks curled out of harm's way, their thick and ropy tails
+stretched straight out behind, and their ears flapping to their stride,
+the amalocs came down the grim lanes of battle. Though the legs that
+were as the trunks of trees for size swung with no apparent haste,
+the beasts came on at a pace that it would have troubled a trotting
+horse to distance. The lengths of chain fastened to their knee-harness
+whistled through the air like flails.
+
+From division to division along Ruthar's jagged battle-line sped the
+warning cry:
+
+"Way! Way for Zoar! Make way for the amalocs!"
+
+Under the tossing ivory fronts the divisions parted and drew aside.
+Zoar increased the distance between his beasts. Into thirty wide
+aisles the army split. From forest to front, save for the dead, the
+way was clear. From the wild vortex of the battle rose a stormy burst
+of cheering as the amalocs thundered down the aisles, and Ruthar's
+exultant warriors welcomed their gigantic allies.
+
+Wilder still was the cheering when it was seen that at the ends of the
+pathways the phalanxes of Bel-Ar's men-at-arms were crumbling away.
+Flesh and blood could not abide the onset that was coming, and the
+Maeronican legions broke and fled ingloriously across the plains in
+droves, many of them casting away their arms and shields as they ran.
+
+Bidding his charioteer pull in his horses, Oleric climbed up on the
+high front of his chariot to watch how Bel-Ar would meet this new
+stroke. What would meet the drive of the amalocs? As he reached his
+vantage-point, the answer came--a cavalry charge!
+
+From the wall of his camp, where he had been taken, nursing an arm
+that was numb from wrist to shoulder, the Maeronican king ground his
+teeth in fury as he saw the new force enter the battle and witnessed
+the melting of his legions. Once before, in the morning, his cavalry
+had been rudely handled, and he had laughed. Now, with tears of rage
+in his eyes, he dispatched his shattered squadrons in the teeth of the
+oncoming peril.
+
+White-faced captains and quaking men scrambled into their saddles to
+do their king's bidding, and the horsemen rode desperately to meet the
+beasts.
+
+What happened was simple. The amalocs plowed through the clouds of
+cavalry that opposed them with scarcely a break in their stride,
+overthrowing men and horses as though they had been of paper, and
+leaving ghastly ruins behind them where their ponderous feet had
+trodden.
+
+One such onset was enough. No horse that ever lived could have been
+forced to face another. For the amalocs, when they joined battle, set
+up such a din of squealing and trumpeting as nearly split the ears that
+heard it. The horse that could have met that grievous onslaught must
+have been both blind and deaf.
+
+From above, in the basket-turrets, the archers and spearsmen poured
+down a deadly hail of missiles on the riders. Did a horseman avoid the
+thrashing chains and get near enough to the vast side of an amaloc to
+strike--and not many did so--he found his spear-point rebound from
+the tough hide. The utmost power of his stroke was not a pin-prick to
+an amaloc. Even as the swordsmen had fled, so fled now the riders,
+betaking themselves in a fear-maddened stream to their camp, whither
+the charioteers had preceded them.
+
+"The beasts of Ruthar are a myth," had said Bel-Ar, the king. And his
+soldiers had believed him, had fostered confidence with the thought
+that the frightful tales that had been told of the strength and fury
+of the amalocs were mere traditions which had come down from the days
+of old. Now here before the camp were the beasts, red and awesome and
+raging--more terrible by far than even tradition had painted them--and
+among the Children of Ad there was none who had the heart to go out
+and face them--unless, indeed, it were the king himself. Bel-Ar in his
+rage would have fronted the overlord of all evil that day had he come
+against him.
+
+So it came about that the ring of Jastla, the chief, found the
+pressure of assault slackening and falling away. Maeronicans who had
+been fiercest to meet the sword-blades, now were stumbling over each
+other's legs in their haste to escape the amalocs. What was left of the
+ring--barely a score and five of battered men and horses--opened, and
+through its gap strode Ixstus and paused beside the red banner.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER X
+
+                     THE GODDESS GLORIAN'S DECREE
+
+
+Zoar quit the straps where he had held and stood on the head of Ixstus.
+A triumph shone in the eyes of the master of the amalocs, and a smile
+spread over his mummified old-ivory features as he looked down at
+Glorian.
+
+"Daughter, they told me that I would find you here--in the forefront of
+the battle," he said. "And so it is. Your zeal for Ruthar has carried
+you far--so far that Oleric the Learned could not follow, and sent
+Father Zoar to find you." He laughed in his bell-like tones.
+
+"But for the King of Ruthar and these brave men here, you would have
+had a longer journey, Father Zoar," Glorian replied. "It might have
+been to the camp of Bel-Ar yonder, or--to the stars. Take me up with
+you, Zoar, for I am weary."
+
+"_Stekkar deen!_" commanded Zoar, and Ixstus looped his trunk and swung
+Glorian gently to a seat beside his master.
+
+Glorian looked around at the little circle of wearied men--so wearied
+that they reeled in their saddles. She looked at those others, who lay
+where they had fallen, and to whom the long rest had come. Her eyes
+filled with tears.
+
+"I thought to thank you," she said, "but I find no words splendid
+enough."
+
+Old Jastla lifted his arm in salute. "Lady, to those of us who live,
+it is sufficient to know that you live also. Those who are dead, died
+gladly to make it so. We have held our goddess safe, and our king has
+held himself." And he turned and saluted Polaris.
+
+Of the hundred zinds and fifty tall hillsmen who had formed in Jastla's
+ring, five and twenty were left. Not one was unwounded. Jastla's beard
+was red with blood, where a spear-point had penetrated through the
+bars of his vizor and torn his mouth. In addition to the bruised and
+stiffening shoulder caused by the blow of Bel-Ar that had broken his
+armor, Polaris had been gashed on the cheek by an arrow. Otherwise he
+was the least harmed of the party.
+
+It was midafternoon when Ixstus set foot in the circle. Presently
+Oleric arrived in his chariot. Behind him came the host of
+Ruthar--weary and with many of its battalions sadly thinned, but still
+a host, and ready to go on if need be.
+
+Another amaloc rolled up alongside of Ixstus. Over the edge of the
+wicker basket it bore, a white old head bobbed up with the suddenness
+of a jack-in-the-box.
+
+"Hey, son," said Zenas Wright to Polaris, "will you never quit your
+foolhardy ways? Look what you have made me do--come a-hunting you,
+riding on the back of one of these animated stacks of red hay, that
+should have been dead and fossilized six thousand years ago. Well,
+well; we've given his majesty Bel-Ar a bellyful, I'm thinking." Out of
+his basket and down the rope-ladder Zenas clambered to shake Polaris by
+the hand.
+
+"Oh, boy," the geologist said, "you're a better king than those
+heathen will see again, if they all live to be as old as Father
+Methuselah yonder says he is. But be careful, lad, be careful."
+
+On the head of Ixstus the Goddess Glorian stood and pointed toward the
+camp of Bel-Ar, and her beautiful face grew stern.
+
+"There are still three hours of daylight, Father Zoar," she said. "Let
+us go and finish what we have begun."
+
+"As well now as ever, daughter," Zoar replied. "I am minded to teach
+this Maeronican king a lesson that shall become a tradition in the
+land. What passes in the camp? My eyes are too dim to see."
+
+"Confusion, father, and the running to and fro of many men. They are
+adding to the height of their earthen walls. They are piling their
+gateways with timbers and the fragments of broken chariots."
+
+Zoar laughed. "Think they with walls of mud to stop my amalocs?" he
+muttered. He lifted his voice, and word was passed down the line that
+the beasts were to be advanced against the camp.
+
+Under the orders of Polaris, the dead zinds and men of his guard were
+borne off the field, and those who were still living, but wounded,
+were carried tenderly to the rear. When he learned that the amalocs
+were to attack the camp, he climbed with Zenas to the turret which the
+geologist had occupied. Jastla and the others he urged to seek rest.
+But they were men of great spirit, and only one or two of them went.
+The most of them sent for fresh horses, determined to see the fighting
+through to its end.
+
+At a word from Glorian, Jastla took up the war-standard of Ruthar and
+passed it to the fighting men of Zoar, who set it fast in the wicker
+tower on the back of Ixstus. Glorian caught its floating folds and
+kissed it.
+
+"Now Ixstus bears our banner. Who shall withstand it?" she said.
+
+A blare of trumpets, a ruffle of drums, sounded the advance of Ruthar.
+Louder and above all arose the roar of the thirty amalocs, strident and
+deafening, as the shaggy, red line surged forward.
+
+In the camp of Bel-Ar that call found answer in the howl of hate and
+terror that went up from the ranks of the Maeronicans when they saw
+that their terrible foes were coming.
+
+"Fire!" shouted Bel-Ar to his generals. "We must meet and turn the
+beasts with fire! Man the walls with torches and set a blaze before
+each gate."
+
+Bel-Ar had pitched his encampment in a loop of the River Thebascu,
+a broad, swift stream, now swollen by the spring freshets into a
+dun-colored torrent. From bank to bank across the loop, the soldiers
+had constructed a wall of earth and stones, ten feet high, and pierced
+by six wide gateways, wherein were set heavy gates of steel and oak.
+Inside the line of the outer wall, with some fifty feet of space
+intervening, was another rampart, also of earth, and a few feet higher
+than the first. Outside of the works the camp was protected further by
+a semicircular ditch, or moat, spanned at each of the gateways by a
+solid bridge of timbers. The Maeronican engineers had turned the waters
+of the river into the moat and filled it level full. At the rear of the
+camp was the crossing of the Thebascu--three wide bridges of stone,
+which had been built in the long ago.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+When they saw the advance of the amalocs, soldiers swarmed from the
+camp with ropes and horses, and strove to pull the timber bridges away
+from the ditch. But the weight of the passing and repassing of the
+army had sunk the beams into the earth so deeply that they could not
+be stirred. Failing in that attempt, the Maeronicans piled débris on
+the floors of the bridges and set fire to it, hoping to burn away the
+approaches. That, too, was a failure. The water of the moat, nearly
+level with the side-beams, was ankle-deep on the bridge-floors, and had
+soaked the timbers so that they would not catch from the fires.
+
+As Zoar and his monsters came to the moat, the men of Bel-Ar shot at
+them with arrows, stones, and javelins. But Ruthar could play that
+game, too. Oleric lined the ditch between the bridges with slingers
+and archers, who kept up so thick a bombardment that they killed many
+men, and soon drove the Maeronicans to the shelter of their walls. As
+they went in, Bel-Ar's men touched flames to the piles of timbers and
+wrecked chariots before their gateways and closed their gates.
+
+"Shall we cross the bridges and clear the way, Father Zoar?" asked
+Oleric.
+
+"Nay," the master of the beasts replied, "that would be at the expense
+of many men, and yon is an ill place to fight in. Methinks I know a
+better plan."
+
+Under his directions, his foresters ungirthed one of the mammoths and
+took from its back the wicker turret. Zoar called the driver of the
+beast to him. Whatever it was that the old man said, the amaloc-driver
+blanched somewhat at the words. He cast a quick glance toward the armed
+camp, and under his swarthy skin his face turned pale. Then he drew
+himself up proudly, saluted, and went back to his beast.
+
+Clambering to his perch, the man found and pulled two small chains
+connected with the armored plates which protected the skull of his
+ponderous steed. These drew into place and closed fast two small doors,
+or lids, cunningly wrought of steel, and devised to cover the eyes of
+the beast. So blinded, the heart within the vast bulk became uneasy,
+and the mammoth began to back and sway, groping before it with its
+trunk.
+
+While the army stood breathless to see what he would do, the driver
+struck with his ankus, and with a shout launched the amaloc straight at
+the center gate of the camp.
+
+Deprived of its eyesight, the mammoth obeyed the superior will
+expressed by the voice that it knew and loved. Across the bridge, where
+ordinarily it would have paused and tested the timbers carefully before
+trusting its immense bulk upon them, it now charged blindly, trumpeting
+as it went.
+
+Showers of missiles from the camp of Ad fell on the beast; ahead of it
+roared the blazing pile. It screamed out with pain and terror when the
+flames touched it, but it did not stop. Scattering the burning tangle
+like fiery chaff, it tore on, and its armored frontlet clanged on the
+bars of the gateway.
+
+That shock tore the gates from their hinges and brought the amaloc to
+its knees. For an instant it knelt on the fallen gate, then, trumpeting
+with rage, rose up and danced on the ruin.
+
+On the head of the beast the driver lay flat on his belly, his arms and
+legs thrust under the leather bands placed there to hold him. Ahead,
+scarcely fifty feet away, was the second gateway. With voice and steel
+the man urged the amaloc on, and it crashed through that gate as it had
+through the first, and plunged into the center of the Maeronican camp.
+
+Began then a mad rout for safety. No one thought of fighting the terror
+that had come among them; but each man for himself ran for the river,
+casting away anything that might weight down his legs. Soon all three
+bridges of the Thebascu were black with a horrid, writhing mêlée--a
+tangle of fear-maddened men, cursing and striking at each other for
+way, and screaming, terrified horses. Many soldiers, unable to fight
+into the jams on the bridges, threw themselves into the swift stream
+with all their armor on, and some swam across and others were seen no
+more.
+
+To and fro through the encampment raged the now thoroughly crazed
+amaloc, sundering and crushing all that it met. The long, red wool
+had caught fire from the blaze at the gateway and burned fiercely up
+over its shoulders. Wild with the pain of it, the beast ran hither and
+thither, seeking to escape from the flames. A two-horsed chariot was
+in its path at one moment. It scooped it up like a toy and carried it
+forward on its mighty tusks, the horses dangling in their harness. Then
+with a heave of its vast shoulders the monster cast the wreck in the
+air. Lying on his face, the driver closed his eyes and prayed wildly to
+his stars.
+
+At length, smelling the water of the river, the amaloc turned thither,
+to quench its agonies in the rushing stream. On it drove, across the
+camp, upsetting everything in its way. It reached the river to the
+left of one of the bridges. In its path a horse bearing a steel-clad
+rider slipped and fell. The groping trunk that sought the water found
+the man, plucked him from the ground, whirled him aloft, and dashed
+him against an abutment of the bridge so that his armor cracked like a
+nutshell and his blood ran down the stones.
+
+With a final shriek of fury, the amaloc plunged into the river. The
+waters closed over its upthrown trunk, and its mad career was ended.
+With it went the driver, well content to give his life for Ruthar.
+
+This one beast in the outpouring of its majestic strength had done
+more to shatter the power of Adlaz than had the legions of Ruthar in a
+month's fighting.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Soon after the death of the amaloc, night fell swiftly across the
+plains of Nor. The other beasts of Zoar, made uneasy by the experiences
+through which they had passed, and stirred by the screaming of their
+flame-maddened comrade, were in such a state that their master deemed
+it unwise to attempt to urge them farther in the darkness and against
+the fires. So he drove them back to the forest, and Ruthar camped on
+the plain.
+
+In the night was heard a clamor as of men who fought on the other side
+of the Thebascu, and when morning came it was seen that the host of
+Bel-Ar was divided. The royal standards waved over the bridge-heads at
+the crossing of the river. Farther down the stream, and opposite to the
+camp of Ruthar was gathered by far the greater part of the Maeronican
+host.
+
+When the dawn was full, a boat crossed the river, bearing messengers
+to Ruthar from the lords of the six cities which had fought for Adlaz.
+These heralds came to Oleric and asked what terms he would make them.
+
+"For," said they, "did we have to fight with men only, we would stand
+firm until the end, and with our united power sweep Ruthar from the
+field and crush her. But against such as the great beasts no men may
+war."
+
+The red captain referred them to the king of Ruthar for their answer.
+Polaris bade them go back to the lords of the cities and say that he
+wished to make war on none save Adlaz and the king thereof--but that
+war he would wage until the death or the submission of Bel-Ar.
+
+"Our lords will not join ye in war against Adlaz," said one of the
+heralds hastily. "We be not such traitors; but our soldiers will bear
+arms against the terrible beasts no more."
+
+"Ruthar asks no help in her warfare against Bel-Ar," Polaris replied.
+"Take your armies to their homes in peace."
+
+That answer satisfied the lords of the cities, and they sent word that
+so they would do; and if Polaris in the end prevailed against Adlaz,
+they would bend the knee to his rule. Secretly they hoped that he
+would win. Bel-Ar had been a hard master, and those who had seen the
+tawny-haired king of Ruthar deemed him to be the better man to serve,
+outlander though he was.
+
+So that host was dispersed and went its various ways homeward. The
+soldiers of Adlaz and the levies from the lands around the city were of
+a different kidney. To a man they stood firm for their king. Beasts or
+no beasts, they swore, they would die for him, did he wish it.
+
+It seemed likely that their promise would be required of them. Bel-Ar,
+stubborn and high of spirit, was resolved to fight on. He still
+mustered under his banners a force of nearly sixty thousand men,
+veterans of his former wars and the flower of the fighting men of the
+land. Besides, he held the advantage of position.
+
+When Ruthar would have gone on against him in the morning, it was
+found that his engineers, working through the night, had piled the
+bridge-heads with barricades of stones, so thick and high that
+no amaloc charge would beat them down. Behind those barriers the
+Maeronican generals reorganized their broken forces and sent in the
+front fresh soldiers drawn from the reserves that were waiting along
+the Mazanion Road.
+
+Not for many weary miles was there another crossing of the
+Thebascu--if, indeed, there were any on the course of the river where
+were bridges strong enough to support an army and the weight of the
+amalocs.
+
+Taking counsel together, Polaris and Oleric and their generals decided
+that they must hammer their way through at the three bridges. They
+might have blown up the barriers with melinite; but they dared not, for
+fear of destroying the structures of the bridges also; and they had not
+the time to build new bridges. Only a sustained frontal attack, at the
+cost of many men, would clear the way.
+
+For a score and ten days and nights the furious struggle was waged at
+the Thebascu. Then one of the bridges was taken. Polaris, his great
+frame grown gaunt from continual fighting, and his face sunken and
+haggard with anxiety and loss of sleep, saw through hollow and burning
+eyes his hosts swing across the river and into the Mazanion Road.
+
+Fourteen days were left him, and then--the Feast of Years, and the end.
+
+Summer was coming, and with it the feast of the return of Shamar, that
+could not be set forward or delayed. Though the foe were hammering at
+its gates, Oleric said, the feast would be held in the city. Such was
+the ancient law laid down in the early days of Adlaz.
+
+On the Mazanion Road they found the captain Fanaer once more, tireless
+and vengeful. As he had harried them all the way from the isthmian
+passes to the plains of Nor, so he harried them now. Every foot of
+the hundred miles down the Mazanion Road he fought them, and with him
+fought Bel-Ar, his master. Wall after wall they built and lost.
+
+It was not until afternoon of the last day that the Rutharian vanguard,
+so worn with battle that it staggered as it rode, broke through the
+final barrier and marched through the gorgeous suburban estates to the
+wall of Adlaz. Under the leadership of Fanaer, the remnant of Bel-Ar's
+army made a last desperate stand, but was swept away.
+
+As night came on, the Maeronican king, broken-hearted, but still
+defiant, entered his city and closed his gates--there to sit down and
+wait for the coming of the Goddess Glorian.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was nine o'clock of a morning--the morning of the third day of the
+Maeronican month of Kanar, corresponding to the fifteenth of November;
+or, to reverse the seasons to the terms of our northern clime, the
+sixteenth of May. A man who bore a heavy heart within his golden armor
+faced a white-faced maid in the ancient audience-hall of the dead king
+Bel-Tisam.
+
+"Now am I in my heart almost a traitor to my king and land, lady,"
+Brunar said. "For I have almost wished that your lover might prevail
+over Bel-Ar and save you. But the day has come and the time is at
+hand, and Ruthar is still without the walls. Would that I might save
+you, lady--I think that to do so I would willingly give my life. But
+Shamar's servants have watched this place by day and by night. It
+cannot be. Already they wait for you without the doors to lead you to
+the temple."
+
+For an instant the girl's eyes swam with terror. She gazed hither
+and yon about the hall like a hunted thing. Then the heritage of her
+northern race came to her aid and saved her from collapse.
+
+Bravely she faced and spoke to the captain.
+
+She stepped to the cradle of the little Patrymion and kissed the babe.
+
+"I am ready," she said, then.
+
+At the doors of the prison a chariot waited, and with it were four of
+the white-robed priests of Shamar. The girl was lifted into the car.
+The charioteer drove up the side avenue of Chedar's Flight, past the
+Place of Games, now standing empty and silent, to the grounds of the
+Temple of the Sun. They saw many armed men in the street as they passed
+along. As they entered the gateway of the temple grounds they heard a
+dull booming that beat up with the wind from the south, where Ruthar
+hammered at the Mazanion gates.
+
+The priests carried the girl up the hundred white marble steps to
+the western entrance to the temple and through the splendid arch of
+a doorway that was fifty feet from pave to vault. Within all was dim
+twilight, except in the mighty dome, two hundred feet aloft. There it
+was light, indeed.
+
+At the doorway the party halted, and two soldiers shackled Rose with
+fetters of heavy gold at her wrists and ankles. Around her waist they
+set a girdle of the same yellow metal, to which chains were attached.
+That done, they placed a gag in her mouth and led her into the temple.
+
+Here was a place of wonders, such as had its like nowhere in the world.
+All around the hall, supporting the ring of masonry on which the dome
+rested, were magnificent pillars of marble. The circle of the pavement
+which was enclosed by the pillars, and which was nearly a hundred feet
+across, was bare, except at its center. There an oblong slab of black
+basalt lay from west to east across the gleaming white floor. That
+block was the height of a man's waist from the pavement, some six feet
+across, and at least ten yards in length.
+
+On one end of the slab, that which pointed west, stood a solid column
+of orichalcum, more than a yard in diameter and fifteen feet tall, its
+whole substance glowing in the half-light like a pillar of lambent
+flame. From base to top the surface of this marvelous plinth was carved
+with Maeronican characters and mystic signs. It was the ancient Column
+of Laws, whereon was written the prophecy of the future dominion of
+Adlaz over all the world.
+
+Over across from the fiery pillar, at the other extremity of the slab,
+was a vase, cut out of solid rock-crystal, as tall as a man, but
+slenderly fashioned, and as fragile in structure as thin-blown glass.
+
+This basalt block, with its gleaming column and crystal vase, was the
+altar of Shamar.
+
+Though the light was dim in the hall below, high in the arch of the
+dome was a dazzling play of light and colors. Through prismatic
+windows the rays of the sun poured and were translated into all of
+the changing hues of the spectrum, and as the prisms were turned by a
+concealed mechanism operated from below, the multiplying and shifting
+color-shafts, reflected back from the marble walls, combined into a
+bewildering and fairy display.
+
+Seated in a stone chair at the foot of one of the pillars in the
+northern arc of the circle was Bel-Ar. He was in full armor of black
+steel. His pallid face made a ghastly patch in the dusk. Except for the
+large, glowing eyes, it might have been taken for the face of a dead
+man. Back of the king, filling in the spaces between the pillars with
+silent rows of bronze, were the five companies of the palace-guard.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Immediately upon the arrival of the girl the ceremonies were opened.
+Followed by a train of his priests, chanting a deep-voiced hymn
+of praise, the arch-priest of Shamar, the aged Rhaen, entered the
+hall through the western portals. Thrice the procession of singing,
+white-robed attendants of the god passed around the circle within the
+pillars. Then they massed themselves in the space to the south of the
+altar. Rhaen retired, to come forth again, clad in a surplice of pale
+blue, and with a tall cap of the same color atop of his white locks. As
+he passed Rose, she fancied that she saw a frightened look in his keen
+old hawk's eyes.
+
+Four men brought in the head of one of the sacred bulls, freshly slain
+in the courtyard.
+
+This gory trophy was laid on the altar, a few feet from the crystal
+vase.
+
+At a command from Rhaen, a company of the priests bore the struggling
+form of a man from behind the pillars and proceeded to chain him down
+on the basalt slab near its center. He was fettered and gagged; but
+even so trussed up, he fought frantically, giving the priests much
+trouble before they had him chained in such a fashion that he could
+scarcely move a limb.
+
+Now came the turn of Rose.
+
+As the priests bore her to the altar and lifted her, she saw that the
+man who lay there was Ensign Brooks, of the _Minnetonka_. He had been
+fetched from the mines by order of Rhaen to take the place of Everson.
+When the girl saw the young sailor, chubby and cheerful no longer, but
+worn to skin and bones, and with eyes that glared in their sockets, she
+would have cried out in horror and pity--for to the last she thought
+not of herself--but she was gagged and helpless to utter one word of
+comfort.
+
+Brooks saw her as she was borne past him, and he struggled terribly.
+His utmost effort resulted only in a violent shaking of his head.
+
+The servants of Rhaen chained Rose to the rock midway between the
+sailor and the head of the bull. Aided by his priests, Rhaen clambered
+onto the rock and took his stand at the foot of the orichalcum pillar.
+He bent his head in prayer. While his lips moved, the priests knelt on
+the pavement with lifted hands and upturned faces. Every eye was fixed
+on the dome. Whatever was to come, it was evident that it would proceed
+thence.
+
+Lying on the black altar, doomed to be the first sacrifice to Shamar
+in the Feast of Years, Rose for a time was dazed and near to fainting.
+Then her mind cleared, and a mad whirl of tortured thought began.
+What of Polaris? With the memory of her lover came a stab of grief so
+keen that it banished all fear of the priests and what they could do.
+No pain that they could bring to her body could be so terrible as this
+anguish that made her very soul quail.
+
+Minutes passed. Again she became calm and fell to studying her
+surroundings. What manner of doom was coming? Fire in some shape, she
+was sure. She had noticed that the surface of the basalt slab was
+deeply scored down its center, where she and Brooks were chained,
+and its substance was crumbled and calcined as if by the passing of
+a fierce heat many times repeated. She besought her God that before
+Shamar struck, her senses might leave her, so might she die in peace.
+
+Rhaen prayed on. Above in the dome the brilliant colors played and
+shifted. Their magnificence hurt the girl's eyes, and she closed them.
+Would the end never come? Out in the city the din of war swelled louder.
+
+Bel-Ar spoke harshly, bidding Rhaen delay not. The arch-priest quit his
+mumbled prayer long enough to reply with some show of spirit that the
+doings of the god could not be hastened.
+
+The truth of the matter was, Rhaen was proceeding slowly, and with a
+reason. Rhaen was a politician. He had watched through the long weeks
+the course of war, and he did not find it hard to guess whose would be
+the ultimate victory. When that time came, what mercy would the king of
+Ruthar show to those who had given his lady to the tortures of Shamar?
+He lifted his hands high above his head, finally, and led his priests
+in a sonorous chant.
+
+As the notes of the song arose, the prismatic colors ceased in the
+dome. The prisms disappeared. Doors glided back in the golden roof, and
+an immense circular plate, or lens, of crystal made its appearance. So
+high was the arch of the dome where the crystal lens was hung, that it
+was impossible from the floor to judge its size; but it must have been
+at least thirty feet in diameter. It was set in a metal rim, and the
+whole was swung into place by chains, the mechanism doubtless operated
+by servants of Rhaen concealed in the vault of the dome.
+
+Tilted slightly to the east, the crystal hung. Above it a round
+aperture suddenly appeared in the roof. Through that opening shot a
+splendid shaft of sunshine that pierced the gloom of the temple-hall
+like an arrow of light. Blinding in its radiance, it cut downward and
+struck on the basalt altar, full on the head of the bull.
+
+Immediately arose the stench of burning hair and sizzling flesh. The
+power of the crystal lens so condensed the light-ray that where it fell
+its heat was all-consuming. Within half a minute naught was left of the
+head of the sacred bull save a few cinders and bits of calcined bone
+and charred tips of the horns.
+
+Where the head had been, the basalt rock glowed ruby-red in the path of
+that awful lance of fire. Inch by inch, and very slowly, the consuming
+ray crept along the altar toward the head of the girl.
+
+Rose had been nearly blinded, even through her closed lids, by the
+flash of light from the dome. Although she could not turn her head to
+see, she could smell the scorching flesh of the bull, and could guess
+what was coming.
+
+"Good-by, my love, good-by," she said in her heart. Then He to whom she
+had prayed made answer, and she fainted.
+
+Louder rose the chant of the priests. The merciless finger of their god
+moved on. Bel-Ar strained forward in his stone seat and stared at the
+sacrifice as though fascinated.
+
+Some five feet were yet to be traversed by the ray before it would
+reach the girl, when a soldier ran up the southern steps of the temple
+and hurled himself through the kneeling ranks of the priests. Behind
+him a wild clamor of battle arose in the street.
+
+"Adlaz is lost!" shouted the soldier, as he broke into the open space
+before the king. "Already is the foe at the very gates of Shamar!"
+
+Without stirring in his seat, hardly removing his eyes from the altar,
+Bel-Ar gave an order to the captains behind him. The silent files of
+the palace-guard came from behind the pillars and ranged themselves
+before the four entrances of the temple.
+
+Across the face of the altar the relentless fire-beam seared its way.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Meanwhile, at the walls of Adlaz the Rutharian army had halted.
+
+Night had found the men of the hills battering at the Mazanion gates.
+Urged on by the tireless energy of Polaris and the equally indomitable
+zeal of Oleric--for the red captain had made a promise--the zinds
+mustered their weary legions for a night of sleepless battle. War-worn
+by a quarter-year's conflict, the echoes of which would go whispering
+down their history for centuries to come, the king's battalions did not
+fail him. Every man in the army knew the terrible stake that was set
+for the game. None faltered. None complained.
+
+Assault on assault was directed at the gates, but still the southern
+doors of Adlaz remained unshaken. Riders had made the round of the city
+and had reported that the other three gateways had been walled up with
+stone masonry that it would be a work of days to dislodge--and they had
+only seventeen hours to reach the temple of Shamar. Oleric, who knew,
+said that the sacrifice of the Feast of Years would begin at noon of
+the next day, and not one moment sooner.
+
+Fanaer, Ruthar's most dreaded antagonist, was manning his last
+barricade. As soon as he had drawn his shattered army within the gates
+before the advance of his foemen, the captain ordered great rocks,
+which had been brought to the top of the walls in preparation for his
+purpose, cast down until they formed a jagged but powerful defense
+before the gates. That was to keep back the amalocs.
+
+Vainly the infantry of Ruthar charged over that irregular wall. Did
+any of them reach the gates, their battle-axes were but puny weapons
+against the bronze and steel of the doors. In vain they tried to carry
+in and place the melinite with which Zenas supplied them. Fanaer
+showered them with stones and blazing timbers. Three times men carrying
+the deadly cakes of explosive were stricken so that the melinite blew
+up and tore them to shreds.
+
+All night long the attack was maintained. All the night Polaris raged
+helplessly before that stubborn barrier of stone. In the morning light
+he counseled with Oleric, Zenas, and Zoar.
+
+"If you could but clear a way for my beasts!" groaned Zoar. "Then I
+would send them against the gates, though it killed them--which might
+well happen, for those gates are heavy enough to challenge even the
+strength of an amaloc."
+
+Zenas sprang up and beat himself on the forehead.
+
+"Doddering fool that I am!" he cried. "Here we have wasted men and
+time, and because my wits were sleeping in my boot-heels. Get your
+amalocs ready, Zoar."
+
+While Oleric sent one more assault against the gates, the geologist
+directed his engineers, under the cover of the attack, to mine, not
+the gates, but the pile of stones itself, with the melinite. Four big
+charges of the explosive they placed in Fanaer's barricade, and Zenas,
+with a tap of his finger on the battery, blew the barrier against the
+wall.
+
+Hardly had the stones quit falling when an amaloc rushed the gateway.
+Zoar spoke truly when he said those gates were strong. Fearful as
+was the impetus of the beast's charge, and though it cracked the
+great steel plates which protected its head with the impact, it did
+not shatter the gates. It withdrew from the onset somewhat sick and
+groggy--if that word may be applied to the mental condition of the
+amaloc. Zoar sent in another.
+
+Four of the monsters were launched successively against the portals
+before the gates crashed down. The last shock was so fearful that the
+beast which delivered it fell just beyond the gateway and died with a
+broken skull in the midst of the ruin it had made.
+
+Through the gap and into the Mazanion avenue, almost under the lee
+of the falling mammoth, flashed Polaris, mounted and in full armor.
+Hard behind him rode Oleric. Ahead of them the wide street was choked
+with Maeronican soldiery, and the son of the snows would have charged
+without pause; for the time that was left him was reduced to minutes
+now. Taking of the gates had not been quick or easy, and Shamar was
+high in the heavens.
+
+But the red captain caught at his bridle-rein.
+
+"Hold, friend and king; you will peril your life needlessly," he
+shouted. "Leave this desperate scum to Zoar, and follow where he leads.
+Ah! here he comes! Now see them scatter!"
+
+Oleric threw back his head and laughed. But Polaris, with that sun
+riding high above him, was in no mood for laughter.
+
+In through the rifted gateway thrust Ixstus. The giant amaloc was
+in his full panoply of war. On his head he bore proudly his master,
+Zoar the aged, and in the turret behind Zoar rode the Goddess
+Glorian--Glorian coming to the end to take what gift fate had in store.
+
+Under the swaying tusks of Ixstus terror shouted aloud in the street.
+Behind him, his sons and grandsons were pushing in through the gap in
+the wall. Bel-Ar's battered soldiers had had enough and full measure of
+Ixstus and his family. They did not wait now for the first screaming
+trumpet-call, but cast down their arms and scampered away--anywhere, so
+that they might put strong walls between themselves and the tribe of
+Ixstus.
+
+Then the general Fanaer rode forward and surrendered his sword to
+Oleric. He was a small, thin man, this famous warrior, with a twisted
+nose between pale-blue eyes, and curling, yellow beard.
+
+"I have fought you my best for the king, my master," he said. "But
+you have taken Adlaz, and my work is done." He glanced curiously at
+Polaris. "Haste you, king of Ruthar," he said, not unkindly. "They are
+doing sacrifice in Shamar's temple."
+
+Like an arrow from a bow, Polaris shot forward, spurring his horse.
+Oleric galloped after him. Behind them thundered Ixstus, shaking the
+pavement with his tread. Nor, strive as the fleet horses might, could
+they more than barely keep ahead of the amaloc. A race with death had
+begun.
+
+Lest harm befall, the zind Maxtan led a squadron of his mounted
+hillsmen in the wake of the speeding riders. Gray Jastla rode in the
+front rank.
+
+Before Polaris's galloping steed leaped and barked the great dog
+Rombar, who was more fleet of foot than any horse. To keep him out of
+harm's way in the battles, Rombar had been chained in hateful captivity
+for months. When the Mazanion gates were down and the amalocs cleared
+the street, the man who had charge of Rombar slipped his leash and let
+him go.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+They rode madly through the splendid grounds of the temple, where the
+sacred bulls fled bellowing before the approach of Ixstus. At the foot
+of the long stairway, Polaris and Oleric threw themselves from their
+steeds, and, drawing their swords, dashed up the marble steps. But
+Zoar with a word of command, set Ixstus to the ascent, and the amaloc
+distanced the running men.
+
+Scarce two feet of Shamar's black altar separated the head of Rose Emer
+from the fiery danger, and the rock where she lay was almost blistering
+hot, when Ixstus, with a scream of triumph, burst through the ranks of
+the guard at the southern door and strode into the lofty shrine. As the
+beast paused, blinking and stretching out an inquiring trunk in the
+direction of the puzzling shaft of light, two armored men ran around
+his ponderous bulk and leaped onto the altar.
+
+Rhaen would have given the word then to close the dome and stop the
+ray; but the strain of his anxiety had been too much for the aged
+priest. As he opened his mouth to shout, his knees loosened, and he
+fell in a swoon at the base of the orichalcum pillar.
+
+With four strokes of his sword, Polaris severed the golden chains and
+swept the senseless form of Rose from the altar. Oleric the Red did
+the like service for Brooks. Now might the finger of Shamar move on
+unheeded.
+
+Polaris knelt with his love in his arms. As he bent over her, Oleric
+shouted in warning. The son of the snows leaped to his feet in time to
+catch on his sword the blade of Bel-Ar, the king.
+
+Once again Ruthar and Ad, personified in their two rulers, were face to
+face.
+
+From the four doorways came the devoted men of the palace-guard.
+Bel-Ar, who had fallen back a pace, lifted his hand.
+
+"There is that between this man and me which only death may take away,"
+he said. "Let none interfere--unless the slave is afraid to fight." He
+fixed his burning eyes on Polaris. At that last remark Oleric the Red
+laughed loudly.
+
+Under other circumstances, Janess might have been minded to let Bel-Ar
+go free. Whatever were his faults, the Maeronican king was a brave
+man, one who did not bow down and weep when misfortune overtook him.
+But Polaris had just seen his dear lady chained to the horror of the
+sacrificial stone because of this man, and his fell religion and
+relentless practices against strangers. Minos, Memene, Everson, the
+company of the _Minnetonka_, the fallen of the hosts of Ruthar and of
+Ad--for all those deaths Bel-Ar was responsible. Surely his doors were
+haunted by many ghosts!
+
+With no word in answer to the king's taunt, Polaris swung his sword,
+and the fight began. Bel-Ar pressed in with a shower of blows, seeking
+to bear his adversary down by the sheer weight and fury of his attack.
+He was a powerful man, perhaps the strongest warrior in all his broad
+lands, as he had boasted--but he had met a stronger now.
+
+With the skill in fence that had been taught him by Jastla, the son of
+the snows guarded himself against those lightning blows, letting Bel-Ar
+weary himself until an opening should come--as his patience had told
+him it always would, no matter how hardy the fighter.
+
+Jastla himself stood by the altar and watched his pupil fight. For
+Maxtan and his cavalry had reached the temple. On one side of the
+altar stood the men of Ruthar and Ixstus. On the other were ranged the
+gleaming bronze lines of Bel-Ar's guard.
+
+Harder and harder the Maeronican pressed the fight. His blade swung
+like a circle of flame. Warily Polaris fended. Came a clash and a
+clang of falling steel, and a cry of dismay from the Rutharians. Under
+the stout bronze of Bel-Ar their champion's sword had snapped short off
+at the hilt.
+
+With a yell of exultation, Bel-Ar sprang in to make an end. And those
+who watched the fray were bound by honor not to interfere. Oleric
+groaned, and Jastla tugged at his white beard and ground his teeth in
+dismay. Then he sent up a roaring shout:
+
+"Well thrown! Oh, well thrown!"
+
+Under the vengeful sweep of the singing blade Polaris had leaped and
+caught the Maeronican around the middle. The blow of the sword fell
+harmless. But Polaris swung Bel-Ar up to his shoulder, aye, and over
+it, and dashed him down on the marble floor.
+
+One of the golden captains of the guard ran to the king's side and
+unhelmed him. Bel-Ar was dead, his back broken by the terrible fall.
+
+"Heard ever a man the like?" roared Jastla. "The strongest warrior in
+Adlaz tossed like a toy and slain by an unarmed man!"
+
+Through the fierce fray Glorian had sat like a statue, unable to stir
+or speak. As the Rutharians shouted in triumph, she roused and cried
+out:
+
+"Look to the priest! Haste! He burns!"
+
+Unnoticed in the stir of the combat, the ray of Shamar had moved on
+down the length of the altar. The priests in the dome had fled their
+posts in terror, and there had been none to stay the mechanism. In
+the path of Shamar's finger lay Rhaen, Shamar's priest, swooned and
+helpless. The ray struck him. Aid was too late.
+
+Rhaen was a horrid sight when he was pulled from the altar. His soul
+had gone--perhaps to seek the god whom he had served.
+
+On Ixstus's head stood Glorian in her silver armor.
+
+"So ends the religion of Shamar!" she cried. With the battle-ax she
+carried, she bent over and struck the crystal vase and shattered it.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At the other end of the altar of basalt the great ray beat on the
+pillar of orichalcum, so that the surface of the metal was melted and
+the cruel laws of Ad were effaced. With the laws perished the prophecy.
+
+Water was dashed on the face of Rose Emer, and presently she opened
+her eyes and sat up and realized that she was not dead. Before them
+all, Polaris took her into his arms and kissed her--for such is the
+privilege of kings. Glorian, watching from Ixstus's back, turned white
+with agony and clenched her slender fingers so that the nails bit into
+her palms.
+
+"Oh, be strong, my heart," she whispered to herself. "My soul has said
+it--_my time will come_!"
+
+Zenas Wright came soon, and at the altar of Shamar was held a reunion
+where hearts were too full for talking, until Ensign Brooks spoke up
+and Said:
+
+"Lead me to a dinner-table, somebody. First they worked the flesh off
+my bones. Then they tried to roast me along with a bull's head and a
+pretty woman--but never once did they give me a decent meal."
+
+"You shall have your dinner," said Polaris. "But first there is
+something which I will have done, here and now, if may be." He turned
+to Oleric, while Rose Emer's cheeks, that had been so wan, flamed rosy
+red.
+
+"Has one of these priests here the power to perform a marriage
+ceremony?" Janess asked.
+
+"Surely," replied Oleric. And then the red captain smiled broadly as he
+caught the import of the question. "Hale one of them here, Jastla," he
+said.
+
+Jastla came soon, gripping a sadly scared priest of Shamar by the slack
+of his gown. "Do you, Oleric, who understand more of his jargon than I
+do, listen that he does a good job of it," grumbled the chieftain. "For
+if he doesn't, I'll flay him."
+
+But Glorian was great-hearted, even befitting her title of goddess. She
+now stepped down from the amaloc to the altar.
+
+"In this let Glorian of Ruthar serve you," she said. "I have the power,
+and the knot that I shall tie, though it shall be more gentle than if
+done by this dog of Shamar, yet will it be as binding."
+
+So, after the long years and their perils, Polaris and his Rose-maid
+were wedded, Oleric the Red producing the ring. And when she had
+pronounced the words which made them one, Glorian took Rose in her arms
+and kissed her on the forehead.
+
+"May you be very happy, my sister," she whispered.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Now here the pen that has written this history ceases, to give place to
+that of one of its chief actors, who has a parting word to tell.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I, Zenas Wright, now in my sixty-seventh year, and being in full
+possession of my health, mind, and faculties (as lawyers write it in
+the wills) having been asked by the writer of the foregoing work to
+make some comment on it, do hereby aver, asseverate, maintain, etc.,
+that it is in the main a faithful account of certain events in which it
+has been my privilege to play a small part. In fact, I cannot well do
+otherwise, seeing that I furnished him the information.
+
+Such changes as I might be tempted to make in the history he has
+written would only vex the writer, and so I'll let it be. They would be
+in the nature of scientific details, anyhow, and I fear would make only
+dry reading for any but brother scientists.
+
+I have told the author that he has made altogether too much of my part
+in the events which he has described. I am not a hero, and never will
+be; but in this description of that brush in the Kimbrian defile--which
+was altogether a matter of chance--he has made me almost heroic. I have
+asked him to amend the account; but he will not listen to it, and so I
+suppose that it will have to stand. I hereby disclaim it.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It is more than six months since the fademe _Oaron_ dropped anchor in
+the Potomac (where its arrival created a fine sensation), and I landed
+once more in Washington. With me came Lieutenant Everson. He did not
+get to Adlaz until some weeks after it had been taken, and he's not the
+man yet that he was before he got that jab from Atlo's spear. But he's
+improving. He had the loss of a cruiser to report; but he brought with
+him a sum in gold and gems, sent by the king of Ruthar and Maeronica,
+sufficient to reimburse the Government for the loss of the ship, and
+with a splendid sum left over to be distributed among the relatives of
+those who went down with her. The king is a man who doesn't do things
+by halves.
+
+Ensign Brooks came with us also. He was pining for a peep up Broadway
+and a whiff of "America's strongest cigarette." I hope that he has had
+enough to eat since he came back.
+
+Through the kindness of Oleric, I was enabled to bring with me a
+splendid pair of mammoth's tusks, which I took great pleasure in adding
+to the collection of the Smithsonian Institution. Some time I hope
+to be the means of bringing to these shores specimens of the _Elephas
+primigenius_ themselves, which the Rutharians call amalocs.
+
+Before this history comes to the eyes of the world--if it ever does, of
+which I have some doubt--I shall have gone back to the south. I thought
+that I wanted to end my days in my home in Buffalo and be buried there;
+but I don't. I'm going back to be with my boy. He is making a wise
+ruler there in Adlaz. Perhaps an old man's life will not be altogether
+useless there, where there is so much to be done.
+
+Before I left Adlaz, two small princes were playing in the royal
+palace--Patrymion, the boy of Minos, who eventually will be king if he
+lives, and another youngster, who must stagger through life under the
+burden of the name of Polaris Zenas Janess. Guess that's pretty good
+for an old rock-splitter--to have the first-born son of a real king
+named after him. Constituting himself the special guardian of the two
+little chaps is a simple-minded little cockney sailor, whom Polaris
+found in prison, Jack Melton by name. Sunlight has cured him of some of
+his hallucinations, and he no longer hates Rombar.
+
+There is one thing more, which I did not find in the history, and will
+now add here. It concerns that remarkable woman, Glorian of Ruthar.
+One day when we were discussing the power which she and Oleric declare
+they have to prolong their lives (privately, I think it is rank bosh),
+Glorian told me that it was possible for one who knew the secret to
+make use of it to keep another person alive, and without that person
+knowing about it. Now Glorian is living in Adlaz, where she has had
+the temple of Shamar fixed over to suit her. She sees Polaris often.
+I am of the opinion that, if she has any such power--mind you, I'm
+not admitting she has--she is using it on Polaris, and is planning
+to outwait Mrs. Janess (Queen Rose, I suppose I should call her) and
+eventually have him for herself. The outcome of this, only time will
+tell, and I shall not live to know it. I have not the means to prolong
+my life--and would not if I had.
+
+By the way, Zoar of the Amalocs died shortly after the taking of Adlaz.
+The excitement of the war was too much for his heart.
+
+Oh, yes! And Oleric married Bel-Ar's widow, the Queen Raissa; and that
+is all.
+
+Good-by.
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 67121 ***
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-<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Polaris and the Goddess Glorian, by Charles B. Stilson</p>

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-<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Polaris and the Goddess Glorian</p>

-<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Charles B. Stilson</p>

-<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: January 7, 2022 [eBook #67121]</p>

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-<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POLARIS AND THE GODDESS GLORIAN ***</div>

-

-<div class="titlepage">

-

-<h1>Polaris and the Goddess Glorian</h1>

-

-<h2>By Charles B. Stilson</h2>

-

-<p><i>Copyright 1917 by Popular Publications, Inc.</i></p>

-

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap" />

-

-

-<h2>Introduction</h2>

-

-

-<p>In the antarctic wilds far below Ross Sea, Polaris Janess (Polaris&mdash;of

-the Snows), was born, of a mother he never knew, and grew to manhood's

-years knowing one human face only, that of his father. When that father

-died, the young man set his face to the north, to find the world of

-men, of which his father and his books had told him; and to deliver

-to the National Geographic Society in Washington a packet containing

-scientific data compiled by his explorer sire.</p>

-

-<p>Journeying through the silent wastes with his dog team, the son of the

-snows found Rose Emer, an American heiress, who had strayed from an

-exploring party, and who waited death in the icy wilderness.</p>

-

-<p>Hurled southward again in a breakup of the ice floes where they had

-camped, Polaris and the girl came upon the kingdom of Sardanes&mdash;a

-valley girded by volcanic hills which warmed it, and peopled by a lost

-fragment, some two thousand strong, of the ancient Greeks.</p>

-

-<p>The adventures of the man of the snows and the American maid in

-Sardanes; how they escaped thence; how their love bloomed amid

-the eternal snows; and how they won at last to America, where the

-Geographic Society hailed the dead Stephen Janess as the first man to

-set foot on the Southern Pole&mdash;all these things have been related.</p>

-

-<p>Zenas Wright, friend of Polaris's father, and a celebrated student

-of volcanic phenomena, told Polaris that the fires which had warmed

-Sardanes for centuries were passing away from the valley, and that all

-life in the ancient kingdom must perish.</p>

-

-<p>Chartering the United States second-class cruiser <i>Minnetonka</i>,

-Polaris, Wright, and Captain James Scoland set sail to rescue the

-Sardanians. Scoland, who loved Rose Emer, deserted Janess and Wright in

-the wilderness and went back to America to woo the Rose-maid. But Rose

-Emer refused him, and gray Marcus, Polaris's dog, protected her from

-Scoland's profaning lips and tore the recreant captain so horribly that

-the man went mad, and in his madness revealed his inhuman treachery.</p>

-

-<p>Again the <i>Minnetonka</i> turned her nose to the mysterious South, and

-Rose Emer went down the bitter seas to find her sweetheart.</p>

-

-<p>Meanwhile Polaris and old Zenas Wright found Sardanes a waste of snows,

-its volcanic girdle cold and dead, its people, led by the mad priest

-of Analos, gone to their doom through the fiery "Gateway" of their

-god Hephaistos. Only Minos, the kind, and his bride, the Lady Memene,

-remained alive, hidden in a cave in the hills. Those four, Polaris,

-Wright, and the two Sardanians, were picked up by the <i>Minnetonka</i> near

-the Antarctic Circle as they were making their perilous way northward

-in a small launch which they had found in the wreck of Captain

-Scoland's supply ship.</p>

-

-<p>In the story which follows will be related the tale which was brought

-back to America by old Zenas Wright&mdash;what befell Polaris and his

-companions after the <i>Minnetonka</i> turned northward&mdash;homeward.</p>

-

-

-

-<hr class="chap" />

-<h2>CHAPTER I</h2>

-

-<h3>THE GOLDEN STRANGER</h3>

-

-

-<p>On the bridge of the cruiser <i>Minnetonka</i> stood Minos, the Sardanian

-king, staring southward in the wake of the ship, southward where his

-lost, dead kingdom lay buried under the soft, cruel snows beyond the

-unchartered antarctic seas. Ahead of the ship, full of promise, full

-of hope, was America. For the <i>Minnetonka</i> had rounded the Horn that

-morning and was on her long straight course for the port of home.</p>

-

-<p>Below him, in her cabin, was the girl bride of Minos, the Lady Memene,

-so strangely won and saved from the crowning horror of his kingdom's

-fall. It was mid-forenoon of a cloudless day. Gay voices echoed along

-the decks of the cruiser. Gladness was in the very air the voyagers

-breathed&mdash;the gladness of the homeward-bound.</p>

-

-<p>But the mien of the king was somber. There was a shadow on his brow

-and deeper shadows in his dark eyes gazing so steadily into the south.

-Bright as were his prospects, memory still whispered sadly to him of

-the only spot on earth which had been home to him. He could not forget.</p>

-

-<p>Far away on the dancing, sparkling waters something caught the eye of

-the king, a something which flashed and disappeared and flashed again,

-as the wave on which it rode dipped and arose among its fellows. Minos

-watched it curiously.</p>

-

-<p>Leaning against the rail beside the king, so close that their elbows

-almost touched, was Lieutenant Irwin Everson, commander of the

-<i>Minnetonka</i>, trim in his naval blue. Minos touched his shoulder and

-said:</p>

-

-<p>"Yonder&mdash;something shines on the water."</p>

-

-<p>Everson followed with his eyes the course indicated by the pointing

-finger of the king. Again the distant object flashed in the sunlight,

-far away on the starboard quarter. "Might be ice; but I've seen enough

-of that lately to know that it isn't," muttered Everson as he, too,

-caught the flash, "and no wave ever shone like that."</p>

-

-<p>Stepping into the pilothouse, the lieutenant returned with his glasses.

-Their lenses revealed to his eyes a glittering patch from which the

-rays of the sun were reflected as it rose and fell with the waves. But

-even the powerful binoculars were inadequate to distinguish the form

-and substance of the thing.</p>

-

-<p>"I can't make it out," Everson said as he lowered the glasses. "But

-here comes the keenest pair of eyes on the ship." He leaned from the

-bridge and called down to a tall man who was crossing the deck below.</p>

-

-<p>"Oh, Mr. Janess! Can you spare us a moment? We need your eyesight."</p>

-

-<p>Polaris turned a smiling face in response to the call. He, too, was

-glad of the home-going; no man on the ship more so. In a moment he

-joined the king and the lieutenant on the bridge.</p>

-

-<p>Though he was not so tall by the breadth of a hand as the Sardanian,

-who was indeed a giant, the tawny head of the son of the snows was

-inches above that of the young naval man. As they stood one on either

-side of him, Everson involuntarily stepped back a pace. He felt puny

-and absurd, and he was by no means a small man.</p>

-

-<p>For the half of a minute, Janess gazed through the glasses, altering

-their focus slightly. He lowered them suddenly and swung on his heel to

-face Everson.</p>

-

-<p>"Put the ship&mdash;" He stopped and his face flushed. "I beg pardon," he

-continued. "It is not mine to give orders, but yonder a man floats. He

-lies face downward across a piece of wreckage."</p>

-

-<p>Lieutenant Everson hurried into the pilot house, and down to old

-MacKechnie among his boilers was flashed the signal which swung the

-gray cruiser off her course in a long arc to the southward.</p>

-

-<p>"A man, you say?" the commander queried as he rejoined Polaris and the

-king. "But what is it that glitters so?"</p>

-

-<p>Polaris, with the glasses at his eyes again, did not at once reply.

-When he did, the answer was surprising.</p>

-

-<p>"It is the man that glitters. If he be not of metal himself, then is he

-clothed in it from head to toe, and it glimmers&mdash;" He turned to Minos

-and lapsed into the Greek of Sardanes. "It glimmers, Minos, as did that

-suit of armor which thou didst leave behind thee in the cave on the

-Mount of Latmos," he said.</p>

-

-<p>The king stirred to quick interest. The eyes of the naval lieutenant

-widened with amazement as Polaris repeated his remark in English.</p>

-

-<p>"A man clothed in metal! In armor!" he exclaimed. "And floating here

-in the South Atlantic! What can that mean? Poor chap; whoever he is,

-he will never tell us. He must have been dead for days. But it's well

-worth the investigation."</p>

-

-<p>Impatiently the three men stood at the rail of the bridge as the ship

-swung on.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>At an eighteen-knot clip, the <i>Minnetonka</i> cut swiftly through the

-waves, nearer and nearer to the flashing burden of the waves. Soon

-other eyes not so keen as those of Polaris could descry the strange

-objective of the ship. Forward along the rail, sailors clustered,

-shouting their surprise, and staring at the unusual spectacle of the

-glittering man afloat.</p>

-

-<p>Presently, with a deep thrumming of her valves, the <i>Minnetonka</i> slowed

-down. With a word to Everson, Polaris left the bridge and hastened

-across the deck. As a boat was swung over the side in the davits, he

-sprang into it with the sailors. Less than two-score strokes of the

-oars took the boat alongside the floating mystery.</p>

-

-<p>Then, indeed, had the sailors cause to stare with open mouths.</p>

-

-<p>On a crisscross tangle of slender beams, oddly twisted and broken, lay

-the body of a man. So small was the raft of wreckage which supported

-him that his head and feet projected at each side, and as the waves

-tossed his unstable craft, first his face and then his heels were

-dipped beneath the water. Very wide of shoulder was the stranger and

-powerfully framed, if the outlines of the garb he wore did not belie

-him.</p>

-

-<p>From crown to sole he was dressed in jointed armor, cunningly fashioned

-and decorated, and the whole of which gleamed in the sunlight as only

-burnished copper or red gold can gleam. His hands only were bare;

-smooth, strong hands, clenched fast about two of the broken beams

-beneath him.</p>

-

-<p>But it was none of those things, and they were strange enough, that

-caused the coxswain to cry out hoarsely as the boat wore alongside, or

-that caused Polaris Janess, bent over with outstretched hands, to draw

-them back from the floating stranger, while his lips parted and his

-breath came hard.</p>

-

-<p>"He's alive! By the grace of God, he's alive!" cried the coxswain.</p>

-

-<p>Face downward the stranger lay, as Polaris had said, loose-flung and

-inert, and sprawled as though some force had pitched him there. But

-though his head was more often under the water than above it, his broad

-shoulders heaved and fell regularly. He was alive.</p>

-

-<p>The supreme wonder of it, and that which awed Polaris and the sailors,

-was that <i>the man breathed when his head was under water</i>!</p>

-

-<p>When a wave tilted the raft so that his face was raised, his breath was

-expelled with a wheezing, whistling sound. When he was submerged, a

-stream of small bubbles arose about his neck and clung to the surface

-of his metal helmet.</p>

-

-<p>For a long moment Polaris stood and looked down at this amazing thing.

-Then he reached out and very gently took the stranger by the shoulders

-to turn his face to the sky. So tight was the clutch of those strong

-bare hands about the two beams of the raft which they held that the

-entire structure tipped when the son of the snows laid hold. In vain he

-tried to loosen that grasp. It was not to be done without breaking the

-man's fingers. To make an end of it, Janess took an axe from the hands

-of the coxswain and cut through the beams.</p>

-

-<p>Still gripping the wooden fragments, the man turned over on his back.</p>

-

-<p>Then the mystery of the stranger's breathing was partially made clear.

-Under the flare of the helmet he wore his brow was hidden. His eyes

-were fast closed. Fitting tightly over the bridge of his nose and

-extending down so that it covered his mouth and part of his chin, was

-a projecting masklike contrivance of metal and leather. Its straps

-covered the man's ears and were made fast somewhere at the back of his

-head under the helmet. So tightly was the mask affixed that its straps

-cut into the flesh of the man's cheeks. It much resembled the masks

-worn by the soldiers in modern warfare to protect themselves from the

-gas attacks of their enemy.</p>

-

-<p>Through its mechanism the breath of its wearer hissed and whistled like

-escaping steam.</p>

-

-<p>Alive though the man was, and under circumstances which made his

-discoverers marvel, he was near death. Above and below the confines of

-the mask he wore, the bones of his face seemed almost thrusting through

-the flesh. The flesh itself was wasted and puckered by the action of

-the sea water, and the skin was cracked and raw. His hands, which clung

-so tenaciously to the bits of broken wood, were bleeding about the

-nails, and his wrists were gashed and water-eaten.</p>

-

-<p>"Now, here is work for Dr. Marsey," Polaris said. He gathered the limp

-form of the stranger into his arms and lifted him into the boat.</p>

-

-<p>At the rail of the <i>Minnetonka</i> as the boat was shipped, a curious

-crowd met the advent of the man from the sea. Carrying him as lightly

-as though he had been a child, Polaris laid the man on the deck. The

-ship's doctor pushed through the wondering sailors and bent over him.</p>

-

-<p>"Not dead?" he exclaimed when he saw the stranger's face. "A most

-amazing thing!"</p>

-

-<p>"What resurrection from antiquity have we here?" said old Zenas Wright,

-falling on his knees beside Polaris, who was supporting the man's

-head. "No museum I ever saw boasted a suit of armor like this one."

-The scientist ran a finger over the delicate tracery on the glittering

-corselet of the stranger.</p>

-

-<p>Polaris sought and found the catch which released the chin strap and

-laid the open helmet on the deck. Another chorus of exclamations

-greeted the appearance of the stranger's head. It was covered with a

-mass of wavy red hair, so red that it shone like flames in the sunlight.</p>

-

-<p>Rumors of the wonder on deck had drawn the grizzled MacKechnie up from

-his beloved engines.</p>

-

-<p>"Mark me, yon laddie's a Scot&mdash;if he isna' of the wild Irish," was his

-dry comment when he saw the fiery head on the deck.</p>

-

-<p>Undoing its buckle, Janess next laid aside the odd mask from the face

-of the stranger. Except that he had a high, bold nose and a mouth that

-closed in a thin, firm line, little could be made of the features of

-the man, they were so damaged by his long immersion in the sea and

-impressed by the tightly drawn trappings of the mask. But he apparently

-was a young man, of not more than thirty years.</p>

-

-<p>In vain Dr. Marsey endeavored to force the man's clenched teeth apart

-so that he might apply the neck of the brandy flask which a steward had

-fetched. The jaw of the stranger was set like a rock and resisted all

-effort, and the doctor was compelled to pour the liquor between the

-locked teeth.</p>

-

-<p>"If that doesna' fetch him, nothing whatever will," said MacKechnie,

-the nostrils of his ruddy old nose twitching.</p>

-

-<p>"Ah, he's getting it!" said Zenas Wright. With the first trickle of

-the brandy down his throat, the unconscious man stirred faintly. His

-mouth opened and closed again with a snap, and his hands unclenched and

-let fall the bits of beams they had held so long. He coughed weakly. A

-faint tinge of color flowed into his face. His eyelids twitched, but

-did not open.</p>

-

-<p>Dr. Marsey touched the man's temples and then his wrists with practised

-fingers.</p>

-

-<p>"I think that we shall hear his story yet," he said. "What he needs

-now is a bed and nourishment. Bring him below."</p>

-

-<p>Polaris looked into the battered face and was strangely stirred. The

-grim plight of the man he had rescued, the mystery of him, the strength

-of the spirit that seemed to dominate even that unconscious body; all

-struck an answering chord in the nature of the son of the snows. For

-he, too, had suffered and endured, almost to the gates of death, and

-had remained steadfast. Was it a premonition that made him feel so

-strongly that this man, should he live, would be his friend above many?</p>

-

-<p>When the sailors would have taken up the stranger, Polaris waved them

-aside, and himself carried the inert body below, the blazing head

-resting on his shoulder.</p>

-

-<p>MacKechnie gazed after him thoughtfully as he strode across the deck.</p>

-

-<p>"Beware, laddie lad, beware!" the Scotchman muttered softly. "'Tis only

-ill luck he'll be bringin' to ye, yon gowden mon. For ye hae saved him

-from the sea."</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Shivering throughout the length of her steel hull, the <i>Minnetonka</i>

-drove southward. A shrieking wilderness of wind and wave surrounded the

-ship. Reft from all guidance, she sheared through the furious waters

-with no more of volition than some monster projectile launched by the

-battling elements. Twice had the stout cruiser come free of scathe from

-the white portals of the Antarctic. Now she seemed winged by death to

-enter them once more and forever. In the grip of the tempest the ship

-was no more than a toy&mdash;a helpless, beaten thing.</p>

-

-<p>Calamity, like a black dog, had crept hard upon the heels of the

-bizarre stranger. He had not been on the cruiser for six hours when a

-storm burst, the like of which for violence no man on board the ship

-ever had seen.</p>

-

-<p>In an attempt to breast the gale and make for some port of safety,

-one of the propeller shafts&mdash;weakened perhaps by the pounding of the

-ice-drift months before&mdash;had snapped short off. Unequal to the double

-task, its twin had sprung beyond all use. Thereafter the scant mercy of

-chance ruled the destinies of the ship and of all she bore.</p>

-

-<p>Nor was the damage to the shafting all that disaster had wrought. In

-her great peril the ship was stricken dumb and could not summon aid.

-Her wireless was out of commission. She could send no call across the

-face of the waters to sister ships, bidding them to hasten to her

-succor.</p>

-

-<p>MacKechnie's dismal prophecy was likely to be visited, not on Polaris

-Janess alone, but upon the entire ship's company.</p>

-

-<p>In the pilothouse, with the gale screeching outside his windows,

-Lieutenant Everson bent above his charts; but he was helpless and

-well-nigh hopeless. Down in the engine room, its busy clamor stilled,

-MacKechnie sat and stared bitterly at the mechanism which he so loved.

-It was useless now, its splendid powers crippled, its fires dying away

-to embers. If the inward prayers of the engineer were fervent, the

-flow of Scotch profanity which passed his lips at whiles was far more

-eloquent. He, too, was helpless. He cursed the day when he had decided

-with Everson to round the Horn and take the eastern route. They had

-learned at Dunedin, in New Zealand, that the Panama Canal was closed by

-another Culebra slide, and they had thought that this was the quicker

-way to the port of home.</p>

-

-<p>Better the delay than this!</p>

-

-<p>On all the ship two hearts only were unshaken by the catastrophe. One

-was that of the stranger.</p>

-

-<p>Freed of his armor, his body cleared and his scarred face and arms in

-bandages, he lay tossing in a bunk in one of the cabins. Dr. Marsey was

-unremitting in his care of the patient whom the sea had given him. Hot

-gruel and small doses of brandy, administered alternately, had turned

-the ebbing tide of the man's vitality. He was gathering strength. But

-his consciousness still strayed beyond the powers of any tempest to

-disturb it.</p>

-

-<p>Another who thought nothing of the gale and its accompanying terrors

-was Zenas Wright.</p>

-

-<p>Coupled with his keen and scientific mind, there was in the old

-geologist the enthusiasm of a boy, and an overmastering curiosity to

-learn new things. Many and wild had been the guesses which had followed

-the finding of the red-haired stranger. That he had been shipwrecked

-was plain enough to all. But who and what was he?</p>

-

-<p>Some star out of <i>opéra-bouffe</i>, said one, out of a job and reduced to

-the necessity of wearing one of his own costumes. A lunatic, another

-said, and found more to agree with him. But whence the armor and the

-mask?</p>

-

-<p>Let guessers guess and tempests roar, said Zenas Wright to himself. He

-was on the trail of knowledge. So he slipped into the cabin where the

-stranger lay. He stood at the head of the bunk and looked down where

-the red hair of the derelict flared on the pillow. The impressions left

-by the straps of his mask had filled out, and the lineaments of the man

-were more distinguishable than they had been. It was an agreeable face,

-thought Zenas Wright; all of it that the bandages did not hide. There

-were distinct lines of humor at the corners of the straight mouth and

-tiny wrinkles at the base of the craggy nose&mdash;lines which said that the

-wearer of them was a hearty fellow, who ofttimes had laughed long and

-merrily at jokes, whether of his own or another's making.</p>

-

-<p>"But," thought Zenas to himself, "Marsey's been giving the fellow

-altogether too much brandy, or else he is in a rare fever." The

-geologist laid the back of his hand to the man's cheek. He found

-it cool. But it was ruddy to the ears, with the ruddiness that is

-associated with an intimate camaraderie with the wine cups.</p>

-

-<p>At the touch of the old man's fingers, the stranger ceased his tossing.

-His eyes opened. One flash from them Zenas Wright caught, and he saw

-that they were sea-blue, bright and leaping eyes. Then their lids

-closed. The man shook his head wearily, and from his lips trembled what

-might have been a moan or a muttered word. The scientist bent hastily

-to listen, but the man made no further sound. As the old man watched

-him, his form relaxed and he lay apparently in a dreamless, voiceless

-slumber.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>From the floor, Wright took up the shining helmet, and from a stand

-the queerly fashioned mask. He was about to leave the cabin when

-his attention was arrested by the garb which the stranger had worn

-underneath his armor and which was flung across the back of a chair.

-One garment it was, even to the feet of it, like the sleeping suit of a

-child. It was of a soft, fine fabric, almost of the thinness of gauze,

-yet firmly and closely woven and warm to the feel. But it was neither

-of cotton nor of wool, nor yet of silk, or any other material with

-which the scientist was familiar.</p>

-

-<p>He shook his head over it; and then, with the mask and helmet, he left

-the cabin.</p>

-

-<p>Straight to the deserted ship's laboratory the geologist went, and shut

-himself in. And there, some time afterward, Polaris, threading his way

-through the swaying corridors with Rose Emer clinging to his arm, found

-him.</p>

-

-<p>So busy with his work was old Zenas that he did not see or hear the

-entrance of Janess and the girl. For a time they stood in silence and

-watched him. They saw him spill drops from a vial on the surface of

-the helmet. Then he went at it with a small drill which he had fetched

-from the machine shop. That was a bit of hard work, for he puffed and

-mopped his brow. He collected with care the particles which fell under

-the bite of the drill. Those he tested with drops from another bottle,

-and then again, opening and discarding a number of chemicals. At length

-he got a reaction which appeared to satisfy him, for he chirruped

-gleefully and nodded his white old head.</p>

-

-<p>Next Wright donned the mask and fastened its straps. Polaris and Rose

-heard the whistling of his breath through it. He then drew a bucket of

-water from a tap, set it on one of the laboratory stands, ascended a

-stool, and suddenly plunged his head into the pail.</p>

-

-<p>Zenas had not stopped to figure out the displacement of the container

-of a well-developed scientific brain. It was considerable. Much of

-the water splashed out on the floor, and not a little of it went down

-inside the scientist's collar. Nothing daunted by the cold trickle of

-the inundation, he bravely kept his head in the bucket, from which

-arose at once a prodigious gurgling and bubbling.</p>

-

-<p>The old man's shoulders shook as though a fit of coughing had seized

-him. One minute, two, three, passed. Zenas stood so still that Polaris

-became alarmed. He stepped to the geologist's side and shook him by the

-arm. The only response he got was an impatient gesture of a hand, which

-seemed to say, "Go away and don't bother me."</p>

-

-<p>Presently Wright raised his head from the depths of the bucket, and

-ludicrous enough he looked, with the odd snout of the mask projecting

-from his face, his white thatch of hair all plastered flat and the

-water running from his beard and making a mess of his cravat and shirt

-front. But above the mask his little dark eyes were triumphant. When he

-saw Polaris at his side, he could scarcely wait to unfasten the mask.</p>

-

-<p>"There," he shouted, and he shook the thing above his head, "there is

-one of the greatest inventions of modern times. I don't know what is in

-the inside of it, or just what it does, but I'll find out. If that chap

-yonder is the inventor of it, he can take it to the United States, take

-out a patent on it and make a scandalous amount of dollars, and we can

-all become human submarines. How long was I down?"</p>

-

-<p>"About five minutes, Daddy Wright," said the girl, who had taken a

-strong liking to the plucky old geologist and his bluff ways.</p>

-

-<p>"Five minutes!" Wright's tones were awestruck. "And I took every breath

-regularly and naturally, except when I had to sneeze! And it was real

-oxygen I got, too. Not a drop of water came through this thing, and it

-was very good breathing. Well, I've made two discoveries."</p>

-

-<p>"And those are?" Polaris questioned.</p>

-

-<p>"That our friend yonder with the red topknot can live under the water

-like a fish, <i>and that he wears armor of gold which makes a light in

-the dark</i>. Look here."</p>

-

-<p>Wright took up the open helmet. Stepping to the switch, he shut off the

-lights in the laboratory.</p>

-

-<p>Faintly at first, and then strongly and more strongly, the helmet

-glowed in the darkness. The light grew, until the two men and the girl,

-standing close together, could dimly see each other's faces.</p>

-

-<p>It was uncanny, this strange metal headpiece with its fan-shaped crest,

-all luminous with a flickering and phosphorescent radiance.</p>

-

-<p>"What does it?" Rose Emer whispered, the tempest for the time forgotten.</p>

-

-<p>Zenas Wright turned on the lights.</p>

-

-<p>"I cannot tell," he replied. "But if it's not radium, it is something

-that is closely akin to radium. The outer surface of the helmet is of

-gold. I've tested it with acids. The gold is laid&mdash;not plated, but laid

-on thickly&mdash;over an inner shell of steel. And finely tempered steel it

-is, too, as my drill will bear me witness. But the light comes from

-still another metal, which is inlaid upon the tracery in the gold here."</p>

-

-<p>He turned the helmet in his hands. Over all of its surfaces were the

-fine lines of a design of twining vinery, with here and there small,

-conventionally shaped flowers. In the lines of the chasing was inlaid,

-as Wright had said, another metal. It seemed to be a reddish and rusty

-dust, which clung in the surface of the gold along all of the lines of

-the graven design. It was that which made the light.</p>

-

-<p>"That chap over there is no actor, and he's not a crazy man," said the

-geologist earnestly; "but an enigma that I'm going to solve, if the

-good Lord will give me the time. We had on this ship before he came two

-survivors of a history to make an archeologist weep tears of joy. Now

-we have a third, and, to my mind, more wonderful even than are they!</p>

-

-<p>"Boy&mdash;" He turned and clapped Polaris on the shoulder. "I only hope

-that I shall live long enough to pen the 'finis' to the book that I'm

-going to write some day!"</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>For seven days, fraught with perils through every passing hour, the

-hurricane belabored the staggering ship. South by southeast, the storm

-drove her on. The whip of the gale and the shock of the mighty waves

-which arose to meet its lash were incessant.</p>

-

-<p>Past the Falklands, their rocky headlands dimly seen through the flying

-scud; past the Aurora Island group, and on past lonely Georgia, the

-hard-pressed <i>Minnetonka</i> fled down the raging sea path under the goads

-of the storm demons. Nowhere might she tarry. Candlemas Island and

-Saunders and Montague in turn were left behind, and then Thule, last

-link between the South Atlantic and the frigid wastes of the Antarctic

-Sea.</p>

-

-<p>Off the adamant cliffs of far Thule the cruiser nearly left her bones.

-She struck a hidden rock, struck so fiercely that the massive steel ram

-was torn from her prow, and with it the triple rails, with which she

-had been equipped to withstand the ice-shocks, in her antarctic voyage,

-were stripped from her entire starboard side.</p>

-

-<p>When Thule had disappeared in the murk, the swing of the tempest

-turned, and the cruiser was forced eastward in a whirling race of

-current and gale. Like a smitten thing that seeks a lonesome spot in

-which to die, the ship passed on into the mysteries of the uncharted,

-treacherous seas which lie east by south from Thule.</p>

-

-<p>Helpless still the cruiser rode. Unable to make repairs to her

-shafting, Lieutenant Everson did the only thing that he could do; he

-kept her head-on with the seas and let her run before the tempest.</p>

-

-<p>Through all those days and nights of peril the stranger lay in his

-cabin. His consciousness had returned, and at times he sat up and gazed

-curiously at those who visited him; but he seemed to be in a mental

-haze. He ate heartily of what was given to him, and his strength grew.

-He spoke to no one.</p>

-

-<p>Among the men on the <i>Minnetonka</i> were those who, one or another, were

-conversant in nearly all of the languages of the civilized world. One

-by one they were called in by Zenas Wright to try their tongues on the

-stranger. He met them all with blank looks, sometimes with smiles; but

-he answered none. He seemed to comprehend none.</p>

-

-<p>Polaris visited the cabin often. His liking for the man grew. He

-imagined that the stranger was more cordial to him than to any of

-those who attended him. Once or twice the son of the snows surprised a

-wistful regard in the bright blue eyes of the man, an expression that

-was lost almost as soon as perceived. And once the stranger reached

-Janess's hand and held it with his own for a moment, turning it and

-feeling of its wonderful thews with his fingers. It was then that he

-seemed the nearest to speech. Presently he let the hand fall with a

-smile and a flash of white teeth.</p>

-

-<p>It was after that last disaster, off the hard coasts of Thule, that

-Engineer Ian MacKechnie went quite daft.</p>

-

-<p>What had come upon the ship had seemed to numb the Scotchman. By day

-and by night he sat in his silent engine room beside the lifeless

-boilers, his cold pipe clenched between his set teeth, his lips

-working. Occasionally he stumped heavily up the steel stairways to the

-decks. His stays above were brief always, and always he returned to the

-engine room. When he slept at all, it was only to nod in his chair.

-Before his bloodshot eyes strange fantasies played themselves through,

-and were sequeled in his fitful dreams. Always, they had the same

-grisly climax.</p>

-

-<p>In one of the night watches the old man appeared on the cruiser's

-bridge. Everson, almost as sleepless as the engineer, was in the

-pilothouse. The fury of the gale had subsided somewhat; but it still

-roared on with a vigor that chilled the strong heart of the commander.

-He saw the engineer as he came onto the bridge, and went out to speak

-to him.</p>

-

-<p>"Meester Everson," MacKechnie said, raising his voice to a shout to

-cope with the shrieking clamor of the storm, "Meester Everson, wull ye

-do a strange act and save the bonnie ship and a'?"</p>

-

-<p>"Why, what is it, Mac? What do you advise now?" the lieutenant asked.</p>

-

-<p>"'Tis you mon that the laddie plucked from the sea," replied

-MacKechnie. "Wull ye no gi' orders to cast him o'er the side again, and

-save the ship?"</p>

-

-<p>Everson answered with a short laugh. "This is a poor time for joking,

-Mac," he said.</p>

-

-<p>"'Tisna' jokin' wi' me, Meester Everson," MacKechnie said. His tones

-were deadly earnest. "Yon's no' a proper mon, whatever. He's one that

-has sorely angered the big sea, and the deep rages mightily for him. If

-ye dinna gi' him up, we'll all be ganging our way wi' him, down to auld

-Davy Jones." His voice rose shrilly. "I'm fey," he cried. "I'm fey, and

-I hae the secon' seeght! Heed me, mon!"</p>

-

-<p>Everson shifted his position so that he got the light from the

-pilothouse full on MacKechnie's face. It was drawn and wild-eyed.</p>

-

-<p>"You're a superstitious fool, Mac," the lieutenant said. "You had

-better go below and turn in. You look as though you had not had a wink

-in a week."</p>

-

-<p>"Supersteetious! Aye, mon, maybe, and a fu' to bootie," rejoined the

-Scot. "And I've been havin' no sleep, I grant ye. Ma certes, how can a

-mon sleep wi' <i>him</i> glarin' and glommerin' yonder i' the engine room?

-Heave him o'er the side, I'm tullin' ye, Meester Everson, as was done

-wi' the prophet Jonah. 'Tis the only way whatever to save the ship.</p>

-

-<p>"Supersteetious! An' are ye no supersteetious yer ain sel', Meester

-Everson? Haven't I seen that ye always throw the deuces fra' yer hand

-when ye play for siller at poker? I tull ye, yon's a deuce-mon. He

-mustna' remain. Think it o'er, laddie; think it o'er. When ye hae seen

-what I hae seen&mdash;"</p>

-

-<p>He turned away, and the rest of his words were lost in the skirl of the

-wind. Suddenly he backed up, clutching at the bridge rail and colliding

-violently with Everson.</p>

-

-<p>"See! See!" he screamed. "He's comin' for me the noo! I lockit him fast

-i' the great kist i' the boiler room; but such as him are na' held by

-bolts or bars. He's comin' for me!"</p>

-

-<p>Moaning in abject terror, MacKechnie went down on his knees. He pointed

-at the decks below with a trembling arm.</p>

-

-<p>Everson looked in the direction indicated by the shaking finger of the

-Scot.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>A light hung at the foot of the bridge ladder. In the patch of radiance

-it made, stood the stranger. He was dressed from head to foot in his

-golden armor. His helm was on his head, and the whole flashed and

-shimmered in the rays from the lamp.</p>

-

-<p>As Everson stared at him, the man turned away from the foot of the

-ladder and walked to the rail of the ship. There he stood gazing out

-into the darkness and the storm.</p>

-

-<p>Unnerved by the sudden appearance of the object of their discussion,

-Everson hesitated for a moment. Then he started for the ladder to

-descend to the deck. MacKechnie, his teeth chattering with fright, laid

-hold of the lieutenant by the leg, but Everson shook off his grasp and

-went on. As the commander set foot on the ladder, the stranger quit the

-rail and came back toward the bridge.</p>

-

-<p>Everson, half-way down the ladder, called sharply as the man came

-opposite him. But the stranger did not pause or look up. He passed

-the bridge with steady steps and crossed the deck toward the main

-companionway. The lieutenant was about to proceed to the deck and

-follow, when a wild and wailing cry behind him, piercing above the

-booming of the seas, halted his step. He turned.</p>

-

-<p>It was MacKechnie who had screamed. He was on his feet and coming along

-the bridge. In the set face of the Scot was a look of such frozen

-horror that it shook the lieutenant. With eyes glaring straight ahead,

-the engineer passed Everson by as though he did not see him, descended

-the ladder to the deck, and walked to the rail. He paused where the

-stranger had stood only a moment before. He raised his hand as if to

-strike at some shape visible to him alone. Again he cried out wildly.</p>

-

-<p>Before Everson could move to stay him, the Scot climbed the rail and

-threw himself into the sea.</p>

-

-<p>Shouting to the men of the watch to fetch lanterns, Everson ran aft

-along the side. It was useless. The crazed MacKechnie, whirled away in

-a raging swirl of waters in which no man could live, was gone beyond

-their ken. No cry came back to his fellows from the blackness. Only the

-wind roared and the tortured waters thundered. In the plight of the

-ship it was impossible even to attempt to pick up the lost man.</p>

-

-<p>Far aft Everson clung to the rail, dazed, stunned at the suddenness of

-his old comrade's taking off. Knowing that he could do nothing to save

-the mad Scotchman, the lieutenant at length turned back and went below,

-to the cabin of the stranger. He threw open the door. The cabin was

-dark, except where the curious armor shed its glow along the floor. For

-that phenomenon Everson was prepared. Zenas Wright had told him of the

-luminous metal. What did surprise the lieutenant was that the armor lay

-on the floor. And so recently he had seen it on the cruiser's deck, and

-its owner inside of it. To that he could swear. He turned on a light.</p>

-

-<p>The stranger lay quietly in his bunk, apparently in slumber, his broad

-chest rising and falling regularly. Not the flicker of an eyelid

-betrayed that he was conscious of the keen scrutiny which the commander

-bent upon him. Almost then did Everson give way to the superstitious

-imaginings of MacKechnie. Then his searching eyes saw the gleam of

-drops of sea water which beaded the golden corselet and helm. He drew

-a long breath of relief; for he knew that he had not dreamed. Pursuing

-his investigations no further, the lieutenant returned to his vigil on

-the bridge.</p>

-

-<p>Next day, to the gratification of Dr. Marsey and to the general

-surprise of the others on the ship, the stranger left his cabin.

-Clothing had been provided for him, but he would have none of it and

-appeared on the deck clad in his armor. He proved to be an exceedingly

-curious man, the stranger. He went everywhere about the ship,

-apparently in fear of nothing, although the gale still ran high. He

-watched all of the operations of seamanship with the closest interest,

-but was careful to get in the way of no one.</p>

-

-<p>His ruddy face and flaming hair, with the outer trappings which he

-wore, made the man the object of much comment on the part of the

-sailors of the <i>Minnetonka</i>; comment which was not untinged with

-awe. All of that he heeded not at all. In the full possession of his

-faculties, he still was speechless. What communication anyone on the

-ship had with him was by means of signs, and that necessarily was

-limited. He took his meals with those who shared the officers' mess.

-Although it evidently was unfamiliar to him, he was quick to observe

-and to imitate the table etiquette of his companions.</p>

-

-<p>Only Everson was not surprised at his appearance. The lieutenant kept

-his counsel and waited.</p>

-

-<p>Word of the mad act of MacKechnie went abroad through the ship, spread

-by the men of the watch. Among the sailors, superstitious after the

-manner of their kind, grew a hostility to the strange man, an enmity

-that became more and more pronounced as the hours brought to the

-cruiser no relief from the battering of the elements. So strong did the

-feeling grow that Lieutenant Everson feared for the safety of the man,

-and told Polaris of it. Thereafter the son of the snows constituted

-himself a bodyguard for the stranger in his wanderings about the ship,

-and remained with him as much as possible. Zenas Wright, too, watched

-over his prize with the jealous zeal of a proper scientist.</p>

-

-<p>Not for worlds would the explorer allow this living conundrum to come

-to harm until he had solved him. The old man continually plied the

-stranger with English words, pointing out to him their equivalents and

-seeking to encourage speech. For, unless the man might be taught to

-talk, Zenas felt that his chances of learning more of him were slim

-indeed.</p>

-

-<p>To all of those advances the man answered with smiles only. He was very

-courteous, extremely good-natured, but beyond the ring of silence which

-he had drawn about himself, he would not or could not go.</p>

-

-<p>Everson was little surprised, although he was mightily angered, when,

-on the third day following the death of MacKechnie, he was waited upon

-by a delegation of his sailors with a demand that the stranger be sent

-from the ship. They did not ask his death&mdash;merely that he be set adrift

-in one of the cruiser's small boats. A sea was running in which such a

-craft could not survive for two minutes.</p>

-

-<p>Shamefacedly, but sullenly, the men listened to the stern rebuke of

-their commander. When they had left him reluctantly&mdash;and their ears

-must have tingled to his opinions of their superstitions&mdash;Everson

-redoubled his precautions for the safety of the stranger. The

-lieutenant was morally certain that at the first opportunity that

-should offer, an "accident" would befall the man from the sea.</p>

-

-<p>Abruptly as it had struck, the storm of wind subsided. It was succeeded

-by a torrential downpour of rain. The cruiser was left tossing on a

-choppy sea. Dead ahead to the south was land&mdash;what land, no one on

-the ship could say. A scant five miles away it loomed up before them

-through the mists and the driving rain, a long and towering coastline,

-the peaks of its frowning cliffs almost touching the low-rolling clouds.</p>

-

-<p>In this, the first respite from many hours of perils, Lieutenant

-Everson at once set about the task of repairing his crippled ship.</p>

-

-<p>Then the crown was placed upon the work of calamity.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Lashed no longer by the flail of the tempest, the <i>Minnetonka</i> was laid

-to. Hope returned to those who rode upon her. Those who gathered on her

-decks were almost gay again.</p>

-

-<p>For the first time in many days the two Sardanians came up from their

-cabin. The Lady Memene had proved a poor sailor, and in her deathly

-illness that came of the buffeting of the ship, Minos never had left

-her side, but had nursed her with all the tenderness of a woman. The

-king remembered well a time, not long before, when he had lain near

-death, and her soft hands had soothed him, and her care had kept the

-spark of life within him.</p>

-

-<p>It was nearly noon. Chatting of their experiences in the storm, and

-laughing at their appearance in the oilskins which they wore against

-the rain, a little group gathered on the forward deck of the cruiser.

-Almost it seemed that the hand of fate collected and placed them there.

-Polaris Janess and Rose Emer, the Sardanians, old Zenas Wright, and

-Ensign Willis Brooks, a happy-go-lucky youth of large dimensions and an

-inexhaustible supply of good spirits, who was the second in command on

-the <i>Minnetonka</i>, made up the party.</p>

-

-<p>Presently Lieutenant Everson, his repair work well under way, came

-up from below and joined the others. Dr. Marsey might have been with

-them also, but the kindly physician delayed below to attend one of

-the engineers who lay ill of a fever. Before he had finished his

-ministrations, the stroke fell which was so strangely to alter the life

-course of every one of that party, and the good doctor was too late to

-be numbered among them.</p>

-

-<p>Almost on the heels of Everson the red-haired stranger ascended the

-companionway. With his armor on as usual, but dangling his helmet and

-his mask from his hand, he clanked across the deck, all unheedful of

-the anathemas that the sailors mouthed as he stalked past them.</p>

-

-<p>From the port in his cabin he, too, had seen the new land that lay

-ahead. He strode by the group on the forward deck, but his eyes were

-not for them. Ever watchful, Zenas Wright noted that the mien of the

-stranger was curiously excited. His blue eyes gleamed. His lips were

-parted. Something seemed deeply to concern him. He stood at the rail

-and studied the looming coastline long and searchingly. In his face was

-the rapt expression of the man who greets again a well-loved friend

-after an absence of many days. From the shore he turned his eyes to the

-sea and scrutinized it keenly.</p>

-

-<p>Zenas Wright, watching, started. What was the man about? Was he

-signaling? And whom? The explorer took a hasty step toward the rail to

-investigate.</p>

-

-<p>Beneath his feet he felt the deck of the cruiser heave like the breast

-of an unquiet sleeper. A terrific roar burst from the bowels of the

-ship, and she quivered in every plate of steel and oaken beam.</p>

-

-<p>"The magazine!" cried Everson. The commander dashed for the

-companionway, but he never reached it.</p>

-

-<p>Amidships the decks heaved up and opened in a yawning wound that rent

-the cruiser almost from rail to rail. Through the gap shot skyward an

-immense column of smoke, laced with spurts of flame, and spread fanwise

-many feet in the air. With it there ascended a mass of débris torn from

-the vitals of the ship. For yards around the waves splashed to the fall

-of the splintered wreckage. The swaying decks were littered with it.

-And some of the fragments were of steel and iron that clanged as they

-fell, and others were horrible shreds of men, and made no clangor.</p>

-

-<p>Paralyzed in his tracks, his eyes distended, his very flesh stirring

-from his bones at the horror of it, Everson faced the wraith of ruin

-that arose in his path. A new manifestation tore speech from his lips.</p>

-

-<p>"Look!" he shouted aloud in a strained and unnatural voice. "My God,

-look! <i>The color!</i>"</p>

-

-<p>In the heart and center of the standing column of smoke, seen faintly

-at first and then in blazing brilliance, towered a mighty pillar of

-light. But it was not like any light that any of those who gazed

-upon it had ever known. For it was neither of red nor white, nor yet

-of violet, yellow, or green, or any other color or hue of the solar

-spectrum. Radiant, scintillant, indescribably beautiful, it thrust up

-through the murk of disaster steadily and cruelly as the flaming sword

-of an unkind fate. It was this that had pierced the ship and exploded

-the magazine.</p>

-

-<p>Zenas Wright, who had looked unshaken on many strange things, looked

-upon this and cried out, even as had Everson:</p>

-

-<p>"The color! A new color! Impossible; yet it <i>is</i>!"</p>

-

-<p>With chaos and death linked together and roaring in front of him, the

-old man, true scientist to the last, bent his eyes on the flaming

-pillar in a challenging and analytical stare. If this was to be his

-final vision, why, he would learn what he might from it before he went

-into the shadow where all learning is valueless.</p>

-

-<p>Like painted puppets carved from wood, the men and women on the deck

-stood and gazed at the appalling ruin of that fell disaster. It was

-only a moment in the happening, but a moment that bore the burden of

-many moments in its intensity.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>The pillar of light moved, and those that watched saw that everything

-that it touched it destroyed. It swayed toward them, and the deck

-crumpled away before its advance. It swung back. In its path was one of

-the massive steel turrets of the cruiser. The light played against it.

-The turret tottered; the steel of it seemed to melt and disintegrate.

-The entire structure crumbled and crashed down, disappearing through

-the gash in the decking. With the fall of the turret the light vanished

-also.</p>

-

-<p>From the companionway came the horrid remnant of a man who crossed the

-deck to Everson. One of his arms had been torn away between the wrist

-and elbow. His features were blackened and marred beyond recognition.

-An eye was gone. His clothing hung about him in tatters, and the

-tatters were burning. He halted in front of the lieutenant and raised

-the maimed arm, from which the blood was spurting, in the semblance of

-a salute.</p>

-

-<p>"The ship&mdash;sinks. The&mdash;sea&mdash;on fire."</p>

-

-<p>He croaked the words brokenly, and fell, and died at the feet of his

-commander.</p>

-

-<p>Up through the gap in her bottom surged the sea water, and the ship

-began to settle. The <i>Minnetonka</i> was sinking.</p>

-

-<p>Everson pulled himself out of the daze which in that moment of dread

-had benumbed his faculties. A glance he gave to the settling decks and

-the useless boats. He had neither men nor the time to unship them.</p>

-

-<p>He turned to his companions.</p>

-

-<p>"Those who have prayers to say had best say them; for this is the end

-of our traveling," he said simply. Suiting his action to the words, he

-knelt on the deck.</p>

-

-<p>At the side of Polaris Janess appeared the red-haired stranger. As he

-had once before, he now caught up the hand of the son of the snows.

-Holding it, he looked into Polaris's face and smiled, a fearless and

-whimsical smile.</p>

-

-<p>"A strong hand, my brother, strong to hold a kingdom. This is not your

-death that is coming. I will save you and these with you. I promise,"

-he said&mdash;and the marvel to Polaris and to the others was that the man

-who before had been speechless now spoke readily and in excellent

-English.</p>

-

-<p>Not waiting for the answer, which, in his surprise, Polaris was slow to

-give, the stranger left his side and ran across the deck. He strapped

-his odd mask over his face, clapped his helmet on his head and fastened

-it. He caught up from the deck a length of steel chain. With a run and

-a leap, he was gone&mdash;over the fast settling rail and into the sea.</p>

-

-<p>Scarcely had the golden helmet disappeared over the side when the waves

-crossed the decks to meet the water that was spouting from the interior

-of the cruiser.</p>

-

-<p>"A madman!" Polaris muttered. He turned and gathered Rose Emer in his

-arms. She clung to him, sobbing softly.</p>

-

-<p>"Be brave, dear heart," he whispered. "It isn't hard to die, and

-wherever we are going, we shall go together."</p>

-

-<p>Around them rose the waves.</p>

-

-<p>Held fast in the swirl of the sinking ship, every soul on the

-<i>Minnetonka</i> went down with her. From Everson, kneeling on his deck, to

-the lowliest coal-passer in the depths of the cruiser, there was no man

-but bowed his face to the waters.</p>

-

-<p>Clasping his sweetheart with one arm, Polaris struck out fiercely. For

-a moment he cherished the hope that he might keep to the surface and

-reach the land beyond. But the suction of the sinking ship was too

-strong for even his giant strength. He saw the others, his friends

-struggling about him. The water came between his dear lady's face

-and his. He strove to reach her lips with his own. His lungs seemed

-bursting. His senses swayed.</p>

-

-<p>Through the green waters he saw a great golden shape like a globe

-approaching him. Another fantasy. Strong hands gripped him. They, too,

-must be dreams.</p>

-

-<p>The blackness became absolute.</p>

-

-

-

-<hr class="chap" />

-<h2>CHAPTER II</h2>

-

-<h3>THE LONG BLACK ROAD TO ADLAZ</h3>

-

-

-<p>In illimitable darkness a spark glowed and lived, and the soul of

-Polaris Janess awoke and once more knew it was a soul. The silence

-of oblivion was broken by a roaring as of a thousand mighty rivers

-torrenting on their courses far underground. One by one the man endured

-the tortures that those must endure who come back from the claim

-of the sea. Slowly and with exquisite agony came the consciousness

-that his body still lived&mdash;an agony so keen that he fain would have

-wrenched himself free of the flesh and departed it. Fire, liquid and

-intolerable, raced through his every vein and artery. His head, no

-longer tenanted by a brain, it seemed, was a vast and empty cavern,

-through which wild winds moaned.</p>

-

-<p>An age it was in seeming that the soul fought its way through travail,

-back to command of the faculties it had quitted, until it had regained

-the mastery of its two provinces, the brain and the body. The fiery

-rivers were quenched. The winds ceased their roaring. With a groan and

-a shudder the son of the snows once more took up the burden of living.

-Weak and dizzy and deathly sick, he opened his eyes.</p>

-

-<p>He lay on a soft bed of furs in a small and swaying room. Almost at

-his elbow he heard the splash of waves against metal walls. Above him,

-an expression of sympathy and concern on his ruddy face, bent the

-red-haired stranger.</p>

-

-<p>When he saw the eyes of Polaris quiver open, the man smiled, a rare and

-winning smile.</p>

-

-<p>"Now, by the four rivers," he said, "I am glad to see you return to the

-living. So long did you tarry in the beyond that I thought that I had

-lost you."</p>

-

-<p>For a moment Polaris gazed into that rubicund countenance in

-bewilderment, but for a moment only. With the floods of life came

-memory. He tried to spring to his feet, but the struggle in the water

-and the nausea of his returning vitality had sapped the strength from

-him. He fell weakly back. The look he bent upon the stranger was

-poignant with its question.</p>

-

-<p>"Rose&mdash;the Rose-maid? Where is she?" he gasped, wresting the words out

-painfully.</p>

-

-<p>With a graceful gesture, the stranger drew to one side and pointed

-across the room.</p>

-

-<p>"Your lady? She is there," he said.</p>

-

-<p>On the other side of the room, only a few feet away, was another couch,

-similar to the one on which Polaris had found himself. Rose Emer lay

-upon it. The oilskins she had worn were in a crumpled heap upon the

-floor. Her gown, sodden with sea water, clung to her limbs. A careful

-hand had partly covered her with the folds of a robe of soft, dark

-furs. The coils of her long, chestnut hair, disheveled and damp, had

-fallen about her face and neck. Her long lashes lay upon her cheeks.

-Her lips were slightly parted. One arm hung down from the edge of the

-couch, its hand relaxed and open, the fingers limp.</p>

-

-<p>Long and earnestly Polaris looked at her. He could see only her

-profile. Her face was very white and still, outlined there against

-the furs. The light went out of his tawny eyes, and he set his teeth

-and turned his face to the wall. The sob that arose in his throat

-was wrung from the depths of a spirit sorely stricken. Now death were

-welcome indeed.</p>

-

-<p>"Grieve not so," the stranger said hastily. "She is not dead, and I

-am a fool to bring such fright upon you. She did but swoon when you

-yourself were overlong in returning to the realm of the living. Here."</p>

-

-<p>He passed an arm under the shoulders of Polaris, and assisted him to

-rise and cross to the other couch.</p>

-

-<p>Swaying like a drunken man, the son of the snows bent and touched the

-wrist of the girl with his fingers. When he felt the tides of the

-life-blood leaping through the warm flesh, a joy welled up within him

-that was akin to pain in its throbbing. Come what might, his lady

-lived, and once again there was light in his world. He laid his cheek

-against hers and he was near to tears in his weakness.</p>

-

-<p>Presently he raised his head, and for the first time gave a thought to

-his surroundings. The room he was in was shaped like the quarter of a

-circle. The couch on which he had lain was along the curved side of the

-room, and there the wall was of steel or iron, against which he could

-hear the lapping of waters. At each end, where the cabin narrowed to

-the points of its arc, were cabinets carved of polished woods. At the

-side where the girl lay the wall was of wood, also, and was pierced by

-a small door. A number of garments hung from pegs in the paneling. Near

-to the door, in a golden sheath, swung a heavy, short-bladed sword.</p>

-

-<p>Overhead was a crisscross of slender wooden beams, and in the midst of

-them was set a translucent globe of porcelain or clouded glass, through

-which a strong light was shed, light that was almost as clear in its

-quality as that of day.</p>

-

-<p>At the sight of those crossed beams, Polaris's memory stirred quickly.

-Where had he seen such before? Ah, he had it! It was just such a

-lattice-work that had made a raft for the stranger when he had found

-him floating in the sea. What was the meaning of it?</p>

-

-<p>The screaming fury of the tempest, with its menace to all that he held

-dearest; the terrible moments when the <i>Minnetonka</i> went roaring down

-to ruin; the struggle in the sea; the agony of resuscitation; the grim

-fear that had choked him when he saw his dear lady lying there so pale

-and still&mdash;all those transitions had shaken even the strong will and

-cool brain of the son of the snows. He shook his head impatiently, as

-though the fog through which his mind groped were a physical fact, to

-be dismissed so.</p>

-

-<p>Here at his side was the living answer to the questions that now

-trooped thick and fast&mdash;the man who had promised him life on the

-sinking deck of the cruiser and who had made that promise good.</p>

-

-<p>"Where are we, and who and what are you?" Polaris asked him.</p>

-

-<p>The answer was as ready as it was surprising.</p>

-

-<p>"We are under the sea in the captain's cabin of a fademe in the navy

-of the great king, Bel-Ar. And I"&mdash;he bowed slightly and smiled&mdash;"I am

-the Captain Oleric the Red, also of the navy of the great king, but at

-present without a fademe to command."</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>So unusually circumstanced from his very birth had been the life of

-Polaris Janess that he long before had accepted and made his own the

-philosophy which the Prince of Denmark taught to Horatio. Things that

-the ordinary man would scoff at and reject as preposterous had been

-the incidents of his everyday existence. So now the extraordinary

-declaration of him who named himself Oleric the Red did not move him to

-any great show of surprise.</p>

-

-<p>Instead, there came to him the sorrowful vision of the good gray

-cruiser, sundered and wrecked and going down to the ocean's bed,

-bearing with her many a man whom he had been glad to call his

-friend&mdash;men who twice had risked their lives in the antarctic perils

-that others might live. With that picture in his mind came a thought

-that drove all the mists from his brain and made it burn with a sense

-of outrage and anger.</p>

-

-<p>He snapped himself erect, and with hands clenched and blazing eyes

-looked down on Oleric.</p>

-

-<p>"The breaking of the good ship yonder came not from within, but from

-without," he said sternly. "That great ray of strange light that

-cut her like a knife was some devil's device of these that you call

-fademes. Is it not true?"</p>

-

-<p>Over the face of Oleric passed a shadow that made it sad. But his eyes

-were steadfast and unflinching.</p>

-

-<p>"It is true," he answered. "I would have prevented it if I could have.

-Your ship has gone the way of all others which have come to the coasts

-of Maeronica."</p>

-

-<p>"Is it, then, the custom of your 'great king' so to greet strangers who

-come to his shores?" asked Polaris.</p>

-

-<p>"Such have been the orders of the king of Maeronica," replied Oleric.

-"Many a long century has rolled into the past since any ship, save the

-fademes, cast anchor in the harbor of the city of Adlaz. It is the law.

-It is so writ upon the sacred column. But it is a bad law."</p>

-

-<p>"An hour ago we had not guessed of the existence even of this land of

-Maeronica of yours, with its city of Adlaz and its rule of death in

-the sea," said Polaris. "All that we asked was to go our ways in peace

-and a safe journey to America. Now, because of the evil law of an evil

-land, a great ship's company is food for the fishes. You say well that

-it is a bad law.</p>

-

-<p>"And, hark you, Oleric the Red, I count the reckoning between this King

-Bel-Ar of yours and me as both long and heavy. I do not know how it

-will fall about, or when; but my heart tells me that some time I shall

-make settlement of that score."</p>

-

-<p>Rose Emer stirred and moaned, and Polaris turned to her. He knelt again

-at the side of her couch and chafed her hands.</p>

-

-<p>Running his fingers through his red hair, Oleric looked down at

-Polaris. A strange light shone in the blue eyes of the captain, and

-over his face spread a crafty and satisfied smile. He nodded his head

-as though a thought had come to him that pleased him much.</p>

-

-<p>"Yourself and the lady here are not the only ones saved from the ship,"

-he said at length.</p>

-

-<p>"What? There are others that live?" Polaris asked quickly. "Who, and

-where are they?"</p>

-

-<p>"In the opposite cabin of the fademe is the old man Zenas," Oleric

-replied, "and with him is the large and fat young man who made all

-of the jokes at the table on the ship. And in another fademe is the

-captain&mdash;Everson&mdash;and the two you saved from Sardanes, the giant Minos

-and the dark and splendid lady, Memene."</p>

-

-<p>"What know you of Sardanes?" Polaris asked. "And how comes it that you

-speak our English speech, now that your tongue is loosened?"</p>

-

-<p>Oleric smiled. "Though my tongue was idle on your ship yonder, my

-ears were not," he said, "nor were my eyes, and they gathered me much

-information. I know that you, whom they call the son of the snows, have

-lived a strange life and looked upon many wonders. But they are as

-nothing to the wonders which you are to see presently&mdash;and I, Oleric

-the Red, shall show them to you." He laughed soundlessly.</p>

-

-<p>"But the language&mdash;where learned you the English tongue?" Polaris asked

-again. "Surely it is not spoken in this Maeronica, this land whereof no

-man has ever heard."</p>

-

-<p>"Many years ago I learned it&mdash;from the lips of a slave. He, too, had

-been taken from the deck of a ship which was sunk by the fademes," was

-the answer of Oleric. He regarded Polaris keenly. Nor was that reply

-without its effect.</p>

-

-<p>"Slaves!" Polaris cried. "Is this another of the laws of this land of

-yours&mdash;to make slaves of strangers?"</p>

-

-<p>"It is the law of the great king," Oleric said. "Few such have been

-taken alive, but they have lived as slaves or died on the sands of the

-arena to make sport for the people at the great games which are a part

-of the Feast of Years."</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>For a moment, even Rose Emer was forgotten. Polaris looked up at the

-Maeronican captain with a blaze in his eyes that boded little of

-submission to the laws of Bel-Ar, the king.</p>

-

-<p>When he spoke, it was very quietly. "Law or no law, backs shall break

-and spirits set out on their journeys before I shall become slave to

-any man."</p>

-

-<p>"But the maid here," interposed Oleric&mdash;"would you bring doom upon her

-as well as upon yourself? Be not so rash, my brother. 'All things come

-to him that waits,' was a saying of that slave from whom I learned your

-tongue&mdash;O'Connell, he did call his name. I know not if his saying be

-true. I know he waited many long years, and death came to him."</p>

-

-<p>Polaris shook his head slowly.</p>

-

-<p>"There is little cheer in these words of yours, Oleric the Red," he

-said. "And I do not know why you should call me brother, for whom you

-foretell a life of slavery. But these things are bridges to be crossed

-when met." He turned back to Rose Emer. "Have you such a thing as wine

-on this ship?" he asked. "This swoon is long in passing."</p>

-

-<p>Again the red captain regarded the broad back with satisfaction and

-smiled his craftful smile.</p>

-

-<p>He stepped to the end of the cabin, and from the cabinet there fetched

-a tall glass flagon, bound with golden filagree-work, and a slender,

-twisted goblet. The liquor which he poured from the flagon was

-cherry-red, and sent forth a pleasing aroma.</p>

-

-<p>"Here is of the best in Maeronica," he said. "Trust a captain of the

-fademes to know it."</p>

-

-<p>Lifting Rose's head on his arm, Polaris held the goblet to her lips

-and let the red wine trickle down. As he did so, the door of the cabin

-was opened from without. A man thrust his head through and shouted to

-Oleric in a strange though not unmusical tongue. The captain answered

-him a word or two, and the door was closed again. Polaris saw that the

-man wore armor of a pattern similar to that of Oleric, and that, like

-the captain's, his face was ruddy. But his hair was black, and he wore

-a short, curling beard. While the door was opened, the purr of smoothly

-running machinery could be heard, and with it a steady hissing,

-bubbling noise, like that of escaping steam.</p>

-

-<p>Rose sat up suddenly and glanced around her with frightened eyes. She

-threw her arms around Polaris's neck and clung to him.</p>

-

-<p>"You lay so still," she sobbed, "I thought that you were dead. But you

-are alive&mdash;alive!"</p>

-

-<p>Oleric bent forward and spoke hurriedly.</p>

-

-<p>"We are nearing the harbor of the city of Adlaz," he said. "I do not

-know when I shall have opportunity to talk with you again. But if it be

-not soon, wait; and accept with patience, even though it shall try you

-sorely, all that shall happen.</p>

-

-<p>"Just now you asked me why I called you 'brother.' You saved me from

-the sea. On the ship yonder you and the old man Zenas, and another whom

-I grieve that I could not save, tended me when you thought that I was

-near to death. And after, when your sailors murmured, and they would

-have cast me into the sea, you guarded me from harm. All those things I

-know and shall not forget. That is why I call you brother. And back of

-all of those things there is still another reason, of which I hope to

-tell you soon. I learned from the slave O'Connell that the shake of the

-hands between men is a bond of friendship. Will you shake my hand, my

-brother?"</p>

-

-<p>Polaris took the proffered hand in a grip that made its owner wince.

-"It seems that despite the laws of Bel-Ar, the king, I have found a

-friend," he said. "I shall try to be patient, Oleric."</p>

-

-<p>"Hold your hand from anger," enjoined the red captain earnestly, "even

-though you be put to serve as a slave in the mines of Bel-Ar. And

-instruct your companions that they do likewise. Great days are coming

-upon Maeronica, and I promise you faithfully that you shall play a

-great part in them&mdash;"</p>

-

-<p>He broke his speech suddenly.</p>

-

-<p>Again the door swung open. Somewhere in the depths of the fademe a bell

-rang clearly. The noise of the mechanism ceased. The black-bearded man

-who had thrust his head into the cabin before, stood in the doorway and

-beckoned to Oleric.</p>

-

-<p>"Remember," warned the captain as he passed Polaris. "Patience and that

-strong heart of yours shall carry you far before your sun goes down."</p>

-

-<p>He went out and the door closed after him.</p>

-

-<p>"What does he mean, with his talk of slaves and the mines and all those

-strange names?" Rose Emer asked wonderingly. "Where are we?"</p>

-

-<p>Polaris told her all that he had learned from the captain. She heard

-him with wide eyes.</p>

-

-<p>"<i>You</i>&mdash;a slave!" she cried. "Ah, no, not that? Is it to be like this

-all our lives&mdash;to see happiness just ahead of us, but never reach it?

-Fate cannot be so cruel. Think what you have endured. And now to be a

-slave here in this terrible foreign land!"</p>

-

-<p>Perhaps Fate was listening then&mdash;Fate, who can be both cruel and kind,

-sordid and splendid, according to her whim. She had played many strange

-tricks on this man. But she now decreed that he should never serve the

-king Bel-Ar as a slave.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Soon after the departure of Oleric, the door of the cabin was opened

-again, and an armored man entered. It was he of the black beard, whom

-Polaris rightly guessed to be the captain of the fademe. With him came

-three other men, unarmored, who evidently were members of the crew of

-the craft.</p>

-

-<p>Sturdy, black-haired fellows these were, dressed alike in loose,

-neckless blue tunics of some woven material, with elbow-sleeves,

-and belted in at the waist. Beneath the tunics they wore long,

-close-fitting nether garments like the hose of the Middle Ages, only

-these were both hose and trousers, too. On their feet were shoes of

-soft leather, the tops of which came nearly to their knees, and which

-were laced with gay-colored cords. Their heads were covered with flat

-caps of cloth which resembled somewhat the tam-o'-shanters of the

-Scots. Those, too, were dyed in bright colors.</p>

-

-<p>With a motion of his arm the captain indicated to Rose and Polaris that

-they were to leave the cabin. The girl still was weak from her swoon,

-and tottered when she stood, and her garments were wet and bedraggled.

-Polaris wrapped her in the robe of furs with which Oleric had covered

-her, and lifted her in his arms. As he did so, one of the sailors spoke

-harshly and snatched at the robe. He was clumsy, and his fingers caught

-in Rose's unbound hair and pulled it so that she winced.</p>

-

-<p>Polaris set the girl down and in the same motion spun on his heel and

-struck the man under the ear.</p>

-

-<p>Well it was for the Maeronican sailor that the son of the snows, quick

-as was his anger at the affront to the girl, remembered the counsel of

-Oleric. Even as he struck, he remembered, and he opened his hand; else

-the stroke, directed by his mighty thews, had ended all things for the

-sailor. As it was, the blow partly lifted the man from his feet and

-shot him sprawling through the open door to fall heavily outside.</p>

-

-<p>From its peg on the wall the captain caught down the short-bladed sword

-and tore it from the sheath. At a word from him, his two remaining men

-plucked knives from their belts and closed in.</p>

-

-<p>Prospects of battle cleared the last of the numbness from the limbs of

-Polaris. He thrust Rose Emer behind him. He ran his eyes hastily over

-the cabin in search of a weapon, but saw none which would serve him. In

-another instant he would have sprung barehanded against the Maeronican

-steel.</p>

-

-<p>At that juncture a voice cried out, and Oleric the Red stepped over

-the fallen sailor and entered the cabin. Whatever may have been the

-failings of the red captain, slowness in action was not one of them.

-Gripping the two crouching sailors, each by the belt from behind, he

-tugged so mightily that their feet flew from under them, and they sat

-hard on the cabin floor. With a catlike leap, Oleric reached the side

-of the captain of the fademe and struck the sword from his hand. As the

-blade clanged on the floor, Oleric set his foot across it. Then, and

-not until then, did he seek to learn the trouble's cause.</p>

-

-<p>"What now, comrade," he said to Polaris. "Do you then court death so

-soon?"</p>

-

-<p>But when he heard of the sailor's action, he nodded his red head.</p>

-

-<p>"So would I have done," he said shortly. He turned on the other captain

-and spoke to him sternly in the Maeronican tongue. Almost choking in

-his rage, the commander answered him in sneering tones, and with a

-shrug of his shoulders stalked from the cabin. The sailors slunk after

-him.</p>

-

-<p>Oleric watched their departing backs with a hard and level stare.

-"Daelo grows insolent," he said. "He thinks, because I have had the

-misfortune to lose a fademe, that I shall get no pretty welcome from

-Bel-Ar. Maybe he is right. Bel-Ar loves not to lose his ships. Ah,

-well&mdash;" He, too, shrugged his shoulders, and then he smiled.</p>

-

-<p>"And you, my brother&mdash;" He shook his finger at Polaris. "Unless you

-learn to curb that fine spirit of yours, I need to be no prophet to

-foretell what shall befall you. But come; let us leave this place. The

-air of it grows foul."</p>

-

-<p>With Rose in his arms, Polaris stepped from the cabin and gazed

-curiously about him.</p>

-

-<p>He stood in a long gallery or corridor, some nine feet wide by thirty

-in extent. It was lighted brightly by a number of globes similar to

-that in the cabin. The flooring was of wood, the ceiling of steel.

-Opposite him was the door of another cabin. A few feet along the

-corridor ahead of him, toward the prow of the fademe, the floor was

-pierced to admit a large post or beam, which thrust up through it and

-disappeared through another opening in the ceiling of the gallery.

-Around the beam spiraled a slender winding stair of yellow metal.</p>

-

-<p>Oleric led on toward the bow. As he passed the stairway, Janess saw

-that it led to a small, towerlike structure above. A glance through the

-opening in the floor showed him another gallery, or deck, below, and he

-had a glimpse of a mass of mechanism and shafting. It was the engine

-room of the fademe into which he looked. Near the prow, the flooring

-was cut away again to allow the passage of what seemed to be a pillar

-of solid, yellow glass, as large around as the body of a man.</p>

-

-<p>As they passed the second pillar by, Oleric struck it lightly with his

-palm.</p>

-

-<p>"There is what brought death to your good ship, my brother," he said.

-"It is the secret of the power of the navy of Bel-Ar."</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>At the end of the corridor was an open door. Beyond it was a small

-chamber and another door. The chamber was constructed entirely of

-steel. Both of its doors were circular in shape, and they were fitted

-with valves and bars which made them resemble the breechblocks of

-enormous cannon. From beyond the second door came the sound of the

-splashing of waves and the hum of many human voices.</p>

-

-<p>Oleric passed through the chamber. At the outer door he paused and

-gave Polaris a hand with his burden. A breeze of salt air fanned their

-faces. Through the door Polaris saw an expanse of blue water alight

-with shafts of sunshine&mdash;for the rain had ceased&mdash;and the line of a

-rocky wall.</p>

-

-<p>"The harbor of the city of Adlaz," the red captain said.</p>

-

-<p>They stood on a metal deck six feet square on the extreme prow of the

-fademe. From the deck a narrow, swaying gangplank reached to the edge

-of the quay that was built of massive blocks of masonry, alongside of

-which the fademe was moored.</p>

-

-<p>At their right was the tossing blue and white of a harbor large enough

-to have given shelter to the ships of all the navies of the world,

-could they have come to it. Nearly three miles in width and length it

-lay, the whole girt round by the ring of a lofty mountain wall, in

-which on the seaward side there was not a notch or a break. Two hundred

-feet up from the water's edge the sheer cliffs towered, their faces

-smooth and precipitous.</p>

-

-<p>It was more a lake than a harbor that held the navy of Bel-Ar. Later

-the Americans learned that its only entrance from the sea was a natural

-tunnel many feet below the level of the water, through which the

-fademes passed out and in. The harbor was the giant cup or crater of a

-volcano, ages quenched.</p>

-

-<p>Along the wharves of stone and anchored in the lake rocked the fademes

-of the Maeronican fleet, each one resembling nothing so much as a

-monstrous goldfish carrying a glass tower on its back. Gold they were,

-indeed&mdash;and they shimmered and glittered in the sunlight as only gold

-can glitter.</p>

-

-<p>Like immense, flattened globes the fademes were fashioned&mdash;globes forty

-feet through their lengthened axes, and drawn to points at their stems

-and sterns. Where the dorsal fin of a fish projects from its spine,

-each fademe bore a small, round deckhouse with ribs of metal and sides

-of polished crystal.</p>

-

-<p>Yes; the harbor of Adlaz was very like a vast bowl with many goldfish

-(the fleet of fademes must have numbered one hundred and fifty). But

-they were far from being the harmless toys of children, these golden

-ships of the underseas. Deadly enspine, each fademe bore a small, round

-bee sent forth on cruel errands.</p>

-

-<p>On the dancing surface of the lake and in and out among the gleaming

-fademes plied a number of small open boats, driven by oarsmen, and

-here and there in the anchorage were scattered undersea craft of a make

-smaller by half and more slender than the fademes. These were called

-marizels.</p>

-

-<p>Back of the quays and the wharves was a line of low buildings of black

-and red stone, well constructed, with doors of wood and glass windows.

-Except that their architecture was quaint and ran much to carved faces

-of men and beasts, interspersed with squat domes and spires, they might

-have been the warehouses of some well-to-do port of the old world.</p>

-

-<p>An open space, a number of acres in extent, lay beyond the buildings

-and reached to the frowning face of the cliff-wall. The wall itself was

-pierced by a broad arch or tunnel wide enough for a squadron of cavalry

-to have ridden through it abreast and so high that a galleon's masts

-would not have touched its vaulted roof.</p>

-

-<p>Above the center of the arch, and carved in the rock of the cliffside,

-was a great round face, many feet across. It was a piece of sculpture

-to crook the fingers of a miser; for it was covered with beaten gold,

-so that it resembled a rising sun. That semblance was heightened

-further by long shafts or rays which extended from the face across the

-surface of the rock in all directions. They, too, were of gold. Work of

-a master-sculptor, it was, who had guided his chisel in bold, strong

-strokes. The features were noble, but the smiling lips were cruel, and

-there was cruelty in the golden eyes which looked down on the golden

-ships in the harbor.</p>

-

-<p>All these things Polaris saw from the forward deck of the fademe, and

-more. The quays and the court were black with people. At one side of

-the archway was drawn up a line of horsemen clad in steel armor. In

-the midst of the throng in the court a man in a yellow tunic and cap

-was cleaving his way through the press toward the wharf on a big black

-horse.</p>

-

-<p>As he crossed the swaying plank to the wharf with Rose Emer in his

-arms, Polaris heard a great cry of wonder go up from the crowd. In a

-moment he learned that it was not the appearance of the strangers that

-had caused the outcry. It was the return of Oleric the Red, who had

-long been given up as lost. Evidently the red captain was a popular man

-in his land. People crowded around him and clapped him on the back and

-gave him words of welcome home. Greetings none the less hearty for that

-they were tinged with a note of apprehension for his future welfare,

-which even Polaris could sense, though he understood no word of it all.</p>

-

-<p>Down from his horse sprang the man in the yellow tunic and enfolded

-Oleric in a mighty embrace. "Ah, old red bear, it is good for the eyes

-to see you once again. We had thought the fishes had you. But"&mdash;and he

-lowered his voice&mdash;"you will have to think of a pretty tale to tell to

-Bel-Ar. He raves at the loss of a fademe."</p>

-

-<p>"That he does," answered Oleric, "but I am good at the telling of

-tales, as you know. Besides, I have with me a matter of a small sack,

-which was not lost with the fademe, and which shall make the eyes of

-his queen to glisten. So mayhap I shall find forgiveness."</p>

-

-<p>The other ran his eye over Polaris and Rose. "What, more slaves?" he

-asked. "Orlas already has brought in three, and one of them a giant."</p>

-

-<p>"Yes, Brunar, more slaves." Oleric's face grew sober. "Poor souls. My

-heart is heavy for them, for they did save my life out yonder on the

-sea, and treat me kindly."</p>

-

-<p>"Here, old bear, take you my horse and ride on to Adlaz," said Brunar.

-"I have business here. I will come on anon through the canal in a

-marizel. And, if the hand of Bel-Ar lie not too heavy upon you, there

-will be a rare night to-night, a rare night; eh, old bear?" Laughing,

-he tossed the reins to Oleric and disappeared in the crowd.</p>

-

-<p>From the stern of the fademe they had quitted sounded a high-pitched

-voice in notes of vituperation. Oleric looked back. The captain Daelo

-stood on the rear deck of his vessel. When he saw Oleric turn, he shook

-his clenched fist at the red captain. With a laugh, Oleric flung back a

-remark of such import that it made Daelo dance upon his deck with rage.</p>

-

-<p>"Now there's a fool," grumbled Oleric, "who may be troublesome. I have

-the best of him this time, though. Back to sea patrol he goes. And

-there is a maid in Adlaz town&mdash;a sweet and comely maid, for love of

-whom he's well-nigh witless. I just did tell him that I'd comfort her

-in his absence." The captain tossed his head and laughed his soundless

-laugh.</p>

-

-<p>Bidding a lad hold his horse, Oleric led Polaris and Rose into one

-of the buildings near the end of the wharf. There, under a guard of

-sailors, they found old Zenas, the two Sardanians, Everson, and Brooks.

-Lacking an interpreter, such as Oleric, these others were in sore

-bewilderment. The stunning blow of the loss of the <i>Minnetonka</i> had

-cast them in a depth of gloom, which the appearance of Polaris and

-Rose Emer and the few explanations they were able to give did little

-to lighten. Everson, especially, was like a man distraught. Even the

-scientific zeal of Zenas Wright for once was quenched, and he met the

-marvels about him with a listless eye.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Under orders from Oleric, men fetched from stables near the quays a

-long, low car, to which two span of horses were attached, and the

-Americans were bidden to take their places in it. Wild and reckless

-drivers these Maeronicans were. Two of them climbed into the car,

-turned their horses' heads toward the great archway and whipped them

-into a gallop. With a yell, the crowd parted. The hoofs of the horses

-rang on the stones of the paved courtyard. As they passed from the

-court into the tunnel, the line of steel horsemen came clattering after

-them. Oleric rode at the side of the car.</p>

-

-<p>At intervals in the walls of the tunnel were set translucent globes

-like those on the fademe, which shed a strong white light along the

-way. The flooring was paved and smooth. For perhaps five minutes the

-cavalcade thundered through the passage in the rock, and then it

-emerged again into the light of day.</p>

-

-<p>Ahead stretched a long, wide roadway, paved from side to side with

-blocks of black stone, fast embedded in a cement of the same hue.

-At both sides of the road were low walls, and beyond the walls were

-handsome mansions and grounds, where fair trees tossed their greenery

-and bright flowers bloomed amid a wealth of shrubbery. From the

-splendid and fragrant lawns men and women looked forth as the car

-whirled past, and children left their play to run to the walls and

-stare wide-eyed at the strangers.</p>

-

-<p>Most of the men were garbed as had been those of the fademe's crew and

-also the crowd at the harbor, in loose, belted tunics and hose, but

-finer in texture and more showy in coloring than those of the commoner

-sort.</p>

-

-<p>Some of the old men wore flowing gowns. The women and children were

-clad in short kirtles. Everywhere was a riot of color. The garments

-of the people were gay with many tints and hues. The grounds were

-flecked with flowers. The dwellings, all of which were built of stone,

-made their brave show of colors, too. The quarries from which the

-masonry was cut yielded white and black and red stone, and in their

-construction work the builders had varied them pleasingly.</p>

-

-<p>From the tunnel's mouth at the base of the ancient hill, the long,

-black road sloped up gradually. Far ahead loomed the walls and domes

-of a great city. Oleric rose in his stirrups and pointed to where they

-were outlined against the sky.</p>

-

-<p>"Yonder lies Adlaz, chief city of the Children of Ad," he cried.</p>

-

-<p>Midway in their course to the city, the shouting drivers pulled their

-horses suddenly to one side of the road, and the riders of the escort

-scattered to right and left to leave a clear passage. From far up the

-wonderful street sounded the clash and clatter of pounding hoofs in

-desperate haste.</p>

-

-<p>But no horse it was that galloped so madly from Adlaz town to the sea,

-but a giant, bronze-coated bull. On he came, head down and tail aloft,

-his hoofs striking fire from the smooth, hard rock of the roadway. At

-intervals he gave voice to a deep-throated bellow.</p>

-

-<p>He was still three hundred yards from the car when Rose Emer screamed

-out in horror. "Ah, the child! Save the child!" she cried.</p>

-

-<p>From one of the mansions farther up the street, a child had strayed,

-a baby girl, a fragile, black-haired little thing, not more than five

-years old. Shrieking with laughter, she had eluded her mother and run

-out through the gateway to the center of the road. Half-way across the

-pavement, she slipped and fell. Down the street on thundering hoofs

-came the great bronze death.</p>

-

-<p>Upsetting one of the drivers in his haste, Polaris leaped down over

-the wheel of the car. Scarcely had his feet touched the roadway, when

-Minos, the Sardanian, was down behind him. Snatching a short spear from

-the hand of one of the steel riders, the son of the snows bounded up

-the street to meet the bull, going at a speed which few living things

-could have equaled. Over his shoulder he called to Minos:</p>

-

-<p>"Care for the child, Minos; leave the beast to me."</p>

-

-<p>Just beyond where the baby girl lay, he met the furious mass of

-charging flesh. The little red eyes of the oncoming monster saw the man

-in its path, and for an instant the bull seemed to halt in its stride,

-and its hoofs slid on the smooth pavement. Then it lowered its head

-still farther and charged on with a roar.</p>

-

-<p>From the tail of his eye, Janess saw the Sardanian snatch the baby from

-the perilous path and leap to one side. Behind them the red captain,

-shouting and cursing, alone of all the troop of riders strove to urge

-his affrighted horse forward.</p>

-

-<p>"Hold! Hold!" he shouted in English. "Let the beast go!"</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Even had he heard, Polaris would have been little minded to let the

-bull go free. It was plain that the animal was mad. A bloody froth

-dripped from its jaws as it ran. Behind the son of the snows, right

-where the bull was headed, were his friends, and among them one who

-meant more to him than all of the rest of the world.</p>

-

-<p>Directly in the path of the lowered horns, that were coming on with

-the power of a mighty battering-ram, Polaris stood. Then he sprang

-sidewise, turning as he leaped. So narrowly did he time the onset that

-the shoulder of the bull grazed his knee. As the huge body passed him,

-the man drove the short spear home behind its shoulder, guiding the

-steel with the strength of arm and the keenness of eye that had helped

-him to survive through the long years when combat with the beasts of

-the wild was a part almost of his daily existence.</p>

-

-<p>The stroke was true. So deeply did the steel spear bite, that its shaft

-was wrenched from the hands of Polaris, and he was pitched on his side

-on the pavement.</p>

-

-<p>Unhurt, the man was up in an instant, but his work was done. That bull

-would charge no more. He lay dead at the side of the roadway, his

-tongue thrust out, his eyes glazing, and his life-blood making a pool

-on the stones. The Maeronican spear was set fast in his heart.</p>

-

-<p>Hardly was Polaris on his feet again when the armored horsemen rode

-down on him with lifted spears, cursing him in their own tongue. Oleric

-had conquered his horse, and he now interposed to prevent another

-struggle which would have been all too one-sided. For, weaponless as

-they were, the three other American men clambered down and ran to the

-aid of Polaris.</p>

-

-<p>Minos, who had returned the child to her mother, who knelt half

-fainting in her gateway, was the first to reach his side. Though he

-bore no weapon, the giant Sardanian squared his mighty figure and made

-ready to withstand the onset of horse and steel.</p>

-

-<p>Polaris leaped to the side of the fallen bull and tore the spear from

-its body. Then he turned on the horsemen. He could not guess the cause

-of their sudden anger, but he, too, was ready.</p>

-

-<p>Before blows could be struck, Oleric thrust his horse into the

-open space between the friends and the Maeronican riders. By dint

-of persuasion, interlarded with not a few threats, he induced his

-followers to forego their hostile intentions.</p>

-

-<p>"You fools!" he shouted. "Would you cheat Bel-Ar of the terrible

-vengeance he is sure to take, and have a part of it fall back on you

-for balking him?"</p>

-

-<p>When he had quieted his men, the captain turned gloomily to Polaris.</p>

-

-<p>"My brother, your doom is sealed, indeed," he said. "This is one of the

-sacred bulls from the temple of Shamar, the great sun, that you have

-slain. When one of these goes mad, as did this one, no man in the land

-does aught to stay it. That is the law. From its horns to its hoofs,

-every hair of it is sacred. Bel-Ar may forgive me the loss of a fademe,

-though it will be a great vexation to him; but the death of one of

-these sacred bulls of Shamar he will not forgive any man. Sooner might

-you expect mercy if you declared yourself a follower of the Goddess

-Glorian of Ruthar. In this matter I cannot hope to persuade him. By

-the bones of the ten thousand kings, I am sorry that this thing has

-happened!"</p>

-

-<p>But later, as they rode on toward the city of Adlaz, the red captain

-seemed to be far from rueful. He rode behind the car, and, when he

-thought none was observing him, he smiled to himself, as though the

-course events were taking pleased him very well indeed.</p>

-

-

-

-<hr class="chap" />

-<h2>CHAPTER III</h2>

-

-<h3>THE KING JUDGES</h3>

-

-

-<p>Like the shape of a mighty wheel with four spokes was the plan of

-the city of Adlaz&mdash;or more like a circle drawn around the angles of

-a cross, the curved line of the outer boundary passing through the

-far-flung arms. Built in a long-ago time of perils and wars, Adlaz

-was a walled city, and its wall was both stout and high, and set with

-many castellated towers. It was also a very ancient wall, to which its

-moss-grown, weather-worn gray stones bore witness.</p>

-

-<p>In all of the sweeping circumference of the outer wall, which enclosed

-some ten square miles of street and square, there were four breaks

-only, and those were protected by ponderous gates of bronze and guarded

-well by soldiers of the king. Those breaks were where the rim of the

-wheel met its four spokes. The wall was the rim. The spokes were four

-wide roadways, which ran east, west, north and south from the city's

-center. The hub of the wheel was a park or esplanade, fronted on all

-sides by magnificent buildings in which the colored rocks hewn from the

-Maeronican quarries were blended splendidly. In the very center towered

-the massive structure of the Temple of the Sun, built all of white

-marble, the tips of its hundred spires capped with solid gold.</p>

-

-<p>Other and many streets were laid out in all directions within the

-angles of the four great avenues; but none was so wide as they by many

-feet. Within the wall dwelt nearly half a million souls, Maeronicans,

-if one named them from their country, but loving to call themselves the

-Children of Ad, after their city, which in turn drew its name from a

-certain mighty king, the time of whose rule was so lost in the mists of

-dim antiquity that he was little more than a tradition in the mouths of

-the people.</p>

-

-<p>Across from the Temple of the Sun, and in the northeast angle of the

-arms of the cross, stood the palace of the kings of Maeronica, another

-immense pile of masonry, built also of a solid color, not dazzling

-white as was the marble of the house of the god, but the deep, rich

-red of granite porphyry. Back of the palace lay the barracks of the

-king's guard of half a thousand picked men, his stables, and the

-quarters of countless servants. In the southwest angle was the Place of

-Games&mdash;a hippodrome and circus, with an amphitheater of black basalt

-of an age and splendor that would not have shamed the proudest days of

-seven-hilled Rome itself, although its foundation stones were laid long

-before Remus leaped over his brother's wall.</p>

-

-<p>Around the hub and extending to the wall were the homes of the Children

-of Ad&mdash;nobles, captains, rich idlers, merchants, money-lenders, and the

-common people. In latter years, since Adlaz, strong and triumphant,

-defied her enemies, it had been the pleasure of many of her wealthier

-sons to build their mansions beyond the sheltering wall of the city,

-and along the four splendid roadways stretched many a fair and wide

-estate. Such were those the prisoners from the fademes saw as their car

-was driven up the long, black road from the harbor in the mountain.</p>

-

-<p>It was late afternoon, and the sun was casting his last slant rays over

-the distant mountain-rim, when the car was halted at the bronze gates

-of the western entrance to Adlaz. The red captain trotted his horse

-forward to parley with the captain of the gate-guard and explain why he

-led Brunar's horsemen, and who were these whom he brought with him to

-the city. That parleying was added to by one of the riders in steel.

-Whatever he told the gate-captain, it did not add to that worthy's

-esteem for the captives, for he favored them with an exceedingly evil

-look as they rode through his gates.</p>

-

-<p>"Ugh-h," remarked Ensign Brooks, "I can't say that I care for that

-party. He has a lean and hungry look. Speaking of hunger, I wonder how

-soon we will get where we are going to, and whether it will be supper

-time when we get there. I could eat cat right now, I'm so near to

-starvation."</p>

-

-<p>Oleric heard him and replied with a smile. "You shall eat soon, and of

-good fare. So much at the least I can promise."</p>

-

-<p>To which the ensign replied with a stare. For the young naval man did

-not like the red captain and his ways, whom he blamed partly for the

-loss of the <i>Minnetonka</i> and all of the rest of the troubles, of which

-this land seemed to hold a plenty.</p>

-

-<p>Soon after the car entered the gates, the sunlight faded into dusk, and

-then white-capped messengers passed through the streets, plucking the

-cloth hoods from globes which were fixed on posts of stone at intervals

-along all of the ways. From each globe, as its hood was removed, sprang

-a broad circle of white light. On the tall buildings and their many

-spires and on the towers of the city wall similar lights flared up.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Except for the quaint architecture of the place, and the strange

-garb of the folk who thronged its streets, the Americans might have

-imagined themselves entering some stately capital of the modern world,

-and not Adlaz of Maeronica, the oldest of all peopled cities of the

-earth&mdash;older, indeed, than many among the buried ruins in which

-archeologists love to delve.</p>

-

-<p>For its pavements were curbed and guttered, and between them and the

-building fronts and lawns were walks of stone, bordered by well-ordered

-rows of trees and many shrubs and beds of flowers. The people who

-walked the streets, too, were quiet and orderly folk. They stared hard

-at those who rode in the car, but there was no unseemly outcry. Only

-an occasional shout of surprise and welcome went up as some group of

-strollers recognized the merry face and flaming poll of Oleric the Red.</p>

-

-<p>At all of these marvels the two Sardanians gazed wonderingly and talked

-together of them in their tongue.</p>

-

-<p>"Ah, surely here is one of the greatest cities of the world of men,

-my prince," said the Lady Memene. "Note the mighty towers yonder and

-how they flash and gleam. And the folk! In one short ride we have seen

-enough of them to people two lands like our own lost Sardanes."</p>

-

-<p>"Aye, Memene, these be wonders, indeed," Minos answered. "And here

-is a kingdom and a city well worth the ruling over. Yet these, even

-these, must be as nothing to the things beyond in the greater world,

-whereof Polaris hath told us. I wonder if we shall ever reach them.

-For myself, though, I find this land and its folk more to my manner of

-understanding than the world-dwellers way to the north. Here, methinks,

-one might, did opportunity offer, carve out a kingdom for the king that

-is to come."</p>

-

-<p>Memene flushed and hung her head, and the two of them lapsed into

-thoughtful silence.</p>

-

-<p>Truly, Minos of Sardanes lacked not in ambition.</p>

-

-<p>"Too late, now, to hope to meet Bel-Ar the king before the morrow,"

-Oleric said. "And perhaps that is as well. By another coming of Shamar

-his wrath may have cooled somewhat, though 'twill still burn hot

-enough, I'll wager."</p>

-

-<p>The charioteers drove their car to the front of a long, low building,

-the façade of which verged almost upon the pavement of the black avenue

-which was known as Chedar's Flight, because of an ancient battle which

-had been fought along its course. There, the riders of Brunar left the

-car and clattered away up the street to their own place. A group of

-street idlers surrounded the car and began to discuss its passengers,

-taking note especially of the giant form of Minos and the beauty of the

-two ladies.</p>

-

-<p>"This was a palace, once, but it serves as a prison, now," Oleric said

-to Polaris, as gates of bronze were thrust back and the charioteers

-drove through and into a roomy court, partly paved and partly lawn and

-trees. "Sorry I am, comrade, that this must be, but 'tis not of my

-working."</p>

-

-<p>"I blame you not, friend," said Polaris. "But other days bring other

-fortunes. I do not think that I shall stay long in your prison. And it

-comes to me also that your king best had let this party depart his land

-in peace, else the next turn of the wheel may bring to him that which

-he least desires. And I think that you may have a hand in that turn,

-Oleric."</p>

-

-<p>"Are you a prophet, my brother?" exclaimed Oleric, searching the face

-of Polaris for a hidden meaning. "For if you be not one, then you have

-a rare spirit."</p>

-

-<p>"No prophet I," Polaris answered. He sprang down over the wheel and

-stretched his weary limbs. "Only at times, when all seems black, my

-heart does whisper courage, and then all things turn well. It did so

-just now, when I saw the lights spring up along that splendid street

-out there." He held up his arms and assisted Rose Emer to alight from

-the car.</p>

-

-<p>Oleric gazed at him curiously. "So you think that the wheel will turn,

-and that I will have a hand in it, my brother, do you?" he whispered to

-himself. "Perchance I shall."</p>

-

-<p>He swung down from his horse and cast the reins to an attendant.</p>

-

-<p>"What! Mordo! Where do you tarry? Here be guests for you," he shouted.</p>

-

-<p>They stood in the dusk under the spreading boughs of an ancient oak and

-waited while a tall, loosely built man, black-bearded, and clad in the

-armor of gold that was the badge of power in Maeronica, came down from

-a pillared porch on the other side of the court and shambled across.

-They noticed that his step was somewhat uncertain, and once or twice he

-stumbled as he approached.</p>

-

-<p>"Mordo, captain, and keeper of the king's prison house," Oleric

-muttered to Polaris. "He's a good fellow, but does love his wine cup

-exceeding well."</p>

-

-<p>As the prison keeper came across the stones and the grass, he shouted,

-and an underling ran to him, swinging a lighted globe encaged in a

-metal net. Mordo took the lamp and cast its rays on the party. His face

-was flushed, and his eyes rolled until they saw Oleric. Then his mouth

-gaped in a delighted grin.</p>

-

-<p>"Hoy! Hoy!" he exclaimed. "By the wall and the beasts and the shadows

-of the fathers of Ad, if it is not my old bottle-crony come sailing

-home again! I thought my ears had lied when I heard that voice in the

-dark." He set the lamp down and pitched forward, steadying himself with

-his hands on Oleric's shoulders. "And the same old dekkar, eh?" (A

-dekkar was a broad goldpiece of the coin of Maeronica.) "They said that

-you were gone across the black river, but I believed them not. 'Not

-Oleric,' I told them. 'Not so long as there is left unemptied a single

-one of those long-stemmed bottles in old Mordo's cellar.' And I was

-right, eh, old firetop? Ah! Many a glass shall clink to-night, and many

-a rack be made lighter when Brunar and the others come."</p>

-

-<p>Mordo threw his head back and laughed, a roaring gale of mirth.</p>

-

-<p>"Why, I was so lonely to-night that already I have cracked two flagons,

-just for the good wine's company."</p>

-

-<p>"So it seems," put in Oleric, sniffing. "Are you sure there were only

-two of those flagons?"</p>

-

-<p>"Mayhap it was three; I care not; there's still space for more, as you

-well know," Mordo replied, still shaking with laughter. He took up his

-lantern again.</p>

-

-<p>"But whom do you bring with you to Mordo's house?" he asked, peering

-once more at the strangers. "Women, too! And pretty ones!"</p>

-

-<p>"Have an end to your banter, Mordo," Oleric interposed. "These be six

-guests for whom Bel-Ar will ask accounting. Hold them well. And harken,

-old friend; treat them kindly and to the best you have, for they did

-befriend me when I was in evil straits and sore in need of friends.

-That tale you shall hear later. Now hasten and bestow them. They are

-weary. And bethink you, man, your wine grows stale with waiting to be

-drunk, and my throat aches for the smack of it."</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Through his porch and into the depths of the building beyond, Mordo led

-the party. Along many halls and passages he led, and through gates and

-doors of bronze and steel, whereof an attendant bore the keys.</p>

-

-<p>An ill place, this, to come out of, thought Polaris, noting the

-strength and number of the gates. Nor did the son of the snows relish

-at all the grim clanking of chains which issued from certain of the

-chambers which they passed along their route.</p>

-

-<p>At length the jailer paused, in a hall so wide that its boundary walls

-could be seen only dimly by the light of the few globes which hung from

-its pillars of black stone, and so lofty that the pillars' tops were

-lost in the upper dusk. The hall was circular, and all around its walls

-were the doors to lesser chambers.</p>

-

-<p>"Here may your stranger friends from the sea await the pleasure of

-Bel-Ar in peace," hiccoughed Mordo. "And 'tis better by far for them

-than some of the places that I have below, as you know, Oleric. Kings

-have sat in judgment here, and the beds in yonder chambers&mdash;queens have

-slept on them. May your guests sleep well, old fox; I can offer them

-no better, no better lodging place than the audience-hall of the great

-King Bel-Tisam. I'll send them meat and wine. Now haste we to those

-bottles. Shamar send that Brunar be not long delayed."</p>

-

-<p>"Here I must leave you for a space, my friends," Oleric said. "I

-would have you believe that I am not ungrateful for many good deeds

-remembered, and I hope yet to find the means to repay them. To-morrow I

-will go with you before Bel-Ar the king."</p>

-

-<p>He bowed and went out with Mordo.</p>

-

-<p>Presently came men with an abundance of fresh-cooked meats and

-trenchers and tall bottles of Maeronican wine.</p>

-

-<p>Little heart for conversation was there among the seven friends. Each

-was busy with bitter thoughts. They ate, sitting on cushions about a

-low table which the attendants spread for them at the foot of one of

-the pillars. The two women, weary from the events of the day, soon went

-to their rest. Old Zenas Wright was not long in following their example.</p>

-

-<p>"I'm growing old, boys," he said as he left the table. "And this has

-been a hard day&mdash;a terribly hard day. We appear to have strayed far

-into the yesterdays. To-morrow we will talk, and it will be strange

-if we cannot between us figure our way out. I don't want to leave my

-old bones in this place. I intend that they shall be buried in Woodlawn

-Cemetery in Buffalo, near where I was born; ah me, where I was born. I

-vow and vum, I've seen some mighty queer sights since I walked up Main

-Street last."</p>

-

-<p>The geologist turned and trudged sturdily away to the chamber which he

-had selected for his own.</p>

-

-<p>Soon only Polaris and Lieutenant Everson were left in the great hall,

-Janess lying stretched on the floor, his head pillowed on his hand, and

-the lieutenant standing gloomily with folded arms, his back resting

-against one of the pillars. For many minutes those two talked of the

-things which had befallen; but neither one had a plan to offer.</p>

-

-<p>"We must trust to the wit of this Oleric, of which I think he has

-plenty," said Polaris at length. "I believe that he wished us no ill,

-and I believe, too, that he forms some scheme for our advantage, though

-what it is I cannot guess."</p>

-

-<p>"I don't like him," Everson said bluntly. "He is one of this nation of

-devils whose submarine sank my ship. Oh, for a few files of marines and

-a couple of twelve-inch guns!"</p>

-

-<p>When Everson had gone, Polaris still lay at the foot of the pillar,

-thinking and planning, for he was a man in whom hope never died. He

-dozed at length, but suddenly he was wide awake. And, though he did not

-at once open his eyes, his wilderness-trained faculties, keen as those

-of any animal, were alert and watchful.</p>

-

-<p>Something had come into the hall.</p>

-

-<p>Nothing in living shape ever had struck fear into the heart of Polaris,

-and he had a healthy disbelief in the supernatural. He was not afraid

-now. But he felt that the presence that had entered the hall was both

-baleful and menacing. He felt the fixed regard of hidden eyes, and it

-sent an uneasy thrill through the roots of his hair at the back of his

-head. Whatever it was that had wakened him, it was not in the direction

-of the chambers where the others of his party lay, but far across the

-hall.</p>

-

-<p>Cautiously he opened his eyes.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>At first he could make out nothing. Then something stirred soundlessly

-from behind a far pillar near the wall. Polaris stared hard, and his

-eyes were almost more than mortal keen. For a fleeting instant he saw

-it clearly&mdash;the shape of a tall old man with snowy beard and hair, and

-with piercing eyes, full of evil. The man was dressed in flowing robes

-of white, on the breast of which glittered some object of burnished

-metal.</p>

-

-<p>For an instant only the vision persisted on Polaris's retina. Then it

-was gone, and with no sound that even his sharp ears could catch.</p>

-

-<p>Polaris snapped himself to his feet and bounded across the hall on

-the balls of his feet, almost as noiselessly as the shadow which had

-departed. And it had departed. Along the wall and behind the pillars

-Polaris glanced quickly. There was nothing there. Back of the pillar

-where he had seen the white shape was the closed door of a chamber. He

-tried the door and found it fast. He listened.</p>

-

-<p>From the darkness beyond the closed door, he thought he heard the ghost

-of a thin chuckle. Immediately his attention was drawn to another

-quarter. Close behind him arose a deep growl, which had nothing ghostly

-in its quality, but was most material. Polaris spun upon his heels.</p>

-

-<p>Some ten feet from him, and beside one of the pillars, from the foot

-of which it evidently had arisen, stood a huge dog. It was the first

-animal of its kind which the son of the snows had seen in Maeronica,

-and the largest he ever had set eyes on in his life; larger by far even

-than gray old Marcus, his friend and comrade that he'd left behind in

-Boston town.</p>

-

-<p>This brute was neither Great Dane nor mastiff, though in points it

-resembled both of those breeds. Its jaws were square, and its head and

-neck were massive. The tips of its powerful shoulders were a long yard

-up from the stone floor where it stood.</p>

-

-<p>It was smooth of coat and of a glossy, blue-black color, except on its

-breast, where was a triangular patch of tawny yellow. Its ears had

-been clipped and stood erect and pointed. As it regarded the man, its

-big eyes glittered in the dim light. Its lips were writhed back from

-formidable teeth.</p>

-

-<p>Another low growl rumbled from its deep chest.</p>

-

-<p>Instinctively, dogs trusted Polaris. He had had much experience with

-their kind, and never had he seen one that in the end he could not make

-his friend. Unhesitatingly he extended his hand and crossed the floor

-to where the big beast stood. He guessed that it must have come in

-with the old man whom he had glimpsed, and had been left behind when

-the silent visitor had made his hurried departure. As he drew nearer,

-Polaris saw that the animal wore a broad leather collar, bossed with

-gold.</p>

-

-<p>Unhurriedly, the son of the snows approached the brute until there was

-not the space of a yard between them. There he paused. The dog neither

-shrank nor cowered, but waited with muscles tensed and teeth exposed.

-Polaris was very watchful.</p>

-

-<p>"Good fellow," he said.</p>

-

-<p>At the sound of the man's voice, the dog shifted his position slightly.

-His head swayed. From Polaris's face he glanced to the outstretched

-hand. The bristling hackles at his neck subsided. He took a stiff

-step forward, then another. The tip of his cold muzzle touched the

-man's fingers. He sniffed. A long, red tongue crept forth and licked

-Polaris's hand. Another step, and the brute rubbed his great head

-against the man's thigh.</p>

-

-<p>"Ah; I thought you would," said Polaris. "Come on." He turned and

-crossed the hall to his sleeping chamber. The dog padded beside him on

-silent feet. The last thing the son of the snows heard, after he had

-called Brooks to take the watch, and closed his eyes to slumber, was

-the sigh of the huge beast as it stretched itself before his open door.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Worn of body and of nerves, Polaris slumbered deeply. Shamar rose high

-in the east and lighted the golden spires of his mighty temple in Adlaz

-town; still the man slept on, and as he slept, he dreamed. Far into the

-white, mysterious southland his fancies led, to a waste of ice and snow

-and bitter winds. He drove a team of splendid dogs&mdash;his gray brothers

-they seemed to be in the dream, those tried friends who had given their

-lives for their master, and of whom Marcus, if he still lived, was the

-last.</p>

-

-<p>On the sledge which the dogs drew, rode Rose Emer, wrapped in furs,

-as in truth she once had ridden. There, too&mdash;and even in the dream he

-seemed strangely out of place&mdash;was the Maeronican captain. Yes, Oleric

-the Red trudged through the snows beside the sledge, clad in his golden

-armor, his teeth chattering in the chill blasts of the wilderness, and

-bearing in his hand a naked sword.</p>

-

-<p>Danger, unseen, unknown, but frightful, encompassed the wanderers in

-the snow path. The dogs snarled and tore at their harness. Oleric ran

-forward, waving his sword, which seemed to drip blood on the white

-snows, and shouting.</p>

-

-<p>"Up, brother, and call off this beast of yours!" the red captain cried.

-"For soon must we go before Bel-Ar."</p>

-

-<p>With those words ringing in his ears, Polaris awoke. He sprang from his

-couch to the middle of the chamber. No dream's part was the shouting of

-Oleric. He stood in the hall before the chamber door, his lips still

-parted and a smile on his ruddy face.</p>

-

-<p>And the snarling of a dog&mdash;that, too, was real.</p>

-

-<p>Planted squarely in the doorway, hackles bristling, ears erect and

-fangs bared, was the immense animal with which Polaris had made friends

-in the night watches. All through the dark hours and the dawning, the

-beast had guarded the door, suffering none to approach it. He now

-barred the way to Oleric, and the chamber echoed to his angry challenge.</p>

-

-<p>"By the ten kings!" exclaimed the captain with a laugh. "You do raise

-up friends wherever you go, my brother. Here is one that dearly would

-love to make a breakfast off my lean shanks, armored as they are, and

-all because I would tell you that Shamar has brought to us another day."</p>

-

-<p>At the call of Polaris, the dog backed out of the doorway, but still

-with a wary and suspicious eye to the movements of the red captain.</p>

-

-<p>Mordo, the prison captain, was not in attendance, but certain of his

-servants were spreading the table near the center of the hall. The

-Americans and the Sardanians were gathered in a group about one of the

-pillars.</p>

-

-<p>Everson looked wan, like one whose pillow had been ridden by evil

-visions. The others of the party seemed in better spirits and were

-talking among themselves. Zenas Wright gave evidence that his

-scientific zeal had only lain dormant. For now he noted all about him

-with a keen and kinding interest, paying his attention especially to

-the architecture of the lordly hall which had housed them, and its

-sculptures, of which there were many. Young Brooks' interest was fully

-as keen, if more material, as that of the geologist. The eyes of the

-ensign were all for the table preparations.</p>

-

-<p>Seeing the party thus, and the broad bands of sunlight which streamed

-into the hall through windows of crystal high in the masonry, Polaris

-grew shamefaced.</p>

-

-<p>"Now it seems that I alone, who of all should be wakeful, have slept

-dully like a wintered bear," he muttered.</p>

-

-<p>"'Tis well. You have gained strength which perhaps shall not come

-amiss," Oleric answered.</p>

-

-<p>Near the center of the hall a fountain played, its spray falling

-through a bar of sunshine which changed the silver drops to gold as

-they fell. Calling his morning greetings to his friend, Polaris went

-thither and laved his face and hands and smoothed his mass of tawny

-hair. The dog followed close at heel and lapped greedily from the

-fountain's basin.</p>

-

-<p>"Strange that this brute should be here," said Oleric. "Do you know

-what manner of beast this is that so befriends you, Polaris?"</p>

-

-<p>Polaris shook his head; nor did he at that time see fit to acquaint

-Oleric with the circumstances of the dog's appearance.</p>

-

-<p>"This is one of the dogs the priests keep at the temple of Shamar," the

-captain informed. "There are few of the breed in the land, and all are

-at the temples of the god in the cities. Almost as sacred are these

-brutes as are the bulls, whereof you already know, and are likely to

-learn more. The holy men do say of them that they are dwelt in by the

-souls of heroes passed away, whom Shamar chooses to guard his temple

-gates, even as the bulls are inhabited by the souls of dead kings.</p>

-

-<p>"I do not believe such tales," he added quickly. "But now you will

-see why Bel-Ar will be more than passing wroth at the death of the

-bull, believing as he does that it is a dwelling place for one of his

-ancestors, and that you may, indeed, have slain his father or his

-grandfather."</p>

-

-<p>Oleric, who had breakfasted, sat by while the others ate. The dog,

-from the collar of which the captain read the name Rombar, signifying

-thunder, stood behind the seat of Polaris and ate with dignity whatever

-his self-appointed master passed to him. But he would take food from no

-other hand, not even from Rose Emer, who liked all dogs.</p>

-

-<p>Thereafter, sleeping or waking, the huge beast remained at Polaris's

-side, and none could coax him thence. And many Maeronicans deemed that

-strange. But as no man, not even Shamar's priests, dared to interfere

-with the sacred brutes, except when they played their parts in the

-ceremonials of the god, the attendance of Rombar upon the stranger was

-permitted.</p>

-

-<p>Under a guard of mailed foot-soldiers, led by Brunar, who was a captain

-in the palace regiment, the prisoners were marched from the ancient

-palace of Bel-Tisam to the newer palace of Bel-Ar. At their right, as

-they passed up the street called Chedar's Flight, was the wall, pierced

-by many gateways, of the Place of Games, with its basalt amphitheater

-and its arena.</p>

-

-<p>As they passed they heard the hoofs of galloping steeds, the rumble of

-chariot wheels, and the cries of the charioteers, where the young lords

-of Adlaz exercised their horses. From slits in the wall low down near

-the pavement, issued the howling and snarling of wild beasts; for a

-menagerie was a part of the equipment of the Place of Games.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Beyond the hippodrome, their way led around half the circle of the

-broad drive on which the four main avenues gave, and which surrounded

-the wonderful gardens of the Temple of the Sun. The Americans, three

-of whose number were widely traveled, marveled anew at the splendor of

-that mighty pile of white marble, its lofty columns, towers and domes,

-dazzling in the sunlight, their golden caps ablaze. Luxor and Karnac in

-the days when Pharaoh Rameses ruled in Egypt could not have shown the

-equal of this structure.</p>

-

-<p>With armed men clanking on each side, the captives entered through a

-massive peristyle of vari-colored pillars which was the portal to the

-house of the king. Along a corridor in which four elephants might have

-found way and clearance to walk abreast, the guards conducted them. At

-each end of the corridor there stood ajar tall gates of bronze, their

-bars interlaced with heavy patterns of gleaming gold, encrusted with

-the luminous metal, known in Maeronica as orichalcum, and set with many

-precious gems.</p>

-

-<p>Through the second gateway the prisoners were marched, and were in the

-audience chamber of Bel-Ar, the great king. It was similar in shape to

-the place where they had been quartered for the night; but there all

-similitude ceased. Bel-Tisam of old had sat in a plain and massive hall

-and been content. The house of Bel-Ar held treasures in metals and gems

-on its sculptured walls and pillars, aye, and on its floors, too, which

-could have paid the national debt of a wide and wasteful state.</p>

-

-<p>Dull gold smoldered underfoot in the mosaic of the pavement. Gold

-and orichalcum glittered and shimmered on pillar and wall. Chairs

-and tables of stone and bronze and polished woods were heavy with

-the precious metal. Set in the bases of the seventy and six pillars

-which upheld the roof were patterns gorgeous in agate, lapis-lazuli,

-turquoise, quartz, and rock-crystal. Other and similar panels

-adorned the walls. Farther up, where the work in gold and orichalcum

-began&mdash;placed so high, perhaps, to be out of reach of avaricious

-fingers&mdash;were more precious stones. There topaz, moonstone, amethyst,

-opal, sapphire, diamond, and priceless ruby and emerald flaunted their

-hundred fires.</p>

-

-<p>"Lordy!" muttered Zenas Wright under his breath to Ensign Brooks as

-they crossed the hall. "Give me a pick and a ladder and a half hour

-alone in which to use them, and you may have and welcome the rubies of

-Sardanes which went down with the <i>Minnetonka</i>."</p>

-

-<p>Near a fountain, the jets of which fell and flowed over a grotto of

-opalescent glass lighted from within, sat the master of all this

-splendor, Bel-Ar, king of Maeronica and lord of the underseas. On no

-raised dais or lofty throne sat this monarch who was absolute in his

-own land. A high-backed chair of carved black wood sufficed him, raised

-from the flooring on a single slab of red porphyry, scarcely twelve

-inches high. On another chair at his right sat his queen. The two

-were in the center of a wide crescent of seats and benches, whereon

-sat the nobles and ladies of Maeronica who made up the court. Without

-the semicircle stood attendants and slaves. Farther back, ranged in

-a double line, was one full company, one hundred men, of the palace

-guard, all in bronze mail, and each carrying his bared sword.</p>

-

-<p>Like a dull moth among a concourse of gaudy and fluttering butterflies

-was this powerful Maeronican king. He was attired simply in cloth

-of dark blue. A cloak of the same material had fallen back from his

-shoulders. On his knee rested a flat black cap of the same pattern

-that his meanest sailors wore. Only a light circlet of twisted gold,

-fashioned in the semblance of a slender serpent, set on his heavy

-black hair above his temples, and a short, broad sword which swung at

-his belt, distinguished the garb of Bel-Ar from that of the ordinary

-citizen of Adlaz.</p>

-

-<p>Seeing these things, one looked into the king's face for royalty,

-and found it there. He sat with an elbow on the arm of his chair,

-his chin cupped in his right hand, so that it hid his mouth. His

-forehead was broad and low, his nose short and tilted slightly at

-its tip. His cheeks were rounded and well-shaped. His ears, almost

-hidden in the black hair, which was cut evenly around his neck, were

-small and delicately turned as a woman's. But every other feature was

-cast into insignificance and forgotten, when one looked at the king's

-eyes. Set far apart, they were extraordinarily large, and black, so

-that iris and pupil seemed as one. They were the eyes of a mystic, a

-far-seeing dreamer, but filled with subdued fires; eyes of a strong and

-self-willed man, one not to be tampered with or led. In contrast to

-them, the skin of the face was fair, almost pallid. The king's figure

-was above medium height, broad and powerfully framed. His years were

-not more than thirty-seven.</p>

-

-<p>As the prisoners were brought near to him, Bel-Ar had fallen into a fit

-of abstraction. He gazed fixedly across the hall, seeing it not, nor

-its people and its walls. At his feet a little slave boy sat asleep,

-his head leaned against the leg of his king's chair, his small golden

-harp fallen across his lap.</p>

-

-<p>If Bel-Ar was the dull moth, his consort, Queen Raissa, who sat beside

-him, was the most gorgeous of all the butterflies. She was younger than

-the king, by a full ten years. Her face was small and flower-like, with

-pouting lips and proud blue eyes that shone like stars. Hair yellow as

-the golden, shell-shaped comb which was set in it, was piled high on

-her head, and was yet in such abundance that two heavy braids fell down

-across her shoulders. She was robed in a graceful gown of pale blue,

-the bodice of which blazed with gems. Her fingers toyed with a costly

-fan, whereof the stem was ivory and the sticks the colored plumes of

-rare birds. She gazed curiously at the strangers whom the soldiers

-brought in, and when her eyes alighted upon Oleric they became eager.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>At the edge of the open space just beyond the semicircle of the

-courtiers, the guards halted. For a few moments the silence in the hall

-was broken only by the low-toned gossip of gay lords and ladies, who

-paid scant attention to guards or prisoners. Then the queen touched

-Bel-Ar's knee with her fan and spoke a few words in his ear. He started

-from his reverie.</p>

-

-<p>"Come hither, Brunar," he said in a deep, low voice. As he raised his

-head, it was to be seen that his chin was square and heavy, but that

-his mouth was lacking in the strength of his other features.</p>

-

-<p>Brunar made his report, and was replaced by Oleric the Red, who bowed

-low before the king, his ready smile playing about his lips.</p>

-

-<p>"You would make report of a fademe lost, Captain Oleric," said the

-king. "Doubtless a small matter to you, but meaning much to me, who ill

-can spare my fademes." He frowned.</p>

-

-<p>"Not so, O king," replied the captain, composing his features and

-speaking earnestly. "As you know, not all of our engineers have learned

-to govern wisely the mighty force that gives the fademes life."</p>

-

-<p>Bel-Ar nodded. "That is true," he said. "Now what of this engineer of

-yours?"</p>

-

-<p>"Why, he was a careless fellow, and whoof! one day under his hands went

-engine and fademe. They lie in fragments on the sea-bottom near the

-great south cape on the way to the ocean named Pacific, and the crew

-lies with them."</p>

-

-<p>"How is it, then, that you stand here to make report?"</p>

-

-<p>"My star watched over me, O king. I floated to the surface, alone of

-all the fademe's crew. On the wreckage of the cabin I floated. I had

-by me my hamess (mask). I donned it. Later my senses departed me. I

-was taken up by a ship from the northern world, and was treated with

-kindness by these whom you see here. Driven by storm, that ship came to

-the coast of Maeronica, and&mdash;"</p>

-

-<p>"Enough; I had the rest of the tale from Brunar," interposed Bel-Ar.</p>

-

-<p>"But of your mission to the far Pacific? What of that?" questioned

-Raissa, leaning forward eagerly.</p>

-

-<p>Again Oleric smiled, and smiling, drew from his belt a small leather

-bag. He advanced, and kneeling, handed the bag to the queen.</p>

-

-<p>"Oh! Lovely!" she gasped as she poured a part of its contents into her

-palm&mdash;pearls, five score or more of them, as fine as ever came from the

-ocean bed, she held. One great and lustrous globe of faint rose-pink

-she seized upon with a cry of delight. She held it out toward the

-king. "See! Is it not beautiful?" she exclaimed. She turned to the red

-captain.</p>

-

-<p>"You have done well, indeed, good Oleric," she said quickly. "My king

-shall forgive you for the lost fademe, the losing of which was surely

-no fault of yours. And these&mdash;these be worth many fademes to me." She

-selected two of the pearls of fair size and goodly sheen and gave them

-to Oleric.</p>

-

-<p>"You did venture your life to get them. Perchance some maid of Adlaz

-town shall look on you more kindly for the gift," she said.</p>

-

-<p>Bel-Ar frowned; then he smiled, too.</p>

-

-<p>"Well, Raissa has said it. I must agree, I suppose. I forgive you the

-fademe," he said, somewhat dryly, while the lords and ladies laughed.

-"Only sail no more ships at present, captain. Get you to the harbor,

-and there for a space relieve Atlo as captain of the port. I have need

-of him at the Kimbrian Wall, where the robbers of Ruthar have grown

-overbold.</p>

-

-<p>"Now, another matter." The king's brow clouded. "Which of these

-foreigners slew the bull of Shamar? This one surely." He pointed to

-Minos. "Never saw I such a man."</p>

-

-<p>"No, O king, not he," Oleric said. "He is from a far land in the

-southern snow wastes, which was destroyed by the earth-fires. There he

-was the king. The other one, the golden-haired man, it was, who slew

-the bull&mdash;to save a child&mdash;"</p>

-

-<p>"Have done. The reason for the deed avails him not," Bel-Ar broke in.

-"Have him come hither, that I may judge."</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Oleric fetched Polaris Janess into the space before the throne. The son

-of the snows advanced with a firm step and halted directly in front of

-Bel-Ar, where he gazed at the king with steady eyes. Close at his heels

-came the great dog Rombar.</p>

-

-<p>"Why does the man not bow?" inquired Bel-Ar harshly. "Where learned he

-his manners? And how does it come that he is attended by a sacred dog

-of Shamar, that seems ready to do battle for him?"</p>

-

-<p>In truth, Rombar, who feared not kings, was ready for battle. He stood

-at the side of Polaris, his hackles raised and a rumbling challenge in

-his throat.</p>

-

-<p>Bel-Ar regarded the pair of them sternly, though many in his court

-found much to admire in the powerful form and steadfast demeanor of the

-son of the wilderness.</p>

-

-<p>Oleric spoke hastily in English. "Bow, brother; bow to the king; though

-I fear that 'twill not mend matters," he grumbled.</p>

-

-<p>Polaris inclined his head shortly and continued to meet the gaze of the

-angered king. "His bow is grudging enough," said Bel-Ar to the captain;

-"but no matter."</p>

-

-<p>Just then a tall old man in white and flowing robes came forward to

-the left of Bel-Ar's seat. He was lean of face, like an ancient hawk,

-and like a hawk's was his thin, curved beak. His eyes glittered with

-malice. On his breast, done in gold in the garment he wore, was the

-likeness of the rising sun, the insignia of the priests of Shamar.</p>

-

-<p>Well Polaris knew that shape and face. It was the master chuckler that

-had disturbed him the night before.</p>

-

-<p>"This man is marked by Shamar," the priest said in a high, cracked

-voice, and regarding Polaris hatefully. "As for the dog, 'tis sent by

-the god to watch that the man escape not his doom."</p>

-

-<p>"Oleric, hold your peace," said Bel-Ar, as the stout captain was about

-to speak. "And flout not the holy Rhaen, lest it be the worse for

-you. I will judge." The king paused and ran his eyes over the other

-prisoners.</p>

-

-<p>"He that slew the sacred bull, he shall be given over to the servants

-of Shamar, to be done with as the god shall will at the feast of years.

-He that was a king, he shall now serve a greater king. Let him be sent

-to the harbor, where strong backs are always welcome. The other two

-young men shall go into my mines. The old one shall be a scullion in my

-kitchens, as harder work doubtless would kill him.</p>

-

-<p>"Take the two women and the slayer of the bull to the prison and keep

-them fast until Shamar claims them for the feast. The women must die.

-The law commands that no foreign woman, however fair, shall live in

-Maeronica. So may the ancient blood never be tainted. I have judged.

-Let it be so, and so writ down, unless the holy Rhaen, chief servant to

-Shamar, has other claims." Bel-Ar looked inquiringly at the priest.</p>

-

-<p>Now it chanced that Lieutenant Everson, face to face with the man by

-whose decree his ship had perished, had fixed on the king a glance of

-undying hatred. None had noted it except the priest, Rhaen, who saw all

-things. He now asked that the naval man be turned over to the god along

-with Polaris. Bel-Ar nodded his assent.</p>

-

-<p>At a sign from the king, Oleric led Polaris back to his companions.

-The judgment was ended. The guards closed in around the prisoners and

-marched them away.</p>

-

-

-

-<hr class="chap" />

-<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2>

-

-<h3>"DEAD MEN ARE BEHIND US"</h3>

-

-

-<p>Along the black avenue, back to the prison house of Mordo, the captives

-were marched. For Oleric, through the friendship Brunar bore him, won

-from that captain the half of a day for his friends, that they might

-pass it together before the separation decreed by Bel-Ar.</p>

-

-<p>Understanding little of what had taken place, and no word of what had

-been said in the audience-chamber of the king&mdash;for Oleric the Red was

-their only interpreter&mdash;the prisoners still had the heart to look with

-curiosity upon the doings in that part of Adlaz town which lay along

-the way that they traversed.</p>

-

-<p>As Zenas Wright trudged, his bright old eyes were busy, and he shook

-his white head often at the marvels which he saw. A group of the

-young bloods of Maeronica clattered by on horses. As they passed, the

-old geologist stared and stopped in his tracks, so that an impatient

-soldier of the guard hustled him with the butt of a spear.</p>

-

-<p>"Gold, gold, everywhere," muttered Zenas as he started on. "They even

-shoe their horses with it."</p>

-

-<p>In the hall where they had slept the friends gathered for council.

-Oleric had come in with them, and all eyes were turned to him. Before

-he would speak the captain insisted that meat and wine should be

-brought, and he set his helmet on the floor and ate with them.</p>

-

-<p>Fate willed that it should be the last time that the seven friends

-should sit at the same table.</p>

-

-<p>When the meal was ended, Oleric told simply and briefly of the judgment

-of Bel-Ar, holding back nothing.</p>

-

-<p>For a moment, silence was his answer. Then Zenas Wright brought his

-jaws together with a snap.</p>

-

-<p>"What! Me a scullion in that barbarian's greasy kitchen!" he barked.

-"Why not nursemaid to the royal brats?" Then Zenas groaned as his anger

-was swallowed in the realization of what was to befall the friends he

-whom had come to love so well.</p>

-

-<p>With his topaz eyes ablaze, Polaris Janess sprang up from the table and

-stood over the captain.</p>

-

-<p>"You, Oleric, who call yourself my friend, why did you not interpret

-this to us while we were in the hall yonder?" he asked quietly. "Then

-had this kingdom been kingless." He glanced down at his sinewy hands.

-Suddenly he bent over and snatched the captain's sword from its sheath.

-So he, who had seen so much of fighting, made ready to fight again, and

-for the last time. For what else was left him but to give his life for

-his lady and go to his appointed place?</p>

-

-<p>"Of those who come to take us, some at least shall go a long journey

-with us," he said as he toyed with the heavy blade.</p>

-

-<p>Everson and Brooks, picked men who had sailed the seas for Uncle Sam,

-nodded their heads, saying nothing. There have been traditions in that

-service of which they were officers. When their time came they would

-uphold them.</p>

-

-<p>White and straight, the Lady Memene stood up from the table and fixed

-her glorious eyes upon the Sardanian king. She plucked from the bosom

-of her gown a small, keen dagger, a blade of ilium, which a certain

-Kard the Smith had forged for her in far-away Sardanes. She reached the

-weapon across the table and into the hands of Minos.</p>

-

-<p>"If I understand the words of this man aright, death waiteth," she said

-in the ancient Greek of her native land. "Memene prefers it at thy

-hands, O king of mine. Slay thou me and&mdash;and the unborn king, Minos."

-Her lips trembled pitifully, and her voice broke. Then she became hard

-again, and with a fire in her eyes. "Join thou then with our good

-brother here, and slay, and slay, and slay&mdash;for this is an evil land.

-And begin with this man whom we saved from the sea, and who is evil,

-also. See! He smileth, while we are about to die."</p>

-

-<p>Oleric, who had made no move when his sword was taken from him, sat

-quietly, studying the faces about him and smiling his enigmatical smile.</p>

-

-<p>"What does the lady say?" he asked of Polaris.</p>

-

-<p>Janess told him.</p>

-

-<p>When Rose Emer heard, she threw her arms about the Sardanian princess

-and hid her face in Memene's bosom. Presently she looked up, a mist of

-tears in her gray eyes, but her voice was clear and steady as she said:</p>

-

-<p>"If we are to die, let us die together. Polaris, let me go with Memene."</p>

-

-<p>Oleric's smile vanished. He held up his hand.</p>

-

-<p>"Let there be no more talk of dying&mdash;at least not for many long years,"

-he said, and there were both feeling and strength in his tones.</p>

-

-<p>The others looked at him, wondering what his words portended.</p>

-

-<p>"Now the time has come for me to avow myself," continued the red

-captain. "I will speak all that has been in my mind, and you shall

-judge if I be worthy of your trust&mdash;for trust to me you must, if we are

-to see a straight way out of this tangle."</p>

-

-<p>He turned to Polaris.</p>

-

-<p>"My brother," he said, "do you recall that yesterday, when you had

-slain the bull of Shamar, I said to you that Bel-Ar would be as little

-likely to forgive you that deed as to forgive one who confessed himself

-a follower of the Goddess Glorian of Ruthar?"</p>

-

-<p>Polaris nodded. "I remember," he answered, "but understand not."</p>

-

-<p>"That is my crime," said Oleric. "I am of Ruthar, a follower of the

-Goddess Glorian, and a faithful one. I will make clear to you what you

-do not understand. Listen. I will make the tale brief.</p>

-

-<p>"In the long ago, the very long ago&mdash;so long that most of the world

-you know was wilderness and its peoples barbarians&mdash;a mighty people

-flourished on an island in the ocean that you name Atlantic. They

-called themselves the Children of Ad, or Adlaz, after the eldest of the

-ten kings that once ruled in that land. Tradition has it that their

-island was the first cradle of civilization; for they, because of their

-isolation, alone of all the peoples of the earth, dwelt in peace and

-plenty, and were not wasted by wars.</p>

-

-<p>"If the ancient maps were truly drawn, that island of Adlaz lay

-opposite and southward from the straits of a fair sea, and the straits

-were known as the Pillars of Heracles. With time and the growth of

-the nation of Ad came greed upon her children, greed and the love of

-conquest. Great navies carried their armies east and west. Along both

-shores of that blue sea, which you know as Mediterranean, they gained a

-foothold, and made the nations bend to their yoke. Westward they sailed

-to another continent across the ocean, conquering the red men of the

-wildernesses there, and founding provinces and building cities.</p>

-

-<p>"Then in the flower of her pride and conquests, Adlaz was cut down.

-Both sides of the Mediterranean she held as far as the gates of Egypt

-and the islands of the Hellenes. But the nation of the Hellenes was

-the rock on which the fortunes of Adlaz split. A wise and crafty king

-led the Hellenes in battle to withstand the flood of invasion from the

-island empire. He beat their army and nearly destroyed it. He trapped

-the mighty navy that had sailed from Adlaz against the Hellenes. While

-Egypt sat quaking, waiting to bend the neck to the heel of the invader,

-the Hellenes, under their wise leader, turned the tide.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>"Balked and broken, those who had gone forth to conquer returned to

-their island. But the great sea-god whom they worshiped must have been

-sorely angered at their failure. For in one day he arose and swallowed

-their island. The land heaved and split; the mountains were rent, and

-vomited up both fires and waters, and the entire island disappeared

-into the depths of the sea. East and west on the two continents, the

-barbarians rose against the colonies of Adlaz, and they too perished.

-O'Connell, the slave, who was learned, told me that so utterly was the

-race of Adlaz wiped from the earth that naught remains, excepting the

-half-buried ruins of some of their cities, which stand in the jungles

-of the western continent, concerning the very origin of which the minds

-of men are vague. And of the island of Adlaz itself, he told that it

-was only a dim tradition, a myth, the truth of which is doubted even by

-the learned.</p>

-

-<p>"But all of Adlaz did not perish. A part, a small part, of the mighty

-fleet which had sailed against the Hellenes was not lost, but was

-driven southward in the tidal-waves of the inundation which swallowed

-the island.</p>

-

-<p>"Afloat, but with every hand in the world turned against them, their

-colonies crumbling before the wrath of the barbarians, those chiefs of

-Adlaz turned for guidance to the son of one of their princes who was on

-one of the ships. Of his wisdom that prince told them that since they

-were hated of all the world, and that even the hand of the sea-god was

-set against them&mdash;why, they would sail to the end of the world to find

-them an abiding place, until in the fulness of time they should once

-more rule the earth. So they passed like a flame down the coasts of the

-western continent until they reached this place; and here they stopped

-and stayed, maintaining the old traditions of their race, keeping

-themselves apart&mdash;a hateful people, waiting for the day of which their

-leader told them, when they shall once more conquer the world.</p>

-

-<p>"But even in those days they found this land, which is warmed strangely

-by the ocean currents, was inhabited. A free and fearless race of

-barbarians dwelt here, and them the warriors of Adlaz were never able

-to subdue. Great beasts dwelt here, also&mdash;beasts so mighty that the

-earth shook when they walked&mdash;and the Children of Ad found themselves

-beset by troubles in their new land. But they throve. Though they

-could not conquer the barbarians, they drove them from the north of

-the island. And though they could not slay the mighty beasts, they

-affrighted them with fire, burning whole forests, and forced them also

-to the south. At one point the land is narrow, scarcely sixty of your

-English miles across. There the Children of Ad builded them a wall so

-tall and thick that even the beasts might not push it down.</p>

-

-<p>"On the other side of that wall&mdash;the Kimbrian Wall&mdash;lies Ruthar, a land

-of forests and hills and rivers, but a fair land. And there dwell the

-Rutharians and the beasts; and down through all the years to this day

-there has been war across the wall.</p>

-

-<p>"Now to the meat of this tale of mine, which grows long. In Ruthar

-there is a prophecy, also, to match that of those who call themselves

-Maeronicans. It is that there shall come up from the sea a mighty man

-with yellow hair like unto gold, who shall break down the Kimbrian

-Wall and let the beasts pass through, and who shall lead the chiefs

-of Ruthar in a warfare that shall break the power of Adlaz, and cast

-down the hateful kings and the cruel religion of Shamar. For that man

-the Rutharian chieftains always wait, and with them waits the Goddess

-Glorian, who is more than any king or chief."</p>

-

-<p>Oleric paused, and looked long and earnestly into the face of Polaris.</p>

-

-<p>"That is my tale, my brother," he said. "And if you are not the man of

-the ancient prophecy of Ruthar, at least I believe that you will serve."</p>

-

-<p>Breathlessly Zenas Wright had followed the course of the red captain's

-words. The scientist could contain himself no longer.</p>

-

-<p>"<i>Atlantis!</i>" he cried. From face to face about the table he looked,

-with a shadow of awe in his eager eyes. "Just so surely as we are

-sitting here&mdash;if this man tells the truth, and I think that he does&mdash;we

-are among the descendants of the people of the lost continent of

-Atlantis. Word for word, his story fits in with that which the old

-Egyptian priest at Sais told to Solon, the Greek, and which Plato

-recorded. I have read it all in the compilation by Ignatius Donnelly,

-in which he gathered all the evidence which he could find in the world

-to prove that Atlantis was not a myth."</p>

-

-<p>Zenas sat back with half-closed eyes. A long, low whistle passed his

-lips.</p>

-

-<p>"What do you call the luminous metal with which your helmet and armor

-are decorated?" he asked of Oleric.</p>

-

-<p>"It is called orichalcum," replied the captain.</p>

-

-<p>Wright nodded. "It is the same," he said. "Plato wrote that such was

-the name of a similar metal, of which the Atlanteans had the secret.

-They delved it from the ground. It was far more precious to them than

-gold. In their temples stood columns of it, on which their laws were

-carved."</p>

-

-<p>"O'Connell told me that there were still traditions in the world of the

-continent that was; but he never told me this," Oleric said. "You are

-right. In the Temple of Shamar, here in Adlaz, such a column stands,

-and on it the laws are writ. On it, too, is the prophecy of Maeronica,

-against which I now match the prophecy of Ruthar, whose son I am."</p>

-

-<p>He looked at Polaris. "Say, brother, how is it with you? Are you minded

-to come with me to Ruthar and try a tilt at the Kimbrian Wall&mdash;a tilt

-for a kingdom?"</p>

-

-<p>Polaris had heard the tale of Oleric with grave and earnest attention,

-studying the face of the captain as he talked. Now the son of the snows

-laughed dryly.</p>

-

-<p>"Mad talk, Oleric the Red," he said. "I am not the hero of your

-prophecy; and if I were, how are we to come from Adlaz to this Ruthar

-of which you tell us so glibly; and when we are come there, if that be

-possible, how are we to break down the wall which has stood against

-your armies for years&mdash;"</p>

-

-<p>"So it must seem to you," interrupted Oleric, with clouding brow. "Mad

-talk, indeed; and perhaps it is. But here in Adlaz is death&mdash;death and

-slavery. I know a way to Ruthar. For the matter of the wall, I have one

-question to put. Well answered, all will be well.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>"Here in Maeronica there are some few things in which the folk have

-progressed as far ahead of the rest of the world as the world has

-outstripped them in most others. Of these are the fademes and their

-power of destruction&mdash;the mighty force of which even I know can only be

-used beneath the sea. On land, that force is powerless except to use

-as a light. In battle the Maeronicans fight as did their forefathers,

-bearing the arms that you have seen. I know that out in the world men

-have mastered the secret of engines which slay from afar, casting

-globes of metal which fly apart with a loud noise, rending all that is

-near. Such I saw on the ship yonder.</p>

-

-<p>"We have, as you reckon time, nearly six months before the Feast of

-Years, when doom will be meted out to those who are marked for death.

-I know that is not time enough, nor do I think we have the means to

-construct such engines. But, say&mdash;has no one among you the knowledge to

-make the stuff which you feed into them? If there is such a one, why,

-I know in Ruthar a laboratory where he might work, with many willing

-hands to do his bidding. I have tried it myself, but have discovered

-nothing. Surely one of you, who are instructed, shall do better. So

-might we destroy even the great wall."</p>

-

-<p>He paused, and gazed hard at Zenas Wright and then at Lieutenant

-Everson.</p>

-

-<p>"<i>An explosive!</i>" Zenas Wright almost shouted the words. "You have a

-brain in that red head, my boy. With the proper chemicals it might be

-done." He clapped Everson on the shoulder. "With you to help me, it

-might be done. What do you think, lieutenant?"</p>

-

-<p>"I would do most anything to get a chance at this nest of devils," said

-Everson, and his eyes glittered. "I have not trusted this man. I do

-not know that I trust him now. But if he is playing fair, there seems

-no other way. Whatever you decide to do, I am with you, and will do my

-best. If we can find the chemicals, we can make an explosive powerful

-enough to move a few tons of stone, if that will do any good."</p>

-

-<p>"Break you the wall, and I will promise you the rest of the trick,"

-the captain cried, "or Ruthar will die to the last man on the road to

-Adlaz!"</p>

-

-<p>He considered for a moment.</p>

-

-<p>"One man I can surely take with me to Ruthar," he said. "Two will

-double, aye more than double the risk; and three would more than triple

-it. Still, it may be accomplished. I must have a little time; but I

-will do my best.</p>

-

-<p>"Now, my brother, what say you? If I can bring it about so that you and

-the old man here, Father Zenas, and this other, who, though he trust me

-not, I will yet play fair by&mdash;if I can manage it that these go with me

-to Ruthar&mdash;will you come, also?"</p>

-

-<p>"What of these others?" Polaris asked, and looked at Rose Emer.</p>

-

-<p>"Here they must stay," Oleric answered.</p>

-

-<p>"'Twill be hard enough to take the three of you&mdash;and slaying will be

-done before it is accomplished. It is impossible to take more. By the

-way which we shall go, no woman might pass undetected. But I tell you

-they shall come to no harm in your absence. The very law of the land

-protects them. They be marked for the ceremonies of Shamar. Until the

-appointed time, not even the king himself dare harm them. Bethink you,

-brother; this is the only way."</p>

-

-<p>"Yonder on the ship you made a promise, Oleric," replied Polaris. "I

-think you will try to keep it. I trust you. But there are other things

-to consider." He addressed himself to Rose Emer.</p>

-

-<p>"Lady, you have heard this madness, which yet, as says the captain,

-does seem to be the only road save that to death. In such things

-ofttimes the heart of a woman is wiser than the brains of men. Let your

-heart answer. Shall I go to Ruthar, and with this man and his people

-fight my way back to Adlaz, if it may be done?"</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>"The future of this company hangs on your word, lady," put in Oleric.

-"And I make another promise. By day and by night I will not leave the

-side of my brother. If he shall find that in any word I have lied, if

-he shall meet with any treachery through me, then let him wring this

-red head from off my shoulders."</p>

-

-<p>"If we stay here, we must die to-day, or be separated and die later,"

-Rose Emer said with a shudder. "And our friends, if they do not die,

-face a life of slavery." She looked into the face of Polaris, and

-though her lips trembled and the tears started to her gray eyes, she

-said bravely:</p>

-

-<p>"Go to Ruthar, and come back if you can. If you do not come, I will

-know that you have done all that a man can do."</p>

-

-<p>"I will go with you, Oleric," Polaris said simply. "Now, what is your

-plan?"</p>

-

-<p>"This," answered the captain. "When the guards come, as they will

-presently, you, my brother, will go with them to the dungeons that lie

-below this house. Though they are cut in the rock they are lighted well

-and are not terrible. You will not fare badly there. The ladies will be

-quartered above here, and I will exert my influence to see that they

-are treated well. These others will not fare so well; but they are men,

-and can stand it. Let them do as they are bid without protest. Within

-ten days from this day I will plan to have you out of your prison, and

-will contrive, also, to bring with me Father Zenas and the captain

-of the ship. By stealth or by force, we shall seize a marizel, pass

-through the hidden canal from Adlaz to the harbor, thence to the sea

-and down the coast to Ruthar.</p>

-

-<p>"I shall have some aid; for within the walls of Adlaz there is one

-other man of Ruthar who is faithful to me. You may wonder how it is

-that I, who am of Ruthar and hate Adlaz, yet am a captain in the

-service of Bel-Ar. Years ago I passed the Kimbrian Wall, coming as a

-spy and giving it out that I was the son of Maeronican parents taken

-captive in a foray; that I had been born in Ruthar, but had escaped

-into my own country. Here I have stayed at the bidding of the Goddess

-Glorian, ready against the time for which all Ruthar waits. Bel-Ar

-likes men of brains. I have some, and I have risen to be one of his

-captains. Also, I have learned much. That is all my story."</p>

-

-<p>"Who is the Goddess Glorian?" Rose Emer asked. "Is she the queen of

-Ruthar?"</p>

-

-<p>Oleric's eyes widened at the question; but he answered readily enough:</p>

-

-<p>"Yes, lady; she is the queen."</p>

-

-<p>"You say that there are great beasts in Ruthar," said Zenas Wright.

-"What are they&mdash;elephants?"</p>

-

-<p>"No; they are not what you call elephants," replied the captain.

-"O'Connell thought they were until he saw them. Then he gave them

-another name, which I have forgot. He told me of elephants; but they

-must be puny beasts compared to those which dwell in the forests of

-Ruthar. We call them amalocs. This man is a giant." He pointed to

-Minos, who stood six feet eight on his naked feet. "But were he twice

-as tall, he could not look across the back of an amaloc. But they are

-shaped like the elephants of which O'Connell told, and, like them, they

-are tusked. Their bodies are covered with red wool&mdash;almost as red as is

-my own thatch."</p>

-

-<p>"<i>Elephas primigenius!</i> Mammoths, no less," said Zenas. And he added

-under his breath, "I will believe that when I see them, my friend."</p>

-

-<p>Low as were his words, Oleric heard them.</p>

-

-<p>"You shall see them, Father Zenas," he said, and laughed.</p>

-

-<p>Presently came the guards, and the friends were separated. Some of them

-were never to be reunited.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Deep in the rock below the old palace of Bel-Tisam, where Mordo ruled,

-the guards led Polaris Janess, and left him there. Oleric had spoken

-truly concerning the place, and the captive might have fared much worse

-in a modern prison in a civilized land. For the place was roomy and

-well ventilated, and, above all, it was clean. A chamber or cell, it

-was, some forty feet square by thirty feet in height. Its outer wall

-was the living rock. On the other three sides was masonry. A circular

-door of bronze, small and of great strength, was its only entrance.</p>

-

-<p>Through that door from the corridor without stepped Polaris, and behind

-him, close as a shadow, padded the huge dog, Rombar, rumbling in his

-throat so that the guards shrank from him. The door clanged shut, and

-the bars and wards clashed into place. The guards had neither bound

-nor chained Polaris. They had not even searched his clothing. The

-thickness of the dungeon walls was their guarantee that he would do no

-mischief; and besides, they went well armed.</p>

-

-<p>Air entered the chamber through mortises in the wall near the ceiling

-and above the ground level, where began the foundation of the

-palace. It was lighted by a single globe, with its enclosed curious

-battery&mdash;mitzl, the Maeronicans called it; but the Americans had

-decided that the source of the light was some new application of

-electricity.</p>

-

-<p>By the light from the globe Polaris saw that he was not alone in the

-cell. A small man, whose features were concealed by a mat of unkempt

-gray hair and a shaggy beard, sat on a low cot in the angle of the wall

-nearest to the door. He was clothed in rags.</p>

-

-<p>This man did not look up when another was thrust in to break his

-solitude, but bent low over something which he had on the cot, swaying

-back and forth as he sat, and crooning softly to himself.</p>

-

-<p>Polaris cast his fellow prisoner a glance, and then fell to pacing

-up and down the length of the cell. His mood was gloomy. Above him

-somewhere through those gray walls dwelt his dear lady; but, ah, how

-far away! For he was powerless now to comfort her or to aid. Oleric

-would keep faith. Of that he was sure; but his heart misgave him

-mightily lest the plans of the captain should go awry.</p>

-

-<p>Yes; above him were Rose and Lady Memene, who through the long weeks of

-their prisonment, each night when they went to rest, would kneel and

-pray for his welfare and that of Minos and the others, and that all

-plans might prevail.</p>

-

-<p>Presently the son of the snows sat himself on a second cot on the far

-side of the chamber, and fell to fondling Rombar and toying with the

-dog's pointed ears.</p>

-

-<p>"Good Rombar," he said. "Good fellow and comrade."</p>

-

-<p>At his words, the man in the corner sprang up from his cot as though

-fire had touched him. He shrieked hoarsely and tottered across the

-floor, moving and clawing at the air with his hands. Unheeding the

-snarling menace of Rombar, he came on until he stood in front of the

-cot where Polaris sat holding the dog back by the collar.</p>

-

-<p>The man bent over, resting his hands on his knees, and peered into

-Polaris's face with darkling, rheumy eyes.</p>

-

-<p>"Hinglish!" he croaked, gasping for his breath. "Hinglish! Did Hi 'ear

-a Hinglish word, or was I a-dreamin'? Sye?"</p>

-

-<p>He trembled in a terrible eagerness.</p>

-

-<p>"You did, indeed," Polaris said gently. "Now tell me how you came here,

-who speak it also, and who are you?"</p>

-

-<p>"Gor'bly me; Hi never 'oped to 'ear another Hinglish word in this

-life&mdash;me wot's rottin' 'ere into my grave!" the man said. "Gor'! Gor'!"

-He subsided into a tattered heap on the floor of the cell, covered his

-eyes with his shaking, grimy hands, and sobbed hysterically.</p>

-

-<p>Restraining the dog, which would have sprung upon the weeping man,

-Polaris leaned forward and patted the poor fellow on the shoulder.</p>

-

-<p>"Who are you, and how do you come to be in a Maeronican dungeon?" he

-asked.</p>

-

-<p>"Jack Melton's me nyme, sir," the man said brokenly. "Hi'm from old

-Lunnon, Gor' bless 'er! Hi was cook on the ship <i>Aldine</i>, sir, from

-'Ong-Kong to Durban, round the Cape. We got off our course, and the

-bloody devils sunk us&mdash;skewered us like a mutton shank, sir, with a

-streak of light. An' w'y in 'ell they did it, sir, is more than Hi can

-tell.</p>

-

-<p>"Hi floated free on a cask&mdash;a biscuit cask, sir. Or mayhap it was a

-'encoop; Hi've forgot, Hi was that flustered. Hup bobs a bloomin' big

-gold ball from the sea&mdash;it's Gord's truth. They took me aboard, an'

-they brought me ashore. They sets me to work in their mines; but Hi'd

-not do a stroke for them, sir. Hi near killed one of the bosses. Then

-they brought me here, sir. Oh, Gor'! Oh, Gor'-a-me!"</p>

-

-<p>He broke out weeping afresh and rocked himself back and forth.</p>

-

-<p>"How long have you been here?" questioned Polaris.</p>

-

-<p>"That Hi can't tell, sir," Melton replied. "Hi used to keep count of

-the weeks an' months; but Hi lost it. Mayhap 'alf a year; mayhap a

-year."</p>

-

-<p>Melton fell silent for a time. Then he chuckled to himself and tottered

-to his feet.</p>

-

-<p>"<i>Hi'll</i> get even with 'em, sir," he said. "Never fear; <i>Hi'll</i> get

-even. Come an' see, sir."</p>

-

-<p>He took Polaris by the hand and led him across the floor to the other

-cot. "Look!" he said, and fumbled back the ragged covers.</p>

-

-<p>Beady black eyes glistened among the rags. A sharp and whiskered gray

-snout was thrust forth, twitching and sniffing; then another and

-another. A mother rat and two half-grown young ones were hidden in

-Melton's bed. Out they crept to their master's coaxing, only to scurry

-back, squeaking, when Rombar thrust his head from behind Polaris,

-whining with eagerness to be at them.</p>

-

-<p>"Keep the tyke back, sir," said Melton. "'E frights 'em. This 'ere's

-'Enrietta, an' 'ere's Bobby an' Bill. 'Enrietta's an old fool, an'

-Bobby's no better; but Bill, 'e's a wonner, sir. See!"</p>

-

-<p>From his breast he took a splinter of wood, to which was attached a bit

-of frayed red rag, on which he had rudely drawn in black the lines of

-the Union Jack. He placed one of the young rats on his palm, and laid

-the sliver with its frayed shred of bunting in front of the little

-animal. Softly he began to whistle the bars of "God Save the King."</p>

-

-<p>"Come, Bill; 'urry," he said, and resumed his low whistling. The rat

-took up the flag in its teeth and sat on its haunches in its master's

-hand. As long as the whistling continued the little beast shook its

-head vigorously, waving the tiny emblem. When Melton ceased the anthem,

-Bill let fall the flag and swarmed, squeaking, down the man's arm, to

-nestle away among the rags at his breast.</p>

-

-<p>"Gor'bly me, Bill, you're a wonner!" Melton said with pride. He placed

-his strange pet back with the others and pulled the coverlet over them.</p>

-

-<p>"Listen. Hi'll tell you wot no man knows," he whispered to Janess.

-"They're hoff a plyge-ship. 'Enrietta an' Bobby an' Bill is. They

-carried it to us from a bloomin' junk at 'Ong-Kong. The cap'n was

-dyin' of it in 'is cabin when the ship went down, sir. And Hi'm

-a-nursin' of 'em along, sir. Hi saved 'Enrietta, and she became a

-mother, sir. When there's enough of them, Hi shall loose them, sir.

-That's 'ow Hi'll get even. Gor'bly me! Hi'll kill hevery beggar in this

-land with the plyge. 'Enrietta an' Bobby an' Bill will do it, sir."</p>

-

-<p>Melton sat down on his cot again, and crooned to himself over his pets.

-He seemed to forget the presence of Janess. Neither then or afterward

-did he ask Polaris any questions as to how he came to share his prison.

-Polaris drew away from him and went back to his own side of the cell.

-He saw that the man was mad.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Twice each day one of Mordo's guards brought the captives their

-meals&mdash;bread and meat and water in generous measure, enough for the men

-and the dog. Melton from his rations fed his whiskered family.</p>

-

-<p>With his pocket-knife and a bit of wood from the frame of his cot, the

-son of the snows made shift to keep track of the passing of the days,

-cutting a nick in the wood for each. "God send that they be not many

-before the coming of Oleric," he prayed fervently.</p>

-

-<p>One night he was startled from his sleep by an uproar in the chamber.

-Melton's cursing and shrieking was intermingled with the angry snarls

-of Rombar. Polaris sprang up and threw off the cloth with which he was

-wont to darken the mitzl globe when he slept.</p>

-

-<p>Melton was crouched in the middle of the cell. His face was livid and

-contorted. Tears of rage were on his cheeks, and his breath was coming

-in gasps. His lips were writhed away from his ragged teeth. In front

-of him, tensed and ready to spring, was Rombar. On the floor, where it

-had dropped from the dog's jaws, lay a little bundle of gray fur, still

-twitching feebly.</p>

-

-<p>Before the impending grapple, Polaris bounded between them and jerked

-the dog back by the collar.</p>

-

-<p>"What is it?" he cried. "What ails you, Melton?"</p>

-

-<p>Then Janess saw the maimed little fragment of life on the floor, and

-his face saddened.</p>

-

-<p>"'Fore Gord, 'e's murdered my 'Enrietta!" howled Melton. "The tyke's

-murdered 'er, Hi sye! And Hi'll kill 'im, Hi will&mdash;and you, too, if you

-tries to stop me! And you, too, Hi says!"</p>

-

-<p>He staggered toward Janess and lunged out with his right hand.

-Something glistened in the light as he struck. Polaris avoided the

-blow, and caught and wrenched the outstretched arm. A slender bar of

-iron fell tinkling to the floor. Janess picked it up. Where it had come

-from he did not know; but Melton, by patient rubbing against the stones

-of the wall, had ground it to a needle point.</p>

-

-<p>"Let me at 'im!" the crazed man shrieked. "Hi'll tear 'im with me bare

-'ands!"</p>

-

-<p>Polaris pushed him back.</p>

-

-<p>"I am sorry, very sorry, for what he has done," he said. "But he is my

-good friend, and I shall not let him come to harm. He did but follow

-the instincts of his nature."</p>

-

-<p>Melton stared at him for a moment, and then, weeping and cursing,

-retired to his cot. Far into the night Polaris heard him moaning and

-mumbling to himself, and pitied him.</p>

-

-<p>Janess hid the weapon under his own pillow. Then with strips of his

-bedding he wove a stout cord, and thereafter when he slept he tied

-Rombar fast to a leg of the bed.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Days passed away&mdash;ten days, eleven, twelve, and still another. And yet

-there was no sign of Oleric. Polaris's stout heart sank.</p>

-

-<p>In the dark hours of the fourteenth day he awoke. He heard the grating

-of bronze hinges. At the side of his bed, Rombar growled softly.

-Polaris snatched the hood from the light.</p>

-

-<p>The door of bronze was open. The mitzl rays shone on the tall form of

-a man in golden armor.</p>

-

-<p>Oleric had come!</p>

-

-<p>"I am late at my tryst," whispered the red captain, "but I could not

-manage it sooner. Now we must haste, or 'twill be too late forever."

-He grinned. "I see your beard has grown somewhat," he said. "Perchance

-those bristles shall serve well. You are an ill man to disguise. Who is

-here?" he asked as he caught sight for the first time of Melton, who

-had not awakened.</p>

-

-<p>"A poor crazed English sailor," Polaris answered. He crossed the

-chamber, with Rombar at his heels; for he had stopped to undo the rope.</p>

-

-<p>"What? The brute, too?" groaned Oleric.</p>

-

-<p>"I fear we must," Polaris said. "If I leave him, he will rouse the

-prison with his howling, and I will not slay him. He has been too good

-a friend. Can we not manage to take him?"</p>

-

-<p>"Aye; bring him," grumbled the captain. "First fetch yonder light."</p>

-

-<p>Janess took down the globe. As he swung it toward Oleric, he saw that

-the hands of the captain were splashed red with blood. Oleric noted his

-glance.</p>

-

-<p>"Dead men are behind us," he said. "Thrice to-night have I used my

-sword&mdash;once at the mines, where I got Everson, and twice above. Two of

-the men of Mordo will turn no more prison keys. Come!"</p>

-

-<p>He stepped cautiously out through the door.</p>

-

-<p>Polaris glanced across to where the mad Cockney lay breathing heavily.</p>

-

-<p>"Some day, if it be given me, I will open this door again and set you

-free, John Melton," he whispered.</p>

-

-<p>He stooped and went out through the doorway, and Rombar followed.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Outside the door of the dungeon-chamber Polaris stumbled over the form

-of a tall man in armor, who lay with his face to the floor.</p>

-

-<p>"More death?" Janess asked of Oleric, who busied himself with the bolts

-of the bronze door.</p>

-

-<p>"Not so," said the captain with a chuckle, as he shot the last bar home

-in its socket. "Only the death that good wines bring. He has the best

-part of seven bottles in his skin."</p>

-

-<p>He looked up at Polaris apologetically.</p>

-

-<p>"Bel-Ar would flay him for this night's work, did he find him," he

-said. "You say the dog has been a good friend to you. Well, this man

-Mordo, with all his glum ways, is a good fellow. I will not leave my

-old drinking companion to the mercy of Bel-Ar."</p>

-

-<p>Without answer, Polaris handed the light to Oleric, and stooped and

-swung the limp figure of Mordo to his shoulder.</p>

-

-<p>Oleric glanced at the keys in his hand and then at the door.</p>

-

-<p>"I'll not turn the locks," he said. "I would not have the poor slave

-within starve while they made new keys."</p>

-

-<p>He led the way along the corridor, past a broad stone stairway, to the

-south wall of the old palace, where it fronted on the black avenue

-called Chedar's Flight. There in the wall were other doors of bronze.

-Oleric paused before one of them.</p>

-

-<p>"Will I ever enter Mordo's wine-cellars again, I wonder?" he said. He

-found the key and opened the heavy door. Within, the light disclosed

-rack after rack, seemingly without end, of dust-covered flagons. They

-threaded their way among them until Oleric found what he sought. In

-the stone floor of the chamber in a far corner was a round trap-door

-of bronze. The captain had to tug one of the wine-racks to one side to

-disclose it.</p>

-

-<p>"Lay Mordo down, comrade, and help," he said, when his utmost strength

-had failed to stir the door.</p>

-

-<p>Polaris, still balancing his burden on his shoulder, bent down and

-caught the ancient ring of the door in one hand. Before Oleric could

-lay hold to help him he straightened, the mighty muscles of his back

-cracking with the effort. The door was open.</p>

-

-<p>The trap yawned on a dark stairway leading down through the rock. Far

-below sounded the plashing of waters. "Mind where you set your feet,"

-warned Oleric as he started down.</p>

-

-<p>"Where are Everson and the old man?" asked Polaris.</p>

-

-<p>"They wait us below in the hidden canal&mdash;they and one other," replied

-the captain. "They entered by another way, while I was busied in the

-house of Mordo."</p>

-

-<p>Oleric closed the trap and left the keys on the stair-top. Down fully

-threescore steps they went, and stood on a wharf of stone at the edge

-of a narrow canal that had been cut in the rock. Overhead, the roof was

-arched and vaulted. At the lip of the wharf was moored a small marizel,

-the golden plates of which caught the rays of the lamplike fire.</p>

-

-<p>"All the way from the Temple of the Sun to the harbor of Adlaz this

-canal leads, cut through the rock underneath Chedar's Flight," said

-Oleric. He stepped on the rear deck of the little craft and struck

-softly on its door, which was opened at once. A short man of middle

-age came onto the deck. He was clothed in the garb of a sailor. As the

-light fell on him, Polaris saw that his hair was almost as red as that

-of Oleric.</p>

-

-<p>"Now here is another good man of Ruthar," said the captain. And to the

-man he said, "Urk, this is the man whereof I have told you." From head

-to foot, Urk gave the son of the snows a long and searching glance.

-Then he folded his arms on his breast and bowed low.</p>

-

-<p>With Mordo on his shoulder, Polaris stepped onto the deck and through

-the door, followed by Rombar.</p>

-

-<p>Oleric closed the double doors of the craft, and Urk, who was skilled

-about the engines, at once got her under way. Submerged and showing no

-light, they crept cautiously down the canal toward the sea.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>In the cabin of the marizel were Everson and Wright&mdash;though Polaris had

-to look twice and then again to recognize the geologist. Zenas wore the

-mean black of a servant in the king's kitchens. His white hair had been

-bobbed and his beard shaved from him. But his little black eyes were as

-bright and restless as ever, and his voice was hearty as he wrung the

-hand of Polaris and said:</p>

-

-<p>"Lordy, son, but it's good to see you."</p>

-

-<p>Everson, who had discarded the dirty garments of a delver in the earth

-for the full golden armor of a Maeronican captain, caught Polaris's

-hand as Zenas relinquished it.</p>

-

-<p>"Our work has begun," he said, "and begun well. I shall distrust this

-man no more." He pointed to Oleric. "He has kept his promise in blood.

-He released me to-night, and he killed a man to do it."</p>

-

-<p>As they neared the harbor, Oleric explained that they would be forced

-to leave the marizel in the canal and cross the open court of the

-harbor to the wharves.</p>

-

-<p>"Else we must undergo inspection by the guards at the mouth of the

-canal," he said. "There is a gate there, and no marizel may pass

-without inspection. My lucky star it was that made Bel-Ar name me

-captain of the port in Atlo's stead. But even I could not pass you

-through the guards. Their eyes are keen, and one of us at least is a

-marked man in Adlaz." He glanced at Polaris. "There be too many of

-them to slay," he added. "I would have fitted you out with a suit of

-mail, brother; but there is none in Maeronica of a size to cover those

-shoulders of yours&mdash;unless it be that of Bel-Ar, which I could not well

-borrow."</p>

-

-<p>"When we leave this craft, what then, Oleric?" Polaris asked.</p>

-

-<p>"I have another waiting at the end of the southern quay," replied

-Oleric. "Urk knows the harbor as he knows the palm of his hand. Once

-through the outer channel, then down the coast to Ruthar."</p>

-

-<p>They left the marizel moored in the canal and went up through a passage

-in the rock to where a door led into the great arched tunnel above,

-where Chedar's Flight ended at the harbor of Adlaz town. Now there was

-only the crossing of the wharf and all would be well.</p>

-

-<p>But hark! As Oleric laid his hand on the door of the passage, came the

-thunder of hoofs through the tunnel, and a steel rider on a white horse

-flashed past and clattered across the court to the warehouses. He rode

-furiously, and as he neared the quays he cried out.</p>

-

-<p>Oleric tore the door open.</p>

-

-<p>"Our work behind there is overtaking us!" he cried. "We must run for

-it!"</p>

-

-<p>Polaris shifted Mordo's weight from his shoulder to his arms and

-bounded across the pavement at the heels of the captain. Behind came

-Wright, Everson, and Oleric's Rutharian henchman. Rombar leaped at the

-side of Polaris.</p>

-

-<p>Lights flashed ahead of them as they ran. When they neared the south

-quay, they saw that the way to it was barred by a thin line of men in

-steel, among whom glittered the golden armor of the captain of the

-canal guard.</p>

-

-<p>Casting a glance over his shoulder as he ran, to note the disposal of

-his own party, Oleric drew his sword and charged the line. The guard

-captain leaped out to meet him, shield up and sword aloft. Him Oleric

-cut down with a single stroke, laughing as he struck. In another

-instant Everson's blade was out and busy. His cutlass exercises at

-old Annapolis stood him well. The line of steel gave. The other three

-fugitives, running together, dashed through and gained the quay. But

-behind them came many men.</p>

-

-<p>Polaris laid Mordo on the wharf and looked about him for a weapon.

-The door of the nearest warehouse was made fast with a bar of bronze

-or steel, nearly eight feet in length. Janess tore it from its rests.

-At the end of the quay he saw the marizel of Oleric riding in its

-moorings, and saw that Urk had clambered aboard it and was making all

-ready to cast off.</p>

-

-<p>Whirling his ponderous weapon, which was a weight to tax the strength

-of an ordinary man to lift from the ground, Polaris rushed into the

-thick of the press, where the red captain and the naval lieutenant

-fought side by side.</p>

-

-<p>"Get you to the boat!" he shouted. "When all is ready, whistle that I

-may know."</p>

-

-<p><i>Clang!</i> The metal bar fell, and three men in steel went down under its

-sweep. With the agility of a panther, the son of the snows leaped and

-struck again. At his side black Rombar raged like a demon. Before those

-terrible blows no man, however well begirt in steel, could stand and

-live.</p>

-

-<p>The Maeronican fighting men drew back, aghast. The way to the wharf was

-clear.</p>

-

-<p>Laughing aloud, Oleric drew out of the fight and ran along the wharf to

-the marizel. Everson paused at the side of Polaris.</p>

-

-<p>"Best go on," Janess told him. "I shall need no aid. Or, if you stay,

-stand to one side a bit. I have need for much room."</p>

-

-<p>Once more the Maeronican men-at-arms closed in. Polaris, with his bar,

-charged them, shouting; for his blood was up. They should take him back

-to no dungeon when his freedom beckoned so near. Two more armored men

-fell, their mail cracking like egg-shell under the clanging flail that

-opposed them. Another went down under the murderous jaws of Rombar who

-fought at his master's thigh.</p>

-

-<p>Loud and clear then sounded the whistle of Oleric. Hurling the bar in

-the faces of the bewildered men of the guard, the son of the snows ran

-to the end of the wharf and sprang to the deck of the marizel. Everson

-entered the door just ahead of him. Oleric and Urk already had stowed

-Mordo within the vessel and cut loose the mooring ropes.</p>

-

-<p>As he paused for an instant on the rear deck to call the great dog to

-him, Polaris saw a giant figure come from one of the stone warehouses

-and run out to the end of the next quay. In the dusk, and at that

-distance, he yet was able to recognize Minos.</p>

-

-<p>"It is I, Polaris!" Janess shouted. "We leave for Ruthar, if we may win

-through. Farewell for a space, until we come again."</p>

-

-<p>Back came the deep voice of the king in answer:</p>

-

-<p>"Fare thee well, my brother!" he cried in the ancient Greek of

-Sardanes. "May the high God guide thy footsteps."</p>

-

-<p>Many a time in after years did the son of the snows recall to mind

-that scene: the great, circular basin of the harbor of Adlaz, dim under

-the light from the stars; the glittering fademes that were riding at

-anchor; the twinkling of mitzl globes along the wharves, where men

-ran to and fro; the court and its huge, black archway; the armored

-men of the guard coming on across the wharf; and the tall form of the

-Sardanian king standing at the end of the quay and waving farewell.</p>

-

-<p>Reenforcements had come to the Maeronican guards, and they rushed

-the quay. But Urk had his engine going. The marizel shot out into

-the harbor. In a moment more the little craft had dived beneath the

-surface. Like an arrow, it clove through the under water. Crafty

-steersman was Urk. Through the harbor he drove the marizel in safety,

-and through the tunnel to the sea, meeting no incoming danger. Once out

-of the channel, he turned the nose of the craft southward, down the

-coast toward Ruthar.</p>

-

-<p>Miles away, amid the dim Rutharian forests, fierce-eyed men gripped

-their sword-hilts firmer, and prayed to their stars and their goddess

-for the safe making of that journey and the glory of the war that

-was to come. For word had come to Ruthar&mdash;over the Kimbrian Wall it

-had come&mdash;that Oleric the Red had turned his face toward home again,

-bringing with him the man for whom a nation waited.</p>

-

-

-

-<hr class="chap" />

-<h2>CHAPTER V</h2>

-

-<h3>WHERE THE ILLIA MEETS THE SEA</h3>

-

-

-<p>In the watches of the night arose a great clamor and outcry in the old

-palace of Bel-Tisam. So loud was the din that it aroused Rose Emer and

-the Lady Memene from their slumbers in the chamber off the ancient hall

-where they were quartered. In the outer corridors they heard the clang

-of feet of armored men and their hoarse shouts as they called to one

-another. This grew faint and passed away, and then swelled loud and

-near again, as of men who had penetrated into the lower dungeons of the

-prison and returned.</p>

-

-<p>Sitting up in their bed and holding each other by the hand for comfort,

-the two women were afraid for what might have happened.</p>

-

-<p>"Something untoward is on foot," said Memene. "Perhaps this is the

-night chosen by the red man from the sea" (for so she called Oleric)

-"to go forth as he did promise, although it is past the time he set

-for his going."</p>

-

-<p>"Do you think that they have discovered the plan, and that

-he&mdash;Polaris&mdash;is taken again? I pray to God that is not so," whispered

-Rose.</p>

-

-<p>"Something has greatly stirred the guards," Memene replied. "But I do

-not think that the mighty man of the wilderness and his red friend are

-taken. Those shouts we heard but now were those of disappointed men."</p>

-

-<p>As the uproar continued through the rooms of the old prison, Rose and

-Memene arose and donned their garments. Sleep, for that night, had fled

-them.</p>

-

-<p>Presently they heard, but faint and muffled through the intervening

-walls, the clatter of hoofs on the pavement of the black avenue as a

-horse passed by, ridden at furious speed.</p>

-

-<p>A little later the door from the corridor outside the hall of audience

-was opened, and through it came that captain of the palace-guard who

-was named Brunar. From Oleric, the captain had learned a few words

-of the English tongue, and he now made shift with them to tell the

-two fair prisoners that Polaris and Oleric, and likewise the captain,

-Mordo, had gone. The escape of Zenas Wright and Everson had not been

-discovered as yet. Two dead guards in the rooms of Mordo, and the

-absence of the marizel from its moorings in the hidden canal near the

-Temple of the Sun, accounted for part of the story. A rider on the

-fleetest horse in the stables of Bel-Ar, said Brunar, had been sent to

-the harbor to warn the guards there, so they might trap the fugitives.</p>

-

-<p>From the manner in which his news was received, the captain was able

-to guess that Rose and Memene knew something of what was on foot. But

-this Brunar was a very courteous man, and he forbore to question them

-closely, if indeed he had enough English to do so. In the morning he

-came again, and told them of the fight at the harbor and the sailing

-of the marizel; for Brunar now took up his abode in the palace of

-Bel-Tisam and looked after the duties of Mordo. His two wards found

-him a kindly jailer, and as indulgent as circumstances would permit

-him to be, who could not set them free. Brunar was angry indeed at the

-supposed treachery of Oleric and of Mordo, not knowing that the one was

-a spy of Ruthar and that the other had had no will in the manner of his

-going forth from Adlaz.</p>

-

-<p>Report was made later in the day of the escape of Everson from the

-mines, and of Zenas Wright from the household of the king, and men

-marveled at the daring of the deed and the craft of it. But the two

-women in their prison, or Ensign Brooks in the mines, or Minos at the

-harbor, got no more news of the fugitives for many a long day.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>With Urk, the sailor, squatting among the levers of his engine, the

-marizel of Oleric swam steadily and swiftly down the western coast of

-Maeronica. Under water she went, well off from the shore and showing no

-lights. Oleric showed his passengers the marvelous valves in the sides

-of the little vessel which were similar in construction to the mask

-with which they already were familiar, and by means of which the air in

-the marizel was replenished with oxygen drawn from the sea water.</p>

-

-<p>Also, he told them somewhat of the land to which they were journeying,

-explaining why it was that Ruthar, though smaller and more sparsely

-populated by far than Maeronica, had never been conquered by the larger

-power. It was a land of forests and mountains, he said, and all the

-way around its ragged coastline were huge, precipitous cliffs, the

-overhanging crags of which were a natural barrier to invasion. Wherever

-had been a break in the cliff-line, the Rutharians, by dint of great

-labors, had filled the breaks with walls, closing the gaps so that the

-only places where one might land on Ruthar from the sea were certain

-spots where narrow stretches of beach lay at the foot of the towering

-cliffs.</p>

-

-<p>At only one point could one come at the interior of the country from

-the sea, Oleric said, and that was at the mouth of a river named Illia.

-That place was closely guarded, and nature and the hand of man had

-united to make of it a way where one man might defy a thousand.</p>

-

-<p>Years before, the red captain said, the Rutharians had had a few small

-ships. But they had little use for them, and with the perfection of

-the fademes by the Maeronicans, nearly a century before, the Rutharian

-vessels had been promptly sent to the bottom. Metals were easily mined,

-and in abundance, especially gold, in Maeronica. But the materials

-which produced the power for the fademes and for their terrible

-destroyers were scarce and precious. Therefore, the growth of the navy

-of Adlaz had been slow.</p>

-

-<p>But with the fulfillment of the mighty destiny of the Children of Ad

-in mind, the scientists labored unceasingly, and it was in the mind

-of Bel-Ar that he was to be the man to see the accomplishment of that

-destiny. He waited but the equipment of a few more fademes to send

-his dreadful messengers forth to take and hold all the seas on earth,

-compelling the nations of the world to bow to the power of Adlaz, as

-tradition told him they once had bowed before.</p>

-

-<p>"Now Ruthar, if her stars shine brightly, shall put a big stone before

-his chariot-wheels and break his power," Oleric said, "repaying evil

-with evil until good come of it, and the Goddess Glorian reigns from

-the capes at the north to the southern seas. And in that I pray that

-my part shall not be small." With a laugh he added, "This is a strange

-game for me to play&mdash;Oleric the Red, loose-mouthed soldier and slayer

-of men&mdash;who in Ruthar am known as Oleric the learned, a professor in

-the University of Nematzin, which is hard by the hill of Flomos, on the

-banks of the river Illia."</p>

-

-<p>"And this Goddess Glorian&mdash;" asked Zenas Wright curiously. "Is she a

-statue in a temple, or the good star of Ruthar, or is she merely a

-name?"</p>

-

-<p>For once the readiness in answer of the red captain deserted him, and

-he stared at the geologist with open mouth. Then he said soberly:</p>

-

-<p>"No statue in a temple is the Goddess Glorian. Good star of Ruthar she

-is surely, and, in addition, she is the fairest woman on whom Shamar

-ever had looked down from the skies. And now her time comes on, for

-which she has waited many a hun&mdash;"</p>

-

-<p>Oleric broke off suddenly and turned his eyes on Polaris with a strange

-look.</p>

-

-<p>"Nay," he said; "for the rest you must learn from the goddess herself.

-My tongue does clack like a shepherd-wife's." Nor would he then or

-thereafter tell more of Ruthar and its goddess.</p>

-

-<p>Zenas Wright mused to himself, and the train of his musings ran thus:

-"Oleric, you seem to keep your promises, and you are a good fighter,

-for I have seen you fight. But when it comes to your tales of living

-mammoths in this twentieth century, and of a goddess in the shape of

-a woman who has <i>waited many a hundred years</i>&mdash;for that was what you

-almost said, my friend&mdash;why, then, I can't follow you; and I think you

-like to draw the long bow."</p>

-

-<p>Swiftly as the marizel traveled, that night wore into dawn, and day and

-darkness came, and still another dawning, ere Urk turned off his power

-and filled the air-chambers which raised the vessel to the surface of

-the sea. They had rounded the southern coast of Ruthar and beat up

-along the eastern shores, and here, as they arose from the depths,

-straight ahead of them lay the mouth of the river Illia. When the

-voyagers saw it, they did not wonder that Adlaz found little fortune in

-attacking Ruthar by sea.</p>

-

-<p>An irregular fissure in the frowning face of the cliff discharged the

-river into the sea. That rift was nearly thirty yards wide at its

-bottom, and narrowed almost to nothingness far above, where the red

-granite of the headlands towered many hundreds of feet in height. Down

-the glen in the fissure the river Illia tripped to the sea like a lady

-down a stately stairway. For the rock of the river-bed was shelving,

-in strata which varied from less than a foot to nearly three feet in

-height, and some of the shelves were as much as ten yards in breadth;

-so that the water came down that great natural stair in a series of

-broad cascades.</p>

-

-<p>"Up yonder stairway lies the path into Ruthar," Oleric said, pointing,

-as they stood on the deck of the marizel, and Urk laid the vessel as

-near to the shelving bank below the river-mouth as he could. "Here we

-must leave the marizel, and to the kindness of the waves; for there is

-no harbor in which to store her."</p>

-

-<p>Oleric clambered from the deck and stood up to his knees on the

-lowermost step of the Illia's wide stairway. The others followed, Urk

-last of all, haling before him the captain, Mordo, with his hands bound.</p>

-

-<p>For Mordo had proved an unruly passenger. When the fumes of the wine

-cleared from his brain, which was not for many hours, he had so cursed

-and raged at Oleric, forswearing all friendship that had been between

-them, that the Rutharian had lost his temper. He told Mordo roundly

-that he wished that he had left him to the mercy of Bel-Ar and the

-priests of Shamar.</p>

-

-<p>"Better that than the company of a traitorous hound," growled Mordo out

-of a soul in which no gratitude dwelt. Oleric deemed that it was best

-to bind him, lest he do mischief.</p>

-

-<p>Ascent of the river-stair was not difficult at first, for the steps

-were broad, and at that season of the year the volume of water coming

-down them was not so strong but that a man might keep his footing if he

-used care.</p>

-

-<p>Hardly were the climbers well within the shadow of the glen when there

-arose from the foot of the stair a mighty shouting and splashing.

-Oleric spun round with a curse on his lips.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Quickly as they had come from Adlaz town, their destination had been

-guessed, and others had come almost as quickly. As the fugitives

-turned, they saw a Maeronican fademe swing alongside the lowermost step

-of the ascent, her fore and after decks crowded with men, who swarmed

-off her onto the rock and ran up the stairway. Foremost among them,

-gorgeous in his golden armor, was the Captain Daelo, and he matched the

-curse of Oleric with another as he shook his gauntleted fist at his

-enemy.</p>

-

-<p>"Haste! Haste!" Oleric cried, then pursed his lips and sent a long

-whistle skirling up the glen. As he did so he lost his footing, clawed

-wildly at the air and the rocks, and went down.</p>

-

-<p>Though the push of the down-rushing waters of the Illia was not strong

-enough to sweep a man from his feet if he were cautious, it was yet

-of sufficient power to keep him going once he fell. From shelf to

-shelf down the great stairway Oleric went, his armor clanging. More

-than that, he swept Mordo and the sturdy Urk from their footing, also;

-and all three of them slid straight into the hands of Daelo's men,

-outstretched to receive them.</p>

-

-<p>As the soldiers seized Oleric and stood him upright, he wrenched free

-one arm and waved it at his companion.</p>

-

-<p>"Tarry not for me!" he shouted. "Go on! There be friends waiting at the

-top&mdash;" A soldier smote him on the mouth and silenced him.</p>

-

-<p>On the step where he stood Polaris halted. He bent, and with his strong

-fingers snapped the strings of his shoes and removed them&mdash;for he still

-wore his own clothing in which he had been dragged from the sea. With

-his feet bared, he had a better grip on the slippery rock. He snatched

-the sword of Everson from its sheath and went down the river-path, all

-unarmored as he was, to meet the swordsmen of Daelo. On they clambered,

-cursing and shouting; but the way was difficult for their mailed feet,

-and the son of the snows leaped down at them like an avalanche. With

-him, breast-deep in the current, went Rombar.</p>

-

-<p>First man to meet the descending danger was Daelo, and he paid the

-penalty of his temerity with his life. Polaris, striking from above,

-smote him from his foothold, a blow that shore away half of his golden

-helm and split the skull within it, and the Captain Daelo pitched

-backward into the sea.</p>

-

-<p>Another bound and a stroke so bitter that it hewed off the arm of a

-steel-clad soldier, severing it between wrist and elbow, and the son of

-the snows had freed Oleric from the hands that held him. Straightway

-the red captain drew sword and took up the tale. Daelo's men, of whom

-there were nearly a score, faltered, staggering and slipping on the

-rocky shelves. Almost their courage was broken, when Polaris caught

-his naked foot in a crevice in the rock and tripped. Before he could

-recover, a heavy sword-blade fell upon his unprotected head from

-behind. He let fall his own blade and sank to his knees and then to his

-face on the steps of Illia.</p>

-

-<p>Short-lived was the triumph of the Maeronicans. The cry of exultation

-which greeted the fall of their dreaded enemy was turned into a howl of

-dismay as half a hundred fierce-eyed fighting men of Ruthar poured down

-the glen, waving their bared swords and shouting:</p>

-

-<p>"For the Goddess Glorian! Slay the Maeronican dogs!"</p>

-

-<p>That tide overwhelmed the company of Daelo to the last man, and with

-them died black Mordo. Less by one more fademe was the navy of King

-Bel-Ar.</p>

-

-<p>When the warriors of the forests turned up the stair once more, they

-found Oleric kneeling in the water, supporting Polaris's head on his

-arm, while old Zenas and Everson bound with strips torn from their

-clothing the gaping wound which the sword-blade had left at the back of

-his head. Beside the group, Rombar, standing nearly to his neck in the

-wash of the river, lifted up his head and howled dolefully.</p>

-

-<p>Six strong men took up the limp form of the fair-haired giant and bore

-it away up the river staircase.</p>

-

-<p>So Polaris came at last to Ruthar.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Up the rocky shelves of Illia the Rutharians trudged and splashed, the

-chasm becoming ever narrower and more gloomy. With the narrowing of the

-rift, the water became deeper and its current stronger. Then one of the

-party uncoiled a long rope from his shoulder, and the party marched on

-in single file, each clinging to the rope like Alpine climbers.</p>

-

-<p>Oleric urged haste and more haste.</p>

-

-<p>Presently the water was too deep for Rombar, and the current set so

-strongly that the dog could not swim against it. At an order from

-Oleric, two Rutharian hunters seized the brute by the collar, and

-though one of them got a gashed hand for his pains, they bound Rombar's

-jaws and feet with ropes and carried him on their shoulders&mdash;a task

-which neither they nor Rombar found pleasant.</p>

-

-<p>At a point in the ascent where further progress against the deepening

-stream was impossible, the party left the bed of the river and

-clambered to the right, where a flight of steep and narrow steps had

-been cut in the rock along a fissure which branched from the main

-gorge. Up nearly two hundred of those steps they toiled, until Zenas

-Wright and Everson, unused to such exertions, nearly fainted with

-exhaustion. At the top of the stairs they emerged into a forest of tall

-trees, oak and pine and chestnut, which grew almost to the edge of the

-cliffs.</p>

-

-<p>No sooner had he stepped from the rock stairway than Oleric knelt and

-kissed the black earth.</p>

-

-<p>"This, my friends, is Ruthar," he said as he arose and faced the two

-Americans.</p>

-

-<p>From among the trees came a tall, white-bearded chieftain, who was

-armored from head to heel in a wonderful suit of chain mail, links of

-steel that shone like silver. At his back swung a two-handed sword

-which was nearly the length of a man.</p>

-

-<p>He advanced to Oleric and laid his hands on the captain's shoulders.</p>

-

-<p>"You are Oleric the Red, and no other," he said. "Well do I remember

-you. Once I was your pupil. But that was more than three times ten

-years ago." He shook his head wonderingly. "You serve Ruthar well," he

-added.</p>

-

-<p>Now, had Zenas Wright been able to understand the speech of Ruthar, he

-certainly would have set this chieftain down as a hoary-headed liar.

-For how could he have been a pupil to Oleric the Red more than thirty

-years before, when it was plain for any one to see that the captain

-must at that time have been a babe in his mother's arms?</p>

-

-<p>"Aye, Jastla, it is the old red fox come back to his hole again,"

-Oleric answered, striking the old chief fondly across his broad

-shoulders.</p>

-

-<p>"Which of these with you is the man&mdash;the hope of Ruthar?" questioned

-Jastla. His eyes passed the stubby form of Zenas Wright by and rested

-inquiringly on the square and soldierly Everson.</p>

-

-<p>Oleric's ruddy face went sober. His voice choked as he answered:</p>

-

-<p>"Nay, Jastla, neither of these. He comes yonder&mdash;and I fear that he is

-sorely smitten."</p>

-

-<p>As he spoke the six Rutharians who bore Polaris Janess came over the

-brink of the stair and laid their burden down.</p>

-

-<p>Jastla strode to the side of Polaris and looked down at him.</p>

-

-<p>"A mighty man, with golden hair&mdash;and comely, as was written in the

-prophecy," he muttered into his beard. "What has befallen him?" he

-asked of Oleric.</p>

-

-<p>While the captain told of the fight at the river-mouth, Zenas Wright

-knelt at Polaris's head and rearranged the bandages, which had become

-loosened in the rough journey through the gorge. Rombar, who had been

-that moment untrussed, pushed growling through the group of men and

-crouched and licked at his master's face.</p>

-

-<p>"Will he live, Father Zenas? Will he live?" Oleric asked. "Tell us,

-you, who are skilled."</p>

-

-<p>"God knows," groaned Zenas. The hand which he laid on the steel cheek

-of Polaris shook so that he snatched it away and hid it. "God only

-knows. There is a little life in him yet."</p>

-

-<p>"He plucked me from the sea," said Oleric wildly. "That was fated of

-the gods. Twice has he fought at my side. This day perchance he has

-given his life for me; and that was of his own strong spirit. I tell

-you, Father Zenas, that if it would do my brother any good, here would

-Oleric fall upon his sword and render up his soul unto those that sent

-it forth." Then he controlled himself. "Can he be moved? Can you keep

-the vital spark within him for a little space, good father? We must

-haste and get him to the Goddess Glorian. If his soul be not sped when

-he reaches her, she can hold it back, if any on earth can. Say, Father

-Zenas, can you do it?"</p>

-

-<p>"I will try," answered Zenas. "If I had a little wine, now&mdash;"</p>

-

-<p>"Wine!" Oleric shouted. "Bring wine, some one of you, and haste, though

-your lungs burst. And slay a kid, so that we may have broth."</p>

-

-<p>A fleet-footed Rutharian lad set off through the forest, running with

-the speed of a deer.</p>

-

-<p>"Now, Jastla, see you to a horse-litter. Two gentle beasts, mind you,

-but speedy. For we must travel fast and far. I take my brother to the

-Hill of Flomos. And send on a swift messenger to the Goddess Glorian,

-to tell her that the hope of Ruthar lies wounded in the forests and is

-near to death. Haste, Jastla; haste!"</p>

-

-<p>Wine was brought, and it was good wine; for the grapes that grow in

-the valleys of Ruthar are the finest in all the world. Zenas Wright

-forced apart the set jaws of the stricken man, using a sword-point

-to do it, and even as Dr. Marsey, who was dead, had done for Oleric,

-poured the purple wine and a little broth into Polaris's mouth. The

-kindly old geologist could only pray that some of it penetrated to the

-man's stomach, for most of it was spilled out again when they moved him.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Chief Jastla brought a horse-litter. In it, between two powerful

-beasts, Polaris was slung. The Rutharians wrapped him closely with

-blankets and furs. The sun had turned to his northward journey, and in

-the forests of Ruthar the air was keen with the tang of approaching

-winter&mdash;felt there in the uplands long before it reached to the plains

-and valleys of Maeronica.</p>

-

-<p>Horses were fetched for Oleric, Wright and Everson, and they set off at

-once along the mountain trails skirting the mighty cañon of the Illia.

-An escort of half a score of Rutharian hunters rode with them.</p>

-

-<p>All that day and night and until sunset of the next day they rode with

-only brief stops at small Rutharian hamlets, where they ate hurriedly

-and changed horses. Word had been sent on before of their coming, and

-fresh horses were always in waiting. Sleep they did not, save in their

-saddles, and the two Americans felt that they might die from sheer

-weariness.</p>

-

-<p>Oleric did not sleep at all, though of all the party his vitality

-seemed the least impaired by that racking journey. His face grew

-haggard and gaunt, and his eyes red-rimmed, but a wonderful

-determination seemed to sustain his body. He spoke seldom, and then to

-urge his faltering companions to renewed efforts.</p>

-

-<p>Rombar ran with the horses until he was utterly done up. Then Oleric

-left the dog at one of the mountain villages, to be brought on later.</p>

-

-<p>In the morning of the second day the party swung to the right, away

-from the gorge of the Illia, to come to it again about noon and cross

-it on a bridge of steel and stone that spanned it three hundred feet up

-from the torrent's course.</p>

-

-<p>Everson, looking at those piles and trusses, judged the building of

-that bridge to be the feat of no mean engineer. Though there had been a

-waste of material, the structure would have stood comparison with many

-a bridge in Europe or America.</p>

-

-<p>Throughout the long ride, Polaris lay like a log in the litter.

-Occasionally, at the stopping places, the scientist redressed the

-wound, smearing it with a healing balsam which an old woman in one of

-the villages had given him. It was a fearsome gash, and Zenas shook his

-head over it whenever he saw it. The point of the sword had laid open

-the scalp at the back of Polaris's head for a matter of inches, then

-had glanced from the bone beneath and bitten deeply into the neck near

-the spinal column.</p>

-

-<p>Wright sheared the hair away from the wound and stitched it as neatly

-as he could. Despite his care the edges of the cut turned blue, as

-is the way with such hurts if they have not expert attention. In the

-afternoon of that second day's ride he found that Polaris's hands and

-feet were becoming cold, and that the geologist deemed the worst sign

-of all.</p>

-

-<p>Shortly after they had crossed the bridge the contour of the country

-became less wild. They emerged from among the crags and peaks of the

-mountains into the foot-hills, where the forests were not so dense as

-above, and from time to time they came upon large spaces of cleared

-lands with tilled fields and many vineyards.</p>

-

-<p>In one of the forest glades the party passed a spot where a number

-of fair-sized trees had been uprooted and partly stripped of their

-branches and bark. Others, still standing, were mere distorted stubs of

-trees, their trunks scored and twisted and their foliage gone.</p>

-

-<p>"I hope such storms as the one that did this damage are not frequent

-hereabouts," said Zenas, pointing out the wrecks to Everson.</p>

-

-<p>Oleric heard the remark.</p>

-

-<p>"'Storms,' say you, Father Zenas?" he said. "The storm that went

-through here walked on four feet. When we of Ruthar see such a sight in

-the forest, we know that an amaloc has breakfasted there. I forget the

-high-sounding name you call him by."</p>

-

-<p>"That lad should have been a writer of fiction," said Zenas to himself

-when the captain had ridden on. "He almost makes me believe in him."</p>

-

-<p>"Gorry-me," Zenas groaned, easing himself in his saddle, "I wish we

-were at the end of this ride, wherever it is. I do not think that I

-shall ever be able to walk again. You," he said to Everson, "you ride

-along there in your golden armor like&mdash;what is it?&mdash;a paladin of old,

-and never a word out of you. Well, I'd sooner stand it, at that,

-than to go back to that roasting-spit I was put to tend in the King's

-kitchen." Zenas grunted as recollection stung him.</p>

-

-<p>"Why, do you know, one day I was figuring out a bit of calculus in my

-head, just for practise, and I let the meat scorch; and the head cook

-actually laid a dog-whip across my back. Yes, sir; me, a fellow in the

-National Geographic Society, whipped across a kitchen by a greasy-faced

-dough-slinger who doesn't know gneiss from rotten-stone!"</p>

-

-<p>Wright grunted again at the memory of that indignity, and then rambled

-on:</p>

-

-<p>"But we've got to stand it all for the boy here, and for the folks we

-left behind. God knows I'm willing to for their sakes, and worse yet,

-if it's to come. But I must grumble once in a while, and I can't help

-it. Say, Everson, do you believe any of that chaff of our red-headed

-friend about the mammoths?"</p>

-

-<p>The lieutenant did not answer, and Wright, peering into his face, saw

-that he was asleep in the saddle.</p>

-

-<p>Well down upon his course was the sun, and the shadows of the trees

-were lengthening eastward, when the travelers, who for some time had

-been following a smooth, straight road through rolling hills, came to

-an old Rutharian villa, which stood among its gardens a considerable

-distance back from the highway. A low wall bordered the grounds at the

-front along the roadway, a wall with a pillared gateway, where a drive

-led in from the road. At the foot of each of the pillars, sitting his

-horse like a statue, was a Rutharian gentleman.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>As the weary cavalcade came down the road the two riders left their

-posts and advanced to meet it, parleying with Oleric. Scarcely half a

-dozen words passed back and forth when the red captain set up a joyful

-shout. When he reached the gateway he turned his horse in, bidding the

-others to follow.</p>

-

-<p>"Here's hoping that some one will introduce me to a bed before I clean

-forget what one feels like," said Zenas.</p>

-

-<p>At the side of the ancient house the riders dismounted, Everson reeling

-from his horse like a drunken man and throwing himself face downward on

-the grass.</p>

-

-<p>Oleric superintended the removal of Polaris from the litter.</p>

-

-<p>The geologist was bending over his charge as the hunters bore him along

-when he became aware of the tall figure of a woman that came down from

-the porch of the mansion and hastened along the walk. She had thrown a

-long, dark red cloak about her shoulders. In the dusk of the garden the

-scientist could not distinguish her features, but he saw that her hair

-was dark, or seemed to be, and that she was taller than most women and

-splendidly formed.</p>

-

-<p>"The Goddess Glorian!" Oleric cried aloud. "Oh, by the stars of Ruthar,

-but you are welcome!"</p>

-

-<p>Down on one knee sank the captain and kissed her hand.</p>

-

-<p>"Oh, goddess, after all these years I have brought you the hope of

-Ruthar. But he is sorely wounded&mdash;dying&mdash;and you alone can save him. We

-were bringing him to Flomos with all the speed we might, and thought

-not to find you here."</p>

-

-<p>"Where else should Glorian be, but on the way to meet this man?" she

-answered simply. "Jastla's messenger reached Flomos this morning. He

-rode four horses to their deaths upon his way. You have done well,

-Oleric the Learned."</p>

-

-<p>When he heard the silvery cadences of that voice, though he understood

-not a word save the name of the captain, a thrill passed through Zenas

-Wright, old as he was, and through his aged veins he felt the blood

-course faster. The woman came nearer. He smelled the warm perfume of

-her hair as she bent and touched the cheek of Polaris with her hand.</p>

-

-<p>"Bring him within, Oleric," she said, "and, oh, haste, for&mdash;" Her

-glorious voice broke. "For he is nearly gone."</p>

-

-<p>Swinging the still form of Polaris shoulder high, the Rutharian hunters

-passed on and into the mansion, leaving Zenas behind.</p>

-

-<p>"Now, what do you know about that?" gasped the scientist as he sank

-wearily to the ground beside Everson. "Goddess, indeed! What, I want

-to know, will Rose Emer say when she learns of this young person? Well,

-I hope she saves the lad; but she'll need to be a doctor of parts, or

-I'm a donkey. Poor boy! Poor boy!"</p>

-

-<p>In a few moments came Oleric to show Wright and Everson to their

-quarters for the night in the rear of the house. And a rare time he had

-to arouse the lieutenant sufficiently to lead him to bed.</p>

-

-<p>White and still, Polaris Janess lay on a bed in an upper chamber of the

-old house. By the light from a mitzl globe&mdash;trophy of some Rutharian

-chieftain in a foray over the Kimbrian Wall&mdash;the Goddess Glorian bent

-above him and studied his pale features.</p>

-

-<p>"My friend, my poor friend," she said brokenly. "How often through the

-weary years I have seen you in my dreams&mdash;and now to find you&mdash;only to

-lose you."</p>

-

-<p>Hot tears ran down her cheeks and fell on the stricken man's face.</p>

-

-<p>"Oh! It shall not be!" she said fiercely. "You shall not die&mdash;not if

-Glorian must give her soul to hold you back from the gates of darkness."</p>

-

-<p>Throwing aside her cloak, she drew a chair to the bedside. With her

-fingers she lifted Polaris's eyelids and held them open. She gazed deep

-into the tawny eyes, now, alas, so dull and lifeless. For hours she sat

-there, with no more apparent movement than the man she watched over.

-The whole strength of her being seemed concentrated in some inward,

-unyielding struggle.</p>

-

-<p>And as the long hours passed a change came over the sick man. He did

-not stir. He scarcely seemed to breathe. But his face became less gray

-and haggard, and the icy chill of death was driven from his hands and

-feet.</p>

-

-<p>Long after midnight it was when the Goddess Glorian stood up from that

-bedside and in her heart said wildly, "I have won!"</p>

-

-<p>Summoning her women, who waited without the door, she bade them dress

-anew the now festering wound and pour a little wine and broth into his

-throat.</p>

-

-<p>All night long the Goddess Glorian sat and watched him.</p>

-

-<p>In the morning, when Oleric came to the door in answer to her summons,

-she looked up at him with a wan smile.</p>

-

-<p>"Fear no longer," she said. "The man will live."</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>On the third day after his arrival at the old Rutharian mansion,

-Polaris left it. But he knew nothing of that going. He still lay in

-the heavy stupor which was to hold him thrall for many days. Zenas

-Wright doubted much the wisdom of moving a man so ill. The scientist

-himself, after two days' rest, felt scarcely equal to the journey, and

-the thought of again bestriding a horse made him shudder. Still, he

-reasoned that it was by a miracle that Janess lived at all, and if she

-who had wrought that miracle, the Goddess Glorian, said he might be

-moved in safety, why, doubtless she knew what she was about.</p>

-

-<p>A low, four-wheeled car was brought. Across the box of it the hunters

-lashed light and springy poles and on them piled robes and blankets,

-making a soft and easy bed for the sick man. At the head of that couch

-rode the Goddess Glorian, cloaked and hooded, and at its foot crouched

-black Rombar, who had been brought in from the village where he had

-been left, and who seemed little the worse for his long jaunt. Wright

-and the lieutenant occupied another smaller car in the rear, and in

-a third vehicle rode a number of the women of Glorian's household.

-Oleric, mounted and aglitter in chain armor of steel&mdash;for he had

-discarded as soon as might be the hated golden livery of Bel-Ar&mdash;rode

-at the side of the first car. For escort the party had the company of

-nearly a score of young Rutharian zinds&mdash;zind was the only title of

-nobility in Ruthar.</p>

-

-<p>So they set out for Flomos, traveling by easy stages and with many

-rests. The roads were smooth and the country more even than that they

-had left behind. All along the way, be the time of day what it might,

-they rode between two long lines of people&mdash;people silent for the most

-part, who stood with bowed heads as the cars and the riders passed by.</p>

-

-<p>Far and wide throughout the land had gone the word that the man who

-had come to be known as the hope of Ruthar was journeying to Flomos,

-and the circumstances of that journey. These who lined the road were

-gathered there to do him silent homage. Satisfied were they if they

-only caught a fleeting glimpse of his still face on its pillow of furs.

-Over all of Ruthar went up a many-voiced and ceaseless prayer for his

-welfare.</p>

-

-<p>"H'm, Everson, folks will never stand like that for us, living or

-dead," said Zenas Wright to the lieutenant, when Oleric had told them

-the meaning of the silent lines of people. Despite his banter, the old

-geologist was deeply touched.</p>

-

-<p>Two days and part of a third they traveled&mdash;for they did not

-hurry&mdash;stopping for the nights at the homes of Rutharian gentlemen

-along the road. It was nearly afternoon of the third day when they

-followed the winding of the highway around the last low hills of the

-mountain range and came out upon a plateau-plain of wide extent, in

-the center of which was a wooded eminence, and on its crest the white

-pillars of a temple shone in the sunlight.</p>

-

-<p>The road stretched straight across the plain through a broad expanse

-of tilled lands and gardens, which ringed a city that stood at the

-foot of the hill. It was scarcely a fifth the proportions of Adlaz,

-this ancient town of Ruthar, which was called Zele-omaz, or City by

-the River; but it was a pretty place of broad streets shaded by many

-trees, gardens and low-built, pleasant homes, with here and there the

-statelier dwellings of some zind or wealthy man.</p>

-

-<p>Here, too, was the Illia, rock-bound no longer, but a fair and gentle

-stream, winding through the town and spanned by many bridges.</p>

-

-<p>Skirting the city at the right, the travelers followed a sloping path

-that led up the hill to where the temple stood.</p>

-

-<p>"Yonder," Oleric said, pointing down to where a group of low buildings

-of gray stone rambled at the waterside under spreading yew trees, "is

-the University of Nematzin, of which I am a professor. And there is the

-laboratory of which I spoke, where we shall make the thunder-dust to

-shake down the Kimbrian Wall."</p>

-

-<p>"One more day's rest, and I will be fit for anything," answered Everson.</p>

-

-<p>"What do you teach in this university, friend?" Zenas queried.</p>

-

-<p>"A little of the science of the stars, Father Zenas&mdash;or I did, for it

-is many years since I have sat among my pupils&mdash;somewhat of history and

-of language," replied the red captain.</p>

-

-<p>"Humph; you must have been a young teacher," said Zenas Wright, and he

-ran his fingers through the sprouting stubble of his beard, as he had a

-habit of doing when things vexed him. Suddenly he jumped in his seat,

-though the wrench to his sore flesh cost him a wry face.</p>

-

-<p>"Hey! Everson! Look at that, and then tell me if I'm dreaming."</p>

-

-<p>The "that" was a gateway through which the car was about to pass.

-Oleric followed with a glance the direction in which the geologist

-pointed and then rode on with a smile.</p>

-

-<p>It was a very curious gate, so curious that, if it still stands, and

-it doubtless does, for it was built to endure, there is none other

-just like it in the world. At each side of the roadway was a section

-of black stone wall, extending along the path a matter of a dozen feet

-and some ten feet high. At intervals along the tops of the two walls

-were set round, squat pillars, also of stone. Those had been hollowed

-out and served as bases for enormous ivory tusks, which were embedded

-in cement in the hollowed pillars, and from them curved up to meet over

-the center of the roadway, where their tips were made fast with double

-sockets of bronze.</p>

-

-<p>Ivory the tusks were; there was no doubting that; weather-checked and

-stained yellow by age and the elements, but still ivory. But the size

-of them! No elephant that ever walked the earth bore ivories of such

-proportions. For they were as large around at their bases as the chest

-of an average man; and from base to tapering tip there was none of them

-that did not measure eleven feet. Seven pair of them there were, and

-all splendidly matched.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Zenas stared back at that marvelous arch&mdash;for it was more an archway

-than a gate&mdash;as hard as he could stare. Not until a turn of the road

-hid it, did he relax into his seat.</p>

-

-<p>"Maybe he isn't so great a liar, after all," he said, and he meant

-Oleric. "Everson, those are mammoth's tusks&mdash;sure's I'm a sinner."</p>

-

-<p>"Strange land, strange things," answered Everson laconically.</p>

-

-<p>The home or temple of the Goddess Glorian on the hill of Flomos was a

-small thing by comparison with the mighty Temple of Shamar, but in its

-way was quite as beautiful. Like the temple of the sun-god, the house

-of Glorian was built all of white marble. Fronting north toward the

-city of Zele-omaz was a façade of four-and-twenty sixty-foot pillars.

-A broad, paved porch, reached by half a hundred steps, lay at the foot

-of the façade. Back of the pillars were twelve double doors of bronze,

-leading into a lofty hall, the marble dome of which towered high above

-the pillars and could be seen from the countryside for miles about when

-the sun shone on it.</p>

-

-<p>Back of the hall the structure was divided into three floors, or

-stories, each of many roomy chambers and corridors. The whole was well

-lighted by windows of clear glass, of which an abundance was used in

-both Maeronica and Ruthar. Behind the temple, southward down the hill,

-were the dwellings of Glorian's personal retainers and servants.</p>

-

-<p>Well back from the center of the domed hall and near the foot of a

-grand staircase which led to the second floor, was a raised dais of

-marble, whereon Glorian was wont to sit and give judgment in matters of

-state which were too high for the administration of the zinds who ruled

-in the different cities and provinces. Once Ruthar had had its dynasty

-of kings, but that was many years before. The royal line died out, and

-because of certain circumstances at that time the people raised up no

-more kings. At the time of the coming of the strangers the Goddess

-Glorian was the absolute power in Ruthar.</p>

-

-<p>On the dais in the throne-room was another wonder for Zenas Wright to

-see. It was a massive, double-seated chair, constructed, even to the

-pegs which held its parts together, of ivory like in the giant tusks

-of the arch. An artist of surpassing skill had wrought that chair and

-had carved it into the semblance of tall lily-stalks with heavy-headed,

-drooping blossoms and slender fronds. All around the larger stalks were

-cut the clinging tendrils of a creeping vine, a tracery as fine as lace.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Wright and Everson were given rooms on the second floor of the temple

-at its western side. Polaris was borne to a chamber on the upper

-story, where he was tended by Glorian herself and the servants of her

-household. Rombar took up his quarters in that chamber also, and only

-Oleric could lure the dog forth from his master's side, and then not

-for long at a time.</p>

-

-<p>Soon after their arrival at the hill of Flomos, and when they had

-rested some of the stiffness from their joints, Everson and the

-scientist went down with Oleric to the laboratories of Nematzin to

-begin their work. Though the students of Ruthar were not unskilled in

-chemistry of a sort, they knew nothing of explosives. So Zenas prepared

-himself for a series of tests to discover the materials of which he was

-in need, or, if he could not find what he desired, some combination

-which would serve.</p>

-

-<p>In that constructive analysis the naval lieutenant could be of little

-aid. Oleric then found a task for him which was more to his liking. It

-was the drilling of men.</p>

-

-<p>From her center to her rock-bound coasts, Ruthar hummed with the

-preparation for war.</p>

-

-<p>"If we are to fight, let us first know how many men we can raise, and

-how they will be disposed," said Everson. "What is the population of

-this country, and how will it match up, man for man, with Maeronica?"</p>

-

-<p>All told, Ruthar's people numbered something like a million and a

-quarter, Oleric informed him; and in Maeronica the population was near

-to three and one-half millions, at least a half a million of which

-dwelt in the great city of Adlaz.</p>

-

-<p>"As it is figured in the world, your army then will be made up of one

-fighting man to every ten persons," the lieutenant said. "If the spirit

-of the people is with us, we should be able to put at least one hundred

-and twenty-five thousand men in the field&mdash;and Bel-Ar, three hundred

-and fifty thousand. Those are heavy odds."</p>

-

-<p>"Ruthar shall do better even than that," Oleric said with pride. "I

-promise you that two hundred thousand men shall march when they hear

-the war-drums&mdash;and more may be found if the need grows bitter."</p>

-

-<p>"Can you equip and maintain them?" Everson asked.</p>

-

-<p>"In Ruthar every man is a soldier. They will equip themselves. This day

-has been awaited for long. Ruthar is ready to give all for the uses of

-her warrior sons. Fear not. Besides, though I will not deny that the

-men of Ad are good fighters and their country is far the richer, yet

-many of them are fat city dwellers and traders, of whom two are not a

-match for one of the hardy men of the mountains who will march under

-the banners of the Goddess Glorian. Show them the ruins of the Kimbrian

-Wall, and were the armies of Ad twice their strength, yet they should

-not turn Ruthar from her purpose."</p>

-

-<p>Everson nodded thoughtfully. "How will this force be divided?" he

-asked. "Have you many horsemen? In such a war as this promises to be,

-cavalry will be invaluable."</p>

-

-<p>The red captain knit his brow in calculation.</p>

-

-<p>"Forty thousand wild horsemen of the hills and mountains, who know

-not fear, can I promise," he said at length. "Five thousand chariots

-we can muster, each of two horses, and carrying each two fighting men

-and a driver to guide the horses; twenty thousand skilled archers;

-ninety thousand heavily armed men with swords and spears; ten thousand

-slingers; and twenty thousand men armed with javelins&mdash;these last to

-serve as skirmishers."</p>

-

-<p>Everson's eyes kindled at the recital of that tale of men, and he

-smiled&mdash;one of the few smiles that had lightened his face since his

-ship had been lost.</p>

-

-<p>"We must gather them into camps at once," he said. "The time is all too

-short in which to make an enemy out of raw levies. We must drill them

-all winter, and that will be a man's job."</p>

-

-<p>Straightway he threw himself into the task with tireless energy. And

-he vowed to himself that the men who had dared to sink a United States

-cruiser should learn a lesson of tears and death, and that he would

-have a hand in the teaching of the lesson.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Oblivion, like a deep and dreamless sleep, was the portion of Polaris

-Janess. It seemed that his soul had withdrawn itself to some place of

-peace to wait until its racked and weary body should once more be fit

-for tenancy. The wound in his neck closed and healed. Somewhat of color

-crept back into his cheeks. His body began to thrive, but there was in

-it seemingly little more of sentient life than in a tree which draws

-its nourishment from the soil and knows not of days and nights and the

-cares thereof.</p>

-

-<p>"It is a blood-clot that presses somewhere on the brain," Glorian told

-his friends, who stood often at his quiet bedside. "'Twill pass away

-ere long, and he will be whole again."</p>

-

-<p>To the surprise of Zenas and Everson, Glorian and a number of the

-learned men of the college of Nematzin spoke English almost with the

-facility of Oleric, from whom, indeed, they had learned it. And this

-was a great source of delight to the old geologist, who liked to talk

-and grumble over his labors. And what use is there in grumbling, if

-there is no one to hear and understand?</p>

-

-<p>Came a day when the curtain lifted from the brain of the sick man, and

-memory peopled the vacant stage, as once before it had done when he lay

-ill in the cabin on the ship <i>Felix</i> on his first journey from his home

-in the wilderness.</p>

-

-<p>Wondering, he lay still with closed lids, as he had a trick of doing

-when he waked from slumber. He began to reconstruct. The wreck of the

-<i>Minnetonka</i> passed before him, and then, like a series of pictures,

-the events which had followed the sinking of the ship; the stranger

-people; the judgment of the king; the parting from his love; the coming

-of the red captain in the night and the flight from Adlaz; the fight at

-the wharves and the farewell of Minos; the great stairway of the Illia&mdash;</p>

-

-<p>There the pictures ceased. He could not then, or ever afterward, recall

-the fight in the river, where he had gone down to aid Oleric and come

-by his wound.</p>

-

-<p>Into his nostrils was wafted a breath of faint perfume. A cool hand

-was laid against his cheek. He opened his eyes. The details of a high,

-arched room he saw; windows of glass at the north, where the sun shone

-thinly and big flakes of snow were floating slowly down&mdash;for winter had

-come to Ruthar; at his cheek a long, wonderfully shaped, white hand,

-with tapering, ringless fingers; a slender wrist; beyond it a face. He

-closed his lids again, with a frown of disbelief. The beauty of that

-face was such as no mortal ever saw, save in a dream.</p>

-

-<p>The hand stirred, and he looked again.</p>

-

-<p>From the times of Helen of Troy on down through the pages of all

-recorded history, those pages have been made bright by the faces of

-fair women who were their nations' boast. Here, before the eyes of the

-sick man, was a face that was the peer of any that ever shone in fable

-or in fact. A broad, high forehead above two dark and well-defined

-arches; beneath them, delicately veined lids and long dark lashes,

-veiling red-brown eyes. Eyes so wonderfully alive with expression that

-their change was like the bewildering melting of colors in a sunset;

-between their marvelous valleys, a slenderly bridged nose with a hint

-of the Roman. A rich, full-lipped mouth that was the playground of

-smiles, but which showed also the quality of rare determination, a

-promise sustained by the firmly rounded chin beneath it, a skin so fine

-of texture that through it might be traced the ebb and flow of life, as

-flames show roseate through a marble vase.</p>

-

-<p>Her head had the poise of an empress, and at its shapely crown, piled

-high, were lustrous coils of hair which at first glance seemed black;

-but when the light struck on it, glowed as an ember glows when a breath

-renews its dullness into fire.</p>

-

-<p>Such was the beauty of the woman on whom Polaris looked&mdash;and as he

-gazed, acknowledgment was forced within him that here was one that

-surpassed in fairness even the Rose-maid whom he loved. And there was

-no disloyalty in that acknowledgment. Rose Emer was a beautiful woman;

-but she who sat before him, and who seemed of nearly the same age and

-whose figure much resembled that of his own dear lady, she had the

-beauty of unearthly things.</p>

-

-<p>For a moment he stared in silence.</p>

-

-<p>"Where am I, and who are you?" he asked, and smiled faintly in response

-to her little exclamation of delight that his senses had come back to

-him. Before she could speak, he muttered, "I had forgotten; she will

-not understand."</p>

-

-<p>"But I do understand, my poor friend," she said, "and can make answer

-in your own tongue&mdash;if we keep to simple talk."</p>

-

-<p>As the quality of that voice had thrilled old Zenas, so now it sent a

-tremor through the veins of the son of the snows.</p>

-

-<p>"You are in the city of Zele-omaz, and I, who have watched while you

-lay wounded and ill, am a poor lady of wild Ruthar," she continued.</p>

-

-<p>"'Poor' and 'wild' are words that ill beseem you, lady," replied

-Polaris in the quaint expression that in the long years when his father

-had been his sole companion, he had absorbed from the pages of Scott's

-romantic "Ivanhoe," and which contact with modern English had not worn

-away.</p>

-

-<p>"I think that one Oleric has spoken oft of you, and that I can guess

-the name you bear&mdash;and I find it a most fitting name."</p>

-

-<p>Rose-pink the Goddess Glorian flushed, in a most mortal fashion, and

-was glad that at that moment black Rombar thrust his head forward over

-the edge of the bed to claim a share in the attention of his master.</p>

-

-<p>Polaris stirred his hands, and then looked up wonderingly.</p>

-

-<p>"I am weak," he said. "How long have I lain ill, and what misfortune

-befell me to so lay me by the heels? I understand it not at all; for my

-memory has tricked me."</p>

-

-<p>Toying with Rombar's collar, Glorian told him what she had learned from

-the others of the fight at the mouth of the Illia.</p>

-

-<p>"And I do thank you for the life of my faithful captain," she said,

-"as he will presently. It was a brave deed, a very brave deed. Now

-you must talk no more, and no more must I weary you. You are worn with

-sickness, and it will be many days before your strength comes back.

-Rest and fret not. All things are going well."</p>

-

-<p>She left him, and presently he slept.</p>

-

-

-

-<hr class="chap" />

-<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2>

-

-<h3>ZOAR OF THE AMALOCS</h3>

-

-

-<p>Beyond their knowledge of the working of metals, in which they had

-great facility, Zenas Wright soon found that the scientists of Nematzin

-could avail him little in his search for explosive compounds. Ordinary

-gunpowder, indeed, he knew he could make easily enough, after a

-fashion, but he sought for something more powerful by far than that.

-From the descriptions which he had heard of the Kimbrian Wall, he

-judged that it would be a rare task to shake it down.</p>

-

-<p>"We might do it with nitroglycerin," he told Everson. "But we would

-have to set all of the old wives of Ruthar to soap-making to get our

-glycerin, and it would be a difficult job to get it pure enough to

-serve our turn. Besides, nitroglycerin is mean and uncertain to handle."</p>

-

-<p>The two men sat before a ruddy coal fire in the big laboratory room

-which had been turned over to the uses of the geologist&mdash;a fire well

-screened from the rest of the room, so that no flying spark should

-raise mischief among the experiments of Zenas. Three weeks had elapsed

-since their arrival at Zele-omaz. Polaris Janess was well along

-the road to health. Everson and Oleric, laboring tirelessly, had

-established five great training camps, one on the plain near the city,

-and four others in the forests to the north beyond the Illia. Already

-the levies of Ruthar were pouring into the camps, where they were

-drilled by the zinds and captains, under the direction of the naval

-lieutenant and the red captain.</p>

-

-<p>Everson had thrown his whole heart into the work. Already he had made

-considerable progress in the learning of the Rutharian language. He

-was beginning to take a vast pride in the army he was welding. Born

-soldiers he found these Rutharians, amenable to the strict discipline

-which he preached, and to whom his word was law.</p>

-

-<p>He had ridden in this day from a tour of inspection of his camps to

-visit Wright and learn of the progress of the work on which depended

-their entire scheme of campaign.</p>

-

-<p>"Nitroglycerin," said Everson. "So you have found a source of nitric

-acid, then?"</p>

-

-<p>"Yes," replied Wright. "One of the first things which took my eye among

-a number of specimens of rock which I found in a case here, was a chunk

-of sodium nitrate. You know the stuff&mdash;Chile saltpeter, they call it."</p>

-

-<p>"Why not a picrate powder, if you have nitrates to work with?"

-suggested the lieutenant.</p>

-

-<p>"Picrate&mdash;nitric acid&mdash;phenol," said old Zenas. "That's the way of it.

-And to get phenol&mdash;lots of it&mdash;"</p>

-

-<p>He broke off and stared into the depths of the fire.</p>

-

-<p>"Hey!" he cried, and jumped to his feet so suddenly that Everson

-started. Zenas pointed at the fire, his little black eyes dancing and

-his beard wagging with his excitement.</p>

-

-<p>"Well?" queried Everson.</p>

-

-<p>"Coal, my boy, coal! There's oodles of it here. All I've got to do is

-to rig up a kiln for the distillation of coal-tar oil, and I'll have

-the phenol. God knows, these beggars are handy enough in the gentle

-art of blacksmithing. Tell your red-headed master of ceremonies to

-give me a little help&mdash;say two hundred or two hundred and fifty of his

-armorers, till I get a few kilns in operation and build me a bank of

-Glover towers, and I'll show you a line of stuff that will beat all of

-the Fourth of July celebrations you ever saw. Picrates! Humph! I'll

-turn out a brand of melinite for you that will jar the back door of

-hell off its hinges&mdash;if I don't whiff us all to kingdom come while I'm

-at the stuff."</p>

-

-<p>Oleric was summoned. The red captain turned over to Zenas Wright not

-two hundred, but nearer five hundred men, and the old university was

-straightway turned into a munitions plant, the stench and the fires of

-which ascended to heaven by day and by night.</p>

-

-<p>"And bring me about all the fat you can find in the kingdom," directed

-Zenas. "I'll need it to mix with my nice little patty-cakes."</p>

-

-<p>"You shall have it, Father Zenas," Oleric replied. "And it will not

-come amiss to make all that you can of this pastry. After the Kimbrian

-Wall is down, we may find some of it useful at the gates of Adlaz."</p>

-

-<p>So interested did Zenas become in this new work of his that he

-scarcely stopped for meals, and he slept on a cot of skins beside

-his fire in the old laboratory. One day, as he labored among his

-test-tubes, the outer door opened, and a tall figure robed in

-furs strode across the room and stood beside him. Zenas looked up

-impatiently.</p>

-

-<p>"Oh, Lordy, laddie!" he cried, his face lighting up. "It's good to see

-you on your feet again."</p>

-

-<p>It was Polaris&mdash;still somewhat gaunt and tottery, but with a welcome

-color in his cheeks and a brightness in his topaz eyes that augured

-well.</p>

-

-<p>"Aye, old friend, 'tis I," he answered. "While you do wear yourself

-thin in this place of many smells, and Everson rides his flesh off his

-bones, shall I then be doing nothing but to lie in a soft bed and dream

-the days away? I will have no more of it."</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>From that day strength came back to the son of the snows with

-surprising rapidity, considering that he had been so ill. Nor would he

-chafe in restless idleness, but demanded work to do. Soon in the five

-great camps of fighting men his figure and that of the huge black dog

-which followed him like a shadow were as well known to the soldiers as

-were those of Everson and the lieutenant. Under the tutelage of the

-Goddess Glorian, he had advanced in mastery of the Rutharian tongue

-much faster than either of the other two Americans; for he was a

-natural linguist and did not find the ancient language difficult.</p>

-

-<p>Old Jastla had come down out of his hills, and it was his particular

-pride to superintend the training of the son of the snows in the use of

-the arms of Ruthar. At his first trial, weakened though he was by his

-illness, Polaris cast a javelin farther by half a score of paces than

-could any warrior of Ruthar. Within a fortnight, although they might

-touch him by tricks of fence, there was not a swordsman in the five

-armies who could wear him down in the play of blades.</p>

-

-<p>Jastla boasted of him throughout the land.</p>

-

-<p>But though he took pleasure in all these things, he knew anxiety with

-the passing of the days, and in his heart pined mightily for news of

-his lady in Adlaz town. For that strong, true heart could not forget.

-Occasionally Oleric had word from over the wall from some of his secret

-spies in Maeronica, but never a word of the welfare of the stranger

-captives.</p>

-

-<p>All of his story Polaris had one day told to Glorian. And she had

-smiled and cheered him with brave words. And then, when he had gone,

-she had sat for the half of a day in her chamber, looking out at the

-snow-capped hills of Ruthar, striving to remember that she was a

-goddess, and to forget that she also was a woman. Too late she found

-that the woman conquered.</p>

-

-<p>Five weeks went by from the day when Polaris first went down to the

-workshop of Zenas. And then the geologist announced that he would give

-a show. He had some wares which he was anxious to display, he said.</p>

-

-<p>Near the south bank of the Illia, above the city and beyond the camp,

-stood an old stone tower which long had been crumbling into decay and

-which Atra, the zind who ruled in Zele-omaz, had purposed some day to

-tear down. There it was that the geologist said he would stage his

-performance, and all the camp and a goodly part of the citizens of the

-town went thither to see what he would do.</p>

-

-<p>At the appointed hour, early in the afternoon, the scientist rode out

-to the tower, attended by three of his assistants from the laboratory.

-With them they took a number of cakes of what looked remarkably like

-the bars of brown soap wherewith the American housewife labors o'

-Mondays. As much as two men could carry of the stuff they took. The

-third man bore a rude battery which Zenas had contrived, and a coil of

-copper wire which the Rutharian smiths had drawn for him, and which he

-had insulated with woven fiber dipped in gums from the forests.</p>

-

-<p>The tower had been a massive old structure, covering nearly a half acre

-of ground, and the lower parts of it were still solid. Its roof was

-gone, and portions of the upper walls had fallen in.</p>

-

-<p>Zenas found that there were a number of chambers below the ground level

-of the structure. In the central one of them he bestowed his precious

-cakes, and with them the end of his copper wire. He directed his

-assistants to cover the whole over with heavy stones.</p>

-

-<p>"And handle them with care," he cautioned, "or you will come a lot

-closer to the stars than you are ever likely to be by any other means."</p>

-

-<p>His preparations completed, the geologist bade his henchmen to make

-themselves scarce, which they were very glad to do. Bidding every one

-in the neighborhood of the tower to withdraw to a distance of several

-hundred feet, Zenas uncoiled his wire, of which he had brought a

-quantity sufficient to keep him out of harm's way. He squatted down

-behind the bole of a big yew-tree and struck the knob of his battery.</p>

-

-<p>For an instant nothing happened, and Zenas, peering forth from behind

-his tree, felt his heart sink with disappointment. Then very quietly

-the entire structure of the tower, which was nearly seventy feet in

-height, quitted the earth. For a second it seemed to hang suspended in

-the air like some enchanted thing. A hollow booming reverberated across

-the plain. The tower flew into fragments. The ice-bound surface of the

-Illia was shattered by the falling rocks. A gust of air rushed across

-the plain and through the ranks of the Rutharian soldiery and with it a

-shower of smaller débris, which fell among them like a storm. From the

-spot where the tower had stood, a column of greenish-yellow smoke arose

-and hung heavily.</p>

-

-<p>From the camp and the crowds of citizens went up a low moan of awe,

-followed by a shout of triumph from thirty thousand throats. Men ran

-across the meadows to view the aftermath of this wonder&mdash;such a thing

-as never had been seen in Ruthar. Where the tower had stood was a hole

-in the earth, wherein the structure itself might almost have been

-buried. No vestige of the masonry was left. Not one stone remained upon

-another, and many of the larger foundation rocks had been sundered into

-fragments by the terrific force of the released gases of the melinite.</p>

-

-<p>Rutharians from that day on called Zenas Wright "Father of the

-Thunders," and accorded him a respect second only to that in which they

-held Polaris.</p>

-

-<p>Janess, the red captain, and Everson, who had been witnesses to his

-experiment, ran to the side of the geologist and wrung his hand.</p>

-

-<p>"And now do you, Father Zenas, stay away from that laboratory," said

-Oleric.</p>

-

-<p>"See to it that my men keep to the trick of making this stuff; but

-do you keep away. Some careless fellow might let a cake of your

-earth-shaker fall&mdash;and we cannot spare you."</p>

-

-<p>"Now show me this Kimbrian Wall," was the comment of Zenas. But the

-scientist yielded to the entreaties of his friends, and thereafter

-went no more to the laboratories, except once a day only, to test the

-purity of the chemicals with which his workmen wrought.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Soon after the destruction of the tower, Oleric, with Polaris and the

-lieutenant, rode down through the forests to visit the Kimbrian Wall.

-Now that they were assured of a means to open the way to Adlaz, they

-were all of them impatient to map out their plan of campaign, in which,

-as he alone of them all was skilled in such matters, they looked to

-Everson for counsel.</p>

-

-<p>Three days riding brought the party to the great barrier which the

-Children of Ad had built far back in the dim centuries to separate them

-from their hated enemies.</p>

-

-<p>As the riders approached the wall, they found the land narrowed to an

-isthmus, which Oleric told them was nearly eighty miles in extent, by

-something less than sixty across. The Kimbrian Wall crossed the neck of

-land nearly midway to its length, but if anything, a few miles nearer

-to the mainland of Maeronica than it was to Ruthar. On the hither side

-of the barrier stretched thick forests of oak and pine. Along the

-isthmus and near its western sea-border lay the course of an ancient

-road, which once had connected the two countries. To this old highway

-Everson gave careful attention. In some places it was broken up and

-overgrown with timber, but the lieutenant thought that little work

-would be required to put it in shape for travel.</p>

-

-<p>From a pine-clad knoll in the forest they had their first glimpse of

-the wall, and a mighty work it was. Built of gray stone, now moss-grown

-and weather-aged, it stretched away to the right and left as far as

-they could see and ended sheer with the precipitous cliffs above the

-sea. So enormous were the stones of which it was constructed that it

-reminded Everson of remnants of the cyclopean masonry, which are to be

-found in the old countries and which tradition used to tell were built

-by a race of giants. Probably this work was as old as they.</p>

-

-<p>The wall was nearly fifty feet high, and so broad as its top that two

-chariots might pass thereon. At intervals of a mile all along its

-length were watchtowers, garrisoned by the border-soldiers of Bel-Ar.

-In addition to all those points of strength, the wall had been so

-constructed that near its top there was an overhang of a number of

-feet, making it exceedingly difficult for scaling.</p>

-

-<p>Still, Oleric said, it had been scaled, and many times, by small

-parties of raiders from both sides&mdash;and some of them had never returned.</p>

-

-<p>"Look!" the captain exclaimed. "Here comes one of the patrols."</p>

-

-<p>From the nearest tower to the east three men on horseback came riding

-along the top of the wall, clearly outlined against the pale sky. As

-they came nearer the forest-watchers could see that the riders were

-muffled in cloaks. A sharp wind was sweeping down from the south, and

-it must have been bitter indeed on the unprotected eminence of the wall.</p>

-

-<p>"Ha! 'Tis Atlo himself&mdash;the captain whom I replaced at the port," said

-Oleric as the patrol came opposite him. "See, the foremost of the

-riders."</p>

-

-<p>Sight of his enemies riding by so close proved too much of a temptation

-to one of the Rutharian fighting men who had ridden down with the party

-to the wall. He was a master bowman. While the eyes of his companions

-were fixed on the three riders, he dismounted and slipped away among

-the trees to the left. In the shadow of a pine he paused and set an

-arrow to the string.</p>

-

-<p>It was a long shot&mdash;nearly a hundred yards&mdash;but the winged shaft flew

-straight and true. It smote the captain, Atlo, on the shoulder, and

-the riders in the forest could hear the faint clink as the point fell

-blunted from the armor which he wore beneath his cloak.</p>

-

-<p>Atlo started in his saddle, then turned and waved his hand, with a

-laugh. He rode on as if the arrow were a matter of little moment. The

-other two riders were more timorous than their captain, and they sent

-many a glance back toward the dark forest shadow as they rode along.</p>

-

-<p>Oleric shouted to the archer to loose no more arrows.</p>

-

-<p>"Let no more raids be made over the wall," Everson directed, "and have

-a force of men clear and rebuild the old road yonder. Bring it up as

-near to the wall as may be, without attracting attention. We must

-attack and take them unawares. We will have to mine underground from

-the forest to the wall and place our explosives. As soon as the wall

-is down, we shall throw a force of infantry through the breach, starve

-the garrison off the wall and hold the territory on the other side

-against all attack until we can clear the wreck of the wall and lay a

-road through the gap so that our cavalry and charioteers may pass it.

-Otherwise, the Maeronicans will hold the breach against us, in which

-case there would be a delay which we cannot afford&mdash;if, indeed, we

-should be able to fight our way through at all."</p>

-

-<p>Oleric pondered on the plan for a few moments. He looked up with

-shining eyes.</p>

-

-<p>"A wise counsel," he said. "All of these things shall be done, and

-right speedily."</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Almost miracles are the things which may be accomplished by human

-brains and hands, if there be enough of them and they are united to

-their work by a common and all-pervading purpose.</p>

-

-<p>Into the old forests above the Kimbrian barrier the Rutharian zinds

-threw a force of two thousand men and half again as many horses. The

-ancient roadway through the wood to the foot of the wall was cleared

-and rebuilt as though by magic. Everson, visiting the scene of the

-work, reflected somewhat bitterly on the contrast between the manner

-of this labor and any similar task to be done in the land where he was

-born.</p>

-

-<p>There, he knew, there would have been the delays caused by failure to

-supply the necessary materials, and failure again to get them to their

-appointed places on contract time. There would have been labor strikes,

-jealousies and bickering among leaders. In the end, of course, the work

-would have been done, and well done&mdash;but with much trouble.</p>

-

-<p>But in Ruthar there were no walking delegates. Happy were the workmen

-to labor from sun to sun, and others to take up the task in the hours

-of darkness. Materials were free and inexhaustible, and the zinds and

-leaders worked together like brothers, each doing what was required of

-him, as though his very life depended upon it.</p>

-

-<p>Within a fortnight of his first view of the Kimbrian Wall, the

-lieutenant deemed that the time to strike was nearly ripe. Two months

-and nearly a half of another of the allotted six were past. Three

-months and a half remained before Adlaz would gather for the Feast

-of Years. Three months and a half in which to conquer a nation and

-take a walled city, the strength of which was a tradition! Yet it

-must be done. And Everson, when he saw the tools with which he had to

-work, hoped high. This was an archaic people; but he found its sons

-good companions; sturdy, truthful, straightforward as their own long

-sword-blades. He believed they would follow to the death and that they

-would not come too late to the Adlaz gates.</p>

-

-<p>One day, Glorian, who of late had avoided Polaris, summoned the son of

-the snows and bade him bring with him his American comrades and Oleric

-the Red.</p>

-

-<p>"I know that you are nearly ready to go up against the Kimbrian Wall

-and the hosts of Bel-Ar," she said. "But before that day comes, there

-is a pilgrimage that must be made to one without the aid of whom

-perchance your greatest effort would be in vain. Bring horses; for on

-this journey I ride with you."</p>

-

-<p>Polaris rode a splendid black stallion, splotched with white at

-forehead and fetlock, which had been the gift of Jastla, of the hills.

-When they were ready to leave the temple gates, Rombar came barking at

-the horses' heels.</p>

-

-<p>"Best to leave the dog behind, brother," said Oleric. "We go upon a

-path where he may find ill-favor."</p>

-

-<p>Cloaked in a wondrous robe of red fox-skins, Glorian rode on a

-cream-colored palfrey, attended by one of her women in waiting only.

-Never had she seemed more fair and queenly. Like some bright daughter

-of the white North of the long ago, was she, of whom the skalds have

-sung in their undying sagas.</p>

-

-<p>From her he glanced to Polaris, who rode beside her. The son of the

-snows was clad from head to heel in the glittering chain armor which

-Rutharian smiths had forged for him, and cloaked in the black skin

-of a forest bear. At his back swung a two-handed sword. A winged

-helm, brilliant with gold-work and curtained with a hood and cape of

-delicately wrought links, sat upon his tawny hair. Long since a razor

-of keen bronze had swept the beard from his cheeks and chin.</p>

-

-<p>Only in the amber eyes had the troubles of the years left their mark&mdash;a

-shadow of sadness when they were thoughtful or in repose, but which did

-not ill become them.</p>

-

-<p>"She may be a goddess," thought Zenas to himself, "and she is beautiful

-enough to be a real one; but if she hasn't gone silly as a cow-girl

-over this lad of ours, then I'm a donkey, and a blind one, to boot. O

-Trouble, you've worn skirts ever since you quit fig-leaves."</p>

-

-<p>Zenas shook his head. The geologist had never married.</p>

-

-<p>It was no brief pleasure-jaunt on which Glorian led, but nearly

-two days' hard riding into the northwest from Zele-omaz, across

-heavily-wooded mountains and through valleys deep with snow.</p>

-

-<p>Leaving the hills at last, the party came to a vast, dark forest,

-silent, somber and covering the rolling land like a black pall. Into

-its soundless glades the riders penetrated and rode for miles.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Presently they saw ahead of them a clearing in the depths of the wood,

-and a stretch of long buildings, built of stone, and with their windows

-set high in the walls near their roofs.</p>

-

-<p>It was late afternoon when the riders entered the clearing and

-approached the buildings, which stood about the four sides of a square,

-enclosing a space of nearly three acres. As they rode into this court,

-following a path between two of the buildings, the travelers saw that a

-number of smaller structures of stone and wood occupied a part of the

-square. Here and there in the court, fires of brush were burning&mdash;for

-it was bitter cold in the forest depths&mdash;and dark figures of men passed

-to and fro about the fires. A pack of shaggy, wolf-bred dogs came

-yapping at the horses' heels.</p>

-

-<p>"Who comes?" cried a voice. Men bearing spears ran forward from the

-fires.</p>

-

-<p>"Glorian of Ruthar comes to visit Zoar of the Amalocs," answered Oleric.</p>

-

-<p>Straightway the armed men knelt in the courtyard, and one in a stern

-voice called back the dogs.</p>

-

-<p>A door in one of the houses near the center of the square was opened,

-and the form of a man stood there, silhouetted against a flaring light

-within the dwelling.</p>

-

-<p>"Methought that I heard a voice well known to me, speaking of Glorian

-of Ruthar and of Zoar of the Amalocs." The tones of the man in the

-doorway were low, but clear and sonorous as a bell. "I thought it the

-voice of one Oleric the Learned," the man went on. He bent forward and

-shaded his eyes with his hand. "Are you indeed come, red one? Ride

-forward that I may see."</p>

-

-<p>Oleric's answer was drowned in a terrific chorus of squealing groans,

-which seemed to issue from the larger buildings on all three sides of

-the square. So unearthly and piercing was the din, that Zenas Wright

-would have clapped his hands to his ears; but he found his best efforts

-needed to control his horse. The steeds of all the party snorted and

-reared in terror of that hideous outburst. They would have bolted, but

-knew not where to bolt; and presently the clamor was ceased, and they

-stood still and trembling.</p>

-

-<p>"What demons of the place are these?" cried Polaris. He sprang down

-from his horse, tossed the reins to the man nearest him, and ran to the

-head of Glorian's palfrey, which was curveting and threatening to pitch

-its mistress from her saddle.</p>

-

-<p>"Those are the pets of Zoar," Oleric answered, "the amalocs. They know

-his voice and answer him in their own fashion." Spurring his restive

-horse, the red captain rode forward to the porch of the dwelling.</p>

-

-<p>"So, 'tis you, indeed," said Zoar as the captain advanced into the ring

-of firelight. This time the man spoke softly, almost in a whisper, and

-was not again interrupted. He stepped to the side of the captain's

-horse and took him by the hand. "Who rides with you, and why do you

-ride to seek Zoar?" he asked. "Is the time come, red one? Is it come?"</p>

-

-<p>"Aye; the time is here, Zoar," said Oleric soberly. "Our years have not

-been in vain. Yonder sits the Goddess Glorian, and holding her horse's

-head is the hope of Ruthar, whom I have brought up from the sea."</p>

-

-<p>"And the Kimbrian Wall?" Zoar asked.</p>

-

-<p>"It waits but the coming of the amalocs, when we will push it down like

-a barrier of straw," Oleric answered. "Ruthar stands in arms as she

-never has before, and the land rustles with banners. We have come to

-ask your aid. When we know that Zoar of the amalocs is on the march,

-then will the war-drums be sounded."</p>

-

-<p>"Has the ancient crown touched his brow?" asked Zoar.</p>

-

-<p>"Not yet; we wait your word."</p>

-

-<p>"It is given." Zoar lifted his face to the dim sky. "Beyond the mists

-the stars of Ruthar shine, never so brightly," he muttered. He laid his

-hand on the captain's arm.</p>

-

-<p>"On the third day from now Zoar of the Amalocs will march," he

-said. "Now bring your party within, and they shall enjoy what poor

-hospitality I have for them, who entertain so few guests."</p>

-

-<p>Men led away the horses, and the travelers entered the hall of Zoar.</p>

-

-<p>"Ah, daughter of the stars," he said, and bowed, as Glorian crossed his

-threshold, "many years have gone since I last looked into your eyes;

-but I find that the will burns strongly still, and your beauty has not

-dimmed. But I grow old, daughter, old and very weary."</p>

-

-<p>Gravely and courteously Zoar welcomed his guests, and bade them rest

-and sit at meat with him. It was a plain place into which he ushered

-them; yet was it rich, as the world counts riches, and its wealth was

-all of ivory. Seats, tables, cabinets, even the casings of the windows

-and the doors were of ivory&mdash;wonderful, finely grained stuff, some of

-it white as alabaster, and some of it cream-yellow with the tint of

-age. And the carvings on it must have been the work of years.</p>

-

-<p>Zoar, the host, the travelers found quite as remarkable as his ivory

-treasure. He was a slight, short man, hardly so tall as Zenas Wright

-and not so stocky as the geologist. He wore a long white beard, and his

-hair, of the same silver, flowed across his shoulders. His eyes, under

-bushy brows, were bright and kindly. His step was quick and firm, nor

-did his limbs or hands tremble. Yet there was on him the stamp of an

-unutterable, incredible age.</p>

-

-<p>His skin was as yellow-pale as the oldest of his ivory, and the whole

-surface of it was fretted with thousands of infinitesimal wrinkles.

-When he spoke or moved it was with spirit and animation; but when he

-fell into fits of abstraction&mdash;and that was often&mdash;Zoar looked very

-like a mummy fresh-stripped from its tomb.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Polaris the old man regarded with especial interest, and when the meal

-had been cleared away he sat and talked with him and Glorian for many

-minutes, recalling odd, old tales of the history of Ruthar, with which

-he showed remarkable familiarity.</p>

-

-<p>"But Ruthar's greatest story is yet to be made," he said in conclusion

-of his tales. Then he called his servants to show his guests to their

-chambers.</p>

-

-<p>"What! Have I ridden all these miles, friend Oleric, and then to be

-put to bed without the chance to tell you that these wonderful beasts

-about which you have bragged so much are only elephants after all?"

-said Zenas Wright, forgetting in his stubbornness the ivory gateway at

-Zele-omaz.</p>

-

-<p>The red captain grinned and put a question to Zoar. The old man

-answered with a shake of his head:</p>

-

-<p>"The amalocs love not to be disturbed at night, and especially they

-love not fires or lights. If you and your friends would sleep in peace

-this night, I counsel that you wait till daybreak to see the beasts.

-Otherwise they may revile you in such fashion as will shake your

-couches and drive all sleep from your pillows."</p>

-

-<p>So Zenas was forced to be content and go to his bed with no chance to

-crow over Oleric. All night long there penetrated occasionally through

-the geologist's slumbers the noise of raucous trumpeting and the

-padding stamp of ponderous feet.</p>

-

-<p>When they had broken their fast in the morning, Zoar led his guests

-into the court and sent men to throw open the great bronze doors in the

-front of the nearest of the stone buildings.</p>

-

-<p>"Now for an elephant," muttered Zenas. "Perhaps a mighty big one, but

-still an elephant." Then Zenas stopped, amazed.</p>

-

-<p>Out through the doors of bronze and into the open court stalked a

-mountain of flesh and ivory and stood swaying restlessly from one foot

-to another, flapping ears that would have made a bed covering, and

-looking keenly about with little, inflamed eyes. Elephantine in shape

-only was this monster. The points of its shoulders were fifteen feet

-from the ground&mdash;a full yard taller than the most stalwart elephant

-that ever bore the howdah of a mogul emperor.</p>

-

-<p>Tusks that were ten feet long projected from its massive skull, curving

-downward where they left the bone and then out and up in such fashion

-that if they had been continued farther they would have formed spirals.

-The body of the monster was covered with a coarse and woolly growth of

-reddish-brown hair, through which there pricked long, black bristles.

-On the trunk the wool was sparse and the bristles shorter, and one

-could see that the hide of the beast was a drab-gray. Neck it had none;

-but along the spine, just back of the skull and extending beyond the

-shoulders, was a ridge or mane of coarse, black hair.</p>

-

-<p>His face gone white and his eyes round and goggling, Zenas Wright stood

-and stared up at this Gargantuan offspring of the hinder ages.</p>

-

-<p>"<i>Loxodon!</i>" he breathed.</p>

-

-<p>Never in all his life had the geologist felt so small and insignificant

-as in the presence of that towering survivor of the prehistoric past.</p>

-

-<p>Zoar stepped forward in front of the beast.</p>

-

-<p>"Ixstus!" he called gently.</p>

-

-<p>The great ears inclined forward to attention.</p>

-

-<p>"<i>Stekkar mal!</i>" the old man commanded.</p>

-

-<p>Down swung the vast, wrinkled trunk in a huge loop, into which Zoar

-stepped and was hoisted to the table of the monstrous skull&mdash;a flat

-place where five men might have sat and played at cards.</p>

-

-<p>Another word of command, and the mammoth advanced a couple of paces.

-The snakelike trunk groped forward, and Zenas, wriggling some as he

-went, was swung aloft and found himself seated breathlessly by the side

-of Zoar.</p>

-

-<p>The master of the beasts smiled at the other old man.</p>

-

-<p>"When you come again to your own land, you may tell your children's

-children, if you have them, that you have sat on the head of an amaloc,

-the grandfather of all beasts," said Zoar.</p>

-

-<p>While Zenas appreciated that honor, it might be said that he was much

-relieved when he got his feet on the ground again.</p>

-

-<p>From building to building of the immense stables, the scientist was led

-with growing wonder. Ninety and three of the giant mammals there were,

-of which no one stood less than twelve feet high. But Ixstus was the

-champion and patriarch of the herd.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>As the riders journeyed back to Zele-omaz, Oleric told again how the

-Children of Ad had driven the beasts southward from their lands with

-fire, and how the men of Ruthar likewise had made war upon them, until

-they were in danger of becoming extinct.</p>

-

-<p>"But then came the prophecy, and men of wisdom set themselves to study

-and tame the beasts," he said. "And now, when the wall is down, and

-Ruthar takes the road to Adlaz, the amalocs shall lead the way, and

-Zoar and his servants shall drive them against the hosts of Bel-Ar."</p>

-

-<p>"Won't the Maeronicans scare them again with fires?" asked Everson.</p>

-

-<p>"Nay; that has been provided against," said the captain.</p>

-

-<p>"Lady," Polaris said to Glorian, "I have heard and seen many strange

-things in this country of yours, and I have learned much. One more

-thing I would ask that you make clear to me. Oleric has, and last night

-the old man back yonder did again speak of things of the long ago, in

-which you had a part. What did they mean? You are scarcely of mine own

-years."</p>

-

-<p>Glorian glanced hastily at Oleric, and then she answered:</p>

-

-<p>"When the world was younger, men had the secret of years. The slave

-O'Connell told Oleric that it was written in your sacred book out

-yonder in the world that such was so. That secret was lost. For ages it

-was lost. But it was found again in Ruthar. I am one of those to whom

-it has been imparted."</p>

-

-<p>"You mean, lady, that <i>you</i>&mdash;" Polaris gasped.</p>

-

-<p>"My friend, I first saw the light on Ruthar's hills well-nigh three

-hundred years ago," Glorian replied, and as he involuntarily shrank

-in his saddle, she added hastily, "It is a matter of the inward will

-that holds the spirit and the flesh. To only a few is it given to have

-the will to prevail for a time against time itself. And they are not

-immortal. Presently old age will come to me as it has to Zoar, and I

-shall shrivel away&mdash;and die." She shuddered.</p>

-

-<p>Polaris looked at this fair, fresh woman, beautiful as a goddess

-indeed, and by all earthly standards in the first bloom of her young

-womanhood, and he felt that this matter was beyond his comprehension.</p>

-

-<p>"Are there, then, any others, besides you and Zoar?" he asked.</p>

-

-<p>"One other only&mdash;and he rides at your side," she answered. "Oleric the

-Learned is younger than I by only fifty years."</p>

-

-<p>"Now, my brother, are some of my wild sayings explained to you," Oleric

-said. "We do not ask that you believe, for this thing is new to you and

-contrary to all that you have learned. Only the years will show you the

-truth of what we tell you&mdash;if they pass without accidents. For we are

-not proof against mischance. A sword-stroke may end my days as swiftly

-as any man's."</p>

-

-<p>"Would you that I impart the secret to you?" asked Glorian. And she

-turned and looked deep into Polaris's eyes. "You have a will that is

-stronger than most, and I think that you might well exert it to hold

-back the years, were you instructed. Say, shall we teach it you?"</p>

-

-<p>"Nay, lady," said Polaris. "I will live my appointed years, be they few

-or many, and die when my time comes. One short human life, it seems,

-can hold all the troubles for which a man has heart. And I would not,

-if this thing be possible, see my friends grow old and die, while I

-lived on."</p>

-

-<p>Glorian sighed. Then she seemed struck by a new thought, and asked:</p>

-

-<p>"What will happen if Ruthar is too late, and you reach not your friends

-in Adlaz&mdash;and the lady Rose, of whom Oleric has told me? What if you

-come not to Adlaz in time to save them?"</p>

-

-<p>"I think that I shall be in time," Polaris said grimly. "If I am not,

-then I think death shall find me on the road&mdash;and be welcome."</p>

-

-<p>Zenas Wright, hearing these things, and marveling, became troubled.</p>

-

-<p>"Wow!" he said to the lieutenant. "I can believe anything now. To-day I

-have seen a living mammoth, and I felt about three thousand years old

-myself. And now, too, look out for squalls."</p>

-

-

-

-<hr class="chap" />

-<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2>

-

-<h3>POLARIS MAKES HIS CHOICE</h3>

-

-

-<p>Dawn, the cheerless gray of clouded winter, crept over the city of

-Adlaz. In her bed in the prison-palace of Bel-Tisan the dark-haired

-Princess Memene of Sardanes lay, and beside her was her new little

-son. But Memene was not well, and Rose knew she would not live.</p>

-

-<p>"Oh, that Minos were here to see!" Memene said faintly. And again&mdash;"It

-is the king he was so sure of." She smiled at Rose. "It is the king,

-my sister. And he shall be named Patrymion, after a man who is dead&mdash;a

-very brave man." And smiling, she passed away.</p>

-

-<p>When she could control her grief&mdash;she had come to love Memene

-dearly&mdash;Rose summoned Brunar and told him what had befallen. The

-captain heard her sorrowfully, for he had honored and admired the

-Sardanian princess and pitied her sad circumstance. He sent the old

-woman out to fetch a younger one to care for the child. And then he

-brought men to bear Memene away. Out of the kindness that was in him,

-the captain looked to it that she lay in a fair and pleasant spot, and

-not where the common people of Ad buried their dead.</p>

-

-<p>Persuaded by Rose, and because he had some knowledge of English and

-could bear the message, Brunar took horse at noon and rode down to the

-harbor, there to seek Minos.</p>

-

-<p>This happening was nearly two months after the departure of Polaris and

-the others who had gone to Ruthar. In the intervening time, Oleric the

-Red had tried and tried again to get word through to Adlaz, informing

-those who were left behind of the fair progress of events. Always he

-had failed until one of his men, by craft and waiting, had gained a

-place with the prison guard.</p>

-

-<p>With him Rose Emer managed to get speech, and they arranged that on

-the following day he should slip away and try to reach Ruthar again,

-bearing a message from her to Polaris.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>On one of the quays in the harbor of Adlaz sat Minos, the Sardanian. It

-was cold on the quay, but he did not feel it. His back was weary with

-carrying burdens, but he was unconscious of that weariness. Why should

-the body live when the soul is dead within it? Nor did his eyes see

-the dancing waters of the harbor, where the fademes of Bel-Ar rode at

-their anchors. Until this day he had counted the hours with hope, and

-had borne his tasks with patience. Now hope had gone, and the taste of

-living was as dry dust.</p>

-

-<p>For Memene was dead.</p>

-

-<p>When Brunar had brought him the news, he had heard the captain through,

-and thanked him gravely. Then he had turned twice in his tracks and

-fallen like a stone. So long had he lain that Brunar deemed him dead.

-When he had come back from that swoon, Minos would work no more; nor

-did any seek to force him. He had wandered aimlessly out on the quay.

-When night fell, it found him still sitting there.</p>

-

-<p>It was a wild night. The moon shone but dimly, and often was veiled

-by scudding snow-clouds, and the stars were wan. Far to the south,

-over Ruthar, a faint rose-pink against the sky told that the southern

-lights, aurora australis, were playing. Somewhere beneath their

-flickering radiance lay the lost kingdom of Sardanes that the snows had

-covered deep. A wind, gusty and fitful, leaped over the mountain-rim

-and tossed the waters of the crater-lake so that the fademes swung

-restlessly and clanked their anchor-chains. One by one the mitzl globes

-among the warehouses and along the quays were hooded, until only the

-watch-lights were burning.</p>

-

-<p>A soldier of the guard hailed Minos; but the Sardanian answered not,

-stirred not.</p>

-

-<p>"Now let the fool sit and freeze," said the soldier impatiently. And

-then he added, "Poor fellow." For he had heard the story of the fallen

-king, and had a good wife and bairns of his own in Adlaz town.</p>

-

-<p>In Sardanes, Minos had been known as the smiling prince. But for all

-his patient, kindly ways, he was high-spirited. And once roused, none

-was quicker to strike than he. Events of the last few weeks had galled

-his temper. Now, coming out of the stupor into which this final blow

-had cast him, he was near to madness.</p>

-

-<p>Willingly would have Minos found his way to Adlaz, plucked Bel-Ar

-from his gilded bed and broken him across his knee. But the way was

-treacherous, and there were many guards, and he knew that he could not

-reach the king. Into the south he would have gone, to seek Polaris and

-to play a man's part in the great war. But that way was closed to him

-also. The few men that he might slay in the attempt before they pulled

-him down and slew him would be all too few to satisfy the fires within

-him that burned fiercely for vengeance. With only a great calamity

-would Minos be content.</p>

-

-<p>Uneasily tossed the fademes in the harbor, their anchor-chains

-rattling.</p>

-

-<p>Finally Minos heard them. Then he knew why they were calling to him.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Many times in his work about the harbor of Adlaz the Sardanian had been

-on board the fademes. He had helped to discharge the cargoes of those

-which came in from the fair islands of the southern seas, bringing

-strange tropical fruits, dainties for the lords and ladies of Adlaz,

-and other articles of the commerce which their captains carried on

-with the savage islanders. On many an atoll of the Pacific the brown

-Melanesians knew all the steel and gold clad white men who came up from

-the sea to trade with them.</p>

-

-<p>But they kept out of the track of civilization; for that was their law.

-Civilized men saw them not, though they sometimes heard tales of them

-among the savages&mdash;tales which, of course, they did not believe.</p>

-

-<p>Working on the ships as he had, Minos had learned much of the mode of

-their operation. Himself no mean worker in metals, the mysteries of

-these wonderful ships of the underseas had caught his fancy, and he

-had studied them. He knew that such a lever turned would start the

-fademe forward; that such another halted it; and others which caused

-it to turn and to dive beneath the surface or emerge at the will of

-its engineer. He also knew where were the levers which controlled

-the mighty power in the four great shafts of yellow glass and which

-released the terrible rays of light, the rays of the nameless color,

-before which all things were destroyed, and which turned even the water

-that they met into surging vapor.</p>

-

-<p>With that knowledge in his mind and the red fury in his heart, Minos

-knew why the clanging anchor-chains were calling to him.</p>

-

-<p>It was past midnight when the Sardanian king stood up at the end of

-the quay. He stretched wide his arms and the iron-sinewed thews of

-his shoulders and back cracked as he stretched. He glanced up at the

-distant stars.</p>

-

-<p>"Once aforetime, so told the red man from the sea, those Hellenes who

-were my ancestors did turn back this nation when it was swollen with

-conquest and would have mastered all the world," he whispered. "Once

-more the power of Adlaz rides high, and it makes ready to go forth and

-subdue it again&mdash;and what I leave, may my brother Polaris finish."</p>

-

-<p>In the shadow of a warehouse the king rubbed and strained his chilled

-muscles back to life. At the side of the wharf he found an open boat,

-and fetched its oars. Then he rowed cautiously out into the harbor.</p>

-

-<p>Scarce a score of yards from the quays rode the nearest of the fademes.

-Minos boarded it on noiseless feet, and cast his boat adrift.</p>

-

-<p>In the cabin of the fademe were sleeping two sailors of its crew and

-the engineer. Them Minos slew with his bare hands. And though the

-engineer ere he died slashed the king's shoulder deeply with a dagger,

-he heeded it not, scarcely felt it.</p>

-

-<p>Going on deck again, he unhooked the chain of the anchor and let it

-slip quietly into the water. Then he closed the double doors fore and

-aft, and made them fast.</p>

-

-<p>Under the lights in the lower gallery, Minos studied the levers and

-the engines. At a turn of his hand he felt the vessel sink beneath the

-surface. Another lever wrenched, and the fademe started gently ahead,

-and the king felt that he was safely launched on his dangerous venture.</p>

-

-<p>Before he had submerged the vessel, Minos had set in his mind the

-location of the fademes. There were nearly one hundred and fifty of

-them in the harbor. Five he knew were on patrol duty constantly off

-the Maeronican headlands. There were perhaps another dozen sailing the

-outer seas on the missions of Bel-Ar. Those at anchor in the harbor

-were disposed in three long, irregular lines, with nearly fifty ships

-in a line.</p>

-

-<p>Minos had submerged the fademe, which he had taken, some forty feet.

-When he reached a point which he thought must be nearly under the first

-vessel in the southern line, he turned off the power and halted. He

-fetched ropes and tied them, one to the starting lever and one to that

-which would stop the fademe. Carrying with him the other ends of the

-ropes, he climbed the ladders to the pilothouse, which rode like a

-small tower at the top of the fademe.</p>

-

-<p>Here in the pilothouse was a powerful revolving searchlight. Here,

-also, were the levers which controlled the tubes of glass which

-projected the deadly light-rays.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Swinging the searchlight to point upward through the crystal roof of

-the pilothouse, Minos unhooded it, and its bright, white bar of light

-thrust upward through the water. By its radiance he saw that he was not

-yet under the first of the fademes. Its golden hull glittered just a

-few feet beyond the radius of his light. A twitch of the rope which he

-had adjusted below sent his own vessel ahead.</p>

-

-<p>Under the first fademe he halted; and with a grim prayer that the

-destroying agency might not be out of order, he pressed the lever that

-controlled the upper shaft of the glass.</p>

-

-<p>With a mighty hissing and seething of the water, the indescribable

-light-ray leaped upward, so dazzlingly brilliant in its unknown color

-that it nearly blinded the man who had loosed it.</p>

-

-<p>Full on the bottom of the fademe above him the light ray struck and

-played, with the water boiling around it. The metal hull crumpled away

-like solder before the tinsmith's point. So swift and furious was its

-action that in an instant Minos saw the vessel above come sinking down.

-He had barely time to pull his rope and get his own fademe from under.

-As it was, the descending wreck grazed the stern of his vessel with a

-jar that nearly unseated him. Thereafter he went more swiftly.</p>

-

-<p>From ship to ship he went down the long line, scarcely pausing under

-each. Ship after ship he left behind him&mdash;sunken and useless wrecks.</p>

-

-<p>Minos had finished with the first row of fademes, and was coming back

-on the second line, when a guardsman on shore saw an upthrust of

-furious light from the deck of one of the golden ships, and then saw

-the doomed fademe plunge down.</p>

-

-<p>Throwing up his hands, the soldier ran across the harbor court,

-shouting that some captain had gone mad and was destroying the fleet.</p>

-

-<p>Then the harbor that had been still became alive. Lights flashed up.

-Men ran hither and thither. A messenger was dispatched to Adlaz to

-report to the king. Some sober-minded and brave men launched small

-boats into the harbor to go out and warn the engineers of the other

-fademes.</p>

-

-<p>Well near the end of his second line was Minos when he bethought him

-that his activities must draw attention to him. Then he loosed in

-succession the other three tubes, and their deadly rays shot forth, one

-from each side and one below. The king let them roar unchecked, and all

-around his vessel the water was turned into a boiling inferno. Like the

-evil genius of Adlaz, he rode on, leaving only wreckage in his wake.</p>

-

-<p>Part way down the last northern line, the end found him.</p>

-

-<p>Engineers on the other fademes had been awakened. Hastily they plunged

-their vessels beneath the surface and set out against the destroyer.

-Because of the fierce play of his four rays, they could not come at him

-from either side or from above or below.</p>

-

-<p>But one pilot steered in behind and, with the blazing peril a fair

-target, loosed the destroying ray from his own fademe.</p>

-

-<p>From behind him Minos heard a roar of steam and water entering in.

-A blinding radiance shot through the gallery below the pilothouse,

-withering all things as it passed. The structure of the fademe crumpled

-away beneath him.</p>

-

-<p>"Memene!" he cried. "I come!"</p>

-

-<p>Then the rising waters and the great darkness.</p>

-

-<p>So by the hand of Minos of Sardanes perished the mighty navy which

-the king Bel-Ar had amassed to go forth and conquer the world. Of his

-hundred and fifty fademes that had ridden in the harbor of Adlaz, a

-bare score remained to him. And this is the tale which Brunar, the

-captain, told in the morning to Rose Emer in the old prison-palace of

-Bel-Tisam, and which she set down and sent by messenger to cross the

-Kimbrian Wall to Polaris Janess in Ruthar.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Meanwhile, scarcely had the riders from the forest home of Zoar of the

-Amalocs come again to Zele-omaz when Everson was off to see to the

-course of his operations at the Kimbrian Wall. He snatched only a few

-hours of rest and sleep, and rode out in the night.</p>

-

-<p>On the day after the return, which also was the day on which Zoar had

-promised to set out with his mighty herd on the road to the barrier,

-Oleric the Red sought Polaris in the camp to the west of the city, and

-bade him accompany him to the Temple of Glorian.</p>

-

-<p>Oleric told naught of the meaning of the summons, but rode with Janess

-through the city, saying little and staring at his horse's ears. Never

-had Polaris seen the red captain so silent and so thoughtful.</p>

-

-<p>"What ails you, friend?" asked the son of the snows. "Why so moody, as

-is not your wont? Has aught gone amiss?"</p>

-

-<p>"Nothing amiss," the captain answered. "But a matter is toward that

-concerns yourself closely&mdash;and I know not if I have been wise to keep

-it from you so long."</p>

-

-<p>He would say no more, and presently they were at the temple.</p>

-

-<p>Oleric led Polaris into the high-domed audience-hall, which they found

-empty, save for the Goddess Glorian, who sat in one of the seats on

-the double throne, and who looked on Polaris with kindling eyes as he

-crossed the hall.</p>

-

-<p>To the northern wall led Oleric, and they paused before an ancient

-panel of black rock, which had been set into the marble at about the

-height of a man's head. So old was this slab or block of adamant that

-its surface was all crackled, yet it was smooth as polished slate.

-Across its face ran carven lines of writing, like the lines of a runic

-legend.</p>

-

-<p>"This stone bears the ancient prophecy of Ruthar," Oleric said. "Here

-in the long ago were writ the words of that which we believe is now to

-come to pass. See how the stone shines. It has been worn smooth by the

-lips of countless chiefs of Ruthar."</p>

-

-<p>With unwonted solemnity the captain gazed into the eyes of his friend.

-"Give close heed, and I will read it you," he said, and read:</p>

-

-<div class="blockquot">

-<p>"In a far time&mdash;more than the length of years of three amalocs&mdash;a

-mighty, fair-haired man shall come up from the sea. He shall break

-down the wall at the north. He shall lead Ruthar and the beasts of

-Ruthar through the wall. And they shall take Adlaz and destroy the

-king of Adlaz&mdash;"</p></div>

-

-<p>The captain paused, and again looked strangely at Polaris. He concluded

-the reading:</p>

-

-<div class="blockquot">

-<p>"And the man shall be king over Ruthar and Adlaz."</p></div>

-

-<p>Janess stared at the ancient writing in silence, and his brow clouded

-over.</p>

-

-<p>"This is the whole of the prophecy of Ruthar&mdash;the part of which I have

-kept concealed from you&mdash;though every lad in Ruthar knows it," said

-Oleric hastily. "I beg of you, my brother, that you will forgive me if

-I have done ill. But I have thought it wise to keep silence this far.

-Now is come the time when nothing must be kept back."</p>

-

-<p>He stopped speaking, and both he and Glorian gazed earnestly at the

-doubtful face of Polaris.</p>

-

-<p>"You mean that I shall be king of Ruthar," Polaris said at length. From

-one to the other of them he glanced.</p>

-

-<p>The red captain nodded slowly.</p>

-

-<p>"So it is writ in the prophecy," said Glorian. She left the throne, and

-came and took Polaris by the hand.</p>

-

-<p>"And, O man from the sea, for whom Ruthar has waited so long and

-patiently, you cannot gainsay us now," she pleaded. A smile of

-appealing sweetness came to her aid.</p>

-

-<p>"But, lady, to be a king I did not bargain when I came hither with the

-captain; though," and he smiled, "I was in an ill place to drive a

-bargain, and might have yielded almost anything. But to be a king&mdash;I

-like it not. I am neither of Ruthar nor of Ad. I am a simple American

-of common birth. I do not wish to be a king, but merely to go hence

-with my own people, if I may. And if I did wish it, what of the people?

-Would they relish the thought of an outlander on their throne?"</p>

-

-<p>Again Glorian answered him:</p>

-

-<p>"It is so writ in the prophecy."</p>

-

-<p>And Oleric said: "And the prophecy is known to all the people, as it

-has been for centuries. From the wall to the southern cliffs, there is

-no man or woman in all Ruthar who does not already look upon you as the

-king. Think well, my brother."</p>

-

-<p>"But would it not do as well if I were to serve you and Ruthar for a

-while, and those with me, as leaders? Then, when we have won, if we

-<i>do</i> win, might I not go hence? Would that not serve as well?"</p>

-

-<p>Glorian smiled faintly, and Oleric shook his head.</p>

-

-<p>"Nay, my brother," the captain replied. "You must put your hands in the

-hands of the zinds of Ruthar and swear the oath of kingship. That is

-the only way. 'And the man shall be king over Ruthar and Adlaz,' runs

-the prophecy." Oleric traced the writing on the slab with his finger.

-"By those words do the zinds and the people hold. It is the only way."</p>

-

-<p>"And if I refuse?"</p>

-

-<p>"Then," said Glorian, "the army will not march to-morrow, nor will Zoar

-drive on the beasts&mdash;unless all of the prophecy shall be fulfilled.

-Then we who have stood as sponsors for you will be derided as cheats

-and fools, if, indeed, worse things do not befall you and us. And

-bethink you&mdash;those whom you love, who are in Adlaz, will perish

-miserably, while Bel-Ar and the priests of Shamar mock their miseries.

-Without you we fail, and without us and the hosts of Ruthar you, too,

-are powerless."</p>

-

-<p>"You argue strongly, lady, and you, too, comrade," Polaris said.

-"Still, I like not this prospect of being king. I must have a little

-space in which to ponder it over."</p>

-

-<p>"It is now nearly noon," Oleric said. "To-day the zinds from every

-province and city of Ruthar ride into Zele-omaz&mdash;to greet their king.

-Until to-night, my brother."</p>

-

-<p>"Then to-night will I give my answer&mdash;here in this hall," Polaris said,

-and he turned and went to seek out old Zenas Wright. And neither of the

-two whom he left behind could have guessed at what his answer would be,

-though it seemed to them that there could only be one answer. For they

-had come to know him as a man of surpassing determination, and here was

-a path in which he did not want to set his feet.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>In the old laboratory Janess found Zenas. The work of the geologist

-was completed. Melinite he had turned out of his workshops by the ton,

-and the most of it had been transported carefully, and was stored in

-the forests near to the Kimbrian Wall. Now his thunder factory was

-deserted. Every last man of his force had gone to join the army.</p>

-

-<p>"Yes, my lad, I know," said Zenas, after one glance at Polaris's face.

-"They have told you about this king business. I know, too&mdash;for I know

-you&mdash;that you are bucking it&mdash;hard."</p>

-

-<p>"I do not want to be a king, old Zenas, but&mdash;"</p>

-

-<p>"Yes, there's a 'but' in it, and a big one. What are you going to do

-about it? Our red-headed, two-hundred-and-fifty-year-old youngster, the

-antique lady, and their old father, Methuselah Zoar, have it all cut

-and dried. If you can see any way out of it except their way, you have

-devilish keen eyes. I can't, and I've been looking at it for quite a

-few days. Oleric told me about it all some time ago. Take it, boy; take

-it. And make the most of it. It isn't every day that one gets a chance

-to be absolute ruler over a rich country and nearly five millions of

-people. You'll make a better king than any they've ever had on either

-side of the wall. That I'll guarantee." And the old man looked at his

-troubled friend with bright eyes and patted him on the knee.</p>

-

-<p>While they sat and talked this matter over, came a man to the door,

-crying out that a messenger had come through from Adlaz bringing a

-written word to Polaris.</p>

-

-<p>The courier was brought in. He proved to be that same Rutharian who had

-gained a place with the prison guard under Brunar. Already he had told

-in the city of the destruction of the fademes of Bel-Ar, and Zele-omaz

-was going wild with the news.</p>

-

-<p>When Polaris had read the letter sent him by Rose Emer, and he and

-Zenas had heard what the messenger had to add to its news, the face of

-the son of the snows grew very stern. The kindly old scientist's eyes

-were moist. After the man was gone, neither of them spoke for quite a

-time. The two who were gone had been dear friends, and the friendship

-had been knit by perils and hardships, in which each had learned the

-worth of the others.</p>

-

-<p>"Now is the score that I have to settle with this king of Adlaz grown

-long indeed," Polaris said at length, "and I am minded to tilt him for

-his kingdom, as these folk would have me do. He made a good ending, did

-Minos; and I do not think that Bel-Ar, even if he come free of Ruthar,

-will live to see the day when another fleet shall lie ready to go out

-and win the world for him."</p>

-

-<p>He became silent. While the town, filling up with the arrival of zinds

-and their retinues, gave itself to rejoicing at the blow that had been

-struck Bel-Ar, and the old man sat by the fire and dozed, Polaris paced

-moodily up and down the long laboratory. An hour passed, and the half

-of another. Then he struck one hand hard into the other.</p>

-

-<p>"Now in all these happenings I think I see my way at last," he muttered.</p>

-

-<p>With the fall of night he cloaked himself and went up to the temple on

-the hill, and Zenas went with him.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>From every principality and town in Ruthar the zinds had come to

-Zele-omaz. Those who were too old or infirm to make the journey had

-sent their sons or representatives. In the hall of Glorian these were

-gathered to the number of one hundred-and-seven&mdash;tall and stately men,

-most of them, clad in chain armor plated with silver and bossed with

-plates of steel&mdash;for they had come to fight for their king as well as

-to crown him. A shout went up that made the torches flare, when a guard

-opened one of the doors of bronze, and Polaris Janess and Zenas came

-into the hall.</p>

-

-<p>Eager-eyed, they pressed around the son of the snows, to welcome him

-whom their prophets and their goddess had said would redress their

-ancient wrongs.</p>

-

-<p>Polaris met their greetings with a heightened color and a glow in his

-eyes. Almost, he thought, it would be a joy to be the king of such as

-these&mdash;he, the dweller in no-man's land, a waif from the eternal snows.</p>

-

-<p>And the Goddess Glorian, watching him from her ivory throne, smiled

-to herself, though there was a pang at her heart that she could not

-manage to quench or still.</p>

-

-<p>Presently Polaris stood in the open space at the foot of the throne.

-The zinds gathered before him in a glittering semicircle, and made

-silence in the hall.</p>

-

-<p>"Chieftains of Ruthar," he began, lifting his voice so that all might

-hear, "this day have I been asked to become your king, to take your

-crown upon my head, to sit upon your throne, to lead you in battle, and

-to rule over you as wisely as I may&mdash;all this because of certain words

-on a stone which, it seems, may not be changed. Is this your wish, men

-of Ruthar&mdash;to have me, an outlander, as your king?"</p>

-

-<p>A deep-voiced shout was the answer, and every voice said "Aye."</p>

-

-<p>"Then this is my answer, men of Ruthar, seeing that there is no dissent

-among you: when I came unwillingly to the shores of Maeronica, there

-came with me a friend, a true man. You have heard much of him to-day.

-It was he that sank the fademes of Bel-Ar. He was named Minos, and he

-was the king of a nation that has passed away. That man is dead by a

-glorious means. Yonder in the harbor he struck a great blow for Ruthar

-and for the world. He gave his life.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>"To-day word reached me by the messenger who brought the tidings of

-that deed, and the word was that this Minos who is dead, left behind

-him a son, an infant newly born.</p>

-

-<p>"Now I will yield me to your wishes, chieftains of Ruthar. I will go

-with you to the Kimbrian Wall, and beyond it. I will fight with you

-to overthrow Bel-Ar. I will do all that a man may to be the king you

-wish me. But it is my will that when this son of Minos the Sardanian is

-grown to manhood's years and wisdom, he shall relieve me of my kingship

-and become your king, and his son after him, if he have one. That is my

-answer, men of Ruthar. I thank you for the high honor you would do me."</p>

-

-<p>He turned and bowed deeply to the Goddess Glorian, and then stood back

-at the side of the throne.</p>

-

-<p>A murmur of surprise arose in the hall, and then was silenced, for

-Glorian arose to speak.</p>

-

-<p>"Zinds of my people," she said in her clear, low voice, "to the weight

-of this man's words add that of Glorian's. He comes, this man, from a

-land where there are no kings. He is willing to fight for you&mdash;to die

-with you. What he promises will fulfil the prophecy by which we hold.

-It is a noble choice that he has made. It is my rede that you accept

-it&mdash;mine and that of Oleric the Learned, to whom you sometimes have

-looked for counsel."</p>

-

-<p>As she reseated herself, the red captain stood forth and said simply:</p>

-

-<p>"My brother has chosen well. I stand with him. Should you not agree, I

-still stand with him, and he and I and such as are faithful to us will

-break the Kimbrian Wall and perish on the road to Adlaz."</p>

-

-<p>For a short time the zinds took counsel among themselves. When they had

-done, an aged man&mdash;he was Atra, the ruler of Zele-omaz&mdash;stood out from

-among them.</p>

-

-<p>"We are agreed, O goddess," he said. "We will have this man as king

-until the prophecy is fulfilled and for so long afterward as he will,

-until the babe be grown to manhood. He is a true man. We are content,

-and perhaps"&mdash;here Atra smiled&mdash;"with the passing of the years he may

-change his mind."</p>

-

-<p>They brought the crown of Ruthar&mdash;a heavy torque of gold set with

-fire-opals&mdash;and led Polaris to the ivory throne, and set him beside the

-Goddess Glorian and crowned him. And he put his hands in the hands of

-the zinds and swore the oath of kingship.</p>

-

-<p>"Yonder in Adlaz is a larger palace and a wider throne," said Glorian.</p>

-

-<p>"Aye, lady," he answered. "To-morrow I shall go to seek it."</p>

-

-<p>A great feast followed the coronation. When it was done, all night

-long through the streets of Zele-omaz and across the bridges of Illia,

-sounded the rumbling of chariot-wheels and the tramp of marching feet.

-Ruthar was on the march at last, and the destination was the Kimbrian

-Wall.</p>

-

-<p>So it fell out that the ambition of Minos of Sardanes had not been so

-vain of attainment. He had won a kingdom for "the king that was to

-come."</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>As near as they dared, Everson's army of workmen had pushed the

-completion of their broad highway to the Kimbrian Wall, clearing and

-building up the old, disused road. Trees had been felled and removed

-where it was necessary, and rocks had been dragged away with much

-labor&mdash;and all with as little noise as possible, so that the men of

-Atlo who garrisoned the wall might know nothing of the work, and that

-when the time should come, Maeronica could be taken unawares.</p>

-

-<p>To do that the road-makers had been forced to halt their work two

-hundred yards from the wall, where a belt of thick forest was left

-standing across the way which effectually screened their operations.</p>

-

-<p>When the roadway had been completed to that point, molelike, the

-engineers and sappers dug into the earth and pushed on. The old

-roadway, suiting their purposes well, led to the wall at a point nearly

-midway between two of the watchtowers, which were distant from one

-another about a mile. Another circumstance which was favorable to the

-lieutenant's plan was that the neck or isthmus which connected Ruthar

-to Maeronica was, though high above the sea, comparatively level.</p>

-

-<p>Back of a knoll in the forest the miners sank their shaft. Twelve feet

-down in the earth they struck the living rock and proceeded along that,

-excavating a tunnel, or gallery, eight feet high by ten feet across.

-This work was done swiftly, for the tunnel was wide enough so that four

-men might work in it abreast, and as fast as one quartet was wearied

-another took its place, and the picks were swinging day and night. As

-the diggers went on, a multitude of workers behind them carried back

-the loosened earth and shored the gallery up with timbers so that it

-might not cave.</p>

-

-<p>When Everson returned from the ride to the place of Zoar, he found that

-his tunnel was ended&mdash;against the face of the Kimbrian Wall, which was

-founded on the rock itself. Following his instructions, the sappers had

-branched the tunnel right and left along the wall, until the working

-was in the shape of an elongated letter "T", the cross-arm of which lay

-along the foundation stones of the wall and was sixty feet long.</p>

-

-<p>With the same ceaseless industry that had built the tunnel so swiftly,

-they then had attacked the face of the wall with chisels and sledges,

-cutting in at intervals of about ten feet. This had been difficult

-work and perilous. The rock of the wall was adamant-hard. However, by

-attacking the cement in which the stones were set, the miners had been

-able to remove numbers of the great blocks entire, rolling them by

-dint of herculean effort across the gallery and into cavities made to

-receive them.</p>

-

-<p>In that work had been the danger. Eight men had been crushed under

-falling fragments&mdash;first toll of Ruthar in the warfare.</p>

-

-<p>The excavations had been carried into the foundation of the wall a

-matter of fifteen feet when Everson arrived. He at once ordered that

-work stopped. Remained only the placing of the explosive. That he

-superintended in person.</p>

-

-<p>Bar by bar&mdash;for the lieutenant would suffer no man to carry more than

-one of old Zenas's patty-cakes at a time&mdash;and with extreme care, the

-melinite was borne in through the tunnel and packed in the cavities

-in the wall. The geologist's workshop had turned out a plenty of the

-stuff, and it was used without stint. Everson judged that he placed

-nearly two tons of the explosive in each of the six chambers under the

-wall.</p>

-

-<p>Banks of loose, dry earth were piled about the melinite charges;

-Everson laid his wires, and his workmen then filled the cavities with

-fragments of the rock taken from the wall.</p>

-

-<p>Still further to retard the release of the gases when the charges

-should be set off, the lieutenant set his men to wall up the openings

-to the chambers, using heavy rocks and cement, having done which, they

-filled in the cross-arm of the "T" with earth and fragments of stone,

-tamping all in firmly.</p>

-

-<p>Very workmanlike was the finished task over which Everson nodded his

-approval and told his grimy legion, "Well done."</p>

-

-<p>During all the progress of the labor the patrols of Bel-Ar rode to and

-fro along the wall, and never guessed that sixty feet below them in the

-rock their enemies were planting the fearful seeds that would put forth

-the red flower of war.</p>

-

-<p>It was midnight of the third day after the gathering of the zinds

-in the temple of Glorian at Zele-omaz, when Everson walked out of

-the tunnel for the last time, his wires laid, his batteries ready.

-Retiring to one of the shelters which had been built in the forest, the

-lieutenant threw himself on a couch for a few brief hours of sleep.</p>

-

-<p>Five hours later one of his engineers awakened him and told him that

-the zinds of Ruthar with a great host had gone into camp for the night

-along the roadway ten miles back from the wall, and that the levies of

-the upper hills, the light-armed archers, slingers and javelin men,

-were pouring into the vast camp which had been prepared nearby in the

-forest.</p>

-

-<p>"And these last swear that when they sleep again it will be beyond the

-wall," the engineer added.</p>

-

-<p>"Many of them, poor chaps, are likely to sleep there forever," said

-Everson. "Where is the king?"</p>

-

-<p>"With the zinds."</p>

-

-<p>The lieutenant arose and went out on the hillside; for he knew that

-the time had come.</p>

-

-<p>Calling a messenger, he told him to go and summon the skirmishers from

-the camp. Presently he saw them coming, long, silent files of men,

-ghostly in the gray light, picking their way over the snow-covered

-slopes and among the trees, some of the lines led by zinds and others

-by their captains.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>In the forests opposite the wall, Everson posted a wedge of five

-thousand javelin men, who were armed also with short swords. These were

-to rush the breach in the wall and deploy on the other side to hold

-the gap from any assault from beyond until the gap could be cleared

-and the roadway brought up and through the breach to connect with the

-Maeronican highway which lay on the other side of the barrier. Back of

-that force gathered the miners and road-builders.</p>

-

-<p>Right and left along the wall the lieutenant sent bodies of archers and

-slingers, so they might command the top of the wall and prevent the

-garrisons of the watchtowers from galling the men at work in the breach.</p>

-

-<p>At each of the sixty towers along the stretch of the wall were

-stationed some twenty men&mdash;a force of nearly twelve hundred in all.

-Everson foresaw that these in all probability, or most of them, would

-come to the breach from either side, leaving but few soldiers to man

-the towers. So he sent two parties of a thousand men each east and

-west, to lie in the forests near the wall. These were heavy-armed

-swordsmen and spearsmen. They bore long ladders with them, and it was

-to be their task to scale the wall, flank the men of Bel-Ar at its

-summit, and take and hold the watchtowers.</p>

-

-<p>A few miles below the wall lay a Maeronican hilltown, and there Bel-Ar

-maintained a prominent garrison, composed of a section of his standing

-army, some ten thousand men strong. These soldiers had proved the bane

-of many a Rutharian raiding party, and they now gave Everson much

-trouble in his mind. If they should come up quickly to the wall and

-drive back his force or retake the towers, his thrust would be all but

-ill delivered and fail of much of its power. That must be chanced&mdash;and

-he judged by the look of these fighting men of Ruthar that they would

-stand considerable driving and still not be driven.</p>

-

-<p>Silently the long lines stole into position, and the men sank out of

-sight among the trees. A small patrol party of Maeronican soldiers rode

-down the wall from the watchtower to the west, where the mitzl lights

-burned pale against the sky. They passed on, met the patrol from the

-east, and both returned&mdash;seeing nothing of the menace that lay hidden

-in the shadows of the pines.</p>

-

-<p>Ruthar had been quiet of late, and a few noises in the forest meant

-nothing to these soldiers, strong in their position on the mighty wall.

-Of such things as the pastries of Zenas Wright they had never even

-dreamed.</p>

-

-<p>In a clump of trees Everson attached his wires to his batteries. He

-knelt by one of them, and five of his sappers knelt with him.</p>

-

-<p>"One&mdash;two&mdash;<i>three</i>!" he counted.</p>

-

-<p>The six poised hands fell as one.</p>

-

-<p>For a moment, silence; then a burst of hell from the bowels of the

-earth.</p>

-

-<p>From end to end, down all its length, the roof of Everson's

-subterranean gallery was torn out by the rending gases. From the mouth

-of the tunnel a mass of rocks, beams and loose earth was belched down

-the slope with such force that trees fell before it.</p>

-

-<p>Through clouds of falling earth and a drift of smoke, the distended

-eyes of the Rutharian soldiery saw the basalt structure of the Kimbrian

-Wall that had stood firm for thirty centuries heave up, sunder, and

-open, as a gate opens, then come thundering down to ruin. Right in the

-midst of the chaos of falling rock an awful sheet of green flame arose

-like a giant fan and stood for an instant against the sky.</p>

-

-<p>Then came the noise. It was neither a crash nor a roar, but a sustained

-rumbling bellow&mdash;as though Mother Earth herself were muttering at this

-desecration of her aged bones. Such was the power of that tremulous

-diapason that the forests shook and the hills trembled. Followed a

-moment of the silence of the pit, and then the clatter and spat of the

-débris as it showered the slopes and the forests.</p>

-

-<p>"Shields up!" shouted a tall zind of Ruthar, and the next moment he was

-stretched senseless by a fragment of rock because he had not been quick

-to obey his own order. Many others were injured, and some were killed.

-But what did a few deaths matter now? The Kimbrian Wall was down. For

-eighty feet the gap extended wide and free!</p>

-

-<p>And beyond lay Maeronica.</p>

-

-<p>In the forests and on the hills the companies cheered wildly as they

-saw the path the melinite had opened, and cheered again when they saw

-that the watchtower to the west had been shaken from its perch by the

-terrific concussion and lay a crumble of stonework at the foot of the

-wall.</p>

-

-<p>"Into the breach!" shouted Everson. "Through the wall!"</p>

-

-<p>From their lair on the hillsides the five thousand javelin bearers

-arose gleefully and crossed the space to the gap in the wall at a

-swinging trot, singing as they went.</p>

-

-<p>So clean had been the sweep of the melinite that it had torn away every

-vestige of the wall down to the living rock of the isthmus, leaving a

-wide trench or ditch, stone-bottomed and with sloping sides of earth,

-which it was an easy matter for the light-armed men to scramble across.

-But first the soldiers had to throw loose earth into the bottom of the

-trench; for the terrific pressure of the melinite against the rock had

-heated it until it was almost molten.</p>

-

-<p>For hundreds of feet around, heaps of earth and pulverized stone sent

-up columns of the greenish, acrid vapor of the explosive.</p>

-

-<p>On the heels of the javelin men pressed the engineers and road-men,

-swarming into the breach to fill the trench and make a way for the

-charioteers and the amalocs of Zoar, which were to follow. Along the

-screen of forest at the end of the road axes rang, and the trees began

-to fall.</p>

-

-<p>One of the first men into the breach after the skirmishers had crossed

-the ragged ditch, was Everson. With Mazoe, chief of his sappers, the

-lieutenant directed the work at the trench; for now was the time for

-haste.</p>

-

-<p>Shaken from their beds by the dull thunder of Everson's fireworks,

-Bel-Ar's steel riders at the eastern tower came clattering down their

-wall. Before ever they reached the gap, a trumpet sounded on the

-hillside, the archers and the slingers arose like wraiths from the

-forests, and the horsemen were met by a shower of shafts and stones

-that rattled and clanged on their armor and drove them back.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Messengers sped east and west from tower to tower. Within an hour

-every garrison along the barrier knew that the gods of Ruthar had

-rifted their fortress and the hillsmen were pouring through. But these

-soldiers of Bel-Ar were picked men, and they did not fear. Every

-man-at-arms that could be spared from the turrets was horsed, and they

-came riding recklessly down their lofty pathway, firm in the belief

-that their own god presently would have a say in this matter.</p>

-

-<p>At the third tower to the east of the breach was Atlo, captain of the

-wall. The tremor of the explosion reached even there. While the captain

-and his men wondered at what it might be, a messenger reached them.

-Atlo at once sent a horseman down the curving path, one of which led

-from each tower to the ground on the northern side of the wall, to ride

-through the forest to the town of Barme and arouse the army there.</p>

-

-<p>Then Atlo armed himself, gathered his men and started west. Straight

-to the brink of the gap he rode, heeding neither arrows nor stones. At

-the edge of the breach he dismounted, and while the long shafts of the

-archers hummed around him and the missiles of the slingers dented his

-golden armor, he knelt and peered into the gorge below him.</p>

-

-<p>Much the captain marveled at the force which had broken the barrier.

-His quick eyes of the soldier took in the disposition of the men and

-fathomed the plan of the enemy. He saw that a swarm of javelin men and

-a number of companies of heavier armed infantry were through the wall

-and prepared to defend their ground. More he saw; that the trench below

-was black with men who labored to fill it in; on the southern side of

-the wall another army of laborers was laying a broad road over which

-chariots might pass; and beneath him in the breach a man in mud-stained

-garments stood on a point of rock directing his grimy toilers.</p>

-

-<p>Breathing a curse, Atlo lifted his spear and cast with all his might.

-Then he mounted and rode back to the nearest tower to await the coming

-of his garrisons.</p>

-

-<p>Too late did the archers in the forests shout their warning when they

-saw that spear-arm poised.</p>

-

-<p>At the foot of the rock Everson fell and lay face downward among his

-workmen.</p>

-

-<p>Tenderly they bore him out of the trench and up the slope of the

-forest, those sturdy men of Ruthar who had worked with him and loved

-him. Four of his engineers carried him, and Mazoe walked beside, trying

-to stanch the flow of blood. Atlo's spear-point had bitten deeply just

-above the collar-bone.</p>

-

-<p>At the crest of the rise Everson spoke in a weak voice and bade them

-set him down. Mazoe knelt and held him.</p>

-

-<p>Through dim eyes the lieutenant peered back toward the sundered wall.

-He lifted his hand slowly and with infinite effort and pointed.</p>

-

-<p>"We have done&mdash;good work," he said. "Go on&mdash;with it. I fear I

-shall&mdash;not&mdash;be with you."</p>

-

-<p>His eyes closed, and Mazoe, who thought that he was spent, burst into

-tears.</p>

-

-<p>Below in the camp arose a mighty clamor of shouting. Everson's eyelids

-fluttered open.</p>

-

-<p>"Why do the soldiers cheer?" he asked.</p>

-

-<p>Mazoe listened intently to the shouting.</p>

-

-<p>"They cheer because the king is coming," he answered.</p>

-

-<p>Everson smiled faintly.</p>

-

-<p>"Tell him&mdash;I have made&mdash;a way&mdash;for him&mdash;"</p>

-

-<p>His voice trailed away, and he sank into unconsciousness. And though

-he did not die, he sailed so near to the quiet coasts that it was many

-weeks before he knew that the work he had begun had gone on without

-him, and had been done well.</p>

-

-

-

-<hr class="chap" />

-<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2>

-

-<h3>BEL-AR HEARS THE DRUMS</h3>

-

-

-<p>In the early brightness of the morning, the king of Ruthar rode up the

-southern stretch of the slope toward the wall. With him came old Zenas

-and Oleric the Red.</p>

-

-<p>Bedight in chain mail rode the king, a shield of shining steel on his

-arm, his two-handed sword at his back, dagger in belt, and spear and

-battle-ax at saddle-bow. Behind him clattered a company of zinds. Back

-of them, down the long road as far as the eye could see, marched rank

-on rank of men-at-arms. These were to pass the wall at once, and push

-on along the isthmus to meet and hold any force which the captains of

-Bel-Ar might throw against them.</p>

-

-<p>In the camp in the forest, ready to ride when the way should be

-cleared, were thousands of the wild horsemen of the hills. As soon as

-they might pass the breach, they would outstrip the heavy-marching

-infantry, spread and harry the country, and dash into the mountain

-passes at the northern end of the isthmus, which must be taken and held

-before any considerable force could come up from Maeronica and occupy

-them.</p>

-

-<p>Behind, the horsemen would push on the footmen and the chariots which

-made up the main host of Ruthar. Such was the plan which had been laid

-by Everson, Polaris, and Oleric.</p>

-

-<p>As they neared the top of the rise, Polaris and those with him met a

-little clump of downcast men plodding along the road and carrying a

-burden. Then Mazoe saw the riders and ran to meet them, holding his

-arms above his head and weeping.</p>

-

-<p>"What says he? Everson&mdash;"</p>

-

-<p>Polaris sprang down from his horse and pushed through the tramping men.

-Behind him an army halted while he stood and looked into the still face

-of Everson. In the heart of the son of the snows there entered a pang

-as keen as that which had stabbed it when he had heard of the passing

-of the Sardanian King Minos and his lady.</p>

-

-<p>But Zenas Wright, who had bent over the lieutenant, and bared his

-breast and listened to his heart, spoke up:</p>

-

-<p>"This boy has been hard hit; but he's still alive. With good care&mdash;and

-he's going to get it&mdash;I think he has a chance. This jab over the

-shoulder isn't so bad as it looks."</p>

-

-<p>"Look at him, Father Zenas," said Polaris. "Let no effort that this

-land can produce be spared to make him whole again; for he is a gallant

-gentleman, and deserves no such death. His reward from Ruthar for what

-he has done shall be great."</p>

-

-<p>Mazoe told all his story, and Polaris bent and took the earth-stained

-hand of the unconscious man in his own.</p>

-

-<p>"Fare you well for a time, Everson," he said softly. "I shall not

-forget. And I shall find the way you made."</p>

-

-<p>Mazoe and the engineers bore Everson to the camp, and Zenas Wright went

-with them.</p>

-

-<p>Polaris touched the red captain on the shoulder.</p>

-

-<p>"Captain Oleric, bide you here at the wall until the path is prepared.

-I make you general-in-chief of the army. Carry out the work which

-our friend has so well begun. Father Zenas will give you of his good

-counsel. Build the road as Everson and you have planned it."</p>

-

-<p>"But you&mdash;where are you going?" Oleric asked.</p>

-

-<p>Polaris pointed northward to the breach in the Kimbrian Wall.</p>

-

-<p>"I am going to tread the way he made for me," he answered. "When all is

-well, come on and find me on the other side."</p>

-

-<p>Giving the reins of his horse to a servant, Polaris reached his spear

-from the saddle and placed himself in the first rank of the footmen,

-under the great, blood-red banner of Ruthar. A mighty cheer swept down

-the ranks as he joined them. The horsemen drew out to the side of the

-roadway; a blare of trumpets sounded the advance; the crimson standard

-dipped and went forward. Over the seamed and broken hill, past the

-masses of fallen ruin, across the melinite-blasted trench, and through

-the breach in the wall flowed the iron stream.</p>

-

-<p>As far as they could see it, the little group on the hilltop watched

-the tall form that strode under the tossing banner.</p>

-

-<p>"This king of ours has a will of his own," muttered Oleric. "Now to do

-the work he bade us."</p>

-

-<p>But first of all the red captain sent for old Jastla of the hills. When

-the white-bearded chieftain stood before him, Oleric said:</p>

-

-<p>"The king has gone yonder through the wall, Jastla. Take a hundred of

-your best men&mdash;men who know how to die as well as fight. Find the king.

-Ring him round with a band of steel. Guard him with your lives." Oleric

-grinned as he added, "'Twill be a task to your liking, old bear. Ever

-you loved fighting, and this man will lead you to where it is thicker

-than earth-berries. I have seen him at the game. But watch him well,

-Jastla; he is of a reckless temper when his blood is stirred, and

-caution is not his watchword."</p>

-

-<p>Lifting his arm in salute, Jastla replied:</p>

-

-<p>"When harm comes to the king, it shall have set its foot on Jastla's

-corpse." The chief drew a deep breath of pride and satisfaction. "I

-thank you, Oleric the Learned, for this task. I have trained the lad,

-and I love him."</p>

-

-<p>Jastla hurried into the forest to the camp. Presently he, too, was gone

-through the wall on his mission.</p>

-

-<p>When the last of the armed force had passed the gap, another army took

-its place&mdash;an army of pick and shovel men, with chains and ropes and

-tugging, sweating horses. Speedily the last of the screen of trees was

-down and the stumps torn out. On a foundation of crushed rock Oleric

-built up his roadway, and brought it through to the shadow of the

-Kimbrian Wall; and there he met trouble.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>All of the day on which Everson was stricken, and through the night and

-the forenoon following, the builders wrought at the road. Wherever was

-room for a pair of hands to labor, the hands were not lacking. Still

-the work was not completed, nor was the ditch filled in.</p>

-

-<p>And the reason for the delay was&mdash;Atlo.</p>

-

-<p>From the turrets along the wall to the east the captain had collected

-a force of nearly five hundred fighting men, and led them in person.

-Leaving their horses behind them, these warriors marched to the lip of

-the breach and harassed the workmen of Oleric. Nor could the Rutharian

-bowmen and slingers come at them with their weapons to do them much

-scathe. The edge of the wall had a coping which was nearly breast-high.

-Behind that the defenders were sheltered, and might creep, which they

-did, to the very brink of the gap, whence they showered the men in the

-trench with arrows and javelins.</p>

-

-<p>Following the example of Atlo, the under captains of the towers on the

-western stretch of the wall gathered another half a thousand men and

-came to the end of the breach on their side. Between the activities

-of these two parties, the task of the besiegers was made heavy and

-perilous.</p>

-

-<p>Time and again the red captain was forced to withdraw his laborers

-from the cross-fire of deadly missiles which the warriors on the wall

-rained into the ditch. His losses were appalling. Still his men did not

-falter. When the order was given, they swarmed into the gaping trench,

-and those who died there were content if they but cast one shovel of

-earth before the spirit fled.</p>

-

-<p>Oleric groaned in spirit as he watched this havoc, which he had little

-power to hinder. The distance to the top of the wall was too great to

-allow of effective javelin-casting, and such weapons as did reach the

-summit were seized upon by the enemy and turned back on the attackers.

-Having the advantage of the sheltered height from which to cast and

-shoot, one of Atlo's soldiers was worth in efficiency a hundred of

-those on the ground.</p>

-

-<p>"Swords and axes on the top of the wall, and that only, will clear out

-that nest," said Oleric to Zenas, when the geologist had come back from

-the camp, where for hours he had labored over Everson, and of whose

-condition he now had high hopes.</p>

-

-<p>"Where are our ladder-men tarrying?" snarled Oleric, and the captain

-ground his teeth as he saw his workmen decimated and driven back again.

-"We have not the time to spare to starve these birds from their perch.

-Yet if I fill that hole now it will be with the bodies of brave men

-dead and not with earth and stone."</p>

-

-<p>Bethinking himself of another plan, the captain ordered three companies

-of heavy-armed foot-soldiers up from the camp and sent them into the

-working to shelter the laborers under their shields. By that means a

-little progress was made; but the work was slow and cumbersome and the

-toll in lives was still heavy.</p>

-

-<p>Long-delayed relief came in the shape of the fighting men whom Everson

-had sent out along the wall with ladders. These had lain in the forests

-until they saw the turrets depleted of their garrisons. Then they

-had crept up to the wall and erected their scaling ladders, choosing

-points a number of miles from the breach. That attack was not without

-its perils and losses. Scant in numbers, but desperate, the defenders

-sallied out on the wall to turn the storming parties. Many warriors

-died under the javelins and arrows from above. Comrades took their

-places as they fell, and at length, by dint of hard fighting, gained

-footing on the crest of the wall.</p>

-

-<p>Guessing how matters must stand at the breach, the Rutharian swordsmen

-paid no further attention to the turrets which lay between them and the

-sea, but set themselves to the taking of those toward the gap. As soon

-as they carried one of these they were able to augment their numbers

-from the forces which earlier had passed the wall through the breach,

-and which now were besieging the towers from the north side, where the

-sloping pathways were defended by gates and doors of bronze.</p>

-

-<p>By the time the men at the east had taken the last of the watchtowers

-which intervened between them and the battle at the roadway, their

-brothers on the western stretch of the wall had passed the ruins of

-the toppled turret there and fallen furiously on the rear of the

-Maeronicans who were baiting the trenchmen of Oleric.</p>

-

-<p>From across the chasm where he fought, Atlo saw the new turn of the

-battle and bethought him of his own flank. Too late! The shouts of

-dismay from his rear were mingled with the thunder of galloping hoofs.</p>

-

-<p>At the eastern tower the men of Ruthar had found the horses which the

-defenders had left behind. While the stubborn conflict of swordsmen

-was waging on the western wall, these warriors mounted the Maeronican

-steeds and charged down the stone road between the copings, sweeping

-everything before them.</p>

-

-<p>Brave men, these of the King of Adlaz. Cut off from behind and with

-the yawning chasm before, they arose from their crouching and turned

-to meet the new foe. Then a grim and pitiless struggle began on

-the ancient wall, in which the clangor and clash of arms and the

-cursing of death-locked foeman was commingled with the screaming of

-pain-maddened horses.</p>

-

-<p>To the rear, which had become the front, went Atlo. He rallied his men

-and charged into the teeth of the oncoming horsemen, and kept charging

-until he died. Neither side asked quarter or gave it. The last of the

-Maeronican fighting men were pushed over the brink of the gap by the

-rushing horsemen and died under the merciless blades in the trench.</p>

-

-<p>At the west the fighting was more prolonged and bitter; but the

-superior numbers of the Rutharians prevailed, and the end was the same.</p>

-

-<p>The Kimbrian Wall was taken at a fearful cost. But Ruthar paid the toll

-smiling. Now Oleric might push through with his wall speedily and in

-peace.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>When the night of the passing of Minos had worn into morning and

-disclosed the extent of the destruction which the Sardanian had wrought

-in the harbor of Adlaz, Vedor, the port captain, Nealdo, head of the

-harbor guardsmen, and such captains of the fademes as had escaped with

-their lives met in council in one of the offices at the wharves. Fear

-sat heavy at the hearts of all; for there was not one of them that

-dared go up to the city and make a report to the king of the loss of

-his fademes.</p>

-

-<p>"Not I," Vedor said hastily, when it was suggested that he, as captain

-of the port, was the logical bearer of the news. "It were worth a man's

-life to tell the king that a slave has shattered his fleet. Besides, my

-duties here do not allow me to absent myself. Choose ye some other to

-carry the tidings to Bel-Ar."</p>

-

-<p>Listening to the discussion was a rough old soldier of the guard.

-Brenak was his name, and he was a brave man. When it seemed that none

-of the gilded captains had heart for the task, Brenak stepped forward.</p>

-

-<p>"I will carry the news," he volunteered. "Lend me a horse, and give me

-a few dekkars to buy wine at the wine-shops in the Street of Sherne,

-and I will go. It may be my last drinking, though I think not. I fought

-with the king in the wars, and I am known to him. I think he will spare

-me."</p>

-

-<p>So Brenak rode up to the city and bought his wine. From the wine-shops

-he went to the palace and gained admittance to the king and told the

-tidings, which already were flying from mouth to mouth through the

-streets.</p>

-

-<p>"Fool! You are crazed!" Bel-Ar exclaimed when Brenak had made a short

-tale of it. But in the eyes of the soldier the king saw the truth, and

-his pallid face turned a shade more pale. In his fury, scarce knowing

-what he did, he struck Brenak with his closed fist so that the soldier

-died from it.</p>

-

-<p>For days thereafter the temper of the king was such that those who

-must come near him did so with fear and trembling. Even his queen, the

-petulant, flower-faced Raissa, who dared him more than most, avoided

-him and kept to her own apartments.</p>

-

-<p>Weeks before, when it became known that the captives had escaped,

-little heed had been paid to their going. They were only slaves, and

-who cared what became of a slave! Interest in them had been swallowed

-up in the general indignation at the defection of Oleric the Red and

-the supposed treachery of Mordo. Only Bel-Ar and Rhaen, the arch-priest

-of Shamar, had chafed, and that because of the escape of the man whom

-they had doomed for the slaying of the sacred bull. The king had sent

-fademes to scour the sea, and one to go up the coast to Ruthar to head

-the fugitives, should they have gone that way. That fademe had never

-returned.</p>

-

-<p>These happenings had irked the pride of the king, who, like all

-despots, was of a wild and ungovernable temper that flared to madness

-when he was crossed.</p>

-

-<p>Came then the blow of Minos&mdash;a calamity which shook the nation and

-struck the foundation of Bel-Ar's dearest ambition. Without his

-fademes, his dreams of world-conquest vanished. Small wonder that his

-lords and ladies feared him and quaked at his approach.</p>

-

-<p>But the king was of a courage and perseverance equal to his temper.

-When the first shock of the catastrophe had worn away, he took stock of

-the damage and set about to repair so much of it as might be. At the

-bottom of the harbor his divers labored among the sunken fademes. Some

-few of the vessels were raised and rehabilitated. By far the most of

-them were useless, save for the metal in their hulks. Minos had done

-his work thoroughly, and the priceless engines, the living power of

-which was mined from the depths of the earth only by great labor, were

-nearly all ruined.</p>

-

-<p>Increasing his forces, both underground and in his workshops, Bel-Ar

-drove his miners and his builders ceaselessly to the replacement of

-what he had lost.</p>

-

-<p>Some weeks after the destruction of the fademes, rumor came down from

-the south&mdash;fleeting words in the mouths of the people, of which no man

-could trace the source&mdash;that a great host was gathering in Ruthar to

-assail the Kimbrian Wall. That report the king laughed at and did not

-believe, or if he did believe, it fretted him not at all. The Kimbrian

-Wall had stood an unshakable barrier since it had been completed,

-nearly thirty centuries before. It would go on standing to the end of

-time. It was well garrisoned, and Atlo was a good captain and vigilant.

-Ruthar must be mad if it thought to march against the wall.</p>

-

-<p>Rumor, again traceless, spoke further and told that Oleric the Red had

-appeared in Ruthar, and with him the slaves who had gone with him from

-Adlaz, and that they had hands in this matter of the wall-storming.

-Bel-Ar heard that also, and smiled grimly. Let Oleric and the slaves,

-if they were indeed in Ruthar, keep well within its boundaries, if they

-set any store by life.</p>

-

-<p>Progress was being made with the reconstruction of his fleet, and the

-king's poise was returning. Once more his court, that had been silent

-and almost deserted, echoed to the laughter of the gay courtiers, and

-Raissa sat upon her throne and toyed with the pearls that she loved.</p>

-

-<p>Then one afternoon a wan and haggard-faced man, spurring a weary horse

-to its utmost speed, rode in through the southern gates of Adlaz and

-clattered up the broad avenue to the palace. From the mountain town of

-Barme he had come, riding two days and a night by relays of horses and

-leaving some of his hard-ridden beasts dead along the road. So nearly

-dead was the rider himself from the rack of that journey that he fell

-from his horse at the palace gates, and men of the guard carried him

-before the king.</p>

-

-<p>From the floor of the audience-chamber where they laid him, the soldier

-raised his arm in salute and cried weakly:</p>

-

-<p>"The Kimbrian Wall is sundered, O king. She whom they name the Goddess

-Glorian of Ruthar cracked the wall in twain with thunders and green

-lightning that shook the land like a hammer." (So the messenger

-described the melinite mines of Everson.) "Through the wall poured a

-great host, which is rolling down upon Barme. Atlo is dead at the break

-in the wall. From the center to the sea-wall, the towers are held by

-Ruthar. Men say that the dreadful beasts of the forest are coming to

-make war on the children of Ad. Ruthar has crowned a king&mdash;a giant

-with hair of gold, who came up from the sea with Oleric the Red, who

-was your captain&mdash;and he leads the armies against Barme."</p>

-

-<p>Ending his tidings, the man lost grip of his wits. His head fell on his

-arm, and he slept. Nor could he be roused for many hours.</p>

-

-<p>"Now, here is a message with meat and spirit," said the king. Bel-Ar,

-who went near to madness when he heard of the loss of his fademes,

-could laugh when he heard that an army was marching against him. Of all

-the news only one thing galled him, and that was that the yellow-haired

-slave from the hated world to the north was kinging it in Ruthar.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Summoning his captains, the king banished his court of fluttering

-butterflies and filled his audience-chamber with the clash of golden

-armor. No sluggard was Bel-Ar when his foe was on the march, but a

-wise and resourceful leader. When his mind was not clouded by the

-rages which at times came upon him, he could plan with the best of his

-generals.</p>

-

-<p>Bel-Ar in his early youth had been a soldier, and he, too, had fought

-Ruthar at the Kimbrian Wall. Since coming to the throne of Maeronica he

-had put down two rebellions, leading his armies in person and waging

-with a strong and ruthless hand a warfare that had entailed the taking

-of cities.</p>

-

-<p>First move of the king was to despatch his messengers south and north

-to raise all the levies of Maeronica and the garrisons of the cities

-which were tributary to Adlaz. These he directed should be assembled

-at the crook of the river Thebascu, as the birds fly, ninety miles to

-the south of Adlaz. He sent Fanaer, one of his most trusted captains,

-in hot haste into the south to gather what forces he might and stem the

-tide of invasion until the main host could be mustered and brought up.

-Before nightfall the war-drums were beating in every city and hamlet of

-Maeronica.</p>

-

-<p>"If these rash forest wolves and their slave-king win through Barme and

-the mountain passes and overwhelm Fanaer, which I doubt, then we will

-meet them beyond the Thebascu, on the plains of Nor," said Bel-Ar to

-his councilors.</p>

-

-<p>"How they have broken through the wall, I know not; but warrant that it

-is some trick of the strangers.</p>

-

-<p>"As for the great beasts whereof the soldier spoke, I believe that they

-were all dead many years ago. Surely no man of Ad can say with truth

-that he ever has set eyes on one. They are but a myth wherewith Ruthar

-would affright us. And if they be alive, and as terrible as tradition

-tells, I am not afeared of them. We will drive them back with fire, as

-once before our ancestors drove them, in the days before the wall.</p>

-

-<p>"Friends, I welcome this war that has come to seek me, for I was

-growing dull and rusty with inaction.</p>

-

-<p>"If the wall be truly down, then will we drive Ruthar speedily to

-the other side of it&mdash;and having so done, we will follow on and bend

-the necks of these stubborn mountain boors to the yoke that has long

-awaited them."</p>

-

-<p>So he dreamed; so he spoke and heartened his captains.</p>

-

-<p>Two days later the trumpets blew at the southern gates, and with a

-rumbling of drums and a tossing of banners overhead, the first division

-of the garrison and the levies of the city of Adlaz, thirty thousand

-strong, marched out the Mazanion Road for the plains of Nor. At their

-head, under the rustling folds of his war-standard of gold and blue,

-rode Bel-Ar, the king.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>To Rose Emer, grown pale with waiting, Brunar brought these tidings in

-the prison of Bel-Tisam.</p>

-

-<p>When she heard that the wall was down, and that Polaris had set his

-face toward Adlaz, her joy, which she strove to conceal from the

-captain, knew no bounds. After Brunar was gone, the girl bent over the

-cradle of the little Patrymion, now a thriving youngster.</p>

-

-<p>"Ah, little mischief," said Rose, and shook her finger at him, "not

-much longer in this prison for you and me. Friends are coming,

-Patrymion; friends who will set us free."</p>

-

-<p>Patrymion, who had small care for what destiny had in store for him, so

-that his immediate requirements in goats' milk were satisfied, sucked a

-pink thumb and blinked up at her out of sleepy eyes.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>In the meantime, telling off companies of men to east and west to aid

-in the fight at the wall by laying siege to the towers, Polaris pushed

-straight ahead through the forests toward the town of Barme. Counting

-in the forces of light-armed soldiery who had preceded him through the

-wall, the son of the snows had in command a division of nearly seven

-thousand men. Of these there were a thousand archers, fifteen hundred

-slingers, two thousand and a half of javelin men, and nearly two

-thousand more of heavy armored footmen with swords and spears.</p>

-

-<p>Two hours along the way, Jastla and his picked hundred passed swiftly

-up the lines and joined the vanguard. Tall and stately men of the hills

-were these, led by the old chieftain, scarcely a one of the company

-under six feet, and splendidly armed after the fashion of their land.</p>

-

-<p>"Here be a few lads of the rocks who would have a tale to tell to their

-sweet-hearts when they go home again," said Jastla as he fell in beside

-Polaris.</p>

-

-<p>With small scouting parties thrown out ahead of him, Polaris hastened

-on. It was his plan to meet and intercept any expedition which might be

-sent from Barme to the relief of Atlo at the wall, and so to prevent

-interference with Oleric's work at the breach. In this fortune favored.

-For the javelin men ambushed and cut down no less than three riders

-sent from the wall to rouse the garrison at Barme; so that the first

-news that reached the town and the Captain Broddok, who commanded

-there, was brought in by the peasantry of the hills who fled through

-the forests before the advance of Polaris.</p>

-

-<p>Mightily disturbed, and not knowing the strength of the force which was

-marching against him, Broddok held his men under arms in indecision

-until it was too late for him to go to the wall. In the evening of the

-day after the breaching of the wall a battered soldier who had escaped

-from one of the turrets and slipped through the Rutharian cordons

-brought word to Broddok of the end of the Kimbrian fighting and the

-fall of Atlo. Then the Maeronican commander dispatched a relay-rider to

-Adlaz and made ready to defend his own gates, around which the jaws of

-Ruthar were closing.</p>

-

-<p>From the lower end of the isthmus a number of passes led through the

-mountains into the forests, beyond which were the plains of Nor.

-Through only one of these defiles lay a direct road, broad and suitable

-to the speedy passage of an army with its impedimenta and provision

-trains. That path was bestridden by the town of Barme.</p>

-

-<p>Midway of the pass and near the foot of its western precipice was a

-low, bald hill, over which the road lay. Around the lower slopes of

-the hill straggled the town, and at its summit was the walled citadel.

-It was a strong place, made so both by nature and by man. So closely

-did it nestle to the towering face of the defile's acclivity, and so

-rounding was the bulge of the mountain wall, that if one climbed to the

-top and looked down the precipice, he would see only the houses of the

-lower town and the citadel would be entirely hidden from him by the

-rock. At each side of the hill was rocky, wooded land, cut through by

-many gullies and the ravines of mountain streams.</p>

-

-<p>A hard place to come at, Polaris thought, as he stood in the gorge and

-looked at the hill by the dim light of the stars&mdash;for he came to Barme

-in the night. Yet it must be taken, and that speedily. The swiftest

-road into Maeronica lay over the hill, and the citadel's gates were the

-gates of the road also.</p>

-

-<p>An hour before the dawn he occupied the town, from which most of the

-people had fled, and attacked the fortress furiously, thereby losing

-many men. Though the walls of the place were not high, they were ably

-defended. Broddok was a skilled general, and his garrison was superior

-in numbers to the force which laid siege to his stronghold. Still

-Polaris, counting on the speedy arrival to his support of the van of

-his main army, kept up the assault until well into the day, trying in

-turn every point of the fortress&mdash;and failing at every turn.</p>

-

-<p>Finding that attempts against the wall availed them nothing, for they

-were without siege machinery, and Broddok's swordsmen clustered so

-thickly on the parapets that no footing could be gained thereon with

-ladders, the Rutharians boldly assailed the main gate to the citadel.

-Cutting a tree from the forest, threescore stout men bore it to the

-gate. While the archers and slingers from the tops of the nearest

-houses of the town swept the citadel walls with clouds of missiles,

-the men in the street swung their battering-ram until their arms were

-weary. But Broddok's doors were strongly built of oak, reinforced with

-bars of steel and set well within the arch of the gateway. Beyond the

-snapping of a few chains, the ram did them little damage.</p>

-

-<p>Maeronicans on the battlements mocked the men of Polaris with sharp

-words and sharper weapons, and through mortises in the vault of the

-arch poured down streams of boiling water. The Rutharians lost fifty

-men-at-arms before they desisted from the assault.</p>

-

-<p>"Smoke them out," was the counsel of Jastla.</p>

-

-<p>Fagots were fetched up from the town and drenched with oil, and men set

-fire to them and ran and cast them blazing into the archway.</p>

-

-<p>This means might have succeeded in burning away the stubborn oak. But

-the Maeronican captain, tiring of the din at his gates, mounted five

-hundred horsemen, opened his portals, and charged so fiercely through

-the fire that he cleared the street, and for a time his doors were

-unmolested.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Through the defile a chill wind swept from the north, carrying with it

-a light drift of snow, and Polaris's men found it cold work roosting

-without the walls. They had left their camp carrying food for only a

-two days' march. The country through which they had come was wild and

-sparsely settled, and offered little opportunity for foraging. When

-they began to feel the pinch of hunger, Polaris ordered his men to go

-among such of the townsmen of Barme as had not been frightened from

-their homes, and gather provisions, paying for all that they took with

-gold, for he would have no looting.</p>

-

-<p>And those orders were in part, at least, obeyed.</p>

-

-<p>Smoke was curling from the chimney of a small house in a side street

-near where they stood, and Jastla said to the king:</p>

-

-<p>"While these fellows are filling their bellies, let us look to our own.

-I could eat the wolf for which I am named, I am that hungered. See;

-here is a house and fire. Let us go and seek food."</p>

-

-<p>When they had struck upon the door, it was opened by a little lad, who

-stared at them, round-eyed, and then fled screaming across the room.</p>

-

-<p>"Ai! Raula!" he cried. "Here be two giants from the forests. Will they

-eat us, think you, as Darno said they would?"</p>

-

-<p>"Not so, small man," called Polaris gently, who had learned somewhat

-of the Maeronican tongue from Oleric. "We are two hungry men, indeed;

-but we would not harm little boys; and Darno, whoever he may be, should

-not affright you with such tales."</p>

-

-<p>At his words, a lean and fierce-eyed girl stood up from the fireplace

-where she had been crouched and came to the door. She clutched a baby

-to her breast. While she eyed the two men sourly, there was no fear in

-her regard.</p>

-

-<p>"Now who may you be, who wear the arms of a forest raider, yet who know

-our tongue and bespeak a child so fairly?" she asked of Polaris.</p>

-

-<p>"I am a soldier of Ruthar, lady," Polaris said, bowing to her. "My

-comrade here and myself are cold and hungry. May we be warmed at your

-fire and eat a little of the bread and meat yonder on the table? We

-have had no food for many hours. We will pay you well."</p>

-

-<p>The girl pressed closer and peered up at him.</p>

-

-<p>"Ah! I know who you are now," she said triumphantly. "You are no robber

-of the hills, though belike your comrade is," and she shot a glance of

-no favor at Jastla. "You are neither of Maeronica or Ruthar. You are

-the mighty man who came up from the sea to lead the south against the

-north and take Adlaz." She laughed discordantly. "Well, you have made a

-good beginning, they say; but you have a man's task ahead of you.</p>

-

-<p>"Come in and eat and be warmed. I care not. All the menfolks have fled

-the house to the hills in fear of you. I stayed, I and little Telo,

-here. I fear no soldiers. Nay, close that door behind you, old man; I

-would not that winter came in with you and sat at meat."</p>

-

-<p>Laughing grimly into his beard, Jastla made fast the door. While the

-two men sat and ate, the girl resumed her crouching by the fire, where

-she crooned over the babe, at times staring furtively at Polaris. Telo

-soon conquered his fear of the strangers and climbed to the knees of

-Polaris, where he fingered the big man's chain armor curiously and

-prattled many childish questions.</p>

-

-<p>When the hungry men had finished their meal, the girl spoke up again:</p>

-

-<p>"Say, man from the sea, I have heard that there is a beautiful lady who

-waits for you in a prison in Adlaz town. Is that true?"</p>

-

-<p>"Yes, lady, it is true," Polaris said; and he sighed.</p>

-

-<p>"And you lead a great host thither to set her free?" the girl persisted.</p>

-

-<p>"Yes, if I may."</p>

-

-<p>"But to get on the way to Adlaz, you must take this fortress of Barme;

-and you find it a hard nut to crack. Is that not so?"</p>

-

-<p>"That is true, also, lady."</p>

-

-<p>"Well, hark you, man." The girl stood up and came to the table. "You

-who are true to a woman as few men are ever true; perhaps the poor,

-despised, cast-off Raula may aid you somewhat in this undertaking."</p>

-

-<p>While Polaris stared at her and Jastla grunted, she went on:</p>

-

-<p>"Oh, for your wars, and for who is king, I care not. Still, I would

-see that lady in Adlaz town go free&mdash;if you are strong enough to pass

-Bel-Ar and his army. Those matters you must look after later. But

-listen. Other men are not so true as you are. There is one in the

-fortress yonder who once thought Raula fair. Now she is a deserted

-wife, while he seeks other maids to listen to his lies. Oh! how I hate

-him!" She spat the words and stamped fiercely on the floor.</p>

-

-<p>"I would see that man humbled and cast down. I would see his red blood

-on the stones at my feet.</p>

-

-<p>"There is a way into the fort, a hidden way, which is known to none but

-me and Telo.</p>

-

-<p>"Now, Telo here shall show you that way. There is a spring on the hill.

-'Tis back of the stables, in a grove of stunted trees. It flows down

-through the rock under the wall and escapes on the hillside. Years ago,

-when I tended cows on the hill, I found the entrance. The water has so

-worn the stone that one may climb its course from the old cowpath to

-the brow of the hill. If a girl can clamber there, surely active men

-will not find it at all hard to do.</p>

-

-<p>"When night is fallen, bid your men to storm the gate again. Then, if

-your force is strong enough to make the venture, take a part of it and

-gain the hill. While those of Broddok's men who do not watch the walls

-are sleeping, you may fall upon them and open the gates."</p>

-

-<p>Polaris and Jastla looked on the girl, amazed.</p>

-

-<p>"Stare not at me," she said. "I am an outcast and reckless woman&mdash;and I

-would be revenged. Besides, we poor folk care little what the fate of

-Bel-Ar may be, who does oppress us so that life is a great weariness."</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>It was arranged that they should come back at nightfall for the boy,

-and Polaris and Jastla left the house. When the chieftain fingered his

-pouch and would have paid her for the entertainment, Raula would have

-none of his gold.</p>

-

-<p>"This night's work will be pay enough for Raula," she said.</p>

-

-<p>After they had gone, Jastla set a soldier to watch the house and report

-to him if any left it; for Jastla trusted no woman and feared a trap.

-His fears proved to be unfounded. No one left or visited the house

-through the afternoon.</p>

-

-<p>For the remainder of the day Polaris rested his soldiers, and kept

-up only the semblance of an attack on the walls of Barme citadel. He

-wondered much at the delay of the army of Ruthar, having as yet learned

-nothing of the fighting at the Kimbrian breach; but he was resolved to

-delay not himself, but make the attempt on the fortress as the girl

-Raula had suggested.</p>

-

-<p>With the fall of night he brought the bulk of his force up into the

-cross-streets near the gate and posted sentries to see that none passed

-from the town to the fort. Then he went to the house of Raula and

-fetched the lad. Telo was afraid of the night and the many armed men,

-and would go only if Polaris, whom he trusted, would carry him.</p>

-

-<p>"Show him the spring at the head of the old cowpath, Telo," said

-Raula, and to Polaris, "Bend down the clump of evergreen bushes above

-the spring, and you will find the way through the rock. Beware of the

-sentries at the stables. Once one of them nearly slew me when I came

-suddenly on him out of the dark." She bent nearer and whispered:</p>

-

-<p>"Perchance you will meet and slay Broddok, the captain. I pray you do.

-And ere you smite, tell him that Raula, daughter of Hecar, sent you to

-him."</p>

-

-<p>As Polaris went out to the street, with the lad on his shoulder, he

-heard the girl's shrill laughter within the house&mdash;laughter that made

-him shiver.</p>

-

-<p>Followed by a thousand of his swordsmen, including the hundred men

-of Jastla, Polaris marched silently around rough devious streets

-to the side of the hill, and then into the rough ground where the

-boy directed. It was a dark night, for the stars were dimmed by

-storm-clouds, and the going was slow. Raula had said it would take at

-least an hour and the half of another to gain the crest of the hill,

-and Polaris had ordered his men in the town to hold their hands until

-they should hear his trumpets, and then to attack the gates of the

-citadel with trees and fire.</p>

-

-<p>At the spring the clump of bush was found easily, and behind it in the

-face of the hill was a hole in the rock, so low that a man must bend

-nearly double to enter it. Here Polaris gave Telo into the arms of a

-young Rutharian soldier, bidding him bear the lad safely back to his

-sister.</p>

-

-<p>Bending down, the son of the snows entered the hole. Jastla, who never

-let his charge beyond arm's reach, crowded in at his heels. For six

-feet or more they walked with their knees nearly to their chins, and

-then were able to stand upright. The girl had told them that a light

-in the passage could not be seen from above because of the trees, and

-one of the soldiers had nursed a smouldering torch under his cloak.

-That was brought in and whirled into flame, and they proceeded along a

-narrow gully, over the floor of which the water trickled.</p>

-

-<p>"Oof! That maid must have been very love-sick, or she has the courage

-of a fighting man, to have climbed this place in the dark," muttered

-Jastla, as he surveyed the gloomy cavern.</p>

-

-<p>For nearly three hundred yards the party followed the subterranean

-ravine, the floor of which sloped upward sharply. It ended in a shaft

-that was nearly perpendicular, which the men must climb by the aid of

-jagged rocks where the course of the stream had been worn for centuries.</p>

-

-<p>The torchbearer was posted at the angle, so that the light might be

-shed both down the passage and through the shaft. Wrapping his sword

-and spear in his cloak to prevent them from clanging against the

-stones, Janess, insisting that he should be first, went silently up

-through the rock, and Jastla followed close behind. They came out at

-the top through thick bushes into a basin or pool, where the water was

-ankle-deep. They were inside the wall of the fortress on the western

-side of the hill-crest. Around the pool was a grove of stunted trees,

-to the east of which lay the low, wooden stable buildings. South of the

-stables were the stone barracks of the garrison.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Man by man, the Rutharians came up through the darksome hole and took

-cover among the trees, until the grove bristled with swords. Polaris

-and Jastla worked their way to the edge of the wood nearest the stables.</p>

-

-<p>The chieftain pointed to the wooden buildings.</p>

-

-<p>"We will fire them," he whispered, "and have a light to fight by."</p>

-

-<p>As he spoke, a sentry paced out from the shadow of the stables and

-passed along the edge of the grove to the wall. So near he passed

-to the hidden men that they might have reached out and touched his

-shoulder.</p>

-

-<p>"Now that man must be disposed of," muttered Polaris, "and I like it

-not, this smiting of men from behind."</p>

-

-<p>No such niceties of warfare ruled Jastla. When the man came back, the

-chieftain stepped noiselessly from the trees behind him. For a pace

-or two the big mountaineer trod in the tracks of the unsuspecting

-sentry. Then Jastla sprang, and a brief and wordless struggle under the

-trees followed. A dagger flashed. Arising, Jastla took the cloak of

-the fallen man and stepped calmly into his beat. At the corner of the

-stable the chieftain met and slew the second sentry.</p>

-

-<p>At the side of the stable the Rutharian swordsmen formed for battle.

-A man with a torch ran from point to point along the rear of the

-buildings and set fire to the timbers. As they caught and the flames

-leaped crackling up, the frightened horses began to pound and scream.</p>

-

-<p>Polaris bade his trumpeter blow. The notes blared piercing clear. The

-swordsmen broke cover with a roar and charged the stone barracks.

-Lighting torches at the blazing barns, men ran with them to light

-the way. Hardly were they half-way across the intervening space when

-there was an answering flare from the streets below, and the thunder

-of the battering-ram announced that the fight at the gates was on with

-redoubled fury.</p>

-

-<p>While half of his force entered the barracks and fell upon the

-bewildered men there, Polaris, with the remainder, swept down the broad

-roadway, past the dwelling of the officers. Cutting their way through

-the defenders of the gate, the Rutharians tore out the bars, and their

-comrades in the streets swarmed through and up the hillside.</p>

-

-<p>In the midst of the wild mêlée that followed, Broddok did the only

-thing that he could do to save his skin. He rallied such of his men

-as were under arms, fought through to the stables, and released the

-fear-maddened horses. All who could of the Maeronicans mounted in

-haste. For a moment it seemed that the captain would give the order to

-charge down the street into the fighting press, where the men of Ruthar

-were putting his comrades to the sword. But Broddok thought better of

-it.</p>

-

-<p>With nearly four hundred men, the captain rode down the northern slope

-of the hill, opened the road-gates there, and galloped off through the

-pass, leaving his leaderless garrison to fend for itself.</p>

-

-<p>When that became known, the Maeronican soldiers, beset on both sides

-and confused and disheartened by the suddenness of the stroke, threw

-down their arms and surrendered, on promise of their lives.</p>

-

-<p>So fell the strong fortress of Barme, because its captain had broken

-faith with a woman.</p>

-

-<p>With the first light of morning, Polaris sent his prisoners south

-toward Ruthar under a strong guard. Leaving a thousand men under one of

-Jastla's hill-captains to hold the citadel, the son of the snows pushed

-on through the pass with the remainder of his division.</p>

-

-<p>That move of his came near to costing Ruthar a king.</p>

-

-

-

-<hr class="chap" />

-<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2>

-

-<h3>THE COMING OF THE BEASTS</h3>

-

-

-<p>Seated on her ivory throne in the empty hall of her temple, the Goddess

-Glorian fought within her heart a battle that was every whit as fierce

-and hard as that of Ruthar in the field. In that sounding citadel two

-forces stood arrayed, one for good and one for evil, and the conflict

-between them was passing bitter. It was the world-old war of duty and

-love that has ever torn the heart of woman.</p>

-

-<p>No outward signal of the struggle marred the supernal beauty of her

-face. She sat as one sits who is thoughtful and somewhat weary.

-Light-rays that stole down from the windows in the lofty dome wrought

-strange effects of fire in the wonder of her hair&mdash;fire which smoldered

-and glowed and ran in tiny sparks along the silklike filaments. Her

-head was slightly bowed. The slender hands, which lay in her lap, were

-quiet and listless. Only in the depths of her eyes was she betrayed. In

-those red-brown deeps, could one have seen them through the half-closed

-lids, one would have found a pleading misery that would not still,

-almost a terror.</p>

-

-<p>Compelled by the ancient secret and a will that never slept, the

-passing years had dealt splendidly by Glorian. Experience they had

-given her, which is more than knowledge, and patience, and an almost

-supernatural poise; but they had not made her more than human.</p>

-

-<p>And a man had come.</p>

-

-<p>Why should she give way to this other woman? Why should she not reach

-out and take that for desire of which her soul yearned and her heart

-was consumed by flame? 'Twould be easy. A delay, a word in the ear of

-Zoar, a seeming mischance&mdash;and the priests of Shamar in Adlaz would

-clear her way. Why should she shrink and hesitate?</p>

-

-<p>The man had said that, were he too late, he would die upon the road.

-Well, that might be prevented. Besides, men do not die so easily, and

-time will heal all heart-wounds. But will it? And were that other woman

-dead, could Glorian win him to herself&mdash;this man whose will was as

-strong as her own?</p>

-

-<p>He was through the wall now and on the road to Adlaz. Oleric had sent

-messengers to tell her that. And they had told her, too, of that

-brave friend of his, who had nearly given his life while opening the

-way. Many had died&mdash;her own countrymen&mdash;and many more would die&mdash;and

-why? Because of an ambition which she herself had nurtured and kept

-bright&mdash;now hollow and of no appeal. What should Glorian care who held

-dominion over Adlaz or over Ruthar&mdash;she, who desired only peace and to

-rule in the heart of a man?</p>

-

-<p>All of a long afternoon she sat there, and a statue were not more

-still. For the better part of the night the struggle raged on above her

-pillow, and left it drenched with tears. Then evil fled the field, and

-she who had mastered her spirit slept dreamlessly until the morrow.</p>

-

-<p>In the morning she sent away her tire-women, and ordered that a horse

-be equipped for a warrior and left at the temple doors.</p>

-

-<p>When that steed went down the hill there was no one in all Ruthar who

-would have known that the Goddess Glorian was the rider. For she was

-arrayed in the glittering armor, silver-wrought above its steel, of a

-Rutharian zind. She wore a closed and vizored helm. A sword swung at

-her back, and there were both ax and spear at her saddle-bow.</p>

-

-<p>"I will go down with him into the battle," she whispered, "and let

-things fall out as they may. Some day, somewhere, my time will come. My

-soul has promised it."</p>

-

-<p>She crossed the Illia and rode northward through the forests.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>After the fall of Atlo the fighting went on at the wall for the rest

-of that day, the Rutharians storming tower after tower, until they held

-every turret from sea to sea. Through the afternoon and the night and

-the next day Oleric pushed on with his road, working his men in relays,

-and snatching for himself only brief spells of sleep. Through the night

-in which the king of Ruthar stormed and took Barme, the sappers and

-miners labored on at the breach.</p>

-

-<p>Morning saw the task completed.</p>

-

-<p>First through the breach went a flying squadron of the horsemen from

-the hills, six thousand strong, led by two of the mountain zinds,

-Maxtan and Albar. After them marched a great division of infantry,

-nearly fifty thousand of them, the chest of the army, each section

-carrying with it a number of companies of archers and slingers. Then

-a force of nearly thirteen thousand chariots rumbled through the

-breach&mdash;these following the infantry because they would be of little

-use until the host should pass the mountain defiles to more level

-fighting ground. Followed an endless train of baggage and provision

-wains.</p>

-

-<p>No siege machinery was carried, for two reasons. Rutharians long ago

-had found such engines as their skill had devised to be powerless

-against the Kimbrian Wall, and had lost faith in them. Secondly,

-certain carefully handled bundles from the laboratories of Nematzin

-were judged to be of more avail than any catapult, ram or mantelet.</p>

-

-<p>At intervals Oleric halted the divisions to allow of the passage of

-more cavalry, which spread out at each side of the main array and rode

-down through the forest paths of the isthmus.</p>

-

-<p>For more than twelve hours Ruthar poured her armed men through the

-breach in the barrier, with scarcely a break&mdash;and the way was wide.

-Reserves in the camp and on the wall cheered the various regiments as

-they went by, marching under their banners and to the music of pipe and

-drum.</p>

-

-<p>Last of all, over the slope and through the gap came Zoar of the

-Amalocs with no less than fifty-eight of the monsters of his herd.

-In single file the amalocs marched, each holding fast with his trunk

-to the tail of the beast ahead, as elephants are wont to do. Ixstus,

-father and patriarch of the herd, led the line, and on the mighty head

-of Ixstus rode Zoar, the master.</p>

-

-<p>On they came, these mountains of red-wooled flesh, swinging their

-gleaming wealth of ivories. Though their shambling tread was soft and

-padding, the roadway, made smooth and hard by the passing of thousands

-of feet and hoofs and wheels, shook under their advance.</p>

-

-<p>Zoar had been preparing against this day for many years. All of his

-beasts were armored for battle. Their heads were protected by immense

-bosses or shields of steel. He had also armor for their forelegs, with

-chains, which could be attached in such a manner that they would swing

-out when the animals charged, and strike down any living thing that

-came near them. The tips of the spreading tusks were equipped with

-sockets, to which sharp steel points could be fitted. More than half of

-the great brutes bore fighting turrets on their backs, in each of which

-was room for a half a score of men. A few tons more or less of metal

-and men meant nothing to the boundless strength of an amaloc.</p>

-

-<p>Until he saw that Zoar had passed the breach, Oleric waited. Then he

-took horse and rode forward. Zenas and certain of his workmen had gone

-through with the first of the cavalry. With them had gone the dog

-Rombar. The animal had escaped from the laboratories in Zele-omaz,

-where Polaris had left him, and had come into the camp half starved

-and nearly frantic with anxiety to find his master. Zenas could not

-withstand the appeal of the brute's dumb search, so he took Rombar

-along. Everson, getting better of his wound, still sick and delirious,

-had been transferred to Zele-omaz and lay at the house of Zind Atra,

-tended by the best medical skill in Ruthar.</p>

-

-<p>When the head of the host was some six hours upon its way, it met the

-first of the long lines of captives, which Polaris had sent back from

-the storming of Barme. The cheering which greeted the tale of that

-exploit of their king passed down the marching regiments like a gale

-and through the Kimbrian breach into Ruthar. When Zenas, with the

-riders, clattered up the hill in the gorge and saw the strength of the

-citadel that had been taken, his heart beat high with pride for what

-his boy had done.</p>

-

-<p>Learning there that the king had passed on to the north, the horsemen,

-their numbers continually augmented by new companies from the rear,

-pushed on along the road in the hope of overtaking him.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>In a dark and narrow glen, wild with rocks and trees, with a mountain

-wall at his back and steel death, many-handed and triumphant, closing

-in along his front, a tawny-haired giant crouched warily among his

-thinning ranks of fighting men. If ever a man was hard beset, it

-was the king of Ruthar. Hemmed in where there was no way of escape,

-he waited with his dwindling company the fifth charge of a horde of

-Maeronican warriors, who were forming for the rush at the mouth of the

-glen. Gone wild with glee were the sons of Ad. They had trapped the

-king of Ruthar like a wounded bear. Great would be their reward from

-Bel-Ar if they took him.</p>

-

-<p>Among the rocks and bushes lay a grim reminder in shattered men of four

-previous charges. Some comfort it was to those who waited above to know

-that for every one of Ruthar who had gone to the stars, at least two of

-Bel-Ar's men had traveled the same path&mdash;or perhaps to the sun; for the

-Maeronicans prayed to Shamar.</p>

-

-<p>After leaving Barme, Polaris had led his followers along the main road,

-and they had almost reached the end of the pass, where it debouched

-into the forests of upper Maeronica, before mischance overtook them. It

-came in the shape of that same Captain Broddok, whom they had driven

-from his blazing hold at Barme.</p>

-

-<p>Broddok had ridden through the pass at speed, and beyond it had met a

-strong outpost of cavalry and five regiments of foot-soldiers, sent up

-to hold the passes. For Captain Fanaer had already arrived in upper

-Maeronica.</p>

-

-<p>Scouts brought word of the advance of Polaris with the most of his

-force through the principal pass. He, too, had sent out small parties

-to explore through the outer defiles, of which there were four, and

-bring him word of the lay of the land.</p>

-

-<p>"Now let him come on," counseled Broddok to the Maeronican commander,

-"and we shall have a surprise for him."</p>

-

-<p>Swiftly galloping riders at once swarmed into the four smaller passes,

-overwhelmed the Rutharians whom they found there and drove them into

-the hills. The horsemen then joined forces and swept down the road in

-the rear of Polaris, having come into the defile by bridle paths over

-the hills which were known to them.</p>

-

-<p>Turning his front to meet this menace, the son of the snows was beset

-from behind by both cavalry and infantry, and his force was split up

-before it could be massed or a place be found suitable for defense.

-With nearly a thousand of his men of mixed armament, Janess had been

-driven into the glen, discovering too late that it was a cul-de-sac,

-from which there was no escape.</p>

-

-<p>Four charges the Rutharians had met, and their numbers were now less

-than three hundred. But Jastla's ring of steel still held, and Polaris

-himself was not even wounded. Where the fighting had been the thickest,

-there he had gone; but ever when some perilous blow fell, there was

-one of Jastla's mountaineers to meet it or to die under it. Of the

-hundred men less than fifty lived, and scarcely a score of those were

-scatheless.</p>

-

-<p>"All that you can do here, you have done, O king," said Jastla

-earnestly, as they waited for the fifth charge. "A man unhindered might

-scale yonder rocks and escape into the hills. Do you make the attempt?

-I and these with me will hold back these howling whelps of Bel-Ar.

-Haste you, or 'twill be too late."</p>

-

-<p>Polaris turned on him sternly.</p>

-

-<p>"And you have been comrade to me, Jastla, and did train and make me

-skilled with arms, and yet think that I am so small of spirit," he

-said. "Jastla, I take it ill of you. You and these men are fighting for

-the man whom Ruthar has crowned king. What sort of a king would he be,

-think you, who deserted when he had those still lines yonder before him

-for example?" He pointed down where the dead warriors lay.</p>

-

-<p>"Here I may die, and here I may buried be; but I will not turn back."</p>

-

-<p>Under his shaggy brows old Jastla's eyes were moist.</p>

-

-<p>He grunted loudly.</p>

-

-<p>"I didn't think that you would go. Forgive me that I spoke of it," he

-said. He turned to his hillsmen, and the word went round that every

-last one of the wolves of Ruthar was to die in his tracks. There would

-be no giving back before the next charge.</p>

-

-<p>Broddok on foot waved his sword and gave the word, and the Maeronicans

-raised their battle-cry and came swarming up through the rocks to the

-attack. The mountaineers answered them with a deep-voiced shout:</p>

-

-<p>"For the king! For Polaris!"</p>

-

-<p>None of the combatants heard a thin cry far above them at the brink of

-the cliff and the frenzied barking of a dog.</p>

-

-<p>On came the Maeronicans, Broddok leading, his face flushed with triumph

-and hatred. In the captain's way was a large fragment of rock. As he

-sprang around it, it split in twain and flew into splinters, belching

-green flame. That flash was the last thing the captain ever saw; the

-thunderous roar that shook the hillside was the crack of doom for him.

-A sliver of rock smote him on the temple. Raula was avenged.</p>

-

-<p>Another terrific explosion tore up the earth and boulders right in the

-midst of the startled Maeronicans, and then another. Men were dying by

-the hundred. Bel-Ar's men turned and fled shrieking for the roadway.

-The charge was turned into a rout. Hardly were they out of the glen

-where such fearsome happenings had befallen them, when a cloud of

-Rutharian cavalry rolled down through the main pass and swept Bel-Ar's

-men and their supports into headlong flight toward the lowlands.</p>

-

-<p>On the brow of the rock a small, white-haired old man, clad in armor

-several sizes too large for him, stood up from his knees and patted a

-great black dog on the head.</p>

-

-<p>"Good shots those were, Rombar," he said. "Used to be a baseball

-pitcher once, and haven't lost my wing yet. By golly! I was just in

-time."</p>

-

-<p>Presently Zenas was down in the road with the others to greet Polaris.

-The geologist made light of what he had done, but Janess and the others

-knew that they owed their lives to his quick wit.</p>

-

-<p>Soldiers who had been driven into the hills had met the Rutharian

-riders and told them of the plight of their king. While the cavalry

-engaged the Maeronicans in the pass and cleared it, the old man and

-a small party, carrying melinite bombs, some few of which Zenas had

-fashioned in his laboratories, had ridden by a bridle-path to the top

-of the cliff.</p>

-

-<p>"Be careful, son," said Zenas, when Polaris threw an arm lovingly

-across his shoulder. "This chain jerkin of mine is packed with enough

-of that green hell-cake to spread us over two counties. And keep the

-brute away."</p>

-

-<p>For Rombar had found his master and was leaping about him like a crazed

-thing and barking as if to tell the whole army about it.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Despite the utmost efforts of Fanaer, the most trusted of Bel-Ar's

-captains and a general skilled in all the arts of war, Ruthar held

-the isthmus and the mountain passes, and through the Kimbrian defile

-poured down with horse and foot and chariot into upper Maeronica.

-Failing to hold back the host of the invader and fortify the passes, as

-he had hoped to do, Fanaer began a harrying, guerrilla warfare. From

-sea to sea he made the land barren of supplies for his enemy, sending

-the peasants and hill-dwellers with their cattle and provisions down

-to the coast cities of Zeddar and Aklon. He sent swarms of light

-riders into the hills, where by sally and ambuscade and the breaking

-of bridges and a hundred other means they fretted the advance of the

-Rutharian army.</p>

-

-<p>Did the way lie through a forest, Fanaer fired it, and Ruthar marched

-in flames and smoke. Did the road follow the turn of a hill, there were

-men at the crest to roll huge rocks down on the tramping legions. Was a

-gorge to be passed, the bridges were ruined.</p>

-

-<p>Days wore away, days which Ruthar could ill spare, and which Polaris

-counted with a sinking heart, seeing his army go forward so slowly.

-Still it did advance&mdash;slowly, painfully, but surely, the steel lines

-made progress.</p>

-

-<p>Craft against craft Oleric matched with Fanaer. Ruthar had her light

-horsemen, too. Right and left Oleric sent them into the uplands to

-clear his path of the stinging pests of Fanaer. Scores of times in

-a day, on hilltop or in wooded glen, short, fierce engagements were

-fought, but never a pitched battle. Maeronica was playing for delay.

-Far behind the shifting screen of Fanaer's operations Bel-Ar and his

-generals were consolidating the main strength of Maeronica in the

-lowlands along the river Thebascu.</p>

-

-<p>When hill-riding and skirmishing was done, the generals of both armies

-knew that the real war would begin&mdash;that the issue would be joined and

-decided on the plains of Nor.</p>

-

-<p>Careful as any general in modern warfare was Oleric with regard to

-his flanks and rear. Well he knew, did the red captain, that in the

-slow-moving trains of provisions that crept ceaselessly along the

-isthmus from Ruthar was the strength of his host in the field. Once

-that line was cut, Bel-Ar might laugh indeed.</p>

-

-<p>It took many men to keep the rear ways open and man the isthmian

-passes. On the morning when the Rutharian army writhed forth from the

-forests like a wounded but tenacious serpent onto the level stretches

-of the plains of Nor, Oleric had under his banners a scant hundred

-thousand men. Thirty thousand more warded the rear. Fifty thousand in

-reserves were massed in the forests and on the isthmus. Twenty thousand

-were with the slain.</p>

-

-<p>The sun was shining as the host wound out from the gloom of the

-forests. To right and to left were wooded hills and beyond them the

-peaks of mountain ranges, blue against the skies. Ahead, the plains, a

-reach of level land some thirty miles broad from east and west and a

-score of miles across, were divided by the gleaming, irregular ribbon

-of the river Thebascu.</p>

-

-<p>In a loop of the river in a camp that was strongly entrenched, for all

-the haste with which it had been constructed, lay the army of Ad, fresh

-and unwearied and ready for battle. And it outnumbered the host of

-Ruthar by nearly two to one. Across the river, down the hundred miles

-to Adlaz, the Mazanion Road was choked with supply trains and reserves.</p>

-

-<p>Snow still lay in patches in the forest defiles; but the plains were

-faintly green with a promise of the spring-time. On the trees the buds

-were swelling. Through a month of wearisome marching Ruthar had come.

-In less than forty-five days the trumpets would sound from the towers

-of Adlaz for the Feast of Years.</p>

-

-<p>"Now by her who sits at Flomos," said Oleric to Polaris, as they sat

-their horses on a hillside and looked across the plains to where the

-gold and blue standards fluttered, "here will be a battle worth the

-waiting of all my years."</p>

-

-<p>Somewhat worn with anxiety was the face of the son of the snows; but

-his eyes were bright and his strength was unimpaired. He, too, was

-ready.</p>

-

-<p>"Shall we not strike at the nearest point of the river?" he asked,

-pointing to the west of Bel-Ar's camp. "If we gain the bank of the

-stream, it will shorten our front, and it seems that we shall not

-easily be flanked."</p>

-

-<p>Oleric swore that the plan was good, and Ruthar's army began to fight

-its way across the plain. It could scarcely be said that battle was

-beginning. All the way through the forests had been one long, unending

-struggle with Fanaer. Already on the plains cavalry skirmishes were in

-progress. Now was to come the climax of a month of conflict.</p>

-

-<p>Steadily Ruthar pressed on, and with the fall of night pitched her

-tents on the plain, her left wing resting on the river below the

-Maeronican camp. By common consent, the fighting ceased at dusk and the

-armies rested on their arms. The next day would tell the tale, and they

-were content to await it. Such was the contour of the land that there

-was little ground for strategy and juggling of men. This was to be a

-battle, front to front, with victory to the strongest arms. And though

-their force was the greater, there was much of doubt in the hearts

-of the men of Ad. Tales had been brought in of the prowess of these

-mountain warriors.</p>

-

-<p>Other camp gossip had put uneasiness upon the soldiers of Bel-Ar. How,

-for instance, had the Kimbrian Wall been sundered, if it were not the

-work of the gods? And the beasts, the mighty red beasts, against which

-men were as flies. Rumor had told that they had come into Maeronica

-and would fight in the field against Adlaz. The sun set that night in

-a sea of fire. Men did not know how to interpret that omen. Was Shamar

-angered? And if he was, on whose heads would his blows fall on the

-morrow? The stars shone calm and clear. Ruthar worshiped the stars.</p>

-

-<p>Those and other thoughts caused many a stout Maeronican to shake his

-head over his campfire. But most of all they feared the beasts.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Wary Oleric had kept Zoar and his herd well to the rear. Never in the

-march had the amalocs gone forward until the way had been cleared. None

-of the Maeronican fighting men had set eyes on them. The beasts were

-Ruthar's strongest hope. If even the thought of them struck terror into

-the hearts of the Children of Ad, Oleric reasoned that their sudden

-appearance in battle might be counted upon to produce a panic.</p>

-

-<p>Ruthar would try a tilt against Maeronica, the red captain planned, and

-if she might would win her battle by force of arms alone. But if the

-fight should swing against her, then the beasts would be better than an

-army in reserve. So he bade Zoar camp in the forests, and he surrounded

-the encampment with a strong guard and cordons of sentries.</p>

-

-<p>In the morning Ruthar's stars paled, and Shamar came up smiling&mdash;seeing

-which the men of Bel-Ar took fresh heart.</p>

-

-<p>Scarcely had the first shafts of light thrust over the mountain-tops

-when Oleric, from the shadows of the forest, launched a great bolt of

-cavalry across the plain. Another division which had been moved in the

-night swept east along the south bank of the river. While the riders of

-Bel-Ar went out to meet them, the trumpets of the king of Ruthar were

-sounded in the center of the camp, and long files of men-at-arms crept

-forth into the dawn behind the screen of dashing horsemen.</p>

-

-<p>In three deep columns Polaris moved his footmen into battle, with lanes

-between them, into which the cavalry might retire, and through which

-the charioteers would charge when the time came. Each of the marching

-columns was tipped with regiments of swiftly moving javelin men, and

-behind them came the archers, stringing their long bows and singing a

-lilting chorus as they moved out on the plain.</p>

-

-<p>Mounted on his black stallion, Polaris led the center, riding behind

-the first ranks of his swordsmen and accompanied by the men of Jastla

-and some score of the Rutharian zinds, all in full armor. Far to the

-right rode Oleric the Red. The left was headed by Tarnos, one of the

-zinds. That post Polaris had offered to old Jastla of the hills, but

-the chieftain had declined it.</p>

-

-<p>"'Tis a great honor, O king," he said when the proffer was made, and

-his eyes shone. "But I pray you give it not to me. I would fight at

-your side. That post will be troublesome enough, as I well know."

-Jastla grinned broadly. "Give the command to a nobler man."</p>

-

-<p>"There is none nobler, old wolf," Polaris replied. "But have it as you

-will."</p>

-

-<p>So Tarnos led the left, along the river Thebascu, and Jastla and his

-ring of steel rode with his king, and he was content.</p>

-

-<p>Midway between the camps, as Oleric had ordered it, the charging

-horsemen swerved aside, doubled, and, as though in fear, plunged

-back between the advancing columns. Hard on their flying heels came

-the shouting riders of Ad. As they came the javelin men cast, and

-the archers bent bows and loosed a bitter flight from their twanging

-strings that shrieked among the horsemen like a white drift of blizzard

-through the mountain trees. Then, before the eyes of the Maeronican

-riders, the horsemen they pursued were gone; the bowmen and the

-javelin-throwers melted away; fanwise the heads of the three columns

-spread out and joined each to each, their front ranks kneeling; and

-Ruthar received her plunging foemen on an unbroken front of leveled

-spears.</p>

-

-<p>Fell ruin awaited that splendid charge. Unable to turn back because

-of the surging squadrons behind them, the foremost ranks were dashed

-against the grim steel barrier, and went down in a horrible tangle of

-struggling men and horses.</p>

-

-<p>Into the mêlée, through the lines and over the shoulders of their

-comrades, leaped the light-armed footmen with their javelins and

-daggers, and slew hundreds of horses, whose riders fell easy prey to

-the two-handed blades that now were aloft and busy.</p>

-

-<p>At the rear the Rutharian cavalry formed again, and dashing around the

-flanks of the columns in two flying wedges, closed like nippers behind

-Bel-Ar's confused squadrons.</p>

-

-<p>First cast in the game had gone to Ruthar. The horsemen of Ad were

-routed and pushed back&mdash;all those who could go. Those that remained

-were done with fighting.</p>

-

-<p>From the earthen wall of his camp, standing among his golden-armored

-generals, Bel-Ar saw his cavalry broken and flung back&mdash;saw it, and

-laughed aloud.</p>

-

-<p>"They fight well, these mountain wolves," he said. "But that was the

-play of children. Now will we send them a taste of the swords of Ad."</p>

-

-<p>Beyond the wall of the camp were massed the legions of the Maeronican

-heavy infantry, flower of the fighting men of seven cities, the core

-of which was formed of the garrison of Adlaz itself, fifteen thousand

-veteran men-at-arms.</p>

-

-<p>Bidding his captains go forward, the king called for his horse.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Somber as he had appeared in his dull garments in the midst of his

-butterfly court, Bel-Ar, among his captains, offered an even greater

-contrast. He loved the pomp and pride of power, its show and its

-glitter, but not in his own person. While his generals rode in gold,

-and the armor of some of them blazed with gems and patterns in

-orichalcum that made them glow like fireflies in the night, the king

-wore a simple suit of arms of black steel, plain of design and undecked

-by any flashing gauds. Only the majesty that dwelt in his pallid face

-and the fires of his mystic's eyes distinguished him from some humble

-gentleman of poor estate.</p>

-

-<p>Mounting his war-horse, a gaunt, powerful roan beast of vicious temper,

-the king, with a number of his favorite captains, rode down the field

-in the wake of his advancing phalanxes. With them was advanced the blue

-and gold battle-standard.</p>

-

-<p>Bel-Ar marshaled his legions in wide divisions, each of nearly a

-thousand men, marching in quadruple lines, and the divisions in such

-close touch that they might form, when there was need, a solid front.

-At the wings of the force were stationed the light-armed men and

-archers. Behind those, two wedge-shaped masses of chariots rolled forth

-from the camp gates and rumbled across the plain.</p>

-

-<p>At the foot of a gentle dip of the land the Rutharians had met and

-hurled back the horsemen. There they elected to remain and await the

-enemy's sterner onset.</p>

-

-<p>On came the shimmering lines of Ad across the meadows now dewed with

-blood; on with a rattle of drums, a brazen peal of trumpets, the clank

-and clash of armor mingling with the pounding hoofs on the hard turf,

-the thumping of chariot-wheels, and the shouted commands of the file

-leaders&mdash;the ancient, many-tongued clamor that stirs the soul of Mars.</p>

-

-<p>Silent and watchful, the men of mountainous Ruthar crouched low behind

-their shields and waited.</p>

-

-<p>Over the bodies of their dead comrades, over the fallen horses, the

-phalanxes marched. Then, closing into a living wall, they took the last

-tangled barrier of corpses with a rush and a shout, and the battle was

-joined. All across the field echoed the hollow thunder of the meeting

-shields as the lines closed. Followed a clanging as of a thousand

-trip-hammers. For now the spears were down and the swords were at work.</p>

-

-<p>Following their custom, the Rutharians cast their shields behind them

-after the first shock of the onset, and plied their long blades with

-both hands, making them serve both as swords and bucklers.</p>

-

-<p>On pushed the Maeronican wall under its tossing banners. So fierce was

-the rush and pressure of those charging thousands that Ruthar's line,

-strive as her warriors might, was bent backward like a bow. A wild

-cheering went up from the ranks of Ad when they saw the red standard

-give back. Gathering themselves again, they swept the mountain legions

-to the crest of the rise.</p>

-

-<p>Sitting his charger on the slope behind the line of his men-at-arms,

-Polaris looked down into that hell of combat. Like the unfolding vista

-of a hideous dream, it seemed to him, which he was powerless to break

-or to hinder. Yet above the din of the blood-maddened legions the sky

-was blue and calm, the sun shone bright, and back there in the forests

-the birds of spring were calling to their mates.</p>

-

-<p>Under his fascinated eyes the line of his warriors bent and came

-nearer. The red banner of Ruthar&mdash;a moment ago it had been planted

-at the foot of the slope, and now it was almost touching his horse's

-muzzle! Down there in the field another flag was coming, and with it a

-company of riders whose armor flashed back the sunlight from plates and

-shields of burnished gold.</p>

-

-<p>The spell was broken.</p>

-

-<p>Rising in his stirrups, the son of the snows drew his two-handed sword

-from over his shoulder. Among the Maeronican generals his keen eyes had

-seen a face that he remembered well.</p>

-

-<p>"Zinds of Ruthar!" he cried, his voice ringing above the clamor.

-"Yonder rides Bel-Ar of Adlaz. Let us go and greet him."</p>

-

-<p>All around him he heard the clinking of closing vizors. The zinds were

-ready.</p>

-

-<p>Casting down his shield, Polaris called to the swordsmen in front to

-open and make way. Before the Maeronican soldiery could advantage

-themselves of the gap, he was down the slope and upon them like a

-living thunderbolt. Under the urge of the spurs, his horse reared

-and struck out with its forefeet as it met the foemen. Leaning well

-over the good beast's shoulder, the rider whirled his heavy blade and

-struck so fast and so fiercely that eyes could not follow the blows.

-Adlaz's stoutest warriors shrank bewildered from the menace of that

-lightning-stroke and those steel-shod hoofs. Before one might count ten

-he was through them, leaving a wake of crumpled men. Behind him rode

-gray Jastla and the zinds of Ruthar.</p>

-

-<p>As they passed, one of the zinds bent and snatched the crimson banner

-from the standard-bearer.</p>

-

-<p>A roar like that of angry lions went down the Rutharian front when

-the hillsmen saw their flaming standard rise over the heads of the

-fighting men and advance into the field. Where their king led, no wall

-of steel could hold them back. As though the string had been released,

-the mighty bow straightened. All down that long, grim battle-line the

-two-handed swords clove through.</p>

-

-<p>Rallying around their king, the golden captains waited the shock that

-was coming.</p>

-

-<p>For Polaris had one goal, and one only, on all that stricken field.

-Outstripping the fleetest of his riders, he hewed his way through the

-Maeronican nobles, nor stopped until his sable war-horse was shoulder

-to shoulder with the steed of Bel-Ar, the king.</p>

-

-<p>"By Shamar, 'tis the slave-king!" shouted Bel-Ar, as the apparition in

-steel and silver burst through his gilded riders and bore down upon

-him. Sword and shield he lifted to meet the assault, fending himself

-with that skill of arms by which he oft had made good the boast of

-Adlaz that he was the hardiest fighting man in the two kingdoms.</p>

-

-<p>While the battle on the plain raged around them unheeded, king met king

-in the play of swords.</p>

-

-<p>First stroke of Polaris fell on the rounded shield and beat it down so

-that Bel-Ar reeled in his saddle. Before the great blade could swing

-again, the Maeronican straightened and smote with his own good sword of

-tempered bronze. A clang as of a descending hammer rang in the ears of

-Polaris. Under the trampling feet of the horses lay one of the golden

-wings of his helmet. Another stroke fell on his shoulder, cracking a

-steel boss of his armor and thrilling his arm with a sting of pain.

-Heeding it not, he rose in the saddle and swung his sword to his two

-arms' height. No shield or arm would stay that blow.</p>

-

-<p>For the fraction of a second Bel-Ar's doom hung poised in air. Ere it

-fell, Polaris's stallion reared, screaming. The mighty stroke that the

-rider sped fell on empty air. Overbalanced by the weight of his own

-effort, Polaris bent nearly to his saddle-bow. Beneath him the black

-stallion shuddered and went down. An unhorsed captain of Adlaz had run

-in and thrust the animal through the vitals with a spear.</p>

-

-<p>Janess sprang free from the falling horse. Above him, Bel-Ar shouted

-in triumph and hewed down with his bronze sword. But the zinds of

-Ruthar had torn through Bel-Ar's riders to the support of their king,

-upsetting both men and horses as they came. One of them, a slender

-youth in silver armor, leaped from his steed and flashed between Bel-Ar

-and his dismounted and helpless foeman, taking the king's sword-stroke

-on his head.</p>

-

-<p>Jastla closed his steel ring, then, and Bel-Ar was carried away in a

-swirling press of his own cavalry, which had charged fiercely in to

-save him.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Polaris knelt beside his fallen horse and lifted the still form of the

-man who had saved him. The red banner of Ruthar, held by Zind Albar,

-floated above them. Around the circle of riders which Jastla had drawn

-the battle whirled like a seething maelstrom around a rock in a sea of

-clashing steel.</p>

-

-<p>"Who is he?" Polaris asked of Albar, and pillowed the head in its

-silver helm on his knee. In vain he tried to lift the vizor. The

-sword-stroke of the Maeronican king had shattered the upper flare of

-the helmet and bent down its crest so that the vizor would not yield.</p>

-

-<p>"I know him not," said Albar, who was a hillsman. "Some zind of the

-lower cities, I judge, from the armor he wears. Whoever he is, he is a

-brave man. He has this day saved the life of the king of Ruthar, and

-I fear that he has lost his own in the deed. Bel-Ar strikes bitterly.

-See; he has cracked the helmet like an egg. Ah-h&mdash;!"</p>

-

-<p>Striking the steel-shod shaft of the standard into the earth, Albar

-leaped down from his horse and knelt beside Polaris.</p>

-

-<p>While the zind had been speaking, the fingers of the son of the snows

-had loosed the clasps of the helmet and lifted it. From under the

-cloven silver shell rippling coils of red-brown hair slipped down and

-flowed over his arm and his knee, where the sunlight caught and turned

-them into dancing flames. The pale face turned up to the sky, unmarred

-save by a small stain of blood at one of the temples, was that of the

-Goddess Glorian of Ruthar!</p>

-

-<p>Janess groaned. Albar stared like a man transfixed. But Glorian was not

-dead. As the air struck her face she moved her head faintly and her

-lips trembled.</p>

-

-<p>"Illia&mdash;roars&mdash;loudly to-day," she murmured. "It must be&mdash;the

-freshets&mdash;of spring."</p>

-

-<p>She opened her eyes, saw the faces bent above her, and smiled wanly at

-Polaris.</p>

-

-<p>"Then I was not too late?" she said, the halting gone out of her voice.

-"'Tis well."</p>

-

-<p>"Lady, why did you come hither&mdash;into the battle?" asked Polaris. "And

-why&mdash;" His voice broke; for the courage of this woman moved him almost

-to tears; the memory of that crushing stroke of bronze which she had

-taken in his stead made him shudder.</p>

-

-<p>Glorian smiled again.</p>

-

-<p>"Vex yourself not about me," she said. "Shall Ruthar's bravest shed

-their lives for their land and king, and Glorian not do her part?" She

-lifted her hand and pointed to the standard. "Where Ruthar's banner

-goes, there goes Glorian also&mdash;even into the battle. And I am not

-dying, or greatly hurt, only dizzied, and my head hums. See; I can

-arise."</p>

-

-<p>And arise she did, with Polaris's arm to support her. Around Jastla's

-narrowing circle broke the shock of the battle-tide. But for the moment

-neither the man nor the woman heeded it.</p>

-

-<p>"But you are wounded, lady," Janess said. "There is blood on your

-forehead."</p>

-

-<p>She slipped a hand from its gauntlet and raised it to her head.</p>

-

-<p>"Hardly a scratch," she said.</p>

-

-<p>Just at the roots of her long tresses a splinter from the shivered

-helmet had scarred the scalp&mdash;a tiny cut, scarcely a quarter of an inch

-in length.</p>

-

-<p>Now Albar the zind, who had hung on every word, came out of the spell

-of horror that had bound him. He swung himself onto his horse. Then for

-the one time in his life Albar gave orders to a king.</p>

-

-<p>"Guard you the goddess and the banner," he cried to Polaris. "I go to

-tell the men of Ruthar that which shall put in each one the strength of

-ten!"</p>

-

-<p>He rode to Jastla's side.</p>

-

-<p>"Gray wolf, may your ring be strong till I come again," he said. "You

-have within it a king and a goddess."</p>

-

-<p>Down rang his vizor, and setting spurs to his horse Albar set out to

-cross the field and find Oleric the Red.</p>

-

-<p>No longer was the fight on the plains one of ordered lines of men. The

-charge of Polaris had broken the Maeronicans' long front, and they

-had not been able to close up the gap he had made. So they had swung

-into the smaller phalanxes of their legions, and the battle was one of

-division against division, with many breaks between. Here and there

-the divisions had split up into still smaller groups, and occasionally

-there might be seen two warriors who fought alone, one laying on for

-Ruthar and one for Ad.</p>

-

-<p>Gray Jastla, fighting with his face to the west, heard Albar's words as

-the zind flashed past him. To find their meaning, the chieftain cast a

-hurried glance over his shoulder. He saw Polaris and Glorian standing

-together under the crimson standard, and was near to letting his sword

-fall in his surprise. Next instant he rose in his stirrups and clove a

-Maeronican from shoulder to breastbone. Out rang the chief's voice in a

-hollow roar through his vizor:</p>

-

-<p>"Strike as ye never struck before! Behind you is the Goddess Glorian,

-come to see that ye do well. Would ye have these Maeronican hounds take

-her? Strike!"</p>

-

-<p>Around the circle echoed the war-cry:</p>

-

-<p>"For the Goddess Glorian! Strike!"</p>

-

-<p>Like living sword-blades did the Rutharian zinds answer that fierce

-appeal. The circle grew smaller and drew in upon itself, but it did not

-break. Under their resistless blades the zinds piled a rampart of dead

-Maeronicans to defend their goddess. A riderless horse backed into the

-circle, and Polaris, quitting Glorian's side, mounted the steed with

-his two-handed steel and joined the zinds.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Standing up on the body of Polaris's fallen war-horse, supporting

-herself with one hand on the staff of the banner, Glorian watched that

-deadly fray. With her long hair flowing on her shoulders, she looked in

-her warlike gear like one of the valkyries of Adin come down to earth

-from Valhalla to watch the passing of the souls of heroes. Ever her

-gaze followed Polaris. And if she seemed like one of the Norse god's

-daughters, the man who fought under her eyes was a fitting part of the

-simile.</p>

-

-<p>His sword wrenched from his grasp in the body of a man he had slain, he

-snatched the heavy ax that swung at his saddle-bow, and with it laid on

-like Thor with his hammer.</p>

-

-<p>Aid was coming.</p>

-

-<p>Down the field as he rode Albar spread the tidings. From mouth to mouth

-flew the word that the Goddess Glorian was on the plains of Nor, and

-that she and the king were in sore peril yonder where the red standard

-flew. The effect was instantaneous. Each warrior became a host in

-himself. Wounded men who had turned to the rear heard and forgot their

-hurts and staggered into the fight again.</p>

-

-<p>When Albar reached Oleric the Red on the right, the zind found that his

-news had preceded him.</p>

-

-<p>"Get you to Maxtan," shouted Oleric. "Charge with every horse that can

-bear a rider. A messenger has gone into the forests, and another charge

-is coming. Clear the way for the amalocs."</p>

-

-<p>Maxtan and Albar gathered their wild horsemen and charged and charged

-again. So well did they do their work that they hacked a way to the

-first rank of the Maeronican chariots, deep between the two horns of

-which was waging the struggle around the red banner.</p>

-

-<p>Vainly Oleric urged his own charioteers forward. Bel-Ar's blood was up,

-and he was smiling no longer. Battalion on battalion of his infantry he

-sent in to meet the steeds and feed the blades of Ruthar. Almost within

-his grasp the Maeronican king saw victory. Already he counted as taken

-the slave whom his foeman had crowned. Sooner than give back a foot, or

-allow that little band of riders to go free, he was prepared to spend

-his army to the last man, and himself with it.</p>

-

-<p>No less than three horses Oleric had killed under him. When the last

-was gone, he climbed into a chariot and fought at the point of his

-rumbling wedge. Behind him from the forests a force entered the plain

-and the conflict that was mightier than all the red captain's horsemen

-and battalions.</p>

-

-<p>Zoar had come.</p>

-

-<p>In the shadow of the tall trees where the bending limbs swept their

-mighty backs, Zoar marshaled thirty of his amalocs and set them in

-battle array&mdash;a single line, with twenty intervening feet between each

-beast. If Zoar knew aught of amalocs, and he thought that he did, there

-would be need for no second line. A hundred men and as many horses ran

-about the legs of the monsters, tightening the broad girths that held

-the basketlike turrets on the mammoths' shoulders. The beasts stood

-quietly, swinging their huge trunks and weaving from side to side,

-as was their habit. Occasionally one of them cocked forward a great

-blanket of an ear as though in lazy wonderment at the din on the plains.</p>

-

-<p>On the head of each, with his back to the turret, and clutching his

-keen-pointed ankus, sat a driver in full armor.</p>

-

-<p>When all was ready, the spear-throwers and archers clambered up by

-rope-ladders and took their places in the towers.</p>

-

-<p>At the left of the line, and nearest to the river, was Ixstus,

-patriarch and giant of the herd. And on the broad head of Ixstus beside

-the driver rode Zoar of the many years.</p>

-

-<p>Along the line from beast to beast passed the word:</p>

-

-<p>"We are ready, Father Zoar."</p>

-

-<p>"Ixstus!" said the old man. The sail-like ears gave attention. "Ixstus,

-I have raised you since a calf, and I think you love me after your

-fashion. Do not fail me now, Ixstus. Go forward, fearing nothing. <i>Akko

-dor!</i>"</p>

-

-<p>Zoar's last words were spoken loudly. Thirty vast trunks lifted up.

-From thirty huge proboscides pealed forth the amaloc trumpet-call&mdash;such

-a call as might have shaken the forests in the ages before the first

-puny man began his life of fear.</p>

-

-<p>For of amalocs the records of the Garden of Eden make no mention.</p>

-

-<p>Swaying their ponderous heads, and with the turrets on their shoulders

-heaving and tossing like boats on a troubled sea, the amalocs went

-forward.</p>

-

-<p>Far in the turmoil of the fight Oleric heard that trumpeting. Over his

-shoulder he looked and saw the mighty red bulk of Ixstus push out from

-among the trees.</p>

-

-<p>With their trunks curled out of harm's way, their thick and ropy tails

-stretched straight out behind, and their ears flapping to their stride,

-the amalocs came down the grim lanes of battle. Though the legs that

-were as the trunks of trees for size swung with no apparent haste,

-the beasts came on at a pace that it would have troubled a trotting

-horse to distance. The lengths of chain fastened to their knee-harness

-whistled through the air like flails.</p>

-

-<p>From division to division along Ruthar's jagged battle-line sped the

-warning cry:</p>

-

-<p>"Way! Way for Zoar! Make way for the amalocs!"</p>

-

-<p>Under the tossing ivory fronts the divisions parted and drew aside.

-Zoar increased the distance between his beasts. Into thirty wide

-aisles the army split. From forest to front, save for the dead, the

-way was clear. From the wild vortex of the battle rose a stormy burst

-of cheering as the amalocs thundered down the aisles, and Ruthar's

-exultant warriors welcomed their gigantic allies.</p>

-

-<p>Wilder still was the cheering when it was seen that at the ends of the

-pathways the phalanxes of Bel-Ar's men-at-arms were crumbling away.

-Flesh and blood could not abide the onset that was coming, and the

-Maeronican legions broke and fled ingloriously across the plains in

-droves, many of them casting away their arms and shields as they ran.</p>

-

-<p>Bidding his charioteer pull in his horses, Oleric climbed up on the

-high front of his chariot to watch how Bel-Ar would meet this new

-stroke. What would meet the drive of the amalocs? As he reached his

-vantage-point, the answer came&mdash;a cavalry charge!</p>

-

-<p>From the wall of his camp, where he had been taken, nursing an arm

-that was numb from wrist to shoulder, the Maeronican king ground his

-teeth in fury as he saw the new force enter the battle and witnessed

-the melting of his legions. Once before, in the morning, his cavalry

-had been rudely handled, and he had laughed. Now, with tears of rage

-in his eyes, he dispatched his shattered squadrons in the teeth of the

-oncoming peril.</p>

-

-<p>White-faced captains and quaking men scrambled into their saddles to

-do their king's bidding, and the horsemen rode desperately to meet the

-beasts.</p>

-

-<p>What happened was simple. The amalocs plowed through the clouds of

-cavalry that opposed them with scarcely a break in their stride,

-overthrowing men and horses as though they had been of paper, and

-leaving ghastly ruins behind them where their ponderous feet had

-trodden.</p>

-

-<p>One such onset was enough. No horse that ever lived could have been

-forced to face another. For the amalocs, when they joined battle, set

-up such a din of squealing and trumpeting as nearly split the ears that

-heard it. The horse that could have met that grievous onslaught must

-have been both blind and deaf.</p>

-

-<p>From above, in the basket-turrets, the archers and spearsmen poured

-down a deadly hail of missiles on the riders. Did a horseman avoid the

-thrashing chains and get near enough to the vast side of an amaloc to

-strike&mdash;and not many did so&mdash;he found his spear-point rebound from

-the tough hide. The utmost power of his stroke was not a pin-prick to

-an amaloc. Even as the swordsmen had fled, so fled now the riders,

-betaking themselves in a fear-maddened stream to their camp, whither

-the charioteers had preceded them.</p>

-

-<p>"The beasts of Ruthar are a myth," had said Bel-Ar, the king. And his

-soldiers had believed him, had fostered confidence with the thought

-that the frightful tales that had been told of the strength and fury

-of the amalocs were mere traditions which had come down from the days

-of old. Now here before the camp were the beasts, red and awesome and

-raging&mdash;more terrible by far than even tradition had painted them&mdash;and

-among the Children of Ad there was none who had the heart to go out

-and face them&mdash;unless, indeed, it were the king himself. Bel-Ar in his

-rage would have fronted the overlord of all evil that day had he come

-against him.</p>

-

-<p>So it came about that the ring of Jastla, the chief, found the

-pressure of assault slackening and falling away. Maeronicans who had

-been fiercest to meet the sword-blades, now were stumbling over each

-other's legs in their haste to escape the amalocs. What was left of the

-ring&mdash;barely a score and five of battered men and horses&mdash;opened, and

-through its gap strode Ixstus and paused beside the red banner.</p>

-

-

-

-<hr class="chap" />

-<h2>CHAPTER X</h2>

-

-<h3>THE GODDESS GLORIAN'S DECREE</h3>

-

-

-<p>Zoar quit the straps where he had held and stood on the head of Ixstus.

-A triumph shone in the eyes of the master of the amalocs, and a smile

-spread over his mummified old-ivory features as he looked down at

-Glorian.</p>

-

-<p>"Daughter, they told me that I would find you here&mdash;in the forefront of

-the battle," he said. "And so it is. Your zeal for Ruthar has carried

-you far&mdash;so far that Oleric the Learned could not follow, and sent

-Father Zoar to find you." He laughed in his bell-like tones.</p>

-

-<p>"But for the King of Ruthar and these brave men here, you would have

-had a longer journey, Father Zoar," Glorian replied. "It might have

-been to the camp of Bel-Ar yonder, or&mdash;to the stars. Take me up with

-you, Zoar, for I am weary."</p>

-

-<p>"<i>Stekkar deen!</i>" commanded Zoar, and Ixstus looped his trunk and swung

-Glorian gently to a seat beside his master.</p>

-

-<p>Glorian looked around at the little circle of wearied men&mdash;so wearied

-that they reeled in their saddles. She looked at those others, who lay

-where they had fallen, and to whom the long rest had come. Her eyes

-filled with tears.</p>

-

-<p>"I thought to thank you," she said, "but I find no words splendid

-enough."</p>

-

-<p>Old Jastla lifted his arm in salute. "Lady, to those of us who live,

-it is sufficient to know that you live also. Those who are dead, died

-gladly to make it so. We have held our goddess safe, and our king has

-held himself." And he turned and saluted Polaris.</p>

-

-<p>Of the hundred zinds and fifty tall hillsmen who had formed in Jastla's

-ring, five and twenty were left. Not one was unwounded. Jastla's beard

-was red with blood, where a spear-point had penetrated through the

-bars of his vizor and torn his mouth. In addition to the bruised and

-stiffening shoulder caused by the blow of Bel-Ar that had broken his

-armor, Polaris had been gashed on the cheek by an arrow. Otherwise he

-was the least harmed of the party.</p>

-

-<p>It was midafternoon when Ixstus set foot in the circle. Presently

-Oleric arrived in his chariot. Behind him came the host of

-Ruthar&mdash;weary and with many of its battalions sadly thinned, but still

-a host, and ready to go on if need be.</p>

-

-<p>Another amaloc rolled up alongside of Ixstus. Over the edge of the

-wicker basket it bore, a white old head bobbed up with the suddenness

-of a jack-in-the-box.</p>

-

-<p>"Hey, son," said Zenas Wright to Polaris, "will you never quit your

-foolhardy ways? Look what you have made me do&mdash;come a-hunting you,

-riding on the back of one of these animated stacks of red hay, that

-should have been dead and fossilized six thousand years ago. Well,

-well; we've given his majesty Bel-Ar a bellyful, I'm thinking." Out of

-his basket and down the rope-ladder Zenas clambered to shake Polaris by

-the hand.</p>

-

-<p>"Oh, boy," the geologist said, "you're a better king than those

-heathen will see again, if they all live to be as old as Father

-Methuselah yonder says he is. But be careful, lad, be careful."</p>

-

-<p>On the head of Ixstus the Goddess Glorian stood and pointed toward the

-camp of Bel-Ar, and her beautiful face grew stern.</p>

-

-<p>"There are still three hours of daylight, Father Zoar," she said. "Let

-us go and finish what we have begun."</p>

-

-<p>"As well now as ever, daughter," Zoar replied. "I am minded to teach

-this Maeronican king a lesson that shall become a tradition in the

-land. What passes in the camp? My eyes are too dim to see."</p>

-

-<p>"Confusion, father, and the running to and fro of many men. They are

-adding to the height of their earthen walls. They are piling their

-gateways with timbers and the fragments of broken chariots."</p>

-

-<p>Zoar laughed. "Think they with walls of mud to stop my amalocs?" he

-muttered. He lifted his voice, and word was passed down the line that

-the beasts were to be advanced against the camp.</p>

-

-<p>Under the orders of Polaris, the dead zinds and men of his guard were

-borne off the field, and those who were still living, but wounded,

-were carried tenderly to the rear. When he learned that the amalocs

-were to attack the camp, he climbed with Zenas to the turret which the

-geologist had occupied. Jastla and the others he urged to seek rest.

-But they were men of great spirit, and only one or two of them went.

-The most of them sent for fresh horses, determined to see the fighting

-through to its end.</p>

-

-<p>At a word from Glorian, Jastla took up the war-standard of Ruthar and

-passed it to the fighting men of Zoar, who set it fast in the wicker

-tower on the back of Ixstus. Glorian caught its floating folds and

-kissed it.</p>

-

-<p>"Now Ixstus bears our banner. Who shall withstand it?" she said.</p>

-

-<p>A blare of trumpets, a ruffle of drums, sounded the advance of Ruthar.

-Louder and above all arose the roar of the thirty amalocs, strident and

-deafening, as the shaggy, red line surged forward.</p>

-

-<p>In the camp of Bel-Ar that call found answer in the howl of hate and

-terror that went up from the ranks of the Maeronicans when they saw

-that their terrible foes were coming.</p>

-

-<p>"Fire!" shouted Bel-Ar to his generals. "We must meet and turn the

-beasts with fire! Man the walls with torches and set a blaze before

-each gate."</p>

-

-<p>Bel-Ar had pitched his encampment in a loop of the River Thebascu,

-a broad, swift stream, now swollen by the spring freshets into a

-dun-colored torrent. From bank to bank across the loop, the soldiers

-had constructed a wall of earth and stones, ten feet high, and pierced

-by six wide gateways, wherein were set heavy gates of steel and oak.

-Inside the line of the outer wall, with some fifty feet of space

-intervening, was another rampart, also of earth, and a few feet higher

-than the first. Outside of the works the camp was protected further by

-a semicircular ditch, or moat, spanned at each of the gateways by a

-solid bridge of timbers. The Maeronican engineers had turned the waters

-of the river into the moat and filled it level full. At the rear of the

-camp was the crossing of the Thebascu&mdash;three wide bridges of stone,

-which had been built in the long ago.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>When they saw the advance of the amalocs, soldiers swarmed from the

-camp with ropes and horses, and strove to pull the timber bridges away

-from the ditch. But the weight of the passing and repassing of the

-army had sunk the beams into the earth so deeply that they could not

-be stirred. Failing in that attempt, the Maeronicans piled débris on

-the floors of the bridges and set fire to it, hoping to burn away the

-approaches. That, too, was a failure. The water of the moat, nearly

-level with the side-beams, was ankle-deep on the bridge-floors, and had

-soaked the timbers so that they would not catch from the fires.</p>

-

-<p>As Zoar and his monsters came to the moat, the men of Bel-Ar shot at

-them with arrows, stones, and javelins. But Ruthar could play that

-game, too. Oleric lined the ditch between the bridges with slingers

-and archers, who kept up so thick a bombardment that they killed many

-men, and soon drove the Maeronicans to the shelter of their walls. As

-they went in, Bel-Ar's men touched flames to the piles of timbers and

-wrecked chariots before their gateways and closed their gates.</p>

-

-<p>"Shall we cross the bridges and clear the way, Father Zoar?" asked

-Oleric.</p>

-

-<p>"Nay," the master of the beasts replied, "that would be at the expense

-of many men, and yon is an ill place to fight in. Methinks I know a

-better plan."</p>

-

-<p>Under his directions, his foresters ungirthed one of the mammoths and

-took from its back the wicker turret. Zoar called the driver of the

-beast to him. Whatever it was that the old man said, the amaloc-driver

-blanched somewhat at the words. He cast a quick glance toward the armed

-camp, and under his swarthy skin his face turned pale. Then he drew

-himself up proudly, saluted, and went back to his beast.</p>

-

-<p>Clambering to his perch, the man found and pulled two small chains

-connected with the armored plates which protected the skull of his

-ponderous steed. These drew into place and closed fast two small doors,

-or lids, cunningly wrought of steel, and devised to cover the eyes of

-the beast. So blinded, the heart within the vast bulk became uneasy,

-and the mammoth began to back and sway, groping before it with its

-trunk.</p>

-

-<p>While the army stood breathless to see what he would do, the driver

-struck with his ankus, and with a shout launched the amaloc straight at

-the center gate of the camp.</p>

-

-<p>Deprived of its eyesight, the mammoth obeyed the superior will

-expressed by the voice that it knew and loved. Across the bridge, where

-ordinarily it would have paused and tested the timbers carefully before

-trusting its immense bulk upon them, it now charged blindly, trumpeting

-as it went.</p>

-

-<p>Showers of missiles from the camp of Ad fell on the beast; ahead of it

-roared the blazing pile. It screamed out with pain and terror when the

-flames touched it, but it did not stop. Scattering the burning tangle

-like fiery chaff, it tore on, and its armored frontlet clanged on the

-bars of the gateway.</p>

-

-<p>That shock tore the gates from their hinges and brought the amaloc to

-its knees. For an instant it knelt on the fallen gate, then, trumpeting

-with rage, rose up and danced on the ruin.</p>

-

-<p>On the head of the beast the driver lay flat on his belly, his arms and

-legs thrust under the leather bands placed there to hold him. Ahead,

-scarcely fifty feet away, was the second gateway. With voice and steel

-the man urged the amaloc on, and it crashed through that gate as it had

-through the first, and plunged into the center of the Maeronican camp.</p>

-

-<p>Began then a mad rout for safety. No one thought of fighting the terror

-that had come among them; but each man for himself ran for the river,

-casting away anything that might weight down his legs. Soon all three

-bridges of the Thebascu were black with a horrid, writhing mêlée&mdash;a

-tangle of fear-maddened men, cursing and striking at each other for

-way, and screaming, terrified horses. Many soldiers, unable to fight

-into the jams on the bridges, threw themselves into the swift stream

-with all their armor on, and some swam across and others were seen no

-more.</p>

-

-<p>To and fro through the encampment raged the now thoroughly crazed

-amaloc, sundering and crushing all that it met. The long, red wool

-had caught fire from the blaze at the gateway and burned fiercely up

-over its shoulders. Wild with the pain of it, the beast ran hither and

-thither, seeking to escape from the flames. A two-horsed chariot was

-in its path at one moment. It scooped it up like a toy and carried it

-forward on its mighty tusks, the horses dangling in their harness. Then

-with a heave of its vast shoulders the monster cast the wreck in the

-air. Lying on his face, the driver closed his eyes and prayed wildly to

-his stars.</p>

-

-<p>At length, smelling the water of the river, the amaloc turned thither,

-to quench its agonies in the rushing stream. On it drove, across the

-camp, upsetting everything in its way. It reached the river to the

-left of one of the bridges. In its path a horse bearing a steel-clad

-rider slipped and fell. The groping trunk that sought the water found

-the man, plucked him from the ground, whirled him aloft, and dashed

-him against an abutment of the bridge so that his armor cracked like a

-nutshell and his blood ran down the stones.</p>

-

-<p>With a final shriek of fury, the amaloc plunged into the river. The

-waters closed over its upthrown trunk, and its mad career was ended.

-With it went the driver, well content to give his life for Ruthar.</p>

-

-<p>This one beast in the outpouring of its majestic strength had done

-more to shatter the power of Adlaz than had the legions of Ruthar in a

-month's fighting.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Soon after the death of the amaloc, night fell swiftly across the

-plains of Nor. The other beasts of Zoar, made uneasy by the experiences

-through which they had passed, and stirred by the screaming of their

-flame-maddened comrade, were in such a state that their master deemed

-it unwise to attempt to urge them farther in the darkness and against

-the fires. So he drove them back to the forest, and Ruthar camped on

-the plain.</p>

-

-<p>In the night was heard a clamor as of men who fought on the other side

-of the Thebascu, and when morning came it was seen that the host of

-Bel-Ar was divided. The royal standards waved over the bridge-heads at

-the crossing of the river. Farther down the stream, and opposite to the

-camp of Ruthar was gathered by far the greater part of the Maeronican

-host.</p>

-

-<p>When the dawn was full, a boat crossed the river, bearing messengers

-to Ruthar from the lords of the six cities which had fought for Adlaz.

-These heralds came to Oleric and asked what terms he would make them.</p>

-

-<p>"For," said they, "did we have to fight with men only, we would stand

-firm until the end, and with our united power sweep Ruthar from the

-field and crush her. But against such as the great beasts no men may

-war."</p>

-

-<p>The red captain referred them to the king of Ruthar for their answer.

-Polaris bade them go back to the lords of the cities and say that he

-wished to make war on none save Adlaz and the king thereof&mdash;but that

-war he would wage until the death or the submission of Bel-Ar.</p>

-

-<p>"Our lords will not join ye in war against Adlaz," said one of the

-heralds hastily. "We be not such traitors; but our soldiers will bear

-arms against the terrible beasts no more."</p>

-

-<p>"Ruthar asks no help in her warfare against Bel-Ar," Polaris replied.

-"Take your armies to their homes in peace."</p>

-

-<p>That answer satisfied the lords of the cities, and they sent word that

-so they would do; and if Polaris in the end prevailed against Adlaz,

-they would bend the knee to his rule. Secretly they hoped that he

-would win. Bel-Ar had been a hard master, and those who had seen the

-tawny-haired king of Ruthar deemed him to be the better man to serve,

-outlander though he was.</p>

-

-<p>So that host was dispersed and went its various ways homeward. The

-soldiers of Adlaz and the levies from the lands around the city were of

-a different kidney. To a man they stood firm for their king. Beasts or

-no beasts, they swore, they would die for him, did he wish it.</p>

-

-<p>It seemed likely that their promise would be required of them. Bel-Ar,

-stubborn and high of spirit, was resolved to fight on. He still

-mustered under his banners a force of nearly sixty thousand men,

-veterans of his former wars and the flower of the fighting men of the

-land. Besides, he held the advantage of position.</p>

-

-<p>When Ruthar would have gone on against him in the morning, it was

-found that his engineers, working through the night, had piled the

-bridge-heads with barricades of stones, so thick and high that

-no amaloc charge would beat them down. Behind those barriers the

-Maeronican generals reorganized their broken forces and sent in the

-front fresh soldiers drawn from the reserves that were waiting along

-the Mazanion Road.</p>

-

-<p>Not for many weary miles was there another crossing of the

-Thebascu&mdash;if, indeed, there were any on the course of the river where

-were bridges strong enough to support an army and the weight of the

-amalocs.</p>

-

-<p>Taking counsel together, Polaris and Oleric and their generals decided

-that they must hammer their way through at the three bridges. They

-might have blown up the barriers with melinite; but they dared not, for

-fear of destroying the structures of the bridges also; and they had not

-the time to build new bridges. Only a sustained frontal attack, at the

-cost of many men, would clear the way.</p>

-

-<p>For a score and ten days and nights the furious struggle was waged at

-the Thebascu. Then one of the bridges was taken. Polaris, his great

-frame grown gaunt from continual fighting, and his face sunken and

-haggard with anxiety and loss of sleep, saw through hollow and burning

-eyes his hosts swing across the river and into the Mazanion Road.</p>

-

-<p>Fourteen days were left him, and then&mdash;the Feast of Years, and the end.</p>

-

-<p>Summer was coming, and with it the feast of the return of Shamar, that

-could not be set forward or delayed. Though the foe were hammering at

-its gates, Oleric said, the feast would be held in the city. Such was

-the ancient law laid down in the early days of Adlaz.</p>

-

-<p>On the Mazanion Road they found the captain Fanaer once more, tireless

-and vengeful. As he had harried them all the way from the isthmian

-passes to the plains of Nor, so he harried them now. Every foot of

-the hundred miles down the Mazanion Road he fought them, and with him

-fought Bel-Ar, his master. Wall after wall they built and lost.</p>

-

-<p>It was not until afternoon of the last day that the Rutharian vanguard,

-so worn with battle that it staggered as it rode, broke through the

-final barrier and marched through the gorgeous suburban estates to the

-wall of Adlaz. Under the leadership of Fanaer, the remnant of Bel-Ar's

-army made a last desperate stand, but was swept away.</p>

-

-<p>As night came on, the Maeronican king, broken-hearted, but still

-defiant, entered his city and closed his gates&mdash;there to sit down and

-wait for the coming of the Goddess Glorian.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>It was nine o'clock of a morning&mdash;the morning of the third day of the

-Maeronican month of Kanar, corresponding to the fifteenth of November;

-or, to reverse the seasons to the terms of our northern clime, the

-sixteenth of May. A man who bore a heavy heart within his golden armor

-faced a white-faced maid in the ancient audience-hall of the dead king

-Bel-Tisam.</p>

-

-<p>"Now am I in my heart almost a traitor to my king and land, lady,"

-Brunar said. "For I have almost wished that your lover might prevail

-over Bel-Ar and save you. But the day has come and the time is at

-hand, and Ruthar is still without the walls. Would that I might save

-you, lady&mdash;I think that to do so I would willingly give my life. But

-Shamar's servants have watched this place by day and by night. It

-cannot be. Already they wait for you without the doors to lead you to

-the temple."</p>

-

-<p>For an instant the girl's eyes swam with terror. She gazed hither

-and yon about the hall like a hunted thing. Then the heritage of her

-northern race came to her aid and saved her from collapse.</p>

-

-<p>Bravely she faced and spoke to the captain.</p>

-

-<p>She stepped to the cradle of the little Patrymion and kissed the babe.</p>

-

-<p>"I am ready," she said, then.</p>

-

-<p>At the doors of the prison a chariot waited, and with it were four of

-the white-robed priests of Shamar. The girl was lifted into the car.

-The charioteer drove up the side avenue of Chedar's Flight, past the

-Place of Games, now standing empty and silent, to the grounds of the

-Temple of the Sun. They saw many armed men in the street as they passed

-along. As they entered the gateway of the temple grounds they heard a

-dull booming that beat up with the wind from the south, where Ruthar

-hammered at the Mazanion gates.</p>

-

-<p>The priests carried the girl up the hundred white marble steps to

-the western entrance to the temple and through the splendid arch of

-a doorway that was fifty feet from pave to vault. Within all was dim

-twilight, except in the mighty dome, two hundred feet aloft. There it

-was light, indeed.</p>

-

-<p>At the doorway the party halted, and two soldiers shackled Rose with

-fetters of heavy gold at her wrists and ankles. Around her waist they

-set a girdle of the same yellow metal, to which chains were attached.

-That done, they placed a gag in her mouth and led her into the temple.</p>

-

-<p>Here was a place of wonders, such as had its like nowhere in the world.

-All around the hall, supporting the ring of masonry on which the dome

-rested, were magnificent pillars of marble. The circle of the pavement

-which was enclosed by the pillars, and which was nearly a hundred feet

-across, was bare, except at its center. There an oblong slab of black

-basalt lay from west to east across the gleaming white floor. That

-block was the height of a man's waist from the pavement, some six feet

-across, and at least ten yards in length.</p>

-

-<p>On one end of the slab, that which pointed west, stood a solid column

-of orichalcum, more than a yard in diameter and fifteen feet tall, its

-whole substance glowing in the half-light like a pillar of lambent

-flame. From base to top the surface of this marvelous plinth was carved

-with Maeronican characters and mystic signs. It was the ancient Column

-of Laws, whereon was written the prophecy of the future dominion of

-Adlaz over all the world.</p>

-

-<p>Over across from the fiery pillar, at the other extremity of the slab,

-was a vase, cut out of solid rock-crystal, as tall as a man, but

-slenderly fashioned, and as fragile in structure as thin-blown glass.</p>

-

-<p>This basalt block, with its gleaming column and crystal vase, was the

-altar of Shamar.</p>

-

-<p>Though the light was dim in the hall below, high in the arch of the

-dome was a dazzling play of light and colors. Through prismatic

-windows the rays of the sun poured and were translated into all of

-the changing hues of the spectrum, and as the prisms were turned by a

-concealed mechanism operated from below, the multiplying and shifting

-color-shafts, reflected back from the marble walls, combined into a

-bewildering and fairy display.</p>

-

-<p>Seated in a stone chair at the foot of one of the pillars in the

-northern arc of the circle was Bel-Ar. He was in full armor of black

-steel. His pallid face made a ghastly patch in the dusk. Except for the

-large, glowing eyes, it might have been taken for the face of a dead

-man. Back of the king, filling in the spaces between the pillars with

-silent rows of bronze, were the five companies of the palace-guard.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Immediately upon the arrival of the girl the ceremonies were opened.

-Followed by a train of his priests, chanting a deep-voiced hymn

-of praise, the arch-priest of Shamar, the aged Rhaen, entered the

-hall through the western portals. Thrice the procession of singing,

-white-robed attendants of the god passed around the circle within the

-pillars. Then they massed themselves in the space to the south of the

-altar. Rhaen retired, to come forth again, clad in a surplice of pale

-blue, and with a tall cap of the same color atop of his white locks. As

-he passed Rose, she fancied that she saw a frightened look in his keen

-old hawk's eyes.</p>

-

-<p>Four men brought in the head of one of the sacred bulls, freshly slain

-in the courtyard.</p>

-

-<p>This gory trophy was laid on the altar, a few feet from the crystal

-vase.</p>

-

-<p>At a command from Rhaen, a company of the priests bore the struggling

-form of a man from behind the pillars and proceeded to chain him down

-on the basalt slab near its center. He was fettered and gagged; but

-even so trussed up, he fought frantically, giving the priests much

-trouble before they had him chained in such a fashion that he could

-scarcely move a limb.</p>

-

-<p>Now came the turn of Rose.</p>

-

-<p>As the priests bore her to the altar and lifted her, she saw that the

-man who lay there was Ensign Brooks, of the <i>Minnetonka</i>. He had been

-fetched from the mines by order of Rhaen to take the place of Everson.

-When the girl saw the young sailor, chubby and cheerful no longer, but

-worn to skin and bones, and with eyes that glared in their sockets, she

-would have cried out in horror and pity&mdash;for to the last she thought

-not of herself&mdash;but she was gagged and helpless to utter one word of

-comfort.</p>

-

-<p>Brooks saw her as she was borne past him, and he struggled terribly.

-His utmost effort resulted only in a violent shaking of his head.</p>

-

-<p>The servants of Rhaen chained Rose to the rock midway between the

-sailor and the head of the bull. Aided by his priests, Rhaen clambered

-onto the rock and took his stand at the foot of the orichalcum pillar.

-He bent his head in prayer. While his lips moved, the priests knelt on

-the pavement with lifted hands and upturned faces. Every eye was fixed

-on the dome. Whatever was to come, it was evident that it would proceed

-thence.</p>

-

-<p>Lying on the black altar, doomed to be the first sacrifice to Shamar

-in the Feast of Years, Rose for a time was dazed and near to fainting.

-Then her mind cleared, and a mad whirl of tortured thought began.

-What of Polaris? With the memory of her lover came a stab of grief so

-keen that it banished all fear of the priests and what they could do.

-No pain that they could bring to her body could be so terrible as this

-anguish that made her very soul quail.</p>

-

-<p>Minutes passed. Again she became calm and fell to studying her

-surroundings. What manner of doom was coming? Fire in some shape, she

-was sure. She had noticed that the surface of the basalt slab was

-deeply scored down its center, where she and Brooks were chained,

-and its substance was crumbled and calcined as if by the passing of

-a fierce heat many times repeated. She besought her God that before

-Shamar struck, her senses might leave her, so might she die in peace.</p>

-

-<p>Rhaen prayed on. Above in the dome the brilliant colors played and

-shifted. Their magnificence hurt the girl's eyes, and she closed them.

-Would the end never come? Out in the city the din of war swelled louder.</p>

-

-<p>Bel-Ar spoke harshly, bidding Rhaen delay not. The arch-priest quit his

-mumbled prayer long enough to reply with some show of spirit that the

-doings of the god could not be hastened.</p>

-

-<p>The truth of the matter was, Rhaen was proceeding slowly, and with a

-reason. Rhaen was a politician. He had watched through the long weeks

-the course of war, and he did not find it hard to guess whose would be

-the ultimate victory. When that time came, what mercy would the king of

-Ruthar show to those who had given his lady to the tortures of Shamar?

-He lifted his hands high above his head, finally, and led his priests

-in a sonorous chant.</p>

-

-<p>As the notes of the song arose, the prismatic colors ceased in the

-dome. The prisms disappeared. Doors glided back in the golden roof, and

-an immense circular plate, or lens, of crystal made its appearance. So

-high was the arch of the dome where the crystal lens was hung, that it

-was impossible from the floor to judge its size; but it must have been

-at least thirty feet in diameter. It was set in a metal rim, and the

-whole was swung into place by chains, the mechanism doubtless operated

-by servants of Rhaen concealed in the vault of the dome.</p>

-

-<p>Tilted slightly to the east, the crystal hung. Above it a round

-aperture suddenly appeared in the roof. Through that opening shot a

-splendid shaft of sunshine that pierced the gloom of the temple-hall

-like an arrow of light. Blinding in its radiance, it cut downward and

-struck on the basalt altar, full on the head of the bull.</p>

-

-<p>Immediately arose the stench of burning hair and sizzling flesh. The

-power of the crystal lens so condensed the light-ray that where it fell

-its heat was all-consuming. Within half a minute naught was left of the

-head of the sacred bull save a few cinders and bits of calcined bone

-and charred tips of the horns.</p>

-

-<p>Where the head had been, the basalt rock glowed ruby-red in the path of

-that awful lance of fire. Inch by inch, and very slowly, the consuming

-ray crept along the altar toward the head of the girl.</p>

-

-<p>Rose had been nearly blinded, even through her closed lids, by the

-flash of light from the dome. Although she could not turn her head to

-see, she could smell the scorching flesh of the bull, and could guess

-what was coming.</p>

-

-<p>"Good-by, my love, good-by," she said in her heart. Then He to whom she

-had prayed made answer, and she fainted.</p>

-

-<p>Louder rose the chant of the priests. The merciless finger of their god

-moved on. Bel-Ar strained forward in his stone seat and stared at the

-sacrifice as though fascinated.</p>

-

-<p>Some five feet were yet to be traversed by the ray before it would

-reach the girl, when a soldier ran up the southern steps of the temple

-and hurled himself through the kneeling ranks of the priests. Behind

-him a wild clamor of battle arose in the street.</p>

-

-<p>"Adlaz is lost!" shouted the soldier, as he broke into the open space

-before the king. "Already is the foe at the very gates of Shamar!"</p>

-

-<p>Without stirring in his seat, hardly removing his eyes from the altar,

-Bel-Ar gave an order to the captains behind him. The silent files of

-the palace-guard came from behind the pillars and ranged themselves

-before the four entrances of the temple.</p>

-

-<p>Across the face of the altar the relentless fire-beam seared its way.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Meanwhile, at the walls of Adlaz the Rutharian army had halted.</p>

-

-<p>Night had found the men of the hills battering at the Mazanion gates.

-Urged on by the tireless energy of Polaris and the equally indomitable

-zeal of Oleric&mdash;for the red captain had made a promise&mdash;the zinds

-mustered their weary legions for a night of sleepless battle. War-worn

-by a quarter-year's conflict, the echoes of which would go whispering

-down their history for centuries to come, the king's battalions did not

-fail him. Every man in the army knew the terrible stake that was set

-for the game. None faltered. None complained.</p>

-

-<p>Assault on assault was directed at the gates, but still the southern

-doors of Adlaz remained unshaken. Riders had made the round of the city

-and had reported that the other three gateways had been walled up with

-stone masonry that it would be a work of days to dislodge&mdash;and they had

-only seventeen hours to reach the temple of Shamar. Oleric, who knew,

-said that the sacrifice of the Feast of Years would begin at noon of

-the next day, and not one moment sooner.</p>

-

-<p>Fanaer, Ruthar's most dreaded antagonist, was manning his last

-barricade. As soon as he had drawn his shattered army within the gates

-before the advance of his foemen, the captain ordered great rocks,

-which had been brought to the top of the walls in preparation for his

-purpose, cast down until they formed a jagged but powerful defense

-before the gates. That was to keep back the amalocs.</p>

-

-<p>Vainly the infantry of Ruthar charged over that irregular wall. Did

-any of them reach the gates, their battle-axes were but puny weapons

-against the bronze and steel of the doors. In vain they tried to carry

-in and place the melinite with which Zenas supplied them. Fanaer

-showered them with stones and blazing timbers. Three times men carrying

-the deadly cakes of explosive were stricken so that the melinite blew

-up and tore them to shreds.</p>

-

-<p>All night long the attack was maintained. All the night Polaris raged

-helplessly before that stubborn barrier of stone. In the morning light

-he counseled with Oleric, Zenas, and Zoar.</p>

-

-<p>"If you could but clear a way for my beasts!" groaned Zoar. "Then I

-would send them against the gates, though it killed them&mdash;which might

-well happen, for those gates are heavy enough to challenge even the

-strength of an amaloc."</p>

-

-<p>Zenas sprang up and beat himself on the forehead.</p>

-

-<p>"Doddering fool that I am!" he cried. "Here we have wasted men and

-time, and because my wits were sleeping in my boot-heels. Get your

-amalocs ready, Zoar."</p>

-

-<p>While Oleric sent one more assault against the gates, the geologist

-directed his engineers, under the cover of the attack, to mine, not

-the gates, but the pile of stones itself, with the melinite. Four big

-charges of the explosive they placed in Fanaer's barricade, and Zenas,

-with a tap of his finger on the battery, blew the barrier against the

-wall.</p>

-

-<p>Hardly had the stones quit falling when an amaloc rushed the gateway.

-Zoar spoke truly when he said those gates were strong. Fearful as

-was the impetus of the beast's charge, and though it cracked the

-great steel plates which protected its head with the impact, it did

-not shatter the gates. It withdrew from the onset somewhat sick and

-groggy&mdash;if that word may be applied to the mental condition of the

-amaloc. Zoar sent in another.</p>

-

-<p>Four of the monsters were launched successively against the portals

-before the gates crashed down. The last shock was so fearful that the

-beast which delivered it fell just beyond the gateway and died with a

-broken skull in the midst of the ruin it had made.</p>

-

-<p>Through the gap and into the Mazanion avenue, almost under the lee

-of the falling mammoth, flashed Polaris, mounted and in full armor.

-Hard behind him rode Oleric. Ahead of them the wide street was choked

-with Maeronican soldiery, and the son of the snows would have charged

-without pause; for the time that was left him was reduced to minutes

-now. Taking of the gates had not been quick or easy, and Shamar was

-high in the heavens.</p>

-

-<p>But the red captain caught at his bridle-rein.</p>

-

-<p>"Hold, friend and king; you will peril your life needlessly," he

-shouted. "Leave this desperate scum to Zoar, and follow where he leads.

-Ah! here he comes! Now see them scatter!"</p>

-

-<p>Oleric threw back his head and laughed. But Polaris, with that sun

-riding high above him, was in no mood for laughter.</p>

-

-<p>In through the rifted gateway thrust Ixstus. The giant amaloc was

-in his full panoply of war. On his head he bore proudly his master,

-Zoar the aged, and in the turret behind Zoar rode the Goddess

-Glorian&mdash;Glorian coming to the end to take what gift fate had in store.</p>

-

-<p>Under the swaying tusks of Ixstus terror shouted aloud in the street.

-Behind him, his sons and grandsons were pushing in through the gap in

-the wall. Bel-Ar's battered soldiers had had enough and full measure of

-Ixstus and his family. They did not wait now for the first screaming

-trumpet-call, but cast down their arms and scampered away&mdash;anywhere, so

-that they might put strong walls between themselves and the tribe of

-Ixstus.</p>

-

-<p>Then the general Fanaer rode forward and surrendered his sword to

-Oleric. He was a small, thin man, this famous warrior, with a twisted

-nose between pale-blue eyes, and curling, yellow beard.</p>

-

-<p>"I have fought you my best for the king, my master," he said. "But

-you have taken Adlaz, and my work is done." He glanced curiously at

-Polaris. "Haste you, king of Ruthar," he said, not unkindly. "They are

-doing sacrifice in Shamar's temple."</p>

-

-<p>Like an arrow from a bow, Polaris shot forward, spurring his horse.

-Oleric galloped after him. Behind them thundered Ixstus, shaking the

-pavement with his tread. Nor, strive as the fleet horses might, could

-they more than barely keep ahead of the amaloc. A race with death had

-begun.</p>

-

-<p>Lest harm befall, the zind Maxtan led a squadron of his mounted

-hillsmen in the wake of the speeding riders. Gray Jastla rode in the

-front rank.</p>

-

-<p>Before Polaris's galloping steed leaped and barked the great dog

-Rombar, who was more fleet of foot than any horse. To keep him out of

-harm's way in the battles, Rombar had been chained in hateful captivity

-for months. When the Mazanion gates were down and the amalocs cleared

-the street, the man who had charge of Rombar slipped his leash and let

-him go.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>They rode madly through the splendid grounds of the temple, where the

-sacred bulls fled bellowing before the approach of Ixstus. At the foot

-of the long stairway, Polaris and Oleric threw themselves from their

-steeds, and, drawing their swords, dashed up the marble steps. But

-Zoar with a word of command, set Ixstus to the ascent, and the amaloc

-distanced the running men.</p>

-

-<p>Scarce two feet of Shamar's black altar separated the head of Rose Emer

-from the fiery danger, and the rock where she lay was almost blistering

-hot, when Ixstus, with a scream of triumph, burst through the ranks of

-the guard at the southern door and strode into the lofty shrine. As the

-beast paused, blinking and stretching out an inquiring trunk in the

-direction of the puzzling shaft of light, two armored men ran around

-his ponderous bulk and leaped onto the altar.</p>

-

-<p>Rhaen would have given the word then to close the dome and stop the

-ray; but the strain of his anxiety had been too much for the aged

-priest. As he opened his mouth to shout, his knees loosened, and he

-fell in a swoon at the base of the orichalcum pillar.</p>

-

-<p>With four strokes of his sword, Polaris severed the golden chains and

-swept the senseless form of Rose from the altar. Oleric the Red did

-the like service for Brooks. Now might the finger of Shamar move on

-unheeded.</p>

-

-<p>Polaris knelt with his love in his arms. As he bent over her, Oleric

-shouted in warning. The son of the snows leaped to his feet in time to

-catch on his sword the blade of Bel-Ar, the king.</p>

-

-<p>Once again Ruthar and Ad, personified in their two rulers, were face to

-face.</p>

-

-<p>From the four doorways came the devoted men of the palace-guard.

-Bel-Ar, who had fallen back a pace, lifted his hand.</p>

-

-<p>"There is that between this man and me which only death may take away,"

-he said. "Let none interfere&mdash;unless the slave is afraid to fight." He

-fixed his burning eyes on Polaris. At that last remark Oleric the Red

-laughed loudly.</p>

-

-<p>Under other circumstances, Janess might have been minded to let Bel-Ar

-go free. Whatever were his faults, the Maeronican king was a brave

-man, one who did not bow down and weep when misfortune overtook him.

-But Polaris had just seen his dear lady chained to the horror of the

-sacrificial stone because of this man, and his fell religion and

-relentless practices against strangers. Minos, Memene, Everson, the

-company of the <i>Minnetonka</i>, the fallen of the hosts of Ruthar and of

-Ad&mdash;for all those deaths Bel-Ar was responsible. Surely his doors were

-haunted by many ghosts!</p>

-

-<p>With no word in answer to the king's taunt, Polaris swung his sword,

-and the fight began. Bel-Ar pressed in with a shower of blows, seeking

-to bear his adversary down by the sheer weight and fury of his attack.

-He was a powerful man, perhaps the strongest warrior in all his broad

-lands, as he had boasted&mdash;but he had met a stronger now.</p>

-

-<p>With the skill in fence that had been taught him by Jastla, the son of

-the snows guarded himself against those lightning blows, letting Bel-Ar

-weary himself until an opening should come&mdash;as his patience had told

-him it always would, no matter how hardy the fighter.</p>

-

-<p>Jastla himself stood by the altar and watched his pupil fight. For

-Maxtan and his cavalry had reached the temple. On one side of the

-altar stood the men of Ruthar and Ixstus. On the other were ranged the

-gleaming bronze lines of Bel-Ar's guard.</p>

-

-<p>Harder and harder the Maeronican pressed the fight. His blade swung

-like a circle of flame. Warily Polaris fended. Came a clash and a

-clang of falling steel, and a cry of dismay from the Rutharians. Under

-the stout bronze of Bel-Ar their champion's sword had snapped short off

-at the hilt.</p>

-

-<p>With a yell of exultation, Bel-Ar sprang in to make an end. And those

-who watched the fray were bound by honor not to interfere. Oleric

-groaned, and Jastla tugged at his white beard and ground his teeth in

-dismay. Then he sent up a roaring shout:</p>

-

-<p>"Well thrown! Oh, well thrown!"</p>

-

-<p>Under the vengeful sweep of the singing blade Polaris had leaped and

-caught the Maeronican around the middle. The blow of the sword fell

-harmless. But Polaris swung Bel-Ar up to his shoulder, aye, and over

-it, and dashed him down on the marble floor.</p>

-

-<p>One of the golden captains of the guard ran to the king's side and

-unhelmed him. Bel-Ar was dead, his back broken by the terrible fall.</p>

-

-<p>"Heard ever a man the like?" roared Jastla. "The strongest warrior in

-Adlaz tossed like a toy and slain by an unarmed man!"</p>

-

-<p>Through the fierce fray Glorian had sat like a statue, unable to stir

-or speak. As the Rutharians shouted in triumph, she roused and cried

-out:</p>

-

-<p>"Look to the priest! Haste! He burns!"</p>

-

-<p>Unnoticed in the stir of the combat, the ray of Shamar had moved on

-down the length of the altar. The priests in the dome had fled their

-posts in terror, and there had been none to stay the mechanism. In

-the path of Shamar's finger lay Rhaen, Shamar's priest, swooned and

-helpless. The ray struck him. Aid was too late.</p>

-

-<p>Rhaen was a horrid sight when he was pulled from the altar. His soul

-had gone&mdash;perhaps to seek the god whom he had served.</p>

-

-<p>On Ixstus's head stood Glorian in her silver armor.</p>

-

-<p>"So ends the religion of Shamar!" she cried. With the battle-ax she

-carried, she bent over and struck the crystal vase and shattered it.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>At the other end of the altar of basalt the great ray beat on the

-pillar of orichalcum, so that the surface of the metal was melted and

-the cruel laws of Ad were effaced. With the laws perished the prophecy.</p>

-

-<p>Water was dashed on the face of Rose Emer, and presently she opened

-her eyes and sat up and realized that she was not dead. Before them

-all, Polaris took her into his arms and kissed her&mdash;for such is the

-privilege of kings. Glorian, watching from Ixstus's back, turned white

-with agony and clenched her slender fingers so that the nails bit into

-her palms.</p>

-

-<p>"Oh, be strong, my heart," she whispered to herself. "My soul has said

-it&mdash;<i>my time will come</i>!"</p>

-

-<p>Zenas Wright came soon, and at the altar of Shamar was held a reunion

-where hearts were too full for talking, until Ensign Brooks spoke up

-and Said:</p>

-

-<p>"Lead me to a dinner-table, somebody. First they worked the flesh off

-my bones. Then they tried to roast me along with a bull's head and a

-pretty woman&mdash;but never once did they give me a decent meal."</p>

-

-<p>"You shall have your dinner," said Polaris. "But first there is

-something which I will have done, here and now, if may be." He turned

-to Oleric, while Rose Emer's cheeks, that had been so wan, flamed rosy

-red.</p>

-

-<p>"Has one of these priests here the power to perform a marriage

-ceremony?" Janess asked.</p>

-

-<p>"Surely," replied Oleric. And then the red captain smiled broadly as he

-caught the import of the question. "Hale one of them here, Jastla," he

-said.</p>

-

-<p>Jastla came soon, gripping a sadly scared priest of Shamar by the slack

-of his gown. "Do you, Oleric, who understand more of his jargon than I

-do, listen that he does a good job of it," grumbled the chieftain. "For

-if he doesn't, I'll flay him."</p>

-

-<p>But Glorian was great-hearted, even befitting her title of goddess. She

-now stepped down from the amaloc to the altar.</p>

-

-<p>"In this let Glorian of Ruthar serve you," she said. "I have the power,

-and the knot that I shall tie, though it shall be more gentle than if

-done by this dog of Shamar, yet will it be as binding."</p>

-

-<p>So, after the long years and their perils, Polaris and his Rose-maid

-were wedded, Oleric the Red producing the ring. And when she had

-pronounced the words which made them one, Glorian took Rose in her arms

-and kissed her on the forehead.</p>

-

-<p>"May you be very happy, my sister," she whispered.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Now here the pen that has written this history ceases, to give place to

-that of one of its chief actors, who has a parting word to tell.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>I, Zenas Wright, now in my sixty-seventh year, and being in full

-possession of my health, mind, and faculties (as lawyers write it in

-the wills) having been asked by the writer of the foregoing work to

-make some comment on it, do hereby aver, asseverate, maintain, etc.,

-that it is in the main a faithful account of certain events in which it

-has been my privilege to play a small part. In fact, I cannot well do

-otherwise, seeing that I furnished him the information.</p>

-

-<p>Such changes as I might be tempted to make in the history he has

-written would only vex the writer, and so I'll let it be. They would be

-in the nature of scientific details, anyhow, and I fear would make only

-dry reading for any but brother scientists.</p>

-

-<p>I have told the author that he has made altogether too much of my part

-in the events which he has described. I am not a hero, and never will

-be; but in this description of that brush in the Kimbrian defile&mdash;which

-was altogether a matter of chance&mdash;he has made me almost heroic. I have

-asked him to amend the account; but he will not listen to it, and so I

-suppose that it will have to stand. I hereby disclaim it.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>It is more than six months since the fademe <i>Oaron</i> dropped anchor in

-the Potomac (where its arrival created a fine sensation), and I landed

-once more in Washington. With me came Lieutenant Everson. He did not

-get to Adlaz until some weeks after it had been taken, and he's not the

-man yet that he was before he got that jab from Atlo's spear. But he's

-improving. He had the loss of a cruiser to report; but he brought with

-him a sum in gold and gems, sent by the king of Ruthar and Maeronica,

-sufficient to reimburse the Government for the loss of the ship, and

-with a splendid sum left over to be distributed among the relatives of

-those who went down with her. The king is a man who doesn't do things

-by halves.</p>

-

-<p>Ensign Brooks came with us also. He was pining for a peep up Broadway

-and a whiff of "America's strongest cigarette." I hope that he has had

-enough to eat since he came back.</p>

-

-<p>Through the kindness of Oleric, I was enabled to bring with me a

-splendid pair of mammoth's tusks, which I took great pleasure in adding

-to the collection of the Smithsonian Institution. Some time I hope

-to be the means of bringing to these shores specimens of the <i>Elephas

-primigenius</i> themselves, which the Rutharians call amalocs.</p>

-

-<p>Before this history comes to the eyes of the world&mdash;if it ever does, of

-which I have some doubt&mdash;I shall have gone back to the south. I thought

-that I wanted to end my days in my home in Buffalo and be buried there;

-but I don't. I'm going back to be with my boy. He is making a wise

-ruler there in Adlaz. Perhaps an old man's life will not be altogether

-useless there, where there is so much to be done.</p>

-

-<p>Before I left Adlaz, two small princes were playing in the royal

-palace&mdash;Patrymion, the boy of Minos, who eventually will be king if he

-lives, and another youngster, who must stagger through life under the

-burden of the name of Polaris Zenas Janess. Guess that's pretty good

-for an old rock-splitter&mdash;to have the first-born son of a real king

-named after him. Constituting himself the special guardian of the two

-little chaps is a simple-minded little cockney sailor, whom Polaris

-found in prison, Jack Melton by name. Sunlight has cured him of some of

-his hallucinations, and he no longer hates Rombar.</p>

-

-<p>There is one thing more, which I did not find in the history, and will

-now add here. It concerns that remarkable woman, Glorian of Ruthar.

-One day when we were discussing the power which she and Oleric declare

-they have to prolong their lives (privately, I think it is rank bosh),

-Glorian told me that it was possible for one who knew the secret to

-make use of it to keep another person alive, and without that person

-knowing about it. Now Glorian is living in Adlaz, where she has had

-the temple of Shamar fixed over to suit her. She sees Polaris often.

-I am of the opinion that, if she has any such power&mdash;mind you, I'm

-not admitting she has&mdash;she is using it on Polaris, and is planning

-to outwait Mrs. Janess (Queen Rose, I suppose I should call her) and

-eventually have him for herself. The outcome of this, only time will

-tell, and I shall not live to know it. I have not the means to prolong

-my life&mdash;and would not if I had.</p>

-

-<p>By the way, Zoar of the Amalocs died shortly after the taking of Adlaz.

-The excitement of the war was too much for his heart.</p>

-

-<p>Oh, yes! And Oleric married Bel-Ar's widow, the Queen Raissa; and that

-is all.</p>

-

-<p>Good-by.</p>

-

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+    <title>
+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of Polaris and the Goddess Glorian, by Charles B. Stilson.
+    </title>
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+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 67121 ***</div>
+
+<div class="titlepage">
+
+<h1>Polaris and the Goddess Glorian</h1>
+
+<h2>By Charles B. Stilson</h2>
+
+<p><i>Copyright 1917 by Popular Publications, Inc.</i></p>
+
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+<h2>Introduction</h2>
+
+
+<p>In the antarctic wilds far below Ross Sea, Polaris Janess (Polaris&mdash;of
+the Snows), was born, of a mother he never knew, and grew to manhood's
+years knowing one human face only, that of his father. When that father
+died, the young man set his face to the north, to find the world of
+men, of which his father and his books had told him; and to deliver
+to the National Geographic Society in Washington a packet containing
+scientific data compiled by his explorer sire.</p>
+
+<p>Journeying through the silent wastes with his dog team, the son of the
+snows found Rose Emer, an American heiress, who had strayed from an
+exploring party, and who waited death in the icy wilderness.</p>
+
+<p>Hurled southward again in a breakup of the ice floes where they had
+camped, Polaris and the girl came upon the kingdom of Sardanes&mdash;a
+valley girded by volcanic hills which warmed it, and peopled by a lost
+fragment, some two thousand strong, of the ancient Greeks.</p>
+
+<p>The adventures of the man of the snows and the American maid in
+Sardanes; how they escaped thence; how their love bloomed amid
+the eternal snows; and how they won at last to America, where the
+Geographic Society hailed the dead Stephen Janess as the first man to
+set foot on the Southern Pole&mdash;all these things have been related.</p>
+
+<p>Zenas Wright, friend of Polaris's father, and a celebrated student
+of volcanic phenomena, told Polaris that the fires which had warmed
+Sardanes for centuries were passing away from the valley, and that all
+life in the ancient kingdom must perish.</p>
+
+<p>Chartering the United States second-class cruiser <i>Minnetonka</i>,
+Polaris, Wright, and Captain James Scoland set sail to rescue the
+Sardanians. Scoland, who loved Rose Emer, deserted Janess and Wright in
+the wilderness and went back to America to woo the Rose-maid. But Rose
+Emer refused him, and gray Marcus, Polaris's dog, protected her from
+Scoland's profaning lips and tore the recreant captain so horribly that
+the man went mad, and in his madness revealed his inhuman treachery.</p>
+
+<p>Again the <i>Minnetonka</i> turned her nose to the mysterious South, and
+Rose Emer went down the bitter seas to find her sweetheart.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Polaris and old Zenas Wright found Sardanes a waste of snows,
+its volcanic girdle cold and dead, its people, led by the mad priest
+of Analos, gone to their doom through the fiery "Gateway" of their
+god Hephaistos. Only Minos, the kind, and his bride, the Lady Memene,
+remained alive, hidden in a cave in the hills. Those four, Polaris,
+Wright, and the two Sardanians, were picked up by the <i>Minnetonka</i> near
+the Antarctic Circle as they were making their perilous way northward
+in a small launch which they had found in the wreck of Captain
+Scoland's supply ship.</p>
+
+<p>In the story which follows will be related the tale which was brought
+back to America by old Zenas Wright&mdash;what befell Polaris and his
+companions after the <i>Minnetonka</i> turned northward&mdash;homeward.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2>CHAPTER I</h2>
+
+<h3>THE GOLDEN STRANGER</h3>
+
+
+<p>On the bridge of the cruiser <i>Minnetonka</i> stood Minos, the Sardanian
+king, staring southward in the wake of the ship, southward where his
+lost, dead kingdom lay buried under the soft, cruel snows beyond the
+unchartered antarctic seas. Ahead of the ship, full of promise, full
+of hope, was America. For the <i>Minnetonka</i> had rounded the Horn that
+morning and was on her long straight course for the port of home.</p>
+
+<p>Below him, in her cabin, was the girl bride of Minos, the Lady Memene,
+so strangely won and saved from the crowning horror of his kingdom's
+fall. It was mid-forenoon of a cloudless day. Gay voices echoed along
+the decks of the cruiser. Gladness was in the very air the voyagers
+breathed&mdash;the gladness of the homeward-bound.</p>
+
+<p>But the mien of the king was somber. There was a shadow on his brow
+and deeper shadows in his dark eyes gazing so steadily into the south.
+Bright as were his prospects, memory still whispered sadly to him of
+the only spot on earth which had been home to him. He could not forget.</p>
+
+<p>Far away on the dancing, sparkling waters something caught the eye of
+the king, a something which flashed and disappeared and flashed again,
+as the wave on which it rode dipped and arose among its fellows. Minos
+watched it curiously.</p>
+
+<p>Leaning against the rail beside the king, so close that their elbows
+almost touched, was Lieutenant Irwin Everson, commander of the
+<i>Minnetonka</i>, trim in his naval blue. Minos touched his shoulder and
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"Yonder&mdash;something shines on the water."</p>
+
+<p>Everson followed with his eyes the course indicated by the pointing
+finger of the king. Again the distant object flashed in the sunlight,
+far away on the starboard quarter. "Might be ice; but I've seen enough
+of that lately to know that it isn't," muttered Everson as he, too,
+caught the flash, "and no wave ever shone like that."</p>
+
+<p>Stepping into the pilothouse, the lieutenant returned with his glasses.
+Their lenses revealed to his eyes a glittering patch from which the
+rays of the sun were reflected as it rose and fell with the waves. But
+even the powerful binoculars were inadequate to distinguish the form
+and substance of the thing.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't make it out," Everson said as he lowered the glasses. "But
+here comes the keenest pair of eyes on the ship." He leaned from the
+bridge and called down to a tall man who was crossing the deck below.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Mr. Janess! Can you spare us a moment? We need your eyesight."</p>
+
+<p>Polaris turned a smiling face in response to the call. He, too, was
+glad of the home-going; no man on the ship more so. In a moment he
+joined the king and the lieutenant on the bridge.</p>
+
+<p>Though he was not so tall by the breadth of a hand as the Sardanian,
+who was indeed a giant, the tawny head of the son of the snows was
+inches above that of the young naval man. As they stood one on either
+side of him, Everson involuntarily stepped back a pace. He felt puny
+and absurd, and he was by no means a small man.</p>
+
+<p>For the half of a minute, Janess gazed through the glasses, altering
+their focus slightly. He lowered them suddenly and swung on his heel to
+face Everson.</p>
+
+<p>"Put the ship&mdash;" He stopped and his face flushed. "I beg pardon," he
+continued. "It is not mine to give orders, but yonder a man floats. He
+lies face downward across a piece of wreckage."</p>
+
+<p>Lieutenant Everson hurried into the pilot house, and down to old
+MacKechnie among his boilers was flashed the signal which swung the
+gray cruiser off her course in a long arc to the southward.</p>
+
+<p>"A man, you say?" the commander queried as he rejoined Polaris and the
+king. "But what is it that glitters so?"</p>
+
+<p>Polaris, with the glasses at his eyes again, did not at once reply.
+When he did, the answer was surprising.</p>
+
+<p>"It is the man that glitters. If he be not of metal himself, then is he
+clothed in it from head to toe, and it glimmers&mdash;" He turned to Minos
+and lapsed into the Greek of Sardanes. "It glimmers, Minos, as did that
+suit of armor which thou didst leave behind thee in the cave on the
+Mount of Latmos," he said.</p>
+
+<p>The king stirred to quick interest. The eyes of the naval lieutenant
+widened with amazement as Polaris repeated his remark in English.</p>
+
+<p>"A man clothed in metal! In armor!" he exclaimed. "And floating here
+in the South Atlantic! What can that mean? Poor chap; whoever he is,
+he will never tell us. He must have been dead for days. But it's well
+worth the investigation."</p>
+
+<p>Impatiently the three men stood at the rail of the bridge as the ship
+swung on.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>At an eighteen-knot clip, the <i>Minnetonka</i> cut swiftly through the
+waves, nearer and nearer to the flashing burden of the waves. Soon
+other eyes not so keen as those of Polaris could descry the strange
+objective of the ship. Forward along the rail, sailors clustered,
+shouting their surprise, and staring at the unusual spectacle of the
+glittering man afloat.</p>
+
+<p>Presently, with a deep thrumming of her valves, the <i>Minnetonka</i> slowed
+down. With a word to Everson, Polaris left the bridge and hastened
+across the deck. As a boat was swung over the side in the davits, he
+sprang into it with the sailors. Less than two-score strokes of the
+oars took the boat alongside the floating mystery.</p>
+
+<p>Then, indeed, had the sailors cause to stare with open mouths.</p>
+
+<p>On a crisscross tangle of slender beams, oddly twisted and broken, lay
+the body of a man. So small was the raft of wreckage which supported
+him that his head and feet projected at each side, and as the waves
+tossed his unstable craft, first his face and then his heels were
+dipped beneath the water. Very wide of shoulder was the stranger and
+powerfully framed, if the outlines of the garb he wore did not belie
+him.</p>
+
+<p>From crown to sole he was dressed in jointed armor, cunningly fashioned
+and decorated, and the whole of which gleamed in the sunlight as only
+burnished copper or red gold can gleam. His hands only were bare;
+smooth, strong hands, clenched fast about two of the broken beams
+beneath him.</p>
+
+<p>But it was none of those things, and they were strange enough, that
+caused the coxswain to cry out hoarsely as the boat wore alongside, or
+that caused Polaris Janess, bent over with outstretched hands, to draw
+them back from the floating stranger, while his lips parted and his
+breath came hard.</p>
+
+<p>"He's alive! By the grace of God, he's alive!" cried the coxswain.</p>
+
+<p>Face downward the stranger lay, as Polaris had said, loose-flung and
+inert, and sprawled as though some force had pitched him there. But
+though his head was more often under the water than above it, his broad
+shoulders heaved and fell regularly. He was alive.</p>
+
+<p>The supreme wonder of it, and that which awed Polaris and the sailors,
+was that <i>the man breathed when his head was under water</i>!</p>
+
+<p>When a wave tilted the raft so that his face was raised, his breath was
+expelled with a wheezing, whistling sound. When he was submerged, a
+stream of small bubbles arose about his neck and clung to the surface
+of his metal helmet.</p>
+
+<p>For a long moment Polaris stood and looked down at this amazing thing.
+Then he reached out and very gently took the stranger by the shoulders
+to turn his face to the sky. So tight was the clutch of those strong
+bare hands about the two beams of the raft which they held that the
+entire structure tipped when the son of the snows laid hold. In vain he
+tried to loosen that grasp. It was not to be done without breaking the
+man's fingers. To make an end of it, Janess took an axe from the hands
+of the coxswain and cut through the beams.</p>
+
+<p>Still gripping the wooden fragments, the man turned over on his back.</p>
+
+<p>Then the mystery of the stranger's breathing was partially made clear.
+Under the flare of the helmet he wore his brow was hidden. His eyes
+were fast closed. Fitting tightly over the bridge of his nose and
+extending down so that it covered his mouth and part of his chin, was
+a projecting masklike contrivance of metal and leather. Its straps
+covered the man's ears and were made fast somewhere at the back of his
+head under the helmet. So tightly was the mask affixed that its straps
+cut into the flesh of the man's cheeks. It much resembled the masks
+worn by the soldiers in modern warfare to protect themselves from the
+gas attacks of their enemy.</p>
+
+<p>Through its mechanism the breath of its wearer hissed and whistled like
+escaping steam.</p>
+
+<p>Alive though the man was, and under circumstances which made his
+discoverers marvel, he was near death. Above and below the confines of
+the mask he wore, the bones of his face seemed almost thrusting through
+the flesh. The flesh itself was wasted and puckered by the action of
+the sea water, and the skin was cracked and raw. His hands, which clung
+so tenaciously to the bits of broken wood, were bleeding about the
+nails, and his wrists were gashed and water-eaten.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, here is work for Dr. Marsey," Polaris said. He gathered the limp
+form of the stranger into his arms and lifted him into the boat.</p>
+
+<p>At the rail of the <i>Minnetonka</i> as the boat was shipped, a curious
+crowd met the advent of the man from the sea. Carrying him as lightly
+as though he had been a child, Polaris laid the man on the deck. The
+ship's doctor pushed through the wondering sailors and bent over him.</p>
+
+<p>"Not dead?" he exclaimed when he saw the stranger's face. "A most
+amazing thing!"</p>
+
+<p>"What resurrection from antiquity have we here?" said old Zenas Wright,
+falling on his knees beside Polaris, who was supporting the man's
+head. "No museum I ever saw boasted a suit of armor like this one."
+The scientist ran a finger over the delicate tracery on the glittering
+corselet of the stranger.</p>
+
+<p>Polaris sought and found the catch which released the chin strap and
+laid the open helmet on the deck. Another chorus of exclamations
+greeted the appearance of the stranger's head. It was covered with a
+mass of wavy red hair, so red that it shone like flames in the sunlight.</p>
+
+<p>Rumors of the wonder on deck had drawn the grizzled MacKechnie up from
+his beloved engines.</p>
+
+<p>"Mark me, yon laddie's a Scot&mdash;if he isna' of the wild Irish," was his
+dry comment when he saw the fiery head on the deck.</p>
+
+<p>Undoing its buckle, Janess next laid aside the odd mask from the face
+of the stranger. Except that he had a high, bold nose and a mouth that
+closed in a thin, firm line, little could be made of the features of
+the man, they were so damaged by his long immersion in the sea and
+impressed by the tightly drawn trappings of the mask. But he apparently
+was a young man, of not more than thirty years.</p>
+
+<p>In vain Dr. Marsey endeavored to force the man's clenched teeth apart
+so that he might apply the neck of the brandy flask which a steward had
+fetched. The jaw of the stranger was set like a rock and resisted all
+effort, and the doctor was compelled to pour the liquor between the
+locked teeth.</p>
+
+<p>"If that doesna' fetch him, nothing whatever will," said MacKechnie,
+the nostrils of his ruddy old nose twitching.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, he's getting it!" said Zenas Wright. With the first trickle of
+the brandy down his throat, the unconscious man stirred faintly. His
+mouth opened and closed again with a snap, and his hands unclenched and
+let fall the bits of beams they had held so long. He coughed weakly. A
+faint tinge of color flowed into his face. His eyelids twitched, but
+did not open.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Marsey touched the man's temples and then his wrists with practised
+fingers.</p>
+
+<p>"I think that we shall hear his story yet," he said. "What he needs
+now is a bed and nourishment. Bring him below."</p>
+
+<p>Polaris looked into the battered face and was strangely stirred. The
+grim plight of the man he had rescued, the mystery of him, the strength
+of the spirit that seemed to dominate even that unconscious body; all
+struck an answering chord in the nature of the son of the snows. For
+he, too, had suffered and endured, almost to the gates of death, and
+had remained steadfast. Was it a premonition that made him feel so
+strongly that this man, should he live, would be his friend above many?</p>
+
+<p>When the sailors would have taken up the stranger, Polaris waved them
+aside, and himself carried the inert body below, the blazing head
+resting on his shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>MacKechnie gazed after him thoughtfully as he strode across the deck.</p>
+
+<p>"Beware, laddie lad, beware!" the Scotchman muttered softly. "'Tis only
+ill luck he'll be bringin' to ye, yon gowden mon. For ye hae saved him
+from the sea."</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Shivering throughout the length of her steel hull, the <i>Minnetonka</i>
+drove southward. A shrieking wilderness of wind and wave surrounded the
+ship. Reft from all guidance, she sheared through the furious waters
+with no more of volition than some monster projectile launched by the
+battling elements. Twice had the stout cruiser come free of scathe from
+the white portals of the Antarctic. Now she seemed winged by death to
+enter them once more and forever. In the grip of the tempest the ship
+was no more than a toy&mdash;a helpless, beaten thing.</p>
+
+<p>Calamity, like a black dog, had crept hard upon the heels of the
+bizarre stranger. He had not been on the cruiser for six hours when a
+storm burst, the like of which for violence no man on board the ship
+ever had seen.</p>
+
+<p>In an attempt to breast the gale and make for some port of safety,
+one of the propeller shafts&mdash;weakened perhaps by the pounding of the
+ice-drift months before&mdash;had snapped short off. Unequal to the double
+task, its twin had sprung beyond all use. Thereafter the scant mercy of
+chance ruled the destinies of the ship and of all she bore.</p>
+
+<p>Nor was the damage to the shafting all that disaster had wrought. In
+her great peril the ship was stricken dumb and could not summon aid.
+Her wireless was out of commission. She could send no call across the
+face of the waters to sister ships, bidding them to hasten to her
+succor.</p>
+
+<p>MacKechnie's dismal prophecy was likely to be visited, not on Polaris
+Janess alone, but upon the entire ship's company.</p>
+
+<p>In the pilothouse, with the gale screeching outside his windows,
+Lieutenant Everson bent above his charts; but he was helpless and
+well-nigh hopeless. Down in the engine room, its busy clamor stilled,
+MacKechnie sat and stared bitterly at the mechanism which he so loved.
+It was useless now, its splendid powers crippled, its fires dying away
+to embers. If the inward prayers of the engineer were fervent, the
+flow of Scotch profanity which passed his lips at whiles was far more
+eloquent. He, too, was helpless. He cursed the day when he had decided
+with Everson to round the Horn and take the eastern route. They had
+learned at Dunedin, in New Zealand, that the Panama Canal was closed by
+another Culebra slide, and they had thought that this was the quicker
+way to the port of home.</p>
+
+<p>Better the delay than this!</p>
+
+<p>On all the ship two hearts only were unshaken by the catastrophe. One
+was that of the stranger.</p>
+
+<p>Freed of his armor, his body cleared and his scarred face and arms in
+bandages, he lay tossing in a bunk in one of the cabins. Dr. Marsey was
+unremitting in his care of the patient whom the sea had given him. Hot
+gruel and small doses of brandy, administered alternately, had turned
+the ebbing tide of the man's vitality. He was gathering strength. But
+his consciousness still strayed beyond the powers of any tempest to
+disturb it.</p>
+
+<p>Another who thought nothing of the gale and its accompanying terrors
+was Zenas Wright.</p>
+
+<p>Coupled with his keen and scientific mind, there was in the old
+geologist the enthusiasm of a boy, and an overmastering curiosity to
+learn new things. Many and wild had been the guesses which had followed
+the finding of the red-haired stranger. That he had been shipwrecked
+was plain enough to all. But who and what was he?</p>
+
+<p>Some star out of <i>opéra-bouffe</i>, said one, out of a job and reduced to
+the necessity of wearing one of his own costumes. A lunatic, another
+said, and found more to agree with him. But whence the armor and the
+mask?</p>
+
+<p>Let guessers guess and tempests roar, said Zenas Wright to himself. He
+was on the trail of knowledge. So he slipped into the cabin where the
+stranger lay. He stood at the head of the bunk and looked down where
+the red hair of the derelict flared on the pillow. The impressions left
+by the straps of his mask had filled out, and the lineaments of the man
+were more distinguishable than they had been. It was an agreeable face,
+thought Zenas Wright; all of it that the bandages did not hide. There
+were distinct lines of humor at the corners of the straight mouth and
+tiny wrinkles at the base of the craggy nose&mdash;lines which said that the
+wearer of them was a hearty fellow, who ofttimes had laughed long and
+merrily at jokes, whether of his own or another's making.</p>
+
+<p>"But," thought Zenas to himself, "Marsey's been giving the fellow
+altogether too much brandy, or else he is in a rare fever." The
+geologist laid the back of his hand to the man's cheek. He found
+it cool. But it was ruddy to the ears, with the ruddiness that is
+associated with an intimate camaraderie with the wine cups.</p>
+
+<p>At the touch of the old man's fingers, the stranger ceased his tossing.
+His eyes opened. One flash from them Zenas Wright caught, and he saw
+that they were sea-blue, bright and leaping eyes. Then their lids
+closed. The man shook his head wearily, and from his lips trembled what
+might have been a moan or a muttered word. The scientist bent hastily
+to listen, but the man made no further sound. As the old man watched
+him, his form relaxed and he lay apparently in a dreamless, voiceless
+slumber.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>From the floor, Wright took up the shining helmet, and from a stand
+the queerly fashioned mask. He was about to leave the cabin when
+his attention was arrested by the garb which the stranger had worn
+underneath his armor and which was flung across the back of a chair.
+One garment it was, even to the feet of it, like the sleeping suit of a
+child. It was of a soft, fine fabric, almost of the thinness of gauze,
+yet firmly and closely woven and warm to the feel. But it was neither
+of cotton nor of wool, nor yet of silk, or any other material with
+which the scientist was familiar.</p>
+
+<p>He shook his head over it; and then, with the mask and helmet, he left
+the cabin.</p>
+
+<p>Straight to the deserted ship's laboratory the geologist went, and shut
+himself in. And there, some time afterward, Polaris, threading his way
+through the swaying corridors with Rose Emer clinging to his arm, found
+him.</p>
+
+<p>So busy with his work was old Zenas that he did not see or hear the
+entrance of Janess and the girl. For a time they stood in silence and
+watched him. They saw him spill drops from a vial on the surface of
+the helmet. Then he went at it with a small drill which he had fetched
+from the machine shop. That was a bit of hard work, for he puffed and
+mopped his brow. He collected with care the particles which fell under
+the bite of the drill. Those he tested with drops from another bottle,
+and then again, opening and discarding a number of chemicals. At length
+he got a reaction which appeared to satisfy him, for he chirruped
+gleefully and nodded his white old head.</p>
+
+<p>Next Wright donned the mask and fastened its straps. Polaris and Rose
+heard the whistling of his breath through it. He then drew a bucket of
+water from a tap, set it on one of the laboratory stands, ascended a
+stool, and suddenly plunged his head into the pail.</p>
+
+<p>Zenas had not stopped to figure out the displacement of the container
+of a well-developed scientific brain. It was considerable. Much of
+the water splashed out on the floor, and not a little of it went down
+inside the scientist's collar. Nothing daunted by the cold trickle of
+the inundation, he bravely kept his head in the bucket, from which
+arose at once a prodigious gurgling and bubbling.</p>
+
+<p>The old man's shoulders shook as though a fit of coughing had seized
+him. One minute, two, three, passed. Zenas stood so still that Polaris
+became alarmed. He stepped to the geologist's side and shook him by the
+arm. The only response he got was an impatient gesture of a hand, which
+seemed to say, "Go away and don't bother me."</p>
+
+<p>Presently Wright raised his head from the depths of the bucket, and
+ludicrous enough he looked, with the odd snout of the mask projecting
+from his face, his white thatch of hair all plastered flat and the
+water running from his beard and making a mess of his cravat and shirt
+front. But above the mask his little dark eyes were triumphant. When he
+saw Polaris at his side, he could scarcely wait to unfasten the mask.</p>
+
+<p>"There," he shouted, and he shook the thing above his head, "there is
+one of the greatest inventions of modern times. I don't know what is in
+the inside of it, or just what it does, but I'll find out. If that chap
+yonder is the inventor of it, he can take it to the United States, take
+out a patent on it and make a scandalous amount of dollars, and we can
+all become human submarines. How long was I down?"</p>
+
+<p>"About five minutes, Daddy Wright," said the girl, who had taken a
+strong liking to the plucky old geologist and his bluff ways.</p>
+
+<p>"Five minutes!" Wright's tones were awestruck. "And I took every breath
+regularly and naturally, except when I had to sneeze! And it was real
+oxygen I got, too. Not a drop of water came through this thing, and it
+was very good breathing. Well, I've made two discoveries."</p>
+
+<p>"And those are?" Polaris questioned.</p>
+
+<p>"That our friend yonder with the red topknot can live under the water
+like a fish, <i>and that he wears armor of gold which makes a light in
+the dark</i>. Look here."</p>
+
+<p>Wright took up the open helmet. Stepping to the switch, he shut off the
+lights in the laboratory.</p>
+
+<p>Faintly at first, and then strongly and more strongly, the helmet
+glowed in the darkness. The light grew, until the two men and the girl,
+standing close together, could dimly see each other's faces.</p>
+
+<p>It was uncanny, this strange metal headpiece with its fan-shaped crest,
+all luminous with a flickering and phosphorescent radiance.</p>
+
+<p>"What does it?" Rose Emer whispered, the tempest for the time forgotten.</p>
+
+<p>Zenas Wright turned on the lights.</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot tell," he replied. "But if it's not radium, it is something
+that is closely akin to radium. The outer surface of the helmet is of
+gold. I've tested it with acids. The gold is laid&mdash;not plated, but laid
+on thickly&mdash;over an inner shell of steel. And finely tempered steel it
+is, too, as my drill will bear me witness. But the light comes from
+still another metal, which is inlaid upon the tracery in the gold here."</p>
+
+<p>He turned the helmet in his hands. Over all of its surfaces were the
+fine lines of a design of twining vinery, with here and there small,
+conventionally shaped flowers. In the lines of the chasing was inlaid,
+as Wright had said, another metal. It seemed to be a reddish and rusty
+dust, which clung in the surface of the gold along all of the lines of
+the graven design. It was that which made the light.</p>
+
+<p>"That chap over there is no actor, and he's not a crazy man," said the
+geologist earnestly; "but an enigma that I'm going to solve, if the
+good Lord will give me the time. We had on this ship before he came two
+survivors of a history to make an archeologist weep tears of joy. Now
+we have a third, and, to my mind, more wonderful even than are they!</p>
+
+<p>"Boy&mdash;" He turned and clapped Polaris on the shoulder. "I only hope
+that I shall live long enough to pen the 'finis' to the book that I'm
+going to write some day!"</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>For seven days, fraught with perils through every passing hour, the
+hurricane belabored the staggering ship. South by southeast, the storm
+drove her on. The whip of the gale and the shock of the mighty waves
+which arose to meet its lash were incessant.</p>
+
+<p>Past the Falklands, their rocky headlands dimly seen through the flying
+scud; past the Aurora Island group, and on past lonely Georgia, the
+hard-pressed <i>Minnetonka</i> fled down the raging sea path under the goads
+of the storm demons. Nowhere might she tarry. Candlemas Island and
+Saunders and Montague in turn were left behind, and then Thule, last
+link between the South Atlantic and the frigid wastes of the Antarctic
+Sea.</p>
+
+<p>Off the adamant cliffs of far Thule the cruiser nearly left her bones.
+She struck a hidden rock, struck so fiercely that the massive steel ram
+was torn from her prow, and with it the triple rails, with which she
+had been equipped to withstand the ice-shocks, in her antarctic voyage,
+were stripped from her entire starboard side.</p>
+
+<p>When Thule had disappeared in the murk, the swing of the tempest
+turned, and the cruiser was forced eastward in a whirling race of
+current and gale. Like a smitten thing that seeks a lonesome spot in
+which to die, the ship passed on into the mysteries of the uncharted,
+treacherous seas which lie east by south from Thule.</p>
+
+<p>Helpless still the cruiser rode. Unable to make repairs to her
+shafting, Lieutenant Everson did the only thing that he could do; he
+kept her head-on with the seas and let her run before the tempest.</p>
+
+<p>Through all those days and nights of peril the stranger lay in his
+cabin. His consciousness had returned, and at times he sat up and gazed
+curiously at those who visited him; but he seemed to be in a mental
+haze. He ate heartily of what was given to him, and his strength grew.
+He spoke to no one.</p>
+
+<p>Among the men on the <i>Minnetonka</i> were those who, one or another, were
+conversant in nearly all of the languages of the civilized world. One
+by one they were called in by Zenas Wright to try their tongues on the
+stranger. He met them all with blank looks, sometimes with smiles; but
+he answered none. He seemed to comprehend none.</p>
+
+<p>Polaris visited the cabin often. His liking for the man grew. He
+imagined that the stranger was more cordial to him than to any of
+those who attended him. Once or twice the son of the snows surprised a
+wistful regard in the bright blue eyes of the man, an expression that
+was lost almost as soon as perceived. And once the stranger reached
+Janess's hand and held it with his own for a moment, turning it and
+feeling of its wonderful thews with his fingers. It was then that he
+seemed the nearest to speech. Presently he let the hand fall with a
+smile and a flash of white teeth.</p>
+
+<p>It was after that last disaster, off the hard coasts of Thule, that
+Engineer Ian MacKechnie went quite daft.</p>
+
+<p>What had come upon the ship had seemed to numb the Scotchman. By day
+and by night he sat in his silent engine room beside the lifeless
+boilers, his cold pipe clenched between his set teeth, his lips
+working. Occasionally he stumped heavily up the steel stairways to the
+decks. His stays above were brief always, and always he returned to the
+engine room. When he slept at all, it was only to nod in his chair.
+Before his bloodshot eyes strange fantasies played themselves through,
+and were sequeled in his fitful dreams. Always, they had the same
+grisly climax.</p>
+
+<p>In one of the night watches the old man appeared on the cruiser's
+bridge. Everson, almost as sleepless as the engineer, was in the
+pilothouse. The fury of the gale had subsided somewhat; but it still
+roared on with a vigor that chilled the strong heart of the commander.
+He saw the engineer as he came onto the bridge, and went out to speak
+to him.</p>
+
+<p>"Meester Everson," MacKechnie said, raising his voice to a shout to
+cope with the shrieking clamor of the storm, "Meester Everson, wull ye
+do a strange act and save the bonnie ship and a'?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, what is it, Mac? What do you advise now?" the lieutenant asked.</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis you mon that the laddie plucked from the sea," replied
+MacKechnie. "Wull ye no gi' orders to cast him o'er the side again, and
+save the ship?"</p>
+
+<p>Everson answered with a short laugh. "This is a poor time for joking,
+Mac," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"'Tisna' jokin' wi' me, Meester Everson," MacKechnie said. His tones
+were deadly earnest. "Yon's no' a proper mon, whatever. He's one that
+has sorely angered the big sea, and the deep rages mightily for him. If
+ye dinna gi' him up, we'll all be ganging our way wi' him, down to auld
+Davy Jones." His voice rose shrilly. "I'm fey," he cried. "I'm fey, and
+I hae the secon' seeght! Heed me, mon!"</p>
+
+<p>Everson shifted his position so that he got the light from the
+pilothouse full on MacKechnie's face. It was drawn and wild-eyed.</p>
+
+<p>"You're a superstitious fool, Mac," the lieutenant said. "You had
+better go below and turn in. You look as though you had not had a wink
+in a week."</p>
+
+<p>"Supersteetious! Aye, mon, maybe, and a fu' to bootie," rejoined the
+Scot. "And I've been havin' no sleep, I grant ye. Ma certes, how can a
+mon sleep wi' <i>him</i> glarin' and glommerin' yonder i' the engine room?
+Heave him o'er the side, I'm tullin' ye, Meester Everson, as was done
+wi' the prophet Jonah. 'Tis the only way whatever to save the ship.</p>
+
+<p>"Supersteetious! An' are ye no supersteetious yer ain sel', Meester
+Everson? Haven't I seen that ye always throw the deuces fra' yer hand
+when ye play for siller at poker? I tull ye, yon's a deuce-mon. He
+mustna' remain. Think it o'er, laddie; think it o'er. When ye hae seen
+what I hae seen&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>He turned away, and the rest of his words were lost in the skirl of the
+wind. Suddenly he backed up, clutching at the bridge rail and colliding
+violently with Everson.</p>
+
+<p>"See! See!" he screamed. "He's comin' for me the noo! I lockit him fast
+i' the great kist i' the boiler room; but such as him are na' held by
+bolts or bars. He's comin' for me!"</p>
+
+<p>Moaning in abject terror, MacKechnie went down on his knees. He pointed
+at the decks below with a trembling arm.</p>
+
+<p>Everson looked in the direction indicated by the shaking finger of the
+Scot.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>A light hung at the foot of the bridge ladder. In the patch of radiance
+it made, stood the stranger. He was dressed from head to foot in his
+golden armor. His helm was on his head, and the whole flashed and
+shimmered in the rays from the lamp.</p>
+
+<p>As Everson stared at him, the man turned away from the foot of the
+ladder and walked to the rail of the ship. There he stood gazing out
+into the darkness and the storm.</p>
+
+<p>Unnerved by the sudden appearance of the object of their discussion,
+Everson hesitated for a moment. Then he started for the ladder to
+descend to the deck. MacKechnie, his teeth chattering with fright, laid
+hold of the lieutenant by the leg, but Everson shook off his grasp and
+went on. As the commander set foot on the ladder, the stranger quit the
+rail and came back toward the bridge.</p>
+
+<p>Everson, half-way down the ladder, called sharply as the man came
+opposite him. But the stranger did not pause or look up. He passed
+the bridge with steady steps and crossed the deck toward the main
+companionway. The lieutenant was about to proceed to the deck and
+follow, when a wild and wailing cry behind him, piercing above the
+booming of the seas, halted his step. He turned.</p>
+
+<p>It was MacKechnie who had screamed. He was on his feet and coming along
+the bridge. In the set face of the Scot was a look of such frozen
+horror that it shook the lieutenant. With eyes glaring straight ahead,
+the engineer passed Everson by as though he did not see him, descended
+the ladder to the deck, and walked to the rail. He paused where the
+stranger had stood only a moment before. He raised his hand as if to
+strike at some shape visible to him alone. Again he cried out wildly.</p>
+
+<p>Before Everson could move to stay him, the Scot climbed the rail and
+threw himself into the sea.</p>
+
+<p>Shouting to the men of the watch to fetch lanterns, Everson ran aft
+along the side. It was useless. The crazed MacKechnie, whirled away in
+a raging swirl of waters in which no man could live, was gone beyond
+their ken. No cry came back to his fellows from the blackness. Only the
+wind roared and the tortured waters thundered. In the plight of the
+ship it was impossible even to attempt to pick up the lost man.</p>
+
+<p>Far aft Everson clung to the rail, dazed, stunned at the suddenness of
+his old comrade's taking off. Knowing that he could do nothing to save
+the mad Scotchman, the lieutenant at length turned back and went below,
+to the cabin of the stranger. He threw open the door. The cabin was
+dark, except where the curious armor shed its glow along the floor. For
+that phenomenon Everson was prepared. Zenas Wright had told him of the
+luminous metal. What did surprise the lieutenant was that the armor lay
+on the floor. And so recently he had seen it on the cruiser's deck, and
+its owner inside of it. To that he could swear. He turned on a light.</p>
+
+<p>The stranger lay quietly in his bunk, apparently in slumber, his broad
+chest rising and falling regularly. Not the flicker of an eyelid
+betrayed that he was conscious of the keen scrutiny which the commander
+bent upon him. Almost then did Everson give way to the superstitious
+imaginings of MacKechnie. Then his searching eyes saw the gleam of
+drops of sea water which beaded the golden corselet and helm. He drew
+a long breath of relief; for he knew that he had not dreamed. Pursuing
+his investigations no further, the lieutenant returned to his vigil on
+the bridge.</p>
+
+<p>Next day, to the gratification of Dr. Marsey and to the general
+surprise of the others on the ship, the stranger left his cabin.
+Clothing had been provided for him, but he would have none of it and
+appeared on the deck clad in his armor. He proved to be an exceedingly
+curious man, the stranger. He went everywhere about the ship,
+apparently in fear of nothing, although the gale still ran high. He
+watched all of the operations of seamanship with the closest interest,
+but was careful to get in the way of no one.</p>
+
+<p>His ruddy face and flaming hair, with the outer trappings which he
+wore, made the man the object of much comment on the part of the
+sailors of the <i>Minnetonka</i>; comment which was not untinged with
+awe. All of that he heeded not at all. In the full possession of his
+faculties, he still was speechless. What communication anyone on the
+ship had with him was by means of signs, and that necessarily was
+limited. He took his meals with those who shared the officers' mess.
+Although it evidently was unfamiliar to him, he was quick to observe
+and to imitate the table etiquette of his companions.</p>
+
+<p>Only Everson was not surprised at his appearance. The lieutenant kept
+his counsel and waited.</p>
+
+<p>Word of the mad act of MacKechnie went abroad through the ship, spread
+by the men of the watch. Among the sailors, superstitious after the
+manner of their kind, grew a hostility to the strange man, an enmity
+that became more and more pronounced as the hours brought to the
+cruiser no relief from the battering of the elements. So strong did the
+feeling grow that Lieutenant Everson feared for the safety of the man,
+and told Polaris of it. Thereafter the son of the snows constituted
+himself a bodyguard for the stranger in his wanderings about the ship,
+and remained with him as much as possible. Zenas Wright, too, watched
+over his prize with the jealous zeal of a proper scientist.</p>
+
+<p>Not for worlds would the explorer allow this living conundrum to come
+to harm until he had solved him. The old man continually plied the
+stranger with English words, pointing out to him their equivalents and
+seeking to encourage speech. For, unless the man might be taught to
+talk, Zenas felt that his chances of learning more of him were slim
+indeed.</p>
+
+<p>To all of those advances the man answered with smiles only. He was very
+courteous, extremely good-natured, but beyond the ring of silence which
+he had drawn about himself, he would not or could not go.</p>
+
+<p>Everson was little surprised, although he was mightily angered, when,
+on the third day following the death of MacKechnie, he was waited upon
+by a delegation of his sailors with a demand that the stranger be sent
+from the ship. They did not ask his death&mdash;merely that he be set adrift
+in one of the cruiser's small boats. A sea was running in which such a
+craft could not survive for two minutes.</p>
+
+<p>Shamefacedly, but sullenly, the men listened to the stern rebuke of
+their commander. When they had left him reluctantly&mdash;and their ears
+must have tingled to his opinions of their superstitions&mdash;Everson
+redoubled his precautions for the safety of the stranger. The
+lieutenant was morally certain that at the first opportunity that
+should offer, an "accident" would befall the man from the sea.</p>
+
+<p>Abruptly as it had struck, the storm of wind subsided. It was succeeded
+by a torrential downpour of rain. The cruiser was left tossing on a
+choppy sea. Dead ahead to the south was land&mdash;what land, no one on
+the ship could say. A scant five miles away it loomed up before them
+through the mists and the driving rain, a long and towering coastline,
+the peaks of its frowning cliffs almost touching the low-rolling clouds.</p>
+
+<p>In this, the first respite from many hours of perils, Lieutenant
+Everson at once set about the task of repairing his crippled ship.</p>
+
+<p>Then the crown was placed upon the work of calamity.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Lashed no longer by the flail of the tempest, the <i>Minnetonka</i> was laid
+to. Hope returned to those who rode upon her. Those who gathered on her
+decks were almost gay again.</p>
+
+<p>For the first time in many days the two Sardanians came up from their
+cabin. The Lady Memene had proved a poor sailor, and in her deathly
+illness that came of the buffeting of the ship, Minos never had left
+her side, but had nursed her with all the tenderness of a woman. The
+king remembered well a time, not long before, when he had lain near
+death, and her soft hands had soothed him, and her care had kept the
+spark of life within him.</p>
+
+<p>It was nearly noon. Chatting of their experiences in the storm, and
+laughing at their appearance in the oilskins which they wore against
+the rain, a little group gathered on the forward deck of the cruiser.
+Almost it seemed that the hand of fate collected and placed them there.
+Polaris Janess and Rose Emer, the Sardanians, old Zenas Wright, and
+Ensign Willis Brooks, a happy-go-lucky youth of large dimensions and an
+inexhaustible supply of good spirits, who was the second in command on
+the <i>Minnetonka</i>, made up the party.</p>
+
+<p>Presently Lieutenant Everson, his repair work well under way, came
+up from below and joined the others. Dr. Marsey might have been with
+them also, but the kindly physician delayed below to attend one of
+the engineers who lay ill of a fever. Before he had finished his
+ministrations, the stroke fell which was so strangely to alter the life
+course of every one of that party, and the good doctor was too late to
+be numbered among them.</p>
+
+<p>Almost on the heels of Everson the red-haired stranger ascended the
+companionway. With his armor on as usual, but dangling his helmet and
+his mask from his hand, he clanked across the deck, all unheedful of
+the anathemas that the sailors mouthed as he stalked past them.</p>
+
+<p>From the port in his cabin he, too, had seen the new land that lay
+ahead. He strode by the group on the forward deck, but his eyes were
+not for them. Ever watchful, Zenas Wright noted that the mien of the
+stranger was curiously excited. His blue eyes gleamed. His lips were
+parted. Something seemed deeply to concern him. He stood at the rail
+and studied the looming coastline long and searchingly. In his face was
+the rapt expression of the man who greets again a well-loved friend
+after an absence of many days. From the shore he turned his eyes to the
+sea and scrutinized it keenly.</p>
+
+<p>Zenas Wright, watching, started. What was the man about? Was he
+signaling? And whom? The explorer took a hasty step toward the rail to
+investigate.</p>
+
+<p>Beneath his feet he felt the deck of the cruiser heave like the breast
+of an unquiet sleeper. A terrific roar burst from the bowels of the
+ship, and she quivered in every plate of steel and oaken beam.</p>
+
+<p>"The magazine!" cried Everson. The commander dashed for the
+companionway, but he never reached it.</p>
+
+<p>Amidships the decks heaved up and opened in a yawning wound that rent
+the cruiser almost from rail to rail. Through the gap shot skyward an
+immense column of smoke, laced with spurts of flame, and spread fanwise
+many feet in the air. With it there ascended a mass of débris torn from
+the vitals of the ship. For yards around the waves splashed to the fall
+of the splintered wreckage. The swaying decks were littered with it.
+And some of the fragments were of steel and iron that clanged as they
+fell, and others were horrible shreds of men, and made no clangor.</p>
+
+<p>Paralyzed in his tracks, his eyes distended, his very flesh stirring
+from his bones at the horror of it, Everson faced the wraith of ruin
+that arose in his path. A new manifestation tore speech from his lips.</p>
+
+<p>"Look!" he shouted aloud in a strained and unnatural voice. "My God,
+look! <i>The color!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>In the heart and center of the standing column of smoke, seen faintly
+at first and then in blazing brilliance, towered a mighty pillar of
+light. But it was not like any light that any of those who gazed
+upon it had ever known. For it was neither of red nor white, nor yet
+of violet, yellow, or green, or any other color or hue of the solar
+spectrum. Radiant, scintillant, indescribably beautiful, it thrust up
+through the murk of disaster steadily and cruelly as the flaming sword
+of an unkind fate. It was this that had pierced the ship and exploded
+the magazine.</p>
+
+<p>Zenas Wright, who had looked unshaken on many strange things, looked
+upon this and cried out, even as had Everson:</p>
+
+<p>"The color! A new color! Impossible; yet it <i>is</i>!"</p>
+
+<p>With chaos and death linked together and roaring in front of him, the
+old man, true scientist to the last, bent his eyes on the flaming
+pillar in a challenging and analytical stare. If this was to be his
+final vision, why, he would learn what he might from it before he went
+into the shadow where all learning is valueless.</p>
+
+<p>Like painted puppets carved from wood, the men and women on the deck
+stood and gazed at the appalling ruin of that fell disaster. It was
+only a moment in the happening, but a moment that bore the burden of
+many moments in its intensity.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>The pillar of light moved, and those that watched saw that everything
+that it touched it destroyed. It swayed toward them, and the deck
+crumpled away before its advance. It swung back. In its path was one of
+the massive steel turrets of the cruiser. The light played against it.
+The turret tottered; the steel of it seemed to melt and disintegrate.
+The entire structure crumbled and crashed down, disappearing through
+the gash in the decking. With the fall of the turret the light vanished
+also.</p>
+
+<p>From the companionway came the horrid remnant of a man who crossed the
+deck to Everson. One of his arms had been torn away between the wrist
+and elbow. His features were blackened and marred beyond recognition.
+An eye was gone. His clothing hung about him in tatters, and the
+tatters were burning. He halted in front of the lieutenant and raised
+the maimed arm, from which the blood was spurting, in the semblance of
+a salute.</p>
+
+<p>"The ship&mdash;sinks. The&mdash;sea&mdash;on fire."</p>
+
+<p>He croaked the words brokenly, and fell, and died at the feet of his
+commander.</p>
+
+<p>Up through the gap in her bottom surged the sea water, and the ship
+began to settle. The <i>Minnetonka</i> was sinking.</p>
+
+<p>Everson pulled himself out of the daze which in that moment of dread
+had benumbed his faculties. A glance he gave to the settling decks and
+the useless boats. He had neither men nor the time to unship them.</p>
+
+<p>He turned to his companions.</p>
+
+<p>"Those who have prayers to say had best say them; for this is the end
+of our traveling," he said simply. Suiting his action to the words, he
+knelt on the deck.</p>
+
+<p>At the side of Polaris Janess appeared the red-haired stranger. As he
+had once before, he now caught up the hand of the son of the snows.
+Holding it, he looked into Polaris's face and smiled, a fearless and
+whimsical smile.</p>
+
+<p>"A strong hand, my brother, strong to hold a kingdom. This is not your
+death that is coming. I will save you and these with you. I promise,"
+he said&mdash;and the marvel to Polaris and to the others was that the man
+who before had been speechless now spoke readily and in excellent
+English.</p>
+
+<p>Not waiting for the answer, which, in his surprise, Polaris was slow to
+give, the stranger left his side and ran across the deck. He strapped
+his odd mask over his face, clapped his helmet on his head and fastened
+it. He caught up from the deck a length of steel chain. With a run and
+a leap, he was gone&mdash;over the fast settling rail and into the sea.</p>
+
+<p>Scarcely had the golden helmet disappeared over the side when the waves
+crossed the decks to meet the water that was spouting from the interior
+of the cruiser.</p>
+
+<p>"A madman!" Polaris muttered. He turned and gathered Rose Emer in his
+arms. She clung to him, sobbing softly.</p>
+
+<p>"Be brave, dear heart," he whispered. "It isn't hard to die, and
+wherever we are going, we shall go together."</p>
+
+<p>Around them rose the waves.</p>
+
+<p>Held fast in the swirl of the sinking ship, every soul on the
+<i>Minnetonka</i> went down with her. From Everson, kneeling on his deck, to
+the lowliest coal-passer in the depths of the cruiser, there was no man
+but bowed his face to the waters.</p>
+
+<p>Clasping his sweetheart with one arm, Polaris struck out fiercely. For
+a moment he cherished the hope that he might keep to the surface and
+reach the land beyond. But the suction of the sinking ship was too
+strong for even his giant strength. He saw the others, his friends
+struggling about him. The water came between his dear lady's face
+and his. He strove to reach her lips with his own. His lungs seemed
+bursting. His senses swayed.</p>
+
+<p>Through the green waters he saw a great golden shape like a globe
+approaching him. Another fantasy. Strong hands gripped him. They, too,
+must be dreams.</p>
+
+<p>The blackness became absolute.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2>CHAPTER II</h2>
+
+<h3>THE LONG BLACK ROAD TO ADLAZ</h3>
+
+
+<p>In illimitable darkness a spark glowed and lived, and the soul of
+Polaris Janess awoke and once more knew it was a soul. The silence
+of oblivion was broken by a roaring as of a thousand mighty rivers
+torrenting on their courses far underground. One by one the man endured
+the tortures that those must endure who come back from the claim
+of the sea. Slowly and with exquisite agony came the consciousness
+that his body still lived&mdash;an agony so keen that he fain would have
+wrenched himself free of the flesh and departed it. Fire, liquid and
+intolerable, raced through his every vein and artery. His head, no
+longer tenanted by a brain, it seemed, was a vast and empty cavern,
+through which wild winds moaned.</p>
+
+<p>An age it was in seeming that the soul fought its way through travail,
+back to command of the faculties it had quitted, until it had regained
+the mastery of its two provinces, the brain and the body. The fiery
+rivers were quenched. The winds ceased their roaring. With a groan and
+a shudder the son of the snows once more took up the burden of living.
+Weak and dizzy and deathly sick, he opened his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>He lay on a soft bed of furs in a small and swaying room. Almost at
+his elbow he heard the splash of waves against metal walls. Above him,
+an expression of sympathy and concern on his ruddy face, bent the
+red-haired stranger.</p>
+
+<p>When he saw the eyes of Polaris quiver open, the man smiled, a rare and
+winning smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, by the four rivers," he said, "I am glad to see you return to the
+living. So long did you tarry in the beyond that I thought that I had
+lost you."</p>
+
+<p>For a moment Polaris gazed into that rubicund countenance in
+bewilderment, but for a moment only. With the floods of life came
+memory. He tried to spring to his feet, but the struggle in the water
+and the nausea of his returning vitality had sapped the strength from
+him. He fell weakly back. The look he bent upon the stranger was
+poignant with its question.</p>
+
+<p>"Rose&mdash;the Rose-maid? Where is she?" he gasped, wresting the words out
+painfully.</p>
+
+<p>With a graceful gesture, the stranger drew to one side and pointed
+across the room.</p>
+
+<p>"Your lady? She is there," he said.</p>
+
+<p>On the other side of the room, only a few feet away, was another couch,
+similar to the one on which Polaris had found himself. Rose Emer lay
+upon it. The oilskins she had worn were in a crumpled heap upon the
+floor. Her gown, sodden with sea water, clung to her limbs. A careful
+hand had partly covered her with the folds of a robe of soft, dark
+furs. The coils of her long, chestnut hair, disheveled and damp, had
+fallen about her face and neck. Her long lashes lay upon her cheeks.
+Her lips were slightly parted. One arm hung down from the edge of the
+couch, its hand relaxed and open, the fingers limp.</p>
+
+<p>Long and earnestly Polaris looked at her. He could see only her
+profile. Her face was very white and still, outlined there against
+the furs. The light went out of his tawny eyes, and he set his teeth
+and turned his face to the wall. The sob that arose in his throat
+was wrung from the depths of a spirit sorely stricken. Now death were
+welcome indeed.</p>
+
+<p>"Grieve not so," the stranger said hastily. "She is not dead, and I
+am a fool to bring such fright upon you. She did but swoon when you
+yourself were overlong in returning to the realm of the living. Here."</p>
+
+<p>He passed an arm under the shoulders of Polaris, and assisted him to
+rise and cross to the other couch.</p>
+
+<p>Swaying like a drunken man, the son of the snows bent and touched the
+wrist of the girl with his fingers. When he felt the tides of the
+life-blood leaping through the warm flesh, a joy welled up within him
+that was akin to pain in its throbbing. Come what might, his lady
+lived, and once again there was light in his world. He laid his cheek
+against hers and he was near to tears in his weakness.</p>
+
+<p>Presently he raised his head, and for the first time gave a thought to
+his surroundings. The room he was in was shaped like the quarter of a
+circle. The couch on which he had lain was along the curved side of the
+room, and there the wall was of steel or iron, against which he could
+hear the lapping of waters. At each end, where the cabin narrowed to
+the points of its arc, were cabinets carved of polished woods. At the
+side where the girl lay the wall was of wood, also, and was pierced by
+a small door. A number of garments hung from pegs in the paneling. Near
+to the door, in a golden sheath, swung a heavy, short-bladed sword.</p>
+
+<p>Overhead was a crisscross of slender wooden beams, and in the midst of
+them was set a translucent globe of porcelain or clouded glass, through
+which a strong light was shed, light that was almost as clear in its
+quality as that of day.</p>
+
+<p>At the sight of those crossed beams, Polaris's memory stirred quickly.
+Where had he seen such before? Ah, he had it! It was just such a
+lattice-work that had made a raft for the stranger when he had found
+him floating in the sea. What was the meaning of it?</p>
+
+<p>The screaming fury of the tempest, with its menace to all that he held
+dearest; the terrible moments when the <i>Minnetonka</i> went roaring down
+to ruin; the struggle in the sea; the agony of resuscitation; the grim
+fear that had choked him when he saw his dear lady lying there so pale
+and still&mdash;all those transitions had shaken even the strong will and
+cool brain of the son of the snows. He shook his head impatiently, as
+though the fog through which his mind groped were a physical fact, to
+be dismissed so.</p>
+
+<p>Here at his side was the living answer to the questions that now
+trooped thick and fast&mdash;the man who had promised him life on the
+sinking deck of the cruiser and who had made that promise good.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are we, and who and what are you?" Polaris asked him.</p>
+
+<p>The answer was as ready as it was surprising.</p>
+
+<p>"We are under the sea in the captain's cabin of a fademe in the navy
+of the great king, Bel-Ar. And I"&mdash;he bowed slightly and smiled&mdash;"I am
+the Captain Oleric the Red, also of the navy of the great king, but at
+present without a fademe to command."</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>So unusually circumstanced from his very birth had been the life of
+Polaris Janess that he long before had accepted and made his own the
+philosophy which the Prince of Denmark taught to Horatio. Things that
+the ordinary man would scoff at and reject as preposterous had been
+the incidents of his everyday existence. So now the extraordinary
+declaration of him who named himself Oleric the Red did not move him to
+any great show of surprise.</p>
+
+<p>Instead, there came to him the sorrowful vision of the good gray
+cruiser, sundered and wrecked and going down to the ocean's bed,
+bearing with her many a man whom he had been glad to call his
+friend&mdash;men who twice had risked their lives in the antarctic perils
+that others might live. With that picture in his mind came a thought
+that drove all the mists from his brain and made it burn with a sense
+of outrage and anger.</p>
+
+<p>He snapped himself erect, and with hands clenched and blazing eyes
+looked down on Oleric.</p>
+
+<p>"The breaking of the good ship yonder came not from within, but from
+without," he said sternly. "That great ray of strange light that
+cut her like a knife was some devil's device of these that you call
+fademes. Is it not true?"</p>
+
+<p>Over the face of Oleric passed a shadow that made it sad. But his eyes
+were steadfast and unflinching.</p>
+
+<p>"It is true," he answered. "I would have prevented it if I could have.
+Your ship has gone the way of all others which have come to the coasts
+of Maeronica."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it, then, the custom of your 'great king' so to greet strangers who
+come to his shores?" asked Polaris.</p>
+
+<p>"Such have been the orders of the king of Maeronica," replied Oleric.
+"Many a long century has rolled into the past since any ship, save the
+fademes, cast anchor in the harbor of the city of Adlaz. It is the law.
+It is so writ upon the sacred column. But it is a bad law."</p>
+
+<p>"An hour ago we had not guessed of the existence even of this land of
+Maeronica of yours, with its city of Adlaz and its rule of death in
+the sea," said Polaris. "All that we asked was to go our ways in peace
+and a safe journey to America. Now, because of the evil law of an evil
+land, a great ship's company is food for the fishes. You say well that
+it is a bad law.</p>
+
+<p>"And, hark you, Oleric the Red, I count the reckoning between this King
+Bel-Ar of yours and me as both long and heavy. I do not know how it
+will fall about, or when; but my heart tells me that some time I shall
+make settlement of that score."</p>
+
+<p>Rose Emer stirred and moaned, and Polaris turned to her. He knelt again
+at the side of her couch and chafed her hands.</p>
+
+<p>Running his fingers through his red hair, Oleric looked down at
+Polaris. A strange light shone in the blue eyes of the captain, and
+over his face spread a crafty and satisfied smile. He nodded his head
+as though a thought had come to him that pleased him much.</p>
+
+<p>"Yourself and the lady here are not the only ones saved from the ship,"
+he said at length.</p>
+
+<p>"What? There are others that live?" Polaris asked quickly. "Who, and
+where are they?"</p>
+
+<p>"In the opposite cabin of the fademe is the old man Zenas," Oleric
+replied, "and with him is the large and fat young man who made all
+of the jokes at the table on the ship. And in another fademe is the
+captain&mdash;Everson&mdash;and the two you saved from Sardanes, the giant Minos
+and the dark and splendid lady, Memene."</p>
+
+<p>"What know you of Sardanes?" Polaris asked. "And how comes it that you
+speak our English speech, now that your tongue is loosened?"</p>
+
+<p>Oleric smiled. "Though my tongue was idle on your ship yonder, my
+ears were not," he said, "nor were my eyes, and they gathered me much
+information. I know that you, whom they call the son of the snows, have
+lived a strange life and looked upon many wonders. But they are as
+nothing to the wonders which you are to see presently&mdash;and I, Oleric
+the Red, shall show them to you." He laughed soundlessly.</p>
+
+<p>"But the language&mdash;where learned you the English tongue?" Polaris asked
+again. "Surely it is not spoken in this Maeronica, this land whereof no
+man has ever heard."</p>
+
+<p>"Many years ago I learned it&mdash;from the lips of a slave. He, too, had
+been taken from the deck of a ship which was sunk by the fademes," was
+the answer of Oleric. He regarded Polaris keenly. Nor was that reply
+without its effect.</p>
+
+<p>"Slaves!" Polaris cried. "Is this another of the laws of this land of
+yours&mdash;to make slaves of strangers?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is the law of the great king," Oleric said. "Few such have been
+taken alive, but they have lived as slaves or died on the sands of the
+arena to make sport for the people at the great games which are a part
+of the Feast of Years."</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>For a moment, even Rose Emer was forgotten. Polaris looked up at the
+Maeronican captain with a blaze in his eyes that boded little of
+submission to the laws of Bel-Ar, the king.</p>
+
+<p>When he spoke, it was very quietly. "Law or no law, backs shall break
+and spirits set out on their journeys before I shall become slave to
+any man."</p>
+
+<p>"But the maid here," interposed Oleric&mdash;"would you bring doom upon her
+as well as upon yourself? Be not so rash, my brother. 'All things come
+to him that waits,' was a saying of that slave from whom I learned your
+tongue&mdash;O'Connell, he did call his name. I know not if his saying be
+true. I know he waited many long years, and death came to him."</p>
+
+<p>Polaris shook his head slowly.</p>
+
+<p>"There is little cheer in these words of yours, Oleric the Red," he
+said. "And I do not know why you should call me brother, for whom you
+foretell a life of slavery. But these things are bridges to be crossed
+when met." He turned back to Rose Emer. "Have you such a thing as wine
+on this ship?" he asked. "This swoon is long in passing."</p>
+
+<p>Again the red captain regarded the broad back with satisfaction and
+smiled his craftful smile.</p>
+
+<p>He stepped to the end of the cabin, and from the cabinet there fetched
+a tall glass flagon, bound with golden filagree-work, and a slender,
+twisted goblet. The liquor which he poured from the flagon was
+cherry-red, and sent forth a pleasing aroma.</p>
+
+<p>"Here is of the best in Maeronica," he said. "Trust a captain of the
+fademes to know it."</p>
+
+<p>Lifting Rose's head on his arm, Polaris held the goblet to her lips
+and let the red wine trickle down. As he did so, the door of the cabin
+was opened from without. A man thrust his head through and shouted to
+Oleric in a strange though not unmusical tongue. The captain answered
+him a word or two, and the door was closed again. Polaris saw that the
+man wore armor of a pattern similar to that of Oleric, and that, like
+the captain's, his face was ruddy. But his hair was black, and he wore
+a short, curling beard. While the door was opened, the purr of smoothly
+running machinery could be heard, and with it a steady hissing,
+bubbling noise, like that of escaping steam.</p>
+
+<p>Rose sat up suddenly and glanced around her with frightened eyes. She
+threw her arms around Polaris's neck and clung to him.</p>
+
+<p>"You lay so still," she sobbed, "I thought that you were dead. But you
+are alive&mdash;alive!"</p>
+
+<p>Oleric bent forward and spoke hurriedly.</p>
+
+<p>"We are nearing the harbor of the city of Adlaz," he said. "I do not
+know when I shall have opportunity to talk with you again. But if it be
+not soon, wait; and accept with patience, even though it shall try you
+sorely, all that shall happen.</p>
+
+<p>"Just now you asked me why I called you 'brother.' You saved me from
+the sea. On the ship yonder you and the old man Zenas, and another whom
+I grieve that I could not save, tended me when you thought that I was
+near to death. And after, when your sailors murmured, and they would
+have cast me into the sea, you guarded me from harm. All those things I
+know and shall not forget. That is why I call you brother. And back of
+all of those things there is still another reason, of which I hope to
+tell you soon. I learned from the slave O'Connell that the shake of the
+hands between men is a bond of friendship. Will you shake my hand, my
+brother?"</p>
+
+<p>Polaris took the proffered hand in a grip that made its owner wince.
+"It seems that despite the laws of Bel-Ar, the king, I have found a
+friend," he said. "I shall try to be patient, Oleric."</p>
+
+<p>"Hold your hand from anger," enjoined the red captain earnestly, "even
+though you be put to serve as a slave in the mines of Bel-Ar. And
+instruct your companions that they do likewise. Great days are coming
+upon Maeronica, and I promise you faithfully that you shall play a
+great part in them&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>He broke his speech suddenly.</p>
+
+<p>Again the door swung open. Somewhere in the depths of the fademe a bell
+rang clearly. The noise of the mechanism ceased. The black-bearded man
+who had thrust his head into the cabin before, stood in the doorway and
+beckoned to Oleric.</p>
+
+<p>"Remember," warned the captain as he passed Polaris. "Patience and that
+strong heart of yours shall carry you far before your sun goes down."</p>
+
+<p>He went out and the door closed after him.</p>
+
+<p>"What does he mean, with his talk of slaves and the mines and all those
+strange names?" Rose Emer asked wonderingly. "Where are we?"</p>
+
+<p>Polaris told her all that he had learned from the captain. She heard
+him with wide eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>You</i>&mdash;a slave!" she cried. "Ah, no, not that? Is it to be like this
+all our lives&mdash;to see happiness just ahead of us, but never reach it?
+Fate cannot be so cruel. Think what you have endured. And now to be a
+slave here in this terrible foreign land!"</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps Fate was listening then&mdash;Fate, who can be both cruel and kind,
+sordid and splendid, according to her whim. She had played many strange
+tricks on this man. But she now decreed that he should never serve the
+king Bel-Ar as a slave.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Soon after the departure of Oleric, the door of the cabin was opened
+again, and an armored man entered. It was he of the black beard, whom
+Polaris rightly guessed to be the captain of the fademe. With him came
+three other men, unarmored, who evidently were members of the crew of
+the craft.</p>
+
+<p>Sturdy, black-haired fellows these were, dressed alike in loose,
+neckless blue tunics of some woven material, with elbow-sleeves,
+and belted in at the waist. Beneath the tunics they wore long,
+close-fitting nether garments like the hose of the Middle Ages, only
+these were both hose and trousers, too. On their feet were shoes of
+soft leather, the tops of which came nearly to their knees, and which
+were laced with gay-colored cords. Their heads were covered with flat
+caps of cloth which resembled somewhat the tam-o'-shanters of the
+Scots. Those, too, were dyed in bright colors.</p>
+
+<p>With a motion of his arm the captain indicated to Rose and Polaris that
+they were to leave the cabin. The girl still was weak from her swoon,
+and tottered when she stood, and her garments were wet and bedraggled.
+Polaris wrapped her in the robe of furs with which Oleric had covered
+her, and lifted her in his arms. As he did so, one of the sailors spoke
+harshly and snatched at the robe. He was clumsy, and his fingers caught
+in Rose's unbound hair and pulled it so that she winced.</p>
+
+<p>Polaris set the girl down and in the same motion spun on his heel and
+struck the man under the ear.</p>
+
+<p>Well it was for the Maeronican sailor that the son of the snows, quick
+as was his anger at the affront to the girl, remembered the counsel of
+Oleric. Even as he struck, he remembered, and he opened his hand; else
+the stroke, directed by his mighty thews, had ended all things for the
+sailor. As it was, the blow partly lifted the man from his feet and
+shot him sprawling through the open door to fall heavily outside.</p>
+
+<p>From its peg on the wall the captain caught down the short-bladed sword
+and tore it from the sheath. At a word from him, his two remaining men
+plucked knives from their belts and closed in.</p>
+
+<p>Prospects of battle cleared the last of the numbness from the limbs of
+Polaris. He thrust Rose Emer behind him. He ran his eyes hastily over
+the cabin in search of a weapon, but saw none which would serve him. In
+another instant he would have sprung barehanded against the Maeronican
+steel.</p>
+
+<p>At that juncture a voice cried out, and Oleric the Red stepped over
+the fallen sailor and entered the cabin. Whatever may have been the
+failings of the red captain, slowness in action was not one of them.
+Gripping the two crouching sailors, each by the belt from behind, he
+tugged so mightily that their feet flew from under them, and they sat
+hard on the cabin floor. With a catlike leap, Oleric reached the side
+of the captain of the fademe and struck the sword from his hand. As the
+blade clanged on the floor, Oleric set his foot across it. Then, and
+not until then, did he seek to learn the trouble's cause.</p>
+
+<p>"What now, comrade," he said to Polaris. "Do you then court death so
+soon?"</p>
+
+<p>But when he heard of the sailor's action, he nodded his red head.</p>
+
+<p>"So would I have done," he said shortly. He turned on the other captain
+and spoke to him sternly in the Maeronican tongue. Almost choking in
+his rage, the commander answered him in sneering tones, and with a
+shrug of his shoulders stalked from the cabin. The sailors slunk after
+him.</p>
+
+<p>Oleric watched their departing backs with a hard and level stare.
+"Daelo grows insolent," he said. "He thinks, because I have had the
+misfortune to lose a fademe, that I shall get no pretty welcome from
+Bel-Ar. Maybe he is right. Bel-Ar loves not to lose his ships. Ah,
+well&mdash;" He, too, shrugged his shoulders, and then he smiled.</p>
+
+<p>"And you, my brother&mdash;" He shook his finger at Polaris. "Unless you
+learn to curb that fine spirit of yours, I need to be no prophet to
+foretell what shall befall you. But come; let us leave this place. The
+air of it grows foul."</p>
+
+<p>With Rose in his arms, Polaris stepped from the cabin and gazed
+curiously about him.</p>
+
+<p>He stood in a long gallery or corridor, some nine feet wide by thirty
+in extent. It was lighted brightly by a number of globes similar to
+that in the cabin. The flooring was of wood, the ceiling of steel.
+Opposite him was the door of another cabin. A few feet along the
+corridor ahead of him, toward the prow of the fademe, the floor was
+pierced to admit a large post or beam, which thrust up through it and
+disappeared through another opening in the ceiling of the gallery.
+Around the beam spiraled a slender winding stair of yellow metal.</p>
+
+<p>Oleric led on toward the bow. As he passed the stairway, Janess saw
+that it led to a small, towerlike structure above. A glance through the
+opening in the floor showed him another gallery, or deck, below, and he
+had a glimpse of a mass of mechanism and shafting. It was the engine
+room of the fademe into which he looked. Near the prow, the flooring
+was cut away again to allow the passage of what seemed to be a pillar
+of solid, yellow glass, as large around as the body of a man.</p>
+
+<p>As they passed the second pillar by, Oleric struck it lightly with his
+palm.</p>
+
+<p>"There is what brought death to your good ship, my brother," he said.
+"It is the secret of the power of the navy of Bel-Ar."</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>At the end of the corridor was an open door. Beyond it was a small
+chamber and another door. The chamber was constructed entirely of
+steel. Both of its doors were circular in shape, and they were fitted
+with valves and bars which made them resemble the breechblocks of
+enormous cannon. From beyond the second door came the sound of the
+splashing of waves and the hum of many human voices.</p>
+
+<p>Oleric passed through the chamber. At the outer door he paused and
+gave Polaris a hand with his burden. A breeze of salt air fanned their
+faces. Through the door Polaris saw an expanse of blue water alight
+with shafts of sunshine&mdash;for the rain had ceased&mdash;and the line of a
+rocky wall.</p>
+
+<p>"The harbor of the city of Adlaz," the red captain said.</p>
+
+<p>They stood on a metal deck six feet square on the extreme prow of the
+fademe. From the deck a narrow, swaying gangplank reached to the edge
+of the quay that was built of massive blocks of masonry, alongside of
+which the fademe was moored.</p>
+
+<p>At their right was the tossing blue and white of a harbor large enough
+to have given shelter to the ships of all the navies of the world,
+could they have come to it. Nearly three miles in width and length it
+lay, the whole girt round by the ring of a lofty mountain wall, in
+which on the seaward side there was not a notch or a break. Two hundred
+feet up from the water's edge the sheer cliffs towered, their faces
+smooth and precipitous.</p>
+
+<p>It was more a lake than a harbor that held the navy of Bel-Ar. Later
+the Americans learned that its only entrance from the sea was a natural
+tunnel many feet below the level of the water, through which the
+fademes passed out and in. The harbor was the giant cup or crater of a
+volcano, ages quenched.</p>
+
+<p>Along the wharves of stone and anchored in the lake rocked the fademes
+of the Maeronican fleet, each one resembling nothing so much as a
+monstrous goldfish carrying a glass tower on its back. Gold they were,
+indeed&mdash;and they shimmered and glittered in the sunlight as only gold
+can glitter.</p>
+
+<p>Like immense, flattened globes the fademes were fashioned&mdash;globes forty
+feet through their lengthened axes, and drawn to points at their stems
+and sterns. Where the dorsal fin of a fish projects from its spine,
+each fademe bore a small, round deckhouse with ribs of metal and sides
+of polished crystal.</p>
+
+<p>Yes; the harbor of Adlaz was very like a vast bowl with many goldfish
+(the fleet of fademes must have numbered one hundred and fifty). But
+they were far from being the harmless toys of children, these golden
+ships of the underseas. Deadly enspine, each fademe bore a small, round
+bee sent forth on cruel errands.</p>
+
+<p>On the dancing surface of the lake and in and out among the gleaming
+fademes plied a number of small open boats, driven by oarsmen, and
+here and there in the anchorage were scattered undersea craft of a make
+smaller by half and more slender than the fademes. These were called
+marizels.</p>
+
+<p>Back of the quays and the wharves was a line of low buildings of black
+and red stone, well constructed, with doors of wood and glass windows.
+Except that their architecture was quaint and ran much to carved faces
+of men and beasts, interspersed with squat domes and spires, they might
+have been the warehouses of some well-to-do port of the old world.</p>
+
+<p>An open space, a number of acres in extent, lay beyond the buildings
+and reached to the frowning face of the cliff-wall. The wall itself was
+pierced by a broad arch or tunnel wide enough for a squadron of cavalry
+to have ridden through it abreast and so high that a galleon's masts
+would not have touched its vaulted roof.</p>
+
+<p>Above the center of the arch, and carved in the rock of the cliffside,
+was a great round face, many feet across. It was a piece of sculpture
+to crook the fingers of a miser; for it was covered with beaten gold,
+so that it resembled a rising sun. That semblance was heightened
+further by long shafts or rays which extended from the face across the
+surface of the rock in all directions. They, too, were of gold. Work of
+a master-sculptor, it was, who had guided his chisel in bold, strong
+strokes. The features were noble, but the smiling lips were cruel, and
+there was cruelty in the golden eyes which looked down on the golden
+ships in the harbor.</p>
+
+<p>All these things Polaris saw from the forward deck of the fademe, and
+more. The quays and the court were black with people. At one side of
+the archway was drawn up a line of horsemen clad in steel armor. In
+the midst of the throng in the court a man in a yellow tunic and cap
+was cleaving his way through the press toward the wharf on a big black
+horse.</p>
+
+<p>As he crossed the swaying plank to the wharf with Rose Emer in his
+arms, Polaris heard a great cry of wonder go up from the crowd. In a
+moment he learned that it was not the appearance of the strangers that
+had caused the outcry. It was the return of Oleric the Red, who had
+long been given up as lost. Evidently the red captain was a popular man
+in his land. People crowded around him and clapped him on the back and
+gave him words of welcome home. Greetings none the less hearty for that
+they were tinged with a note of apprehension for his future welfare,
+which even Polaris could sense, though he understood no word of it all.</p>
+
+<p>Down from his horse sprang the man in the yellow tunic and enfolded
+Oleric in a mighty embrace. "Ah, old red bear, it is good for the eyes
+to see you once again. We had thought the fishes had you. But"&mdash;and he
+lowered his voice&mdash;"you will have to think of a pretty tale to tell to
+Bel-Ar. He raves at the loss of a fademe."</p>
+
+<p>"That he does," answered Oleric, "but I am good at the telling of
+tales, as you know. Besides, I have with me a matter of a small sack,
+which was not lost with the fademe, and which shall make the eyes of
+his queen to glisten. So mayhap I shall find forgiveness."</p>
+
+<p>The other ran his eye over Polaris and Rose. "What, more slaves?" he
+asked. "Orlas already has brought in three, and one of them a giant."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Brunar, more slaves." Oleric's face grew sober. "Poor souls. My
+heart is heavy for them, for they did save my life out yonder on the
+sea, and treat me kindly."</p>
+
+<p>"Here, old bear, take you my horse and ride on to Adlaz," said Brunar.
+"I have business here. I will come on anon through the canal in a
+marizel. And, if the hand of Bel-Ar lie not too heavy upon you, there
+will be a rare night to-night, a rare night; eh, old bear?" Laughing,
+he tossed the reins to Oleric and disappeared in the crowd.</p>
+
+<p>From the stern of the fademe they had quitted sounded a high-pitched
+voice in notes of vituperation. Oleric looked back. The captain Daelo
+stood on the rear deck of his vessel. When he saw Oleric turn, he shook
+his clenched fist at the red captain. With a laugh, Oleric flung back a
+remark of such import that it made Daelo dance upon his deck with rage.</p>
+
+<p>"Now there's a fool," grumbled Oleric, "who may be troublesome. I have
+the best of him this time, though. Back to sea patrol he goes. And
+there is a maid in Adlaz town&mdash;a sweet and comely maid, for love of
+whom he's well-nigh witless. I just did tell him that I'd comfort her
+in his absence." The captain tossed his head and laughed his soundless
+laugh.</p>
+
+<p>Bidding a lad hold his horse, Oleric led Polaris and Rose into one
+of the buildings near the end of the wharf. There, under a guard of
+sailors, they found old Zenas, the two Sardanians, Everson, and Brooks.
+Lacking an interpreter, such as Oleric, these others were in sore
+bewilderment. The stunning blow of the loss of the <i>Minnetonka</i> had
+cast them in a depth of gloom, which the appearance of Polaris and
+Rose Emer and the few explanations they were able to give did little
+to lighten. Everson, especially, was like a man distraught. Even the
+scientific zeal of Zenas Wright for once was quenched, and he met the
+marvels about him with a listless eye.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Under orders from Oleric, men fetched from stables near the quays a
+long, low car, to which two span of horses were attached, and the
+Americans were bidden to take their places in it. Wild and reckless
+drivers these Maeronicans were. Two of them climbed into the car,
+turned their horses' heads toward the great archway and whipped them
+into a gallop. With a yell, the crowd parted. The hoofs of the horses
+rang on the stones of the paved courtyard. As they passed from the
+court into the tunnel, the line of steel horsemen came clattering after
+them. Oleric rode at the side of the car.</p>
+
+<p>At intervals in the walls of the tunnel were set translucent globes
+like those on the fademe, which shed a strong white light along the
+way. The flooring was paved and smooth. For perhaps five minutes the
+cavalcade thundered through the passage in the rock, and then it
+emerged again into the light of day.</p>
+
+<p>Ahead stretched a long, wide roadway, paved from side to side with
+blocks of black stone, fast embedded in a cement of the same hue.
+At both sides of the road were low walls, and beyond the walls were
+handsome mansions and grounds, where fair trees tossed their greenery
+and bright flowers bloomed amid a wealth of shrubbery. From the
+splendid and fragrant lawns men and women looked forth as the car
+whirled past, and children left their play to run to the walls and
+stare wide-eyed at the strangers.</p>
+
+<p>Most of the men were garbed as had been those of the fademe's crew and
+also the crowd at the harbor, in loose, belted tunics and hose, but
+finer in texture and more showy in coloring than those of the commoner
+sort.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the old men wore flowing gowns. The women and children were
+clad in short kirtles. Everywhere was a riot of color. The garments
+of the people were gay with many tints and hues. The grounds were
+flecked with flowers. The dwellings, all of which were built of stone,
+made their brave show of colors, too. The quarries from which the
+masonry was cut yielded white and black and red stone, and in their
+construction work the builders had varied them pleasingly.</p>
+
+<p>From the tunnel's mouth at the base of the ancient hill, the long,
+black road sloped up gradually. Far ahead loomed the walls and domes
+of a great city. Oleric rose in his stirrups and pointed to where they
+were outlined against the sky.</p>
+
+<p>"Yonder lies Adlaz, chief city of the Children of Ad," he cried.</p>
+
+<p>Midway in their course to the city, the shouting drivers pulled their
+horses suddenly to one side of the road, and the riders of the escort
+scattered to right and left to leave a clear passage. From far up the
+wonderful street sounded the clash and clatter of pounding hoofs in
+desperate haste.</p>
+
+<p>But no horse it was that galloped so madly from Adlaz town to the sea,
+but a giant, bronze-coated bull. On he came, head down and tail aloft,
+his hoofs striking fire from the smooth, hard rock of the roadway. At
+intervals he gave voice to a deep-throated bellow.</p>
+
+<p>He was still three hundred yards from the car when Rose Emer screamed
+out in horror. "Ah, the child! Save the child!" she cried.</p>
+
+<p>From one of the mansions farther up the street, a child had strayed,
+a baby girl, a fragile, black-haired little thing, not more than five
+years old. Shrieking with laughter, she had eluded her mother and run
+out through the gateway to the center of the road. Half-way across the
+pavement, she slipped and fell. Down the street on thundering hoofs
+came the great bronze death.</p>
+
+<p>Upsetting one of the drivers in his haste, Polaris leaped down over
+the wheel of the car. Scarcely had his feet touched the roadway, when
+Minos, the Sardanian, was down behind him. Snatching a short spear from
+the hand of one of the steel riders, the son of the snows bounded up
+the street to meet the bull, going at a speed which few living things
+could have equaled. Over his shoulder he called to Minos:</p>
+
+<p>"Care for the child, Minos; leave the beast to me."</p>
+
+<p>Just beyond where the baby girl lay, he met the furious mass of
+charging flesh. The little red eyes of the oncoming monster saw the man
+in its path, and for an instant the bull seemed to halt in its stride,
+and its hoofs slid on the smooth pavement. Then it lowered its head
+still farther and charged on with a roar.</p>
+
+<p>From the tail of his eye, Janess saw the Sardanian snatch the baby from
+the perilous path and leap to one side. Behind them the red captain,
+shouting and cursing, alone of all the troop of riders strove to urge
+his affrighted horse forward.</p>
+
+<p>"Hold! Hold!" he shouted in English. "Let the beast go!"</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Even had he heard, Polaris would have been little minded to let the
+bull go free. It was plain that the animal was mad. A bloody froth
+dripped from its jaws as it ran. Behind the son of the snows, right
+where the bull was headed, were his friends, and among them one who
+meant more to him than all of the rest of the world.</p>
+
+<p>Directly in the path of the lowered horns, that were coming on with
+the power of a mighty battering-ram, Polaris stood. Then he sprang
+sidewise, turning as he leaped. So narrowly did he time the onset that
+the shoulder of the bull grazed his knee. As the huge body passed him,
+the man drove the short spear home behind its shoulder, guiding the
+steel with the strength of arm and the keenness of eye that had helped
+him to survive through the long years when combat with the beasts of
+the wild was a part almost of his daily existence.</p>
+
+<p>The stroke was true. So deeply did the steel spear bite, that its shaft
+was wrenched from the hands of Polaris, and he was pitched on his side
+on the pavement.</p>
+
+<p>Unhurt, the man was up in an instant, but his work was done. That bull
+would charge no more. He lay dead at the side of the roadway, his
+tongue thrust out, his eyes glazing, and his life-blood making a pool
+on the stones. The Maeronican spear was set fast in his heart.</p>
+
+<p>Hardly was Polaris on his feet again when the armored horsemen rode
+down on him with lifted spears, cursing him in their own tongue. Oleric
+had conquered his horse, and he now interposed to prevent another
+struggle which would have been all too one-sided. For, weaponless as
+they were, the three other American men clambered down and ran to the
+aid of Polaris.</p>
+
+<p>Minos, who had returned the child to her mother, who knelt half
+fainting in her gateway, was the first to reach his side. Though he
+bore no weapon, the giant Sardanian squared his mighty figure and made
+ready to withstand the onset of horse and steel.</p>
+
+<p>Polaris leaped to the side of the fallen bull and tore the spear from
+its body. Then he turned on the horsemen. He could not guess the cause
+of their sudden anger, but he, too, was ready.</p>
+
+<p>Before blows could be struck, Oleric thrust his horse into the
+open space between the friends and the Maeronican riders. By dint
+of persuasion, interlarded with not a few threats, he induced his
+followers to forego their hostile intentions.</p>
+
+<p>"You fools!" he shouted. "Would you cheat Bel-Ar of the terrible
+vengeance he is sure to take, and have a part of it fall back on you
+for balking him?"</p>
+
+<p>When he had quieted his men, the captain turned gloomily to Polaris.</p>
+
+<p>"My brother, your doom is sealed, indeed," he said. "This is one of the
+sacred bulls from the temple of Shamar, the great sun, that you have
+slain. When one of these goes mad, as did this one, no man in the land
+does aught to stay it. That is the law. From its horns to its hoofs,
+every hair of it is sacred. Bel-Ar may forgive me the loss of a fademe,
+though it will be a great vexation to him; but the death of one of
+these sacred bulls of Shamar he will not forgive any man. Sooner might
+you expect mercy if you declared yourself a follower of the Goddess
+Glorian of Ruthar. In this matter I cannot hope to persuade him. By
+the bones of the ten thousand kings, I am sorry that this thing has
+happened!"</p>
+
+<p>But later, as they rode on toward the city of Adlaz, the red captain
+seemed to be far from rueful. He rode behind the car, and, when he
+thought none was observing him, he smiled to himself, as though the
+course events were taking pleased him very well indeed.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2>CHAPTER III</h2>
+
+<h3>THE KING JUDGES</h3>
+
+
+<p>Like the shape of a mighty wheel with four spokes was the plan of
+the city of Adlaz&mdash;or more like a circle drawn around the angles of
+a cross, the curved line of the outer boundary passing through the
+far-flung arms. Built in a long-ago time of perils and wars, Adlaz
+was a walled city, and its wall was both stout and high, and set with
+many castellated towers. It was also a very ancient wall, to which its
+moss-grown, weather-worn gray stones bore witness.</p>
+
+<p>In all of the sweeping circumference of the outer wall, which enclosed
+some ten square miles of street and square, there were four breaks
+only, and those were protected by ponderous gates of bronze and guarded
+well by soldiers of the king. Those breaks were where the rim of the
+wheel met its four spokes. The wall was the rim. The spokes were four
+wide roadways, which ran east, west, north and south from the city's
+center. The hub of the wheel was a park or esplanade, fronted on all
+sides by magnificent buildings in which the colored rocks hewn from the
+Maeronican quarries were blended splendidly. In the very center towered
+the massive structure of the Temple of the Sun, built all of white
+marble, the tips of its hundred spires capped with solid gold.</p>
+
+<p>Other and many streets were laid out in all directions within the
+angles of the four great avenues; but none was so wide as they by many
+feet. Within the wall dwelt nearly half a million souls, Maeronicans,
+if one named them from their country, but loving to call themselves the
+Children of Ad, after their city, which in turn drew its name from a
+certain mighty king, the time of whose rule was so lost in the mists of
+dim antiquity that he was little more than a tradition in the mouths of
+the people.</p>
+
+<p>Across from the Temple of the Sun, and in the northeast angle of the
+arms of the cross, stood the palace of the kings of Maeronica, another
+immense pile of masonry, built also of a solid color, not dazzling
+white as was the marble of the house of the god, but the deep, rich
+red of granite porphyry. Back of the palace lay the barracks of the
+king's guard of half a thousand picked men, his stables, and the
+quarters of countless servants. In the southwest angle was the Place of
+Games&mdash;a hippodrome and circus, with an amphitheater of black basalt
+of an age and splendor that would not have shamed the proudest days of
+seven-hilled Rome itself, although its foundation stones were laid long
+before Remus leaped over his brother's wall.</p>
+
+<p>Around the hub and extending to the wall were the homes of the Children
+of Ad&mdash;nobles, captains, rich idlers, merchants, money-lenders, and the
+common people. In latter years, since Adlaz, strong and triumphant,
+defied her enemies, it had been the pleasure of many of her wealthier
+sons to build their mansions beyond the sheltering wall of the city,
+and along the four splendid roadways stretched many a fair and wide
+estate. Such were those the prisoners from the fademes saw as their car
+was driven up the long, black road from the harbor in the mountain.</p>
+
+<p>It was late afternoon, and the sun was casting his last slant rays over
+the distant mountain-rim, when the car was halted at the bronze gates
+of the western entrance to Adlaz. The red captain trotted his horse
+forward to parley with the captain of the gate-guard and explain why he
+led Brunar's horsemen, and who were these whom he brought with him to
+the city. That parleying was added to by one of the riders in steel.
+Whatever he told the gate-captain, it did not add to that worthy's
+esteem for the captives, for he favored them with an exceedingly evil
+look as they rode through his gates.</p>
+
+<p>"Ugh-h," remarked Ensign Brooks, "I can't say that I care for that
+party. He has a lean and hungry look. Speaking of hunger, I wonder how
+soon we will get where we are going to, and whether it will be supper
+time when we get there. I could eat cat right now, I'm so near to
+starvation."</p>
+
+<p>Oleric heard him and replied with a smile. "You shall eat soon, and of
+good fare. So much at the least I can promise."</p>
+
+<p>To which the ensign replied with a stare. For the young naval man did
+not like the red captain and his ways, whom he blamed partly for the
+loss of the <i>Minnetonka</i> and all of the rest of the troubles, of which
+this land seemed to hold a plenty.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after the car entered the gates, the sunlight faded into dusk, and
+then white-capped messengers passed through the streets, plucking the
+cloth hoods from globes which were fixed on posts of stone at intervals
+along all of the ways. From each globe, as its hood was removed, sprang
+a broad circle of white light. On the tall buildings and their many
+spires and on the towers of the city wall similar lights flared up.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Except for the quaint architecture of the place, and the strange
+garb of the folk who thronged its streets, the Americans might have
+imagined themselves entering some stately capital of the modern world,
+and not Adlaz of Maeronica, the oldest of all peopled cities of the
+earth&mdash;older, indeed, than many among the buried ruins in which
+archeologists love to delve.</p>
+
+<p>For its pavements were curbed and guttered, and between them and the
+building fronts and lawns were walks of stone, bordered by well-ordered
+rows of trees and many shrubs and beds of flowers. The people who
+walked the streets, too, were quiet and orderly folk. They stared hard
+at those who rode in the car, but there was no unseemly outcry. Only
+an occasional shout of surprise and welcome went up as some group of
+strollers recognized the merry face and flaming poll of Oleric the Red.</p>
+
+<p>At all of these marvels the two Sardanians gazed wonderingly and talked
+together of them in their tongue.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, surely here is one of the greatest cities of the world of men,
+my prince," said the Lady Memene. "Note the mighty towers yonder and
+how they flash and gleam. And the folk! In one short ride we have seen
+enough of them to people two lands like our own lost Sardanes."</p>
+
+<p>"Aye, Memene, these be wonders, indeed," Minos answered. "And here
+is a kingdom and a city well worth the ruling over. Yet these, even
+these, must be as nothing to the things beyond in the greater world,
+whereof Polaris hath told us. I wonder if we shall ever reach them.
+For myself, though, I find this land and its folk more to my manner of
+understanding than the world-dwellers way to the north. Here, methinks,
+one might, did opportunity offer, carve out a kingdom for the king that
+is to come."</p>
+
+<p>Memene flushed and hung her head, and the two of them lapsed into
+thoughtful silence.</p>
+
+<p>Truly, Minos of Sardanes lacked not in ambition.</p>
+
+<p>"Too late, now, to hope to meet Bel-Ar the king before the morrow,"
+Oleric said. "And perhaps that is as well. By another coming of Shamar
+his wrath may have cooled somewhat, though 'twill still burn hot
+enough, I'll wager."</p>
+
+<p>The charioteers drove their car to the front of a long, low building,
+the façade of which verged almost upon the pavement of the black avenue
+which was known as Chedar's Flight, because of an ancient battle which
+had been fought along its course. There, the riders of Brunar left the
+car and clattered away up the street to their own place. A group of
+street idlers surrounded the car and began to discuss its passengers,
+taking note especially of the giant form of Minos and the beauty of the
+two ladies.</p>
+
+<p>"This was a palace, once, but it serves as a prison, now," Oleric said
+to Polaris, as gates of bronze were thrust back and the charioteers
+drove through and into a roomy court, partly paved and partly lawn and
+trees. "Sorry I am, comrade, that this must be, but 'tis not of my
+working."</p>
+
+<p>"I blame you not, friend," said Polaris. "But other days bring other
+fortunes. I do not think that I shall stay long in your prison. And it
+comes to me also that your king best had let this party depart his land
+in peace, else the next turn of the wheel may bring to him that which
+he least desires. And I think that you may have a hand in that turn,
+Oleric."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you a prophet, my brother?" exclaimed Oleric, searching the face
+of Polaris for a hidden meaning. "For if you be not one, then you have
+a rare spirit."</p>
+
+<p>"No prophet I," Polaris answered. He sprang down over the wheel and
+stretched his weary limbs. "Only at times, when all seems black, my
+heart does whisper courage, and then all things turn well. It did so
+just now, when I saw the lights spring up along that splendid street
+out there." He held up his arms and assisted Rose Emer to alight from
+the car.</p>
+
+<p>Oleric gazed at him curiously. "So you think that the wheel will turn,
+and that I will have a hand in it, my brother, do you?" he whispered to
+himself. "Perchance I shall."</p>
+
+<p>He swung down from his horse and cast the reins to an attendant.</p>
+
+<p>"What! Mordo! Where do you tarry? Here be guests for you," he shouted.</p>
+
+<p>They stood in the dusk under the spreading boughs of an ancient oak and
+waited while a tall, loosely built man, black-bearded, and clad in the
+armor of gold that was the badge of power in Maeronica, came down from
+a pillared porch on the other side of the court and shambled across.
+They noticed that his step was somewhat uncertain, and once or twice he
+stumbled as he approached.</p>
+
+<p>"Mordo, captain, and keeper of the king's prison house," Oleric
+muttered to Polaris. "He's a good fellow, but does love his wine cup
+exceeding well."</p>
+
+<p>As the prison keeper came across the stones and the grass, he shouted,
+and an underling ran to him, swinging a lighted globe encaged in a
+metal net. Mordo took the lamp and cast its rays on the party. His face
+was flushed, and his eyes rolled until they saw Oleric. Then his mouth
+gaped in a delighted grin.</p>
+
+<p>"Hoy! Hoy!" he exclaimed. "By the wall and the beasts and the shadows
+of the fathers of Ad, if it is not my old bottle-crony come sailing
+home again! I thought my ears had lied when I heard that voice in the
+dark." He set the lamp down and pitched forward, steadying himself with
+his hands on Oleric's shoulders. "And the same old dekkar, eh?" (A
+dekkar was a broad goldpiece of the coin of Maeronica.) "They said that
+you were gone across the black river, but I believed them not. 'Not
+Oleric,' I told them. 'Not so long as there is left unemptied a single
+one of those long-stemmed bottles in old Mordo's cellar.' And I was
+right, eh, old firetop? Ah! Many a glass shall clink to-night, and many
+a rack be made lighter when Brunar and the others come."</p>
+
+<p>Mordo threw his head back and laughed, a roaring gale of mirth.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, I was so lonely to-night that already I have cracked two flagons,
+just for the good wine's company."</p>
+
+<p>"So it seems," put in Oleric, sniffing. "Are you sure there were only
+two of those flagons?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mayhap it was three; I care not; there's still space for more, as you
+well know," Mordo replied, still shaking with laughter. He took up his
+lantern again.</p>
+
+<p>"But whom do you bring with you to Mordo's house?" he asked, peering
+once more at the strangers. "Women, too! And pretty ones!"</p>
+
+<p>"Have an end to your banter, Mordo," Oleric interposed. "These be six
+guests for whom Bel-Ar will ask accounting. Hold them well. And harken,
+old friend; treat them kindly and to the best you have, for they did
+befriend me when I was in evil straits and sore in need of friends.
+That tale you shall hear later. Now hasten and bestow them. They are
+weary. And bethink you, man, your wine grows stale with waiting to be
+drunk, and my throat aches for the smack of it."</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Through his porch and into the depths of the building beyond, Mordo led
+the party. Along many halls and passages he led, and through gates and
+doors of bronze and steel, whereof an attendant bore the keys.</p>
+
+<p>An ill place, this, to come out of, thought Polaris, noting the
+strength and number of the gates. Nor did the son of the snows relish
+at all the grim clanking of chains which issued from certain of the
+chambers which they passed along their route.</p>
+
+<p>At length the jailer paused, in a hall so wide that its boundary walls
+could be seen only dimly by the light of the few globes which hung from
+its pillars of black stone, and so lofty that the pillars' tops were
+lost in the upper dusk. The hall was circular, and all around its walls
+were the doors to lesser chambers.</p>
+
+<p>"Here may your stranger friends from the sea await the pleasure of
+Bel-Ar in peace," hiccoughed Mordo. "And 'tis better by far for them
+than some of the places that I have below, as you know, Oleric. Kings
+have sat in judgment here, and the beds in yonder chambers&mdash;queens have
+slept on them. May your guests sleep well, old fox; I can offer them
+no better, no better lodging place than the audience-hall of the great
+King Bel-Tisam. I'll send them meat and wine. Now haste we to those
+bottles. Shamar send that Brunar be not long delayed."</p>
+
+<p>"Here I must leave you for a space, my friends," Oleric said. "I
+would have you believe that I am not ungrateful for many good deeds
+remembered, and I hope yet to find the means to repay them. To-morrow I
+will go with you before Bel-Ar the king."</p>
+
+<p>He bowed and went out with Mordo.</p>
+
+<p>Presently came men with an abundance of fresh-cooked meats and
+trenchers and tall bottles of Maeronican wine.</p>
+
+<p>Little heart for conversation was there among the seven friends. Each
+was busy with bitter thoughts. They ate, sitting on cushions about a
+low table which the attendants spread for them at the foot of one of
+the pillars. The two women, weary from the events of the day, soon went
+to their rest. Old Zenas Wright was not long in following their example.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm growing old, boys," he said as he left the table. "And this has
+been a hard day&mdash;a terribly hard day. We appear to have strayed far
+into the yesterdays. To-morrow we will talk, and it will be strange
+if we cannot between us figure our way out. I don't want to leave my
+old bones in this place. I intend that they shall be buried in Woodlawn
+Cemetery in Buffalo, near where I was born; ah me, where I was born. I
+vow and vum, I've seen some mighty queer sights since I walked up Main
+Street last."</p>
+
+<p>The geologist turned and trudged sturdily away to the chamber which he
+had selected for his own.</p>
+
+<p>Soon only Polaris and Lieutenant Everson were left in the great hall,
+Janess lying stretched on the floor, his head pillowed on his hand, and
+the lieutenant standing gloomily with folded arms, his back resting
+against one of the pillars. For many minutes those two talked of the
+things which had befallen; but neither one had a plan to offer.</p>
+
+<p>"We must trust to the wit of this Oleric, of which I think he has
+plenty," said Polaris at length. "I believe that he wished us no ill,
+and I believe, too, that he forms some scheme for our advantage, though
+what it is I cannot guess."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't like him," Everson said bluntly. "He is one of this nation of
+devils whose submarine sank my ship. Oh, for a few files of marines and
+a couple of twelve-inch guns!"</p>
+
+<p>When Everson had gone, Polaris still lay at the foot of the pillar,
+thinking and planning, for he was a man in whom hope never died. He
+dozed at length, but suddenly he was wide awake. And, though he did not
+at once open his eyes, his wilderness-trained faculties, keen as those
+of any animal, were alert and watchful.</p>
+
+<p>Something had come into the hall.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing in living shape ever had struck fear into the heart of Polaris,
+and he had a healthy disbelief in the supernatural. He was not afraid
+now. But he felt that the presence that had entered the hall was both
+baleful and menacing. He felt the fixed regard of hidden eyes, and it
+sent an uneasy thrill through the roots of his hair at the back of his
+head. Whatever it was that had wakened him, it was not in the direction
+of the chambers where the others of his party lay, but far across the
+hall.</p>
+
+<p>Cautiously he opened his eyes.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>At first he could make out nothing. Then something stirred soundlessly
+from behind a far pillar near the wall. Polaris stared hard, and his
+eyes were almost more than mortal keen. For a fleeting instant he saw
+it clearly&mdash;the shape of a tall old man with snowy beard and hair, and
+with piercing eyes, full of evil. The man was dressed in flowing robes
+of white, on the breast of which glittered some object of burnished
+metal.</p>
+
+<p>For an instant only the vision persisted on Polaris's retina. Then it
+was gone, and with no sound that even his sharp ears could catch.</p>
+
+<p>Polaris snapped himself to his feet and bounded across the hall on
+the balls of his feet, almost as noiselessly as the shadow which had
+departed. And it had departed. Along the wall and behind the pillars
+Polaris glanced quickly. There was nothing there. Back of the pillar
+where he had seen the white shape was the closed door of a chamber. He
+tried the door and found it fast. He listened.</p>
+
+<p>From the darkness beyond the closed door, he thought he heard the ghost
+of a thin chuckle. Immediately his attention was drawn to another
+quarter. Close behind him arose a deep growl, which had nothing ghostly
+in its quality, but was most material. Polaris spun upon his heels.</p>
+
+<p>Some ten feet from him, and beside one of the pillars, from the foot
+of which it evidently had arisen, stood a huge dog. It was the first
+animal of its kind which the son of the snows had seen in Maeronica,
+and the largest he ever had set eyes on in his life; larger by far even
+than gray old Marcus, his friend and comrade that he'd left behind in
+Boston town.</p>
+
+<p>This brute was neither Great Dane nor mastiff, though in points it
+resembled both of those breeds. Its jaws were square, and its head and
+neck were massive. The tips of its powerful shoulders were a long yard
+up from the stone floor where it stood.</p>
+
+<p>It was smooth of coat and of a glossy, blue-black color, except on its
+breast, where was a triangular patch of tawny yellow. Its ears had
+been clipped and stood erect and pointed. As it regarded the man, its
+big eyes glittered in the dim light. Its lips were writhed back from
+formidable teeth.</p>
+
+<p>Another low growl rumbled from its deep chest.</p>
+
+<p>Instinctively, dogs trusted Polaris. He had had much experience with
+their kind, and never had he seen one that in the end he could not make
+his friend. Unhesitatingly he extended his hand and crossed the floor
+to where the big beast stood. He guessed that it must have come in
+with the old man whom he had glimpsed, and had been left behind when
+the silent visitor had made his hurried departure. As he drew nearer,
+Polaris saw that the animal wore a broad leather collar, bossed with
+gold.</p>
+
+<p>Unhurriedly, the son of the snows approached the brute until there was
+not the space of a yard between them. There he paused. The dog neither
+shrank nor cowered, but waited with muscles tensed and teeth exposed.
+Polaris was very watchful.</p>
+
+<p>"Good fellow," he said.</p>
+
+<p>At the sound of the man's voice, the dog shifted his position slightly.
+His head swayed. From Polaris's face he glanced to the outstretched
+hand. The bristling hackles at his neck subsided. He took a stiff
+step forward, then another. The tip of his cold muzzle touched the
+man's fingers. He sniffed. A long, red tongue crept forth and licked
+Polaris's hand. Another step, and the brute rubbed his great head
+against the man's thigh.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah; I thought you would," said Polaris. "Come on." He turned and
+crossed the hall to his sleeping chamber. The dog padded beside him on
+silent feet. The last thing the son of the snows heard, after he had
+called Brooks to take the watch, and closed his eyes to slumber, was
+the sigh of the huge beast as it stretched itself before his open door.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Worn of body and of nerves, Polaris slumbered deeply. Shamar rose high
+in the east and lighted the golden spires of his mighty temple in Adlaz
+town; still the man slept on, and as he slept, he dreamed. Far into the
+white, mysterious southland his fancies led, to a waste of ice and snow
+and bitter winds. He drove a team of splendid dogs&mdash;his gray brothers
+they seemed to be in the dream, those tried friends who had given their
+lives for their master, and of whom Marcus, if he still lived, was the
+last.</p>
+
+<p>On the sledge which the dogs drew, rode Rose Emer, wrapped in furs,
+as in truth she once had ridden. There, too&mdash;and even in the dream he
+seemed strangely out of place&mdash;was the Maeronican captain. Yes, Oleric
+the Red trudged through the snows beside the sledge, clad in his golden
+armor, his teeth chattering in the chill blasts of the wilderness, and
+bearing in his hand a naked sword.</p>
+
+<p>Danger, unseen, unknown, but frightful, encompassed the wanderers in
+the snow path. The dogs snarled and tore at their harness. Oleric ran
+forward, waving his sword, which seemed to drip blood on the white
+snows, and shouting.</p>
+
+<p>"Up, brother, and call off this beast of yours!" the red captain cried.
+"For soon must we go before Bel-Ar."</p>
+
+<p>With those words ringing in his ears, Polaris awoke. He sprang from his
+couch to the middle of the chamber. No dream's part was the shouting of
+Oleric. He stood in the hall before the chamber door, his lips still
+parted and a smile on his ruddy face.</p>
+
+<p>And the snarling of a dog&mdash;that, too, was real.</p>
+
+<p>Planted squarely in the doorway, hackles bristling, ears erect and
+fangs bared, was the immense animal with which Polaris had made friends
+in the night watches. All through the dark hours and the dawning, the
+beast had guarded the door, suffering none to approach it. He now
+barred the way to Oleric, and the chamber echoed to his angry challenge.</p>
+
+<p>"By the ten kings!" exclaimed the captain with a laugh. "You do raise
+up friends wherever you go, my brother. Here is one that dearly would
+love to make a breakfast off my lean shanks, armored as they are, and
+all because I would tell you that Shamar has brought to us another day."</p>
+
+<p>At the call of Polaris, the dog backed out of the doorway, but still
+with a wary and suspicious eye to the movements of the red captain.</p>
+
+<p>Mordo, the prison captain, was not in attendance, but certain of his
+servants were spreading the table near the center of the hall. The
+Americans and the Sardanians were gathered in a group about one of the
+pillars.</p>
+
+<p>Everson looked wan, like one whose pillow had been ridden by evil
+visions. The others of the party seemed in better spirits and were
+talking among themselves. Zenas Wright gave evidence that his
+scientific zeal had only lain dormant. For now he noted all about him
+with a keen and kinding interest, paying his attention especially to
+the architecture of the lordly hall which had housed them, and its
+sculptures, of which there were many. Young Brooks' interest was fully
+as keen, if more material, as that of the geologist. The eyes of the
+ensign were all for the table preparations.</p>
+
+<p>Seeing the party thus, and the broad bands of sunlight which streamed
+into the hall through windows of crystal high in the masonry, Polaris
+grew shamefaced.</p>
+
+<p>"Now it seems that I alone, who of all should be wakeful, have slept
+dully like a wintered bear," he muttered.</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis well. You have gained strength which perhaps shall not come
+amiss," Oleric answered.</p>
+
+<p>Near the center of the hall a fountain played, its spray falling
+through a bar of sunshine which changed the silver drops to gold as
+they fell. Calling his morning greetings to his friend, Polaris went
+thither and laved his face and hands and smoothed his mass of tawny
+hair. The dog followed close at heel and lapped greedily from the
+fountain's basin.</p>
+
+<p>"Strange that this brute should be here," said Oleric. "Do you know
+what manner of beast this is that so befriends you, Polaris?"</p>
+
+<p>Polaris shook his head; nor did he at that time see fit to acquaint
+Oleric with the circumstances of the dog's appearance.</p>
+
+<p>"This is one of the dogs the priests keep at the temple of Shamar," the
+captain informed. "There are few of the breed in the land, and all are
+at the temples of the god in the cities. Almost as sacred are these
+brutes as are the bulls, whereof you already know, and are likely to
+learn more. The holy men do say of them that they are dwelt in by the
+souls of heroes passed away, whom Shamar chooses to guard his temple
+gates, even as the bulls are inhabited by the souls of dead kings.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not believe such tales," he added quickly. "But now you will
+see why Bel-Ar will be more than passing wroth at the death of the
+bull, believing as he does that it is a dwelling place for one of his
+ancestors, and that you may, indeed, have slain his father or his
+grandfather."</p>
+
+<p>Oleric, who had breakfasted, sat by while the others ate. The dog,
+from the collar of which the captain read the name Rombar, signifying
+thunder, stood behind the seat of Polaris and ate with dignity whatever
+his self-appointed master passed to him. But he would take food from no
+other hand, not even from Rose Emer, who liked all dogs.</p>
+
+<p>Thereafter, sleeping or waking, the huge beast remained at Polaris's
+side, and none could coax him thence. And many Maeronicans deemed that
+strange. But as no man, not even Shamar's priests, dared to interfere
+with the sacred brutes, except when they played their parts in the
+ceremonials of the god, the attendance of Rombar upon the stranger was
+permitted.</p>
+
+<p>Under a guard of mailed foot-soldiers, led by Brunar, who was a captain
+in the palace regiment, the prisoners were marched from the ancient
+palace of Bel-Tisam to the newer palace of Bel-Ar. At their right, as
+they passed up the street called Chedar's Flight, was the wall, pierced
+by many gateways, of the Place of Games, with its basalt amphitheater
+and its arena.</p>
+
+<p>As they passed they heard the hoofs of galloping steeds, the rumble of
+chariot wheels, and the cries of the charioteers, where the young lords
+of Adlaz exercised their horses. From slits in the wall low down near
+the pavement, issued the howling and snarling of wild beasts; for a
+menagerie was a part of the equipment of the Place of Games.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Beyond the hippodrome, their way led around half the circle of the
+broad drive on which the four main avenues gave, and which surrounded
+the wonderful gardens of the Temple of the Sun. The Americans, three
+of whose number were widely traveled, marveled anew at the splendor of
+that mighty pile of white marble, its lofty columns, towers and domes,
+dazzling in the sunlight, their golden caps ablaze. Luxor and Karnac in
+the days when Pharaoh Rameses ruled in Egypt could not have shown the
+equal of this structure.</p>
+
+<p>With armed men clanking on each side, the captives entered through a
+massive peristyle of vari-colored pillars which was the portal to the
+house of the king. Along a corridor in which four elephants might have
+found way and clearance to walk abreast, the guards conducted them. At
+each end of the corridor there stood ajar tall gates of bronze, their
+bars interlaced with heavy patterns of gleaming gold, encrusted with
+the luminous metal, known in Maeronica as orichalcum, and set with many
+precious gems.</p>
+
+<p>Through the second gateway the prisoners were marched, and were in the
+audience chamber of Bel-Ar, the great king. It was similar in shape to
+the place where they had been quartered for the night; but there all
+similitude ceased. Bel-Tisam of old had sat in a plain and massive hall
+and been content. The house of Bel-Ar held treasures in metals and gems
+on its sculptured walls and pillars, aye, and on its floors, too, which
+could have paid the national debt of a wide and wasteful state.</p>
+
+<p>Dull gold smoldered underfoot in the mosaic of the pavement. Gold
+and orichalcum glittered and shimmered on pillar and wall. Chairs
+and tables of stone and bronze and polished woods were heavy with
+the precious metal. Set in the bases of the seventy and six pillars
+which upheld the roof were patterns gorgeous in agate, lapis-lazuli,
+turquoise, quartz, and rock-crystal. Other and similar panels
+adorned the walls. Farther up, where the work in gold and orichalcum
+began&mdash;placed so high, perhaps, to be out of reach of avaricious
+fingers&mdash;were more precious stones. There topaz, moonstone, amethyst,
+opal, sapphire, diamond, and priceless ruby and emerald flaunted their
+hundred fires.</p>
+
+<p>"Lordy!" muttered Zenas Wright under his breath to Ensign Brooks as
+they crossed the hall. "Give me a pick and a ladder and a half hour
+alone in which to use them, and you may have and welcome the rubies of
+Sardanes which went down with the <i>Minnetonka</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Near a fountain, the jets of which fell and flowed over a grotto of
+opalescent glass lighted from within, sat the master of all this
+splendor, Bel-Ar, king of Maeronica and lord of the underseas. On no
+raised dais or lofty throne sat this monarch who was absolute in his
+own land. A high-backed chair of carved black wood sufficed him, raised
+from the flooring on a single slab of red porphyry, scarcely twelve
+inches high. On another chair at his right sat his queen. The two
+were in the center of a wide crescent of seats and benches, whereon
+sat the nobles and ladies of Maeronica who made up the court. Without
+the semicircle stood attendants and slaves. Farther back, ranged in
+a double line, was one full company, one hundred men, of the palace
+guard, all in bronze mail, and each carrying his bared sword.</p>
+
+<p>Like a dull moth among a concourse of gaudy and fluttering butterflies
+was this powerful Maeronican king. He was attired simply in cloth
+of dark blue. A cloak of the same material had fallen back from his
+shoulders. On his knee rested a flat black cap of the same pattern
+that his meanest sailors wore. Only a light circlet of twisted gold,
+fashioned in the semblance of a slender serpent, set on his heavy
+black hair above his temples, and a short, broad sword which swung at
+his belt, distinguished the garb of Bel-Ar from that of the ordinary
+citizen of Adlaz.</p>
+
+<p>Seeing these things, one looked into the king's face for royalty,
+and found it there. He sat with an elbow on the arm of his chair,
+his chin cupped in his right hand, so that it hid his mouth. His
+forehead was broad and low, his nose short and tilted slightly at
+its tip. His cheeks were rounded and well-shaped. His ears, almost
+hidden in the black hair, which was cut evenly around his neck, were
+small and delicately turned as a woman's. But every other feature was
+cast into insignificance and forgotten, when one looked at the king's
+eyes. Set far apart, they were extraordinarily large, and black, so
+that iris and pupil seemed as one. They were the eyes of a mystic, a
+far-seeing dreamer, but filled with subdued fires; eyes of a strong and
+self-willed man, one not to be tampered with or led. In contrast to
+them, the skin of the face was fair, almost pallid. The king's figure
+was above medium height, broad and powerfully framed. His years were
+not more than thirty-seven.</p>
+
+<p>As the prisoners were brought near to him, Bel-Ar had fallen into a fit
+of abstraction. He gazed fixedly across the hall, seeing it not, nor
+its people and its walls. At his feet a little slave boy sat asleep,
+his head leaned against the leg of his king's chair, his small golden
+harp fallen across his lap.</p>
+
+<p>If Bel-Ar was the dull moth, his consort, Queen Raissa, who sat beside
+him, was the most gorgeous of all the butterflies. She was younger than
+the king, by a full ten years. Her face was small and flower-like, with
+pouting lips and proud blue eyes that shone like stars. Hair yellow as
+the golden, shell-shaped comb which was set in it, was piled high on
+her head, and was yet in such abundance that two heavy braids fell down
+across her shoulders. She was robed in a graceful gown of pale blue,
+the bodice of which blazed with gems. Her fingers toyed with a costly
+fan, whereof the stem was ivory and the sticks the colored plumes of
+rare birds. She gazed curiously at the strangers whom the soldiers
+brought in, and when her eyes alighted upon Oleric they became eager.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>At the edge of the open space just beyond the semicircle of the
+courtiers, the guards halted. For a few moments the silence in the hall
+was broken only by the low-toned gossip of gay lords and ladies, who
+paid scant attention to guards or prisoners. Then the queen touched
+Bel-Ar's knee with her fan and spoke a few words in his ear. He started
+from his reverie.</p>
+
+<p>"Come hither, Brunar," he said in a deep, low voice. As he raised his
+head, it was to be seen that his chin was square and heavy, but that
+his mouth was lacking in the strength of his other features.</p>
+
+<p>Brunar made his report, and was replaced by Oleric the Red, who bowed
+low before the king, his ready smile playing about his lips.</p>
+
+<p>"You would make report of a fademe lost, Captain Oleric," said the
+king. "Doubtless a small matter to you, but meaning much to me, who ill
+can spare my fademes." He frowned.</p>
+
+<p>"Not so, O king," replied the captain, composing his features and
+speaking earnestly. "As you know, not all of our engineers have learned
+to govern wisely the mighty force that gives the fademes life."</p>
+
+<p>Bel-Ar nodded. "That is true," he said. "Now what of this engineer of
+yours?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, he was a careless fellow, and whoof! one day under his hands went
+engine and fademe. They lie in fragments on the sea-bottom near the
+great south cape on the way to the ocean named Pacific, and the crew
+lies with them."</p>
+
+<p>"How is it, then, that you stand here to make report?"</p>
+
+<p>"My star watched over me, O king. I floated to the surface, alone of
+all the fademe's crew. On the wreckage of the cabin I floated. I had
+by me my hamess (mask). I donned it. Later my senses departed me. I
+was taken up by a ship from the northern world, and was treated with
+kindness by these whom you see here. Driven by storm, that ship came to
+the coast of Maeronica, and&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Enough; I had the rest of the tale from Brunar," interposed Bel-Ar.</p>
+
+<p>"But of your mission to the far Pacific? What of that?" questioned
+Raissa, leaning forward eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>Again Oleric smiled, and smiling, drew from his belt a small leather
+bag. He advanced, and kneeling, handed the bag to the queen.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! Lovely!" she gasped as she poured a part of its contents into her
+palm&mdash;pearls, five score or more of them, as fine as ever came from the
+ocean bed, she held. One great and lustrous globe of faint rose-pink
+she seized upon with a cry of delight. She held it out toward the
+king. "See! Is it not beautiful?" she exclaimed. She turned to the red
+captain.</p>
+
+<p>"You have done well, indeed, good Oleric," she said quickly. "My king
+shall forgive you for the lost fademe, the losing of which was surely
+no fault of yours. And these&mdash;these be worth many fademes to me." She
+selected two of the pearls of fair size and goodly sheen and gave them
+to Oleric.</p>
+
+<p>"You did venture your life to get them. Perchance some maid of Adlaz
+town shall look on you more kindly for the gift," she said.</p>
+
+<p>Bel-Ar frowned; then he smiled, too.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Raissa has said it. I must agree, I suppose. I forgive you the
+fademe," he said, somewhat dryly, while the lords and ladies laughed.
+"Only sail no more ships at present, captain. Get you to the harbor,
+and there for a space relieve Atlo as captain of the port. I have need
+of him at the Kimbrian Wall, where the robbers of Ruthar have grown
+overbold.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, another matter." The king's brow clouded. "Which of these
+foreigners slew the bull of Shamar? This one surely." He pointed to
+Minos. "Never saw I such a man."</p>
+
+<p>"No, O king, not he," Oleric said. "He is from a far land in the
+southern snow wastes, which was destroyed by the earth-fires. There he
+was the king. The other one, the golden-haired man, it was, who slew
+the bull&mdash;to save a child&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Have done. The reason for the deed avails him not," Bel-Ar broke in.
+"Have him come hither, that I may judge."</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Oleric fetched Polaris Janess into the space before the throne. The son
+of the snows advanced with a firm step and halted directly in front of
+Bel-Ar, where he gazed at the king with steady eyes. Close at his heels
+came the great dog Rombar.</p>
+
+<p>"Why does the man not bow?" inquired Bel-Ar harshly. "Where learned he
+his manners? And how does it come that he is attended by a sacred dog
+of Shamar, that seems ready to do battle for him?"</p>
+
+<p>In truth, Rombar, who feared not kings, was ready for battle. He stood
+at the side of Polaris, his hackles raised and a rumbling challenge in
+his throat.</p>
+
+<p>Bel-Ar regarded the pair of them sternly, though many in his court
+found much to admire in the powerful form and steadfast demeanor of the
+son of the wilderness.</p>
+
+<p>Oleric spoke hastily in English. "Bow, brother; bow to the king; though
+I fear that 'twill not mend matters," he grumbled.</p>
+
+<p>Polaris inclined his head shortly and continued to meet the gaze of the
+angered king. "His bow is grudging enough," said Bel-Ar to the captain;
+"but no matter."</p>
+
+<p>Just then a tall old man in white and flowing robes came forward to
+the left of Bel-Ar's seat. He was lean of face, like an ancient hawk,
+and like a hawk's was his thin, curved beak. His eyes glittered with
+malice. On his breast, done in gold in the garment he wore, was the
+likeness of the rising sun, the insignia of the priests of Shamar.</p>
+
+<p>Well Polaris knew that shape and face. It was the master chuckler that
+had disturbed him the night before.</p>
+
+<p>"This man is marked by Shamar," the priest said in a high, cracked
+voice, and regarding Polaris hatefully. "As for the dog, 'tis sent by
+the god to watch that the man escape not his doom."</p>
+
+<p>"Oleric, hold your peace," said Bel-Ar, as the stout captain was about
+to speak. "And flout not the holy Rhaen, lest it be the worse for
+you. I will judge." The king paused and ran his eyes over the other
+prisoners.</p>
+
+<p>"He that slew the sacred bull, he shall be given over to the servants
+of Shamar, to be done with as the god shall will at the feast of years.
+He that was a king, he shall now serve a greater king. Let him be sent
+to the harbor, where strong backs are always welcome. The other two
+young men shall go into my mines. The old one shall be a scullion in my
+kitchens, as harder work doubtless would kill him.</p>
+
+<p>"Take the two women and the slayer of the bull to the prison and keep
+them fast until Shamar claims them for the feast. The women must die.
+The law commands that no foreign woman, however fair, shall live in
+Maeronica. So may the ancient blood never be tainted. I have judged.
+Let it be so, and so writ down, unless the holy Rhaen, chief servant to
+Shamar, has other claims." Bel-Ar looked inquiringly at the priest.</p>
+
+<p>Now it chanced that Lieutenant Everson, face to face with the man by
+whose decree his ship had perished, had fixed on the king a glance of
+undying hatred. None had noted it except the priest, Rhaen, who saw all
+things. He now asked that the naval man be turned over to the god along
+with Polaris. Bel-Ar nodded his assent.</p>
+
+<p>At a sign from the king, Oleric led Polaris back to his companions.
+The judgment was ended. The guards closed in around the prisoners and
+marched them away.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+
+<h3>"DEAD MEN ARE BEHIND US"</h3>
+
+
+<p>Along the black avenue, back to the prison house of Mordo, the captives
+were marched. For Oleric, through the friendship Brunar bore him, won
+from that captain the half of a day for his friends, that they might
+pass it together before the separation decreed by Bel-Ar.</p>
+
+<p>Understanding little of what had taken place, and no word of what had
+been said in the audience-chamber of the king&mdash;for Oleric the Red was
+their only interpreter&mdash;the prisoners still had the heart to look with
+curiosity upon the doings in that part of Adlaz town which lay along
+the way that they traversed.</p>
+
+<p>As Zenas Wright trudged, his bright old eyes were busy, and he shook
+his white head often at the marvels which he saw. A group of the
+young bloods of Maeronica clattered by on horses. As they passed, the
+old geologist stared and stopped in his tracks, so that an impatient
+soldier of the guard hustled him with the butt of a spear.</p>
+
+<p>"Gold, gold, everywhere," muttered Zenas as he started on. "They even
+shoe their horses with it."</p>
+
+<p>In the hall where they had slept the friends gathered for council.
+Oleric had come in with them, and all eyes were turned to him. Before
+he would speak the captain insisted that meat and wine should be
+brought, and he set his helmet on the floor and ate with them.</p>
+
+<p>Fate willed that it should be the last time that the seven friends
+should sit at the same table.</p>
+
+<p>When the meal was ended, Oleric told simply and briefly of the judgment
+of Bel-Ar, holding back nothing.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment, silence was his answer. Then Zenas Wright brought his
+jaws together with a snap.</p>
+
+<p>"What! Me a scullion in that barbarian's greasy kitchen!" he barked.
+"Why not nursemaid to the royal brats?" Then Zenas groaned as his anger
+was swallowed in the realization of what was to befall the friends he
+whom had come to love so well.</p>
+
+<p>With his topaz eyes ablaze, Polaris Janess sprang up from the table and
+stood over the captain.</p>
+
+<p>"You, Oleric, who call yourself my friend, why did you not interpret
+this to us while we were in the hall yonder?" he asked quietly. "Then
+had this kingdom been kingless." He glanced down at his sinewy hands.
+Suddenly he bent over and snatched the captain's sword from its sheath.
+So he, who had seen so much of fighting, made ready to fight again, and
+for the last time. For what else was left him but to give his life for
+his lady and go to his appointed place?</p>
+
+<p>"Of those who come to take us, some at least shall go a long journey
+with us," he said as he toyed with the heavy blade.</p>
+
+<p>Everson and Brooks, picked men who had sailed the seas for Uncle Sam,
+nodded their heads, saying nothing. There have been traditions in that
+service of which they were officers. When their time came they would
+uphold them.</p>
+
+<p>White and straight, the Lady Memene stood up from the table and fixed
+her glorious eyes upon the Sardanian king. She plucked from the bosom
+of her gown a small, keen dagger, a blade of ilium, which a certain
+Kard the Smith had forged for her in far-away Sardanes. She reached the
+weapon across the table and into the hands of Minos.</p>
+
+<p>"If I understand the words of this man aright, death waiteth," she said
+in the ancient Greek of her native land. "Memene prefers it at thy
+hands, O king of mine. Slay thou me and&mdash;and the unborn king, Minos."
+Her lips trembled pitifully, and her voice broke. Then she became hard
+again, and with a fire in her eyes. "Join thou then with our good
+brother here, and slay, and slay, and slay&mdash;for this is an evil land.
+And begin with this man whom we saved from the sea, and who is evil,
+also. See! He smileth, while we are about to die."</p>
+
+<p>Oleric, who had made no move when his sword was taken from him, sat
+quietly, studying the faces about him and smiling his enigmatical smile.</p>
+
+<p>"What does the lady say?" he asked of Polaris.</p>
+
+<p>Janess told him.</p>
+
+<p>When Rose Emer heard, she threw her arms about the Sardanian princess
+and hid her face in Memene's bosom. Presently she looked up, a mist of
+tears in her gray eyes, but her voice was clear and steady as she said:</p>
+
+<p>"If we are to die, let us die together. Polaris, let me go with Memene."</p>
+
+<p>Oleric's smile vanished. He held up his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Let there be no more talk of dying&mdash;at least not for many long years,"
+he said, and there were both feeling and strength in his tones.</p>
+
+<p>The others looked at him, wondering what his words portended.</p>
+
+<p>"Now the time has come for me to avow myself," continued the red
+captain. "I will speak all that has been in my mind, and you shall
+judge if I be worthy of your trust&mdash;for trust to me you must, if we are
+to see a straight way out of this tangle."</p>
+
+<p>He turned to Polaris.</p>
+
+<p>"My brother," he said, "do you recall that yesterday, when you had
+slain the bull of Shamar, I said to you that Bel-Ar would be as little
+likely to forgive you that deed as to forgive one who confessed himself
+a follower of the Goddess Glorian of Ruthar?"</p>
+
+<p>Polaris nodded. "I remember," he answered, "but understand not."</p>
+
+<p>"That is my crime," said Oleric. "I am of Ruthar, a follower of the
+Goddess Glorian, and a faithful one. I will make clear to you what you
+do not understand. Listen. I will make the tale brief.</p>
+
+<p>"In the long ago, the very long ago&mdash;so long that most of the world
+you know was wilderness and its peoples barbarians&mdash;a mighty people
+flourished on an island in the ocean that you name Atlantic. They
+called themselves the Children of Ad, or Adlaz, after the eldest of the
+ten kings that once ruled in that land. Tradition has it that their
+island was the first cradle of civilization; for they, because of their
+isolation, alone of all the peoples of the earth, dwelt in peace and
+plenty, and were not wasted by wars.</p>
+
+<p>"If the ancient maps were truly drawn, that island of Adlaz lay
+opposite and southward from the straits of a fair sea, and the straits
+were known as the Pillars of Heracles. With time and the growth of
+the nation of Ad came greed upon her children, greed and the love of
+conquest. Great navies carried their armies east and west. Along both
+shores of that blue sea, which you know as Mediterranean, they gained a
+foothold, and made the nations bend to their yoke. Westward they sailed
+to another continent across the ocean, conquering the red men of the
+wildernesses there, and founding provinces and building cities.</p>
+
+<p>"Then in the flower of her pride and conquests, Adlaz was cut down.
+Both sides of the Mediterranean she held as far as the gates of Egypt
+and the islands of the Hellenes. But the nation of the Hellenes was
+the rock on which the fortunes of Adlaz split. A wise and crafty king
+led the Hellenes in battle to withstand the flood of invasion from the
+island empire. He beat their army and nearly destroyed it. He trapped
+the mighty navy that had sailed from Adlaz against the Hellenes. While
+Egypt sat quaking, waiting to bend the neck to the heel of the invader,
+the Hellenes, under their wise leader, turned the tide.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>"Balked and broken, those who had gone forth to conquer returned to
+their island. But the great sea-god whom they worshiped must have been
+sorely angered at their failure. For in one day he arose and swallowed
+their island. The land heaved and split; the mountains were rent, and
+vomited up both fires and waters, and the entire island disappeared
+into the depths of the sea. East and west on the two continents, the
+barbarians rose against the colonies of Adlaz, and they too perished.
+O'Connell, the slave, who was learned, told me that so utterly was the
+race of Adlaz wiped from the earth that naught remains, excepting the
+half-buried ruins of some of their cities, which stand in the jungles
+of the western continent, concerning the very origin of which the minds
+of men are vague. And of the island of Adlaz itself, he told that it
+was only a dim tradition, a myth, the truth of which is doubted even by
+the learned.</p>
+
+<p>"But all of Adlaz did not perish. A part, a small part, of the mighty
+fleet which had sailed against the Hellenes was not lost, but was
+driven southward in the tidal-waves of the inundation which swallowed
+the island.</p>
+
+<p>"Afloat, but with every hand in the world turned against them, their
+colonies crumbling before the wrath of the barbarians, those chiefs of
+Adlaz turned for guidance to the son of one of their princes who was on
+one of the ships. Of his wisdom that prince told them that since they
+were hated of all the world, and that even the hand of the sea-god was
+set against them&mdash;why, they would sail to the end of the world to find
+them an abiding place, until in the fulness of time they should once
+more rule the earth. So they passed like a flame down the coasts of the
+western continent until they reached this place; and here they stopped
+and stayed, maintaining the old traditions of their race, keeping
+themselves apart&mdash;a hateful people, waiting for the day of which their
+leader told them, when they shall once more conquer the world.</p>
+
+<p>"But even in those days they found this land, which is warmed strangely
+by the ocean currents, was inhabited. A free and fearless race of
+barbarians dwelt here, and them the warriors of Adlaz were never able
+to subdue. Great beasts dwelt here, also&mdash;beasts so mighty that the
+earth shook when they walked&mdash;and the Children of Ad found themselves
+beset by troubles in their new land. But they throve. Though they
+could not conquer the barbarians, they drove them from the north of
+the island. And though they could not slay the mighty beasts, they
+affrighted them with fire, burning whole forests, and forced them also
+to the south. At one point the land is narrow, scarcely sixty of your
+English miles across. There the Children of Ad builded them a wall so
+tall and thick that even the beasts might not push it down.</p>
+
+<p>"On the other side of that wall&mdash;the Kimbrian Wall&mdash;lies Ruthar, a land
+of forests and hills and rivers, but a fair land. And there dwell the
+Rutharians and the beasts; and down through all the years to this day
+there has been war across the wall.</p>
+
+<p>"Now to the meat of this tale of mine, which grows long. In Ruthar
+there is a prophecy, also, to match that of those who call themselves
+Maeronicans. It is that there shall come up from the sea a mighty man
+with yellow hair like unto gold, who shall break down the Kimbrian
+Wall and let the beasts pass through, and who shall lead the chiefs
+of Ruthar in a warfare that shall break the power of Adlaz, and cast
+down the hateful kings and the cruel religion of Shamar. For that man
+the Rutharian chieftains always wait, and with them waits the Goddess
+Glorian, who is more than any king or chief."</p>
+
+<p>Oleric paused, and looked long and earnestly into the face of Polaris.</p>
+
+<p>"That is my tale, my brother," he said. "And if you are not the man of
+the ancient prophecy of Ruthar, at least I believe that you will serve."</p>
+
+<p>Breathlessly Zenas Wright had followed the course of the red captain's
+words. The scientist could contain himself no longer.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Atlantis!</i>" he cried. From face to face about the table he looked,
+with a shadow of awe in his eager eyes. "Just so surely as we are
+sitting here&mdash;if this man tells the truth, and I think that he does&mdash;we
+are among the descendants of the people of the lost continent of
+Atlantis. Word for word, his story fits in with that which the old
+Egyptian priest at Sais told to Solon, the Greek, and which Plato
+recorded. I have read it all in the compilation by Ignatius Donnelly,
+in which he gathered all the evidence which he could find in the world
+to prove that Atlantis was not a myth."</p>
+
+<p>Zenas sat back with half-closed eyes. A long, low whistle passed his
+lips.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you call the luminous metal with which your helmet and armor
+are decorated?" he asked of Oleric.</p>
+
+<p>"It is called orichalcum," replied the captain.</p>
+
+<p>Wright nodded. "It is the same," he said. "Plato wrote that such was
+the name of a similar metal, of which the Atlanteans had the secret.
+They delved it from the ground. It was far more precious to them than
+gold. In their temples stood columns of it, on which their laws were
+carved."</p>
+
+<p>"O'Connell told me that there were still traditions in the world of the
+continent that was; but he never told me this," Oleric said. "You are
+right. In the Temple of Shamar, here in Adlaz, such a column stands,
+and on it the laws are writ. On it, too, is the prophecy of Maeronica,
+against which I now match the prophecy of Ruthar, whose son I am."</p>
+
+<p>He looked at Polaris. "Say, brother, how is it with you? Are you minded
+to come with me to Ruthar and try a tilt at the Kimbrian Wall&mdash;a tilt
+for a kingdom?"</p>
+
+<p>Polaris had heard the tale of Oleric with grave and earnest attention,
+studying the face of the captain as he talked. Now the son of the snows
+laughed dryly.</p>
+
+<p>"Mad talk, Oleric the Red," he said. "I am not the hero of your
+prophecy; and if I were, how are we to come from Adlaz to this Ruthar
+of which you tell us so glibly; and when we are come there, if that be
+possible, how are we to break down the wall which has stood against
+your armies for years&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"So it must seem to you," interrupted Oleric, with clouding brow. "Mad
+talk, indeed; and perhaps it is. But here in Adlaz is death&mdash;death and
+slavery. I know a way to Ruthar. For the matter of the wall, I have one
+question to put. Well answered, all will be well.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>"Here in Maeronica there are some few things in which the folk have
+progressed as far ahead of the rest of the world as the world has
+outstripped them in most others. Of these are the fademes and their
+power of destruction&mdash;the mighty force of which even I know can only be
+used beneath the sea. On land, that force is powerless except to use
+as a light. In battle the Maeronicans fight as did their forefathers,
+bearing the arms that you have seen. I know that out in the world men
+have mastered the secret of engines which slay from afar, casting
+globes of metal which fly apart with a loud noise, rending all that is
+near. Such I saw on the ship yonder.</p>
+
+<p>"We have, as you reckon time, nearly six months before the Feast of
+Years, when doom will be meted out to those who are marked for death.
+I know that is not time enough, nor do I think we have the means to
+construct such engines. But, say&mdash;has no one among you the knowledge to
+make the stuff which you feed into them? If there is such a one, why,
+I know in Ruthar a laboratory where he might work, with many willing
+hands to do his bidding. I have tried it myself, but have discovered
+nothing. Surely one of you, who are instructed, shall do better. So
+might we destroy even the great wall."</p>
+
+<p>He paused, and gazed hard at Zenas Wright and then at Lieutenant
+Everson.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>An explosive!</i>" Zenas Wright almost shouted the words. "You have a
+brain in that red head, my boy. With the proper chemicals it might be
+done." He clapped Everson on the shoulder. "With you to help me, it
+might be done. What do you think, lieutenant?"</p>
+
+<p>"I would do most anything to get a chance at this nest of devils," said
+Everson, and his eyes glittered. "I have not trusted this man. I do
+not know that I trust him now. But if he is playing fair, there seems
+no other way. Whatever you decide to do, I am with you, and will do my
+best. If we can find the chemicals, we can make an explosive powerful
+enough to move a few tons of stone, if that will do any good."</p>
+
+<p>"Break you the wall, and I will promise you the rest of the trick,"
+the captain cried, "or Ruthar will die to the last man on the road to
+Adlaz!"</p>
+
+<p>He considered for a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"One man I can surely take with me to Ruthar," he said. "Two will
+double, aye more than double the risk; and three would more than triple
+it. Still, it may be accomplished. I must have a little time; but I
+will do my best.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, my brother, what say you? If I can bring it about so that you and
+the old man here, Father Zenas, and this other, who, though he trust me
+not, I will yet play fair by&mdash;if I can manage it that these go with me
+to Ruthar&mdash;will you come, also?"</p>
+
+<p>"What of these others?" Polaris asked, and looked at Rose Emer.</p>
+
+<p>"Here they must stay," Oleric answered.</p>
+
+<p>"'Twill be hard enough to take the three of you&mdash;and slaying will be
+done before it is accomplished. It is impossible to take more. By the
+way which we shall go, no woman might pass undetected. But I tell you
+they shall come to no harm in your absence. The very law of the land
+protects them. They be marked for the ceremonies of Shamar. Until the
+appointed time, not even the king himself dare harm them. Bethink you,
+brother; this is the only way."</p>
+
+<p>"Yonder on the ship you made a promise, Oleric," replied Polaris. "I
+think you will try to keep it. I trust you. But there are other things
+to consider." He addressed himself to Rose Emer.</p>
+
+<p>"Lady, you have heard this madness, which yet, as says the captain,
+does seem to be the only road save that to death. In such things
+ofttimes the heart of a woman is wiser than the brains of men. Let your
+heart answer. Shall I go to Ruthar, and with this man and his people
+fight my way back to Adlaz, if it may be done?"</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>"The future of this company hangs on your word, lady," put in Oleric.
+"And I make another promise. By day and by night I will not leave the
+side of my brother. If he shall find that in any word I have lied, if
+he shall meet with any treachery through me, then let him wring this
+red head from off my shoulders."</p>
+
+<p>"If we stay here, we must die to-day, or be separated and die later,"
+Rose Emer said with a shudder. "And our friends, if they do not die,
+face a life of slavery." She looked into the face of Polaris, and
+though her lips trembled and the tears started to her gray eyes, she
+said bravely:</p>
+
+<p>"Go to Ruthar, and come back if you can. If you do not come, I will
+know that you have done all that a man can do."</p>
+
+<p>"I will go with you, Oleric," Polaris said simply. "Now, what is your
+plan?"</p>
+
+<p>"This," answered the captain. "When the guards come, as they will
+presently, you, my brother, will go with them to the dungeons that lie
+below this house. Though they are cut in the rock they are lighted well
+and are not terrible. You will not fare badly there. The ladies will be
+quartered above here, and I will exert my influence to see that they
+are treated well. These others will not fare so well; but they are men,
+and can stand it. Let them do as they are bid without protest. Within
+ten days from this day I will plan to have you out of your prison, and
+will contrive, also, to bring with me Father Zenas and the captain
+of the ship. By stealth or by force, we shall seize a marizel, pass
+through the hidden canal from Adlaz to the harbor, thence to the sea
+and down the coast to Ruthar.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall have some aid; for within the walls of Adlaz there is one
+other man of Ruthar who is faithful to me. You may wonder how it is
+that I, who am of Ruthar and hate Adlaz, yet am a captain in the
+service of Bel-Ar. Years ago I passed the Kimbrian Wall, coming as a
+spy and giving it out that I was the son of Maeronican parents taken
+captive in a foray; that I had been born in Ruthar, but had escaped
+into my own country. Here I have stayed at the bidding of the Goddess
+Glorian, ready against the time for which all Ruthar waits. Bel-Ar
+likes men of brains. I have some, and I have risen to be one of his
+captains. Also, I have learned much. That is all my story."</p>
+
+<p>"Who is the Goddess Glorian?" Rose Emer asked. "Is she the queen of
+Ruthar?"</p>
+
+<p>Oleric's eyes widened at the question; but he answered readily enough:</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, lady; she is the queen."</p>
+
+<p>"You say that there are great beasts in Ruthar," said Zenas Wright.
+"What are they&mdash;elephants?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; they are not what you call elephants," replied the captain.
+"O'Connell thought they were until he saw them. Then he gave them
+another name, which I have forgot. He told me of elephants; but they
+must be puny beasts compared to those which dwell in the forests of
+Ruthar. We call them amalocs. This man is a giant." He pointed to
+Minos, who stood six feet eight on his naked feet. "But were he twice
+as tall, he could not look across the back of an amaloc. But they are
+shaped like the elephants of which O'Connell told, and, like them, they
+are tusked. Their bodies are covered with red wool&mdash;almost as red as is
+my own thatch."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Elephas primigenius!</i> Mammoths, no less," said Zenas. And he added
+under his breath, "I will believe that when I see them, my friend."</p>
+
+<p>Low as were his words, Oleric heard them.</p>
+
+<p>"You shall see them, Father Zenas," he said, and laughed.</p>
+
+<p>Presently came the guards, and the friends were separated. Some of them
+were never to be reunited.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Deep in the rock below the old palace of Bel-Tisam, where Mordo ruled,
+the guards led Polaris Janess, and left him there. Oleric had spoken
+truly concerning the place, and the captive might have fared much worse
+in a modern prison in a civilized land. For the place was roomy and
+well ventilated, and, above all, it was clean. A chamber or cell, it
+was, some forty feet square by thirty feet in height. Its outer wall
+was the living rock. On the other three sides was masonry. A circular
+door of bronze, small and of great strength, was its only entrance.</p>
+
+<p>Through that door from the corridor without stepped Polaris, and behind
+him, close as a shadow, padded the huge dog, Rombar, rumbling in his
+throat so that the guards shrank from him. The door clanged shut, and
+the bars and wards clashed into place. The guards had neither bound
+nor chained Polaris. They had not even searched his clothing. The
+thickness of the dungeon walls was their guarantee that he would do no
+mischief; and besides, they went well armed.</p>
+
+<p>Air entered the chamber through mortises in the wall near the ceiling
+and above the ground level, where began the foundation of the
+palace. It was lighted by a single globe, with its enclosed curious
+battery&mdash;mitzl, the Maeronicans called it; but the Americans had
+decided that the source of the light was some new application of
+electricity.</p>
+
+<p>By the light from the globe Polaris saw that he was not alone in the
+cell. A small man, whose features were concealed by a mat of unkempt
+gray hair and a shaggy beard, sat on a low cot in the angle of the wall
+nearest to the door. He was clothed in rags.</p>
+
+<p>This man did not look up when another was thrust in to break his
+solitude, but bent low over something which he had on the cot, swaying
+back and forth as he sat, and crooning softly to himself.</p>
+
+<p>Polaris cast his fellow prisoner a glance, and then fell to pacing
+up and down the length of the cell. His mood was gloomy. Above him
+somewhere through those gray walls dwelt his dear lady; but, ah, how
+far away! For he was powerless now to comfort her or to aid. Oleric
+would keep faith. Of that he was sure; but his heart misgave him
+mightily lest the plans of the captain should go awry.</p>
+
+<p>Yes; above him were Rose and Lady Memene, who through the long weeks of
+their prisonment, each night when they went to rest, would kneel and
+pray for his welfare and that of Minos and the others, and that all
+plans might prevail.</p>
+
+<p>Presently the son of the snows sat himself on a second cot on the far
+side of the chamber, and fell to fondling Rombar and toying with the
+dog's pointed ears.</p>
+
+<p>"Good Rombar," he said. "Good fellow and comrade."</p>
+
+<p>At his words, the man in the corner sprang up from his cot as though
+fire had touched him. He shrieked hoarsely and tottered across the
+floor, moving and clawing at the air with his hands. Unheeding the
+snarling menace of Rombar, he came on until he stood in front of the
+cot where Polaris sat holding the dog back by the collar.</p>
+
+<p>The man bent over, resting his hands on his knees, and peered into
+Polaris's face with darkling, rheumy eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Hinglish!" he croaked, gasping for his breath. "Hinglish! Did Hi 'ear
+a Hinglish word, or was I a-dreamin'? Sye?"</p>
+
+<p>He trembled in a terrible eagerness.</p>
+
+<p>"You did, indeed," Polaris said gently. "Now tell me how you came here,
+who speak it also, and who are you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Gor'bly me; Hi never 'oped to 'ear another Hinglish word in this
+life&mdash;me wot's rottin' 'ere into my grave!" the man said. "Gor'! Gor'!"
+He subsided into a tattered heap on the floor of the cell, covered his
+eyes with his shaking, grimy hands, and sobbed hysterically.</p>
+
+<p>Restraining the dog, which would have sprung upon the weeping man,
+Polaris leaned forward and patted the poor fellow on the shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"Who are you, and how do you come to be in a Maeronican dungeon?" he
+asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Jack Melton's me nyme, sir," the man said brokenly. "Hi'm from old
+Lunnon, Gor' bless 'er! Hi was cook on the ship <i>Aldine</i>, sir, from
+'Ong-Kong to Durban, round the Cape. We got off our course, and the
+bloody devils sunk us&mdash;skewered us like a mutton shank, sir, with a
+streak of light. An' w'y in 'ell they did it, sir, is more than Hi can
+tell.</p>
+
+<p>"Hi floated free on a cask&mdash;a biscuit cask, sir. Or mayhap it was a
+'encoop; Hi've forgot, Hi was that flustered. Hup bobs a bloomin' big
+gold ball from the sea&mdash;it's Gord's truth. They took me aboard, an'
+they brought me ashore. They sets me to work in their mines; but Hi'd
+not do a stroke for them, sir. Hi near killed one of the bosses. Then
+they brought me here, sir. Oh, Gor'! Oh, Gor'-a-me!"</p>
+
+<p>He broke out weeping afresh and rocked himself back and forth.</p>
+
+<p>"How long have you been here?" questioned Polaris.</p>
+
+<p>"That Hi can't tell, sir," Melton replied. "Hi used to keep count of
+the weeks an' months; but Hi lost it. Mayhap 'alf a year; mayhap a
+year."</p>
+
+<p>Melton fell silent for a time. Then he chuckled to himself and tottered
+to his feet.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Hi'll</i> get even with 'em, sir," he said. "Never fear; <i>Hi'll</i> get
+even. Come an' see, sir."</p>
+
+<p>He took Polaris by the hand and led him across the floor to the other
+cot. "Look!" he said, and fumbled back the ragged covers.</p>
+
+<p>Beady black eyes glistened among the rags. A sharp and whiskered gray
+snout was thrust forth, twitching and sniffing; then another and
+another. A mother rat and two half-grown young ones were hidden in
+Melton's bed. Out they crept to their master's coaxing, only to scurry
+back, squeaking, when Rombar thrust his head from behind Polaris,
+whining with eagerness to be at them.</p>
+
+<p>"Keep the tyke back, sir," said Melton. "'E frights 'em. This 'ere's
+'Enrietta, an' 'ere's Bobby an' Bill. 'Enrietta's an old fool, an'
+Bobby's no better; but Bill, 'e's a wonner, sir. See!"</p>
+
+<p>From his breast he took a splinter of wood, to which was attached a bit
+of frayed red rag, on which he had rudely drawn in black the lines of
+the Union Jack. He placed one of the young rats on his palm, and laid
+the sliver with its frayed shred of bunting in front of the little
+animal. Softly he began to whistle the bars of "God Save the King."</p>
+
+<p>"Come, Bill; 'urry," he said, and resumed his low whistling. The rat
+took up the flag in its teeth and sat on its haunches in its master's
+hand. As long as the whistling continued the little beast shook its
+head vigorously, waving the tiny emblem. When Melton ceased the anthem,
+Bill let fall the flag and swarmed, squeaking, down the man's arm, to
+nestle away among the rags at his breast.</p>
+
+<p>"Gor'bly me, Bill, you're a wonner!" Melton said with pride. He placed
+his strange pet back with the others and pulled the coverlet over them.</p>
+
+<p>"Listen. Hi'll tell you wot no man knows," he whispered to Janess.
+"They're hoff a plyge-ship. 'Enrietta an' Bobby an' Bill is. They
+carried it to us from a bloomin' junk at 'Ong-Kong. The cap'n was
+dyin' of it in 'is cabin when the ship went down, sir. And Hi'm
+a-nursin' of 'em along, sir. Hi saved 'Enrietta, and she became a
+mother, sir. When there's enough of them, Hi shall loose them, sir.
+That's 'ow Hi'll get even. Gor'bly me! Hi'll kill hevery beggar in this
+land with the plyge. 'Enrietta an' Bobby an' Bill will do it, sir."</p>
+
+<p>Melton sat down on his cot again, and crooned to himself over his pets.
+He seemed to forget the presence of Janess. Neither then or afterward
+did he ask Polaris any questions as to how he came to share his prison.
+Polaris drew away from him and went back to his own side of the cell.
+He saw that the man was mad.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Twice each day one of Mordo's guards brought the captives their
+meals&mdash;bread and meat and water in generous measure, enough for the men
+and the dog. Melton from his rations fed his whiskered family.</p>
+
+<p>With his pocket-knife and a bit of wood from the frame of his cot, the
+son of the snows made shift to keep track of the passing of the days,
+cutting a nick in the wood for each. "God send that they be not many
+before the coming of Oleric," he prayed fervently.</p>
+
+<p>One night he was startled from his sleep by an uproar in the chamber.
+Melton's cursing and shrieking was intermingled with the angry snarls
+of Rombar. Polaris sprang up and threw off the cloth with which he was
+wont to darken the mitzl globe when he slept.</p>
+
+<p>Melton was crouched in the middle of the cell. His face was livid and
+contorted. Tears of rage were on his cheeks, and his breath was coming
+in gasps. His lips were writhed away from his ragged teeth. In front
+of him, tensed and ready to spring, was Rombar. On the floor, where it
+had dropped from the dog's jaws, lay a little bundle of gray fur, still
+twitching feebly.</p>
+
+<p>Before the impending grapple, Polaris bounded between them and jerked
+the dog back by the collar.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?" he cried. "What ails you, Melton?"</p>
+
+<p>Then Janess saw the maimed little fragment of life on the floor, and
+his face saddened.</p>
+
+<p>"'Fore Gord, 'e's murdered my 'Enrietta!" howled Melton. "The tyke's
+murdered 'er, Hi sye! And Hi'll kill 'im, Hi will&mdash;and you, too, if you
+tries to stop me! And you, too, Hi says!"</p>
+
+<p>He staggered toward Janess and lunged out with his right hand.
+Something glistened in the light as he struck. Polaris avoided the
+blow, and caught and wrenched the outstretched arm. A slender bar of
+iron fell tinkling to the floor. Janess picked it up. Where it had come
+from he did not know; but Melton, by patient rubbing against the stones
+of the wall, had ground it to a needle point.</p>
+
+<p>"Let me at 'im!" the crazed man shrieked. "Hi'll tear 'im with me bare
+'ands!"</p>
+
+<p>Polaris pushed him back.</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry, very sorry, for what he has done," he said. "But he is my
+good friend, and I shall not let him come to harm. He did but follow
+the instincts of his nature."</p>
+
+<p>Melton stared at him for a moment, and then, weeping and cursing,
+retired to his cot. Far into the night Polaris heard him moaning and
+mumbling to himself, and pitied him.</p>
+
+<p>Janess hid the weapon under his own pillow. Then with strips of his
+bedding he wove a stout cord, and thereafter when he slept he tied
+Rombar fast to a leg of the bed.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Days passed away&mdash;ten days, eleven, twelve, and still another. And yet
+there was no sign of Oleric. Polaris's stout heart sank.</p>
+
+<p>In the dark hours of the fourteenth day he awoke. He heard the grating
+of bronze hinges. At the side of his bed, Rombar growled softly.
+Polaris snatched the hood from the light.</p>
+
+<p>The door of bronze was open. The mitzl rays shone on the tall form of
+a man in golden armor.</p>
+
+<p>Oleric had come!</p>
+
+<p>"I am late at my tryst," whispered the red captain, "but I could not
+manage it sooner. Now we must haste, or 'twill be too late forever."
+He grinned. "I see your beard has grown somewhat," he said. "Perchance
+those bristles shall serve well. You are an ill man to disguise. Who is
+here?" he asked as he caught sight for the first time of Melton, who
+had not awakened.</p>
+
+<p>"A poor crazed English sailor," Polaris answered. He crossed the
+chamber, with Rombar at his heels; for he had stopped to undo the rope.</p>
+
+<p>"What? The brute, too?" groaned Oleric.</p>
+
+<p>"I fear we must," Polaris said. "If I leave him, he will rouse the
+prison with his howling, and I will not slay him. He has been too good
+a friend. Can we not manage to take him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Aye; bring him," grumbled the captain. "First fetch yonder light."</p>
+
+<p>Janess took down the globe. As he swung it toward Oleric, he saw that
+the hands of the captain were splashed red with blood. Oleric noted his
+glance.</p>
+
+<p>"Dead men are behind us," he said. "Thrice to-night have I used my
+sword&mdash;once at the mines, where I got Everson, and twice above. Two of
+the men of Mordo will turn no more prison keys. Come!"</p>
+
+<p>He stepped cautiously out through the door.</p>
+
+<p>Polaris glanced across to where the mad Cockney lay breathing heavily.</p>
+
+<p>"Some day, if it be given me, I will open this door again and set you
+free, John Melton," he whispered.</p>
+
+<p>He stooped and went out through the doorway, and Rombar followed.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Outside the door of the dungeon-chamber Polaris stumbled over the form
+of a tall man in armor, who lay with his face to the floor.</p>
+
+<p>"More death?" Janess asked of Oleric, who busied himself with the bolts
+of the bronze door.</p>
+
+<p>"Not so," said the captain with a chuckle, as he shot the last bar home
+in its socket. "Only the death that good wines bring. He has the best
+part of seven bottles in his skin."</p>
+
+<p>He looked up at Polaris apologetically.</p>
+
+<p>"Bel-Ar would flay him for this night's work, did he find him," he
+said. "You say the dog has been a good friend to you. Well, this man
+Mordo, with all his glum ways, is a good fellow. I will not leave my
+old drinking companion to the mercy of Bel-Ar."</p>
+
+<p>Without answer, Polaris handed the light to Oleric, and stooped and
+swung the limp figure of Mordo to his shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>Oleric glanced at the keys in his hand and then at the door.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll not turn the locks," he said. "I would not have the poor slave
+within starve while they made new keys."</p>
+
+<p>He led the way along the corridor, past a broad stone stairway, to the
+south wall of the old palace, where it fronted on the black avenue
+called Chedar's Flight. There in the wall were other doors of bronze.
+Oleric paused before one of them.</p>
+
+<p>"Will I ever enter Mordo's wine-cellars again, I wonder?" he said. He
+found the key and opened the heavy door. Within, the light disclosed
+rack after rack, seemingly without end, of dust-covered flagons. They
+threaded their way among them until Oleric found what he sought. In
+the stone floor of the chamber in a far corner was a round trap-door
+of bronze. The captain had to tug one of the wine-racks to one side to
+disclose it.</p>
+
+<p>"Lay Mordo down, comrade, and help," he said, when his utmost strength
+had failed to stir the door.</p>
+
+<p>Polaris, still balancing his burden on his shoulder, bent down and
+caught the ancient ring of the door in one hand. Before Oleric could
+lay hold to help him he straightened, the mighty muscles of his back
+cracking with the effort. The door was open.</p>
+
+<p>The trap yawned on a dark stairway leading down through the rock. Far
+below sounded the plashing of waters. "Mind where you set your feet,"
+warned Oleric as he started down.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are Everson and the old man?" asked Polaris.</p>
+
+<p>"They wait us below in the hidden canal&mdash;they and one other," replied
+the captain. "They entered by another way, while I was busied in the
+house of Mordo."</p>
+
+<p>Oleric closed the trap and left the keys on the stair-top. Down fully
+threescore steps they went, and stood on a wharf of stone at the edge
+of a narrow canal that had been cut in the rock. Overhead, the roof was
+arched and vaulted. At the lip of the wharf was moored a small marizel,
+the golden plates of which caught the rays of the lamplike fire.</p>
+
+<p>"All the way from the Temple of the Sun to the harbor of Adlaz this
+canal leads, cut through the rock underneath Chedar's Flight," said
+Oleric. He stepped on the rear deck of the little craft and struck
+softly on its door, which was opened at once. A short man of middle
+age came onto the deck. He was clothed in the garb of a sailor. As the
+light fell on him, Polaris saw that his hair was almost as red as that
+of Oleric.</p>
+
+<p>"Now here is another good man of Ruthar," said the captain. And to the
+man he said, "Urk, this is the man whereof I have told you." From head
+to foot, Urk gave the son of the snows a long and searching glance.
+Then he folded his arms on his breast and bowed low.</p>
+
+<p>With Mordo on his shoulder, Polaris stepped onto the deck and through
+the door, followed by Rombar.</p>
+
+<p>Oleric closed the double doors of the craft, and Urk, who was skilled
+about the engines, at once got her under way. Submerged and showing no
+light, they crept cautiously down the canal toward the sea.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>In the cabin of the marizel were Everson and Wright&mdash;though Polaris had
+to look twice and then again to recognize the geologist. Zenas wore the
+mean black of a servant in the king's kitchens. His white hair had been
+bobbed and his beard shaved from him. But his little black eyes were as
+bright and restless as ever, and his voice was hearty as he wrung the
+hand of Polaris and said:</p>
+
+<p>"Lordy, son, but it's good to see you."</p>
+
+<p>Everson, who had discarded the dirty garments of a delver in the earth
+for the full golden armor of a Maeronican captain, caught Polaris's
+hand as Zenas relinquished it.</p>
+
+<p>"Our work has begun," he said, "and begun well. I shall distrust this
+man no more." He pointed to Oleric. "He has kept his promise in blood.
+He released me to-night, and he killed a man to do it."</p>
+
+<p>As they neared the harbor, Oleric explained that they would be forced
+to leave the marizel in the canal and cross the open court of the
+harbor to the wharves.</p>
+
+<p>"Else we must undergo inspection by the guards at the mouth of the
+canal," he said. "There is a gate there, and no marizel may pass
+without inspection. My lucky star it was that made Bel-Ar name me
+captain of the port in Atlo's stead. But even I could not pass you
+through the guards. Their eyes are keen, and one of us at least is a
+marked man in Adlaz." He glanced at Polaris. "There be too many of
+them to slay," he added. "I would have fitted you out with a suit of
+mail, brother; but there is none in Maeronica of a size to cover those
+shoulders of yours&mdash;unless it be that of Bel-Ar, which I could not well
+borrow."</p>
+
+<p>"When we leave this craft, what then, Oleric?" Polaris asked.</p>
+
+<p>"I have another waiting at the end of the southern quay," replied
+Oleric. "Urk knows the harbor as he knows the palm of his hand. Once
+through the outer channel, then down the coast to Ruthar."</p>
+
+<p>They left the marizel moored in the canal and went up through a passage
+in the rock to where a door led into the great arched tunnel above,
+where Chedar's Flight ended at the harbor of Adlaz town. Now there was
+only the crossing of the wharf and all would be well.</p>
+
+<p>But hark! As Oleric laid his hand on the door of the passage, came the
+thunder of hoofs through the tunnel, and a steel rider on a white horse
+flashed past and clattered across the court to the warehouses. He rode
+furiously, and as he neared the quays he cried out.</p>
+
+<p>Oleric tore the door open.</p>
+
+<p>"Our work behind there is overtaking us!" he cried. "We must run for
+it!"</p>
+
+<p>Polaris shifted Mordo's weight from his shoulder to his arms and
+bounded across the pavement at the heels of the captain. Behind came
+Wright, Everson, and Oleric's Rutharian henchman. Rombar leaped at the
+side of Polaris.</p>
+
+<p>Lights flashed ahead of them as they ran. When they neared the south
+quay, they saw that the way to it was barred by a thin line of men in
+steel, among whom glittered the golden armor of the captain of the
+canal guard.</p>
+
+<p>Casting a glance over his shoulder as he ran, to note the disposal of
+his own party, Oleric drew his sword and charged the line. The guard
+captain leaped out to meet him, shield up and sword aloft. Him Oleric
+cut down with a single stroke, laughing as he struck. In another
+instant Everson's blade was out and busy. His cutlass exercises at
+old Annapolis stood him well. The line of steel gave. The other three
+fugitives, running together, dashed through and gained the quay. But
+behind them came many men.</p>
+
+<p>Polaris laid Mordo on the wharf and looked about him for a weapon.
+The door of the nearest warehouse was made fast with a bar of bronze
+or steel, nearly eight feet in length. Janess tore it from its rests.
+At the end of the quay he saw the marizel of Oleric riding in its
+moorings, and saw that Urk had clambered aboard it and was making all
+ready to cast off.</p>
+
+<p>Whirling his ponderous weapon, which was a weight to tax the strength
+of an ordinary man to lift from the ground, Polaris rushed into the
+thick of the press, where the red captain and the naval lieutenant
+fought side by side.</p>
+
+<p>"Get you to the boat!" he shouted. "When all is ready, whistle that I
+may know."</p>
+
+<p><i>Clang!</i> The metal bar fell, and three men in steel went down under its
+sweep. With the agility of a panther, the son of the snows leaped and
+struck again. At his side black Rombar raged like a demon. Before those
+terrible blows no man, however well begirt in steel, could stand and
+live.</p>
+
+<p>The Maeronican fighting men drew back, aghast. The way to the wharf was
+clear.</p>
+
+<p>Laughing aloud, Oleric drew out of the fight and ran along the wharf to
+the marizel. Everson paused at the side of Polaris.</p>
+
+<p>"Best go on," Janess told him. "I shall need no aid. Or, if you stay,
+stand to one side a bit. I have need for much room."</p>
+
+<p>Once more the Maeronican men-at-arms closed in. Polaris, with his bar,
+charged them, shouting; for his blood was up. They should take him back
+to no dungeon when his freedom beckoned so near. Two more armored men
+fell, their mail cracking like egg-shell under the clanging flail that
+opposed them. Another went down under the murderous jaws of Rombar who
+fought at his master's thigh.</p>
+
+<p>Loud and clear then sounded the whistle of Oleric. Hurling the bar in
+the faces of the bewildered men of the guard, the son of the snows ran
+to the end of the wharf and sprang to the deck of the marizel. Everson
+entered the door just ahead of him. Oleric and Urk already had stowed
+Mordo within the vessel and cut loose the mooring ropes.</p>
+
+<p>As he paused for an instant on the rear deck to call the great dog to
+him, Polaris saw a giant figure come from one of the stone warehouses
+and run out to the end of the next quay. In the dusk, and at that
+distance, he yet was able to recognize Minos.</p>
+
+<p>"It is I, Polaris!" Janess shouted. "We leave for Ruthar, if we may win
+through. Farewell for a space, until we come again."</p>
+
+<p>Back came the deep voice of the king in answer:</p>
+
+<p>"Fare thee well, my brother!" he cried in the ancient Greek of
+Sardanes. "May the high God guide thy footsteps."</p>
+
+<p>Many a time in after years did the son of the snows recall to mind
+that scene: the great, circular basin of the harbor of Adlaz, dim under
+the light from the stars; the glittering fademes that were riding at
+anchor; the twinkling of mitzl globes along the wharves, where men
+ran to and fro; the court and its huge, black archway; the armored
+men of the guard coming on across the wharf; and the tall form of the
+Sardanian king standing at the end of the quay and waving farewell.</p>
+
+<p>Reenforcements had come to the Maeronican guards, and they rushed
+the quay. But Urk had his engine going. The marizel shot out into
+the harbor. In a moment more the little craft had dived beneath the
+surface. Like an arrow, it clove through the under water. Crafty
+steersman was Urk. Through the harbor he drove the marizel in safety,
+and through the tunnel to the sea, meeting no incoming danger. Once out
+of the channel, he turned the nose of the craft southward, down the
+coast toward Ruthar.</p>
+
+<p>Miles away, amid the dim Rutharian forests, fierce-eyed men gripped
+their sword-hilts firmer, and prayed to their stars and their goddess
+for the safe making of that journey and the glory of the war that
+was to come. For word had come to Ruthar&mdash;over the Kimbrian Wall it
+had come&mdash;that Oleric the Red had turned his face toward home again,
+bringing with him the man for whom a nation waited.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2>CHAPTER V</h2>
+
+<h3>WHERE THE ILLIA MEETS THE SEA</h3>
+
+
+<p>In the watches of the night arose a great clamor and outcry in the old
+palace of Bel-Tisam. So loud was the din that it aroused Rose Emer and
+the Lady Memene from their slumbers in the chamber off the ancient hall
+where they were quartered. In the outer corridors they heard the clang
+of feet of armored men and their hoarse shouts as they called to one
+another. This grew faint and passed away, and then swelled loud and
+near again, as of men who had penetrated into the lower dungeons of the
+prison and returned.</p>
+
+<p>Sitting up in their bed and holding each other by the hand for comfort,
+the two women were afraid for what might have happened.</p>
+
+<p>"Something untoward is on foot," said Memene. "Perhaps this is the
+night chosen by the red man from the sea" (for so she called Oleric)
+"to go forth as he did promise, although it is past the time he set
+for his going."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think that they have discovered the plan, and that
+he&mdash;Polaris&mdash;is taken again? I pray to God that is not so," whispered
+Rose.</p>
+
+<p>"Something has greatly stirred the guards," Memene replied. "But I do
+not think that the mighty man of the wilderness and his red friend are
+taken. Those shouts we heard but now were those of disappointed men."</p>
+
+<p>As the uproar continued through the rooms of the old prison, Rose and
+Memene arose and donned their garments. Sleep, for that night, had fled
+them.</p>
+
+<p>Presently they heard, but faint and muffled through the intervening
+walls, the clatter of hoofs on the pavement of the black avenue as a
+horse passed by, ridden at furious speed.</p>
+
+<p>A little later the door from the corridor outside the hall of audience
+was opened, and through it came that captain of the palace-guard who
+was named Brunar. From Oleric, the captain had learned a few words
+of the English tongue, and he now made shift with them to tell the
+two fair prisoners that Polaris and Oleric, and likewise the captain,
+Mordo, had gone. The escape of Zenas Wright and Everson had not been
+discovered as yet. Two dead guards in the rooms of Mordo, and the
+absence of the marizel from its moorings in the hidden canal near the
+Temple of the Sun, accounted for part of the story. A rider on the
+fleetest horse in the stables of Bel-Ar, said Brunar, had been sent to
+the harbor to warn the guards there, so they might trap the fugitives.</p>
+
+<p>From the manner in which his news was received, the captain was able
+to guess that Rose and Memene knew something of what was on foot. But
+this Brunar was a very courteous man, and he forbore to question them
+closely, if indeed he had enough English to do so. In the morning he
+came again, and told them of the fight at the harbor and the sailing
+of the marizel; for Brunar now took up his abode in the palace of
+Bel-Tisam and looked after the duties of Mordo. His two wards found
+him a kindly jailer, and as indulgent as circumstances would permit
+him to be, who could not set them free. Brunar was angry indeed at the
+supposed treachery of Oleric and of Mordo, not knowing that the one was
+a spy of Ruthar and that the other had had no will in the manner of his
+going forth from Adlaz.</p>
+
+<p>Report was made later in the day of the escape of Everson from the
+mines, and of Zenas Wright from the household of the king, and men
+marveled at the daring of the deed and the craft of it. But the two
+women in their prison, or Ensign Brooks in the mines, or Minos at the
+harbor, got no more news of the fugitives for many a long day.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>With Urk, the sailor, squatting among the levers of his engine, the
+marizel of Oleric swam steadily and swiftly down the western coast of
+Maeronica. Under water she went, well off from the shore and showing no
+lights. Oleric showed his passengers the marvelous valves in the sides
+of the little vessel which were similar in construction to the mask
+with which they already were familiar, and by means of which the air in
+the marizel was replenished with oxygen drawn from the sea water.</p>
+
+<p>Also, he told them somewhat of the land to which they were journeying,
+explaining why it was that Ruthar, though smaller and more sparsely
+populated by far than Maeronica, had never been conquered by the larger
+power. It was a land of forests and mountains, he said, and all the
+way around its ragged coastline were huge, precipitous cliffs, the
+overhanging crags of which were a natural barrier to invasion. Wherever
+had been a break in the cliff-line, the Rutharians, by dint of great
+labors, had filled the breaks with walls, closing the gaps so that the
+only places where one might land on Ruthar from the sea were certain
+spots where narrow stretches of beach lay at the foot of the towering
+cliffs.</p>
+
+<p>At only one point could one come at the interior of the country from
+the sea, Oleric said, and that was at the mouth of a river named Illia.
+That place was closely guarded, and nature and the hand of man had
+united to make of it a way where one man might defy a thousand.</p>
+
+<p>Years before, the red captain said, the Rutharians had had a few small
+ships. But they had little use for them, and with the perfection of
+the fademes by the Maeronicans, nearly a century before, the Rutharian
+vessels had been promptly sent to the bottom. Metals were easily mined,
+and in abundance, especially gold, in Maeronica. But the materials
+which produced the power for the fademes and for their terrible
+destroyers were scarce and precious. Therefore, the growth of the navy
+of Adlaz had been slow.</p>
+
+<p>But with the fulfillment of the mighty destiny of the Children of Ad
+in mind, the scientists labored unceasingly, and it was in the mind
+of Bel-Ar that he was to be the man to see the accomplishment of that
+destiny. He waited but the equipment of a few more fademes to send
+his dreadful messengers forth to take and hold all the seas on earth,
+compelling the nations of the world to bow to the power of Adlaz, as
+tradition told him they once had bowed before.</p>
+
+<p>"Now Ruthar, if her stars shine brightly, shall put a big stone before
+his chariot-wheels and break his power," Oleric said, "repaying evil
+with evil until good come of it, and the Goddess Glorian reigns from
+the capes at the north to the southern seas. And in that I pray that
+my part shall not be small." With a laugh he added, "This is a strange
+game for me to play&mdash;Oleric the Red, loose-mouthed soldier and slayer
+of men&mdash;who in Ruthar am known as Oleric the learned, a professor in
+the University of Nematzin, which is hard by the hill of Flomos, on the
+banks of the river Illia."</p>
+
+<p>"And this Goddess Glorian&mdash;" asked Zenas Wright curiously. "Is she a
+statue in a temple, or the good star of Ruthar, or is she merely a
+name?"</p>
+
+<p>For once the readiness in answer of the red captain deserted him, and
+he stared at the geologist with open mouth. Then he said soberly:</p>
+
+<p>"No statue in a temple is the Goddess Glorian. Good star of Ruthar she
+is surely, and, in addition, she is the fairest woman on whom Shamar
+ever had looked down from the skies. And now her time comes on, for
+which she has waited many a hun&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Oleric broke off suddenly and turned his eyes on Polaris with a strange
+look.</p>
+
+<p>"Nay," he said; "for the rest you must learn from the goddess herself.
+My tongue does clack like a shepherd-wife's." Nor would he then or
+thereafter tell more of Ruthar and its goddess.</p>
+
+<p>Zenas Wright mused to himself, and the train of his musings ran thus:
+"Oleric, you seem to keep your promises, and you are a good fighter,
+for I have seen you fight. But when it comes to your tales of living
+mammoths in this twentieth century, and of a goddess in the shape of
+a woman who has <i>waited many a hundred years</i>&mdash;for that was what you
+almost said, my friend&mdash;why, then, I can't follow you; and I think you
+like to draw the long bow."</p>
+
+<p>Swiftly as the marizel traveled, that night wore into dawn, and day and
+darkness came, and still another dawning, ere Urk turned off his power
+and filled the air-chambers which raised the vessel to the surface of
+the sea. They had rounded the southern coast of Ruthar and beat up
+along the eastern shores, and here, as they arose from the depths,
+straight ahead of them lay the mouth of the river Illia. When the
+voyagers saw it, they did not wonder that Adlaz found little fortune in
+attacking Ruthar by sea.</p>
+
+<p>An irregular fissure in the frowning face of the cliff discharged the
+river into the sea. That rift was nearly thirty yards wide at its
+bottom, and narrowed almost to nothingness far above, where the red
+granite of the headlands towered many hundreds of feet in height. Down
+the glen in the fissure the river Illia tripped to the sea like a lady
+down a stately stairway. For the rock of the river-bed was shelving,
+in strata which varied from less than a foot to nearly three feet in
+height, and some of the shelves were as much as ten yards in breadth;
+so that the water came down that great natural stair in a series of
+broad cascades.</p>
+
+<p>"Up yonder stairway lies the path into Ruthar," Oleric said, pointing,
+as they stood on the deck of the marizel, and Urk laid the vessel as
+near to the shelving bank below the river-mouth as he could. "Here we
+must leave the marizel, and to the kindness of the waves; for there is
+no harbor in which to store her."</p>
+
+<p>Oleric clambered from the deck and stood up to his knees on the
+lowermost step of the Illia's wide stairway. The others followed, Urk
+last of all, haling before him the captain, Mordo, with his hands bound.</p>
+
+<p>For Mordo had proved an unruly passenger. When the fumes of the wine
+cleared from his brain, which was not for many hours, he had so cursed
+and raged at Oleric, forswearing all friendship that had been between
+them, that the Rutharian had lost his temper. He told Mordo roundly
+that he wished that he had left him to the mercy of Bel-Ar and the
+priests of Shamar.</p>
+
+<p>"Better that than the company of a traitorous hound," growled Mordo out
+of a soul in which no gratitude dwelt. Oleric deemed that it was best
+to bind him, lest he do mischief.</p>
+
+<p>Ascent of the river-stair was not difficult at first, for the steps
+were broad, and at that season of the year the volume of water coming
+down them was not so strong but that a man might keep his footing if he
+used care.</p>
+
+<p>Hardly were the climbers well within the shadow of the glen when there
+arose from the foot of the stair a mighty shouting and splashing.
+Oleric spun round with a curse on his lips.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Quickly as they had come from Adlaz town, their destination had been
+guessed, and others had come almost as quickly. As the fugitives
+turned, they saw a Maeronican fademe swing alongside the lowermost step
+of the ascent, her fore and after decks crowded with men, who swarmed
+off her onto the rock and ran up the stairway. Foremost among them,
+gorgeous in his golden armor, was the Captain Daelo, and he matched the
+curse of Oleric with another as he shook his gauntleted fist at his
+enemy.</p>
+
+<p>"Haste! Haste!" Oleric cried, then pursed his lips and sent a long
+whistle skirling up the glen. As he did so he lost his footing, clawed
+wildly at the air and the rocks, and went down.</p>
+
+<p>Though the push of the down-rushing waters of the Illia was not strong
+enough to sweep a man from his feet if he were cautious, it was yet
+of sufficient power to keep him going once he fell. From shelf to
+shelf down the great stairway Oleric went, his armor clanging. More
+than that, he swept Mordo and the sturdy Urk from their footing, also;
+and all three of them slid straight into the hands of Daelo's men,
+outstretched to receive them.</p>
+
+<p>As the soldiers seized Oleric and stood him upright, he wrenched free
+one arm and waved it at his companion.</p>
+
+<p>"Tarry not for me!" he shouted. "Go on! There be friends waiting at the
+top&mdash;" A soldier smote him on the mouth and silenced him.</p>
+
+<p>On the step where he stood Polaris halted. He bent, and with his strong
+fingers snapped the strings of his shoes and removed them&mdash;for he still
+wore his own clothing in which he had been dragged from the sea. With
+his feet bared, he had a better grip on the slippery rock. He snatched
+the sword of Everson from its sheath and went down the river-path, all
+unarmored as he was, to meet the swordsmen of Daelo. On they clambered,
+cursing and shouting; but the way was difficult for their mailed feet,
+and the son of the snows leaped down at them like an avalanche. With
+him, breast-deep in the current, went Rombar.</p>
+
+<p>First man to meet the descending danger was Daelo, and he paid the
+penalty of his temerity with his life. Polaris, striking from above,
+smote him from his foothold, a blow that shore away half of his golden
+helm and split the skull within it, and the Captain Daelo pitched
+backward into the sea.</p>
+
+<p>Another bound and a stroke so bitter that it hewed off the arm of a
+steel-clad soldier, severing it between wrist and elbow, and the son of
+the snows had freed Oleric from the hands that held him. Straightway
+the red captain drew sword and took up the tale. Daelo's men, of whom
+there were nearly a score, faltered, staggering and slipping on the
+rocky shelves. Almost their courage was broken, when Polaris caught
+his naked foot in a crevice in the rock and tripped. Before he could
+recover, a heavy sword-blade fell upon his unprotected head from
+behind. He let fall his own blade and sank to his knees and then to his
+face on the steps of Illia.</p>
+
+<p>Short-lived was the triumph of the Maeronicans. The cry of exultation
+which greeted the fall of their dreaded enemy was turned into a howl of
+dismay as half a hundred fierce-eyed fighting men of Ruthar poured down
+the glen, waving their bared swords and shouting:</p>
+
+<p>"For the Goddess Glorian! Slay the Maeronican dogs!"</p>
+
+<p>That tide overwhelmed the company of Daelo to the last man, and with
+them died black Mordo. Less by one more fademe was the navy of King
+Bel-Ar.</p>
+
+<p>When the warriors of the forests turned up the stair once more, they
+found Oleric kneeling in the water, supporting Polaris's head on his
+arm, while old Zenas and Everson bound with strips torn from their
+clothing the gaping wound which the sword-blade had left at the back of
+his head. Beside the group, Rombar, standing nearly to his neck in the
+wash of the river, lifted up his head and howled dolefully.</p>
+
+<p>Six strong men took up the limp form of the fair-haired giant and bore
+it away up the river staircase.</p>
+
+<p>So Polaris came at last to Ruthar.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Up the rocky shelves of Illia the Rutharians trudged and splashed, the
+chasm becoming ever narrower and more gloomy. With the narrowing of the
+rift, the water became deeper and its current stronger. Then one of the
+party uncoiled a long rope from his shoulder, and the party marched on
+in single file, each clinging to the rope like Alpine climbers.</p>
+
+<p>Oleric urged haste and more haste.</p>
+
+<p>Presently the water was too deep for Rombar, and the current set so
+strongly that the dog could not swim against it. At an order from
+Oleric, two Rutharian hunters seized the brute by the collar, and
+though one of them got a gashed hand for his pains, they bound Rombar's
+jaws and feet with ropes and carried him on their shoulders&mdash;a task
+which neither they nor Rombar found pleasant.</p>
+
+<p>At a point in the ascent where further progress against the deepening
+stream was impossible, the party left the bed of the river and
+clambered to the right, where a flight of steep and narrow steps had
+been cut in the rock along a fissure which branched from the main
+gorge. Up nearly two hundred of those steps they toiled, until Zenas
+Wright and Everson, unused to such exertions, nearly fainted with
+exhaustion. At the top of the stairs they emerged into a forest of tall
+trees, oak and pine and chestnut, which grew almost to the edge of the
+cliffs.</p>
+
+<p>No sooner had he stepped from the rock stairway than Oleric knelt and
+kissed the black earth.</p>
+
+<p>"This, my friends, is Ruthar," he said as he arose and faced the two
+Americans.</p>
+
+<p>From among the trees came a tall, white-bearded chieftain, who was
+armored from head to heel in a wonderful suit of chain mail, links of
+steel that shone like silver. At his back swung a two-handed sword
+which was nearly the length of a man.</p>
+
+<p>He advanced to Oleric and laid his hands on the captain's shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>"You are Oleric the Red, and no other," he said. "Well do I remember
+you. Once I was your pupil. But that was more than three times ten
+years ago." He shook his head wonderingly. "You serve Ruthar well," he
+added.</p>
+
+<p>Now, had Zenas Wright been able to understand the speech of Ruthar, he
+certainly would have set this chieftain down as a hoary-headed liar.
+For how could he have been a pupil to Oleric the Red more than thirty
+years before, when it was plain for any one to see that the captain
+must at that time have been a babe in his mother's arms?</p>
+
+<p>"Aye, Jastla, it is the old red fox come back to his hole again,"
+Oleric answered, striking the old chief fondly across his broad
+shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>"Which of these with you is the man&mdash;the hope of Ruthar?" questioned
+Jastla. His eyes passed the stubby form of Zenas Wright by and rested
+inquiringly on the square and soldierly Everson.</p>
+
+<p>Oleric's ruddy face went sober. His voice choked as he answered:</p>
+
+<p>"Nay, Jastla, neither of these. He comes yonder&mdash;and I fear that he is
+sorely smitten."</p>
+
+<p>As he spoke the six Rutharians who bore Polaris Janess came over the
+brink of the stair and laid their burden down.</p>
+
+<p>Jastla strode to the side of Polaris and looked down at him.</p>
+
+<p>"A mighty man, with golden hair&mdash;and comely, as was written in the
+prophecy," he muttered into his beard. "What has befallen him?" he
+asked of Oleric.</p>
+
+<p>While the captain told of the fight at the river-mouth, Zenas Wright
+knelt at Polaris's head and rearranged the bandages, which had become
+loosened in the rough journey through the gorge. Rombar, who had been
+that moment untrussed, pushed growling through the group of men and
+crouched and licked at his master's face.</p>
+
+<p>"Will he live, Father Zenas? Will he live?" Oleric asked. "Tell us,
+you, who are skilled."</p>
+
+<p>"God knows," groaned Zenas. The hand which he laid on the steel cheek
+of Polaris shook so that he snatched it away and hid it. "God only
+knows. There is a little life in him yet."</p>
+
+<p>"He plucked me from the sea," said Oleric wildly. "That was fated of
+the gods. Twice has he fought at my side. This day perchance he has
+given his life for me; and that was of his own strong spirit. I tell
+you, Father Zenas, that if it would do my brother any good, here would
+Oleric fall upon his sword and render up his soul unto those that sent
+it forth." Then he controlled himself. "Can he be moved? Can you keep
+the vital spark within him for a little space, good father? We must
+haste and get him to the Goddess Glorian. If his soul be not sped when
+he reaches her, she can hold it back, if any on earth can. Say, Father
+Zenas, can you do it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will try," answered Zenas. "If I had a little wine, now&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Wine!" Oleric shouted. "Bring wine, some one of you, and haste, though
+your lungs burst. And slay a kid, so that we may have broth."</p>
+
+<p>A fleet-footed Rutharian lad set off through the forest, running with
+the speed of a deer.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Jastla, see you to a horse-litter. Two gentle beasts, mind you,
+but speedy. For we must travel fast and far. I take my brother to the
+Hill of Flomos. And send on a swift messenger to the Goddess Glorian,
+to tell her that the hope of Ruthar lies wounded in the forests and is
+near to death. Haste, Jastla; haste!"</p>
+
+<p>Wine was brought, and it was good wine; for the grapes that grow in
+the valleys of Ruthar are the finest in all the world. Zenas Wright
+forced apart the set jaws of the stricken man, using a sword-point
+to do it, and even as Dr. Marsey, who was dead, had done for Oleric,
+poured the purple wine and a little broth into Polaris's mouth. The
+kindly old geologist could only pray that some of it penetrated to the
+man's stomach, for most of it was spilled out again when they moved him.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Chief Jastla brought a horse-litter. In it, between two powerful
+beasts, Polaris was slung. The Rutharians wrapped him closely with
+blankets and furs. The sun had turned to his northward journey, and in
+the forests of Ruthar the air was keen with the tang of approaching
+winter&mdash;felt there in the uplands long before it reached to the plains
+and valleys of Maeronica.</p>
+
+<p>Horses were fetched for Oleric, Wright and Everson, and they set off at
+once along the mountain trails skirting the mighty cañon of the Illia.
+An escort of half a score of Rutharian hunters rode with them.</p>
+
+<p>All that day and night and until sunset of the next day they rode with
+only brief stops at small Rutharian hamlets, where they ate hurriedly
+and changed horses. Word had been sent on before of their coming, and
+fresh horses were always in waiting. Sleep they did not, save in their
+saddles, and the two Americans felt that they might die from sheer
+weariness.</p>
+
+<p>Oleric did not sleep at all, though of all the party his vitality
+seemed the least impaired by that racking journey. His face grew
+haggard and gaunt, and his eyes red-rimmed, but a wonderful
+determination seemed to sustain his body. He spoke seldom, and then to
+urge his faltering companions to renewed efforts.</p>
+
+<p>Rombar ran with the horses until he was utterly done up. Then Oleric
+left the dog at one of the mountain villages, to be brought on later.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning of the second day the party swung to the right, away
+from the gorge of the Illia, to come to it again about noon and cross
+it on a bridge of steel and stone that spanned it three hundred feet up
+from the torrent's course.</p>
+
+<p>Everson, looking at those piles and trusses, judged the building of
+that bridge to be the feat of no mean engineer. Though there had been a
+waste of material, the structure would have stood comparison with many
+a bridge in Europe or America.</p>
+
+<p>Throughout the long ride, Polaris lay like a log in the litter.
+Occasionally, at the stopping places, the scientist redressed the
+wound, smearing it with a healing balsam which an old woman in one of
+the villages had given him. It was a fearsome gash, and Zenas shook his
+head over it whenever he saw it. The point of the sword had laid open
+the scalp at the back of Polaris's head for a matter of inches, then
+had glanced from the bone beneath and bitten deeply into the neck near
+the spinal column.</p>
+
+<p>Wright sheared the hair away from the wound and stitched it as neatly
+as he could. Despite his care the edges of the cut turned blue, as
+is the way with such hurts if they have not expert attention. In the
+afternoon of that second day's ride he found that Polaris's hands and
+feet were becoming cold, and that the geologist deemed the worst sign
+of all.</p>
+
+<p>Shortly after they had crossed the bridge the contour of the country
+became less wild. They emerged from among the crags and peaks of the
+mountains into the foot-hills, where the forests were not so dense as
+above, and from time to time they came upon large spaces of cleared
+lands with tilled fields and many vineyards.</p>
+
+<p>In one of the forest glades the party passed a spot where a number
+of fair-sized trees had been uprooted and partly stripped of their
+branches and bark. Others, still standing, were mere distorted stubs of
+trees, their trunks scored and twisted and their foliage gone.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope such storms as the one that did this damage are not frequent
+hereabouts," said Zenas, pointing out the wrecks to Everson.</p>
+
+<p>Oleric heard the remark.</p>
+
+<p>"'Storms,' say you, Father Zenas?" he said. "The storm that went
+through here walked on four feet. When we of Ruthar see such a sight in
+the forest, we know that an amaloc has breakfasted there. I forget the
+high-sounding name you call him by."</p>
+
+<p>"That lad should have been a writer of fiction," said Zenas to himself
+when the captain had ridden on. "He almost makes me believe in him."</p>
+
+<p>"Gorry-me," Zenas groaned, easing himself in his saddle, "I wish we
+were at the end of this ride, wherever it is. I do not think that I
+shall ever be able to walk again. You," he said to Everson, "you ride
+along there in your golden armor like&mdash;what is it?&mdash;a paladin of old,
+and never a word out of you. Well, I'd sooner stand it, at that,
+than to go back to that roasting-spit I was put to tend in the King's
+kitchen." Zenas grunted as recollection stung him.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, do you know, one day I was figuring out a bit of calculus in my
+head, just for practise, and I let the meat scorch; and the head cook
+actually laid a dog-whip across my back. Yes, sir; me, a fellow in the
+National Geographic Society, whipped across a kitchen by a greasy-faced
+dough-slinger who doesn't know gneiss from rotten-stone!"</p>
+
+<p>Wright grunted again at the memory of that indignity, and then rambled
+on:</p>
+
+<p>"But we've got to stand it all for the boy here, and for the folks we
+left behind. God knows I'm willing to for their sakes, and worse yet,
+if it's to come. But I must grumble once in a while, and I can't help
+it. Say, Everson, do you believe any of that chaff of our red-headed
+friend about the mammoths?"</p>
+
+<p>The lieutenant did not answer, and Wright, peering into his face, saw
+that he was asleep in the saddle.</p>
+
+<p>Well down upon his course was the sun, and the shadows of the trees
+were lengthening eastward, when the travelers, who for some time had
+been following a smooth, straight road through rolling hills, came to
+an old Rutharian villa, which stood among its gardens a considerable
+distance back from the highway. A low wall bordered the grounds at the
+front along the roadway, a wall with a pillared gateway, where a drive
+led in from the road. At the foot of each of the pillars, sitting his
+horse like a statue, was a Rutharian gentleman.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>As the weary cavalcade came down the road the two riders left their
+posts and advanced to meet it, parleying with Oleric. Scarcely half a
+dozen words passed back and forth when the red captain set up a joyful
+shout. When he reached the gateway he turned his horse in, bidding the
+others to follow.</p>
+
+<p>"Here's hoping that some one will introduce me to a bed before I clean
+forget what one feels like," said Zenas.</p>
+
+<p>At the side of the ancient house the riders dismounted, Everson reeling
+from his horse like a drunken man and throwing himself face downward on
+the grass.</p>
+
+<p>Oleric superintended the removal of Polaris from the litter.</p>
+
+<p>The geologist was bending over his charge as the hunters bore him along
+when he became aware of the tall figure of a woman that came down from
+the porch of the mansion and hastened along the walk. She had thrown a
+long, dark red cloak about her shoulders. In the dusk of the garden the
+scientist could not distinguish her features, but he saw that her hair
+was dark, or seemed to be, and that she was taller than most women and
+splendidly formed.</p>
+
+<p>"The Goddess Glorian!" Oleric cried aloud. "Oh, by the stars of Ruthar,
+but you are welcome!"</p>
+
+<p>Down on one knee sank the captain and kissed her hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, goddess, after all these years I have brought you the hope of
+Ruthar. But he is sorely wounded&mdash;dying&mdash;and you alone can save him. We
+were bringing him to Flomos with all the speed we might, and thought
+not to find you here."</p>
+
+<p>"Where else should Glorian be, but on the way to meet this man?" she
+answered simply. "Jastla's messenger reached Flomos this morning. He
+rode four horses to their deaths upon his way. You have done well,
+Oleric the Learned."</p>
+
+<p>When he heard the silvery cadences of that voice, though he understood
+not a word save the name of the captain, a thrill passed through Zenas
+Wright, old as he was, and through his aged veins he felt the blood
+course faster. The woman came nearer. He smelled the warm perfume of
+her hair as she bent and touched the cheek of Polaris with her hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Bring him within, Oleric," she said, "and, oh, haste, for&mdash;" Her
+glorious voice broke. "For he is nearly gone."</p>
+
+<p>Swinging the still form of Polaris shoulder high, the Rutharian hunters
+passed on and into the mansion, leaving Zenas behind.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, what do you know about that?" gasped the scientist as he sank
+wearily to the ground beside Everson. "Goddess, indeed! What, I want
+to know, will Rose Emer say when she learns of this young person? Well,
+I hope she saves the lad; but she'll need to be a doctor of parts, or
+I'm a donkey. Poor boy! Poor boy!"</p>
+
+<p>In a few moments came Oleric to show Wright and Everson to their
+quarters for the night in the rear of the house. And a rare time he had
+to arouse the lieutenant sufficiently to lead him to bed.</p>
+
+<p>White and still, Polaris Janess lay on a bed in an upper chamber of the
+old house. By the light from a mitzl globe&mdash;trophy of some Rutharian
+chieftain in a foray over the Kimbrian Wall&mdash;the Goddess Glorian bent
+above him and studied his pale features.</p>
+
+<p>"My friend, my poor friend," she said brokenly. "How often through the
+weary years I have seen you in my dreams&mdash;and now to find you&mdash;only to
+lose you."</p>
+
+<p>Hot tears ran down her cheeks and fell on the stricken man's face.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! It shall not be!" she said fiercely. "You shall not die&mdash;not if
+Glorian must give her soul to hold you back from the gates of darkness."</p>
+
+<p>Throwing aside her cloak, she drew a chair to the bedside. With her
+fingers she lifted Polaris's eyelids and held them open. She gazed deep
+into the tawny eyes, now, alas, so dull and lifeless. For hours she sat
+there, with no more apparent movement than the man she watched over.
+The whole strength of her being seemed concentrated in some inward,
+unyielding struggle.</p>
+
+<p>And as the long hours passed a change came over the sick man. He did
+not stir. He scarcely seemed to breathe. But his face became less gray
+and haggard, and the icy chill of death was driven from his hands and
+feet.</p>
+
+<p>Long after midnight it was when the Goddess Glorian stood up from that
+bedside and in her heart said wildly, "I have won!"</p>
+
+<p>Summoning her women, who waited without the door, she bade them dress
+anew the now festering wound and pour a little wine and broth into his
+throat.</p>
+
+<p>All night long the Goddess Glorian sat and watched him.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning, when Oleric came to the door in answer to her summons,
+she looked up at him with a wan smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Fear no longer," she said. "The man will live."</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>On the third day after his arrival at the old Rutharian mansion,
+Polaris left it. But he knew nothing of that going. He still lay in
+the heavy stupor which was to hold him thrall for many days. Zenas
+Wright doubted much the wisdom of moving a man so ill. The scientist
+himself, after two days' rest, felt scarcely equal to the journey, and
+the thought of again bestriding a horse made him shudder. Still, he
+reasoned that it was by a miracle that Janess lived at all, and if she
+who had wrought that miracle, the Goddess Glorian, said he might be
+moved in safety, why, doubtless she knew what she was about.</p>
+
+<p>A low, four-wheeled car was brought. Across the box of it the hunters
+lashed light and springy poles and on them piled robes and blankets,
+making a soft and easy bed for the sick man. At the head of that couch
+rode the Goddess Glorian, cloaked and hooded, and at its foot crouched
+black Rombar, who had been brought in from the village where he had
+been left, and who seemed little the worse for his long jaunt. Wright
+and the lieutenant occupied another smaller car in the rear, and in
+a third vehicle rode a number of the women of Glorian's household.
+Oleric, mounted and aglitter in chain armor of steel&mdash;for he had
+discarded as soon as might be the hated golden livery of Bel-Ar&mdash;rode
+at the side of the first car. For escort the party had the company of
+nearly a score of young Rutharian zinds&mdash;zind was the only title of
+nobility in Ruthar.</p>
+
+<p>So they set out for Flomos, traveling by easy stages and with many
+rests. The roads were smooth and the country more even than that they
+had left behind. All along the way, be the time of day what it might,
+they rode between two long lines of people&mdash;people silent for the most
+part, who stood with bowed heads as the cars and the riders passed by.</p>
+
+<p>Far and wide throughout the land had gone the word that the man who
+had come to be known as the hope of Ruthar was journeying to Flomos,
+and the circumstances of that journey. These who lined the road were
+gathered there to do him silent homage. Satisfied were they if they
+only caught a fleeting glimpse of his still face on its pillow of furs.
+Over all of Ruthar went up a many-voiced and ceaseless prayer for his
+welfare.</p>
+
+<p>"H'm, Everson, folks will never stand like that for us, living or
+dead," said Zenas Wright to the lieutenant, when Oleric had told them
+the meaning of the silent lines of people. Despite his banter, the old
+geologist was deeply touched.</p>
+
+<p>Two days and part of a third they traveled&mdash;for they did not
+hurry&mdash;stopping for the nights at the homes of Rutharian gentlemen
+along the road. It was nearly afternoon of the third day when they
+followed the winding of the highway around the last low hills of the
+mountain range and came out upon a plateau-plain of wide extent, in
+the center of which was a wooded eminence, and on its crest the white
+pillars of a temple shone in the sunlight.</p>
+
+<p>The road stretched straight across the plain through a broad expanse
+of tilled lands and gardens, which ringed a city that stood at the
+foot of the hill. It was scarcely a fifth the proportions of Adlaz,
+this ancient town of Ruthar, which was called Zele-omaz, or City by
+the River; but it was a pretty place of broad streets shaded by many
+trees, gardens and low-built, pleasant homes, with here and there the
+statelier dwellings of some zind or wealthy man.</p>
+
+<p>Here, too, was the Illia, rock-bound no longer, but a fair and gentle
+stream, winding through the town and spanned by many bridges.</p>
+
+<p>Skirting the city at the right, the travelers followed a sloping path
+that led up the hill to where the temple stood.</p>
+
+<p>"Yonder," Oleric said, pointing down to where a group of low buildings
+of gray stone rambled at the waterside under spreading yew trees, "is
+the University of Nematzin, of which I am a professor. And there is the
+laboratory of which I spoke, where we shall make the thunder-dust to
+shake down the Kimbrian Wall."</p>
+
+<p>"One more day's rest, and I will be fit for anything," answered Everson.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you teach in this university, friend?" Zenas queried.</p>
+
+<p>"A little of the science of the stars, Father Zenas&mdash;or I did, for it
+is many years since I have sat among my pupils&mdash;somewhat of history and
+of language," replied the red captain.</p>
+
+<p>"Humph; you must have been a young teacher," said Zenas Wright, and he
+ran his fingers through the sprouting stubble of his beard, as he had a
+habit of doing when things vexed him. Suddenly he jumped in his seat,
+though the wrench to his sore flesh cost him a wry face.</p>
+
+<p>"Hey! Everson! Look at that, and then tell me if I'm dreaming."</p>
+
+<p>The "that" was a gateway through which the car was about to pass.
+Oleric followed with a glance the direction in which the geologist
+pointed and then rode on with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>It was a very curious gate, so curious that, if it still stands, and
+it doubtless does, for it was built to endure, there is none other
+just like it in the world. At each side of the roadway was a section
+of black stone wall, extending along the path a matter of a dozen feet
+and some ten feet high. At intervals along the tops of the two walls
+were set round, squat pillars, also of stone. Those had been hollowed
+out and served as bases for enormous ivory tusks, which were embedded
+in cement in the hollowed pillars, and from them curved up to meet over
+the center of the roadway, where their tips were made fast with double
+sockets of bronze.</p>
+
+<p>Ivory the tusks were; there was no doubting that; weather-checked and
+stained yellow by age and the elements, but still ivory. But the size
+of them! No elephant that ever walked the earth bore ivories of such
+proportions. For they were as large around at their bases as the chest
+of an average man; and from base to tapering tip there was none of them
+that did not measure eleven feet. Seven pair of them there were, and
+all splendidly matched.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Zenas stared back at that marvelous arch&mdash;for it was more an archway
+than a gate&mdash;as hard as he could stare. Not until a turn of the road
+hid it, did he relax into his seat.</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe he isn't so great a liar, after all," he said, and he meant
+Oleric. "Everson, those are mammoth's tusks&mdash;sure's I'm a sinner."</p>
+
+<p>"Strange land, strange things," answered Everson laconically.</p>
+
+<p>The home or temple of the Goddess Glorian on the hill of Flomos was a
+small thing by comparison with the mighty Temple of Shamar, but in its
+way was quite as beautiful. Like the temple of the sun-god, the house
+of Glorian was built all of white marble. Fronting north toward the
+city of Zele-omaz was a façade of four-and-twenty sixty-foot pillars.
+A broad, paved porch, reached by half a hundred steps, lay at the foot
+of the façade. Back of the pillars were twelve double doors of bronze,
+leading into a lofty hall, the marble dome of which towered high above
+the pillars and could be seen from the countryside for miles about when
+the sun shone on it.</p>
+
+<p>Back of the hall the structure was divided into three floors, or
+stories, each of many roomy chambers and corridors. The whole was well
+lighted by windows of clear glass, of which an abundance was used in
+both Maeronica and Ruthar. Behind the temple, southward down the hill,
+were the dwellings of Glorian's personal retainers and servants.</p>
+
+<p>Well back from the center of the domed hall and near the foot of a
+grand staircase which led to the second floor, was a raised dais of
+marble, whereon Glorian was wont to sit and give judgment in matters of
+state which were too high for the administration of the zinds who ruled
+in the different cities and provinces. Once Ruthar had had its dynasty
+of kings, but that was many years before. The royal line died out, and
+because of certain circumstances at that time the people raised up no
+more kings. At the time of the coming of the strangers the Goddess
+Glorian was the absolute power in Ruthar.</p>
+
+<p>On the dais in the throne-room was another wonder for Zenas Wright to
+see. It was a massive, double-seated chair, constructed, even to the
+pegs which held its parts together, of ivory like in the giant tusks
+of the arch. An artist of surpassing skill had wrought that chair and
+had carved it into the semblance of tall lily-stalks with heavy-headed,
+drooping blossoms and slender fronds. All around the larger stalks were
+cut the clinging tendrils of a creeping vine, a tracery as fine as lace.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Wright and Everson were given rooms on the second floor of the temple
+at its western side. Polaris was borne to a chamber on the upper
+story, where he was tended by Glorian herself and the servants of her
+household. Rombar took up his quarters in that chamber also, and only
+Oleric could lure the dog forth from his master's side, and then not
+for long at a time.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after their arrival at the hill of Flomos, and when they had
+rested some of the stiffness from their joints, Everson and the
+scientist went down with Oleric to the laboratories of Nematzin to
+begin their work. Though the students of Ruthar were not unskilled in
+chemistry of a sort, they knew nothing of explosives. So Zenas prepared
+himself for a series of tests to discover the materials of which he was
+in need, or, if he could not find what he desired, some combination
+which would serve.</p>
+
+<p>In that constructive analysis the naval lieutenant could be of little
+aid. Oleric then found a task for him which was more to his liking. It
+was the drilling of men.</p>
+
+<p>From her center to her rock-bound coasts, Ruthar hummed with the
+preparation for war.</p>
+
+<p>"If we are to fight, let us first know how many men we can raise, and
+how they will be disposed," said Everson. "What is the population of
+this country, and how will it match up, man for man, with Maeronica?"</p>
+
+<p>All told, Ruthar's people numbered something like a million and a
+quarter, Oleric informed him; and in Maeronica the population was near
+to three and one-half millions, at least a half a million of which
+dwelt in the great city of Adlaz.</p>
+
+<p>"As it is figured in the world, your army then will be made up of one
+fighting man to every ten persons," the lieutenant said. "If the spirit
+of the people is with us, we should be able to put at least one hundred
+and twenty-five thousand men in the field&mdash;and Bel-Ar, three hundred
+and fifty thousand. Those are heavy odds."</p>
+
+<p>"Ruthar shall do better even than that," Oleric said with pride. "I
+promise you that two hundred thousand men shall march when they hear
+the war-drums&mdash;and more may be found if the need grows bitter."</p>
+
+<p>"Can you equip and maintain them?" Everson asked.</p>
+
+<p>"In Ruthar every man is a soldier. They will equip themselves. This day
+has been awaited for long. Ruthar is ready to give all for the uses of
+her warrior sons. Fear not. Besides, though I will not deny that the
+men of Ad are good fighters and their country is far the richer, yet
+many of them are fat city dwellers and traders, of whom two are not a
+match for one of the hardy men of the mountains who will march under
+the banners of the Goddess Glorian. Show them the ruins of the Kimbrian
+Wall, and were the armies of Ad twice their strength, yet they should
+not turn Ruthar from her purpose."</p>
+
+<p>Everson nodded thoughtfully. "How will this force be divided?" he
+asked. "Have you many horsemen? In such a war as this promises to be,
+cavalry will be invaluable."</p>
+
+<p>The red captain knit his brow in calculation.</p>
+
+<p>"Forty thousand wild horsemen of the hills and mountains, who know
+not fear, can I promise," he said at length. "Five thousand chariots
+we can muster, each of two horses, and carrying each two fighting men
+and a driver to guide the horses; twenty thousand skilled archers;
+ninety thousand heavily armed men with swords and spears; ten thousand
+slingers; and twenty thousand men armed with javelins&mdash;these last to
+serve as skirmishers."</p>
+
+<p>Everson's eyes kindled at the recital of that tale of men, and he
+smiled&mdash;one of the few smiles that had lightened his face since his
+ship had been lost.</p>
+
+<p>"We must gather them into camps at once," he said. "The time is all too
+short in which to make an enemy out of raw levies. We must drill them
+all winter, and that will be a man's job."</p>
+
+<p>Straightway he threw himself into the task with tireless energy. And
+he vowed to himself that the men who had dared to sink a United States
+cruiser should learn a lesson of tears and death, and that he would
+have a hand in the teaching of the lesson.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Oblivion, like a deep and dreamless sleep, was the portion of Polaris
+Janess. It seemed that his soul had withdrawn itself to some place of
+peace to wait until its racked and weary body should once more be fit
+for tenancy. The wound in his neck closed and healed. Somewhat of color
+crept back into his cheeks. His body began to thrive, but there was in
+it seemingly little more of sentient life than in a tree which draws
+its nourishment from the soil and knows not of days and nights and the
+cares thereof.</p>
+
+<p>"It is a blood-clot that presses somewhere on the brain," Glorian told
+his friends, who stood often at his quiet bedside. "'Twill pass away
+ere long, and he will be whole again."</p>
+
+<p>To the surprise of Zenas and Everson, Glorian and a number of the
+learned men of the college of Nematzin spoke English almost with the
+facility of Oleric, from whom, indeed, they had learned it. And this
+was a great source of delight to the old geologist, who liked to talk
+and grumble over his labors. And what use is there in grumbling, if
+there is no one to hear and understand?</p>
+
+<p>Came a day when the curtain lifted from the brain of the sick man, and
+memory peopled the vacant stage, as once before it had done when he lay
+ill in the cabin on the ship <i>Felix</i> on his first journey from his home
+in the wilderness.</p>
+
+<p>Wondering, he lay still with closed lids, as he had a trick of doing
+when he waked from slumber. He began to reconstruct. The wreck of the
+<i>Minnetonka</i> passed before him, and then, like a series of pictures,
+the events which had followed the sinking of the ship; the stranger
+people; the judgment of the king; the parting from his love; the coming
+of the red captain in the night and the flight from Adlaz; the fight at
+the wharves and the farewell of Minos; the great stairway of the Illia&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>There the pictures ceased. He could not then, or ever afterward, recall
+the fight in the river, where he had gone down to aid Oleric and come
+by his wound.</p>
+
+<p>Into his nostrils was wafted a breath of faint perfume. A cool hand
+was laid against his cheek. He opened his eyes. The details of a high,
+arched room he saw; windows of glass at the north, where the sun shone
+thinly and big flakes of snow were floating slowly down&mdash;for winter had
+come to Ruthar; at his cheek a long, wonderfully shaped, white hand,
+with tapering, ringless fingers; a slender wrist; beyond it a face. He
+closed his lids again, with a frown of disbelief. The beauty of that
+face was such as no mortal ever saw, save in a dream.</p>
+
+<p>The hand stirred, and he looked again.</p>
+
+<p>From the times of Helen of Troy on down through the pages of all
+recorded history, those pages have been made bright by the faces of
+fair women who were their nations' boast. Here, before the eyes of the
+sick man, was a face that was the peer of any that ever shone in fable
+or in fact. A broad, high forehead above two dark and well-defined
+arches; beneath them, delicately veined lids and long dark lashes,
+veiling red-brown eyes. Eyes so wonderfully alive with expression that
+their change was like the bewildering melting of colors in a sunset;
+between their marvelous valleys, a slenderly bridged nose with a hint
+of the Roman. A rich, full-lipped mouth that was the playground of
+smiles, but which showed also the quality of rare determination, a
+promise sustained by the firmly rounded chin beneath it, a skin so fine
+of texture that through it might be traced the ebb and flow of life, as
+flames show roseate through a marble vase.</p>
+
+<p>Her head had the poise of an empress, and at its shapely crown, piled
+high, were lustrous coils of hair which at first glance seemed black;
+but when the light struck on it, glowed as an ember glows when a breath
+renews its dullness into fire.</p>
+
+<p>Such was the beauty of the woman on whom Polaris looked&mdash;and as he
+gazed, acknowledgment was forced within him that here was one that
+surpassed in fairness even the Rose-maid whom he loved. And there was
+no disloyalty in that acknowledgment. Rose Emer was a beautiful woman;
+but she who sat before him, and who seemed of nearly the same age and
+whose figure much resembled that of his own dear lady, she had the
+beauty of unearthly things.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment he stared in silence.</p>
+
+<p>"Where am I, and who are you?" he asked, and smiled faintly in response
+to her little exclamation of delight that his senses had come back to
+him. Before she could speak, he muttered, "I had forgotten; she will
+not understand."</p>
+
+<p>"But I do understand, my poor friend," she said, "and can make answer
+in your own tongue&mdash;if we keep to simple talk."</p>
+
+<p>As the quality of that voice had thrilled old Zenas, so now it sent a
+tremor through the veins of the son of the snows.</p>
+
+<p>"You are in the city of Zele-omaz, and I, who have watched while you
+lay wounded and ill, am a poor lady of wild Ruthar," she continued.</p>
+
+<p>"'Poor' and 'wild' are words that ill beseem you, lady," replied
+Polaris in the quaint expression that in the long years when his father
+had been his sole companion, he had absorbed from the pages of Scott's
+romantic "Ivanhoe," and which contact with modern English had not worn
+away.</p>
+
+<p>"I think that one Oleric has spoken oft of you, and that I can guess
+the name you bear&mdash;and I find it a most fitting name."</p>
+
+<p>Rose-pink the Goddess Glorian flushed, in a most mortal fashion, and
+was glad that at that moment black Rombar thrust his head forward over
+the edge of the bed to claim a share in the attention of his master.</p>
+
+<p>Polaris stirred his hands, and then looked up wonderingly.</p>
+
+<p>"I am weak," he said. "How long have I lain ill, and what misfortune
+befell me to so lay me by the heels? I understand it not at all; for my
+memory has tricked me."</p>
+
+<p>Toying with Rombar's collar, Glorian told him what she had learned from
+the others of the fight at the mouth of the Illia.</p>
+
+<p>"And I do thank you for the life of my faithful captain," she said,
+"as he will presently. It was a brave deed, a very brave deed. Now
+you must talk no more, and no more must I weary you. You are worn with
+sickness, and it will be many days before your strength comes back.
+Rest and fret not. All things are going well."</p>
+
+<p>She left him, and presently he slept.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+
+<h3>ZOAR OF THE AMALOCS</h3>
+
+
+<p>Beyond their knowledge of the working of metals, in which they had
+great facility, Zenas Wright soon found that the scientists of Nematzin
+could avail him little in his search for explosive compounds. Ordinary
+gunpowder, indeed, he knew he could make easily enough, after a
+fashion, but he sought for something more powerful by far than that.
+From the descriptions which he had heard of the Kimbrian Wall, he
+judged that it would be a rare task to shake it down.</p>
+
+<p>"We might do it with nitroglycerin," he told Everson. "But we would
+have to set all of the old wives of Ruthar to soap-making to get our
+glycerin, and it would be a difficult job to get it pure enough to
+serve our turn. Besides, nitroglycerin is mean and uncertain to handle."</p>
+
+<p>The two men sat before a ruddy coal fire in the big laboratory room
+which had been turned over to the uses of the geologist&mdash;a fire well
+screened from the rest of the room, so that no flying spark should
+raise mischief among the experiments of Zenas. Three weeks had elapsed
+since their arrival at Zele-omaz. Polaris Janess was well along
+the road to health. Everson and Oleric, laboring tirelessly, had
+established five great training camps, one on the plain near the city,
+and four others in the forests to the north beyond the Illia. Already
+the levies of Ruthar were pouring into the camps, where they were
+drilled by the zinds and captains, under the direction of the naval
+lieutenant and the red captain.</p>
+
+<p>Everson had thrown his whole heart into the work. Already he had made
+considerable progress in the learning of the Rutharian language. He
+was beginning to take a vast pride in the army he was welding. Born
+soldiers he found these Rutharians, amenable to the strict discipline
+which he preached, and to whom his word was law.</p>
+
+<p>He had ridden in this day from a tour of inspection of his camps to
+visit Wright and learn of the progress of the work on which depended
+their entire scheme of campaign.</p>
+
+<p>"Nitroglycerin," said Everson. "So you have found a source of nitric
+acid, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," replied Wright. "One of the first things which took my eye among
+a number of specimens of rock which I found in a case here, was a chunk
+of sodium nitrate. You know the stuff&mdash;Chile saltpeter, they call it."</p>
+
+<p>"Why not a picrate powder, if you have nitrates to work with?"
+suggested the lieutenant.</p>
+
+<p>"Picrate&mdash;nitric acid&mdash;phenol," said old Zenas. "That's the way of it.
+And to get phenol&mdash;lots of it&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>He broke off and stared into the depths of the fire.</p>
+
+<p>"Hey!" he cried, and jumped to his feet so suddenly that Everson
+started. Zenas pointed at the fire, his little black eyes dancing and
+his beard wagging with his excitement.</p>
+
+<p>"Well?" queried Everson.</p>
+
+<p>"Coal, my boy, coal! There's oodles of it here. All I've got to do is
+to rig up a kiln for the distillation of coal-tar oil, and I'll have
+the phenol. God knows, these beggars are handy enough in the gentle
+art of blacksmithing. Tell your red-headed master of ceremonies to
+give me a little help&mdash;say two hundred or two hundred and fifty of his
+armorers, till I get a few kilns in operation and build me a bank of
+Glover towers, and I'll show you a line of stuff that will beat all of
+the Fourth of July celebrations you ever saw. Picrates! Humph! I'll
+turn out a brand of melinite for you that will jar the back door of
+hell off its hinges&mdash;if I don't whiff us all to kingdom come while I'm
+at the stuff."</p>
+
+<p>Oleric was summoned. The red captain turned over to Zenas Wright not
+two hundred, but nearer five hundred men, and the old university was
+straightway turned into a munitions plant, the stench and the fires of
+which ascended to heaven by day and by night.</p>
+
+<p>"And bring me about all the fat you can find in the kingdom," directed
+Zenas. "I'll need it to mix with my nice little patty-cakes."</p>
+
+<p>"You shall have it, Father Zenas," Oleric replied. "And it will not
+come amiss to make all that you can of this pastry. After the Kimbrian
+Wall is down, we may find some of it useful at the gates of Adlaz."</p>
+
+<p>So interested did Zenas become in this new work of his that he
+scarcely stopped for meals, and he slept on a cot of skins beside
+his fire in the old laboratory. One day, as he labored among his
+test-tubes, the outer door opened, and a tall figure robed in
+furs strode across the room and stood beside him. Zenas looked up
+impatiently.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Lordy, laddie!" he cried, his face lighting up. "It's good to see
+you on your feet again."</p>
+
+<p>It was Polaris&mdash;still somewhat gaunt and tottery, but with a welcome
+color in his cheeks and a brightness in his topaz eyes that augured
+well.</p>
+
+<p>"Aye, old friend, 'tis I," he answered. "While you do wear yourself
+thin in this place of many smells, and Everson rides his flesh off his
+bones, shall I then be doing nothing but to lie in a soft bed and dream
+the days away? I will have no more of it."</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>From that day strength came back to the son of the snows with
+surprising rapidity, considering that he had been so ill. Nor would he
+chafe in restless idleness, but demanded work to do. Soon in the five
+great camps of fighting men his figure and that of the huge black dog
+which followed him like a shadow were as well known to the soldiers as
+were those of Everson and the lieutenant. Under the tutelage of the
+Goddess Glorian, he had advanced in mastery of the Rutharian tongue
+much faster than either of the other two Americans; for he was a
+natural linguist and did not find the ancient language difficult.</p>
+
+<p>Old Jastla had come down out of his hills, and it was his particular
+pride to superintend the training of the son of the snows in the use of
+the arms of Ruthar. At his first trial, weakened though he was by his
+illness, Polaris cast a javelin farther by half a score of paces than
+could any warrior of Ruthar. Within a fortnight, although they might
+touch him by tricks of fence, there was not a swordsman in the five
+armies who could wear him down in the play of blades.</p>
+
+<p>Jastla boasted of him throughout the land.</p>
+
+<p>But though he took pleasure in all these things, he knew anxiety with
+the passing of the days, and in his heart pined mightily for news of
+his lady in Adlaz town. For that strong, true heart could not forget.
+Occasionally Oleric had word from over the wall from some of his secret
+spies in Maeronica, but never a word of the welfare of the stranger
+captives.</p>
+
+<p>All of his story Polaris had one day told to Glorian. And she had
+smiled and cheered him with brave words. And then, when he had gone,
+she had sat for the half of a day in her chamber, looking out at the
+snow-capped hills of Ruthar, striving to remember that she was a
+goddess, and to forget that she also was a woman. Too late she found
+that the woman conquered.</p>
+
+<p>Five weeks went by from the day when Polaris first went down to the
+workshop of Zenas. And then the geologist announced that he would give
+a show. He had some wares which he was anxious to display, he said.</p>
+
+<p>Near the south bank of the Illia, above the city and beyond the camp,
+stood an old stone tower which long had been crumbling into decay and
+which Atra, the zind who ruled in Zele-omaz, had purposed some day to
+tear down. There it was that the geologist said he would stage his
+performance, and all the camp and a goodly part of the citizens of the
+town went thither to see what he would do.</p>
+
+<p>At the appointed hour, early in the afternoon, the scientist rode out
+to the tower, attended by three of his assistants from the laboratory.
+With them they took a number of cakes of what looked remarkably like
+the bars of brown soap wherewith the American housewife labors o'
+Mondays. As much as two men could carry of the stuff they took. The
+third man bore a rude battery which Zenas had contrived, and a coil of
+copper wire which the Rutharian smiths had drawn for him, and which he
+had insulated with woven fiber dipped in gums from the forests.</p>
+
+<p>The tower had been a massive old structure, covering nearly a half acre
+of ground, and the lower parts of it were still solid. Its roof was
+gone, and portions of the upper walls had fallen in.</p>
+
+<p>Zenas found that there were a number of chambers below the ground level
+of the structure. In the central one of them he bestowed his precious
+cakes, and with them the end of his copper wire. He directed his
+assistants to cover the whole over with heavy stones.</p>
+
+<p>"And handle them with care," he cautioned, "or you will come a lot
+closer to the stars than you are ever likely to be by any other means."</p>
+
+<p>His preparations completed, the geologist bade his henchmen to make
+themselves scarce, which they were very glad to do. Bidding every one
+in the neighborhood of the tower to withdraw to a distance of several
+hundred feet, Zenas uncoiled his wire, of which he had brought a
+quantity sufficient to keep him out of harm's way. He squatted down
+behind the bole of a big yew-tree and struck the knob of his battery.</p>
+
+<p>For an instant nothing happened, and Zenas, peering forth from behind
+his tree, felt his heart sink with disappointment. Then very quietly
+the entire structure of the tower, which was nearly seventy feet in
+height, quitted the earth. For a second it seemed to hang suspended in
+the air like some enchanted thing. A hollow booming reverberated across
+the plain. The tower flew into fragments. The ice-bound surface of the
+Illia was shattered by the falling rocks. A gust of air rushed across
+the plain and through the ranks of the Rutharian soldiery and with it a
+shower of smaller débris, which fell among them like a storm. From the
+spot where the tower had stood, a column of greenish-yellow smoke arose
+and hung heavily.</p>
+
+<p>From the camp and the crowds of citizens went up a low moan of awe,
+followed by a shout of triumph from thirty thousand throats. Men ran
+across the meadows to view the aftermath of this wonder&mdash;such a thing
+as never had been seen in Ruthar. Where the tower had stood was a hole
+in the earth, wherein the structure itself might almost have been
+buried. No vestige of the masonry was left. Not one stone remained upon
+another, and many of the larger foundation rocks had been sundered into
+fragments by the terrific force of the released gases of the melinite.</p>
+
+<p>Rutharians from that day on called Zenas Wright "Father of the
+Thunders," and accorded him a respect second only to that in which they
+held Polaris.</p>
+
+<p>Janess, the red captain, and Everson, who had been witnesses to his
+experiment, ran to the side of the geologist and wrung his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"And now do you, Father Zenas, stay away from that laboratory," said
+Oleric.</p>
+
+<p>"See to it that my men keep to the trick of making this stuff; but
+do you keep away. Some careless fellow might let a cake of your
+earth-shaker fall&mdash;and we cannot spare you."</p>
+
+<p>"Now show me this Kimbrian Wall," was the comment of Zenas. But the
+scientist yielded to the entreaties of his friends, and thereafter
+went no more to the laboratories, except once a day only, to test the
+purity of the chemicals with which his workmen wrought.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Soon after the destruction of the tower, Oleric, with Polaris and the
+lieutenant, rode down through the forests to visit the Kimbrian Wall.
+Now that they were assured of a means to open the way to Adlaz, they
+were all of them impatient to map out their plan of campaign, in which,
+as he alone of them all was skilled in such matters, they looked to
+Everson for counsel.</p>
+
+<p>Three days riding brought the party to the great barrier which the
+Children of Ad had built far back in the dim centuries to separate them
+from their hated enemies.</p>
+
+<p>As the riders approached the wall, they found the land narrowed to an
+isthmus, which Oleric told them was nearly eighty miles in extent, by
+something less than sixty across. The Kimbrian Wall crossed the neck of
+land nearly midway to its length, but if anything, a few miles nearer
+to the mainland of Maeronica than it was to Ruthar. On the hither side
+of the barrier stretched thick forests of oak and pine. Along the
+isthmus and near its western sea-border lay the course of an ancient
+road, which once had connected the two countries. To this old highway
+Everson gave careful attention. In some places it was broken up and
+overgrown with timber, but the lieutenant thought that little work
+would be required to put it in shape for travel.</p>
+
+<p>From a pine-clad knoll in the forest they had their first glimpse of
+the wall, and a mighty work it was. Built of gray stone, now moss-grown
+and weather-aged, it stretched away to the right and left as far as
+they could see and ended sheer with the precipitous cliffs above the
+sea. So enormous were the stones of which it was constructed that it
+reminded Everson of remnants of the cyclopean masonry, which are to be
+found in the old countries and which tradition used to tell were built
+by a race of giants. Probably this work was as old as they.</p>
+
+<p>The wall was nearly fifty feet high, and so broad as its top that two
+chariots might pass thereon. At intervals of a mile all along its
+length were watchtowers, garrisoned by the border-soldiers of Bel-Ar.
+In addition to all those points of strength, the wall had been so
+constructed that near its top there was an overhang of a number of
+feet, making it exceedingly difficult for scaling.</p>
+
+<p>Still, Oleric said, it had been scaled, and many times, by small
+parties of raiders from both sides&mdash;and some of them had never returned.</p>
+
+<p>"Look!" the captain exclaimed. "Here comes one of the patrols."</p>
+
+<p>From the nearest tower to the east three men on horseback came riding
+along the top of the wall, clearly outlined against the pale sky. As
+they came nearer the forest-watchers could see that the riders were
+muffled in cloaks. A sharp wind was sweeping down from the south, and
+it must have been bitter indeed on the unprotected eminence of the wall.</p>
+
+<p>"Ha! 'Tis Atlo himself&mdash;the captain whom I replaced at the port," said
+Oleric as the patrol came opposite him. "See, the foremost of the
+riders."</p>
+
+<p>Sight of his enemies riding by so close proved too much of a temptation
+to one of the Rutharian fighting men who had ridden down with the party
+to the wall. He was a master bowman. While the eyes of his companions
+were fixed on the three riders, he dismounted and slipped away among
+the trees to the left. In the shadow of a pine he paused and set an
+arrow to the string.</p>
+
+<p>It was a long shot&mdash;nearly a hundred yards&mdash;but the winged shaft flew
+straight and true. It smote the captain, Atlo, on the shoulder, and
+the riders in the forest could hear the faint clink as the point fell
+blunted from the armor which he wore beneath his cloak.</p>
+
+<p>Atlo started in his saddle, then turned and waved his hand, with a
+laugh. He rode on as if the arrow were a matter of little moment. The
+other two riders were more timorous than their captain, and they sent
+many a glance back toward the dark forest shadow as they rode along.</p>
+
+<p>Oleric shouted to the archer to loose no more arrows.</p>
+
+<p>"Let no more raids be made over the wall," Everson directed, "and have
+a force of men clear and rebuild the old road yonder. Bring it up as
+near to the wall as may be, without attracting attention. We must
+attack and take them unawares. We will have to mine underground from
+the forest to the wall and place our explosives. As soon as the wall
+is down, we shall throw a force of infantry through the breach, starve
+the garrison off the wall and hold the territory on the other side
+against all attack until we can clear the wreck of the wall and lay a
+road through the gap so that our cavalry and charioteers may pass it.
+Otherwise, the Maeronicans will hold the breach against us, in which
+case there would be a delay which we cannot afford&mdash;if, indeed, we
+should be able to fight our way through at all."</p>
+
+<p>Oleric pondered on the plan for a few moments. He looked up with
+shining eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"A wise counsel," he said. "All of these things shall be done, and
+right speedily."</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Almost miracles are the things which may be accomplished by human
+brains and hands, if there be enough of them and they are united to
+their work by a common and all-pervading purpose.</p>
+
+<p>Into the old forests above the Kimbrian barrier the Rutharian zinds
+threw a force of two thousand men and half again as many horses. The
+ancient roadway through the wood to the foot of the wall was cleared
+and rebuilt as though by magic. Everson, visiting the scene of the
+work, reflected somewhat bitterly on the contrast between the manner
+of this labor and any similar task to be done in the land where he was
+born.</p>
+
+<p>There, he knew, there would have been the delays caused by failure to
+supply the necessary materials, and failure again to get them to their
+appointed places on contract time. There would have been labor strikes,
+jealousies and bickering among leaders. In the end, of course, the work
+would have been done, and well done&mdash;but with much trouble.</p>
+
+<p>But in Ruthar there were no walking delegates. Happy were the workmen
+to labor from sun to sun, and others to take up the task in the hours
+of darkness. Materials were free and inexhaustible, and the zinds and
+leaders worked together like brothers, each doing what was required of
+him, as though his very life depended upon it.</p>
+
+<p>Within a fortnight of his first view of the Kimbrian Wall, the
+lieutenant deemed that the time to strike was nearly ripe. Two months
+and nearly a half of another of the allotted six were past. Three
+months and a half remained before Adlaz would gather for the Feast
+of Years. Three months and a half in which to conquer a nation and
+take a walled city, the strength of which was a tradition! Yet it
+must be done. And Everson, when he saw the tools with which he had to
+work, hoped high. This was an archaic people; but he found its sons
+good companions; sturdy, truthful, straightforward as their own long
+sword-blades. He believed they would follow to the death and that they
+would not come too late to the Adlaz gates.</p>
+
+<p>One day, Glorian, who of late had avoided Polaris, summoned the son of
+the snows and bade him bring with him his American comrades and Oleric
+the Red.</p>
+
+<p>"I know that you are nearly ready to go up against the Kimbrian Wall
+and the hosts of Bel-Ar," she said. "But before that day comes, there
+is a pilgrimage that must be made to one without the aid of whom
+perchance your greatest effort would be in vain. Bring horses; for on
+this journey I ride with you."</p>
+
+<p>Polaris rode a splendid black stallion, splotched with white at
+forehead and fetlock, which had been the gift of Jastla, of the hills.
+When they were ready to leave the temple gates, Rombar came barking at
+the horses' heels.</p>
+
+<p>"Best to leave the dog behind, brother," said Oleric. "We go upon a
+path where he may find ill-favor."</p>
+
+<p>Cloaked in a wondrous robe of red fox-skins, Glorian rode on a
+cream-colored palfrey, attended by one of her women in waiting only.
+Never had she seemed more fair and queenly. Like some bright daughter
+of the white North of the long ago, was she, of whom the skalds have
+sung in their undying sagas.</p>
+
+<p>From her he glanced to Polaris, who rode beside her. The son of the
+snows was clad from head to heel in the glittering chain armor which
+Rutharian smiths had forged for him, and cloaked in the black skin
+of a forest bear. At his back swung a two-handed sword. A winged
+helm, brilliant with gold-work and curtained with a hood and cape of
+delicately wrought links, sat upon his tawny hair. Long since a razor
+of keen bronze had swept the beard from his cheeks and chin.</p>
+
+<p>Only in the amber eyes had the troubles of the years left their mark&mdash;a
+shadow of sadness when they were thoughtful or in repose, but which did
+not ill become them.</p>
+
+<p>"She may be a goddess," thought Zenas to himself, "and she is beautiful
+enough to be a real one; but if she hasn't gone silly as a cow-girl
+over this lad of ours, then I'm a donkey, and a blind one, to boot. O
+Trouble, you've worn skirts ever since you quit fig-leaves."</p>
+
+<p>Zenas shook his head. The geologist had never married.</p>
+
+<p>It was no brief pleasure-jaunt on which Glorian led, but nearly
+two days' hard riding into the northwest from Zele-omaz, across
+heavily-wooded mountains and through valleys deep with snow.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving the hills at last, the party came to a vast, dark forest,
+silent, somber and covering the rolling land like a black pall. Into
+its soundless glades the riders penetrated and rode for miles.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Presently they saw ahead of them a clearing in the depths of the wood,
+and a stretch of long buildings, built of stone, and with their windows
+set high in the walls near their roofs.</p>
+
+<p>It was late afternoon when the riders entered the clearing and
+approached the buildings, which stood about the four sides of a square,
+enclosing a space of nearly three acres. As they rode into this court,
+following a path between two of the buildings, the travelers saw that a
+number of smaller structures of stone and wood occupied a part of the
+square. Here and there in the court, fires of brush were burning&mdash;for
+it was bitter cold in the forest depths&mdash;and dark figures of men passed
+to and fro about the fires. A pack of shaggy, wolf-bred dogs came
+yapping at the horses' heels.</p>
+
+<p>"Who comes?" cried a voice. Men bearing spears ran forward from the
+fires.</p>
+
+<p>"Glorian of Ruthar comes to visit Zoar of the Amalocs," answered Oleric.</p>
+
+<p>Straightway the armed men knelt in the courtyard, and one in a stern
+voice called back the dogs.</p>
+
+<p>A door in one of the houses near the center of the square was opened,
+and the form of a man stood there, silhouetted against a flaring light
+within the dwelling.</p>
+
+<p>"Methought that I heard a voice well known to me, speaking of Glorian
+of Ruthar and of Zoar of the Amalocs." The tones of the man in the
+doorway were low, but clear and sonorous as a bell. "I thought it the
+voice of one Oleric the Learned," the man went on. He bent forward and
+shaded his eyes with his hand. "Are you indeed come, red one? Ride
+forward that I may see."</p>
+
+<p>Oleric's answer was drowned in a terrific chorus of squealing groans,
+which seemed to issue from the larger buildings on all three sides of
+the square. So unearthly and piercing was the din, that Zenas Wright
+would have clapped his hands to his ears; but he found his best efforts
+needed to control his horse. The steeds of all the party snorted and
+reared in terror of that hideous outburst. They would have bolted, but
+knew not where to bolt; and presently the clamor was ceased, and they
+stood still and trembling.</p>
+
+<p>"What demons of the place are these?" cried Polaris. He sprang down
+from his horse, tossed the reins to the man nearest him, and ran to the
+head of Glorian's palfrey, which was curveting and threatening to pitch
+its mistress from her saddle.</p>
+
+<p>"Those are the pets of Zoar," Oleric answered, "the amalocs. They know
+his voice and answer him in their own fashion." Spurring his restive
+horse, the red captain rode forward to the porch of the dwelling.</p>
+
+<p>"So, 'tis you, indeed," said Zoar as the captain advanced into the ring
+of firelight. This time the man spoke softly, almost in a whisper, and
+was not again interrupted. He stepped to the side of the captain's
+horse and took him by the hand. "Who rides with you, and why do you
+ride to seek Zoar?" he asked. "Is the time come, red one? Is it come?"</p>
+
+<p>"Aye; the time is here, Zoar," said Oleric soberly. "Our years have not
+been in vain. Yonder sits the Goddess Glorian, and holding her horse's
+head is the hope of Ruthar, whom I have brought up from the sea."</p>
+
+<p>"And the Kimbrian Wall?" Zoar asked.</p>
+
+<p>"It waits but the coming of the amalocs, when we will push it down like
+a barrier of straw," Oleric answered. "Ruthar stands in arms as she
+never has before, and the land rustles with banners. We have come to
+ask your aid. When we know that Zoar of the amalocs is on the march,
+then will the war-drums be sounded."</p>
+
+<p>"Has the ancient crown touched his brow?" asked Zoar.</p>
+
+<p>"Not yet; we wait your word."</p>
+
+<p>"It is given." Zoar lifted his face to the dim sky. "Beyond the mists
+the stars of Ruthar shine, never so brightly," he muttered. He laid his
+hand on the captain's arm.</p>
+
+<p>"On the third day from now Zoar of the Amalocs will march," he
+said. "Now bring your party within, and they shall enjoy what poor
+hospitality I have for them, who entertain so few guests."</p>
+
+<p>Men led away the horses, and the travelers entered the hall of Zoar.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, daughter of the stars," he said, and bowed, as Glorian crossed his
+threshold, "many years have gone since I last looked into your eyes;
+but I find that the will burns strongly still, and your beauty has not
+dimmed. But I grow old, daughter, old and very weary."</p>
+
+<p>Gravely and courteously Zoar welcomed his guests, and bade them rest
+and sit at meat with him. It was a plain place into which he ushered
+them; yet was it rich, as the world counts riches, and its wealth was
+all of ivory. Seats, tables, cabinets, even the casings of the windows
+and the doors were of ivory&mdash;wonderful, finely grained stuff, some of
+it white as alabaster, and some of it cream-yellow with the tint of
+age. And the carvings on it must have been the work of years.</p>
+
+<p>Zoar, the host, the travelers found quite as remarkable as his ivory
+treasure. He was a slight, short man, hardly so tall as Zenas Wright
+and not so stocky as the geologist. He wore a long white beard, and his
+hair, of the same silver, flowed across his shoulders. His eyes, under
+bushy brows, were bright and kindly. His step was quick and firm, nor
+did his limbs or hands tremble. Yet there was on him the stamp of an
+unutterable, incredible age.</p>
+
+<p>His skin was as yellow-pale as the oldest of his ivory, and the whole
+surface of it was fretted with thousands of infinitesimal wrinkles.
+When he spoke or moved it was with spirit and animation; but when he
+fell into fits of abstraction&mdash;and that was often&mdash;Zoar looked very
+like a mummy fresh-stripped from its tomb.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Polaris the old man regarded with especial interest, and when the meal
+had been cleared away he sat and talked with him and Glorian for many
+minutes, recalling odd, old tales of the history of Ruthar, with which
+he showed remarkable familiarity.</p>
+
+<p>"But Ruthar's greatest story is yet to be made," he said in conclusion
+of his tales. Then he called his servants to show his guests to their
+chambers.</p>
+
+<p>"What! Have I ridden all these miles, friend Oleric, and then to be
+put to bed without the chance to tell you that these wonderful beasts
+about which you have bragged so much are only elephants after all?"
+said Zenas Wright, forgetting in his stubbornness the ivory gateway at
+Zele-omaz.</p>
+
+<p>The red captain grinned and put a question to Zoar. The old man
+answered with a shake of his head:</p>
+
+<p>"The amalocs love not to be disturbed at night, and especially they
+love not fires or lights. If you and your friends would sleep in peace
+this night, I counsel that you wait till daybreak to see the beasts.
+Otherwise they may revile you in such fashion as will shake your
+couches and drive all sleep from your pillows."</p>
+
+<p>So Zenas was forced to be content and go to his bed with no chance to
+crow over Oleric. All night long there penetrated occasionally through
+the geologist's slumbers the noise of raucous trumpeting and the
+padding stamp of ponderous feet.</p>
+
+<p>When they had broken their fast in the morning, Zoar led his guests
+into the court and sent men to throw open the great bronze doors in the
+front of the nearest of the stone buildings.</p>
+
+<p>"Now for an elephant," muttered Zenas. "Perhaps a mighty big one, but
+still an elephant." Then Zenas stopped, amazed.</p>
+
+<p>Out through the doors of bronze and into the open court stalked a
+mountain of flesh and ivory and stood swaying restlessly from one foot
+to another, flapping ears that would have made a bed covering, and
+looking keenly about with little, inflamed eyes. Elephantine in shape
+only was this monster. The points of its shoulders were fifteen feet
+from the ground&mdash;a full yard taller than the most stalwart elephant
+that ever bore the howdah of a mogul emperor.</p>
+
+<p>Tusks that were ten feet long projected from its massive skull, curving
+downward where they left the bone and then out and up in such fashion
+that if they had been continued farther they would have formed spirals.
+The body of the monster was covered with a coarse and woolly growth of
+reddish-brown hair, through which there pricked long, black bristles.
+On the trunk the wool was sparse and the bristles shorter, and one
+could see that the hide of the beast was a drab-gray. Neck it had none;
+but along the spine, just back of the skull and extending beyond the
+shoulders, was a ridge or mane of coarse, black hair.</p>
+
+<p>His face gone white and his eyes round and goggling, Zenas Wright stood
+and stared up at this Gargantuan offspring of the hinder ages.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Loxodon!</i>" he breathed.</p>
+
+<p>Never in all his life had the geologist felt so small and insignificant
+as in the presence of that towering survivor of the prehistoric past.</p>
+
+<p>Zoar stepped forward in front of the beast.</p>
+
+<p>"Ixstus!" he called gently.</p>
+
+<p>The great ears inclined forward to attention.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Stekkar mal!</i>" the old man commanded.</p>
+
+<p>Down swung the vast, wrinkled trunk in a huge loop, into which Zoar
+stepped and was hoisted to the table of the monstrous skull&mdash;a flat
+place where five men might have sat and played at cards.</p>
+
+<p>Another word of command, and the mammoth advanced a couple of paces.
+The snakelike trunk groped forward, and Zenas, wriggling some as he
+went, was swung aloft and found himself seated breathlessly by the side
+of Zoar.</p>
+
+<p>The master of the beasts smiled at the other old man.</p>
+
+<p>"When you come again to your own land, you may tell your children's
+children, if you have them, that you have sat on the head of an amaloc,
+the grandfather of all beasts," said Zoar.</p>
+
+<p>While Zenas appreciated that honor, it might be said that he was much
+relieved when he got his feet on the ground again.</p>
+
+<p>From building to building of the immense stables, the scientist was led
+with growing wonder. Ninety and three of the giant mammals there were,
+of which no one stood less than twelve feet high. But Ixstus was the
+champion and patriarch of the herd.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>As the riders journeyed back to Zele-omaz, Oleric told again how the
+Children of Ad had driven the beasts southward from their lands with
+fire, and how the men of Ruthar likewise had made war upon them, until
+they were in danger of becoming extinct.</p>
+
+<p>"But then came the prophecy, and men of wisdom set themselves to study
+and tame the beasts," he said. "And now, when the wall is down, and
+Ruthar takes the road to Adlaz, the amalocs shall lead the way, and
+Zoar and his servants shall drive them against the hosts of Bel-Ar."</p>
+
+<p>"Won't the Maeronicans scare them again with fires?" asked Everson.</p>
+
+<p>"Nay; that has been provided against," said the captain.</p>
+
+<p>"Lady," Polaris said to Glorian, "I have heard and seen many strange
+things in this country of yours, and I have learned much. One more
+thing I would ask that you make clear to me. Oleric has, and last night
+the old man back yonder did again speak of things of the long ago, in
+which you had a part. What did they mean? You are scarcely of mine own
+years."</p>
+
+<p>Glorian glanced hastily at Oleric, and then she answered:</p>
+
+<p>"When the world was younger, men had the secret of years. The slave
+O'Connell told Oleric that it was written in your sacred book out
+yonder in the world that such was so. That secret was lost. For ages it
+was lost. But it was found again in Ruthar. I am one of those to whom
+it has been imparted."</p>
+
+<p>"You mean, lady, that <i>you</i>&mdash;" Polaris gasped.</p>
+
+<p>"My friend, I first saw the light on Ruthar's hills well-nigh three
+hundred years ago," Glorian replied, and as he involuntarily shrank
+in his saddle, she added hastily, "It is a matter of the inward will
+that holds the spirit and the flesh. To only a few is it given to have
+the will to prevail for a time against time itself. And they are not
+immortal. Presently old age will come to me as it has to Zoar, and I
+shall shrivel away&mdash;and die." She shuddered.</p>
+
+<p>Polaris looked at this fair, fresh woman, beautiful as a goddess
+indeed, and by all earthly standards in the first bloom of her young
+womanhood, and he felt that this matter was beyond his comprehension.</p>
+
+<p>"Are there, then, any others, besides you and Zoar?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"One other only&mdash;and he rides at your side," she answered. "Oleric the
+Learned is younger than I by only fifty years."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, my brother, are some of my wild sayings explained to you," Oleric
+said. "We do not ask that you believe, for this thing is new to you and
+contrary to all that you have learned. Only the years will show you the
+truth of what we tell you&mdash;if they pass without accidents. For we are
+not proof against mischance. A sword-stroke may end my days as swiftly
+as any man's."</p>
+
+<p>"Would you that I impart the secret to you?" asked Glorian. And she
+turned and looked deep into Polaris's eyes. "You have a will that is
+stronger than most, and I think that you might well exert it to hold
+back the years, were you instructed. Say, shall we teach it you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nay, lady," said Polaris. "I will live my appointed years, be they few
+or many, and die when my time comes. One short human life, it seems,
+can hold all the troubles for which a man has heart. And I would not,
+if this thing be possible, see my friends grow old and die, while I
+lived on."</p>
+
+<p>Glorian sighed. Then she seemed struck by a new thought, and asked:</p>
+
+<p>"What will happen if Ruthar is too late, and you reach not your friends
+in Adlaz&mdash;and the lady Rose, of whom Oleric has told me? What if you
+come not to Adlaz in time to save them?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think that I shall be in time," Polaris said grimly. "If I am not,
+then I think death shall find me on the road&mdash;and be welcome."</p>
+
+<p>Zenas Wright, hearing these things, and marveling, became troubled.</p>
+
+<p>"Wow!" he said to the lieutenant. "I can believe anything now. To-day I
+have seen a living mammoth, and I felt about three thousand years old
+myself. And now, too, look out for squalls."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2>
+
+<h3>POLARIS MAKES HIS CHOICE</h3>
+
+
+<p>Dawn, the cheerless gray of clouded winter, crept over the city of
+Adlaz. In her bed in the prison-palace of Bel-Tisan the dark-haired
+Princess Memene of Sardanes lay, and beside her was her new little
+son. But Memene was not well, and Rose knew she would not live.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that Minos were here to see!" Memene said faintly. And again&mdash;"It
+is the king he was so sure of." She smiled at Rose. "It is the king,
+my sister. And he shall be named Patrymion, after a man who is dead&mdash;a
+very brave man." And smiling, she passed away.</p>
+
+<p>When she could control her grief&mdash;she had come to love Memene
+dearly&mdash;Rose summoned Brunar and told him what had befallen. The
+captain heard her sorrowfully, for he had honored and admired the
+Sardanian princess and pitied her sad circumstance. He sent the old
+woman out to fetch a younger one to care for the child. And then he
+brought men to bear Memene away. Out of the kindness that was in him,
+the captain looked to it that she lay in a fair and pleasant spot, and
+not where the common people of Ad buried their dead.</p>
+
+<p>Persuaded by Rose, and because he had some knowledge of English and
+could bear the message, Brunar took horse at noon and rode down to the
+harbor, there to seek Minos.</p>
+
+<p>This happening was nearly two months after the departure of Polaris and
+the others who had gone to Ruthar. In the intervening time, Oleric the
+Red had tried and tried again to get word through to Adlaz, informing
+those who were left behind of the fair progress of events. Always he
+had failed until one of his men, by craft and waiting, had gained a
+place with the prison guard.</p>
+
+<p>With him Rose Emer managed to get speech, and they arranged that on
+the following day he should slip away and try to reach Ruthar again,
+bearing a message from her to Polaris.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>On one of the quays in the harbor of Adlaz sat Minos, the Sardanian. It
+was cold on the quay, but he did not feel it. His back was weary with
+carrying burdens, but he was unconscious of that weariness. Why should
+the body live when the soul is dead within it? Nor did his eyes see
+the dancing waters of the harbor, where the fademes of Bel-Ar rode at
+their anchors. Until this day he had counted the hours with hope, and
+had borne his tasks with patience. Now hope had gone, and the taste of
+living was as dry dust.</p>
+
+<p>For Memene was dead.</p>
+
+<p>When Brunar had brought him the news, he had heard the captain through,
+and thanked him gravely. Then he had turned twice in his tracks and
+fallen like a stone. So long had he lain that Brunar deemed him dead.
+When he had come back from that swoon, Minos would work no more; nor
+did any seek to force him. He had wandered aimlessly out on the quay.
+When night fell, it found him still sitting there.</p>
+
+<p>It was a wild night. The moon shone but dimly, and often was veiled
+by scudding snow-clouds, and the stars were wan. Far to the south,
+over Ruthar, a faint rose-pink against the sky told that the southern
+lights, aurora australis, were playing. Somewhere beneath their
+flickering radiance lay the lost kingdom of Sardanes that the snows had
+covered deep. A wind, gusty and fitful, leaped over the mountain-rim
+and tossed the waters of the crater-lake so that the fademes swung
+restlessly and clanked their anchor-chains. One by one the mitzl globes
+among the warehouses and along the quays were hooded, until only the
+watch-lights were burning.</p>
+
+<p>A soldier of the guard hailed Minos; but the Sardanian answered not,
+stirred not.</p>
+
+<p>"Now let the fool sit and freeze," said the soldier impatiently. And
+then he added, "Poor fellow." For he had heard the story of the fallen
+king, and had a good wife and bairns of his own in Adlaz town.</p>
+
+<p>In Sardanes, Minos had been known as the smiling prince. But for all
+his patient, kindly ways, he was high-spirited. And once roused, none
+was quicker to strike than he. Events of the last few weeks had galled
+his temper. Now, coming out of the stupor into which this final blow
+had cast him, he was near to madness.</p>
+
+<p>Willingly would have Minos found his way to Adlaz, plucked Bel-Ar
+from his gilded bed and broken him across his knee. But the way was
+treacherous, and there were many guards, and he knew that he could not
+reach the king. Into the south he would have gone, to seek Polaris and
+to play a man's part in the great war. But that way was closed to him
+also. The few men that he might slay in the attempt before they pulled
+him down and slew him would be all too few to satisfy the fires within
+him that burned fiercely for vengeance. With only a great calamity
+would Minos be content.</p>
+
+<p>Uneasily tossed the fademes in the harbor, their anchor-chains
+rattling.</p>
+
+<p>Finally Minos heard them. Then he knew why they were calling to him.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Many times in his work about the harbor of Adlaz the Sardanian had been
+on board the fademes. He had helped to discharge the cargoes of those
+which came in from the fair islands of the southern seas, bringing
+strange tropical fruits, dainties for the lords and ladies of Adlaz,
+and other articles of the commerce which their captains carried on
+with the savage islanders. On many an atoll of the Pacific the brown
+Melanesians knew all the steel and gold clad white men who came up from
+the sea to trade with them.</p>
+
+<p>But they kept out of the track of civilization; for that was their law.
+Civilized men saw them not, though they sometimes heard tales of them
+among the savages&mdash;tales which, of course, they did not believe.</p>
+
+<p>Working on the ships as he had, Minos had learned much of the mode of
+their operation. Himself no mean worker in metals, the mysteries of
+these wonderful ships of the underseas had caught his fancy, and he
+had studied them. He knew that such a lever turned would start the
+fademe forward; that such another halted it; and others which caused
+it to turn and to dive beneath the surface or emerge at the will of
+its engineer. He also knew where were the levers which controlled
+the mighty power in the four great shafts of yellow glass and which
+released the terrible rays of light, the rays of the nameless color,
+before which all things were destroyed, and which turned even the water
+that they met into surging vapor.</p>
+
+<p>With that knowledge in his mind and the red fury in his heart, Minos
+knew why the clanging anchor-chains were calling to him.</p>
+
+<p>It was past midnight when the Sardanian king stood up at the end of
+the quay. He stretched wide his arms and the iron-sinewed thews of
+his shoulders and back cracked as he stretched. He glanced up at the
+distant stars.</p>
+
+<p>"Once aforetime, so told the red man from the sea, those Hellenes who
+were my ancestors did turn back this nation when it was swollen with
+conquest and would have mastered all the world," he whispered. "Once
+more the power of Adlaz rides high, and it makes ready to go forth and
+subdue it again&mdash;and what I leave, may my brother Polaris finish."</p>
+
+<p>In the shadow of a warehouse the king rubbed and strained his chilled
+muscles back to life. At the side of the wharf he found an open boat,
+and fetched its oars. Then he rowed cautiously out into the harbor.</p>
+
+<p>Scarce a score of yards from the quays rode the nearest of the fademes.
+Minos boarded it on noiseless feet, and cast his boat adrift.</p>
+
+<p>In the cabin of the fademe were sleeping two sailors of its crew and
+the engineer. Them Minos slew with his bare hands. And though the
+engineer ere he died slashed the king's shoulder deeply with a dagger,
+he heeded it not, scarcely felt it.</p>
+
+<p>Going on deck again, he unhooked the chain of the anchor and let it
+slip quietly into the water. Then he closed the double doors fore and
+aft, and made them fast.</p>
+
+<p>Under the lights in the lower gallery, Minos studied the levers and
+the engines. At a turn of his hand he felt the vessel sink beneath the
+surface. Another lever wrenched, and the fademe started gently ahead,
+and the king felt that he was safely launched on his dangerous venture.</p>
+
+<p>Before he had submerged the vessel, Minos had set in his mind the
+location of the fademes. There were nearly one hundred and fifty of
+them in the harbor. Five he knew were on patrol duty constantly off
+the Maeronican headlands. There were perhaps another dozen sailing the
+outer seas on the missions of Bel-Ar. Those at anchor in the harbor
+were disposed in three long, irregular lines, with nearly fifty ships
+in a line.</p>
+
+<p>Minos had submerged the fademe, which he had taken, some forty feet.
+When he reached a point which he thought must be nearly under the first
+vessel in the southern line, he turned off the power and halted. He
+fetched ropes and tied them, one to the starting lever and one to that
+which would stop the fademe. Carrying with him the other ends of the
+ropes, he climbed the ladders to the pilothouse, which rode like a
+small tower at the top of the fademe.</p>
+
+<p>Here in the pilothouse was a powerful revolving searchlight. Here,
+also, were the levers which controlled the tubes of glass which
+projected the deadly light-rays.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Swinging the searchlight to point upward through the crystal roof of
+the pilothouse, Minos unhooded it, and its bright, white bar of light
+thrust upward through the water. By its radiance he saw that he was not
+yet under the first of the fademes. Its golden hull glittered just a
+few feet beyond the radius of his light. A twitch of the rope which he
+had adjusted below sent his own vessel ahead.</p>
+
+<p>Under the first fademe he halted; and with a grim prayer that the
+destroying agency might not be out of order, he pressed the lever that
+controlled the upper shaft of the glass.</p>
+
+<p>With a mighty hissing and seething of the water, the indescribable
+light-ray leaped upward, so dazzlingly brilliant in its unknown color
+that it nearly blinded the man who had loosed it.</p>
+
+<p>Full on the bottom of the fademe above him the light ray struck and
+played, with the water boiling around it. The metal hull crumpled away
+like solder before the tinsmith's point. So swift and furious was its
+action that in an instant Minos saw the vessel above come sinking down.
+He had barely time to pull his rope and get his own fademe from under.
+As it was, the descending wreck grazed the stern of his vessel with a
+jar that nearly unseated him. Thereafter he went more swiftly.</p>
+
+<p>From ship to ship he went down the long line, scarcely pausing under
+each. Ship after ship he left behind him&mdash;sunken and useless wrecks.</p>
+
+<p>Minos had finished with the first row of fademes, and was coming back
+on the second line, when a guardsman on shore saw an upthrust of
+furious light from the deck of one of the golden ships, and then saw
+the doomed fademe plunge down.</p>
+
+<p>Throwing up his hands, the soldier ran across the harbor court,
+shouting that some captain had gone mad and was destroying the fleet.</p>
+
+<p>Then the harbor that had been still became alive. Lights flashed up.
+Men ran hither and thither. A messenger was dispatched to Adlaz to
+report to the king. Some sober-minded and brave men launched small
+boats into the harbor to go out and warn the engineers of the other
+fademes.</p>
+
+<p>Well near the end of his second line was Minos when he bethought him
+that his activities must draw attention to him. Then he loosed in
+succession the other three tubes, and their deadly rays shot forth, one
+from each side and one below. The king let them roar unchecked, and all
+around his vessel the water was turned into a boiling inferno. Like the
+evil genius of Adlaz, he rode on, leaving only wreckage in his wake.</p>
+
+<p>Part way down the last northern line, the end found him.</p>
+
+<p>Engineers on the other fademes had been awakened. Hastily they plunged
+their vessels beneath the surface and set out against the destroyer.
+Because of the fierce play of his four rays, they could not come at him
+from either side or from above or below.</p>
+
+<p>But one pilot steered in behind and, with the blazing peril a fair
+target, loosed the destroying ray from his own fademe.</p>
+
+<p>From behind him Minos heard a roar of steam and water entering in.
+A blinding radiance shot through the gallery below the pilothouse,
+withering all things as it passed. The structure of the fademe crumpled
+away beneath him.</p>
+
+<p>"Memene!" he cried. "I come!"</p>
+
+<p>Then the rising waters and the great darkness.</p>
+
+<p>So by the hand of Minos of Sardanes perished the mighty navy which
+the king Bel-Ar had amassed to go forth and conquer the world. Of his
+hundred and fifty fademes that had ridden in the harbor of Adlaz, a
+bare score remained to him. And this is the tale which Brunar, the
+captain, told in the morning to Rose Emer in the old prison-palace of
+Bel-Tisam, and which she set down and sent by messenger to cross the
+Kimbrian Wall to Polaris Janess in Ruthar.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Meanwhile, scarcely had the riders from the forest home of Zoar of the
+Amalocs come again to Zele-omaz when Everson was off to see to the
+course of his operations at the Kimbrian Wall. He snatched only a few
+hours of rest and sleep, and rode out in the night.</p>
+
+<p>On the day after the return, which also was the day on which Zoar had
+promised to set out with his mighty herd on the road to the barrier,
+Oleric the Red sought Polaris in the camp to the west of the city, and
+bade him accompany him to the Temple of Glorian.</p>
+
+<p>Oleric told naught of the meaning of the summons, but rode with Janess
+through the city, saying little and staring at his horse's ears. Never
+had Polaris seen the red captain so silent and so thoughtful.</p>
+
+<p>"What ails you, friend?" asked the son of the snows. "Why so moody, as
+is not your wont? Has aught gone amiss?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing amiss," the captain answered. "But a matter is toward that
+concerns yourself closely&mdash;and I know not if I have been wise to keep
+it from you so long."</p>
+
+<p>He would say no more, and presently they were at the temple.</p>
+
+<p>Oleric led Polaris into the high-domed audience-hall, which they found
+empty, save for the Goddess Glorian, who sat in one of the seats on
+the double throne, and who looked on Polaris with kindling eyes as he
+crossed the hall.</p>
+
+<p>To the northern wall led Oleric, and they paused before an ancient
+panel of black rock, which had been set into the marble at about the
+height of a man's head. So old was this slab or block of adamant that
+its surface was all crackled, yet it was smooth as polished slate.
+Across its face ran carven lines of writing, like the lines of a runic
+legend.</p>
+
+<p>"This stone bears the ancient prophecy of Ruthar," Oleric said. "Here
+in the long ago were writ the words of that which we believe is now to
+come to pass. See how the stone shines. It has been worn smooth by the
+lips of countless chiefs of Ruthar."</p>
+
+<p>With unwonted solemnity the captain gazed into the eyes of his friend.
+"Give close heed, and I will read it you," he said, and read:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>"In a far time&mdash;more than the length of years of three amalocs&mdash;a
+mighty, fair-haired man shall come up from the sea. He shall break
+down the wall at the north. He shall lead Ruthar and the beasts of
+Ruthar through the wall. And they shall take Adlaz and destroy the
+king of Adlaz&mdash;"</p></div>
+
+<p>The captain paused, and again looked strangely at Polaris. He concluded
+the reading:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>"And the man shall be king over Ruthar and Adlaz."</p></div>
+
+<p>Janess stared at the ancient writing in silence, and his brow clouded
+over.</p>
+
+<p>"This is the whole of the prophecy of Ruthar&mdash;the part of which I have
+kept concealed from you&mdash;though every lad in Ruthar knows it," said
+Oleric hastily. "I beg of you, my brother, that you will forgive me if
+I have done ill. But I have thought it wise to keep silence this far.
+Now is come the time when nothing must be kept back."</p>
+
+<p>He stopped speaking, and both he and Glorian gazed earnestly at the
+doubtful face of Polaris.</p>
+
+<p>"You mean that I shall be king of Ruthar," Polaris said at length. From
+one to the other of them he glanced.</p>
+
+<p>The red captain nodded slowly.</p>
+
+<p>"So it is writ in the prophecy," said Glorian. She left the throne, and
+came and took Polaris by the hand.</p>
+
+<p>"And, O man from the sea, for whom Ruthar has waited so long and
+patiently, you cannot gainsay us now," she pleaded. A smile of
+appealing sweetness came to her aid.</p>
+
+<p>"But, lady, to be a king I did not bargain when I came hither with the
+captain; though," and he smiled, "I was in an ill place to drive a
+bargain, and might have yielded almost anything. But to be a king&mdash;I
+like it not. I am neither of Ruthar nor of Ad. I am a simple American
+of common birth. I do not wish to be a king, but merely to go hence
+with my own people, if I may. And if I did wish it, what of the people?
+Would they relish the thought of an outlander on their throne?"</p>
+
+<p>Again Glorian answered him:</p>
+
+<p>"It is so writ in the prophecy."</p>
+
+<p>And Oleric said: "And the prophecy is known to all the people, as it
+has been for centuries. From the wall to the southern cliffs, there is
+no man or woman in all Ruthar who does not already look upon you as the
+king. Think well, my brother."</p>
+
+<p>"But would it not do as well if I were to serve you and Ruthar for a
+while, and those with me, as leaders? Then, when we have won, if we
+<i>do</i> win, might I not go hence? Would that not serve as well?"</p>
+
+<p>Glorian smiled faintly, and Oleric shook his head.</p>
+
+<p>"Nay, my brother," the captain replied. "You must put your hands in the
+hands of the zinds of Ruthar and swear the oath of kingship. That is
+the only way. 'And the man shall be king over Ruthar and Adlaz,' runs
+the prophecy." Oleric traced the writing on the slab with his finger.
+"By those words do the zinds and the people hold. It is the only way."</p>
+
+<p>"And if I refuse?"</p>
+
+<p>"Then," said Glorian, "the army will not march to-morrow, nor will Zoar
+drive on the beasts&mdash;unless all of the prophecy shall be fulfilled.
+Then we who have stood as sponsors for you will be derided as cheats
+and fools, if, indeed, worse things do not befall you and us. And
+bethink you&mdash;those whom you love, who are in Adlaz, will perish
+miserably, while Bel-Ar and the priests of Shamar mock their miseries.
+Without you we fail, and without us and the hosts of Ruthar you, too,
+are powerless."</p>
+
+<p>"You argue strongly, lady, and you, too, comrade," Polaris said.
+"Still, I like not this prospect of being king. I must have a little
+space in which to ponder it over."</p>
+
+<p>"It is now nearly noon," Oleric said. "To-day the zinds from every
+province and city of Ruthar ride into Zele-omaz&mdash;to greet their king.
+Until to-night, my brother."</p>
+
+<p>"Then to-night will I give my answer&mdash;here in this hall," Polaris said,
+and he turned and went to seek out old Zenas Wright. And neither of the
+two whom he left behind could have guessed at what his answer would be,
+though it seemed to them that there could only be one answer. For they
+had come to know him as a man of surpassing determination, and here was
+a path in which he did not want to set his feet.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>In the old laboratory Janess found Zenas. The work of the geologist
+was completed. Melinite he had turned out of his workshops by the ton,
+and the most of it had been transported carefully, and was stored in
+the forests near to the Kimbrian Wall. Now his thunder factory was
+deserted. Every last man of his force had gone to join the army.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, my lad, I know," said Zenas, after one glance at Polaris's face.
+"They have told you about this king business. I know, too&mdash;for I know
+you&mdash;that you are bucking it&mdash;hard."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not want to be a king, old Zenas, but&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, there's a 'but' in it, and a big one. What are you going to do
+about it? Our red-headed, two-hundred-and-fifty-year-old youngster, the
+antique lady, and their old father, Methuselah Zoar, have it all cut
+and dried. If you can see any way out of it except their way, you have
+devilish keen eyes. I can't, and I've been looking at it for quite a
+few days. Oleric told me about it all some time ago. Take it, boy; take
+it. And make the most of it. It isn't every day that one gets a chance
+to be absolute ruler over a rich country and nearly five millions of
+people. You'll make a better king than any they've ever had on either
+side of the wall. That I'll guarantee." And the old man looked at his
+troubled friend with bright eyes and patted him on the knee.</p>
+
+<p>While they sat and talked this matter over, came a man to the door,
+crying out that a messenger had come through from Adlaz bringing a
+written word to Polaris.</p>
+
+<p>The courier was brought in. He proved to be that same Rutharian who had
+gained a place with the prison guard under Brunar. Already he had told
+in the city of the destruction of the fademes of Bel-Ar, and Zele-omaz
+was going wild with the news.</p>
+
+<p>When Polaris had read the letter sent him by Rose Emer, and he and
+Zenas had heard what the messenger had to add to its news, the face of
+the son of the snows grew very stern. The kindly old scientist's eyes
+were moist. After the man was gone, neither of them spoke for quite a
+time. The two who were gone had been dear friends, and the friendship
+had been knit by perils and hardships, in which each had learned the
+worth of the others.</p>
+
+<p>"Now is the score that I have to settle with this king of Adlaz grown
+long indeed," Polaris said at length, "and I am minded to tilt him for
+his kingdom, as these folk would have me do. He made a good ending, did
+Minos; and I do not think that Bel-Ar, even if he come free of Ruthar,
+will live to see the day when another fleet shall lie ready to go out
+and win the world for him."</p>
+
+<p>He became silent. While the town, filling up with the arrival of zinds
+and their retinues, gave itself to rejoicing at the blow that had been
+struck Bel-Ar, and the old man sat by the fire and dozed, Polaris paced
+moodily up and down the long laboratory. An hour passed, and the half
+of another. Then he struck one hand hard into the other.</p>
+
+<p>"Now in all these happenings I think I see my way at last," he muttered.</p>
+
+<p>With the fall of night he cloaked himself and went up to the temple on
+the hill, and Zenas went with him.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>From every principality and town in Ruthar the zinds had come to
+Zele-omaz. Those who were too old or infirm to make the journey had
+sent their sons or representatives. In the hall of Glorian these were
+gathered to the number of one hundred-and-seven&mdash;tall and stately men,
+most of them, clad in chain armor plated with silver and bossed with
+plates of steel&mdash;for they had come to fight for their king as well as
+to crown him. A shout went up that made the torches flare, when a guard
+opened one of the doors of bronze, and Polaris Janess and Zenas came
+into the hall.</p>
+
+<p>Eager-eyed, they pressed around the son of the snows, to welcome him
+whom their prophets and their goddess had said would redress their
+ancient wrongs.</p>
+
+<p>Polaris met their greetings with a heightened color and a glow in his
+eyes. Almost, he thought, it would be a joy to be the king of such as
+these&mdash;he, the dweller in no-man's land, a waif from the eternal snows.</p>
+
+<p>And the Goddess Glorian, watching him from her ivory throne, smiled
+to herself, though there was a pang at her heart that she could not
+manage to quench or still.</p>
+
+<p>Presently Polaris stood in the open space at the foot of the throne.
+The zinds gathered before him in a glittering semicircle, and made
+silence in the hall.</p>
+
+<p>"Chieftains of Ruthar," he began, lifting his voice so that all might
+hear, "this day have I been asked to become your king, to take your
+crown upon my head, to sit upon your throne, to lead you in battle, and
+to rule over you as wisely as I may&mdash;all this because of certain words
+on a stone which, it seems, may not be changed. Is this your wish, men
+of Ruthar&mdash;to have me, an outlander, as your king?"</p>
+
+<p>A deep-voiced shout was the answer, and every voice said "Aye."</p>
+
+<p>"Then this is my answer, men of Ruthar, seeing that there is no dissent
+among you: when I came unwillingly to the shores of Maeronica, there
+came with me a friend, a true man. You have heard much of him to-day.
+It was he that sank the fademes of Bel-Ar. He was named Minos, and he
+was the king of a nation that has passed away. That man is dead by a
+glorious means. Yonder in the harbor he struck a great blow for Ruthar
+and for the world. He gave his life.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>"To-day word reached me by the messenger who brought the tidings of
+that deed, and the word was that this Minos who is dead, left behind
+him a son, an infant newly born.</p>
+
+<p>"Now I will yield me to your wishes, chieftains of Ruthar. I will go
+with you to the Kimbrian Wall, and beyond it. I will fight with you
+to overthrow Bel-Ar. I will do all that a man may to be the king you
+wish me. But it is my will that when this son of Minos the Sardanian is
+grown to manhood's years and wisdom, he shall relieve me of my kingship
+and become your king, and his son after him, if he have one. That is my
+answer, men of Ruthar. I thank you for the high honor you would do me."</p>
+
+<p>He turned and bowed deeply to the Goddess Glorian, and then stood back
+at the side of the throne.</p>
+
+<p>A murmur of surprise arose in the hall, and then was silenced, for
+Glorian arose to speak.</p>
+
+<p>"Zinds of my people," she said in her clear, low voice, "to the weight
+of this man's words add that of Glorian's. He comes, this man, from a
+land where there are no kings. He is willing to fight for you&mdash;to die
+with you. What he promises will fulfil the prophecy by which we hold.
+It is a noble choice that he has made. It is my rede that you accept
+it&mdash;mine and that of Oleric the Learned, to whom you sometimes have
+looked for counsel."</p>
+
+<p>As she reseated herself, the red captain stood forth and said simply:</p>
+
+<p>"My brother has chosen well. I stand with him. Should you not agree, I
+still stand with him, and he and I and such as are faithful to us will
+break the Kimbrian Wall and perish on the road to Adlaz."</p>
+
+<p>For a short time the zinds took counsel among themselves. When they had
+done, an aged man&mdash;he was Atra, the ruler of Zele-omaz&mdash;stood out from
+among them.</p>
+
+<p>"We are agreed, O goddess," he said. "We will have this man as king
+until the prophecy is fulfilled and for so long afterward as he will,
+until the babe be grown to manhood. He is a true man. We are content,
+and perhaps"&mdash;here Atra smiled&mdash;"with the passing of the years he may
+change his mind."</p>
+
+<p>They brought the crown of Ruthar&mdash;a heavy torque of gold set with
+fire-opals&mdash;and led Polaris to the ivory throne, and set him beside the
+Goddess Glorian and crowned him. And he put his hands in the hands of
+the zinds and swore the oath of kingship.</p>
+
+<p>"Yonder in Adlaz is a larger palace and a wider throne," said Glorian.</p>
+
+<p>"Aye, lady," he answered. "To-morrow I shall go to seek it."</p>
+
+<p>A great feast followed the coronation. When it was done, all night
+long through the streets of Zele-omaz and across the bridges of Illia,
+sounded the rumbling of chariot-wheels and the tramp of marching feet.
+Ruthar was on the march at last, and the destination was the Kimbrian
+Wall.</p>
+
+<p>So it fell out that the ambition of Minos of Sardanes had not been so
+vain of attainment. He had won a kingdom for "the king that was to
+come."</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>As near as they dared, Everson's army of workmen had pushed the
+completion of their broad highway to the Kimbrian Wall, clearing and
+building up the old, disused road. Trees had been felled and removed
+where it was necessary, and rocks had been dragged away with much
+labor&mdash;and all with as little noise as possible, so that the men of
+Atlo who garrisoned the wall might know nothing of the work, and that
+when the time should come, Maeronica could be taken unawares.</p>
+
+<p>To do that the road-makers had been forced to halt their work two
+hundred yards from the wall, where a belt of thick forest was left
+standing across the way which effectually screened their operations.</p>
+
+<p>When the roadway had been completed to that point, molelike, the
+engineers and sappers dug into the earth and pushed on. The old
+roadway, suiting their purposes well, led to the wall at a point nearly
+midway between two of the watchtowers, which were distant from one
+another about a mile. Another circumstance which was favorable to the
+lieutenant's plan was that the neck or isthmus which connected Ruthar
+to Maeronica was, though high above the sea, comparatively level.</p>
+
+<p>Back of a knoll in the forest the miners sank their shaft. Twelve feet
+down in the earth they struck the living rock and proceeded along that,
+excavating a tunnel, or gallery, eight feet high by ten feet across.
+This work was done swiftly, for the tunnel was wide enough so that four
+men might work in it abreast, and as fast as one quartet was wearied
+another took its place, and the picks were swinging day and night. As
+the diggers went on, a multitude of workers behind them carried back
+the loosened earth and shored the gallery up with timbers so that it
+might not cave.</p>
+
+<p>When Everson returned from the ride to the place of Zoar, he found that
+his tunnel was ended&mdash;against the face of the Kimbrian Wall, which was
+founded on the rock itself. Following his instructions, the sappers had
+branched the tunnel right and left along the wall, until the working
+was in the shape of an elongated letter "T", the cross-arm of which lay
+along the foundation stones of the wall and was sixty feet long.</p>
+
+<p>With the same ceaseless industry that had built the tunnel so swiftly,
+they then had attacked the face of the wall with chisels and sledges,
+cutting in at intervals of about ten feet. This had been difficult
+work and perilous. The rock of the wall was adamant-hard. However, by
+attacking the cement in which the stones were set, the miners had been
+able to remove numbers of the great blocks entire, rolling them by
+dint of herculean effort across the gallery and into cavities made to
+receive them.</p>
+
+<p>In that work had been the danger. Eight men had been crushed under
+falling fragments&mdash;first toll of Ruthar in the warfare.</p>
+
+<p>The excavations had been carried into the foundation of the wall a
+matter of fifteen feet when Everson arrived. He at once ordered that
+work stopped. Remained only the placing of the explosive. That he
+superintended in person.</p>
+
+<p>Bar by bar&mdash;for the lieutenant would suffer no man to carry more than
+one of old Zenas's patty-cakes at a time&mdash;and with extreme care, the
+melinite was borne in through the tunnel and packed in the cavities
+in the wall. The geologist's workshop had turned out a plenty of the
+stuff, and it was used without stint. Everson judged that he placed
+nearly two tons of the explosive in each of the six chambers under the
+wall.</p>
+
+<p>Banks of loose, dry earth were piled about the melinite charges;
+Everson laid his wires, and his workmen then filled the cavities with
+fragments of the rock taken from the wall.</p>
+
+<p>Still further to retard the release of the gases when the charges
+should be set off, the lieutenant set his men to wall up the openings
+to the chambers, using heavy rocks and cement, having done which, they
+filled in the cross-arm of the "T" with earth and fragments of stone,
+tamping all in firmly.</p>
+
+<p>Very workmanlike was the finished task over which Everson nodded his
+approval and told his grimy legion, "Well done."</p>
+
+<p>During all the progress of the labor the patrols of Bel-Ar rode to and
+fro along the wall, and never guessed that sixty feet below them in the
+rock their enemies were planting the fearful seeds that would put forth
+the red flower of war.</p>
+
+<p>It was midnight of the third day after the gathering of the zinds
+in the temple of Glorian at Zele-omaz, when Everson walked out of
+the tunnel for the last time, his wires laid, his batteries ready.
+Retiring to one of the shelters which had been built in the forest, the
+lieutenant threw himself on a couch for a few brief hours of sleep.</p>
+
+<p>Five hours later one of his engineers awakened him and told him that
+the zinds of Ruthar with a great host had gone into camp for the night
+along the roadway ten miles back from the wall, and that the levies of
+the upper hills, the light-armed archers, slingers and javelin men,
+were pouring into the vast camp which had been prepared nearby in the
+forest.</p>
+
+<p>"And these last swear that when they sleep again it will be beyond the
+wall," the engineer added.</p>
+
+<p>"Many of them, poor chaps, are likely to sleep there forever," said
+Everson. "Where is the king?"</p>
+
+<p>"With the zinds."</p>
+
+<p>The lieutenant arose and went out on the hillside; for he knew that
+the time had come.</p>
+
+<p>Calling a messenger, he told him to go and summon the skirmishers from
+the camp. Presently he saw them coming, long, silent files of men,
+ghostly in the gray light, picking their way over the snow-covered
+slopes and among the trees, some of the lines led by zinds and others
+by their captains.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>In the forests opposite the wall, Everson posted a wedge of five
+thousand javelin men, who were armed also with short swords. These were
+to rush the breach in the wall and deploy on the other side to hold
+the gap from any assault from beyond until the gap could be cleared
+and the roadway brought up and through the breach to connect with the
+Maeronican highway which lay on the other side of the barrier. Back of
+that force gathered the miners and road-builders.</p>
+
+<p>Right and left along the wall the lieutenant sent bodies of archers and
+slingers, so they might command the top of the wall and prevent the
+garrisons of the watchtowers from galling the men at work in the breach.</p>
+
+<p>At each of the sixty towers along the stretch of the wall were
+stationed some twenty men&mdash;a force of nearly twelve hundred in all.
+Everson foresaw that these in all probability, or most of them, would
+come to the breach from either side, leaving but few soldiers to man
+the towers. So he sent two parties of a thousand men each east and
+west, to lie in the forests near the wall. These were heavy-armed
+swordsmen and spearsmen. They bore long ladders with them, and it was
+to be their task to scale the wall, flank the men of Bel-Ar at its
+summit, and take and hold the watchtowers.</p>
+
+<p>A few miles below the wall lay a Maeronican hilltown, and there Bel-Ar
+maintained a prominent garrison, composed of a section of his standing
+army, some ten thousand men strong. These soldiers had proved the bane
+of many a Rutharian raiding party, and they now gave Everson much
+trouble in his mind. If they should come up quickly to the wall and
+drive back his force or retake the towers, his thrust would be all but
+ill delivered and fail of much of its power. That must be chanced&mdash;and
+he judged by the look of these fighting men of Ruthar that they would
+stand considerable driving and still not be driven.</p>
+
+<p>Silently the long lines stole into position, and the men sank out of
+sight among the trees. A small patrol party of Maeronican soldiers rode
+down the wall from the watchtower to the west, where the mitzl lights
+burned pale against the sky. They passed on, met the patrol from the
+east, and both returned&mdash;seeing nothing of the menace that lay hidden
+in the shadows of the pines.</p>
+
+<p>Ruthar had been quiet of late, and a few noises in the forest meant
+nothing to these soldiers, strong in their position on the mighty wall.
+Of such things as the pastries of Zenas Wright they had never even
+dreamed.</p>
+
+<p>In a clump of trees Everson attached his wires to his batteries. He
+knelt by one of them, and five of his sappers knelt with him.</p>
+
+<p>"One&mdash;two&mdash;<i>three</i>!" he counted.</p>
+
+<p>The six poised hands fell as one.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment, silence; then a burst of hell from the bowels of the
+earth.</p>
+
+<p>From end to end, down all its length, the roof of Everson's
+subterranean gallery was torn out by the rending gases. From the mouth
+of the tunnel a mass of rocks, beams and loose earth was belched down
+the slope with such force that trees fell before it.</p>
+
+<p>Through clouds of falling earth and a drift of smoke, the distended
+eyes of the Rutharian soldiery saw the basalt structure of the Kimbrian
+Wall that had stood firm for thirty centuries heave up, sunder, and
+open, as a gate opens, then come thundering down to ruin. Right in the
+midst of the chaos of falling rock an awful sheet of green flame arose
+like a giant fan and stood for an instant against the sky.</p>
+
+<p>Then came the noise. It was neither a crash nor a roar, but a sustained
+rumbling bellow&mdash;as though Mother Earth herself were muttering at this
+desecration of her aged bones. Such was the power of that tremulous
+diapason that the forests shook and the hills trembled. Followed a
+moment of the silence of the pit, and then the clatter and spat of the
+débris as it showered the slopes and the forests.</p>
+
+<p>"Shields up!" shouted a tall zind of Ruthar, and the next moment he was
+stretched senseless by a fragment of rock because he had not been quick
+to obey his own order. Many others were injured, and some were killed.
+But what did a few deaths matter now? The Kimbrian Wall was down. For
+eighty feet the gap extended wide and free!</p>
+
+<p>And beyond lay Maeronica.</p>
+
+<p>In the forests and on the hills the companies cheered wildly as they
+saw the path the melinite had opened, and cheered again when they saw
+that the watchtower to the west had been shaken from its perch by the
+terrific concussion and lay a crumble of stonework at the foot of the
+wall.</p>
+
+<p>"Into the breach!" shouted Everson. "Through the wall!"</p>
+
+<p>From their lair on the hillsides the five thousand javelin bearers
+arose gleefully and crossed the space to the gap in the wall at a
+swinging trot, singing as they went.</p>
+
+<p>So clean had been the sweep of the melinite that it had torn away every
+vestige of the wall down to the living rock of the isthmus, leaving a
+wide trench or ditch, stone-bottomed and with sloping sides of earth,
+which it was an easy matter for the light-armed men to scramble across.
+But first the soldiers had to throw loose earth into the bottom of the
+trench; for the terrific pressure of the melinite against the rock had
+heated it until it was almost molten.</p>
+
+<p>For hundreds of feet around, heaps of earth and pulverized stone sent
+up columns of the greenish, acrid vapor of the explosive.</p>
+
+<p>On the heels of the javelin men pressed the engineers and road-men,
+swarming into the breach to fill the trench and make a way for the
+charioteers and the amalocs of Zoar, which were to follow. Along the
+screen of forest at the end of the road axes rang, and the trees began
+to fall.</p>
+
+<p>One of the first men into the breach after the skirmishers had crossed
+the ragged ditch, was Everson. With Mazoe, chief of his sappers, the
+lieutenant directed the work at the trench; for now was the time for
+haste.</p>
+
+<p>Shaken from their beds by the dull thunder of Everson's fireworks,
+Bel-Ar's steel riders at the eastern tower came clattering down their
+wall. Before ever they reached the gap, a trumpet sounded on the
+hillside, the archers and the slingers arose like wraiths from the
+forests, and the horsemen were met by a shower of shafts and stones
+that rattled and clanged on their armor and drove them back.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Messengers sped east and west from tower to tower. Within an hour
+every garrison along the barrier knew that the gods of Ruthar had
+rifted their fortress and the hillsmen were pouring through. But these
+soldiers of Bel-Ar were picked men, and they did not fear. Every
+man-at-arms that could be spared from the turrets was horsed, and they
+came riding recklessly down their lofty pathway, firm in the belief
+that their own god presently would have a say in this matter.</p>
+
+<p>At the third tower to the east of the breach was Atlo, captain of the
+wall. The tremor of the explosion reached even there. While the captain
+and his men wondered at what it might be, a messenger reached them.
+Atlo at once sent a horseman down the curving path, one of which led
+from each tower to the ground on the northern side of the wall, to ride
+through the forest to the town of Barme and arouse the army there.</p>
+
+<p>Then Atlo armed himself, gathered his men and started west. Straight
+to the brink of the gap he rode, heeding neither arrows nor stones. At
+the edge of the breach he dismounted, and while the long shafts of the
+archers hummed around him and the missiles of the slingers dented his
+golden armor, he knelt and peered into the gorge below him.</p>
+
+<p>Much the captain marveled at the force which had broken the barrier.
+His quick eyes of the soldier took in the disposition of the men and
+fathomed the plan of the enemy. He saw that a swarm of javelin men and
+a number of companies of heavier armed infantry were through the wall
+and prepared to defend their ground. More he saw; that the trench below
+was black with men who labored to fill it in; on the southern side of
+the wall another army of laborers was laying a broad road over which
+chariots might pass; and beneath him in the breach a man in mud-stained
+garments stood on a point of rock directing his grimy toilers.</p>
+
+<p>Breathing a curse, Atlo lifted his spear and cast with all his might.
+Then he mounted and rode back to the nearest tower to await the coming
+of his garrisons.</p>
+
+<p>Too late did the archers in the forests shout their warning when they
+saw that spear-arm poised.</p>
+
+<p>At the foot of the rock Everson fell and lay face downward among his
+workmen.</p>
+
+<p>Tenderly they bore him out of the trench and up the slope of the
+forest, those sturdy men of Ruthar who had worked with him and loved
+him. Four of his engineers carried him, and Mazoe walked beside, trying
+to stanch the flow of blood. Atlo's spear-point had bitten deeply just
+above the collar-bone.</p>
+
+<p>At the crest of the rise Everson spoke in a weak voice and bade them
+set him down. Mazoe knelt and held him.</p>
+
+<p>Through dim eyes the lieutenant peered back toward the sundered wall.
+He lifted his hand slowly and with infinite effort and pointed.</p>
+
+<p>"We have done&mdash;good work," he said. "Go on&mdash;with it. I fear I
+shall&mdash;not&mdash;be with you."</p>
+
+<p>His eyes closed, and Mazoe, who thought that he was spent, burst into
+tears.</p>
+
+<p>Below in the camp arose a mighty clamor of shouting. Everson's eyelids
+fluttered open.</p>
+
+<p>"Why do the soldiers cheer?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>Mazoe listened intently to the shouting.</p>
+
+<p>"They cheer because the king is coming," he answered.</p>
+
+<p>Everson smiled faintly.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell him&mdash;I have made&mdash;a way&mdash;for him&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>His voice trailed away, and he sank into unconsciousness. And though
+he did not die, he sailed so near to the quiet coasts that it was many
+weeks before he knew that the work he had begun had gone on without
+him, and had been done well.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+
+<h3>BEL-AR HEARS THE DRUMS</h3>
+
+
+<p>In the early brightness of the morning, the king of Ruthar rode up the
+southern stretch of the slope toward the wall. With him came old Zenas
+and Oleric the Red.</p>
+
+<p>Bedight in chain mail rode the king, a shield of shining steel on his
+arm, his two-handed sword at his back, dagger in belt, and spear and
+battle-ax at saddle-bow. Behind him clattered a company of zinds. Back
+of them, down the long road as far as the eye could see, marched rank
+on rank of men-at-arms. These were to pass the wall at once, and push
+on along the isthmus to meet and hold any force which the captains of
+Bel-Ar might throw against them.</p>
+
+<p>In the camp in the forest, ready to ride when the way should be
+cleared, were thousands of the wild horsemen of the hills. As soon as
+they might pass the breach, they would outstrip the heavy-marching
+infantry, spread and harry the country, and dash into the mountain
+passes at the northern end of the isthmus, which must be taken and held
+before any considerable force could come up from Maeronica and occupy
+them.</p>
+
+<p>Behind, the horsemen would push on the footmen and the chariots which
+made up the main host of Ruthar. Such was the plan which had been laid
+by Everson, Polaris, and Oleric.</p>
+
+<p>As they neared the top of the rise, Polaris and those with him met a
+little clump of downcast men plodding along the road and carrying a
+burden. Then Mazoe saw the riders and ran to meet them, holding his
+arms above his head and weeping.</p>
+
+<p>"What says he? Everson&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Polaris sprang down from his horse and pushed through the tramping men.
+Behind him an army halted while he stood and looked into the still face
+of Everson. In the heart of the son of the snows there entered a pang
+as keen as that which had stabbed it when he had heard of the passing
+of the Sardanian King Minos and his lady.</p>
+
+<p>But Zenas Wright, who had bent over the lieutenant, and bared his
+breast and listened to his heart, spoke up:</p>
+
+<p>"This boy has been hard hit; but he's still alive. With good care&mdash;and
+he's going to get it&mdash;I think he has a chance. This jab over the
+shoulder isn't so bad as it looks."</p>
+
+<p>"Look at him, Father Zenas," said Polaris. "Let no effort that this
+land can produce be spared to make him whole again; for he is a gallant
+gentleman, and deserves no such death. His reward from Ruthar for what
+he has done shall be great."</p>
+
+<p>Mazoe told all his story, and Polaris bent and took the earth-stained
+hand of the unconscious man in his own.</p>
+
+<p>"Fare you well for a time, Everson," he said softly. "I shall not
+forget. And I shall find the way you made."</p>
+
+<p>Mazoe and the engineers bore Everson to the camp, and Zenas Wright went
+with them.</p>
+
+<p>Polaris touched the red captain on the shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"Captain Oleric, bide you here at the wall until the path is prepared.
+I make you general-in-chief of the army. Carry out the work which
+our friend has so well begun. Father Zenas will give you of his good
+counsel. Build the road as Everson and you have planned it."</p>
+
+<p>"But you&mdash;where are you going?" Oleric asked.</p>
+
+<p>Polaris pointed northward to the breach in the Kimbrian Wall.</p>
+
+<p>"I am going to tread the way he made for me," he answered. "When all is
+well, come on and find me on the other side."</p>
+
+<p>Giving the reins of his horse to a servant, Polaris reached his spear
+from the saddle and placed himself in the first rank of the footmen,
+under the great, blood-red banner of Ruthar. A mighty cheer swept down
+the ranks as he joined them. The horsemen drew out to the side of the
+roadway; a blare of trumpets sounded the advance; the crimson standard
+dipped and went forward. Over the seamed and broken hill, past the
+masses of fallen ruin, across the melinite-blasted trench, and through
+the breach in the wall flowed the iron stream.</p>
+
+<p>As far as they could see it, the little group on the hilltop watched
+the tall form that strode under the tossing banner.</p>
+
+<p>"This king of ours has a will of his own," muttered Oleric. "Now to do
+the work he bade us."</p>
+
+<p>But first of all the red captain sent for old Jastla of the hills. When
+the white-bearded chieftain stood before him, Oleric said:</p>
+
+<p>"The king has gone yonder through the wall, Jastla. Take a hundred of
+your best men&mdash;men who know how to die as well as fight. Find the king.
+Ring him round with a band of steel. Guard him with your lives." Oleric
+grinned as he added, "'Twill be a task to your liking, old bear. Ever
+you loved fighting, and this man will lead you to where it is thicker
+than earth-berries. I have seen him at the game. But watch him well,
+Jastla; he is of a reckless temper when his blood is stirred, and
+caution is not his watchword."</p>
+
+<p>Lifting his arm in salute, Jastla replied:</p>
+
+<p>"When harm comes to the king, it shall have set its foot on Jastla's
+corpse." The chief drew a deep breath of pride and satisfaction. "I
+thank you, Oleric the Learned, for this task. I have trained the lad,
+and I love him."</p>
+
+<p>Jastla hurried into the forest to the camp. Presently he, too, was gone
+through the wall on his mission.</p>
+
+<p>When the last of the armed force had passed the gap, another army took
+its place&mdash;an army of pick and shovel men, with chains and ropes and
+tugging, sweating horses. Speedily the last of the screen of trees was
+down and the stumps torn out. On a foundation of crushed rock Oleric
+built up his roadway, and brought it through to the shadow of the
+Kimbrian Wall; and there he met trouble.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>All of the day on which Everson was stricken, and through the night and
+the forenoon following, the builders wrought at the road. Wherever was
+room for a pair of hands to labor, the hands were not lacking. Still
+the work was not completed, nor was the ditch filled in.</p>
+
+<p>And the reason for the delay was&mdash;Atlo.</p>
+
+<p>From the turrets along the wall to the east the captain had collected
+a force of nearly five hundred fighting men, and led them in person.
+Leaving their horses behind them, these warriors marched to the lip of
+the breach and harassed the workmen of Oleric. Nor could the Rutharian
+bowmen and slingers come at them with their weapons to do them much
+scathe. The edge of the wall had a coping which was nearly breast-high.
+Behind that the defenders were sheltered, and might creep, which they
+did, to the very brink of the gap, whence they showered the men in the
+trench with arrows and javelins.</p>
+
+<p>Following the example of Atlo, the under captains of the towers on the
+western stretch of the wall gathered another half a thousand men and
+came to the end of the breach on their side. Between the activities
+of these two parties, the task of the besiegers was made heavy and
+perilous.</p>
+
+<p>Time and again the red captain was forced to withdraw his laborers
+from the cross-fire of deadly missiles which the warriors on the wall
+rained into the ditch. His losses were appalling. Still his men did not
+falter. When the order was given, they swarmed into the gaping trench,
+and those who died there were content if they but cast one shovel of
+earth before the spirit fled.</p>
+
+<p>Oleric groaned in spirit as he watched this havoc, which he had little
+power to hinder. The distance to the top of the wall was too great to
+allow of effective javelin-casting, and such weapons as did reach the
+summit were seized upon by the enemy and turned back on the attackers.
+Having the advantage of the sheltered height from which to cast and
+shoot, one of Atlo's soldiers was worth in efficiency a hundred of
+those on the ground.</p>
+
+<p>"Swords and axes on the top of the wall, and that only, will clear out
+that nest," said Oleric to Zenas, when the geologist had come back from
+the camp, where for hours he had labored over Everson, and of whose
+condition he now had high hopes.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are our ladder-men tarrying?" snarled Oleric, and the captain
+ground his teeth as he saw his workmen decimated and driven back again.
+"We have not the time to spare to starve these birds from their perch.
+Yet if I fill that hole now it will be with the bodies of brave men
+dead and not with earth and stone."</p>
+
+<p>Bethinking himself of another plan, the captain ordered three companies
+of heavy-armed foot-soldiers up from the camp and sent them into the
+working to shelter the laborers under their shields. By that means a
+little progress was made; but the work was slow and cumbersome and the
+toll in lives was still heavy.</p>
+
+<p>Long-delayed relief came in the shape of the fighting men whom Everson
+had sent out along the wall with ladders. These had lain in the forests
+until they saw the turrets depleted of their garrisons. Then they
+had crept up to the wall and erected their scaling ladders, choosing
+points a number of miles from the breach. That attack was not without
+its perils and losses. Scant in numbers, but desperate, the defenders
+sallied out on the wall to turn the storming parties. Many warriors
+died under the javelins and arrows from above. Comrades took their
+places as they fell, and at length, by dint of hard fighting, gained
+footing on the crest of the wall.</p>
+
+<p>Guessing how matters must stand at the breach, the Rutharian swordsmen
+paid no further attention to the turrets which lay between them and the
+sea, but set themselves to the taking of those toward the gap. As soon
+as they carried one of these they were able to augment their numbers
+from the forces which earlier had passed the wall through the breach,
+and which now were besieging the towers from the north side, where the
+sloping pathways were defended by gates and doors of bronze.</p>
+
+<p>By the time the men at the east had taken the last of the watchtowers
+which intervened between them and the battle at the roadway, their
+brothers on the western stretch of the wall had passed the ruins of
+the toppled turret there and fallen furiously on the rear of the
+Maeronicans who were baiting the trenchmen of Oleric.</p>
+
+<p>From across the chasm where he fought, Atlo saw the new turn of the
+battle and bethought him of his own flank. Too late! The shouts of
+dismay from his rear were mingled with the thunder of galloping hoofs.</p>
+
+<p>At the eastern tower the men of Ruthar had found the horses which the
+defenders had left behind. While the stubborn conflict of swordsmen
+was waging on the western wall, these warriors mounted the Maeronican
+steeds and charged down the stone road between the copings, sweeping
+everything before them.</p>
+
+<p>Brave men, these of the King of Adlaz. Cut off from behind and with
+the yawning chasm before, they arose from their crouching and turned
+to meet the new foe. Then a grim and pitiless struggle began on
+the ancient wall, in which the clangor and clash of arms and the
+cursing of death-locked foeman was commingled with the screaming of
+pain-maddened horses.</p>
+
+<p>To the rear, which had become the front, went Atlo. He rallied his men
+and charged into the teeth of the oncoming horsemen, and kept charging
+until he died. Neither side asked quarter or gave it. The last of the
+Maeronican fighting men were pushed over the brink of the gap by the
+rushing horsemen and died under the merciless blades in the trench.</p>
+
+<p>At the west the fighting was more prolonged and bitter; but the
+superior numbers of the Rutharians prevailed, and the end was the same.</p>
+
+<p>The Kimbrian Wall was taken at a fearful cost. But Ruthar paid the toll
+smiling. Now Oleric might push through with his wall speedily and in
+peace.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>When the night of the passing of Minos had worn into morning and
+disclosed the extent of the destruction which the Sardanian had wrought
+in the harbor of Adlaz, Vedor, the port captain, Nealdo, head of the
+harbor guardsmen, and such captains of the fademes as had escaped with
+their lives met in council in one of the offices at the wharves. Fear
+sat heavy at the hearts of all; for there was not one of them that
+dared go up to the city and make a report to the king of the loss of
+his fademes.</p>
+
+<p>"Not I," Vedor said hastily, when it was suggested that he, as captain
+of the port, was the logical bearer of the news. "It were worth a man's
+life to tell the king that a slave has shattered his fleet. Besides, my
+duties here do not allow me to absent myself. Choose ye some other to
+carry the tidings to Bel-Ar."</p>
+
+<p>Listening to the discussion was a rough old soldier of the guard.
+Brenak was his name, and he was a brave man. When it seemed that none
+of the gilded captains had heart for the task, Brenak stepped forward.</p>
+
+<p>"I will carry the news," he volunteered. "Lend me a horse, and give me
+a few dekkars to buy wine at the wine-shops in the Street of Sherne,
+and I will go. It may be my last drinking, though I think not. I fought
+with the king in the wars, and I am known to him. I think he will spare
+me."</p>
+
+<p>So Brenak rode up to the city and bought his wine. From the wine-shops
+he went to the palace and gained admittance to the king and told the
+tidings, which already were flying from mouth to mouth through the
+streets.</p>
+
+<p>"Fool! You are crazed!" Bel-Ar exclaimed when Brenak had made a short
+tale of it. But in the eyes of the soldier the king saw the truth, and
+his pallid face turned a shade more pale. In his fury, scarce knowing
+what he did, he struck Brenak with his closed fist so that the soldier
+died from it.</p>
+
+<p>For days thereafter the temper of the king was such that those who
+must come near him did so with fear and trembling. Even his queen, the
+petulant, flower-faced Raissa, who dared him more than most, avoided
+him and kept to her own apartments.</p>
+
+<p>Weeks before, when it became known that the captives had escaped,
+little heed had been paid to their going. They were only slaves, and
+who cared what became of a slave! Interest in them had been swallowed
+up in the general indignation at the defection of Oleric the Red and
+the supposed treachery of Mordo. Only Bel-Ar and Rhaen, the arch-priest
+of Shamar, had chafed, and that because of the escape of the man whom
+they had doomed for the slaying of the sacred bull. The king had sent
+fademes to scour the sea, and one to go up the coast to Ruthar to head
+the fugitives, should they have gone that way. That fademe had never
+returned.</p>
+
+<p>These happenings had irked the pride of the king, who, like all
+despots, was of a wild and ungovernable temper that flared to madness
+when he was crossed.</p>
+
+<p>Came then the blow of Minos&mdash;a calamity which shook the nation and
+struck the foundation of Bel-Ar's dearest ambition. Without his
+fademes, his dreams of world-conquest vanished. Small wonder that his
+lords and ladies feared him and quaked at his approach.</p>
+
+<p>But the king was of a courage and perseverance equal to his temper.
+When the first shock of the catastrophe had worn away, he took stock of
+the damage and set about to repair so much of it as might be. At the
+bottom of the harbor his divers labored among the sunken fademes. Some
+few of the vessels were raised and rehabilitated. By far the most of
+them were useless, save for the metal in their hulks. Minos had done
+his work thoroughly, and the priceless engines, the living power of
+which was mined from the depths of the earth only by great labor, were
+nearly all ruined.</p>
+
+<p>Increasing his forces, both underground and in his workshops, Bel-Ar
+drove his miners and his builders ceaselessly to the replacement of
+what he had lost.</p>
+
+<p>Some weeks after the destruction of the fademes, rumor came down from
+the south&mdash;fleeting words in the mouths of the people, of which no man
+could trace the source&mdash;that a great host was gathering in Ruthar to
+assail the Kimbrian Wall. That report the king laughed at and did not
+believe, or if he did believe, it fretted him not at all. The Kimbrian
+Wall had stood an unshakable barrier since it had been completed,
+nearly thirty centuries before. It would go on standing to the end of
+time. It was well garrisoned, and Atlo was a good captain and vigilant.
+Ruthar must be mad if it thought to march against the wall.</p>
+
+<p>Rumor, again traceless, spoke further and told that Oleric the Red had
+appeared in Ruthar, and with him the slaves who had gone with him from
+Adlaz, and that they had hands in this matter of the wall-storming.
+Bel-Ar heard that also, and smiled grimly. Let Oleric and the slaves,
+if they were indeed in Ruthar, keep well within its boundaries, if they
+set any store by life.</p>
+
+<p>Progress was being made with the reconstruction of his fleet, and the
+king's poise was returning. Once more his court, that had been silent
+and almost deserted, echoed to the laughter of the gay courtiers, and
+Raissa sat upon her throne and toyed with the pearls that she loved.</p>
+
+<p>Then one afternoon a wan and haggard-faced man, spurring a weary horse
+to its utmost speed, rode in through the southern gates of Adlaz and
+clattered up the broad avenue to the palace. From the mountain town of
+Barme he had come, riding two days and a night by relays of horses and
+leaving some of his hard-ridden beasts dead along the road. So nearly
+dead was the rider himself from the rack of that journey that he fell
+from his horse at the palace gates, and men of the guard carried him
+before the king.</p>
+
+<p>From the floor of the audience-chamber where they laid him, the soldier
+raised his arm in salute and cried weakly:</p>
+
+<p>"The Kimbrian Wall is sundered, O king. She whom they name the Goddess
+Glorian of Ruthar cracked the wall in twain with thunders and green
+lightning that shook the land like a hammer." (So the messenger
+described the melinite mines of Everson.) "Through the wall poured a
+great host, which is rolling down upon Barme. Atlo is dead at the break
+in the wall. From the center to the sea-wall, the towers are held by
+Ruthar. Men say that the dreadful beasts of the forest are coming to
+make war on the children of Ad. Ruthar has crowned a king&mdash;a giant
+with hair of gold, who came up from the sea with Oleric the Red, who
+was your captain&mdash;and he leads the armies against Barme."</p>
+
+<p>Ending his tidings, the man lost grip of his wits. His head fell on his
+arm, and he slept. Nor could he be roused for many hours.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, here is a message with meat and spirit," said the king. Bel-Ar,
+who went near to madness when he heard of the loss of his fademes,
+could laugh when he heard that an army was marching against him. Of all
+the news only one thing galled him, and that was that the yellow-haired
+slave from the hated world to the north was kinging it in Ruthar.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Summoning his captains, the king banished his court of fluttering
+butterflies and filled his audience-chamber with the clash of golden
+armor. No sluggard was Bel-Ar when his foe was on the march, but a
+wise and resourceful leader. When his mind was not clouded by the
+rages which at times came upon him, he could plan with the best of his
+generals.</p>
+
+<p>Bel-Ar in his early youth had been a soldier, and he, too, had fought
+Ruthar at the Kimbrian Wall. Since coming to the throne of Maeronica he
+had put down two rebellions, leading his armies in person and waging
+with a strong and ruthless hand a warfare that had entailed the taking
+of cities.</p>
+
+<p>First move of the king was to despatch his messengers south and north
+to raise all the levies of Maeronica and the garrisons of the cities
+which were tributary to Adlaz. These he directed should be assembled
+at the crook of the river Thebascu, as the birds fly, ninety miles to
+the south of Adlaz. He sent Fanaer, one of his most trusted captains,
+in hot haste into the south to gather what forces he might and stem the
+tide of invasion until the main host could be mustered and brought up.
+Before nightfall the war-drums were beating in every city and hamlet of
+Maeronica.</p>
+
+<p>"If these rash forest wolves and their slave-king win through Barme and
+the mountain passes and overwhelm Fanaer, which I doubt, then we will
+meet them beyond the Thebascu, on the plains of Nor," said Bel-Ar to
+his councilors.</p>
+
+<p>"How they have broken through the wall, I know not; but warrant that it
+is some trick of the strangers.</p>
+
+<p>"As for the great beasts whereof the soldier spoke, I believe that they
+were all dead many years ago. Surely no man of Ad can say with truth
+that he ever has set eyes on one. They are but a myth wherewith Ruthar
+would affright us. And if they be alive, and as terrible as tradition
+tells, I am not afeared of them. We will drive them back with fire, as
+once before our ancestors drove them, in the days before the wall.</p>
+
+<p>"Friends, I welcome this war that has come to seek me, for I was
+growing dull and rusty with inaction.</p>
+
+<p>"If the wall be truly down, then will we drive Ruthar speedily to
+the other side of it&mdash;and having so done, we will follow on and bend
+the necks of these stubborn mountain boors to the yoke that has long
+awaited them."</p>
+
+<p>So he dreamed; so he spoke and heartened his captains.</p>
+
+<p>Two days later the trumpets blew at the southern gates, and with a
+rumbling of drums and a tossing of banners overhead, the first division
+of the garrison and the levies of the city of Adlaz, thirty thousand
+strong, marched out the Mazanion Road for the plains of Nor. At their
+head, under the rustling folds of his war-standard of gold and blue,
+rode Bel-Ar, the king.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>To Rose Emer, grown pale with waiting, Brunar brought these tidings in
+the prison of Bel-Tisam.</p>
+
+<p>When she heard that the wall was down, and that Polaris had set his
+face toward Adlaz, her joy, which she strove to conceal from the
+captain, knew no bounds. After Brunar was gone, the girl bent over the
+cradle of the little Patrymion, now a thriving youngster.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, little mischief," said Rose, and shook her finger at him, "not
+much longer in this prison for you and me. Friends are coming,
+Patrymion; friends who will set us free."</p>
+
+<p>Patrymion, who had small care for what destiny had in store for him, so
+that his immediate requirements in goats' milk were satisfied, sucked a
+pink thumb and blinked up at her out of sleepy eyes.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>In the meantime, telling off companies of men to east and west to aid
+in the fight at the wall by laying siege to the towers, Polaris pushed
+straight ahead through the forests toward the town of Barme. Counting
+in the forces of light-armed soldiery who had preceded him through the
+wall, the son of the snows had in command a division of nearly seven
+thousand men. Of these there were a thousand archers, fifteen hundred
+slingers, two thousand and a half of javelin men, and nearly two
+thousand more of heavy armored footmen with swords and spears.</p>
+
+<p>Two hours along the way, Jastla and his picked hundred passed swiftly
+up the lines and joined the vanguard. Tall and stately men of the hills
+were these, led by the old chieftain, scarcely a one of the company
+under six feet, and splendidly armed after the fashion of their land.</p>
+
+<p>"Here be a few lads of the rocks who would have a tale to tell to their
+sweet-hearts when they go home again," said Jastla as he fell in beside
+Polaris.</p>
+
+<p>With small scouting parties thrown out ahead of him, Polaris hastened
+on. It was his plan to meet and intercept any expedition which might be
+sent from Barme to the relief of Atlo at the wall, and so to prevent
+interference with Oleric's work at the breach. In this fortune favored.
+For the javelin men ambushed and cut down no less than three riders
+sent from the wall to rouse the garrison at Barme; so that the first
+news that reached the town and the Captain Broddok, who commanded
+there, was brought in by the peasantry of the hills who fled through
+the forests before the advance of Polaris.</p>
+
+<p>Mightily disturbed, and not knowing the strength of the force which was
+marching against him, Broddok held his men under arms in indecision
+until it was too late for him to go to the wall. In the evening of the
+day after the breaching of the wall a battered soldier who had escaped
+from one of the turrets and slipped through the Rutharian cordons
+brought word to Broddok of the end of the Kimbrian fighting and the
+fall of Atlo. Then the Maeronican commander dispatched a relay-rider to
+Adlaz and made ready to defend his own gates, around which the jaws of
+Ruthar were closing.</p>
+
+<p>From the lower end of the isthmus a number of passes led through the
+mountains into the forests, beyond which were the plains of Nor.
+Through only one of these defiles lay a direct road, broad and suitable
+to the speedy passage of an army with its impedimenta and provision
+trains. That path was bestridden by the town of Barme.</p>
+
+<p>Midway of the pass and near the foot of its western precipice was a
+low, bald hill, over which the road lay. Around the lower slopes of
+the hill straggled the town, and at its summit was the walled citadel.
+It was a strong place, made so both by nature and by man. So closely
+did it nestle to the towering face of the defile's acclivity, and so
+rounding was the bulge of the mountain wall, that if one climbed to the
+top and looked down the precipice, he would see only the houses of the
+lower town and the citadel would be entirely hidden from him by the
+rock. At each side of the hill was rocky, wooded land, cut through by
+many gullies and the ravines of mountain streams.</p>
+
+<p>A hard place to come at, Polaris thought, as he stood in the gorge and
+looked at the hill by the dim light of the stars&mdash;for he came to Barme
+in the night. Yet it must be taken, and that speedily. The swiftest
+road into Maeronica lay over the hill, and the citadel's gates were the
+gates of the road also.</p>
+
+<p>An hour before the dawn he occupied the town, from which most of the
+people had fled, and attacked the fortress furiously, thereby losing
+many men. Though the walls of the place were not high, they were ably
+defended. Broddok was a skilled general, and his garrison was superior
+in numbers to the force which laid siege to his stronghold. Still
+Polaris, counting on the speedy arrival to his support of the van of
+his main army, kept up the assault until well into the day, trying in
+turn every point of the fortress&mdash;and failing at every turn.</p>
+
+<p>Finding that attempts against the wall availed them nothing, for they
+were without siege machinery, and Broddok's swordsmen clustered so
+thickly on the parapets that no footing could be gained thereon with
+ladders, the Rutharians boldly assailed the main gate to the citadel.
+Cutting a tree from the forest, threescore stout men bore it to the
+gate. While the archers and slingers from the tops of the nearest
+houses of the town swept the citadel walls with clouds of missiles,
+the men in the street swung their battering-ram until their arms were
+weary. But Broddok's doors were strongly built of oak, reinforced with
+bars of steel and set well within the arch of the gateway. Beyond the
+snapping of a few chains, the ram did them little damage.</p>
+
+<p>Maeronicans on the battlements mocked the men of Polaris with sharp
+words and sharper weapons, and through mortises in the vault of the
+arch poured down streams of boiling water. The Rutharians lost fifty
+men-at-arms before they desisted from the assault.</p>
+
+<p>"Smoke them out," was the counsel of Jastla.</p>
+
+<p>Fagots were fetched up from the town and drenched with oil, and men set
+fire to them and ran and cast them blazing into the archway.</p>
+
+<p>This means might have succeeded in burning away the stubborn oak. But
+the Maeronican captain, tiring of the din at his gates, mounted five
+hundred horsemen, opened his portals, and charged so fiercely through
+the fire that he cleared the street, and for a time his doors were
+unmolested.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Through the defile a chill wind swept from the north, carrying with it
+a light drift of snow, and Polaris's men found it cold work roosting
+without the walls. They had left their camp carrying food for only a
+two days' march. The country through which they had come was wild and
+sparsely settled, and offered little opportunity for foraging. When
+they began to feel the pinch of hunger, Polaris ordered his men to go
+among such of the townsmen of Barme as had not been frightened from
+their homes, and gather provisions, paying for all that they took with
+gold, for he would have no looting.</p>
+
+<p>And those orders were in part, at least, obeyed.</p>
+
+<p>Smoke was curling from the chimney of a small house in a side street
+near where they stood, and Jastla said to the king:</p>
+
+<p>"While these fellows are filling their bellies, let us look to our own.
+I could eat the wolf for which I am named, I am that hungered. See;
+here is a house and fire. Let us go and seek food."</p>
+
+<p>When they had struck upon the door, it was opened by a little lad, who
+stared at them, round-eyed, and then fled screaming across the room.</p>
+
+<p>"Ai! Raula!" he cried. "Here be two giants from the forests. Will they
+eat us, think you, as Darno said they would?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not so, small man," called Polaris gently, who had learned somewhat
+of the Maeronican tongue from Oleric. "We are two hungry men, indeed;
+but we would not harm little boys; and Darno, whoever he may be, should
+not affright you with such tales."</p>
+
+<p>At his words, a lean and fierce-eyed girl stood up from the fireplace
+where she had been crouched and came to the door. She clutched a baby
+to her breast. While she eyed the two men sourly, there was no fear in
+her regard.</p>
+
+<p>"Now who may you be, who wear the arms of a forest raider, yet who know
+our tongue and bespeak a child so fairly?" she asked of Polaris.</p>
+
+<p>"I am a soldier of Ruthar, lady," Polaris said, bowing to her. "My
+comrade here and myself are cold and hungry. May we be warmed at your
+fire and eat a little of the bread and meat yonder on the table? We
+have had no food for many hours. We will pay you well."</p>
+
+<p>The girl pressed closer and peered up at him.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! I know who you are now," she said triumphantly. "You are no robber
+of the hills, though belike your comrade is," and she shot a glance of
+no favor at Jastla. "You are neither of Maeronica or Ruthar. You are
+the mighty man who came up from the sea to lead the south against the
+north and take Adlaz." She laughed discordantly. "Well, you have made a
+good beginning, they say; but you have a man's task ahead of you.</p>
+
+<p>"Come in and eat and be warmed. I care not. All the menfolks have fled
+the house to the hills in fear of you. I stayed, I and little Telo,
+here. I fear no soldiers. Nay, close that door behind you, old man; I
+would not that winter came in with you and sat at meat."</p>
+
+<p>Laughing grimly into his beard, Jastla made fast the door. While the
+two men sat and ate, the girl resumed her crouching by the fire, where
+she crooned over the babe, at times staring furtively at Polaris. Telo
+soon conquered his fear of the strangers and climbed to the knees of
+Polaris, where he fingered the big man's chain armor curiously and
+prattled many childish questions.</p>
+
+<p>When the hungry men had finished their meal, the girl spoke up again:</p>
+
+<p>"Say, man from the sea, I have heard that there is a beautiful lady who
+waits for you in a prison in Adlaz town. Is that true?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, lady, it is true," Polaris said; and he sighed.</p>
+
+<p>"And you lead a great host thither to set her free?" the girl persisted.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, if I may."</p>
+
+<p>"But to get on the way to Adlaz, you must take this fortress of Barme;
+and you find it a hard nut to crack. Is that not so?"</p>
+
+<p>"That is true, also, lady."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, hark you, man." The girl stood up and came to the table. "You
+who are true to a woman as few men are ever true; perhaps the poor,
+despised, cast-off Raula may aid you somewhat in this undertaking."</p>
+
+<p>While Polaris stared at her and Jastla grunted, she went on:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, for your wars, and for who is king, I care not. Still, I would
+see that lady in Adlaz town go free&mdash;if you are strong enough to pass
+Bel-Ar and his army. Those matters you must look after later. But
+listen. Other men are not so true as you are. There is one in the
+fortress yonder who once thought Raula fair. Now she is a deserted
+wife, while he seeks other maids to listen to his lies. Oh! how I hate
+him!" She spat the words and stamped fiercely on the floor.</p>
+
+<p>"I would see that man humbled and cast down. I would see his red blood
+on the stones at my feet.</p>
+
+<p>"There is a way into the fort, a hidden way, which is known to none but
+me and Telo.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Telo here shall show you that way. There is a spring on the hill.
+'Tis back of the stables, in a grove of stunted trees. It flows down
+through the rock under the wall and escapes on the hillside. Years ago,
+when I tended cows on the hill, I found the entrance. The water has so
+worn the stone that one may climb its course from the old cowpath to
+the brow of the hill. If a girl can clamber there, surely active men
+will not find it at all hard to do.</p>
+
+<p>"When night is fallen, bid your men to storm the gate again. Then, if
+your force is strong enough to make the venture, take a part of it and
+gain the hill. While those of Broddok's men who do not watch the walls
+are sleeping, you may fall upon them and open the gates."</p>
+
+<p>Polaris and Jastla looked on the girl, amazed.</p>
+
+<p>"Stare not at me," she said. "I am an outcast and reckless woman&mdash;and I
+would be revenged. Besides, we poor folk care little what the fate of
+Bel-Ar may be, who does oppress us so that life is a great weariness."</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>It was arranged that they should come back at nightfall for the boy,
+and Polaris and Jastla left the house. When the chieftain fingered his
+pouch and would have paid her for the entertainment, Raula would have
+none of his gold.</p>
+
+<p>"This night's work will be pay enough for Raula," she said.</p>
+
+<p>After they had gone, Jastla set a soldier to watch the house and report
+to him if any left it; for Jastla trusted no woman and feared a trap.
+His fears proved to be unfounded. No one left or visited the house
+through the afternoon.</p>
+
+<p>For the remainder of the day Polaris rested his soldiers, and kept
+up only the semblance of an attack on the walls of Barme citadel. He
+wondered much at the delay of the army of Ruthar, having as yet learned
+nothing of the fighting at the Kimbrian breach; but he was resolved to
+delay not himself, but make the attempt on the fortress as the girl
+Raula had suggested.</p>
+
+<p>With the fall of night he brought the bulk of his force up into the
+cross-streets near the gate and posted sentries to see that none passed
+from the town to the fort. Then he went to the house of Raula and
+fetched the lad. Telo was afraid of the night and the many armed men,
+and would go only if Polaris, whom he trusted, would carry him.</p>
+
+<p>"Show him the spring at the head of the old cowpath, Telo," said
+Raula, and to Polaris, "Bend down the clump of evergreen bushes above
+the spring, and you will find the way through the rock. Beware of the
+sentries at the stables. Once one of them nearly slew me when I came
+suddenly on him out of the dark." She bent nearer and whispered:</p>
+
+<p>"Perchance you will meet and slay Broddok, the captain. I pray you do.
+And ere you smite, tell him that Raula, daughter of Hecar, sent you to
+him."</p>
+
+<p>As Polaris went out to the street, with the lad on his shoulder, he
+heard the girl's shrill laughter within the house&mdash;laughter that made
+him shiver.</p>
+
+<p>Followed by a thousand of his swordsmen, including the hundred men
+of Jastla, Polaris marched silently around rough devious streets
+to the side of the hill, and then into the rough ground where the
+boy directed. It was a dark night, for the stars were dimmed by
+storm-clouds, and the going was slow. Raula had said it would take at
+least an hour and the half of another to gain the crest of the hill,
+and Polaris had ordered his men in the town to hold their hands until
+they should hear his trumpets, and then to attack the gates of the
+citadel with trees and fire.</p>
+
+<p>At the spring the clump of bush was found easily, and behind it in the
+face of the hill was a hole in the rock, so low that a man must bend
+nearly double to enter it. Here Polaris gave Telo into the arms of a
+young Rutharian soldier, bidding him bear the lad safely back to his
+sister.</p>
+
+<p>Bending down, the son of the snows entered the hole. Jastla, who never
+let his charge beyond arm's reach, crowded in at his heels. For six
+feet or more they walked with their knees nearly to their chins, and
+then were able to stand upright. The girl had told them that a light
+in the passage could not be seen from above because of the trees, and
+one of the soldiers had nursed a smouldering torch under his cloak.
+That was brought in and whirled into flame, and they proceeded along a
+narrow gully, over the floor of which the water trickled.</p>
+
+<p>"Oof! That maid must have been very love-sick, or she has the courage
+of a fighting man, to have climbed this place in the dark," muttered
+Jastla, as he surveyed the gloomy cavern.</p>
+
+<p>For nearly three hundred yards the party followed the subterranean
+ravine, the floor of which sloped upward sharply. It ended in a shaft
+that was nearly perpendicular, which the men must climb by the aid of
+jagged rocks where the course of the stream had been worn for centuries.</p>
+
+<p>The torchbearer was posted at the angle, so that the light might be
+shed both down the passage and through the shaft. Wrapping his sword
+and spear in his cloak to prevent them from clanging against the
+stones, Janess, insisting that he should be first, went silently up
+through the rock, and Jastla followed close behind. They came out at
+the top through thick bushes into a basin or pool, where the water was
+ankle-deep. They were inside the wall of the fortress on the western
+side of the hill-crest. Around the pool was a grove of stunted trees,
+to the east of which lay the low, wooden stable buildings. South of the
+stables were the stone barracks of the garrison.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Man by man, the Rutharians came up through the darksome hole and took
+cover among the trees, until the grove bristled with swords. Polaris
+and Jastla worked their way to the edge of the wood nearest the stables.</p>
+
+<p>The chieftain pointed to the wooden buildings.</p>
+
+<p>"We will fire them," he whispered, "and have a light to fight by."</p>
+
+<p>As he spoke, a sentry paced out from the shadow of the stables and
+passed along the edge of the grove to the wall. So near he passed
+to the hidden men that they might have reached out and touched his
+shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"Now that man must be disposed of," muttered Polaris, "and I like it
+not, this smiting of men from behind."</p>
+
+<p>No such niceties of warfare ruled Jastla. When the man came back, the
+chieftain stepped noiselessly from the trees behind him. For a pace
+or two the big mountaineer trod in the tracks of the unsuspecting
+sentry. Then Jastla sprang, and a brief and wordless struggle under the
+trees followed. A dagger flashed. Arising, Jastla took the cloak of
+the fallen man and stepped calmly into his beat. At the corner of the
+stable the chieftain met and slew the second sentry.</p>
+
+<p>At the side of the stable the Rutharian swordsmen formed for battle.
+A man with a torch ran from point to point along the rear of the
+buildings and set fire to the timbers. As they caught and the flames
+leaped crackling up, the frightened horses began to pound and scream.</p>
+
+<p>Polaris bade his trumpeter blow. The notes blared piercing clear. The
+swordsmen broke cover with a roar and charged the stone barracks.
+Lighting torches at the blazing barns, men ran with them to light
+the way. Hardly were they half-way across the intervening space when
+there was an answering flare from the streets below, and the thunder
+of the battering-ram announced that the fight at the gates was on with
+redoubled fury.</p>
+
+<p>While half of his force entered the barracks and fell upon the
+bewildered men there, Polaris, with the remainder, swept down the broad
+roadway, past the dwelling of the officers. Cutting their way through
+the defenders of the gate, the Rutharians tore out the bars, and their
+comrades in the streets swarmed through and up the hillside.</p>
+
+<p>In the midst of the wild mêlée that followed, Broddok did the only
+thing that he could do to save his skin. He rallied such of his men
+as were under arms, fought through to the stables, and released the
+fear-maddened horses. All who could of the Maeronicans mounted in
+haste. For a moment it seemed that the captain would give the order to
+charge down the street into the fighting press, where the men of Ruthar
+were putting his comrades to the sword. But Broddok thought better of
+it.</p>
+
+<p>With nearly four hundred men, the captain rode down the northern slope
+of the hill, opened the road-gates there, and galloped off through the
+pass, leaving his leaderless garrison to fend for itself.</p>
+
+<p>When that became known, the Maeronican soldiers, beset on both sides
+and confused and disheartened by the suddenness of the stroke, threw
+down their arms and surrendered, on promise of their lives.</p>
+
+<p>So fell the strong fortress of Barme, because its captain had broken
+faith with a woman.</p>
+
+<p>With the first light of morning, Polaris sent his prisoners south
+toward Ruthar under a strong guard. Leaving a thousand men under one of
+Jastla's hill-captains to hold the citadel, the son of the snows pushed
+on through the pass with the remainder of his division.</p>
+
+<p>That move of his came near to costing Ruthar a king.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2>
+
+<h3>THE COMING OF THE BEASTS</h3>
+
+
+<p>Seated on her ivory throne in the empty hall of her temple, the Goddess
+Glorian fought within her heart a battle that was every whit as fierce
+and hard as that of Ruthar in the field. In that sounding citadel two
+forces stood arrayed, one for good and one for evil, and the conflict
+between them was passing bitter. It was the world-old war of duty and
+love that has ever torn the heart of woman.</p>
+
+<p>No outward signal of the struggle marred the supernal beauty of her
+face. She sat as one sits who is thoughtful and somewhat weary.
+Light-rays that stole down from the windows in the lofty dome wrought
+strange effects of fire in the wonder of her hair&mdash;fire which smoldered
+and glowed and ran in tiny sparks along the silklike filaments. Her
+head was slightly bowed. The slender hands, which lay in her lap, were
+quiet and listless. Only in the depths of her eyes was she betrayed. In
+those red-brown deeps, could one have seen them through the half-closed
+lids, one would have found a pleading misery that would not still,
+almost a terror.</p>
+
+<p>Compelled by the ancient secret and a will that never slept, the
+passing years had dealt splendidly by Glorian. Experience they had
+given her, which is more than knowledge, and patience, and an almost
+supernatural poise; but they had not made her more than human.</p>
+
+<p>And a man had come.</p>
+
+<p>Why should she give way to this other woman? Why should she not reach
+out and take that for desire of which her soul yearned and her heart
+was consumed by flame? 'Twould be easy. A delay, a word in the ear of
+Zoar, a seeming mischance&mdash;and the priests of Shamar in Adlaz would
+clear her way. Why should she shrink and hesitate?</p>
+
+<p>The man had said that, were he too late, he would die upon the road.
+Well, that might be prevented. Besides, men do not die so easily, and
+time will heal all heart-wounds. But will it? And were that other woman
+dead, could Glorian win him to herself&mdash;this man whose will was as
+strong as her own?</p>
+
+<p>He was through the wall now and on the road to Adlaz. Oleric had sent
+messengers to tell her that. And they had told her, too, of that
+brave friend of his, who had nearly given his life while opening the
+way. Many had died&mdash;her own countrymen&mdash;and many more would die&mdash;and
+why? Because of an ambition which she herself had nurtured and kept
+bright&mdash;now hollow and of no appeal. What should Glorian care who held
+dominion over Adlaz or over Ruthar&mdash;she, who desired only peace and to
+rule in the heart of a man?</p>
+
+<p>All of a long afternoon she sat there, and a statue were not more
+still. For the better part of the night the struggle raged on above her
+pillow, and left it drenched with tears. Then evil fled the field, and
+she who had mastered her spirit slept dreamlessly until the morrow.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning she sent away her tire-women, and ordered that a horse
+be equipped for a warrior and left at the temple doors.</p>
+
+<p>When that steed went down the hill there was no one in all Ruthar who
+would have known that the Goddess Glorian was the rider. For she was
+arrayed in the glittering armor, silver-wrought above its steel, of a
+Rutharian zind. She wore a closed and vizored helm. A sword swung at
+her back, and there were both ax and spear at her saddle-bow.</p>
+
+<p>"I will go down with him into the battle," she whispered, "and let
+things fall out as they may. Some day, somewhere, my time will come. My
+soul has promised it."</p>
+
+<p>She crossed the Illia and rode northward through the forests.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>After the fall of Atlo the fighting went on at the wall for the rest
+of that day, the Rutharians storming tower after tower, until they held
+every turret from sea to sea. Through the afternoon and the night and
+the next day Oleric pushed on with his road, working his men in relays,
+and snatching for himself only brief spells of sleep. Through the night
+in which the king of Ruthar stormed and took Barme, the sappers and
+miners labored on at the breach.</p>
+
+<p>Morning saw the task completed.</p>
+
+<p>First through the breach went a flying squadron of the horsemen from
+the hills, six thousand strong, led by two of the mountain zinds,
+Maxtan and Albar. After them marched a great division of infantry,
+nearly fifty thousand of them, the chest of the army, each section
+carrying with it a number of companies of archers and slingers. Then
+a force of nearly thirteen thousand chariots rumbled through the
+breach&mdash;these following the infantry because they would be of little
+use until the host should pass the mountain defiles to more level
+fighting ground. Followed an endless train of baggage and provision
+wains.</p>
+
+<p>No siege machinery was carried, for two reasons. Rutharians long ago
+had found such engines as their skill had devised to be powerless
+against the Kimbrian Wall, and had lost faith in them. Secondly,
+certain carefully handled bundles from the laboratories of Nematzin
+were judged to be of more avail than any catapult, ram or mantelet.</p>
+
+<p>At intervals Oleric halted the divisions to allow of the passage of
+more cavalry, which spread out at each side of the main array and rode
+down through the forest paths of the isthmus.</p>
+
+<p>For more than twelve hours Ruthar poured her armed men through the
+breach in the barrier, with scarcely a break&mdash;and the way was wide.
+Reserves in the camp and on the wall cheered the various regiments as
+they went by, marching under their banners and to the music of pipe and
+drum.</p>
+
+<p>Last of all, over the slope and through the gap came Zoar of the
+Amalocs with no less than fifty-eight of the monsters of his herd.
+In single file the amalocs marched, each holding fast with his trunk
+to the tail of the beast ahead, as elephants are wont to do. Ixstus,
+father and patriarch of the herd, led the line, and on the mighty head
+of Ixstus rode Zoar, the master.</p>
+
+<p>On they came, these mountains of red-wooled flesh, swinging their
+gleaming wealth of ivories. Though their shambling tread was soft and
+padding, the roadway, made smooth and hard by the passing of thousands
+of feet and hoofs and wheels, shook under their advance.</p>
+
+<p>Zoar had been preparing against this day for many years. All of his
+beasts were armored for battle. Their heads were protected by immense
+bosses or shields of steel. He had also armor for their forelegs, with
+chains, which could be attached in such a manner that they would swing
+out when the animals charged, and strike down any living thing that
+came near them. The tips of the spreading tusks were equipped with
+sockets, to which sharp steel points could be fitted. More than half of
+the great brutes bore fighting turrets on their backs, in each of which
+was room for a half a score of men. A few tons more or less of metal
+and men meant nothing to the boundless strength of an amaloc.</p>
+
+<p>Until he saw that Zoar had passed the breach, Oleric waited. Then he
+took horse and rode forward. Zenas and certain of his workmen had gone
+through with the first of the cavalry. With them had gone the dog
+Rombar. The animal had escaped from the laboratories in Zele-omaz,
+where Polaris had left him, and had come into the camp half starved
+and nearly frantic with anxiety to find his master. Zenas could not
+withstand the appeal of the brute's dumb search, so he took Rombar
+along. Everson, getting better of his wound, still sick and delirious,
+had been transferred to Zele-omaz and lay at the house of Zind Atra,
+tended by the best medical skill in Ruthar.</p>
+
+<p>When the head of the host was some six hours upon its way, it met the
+first of the long lines of captives, which Polaris had sent back from
+the storming of Barme. The cheering which greeted the tale of that
+exploit of their king passed down the marching regiments like a gale
+and through the Kimbrian breach into Ruthar. When Zenas, with the
+riders, clattered up the hill in the gorge and saw the strength of the
+citadel that had been taken, his heart beat high with pride for what
+his boy had done.</p>
+
+<p>Learning there that the king had passed on to the north, the horsemen,
+their numbers continually augmented by new companies from the rear,
+pushed on along the road in the hope of overtaking him.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>In a dark and narrow glen, wild with rocks and trees, with a mountain
+wall at his back and steel death, many-handed and triumphant, closing
+in along his front, a tawny-haired giant crouched warily among his
+thinning ranks of fighting men. If ever a man was hard beset, it
+was the king of Ruthar. Hemmed in where there was no way of escape,
+he waited with his dwindling company the fifth charge of a horde of
+Maeronican warriors, who were forming for the rush at the mouth of the
+glen. Gone wild with glee were the sons of Ad. They had trapped the
+king of Ruthar like a wounded bear. Great would be their reward from
+Bel-Ar if they took him.</p>
+
+<p>Among the rocks and bushes lay a grim reminder in shattered men of four
+previous charges. Some comfort it was to those who waited above to know
+that for every one of Ruthar who had gone to the stars, at least two of
+Bel-Ar's men had traveled the same path&mdash;or perhaps to the sun; for the
+Maeronicans prayed to Shamar.</p>
+
+<p>After leaving Barme, Polaris had led his followers along the main road,
+and they had almost reached the end of the pass, where it debouched
+into the forests of upper Maeronica, before mischance overtook them. It
+came in the shape of that same Captain Broddok, whom they had driven
+from his blazing hold at Barme.</p>
+
+<p>Broddok had ridden through the pass at speed, and beyond it had met a
+strong outpost of cavalry and five regiments of foot-soldiers, sent up
+to hold the passes. For Captain Fanaer had already arrived in upper
+Maeronica.</p>
+
+<p>Scouts brought word of the advance of Polaris with the most of his
+force through the principal pass. He, too, had sent out small parties
+to explore through the outer defiles, of which there were four, and
+bring him word of the lay of the land.</p>
+
+<p>"Now let him come on," counseled Broddok to the Maeronican commander,
+"and we shall have a surprise for him."</p>
+
+<p>Swiftly galloping riders at once swarmed into the four smaller passes,
+overwhelmed the Rutharians whom they found there and drove them into
+the hills. The horsemen then joined forces and swept down the road in
+the rear of Polaris, having come into the defile by bridle paths over
+the hills which were known to them.</p>
+
+<p>Turning his front to meet this menace, the son of the snows was beset
+from behind by both cavalry and infantry, and his force was split up
+before it could be massed or a place be found suitable for defense.
+With nearly a thousand of his men of mixed armament, Janess had been
+driven into the glen, discovering too late that it was a cul-de-sac,
+from which there was no escape.</p>
+
+<p>Four charges the Rutharians had met, and their numbers were now less
+than three hundred. But Jastla's ring of steel still held, and Polaris
+himself was not even wounded. Where the fighting had been the thickest,
+there he had gone; but ever when some perilous blow fell, there was
+one of Jastla's mountaineers to meet it or to die under it. Of the
+hundred men less than fifty lived, and scarcely a score of those were
+scatheless.</p>
+
+<p>"All that you can do here, you have done, O king," said Jastla
+earnestly, as they waited for the fifth charge. "A man unhindered might
+scale yonder rocks and escape into the hills. Do you make the attempt?
+I and these with me will hold back these howling whelps of Bel-Ar.
+Haste you, or 'twill be too late."</p>
+
+<p>Polaris turned on him sternly.</p>
+
+<p>"And you have been comrade to me, Jastla, and did train and make me
+skilled with arms, and yet think that I am so small of spirit," he
+said. "Jastla, I take it ill of you. You and these men are fighting for
+the man whom Ruthar has crowned king. What sort of a king would he be,
+think you, who deserted when he had those still lines yonder before him
+for example?" He pointed down where the dead warriors lay.</p>
+
+<p>"Here I may die, and here I may buried be; but I will not turn back."</p>
+
+<p>Under his shaggy brows old Jastla's eyes were moist.</p>
+
+<p>He grunted loudly.</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't think that you would go. Forgive me that I spoke of it," he
+said. He turned to his hillsmen, and the word went round that every
+last one of the wolves of Ruthar was to die in his tracks. There would
+be no giving back before the next charge.</p>
+
+<p>Broddok on foot waved his sword and gave the word, and the Maeronicans
+raised their battle-cry and came swarming up through the rocks to the
+attack. The mountaineers answered them with a deep-voiced shout:</p>
+
+<p>"For the king! For Polaris!"</p>
+
+<p>None of the combatants heard a thin cry far above them at the brink of
+the cliff and the frenzied barking of a dog.</p>
+
+<p>On came the Maeronicans, Broddok leading, his face flushed with triumph
+and hatred. In the captain's way was a large fragment of rock. As he
+sprang around it, it split in twain and flew into splinters, belching
+green flame. That flash was the last thing the captain ever saw; the
+thunderous roar that shook the hillside was the crack of doom for him.
+A sliver of rock smote him on the temple. Raula was avenged.</p>
+
+<p>Another terrific explosion tore up the earth and boulders right in the
+midst of the startled Maeronicans, and then another. Men were dying by
+the hundred. Bel-Ar's men turned and fled shrieking for the roadway.
+The charge was turned into a rout. Hardly were they out of the glen
+where such fearsome happenings had befallen them, when a cloud of
+Rutharian cavalry rolled down through the main pass and swept Bel-Ar's
+men and their supports into headlong flight toward the lowlands.</p>
+
+<p>On the brow of the rock a small, white-haired old man, clad in armor
+several sizes too large for him, stood up from his knees and patted a
+great black dog on the head.</p>
+
+<p>"Good shots those were, Rombar," he said. "Used to be a baseball
+pitcher once, and haven't lost my wing yet. By golly! I was just in
+time."</p>
+
+<p>Presently Zenas was down in the road with the others to greet Polaris.
+The geologist made light of what he had done, but Janess and the others
+knew that they owed their lives to his quick wit.</p>
+
+<p>Soldiers who had been driven into the hills had met the Rutharian
+riders and told them of the plight of their king. While the cavalry
+engaged the Maeronicans in the pass and cleared it, the old man and
+a small party, carrying melinite bombs, some few of which Zenas had
+fashioned in his laboratories, had ridden by a bridle-path to the top
+of the cliff.</p>
+
+<p>"Be careful, son," said Zenas, when Polaris threw an arm lovingly
+across his shoulder. "This chain jerkin of mine is packed with enough
+of that green hell-cake to spread us over two counties. And keep the
+brute away."</p>
+
+<p>For Rombar had found his master and was leaping about him like a crazed
+thing and barking as if to tell the whole army about it.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Despite the utmost efforts of Fanaer, the most trusted of Bel-Ar's
+captains and a general skilled in all the arts of war, Ruthar held
+the isthmus and the mountain passes, and through the Kimbrian defile
+poured down with horse and foot and chariot into upper Maeronica.
+Failing to hold back the host of the invader and fortify the passes, as
+he had hoped to do, Fanaer began a harrying, guerrilla warfare. From
+sea to sea he made the land barren of supplies for his enemy, sending
+the peasants and hill-dwellers with their cattle and provisions down
+to the coast cities of Zeddar and Aklon. He sent swarms of light
+riders into the hills, where by sally and ambuscade and the breaking
+of bridges and a hundred other means they fretted the advance of the
+Rutharian army.</p>
+
+<p>Did the way lie through a forest, Fanaer fired it, and Ruthar marched
+in flames and smoke. Did the road follow the turn of a hill, there were
+men at the crest to roll huge rocks down on the tramping legions. Was a
+gorge to be passed, the bridges were ruined.</p>
+
+<p>Days wore away, days which Ruthar could ill spare, and which Polaris
+counted with a sinking heart, seeing his army go forward so slowly.
+Still it did advance&mdash;slowly, painfully, but surely, the steel lines
+made progress.</p>
+
+<p>Craft against craft Oleric matched with Fanaer. Ruthar had her light
+horsemen, too. Right and left Oleric sent them into the uplands to
+clear his path of the stinging pests of Fanaer. Scores of times in
+a day, on hilltop or in wooded glen, short, fierce engagements were
+fought, but never a pitched battle. Maeronica was playing for delay.
+Far behind the shifting screen of Fanaer's operations Bel-Ar and his
+generals were consolidating the main strength of Maeronica in the
+lowlands along the river Thebascu.</p>
+
+<p>When hill-riding and skirmishing was done, the generals of both armies
+knew that the real war would begin&mdash;that the issue would be joined and
+decided on the plains of Nor.</p>
+
+<p>Careful as any general in modern warfare was Oleric with regard to
+his flanks and rear. Well he knew, did the red captain, that in the
+slow-moving trains of provisions that crept ceaselessly along the
+isthmus from Ruthar was the strength of his host in the field. Once
+that line was cut, Bel-Ar might laugh indeed.</p>
+
+<p>It took many men to keep the rear ways open and man the isthmian
+passes. On the morning when the Rutharian army writhed forth from the
+forests like a wounded but tenacious serpent onto the level stretches
+of the plains of Nor, Oleric had under his banners a scant hundred
+thousand men. Thirty thousand more warded the rear. Fifty thousand in
+reserves were massed in the forests and on the isthmus. Twenty thousand
+were with the slain.</p>
+
+<p>The sun was shining as the host wound out from the gloom of the
+forests. To right and to left were wooded hills and beyond them the
+peaks of mountain ranges, blue against the skies. Ahead, the plains, a
+reach of level land some thirty miles broad from east and west and a
+score of miles across, were divided by the gleaming, irregular ribbon
+of the river Thebascu.</p>
+
+<p>In a loop of the river in a camp that was strongly entrenched, for all
+the haste with which it had been constructed, lay the army of Ad, fresh
+and unwearied and ready for battle. And it outnumbered the host of
+Ruthar by nearly two to one. Across the river, down the hundred miles
+to Adlaz, the Mazanion Road was choked with supply trains and reserves.</p>
+
+<p>Snow still lay in patches in the forest defiles; but the plains were
+faintly green with a promise of the spring-time. On the trees the buds
+were swelling. Through a month of wearisome marching Ruthar had come.
+In less than forty-five days the trumpets would sound from the towers
+of Adlaz for the Feast of Years.</p>
+
+<p>"Now by her who sits at Flomos," said Oleric to Polaris, as they sat
+their horses on a hillside and looked across the plains to where the
+gold and blue standards fluttered, "here will be a battle worth the
+waiting of all my years."</p>
+
+<p>Somewhat worn with anxiety was the face of the son of the snows; but
+his eyes were bright and his strength was unimpaired. He, too, was
+ready.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall we not strike at the nearest point of the river?" he asked,
+pointing to the west of Bel-Ar's camp. "If we gain the bank of the
+stream, it will shorten our front, and it seems that we shall not
+easily be flanked."</p>
+
+<p>Oleric swore that the plan was good, and Ruthar's army began to fight
+its way across the plain. It could scarcely be said that battle was
+beginning. All the way through the forests had been one long, unending
+struggle with Fanaer. Already on the plains cavalry skirmishes were in
+progress. Now was to come the climax of a month of conflict.</p>
+
+<p>Steadily Ruthar pressed on, and with the fall of night pitched her
+tents on the plain, her left wing resting on the river below the
+Maeronican camp. By common consent, the fighting ceased at dusk and the
+armies rested on their arms. The next day would tell the tale, and they
+were content to await it. Such was the contour of the land that there
+was little ground for strategy and juggling of men. This was to be a
+battle, front to front, with victory to the strongest arms. And though
+their force was the greater, there was much of doubt in the hearts
+of the men of Ad. Tales had been brought in of the prowess of these
+mountain warriors.</p>
+
+<p>Other camp gossip had put uneasiness upon the soldiers of Bel-Ar. How,
+for instance, had the Kimbrian Wall been sundered, if it were not the
+work of the gods? And the beasts, the mighty red beasts, against which
+men were as flies. Rumor had told that they had come into Maeronica
+and would fight in the field against Adlaz. The sun set that night in
+a sea of fire. Men did not know how to interpret that omen. Was Shamar
+angered? And if he was, on whose heads would his blows fall on the
+morrow? The stars shone calm and clear. Ruthar worshiped the stars.</p>
+
+<p>Those and other thoughts caused many a stout Maeronican to shake his
+head over his campfire. But most of all they feared the beasts.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Wary Oleric had kept Zoar and his herd well to the rear. Never in the
+march had the amalocs gone forward until the way had been cleared. None
+of the Maeronican fighting men had set eyes on them. The beasts were
+Ruthar's strongest hope. If even the thought of them struck terror into
+the hearts of the Children of Ad, Oleric reasoned that their sudden
+appearance in battle might be counted upon to produce a panic.</p>
+
+<p>Ruthar would try a tilt against Maeronica, the red captain planned, and
+if she might would win her battle by force of arms alone. But if the
+fight should swing against her, then the beasts would be better than an
+army in reserve. So he bade Zoar camp in the forests, and he surrounded
+the encampment with a strong guard and cordons of sentries.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning Ruthar's stars paled, and Shamar came up smiling&mdash;seeing
+which the men of Bel-Ar took fresh heart.</p>
+
+<p>Scarcely had the first shafts of light thrust over the mountain-tops
+when Oleric, from the shadows of the forest, launched a great bolt of
+cavalry across the plain. Another division which had been moved in the
+night swept east along the south bank of the river. While the riders of
+Bel-Ar went out to meet them, the trumpets of the king of Ruthar were
+sounded in the center of the camp, and long files of men-at-arms crept
+forth into the dawn behind the screen of dashing horsemen.</p>
+
+<p>In three deep columns Polaris moved his footmen into battle, with lanes
+between them, into which the cavalry might retire, and through which
+the charioteers would charge when the time came. Each of the marching
+columns was tipped with regiments of swiftly moving javelin men, and
+behind them came the archers, stringing their long bows and singing a
+lilting chorus as they moved out on the plain.</p>
+
+<p>Mounted on his black stallion, Polaris led the center, riding behind
+the first ranks of his swordsmen and accompanied by the men of Jastla
+and some score of the Rutharian zinds, all in full armor. Far to the
+right rode Oleric the Red. The left was headed by Tarnos, one of the
+zinds. That post Polaris had offered to old Jastla of the hills, but
+the chieftain had declined it.</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis a great honor, O king," he said when the proffer was made, and
+his eyes shone. "But I pray you give it not to me. I would fight at
+your side. That post will be troublesome enough, as I well know."
+Jastla grinned broadly. "Give the command to a nobler man."</p>
+
+<p>"There is none nobler, old wolf," Polaris replied. "But have it as you
+will."</p>
+
+<p>So Tarnos led the left, along the river Thebascu, and Jastla and his
+ring of steel rode with his king, and he was content.</p>
+
+<p>Midway between the camps, as Oleric had ordered it, the charging
+horsemen swerved aside, doubled, and, as though in fear, plunged
+back between the advancing columns. Hard on their flying heels came
+the shouting riders of Ad. As they came the javelin men cast, and
+the archers bent bows and loosed a bitter flight from their twanging
+strings that shrieked among the horsemen like a white drift of blizzard
+through the mountain trees. Then, before the eyes of the Maeronican
+riders, the horsemen they pursued were gone; the bowmen and the
+javelin-throwers melted away; fanwise the heads of the three columns
+spread out and joined each to each, their front ranks kneeling; and
+Ruthar received her plunging foemen on an unbroken front of leveled
+spears.</p>
+
+<p>Fell ruin awaited that splendid charge. Unable to turn back because
+of the surging squadrons behind them, the foremost ranks were dashed
+against the grim steel barrier, and went down in a horrible tangle of
+struggling men and horses.</p>
+
+<p>Into the mêlée, through the lines and over the shoulders of their
+comrades, leaped the light-armed footmen with their javelins and
+daggers, and slew hundreds of horses, whose riders fell easy prey to
+the two-handed blades that now were aloft and busy.</p>
+
+<p>At the rear the Rutharian cavalry formed again, and dashing around the
+flanks of the columns in two flying wedges, closed like nippers behind
+Bel-Ar's confused squadrons.</p>
+
+<p>First cast in the game had gone to Ruthar. The horsemen of Ad were
+routed and pushed back&mdash;all those who could go. Those that remained
+were done with fighting.</p>
+
+<p>From the earthen wall of his camp, standing among his golden-armored
+generals, Bel-Ar saw his cavalry broken and flung back&mdash;saw it, and
+laughed aloud.</p>
+
+<p>"They fight well, these mountain wolves," he said. "But that was the
+play of children. Now will we send them a taste of the swords of Ad."</p>
+
+<p>Beyond the wall of the camp were massed the legions of the Maeronican
+heavy infantry, flower of the fighting men of seven cities, the core
+of which was formed of the garrison of Adlaz itself, fifteen thousand
+veteran men-at-arms.</p>
+
+<p>Bidding his captains go forward, the king called for his horse.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Somber as he had appeared in his dull garments in the midst of his
+butterfly court, Bel-Ar, among his captains, offered an even greater
+contrast. He loved the pomp and pride of power, its show and its
+glitter, but not in his own person. While his generals rode in gold,
+and the armor of some of them blazed with gems and patterns in
+orichalcum that made them glow like fireflies in the night, the king
+wore a simple suit of arms of black steel, plain of design and undecked
+by any flashing gauds. Only the majesty that dwelt in his pallid face
+and the fires of his mystic's eyes distinguished him from some humble
+gentleman of poor estate.</p>
+
+<p>Mounting his war-horse, a gaunt, powerful roan beast of vicious temper,
+the king, with a number of his favorite captains, rode down the field
+in the wake of his advancing phalanxes. With them was advanced the blue
+and gold battle-standard.</p>
+
+<p>Bel-Ar marshaled his legions in wide divisions, each of nearly a
+thousand men, marching in quadruple lines, and the divisions in such
+close touch that they might form, when there was need, a solid front.
+At the wings of the force were stationed the light-armed men and
+archers. Behind those, two wedge-shaped masses of chariots rolled forth
+from the camp gates and rumbled across the plain.</p>
+
+<p>At the foot of a gentle dip of the land the Rutharians had met and
+hurled back the horsemen. There they elected to remain and await the
+enemy's sterner onset.</p>
+
+<p>On came the shimmering lines of Ad across the meadows now dewed with
+blood; on with a rattle of drums, a brazen peal of trumpets, the clank
+and clash of armor mingling with the pounding hoofs on the hard turf,
+the thumping of chariot-wheels, and the shouted commands of the file
+leaders&mdash;the ancient, many-tongued clamor that stirs the soul of Mars.</p>
+
+<p>Silent and watchful, the men of mountainous Ruthar crouched low behind
+their shields and waited.</p>
+
+<p>Over the bodies of their dead comrades, over the fallen horses, the
+phalanxes marched. Then, closing into a living wall, they took the last
+tangled barrier of corpses with a rush and a shout, and the battle was
+joined. All across the field echoed the hollow thunder of the meeting
+shields as the lines closed. Followed a clanging as of a thousand
+trip-hammers. For now the spears were down and the swords were at work.</p>
+
+<p>Following their custom, the Rutharians cast their shields behind them
+after the first shock of the onset, and plied their long blades with
+both hands, making them serve both as swords and bucklers.</p>
+
+<p>On pushed the Maeronican wall under its tossing banners. So fierce was
+the rush and pressure of those charging thousands that Ruthar's line,
+strive as her warriors might, was bent backward like a bow. A wild
+cheering went up from the ranks of Ad when they saw the red standard
+give back. Gathering themselves again, they swept the mountain legions
+to the crest of the rise.</p>
+
+<p>Sitting his charger on the slope behind the line of his men-at-arms,
+Polaris looked down into that hell of combat. Like the unfolding vista
+of a hideous dream, it seemed to him, which he was powerless to break
+or to hinder. Yet above the din of the blood-maddened legions the sky
+was blue and calm, the sun shone bright, and back there in the forests
+the birds of spring were calling to their mates.</p>
+
+<p>Under his fascinated eyes the line of his warriors bent and came
+nearer. The red banner of Ruthar&mdash;a moment ago it had been planted
+at the foot of the slope, and now it was almost touching his horse's
+muzzle! Down there in the field another flag was coming, and with it a
+company of riders whose armor flashed back the sunlight from plates and
+shields of burnished gold.</p>
+
+<p>The spell was broken.</p>
+
+<p>Rising in his stirrups, the son of the snows drew his two-handed sword
+from over his shoulder. Among the Maeronican generals his keen eyes had
+seen a face that he remembered well.</p>
+
+<p>"Zinds of Ruthar!" he cried, his voice ringing above the clamor.
+"Yonder rides Bel-Ar of Adlaz. Let us go and greet him."</p>
+
+<p>All around him he heard the clinking of closing vizors. The zinds were
+ready.</p>
+
+<p>Casting down his shield, Polaris called to the swordsmen in front to
+open and make way. Before the Maeronican soldiery could advantage
+themselves of the gap, he was down the slope and upon them like a
+living thunderbolt. Under the urge of the spurs, his horse reared
+and struck out with its forefeet as it met the foemen. Leaning well
+over the good beast's shoulder, the rider whirled his heavy blade and
+struck so fast and so fiercely that eyes could not follow the blows.
+Adlaz's stoutest warriors shrank bewildered from the menace of that
+lightning-stroke and those steel-shod hoofs. Before one might count ten
+he was through them, leaving a wake of crumpled men. Behind him rode
+gray Jastla and the zinds of Ruthar.</p>
+
+<p>As they passed, one of the zinds bent and snatched the crimson banner
+from the standard-bearer.</p>
+
+<p>A roar like that of angry lions went down the Rutharian front when
+the hillsmen saw their flaming standard rise over the heads of the
+fighting men and advance into the field. Where their king led, no wall
+of steel could hold them back. As though the string had been released,
+the mighty bow straightened. All down that long, grim battle-line the
+two-handed swords clove through.</p>
+
+<p>Rallying around their king, the golden captains waited the shock that
+was coming.</p>
+
+<p>For Polaris had one goal, and one only, on all that stricken field.
+Outstripping the fleetest of his riders, he hewed his way through the
+Maeronican nobles, nor stopped until his sable war-horse was shoulder
+to shoulder with the steed of Bel-Ar, the king.</p>
+
+<p>"By Shamar, 'tis the slave-king!" shouted Bel-Ar, as the apparition in
+steel and silver burst through his gilded riders and bore down upon
+him. Sword and shield he lifted to meet the assault, fending himself
+with that skill of arms by which he oft had made good the boast of
+Adlaz that he was the hardiest fighting man in the two kingdoms.</p>
+
+<p>While the battle on the plain raged around them unheeded, king met king
+in the play of swords.</p>
+
+<p>First stroke of Polaris fell on the rounded shield and beat it down so
+that Bel-Ar reeled in his saddle. Before the great blade could swing
+again, the Maeronican straightened and smote with his own good sword of
+tempered bronze. A clang as of a descending hammer rang in the ears of
+Polaris. Under the trampling feet of the horses lay one of the golden
+wings of his helmet. Another stroke fell on his shoulder, cracking a
+steel boss of his armor and thrilling his arm with a sting of pain.
+Heeding it not, he rose in the saddle and swung his sword to his two
+arms' height. No shield or arm would stay that blow.</p>
+
+<p>For the fraction of a second Bel-Ar's doom hung poised in air. Ere it
+fell, Polaris's stallion reared, screaming. The mighty stroke that the
+rider sped fell on empty air. Overbalanced by the weight of his own
+effort, Polaris bent nearly to his saddle-bow. Beneath him the black
+stallion shuddered and went down. An unhorsed captain of Adlaz had run
+in and thrust the animal through the vitals with a spear.</p>
+
+<p>Janess sprang free from the falling horse. Above him, Bel-Ar shouted
+in triumph and hewed down with his bronze sword. But the zinds of
+Ruthar had torn through Bel-Ar's riders to the support of their king,
+upsetting both men and horses as they came. One of them, a slender
+youth in silver armor, leaped from his steed and flashed between Bel-Ar
+and his dismounted and helpless foeman, taking the king's sword-stroke
+on his head.</p>
+
+<p>Jastla closed his steel ring, then, and Bel-Ar was carried away in a
+swirling press of his own cavalry, which had charged fiercely in to
+save him.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Polaris knelt beside his fallen horse and lifted the still form of the
+man who had saved him. The red banner of Ruthar, held by Zind Albar,
+floated above them. Around the circle of riders which Jastla had drawn
+the battle whirled like a seething maelstrom around a rock in a sea of
+clashing steel.</p>
+
+<p>"Who is he?" Polaris asked of Albar, and pillowed the head in its
+silver helm on his knee. In vain he tried to lift the vizor. The
+sword-stroke of the Maeronican king had shattered the upper flare of
+the helmet and bent down its crest so that the vizor would not yield.</p>
+
+<p>"I know him not," said Albar, who was a hillsman. "Some zind of the
+lower cities, I judge, from the armor he wears. Whoever he is, he is a
+brave man. He has this day saved the life of the king of Ruthar, and
+I fear that he has lost his own in the deed. Bel-Ar strikes bitterly.
+See; he has cracked the helmet like an egg. Ah-h&mdash;!"</p>
+
+<p>Striking the steel-shod shaft of the standard into the earth, Albar
+leaped down from his horse and knelt beside Polaris.</p>
+
+<p>While the zind had been speaking, the fingers of the son of the snows
+had loosed the clasps of the helmet and lifted it. From under the
+cloven silver shell rippling coils of red-brown hair slipped down and
+flowed over his arm and his knee, where the sunlight caught and turned
+them into dancing flames. The pale face turned up to the sky, unmarred
+save by a small stain of blood at one of the temples, was that of the
+Goddess Glorian of Ruthar!</p>
+
+<p>Janess groaned. Albar stared like a man transfixed. But Glorian was not
+dead. As the air struck her face she moved her head faintly and her
+lips trembled.</p>
+
+<p>"Illia&mdash;roars&mdash;loudly to-day," she murmured. "It must be&mdash;the
+freshets&mdash;of spring."</p>
+
+<p>She opened her eyes, saw the faces bent above her, and smiled wanly at
+Polaris.</p>
+
+<p>"Then I was not too late?" she said, the halting gone out of her voice.
+"'Tis well."</p>
+
+<p>"Lady, why did you come hither&mdash;into the battle?" asked Polaris. "And
+why&mdash;" His voice broke; for the courage of this woman moved him almost
+to tears; the memory of that crushing stroke of bronze which she had
+taken in his stead made him shudder.</p>
+
+<p>Glorian smiled again.</p>
+
+<p>"Vex yourself not about me," she said. "Shall Ruthar's bravest shed
+their lives for their land and king, and Glorian not do her part?" She
+lifted her hand and pointed to the standard. "Where Ruthar's banner
+goes, there goes Glorian also&mdash;even into the battle. And I am not
+dying, or greatly hurt, only dizzied, and my head hums. See; I can
+arise."</p>
+
+<p>And arise she did, with Polaris's arm to support her. Around Jastla's
+narrowing circle broke the shock of the battle-tide. But for the moment
+neither the man nor the woman heeded it.</p>
+
+<p>"But you are wounded, lady," Janess said. "There is blood on your
+forehead."</p>
+
+<p>She slipped a hand from its gauntlet and raised it to her head.</p>
+
+<p>"Hardly a scratch," she said.</p>
+
+<p>Just at the roots of her long tresses a splinter from the shivered
+helmet had scarred the scalp&mdash;a tiny cut, scarcely a quarter of an inch
+in length.</p>
+
+<p>Now Albar the zind, who had hung on every word, came out of the spell
+of horror that had bound him. He swung himself onto his horse. Then for
+the one time in his life Albar gave orders to a king.</p>
+
+<p>"Guard you the goddess and the banner," he cried to Polaris. "I go to
+tell the men of Ruthar that which shall put in each one the strength of
+ten!"</p>
+
+<p>He rode to Jastla's side.</p>
+
+<p>"Gray wolf, may your ring be strong till I come again," he said. "You
+have within it a king and a goddess."</p>
+
+<p>Down rang his vizor, and setting spurs to his horse Albar set out to
+cross the field and find Oleric the Red.</p>
+
+<p>No longer was the fight on the plains one of ordered lines of men. The
+charge of Polaris had broken the Maeronicans' long front, and they
+had not been able to close up the gap he had made. So they had swung
+into the smaller phalanxes of their legions, and the battle was one of
+division against division, with many breaks between. Here and there
+the divisions had split up into still smaller groups, and occasionally
+there might be seen two warriors who fought alone, one laying on for
+Ruthar and one for Ad.</p>
+
+<p>Gray Jastla, fighting with his face to the west, heard Albar's words as
+the zind flashed past him. To find their meaning, the chieftain cast a
+hurried glance over his shoulder. He saw Polaris and Glorian standing
+together under the crimson standard, and was near to letting his sword
+fall in his surprise. Next instant he rose in his stirrups and clove a
+Maeronican from shoulder to breastbone. Out rang the chief's voice in a
+hollow roar through his vizor:</p>
+
+<p>"Strike as ye never struck before! Behind you is the Goddess Glorian,
+come to see that ye do well. Would ye have these Maeronican hounds take
+her? Strike!"</p>
+
+<p>Around the circle echoed the war-cry:</p>
+
+<p>"For the Goddess Glorian! Strike!"</p>
+
+<p>Like living sword-blades did the Rutharian zinds answer that fierce
+appeal. The circle grew smaller and drew in upon itself, but it did not
+break. Under their resistless blades the zinds piled a rampart of dead
+Maeronicans to defend their goddess. A riderless horse backed into the
+circle, and Polaris, quitting Glorian's side, mounted the steed with
+his two-handed steel and joined the zinds.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Standing up on the body of Polaris's fallen war-horse, supporting
+herself with one hand on the staff of the banner, Glorian watched that
+deadly fray. With her long hair flowing on her shoulders, she looked in
+her warlike gear like one of the valkyries of Adin come down to earth
+from Valhalla to watch the passing of the souls of heroes. Ever her
+gaze followed Polaris. And if she seemed like one of the Norse god's
+daughters, the man who fought under her eyes was a fitting part of the
+simile.</p>
+
+<p>His sword wrenched from his grasp in the body of a man he had slain, he
+snatched the heavy ax that swung at his saddle-bow, and with it laid on
+like Thor with his hammer.</p>
+
+<p>Aid was coming.</p>
+
+<p>Down the field as he rode Albar spread the tidings. From mouth to mouth
+flew the word that the Goddess Glorian was on the plains of Nor, and
+that she and the king were in sore peril yonder where the red standard
+flew. The effect was instantaneous. Each warrior became a host in
+himself. Wounded men who had turned to the rear heard and forgot their
+hurts and staggered into the fight again.</p>
+
+<p>When Albar reached Oleric the Red on the right, the zind found that his
+news had preceded him.</p>
+
+<p>"Get you to Maxtan," shouted Oleric. "Charge with every horse that can
+bear a rider. A messenger has gone into the forests, and another charge
+is coming. Clear the way for the amalocs."</p>
+
+<p>Maxtan and Albar gathered their wild horsemen and charged and charged
+again. So well did they do their work that they hacked a way to the
+first rank of the Maeronican chariots, deep between the two horns of
+which was waging the struggle around the red banner.</p>
+
+<p>Vainly Oleric urged his own charioteers forward. Bel-Ar's blood was up,
+and he was smiling no longer. Battalion on battalion of his infantry he
+sent in to meet the steeds and feed the blades of Ruthar. Almost within
+his grasp the Maeronican king saw victory. Already he counted as taken
+the slave whom his foeman had crowned. Sooner than give back a foot, or
+allow that little band of riders to go free, he was prepared to spend
+his army to the last man, and himself with it.</p>
+
+<p>No less than three horses Oleric had killed under him. When the last
+was gone, he climbed into a chariot and fought at the point of his
+rumbling wedge. Behind him from the forests a force entered the plain
+and the conflict that was mightier than all the red captain's horsemen
+and battalions.</p>
+
+<p>Zoar had come.</p>
+
+<p>In the shadow of the tall trees where the bending limbs swept their
+mighty backs, Zoar marshaled thirty of his amalocs and set them in
+battle array&mdash;a single line, with twenty intervening feet between each
+beast. If Zoar knew aught of amalocs, and he thought that he did, there
+would be need for no second line. A hundred men and as many horses ran
+about the legs of the monsters, tightening the broad girths that held
+the basketlike turrets on the mammoths' shoulders. The beasts stood
+quietly, swinging their huge trunks and weaving from side to side,
+as was their habit. Occasionally one of them cocked forward a great
+blanket of an ear as though in lazy wonderment at the din on the plains.</p>
+
+<p>On the head of each, with his back to the turret, and clutching his
+keen-pointed ankus, sat a driver in full armor.</p>
+
+<p>When all was ready, the spear-throwers and archers clambered up by
+rope-ladders and took their places in the towers.</p>
+
+<p>At the left of the line, and nearest to the river, was Ixstus,
+patriarch and giant of the herd. And on the broad head of Ixstus beside
+the driver rode Zoar of the many years.</p>
+
+<p>Along the line from beast to beast passed the word:</p>
+
+<p>"We are ready, Father Zoar."</p>
+
+<p>"Ixstus!" said the old man. The sail-like ears gave attention. "Ixstus,
+I have raised you since a calf, and I think you love me after your
+fashion. Do not fail me now, Ixstus. Go forward, fearing nothing. <i>Akko
+dor!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>Zoar's last words were spoken loudly. Thirty vast trunks lifted up.
+From thirty huge proboscides pealed forth the amaloc trumpet-call&mdash;such
+a call as might have shaken the forests in the ages before the first
+puny man began his life of fear.</p>
+
+<p>For of amalocs the records of the Garden of Eden make no mention.</p>
+
+<p>Swaying their ponderous heads, and with the turrets on their shoulders
+heaving and tossing like boats on a troubled sea, the amalocs went
+forward.</p>
+
+<p>Far in the turmoil of the fight Oleric heard that trumpeting. Over his
+shoulder he looked and saw the mighty red bulk of Ixstus push out from
+among the trees.</p>
+
+<p>With their trunks curled out of harm's way, their thick and ropy tails
+stretched straight out behind, and their ears flapping to their stride,
+the amalocs came down the grim lanes of battle. Though the legs that
+were as the trunks of trees for size swung with no apparent haste,
+the beasts came on at a pace that it would have troubled a trotting
+horse to distance. The lengths of chain fastened to their knee-harness
+whistled through the air like flails.</p>
+
+<p>From division to division along Ruthar's jagged battle-line sped the
+warning cry:</p>
+
+<p>"Way! Way for Zoar! Make way for the amalocs!"</p>
+
+<p>Under the tossing ivory fronts the divisions parted and drew aside.
+Zoar increased the distance between his beasts. Into thirty wide
+aisles the army split. From forest to front, save for the dead, the
+way was clear. From the wild vortex of the battle rose a stormy burst
+of cheering as the amalocs thundered down the aisles, and Ruthar's
+exultant warriors welcomed their gigantic allies.</p>
+
+<p>Wilder still was the cheering when it was seen that at the ends of the
+pathways the phalanxes of Bel-Ar's men-at-arms were crumbling away.
+Flesh and blood could not abide the onset that was coming, and the
+Maeronican legions broke and fled ingloriously across the plains in
+droves, many of them casting away their arms and shields as they ran.</p>
+
+<p>Bidding his charioteer pull in his horses, Oleric climbed up on the
+high front of his chariot to watch how Bel-Ar would meet this new
+stroke. What would meet the drive of the amalocs? As he reached his
+vantage-point, the answer came&mdash;a cavalry charge!</p>
+
+<p>From the wall of his camp, where he had been taken, nursing an arm
+that was numb from wrist to shoulder, the Maeronican king ground his
+teeth in fury as he saw the new force enter the battle and witnessed
+the melting of his legions. Once before, in the morning, his cavalry
+had been rudely handled, and he had laughed. Now, with tears of rage
+in his eyes, he dispatched his shattered squadrons in the teeth of the
+oncoming peril.</p>
+
+<p>White-faced captains and quaking men scrambled into their saddles to
+do their king's bidding, and the horsemen rode desperately to meet the
+beasts.</p>
+
+<p>What happened was simple. The amalocs plowed through the clouds of
+cavalry that opposed them with scarcely a break in their stride,
+overthrowing men and horses as though they had been of paper, and
+leaving ghastly ruins behind them where their ponderous feet had
+trodden.</p>
+
+<p>One such onset was enough. No horse that ever lived could have been
+forced to face another. For the amalocs, when they joined battle, set
+up such a din of squealing and trumpeting as nearly split the ears that
+heard it. The horse that could have met that grievous onslaught must
+have been both blind and deaf.</p>
+
+<p>From above, in the basket-turrets, the archers and spearsmen poured
+down a deadly hail of missiles on the riders. Did a horseman avoid the
+thrashing chains and get near enough to the vast side of an amaloc to
+strike&mdash;and not many did so&mdash;he found his spear-point rebound from
+the tough hide. The utmost power of his stroke was not a pin-prick to
+an amaloc. Even as the swordsmen had fled, so fled now the riders,
+betaking themselves in a fear-maddened stream to their camp, whither
+the charioteers had preceded them.</p>
+
+<p>"The beasts of Ruthar are a myth," had said Bel-Ar, the king. And his
+soldiers had believed him, had fostered confidence with the thought
+that the frightful tales that had been told of the strength and fury
+of the amalocs were mere traditions which had come down from the days
+of old. Now here before the camp were the beasts, red and awesome and
+raging&mdash;more terrible by far than even tradition had painted them&mdash;and
+among the Children of Ad there was none who had the heart to go out
+and face them&mdash;unless, indeed, it were the king himself. Bel-Ar in his
+rage would have fronted the overlord of all evil that day had he come
+against him.</p>
+
+<p>So it came about that the ring of Jastla, the chief, found the
+pressure of assault slackening and falling away. Maeronicans who had
+been fiercest to meet the sword-blades, now were stumbling over each
+other's legs in their haste to escape the amalocs. What was left of the
+ring&mdash;barely a score and five of battered men and horses&mdash;opened, and
+through its gap strode Ixstus and paused beside the red banner.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2>CHAPTER X</h2>
+
+<h3>THE GODDESS GLORIAN'S DECREE</h3>
+
+
+<p>Zoar quit the straps where he had held and stood on the head of Ixstus.
+A triumph shone in the eyes of the master of the amalocs, and a smile
+spread over his mummified old-ivory features as he looked down at
+Glorian.</p>
+
+<p>"Daughter, they told me that I would find you here&mdash;in the forefront of
+the battle," he said. "And so it is. Your zeal for Ruthar has carried
+you far&mdash;so far that Oleric the Learned could not follow, and sent
+Father Zoar to find you." He laughed in his bell-like tones.</p>
+
+<p>"But for the King of Ruthar and these brave men here, you would have
+had a longer journey, Father Zoar," Glorian replied. "It might have
+been to the camp of Bel-Ar yonder, or&mdash;to the stars. Take me up with
+you, Zoar, for I am weary."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Stekkar deen!</i>" commanded Zoar, and Ixstus looped his trunk and swung
+Glorian gently to a seat beside his master.</p>
+
+<p>Glorian looked around at the little circle of wearied men&mdash;so wearied
+that they reeled in their saddles. She looked at those others, who lay
+where they had fallen, and to whom the long rest had come. Her eyes
+filled with tears.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought to thank you," she said, "but I find no words splendid
+enough."</p>
+
+<p>Old Jastla lifted his arm in salute. "Lady, to those of us who live,
+it is sufficient to know that you live also. Those who are dead, died
+gladly to make it so. We have held our goddess safe, and our king has
+held himself." And he turned and saluted Polaris.</p>
+
+<p>Of the hundred zinds and fifty tall hillsmen who had formed in Jastla's
+ring, five and twenty were left. Not one was unwounded. Jastla's beard
+was red with blood, where a spear-point had penetrated through the
+bars of his vizor and torn his mouth. In addition to the bruised and
+stiffening shoulder caused by the blow of Bel-Ar that had broken his
+armor, Polaris had been gashed on the cheek by an arrow. Otherwise he
+was the least harmed of the party.</p>
+
+<p>It was midafternoon when Ixstus set foot in the circle. Presently
+Oleric arrived in his chariot. Behind him came the host of
+Ruthar&mdash;weary and with many of its battalions sadly thinned, but still
+a host, and ready to go on if need be.</p>
+
+<p>Another amaloc rolled up alongside of Ixstus. Over the edge of the
+wicker basket it bore, a white old head bobbed up with the suddenness
+of a jack-in-the-box.</p>
+
+<p>"Hey, son," said Zenas Wright to Polaris, "will you never quit your
+foolhardy ways? Look what you have made me do&mdash;come a-hunting you,
+riding on the back of one of these animated stacks of red hay, that
+should have been dead and fossilized six thousand years ago. Well,
+well; we've given his majesty Bel-Ar a bellyful, I'm thinking." Out of
+his basket and down the rope-ladder Zenas clambered to shake Polaris by
+the hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, boy," the geologist said, "you're a better king than those
+heathen will see again, if they all live to be as old as Father
+Methuselah yonder says he is. But be careful, lad, be careful."</p>
+
+<p>On the head of Ixstus the Goddess Glorian stood and pointed toward the
+camp of Bel-Ar, and her beautiful face grew stern.</p>
+
+<p>"There are still three hours of daylight, Father Zoar," she said. "Let
+us go and finish what we have begun."</p>
+
+<p>"As well now as ever, daughter," Zoar replied. "I am minded to teach
+this Maeronican king a lesson that shall become a tradition in the
+land. What passes in the camp? My eyes are too dim to see."</p>
+
+<p>"Confusion, father, and the running to and fro of many men. They are
+adding to the height of their earthen walls. They are piling their
+gateways with timbers and the fragments of broken chariots."</p>
+
+<p>Zoar laughed. "Think they with walls of mud to stop my amalocs?" he
+muttered. He lifted his voice, and word was passed down the line that
+the beasts were to be advanced against the camp.</p>
+
+<p>Under the orders of Polaris, the dead zinds and men of his guard were
+borne off the field, and those who were still living, but wounded,
+were carried tenderly to the rear. When he learned that the amalocs
+were to attack the camp, he climbed with Zenas to the turret which the
+geologist had occupied. Jastla and the others he urged to seek rest.
+But they were men of great spirit, and only one or two of them went.
+The most of them sent for fresh horses, determined to see the fighting
+through to its end.</p>
+
+<p>At a word from Glorian, Jastla took up the war-standard of Ruthar and
+passed it to the fighting men of Zoar, who set it fast in the wicker
+tower on the back of Ixstus. Glorian caught its floating folds and
+kissed it.</p>
+
+<p>"Now Ixstus bears our banner. Who shall withstand it?" she said.</p>
+
+<p>A blare of trumpets, a ruffle of drums, sounded the advance of Ruthar.
+Louder and above all arose the roar of the thirty amalocs, strident and
+deafening, as the shaggy, red line surged forward.</p>
+
+<p>In the camp of Bel-Ar that call found answer in the howl of hate and
+terror that went up from the ranks of the Maeronicans when they saw
+that their terrible foes were coming.</p>
+
+<p>"Fire!" shouted Bel-Ar to his generals. "We must meet and turn the
+beasts with fire! Man the walls with torches and set a blaze before
+each gate."</p>
+
+<p>Bel-Ar had pitched his encampment in a loop of the River Thebascu,
+a broad, swift stream, now swollen by the spring freshets into a
+dun-colored torrent. From bank to bank across the loop, the soldiers
+had constructed a wall of earth and stones, ten feet high, and pierced
+by six wide gateways, wherein were set heavy gates of steel and oak.
+Inside the line of the outer wall, with some fifty feet of space
+intervening, was another rampart, also of earth, and a few feet higher
+than the first. Outside of the works the camp was protected further by
+a semicircular ditch, or moat, spanned at each of the gateways by a
+solid bridge of timbers. The Maeronican engineers had turned the waters
+of the river into the moat and filled it level full. At the rear of the
+camp was the crossing of the Thebascu&mdash;three wide bridges of stone,
+which had been built in the long ago.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>When they saw the advance of the amalocs, soldiers swarmed from the
+camp with ropes and horses, and strove to pull the timber bridges away
+from the ditch. But the weight of the passing and repassing of the
+army had sunk the beams into the earth so deeply that they could not
+be stirred. Failing in that attempt, the Maeronicans piled débris on
+the floors of the bridges and set fire to it, hoping to burn away the
+approaches. That, too, was a failure. The water of the moat, nearly
+level with the side-beams, was ankle-deep on the bridge-floors, and had
+soaked the timbers so that they would not catch from the fires.</p>
+
+<p>As Zoar and his monsters came to the moat, the men of Bel-Ar shot at
+them with arrows, stones, and javelins. But Ruthar could play that
+game, too. Oleric lined the ditch between the bridges with slingers
+and archers, who kept up so thick a bombardment that they killed many
+men, and soon drove the Maeronicans to the shelter of their walls. As
+they went in, Bel-Ar's men touched flames to the piles of timbers and
+wrecked chariots before their gateways and closed their gates.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall we cross the bridges and clear the way, Father Zoar?" asked
+Oleric.</p>
+
+<p>"Nay," the master of the beasts replied, "that would be at the expense
+of many men, and yon is an ill place to fight in. Methinks I know a
+better plan."</p>
+
+<p>Under his directions, his foresters ungirthed one of the mammoths and
+took from its back the wicker turret. Zoar called the driver of the
+beast to him. Whatever it was that the old man said, the amaloc-driver
+blanched somewhat at the words. He cast a quick glance toward the armed
+camp, and under his swarthy skin his face turned pale. Then he drew
+himself up proudly, saluted, and went back to his beast.</p>
+
+<p>Clambering to his perch, the man found and pulled two small chains
+connected with the armored plates which protected the skull of his
+ponderous steed. These drew into place and closed fast two small doors,
+or lids, cunningly wrought of steel, and devised to cover the eyes of
+the beast. So blinded, the heart within the vast bulk became uneasy,
+and the mammoth began to back and sway, groping before it with its
+trunk.</p>
+
+<p>While the army stood breathless to see what he would do, the driver
+struck with his ankus, and with a shout launched the amaloc straight at
+the center gate of the camp.</p>
+
+<p>Deprived of its eyesight, the mammoth obeyed the superior will
+expressed by the voice that it knew and loved. Across the bridge, where
+ordinarily it would have paused and tested the timbers carefully before
+trusting its immense bulk upon them, it now charged blindly, trumpeting
+as it went.</p>
+
+<p>Showers of missiles from the camp of Ad fell on the beast; ahead of it
+roared the blazing pile. It screamed out with pain and terror when the
+flames touched it, but it did not stop. Scattering the burning tangle
+like fiery chaff, it tore on, and its armored frontlet clanged on the
+bars of the gateway.</p>
+
+<p>That shock tore the gates from their hinges and brought the amaloc to
+its knees. For an instant it knelt on the fallen gate, then, trumpeting
+with rage, rose up and danced on the ruin.</p>
+
+<p>On the head of the beast the driver lay flat on his belly, his arms and
+legs thrust under the leather bands placed there to hold him. Ahead,
+scarcely fifty feet away, was the second gateway. With voice and steel
+the man urged the amaloc on, and it crashed through that gate as it had
+through the first, and plunged into the center of the Maeronican camp.</p>
+
+<p>Began then a mad rout for safety. No one thought of fighting the terror
+that had come among them; but each man for himself ran for the river,
+casting away anything that might weight down his legs. Soon all three
+bridges of the Thebascu were black with a horrid, writhing mêlée&mdash;a
+tangle of fear-maddened men, cursing and striking at each other for
+way, and screaming, terrified horses. Many soldiers, unable to fight
+into the jams on the bridges, threw themselves into the swift stream
+with all their armor on, and some swam across and others were seen no
+more.</p>
+
+<p>To and fro through the encampment raged the now thoroughly crazed
+amaloc, sundering and crushing all that it met. The long, red wool
+had caught fire from the blaze at the gateway and burned fiercely up
+over its shoulders. Wild with the pain of it, the beast ran hither and
+thither, seeking to escape from the flames. A two-horsed chariot was
+in its path at one moment. It scooped it up like a toy and carried it
+forward on its mighty tusks, the horses dangling in their harness. Then
+with a heave of its vast shoulders the monster cast the wreck in the
+air. Lying on his face, the driver closed his eyes and prayed wildly to
+his stars.</p>
+
+<p>At length, smelling the water of the river, the amaloc turned thither,
+to quench its agonies in the rushing stream. On it drove, across the
+camp, upsetting everything in its way. It reached the river to the
+left of one of the bridges. In its path a horse bearing a steel-clad
+rider slipped and fell. The groping trunk that sought the water found
+the man, plucked him from the ground, whirled him aloft, and dashed
+him against an abutment of the bridge so that his armor cracked like a
+nutshell and his blood ran down the stones.</p>
+
+<p>With a final shriek of fury, the amaloc plunged into the river. The
+waters closed over its upthrown trunk, and its mad career was ended.
+With it went the driver, well content to give his life for Ruthar.</p>
+
+<p>This one beast in the outpouring of its majestic strength had done
+more to shatter the power of Adlaz than had the legions of Ruthar in a
+month's fighting.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Soon after the death of the amaloc, night fell swiftly across the
+plains of Nor. The other beasts of Zoar, made uneasy by the experiences
+through which they had passed, and stirred by the screaming of their
+flame-maddened comrade, were in such a state that their master deemed
+it unwise to attempt to urge them farther in the darkness and against
+the fires. So he drove them back to the forest, and Ruthar camped on
+the plain.</p>
+
+<p>In the night was heard a clamor as of men who fought on the other side
+of the Thebascu, and when morning came it was seen that the host of
+Bel-Ar was divided. The royal standards waved over the bridge-heads at
+the crossing of the river. Farther down the stream, and opposite to the
+camp of Ruthar was gathered by far the greater part of the Maeronican
+host.</p>
+
+<p>When the dawn was full, a boat crossed the river, bearing messengers
+to Ruthar from the lords of the six cities which had fought for Adlaz.
+These heralds came to Oleric and asked what terms he would make them.</p>
+
+<p>"For," said they, "did we have to fight with men only, we would stand
+firm until the end, and with our united power sweep Ruthar from the
+field and crush her. But against such as the great beasts no men may
+war."</p>
+
+<p>The red captain referred them to the king of Ruthar for their answer.
+Polaris bade them go back to the lords of the cities and say that he
+wished to make war on none save Adlaz and the king thereof&mdash;but that
+war he would wage until the death or the submission of Bel-Ar.</p>
+
+<p>"Our lords will not join ye in war against Adlaz," said one of the
+heralds hastily. "We be not such traitors; but our soldiers will bear
+arms against the terrible beasts no more."</p>
+
+<p>"Ruthar asks no help in her warfare against Bel-Ar," Polaris replied.
+"Take your armies to their homes in peace."</p>
+
+<p>That answer satisfied the lords of the cities, and they sent word that
+so they would do; and if Polaris in the end prevailed against Adlaz,
+they would bend the knee to his rule. Secretly they hoped that he
+would win. Bel-Ar had been a hard master, and those who had seen the
+tawny-haired king of Ruthar deemed him to be the better man to serve,
+outlander though he was.</p>
+
+<p>So that host was dispersed and went its various ways homeward. The
+soldiers of Adlaz and the levies from the lands around the city were of
+a different kidney. To a man they stood firm for their king. Beasts or
+no beasts, they swore, they would die for him, did he wish it.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed likely that their promise would be required of them. Bel-Ar,
+stubborn and high of spirit, was resolved to fight on. He still
+mustered under his banners a force of nearly sixty thousand men,
+veterans of his former wars and the flower of the fighting men of the
+land. Besides, he held the advantage of position.</p>
+
+<p>When Ruthar would have gone on against him in the morning, it was
+found that his engineers, working through the night, had piled the
+bridge-heads with barricades of stones, so thick and high that
+no amaloc charge would beat them down. Behind those barriers the
+Maeronican generals reorganized their broken forces and sent in the
+front fresh soldiers drawn from the reserves that were waiting along
+the Mazanion Road.</p>
+
+<p>Not for many weary miles was there another crossing of the
+Thebascu&mdash;if, indeed, there were any on the course of the river where
+were bridges strong enough to support an army and the weight of the
+amalocs.</p>
+
+<p>Taking counsel together, Polaris and Oleric and their generals decided
+that they must hammer their way through at the three bridges. They
+might have blown up the barriers with melinite; but they dared not, for
+fear of destroying the structures of the bridges also; and they had not
+the time to build new bridges. Only a sustained frontal attack, at the
+cost of many men, would clear the way.</p>
+
+<p>For a score and ten days and nights the furious struggle was waged at
+the Thebascu. Then one of the bridges was taken. Polaris, his great
+frame grown gaunt from continual fighting, and his face sunken and
+haggard with anxiety and loss of sleep, saw through hollow and burning
+eyes his hosts swing across the river and into the Mazanion Road.</p>
+
+<p>Fourteen days were left him, and then&mdash;the Feast of Years, and the end.</p>
+
+<p>Summer was coming, and with it the feast of the return of Shamar, that
+could not be set forward or delayed. Though the foe were hammering at
+its gates, Oleric said, the feast would be held in the city. Such was
+the ancient law laid down in the early days of Adlaz.</p>
+
+<p>On the Mazanion Road they found the captain Fanaer once more, tireless
+and vengeful. As he had harried them all the way from the isthmian
+passes to the plains of Nor, so he harried them now. Every foot of
+the hundred miles down the Mazanion Road he fought them, and with him
+fought Bel-Ar, his master. Wall after wall they built and lost.</p>
+
+<p>It was not until afternoon of the last day that the Rutharian vanguard,
+so worn with battle that it staggered as it rode, broke through the
+final barrier and marched through the gorgeous suburban estates to the
+wall of Adlaz. Under the leadership of Fanaer, the remnant of Bel-Ar's
+army made a last desperate stand, but was swept away.</p>
+
+<p>As night came on, the Maeronican king, broken-hearted, but still
+defiant, entered his city and closed his gates&mdash;there to sit down and
+wait for the coming of the Goddess Glorian.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>It was nine o'clock of a morning&mdash;the morning of the third day of the
+Maeronican month of Kanar, corresponding to the fifteenth of November;
+or, to reverse the seasons to the terms of our northern clime, the
+sixteenth of May. A man who bore a heavy heart within his golden armor
+faced a white-faced maid in the ancient audience-hall of the dead king
+Bel-Tisam.</p>
+
+<p>"Now am I in my heart almost a traitor to my king and land, lady,"
+Brunar said. "For I have almost wished that your lover might prevail
+over Bel-Ar and save you. But the day has come and the time is at
+hand, and Ruthar is still without the walls. Would that I might save
+you, lady&mdash;I think that to do so I would willingly give my life. But
+Shamar's servants have watched this place by day and by night. It
+cannot be. Already they wait for you without the doors to lead you to
+the temple."</p>
+
+<p>For an instant the girl's eyes swam with terror. She gazed hither
+and yon about the hall like a hunted thing. Then the heritage of her
+northern race came to her aid and saved her from collapse.</p>
+
+<p>Bravely she faced and spoke to the captain.</p>
+
+<p>She stepped to the cradle of the little Patrymion and kissed the babe.</p>
+
+<p>"I am ready," she said, then.</p>
+
+<p>At the doors of the prison a chariot waited, and with it were four of
+the white-robed priests of Shamar. The girl was lifted into the car.
+The charioteer drove up the side avenue of Chedar's Flight, past the
+Place of Games, now standing empty and silent, to the grounds of the
+Temple of the Sun. They saw many armed men in the street as they passed
+along. As they entered the gateway of the temple grounds they heard a
+dull booming that beat up with the wind from the south, where Ruthar
+hammered at the Mazanion gates.</p>
+
+<p>The priests carried the girl up the hundred white marble steps to
+the western entrance to the temple and through the splendid arch of
+a doorway that was fifty feet from pave to vault. Within all was dim
+twilight, except in the mighty dome, two hundred feet aloft. There it
+was light, indeed.</p>
+
+<p>At the doorway the party halted, and two soldiers shackled Rose with
+fetters of heavy gold at her wrists and ankles. Around her waist they
+set a girdle of the same yellow metal, to which chains were attached.
+That done, they placed a gag in her mouth and led her into the temple.</p>
+
+<p>Here was a place of wonders, such as had its like nowhere in the world.
+All around the hall, supporting the ring of masonry on which the dome
+rested, were magnificent pillars of marble. The circle of the pavement
+which was enclosed by the pillars, and which was nearly a hundred feet
+across, was bare, except at its center. There an oblong slab of black
+basalt lay from west to east across the gleaming white floor. That
+block was the height of a man's waist from the pavement, some six feet
+across, and at least ten yards in length.</p>
+
+<p>On one end of the slab, that which pointed west, stood a solid column
+of orichalcum, more than a yard in diameter and fifteen feet tall, its
+whole substance glowing in the half-light like a pillar of lambent
+flame. From base to top the surface of this marvelous plinth was carved
+with Maeronican characters and mystic signs. It was the ancient Column
+of Laws, whereon was written the prophecy of the future dominion of
+Adlaz over all the world.</p>
+
+<p>Over across from the fiery pillar, at the other extremity of the slab,
+was a vase, cut out of solid rock-crystal, as tall as a man, but
+slenderly fashioned, and as fragile in structure as thin-blown glass.</p>
+
+<p>This basalt block, with its gleaming column and crystal vase, was the
+altar of Shamar.</p>
+
+<p>Though the light was dim in the hall below, high in the arch of the
+dome was a dazzling play of light and colors. Through prismatic
+windows the rays of the sun poured and were translated into all of
+the changing hues of the spectrum, and as the prisms were turned by a
+concealed mechanism operated from below, the multiplying and shifting
+color-shafts, reflected back from the marble walls, combined into a
+bewildering and fairy display.</p>
+
+<p>Seated in a stone chair at the foot of one of the pillars in the
+northern arc of the circle was Bel-Ar. He was in full armor of black
+steel. His pallid face made a ghastly patch in the dusk. Except for the
+large, glowing eyes, it might have been taken for the face of a dead
+man. Back of the king, filling in the spaces between the pillars with
+silent rows of bronze, were the five companies of the palace-guard.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Immediately upon the arrival of the girl the ceremonies were opened.
+Followed by a train of his priests, chanting a deep-voiced hymn
+of praise, the arch-priest of Shamar, the aged Rhaen, entered the
+hall through the western portals. Thrice the procession of singing,
+white-robed attendants of the god passed around the circle within the
+pillars. Then they massed themselves in the space to the south of the
+altar. Rhaen retired, to come forth again, clad in a surplice of pale
+blue, and with a tall cap of the same color atop of his white locks. As
+he passed Rose, she fancied that she saw a frightened look in his keen
+old hawk's eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Four men brought in the head of one of the sacred bulls, freshly slain
+in the courtyard.</p>
+
+<p>This gory trophy was laid on the altar, a few feet from the crystal
+vase.</p>
+
+<p>At a command from Rhaen, a company of the priests bore the struggling
+form of a man from behind the pillars and proceeded to chain him down
+on the basalt slab near its center. He was fettered and gagged; but
+even so trussed up, he fought frantically, giving the priests much
+trouble before they had him chained in such a fashion that he could
+scarcely move a limb.</p>
+
+<p>Now came the turn of Rose.</p>
+
+<p>As the priests bore her to the altar and lifted her, she saw that the
+man who lay there was Ensign Brooks, of the <i>Minnetonka</i>. He had been
+fetched from the mines by order of Rhaen to take the place of Everson.
+When the girl saw the young sailor, chubby and cheerful no longer, but
+worn to skin and bones, and with eyes that glared in their sockets, she
+would have cried out in horror and pity&mdash;for to the last she thought
+not of herself&mdash;but she was gagged and helpless to utter one word of
+comfort.</p>
+
+<p>Brooks saw her as she was borne past him, and he struggled terribly.
+His utmost effort resulted only in a violent shaking of his head.</p>
+
+<p>The servants of Rhaen chained Rose to the rock midway between the
+sailor and the head of the bull. Aided by his priests, Rhaen clambered
+onto the rock and took his stand at the foot of the orichalcum pillar.
+He bent his head in prayer. While his lips moved, the priests knelt on
+the pavement with lifted hands and upturned faces. Every eye was fixed
+on the dome. Whatever was to come, it was evident that it would proceed
+thence.</p>
+
+<p>Lying on the black altar, doomed to be the first sacrifice to Shamar
+in the Feast of Years, Rose for a time was dazed and near to fainting.
+Then her mind cleared, and a mad whirl of tortured thought began.
+What of Polaris? With the memory of her lover came a stab of grief so
+keen that it banished all fear of the priests and what they could do.
+No pain that they could bring to her body could be so terrible as this
+anguish that made her very soul quail.</p>
+
+<p>Minutes passed. Again she became calm and fell to studying her
+surroundings. What manner of doom was coming? Fire in some shape, she
+was sure. She had noticed that the surface of the basalt slab was
+deeply scored down its center, where she and Brooks were chained,
+and its substance was crumbled and calcined as if by the passing of
+a fierce heat many times repeated. She besought her God that before
+Shamar struck, her senses might leave her, so might she die in peace.</p>
+
+<p>Rhaen prayed on. Above in the dome the brilliant colors played and
+shifted. Their magnificence hurt the girl's eyes, and she closed them.
+Would the end never come? Out in the city the din of war swelled louder.</p>
+
+<p>Bel-Ar spoke harshly, bidding Rhaen delay not. The arch-priest quit his
+mumbled prayer long enough to reply with some show of spirit that the
+doings of the god could not be hastened.</p>
+
+<p>The truth of the matter was, Rhaen was proceeding slowly, and with a
+reason. Rhaen was a politician. He had watched through the long weeks
+the course of war, and he did not find it hard to guess whose would be
+the ultimate victory. When that time came, what mercy would the king of
+Ruthar show to those who had given his lady to the tortures of Shamar?
+He lifted his hands high above his head, finally, and led his priests
+in a sonorous chant.</p>
+
+<p>As the notes of the song arose, the prismatic colors ceased in the
+dome. The prisms disappeared. Doors glided back in the golden roof, and
+an immense circular plate, or lens, of crystal made its appearance. So
+high was the arch of the dome where the crystal lens was hung, that it
+was impossible from the floor to judge its size; but it must have been
+at least thirty feet in diameter. It was set in a metal rim, and the
+whole was swung into place by chains, the mechanism doubtless operated
+by servants of Rhaen concealed in the vault of the dome.</p>
+
+<p>Tilted slightly to the east, the crystal hung. Above it a round
+aperture suddenly appeared in the roof. Through that opening shot a
+splendid shaft of sunshine that pierced the gloom of the temple-hall
+like an arrow of light. Blinding in its radiance, it cut downward and
+struck on the basalt altar, full on the head of the bull.</p>
+
+<p>Immediately arose the stench of burning hair and sizzling flesh. The
+power of the crystal lens so condensed the light-ray that where it fell
+its heat was all-consuming. Within half a minute naught was left of the
+head of the sacred bull save a few cinders and bits of calcined bone
+and charred tips of the horns.</p>
+
+<p>Where the head had been, the basalt rock glowed ruby-red in the path of
+that awful lance of fire. Inch by inch, and very slowly, the consuming
+ray crept along the altar toward the head of the girl.</p>
+
+<p>Rose had been nearly blinded, even through her closed lids, by the
+flash of light from the dome. Although she could not turn her head to
+see, she could smell the scorching flesh of the bull, and could guess
+what was coming.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-by, my love, good-by," she said in her heart. Then He to whom she
+had prayed made answer, and she fainted.</p>
+
+<p>Louder rose the chant of the priests. The merciless finger of their god
+moved on. Bel-Ar strained forward in his stone seat and stared at the
+sacrifice as though fascinated.</p>
+
+<p>Some five feet were yet to be traversed by the ray before it would
+reach the girl, when a soldier ran up the southern steps of the temple
+and hurled himself through the kneeling ranks of the priests. Behind
+him a wild clamor of battle arose in the street.</p>
+
+<p>"Adlaz is lost!" shouted the soldier, as he broke into the open space
+before the king. "Already is the foe at the very gates of Shamar!"</p>
+
+<p>Without stirring in his seat, hardly removing his eyes from the altar,
+Bel-Ar gave an order to the captains behind him. The silent files of
+the palace-guard came from behind the pillars and ranged themselves
+before the four entrances of the temple.</p>
+
+<p>Across the face of the altar the relentless fire-beam seared its way.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Meanwhile, at the walls of Adlaz the Rutharian army had halted.</p>
+
+<p>Night had found the men of the hills battering at the Mazanion gates.
+Urged on by the tireless energy of Polaris and the equally indomitable
+zeal of Oleric&mdash;for the red captain had made a promise&mdash;the zinds
+mustered their weary legions for a night of sleepless battle. War-worn
+by a quarter-year's conflict, the echoes of which would go whispering
+down their history for centuries to come, the king's battalions did not
+fail him. Every man in the army knew the terrible stake that was set
+for the game. None faltered. None complained.</p>
+
+<p>Assault on assault was directed at the gates, but still the southern
+doors of Adlaz remained unshaken. Riders had made the round of the city
+and had reported that the other three gateways had been walled up with
+stone masonry that it would be a work of days to dislodge&mdash;and they had
+only seventeen hours to reach the temple of Shamar. Oleric, who knew,
+said that the sacrifice of the Feast of Years would begin at noon of
+the next day, and not one moment sooner.</p>
+
+<p>Fanaer, Ruthar's most dreaded antagonist, was manning his last
+barricade. As soon as he had drawn his shattered army within the gates
+before the advance of his foemen, the captain ordered great rocks,
+which had been brought to the top of the walls in preparation for his
+purpose, cast down until they formed a jagged but powerful defense
+before the gates. That was to keep back the amalocs.</p>
+
+<p>Vainly the infantry of Ruthar charged over that irregular wall. Did
+any of them reach the gates, their battle-axes were but puny weapons
+against the bronze and steel of the doors. In vain they tried to carry
+in and place the melinite with which Zenas supplied them. Fanaer
+showered them with stones and blazing timbers. Three times men carrying
+the deadly cakes of explosive were stricken so that the melinite blew
+up and tore them to shreds.</p>
+
+<p>All night long the attack was maintained. All the night Polaris raged
+helplessly before that stubborn barrier of stone. In the morning light
+he counseled with Oleric, Zenas, and Zoar.</p>
+
+<p>"If you could but clear a way for my beasts!" groaned Zoar. "Then I
+would send them against the gates, though it killed them&mdash;which might
+well happen, for those gates are heavy enough to challenge even the
+strength of an amaloc."</p>
+
+<p>Zenas sprang up and beat himself on the forehead.</p>
+
+<p>"Doddering fool that I am!" he cried. "Here we have wasted men and
+time, and because my wits were sleeping in my boot-heels. Get your
+amalocs ready, Zoar."</p>
+
+<p>While Oleric sent one more assault against the gates, the geologist
+directed his engineers, under the cover of the attack, to mine, not
+the gates, but the pile of stones itself, with the melinite. Four big
+charges of the explosive they placed in Fanaer's barricade, and Zenas,
+with a tap of his finger on the battery, blew the barrier against the
+wall.</p>
+
+<p>Hardly had the stones quit falling when an amaloc rushed the gateway.
+Zoar spoke truly when he said those gates were strong. Fearful as
+was the impetus of the beast's charge, and though it cracked the
+great steel plates which protected its head with the impact, it did
+not shatter the gates. It withdrew from the onset somewhat sick and
+groggy&mdash;if that word may be applied to the mental condition of the
+amaloc. Zoar sent in another.</p>
+
+<p>Four of the monsters were launched successively against the portals
+before the gates crashed down. The last shock was so fearful that the
+beast which delivered it fell just beyond the gateway and died with a
+broken skull in the midst of the ruin it had made.</p>
+
+<p>Through the gap and into the Mazanion avenue, almost under the lee
+of the falling mammoth, flashed Polaris, mounted and in full armor.
+Hard behind him rode Oleric. Ahead of them the wide street was choked
+with Maeronican soldiery, and the son of the snows would have charged
+without pause; for the time that was left him was reduced to minutes
+now. Taking of the gates had not been quick or easy, and Shamar was
+high in the heavens.</p>
+
+<p>But the red captain caught at his bridle-rein.</p>
+
+<p>"Hold, friend and king; you will peril your life needlessly," he
+shouted. "Leave this desperate scum to Zoar, and follow where he leads.
+Ah! here he comes! Now see them scatter!"</p>
+
+<p>Oleric threw back his head and laughed. But Polaris, with that sun
+riding high above him, was in no mood for laughter.</p>
+
+<p>In through the rifted gateway thrust Ixstus. The giant amaloc was
+in his full panoply of war. On his head he bore proudly his master,
+Zoar the aged, and in the turret behind Zoar rode the Goddess
+Glorian&mdash;Glorian coming to the end to take what gift fate had in store.</p>
+
+<p>Under the swaying tusks of Ixstus terror shouted aloud in the street.
+Behind him, his sons and grandsons were pushing in through the gap in
+the wall. Bel-Ar's battered soldiers had had enough and full measure of
+Ixstus and his family. They did not wait now for the first screaming
+trumpet-call, but cast down their arms and scampered away&mdash;anywhere, so
+that they might put strong walls between themselves and the tribe of
+Ixstus.</p>
+
+<p>Then the general Fanaer rode forward and surrendered his sword to
+Oleric. He was a small, thin man, this famous warrior, with a twisted
+nose between pale-blue eyes, and curling, yellow beard.</p>
+
+<p>"I have fought you my best for the king, my master," he said. "But
+you have taken Adlaz, and my work is done." He glanced curiously at
+Polaris. "Haste you, king of Ruthar," he said, not unkindly. "They are
+doing sacrifice in Shamar's temple."</p>
+
+<p>Like an arrow from a bow, Polaris shot forward, spurring his horse.
+Oleric galloped after him. Behind them thundered Ixstus, shaking the
+pavement with his tread. Nor, strive as the fleet horses might, could
+they more than barely keep ahead of the amaloc. A race with death had
+begun.</p>
+
+<p>Lest harm befall, the zind Maxtan led a squadron of his mounted
+hillsmen in the wake of the speeding riders. Gray Jastla rode in the
+front rank.</p>
+
+<p>Before Polaris's galloping steed leaped and barked the great dog
+Rombar, who was more fleet of foot than any horse. To keep him out of
+harm's way in the battles, Rombar had been chained in hateful captivity
+for months. When the Mazanion gates were down and the amalocs cleared
+the street, the man who had charge of Rombar slipped his leash and let
+him go.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>They rode madly through the splendid grounds of the temple, where the
+sacred bulls fled bellowing before the approach of Ixstus. At the foot
+of the long stairway, Polaris and Oleric threw themselves from their
+steeds, and, drawing their swords, dashed up the marble steps. But
+Zoar with a word of command, set Ixstus to the ascent, and the amaloc
+distanced the running men.</p>
+
+<p>Scarce two feet of Shamar's black altar separated the head of Rose Emer
+from the fiery danger, and the rock where she lay was almost blistering
+hot, when Ixstus, with a scream of triumph, burst through the ranks of
+the guard at the southern door and strode into the lofty shrine. As the
+beast paused, blinking and stretching out an inquiring trunk in the
+direction of the puzzling shaft of light, two armored men ran around
+his ponderous bulk and leaped onto the altar.</p>
+
+<p>Rhaen would have given the word then to close the dome and stop the
+ray; but the strain of his anxiety had been too much for the aged
+priest. As he opened his mouth to shout, his knees loosened, and he
+fell in a swoon at the base of the orichalcum pillar.</p>
+
+<p>With four strokes of his sword, Polaris severed the golden chains and
+swept the senseless form of Rose from the altar. Oleric the Red did
+the like service for Brooks. Now might the finger of Shamar move on
+unheeded.</p>
+
+<p>Polaris knelt with his love in his arms. As he bent over her, Oleric
+shouted in warning. The son of the snows leaped to his feet in time to
+catch on his sword the blade of Bel-Ar, the king.</p>
+
+<p>Once again Ruthar and Ad, personified in their two rulers, were face to
+face.</p>
+
+<p>From the four doorways came the devoted men of the palace-guard.
+Bel-Ar, who had fallen back a pace, lifted his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"There is that between this man and me which only death may take away,"
+he said. "Let none interfere&mdash;unless the slave is afraid to fight." He
+fixed his burning eyes on Polaris. At that last remark Oleric the Red
+laughed loudly.</p>
+
+<p>Under other circumstances, Janess might have been minded to let Bel-Ar
+go free. Whatever were his faults, the Maeronican king was a brave
+man, one who did not bow down and weep when misfortune overtook him.
+But Polaris had just seen his dear lady chained to the horror of the
+sacrificial stone because of this man, and his fell religion and
+relentless practices against strangers. Minos, Memene, Everson, the
+company of the <i>Minnetonka</i>, the fallen of the hosts of Ruthar and of
+Ad&mdash;for all those deaths Bel-Ar was responsible. Surely his doors were
+haunted by many ghosts!</p>
+
+<p>With no word in answer to the king's taunt, Polaris swung his sword,
+and the fight began. Bel-Ar pressed in with a shower of blows, seeking
+to bear his adversary down by the sheer weight and fury of his attack.
+He was a powerful man, perhaps the strongest warrior in all his broad
+lands, as he had boasted&mdash;but he had met a stronger now.</p>
+
+<p>With the skill in fence that had been taught him by Jastla, the son of
+the snows guarded himself against those lightning blows, letting Bel-Ar
+weary himself until an opening should come&mdash;as his patience had told
+him it always would, no matter how hardy the fighter.</p>
+
+<p>Jastla himself stood by the altar and watched his pupil fight. For
+Maxtan and his cavalry had reached the temple. On one side of the
+altar stood the men of Ruthar and Ixstus. On the other were ranged the
+gleaming bronze lines of Bel-Ar's guard.</p>
+
+<p>Harder and harder the Maeronican pressed the fight. His blade swung
+like a circle of flame. Warily Polaris fended. Came a clash and a
+clang of falling steel, and a cry of dismay from the Rutharians. Under
+the stout bronze of Bel-Ar their champion's sword had snapped short off
+at the hilt.</p>
+
+<p>With a yell of exultation, Bel-Ar sprang in to make an end. And those
+who watched the fray were bound by honor not to interfere. Oleric
+groaned, and Jastla tugged at his white beard and ground his teeth in
+dismay. Then he sent up a roaring shout:</p>
+
+<p>"Well thrown! Oh, well thrown!"</p>
+
+<p>Under the vengeful sweep of the singing blade Polaris had leaped and
+caught the Maeronican around the middle. The blow of the sword fell
+harmless. But Polaris swung Bel-Ar up to his shoulder, aye, and over
+it, and dashed him down on the marble floor.</p>
+
+<p>One of the golden captains of the guard ran to the king's side and
+unhelmed him. Bel-Ar was dead, his back broken by the terrible fall.</p>
+
+<p>"Heard ever a man the like?" roared Jastla. "The strongest warrior in
+Adlaz tossed like a toy and slain by an unarmed man!"</p>
+
+<p>Through the fierce fray Glorian had sat like a statue, unable to stir
+or speak. As the Rutharians shouted in triumph, she roused and cried
+out:</p>
+
+<p>"Look to the priest! Haste! He burns!"</p>
+
+<p>Unnoticed in the stir of the combat, the ray of Shamar had moved on
+down the length of the altar. The priests in the dome had fled their
+posts in terror, and there had been none to stay the mechanism. In
+the path of Shamar's finger lay Rhaen, Shamar's priest, swooned and
+helpless. The ray struck him. Aid was too late.</p>
+
+<p>Rhaen was a horrid sight when he was pulled from the altar. His soul
+had gone&mdash;perhaps to seek the god whom he had served.</p>
+
+<p>On Ixstus's head stood Glorian in her silver armor.</p>
+
+<p>"So ends the religion of Shamar!" she cried. With the battle-ax she
+carried, she bent over and struck the crystal vase and shattered it.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>At the other end of the altar of basalt the great ray beat on the
+pillar of orichalcum, so that the surface of the metal was melted and
+the cruel laws of Ad were effaced. With the laws perished the prophecy.</p>
+
+<p>Water was dashed on the face of Rose Emer, and presently she opened
+her eyes and sat up and realized that she was not dead. Before them
+all, Polaris took her into his arms and kissed her&mdash;for such is the
+privilege of kings. Glorian, watching from Ixstus's back, turned white
+with agony and clenched her slender fingers so that the nails bit into
+her palms.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, be strong, my heart," she whispered to herself. "My soul has said
+it&mdash;<i>my time will come</i>!"</p>
+
+<p>Zenas Wright came soon, and at the altar of Shamar was held a reunion
+where hearts were too full for talking, until Ensign Brooks spoke up
+and Said:</p>
+
+<p>"Lead me to a dinner-table, somebody. First they worked the flesh off
+my bones. Then they tried to roast me along with a bull's head and a
+pretty woman&mdash;but never once did they give me a decent meal."</p>
+
+<p>"You shall have your dinner," said Polaris. "But first there is
+something which I will have done, here and now, if may be." He turned
+to Oleric, while Rose Emer's cheeks, that had been so wan, flamed rosy
+red.</p>
+
+<p>"Has one of these priests here the power to perform a marriage
+ceremony?" Janess asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Surely," replied Oleric. And then the red captain smiled broadly as he
+caught the import of the question. "Hale one of them here, Jastla," he
+said.</p>
+
+<p>Jastla came soon, gripping a sadly scared priest of Shamar by the slack
+of his gown. "Do you, Oleric, who understand more of his jargon than I
+do, listen that he does a good job of it," grumbled the chieftain. "For
+if he doesn't, I'll flay him."</p>
+
+<p>But Glorian was great-hearted, even befitting her title of goddess. She
+now stepped down from the amaloc to the altar.</p>
+
+<p>"In this let Glorian of Ruthar serve you," she said. "I have the power,
+and the knot that I shall tie, though it shall be more gentle than if
+done by this dog of Shamar, yet will it be as binding."</p>
+
+<p>So, after the long years and their perils, Polaris and his Rose-maid
+were wedded, Oleric the Red producing the ring. And when she had
+pronounced the words which made them one, Glorian took Rose in her arms
+and kissed her on the forehead.</p>
+
+<p>"May you be very happy, my sister," she whispered.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Now here the pen that has written this history ceases, to give place to
+that of one of its chief actors, who has a parting word to tell.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>I, Zenas Wright, now in my sixty-seventh year, and being in full
+possession of my health, mind, and faculties (as lawyers write it in
+the wills) having been asked by the writer of the foregoing work to
+make some comment on it, do hereby aver, asseverate, maintain, etc.,
+that it is in the main a faithful account of certain events in which it
+has been my privilege to play a small part. In fact, I cannot well do
+otherwise, seeing that I furnished him the information.</p>
+
+<p>Such changes as I might be tempted to make in the history he has
+written would only vex the writer, and so I'll let it be. They would be
+in the nature of scientific details, anyhow, and I fear would make only
+dry reading for any but brother scientists.</p>
+
+<p>I have told the author that he has made altogether too much of my part
+in the events which he has described. I am not a hero, and never will
+be; but in this description of that brush in the Kimbrian defile&mdash;which
+was altogether a matter of chance&mdash;he has made me almost heroic. I have
+asked him to amend the account; but he will not listen to it, and so I
+suppose that it will have to stand. I hereby disclaim it.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>It is more than six months since the fademe <i>Oaron</i> dropped anchor in
+the Potomac (where its arrival created a fine sensation), and I landed
+once more in Washington. With me came Lieutenant Everson. He did not
+get to Adlaz until some weeks after it had been taken, and he's not the
+man yet that he was before he got that jab from Atlo's spear. But he's
+improving. He had the loss of a cruiser to report; but he brought with
+him a sum in gold and gems, sent by the king of Ruthar and Maeronica,
+sufficient to reimburse the Government for the loss of the ship, and
+with a splendid sum left over to be distributed among the relatives of
+those who went down with her. The king is a man who doesn't do things
+by halves.</p>
+
+<p>Ensign Brooks came with us also. He was pining for a peep up Broadway
+and a whiff of "America's strongest cigarette." I hope that he has had
+enough to eat since he came back.</p>
+
+<p>Through the kindness of Oleric, I was enabled to bring with me a
+splendid pair of mammoth's tusks, which I took great pleasure in adding
+to the collection of the Smithsonian Institution. Some time I hope
+to be the means of bringing to these shores specimens of the <i>Elephas
+primigenius</i> themselves, which the Rutharians call amalocs.</p>
+
+<p>Before this history comes to the eyes of the world&mdash;if it ever does, of
+which I have some doubt&mdash;I shall have gone back to the south. I thought
+that I wanted to end my days in my home in Buffalo and be buried there;
+but I don't. I'm going back to be with my boy. He is making a wise
+ruler there in Adlaz. Perhaps an old man's life will not be altogether
+useless there, where there is so much to be done.</p>
+
+<p>Before I left Adlaz, two small princes were playing in the royal
+palace&mdash;Patrymion, the boy of Minos, who eventually will be king if he
+lives, and another youngster, who must stagger through life under the
+burden of the name of Polaris Zenas Janess. Guess that's pretty good
+for an old rock-splitter&mdash;to have the first-born son of a real king
+named after him. Constituting himself the special guardian of the two
+little chaps is a simple-minded little cockney sailor, whom Polaris
+found in prison, Jack Melton by name. Sunlight has cured him of some of
+his hallucinations, and he no longer hates Rombar.</p>
+
+<p>There is one thing more, which I did not find in the history, and will
+now add here. It concerns that remarkable woman, Glorian of Ruthar.
+One day when we were discussing the power which she and Oleric declare
+they have to prolong their lives (privately, I think it is rank bosh),
+Glorian told me that it was possible for one who knew the secret to
+make use of it to keep another person alive, and without that person
+knowing about it. Now Glorian is living in Adlaz, where she has had
+the temple of Shamar fixed over to suit her. She sees Polaris often.
+I am of the opinion that, if she has any such power&mdash;mind you, I'm
+not admitting she has&mdash;she is using it on Polaris, and is planning
+to outwait Mrs. Janess (Queen Rose, I suppose I should call her) and
+eventually have him for herself. The outcome of this, only time will
+tell, and I shall not live to know it. I have not the means to prolong
+my life&mdash;and would not if I had.</p>
+
+<p>By the way, Zoar of the Amalocs died shortly after the taking of Adlaz.
+The excitement of the war was too much for his heart.</p>
+
+<p>Oh, yes! And Oleric married Bel-Ar's widow, the Queen Raissa; and that
+is all.</p>
+
+<p>Good-by.</p>
+
+<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 67121 ***</div>
+</body>
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook of Polaris and the Goddess Glorian, by
+Charles B. Stilson
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
+of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
+will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
+using this eBook.
+
+Title: Polaris and the Goddess Glorian
+
+Author: Charles B. Stilson
+
+Release Date: January 7, 2022 [eBook #67121]
+
+Language: English
+
+Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed
+             Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POLARIS AND THE GODDESS
+GLORIAN ***
+
+
+
+
+
+                    Polaris and the Goddess Glorian
+
+                         By Charles B. Stilson
+
+            _Copyright 1917 by Popular Publications, Inc._
+
+
+
+
+                             Introduction
+
+
+In the antarctic wilds far below Ross Sea, Polaris Janess (Polaris--of
+the Snows), was born, of a mother he never knew, and grew to manhood's
+years knowing one human face only, that of his father. When that father
+died, the young man set his face to the north, to find the world of
+men, of which his father and his books had told him; and to deliver
+to the National Geographic Society in Washington a packet containing
+scientific data compiled by his explorer sire.
+
+Journeying through the silent wastes with his dog team, the son of the
+snows found Rose Emer, an American heiress, who had strayed from an
+exploring party, and who waited death in the icy wilderness.
+
+Hurled southward again in a breakup of the ice floes where they had
+camped, Polaris and the girl came upon the kingdom of Sardanes--a
+valley girded by volcanic hills which warmed it, and peopled by a lost
+fragment, some two thousand strong, of the ancient Greeks.
+
+The adventures of the man of the snows and the American maid in
+Sardanes; how they escaped thence; how their love bloomed amid
+the eternal snows; and how they won at last to America, where the
+Geographic Society hailed the dead Stephen Janess as the first man to
+set foot on the Southern Pole--all these things have been related.
+
+Zenas Wright, friend of Polaris's father, and a celebrated student
+of volcanic phenomena, told Polaris that the fires which had warmed
+Sardanes for centuries were passing away from the valley, and that all
+life in the ancient kingdom must perish.
+
+Chartering the United States second-class cruiser _Minnetonka_,
+Polaris, Wright, and Captain James Scoland set sail to rescue the
+Sardanians. Scoland, who loved Rose Emer, deserted Janess and Wright in
+the wilderness and went back to America to woo the Rose-maid. But Rose
+Emer refused him, and gray Marcus, Polaris's dog, protected her from
+Scoland's profaning lips and tore the recreant captain so horribly that
+the man went mad, and in his madness revealed his inhuman treachery.
+
+Again the _Minnetonka_ turned her nose to the mysterious South, and
+Rose Emer went down the bitter seas to find her sweetheart.
+
+Meanwhile Polaris and old Zenas Wright found Sardanes a waste of snows,
+its volcanic girdle cold and dead, its people, led by the mad priest
+of Analos, gone to their doom through the fiery "Gateway" of their
+god Hephaistos. Only Minos, the kind, and his bride, the Lady Memene,
+remained alive, hidden in a cave in the hills. Those four, Polaris,
+Wright, and the two Sardanians, were picked up by the _Minnetonka_ near
+the Antarctic Circle as they were making their perilous way northward
+in a small launch which they had found in the wreck of Captain
+Scoland's supply ship.
+
+In the story which follows will be related the tale which was brought
+back to America by old Zenas Wright--what befell Polaris and his
+companions after the _Minnetonka_ turned northward--homeward.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER I
+
+                          THE GOLDEN STRANGER
+
+
+On the bridge of the cruiser _Minnetonka_ stood Minos, the Sardanian
+king, staring southward in the wake of the ship, southward where his
+lost, dead kingdom lay buried under the soft, cruel snows beyond the
+unchartered antarctic seas. Ahead of the ship, full of promise, full
+of hope, was America. For the _Minnetonka_ had rounded the Horn that
+morning and was on her long straight course for the port of home.
+
+Below him, in her cabin, was the girl bride of Minos, the Lady Memene,
+so strangely won and saved from the crowning horror of his kingdom's
+fall. It was mid-forenoon of a cloudless day. Gay voices echoed along
+the decks of the cruiser. Gladness was in the very air the voyagers
+breathed--the gladness of the homeward-bound.
+
+But the mien of the king was somber. There was a shadow on his brow
+and deeper shadows in his dark eyes gazing so steadily into the south.
+Bright as were his prospects, memory still whispered sadly to him of
+the only spot on earth which had been home to him. He could not forget.
+
+Far away on the dancing, sparkling waters something caught the eye of
+the king, a something which flashed and disappeared and flashed again,
+as the wave on which it rode dipped and arose among its fellows. Minos
+watched it curiously.
+
+Leaning against the rail beside the king, so close that their elbows
+almost touched, was Lieutenant Irwin Everson, commander of the
+_Minnetonka_, trim in his naval blue. Minos touched his shoulder and
+said:
+
+"Yonder--something shines on the water."
+
+Everson followed with his eyes the course indicated by the pointing
+finger of the king. Again the distant object flashed in the sunlight,
+far away on the starboard quarter. "Might be ice; but I've seen enough
+of that lately to know that it isn't," muttered Everson as he, too,
+caught the flash, "and no wave ever shone like that."
+
+Stepping into the pilothouse, the lieutenant returned with his glasses.
+Their lenses revealed to his eyes a glittering patch from which the
+rays of the sun were reflected as it rose and fell with the waves. But
+even the powerful binoculars were inadequate to distinguish the form
+and substance of the thing.
+
+"I can't make it out," Everson said as he lowered the glasses. "But
+here comes the keenest pair of eyes on the ship." He leaned from the
+bridge and called down to a tall man who was crossing the deck below.
+
+"Oh, Mr. Janess! Can you spare us a moment? We need your eyesight."
+
+Polaris turned a smiling face in response to the call. He, too, was
+glad of the home-going; no man on the ship more so. In a moment he
+joined the king and the lieutenant on the bridge.
+
+Though he was not so tall by the breadth of a hand as the Sardanian,
+who was indeed a giant, the tawny head of the son of the snows was
+inches above that of the young naval man. As they stood one on either
+side of him, Everson involuntarily stepped back a pace. He felt puny
+and absurd, and he was by no means a small man.
+
+For the half of a minute, Janess gazed through the glasses, altering
+their focus slightly. He lowered them suddenly and swung on his heel to
+face Everson.
+
+"Put the ship--" He stopped and his face flushed. "I beg pardon," he
+continued. "It is not mine to give orders, but yonder a man floats. He
+lies face downward across a piece of wreckage."
+
+Lieutenant Everson hurried into the pilot house, and down to old
+MacKechnie among his boilers was flashed the signal which swung the
+gray cruiser off her course in a long arc to the southward.
+
+"A man, you say?" the commander queried as he rejoined Polaris and the
+king. "But what is it that glitters so?"
+
+Polaris, with the glasses at his eyes again, did not at once reply.
+When he did, the answer was surprising.
+
+"It is the man that glitters. If he be not of metal himself, then is he
+clothed in it from head to toe, and it glimmers--" He turned to Minos
+and lapsed into the Greek of Sardanes. "It glimmers, Minos, as did that
+suit of armor which thou didst leave behind thee in the cave on the
+Mount of Latmos," he said.
+
+The king stirred to quick interest. The eyes of the naval lieutenant
+widened with amazement as Polaris repeated his remark in English.
+
+"A man clothed in metal! In armor!" he exclaimed. "And floating here
+in the South Atlantic! What can that mean? Poor chap; whoever he is,
+he will never tell us. He must have been dead for days. But it's well
+worth the investigation."
+
+Impatiently the three men stood at the rail of the bridge as the ship
+swung on.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At an eighteen-knot clip, the _Minnetonka_ cut swiftly through the
+waves, nearer and nearer to the flashing burden of the waves. Soon
+other eyes not so keen as those of Polaris could descry the strange
+objective of the ship. Forward along the rail, sailors clustered,
+shouting their surprise, and staring at the unusual spectacle of the
+glittering man afloat.
+
+Presently, with a deep thrumming of her valves, the _Minnetonka_ slowed
+down. With a word to Everson, Polaris left the bridge and hastened
+across the deck. As a boat was swung over the side in the davits, he
+sprang into it with the sailors. Less than two-score strokes of the
+oars took the boat alongside the floating mystery.
+
+Then, indeed, had the sailors cause to stare with open mouths.
+
+On a crisscross tangle of slender beams, oddly twisted and broken, lay
+the body of a man. So small was the raft of wreckage which supported
+him that his head and feet projected at each side, and as the waves
+tossed his unstable craft, first his face and then his heels were
+dipped beneath the water. Very wide of shoulder was the stranger and
+powerfully framed, if the outlines of the garb he wore did not belie
+him.
+
+From crown to sole he was dressed in jointed armor, cunningly fashioned
+and decorated, and the whole of which gleamed in the sunlight as only
+burnished copper or red gold can gleam. His hands only were bare;
+smooth, strong hands, clenched fast about two of the broken beams
+beneath him.
+
+But it was none of those things, and they were strange enough, that
+caused the coxswain to cry out hoarsely as the boat wore alongside, or
+that caused Polaris Janess, bent over with outstretched hands, to draw
+them back from the floating stranger, while his lips parted and his
+breath came hard.
+
+"He's alive! By the grace of God, he's alive!" cried the coxswain.
+
+Face downward the stranger lay, as Polaris had said, loose-flung and
+inert, and sprawled as though some force had pitched him there. But
+though his head was more often under the water than above it, his broad
+shoulders heaved and fell regularly. He was alive.
+
+The supreme wonder of it, and that which awed Polaris and the sailors,
+was that _the man breathed when his head was under water_!
+
+When a wave tilted the raft so that his face was raised, his breath was
+expelled with a wheezing, whistling sound. When he was submerged, a
+stream of small bubbles arose about his neck and clung to the surface
+of his metal helmet.
+
+For a long moment Polaris stood and looked down at this amazing thing.
+Then he reached out and very gently took the stranger by the shoulders
+to turn his face to the sky. So tight was the clutch of those strong
+bare hands about the two beams of the raft which they held that the
+entire structure tipped when the son of the snows laid hold. In vain he
+tried to loosen that grasp. It was not to be done without breaking the
+man's fingers. To make an end of it, Janess took an axe from the hands
+of the coxswain and cut through the beams.
+
+Still gripping the wooden fragments, the man turned over on his back.
+
+Then the mystery of the stranger's breathing was partially made clear.
+Under the flare of the helmet he wore his brow was hidden. His eyes
+were fast closed. Fitting tightly over the bridge of his nose and
+extending down so that it covered his mouth and part of his chin, was
+a projecting masklike contrivance of metal and leather. Its straps
+covered the man's ears and were made fast somewhere at the back of his
+head under the helmet. So tightly was the mask affixed that its straps
+cut into the flesh of the man's cheeks. It much resembled the masks
+worn by the soldiers in modern warfare to protect themselves from the
+gas attacks of their enemy.
+
+Through its mechanism the breath of its wearer hissed and whistled like
+escaping steam.
+
+Alive though the man was, and under circumstances which made his
+discoverers marvel, he was near death. Above and below the confines of
+the mask he wore, the bones of his face seemed almost thrusting through
+the flesh. The flesh itself was wasted and puckered by the action of
+the sea water, and the skin was cracked and raw. His hands, which clung
+so tenaciously to the bits of broken wood, were bleeding about the
+nails, and his wrists were gashed and water-eaten.
+
+"Now, here is work for Dr. Marsey," Polaris said. He gathered the limp
+form of the stranger into his arms and lifted him into the boat.
+
+At the rail of the _Minnetonka_ as the boat was shipped, a curious
+crowd met the advent of the man from the sea. Carrying him as lightly
+as though he had been a child, Polaris laid the man on the deck. The
+ship's doctor pushed through the wondering sailors and bent over him.
+
+"Not dead?" he exclaimed when he saw the stranger's face. "A most
+amazing thing!"
+
+"What resurrection from antiquity have we here?" said old Zenas Wright,
+falling on his knees beside Polaris, who was supporting the man's
+head. "No museum I ever saw boasted a suit of armor like this one."
+The scientist ran a finger over the delicate tracery on the glittering
+corselet of the stranger.
+
+Polaris sought and found the catch which released the chin strap and
+laid the open helmet on the deck. Another chorus of exclamations
+greeted the appearance of the stranger's head. It was covered with a
+mass of wavy red hair, so red that it shone like flames in the sunlight.
+
+Rumors of the wonder on deck had drawn the grizzled MacKechnie up from
+his beloved engines.
+
+"Mark me, yon laddie's a Scot--if he isna' of the wild Irish," was his
+dry comment when he saw the fiery head on the deck.
+
+Undoing its buckle, Janess next laid aside the odd mask from the face
+of the stranger. Except that he had a high, bold nose and a mouth that
+closed in a thin, firm line, little could be made of the features of
+the man, they were so damaged by his long immersion in the sea and
+impressed by the tightly drawn trappings of the mask. But he apparently
+was a young man, of not more than thirty years.
+
+In vain Dr. Marsey endeavored to force the man's clenched teeth apart
+so that he might apply the neck of the brandy flask which a steward had
+fetched. The jaw of the stranger was set like a rock and resisted all
+effort, and the doctor was compelled to pour the liquor between the
+locked teeth.
+
+"If that doesna' fetch him, nothing whatever will," said MacKechnie,
+the nostrils of his ruddy old nose twitching.
+
+"Ah, he's getting it!" said Zenas Wright. With the first trickle of
+the brandy down his throat, the unconscious man stirred faintly. His
+mouth opened and closed again with a snap, and his hands unclenched and
+let fall the bits of beams they had held so long. He coughed weakly. A
+faint tinge of color flowed into his face. His eyelids twitched, but
+did not open.
+
+Dr. Marsey touched the man's temples and then his wrists with practised
+fingers.
+
+"I think that we shall hear his story yet," he said. "What he needs
+now is a bed and nourishment. Bring him below."
+
+Polaris looked into the battered face and was strangely stirred. The
+grim plight of the man he had rescued, the mystery of him, the strength
+of the spirit that seemed to dominate even that unconscious body; all
+struck an answering chord in the nature of the son of the snows. For
+he, too, had suffered and endured, almost to the gates of death, and
+had remained steadfast. Was it a premonition that made him feel so
+strongly that this man, should he live, would be his friend above many?
+
+When the sailors would have taken up the stranger, Polaris waved them
+aside, and himself carried the inert body below, the blazing head
+resting on his shoulder.
+
+MacKechnie gazed after him thoughtfully as he strode across the deck.
+
+"Beware, laddie lad, beware!" the Scotchman muttered softly. "'Tis only
+ill luck he'll be bringin' to ye, yon gowden mon. For ye hae saved him
+from the sea."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Shivering throughout the length of her steel hull, the _Minnetonka_
+drove southward. A shrieking wilderness of wind and wave surrounded the
+ship. Reft from all guidance, she sheared through the furious waters
+with no more of volition than some monster projectile launched by the
+battling elements. Twice had the stout cruiser come free of scathe from
+the white portals of the Antarctic. Now she seemed winged by death to
+enter them once more and forever. In the grip of the tempest the ship
+was no more than a toy--a helpless, beaten thing.
+
+Calamity, like a black dog, had crept hard upon the heels of the
+bizarre stranger. He had not been on the cruiser for six hours when a
+storm burst, the like of which for violence no man on board the ship
+ever had seen.
+
+In an attempt to breast the gale and make for some port of safety,
+one of the propeller shafts--weakened perhaps by the pounding of the
+ice-drift months before--had snapped short off. Unequal to the double
+task, its twin had sprung beyond all use. Thereafter the scant mercy of
+chance ruled the destinies of the ship and of all she bore.
+
+Nor was the damage to the shafting all that disaster had wrought. In
+her great peril the ship was stricken dumb and could not summon aid.
+Her wireless was out of commission. She could send no call across the
+face of the waters to sister ships, bidding them to hasten to her
+succor.
+
+MacKechnie's dismal prophecy was likely to be visited, not on Polaris
+Janess alone, but upon the entire ship's company.
+
+In the pilothouse, with the gale screeching outside his windows,
+Lieutenant Everson bent above his charts; but he was helpless and
+well-nigh hopeless. Down in the engine room, its busy clamor stilled,
+MacKechnie sat and stared bitterly at the mechanism which he so loved.
+It was useless now, its splendid powers crippled, its fires dying away
+to embers. If the inward prayers of the engineer were fervent, the
+flow of Scotch profanity which passed his lips at whiles was far more
+eloquent. He, too, was helpless. He cursed the day when he had decided
+with Everson to round the Horn and take the eastern route. They had
+learned at Dunedin, in New Zealand, that the Panama Canal was closed by
+another Culebra slide, and they had thought that this was the quicker
+way to the port of home.
+
+Better the delay than this!
+
+On all the ship two hearts only were unshaken by the catastrophe. One
+was that of the stranger.
+
+Freed of his armor, his body cleared and his scarred face and arms in
+bandages, he lay tossing in a bunk in one of the cabins. Dr. Marsey was
+unremitting in his care of the patient whom the sea had given him. Hot
+gruel and small doses of brandy, administered alternately, had turned
+the ebbing tide of the man's vitality. He was gathering strength. But
+his consciousness still strayed beyond the powers of any tempest to
+disturb it.
+
+Another who thought nothing of the gale and its accompanying terrors
+was Zenas Wright.
+
+Coupled with his keen and scientific mind, there was in the old
+geologist the enthusiasm of a boy, and an overmastering curiosity to
+learn new things. Many and wild had been the guesses which had followed
+the finding of the red-haired stranger. That he had been shipwrecked
+was plain enough to all. But who and what was he?
+
+Some star out of _opéra-bouffe_, said one, out of a job and reduced to
+the necessity of wearing one of his own costumes. A lunatic, another
+said, and found more to agree with him. But whence the armor and the
+mask?
+
+Let guessers guess and tempests roar, said Zenas Wright to himself. He
+was on the trail of knowledge. So he slipped into the cabin where the
+stranger lay. He stood at the head of the bunk and looked down where
+the red hair of the derelict flared on the pillow. The impressions left
+by the straps of his mask had filled out, and the lineaments of the man
+were more distinguishable than they had been. It was an agreeable face,
+thought Zenas Wright; all of it that the bandages did not hide. There
+were distinct lines of humor at the corners of the straight mouth and
+tiny wrinkles at the base of the craggy nose--lines which said that the
+wearer of them was a hearty fellow, who ofttimes had laughed long and
+merrily at jokes, whether of his own or another's making.
+
+"But," thought Zenas to himself, "Marsey's been giving the fellow
+altogether too much brandy, or else he is in a rare fever." The
+geologist laid the back of his hand to the man's cheek. He found
+it cool. But it was ruddy to the ears, with the ruddiness that is
+associated with an intimate camaraderie with the wine cups.
+
+At the touch of the old man's fingers, the stranger ceased his tossing.
+His eyes opened. One flash from them Zenas Wright caught, and he saw
+that they were sea-blue, bright and leaping eyes. Then their lids
+closed. The man shook his head wearily, and from his lips trembled what
+might have been a moan or a muttered word. The scientist bent hastily
+to listen, but the man made no further sound. As the old man watched
+him, his form relaxed and he lay apparently in a dreamless, voiceless
+slumber.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+From the floor, Wright took up the shining helmet, and from a stand
+the queerly fashioned mask. He was about to leave the cabin when
+his attention was arrested by the garb which the stranger had worn
+underneath his armor and which was flung across the back of a chair.
+One garment it was, even to the feet of it, like the sleeping suit of a
+child. It was of a soft, fine fabric, almost of the thinness of gauze,
+yet firmly and closely woven and warm to the feel. But it was neither
+of cotton nor of wool, nor yet of silk, or any other material with
+which the scientist was familiar.
+
+He shook his head over it; and then, with the mask and helmet, he left
+the cabin.
+
+Straight to the deserted ship's laboratory the geologist went, and shut
+himself in. And there, some time afterward, Polaris, threading his way
+through the swaying corridors with Rose Emer clinging to his arm, found
+him.
+
+So busy with his work was old Zenas that he did not see or hear the
+entrance of Janess and the girl. For a time they stood in silence and
+watched him. They saw him spill drops from a vial on the surface of
+the helmet. Then he went at it with a small drill which he had fetched
+from the machine shop. That was a bit of hard work, for he puffed and
+mopped his brow. He collected with care the particles which fell under
+the bite of the drill. Those he tested with drops from another bottle,
+and then again, opening and discarding a number of chemicals. At length
+he got a reaction which appeared to satisfy him, for he chirruped
+gleefully and nodded his white old head.
+
+Next Wright donned the mask and fastened its straps. Polaris and Rose
+heard the whistling of his breath through it. He then drew a bucket of
+water from a tap, set it on one of the laboratory stands, ascended a
+stool, and suddenly plunged his head into the pail.
+
+Zenas had not stopped to figure out the displacement of the container
+of a well-developed scientific brain. It was considerable. Much of
+the water splashed out on the floor, and not a little of it went down
+inside the scientist's collar. Nothing daunted by the cold trickle of
+the inundation, he bravely kept his head in the bucket, from which
+arose at once a prodigious gurgling and bubbling.
+
+The old man's shoulders shook as though a fit of coughing had seized
+him. One minute, two, three, passed. Zenas stood so still that Polaris
+became alarmed. He stepped to the geologist's side and shook him by the
+arm. The only response he got was an impatient gesture of a hand, which
+seemed to say, "Go away and don't bother me."
+
+Presently Wright raised his head from the depths of the bucket, and
+ludicrous enough he looked, with the odd snout of the mask projecting
+from his face, his white thatch of hair all plastered flat and the
+water running from his beard and making a mess of his cravat and shirt
+front. But above the mask his little dark eyes were triumphant. When he
+saw Polaris at his side, he could scarcely wait to unfasten the mask.
+
+"There," he shouted, and he shook the thing above his head, "there is
+one of the greatest inventions of modern times. I don't know what is in
+the inside of it, or just what it does, but I'll find out. If that chap
+yonder is the inventor of it, he can take it to the United States, take
+out a patent on it and make a scandalous amount of dollars, and we can
+all become human submarines. How long was I down?"
+
+"About five minutes, Daddy Wright," said the girl, who had taken a
+strong liking to the plucky old geologist and his bluff ways.
+
+"Five minutes!" Wright's tones were awestruck. "And I took every breath
+regularly and naturally, except when I had to sneeze! And it was real
+oxygen I got, too. Not a drop of water came through this thing, and it
+was very good breathing. Well, I've made two discoveries."
+
+"And those are?" Polaris questioned.
+
+"That our friend yonder with the red topknot can live under the water
+like a fish, _and that he wears armor of gold which makes a light in
+the dark_. Look here."
+
+Wright took up the open helmet. Stepping to the switch, he shut off the
+lights in the laboratory.
+
+Faintly at first, and then strongly and more strongly, the helmet
+glowed in the darkness. The light grew, until the two men and the girl,
+standing close together, could dimly see each other's faces.
+
+It was uncanny, this strange metal headpiece with its fan-shaped crest,
+all luminous with a flickering and phosphorescent radiance.
+
+"What does it?" Rose Emer whispered, the tempest for the time forgotten.
+
+Zenas Wright turned on the lights.
+
+"I cannot tell," he replied. "But if it's not radium, it is something
+that is closely akin to radium. The outer surface of the helmet is of
+gold. I've tested it with acids. The gold is laid--not plated, but laid
+on thickly--over an inner shell of steel. And finely tempered steel it
+is, too, as my drill will bear me witness. But the light comes from
+still another metal, which is inlaid upon the tracery in the gold here."
+
+He turned the helmet in his hands. Over all of its surfaces were the
+fine lines of a design of twining vinery, with here and there small,
+conventionally shaped flowers. In the lines of the chasing was inlaid,
+as Wright had said, another metal. It seemed to be a reddish and rusty
+dust, which clung in the surface of the gold along all of the lines of
+the graven design. It was that which made the light.
+
+"That chap over there is no actor, and he's not a crazy man," said the
+geologist earnestly; "but an enigma that I'm going to solve, if the
+good Lord will give me the time. We had on this ship before he came two
+survivors of a history to make an archeologist weep tears of joy. Now
+we have a third, and, to my mind, more wonderful even than are they!
+
+"Boy--" He turned and clapped Polaris on the shoulder. "I only hope
+that I shall live long enough to pen the 'finis' to the book that I'm
+going to write some day!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+For seven days, fraught with perils through every passing hour, the
+hurricane belabored the staggering ship. South by southeast, the storm
+drove her on. The whip of the gale and the shock of the mighty waves
+which arose to meet its lash were incessant.
+
+Past the Falklands, their rocky headlands dimly seen through the flying
+scud; past the Aurora Island group, and on past lonely Georgia, the
+hard-pressed _Minnetonka_ fled down the raging sea path under the goads
+of the storm demons. Nowhere might she tarry. Candlemas Island and
+Saunders and Montague in turn were left behind, and then Thule, last
+link between the South Atlantic and the frigid wastes of the Antarctic
+Sea.
+
+Off the adamant cliffs of far Thule the cruiser nearly left her bones.
+She struck a hidden rock, struck so fiercely that the massive steel ram
+was torn from her prow, and with it the triple rails, with which she
+had been equipped to withstand the ice-shocks, in her antarctic voyage,
+were stripped from her entire starboard side.
+
+When Thule had disappeared in the murk, the swing of the tempest
+turned, and the cruiser was forced eastward in a whirling race of
+current and gale. Like a smitten thing that seeks a lonesome spot in
+which to die, the ship passed on into the mysteries of the uncharted,
+treacherous seas which lie east by south from Thule.
+
+Helpless still the cruiser rode. Unable to make repairs to her
+shafting, Lieutenant Everson did the only thing that he could do; he
+kept her head-on with the seas and let her run before the tempest.
+
+Through all those days and nights of peril the stranger lay in his
+cabin. His consciousness had returned, and at times he sat up and gazed
+curiously at those who visited him; but he seemed to be in a mental
+haze. He ate heartily of what was given to him, and his strength grew.
+He spoke to no one.
+
+Among the men on the _Minnetonka_ were those who, one or another, were
+conversant in nearly all of the languages of the civilized world. One
+by one they were called in by Zenas Wright to try their tongues on the
+stranger. He met them all with blank looks, sometimes with smiles; but
+he answered none. He seemed to comprehend none.
+
+Polaris visited the cabin often. His liking for the man grew. He
+imagined that the stranger was more cordial to him than to any of
+those who attended him. Once or twice the son of the snows surprised a
+wistful regard in the bright blue eyes of the man, an expression that
+was lost almost as soon as perceived. And once the stranger reached
+Janess's hand and held it with his own for a moment, turning it and
+feeling of its wonderful thews with his fingers. It was then that he
+seemed the nearest to speech. Presently he let the hand fall with a
+smile and a flash of white teeth.
+
+It was after that last disaster, off the hard coasts of Thule, that
+Engineer Ian MacKechnie went quite daft.
+
+What had come upon the ship had seemed to numb the Scotchman. By day
+and by night he sat in his silent engine room beside the lifeless
+boilers, his cold pipe clenched between his set teeth, his lips
+working. Occasionally he stumped heavily up the steel stairways to the
+decks. His stays above were brief always, and always he returned to the
+engine room. When he slept at all, it was only to nod in his chair.
+Before his bloodshot eyes strange fantasies played themselves through,
+and were sequeled in his fitful dreams. Always, they had the same
+grisly climax.
+
+In one of the night watches the old man appeared on the cruiser's
+bridge. Everson, almost as sleepless as the engineer, was in the
+pilothouse. The fury of the gale had subsided somewhat; but it still
+roared on with a vigor that chilled the strong heart of the commander.
+He saw the engineer as he came onto the bridge, and went out to speak
+to him.
+
+"Meester Everson," MacKechnie said, raising his voice to a shout to
+cope with the shrieking clamor of the storm, "Meester Everson, wull ye
+do a strange act and save the bonnie ship and a'?"
+
+"Why, what is it, Mac? What do you advise now?" the lieutenant asked.
+
+"'Tis you mon that the laddie plucked from the sea," replied
+MacKechnie. "Wull ye no gi' orders to cast him o'er the side again, and
+save the ship?"
+
+Everson answered with a short laugh. "This is a poor time for joking,
+Mac," he said.
+
+"'Tisna' jokin' wi' me, Meester Everson," MacKechnie said. His tones
+were deadly earnest. "Yon's no' a proper mon, whatever. He's one that
+has sorely angered the big sea, and the deep rages mightily for him. If
+ye dinna gi' him up, we'll all be ganging our way wi' him, down to auld
+Davy Jones." His voice rose shrilly. "I'm fey," he cried. "I'm fey, and
+I hae the secon' seeght! Heed me, mon!"
+
+Everson shifted his position so that he got the light from the
+pilothouse full on MacKechnie's face. It was drawn and wild-eyed.
+
+"You're a superstitious fool, Mac," the lieutenant said. "You had
+better go below and turn in. You look as though you had not had a wink
+in a week."
+
+"Supersteetious! Aye, mon, maybe, and a fu' to bootie," rejoined the
+Scot. "And I've been havin' no sleep, I grant ye. Ma certes, how can a
+mon sleep wi' _him_ glarin' and glommerin' yonder i' the engine room?
+Heave him o'er the side, I'm tullin' ye, Meester Everson, as was done
+wi' the prophet Jonah. 'Tis the only way whatever to save the ship.
+
+"Supersteetious! An' are ye no supersteetious yer ain sel', Meester
+Everson? Haven't I seen that ye always throw the deuces fra' yer hand
+when ye play for siller at poker? I tull ye, yon's a deuce-mon. He
+mustna' remain. Think it o'er, laddie; think it o'er. When ye hae seen
+what I hae seen--"
+
+He turned away, and the rest of his words were lost in the skirl of the
+wind. Suddenly he backed up, clutching at the bridge rail and colliding
+violently with Everson.
+
+"See! See!" he screamed. "He's comin' for me the noo! I lockit him fast
+i' the great kist i' the boiler room; but such as him are na' held by
+bolts or bars. He's comin' for me!"
+
+Moaning in abject terror, MacKechnie went down on his knees. He pointed
+at the decks below with a trembling arm.
+
+Everson looked in the direction indicated by the shaking finger of the
+Scot.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A light hung at the foot of the bridge ladder. In the patch of radiance
+it made, stood the stranger. He was dressed from head to foot in his
+golden armor. His helm was on his head, and the whole flashed and
+shimmered in the rays from the lamp.
+
+As Everson stared at him, the man turned away from the foot of the
+ladder and walked to the rail of the ship. There he stood gazing out
+into the darkness and the storm.
+
+Unnerved by the sudden appearance of the object of their discussion,
+Everson hesitated for a moment. Then he started for the ladder to
+descend to the deck. MacKechnie, his teeth chattering with fright, laid
+hold of the lieutenant by the leg, but Everson shook off his grasp and
+went on. As the commander set foot on the ladder, the stranger quit the
+rail and came back toward the bridge.
+
+Everson, half-way down the ladder, called sharply as the man came
+opposite him. But the stranger did not pause or look up. He passed
+the bridge with steady steps and crossed the deck toward the main
+companionway. The lieutenant was about to proceed to the deck and
+follow, when a wild and wailing cry behind him, piercing above the
+booming of the seas, halted his step. He turned.
+
+It was MacKechnie who had screamed. He was on his feet and coming along
+the bridge. In the set face of the Scot was a look of such frozen
+horror that it shook the lieutenant. With eyes glaring straight ahead,
+the engineer passed Everson by as though he did not see him, descended
+the ladder to the deck, and walked to the rail. He paused where the
+stranger had stood only a moment before. He raised his hand as if to
+strike at some shape visible to him alone. Again he cried out wildly.
+
+Before Everson could move to stay him, the Scot climbed the rail and
+threw himself into the sea.
+
+Shouting to the men of the watch to fetch lanterns, Everson ran aft
+along the side. It was useless. The crazed MacKechnie, whirled away in
+a raging swirl of waters in which no man could live, was gone beyond
+their ken. No cry came back to his fellows from the blackness. Only the
+wind roared and the tortured waters thundered. In the plight of the
+ship it was impossible even to attempt to pick up the lost man.
+
+Far aft Everson clung to the rail, dazed, stunned at the suddenness of
+his old comrade's taking off. Knowing that he could do nothing to save
+the mad Scotchman, the lieutenant at length turned back and went below,
+to the cabin of the stranger. He threw open the door. The cabin was
+dark, except where the curious armor shed its glow along the floor. For
+that phenomenon Everson was prepared. Zenas Wright had told him of the
+luminous metal. What did surprise the lieutenant was that the armor lay
+on the floor. And so recently he had seen it on the cruiser's deck, and
+its owner inside of it. To that he could swear. He turned on a light.
+
+The stranger lay quietly in his bunk, apparently in slumber, his broad
+chest rising and falling regularly. Not the flicker of an eyelid
+betrayed that he was conscious of the keen scrutiny which the commander
+bent upon him. Almost then did Everson give way to the superstitious
+imaginings of MacKechnie. Then his searching eyes saw the gleam of
+drops of sea water which beaded the golden corselet and helm. He drew
+a long breath of relief; for he knew that he had not dreamed. Pursuing
+his investigations no further, the lieutenant returned to his vigil on
+the bridge.
+
+Next day, to the gratification of Dr. Marsey and to the general
+surprise of the others on the ship, the stranger left his cabin.
+Clothing had been provided for him, but he would have none of it and
+appeared on the deck clad in his armor. He proved to be an exceedingly
+curious man, the stranger. He went everywhere about the ship,
+apparently in fear of nothing, although the gale still ran high. He
+watched all of the operations of seamanship with the closest interest,
+but was careful to get in the way of no one.
+
+His ruddy face and flaming hair, with the outer trappings which he
+wore, made the man the object of much comment on the part of the
+sailors of the _Minnetonka_; comment which was not untinged with
+awe. All of that he heeded not at all. In the full possession of his
+faculties, he still was speechless. What communication anyone on the
+ship had with him was by means of signs, and that necessarily was
+limited. He took his meals with those who shared the officers' mess.
+Although it evidently was unfamiliar to him, he was quick to observe
+and to imitate the table etiquette of his companions.
+
+Only Everson was not surprised at his appearance. The lieutenant kept
+his counsel and waited.
+
+Word of the mad act of MacKechnie went abroad through the ship, spread
+by the men of the watch. Among the sailors, superstitious after the
+manner of their kind, grew a hostility to the strange man, an enmity
+that became more and more pronounced as the hours brought to the
+cruiser no relief from the battering of the elements. So strong did the
+feeling grow that Lieutenant Everson feared for the safety of the man,
+and told Polaris of it. Thereafter the son of the snows constituted
+himself a bodyguard for the stranger in his wanderings about the ship,
+and remained with him as much as possible. Zenas Wright, too, watched
+over his prize with the jealous zeal of a proper scientist.
+
+Not for worlds would the explorer allow this living conundrum to come
+to harm until he had solved him. The old man continually plied the
+stranger with English words, pointing out to him their equivalents and
+seeking to encourage speech. For, unless the man might be taught to
+talk, Zenas felt that his chances of learning more of him were slim
+indeed.
+
+To all of those advances the man answered with smiles only. He was very
+courteous, extremely good-natured, but beyond the ring of silence which
+he had drawn about himself, he would not or could not go.
+
+Everson was little surprised, although he was mightily angered, when,
+on the third day following the death of MacKechnie, he was waited upon
+by a delegation of his sailors with a demand that the stranger be sent
+from the ship. They did not ask his death--merely that he be set adrift
+in one of the cruiser's small boats. A sea was running in which such a
+craft could not survive for two minutes.
+
+Shamefacedly, but sullenly, the men listened to the stern rebuke of
+their commander. When they had left him reluctantly--and their ears
+must have tingled to his opinions of their superstitions--Everson
+redoubled his precautions for the safety of the stranger. The
+lieutenant was morally certain that at the first opportunity that
+should offer, an "accident" would befall the man from the sea.
+
+Abruptly as it had struck, the storm of wind subsided. It was succeeded
+by a torrential downpour of rain. The cruiser was left tossing on a
+choppy sea. Dead ahead to the south was land--what land, no one on
+the ship could say. A scant five miles away it loomed up before them
+through the mists and the driving rain, a long and towering coastline,
+the peaks of its frowning cliffs almost touching the low-rolling clouds.
+
+In this, the first respite from many hours of perils, Lieutenant
+Everson at once set about the task of repairing his crippled ship.
+
+Then the crown was placed upon the work of calamity.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Lashed no longer by the flail of the tempest, the _Minnetonka_ was laid
+to. Hope returned to those who rode upon her. Those who gathered on her
+decks were almost gay again.
+
+For the first time in many days the two Sardanians came up from their
+cabin. The Lady Memene had proved a poor sailor, and in her deathly
+illness that came of the buffeting of the ship, Minos never had left
+her side, but had nursed her with all the tenderness of a woman. The
+king remembered well a time, not long before, when he had lain near
+death, and her soft hands had soothed him, and her care had kept the
+spark of life within him.
+
+It was nearly noon. Chatting of their experiences in the storm, and
+laughing at their appearance in the oilskins which they wore against
+the rain, a little group gathered on the forward deck of the cruiser.
+Almost it seemed that the hand of fate collected and placed them there.
+Polaris Janess and Rose Emer, the Sardanians, old Zenas Wright, and
+Ensign Willis Brooks, a happy-go-lucky youth of large dimensions and an
+inexhaustible supply of good spirits, who was the second in command on
+the _Minnetonka_, made up the party.
+
+Presently Lieutenant Everson, his repair work well under way, came
+up from below and joined the others. Dr. Marsey might have been with
+them also, but the kindly physician delayed below to attend one of
+the engineers who lay ill of a fever. Before he had finished his
+ministrations, the stroke fell which was so strangely to alter the life
+course of every one of that party, and the good doctor was too late to
+be numbered among them.
+
+Almost on the heels of Everson the red-haired stranger ascended the
+companionway. With his armor on as usual, but dangling his helmet and
+his mask from his hand, he clanked across the deck, all unheedful of
+the anathemas that the sailors mouthed as he stalked past them.
+
+From the port in his cabin he, too, had seen the new land that lay
+ahead. He strode by the group on the forward deck, but his eyes were
+not for them. Ever watchful, Zenas Wright noted that the mien of the
+stranger was curiously excited. His blue eyes gleamed. His lips were
+parted. Something seemed deeply to concern him. He stood at the rail
+and studied the looming coastline long and searchingly. In his face was
+the rapt expression of the man who greets again a well-loved friend
+after an absence of many days. From the shore he turned his eyes to the
+sea and scrutinized it keenly.
+
+Zenas Wright, watching, started. What was the man about? Was he
+signaling? And whom? The explorer took a hasty step toward the rail to
+investigate.
+
+Beneath his feet he felt the deck of the cruiser heave like the breast
+of an unquiet sleeper. A terrific roar burst from the bowels of the
+ship, and she quivered in every plate of steel and oaken beam.
+
+"The magazine!" cried Everson. The commander dashed for the
+companionway, but he never reached it.
+
+Amidships the decks heaved up and opened in a yawning wound that rent
+the cruiser almost from rail to rail. Through the gap shot skyward an
+immense column of smoke, laced with spurts of flame, and spread fanwise
+many feet in the air. With it there ascended a mass of débris torn from
+the vitals of the ship. For yards around the waves splashed to the fall
+of the splintered wreckage. The swaying decks were littered with it.
+And some of the fragments were of steel and iron that clanged as they
+fell, and others were horrible shreds of men, and made no clangor.
+
+Paralyzed in his tracks, his eyes distended, his very flesh stirring
+from his bones at the horror of it, Everson faced the wraith of ruin
+that arose in his path. A new manifestation tore speech from his lips.
+
+"Look!" he shouted aloud in a strained and unnatural voice. "My God,
+look! _The color!_"
+
+In the heart and center of the standing column of smoke, seen faintly
+at first and then in blazing brilliance, towered a mighty pillar of
+light. But it was not like any light that any of those who gazed
+upon it had ever known. For it was neither of red nor white, nor yet
+of violet, yellow, or green, or any other color or hue of the solar
+spectrum. Radiant, scintillant, indescribably beautiful, it thrust up
+through the murk of disaster steadily and cruelly as the flaming sword
+of an unkind fate. It was this that had pierced the ship and exploded
+the magazine.
+
+Zenas Wright, who had looked unshaken on many strange things, looked
+upon this and cried out, even as had Everson:
+
+"The color! A new color! Impossible; yet it _is_!"
+
+With chaos and death linked together and roaring in front of him, the
+old man, true scientist to the last, bent his eyes on the flaming
+pillar in a challenging and analytical stare. If this was to be his
+final vision, why, he would learn what he might from it before he went
+into the shadow where all learning is valueless.
+
+Like painted puppets carved from wood, the men and women on the deck
+stood and gazed at the appalling ruin of that fell disaster. It was
+only a moment in the happening, but a moment that bore the burden of
+many moments in its intensity.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The pillar of light moved, and those that watched saw that everything
+that it touched it destroyed. It swayed toward them, and the deck
+crumpled away before its advance. It swung back. In its path was one of
+the massive steel turrets of the cruiser. The light played against it.
+The turret tottered; the steel of it seemed to melt and disintegrate.
+The entire structure crumbled and crashed down, disappearing through
+the gash in the decking. With the fall of the turret the light vanished
+also.
+
+From the companionway came the horrid remnant of a man who crossed the
+deck to Everson. One of his arms had been torn away between the wrist
+and elbow. His features were blackened and marred beyond recognition.
+An eye was gone. His clothing hung about him in tatters, and the
+tatters were burning. He halted in front of the lieutenant and raised
+the maimed arm, from which the blood was spurting, in the semblance of
+a salute.
+
+"The ship--sinks. The--sea--on fire."
+
+He croaked the words brokenly, and fell, and died at the feet of his
+commander.
+
+Up through the gap in her bottom surged the sea water, and the ship
+began to settle. The _Minnetonka_ was sinking.
+
+Everson pulled himself out of the daze which in that moment of dread
+had benumbed his faculties. A glance he gave to the settling decks and
+the useless boats. He had neither men nor the time to unship them.
+
+He turned to his companions.
+
+"Those who have prayers to say had best say them; for this is the end
+of our traveling," he said simply. Suiting his action to the words, he
+knelt on the deck.
+
+At the side of Polaris Janess appeared the red-haired stranger. As he
+had once before, he now caught up the hand of the son of the snows.
+Holding it, he looked into Polaris's face and smiled, a fearless and
+whimsical smile.
+
+"A strong hand, my brother, strong to hold a kingdom. This is not your
+death that is coming. I will save you and these with you. I promise,"
+he said--and the marvel to Polaris and to the others was that the man
+who before had been speechless now spoke readily and in excellent
+English.
+
+Not waiting for the answer, which, in his surprise, Polaris was slow to
+give, the stranger left his side and ran across the deck. He strapped
+his odd mask over his face, clapped his helmet on his head and fastened
+it. He caught up from the deck a length of steel chain. With a run and
+a leap, he was gone--over the fast settling rail and into the sea.
+
+Scarcely had the golden helmet disappeared over the side when the waves
+crossed the decks to meet the water that was spouting from the interior
+of the cruiser.
+
+"A madman!" Polaris muttered. He turned and gathered Rose Emer in his
+arms. She clung to him, sobbing softly.
+
+"Be brave, dear heart," he whispered. "It isn't hard to die, and
+wherever we are going, we shall go together."
+
+Around them rose the waves.
+
+Held fast in the swirl of the sinking ship, every soul on the
+_Minnetonka_ went down with her. From Everson, kneeling on his deck, to
+the lowliest coal-passer in the depths of the cruiser, there was no man
+but bowed his face to the waters.
+
+Clasping his sweetheart with one arm, Polaris struck out fiercely. For
+a moment he cherished the hope that he might keep to the surface and
+reach the land beyond. But the suction of the sinking ship was too
+strong for even his giant strength. He saw the others, his friends
+struggling about him. The water came between his dear lady's face
+and his. He strove to reach her lips with his own. His lungs seemed
+bursting. His senses swayed.
+
+Through the green waters he saw a great golden shape like a globe
+approaching him. Another fantasy. Strong hands gripped him. They, too,
+must be dreams.
+
+The blackness became absolute.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER II
+
+                     THE LONG BLACK ROAD TO ADLAZ
+
+
+In illimitable darkness a spark glowed and lived, and the soul of
+Polaris Janess awoke and once more knew it was a soul. The silence
+of oblivion was broken by a roaring as of a thousand mighty rivers
+torrenting on their courses far underground. One by one the man endured
+the tortures that those must endure who come back from the claim
+of the sea. Slowly and with exquisite agony came the consciousness
+that his body still lived--an agony so keen that he fain would have
+wrenched himself free of the flesh and departed it. Fire, liquid and
+intolerable, raced through his every vein and artery. His head, no
+longer tenanted by a brain, it seemed, was a vast and empty cavern,
+through which wild winds moaned.
+
+An age it was in seeming that the soul fought its way through travail,
+back to command of the faculties it had quitted, until it had regained
+the mastery of its two provinces, the brain and the body. The fiery
+rivers were quenched. The winds ceased their roaring. With a groan and
+a shudder the son of the snows once more took up the burden of living.
+Weak and dizzy and deathly sick, he opened his eyes.
+
+He lay on a soft bed of furs in a small and swaying room. Almost at
+his elbow he heard the splash of waves against metal walls. Above him,
+an expression of sympathy and concern on his ruddy face, bent the
+red-haired stranger.
+
+When he saw the eyes of Polaris quiver open, the man smiled, a rare and
+winning smile.
+
+"Now, by the four rivers," he said, "I am glad to see you return to the
+living. So long did you tarry in the beyond that I thought that I had
+lost you."
+
+For a moment Polaris gazed into that rubicund countenance in
+bewilderment, but for a moment only. With the floods of life came
+memory. He tried to spring to his feet, but the struggle in the water
+and the nausea of his returning vitality had sapped the strength from
+him. He fell weakly back. The look he bent upon the stranger was
+poignant with its question.
+
+"Rose--the Rose-maid? Where is she?" he gasped, wresting the words out
+painfully.
+
+With a graceful gesture, the stranger drew to one side and pointed
+across the room.
+
+"Your lady? She is there," he said.
+
+On the other side of the room, only a few feet away, was another couch,
+similar to the one on which Polaris had found himself. Rose Emer lay
+upon it. The oilskins she had worn were in a crumpled heap upon the
+floor. Her gown, sodden with sea water, clung to her limbs. A careful
+hand had partly covered her with the folds of a robe of soft, dark
+furs. The coils of her long, chestnut hair, disheveled and damp, had
+fallen about her face and neck. Her long lashes lay upon her cheeks.
+Her lips were slightly parted. One arm hung down from the edge of the
+couch, its hand relaxed and open, the fingers limp.
+
+Long and earnestly Polaris looked at her. He could see only her
+profile. Her face was very white and still, outlined there against
+the furs. The light went out of his tawny eyes, and he set his teeth
+and turned his face to the wall. The sob that arose in his throat
+was wrung from the depths of a spirit sorely stricken. Now death were
+welcome indeed.
+
+"Grieve not so," the stranger said hastily. "She is not dead, and I
+am a fool to bring such fright upon you. She did but swoon when you
+yourself were overlong in returning to the realm of the living. Here."
+
+He passed an arm under the shoulders of Polaris, and assisted him to
+rise and cross to the other couch.
+
+Swaying like a drunken man, the son of the snows bent and touched the
+wrist of the girl with his fingers. When he felt the tides of the
+life-blood leaping through the warm flesh, a joy welled up within him
+that was akin to pain in its throbbing. Come what might, his lady
+lived, and once again there was light in his world. He laid his cheek
+against hers and he was near to tears in his weakness.
+
+Presently he raised his head, and for the first time gave a thought to
+his surroundings. The room he was in was shaped like the quarter of a
+circle. The couch on which he had lain was along the curved side of the
+room, and there the wall was of steel or iron, against which he could
+hear the lapping of waters. At each end, where the cabin narrowed to
+the points of its arc, were cabinets carved of polished woods. At the
+side where the girl lay the wall was of wood, also, and was pierced by
+a small door. A number of garments hung from pegs in the paneling. Near
+to the door, in a golden sheath, swung a heavy, short-bladed sword.
+
+Overhead was a crisscross of slender wooden beams, and in the midst of
+them was set a translucent globe of porcelain or clouded glass, through
+which a strong light was shed, light that was almost as clear in its
+quality as that of day.
+
+At the sight of those crossed beams, Polaris's memory stirred quickly.
+Where had he seen such before? Ah, he had it! It was just such a
+lattice-work that had made a raft for the stranger when he had found
+him floating in the sea. What was the meaning of it?
+
+The screaming fury of the tempest, with its menace to all that he held
+dearest; the terrible moments when the _Minnetonka_ went roaring down
+to ruin; the struggle in the sea; the agony of resuscitation; the grim
+fear that had choked him when he saw his dear lady lying there so pale
+and still--all those transitions had shaken even the strong will and
+cool brain of the son of the snows. He shook his head impatiently, as
+though the fog through which his mind groped were a physical fact, to
+be dismissed so.
+
+Here at his side was the living answer to the questions that now
+trooped thick and fast--the man who had promised him life on the
+sinking deck of the cruiser and who had made that promise good.
+
+"Where are we, and who and what are you?" Polaris asked him.
+
+The answer was as ready as it was surprising.
+
+"We are under the sea in the captain's cabin of a fademe in the navy
+of the great king, Bel-Ar. And I"--he bowed slightly and smiled--"I am
+the Captain Oleric the Red, also of the navy of the great king, but at
+present without a fademe to command."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+So unusually circumstanced from his very birth had been the life of
+Polaris Janess that he long before had accepted and made his own the
+philosophy which the Prince of Denmark taught to Horatio. Things that
+the ordinary man would scoff at and reject as preposterous had been
+the incidents of his everyday existence. So now the extraordinary
+declaration of him who named himself Oleric the Red did not move him to
+any great show of surprise.
+
+Instead, there came to him the sorrowful vision of the good gray
+cruiser, sundered and wrecked and going down to the ocean's bed,
+bearing with her many a man whom he had been glad to call his
+friend--men who twice had risked their lives in the antarctic perils
+that others might live. With that picture in his mind came a thought
+that drove all the mists from his brain and made it burn with a sense
+of outrage and anger.
+
+He snapped himself erect, and with hands clenched and blazing eyes
+looked down on Oleric.
+
+"The breaking of the good ship yonder came not from within, but from
+without," he said sternly. "That great ray of strange light that
+cut her like a knife was some devil's device of these that you call
+fademes. Is it not true?"
+
+Over the face of Oleric passed a shadow that made it sad. But his eyes
+were steadfast and unflinching.
+
+"It is true," he answered. "I would have prevented it if I could have.
+Your ship has gone the way of all others which have come to the coasts
+of Maeronica."
+
+"Is it, then, the custom of your 'great king' so to greet strangers who
+come to his shores?" asked Polaris.
+
+"Such have been the orders of the king of Maeronica," replied Oleric.
+"Many a long century has rolled into the past since any ship, save the
+fademes, cast anchor in the harbor of the city of Adlaz. It is the law.
+It is so writ upon the sacred column. But it is a bad law."
+
+"An hour ago we had not guessed of the existence even of this land of
+Maeronica of yours, with its city of Adlaz and its rule of death in
+the sea," said Polaris. "All that we asked was to go our ways in peace
+and a safe journey to America. Now, because of the evil law of an evil
+land, a great ship's company is food for the fishes. You say well that
+it is a bad law.
+
+"And, hark you, Oleric the Red, I count the reckoning between this King
+Bel-Ar of yours and me as both long and heavy. I do not know how it
+will fall about, or when; but my heart tells me that some time I shall
+make settlement of that score."
+
+Rose Emer stirred and moaned, and Polaris turned to her. He knelt again
+at the side of her couch and chafed her hands.
+
+Running his fingers through his red hair, Oleric looked down at
+Polaris. A strange light shone in the blue eyes of the captain, and
+over his face spread a crafty and satisfied smile. He nodded his head
+as though a thought had come to him that pleased him much.
+
+"Yourself and the lady here are not the only ones saved from the ship,"
+he said at length.
+
+"What? There are others that live?" Polaris asked quickly. "Who, and
+where are they?"
+
+"In the opposite cabin of the fademe is the old man Zenas," Oleric
+replied, "and with him is the large and fat young man who made all
+of the jokes at the table on the ship. And in another fademe is the
+captain--Everson--and the two you saved from Sardanes, the giant Minos
+and the dark and splendid lady, Memene."
+
+"What know you of Sardanes?" Polaris asked. "And how comes it that you
+speak our English speech, now that your tongue is loosened?"
+
+Oleric smiled. "Though my tongue was idle on your ship yonder, my
+ears were not," he said, "nor were my eyes, and they gathered me much
+information. I know that you, whom they call the son of the snows, have
+lived a strange life and looked upon many wonders. But they are as
+nothing to the wonders which you are to see presently--and I, Oleric
+the Red, shall show them to you." He laughed soundlessly.
+
+"But the language--where learned you the English tongue?" Polaris asked
+again. "Surely it is not spoken in this Maeronica, this land whereof no
+man has ever heard."
+
+"Many years ago I learned it--from the lips of a slave. He, too, had
+been taken from the deck of a ship which was sunk by the fademes," was
+the answer of Oleric. He regarded Polaris keenly. Nor was that reply
+without its effect.
+
+"Slaves!" Polaris cried. "Is this another of the laws of this land of
+yours--to make slaves of strangers?"
+
+"It is the law of the great king," Oleric said. "Few such have been
+taken alive, but they have lived as slaves or died on the sands of the
+arena to make sport for the people at the great games which are a part
+of the Feast of Years."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+For a moment, even Rose Emer was forgotten. Polaris looked up at the
+Maeronican captain with a blaze in his eyes that boded little of
+submission to the laws of Bel-Ar, the king.
+
+When he spoke, it was very quietly. "Law or no law, backs shall break
+and spirits set out on their journeys before I shall become slave to
+any man."
+
+"But the maid here," interposed Oleric--"would you bring doom upon her
+as well as upon yourself? Be not so rash, my brother. 'All things come
+to him that waits,' was a saying of that slave from whom I learned your
+tongue--O'Connell, he did call his name. I know not if his saying be
+true. I know he waited many long years, and death came to him."
+
+Polaris shook his head slowly.
+
+"There is little cheer in these words of yours, Oleric the Red," he
+said. "And I do not know why you should call me brother, for whom you
+foretell a life of slavery. But these things are bridges to be crossed
+when met." He turned back to Rose Emer. "Have you such a thing as wine
+on this ship?" he asked. "This swoon is long in passing."
+
+Again the red captain regarded the broad back with satisfaction and
+smiled his craftful smile.
+
+He stepped to the end of the cabin, and from the cabinet there fetched
+a tall glass flagon, bound with golden filagree-work, and a slender,
+twisted goblet. The liquor which he poured from the flagon was
+cherry-red, and sent forth a pleasing aroma.
+
+"Here is of the best in Maeronica," he said. "Trust a captain of the
+fademes to know it."
+
+Lifting Rose's head on his arm, Polaris held the goblet to her lips
+and let the red wine trickle down. As he did so, the door of the cabin
+was opened from without. A man thrust his head through and shouted to
+Oleric in a strange though not unmusical tongue. The captain answered
+him a word or two, and the door was closed again. Polaris saw that the
+man wore armor of a pattern similar to that of Oleric, and that, like
+the captain's, his face was ruddy. But his hair was black, and he wore
+a short, curling beard. While the door was opened, the purr of smoothly
+running machinery could be heard, and with it a steady hissing,
+bubbling noise, like that of escaping steam.
+
+Rose sat up suddenly and glanced around her with frightened eyes. She
+threw her arms around Polaris's neck and clung to him.
+
+"You lay so still," she sobbed, "I thought that you were dead. But you
+are alive--alive!"
+
+Oleric bent forward and spoke hurriedly.
+
+"We are nearing the harbor of the city of Adlaz," he said. "I do not
+know when I shall have opportunity to talk with you again. But if it be
+not soon, wait; and accept with patience, even though it shall try you
+sorely, all that shall happen.
+
+"Just now you asked me why I called you 'brother.' You saved me from
+the sea. On the ship yonder you and the old man Zenas, and another whom
+I grieve that I could not save, tended me when you thought that I was
+near to death. And after, when your sailors murmured, and they would
+have cast me into the sea, you guarded me from harm. All those things I
+know and shall not forget. That is why I call you brother. And back of
+all of those things there is still another reason, of which I hope to
+tell you soon. I learned from the slave O'Connell that the shake of the
+hands between men is a bond of friendship. Will you shake my hand, my
+brother?"
+
+Polaris took the proffered hand in a grip that made its owner wince.
+"It seems that despite the laws of Bel-Ar, the king, I have found a
+friend," he said. "I shall try to be patient, Oleric."
+
+"Hold your hand from anger," enjoined the red captain earnestly, "even
+though you be put to serve as a slave in the mines of Bel-Ar. And
+instruct your companions that they do likewise. Great days are coming
+upon Maeronica, and I promise you faithfully that you shall play a
+great part in them--"
+
+He broke his speech suddenly.
+
+Again the door swung open. Somewhere in the depths of the fademe a bell
+rang clearly. The noise of the mechanism ceased. The black-bearded man
+who had thrust his head into the cabin before, stood in the doorway and
+beckoned to Oleric.
+
+"Remember," warned the captain as he passed Polaris. "Patience and that
+strong heart of yours shall carry you far before your sun goes down."
+
+He went out and the door closed after him.
+
+"What does he mean, with his talk of slaves and the mines and all those
+strange names?" Rose Emer asked wonderingly. "Where are we?"
+
+Polaris told her all that he had learned from the captain. She heard
+him with wide eyes.
+
+"_You_--a slave!" she cried. "Ah, no, not that? Is it to be like this
+all our lives--to see happiness just ahead of us, but never reach it?
+Fate cannot be so cruel. Think what you have endured. And now to be a
+slave here in this terrible foreign land!"
+
+Perhaps Fate was listening then--Fate, who can be both cruel and kind,
+sordid and splendid, according to her whim. She had played many strange
+tricks on this man. But she now decreed that he should never serve the
+king Bel-Ar as a slave.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Soon after the departure of Oleric, the door of the cabin was opened
+again, and an armored man entered. It was he of the black beard, whom
+Polaris rightly guessed to be the captain of the fademe. With him came
+three other men, unarmored, who evidently were members of the crew of
+the craft.
+
+Sturdy, black-haired fellows these were, dressed alike in loose,
+neckless blue tunics of some woven material, with elbow-sleeves,
+and belted in at the waist. Beneath the tunics they wore long,
+close-fitting nether garments like the hose of the Middle Ages, only
+these were both hose and trousers, too. On their feet were shoes of
+soft leather, the tops of which came nearly to their knees, and which
+were laced with gay-colored cords. Their heads were covered with flat
+caps of cloth which resembled somewhat the tam-o'-shanters of the
+Scots. Those, too, were dyed in bright colors.
+
+With a motion of his arm the captain indicated to Rose and Polaris that
+they were to leave the cabin. The girl still was weak from her swoon,
+and tottered when she stood, and her garments were wet and bedraggled.
+Polaris wrapped her in the robe of furs with which Oleric had covered
+her, and lifted her in his arms. As he did so, one of the sailors spoke
+harshly and snatched at the robe. He was clumsy, and his fingers caught
+in Rose's unbound hair and pulled it so that she winced.
+
+Polaris set the girl down and in the same motion spun on his heel and
+struck the man under the ear.
+
+Well it was for the Maeronican sailor that the son of the snows, quick
+as was his anger at the affront to the girl, remembered the counsel of
+Oleric. Even as he struck, he remembered, and he opened his hand; else
+the stroke, directed by his mighty thews, had ended all things for the
+sailor. As it was, the blow partly lifted the man from his feet and
+shot him sprawling through the open door to fall heavily outside.
+
+From its peg on the wall the captain caught down the short-bladed sword
+and tore it from the sheath. At a word from him, his two remaining men
+plucked knives from their belts and closed in.
+
+Prospects of battle cleared the last of the numbness from the limbs of
+Polaris. He thrust Rose Emer behind him. He ran his eyes hastily over
+the cabin in search of a weapon, but saw none which would serve him. In
+another instant he would have sprung barehanded against the Maeronican
+steel.
+
+At that juncture a voice cried out, and Oleric the Red stepped over
+the fallen sailor and entered the cabin. Whatever may have been the
+failings of the red captain, slowness in action was not one of them.
+Gripping the two crouching sailors, each by the belt from behind, he
+tugged so mightily that their feet flew from under them, and they sat
+hard on the cabin floor. With a catlike leap, Oleric reached the side
+of the captain of the fademe and struck the sword from his hand. As the
+blade clanged on the floor, Oleric set his foot across it. Then, and
+not until then, did he seek to learn the trouble's cause.
+
+"What now, comrade," he said to Polaris. "Do you then court death so
+soon?"
+
+But when he heard of the sailor's action, he nodded his red head.
+
+"So would I have done," he said shortly. He turned on the other captain
+and spoke to him sternly in the Maeronican tongue. Almost choking in
+his rage, the commander answered him in sneering tones, and with a
+shrug of his shoulders stalked from the cabin. The sailors slunk after
+him.
+
+Oleric watched their departing backs with a hard and level stare.
+"Daelo grows insolent," he said. "He thinks, because I have had the
+misfortune to lose a fademe, that I shall get no pretty welcome from
+Bel-Ar. Maybe he is right. Bel-Ar loves not to lose his ships. Ah,
+well--" He, too, shrugged his shoulders, and then he smiled.
+
+"And you, my brother--" He shook his finger at Polaris. "Unless you
+learn to curb that fine spirit of yours, I need to be no prophet to
+foretell what shall befall you. But come; let us leave this place. The
+air of it grows foul."
+
+With Rose in his arms, Polaris stepped from the cabin and gazed
+curiously about him.
+
+He stood in a long gallery or corridor, some nine feet wide by thirty
+in extent. It was lighted brightly by a number of globes similar to
+that in the cabin. The flooring was of wood, the ceiling of steel.
+Opposite him was the door of another cabin. A few feet along the
+corridor ahead of him, toward the prow of the fademe, the floor was
+pierced to admit a large post or beam, which thrust up through it and
+disappeared through another opening in the ceiling of the gallery.
+Around the beam spiraled a slender winding stair of yellow metal.
+
+Oleric led on toward the bow. As he passed the stairway, Janess saw
+that it led to a small, towerlike structure above. A glance through the
+opening in the floor showed him another gallery, or deck, below, and he
+had a glimpse of a mass of mechanism and shafting. It was the engine
+room of the fademe into which he looked. Near the prow, the flooring
+was cut away again to allow the passage of what seemed to be a pillar
+of solid, yellow glass, as large around as the body of a man.
+
+As they passed the second pillar by, Oleric struck it lightly with his
+palm.
+
+"There is what brought death to your good ship, my brother," he said.
+"It is the secret of the power of the navy of Bel-Ar."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At the end of the corridor was an open door. Beyond it was a small
+chamber and another door. The chamber was constructed entirely of
+steel. Both of its doors were circular in shape, and they were fitted
+with valves and bars which made them resemble the breechblocks of
+enormous cannon. From beyond the second door came the sound of the
+splashing of waves and the hum of many human voices.
+
+Oleric passed through the chamber. At the outer door he paused and
+gave Polaris a hand with his burden. A breeze of salt air fanned their
+faces. Through the door Polaris saw an expanse of blue water alight
+with shafts of sunshine--for the rain had ceased--and the line of a
+rocky wall.
+
+"The harbor of the city of Adlaz," the red captain said.
+
+They stood on a metal deck six feet square on the extreme prow of the
+fademe. From the deck a narrow, swaying gangplank reached to the edge
+of the quay that was built of massive blocks of masonry, alongside of
+which the fademe was moored.
+
+At their right was the tossing blue and white of a harbor large enough
+to have given shelter to the ships of all the navies of the world,
+could they have come to it. Nearly three miles in width and length it
+lay, the whole girt round by the ring of a lofty mountain wall, in
+which on the seaward side there was not a notch or a break. Two hundred
+feet up from the water's edge the sheer cliffs towered, their faces
+smooth and precipitous.
+
+It was more a lake than a harbor that held the navy of Bel-Ar. Later
+the Americans learned that its only entrance from the sea was a natural
+tunnel many feet below the level of the water, through which the
+fademes passed out and in. The harbor was the giant cup or crater of a
+volcano, ages quenched.
+
+Along the wharves of stone and anchored in the lake rocked the fademes
+of the Maeronican fleet, each one resembling nothing so much as a
+monstrous goldfish carrying a glass tower on its back. Gold they were,
+indeed--and they shimmered and glittered in the sunlight as only gold
+can glitter.
+
+Like immense, flattened globes the fademes were fashioned--globes forty
+feet through their lengthened axes, and drawn to points at their stems
+and sterns. Where the dorsal fin of a fish projects from its spine,
+each fademe bore a small, round deckhouse with ribs of metal and sides
+of polished crystal.
+
+Yes; the harbor of Adlaz was very like a vast bowl with many goldfish
+(the fleet of fademes must have numbered one hundred and fifty). But
+they were far from being the harmless toys of children, these golden
+ships of the underseas. Deadly enspine, each fademe bore a small, round
+bee sent forth on cruel errands.
+
+On the dancing surface of the lake and in and out among the gleaming
+fademes plied a number of small open boats, driven by oarsmen, and
+here and there in the anchorage were scattered undersea craft of a make
+smaller by half and more slender than the fademes. These were called
+marizels.
+
+Back of the quays and the wharves was a line of low buildings of black
+and red stone, well constructed, with doors of wood and glass windows.
+Except that their architecture was quaint and ran much to carved faces
+of men and beasts, interspersed with squat domes and spires, they might
+have been the warehouses of some well-to-do port of the old world.
+
+An open space, a number of acres in extent, lay beyond the buildings
+and reached to the frowning face of the cliff-wall. The wall itself was
+pierced by a broad arch or tunnel wide enough for a squadron of cavalry
+to have ridden through it abreast and so high that a galleon's masts
+would not have touched its vaulted roof.
+
+Above the center of the arch, and carved in the rock of the cliffside,
+was a great round face, many feet across. It was a piece of sculpture
+to crook the fingers of a miser; for it was covered with beaten gold,
+so that it resembled a rising sun. That semblance was heightened
+further by long shafts or rays which extended from the face across the
+surface of the rock in all directions. They, too, were of gold. Work of
+a master-sculptor, it was, who had guided his chisel in bold, strong
+strokes. The features were noble, but the smiling lips were cruel, and
+there was cruelty in the golden eyes which looked down on the golden
+ships in the harbor.
+
+All these things Polaris saw from the forward deck of the fademe, and
+more. The quays and the court were black with people. At one side of
+the archway was drawn up a line of horsemen clad in steel armor. In
+the midst of the throng in the court a man in a yellow tunic and cap
+was cleaving his way through the press toward the wharf on a big black
+horse.
+
+As he crossed the swaying plank to the wharf with Rose Emer in his
+arms, Polaris heard a great cry of wonder go up from the crowd. In a
+moment he learned that it was not the appearance of the strangers that
+had caused the outcry. It was the return of Oleric the Red, who had
+long been given up as lost. Evidently the red captain was a popular man
+in his land. People crowded around him and clapped him on the back and
+gave him words of welcome home. Greetings none the less hearty for that
+they were tinged with a note of apprehension for his future welfare,
+which even Polaris could sense, though he understood no word of it all.
+
+Down from his horse sprang the man in the yellow tunic and enfolded
+Oleric in a mighty embrace. "Ah, old red bear, it is good for the eyes
+to see you once again. We had thought the fishes had you. But"--and he
+lowered his voice--"you will have to think of a pretty tale to tell to
+Bel-Ar. He raves at the loss of a fademe."
+
+"That he does," answered Oleric, "but I am good at the telling of
+tales, as you know. Besides, I have with me a matter of a small sack,
+which was not lost with the fademe, and which shall make the eyes of
+his queen to glisten. So mayhap I shall find forgiveness."
+
+The other ran his eye over Polaris and Rose. "What, more slaves?" he
+asked. "Orlas already has brought in three, and one of them a giant."
+
+"Yes, Brunar, more slaves." Oleric's face grew sober. "Poor souls. My
+heart is heavy for them, for they did save my life out yonder on the
+sea, and treat me kindly."
+
+"Here, old bear, take you my horse and ride on to Adlaz," said Brunar.
+"I have business here. I will come on anon through the canal in a
+marizel. And, if the hand of Bel-Ar lie not too heavy upon you, there
+will be a rare night to-night, a rare night; eh, old bear?" Laughing,
+he tossed the reins to Oleric and disappeared in the crowd.
+
+From the stern of the fademe they had quitted sounded a high-pitched
+voice in notes of vituperation. Oleric looked back. The captain Daelo
+stood on the rear deck of his vessel. When he saw Oleric turn, he shook
+his clenched fist at the red captain. With a laugh, Oleric flung back a
+remark of such import that it made Daelo dance upon his deck with rage.
+
+"Now there's a fool," grumbled Oleric, "who may be troublesome. I have
+the best of him this time, though. Back to sea patrol he goes. And
+there is a maid in Adlaz town--a sweet and comely maid, for love of
+whom he's well-nigh witless. I just did tell him that I'd comfort her
+in his absence." The captain tossed his head and laughed his soundless
+laugh.
+
+Bidding a lad hold his horse, Oleric led Polaris and Rose into one
+of the buildings near the end of the wharf. There, under a guard of
+sailors, they found old Zenas, the two Sardanians, Everson, and Brooks.
+Lacking an interpreter, such as Oleric, these others were in sore
+bewilderment. The stunning blow of the loss of the _Minnetonka_ had
+cast them in a depth of gloom, which the appearance of Polaris and
+Rose Emer and the few explanations they were able to give did little
+to lighten. Everson, especially, was like a man distraught. Even the
+scientific zeal of Zenas Wright for once was quenched, and he met the
+marvels about him with a listless eye.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Under orders from Oleric, men fetched from stables near the quays a
+long, low car, to which two span of horses were attached, and the
+Americans were bidden to take their places in it. Wild and reckless
+drivers these Maeronicans were. Two of them climbed into the car,
+turned their horses' heads toward the great archway and whipped them
+into a gallop. With a yell, the crowd parted. The hoofs of the horses
+rang on the stones of the paved courtyard. As they passed from the
+court into the tunnel, the line of steel horsemen came clattering after
+them. Oleric rode at the side of the car.
+
+At intervals in the walls of the tunnel were set translucent globes
+like those on the fademe, which shed a strong white light along the
+way. The flooring was paved and smooth. For perhaps five minutes the
+cavalcade thundered through the passage in the rock, and then it
+emerged again into the light of day.
+
+Ahead stretched a long, wide roadway, paved from side to side with
+blocks of black stone, fast embedded in a cement of the same hue.
+At both sides of the road were low walls, and beyond the walls were
+handsome mansions and grounds, where fair trees tossed their greenery
+and bright flowers bloomed amid a wealth of shrubbery. From the
+splendid and fragrant lawns men and women looked forth as the car
+whirled past, and children left their play to run to the walls and
+stare wide-eyed at the strangers.
+
+Most of the men were garbed as had been those of the fademe's crew and
+also the crowd at the harbor, in loose, belted tunics and hose, but
+finer in texture and more showy in coloring than those of the commoner
+sort.
+
+Some of the old men wore flowing gowns. The women and children were
+clad in short kirtles. Everywhere was a riot of color. The garments
+of the people were gay with many tints and hues. The grounds were
+flecked with flowers. The dwellings, all of which were built of stone,
+made their brave show of colors, too. The quarries from which the
+masonry was cut yielded white and black and red stone, and in their
+construction work the builders had varied them pleasingly.
+
+From the tunnel's mouth at the base of the ancient hill, the long,
+black road sloped up gradually. Far ahead loomed the walls and domes
+of a great city. Oleric rose in his stirrups and pointed to where they
+were outlined against the sky.
+
+"Yonder lies Adlaz, chief city of the Children of Ad," he cried.
+
+Midway in their course to the city, the shouting drivers pulled their
+horses suddenly to one side of the road, and the riders of the escort
+scattered to right and left to leave a clear passage. From far up the
+wonderful street sounded the clash and clatter of pounding hoofs in
+desperate haste.
+
+But no horse it was that galloped so madly from Adlaz town to the sea,
+but a giant, bronze-coated bull. On he came, head down and tail aloft,
+his hoofs striking fire from the smooth, hard rock of the roadway. At
+intervals he gave voice to a deep-throated bellow.
+
+He was still three hundred yards from the car when Rose Emer screamed
+out in horror. "Ah, the child! Save the child!" she cried.
+
+From one of the mansions farther up the street, a child had strayed,
+a baby girl, a fragile, black-haired little thing, not more than five
+years old. Shrieking with laughter, she had eluded her mother and run
+out through the gateway to the center of the road. Half-way across the
+pavement, she slipped and fell. Down the street on thundering hoofs
+came the great bronze death.
+
+Upsetting one of the drivers in his haste, Polaris leaped down over
+the wheel of the car. Scarcely had his feet touched the roadway, when
+Minos, the Sardanian, was down behind him. Snatching a short spear from
+the hand of one of the steel riders, the son of the snows bounded up
+the street to meet the bull, going at a speed which few living things
+could have equaled. Over his shoulder he called to Minos:
+
+"Care for the child, Minos; leave the beast to me."
+
+Just beyond where the baby girl lay, he met the furious mass of
+charging flesh. The little red eyes of the oncoming monster saw the man
+in its path, and for an instant the bull seemed to halt in its stride,
+and its hoofs slid on the smooth pavement. Then it lowered its head
+still farther and charged on with a roar.
+
+From the tail of his eye, Janess saw the Sardanian snatch the baby from
+the perilous path and leap to one side. Behind them the red captain,
+shouting and cursing, alone of all the troop of riders strove to urge
+his affrighted horse forward.
+
+"Hold! Hold!" he shouted in English. "Let the beast go!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Even had he heard, Polaris would have been little minded to let the
+bull go free. It was plain that the animal was mad. A bloody froth
+dripped from its jaws as it ran. Behind the son of the snows, right
+where the bull was headed, were his friends, and among them one who
+meant more to him than all of the rest of the world.
+
+Directly in the path of the lowered horns, that were coming on with
+the power of a mighty battering-ram, Polaris stood. Then he sprang
+sidewise, turning as he leaped. So narrowly did he time the onset that
+the shoulder of the bull grazed his knee. As the huge body passed him,
+the man drove the short spear home behind its shoulder, guiding the
+steel with the strength of arm and the keenness of eye that had helped
+him to survive through the long years when combat with the beasts of
+the wild was a part almost of his daily existence.
+
+The stroke was true. So deeply did the steel spear bite, that its shaft
+was wrenched from the hands of Polaris, and he was pitched on his side
+on the pavement.
+
+Unhurt, the man was up in an instant, but his work was done. That bull
+would charge no more. He lay dead at the side of the roadway, his
+tongue thrust out, his eyes glazing, and his life-blood making a pool
+on the stones. The Maeronican spear was set fast in his heart.
+
+Hardly was Polaris on his feet again when the armored horsemen rode
+down on him with lifted spears, cursing him in their own tongue. Oleric
+had conquered his horse, and he now interposed to prevent another
+struggle which would have been all too one-sided. For, weaponless as
+they were, the three other American men clambered down and ran to the
+aid of Polaris.
+
+Minos, who had returned the child to her mother, who knelt half
+fainting in her gateway, was the first to reach his side. Though he
+bore no weapon, the giant Sardanian squared his mighty figure and made
+ready to withstand the onset of horse and steel.
+
+Polaris leaped to the side of the fallen bull and tore the spear from
+its body. Then he turned on the horsemen. He could not guess the cause
+of their sudden anger, but he, too, was ready.
+
+Before blows could be struck, Oleric thrust his horse into the
+open space between the friends and the Maeronican riders. By dint
+of persuasion, interlarded with not a few threats, he induced his
+followers to forego their hostile intentions.
+
+"You fools!" he shouted. "Would you cheat Bel-Ar of the terrible
+vengeance he is sure to take, and have a part of it fall back on you
+for balking him?"
+
+When he had quieted his men, the captain turned gloomily to Polaris.
+
+"My brother, your doom is sealed, indeed," he said. "This is one of the
+sacred bulls from the temple of Shamar, the great sun, that you have
+slain. When one of these goes mad, as did this one, no man in the land
+does aught to stay it. That is the law. From its horns to its hoofs,
+every hair of it is sacred. Bel-Ar may forgive me the loss of a fademe,
+though it will be a great vexation to him; but the death of one of
+these sacred bulls of Shamar he will not forgive any man. Sooner might
+you expect mercy if you declared yourself a follower of the Goddess
+Glorian of Ruthar. In this matter I cannot hope to persuade him. By
+the bones of the ten thousand kings, I am sorry that this thing has
+happened!"
+
+But later, as they rode on toward the city of Adlaz, the red captain
+seemed to be far from rueful. He rode behind the car, and, when he
+thought none was observing him, he smiled to himself, as though the
+course events were taking pleased him very well indeed.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER III
+
+                            THE KING JUDGES
+
+
+Like the shape of a mighty wheel with four spokes was the plan of
+the city of Adlaz--or more like a circle drawn around the angles of
+a cross, the curved line of the outer boundary passing through the
+far-flung arms. Built in a long-ago time of perils and wars, Adlaz
+was a walled city, and its wall was both stout and high, and set with
+many castellated towers. It was also a very ancient wall, to which its
+moss-grown, weather-worn gray stones bore witness.
+
+In all of the sweeping circumference of the outer wall, which enclosed
+some ten square miles of street and square, there were four breaks
+only, and those were protected by ponderous gates of bronze and guarded
+well by soldiers of the king. Those breaks were where the rim of the
+wheel met its four spokes. The wall was the rim. The spokes were four
+wide roadways, which ran east, west, north and south from the city's
+center. The hub of the wheel was a park or esplanade, fronted on all
+sides by magnificent buildings in which the colored rocks hewn from the
+Maeronican quarries were blended splendidly. In the very center towered
+the massive structure of the Temple of the Sun, built all of white
+marble, the tips of its hundred spires capped with solid gold.
+
+Other and many streets were laid out in all directions within the
+angles of the four great avenues; but none was so wide as they by many
+feet. Within the wall dwelt nearly half a million souls, Maeronicans,
+if one named them from their country, but loving to call themselves the
+Children of Ad, after their city, which in turn drew its name from a
+certain mighty king, the time of whose rule was so lost in the mists of
+dim antiquity that he was little more than a tradition in the mouths of
+the people.
+
+Across from the Temple of the Sun, and in the northeast angle of the
+arms of the cross, stood the palace of the kings of Maeronica, another
+immense pile of masonry, built also of a solid color, not dazzling
+white as was the marble of the house of the god, but the deep, rich
+red of granite porphyry. Back of the palace lay the barracks of the
+king's guard of half a thousand picked men, his stables, and the
+quarters of countless servants. In the southwest angle was the Place of
+Games--a hippodrome and circus, with an amphitheater of black basalt
+of an age and splendor that would not have shamed the proudest days of
+seven-hilled Rome itself, although its foundation stones were laid long
+before Remus leaped over his brother's wall.
+
+Around the hub and extending to the wall were the homes of the Children
+of Ad--nobles, captains, rich idlers, merchants, money-lenders, and the
+common people. In latter years, since Adlaz, strong and triumphant,
+defied her enemies, it had been the pleasure of many of her wealthier
+sons to build their mansions beyond the sheltering wall of the city,
+and along the four splendid roadways stretched many a fair and wide
+estate. Such were those the prisoners from the fademes saw as their car
+was driven up the long, black road from the harbor in the mountain.
+
+It was late afternoon, and the sun was casting his last slant rays over
+the distant mountain-rim, when the car was halted at the bronze gates
+of the western entrance to Adlaz. The red captain trotted his horse
+forward to parley with the captain of the gate-guard and explain why he
+led Brunar's horsemen, and who were these whom he brought with him to
+the city. That parleying was added to by one of the riders in steel.
+Whatever he told the gate-captain, it did not add to that worthy's
+esteem for the captives, for he favored them with an exceedingly evil
+look as they rode through his gates.
+
+"Ugh-h," remarked Ensign Brooks, "I can't say that I care for that
+party. He has a lean and hungry look. Speaking of hunger, I wonder how
+soon we will get where we are going to, and whether it will be supper
+time when we get there. I could eat cat right now, I'm so near to
+starvation."
+
+Oleric heard him and replied with a smile. "You shall eat soon, and of
+good fare. So much at the least I can promise."
+
+To which the ensign replied with a stare. For the young naval man did
+not like the red captain and his ways, whom he blamed partly for the
+loss of the _Minnetonka_ and all of the rest of the troubles, of which
+this land seemed to hold a plenty.
+
+Soon after the car entered the gates, the sunlight faded into dusk, and
+then white-capped messengers passed through the streets, plucking the
+cloth hoods from globes which were fixed on posts of stone at intervals
+along all of the ways. From each globe, as its hood was removed, sprang
+a broad circle of white light. On the tall buildings and their many
+spires and on the towers of the city wall similar lights flared up.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Except for the quaint architecture of the place, and the strange
+garb of the folk who thronged its streets, the Americans might have
+imagined themselves entering some stately capital of the modern world,
+and not Adlaz of Maeronica, the oldest of all peopled cities of the
+earth--older, indeed, than many among the buried ruins in which
+archeologists love to delve.
+
+For its pavements were curbed and guttered, and between them and the
+building fronts and lawns were walks of stone, bordered by well-ordered
+rows of trees and many shrubs and beds of flowers. The people who
+walked the streets, too, were quiet and orderly folk. They stared hard
+at those who rode in the car, but there was no unseemly outcry. Only
+an occasional shout of surprise and welcome went up as some group of
+strollers recognized the merry face and flaming poll of Oleric the Red.
+
+At all of these marvels the two Sardanians gazed wonderingly and talked
+together of them in their tongue.
+
+"Ah, surely here is one of the greatest cities of the world of men,
+my prince," said the Lady Memene. "Note the mighty towers yonder and
+how they flash and gleam. And the folk! In one short ride we have seen
+enough of them to people two lands like our own lost Sardanes."
+
+"Aye, Memene, these be wonders, indeed," Minos answered. "And here
+is a kingdom and a city well worth the ruling over. Yet these, even
+these, must be as nothing to the things beyond in the greater world,
+whereof Polaris hath told us. I wonder if we shall ever reach them.
+For myself, though, I find this land and its folk more to my manner of
+understanding than the world-dwellers way to the north. Here, methinks,
+one might, did opportunity offer, carve out a kingdom for the king that
+is to come."
+
+Memene flushed and hung her head, and the two of them lapsed into
+thoughtful silence.
+
+Truly, Minos of Sardanes lacked not in ambition.
+
+"Too late, now, to hope to meet Bel-Ar the king before the morrow,"
+Oleric said. "And perhaps that is as well. By another coming of Shamar
+his wrath may have cooled somewhat, though 'twill still burn hot
+enough, I'll wager."
+
+The charioteers drove their car to the front of a long, low building,
+the façade of which verged almost upon the pavement of the black avenue
+which was known as Chedar's Flight, because of an ancient battle which
+had been fought along its course. There, the riders of Brunar left the
+car and clattered away up the street to their own place. A group of
+street idlers surrounded the car and began to discuss its passengers,
+taking note especially of the giant form of Minos and the beauty of the
+two ladies.
+
+"This was a palace, once, but it serves as a prison, now," Oleric said
+to Polaris, as gates of bronze were thrust back and the charioteers
+drove through and into a roomy court, partly paved and partly lawn and
+trees. "Sorry I am, comrade, that this must be, but 'tis not of my
+working."
+
+"I blame you not, friend," said Polaris. "But other days bring other
+fortunes. I do not think that I shall stay long in your prison. And it
+comes to me also that your king best had let this party depart his land
+in peace, else the next turn of the wheel may bring to him that which
+he least desires. And I think that you may have a hand in that turn,
+Oleric."
+
+"Are you a prophet, my brother?" exclaimed Oleric, searching the face
+of Polaris for a hidden meaning. "For if you be not one, then you have
+a rare spirit."
+
+"No prophet I," Polaris answered. He sprang down over the wheel and
+stretched his weary limbs. "Only at times, when all seems black, my
+heart does whisper courage, and then all things turn well. It did so
+just now, when I saw the lights spring up along that splendid street
+out there." He held up his arms and assisted Rose Emer to alight from
+the car.
+
+Oleric gazed at him curiously. "So you think that the wheel will turn,
+and that I will have a hand in it, my brother, do you?" he whispered to
+himself. "Perchance I shall."
+
+He swung down from his horse and cast the reins to an attendant.
+
+"What! Mordo! Where do you tarry? Here be guests for you," he shouted.
+
+They stood in the dusk under the spreading boughs of an ancient oak and
+waited while a tall, loosely built man, black-bearded, and clad in the
+armor of gold that was the badge of power in Maeronica, came down from
+a pillared porch on the other side of the court and shambled across.
+They noticed that his step was somewhat uncertain, and once or twice he
+stumbled as he approached.
+
+"Mordo, captain, and keeper of the king's prison house," Oleric
+muttered to Polaris. "He's a good fellow, but does love his wine cup
+exceeding well."
+
+As the prison keeper came across the stones and the grass, he shouted,
+and an underling ran to him, swinging a lighted globe encaged in a
+metal net. Mordo took the lamp and cast its rays on the party. His face
+was flushed, and his eyes rolled until they saw Oleric. Then his mouth
+gaped in a delighted grin.
+
+"Hoy! Hoy!" he exclaimed. "By the wall and the beasts and the shadows
+of the fathers of Ad, if it is not my old bottle-crony come sailing
+home again! I thought my ears had lied when I heard that voice in the
+dark." He set the lamp down and pitched forward, steadying himself with
+his hands on Oleric's shoulders. "And the same old dekkar, eh?" (A
+dekkar was a broad goldpiece of the coin of Maeronica.) "They said that
+you were gone across the black river, but I believed them not. 'Not
+Oleric,' I told them. 'Not so long as there is left unemptied a single
+one of those long-stemmed bottles in old Mordo's cellar.' And I was
+right, eh, old firetop? Ah! Many a glass shall clink to-night, and many
+a rack be made lighter when Brunar and the others come."
+
+Mordo threw his head back and laughed, a roaring gale of mirth.
+
+"Why, I was so lonely to-night that already I have cracked two flagons,
+just for the good wine's company."
+
+"So it seems," put in Oleric, sniffing. "Are you sure there were only
+two of those flagons?"
+
+"Mayhap it was three; I care not; there's still space for more, as you
+well know," Mordo replied, still shaking with laughter. He took up his
+lantern again.
+
+"But whom do you bring with you to Mordo's house?" he asked, peering
+once more at the strangers. "Women, too! And pretty ones!"
+
+"Have an end to your banter, Mordo," Oleric interposed. "These be six
+guests for whom Bel-Ar will ask accounting. Hold them well. And harken,
+old friend; treat them kindly and to the best you have, for they did
+befriend me when I was in evil straits and sore in need of friends.
+That tale you shall hear later. Now hasten and bestow them. They are
+weary. And bethink you, man, your wine grows stale with waiting to be
+drunk, and my throat aches for the smack of it."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Through his porch and into the depths of the building beyond, Mordo led
+the party. Along many halls and passages he led, and through gates and
+doors of bronze and steel, whereof an attendant bore the keys.
+
+An ill place, this, to come out of, thought Polaris, noting the
+strength and number of the gates. Nor did the son of the snows relish
+at all the grim clanking of chains which issued from certain of the
+chambers which they passed along their route.
+
+At length the jailer paused, in a hall so wide that its boundary walls
+could be seen only dimly by the light of the few globes which hung from
+its pillars of black stone, and so lofty that the pillars' tops were
+lost in the upper dusk. The hall was circular, and all around its walls
+were the doors to lesser chambers.
+
+"Here may your stranger friends from the sea await the pleasure of
+Bel-Ar in peace," hiccoughed Mordo. "And 'tis better by far for them
+than some of the places that I have below, as you know, Oleric. Kings
+have sat in judgment here, and the beds in yonder chambers--queens have
+slept on them. May your guests sleep well, old fox; I can offer them
+no better, no better lodging place than the audience-hall of the great
+King Bel-Tisam. I'll send them meat and wine. Now haste we to those
+bottles. Shamar send that Brunar be not long delayed."
+
+"Here I must leave you for a space, my friends," Oleric said. "I
+would have you believe that I am not ungrateful for many good deeds
+remembered, and I hope yet to find the means to repay them. To-morrow I
+will go with you before Bel-Ar the king."
+
+He bowed and went out with Mordo.
+
+Presently came men with an abundance of fresh-cooked meats and
+trenchers and tall bottles of Maeronican wine.
+
+Little heart for conversation was there among the seven friends. Each
+was busy with bitter thoughts. They ate, sitting on cushions about a
+low table which the attendants spread for them at the foot of one of
+the pillars. The two women, weary from the events of the day, soon went
+to their rest. Old Zenas Wright was not long in following their example.
+
+"I'm growing old, boys," he said as he left the table. "And this has
+been a hard day--a terribly hard day. We appear to have strayed far
+into the yesterdays. To-morrow we will talk, and it will be strange
+if we cannot between us figure our way out. I don't want to leave my
+old bones in this place. I intend that they shall be buried in Woodlawn
+Cemetery in Buffalo, near where I was born; ah me, where I was born. I
+vow and vum, I've seen some mighty queer sights since I walked up Main
+Street last."
+
+The geologist turned and trudged sturdily away to the chamber which he
+had selected for his own.
+
+Soon only Polaris and Lieutenant Everson were left in the great hall,
+Janess lying stretched on the floor, his head pillowed on his hand, and
+the lieutenant standing gloomily with folded arms, his back resting
+against one of the pillars. For many minutes those two talked of the
+things which had befallen; but neither one had a plan to offer.
+
+"We must trust to the wit of this Oleric, of which I think he has
+plenty," said Polaris at length. "I believe that he wished us no ill,
+and I believe, too, that he forms some scheme for our advantage, though
+what it is I cannot guess."
+
+"I don't like him," Everson said bluntly. "He is one of this nation of
+devils whose submarine sank my ship. Oh, for a few files of marines and
+a couple of twelve-inch guns!"
+
+When Everson had gone, Polaris still lay at the foot of the pillar,
+thinking and planning, for he was a man in whom hope never died. He
+dozed at length, but suddenly he was wide awake. And, though he did not
+at once open his eyes, his wilderness-trained faculties, keen as those
+of any animal, were alert and watchful.
+
+Something had come into the hall.
+
+Nothing in living shape ever had struck fear into the heart of Polaris,
+and he had a healthy disbelief in the supernatural. He was not afraid
+now. But he felt that the presence that had entered the hall was both
+baleful and menacing. He felt the fixed regard of hidden eyes, and it
+sent an uneasy thrill through the roots of his hair at the back of his
+head. Whatever it was that had wakened him, it was not in the direction
+of the chambers where the others of his party lay, but far across the
+hall.
+
+Cautiously he opened his eyes.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At first he could make out nothing. Then something stirred soundlessly
+from behind a far pillar near the wall. Polaris stared hard, and his
+eyes were almost more than mortal keen. For a fleeting instant he saw
+it clearly--the shape of a tall old man with snowy beard and hair, and
+with piercing eyes, full of evil. The man was dressed in flowing robes
+of white, on the breast of which glittered some object of burnished
+metal.
+
+For an instant only the vision persisted on Polaris's retina. Then it
+was gone, and with no sound that even his sharp ears could catch.
+
+Polaris snapped himself to his feet and bounded across the hall on
+the balls of his feet, almost as noiselessly as the shadow which had
+departed. And it had departed. Along the wall and behind the pillars
+Polaris glanced quickly. There was nothing there. Back of the pillar
+where he had seen the white shape was the closed door of a chamber. He
+tried the door and found it fast. He listened.
+
+From the darkness beyond the closed door, he thought he heard the ghost
+of a thin chuckle. Immediately his attention was drawn to another
+quarter. Close behind him arose a deep growl, which had nothing ghostly
+in its quality, but was most material. Polaris spun upon his heels.
+
+Some ten feet from him, and beside one of the pillars, from the foot
+of which it evidently had arisen, stood a huge dog. It was the first
+animal of its kind which the son of the snows had seen in Maeronica,
+and the largest he ever had set eyes on in his life; larger by far even
+than gray old Marcus, his friend and comrade that he'd left behind in
+Boston town.
+
+This brute was neither Great Dane nor mastiff, though in points it
+resembled both of those breeds. Its jaws were square, and its head and
+neck were massive. The tips of its powerful shoulders were a long yard
+up from the stone floor where it stood.
+
+It was smooth of coat and of a glossy, blue-black color, except on its
+breast, where was a triangular patch of tawny yellow. Its ears had
+been clipped and stood erect and pointed. As it regarded the man, its
+big eyes glittered in the dim light. Its lips were writhed back from
+formidable teeth.
+
+Another low growl rumbled from its deep chest.
+
+Instinctively, dogs trusted Polaris. He had had much experience with
+their kind, and never had he seen one that in the end he could not make
+his friend. Unhesitatingly he extended his hand and crossed the floor
+to where the big beast stood. He guessed that it must have come in
+with the old man whom he had glimpsed, and had been left behind when
+the silent visitor had made his hurried departure. As he drew nearer,
+Polaris saw that the animal wore a broad leather collar, bossed with
+gold.
+
+Unhurriedly, the son of the snows approached the brute until there was
+not the space of a yard between them. There he paused. The dog neither
+shrank nor cowered, but waited with muscles tensed and teeth exposed.
+Polaris was very watchful.
+
+"Good fellow," he said.
+
+At the sound of the man's voice, the dog shifted his position slightly.
+His head swayed. From Polaris's face he glanced to the outstretched
+hand. The bristling hackles at his neck subsided. He took a stiff
+step forward, then another. The tip of his cold muzzle touched the
+man's fingers. He sniffed. A long, red tongue crept forth and licked
+Polaris's hand. Another step, and the brute rubbed his great head
+against the man's thigh.
+
+"Ah; I thought you would," said Polaris. "Come on." He turned and
+crossed the hall to his sleeping chamber. The dog padded beside him on
+silent feet. The last thing the son of the snows heard, after he had
+called Brooks to take the watch, and closed his eyes to slumber, was
+the sigh of the huge beast as it stretched itself before his open door.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Worn of body and of nerves, Polaris slumbered deeply. Shamar rose high
+in the east and lighted the golden spires of his mighty temple in Adlaz
+town; still the man slept on, and as he slept, he dreamed. Far into the
+white, mysterious southland his fancies led, to a waste of ice and snow
+and bitter winds. He drove a team of splendid dogs--his gray brothers
+they seemed to be in the dream, those tried friends who had given their
+lives for their master, and of whom Marcus, if he still lived, was the
+last.
+
+On the sledge which the dogs drew, rode Rose Emer, wrapped in furs,
+as in truth she once had ridden. There, too--and even in the dream he
+seemed strangely out of place--was the Maeronican captain. Yes, Oleric
+the Red trudged through the snows beside the sledge, clad in his golden
+armor, his teeth chattering in the chill blasts of the wilderness, and
+bearing in his hand a naked sword.
+
+Danger, unseen, unknown, but frightful, encompassed the wanderers in
+the snow path. The dogs snarled and tore at their harness. Oleric ran
+forward, waving his sword, which seemed to drip blood on the white
+snows, and shouting.
+
+"Up, brother, and call off this beast of yours!" the red captain cried.
+"For soon must we go before Bel-Ar."
+
+With those words ringing in his ears, Polaris awoke. He sprang from his
+couch to the middle of the chamber. No dream's part was the shouting of
+Oleric. He stood in the hall before the chamber door, his lips still
+parted and a smile on his ruddy face.
+
+And the snarling of a dog--that, too, was real.
+
+Planted squarely in the doorway, hackles bristling, ears erect and
+fangs bared, was the immense animal with which Polaris had made friends
+in the night watches. All through the dark hours and the dawning, the
+beast had guarded the door, suffering none to approach it. He now
+barred the way to Oleric, and the chamber echoed to his angry challenge.
+
+"By the ten kings!" exclaimed the captain with a laugh. "You do raise
+up friends wherever you go, my brother. Here is one that dearly would
+love to make a breakfast off my lean shanks, armored as they are, and
+all because I would tell you that Shamar has brought to us another day."
+
+At the call of Polaris, the dog backed out of the doorway, but still
+with a wary and suspicious eye to the movements of the red captain.
+
+Mordo, the prison captain, was not in attendance, but certain of his
+servants were spreading the table near the center of the hall. The
+Americans and the Sardanians were gathered in a group about one of the
+pillars.
+
+Everson looked wan, like one whose pillow had been ridden by evil
+visions. The others of the party seemed in better spirits and were
+talking among themselves. Zenas Wright gave evidence that his
+scientific zeal had only lain dormant. For now he noted all about him
+with a keen and kinding interest, paying his attention especially to
+the architecture of the lordly hall which had housed them, and its
+sculptures, of which there were many. Young Brooks' interest was fully
+as keen, if more material, as that of the geologist. The eyes of the
+ensign were all for the table preparations.
+
+Seeing the party thus, and the broad bands of sunlight which streamed
+into the hall through windows of crystal high in the masonry, Polaris
+grew shamefaced.
+
+"Now it seems that I alone, who of all should be wakeful, have slept
+dully like a wintered bear," he muttered.
+
+"'Tis well. You have gained strength which perhaps shall not come
+amiss," Oleric answered.
+
+Near the center of the hall a fountain played, its spray falling
+through a bar of sunshine which changed the silver drops to gold as
+they fell. Calling his morning greetings to his friend, Polaris went
+thither and laved his face and hands and smoothed his mass of tawny
+hair. The dog followed close at heel and lapped greedily from the
+fountain's basin.
+
+"Strange that this brute should be here," said Oleric. "Do you know
+what manner of beast this is that so befriends you, Polaris?"
+
+Polaris shook his head; nor did he at that time see fit to acquaint
+Oleric with the circumstances of the dog's appearance.
+
+"This is one of the dogs the priests keep at the temple of Shamar," the
+captain informed. "There are few of the breed in the land, and all are
+at the temples of the god in the cities. Almost as sacred are these
+brutes as are the bulls, whereof you already know, and are likely to
+learn more. The holy men do say of them that they are dwelt in by the
+souls of heroes passed away, whom Shamar chooses to guard his temple
+gates, even as the bulls are inhabited by the souls of dead kings.
+
+"I do not believe such tales," he added quickly. "But now you will
+see why Bel-Ar will be more than passing wroth at the death of the
+bull, believing as he does that it is a dwelling place for one of his
+ancestors, and that you may, indeed, have slain his father or his
+grandfather."
+
+Oleric, who had breakfasted, sat by while the others ate. The dog,
+from the collar of which the captain read the name Rombar, signifying
+thunder, stood behind the seat of Polaris and ate with dignity whatever
+his self-appointed master passed to him. But he would take food from no
+other hand, not even from Rose Emer, who liked all dogs.
+
+Thereafter, sleeping or waking, the huge beast remained at Polaris's
+side, and none could coax him thence. And many Maeronicans deemed that
+strange. But as no man, not even Shamar's priests, dared to interfere
+with the sacred brutes, except when they played their parts in the
+ceremonials of the god, the attendance of Rombar upon the stranger was
+permitted.
+
+Under a guard of mailed foot-soldiers, led by Brunar, who was a captain
+in the palace regiment, the prisoners were marched from the ancient
+palace of Bel-Tisam to the newer palace of Bel-Ar. At their right, as
+they passed up the street called Chedar's Flight, was the wall, pierced
+by many gateways, of the Place of Games, with its basalt amphitheater
+and its arena.
+
+As they passed they heard the hoofs of galloping steeds, the rumble of
+chariot wheels, and the cries of the charioteers, where the young lords
+of Adlaz exercised their horses. From slits in the wall low down near
+the pavement, issued the howling and snarling of wild beasts; for a
+menagerie was a part of the equipment of the Place of Games.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Beyond the hippodrome, their way led around half the circle of the
+broad drive on which the four main avenues gave, and which surrounded
+the wonderful gardens of the Temple of the Sun. The Americans, three
+of whose number were widely traveled, marveled anew at the splendor of
+that mighty pile of white marble, its lofty columns, towers and domes,
+dazzling in the sunlight, their golden caps ablaze. Luxor and Karnac in
+the days when Pharaoh Rameses ruled in Egypt could not have shown the
+equal of this structure.
+
+With armed men clanking on each side, the captives entered through a
+massive peristyle of vari-colored pillars which was the portal to the
+house of the king. Along a corridor in which four elephants might have
+found way and clearance to walk abreast, the guards conducted them. At
+each end of the corridor there stood ajar tall gates of bronze, their
+bars interlaced with heavy patterns of gleaming gold, encrusted with
+the luminous metal, known in Maeronica as orichalcum, and set with many
+precious gems.
+
+Through the second gateway the prisoners were marched, and were in the
+audience chamber of Bel-Ar, the great king. It was similar in shape to
+the place where they had been quartered for the night; but there all
+similitude ceased. Bel-Tisam of old had sat in a plain and massive hall
+and been content. The house of Bel-Ar held treasures in metals and gems
+on its sculptured walls and pillars, aye, and on its floors, too, which
+could have paid the national debt of a wide and wasteful state.
+
+Dull gold smoldered underfoot in the mosaic of the pavement. Gold
+and orichalcum glittered and shimmered on pillar and wall. Chairs
+and tables of stone and bronze and polished woods were heavy with
+the precious metal. Set in the bases of the seventy and six pillars
+which upheld the roof were patterns gorgeous in agate, lapis-lazuli,
+turquoise, quartz, and rock-crystal. Other and similar panels
+adorned the walls. Farther up, where the work in gold and orichalcum
+began--placed so high, perhaps, to be out of reach of avaricious
+fingers--were more precious stones. There topaz, moonstone, amethyst,
+opal, sapphire, diamond, and priceless ruby and emerald flaunted their
+hundred fires.
+
+"Lordy!" muttered Zenas Wright under his breath to Ensign Brooks as
+they crossed the hall. "Give me a pick and a ladder and a half hour
+alone in which to use them, and you may have and welcome the rubies of
+Sardanes which went down with the _Minnetonka_."
+
+Near a fountain, the jets of which fell and flowed over a grotto of
+opalescent glass lighted from within, sat the master of all this
+splendor, Bel-Ar, king of Maeronica and lord of the underseas. On no
+raised dais or lofty throne sat this monarch who was absolute in his
+own land. A high-backed chair of carved black wood sufficed him, raised
+from the flooring on a single slab of red porphyry, scarcely twelve
+inches high. On another chair at his right sat his queen. The two
+were in the center of a wide crescent of seats and benches, whereon
+sat the nobles and ladies of Maeronica who made up the court. Without
+the semicircle stood attendants and slaves. Farther back, ranged in
+a double line, was one full company, one hundred men, of the palace
+guard, all in bronze mail, and each carrying his bared sword.
+
+Like a dull moth among a concourse of gaudy and fluttering butterflies
+was this powerful Maeronican king. He was attired simply in cloth
+of dark blue. A cloak of the same material had fallen back from his
+shoulders. On his knee rested a flat black cap of the same pattern
+that his meanest sailors wore. Only a light circlet of twisted gold,
+fashioned in the semblance of a slender serpent, set on his heavy
+black hair above his temples, and a short, broad sword which swung at
+his belt, distinguished the garb of Bel-Ar from that of the ordinary
+citizen of Adlaz.
+
+Seeing these things, one looked into the king's face for royalty,
+and found it there. He sat with an elbow on the arm of his chair,
+his chin cupped in his right hand, so that it hid his mouth. His
+forehead was broad and low, his nose short and tilted slightly at
+its tip. His cheeks were rounded and well-shaped. His ears, almost
+hidden in the black hair, which was cut evenly around his neck, were
+small and delicately turned as a woman's. But every other feature was
+cast into insignificance and forgotten, when one looked at the king's
+eyes. Set far apart, they were extraordinarily large, and black, so
+that iris and pupil seemed as one. They were the eyes of a mystic, a
+far-seeing dreamer, but filled with subdued fires; eyes of a strong and
+self-willed man, one not to be tampered with or led. In contrast to
+them, the skin of the face was fair, almost pallid. The king's figure
+was above medium height, broad and powerfully framed. His years were
+not more than thirty-seven.
+
+As the prisoners were brought near to him, Bel-Ar had fallen into a fit
+of abstraction. He gazed fixedly across the hall, seeing it not, nor
+its people and its walls. At his feet a little slave boy sat asleep,
+his head leaned against the leg of his king's chair, his small golden
+harp fallen across his lap.
+
+If Bel-Ar was the dull moth, his consort, Queen Raissa, who sat beside
+him, was the most gorgeous of all the butterflies. She was younger than
+the king, by a full ten years. Her face was small and flower-like, with
+pouting lips and proud blue eyes that shone like stars. Hair yellow as
+the golden, shell-shaped comb which was set in it, was piled high on
+her head, and was yet in such abundance that two heavy braids fell down
+across her shoulders. She was robed in a graceful gown of pale blue,
+the bodice of which blazed with gems. Her fingers toyed with a costly
+fan, whereof the stem was ivory and the sticks the colored plumes of
+rare birds. She gazed curiously at the strangers whom the soldiers
+brought in, and when her eyes alighted upon Oleric they became eager.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At the edge of the open space just beyond the semicircle of the
+courtiers, the guards halted. For a few moments the silence in the hall
+was broken only by the low-toned gossip of gay lords and ladies, who
+paid scant attention to guards or prisoners. Then the queen touched
+Bel-Ar's knee with her fan and spoke a few words in his ear. He started
+from his reverie.
+
+"Come hither, Brunar," he said in a deep, low voice. As he raised his
+head, it was to be seen that his chin was square and heavy, but that
+his mouth was lacking in the strength of his other features.
+
+Brunar made his report, and was replaced by Oleric the Red, who bowed
+low before the king, his ready smile playing about his lips.
+
+"You would make report of a fademe lost, Captain Oleric," said the
+king. "Doubtless a small matter to you, but meaning much to me, who ill
+can spare my fademes." He frowned.
+
+"Not so, O king," replied the captain, composing his features and
+speaking earnestly. "As you know, not all of our engineers have learned
+to govern wisely the mighty force that gives the fademes life."
+
+Bel-Ar nodded. "That is true," he said. "Now what of this engineer of
+yours?"
+
+"Why, he was a careless fellow, and whoof! one day under his hands went
+engine and fademe. They lie in fragments on the sea-bottom near the
+great south cape on the way to the ocean named Pacific, and the crew
+lies with them."
+
+"How is it, then, that you stand here to make report?"
+
+"My star watched over me, O king. I floated to the surface, alone of
+all the fademe's crew. On the wreckage of the cabin I floated. I had
+by me my hamess (mask). I donned it. Later my senses departed me. I
+was taken up by a ship from the northern world, and was treated with
+kindness by these whom you see here. Driven by storm, that ship came to
+the coast of Maeronica, and--"
+
+"Enough; I had the rest of the tale from Brunar," interposed Bel-Ar.
+
+"But of your mission to the far Pacific? What of that?" questioned
+Raissa, leaning forward eagerly.
+
+Again Oleric smiled, and smiling, drew from his belt a small leather
+bag. He advanced, and kneeling, handed the bag to the queen.
+
+"Oh! Lovely!" she gasped as she poured a part of its contents into her
+palm--pearls, five score or more of them, as fine as ever came from the
+ocean bed, she held. One great and lustrous globe of faint rose-pink
+she seized upon with a cry of delight. She held it out toward the
+king. "See! Is it not beautiful?" she exclaimed. She turned to the red
+captain.
+
+"You have done well, indeed, good Oleric," she said quickly. "My king
+shall forgive you for the lost fademe, the losing of which was surely
+no fault of yours. And these--these be worth many fademes to me." She
+selected two of the pearls of fair size and goodly sheen and gave them
+to Oleric.
+
+"You did venture your life to get them. Perchance some maid of Adlaz
+town shall look on you more kindly for the gift," she said.
+
+Bel-Ar frowned; then he smiled, too.
+
+"Well, Raissa has said it. I must agree, I suppose. I forgive you the
+fademe," he said, somewhat dryly, while the lords and ladies laughed.
+"Only sail no more ships at present, captain. Get you to the harbor,
+and there for a space relieve Atlo as captain of the port. I have need
+of him at the Kimbrian Wall, where the robbers of Ruthar have grown
+overbold.
+
+"Now, another matter." The king's brow clouded. "Which of these
+foreigners slew the bull of Shamar? This one surely." He pointed to
+Minos. "Never saw I such a man."
+
+"No, O king, not he," Oleric said. "He is from a far land in the
+southern snow wastes, which was destroyed by the earth-fires. There he
+was the king. The other one, the golden-haired man, it was, who slew
+the bull--to save a child--"
+
+"Have done. The reason for the deed avails him not," Bel-Ar broke in.
+"Have him come hither, that I may judge."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Oleric fetched Polaris Janess into the space before the throne. The son
+of the snows advanced with a firm step and halted directly in front of
+Bel-Ar, where he gazed at the king with steady eyes. Close at his heels
+came the great dog Rombar.
+
+"Why does the man not bow?" inquired Bel-Ar harshly. "Where learned he
+his manners? And how does it come that he is attended by a sacred dog
+of Shamar, that seems ready to do battle for him?"
+
+In truth, Rombar, who feared not kings, was ready for battle. He stood
+at the side of Polaris, his hackles raised and a rumbling challenge in
+his throat.
+
+Bel-Ar regarded the pair of them sternly, though many in his court
+found much to admire in the powerful form and steadfast demeanor of the
+son of the wilderness.
+
+Oleric spoke hastily in English. "Bow, brother; bow to the king; though
+I fear that 'twill not mend matters," he grumbled.
+
+Polaris inclined his head shortly and continued to meet the gaze of the
+angered king. "His bow is grudging enough," said Bel-Ar to the captain;
+"but no matter."
+
+Just then a tall old man in white and flowing robes came forward to
+the left of Bel-Ar's seat. He was lean of face, like an ancient hawk,
+and like a hawk's was his thin, curved beak. His eyes glittered with
+malice. On his breast, done in gold in the garment he wore, was the
+likeness of the rising sun, the insignia of the priests of Shamar.
+
+Well Polaris knew that shape and face. It was the master chuckler that
+had disturbed him the night before.
+
+"This man is marked by Shamar," the priest said in a high, cracked
+voice, and regarding Polaris hatefully. "As for the dog, 'tis sent by
+the god to watch that the man escape not his doom."
+
+"Oleric, hold your peace," said Bel-Ar, as the stout captain was about
+to speak. "And flout not the holy Rhaen, lest it be the worse for
+you. I will judge." The king paused and ran his eyes over the other
+prisoners.
+
+"He that slew the sacred bull, he shall be given over to the servants
+of Shamar, to be done with as the god shall will at the feast of years.
+He that was a king, he shall now serve a greater king. Let him be sent
+to the harbor, where strong backs are always welcome. The other two
+young men shall go into my mines. The old one shall be a scullion in my
+kitchens, as harder work doubtless would kill him.
+
+"Take the two women and the slayer of the bull to the prison and keep
+them fast until Shamar claims them for the feast. The women must die.
+The law commands that no foreign woman, however fair, shall live in
+Maeronica. So may the ancient blood never be tainted. I have judged.
+Let it be so, and so writ down, unless the holy Rhaen, chief servant to
+Shamar, has other claims." Bel-Ar looked inquiringly at the priest.
+
+Now it chanced that Lieutenant Everson, face to face with the man by
+whose decree his ship had perished, had fixed on the king a glance of
+undying hatred. None had noted it except the priest, Rhaen, who saw all
+things. He now asked that the naval man be turned over to the god along
+with Polaris. Bel-Ar nodded his assent.
+
+At a sign from the king, Oleric led Polaris back to his companions.
+The judgment was ended. The guards closed in around the prisoners and
+marched them away.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER IV
+
+                       "DEAD MEN ARE BEHIND US"
+
+
+Along the black avenue, back to the prison house of Mordo, the captives
+were marched. For Oleric, through the friendship Brunar bore him, won
+from that captain the half of a day for his friends, that they might
+pass it together before the separation decreed by Bel-Ar.
+
+Understanding little of what had taken place, and no word of what had
+been said in the audience-chamber of the king--for Oleric the Red was
+their only interpreter--the prisoners still had the heart to look with
+curiosity upon the doings in that part of Adlaz town which lay along
+the way that they traversed.
+
+As Zenas Wright trudged, his bright old eyes were busy, and he shook
+his white head often at the marvels which he saw. A group of the
+young bloods of Maeronica clattered by on horses. As they passed, the
+old geologist stared and stopped in his tracks, so that an impatient
+soldier of the guard hustled him with the butt of a spear.
+
+"Gold, gold, everywhere," muttered Zenas as he started on. "They even
+shoe their horses with it."
+
+In the hall where they had slept the friends gathered for council.
+Oleric had come in with them, and all eyes were turned to him. Before
+he would speak the captain insisted that meat and wine should be
+brought, and he set his helmet on the floor and ate with them.
+
+Fate willed that it should be the last time that the seven friends
+should sit at the same table.
+
+When the meal was ended, Oleric told simply and briefly of the judgment
+of Bel-Ar, holding back nothing.
+
+For a moment, silence was his answer. Then Zenas Wright brought his
+jaws together with a snap.
+
+"What! Me a scullion in that barbarian's greasy kitchen!" he barked.
+"Why not nursemaid to the royal brats?" Then Zenas groaned as his anger
+was swallowed in the realization of what was to befall the friends he
+whom had come to love so well.
+
+With his topaz eyes ablaze, Polaris Janess sprang up from the table and
+stood over the captain.
+
+"You, Oleric, who call yourself my friend, why did you not interpret
+this to us while we were in the hall yonder?" he asked quietly. "Then
+had this kingdom been kingless." He glanced down at his sinewy hands.
+Suddenly he bent over and snatched the captain's sword from its sheath.
+So he, who had seen so much of fighting, made ready to fight again, and
+for the last time. For what else was left him but to give his life for
+his lady and go to his appointed place?
+
+"Of those who come to take us, some at least shall go a long journey
+with us," he said as he toyed with the heavy blade.
+
+Everson and Brooks, picked men who had sailed the seas for Uncle Sam,
+nodded their heads, saying nothing. There have been traditions in that
+service of which they were officers. When their time came they would
+uphold them.
+
+White and straight, the Lady Memene stood up from the table and fixed
+her glorious eyes upon the Sardanian king. She plucked from the bosom
+of her gown a small, keen dagger, a blade of ilium, which a certain
+Kard the Smith had forged for her in far-away Sardanes. She reached the
+weapon across the table and into the hands of Minos.
+
+"If I understand the words of this man aright, death waiteth," she said
+in the ancient Greek of her native land. "Memene prefers it at thy
+hands, O king of mine. Slay thou me and--and the unborn king, Minos."
+Her lips trembled pitifully, and her voice broke. Then she became hard
+again, and with a fire in her eyes. "Join thou then with our good
+brother here, and slay, and slay, and slay--for this is an evil land.
+And begin with this man whom we saved from the sea, and who is evil,
+also. See! He smileth, while we are about to die."
+
+Oleric, who had made no move when his sword was taken from him, sat
+quietly, studying the faces about him and smiling his enigmatical smile.
+
+"What does the lady say?" he asked of Polaris.
+
+Janess told him.
+
+When Rose Emer heard, she threw her arms about the Sardanian princess
+and hid her face in Memene's bosom. Presently she looked up, a mist of
+tears in her gray eyes, but her voice was clear and steady as she said:
+
+"If we are to die, let us die together. Polaris, let me go with Memene."
+
+Oleric's smile vanished. He held up his hand.
+
+"Let there be no more talk of dying--at least not for many long years,"
+he said, and there were both feeling and strength in his tones.
+
+The others looked at him, wondering what his words portended.
+
+"Now the time has come for me to avow myself," continued the red
+captain. "I will speak all that has been in my mind, and you shall
+judge if I be worthy of your trust--for trust to me you must, if we are
+to see a straight way out of this tangle."
+
+He turned to Polaris.
+
+"My brother," he said, "do you recall that yesterday, when you had
+slain the bull of Shamar, I said to you that Bel-Ar would be as little
+likely to forgive you that deed as to forgive one who confessed himself
+a follower of the Goddess Glorian of Ruthar?"
+
+Polaris nodded. "I remember," he answered, "but understand not."
+
+"That is my crime," said Oleric. "I am of Ruthar, a follower of the
+Goddess Glorian, and a faithful one. I will make clear to you what you
+do not understand. Listen. I will make the tale brief.
+
+"In the long ago, the very long ago--so long that most of the world
+you know was wilderness and its peoples barbarians--a mighty people
+flourished on an island in the ocean that you name Atlantic. They
+called themselves the Children of Ad, or Adlaz, after the eldest of the
+ten kings that once ruled in that land. Tradition has it that their
+island was the first cradle of civilization; for they, because of their
+isolation, alone of all the peoples of the earth, dwelt in peace and
+plenty, and were not wasted by wars.
+
+"If the ancient maps were truly drawn, that island of Adlaz lay
+opposite and southward from the straits of a fair sea, and the straits
+were known as the Pillars of Heracles. With time and the growth of
+the nation of Ad came greed upon her children, greed and the love of
+conquest. Great navies carried their armies east and west. Along both
+shores of that blue sea, which you know as Mediterranean, they gained a
+foothold, and made the nations bend to their yoke. Westward they sailed
+to another continent across the ocean, conquering the red men of the
+wildernesses there, and founding provinces and building cities.
+
+"Then in the flower of her pride and conquests, Adlaz was cut down.
+Both sides of the Mediterranean she held as far as the gates of Egypt
+and the islands of the Hellenes. But the nation of the Hellenes was
+the rock on which the fortunes of Adlaz split. A wise and crafty king
+led the Hellenes in battle to withstand the flood of invasion from the
+island empire. He beat their army and nearly destroyed it. He trapped
+the mighty navy that had sailed from Adlaz against the Hellenes. While
+Egypt sat quaking, waiting to bend the neck to the heel of the invader,
+the Hellenes, under their wise leader, turned the tide.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Balked and broken, those who had gone forth to conquer returned to
+their island. But the great sea-god whom they worshiped must have been
+sorely angered at their failure. For in one day he arose and swallowed
+their island. The land heaved and split; the mountains were rent, and
+vomited up both fires and waters, and the entire island disappeared
+into the depths of the sea. East and west on the two continents, the
+barbarians rose against the colonies of Adlaz, and they too perished.
+O'Connell, the slave, who was learned, told me that so utterly was the
+race of Adlaz wiped from the earth that naught remains, excepting the
+half-buried ruins of some of their cities, which stand in the jungles
+of the western continent, concerning the very origin of which the minds
+of men are vague. And of the island of Adlaz itself, he told that it
+was only a dim tradition, a myth, the truth of which is doubted even by
+the learned.
+
+"But all of Adlaz did not perish. A part, a small part, of the mighty
+fleet which had sailed against the Hellenes was not lost, but was
+driven southward in the tidal-waves of the inundation which swallowed
+the island.
+
+"Afloat, but with every hand in the world turned against them, their
+colonies crumbling before the wrath of the barbarians, those chiefs of
+Adlaz turned for guidance to the son of one of their princes who was on
+one of the ships. Of his wisdom that prince told them that since they
+were hated of all the world, and that even the hand of the sea-god was
+set against them--why, they would sail to the end of the world to find
+them an abiding place, until in the fulness of time they should once
+more rule the earth. So they passed like a flame down the coasts of the
+western continent until they reached this place; and here they stopped
+and stayed, maintaining the old traditions of their race, keeping
+themselves apart--a hateful people, waiting for the day of which their
+leader told them, when they shall once more conquer the world.
+
+"But even in those days they found this land, which is warmed strangely
+by the ocean currents, was inhabited. A free and fearless race of
+barbarians dwelt here, and them the warriors of Adlaz were never able
+to subdue. Great beasts dwelt here, also--beasts so mighty that the
+earth shook when they walked--and the Children of Ad found themselves
+beset by troubles in their new land. But they throve. Though they
+could not conquer the barbarians, they drove them from the north of
+the island. And though they could not slay the mighty beasts, they
+affrighted them with fire, burning whole forests, and forced them also
+to the south. At one point the land is narrow, scarcely sixty of your
+English miles across. There the Children of Ad builded them a wall so
+tall and thick that even the beasts might not push it down.
+
+"On the other side of that wall--the Kimbrian Wall--lies Ruthar, a land
+of forests and hills and rivers, but a fair land. And there dwell the
+Rutharians and the beasts; and down through all the years to this day
+there has been war across the wall.
+
+"Now to the meat of this tale of mine, which grows long. In Ruthar
+there is a prophecy, also, to match that of those who call themselves
+Maeronicans. It is that there shall come up from the sea a mighty man
+with yellow hair like unto gold, who shall break down the Kimbrian
+Wall and let the beasts pass through, and who shall lead the chiefs
+of Ruthar in a warfare that shall break the power of Adlaz, and cast
+down the hateful kings and the cruel religion of Shamar. For that man
+the Rutharian chieftains always wait, and with them waits the Goddess
+Glorian, who is more than any king or chief."
+
+Oleric paused, and looked long and earnestly into the face of Polaris.
+
+"That is my tale, my brother," he said. "And if you are not the man of
+the ancient prophecy of Ruthar, at least I believe that you will serve."
+
+Breathlessly Zenas Wright had followed the course of the red captain's
+words. The scientist could contain himself no longer.
+
+"_Atlantis!_" he cried. From face to face about the table he looked,
+with a shadow of awe in his eager eyes. "Just so surely as we are
+sitting here--if this man tells the truth, and I think that he does--we
+are among the descendants of the people of the lost continent of
+Atlantis. Word for word, his story fits in with that which the old
+Egyptian priest at Sais told to Solon, the Greek, and which Plato
+recorded. I have read it all in the compilation by Ignatius Donnelly,
+in which he gathered all the evidence which he could find in the world
+to prove that Atlantis was not a myth."
+
+Zenas sat back with half-closed eyes. A long, low whistle passed his
+lips.
+
+"What do you call the luminous metal with which your helmet and armor
+are decorated?" he asked of Oleric.
+
+"It is called orichalcum," replied the captain.
+
+Wright nodded. "It is the same," he said. "Plato wrote that such was
+the name of a similar metal, of which the Atlanteans had the secret.
+They delved it from the ground. It was far more precious to them than
+gold. In their temples stood columns of it, on which their laws were
+carved."
+
+"O'Connell told me that there were still traditions in the world of the
+continent that was; but he never told me this," Oleric said. "You are
+right. In the Temple of Shamar, here in Adlaz, such a column stands,
+and on it the laws are writ. On it, too, is the prophecy of Maeronica,
+against which I now match the prophecy of Ruthar, whose son I am."
+
+He looked at Polaris. "Say, brother, how is it with you? Are you minded
+to come with me to Ruthar and try a tilt at the Kimbrian Wall--a tilt
+for a kingdom?"
+
+Polaris had heard the tale of Oleric with grave and earnest attention,
+studying the face of the captain as he talked. Now the son of the snows
+laughed dryly.
+
+"Mad talk, Oleric the Red," he said. "I am not the hero of your
+prophecy; and if I were, how are we to come from Adlaz to this Ruthar
+of which you tell us so glibly; and when we are come there, if that be
+possible, how are we to break down the wall which has stood against
+your armies for years--"
+
+"So it must seem to you," interrupted Oleric, with clouding brow. "Mad
+talk, indeed; and perhaps it is. But here in Adlaz is death--death and
+slavery. I know a way to Ruthar. For the matter of the wall, I have one
+question to put. Well answered, all will be well.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Here in Maeronica there are some few things in which the folk have
+progressed as far ahead of the rest of the world as the world has
+outstripped them in most others. Of these are the fademes and their
+power of destruction--the mighty force of which even I know can only be
+used beneath the sea. On land, that force is powerless except to use
+as a light. In battle the Maeronicans fight as did their forefathers,
+bearing the arms that you have seen. I know that out in the world men
+have mastered the secret of engines which slay from afar, casting
+globes of metal which fly apart with a loud noise, rending all that is
+near. Such I saw on the ship yonder.
+
+"We have, as you reckon time, nearly six months before the Feast of
+Years, when doom will be meted out to those who are marked for death.
+I know that is not time enough, nor do I think we have the means to
+construct such engines. But, say--has no one among you the knowledge to
+make the stuff which you feed into them? If there is such a one, why,
+I know in Ruthar a laboratory where he might work, with many willing
+hands to do his bidding. I have tried it myself, but have discovered
+nothing. Surely one of you, who are instructed, shall do better. So
+might we destroy even the great wall."
+
+He paused, and gazed hard at Zenas Wright and then at Lieutenant
+Everson.
+
+"_An explosive!_" Zenas Wright almost shouted the words. "You have a
+brain in that red head, my boy. With the proper chemicals it might be
+done." He clapped Everson on the shoulder. "With you to help me, it
+might be done. What do you think, lieutenant?"
+
+"I would do most anything to get a chance at this nest of devils," said
+Everson, and his eyes glittered. "I have not trusted this man. I do
+not know that I trust him now. But if he is playing fair, there seems
+no other way. Whatever you decide to do, I am with you, and will do my
+best. If we can find the chemicals, we can make an explosive powerful
+enough to move a few tons of stone, if that will do any good."
+
+"Break you the wall, and I will promise you the rest of the trick,"
+the captain cried, "or Ruthar will die to the last man on the road to
+Adlaz!"
+
+He considered for a moment.
+
+"One man I can surely take with me to Ruthar," he said. "Two will
+double, aye more than double the risk; and three would more than triple
+it. Still, it may be accomplished. I must have a little time; but I
+will do my best.
+
+"Now, my brother, what say you? If I can bring it about so that you and
+the old man here, Father Zenas, and this other, who, though he trust me
+not, I will yet play fair by--if I can manage it that these go with me
+to Ruthar--will you come, also?"
+
+"What of these others?" Polaris asked, and looked at Rose Emer.
+
+"Here they must stay," Oleric answered.
+
+"'Twill be hard enough to take the three of you--and slaying will be
+done before it is accomplished. It is impossible to take more. By the
+way which we shall go, no woman might pass undetected. But I tell you
+they shall come to no harm in your absence. The very law of the land
+protects them. They be marked for the ceremonies of Shamar. Until the
+appointed time, not even the king himself dare harm them. Bethink you,
+brother; this is the only way."
+
+"Yonder on the ship you made a promise, Oleric," replied Polaris. "I
+think you will try to keep it. I trust you. But there are other things
+to consider." He addressed himself to Rose Emer.
+
+"Lady, you have heard this madness, which yet, as says the captain,
+does seem to be the only road save that to death. In such things
+ofttimes the heart of a woman is wiser than the brains of men. Let your
+heart answer. Shall I go to Ruthar, and with this man and his people
+fight my way back to Adlaz, if it may be done?"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"The future of this company hangs on your word, lady," put in Oleric.
+"And I make another promise. By day and by night I will not leave the
+side of my brother. If he shall find that in any word I have lied, if
+he shall meet with any treachery through me, then let him wring this
+red head from off my shoulders."
+
+"If we stay here, we must die to-day, or be separated and die later,"
+Rose Emer said with a shudder. "And our friends, if they do not die,
+face a life of slavery." She looked into the face of Polaris, and
+though her lips trembled and the tears started to her gray eyes, she
+said bravely:
+
+"Go to Ruthar, and come back if you can. If you do not come, I will
+know that you have done all that a man can do."
+
+"I will go with you, Oleric," Polaris said simply. "Now, what is your
+plan?"
+
+"This," answered the captain. "When the guards come, as they will
+presently, you, my brother, will go with them to the dungeons that lie
+below this house. Though they are cut in the rock they are lighted well
+and are not terrible. You will not fare badly there. The ladies will be
+quartered above here, and I will exert my influence to see that they
+are treated well. These others will not fare so well; but they are men,
+and can stand it. Let them do as they are bid without protest. Within
+ten days from this day I will plan to have you out of your prison, and
+will contrive, also, to bring with me Father Zenas and the captain
+of the ship. By stealth or by force, we shall seize a marizel, pass
+through the hidden canal from Adlaz to the harbor, thence to the sea
+and down the coast to Ruthar.
+
+"I shall have some aid; for within the walls of Adlaz there is one
+other man of Ruthar who is faithful to me. You may wonder how it is
+that I, who am of Ruthar and hate Adlaz, yet am a captain in the
+service of Bel-Ar. Years ago I passed the Kimbrian Wall, coming as a
+spy and giving it out that I was the son of Maeronican parents taken
+captive in a foray; that I had been born in Ruthar, but had escaped
+into my own country. Here I have stayed at the bidding of the Goddess
+Glorian, ready against the time for which all Ruthar waits. Bel-Ar
+likes men of brains. I have some, and I have risen to be one of his
+captains. Also, I have learned much. That is all my story."
+
+"Who is the Goddess Glorian?" Rose Emer asked. "Is she the queen of
+Ruthar?"
+
+Oleric's eyes widened at the question; but he answered readily enough:
+
+"Yes, lady; she is the queen."
+
+"You say that there are great beasts in Ruthar," said Zenas Wright.
+"What are they--elephants?"
+
+"No; they are not what you call elephants," replied the captain.
+"O'Connell thought they were until he saw them. Then he gave them
+another name, which I have forgot. He told me of elephants; but they
+must be puny beasts compared to those which dwell in the forests of
+Ruthar. We call them amalocs. This man is a giant." He pointed to
+Minos, who stood six feet eight on his naked feet. "But were he twice
+as tall, he could not look across the back of an amaloc. But they are
+shaped like the elephants of which O'Connell told, and, like them, they
+are tusked. Their bodies are covered with red wool--almost as red as is
+my own thatch."
+
+"_Elephas primigenius!_ Mammoths, no less," said Zenas. And he added
+under his breath, "I will believe that when I see them, my friend."
+
+Low as were his words, Oleric heard them.
+
+"You shall see them, Father Zenas," he said, and laughed.
+
+Presently came the guards, and the friends were separated. Some of them
+were never to be reunited.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Deep in the rock below the old palace of Bel-Tisam, where Mordo ruled,
+the guards led Polaris Janess, and left him there. Oleric had spoken
+truly concerning the place, and the captive might have fared much worse
+in a modern prison in a civilized land. For the place was roomy and
+well ventilated, and, above all, it was clean. A chamber or cell, it
+was, some forty feet square by thirty feet in height. Its outer wall
+was the living rock. On the other three sides was masonry. A circular
+door of bronze, small and of great strength, was its only entrance.
+
+Through that door from the corridor without stepped Polaris, and behind
+him, close as a shadow, padded the huge dog, Rombar, rumbling in his
+throat so that the guards shrank from him. The door clanged shut, and
+the bars and wards clashed into place. The guards had neither bound
+nor chained Polaris. They had not even searched his clothing. The
+thickness of the dungeon walls was their guarantee that he would do no
+mischief; and besides, they went well armed.
+
+Air entered the chamber through mortises in the wall near the ceiling
+and above the ground level, where began the foundation of the
+palace. It was lighted by a single globe, with its enclosed curious
+battery--mitzl, the Maeronicans called it; but the Americans had
+decided that the source of the light was some new application of
+electricity.
+
+By the light from the globe Polaris saw that he was not alone in the
+cell. A small man, whose features were concealed by a mat of unkempt
+gray hair and a shaggy beard, sat on a low cot in the angle of the wall
+nearest to the door. He was clothed in rags.
+
+This man did not look up when another was thrust in to break his
+solitude, but bent low over something which he had on the cot, swaying
+back and forth as he sat, and crooning softly to himself.
+
+Polaris cast his fellow prisoner a glance, and then fell to pacing
+up and down the length of the cell. His mood was gloomy. Above him
+somewhere through those gray walls dwelt his dear lady; but, ah, how
+far away! For he was powerless now to comfort her or to aid. Oleric
+would keep faith. Of that he was sure; but his heart misgave him
+mightily lest the plans of the captain should go awry.
+
+Yes; above him were Rose and Lady Memene, who through the long weeks of
+their prisonment, each night when they went to rest, would kneel and
+pray for his welfare and that of Minos and the others, and that all
+plans might prevail.
+
+Presently the son of the snows sat himself on a second cot on the far
+side of the chamber, and fell to fondling Rombar and toying with the
+dog's pointed ears.
+
+"Good Rombar," he said. "Good fellow and comrade."
+
+At his words, the man in the corner sprang up from his cot as though
+fire had touched him. He shrieked hoarsely and tottered across the
+floor, moving and clawing at the air with his hands. Unheeding the
+snarling menace of Rombar, he came on until he stood in front of the
+cot where Polaris sat holding the dog back by the collar.
+
+The man bent over, resting his hands on his knees, and peered into
+Polaris's face with darkling, rheumy eyes.
+
+"Hinglish!" he croaked, gasping for his breath. "Hinglish! Did Hi 'ear
+a Hinglish word, or was I a-dreamin'? Sye?"
+
+He trembled in a terrible eagerness.
+
+"You did, indeed," Polaris said gently. "Now tell me how you came here,
+who speak it also, and who are you?"
+
+"Gor'bly me; Hi never 'oped to 'ear another Hinglish word in this
+life--me wot's rottin' 'ere into my grave!" the man said. "Gor'! Gor'!"
+He subsided into a tattered heap on the floor of the cell, covered his
+eyes with his shaking, grimy hands, and sobbed hysterically.
+
+Restraining the dog, which would have sprung upon the weeping man,
+Polaris leaned forward and patted the poor fellow on the shoulder.
+
+"Who are you, and how do you come to be in a Maeronican dungeon?" he
+asked.
+
+"Jack Melton's me nyme, sir," the man said brokenly. "Hi'm from old
+Lunnon, Gor' bless 'er! Hi was cook on the ship _Aldine_, sir, from
+'Ong-Kong to Durban, round the Cape. We got off our course, and the
+bloody devils sunk us--skewered us like a mutton shank, sir, with a
+streak of light. An' w'y in 'ell they did it, sir, is more than Hi can
+tell.
+
+"Hi floated free on a cask--a biscuit cask, sir. Or mayhap it was a
+'encoop; Hi've forgot, Hi was that flustered. Hup bobs a bloomin' big
+gold ball from the sea--it's Gord's truth. They took me aboard, an'
+they brought me ashore. They sets me to work in their mines; but Hi'd
+not do a stroke for them, sir. Hi near killed one of the bosses. Then
+they brought me here, sir. Oh, Gor'! Oh, Gor'-a-me!"
+
+He broke out weeping afresh and rocked himself back and forth.
+
+"How long have you been here?" questioned Polaris.
+
+"That Hi can't tell, sir," Melton replied. "Hi used to keep count of
+the weeks an' months; but Hi lost it. Mayhap 'alf a year; mayhap a
+year."
+
+Melton fell silent for a time. Then he chuckled to himself and tottered
+to his feet.
+
+"_Hi'll_ get even with 'em, sir," he said. "Never fear; _Hi'll_ get
+even. Come an' see, sir."
+
+He took Polaris by the hand and led him across the floor to the other
+cot. "Look!" he said, and fumbled back the ragged covers.
+
+Beady black eyes glistened among the rags. A sharp and whiskered gray
+snout was thrust forth, twitching and sniffing; then another and
+another. A mother rat and two half-grown young ones were hidden in
+Melton's bed. Out they crept to their master's coaxing, only to scurry
+back, squeaking, when Rombar thrust his head from behind Polaris,
+whining with eagerness to be at them.
+
+"Keep the tyke back, sir," said Melton. "'E frights 'em. This 'ere's
+'Enrietta, an' 'ere's Bobby an' Bill. 'Enrietta's an old fool, an'
+Bobby's no better; but Bill, 'e's a wonner, sir. See!"
+
+From his breast he took a splinter of wood, to which was attached a bit
+of frayed red rag, on which he had rudely drawn in black the lines of
+the Union Jack. He placed one of the young rats on his palm, and laid
+the sliver with its frayed shred of bunting in front of the little
+animal. Softly he began to whistle the bars of "God Save the King."
+
+"Come, Bill; 'urry," he said, and resumed his low whistling. The rat
+took up the flag in its teeth and sat on its haunches in its master's
+hand. As long as the whistling continued the little beast shook its
+head vigorously, waving the tiny emblem. When Melton ceased the anthem,
+Bill let fall the flag and swarmed, squeaking, down the man's arm, to
+nestle away among the rags at his breast.
+
+"Gor'bly me, Bill, you're a wonner!" Melton said with pride. He placed
+his strange pet back with the others and pulled the coverlet over them.
+
+"Listen. Hi'll tell you wot no man knows," he whispered to Janess.
+"They're hoff a plyge-ship. 'Enrietta an' Bobby an' Bill is. They
+carried it to us from a bloomin' junk at 'Ong-Kong. The cap'n was
+dyin' of it in 'is cabin when the ship went down, sir. And Hi'm
+a-nursin' of 'em along, sir. Hi saved 'Enrietta, and she became a
+mother, sir. When there's enough of them, Hi shall loose them, sir.
+That's 'ow Hi'll get even. Gor'bly me! Hi'll kill hevery beggar in this
+land with the plyge. 'Enrietta an' Bobby an' Bill will do it, sir."
+
+Melton sat down on his cot again, and crooned to himself over his pets.
+He seemed to forget the presence of Janess. Neither then or afterward
+did he ask Polaris any questions as to how he came to share his prison.
+Polaris drew away from him and went back to his own side of the cell.
+He saw that the man was mad.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Twice each day one of Mordo's guards brought the captives their
+meals--bread and meat and water in generous measure, enough for the men
+and the dog. Melton from his rations fed his whiskered family.
+
+With his pocket-knife and a bit of wood from the frame of his cot, the
+son of the snows made shift to keep track of the passing of the days,
+cutting a nick in the wood for each. "God send that they be not many
+before the coming of Oleric," he prayed fervently.
+
+One night he was startled from his sleep by an uproar in the chamber.
+Melton's cursing and shrieking was intermingled with the angry snarls
+of Rombar. Polaris sprang up and threw off the cloth with which he was
+wont to darken the mitzl globe when he slept.
+
+Melton was crouched in the middle of the cell. His face was livid and
+contorted. Tears of rage were on his cheeks, and his breath was coming
+in gasps. His lips were writhed away from his ragged teeth. In front
+of him, tensed and ready to spring, was Rombar. On the floor, where it
+had dropped from the dog's jaws, lay a little bundle of gray fur, still
+twitching feebly.
+
+Before the impending grapple, Polaris bounded between them and jerked
+the dog back by the collar.
+
+"What is it?" he cried. "What ails you, Melton?"
+
+Then Janess saw the maimed little fragment of life on the floor, and
+his face saddened.
+
+"'Fore Gord, 'e's murdered my 'Enrietta!" howled Melton. "The tyke's
+murdered 'er, Hi sye! And Hi'll kill 'im, Hi will--and you, too, if you
+tries to stop me! And you, too, Hi says!"
+
+He staggered toward Janess and lunged out with his right hand.
+Something glistened in the light as he struck. Polaris avoided the
+blow, and caught and wrenched the outstretched arm. A slender bar of
+iron fell tinkling to the floor. Janess picked it up. Where it had come
+from he did not know; but Melton, by patient rubbing against the stones
+of the wall, had ground it to a needle point.
+
+"Let me at 'im!" the crazed man shrieked. "Hi'll tear 'im with me bare
+'ands!"
+
+Polaris pushed him back.
+
+"I am sorry, very sorry, for what he has done," he said. "But he is my
+good friend, and I shall not let him come to harm. He did but follow
+the instincts of his nature."
+
+Melton stared at him for a moment, and then, weeping and cursing,
+retired to his cot. Far into the night Polaris heard him moaning and
+mumbling to himself, and pitied him.
+
+Janess hid the weapon under his own pillow. Then with strips of his
+bedding he wove a stout cord, and thereafter when he slept he tied
+Rombar fast to a leg of the bed.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Days passed away--ten days, eleven, twelve, and still another. And yet
+there was no sign of Oleric. Polaris's stout heart sank.
+
+In the dark hours of the fourteenth day he awoke. He heard the grating
+of bronze hinges. At the side of his bed, Rombar growled softly.
+Polaris snatched the hood from the light.
+
+The door of bronze was open. The mitzl rays shone on the tall form of
+a man in golden armor.
+
+Oleric had come!
+
+"I am late at my tryst," whispered the red captain, "but I could not
+manage it sooner. Now we must haste, or 'twill be too late forever."
+He grinned. "I see your beard has grown somewhat," he said. "Perchance
+those bristles shall serve well. You are an ill man to disguise. Who is
+here?" he asked as he caught sight for the first time of Melton, who
+had not awakened.
+
+"A poor crazed English sailor," Polaris answered. He crossed the
+chamber, with Rombar at his heels; for he had stopped to undo the rope.
+
+"What? The brute, too?" groaned Oleric.
+
+"I fear we must," Polaris said. "If I leave him, he will rouse the
+prison with his howling, and I will not slay him. He has been too good
+a friend. Can we not manage to take him?"
+
+"Aye; bring him," grumbled the captain. "First fetch yonder light."
+
+Janess took down the globe. As he swung it toward Oleric, he saw that
+the hands of the captain were splashed red with blood. Oleric noted his
+glance.
+
+"Dead men are behind us," he said. "Thrice to-night have I used my
+sword--once at the mines, where I got Everson, and twice above. Two of
+the men of Mordo will turn no more prison keys. Come!"
+
+He stepped cautiously out through the door.
+
+Polaris glanced across to where the mad Cockney lay breathing heavily.
+
+"Some day, if it be given me, I will open this door again and set you
+free, John Melton," he whispered.
+
+He stooped and went out through the doorway, and Rombar followed.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Outside the door of the dungeon-chamber Polaris stumbled over the form
+of a tall man in armor, who lay with his face to the floor.
+
+"More death?" Janess asked of Oleric, who busied himself with the bolts
+of the bronze door.
+
+"Not so," said the captain with a chuckle, as he shot the last bar home
+in its socket. "Only the death that good wines bring. He has the best
+part of seven bottles in his skin."
+
+He looked up at Polaris apologetically.
+
+"Bel-Ar would flay him for this night's work, did he find him," he
+said. "You say the dog has been a good friend to you. Well, this man
+Mordo, with all his glum ways, is a good fellow. I will not leave my
+old drinking companion to the mercy of Bel-Ar."
+
+Without answer, Polaris handed the light to Oleric, and stooped and
+swung the limp figure of Mordo to his shoulder.
+
+Oleric glanced at the keys in his hand and then at the door.
+
+"I'll not turn the locks," he said. "I would not have the poor slave
+within starve while they made new keys."
+
+He led the way along the corridor, past a broad stone stairway, to the
+south wall of the old palace, where it fronted on the black avenue
+called Chedar's Flight. There in the wall were other doors of bronze.
+Oleric paused before one of them.
+
+"Will I ever enter Mordo's wine-cellars again, I wonder?" he said. He
+found the key and opened the heavy door. Within, the light disclosed
+rack after rack, seemingly without end, of dust-covered flagons. They
+threaded their way among them until Oleric found what he sought. In
+the stone floor of the chamber in a far corner was a round trap-door
+of bronze. The captain had to tug one of the wine-racks to one side to
+disclose it.
+
+"Lay Mordo down, comrade, and help," he said, when his utmost strength
+had failed to stir the door.
+
+Polaris, still balancing his burden on his shoulder, bent down and
+caught the ancient ring of the door in one hand. Before Oleric could
+lay hold to help him he straightened, the mighty muscles of his back
+cracking with the effort. The door was open.
+
+The trap yawned on a dark stairway leading down through the rock. Far
+below sounded the plashing of waters. "Mind where you set your feet,"
+warned Oleric as he started down.
+
+"Where are Everson and the old man?" asked Polaris.
+
+"They wait us below in the hidden canal--they and one other," replied
+the captain. "They entered by another way, while I was busied in the
+house of Mordo."
+
+Oleric closed the trap and left the keys on the stair-top. Down fully
+threescore steps they went, and stood on a wharf of stone at the edge
+of a narrow canal that had been cut in the rock. Overhead, the roof was
+arched and vaulted. At the lip of the wharf was moored a small marizel,
+the golden plates of which caught the rays of the lamplike fire.
+
+"All the way from the Temple of the Sun to the harbor of Adlaz this
+canal leads, cut through the rock underneath Chedar's Flight," said
+Oleric. He stepped on the rear deck of the little craft and struck
+softly on its door, which was opened at once. A short man of middle
+age came onto the deck. He was clothed in the garb of a sailor. As the
+light fell on him, Polaris saw that his hair was almost as red as that
+of Oleric.
+
+"Now here is another good man of Ruthar," said the captain. And to the
+man he said, "Urk, this is the man whereof I have told you." From head
+to foot, Urk gave the son of the snows a long and searching glance.
+Then he folded his arms on his breast and bowed low.
+
+With Mordo on his shoulder, Polaris stepped onto the deck and through
+the door, followed by Rombar.
+
+Oleric closed the double doors of the craft, and Urk, who was skilled
+about the engines, at once got her under way. Submerged and showing no
+light, they crept cautiously down the canal toward the sea.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the cabin of the marizel were Everson and Wright--though Polaris had
+to look twice and then again to recognize the geologist. Zenas wore the
+mean black of a servant in the king's kitchens. His white hair had been
+bobbed and his beard shaved from him. But his little black eyes were as
+bright and restless as ever, and his voice was hearty as he wrung the
+hand of Polaris and said:
+
+"Lordy, son, but it's good to see you."
+
+Everson, who had discarded the dirty garments of a delver in the earth
+for the full golden armor of a Maeronican captain, caught Polaris's
+hand as Zenas relinquished it.
+
+"Our work has begun," he said, "and begun well. I shall distrust this
+man no more." He pointed to Oleric. "He has kept his promise in blood.
+He released me to-night, and he killed a man to do it."
+
+As they neared the harbor, Oleric explained that they would be forced
+to leave the marizel in the canal and cross the open court of the
+harbor to the wharves.
+
+"Else we must undergo inspection by the guards at the mouth of the
+canal," he said. "There is a gate there, and no marizel may pass
+without inspection. My lucky star it was that made Bel-Ar name me
+captain of the port in Atlo's stead. But even I could not pass you
+through the guards. Their eyes are keen, and one of us at least is a
+marked man in Adlaz." He glanced at Polaris. "There be too many of
+them to slay," he added. "I would have fitted you out with a suit of
+mail, brother; but there is none in Maeronica of a size to cover those
+shoulders of yours--unless it be that of Bel-Ar, which I could not well
+borrow."
+
+"When we leave this craft, what then, Oleric?" Polaris asked.
+
+"I have another waiting at the end of the southern quay," replied
+Oleric. "Urk knows the harbor as he knows the palm of his hand. Once
+through the outer channel, then down the coast to Ruthar."
+
+They left the marizel moored in the canal and went up through a passage
+in the rock to where a door led into the great arched tunnel above,
+where Chedar's Flight ended at the harbor of Adlaz town. Now there was
+only the crossing of the wharf and all would be well.
+
+But hark! As Oleric laid his hand on the door of the passage, came the
+thunder of hoofs through the tunnel, and a steel rider on a white horse
+flashed past and clattered across the court to the warehouses. He rode
+furiously, and as he neared the quays he cried out.
+
+Oleric tore the door open.
+
+"Our work behind there is overtaking us!" he cried. "We must run for
+it!"
+
+Polaris shifted Mordo's weight from his shoulder to his arms and
+bounded across the pavement at the heels of the captain. Behind came
+Wright, Everson, and Oleric's Rutharian henchman. Rombar leaped at the
+side of Polaris.
+
+Lights flashed ahead of them as they ran. When they neared the south
+quay, they saw that the way to it was barred by a thin line of men in
+steel, among whom glittered the golden armor of the captain of the
+canal guard.
+
+Casting a glance over his shoulder as he ran, to note the disposal of
+his own party, Oleric drew his sword and charged the line. The guard
+captain leaped out to meet him, shield up and sword aloft. Him Oleric
+cut down with a single stroke, laughing as he struck. In another
+instant Everson's blade was out and busy. His cutlass exercises at
+old Annapolis stood him well. The line of steel gave. The other three
+fugitives, running together, dashed through and gained the quay. But
+behind them came many men.
+
+Polaris laid Mordo on the wharf and looked about him for a weapon.
+The door of the nearest warehouse was made fast with a bar of bronze
+or steel, nearly eight feet in length. Janess tore it from its rests.
+At the end of the quay he saw the marizel of Oleric riding in its
+moorings, and saw that Urk had clambered aboard it and was making all
+ready to cast off.
+
+Whirling his ponderous weapon, which was a weight to tax the strength
+of an ordinary man to lift from the ground, Polaris rushed into the
+thick of the press, where the red captain and the naval lieutenant
+fought side by side.
+
+"Get you to the boat!" he shouted. "When all is ready, whistle that I
+may know."
+
+_Clang!_ The metal bar fell, and three men in steel went down under its
+sweep. With the agility of a panther, the son of the snows leaped and
+struck again. At his side black Rombar raged like a demon. Before those
+terrible blows no man, however well begirt in steel, could stand and
+live.
+
+The Maeronican fighting men drew back, aghast. The way to the wharf was
+clear.
+
+Laughing aloud, Oleric drew out of the fight and ran along the wharf to
+the marizel. Everson paused at the side of Polaris.
+
+"Best go on," Janess told him. "I shall need no aid. Or, if you stay,
+stand to one side a bit. I have need for much room."
+
+Once more the Maeronican men-at-arms closed in. Polaris, with his bar,
+charged them, shouting; for his blood was up. They should take him back
+to no dungeon when his freedom beckoned so near. Two more armored men
+fell, their mail cracking like egg-shell under the clanging flail that
+opposed them. Another went down under the murderous jaws of Rombar who
+fought at his master's thigh.
+
+Loud and clear then sounded the whistle of Oleric. Hurling the bar in
+the faces of the bewildered men of the guard, the son of the snows ran
+to the end of the wharf and sprang to the deck of the marizel. Everson
+entered the door just ahead of him. Oleric and Urk already had stowed
+Mordo within the vessel and cut loose the mooring ropes.
+
+As he paused for an instant on the rear deck to call the great dog to
+him, Polaris saw a giant figure come from one of the stone warehouses
+and run out to the end of the next quay. In the dusk, and at that
+distance, he yet was able to recognize Minos.
+
+"It is I, Polaris!" Janess shouted. "We leave for Ruthar, if we may win
+through. Farewell for a space, until we come again."
+
+Back came the deep voice of the king in answer:
+
+"Fare thee well, my brother!" he cried in the ancient Greek of
+Sardanes. "May the high God guide thy footsteps."
+
+Many a time in after years did the son of the snows recall to mind
+that scene: the great, circular basin of the harbor of Adlaz, dim under
+the light from the stars; the glittering fademes that were riding at
+anchor; the twinkling of mitzl globes along the wharves, where men
+ran to and fro; the court and its huge, black archway; the armored
+men of the guard coming on across the wharf; and the tall form of the
+Sardanian king standing at the end of the quay and waving farewell.
+
+Reenforcements had come to the Maeronican guards, and they rushed
+the quay. But Urk had his engine going. The marizel shot out into
+the harbor. In a moment more the little craft had dived beneath the
+surface. Like an arrow, it clove through the under water. Crafty
+steersman was Urk. Through the harbor he drove the marizel in safety,
+and through the tunnel to the sea, meeting no incoming danger. Once out
+of the channel, he turned the nose of the craft southward, down the
+coast toward Ruthar.
+
+Miles away, amid the dim Rutharian forests, fierce-eyed men gripped
+their sword-hilts firmer, and prayed to their stars and their goddess
+for the safe making of that journey and the glory of the war that
+was to come. For word had come to Ruthar--over the Kimbrian Wall it
+had come--that Oleric the Red had turned his face toward home again,
+bringing with him the man for whom a nation waited.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER V
+
+                     WHERE THE ILLIA MEETS THE SEA
+
+
+In the watches of the night arose a great clamor and outcry in the old
+palace of Bel-Tisam. So loud was the din that it aroused Rose Emer and
+the Lady Memene from their slumbers in the chamber off the ancient hall
+where they were quartered. In the outer corridors they heard the clang
+of feet of armored men and their hoarse shouts as they called to one
+another. This grew faint and passed away, and then swelled loud and
+near again, as of men who had penetrated into the lower dungeons of the
+prison and returned.
+
+Sitting up in their bed and holding each other by the hand for comfort,
+the two women were afraid for what might have happened.
+
+"Something untoward is on foot," said Memene. "Perhaps this is the
+night chosen by the red man from the sea" (for so she called Oleric)
+"to go forth as he did promise, although it is past the time he set
+for his going."
+
+"Do you think that they have discovered the plan, and that
+he--Polaris--is taken again? I pray to God that is not so," whispered
+Rose.
+
+"Something has greatly stirred the guards," Memene replied. "But I do
+not think that the mighty man of the wilderness and his red friend are
+taken. Those shouts we heard but now were those of disappointed men."
+
+As the uproar continued through the rooms of the old prison, Rose and
+Memene arose and donned their garments. Sleep, for that night, had fled
+them.
+
+Presently they heard, but faint and muffled through the intervening
+walls, the clatter of hoofs on the pavement of the black avenue as a
+horse passed by, ridden at furious speed.
+
+A little later the door from the corridor outside the hall of audience
+was opened, and through it came that captain of the palace-guard who
+was named Brunar. From Oleric, the captain had learned a few words
+of the English tongue, and he now made shift with them to tell the
+two fair prisoners that Polaris and Oleric, and likewise the captain,
+Mordo, had gone. The escape of Zenas Wright and Everson had not been
+discovered as yet. Two dead guards in the rooms of Mordo, and the
+absence of the marizel from its moorings in the hidden canal near the
+Temple of the Sun, accounted for part of the story. A rider on the
+fleetest horse in the stables of Bel-Ar, said Brunar, had been sent to
+the harbor to warn the guards there, so they might trap the fugitives.
+
+From the manner in which his news was received, the captain was able
+to guess that Rose and Memene knew something of what was on foot. But
+this Brunar was a very courteous man, and he forbore to question them
+closely, if indeed he had enough English to do so. In the morning he
+came again, and told them of the fight at the harbor and the sailing
+of the marizel; for Brunar now took up his abode in the palace of
+Bel-Tisam and looked after the duties of Mordo. His two wards found
+him a kindly jailer, and as indulgent as circumstances would permit
+him to be, who could not set them free. Brunar was angry indeed at the
+supposed treachery of Oleric and of Mordo, not knowing that the one was
+a spy of Ruthar and that the other had had no will in the manner of his
+going forth from Adlaz.
+
+Report was made later in the day of the escape of Everson from the
+mines, and of Zenas Wright from the household of the king, and men
+marveled at the daring of the deed and the craft of it. But the two
+women in their prison, or Ensign Brooks in the mines, or Minos at the
+harbor, got no more news of the fugitives for many a long day.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+With Urk, the sailor, squatting among the levers of his engine, the
+marizel of Oleric swam steadily and swiftly down the western coast of
+Maeronica. Under water she went, well off from the shore and showing no
+lights. Oleric showed his passengers the marvelous valves in the sides
+of the little vessel which were similar in construction to the mask
+with which they already were familiar, and by means of which the air in
+the marizel was replenished with oxygen drawn from the sea water.
+
+Also, he told them somewhat of the land to which they were journeying,
+explaining why it was that Ruthar, though smaller and more sparsely
+populated by far than Maeronica, had never been conquered by the larger
+power. It was a land of forests and mountains, he said, and all the
+way around its ragged coastline were huge, precipitous cliffs, the
+overhanging crags of which were a natural barrier to invasion. Wherever
+had been a break in the cliff-line, the Rutharians, by dint of great
+labors, had filled the breaks with walls, closing the gaps so that the
+only places where one might land on Ruthar from the sea were certain
+spots where narrow stretches of beach lay at the foot of the towering
+cliffs.
+
+At only one point could one come at the interior of the country from
+the sea, Oleric said, and that was at the mouth of a river named Illia.
+That place was closely guarded, and nature and the hand of man had
+united to make of it a way where one man might defy a thousand.
+
+Years before, the red captain said, the Rutharians had had a few small
+ships. But they had little use for them, and with the perfection of
+the fademes by the Maeronicans, nearly a century before, the Rutharian
+vessels had been promptly sent to the bottom. Metals were easily mined,
+and in abundance, especially gold, in Maeronica. But the materials
+which produced the power for the fademes and for their terrible
+destroyers were scarce and precious. Therefore, the growth of the navy
+of Adlaz had been slow.
+
+But with the fulfillment of the mighty destiny of the Children of Ad
+in mind, the scientists labored unceasingly, and it was in the mind
+of Bel-Ar that he was to be the man to see the accomplishment of that
+destiny. He waited but the equipment of a few more fademes to send
+his dreadful messengers forth to take and hold all the seas on earth,
+compelling the nations of the world to bow to the power of Adlaz, as
+tradition told him they once had bowed before.
+
+"Now Ruthar, if her stars shine brightly, shall put a big stone before
+his chariot-wheels and break his power," Oleric said, "repaying evil
+with evil until good come of it, and the Goddess Glorian reigns from
+the capes at the north to the southern seas. And in that I pray that
+my part shall not be small." With a laugh he added, "This is a strange
+game for me to play--Oleric the Red, loose-mouthed soldier and slayer
+of men--who in Ruthar am known as Oleric the learned, a professor in
+the University of Nematzin, which is hard by the hill of Flomos, on the
+banks of the river Illia."
+
+"And this Goddess Glorian--" asked Zenas Wright curiously. "Is she a
+statue in a temple, or the good star of Ruthar, or is she merely a
+name?"
+
+For once the readiness in answer of the red captain deserted him, and
+he stared at the geologist with open mouth. Then he said soberly:
+
+"No statue in a temple is the Goddess Glorian. Good star of Ruthar she
+is surely, and, in addition, she is the fairest woman on whom Shamar
+ever had looked down from the skies. And now her time comes on, for
+which she has waited many a hun--"
+
+Oleric broke off suddenly and turned his eyes on Polaris with a strange
+look.
+
+"Nay," he said; "for the rest you must learn from the goddess herself.
+My tongue does clack like a shepherd-wife's." Nor would he then or
+thereafter tell more of Ruthar and its goddess.
+
+Zenas Wright mused to himself, and the train of his musings ran thus:
+"Oleric, you seem to keep your promises, and you are a good fighter,
+for I have seen you fight. But when it comes to your tales of living
+mammoths in this twentieth century, and of a goddess in the shape of
+a woman who has _waited many a hundred years_--for that was what you
+almost said, my friend--why, then, I can't follow you; and I think you
+like to draw the long bow."
+
+Swiftly as the marizel traveled, that night wore into dawn, and day and
+darkness came, and still another dawning, ere Urk turned off his power
+and filled the air-chambers which raised the vessel to the surface of
+the sea. They had rounded the southern coast of Ruthar and beat up
+along the eastern shores, and here, as they arose from the depths,
+straight ahead of them lay the mouth of the river Illia. When the
+voyagers saw it, they did not wonder that Adlaz found little fortune in
+attacking Ruthar by sea.
+
+An irregular fissure in the frowning face of the cliff discharged the
+river into the sea. That rift was nearly thirty yards wide at its
+bottom, and narrowed almost to nothingness far above, where the red
+granite of the headlands towered many hundreds of feet in height. Down
+the glen in the fissure the river Illia tripped to the sea like a lady
+down a stately stairway. For the rock of the river-bed was shelving,
+in strata which varied from less than a foot to nearly three feet in
+height, and some of the shelves were as much as ten yards in breadth;
+so that the water came down that great natural stair in a series of
+broad cascades.
+
+"Up yonder stairway lies the path into Ruthar," Oleric said, pointing,
+as they stood on the deck of the marizel, and Urk laid the vessel as
+near to the shelving bank below the river-mouth as he could. "Here we
+must leave the marizel, and to the kindness of the waves; for there is
+no harbor in which to store her."
+
+Oleric clambered from the deck and stood up to his knees on the
+lowermost step of the Illia's wide stairway. The others followed, Urk
+last of all, haling before him the captain, Mordo, with his hands bound.
+
+For Mordo had proved an unruly passenger. When the fumes of the wine
+cleared from his brain, which was not for many hours, he had so cursed
+and raged at Oleric, forswearing all friendship that had been between
+them, that the Rutharian had lost his temper. He told Mordo roundly
+that he wished that he had left him to the mercy of Bel-Ar and the
+priests of Shamar.
+
+"Better that than the company of a traitorous hound," growled Mordo out
+of a soul in which no gratitude dwelt. Oleric deemed that it was best
+to bind him, lest he do mischief.
+
+Ascent of the river-stair was not difficult at first, for the steps
+were broad, and at that season of the year the volume of water coming
+down them was not so strong but that a man might keep his footing if he
+used care.
+
+Hardly were the climbers well within the shadow of the glen when there
+arose from the foot of the stair a mighty shouting and splashing.
+Oleric spun round with a curse on his lips.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Quickly as they had come from Adlaz town, their destination had been
+guessed, and others had come almost as quickly. As the fugitives
+turned, they saw a Maeronican fademe swing alongside the lowermost step
+of the ascent, her fore and after decks crowded with men, who swarmed
+off her onto the rock and ran up the stairway. Foremost among them,
+gorgeous in his golden armor, was the Captain Daelo, and he matched the
+curse of Oleric with another as he shook his gauntleted fist at his
+enemy.
+
+"Haste! Haste!" Oleric cried, then pursed his lips and sent a long
+whistle skirling up the glen. As he did so he lost his footing, clawed
+wildly at the air and the rocks, and went down.
+
+Though the push of the down-rushing waters of the Illia was not strong
+enough to sweep a man from his feet if he were cautious, it was yet
+of sufficient power to keep him going once he fell. From shelf to
+shelf down the great stairway Oleric went, his armor clanging. More
+than that, he swept Mordo and the sturdy Urk from their footing, also;
+and all three of them slid straight into the hands of Daelo's men,
+outstretched to receive them.
+
+As the soldiers seized Oleric and stood him upright, he wrenched free
+one arm and waved it at his companion.
+
+"Tarry not for me!" he shouted. "Go on! There be friends waiting at the
+top--" A soldier smote him on the mouth and silenced him.
+
+On the step where he stood Polaris halted. He bent, and with his strong
+fingers snapped the strings of his shoes and removed them--for he still
+wore his own clothing in which he had been dragged from the sea. With
+his feet bared, he had a better grip on the slippery rock. He snatched
+the sword of Everson from its sheath and went down the river-path, all
+unarmored as he was, to meet the swordsmen of Daelo. On they clambered,
+cursing and shouting; but the way was difficult for their mailed feet,
+and the son of the snows leaped down at them like an avalanche. With
+him, breast-deep in the current, went Rombar.
+
+First man to meet the descending danger was Daelo, and he paid the
+penalty of his temerity with his life. Polaris, striking from above,
+smote him from his foothold, a blow that shore away half of his golden
+helm and split the skull within it, and the Captain Daelo pitched
+backward into the sea.
+
+Another bound and a stroke so bitter that it hewed off the arm of a
+steel-clad soldier, severing it between wrist and elbow, and the son of
+the snows had freed Oleric from the hands that held him. Straightway
+the red captain drew sword and took up the tale. Daelo's men, of whom
+there were nearly a score, faltered, staggering and slipping on the
+rocky shelves. Almost their courage was broken, when Polaris caught
+his naked foot in a crevice in the rock and tripped. Before he could
+recover, a heavy sword-blade fell upon his unprotected head from
+behind. He let fall his own blade and sank to his knees and then to his
+face on the steps of Illia.
+
+Short-lived was the triumph of the Maeronicans. The cry of exultation
+which greeted the fall of their dreaded enemy was turned into a howl of
+dismay as half a hundred fierce-eyed fighting men of Ruthar poured down
+the glen, waving their bared swords and shouting:
+
+"For the Goddess Glorian! Slay the Maeronican dogs!"
+
+That tide overwhelmed the company of Daelo to the last man, and with
+them died black Mordo. Less by one more fademe was the navy of King
+Bel-Ar.
+
+When the warriors of the forests turned up the stair once more, they
+found Oleric kneeling in the water, supporting Polaris's head on his
+arm, while old Zenas and Everson bound with strips torn from their
+clothing the gaping wound which the sword-blade had left at the back of
+his head. Beside the group, Rombar, standing nearly to his neck in the
+wash of the river, lifted up his head and howled dolefully.
+
+Six strong men took up the limp form of the fair-haired giant and bore
+it away up the river staircase.
+
+So Polaris came at last to Ruthar.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Up the rocky shelves of Illia the Rutharians trudged and splashed, the
+chasm becoming ever narrower and more gloomy. With the narrowing of the
+rift, the water became deeper and its current stronger. Then one of the
+party uncoiled a long rope from his shoulder, and the party marched on
+in single file, each clinging to the rope like Alpine climbers.
+
+Oleric urged haste and more haste.
+
+Presently the water was too deep for Rombar, and the current set so
+strongly that the dog could not swim against it. At an order from
+Oleric, two Rutharian hunters seized the brute by the collar, and
+though one of them got a gashed hand for his pains, they bound Rombar's
+jaws and feet with ropes and carried him on their shoulders--a task
+which neither they nor Rombar found pleasant.
+
+At a point in the ascent where further progress against the deepening
+stream was impossible, the party left the bed of the river and
+clambered to the right, where a flight of steep and narrow steps had
+been cut in the rock along a fissure which branched from the main
+gorge. Up nearly two hundred of those steps they toiled, until Zenas
+Wright and Everson, unused to such exertions, nearly fainted with
+exhaustion. At the top of the stairs they emerged into a forest of tall
+trees, oak and pine and chestnut, which grew almost to the edge of the
+cliffs.
+
+No sooner had he stepped from the rock stairway than Oleric knelt and
+kissed the black earth.
+
+"This, my friends, is Ruthar," he said as he arose and faced the two
+Americans.
+
+From among the trees came a tall, white-bearded chieftain, who was
+armored from head to heel in a wonderful suit of chain mail, links of
+steel that shone like silver. At his back swung a two-handed sword
+which was nearly the length of a man.
+
+He advanced to Oleric and laid his hands on the captain's shoulders.
+
+"You are Oleric the Red, and no other," he said. "Well do I remember
+you. Once I was your pupil. But that was more than three times ten
+years ago." He shook his head wonderingly. "You serve Ruthar well," he
+added.
+
+Now, had Zenas Wright been able to understand the speech of Ruthar, he
+certainly would have set this chieftain down as a hoary-headed liar.
+For how could he have been a pupil to Oleric the Red more than thirty
+years before, when it was plain for any one to see that the captain
+must at that time have been a babe in his mother's arms?
+
+"Aye, Jastla, it is the old red fox come back to his hole again,"
+Oleric answered, striking the old chief fondly across his broad
+shoulders.
+
+"Which of these with you is the man--the hope of Ruthar?" questioned
+Jastla. His eyes passed the stubby form of Zenas Wright by and rested
+inquiringly on the square and soldierly Everson.
+
+Oleric's ruddy face went sober. His voice choked as he answered:
+
+"Nay, Jastla, neither of these. He comes yonder--and I fear that he is
+sorely smitten."
+
+As he spoke the six Rutharians who bore Polaris Janess came over the
+brink of the stair and laid their burden down.
+
+Jastla strode to the side of Polaris and looked down at him.
+
+"A mighty man, with golden hair--and comely, as was written in the
+prophecy," he muttered into his beard. "What has befallen him?" he
+asked of Oleric.
+
+While the captain told of the fight at the river-mouth, Zenas Wright
+knelt at Polaris's head and rearranged the bandages, which had become
+loosened in the rough journey through the gorge. Rombar, who had been
+that moment untrussed, pushed growling through the group of men and
+crouched and licked at his master's face.
+
+"Will he live, Father Zenas? Will he live?" Oleric asked. "Tell us,
+you, who are skilled."
+
+"God knows," groaned Zenas. The hand which he laid on the steel cheek
+of Polaris shook so that he snatched it away and hid it. "God only
+knows. There is a little life in him yet."
+
+"He plucked me from the sea," said Oleric wildly. "That was fated of
+the gods. Twice has he fought at my side. This day perchance he has
+given his life for me; and that was of his own strong spirit. I tell
+you, Father Zenas, that if it would do my brother any good, here would
+Oleric fall upon his sword and render up his soul unto those that sent
+it forth." Then he controlled himself. "Can he be moved? Can you keep
+the vital spark within him for a little space, good father? We must
+haste and get him to the Goddess Glorian. If his soul be not sped when
+he reaches her, she can hold it back, if any on earth can. Say, Father
+Zenas, can you do it?"
+
+"I will try," answered Zenas. "If I had a little wine, now--"
+
+"Wine!" Oleric shouted. "Bring wine, some one of you, and haste, though
+your lungs burst. And slay a kid, so that we may have broth."
+
+A fleet-footed Rutharian lad set off through the forest, running with
+the speed of a deer.
+
+"Now, Jastla, see you to a horse-litter. Two gentle beasts, mind you,
+but speedy. For we must travel fast and far. I take my brother to the
+Hill of Flomos. And send on a swift messenger to the Goddess Glorian,
+to tell her that the hope of Ruthar lies wounded in the forests and is
+near to death. Haste, Jastla; haste!"
+
+Wine was brought, and it was good wine; for the grapes that grow in
+the valleys of Ruthar are the finest in all the world. Zenas Wright
+forced apart the set jaws of the stricken man, using a sword-point
+to do it, and even as Dr. Marsey, who was dead, had done for Oleric,
+poured the purple wine and a little broth into Polaris's mouth. The
+kindly old geologist could only pray that some of it penetrated to the
+man's stomach, for most of it was spilled out again when they moved him.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Chief Jastla brought a horse-litter. In it, between two powerful
+beasts, Polaris was slung. The Rutharians wrapped him closely with
+blankets and furs. The sun had turned to his northward journey, and in
+the forests of Ruthar the air was keen with the tang of approaching
+winter--felt there in the uplands long before it reached to the plains
+and valleys of Maeronica.
+
+Horses were fetched for Oleric, Wright and Everson, and they set off at
+once along the mountain trails skirting the mighty cañon of the Illia.
+An escort of half a score of Rutharian hunters rode with them.
+
+All that day and night and until sunset of the next day they rode with
+only brief stops at small Rutharian hamlets, where they ate hurriedly
+and changed horses. Word had been sent on before of their coming, and
+fresh horses were always in waiting. Sleep they did not, save in their
+saddles, and the two Americans felt that they might die from sheer
+weariness.
+
+Oleric did not sleep at all, though of all the party his vitality
+seemed the least impaired by that racking journey. His face grew
+haggard and gaunt, and his eyes red-rimmed, but a wonderful
+determination seemed to sustain his body. He spoke seldom, and then to
+urge his faltering companions to renewed efforts.
+
+Rombar ran with the horses until he was utterly done up. Then Oleric
+left the dog at one of the mountain villages, to be brought on later.
+
+In the morning of the second day the party swung to the right, away
+from the gorge of the Illia, to come to it again about noon and cross
+it on a bridge of steel and stone that spanned it three hundred feet up
+from the torrent's course.
+
+Everson, looking at those piles and trusses, judged the building of
+that bridge to be the feat of no mean engineer. Though there had been a
+waste of material, the structure would have stood comparison with many
+a bridge in Europe or America.
+
+Throughout the long ride, Polaris lay like a log in the litter.
+Occasionally, at the stopping places, the scientist redressed the
+wound, smearing it with a healing balsam which an old woman in one of
+the villages had given him. It was a fearsome gash, and Zenas shook his
+head over it whenever he saw it. The point of the sword had laid open
+the scalp at the back of Polaris's head for a matter of inches, then
+had glanced from the bone beneath and bitten deeply into the neck near
+the spinal column.
+
+Wright sheared the hair away from the wound and stitched it as neatly
+as he could. Despite his care the edges of the cut turned blue, as
+is the way with such hurts if they have not expert attention. In the
+afternoon of that second day's ride he found that Polaris's hands and
+feet were becoming cold, and that the geologist deemed the worst sign
+of all.
+
+Shortly after they had crossed the bridge the contour of the country
+became less wild. They emerged from among the crags and peaks of the
+mountains into the foot-hills, where the forests were not so dense as
+above, and from time to time they came upon large spaces of cleared
+lands with tilled fields and many vineyards.
+
+In one of the forest glades the party passed a spot where a number
+of fair-sized trees had been uprooted and partly stripped of their
+branches and bark. Others, still standing, were mere distorted stubs of
+trees, their trunks scored and twisted and their foliage gone.
+
+"I hope such storms as the one that did this damage are not frequent
+hereabouts," said Zenas, pointing out the wrecks to Everson.
+
+Oleric heard the remark.
+
+"'Storms,' say you, Father Zenas?" he said. "The storm that went
+through here walked on four feet. When we of Ruthar see such a sight in
+the forest, we know that an amaloc has breakfasted there. I forget the
+high-sounding name you call him by."
+
+"That lad should have been a writer of fiction," said Zenas to himself
+when the captain had ridden on. "He almost makes me believe in him."
+
+"Gorry-me," Zenas groaned, easing himself in his saddle, "I wish we
+were at the end of this ride, wherever it is. I do not think that I
+shall ever be able to walk again. You," he said to Everson, "you ride
+along there in your golden armor like--what is it?--a paladin of old,
+and never a word out of you. Well, I'd sooner stand it, at that,
+than to go back to that roasting-spit I was put to tend in the King's
+kitchen." Zenas grunted as recollection stung him.
+
+"Why, do you know, one day I was figuring out a bit of calculus in my
+head, just for practise, and I let the meat scorch; and the head cook
+actually laid a dog-whip across my back. Yes, sir; me, a fellow in the
+National Geographic Society, whipped across a kitchen by a greasy-faced
+dough-slinger who doesn't know gneiss from rotten-stone!"
+
+Wright grunted again at the memory of that indignity, and then rambled
+on:
+
+"But we've got to stand it all for the boy here, and for the folks we
+left behind. God knows I'm willing to for their sakes, and worse yet,
+if it's to come. But I must grumble once in a while, and I can't help
+it. Say, Everson, do you believe any of that chaff of our red-headed
+friend about the mammoths?"
+
+The lieutenant did not answer, and Wright, peering into his face, saw
+that he was asleep in the saddle.
+
+Well down upon his course was the sun, and the shadows of the trees
+were lengthening eastward, when the travelers, who for some time had
+been following a smooth, straight road through rolling hills, came to
+an old Rutharian villa, which stood among its gardens a considerable
+distance back from the highway. A low wall bordered the grounds at the
+front along the roadway, a wall with a pillared gateway, where a drive
+led in from the road. At the foot of each of the pillars, sitting his
+horse like a statue, was a Rutharian gentleman.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As the weary cavalcade came down the road the two riders left their
+posts and advanced to meet it, parleying with Oleric. Scarcely half a
+dozen words passed back and forth when the red captain set up a joyful
+shout. When he reached the gateway he turned his horse in, bidding the
+others to follow.
+
+"Here's hoping that some one will introduce me to a bed before I clean
+forget what one feels like," said Zenas.
+
+At the side of the ancient house the riders dismounted, Everson reeling
+from his horse like a drunken man and throwing himself face downward on
+the grass.
+
+Oleric superintended the removal of Polaris from the litter.
+
+The geologist was bending over his charge as the hunters bore him along
+when he became aware of the tall figure of a woman that came down from
+the porch of the mansion and hastened along the walk. She had thrown a
+long, dark red cloak about her shoulders. In the dusk of the garden the
+scientist could not distinguish her features, but he saw that her hair
+was dark, or seemed to be, and that she was taller than most women and
+splendidly formed.
+
+"The Goddess Glorian!" Oleric cried aloud. "Oh, by the stars of Ruthar,
+but you are welcome!"
+
+Down on one knee sank the captain and kissed her hand.
+
+"Oh, goddess, after all these years I have brought you the hope of
+Ruthar. But he is sorely wounded--dying--and you alone can save him. We
+were bringing him to Flomos with all the speed we might, and thought
+not to find you here."
+
+"Where else should Glorian be, but on the way to meet this man?" she
+answered simply. "Jastla's messenger reached Flomos this morning. He
+rode four horses to their deaths upon his way. You have done well,
+Oleric the Learned."
+
+When he heard the silvery cadences of that voice, though he understood
+not a word save the name of the captain, a thrill passed through Zenas
+Wright, old as he was, and through his aged veins he felt the blood
+course faster. The woman came nearer. He smelled the warm perfume of
+her hair as she bent and touched the cheek of Polaris with her hand.
+
+"Bring him within, Oleric," she said, "and, oh, haste, for--" Her
+glorious voice broke. "For he is nearly gone."
+
+Swinging the still form of Polaris shoulder high, the Rutharian hunters
+passed on and into the mansion, leaving Zenas behind.
+
+"Now, what do you know about that?" gasped the scientist as he sank
+wearily to the ground beside Everson. "Goddess, indeed! What, I want
+to know, will Rose Emer say when she learns of this young person? Well,
+I hope she saves the lad; but she'll need to be a doctor of parts, or
+I'm a donkey. Poor boy! Poor boy!"
+
+In a few moments came Oleric to show Wright and Everson to their
+quarters for the night in the rear of the house. And a rare time he had
+to arouse the lieutenant sufficiently to lead him to bed.
+
+White and still, Polaris Janess lay on a bed in an upper chamber of the
+old house. By the light from a mitzl globe--trophy of some Rutharian
+chieftain in a foray over the Kimbrian Wall--the Goddess Glorian bent
+above him and studied his pale features.
+
+"My friend, my poor friend," she said brokenly. "How often through the
+weary years I have seen you in my dreams--and now to find you--only to
+lose you."
+
+Hot tears ran down her cheeks and fell on the stricken man's face.
+
+"Oh! It shall not be!" she said fiercely. "You shall not die--not if
+Glorian must give her soul to hold you back from the gates of darkness."
+
+Throwing aside her cloak, she drew a chair to the bedside. With her
+fingers she lifted Polaris's eyelids and held them open. She gazed deep
+into the tawny eyes, now, alas, so dull and lifeless. For hours she sat
+there, with no more apparent movement than the man she watched over.
+The whole strength of her being seemed concentrated in some inward,
+unyielding struggle.
+
+And as the long hours passed a change came over the sick man. He did
+not stir. He scarcely seemed to breathe. But his face became less gray
+and haggard, and the icy chill of death was driven from his hands and
+feet.
+
+Long after midnight it was when the Goddess Glorian stood up from that
+bedside and in her heart said wildly, "I have won!"
+
+Summoning her women, who waited without the door, she bade them dress
+anew the now festering wound and pour a little wine and broth into his
+throat.
+
+All night long the Goddess Glorian sat and watched him.
+
+In the morning, when Oleric came to the door in answer to her summons,
+she looked up at him with a wan smile.
+
+"Fear no longer," she said. "The man will live."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+On the third day after his arrival at the old Rutharian mansion,
+Polaris left it. But he knew nothing of that going. He still lay in
+the heavy stupor which was to hold him thrall for many days. Zenas
+Wright doubted much the wisdom of moving a man so ill. The scientist
+himself, after two days' rest, felt scarcely equal to the journey, and
+the thought of again bestriding a horse made him shudder. Still, he
+reasoned that it was by a miracle that Janess lived at all, and if she
+who had wrought that miracle, the Goddess Glorian, said he might be
+moved in safety, why, doubtless she knew what she was about.
+
+A low, four-wheeled car was brought. Across the box of it the hunters
+lashed light and springy poles and on them piled robes and blankets,
+making a soft and easy bed for the sick man. At the head of that couch
+rode the Goddess Glorian, cloaked and hooded, and at its foot crouched
+black Rombar, who had been brought in from the village where he had
+been left, and who seemed little the worse for his long jaunt. Wright
+and the lieutenant occupied another smaller car in the rear, and in
+a third vehicle rode a number of the women of Glorian's household.
+Oleric, mounted and aglitter in chain armor of steel--for he had
+discarded as soon as might be the hated golden livery of Bel-Ar--rode
+at the side of the first car. For escort the party had the company of
+nearly a score of young Rutharian zinds--zind was the only title of
+nobility in Ruthar.
+
+So they set out for Flomos, traveling by easy stages and with many
+rests. The roads were smooth and the country more even than that they
+had left behind. All along the way, be the time of day what it might,
+they rode between two long lines of people--people silent for the most
+part, who stood with bowed heads as the cars and the riders passed by.
+
+Far and wide throughout the land had gone the word that the man who
+had come to be known as the hope of Ruthar was journeying to Flomos,
+and the circumstances of that journey. These who lined the road were
+gathered there to do him silent homage. Satisfied were they if they
+only caught a fleeting glimpse of his still face on its pillow of furs.
+Over all of Ruthar went up a many-voiced and ceaseless prayer for his
+welfare.
+
+"H'm, Everson, folks will never stand like that for us, living or
+dead," said Zenas Wright to the lieutenant, when Oleric had told them
+the meaning of the silent lines of people. Despite his banter, the old
+geologist was deeply touched.
+
+Two days and part of a third they traveled--for they did not
+hurry--stopping for the nights at the homes of Rutharian gentlemen
+along the road. It was nearly afternoon of the third day when they
+followed the winding of the highway around the last low hills of the
+mountain range and came out upon a plateau-plain of wide extent, in
+the center of which was a wooded eminence, and on its crest the white
+pillars of a temple shone in the sunlight.
+
+The road stretched straight across the plain through a broad expanse
+of tilled lands and gardens, which ringed a city that stood at the
+foot of the hill. It was scarcely a fifth the proportions of Adlaz,
+this ancient town of Ruthar, which was called Zele-omaz, or City by
+the River; but it was a pretty place of broad streets shaded by many
+trees, gardens and low-built, pleasant homes, with here and there the
+statelier dwellings of some zind or wealthy man.
+
+Here, too, was the Illia, rock-bound no longer, but a fair and gentle
+stream, winding through the town and spanned by many bridges.
+
+Skirting the city at the right, the travelers followed a sloping path
+that led up the hill to where the temple stood.
+
+"Yonder," Oleric said, pointing down to where a group of low buildings
+of gray stone rambled at the waterside under spreading yew trees, "is
+the University of Nematzin, of which I am a professor. And there is the
+laboratory of which I spoke, where we shall make the thunder-dust to
+shake down the Kimbrian Wall."
+
+"One more day's rest, and I will be fit for anything," answered Everson.
+
+"What do you teach in this university, friend?" Zenas queried.
+
+"A little of the science of the stars, Father Zenas--or I did, for it
+is many years since I have sat among my pupils--somewhat of history and
+of language," replied the red captain.
+
+"Humph; you must have been a young teacher," said Zenas Wright, and he
+ran his fingers through the sprouting stubble of his beard, as he had a
+habit of doing when things vexed him. Suddenly he jumped in his seat,
+though the wrench to his sore flesh cost him a wry face.
+
+"Hey! Everson! Look at that, and then tell me if I'm dreaming."
+
+The "that" was a gateway through which the car was about to pass.
+Oleric followed with a glance the direction in which the geologist
+pointed and then rode on with a smile.
+
+It was a very curious gate, so curious that, if it still stands, and
+it doubtless does, for it was built to endure, there is none other
+just like it in the world. At each side of the roadway was a section
+of black stone wall, extending along the path a matter of a dozen feet
+and some ten feet high. At intervals along the tops of the two walls
+were set round, squat pillars, also of stone. Those had been hollowed
+out and served as bases for enormous ivory tusks, which were embedded
+in cement in the hollowed pillars, and from them curved up to meet over
+the center of the roadway, where their tips were made fast with double
+sockets of bronze.
+
+Ivory the tusks were; there was no doubting that; weather-checked and
+stained yellow by age and the elements, but still ivory. But the size
+of them! No elephant that ever walked the earth bore ivories of such
+proportions. For they were as large around at their bases as the chest
+of an average man; and from base to tapering tip there was none of them
+that did not measure eleven feet. Seven pair of them there were, and
+all splendidly matched.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Zenas stared back at that marvelous arch--for it was more an archway
+than a gate--as hard as he could stare. Not until a turn of the road
+hid it, did he relax into his seat.
+
+"Maybe he isn't so great a liar, after all," he said, and he meant
+Oleric. "Everson, those are mammoth's tusks--sure's I'm a sinner."
+
+"Strange land, strange things," answered Everson laconically.
+
+The home or temple of the Goddess Glorian on the hill of Flomos was a
+small thing by comparison with the mighty Temple of Shamar, but in its
+way was quite as beautiful. Like the temple of the sun-god, the house
+of Glorian was built all of white marble. Fronting north toward the
+city of Zele-omaz was a façade of four-and-twenty sixty-foot pillars.
+A broad, paved porch, reached by half a hundred steps, lay at the foot
+of the façade. Back of the pillars were twelve double doors of bronze,
+leading into a lofty hall, the marble dome of which towered high above
+the pillars and could be seen from the countryside for miles about when
+the sun shone on it.
+
+Back of the hall the structure was divided into three floors, or
+stories, each of many roomy chambers and corridors. The whole was well
+lighted by windows of clear glass, of which an abundance was used in
+both Maeronica and Ruthar. Behind the temple, southward down the hill,
+were the dwellings of Glorian's personal retainers and servants.
+
+Well back from the center of the domed hall and near the foot of a
+grand staircase which led to the second floor, was a raised dais of
+marble, whereon Glorian was wont to sit and give judgment in matters of
+state which were too high for the administration of the zinds who ruled
+in the different cities and provinces. Once Ruthar had had its dynasty
+of kings, but that was many years before. The royal line died out, and
+because of certain circumstances at that time the people raised up no
+more kings. At the time of the coming of the strangers the Goddess
+Glorian was the absolute power in Ruthar.
+
+On the dais in the throne-room was another wonder for Zenas Wright to
+see. It was a massive, double-seated chair, constructed, even to the
+pegs which held its parts together, of ivory like in the giant tusks
+of the arch. An artist of surpassing skill had wrought that chair and
+had carved it into the semblance of tall lily-stalks with heavy-headed,
+drooping blossoms and slender fronds. All around the larger stalks were
+cut the clinging tendrils of a creeping vine, a tracery as fine as lace.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Wright and Everson were given rooms on the second floor of the temple
+at its western side. Polaris was borne to a chamber on the upper
+story, where he was tended by Glorian herself and the servants of her
+household. Rombar took up his quarters in that chamber also, and only
+Oleric could lure the dog forth from his master's side, and then not
+for long at a time.
+
+Soon after their arrival at the hill of Flomos, and when they had
+rested some of the stiffness from their joints, Everson and the
+scientist went down with Oleric to the laboratories of Nematzin to
+begin their work. Though the students of Ruthar were not unskilled in
+chemistry of a sort, they knew nothing of explosives. So Zenas prepared
+himself for a series of tests to discover the materials of which he was
+in need, or, if he could not find what he desired, some combination
+which would serve.
+
+In that constructive analysis the naval lieutenant could be of little
+aid. Oleric then found a task for him which was more to his liking. It
+was the drilling of men.
+
+From her center to her rock-bound coasts, Ruthar hummed with the
+preparation for war.
+
+"If we are to fight, let us first know how many men we can raise, and
+how they will be disposed," said Everson. "What is the population of
+this country, and how will it match up, man for man, with Maeronica?"
+
+All told, Ruthar's people numbered something like a million and a
+quarter, Oleric informed him; and in Maeronica the population was near
+to three and one-half millions, at least a half a million of which
+dwelt in the great city of Adlaz.
+
+"As it is figured in the world, your army then will be made up of one
+fighting man to every ten persons," the lieutenant said. "If the spirit
+of the people is with us, we should be able to put at least one hundred
+and twenty-five thousand men in the field--and Bel-Ar, three hundred
+and fifty thousand. Those are heavy odds."
+
+"Ruthar shall do better even than that," Oleric said with pride. "I
+promise you that two hundred thousand men shall march when they hear
+the war-drums--and more may be found if the need grows bitter."
+
+"Can you equip and maintain them?" Everson asked.
+
+"In Ruthar every man is a soldier. They will equip themselves. This day
+has been awaited for long. Ruthar is ready to give all for the uses of
+her warrior sons. Fear not. Besides, though I will not deny that the
+men of Ad are good fighters and their country is far the richer, yet
+many of them are fat city dwellers and traders, of whom two are not a
+match for one of the hardy men of the mountains who will march under
+the banners of the Goddess Glorian. Show them the ruins of the Kimbrian
+Wall, and were the armies of Ad twice their strength, yet they should
+not turn Ruthar from her purpose."
+
+Everson nodded thoughtfully. "How will this force be divided?" he
+asked. "Have you many horsemen? In such a war as this promises to be,
+cavalry will be invaluable."
+
+The red captain knit his brow in calculation.
+
+"Forty thousand wild horsemen of the hills and mountains, who know
+not fear, can I promise," he said at length. "Five thousand chariots
+we can muster, each of two horses, and carrying each two fighting men
+and a driver to guide the horses; twenty thousand skilled archers;
+ninety thousand heavily armed men with swords and spears; ten thousand
+slingers; and twenty thousand men armed with javelins--these last to
+serve as skirmishers."
+
+Everson's eyes kindled at the recital of that tale of men, and he
+smiled--one of the few smiles that had lightened his face since his
+ship had been lost.
+
+"We must gather them into camps at once," he said. "The time is all too
+short in which to make an enemy out of raw levies. We must drill them
+all winter, and that will be a man's job."
+
+Straightway he threw himself into the task with tireless energy. And
+he vowed to himself that the men who had dared to sink a United States
+cruiser should learn a lesson of tears and death, and that he would
+have a hand in the teaching of the lesson.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Oblivion, like a deep and dreamless sleep, was the portion of Polaris
+Janess. It seemed that his soul had withdrawn itself to some place of
+peace to wait until its racked and weary body should once more be fit
+for tenancy. The wound in his neck closed and healed. Somewhat of color
+crept back into his cheeks. His body began to thrive, but there was in
+it seemingly little more of sentient life than in a tree which draws
+its nourishment from the soil and knows not of days and nights and the
+cares thereof.
+
+"It is a blood-clot that presses somewhere on the brain," Glorian told
+his friends, who stood often at his quiet bedside. "'Twill pass away
+ere long, and he will be whole again."
+
+To the surprise of Zenas and Everson, Glorian and a number of the
+learned men of the college of Nematzin spoke English almost with the
+facility of Oleric, from whom, indeed, they had learned it. And this
+was a great source of delight to the old geologist, who liked to talk
+and grumble over his labors. And what use is there in grumbling, if
+there is no one to hear and understand?
+
+Came a day when the curtain lifted from the brain of the sick man, and
+memory peopled the vacant stage, as once before it had done when he lay
+ill in the cabin on the ship _Felix_ on his first journey from his home
+in the wilderness.
+
+Wondering, he lay still with closed lids, as he had a trick of doing
+when he waked from slumber. He began to reconstruct. The wreck of the
+_Minnetonka_ passed before him, and then, like a series of pictures,
+the events which had followed the sinking of the ship; the stranger
+people; the judgment of the king; the parting from his love; the coming
+of the red captain in the night and the flight from Adlaz; the fight at
+the wharves and the farewell of Minos; the great stairway of the Illia--
+
+There the pictures ceased. He could not then, or ever afterward, recall
+the fight in the river, where he had gone down to aid Oleric and come
+by his wound.
+
+Into his nostrils was wafted a breath of faint perfume. A cool hand
+was laid against his cheek. He opened his eyes. The details of a high,
+arched room he saw; windows of glass at the north, where the sun shone
+thinly and big flakes of snow were floating slowly down--for winter had
+come to Ruthar; at his cheek a long, wonderfully shaped, white hand,
+with tapering, ringless fingers; a slender wrist; beyond it a face. He
+closed his lids again, with a frown of disbelief. The beauty of that
+face was such as no mortal ever saw, save in a dream.
+
+The hand stirred, and he looked again.
+
+From the times of Helen of Troy on down through the pages of all
+recorded history, those pages have been made bright by the faces of
+fair women who were their nations' boast. Here, before the eyes of the
+sick man, was a face that was the peer of any that ever shone in fable
+or in fact. A broad, high forehead above two dark and well-defined
+arches; beneath them, delicately veined lids and long dark lashes,
+veiling red-brown eyes. Eyes so wonderfully alive with expression that
+their change was like the bewildering melting of colors in a sunset;
+between their marvelous valleys, a slenderly bridged nose with a hint
+of the Roman. A rich, full-lipped mouth that was the playground of
+smiles, but which showed also the quality of rare determination, a
+promise sustained by the firmly rounded chin beneath it, a skin so fine
+of texture that through it might be traced the ebb and flow of life, as
+flames show roseate through a marble vase.
+
+Her head had the poise of an empress, and at its shapely crown, piled
+high, were lustrous coils of hair which at first glance seemed black;
+but when the light struck on it, glowed as an ember glows when a breath
+renews its dullness into fire.
+
+Such was the beauty of the woman on whom Polaris looked--and as he
+gazed, acknowledgment was forced within him that here was one that
+surpassed in fairness even the Rose-maid whom he loved. And there was
+no disloyalty in that acknowledgment. Rose Emer was a beautiful woman;
+but she who sat before him, and who seemed of nearly the same age and
+whose figure much resembled that of his own dear lady, she had the
+beauty of unearthly things.
+
+For a moment he stared in silence.
+
+"Where am I, and who are you?" he asked, and smiled faintly in response
+to her little exclamation of delight that his senses had come back to
+him. Before she could speak, he muttered, "I had forgotten; she will
+not understand."
+
+"But I do understand, my poor friend," she said, "and can make answer
+in your own tongue--if we keep to simple talk."
+
+As the quality of that voice had thrilled old Zenas, so now it sent a
+tremor through the veins of the son of the snows.
+
+"You are in the city of Zele-omaz, and I, who have watched while you
+lay wounded and ill, am a poor lady of wild Ruthar," she continued.
+
+"'Poor' and 'wild' are words that ill beseem you, lady," replied
+Polaris in the quaint expression that in the long years when his father
+had been his sole companion, he had absorbed from the pages of Scott's
+romantic "Ivanhoe," and which contact with modern English had not worn
+away.
+
+"I think that one Oleric has spoken oft of you, and that I can guess
+the name you bear--and I find it a most fitting name."
+
+Rose-pink the Goddess Glorian flushed, in a most mortal fashion, and
+was glad that at that moment black Rombar thrust his head forward over
+the edge of the bed to claim a share in the attention of his master.
+
+Polaris stirred his hands, and then looked up wonderingly.
+
+"I am weak," he said. "How long have I lain ill, and what misfortune
+befell me to so lay me by the heels? I understand it not at all; for my
+memory has tricked me."
+
+Toying with Rombar's collar, Glorian told him what she had learned from
+the others of the fight at the mouth of the Illia.
+
+"And I do thank you for the life of my faithful captain," she said,
+"as he will presently. It was a brave deed, a very brave deed. Now
+you must talk no more, and no more must I weary you. You are worn with
+sickness, and it will be many days before your strength comes back.
+Rest and fret not. All things are going well."
+
+She left him, and presently he slept.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER VI
+
+                          ZOAR OF THE AMALOCS
+
+
+Beyond their knowledge of the working of metals, in which they had
+great facility, Zenas Wright soon found that the scientists of Nematzin
+could avail him little in his search for explosive compounds. Ordinary
+gunpowder, indeed, he knew he could make easily enough, after a
+fashion, but he sought for something more powerful by far than that.
+From the descriptions which he had heard of the Kimbrian Wall, he
+judged that it would be a rare task to shake it down.
+
+"We might do it with nitroglycerin," he told Everson. "But we would
+have to set all of the old wives of Ruthar to soap-making to get our
+glycerin, and it would be a difficult job to get it pure enough to
+serve our turn. Besides, nitroglycerin is mean and uncertain to handle."
+
+The two men sat before a ruddy coal fire in the big laboratory room
+which had been turned over to the uses of the geologist--a fire well
+screened from the rest of the room, so that no flying spark should
+raise mischief among the experiments of Zenas. Three weeks had elapsed
+since their arrival at Zele-omaz. Polaris Janess was well along
+the road to health. Everson and Oleric, laboring tirelessly, had
+established five great training camps, one on the plain near the city,
+and four others in the forests to the north beyond the Illia. Already
+the levies of Ruthar were pouring into the camps, where they were
+drilled by the zinds and captains, under the direction of the naval
+lieutenant and the red captain.
+
+Everson had thrown his whole heart into the work. Already he had made
+considerable progress in the learning of the Rutharian language. He
+was beginning to take a vast pride in the army he was welding. Born
+soldiers he found these Rutharians, amenable to the strict discipline
+which he preached, and to whom his word was law.
+
+He had ridden in this day from a tour of inspection of his camps to
+visit Wright and learn of the progress of the work on which depended
+their entire scheme of campaign.
+
+"Nitroglycerin," said Everson. "So you have found a source of nitric
+acid, then?"
+
+"Yes," replied Wright. "One of the first things which took my eye among
+a number of specimens of rock which I found in a case here, was a chunk
+of sodium nitrate. You know the stuff--Chile saltpeter, they call it."
+
+"Why not a picrate powder, if you have nitrates to work with?"
+suggested the lieutenant.
+
+"Picrate--nitric acid--phenol," said old Zenas. "That's the way of it.
+And to get phenol--lots of it--"
+
+He broke off and stared into the depths of the fire.
+
+"Hey!" he cried, and jumped to his feet so suddenly that Everson
+started. Zenas pointed at the fire, his little black eyes dancing and
+his beard wagging with his excitement.
+
+"Well?" queried Everson.
+
+"Coal, my boy, coal! There's oodles of it here. All I've got to do is
+to rig up a kiln for the distillation of coal-tar oil, and I'll have
+the phenol. God knows, these beggars are handy enough in the gentle
+art of blacksmithing. Tell your red-headed master of ceremonies to
+give me a little help--say two hundred or two hundred and fifty of his
+armorers, till I get a few kilns in operation and build me a bank of
+Glover towers, and I'll show you a line of stuff that will beat all of
+the Fourth of July celebrations you ever saw. Picrates! Humph! I'll
+turn out a brand of melinite for you that will jar the back door of
+hell off its hinges--if I don't whiff us all to kingdom come while I'm
+at the stuff."
+
+Oleric was summoned. The red captain turned over to Zenas Wright not
+two hundred, but nearer five hundred men, and the old university was
+straightway turned into a munitions plant, the stench and the fires of
+which ascended to heaven by day and by night.
+
+"And bring me about all the fat you can find in the kingdom," directed
+Zenas. "I'll need it to mix with my nice little patty-cakes."
+
+"You shall have it, Father Zenas," Oleric replied. "And it will not
+come amiss to make all that you can of this pastry. After the Kimbrian
+Wall is down, we may find some of it useful at the gates of Adlaz."
+
+So interested did Zenas become in this new work of his that he
+scarcely stopped for meals, and he slept on a cot of skins beside
+his fire in the old laboratory. One day, as he labored among his
+test-tubes, the outer door opened, and a tall figure robed in
+furs strode across the room and stood beside him. Zenas looked up
+impatiently.
+
+"Oh, Lordy, laddie!" he cried, his face lighting up. "It's good to see
+you on your feet again."
+
+It was Polaris--still somewhat gaunt and tottery, but with a welcome
+color in his cheeks and a brightness in his topaz eyes that augured
+well.
+
+"Aye, old friend, 'tis I," he answered. "While you do wear yourself
+thin in this place of many smells, and Everson rides his flesh off his
+bones, shall I then be doing nothing but to lie in a soft bed and dream
+the days away? I will have no more of it."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+From that day strength came back to the son of the snows with
+surprising rapidity, considering that he had been so ill. Nor would he
+chafe in restless idleness, but demanded work to do. Soon in the five
+great camps of fighting men his figure and that of the huge black dog
+which followed him like a shadow were as well known to the soldiers as
+were those of Everson and the lieutenant. Under the tutelage of the
+Goddess Glorian, he had advanced in mastery of the Rutharian tongue
+much faster than either of the other two Americans; for he was a
+natural linguist and did not find the ancient language difficult.
+
+Old Jastla had come down out of his hills, and it was his particular
+pride to superintend the training of the son of the snows in the use of
+the arms of Ruthar. At his first trial, weakened though he was by his
+illness, Polaris cast a javelin farther by half a score of paces than
+could any warrior of Ruthar. Within a fortnight, although they might
+touch him by tricks of fence, there was not a swordsman in the five
+armies who could wear him down in the play of blades.
+
+Jastla boasted of him throughout the land.
+
+But though he took pleasure in all these things, he knew anxiety with
+the passing of the days, and in his heart pined mightily for news of
+his lady in Adlaz town. For that strong, true heart could not forget.
+Occasionally Oleric had word from over the wall from some of his secret
+spies in Maeronica, but never a word of the welfare of the stranger
+captives.
+
+All of his story Polaris had one day told to Glorian. And she had
+smiled and cheered him with brave words. And then, when he had gone,
+she had sat for the half of a day in her chamber, looking out at the
+snow-capped hills of Ruthar, striving to remember that she was a
+goddess, and to forget that she also was a woman. Too late she found
+that the woman conquered.
+
+Five weeks went by from the day when Polaris first went down to the
+workshop of Zenas. And then the geologist announced that he would give
+a show. He had some wares which he was anxious to display, he said.
+
+Near the south bank of the Illia, above the city and beyond the camp,
+stood an old stone tower which long had been crumbling into decay and
+which Atra, the zind who ruled in Zele-omaz, had purposed some day to
+tear down. There it was that the geologist said he would stage his
+performance, and all the camp and a goodly part of the citizens of the
+town went thither to see what he would do.
+
+At the appointed hour, early in the afternoon, the scientist rode out
+to the tower, attended by three of his assistants from the laboratory.
+With them they took a number of cakes of what looked remarkably like
+the bars of brown soap wherewith the American housewife labors o'
+Mondays. As much as two men could carry of the stuff they took. The
+third man bore a rude battery which Zenas had contrived, and a coil of
+copper wire which the Rutharian smiths had drawn for him, and which he
+had insulated with woven fiber dipped in gums from the forests.
+
+The tower had been a massive old structure, covering nearly a half acre
+of ground, and the lower parts of it were still solid. Its roof was
+gone, and portions of the upper walls had fallen in.
+
+Zenas found that there were a number of chambers below the ground level
+of the structure. In the central one of them he bestowed his precious
+cakes, and with them the end of his copper wire. He directed his
+assistants to cover the whole over with heavy stones.
+
+"And handle them with care," he cautioned, "or you will come a lot
+closer to the stars than you are ever likely to be by any other means."
+
+His preparations completed, the geologist bade his henchmen to make
+themselves scarce, which they were very glad to do. Bidding every one
+in the neighborhood of the tower to withdraw to a distance of several
+hundred feet, Zenas uncoiled his wire, of which he had brought a
+quantity sufficient to keep him out of harm's way. He squatted down
+behind the bole of a big yew-tree and struck the knob of his battery.
+
+For an instant nothing happened, and Zenas, peering forth from behind
+his tree, felt his heart sink with disappointment. Then very quietly
+the entire structure of the tower, which was nearly seventy feet in
+height, quitted the earth. For a second it seemed to hang suspended in
+the air like some enchanted thing. A hollow booming reverberated across
+the plain. The tower flew into fragments. The ice-bound surface of the
+Illia was shattered by the falling rocks. A gust of air rushed across
+the plain and through the ranks of the Rutharian soldiery and with it a
+shower of smaller débris, which fell among them like a storm. From the
+spot where the tower had stood, a column of greenish-yellow smoke arose
+and hung heavily.
+
+From the camp and the crowds of citizens went up a low moan of awe,
+followed by a shout of triumph from thirty thousand throats. Men ran
+across the meadows to view the aftermath of this wonder--such a thing
+as never had been seen in Ruthar. Where the tower had stood was a hole
+in the earth, wherein the structure itself might almost have been
+buried. No vestige of the masonry was left. Not one stone remained upon
+another, and many of the larger foundation rocks had been sundered into
+fragments by the terrific force of the released gases of the melinite.
+
+Rutharians from that day on called Zenas Wright "Father of the
+Thunders," and accorded him a respect second only to that in which they
+held Polaris.
+
+Janess, the red captain, and Everson, who had been witnesses to his
+experiment, ran to the side of the geologist and wrung his hand.
+
+"And now do you, Father Zenas, stay away from that laboratory," said
+Oleric.
+
+"See to it that my men keep to the trick of making this stuff; but
+do you keep away. Some careless fellow might let a cake of your
+earth-shaker fall--and we cannot spare you."
+
+"Now show me this Kimbrian Wall," was the comment of Zenas. But the
+scientist yielded to the entreaties of his friends, and thereafter
+went no more to the laboratories, except once a day only, to test the
+purity of the chemicals with which his workmen wrought.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Soon after the destruction of the tower, Oleric, with Polaris and the
+lieutenant, rode down through the forests to visit the Kimbrian Wall.
+Now that they were assured of a means to open the way to Adlaz, they
+were all of them impatient to map out their plan of campaign, in which,
+as he alone of them all was skilled in such matters, they looked to
+Everson for counsel.
+
+Three days riding brought the party to the great barrier which the
+Children of Ad had built far back in the dim centuries to separate them
+from their hated enemies.
+
+As the riders approached the wall, they found the land narrowed to an
+isthmus, which Oleric told them was nearly eighty miles in extent, by
+something less than sixty across. The Kimbrian Wall crossed the neck of
+land nearly midway to its length, but if anything, a few miles nearer
+to the mainland of Maeronica than it was to Ruthar. On the hither side
+of the barrier stretched thick forests of oak and pine. Along the
+isthmus and near its western sea-border lay the course of an ancient
+road, which once had connected the two countries. To this old highway
+Everson gave careful attention. In some places it was broken up and
+overgrown with timber, but the lieutenant thought that little work
+would be required to put it in shape for travel.
+
+From a pine-clad knoll in the forest they had their first glimpse of
+the wall, and a mighty work it was. Built of gray stone, now moss-grown
+and weather-aged, it stretched away to the right and left as far as
+they could see and ended sheer with the precipitous cliffs above the
+sea. So enormous were the stones of which it was constructed that it
+reminded Everson of remnants of the cyclopean masonry, which are to be
+found in the old countries and which tradition used to tell were built
+by a race of giants. Probably this work was as old as they.
+
+The wall was nearly fifty feet high, and so broad as its top that two
+chariots might pass thereon. At intervals of a mile all along its
+length were watchtowers, garrisoned by the border-soldiers of Bel-Ar.
+In addition to all those points of strength, the wall had been so
+constructed that near its top there was an overhang of a number of
+feet, making it exceedingly difficult for scaling.
+
+Still, Oleric said, it had been scaled, and many times, by small
+parties of raiders from both sides--and some of them had never returned.
+
+"Look!" the captain exclaimed. "Here comes one of the patrols."
+
+From the nearest tower to the east three men on horseback came riding
+along the top of the wall, clearly outlined against the pale sky. As
+they came nearer the forest-watchers could see that the riders were
+muffled in cloaks. A sharp wind was sweeping down from the south, and
+it must have been bitter indeed on the unprotected eminence of the wall.
+
+"Ha! 'Tis Atlo himself--the captain whom I replaced at the port," said
+Oleric as the patrol came opposite him. "See, the foremost of the
+riders."
+
+Sight of his enemies riding by so close proved too much of a temptation
+to one of the Rutharian fighting men who had ridden down with the party
+to the wall. He was a master bowman. While the eyes of his companions
+were fixed on the three riders, he dismounted and slipped away among
+the trees to the left. In the shadow of a pine he paused and set an
+arrow to the string.
+
+It was a long shot--nearly a hundred yards--but the winged shaft flew
+straight and true. It smote the captain, Atlo, on the shoulder, and
+the riders in the forest could hear the faint clink as the point fell
+blunted from the armor which he wore beneath his cloak.
+
+Atlo started in his saddle, then turned and waved his hand, with a
+laugh. He rode on as if the arrow were a matter of little moment. The
+other two riders were more timorous than their captain, and they sent
+many a glance back toward the dark forest shadow as they rode along.
+
+Oleric shouted to the archer to loose no more arrows.
+
+"Let no more raids be made over the wall," Everson directed, "and have
+a force of men clear and rebuild the old road yonder. Bring it up as
+near to the wall as may be, without attracting attention. We must
+attack and take them unawares. We will have to mine underground from
+the forest to the wall and place our explosives. As soon as the wall
+is down, we shall throw a force of infantry through the breach, starve
+the garrison off the wall and hold the territory on the other side
+against all attack until we can clear the wreck of the wall and lay a
+road through the gap so that our cavalry and charioteers may pass it.
+Otherwise, the Maeronicans will hold the breach against us, in which
+case there would be a delay which we cannot afford--if, indeed, we
+should be able to fight our way through at all."
+
+Oleric pondered on the plan for a few moments. He looked up with
+shining eyes.
+
+"A wise counsel," he said. "All of these things shall be done, and
+right speedily."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Almost miracles are the things which may be accomplished by human
+brains and hands, if there be enough of them and they are united to
+their work by a common and all-pervading purpose.
+
+Into the old forests above the Kimbrian barrier the Rutharian zinds
+threw a force of two thousand men and half again as many horses. The
+ancient roadway through the wood to the foot of the wall was cleared
+and rebuilt as though by magic. Everson, visiting the scene of the
+work, reflected somewhat bitterly on the contrast between the manner
+of this labor and any similar task to be done in the land where he was
+born.
+
+There, he knew, there would have been the delays caused by failure to
+supply the necessary materials, and failure again to get them to their
+appointed places on contract time. There would have been labor strikes,
+jealousies and bickering among leaders. In the end, of course, the work
+would have been done, and well done--but with much trouble.
+
+But in Ruthar there were no walking delegates. Happy were the workmen
+to labor from sun to sun, and others to take up the task in the hours
+of darkness. Materials were free and inexhaustible, and the zinds and
+leaders worked together like brothers, each doing what was required of
+him, as though his very life depended upon it.
+
+Within a fortnight of his first view of the Kimbrian Wall, the
+lieutenant deemed that the time to strike was nearly ripe. Two months
+and nearly a half of another of the allotted six were past. Three
+months and a half remained before Adlaz would gather for the Feast
+of Years. Three months and a half in which to conquer a nation and
+take a walled city, the strength of which was a tradition! Yet it
+must be done. And Everson, when he saw the tools with which he had to
+work, hoped high. This was an archaic people; but he found its sons
+good companions; sturdy, truthful, straightforward as their own long
+sword-blades. He believed they would follow to the death and that they
+would not come too late to the Adlaz gates.
+
+One day, Glorian, who of late had avoided Polaris, summoned the son of
+the snows and bade him bring with him his American comrades and Oleric
+the Red.
+
+"I know that you are nearly ready to go up against the Kimbrian Wall
+and the hosts of Bel-Ar," she said. "But before that day comes, there
+is a pilgrimage that must be made to one without the aid of whom
+perchance your greatest effort would be in vain. Bring horses; for on
+this journey I ride with you."
+
+Polaris rode a splendid black stallion, splotched with white at
+forehead and fetlock, which had been the gift of Jastla, of the hills.
+When they were ready to leave the temple gates, Rombar came barking at
+the horses' heels.
+
+"Best to leave the dog behind, brother," said Oleric. "We go upon a
+path where he may find ill-favor."
+
+Cloaked in a wondrous robe of red fox-skins, Glorian rode on a
+cream-colored palfrey, attended by one of her women in waiting only.
+Never had she seemed more fair and queenly. Like some bright daughter
+of the white North of the long ago, was she, of whom the skalds have
+sung in their undying sagas.
+
+From her he glanced to Polaris, who rode beside her. The son of the
+snows was clad from head to heel in the glittering chain armor which
+Rutharian smiths had forged for him, and cloaked in the black skin
+of a forest bear. At his back swung a two-handed sword. A winged
+helm, brilliant with gold-work and curtained with a hood and cape of
+delicately wrought links, sat upon his tawny hair. Long since a razor
+of keen bronze had swept the beard from his cheeks and chin.
+
+Only in the amber eyes had the troubles of the years left their mark--a
+shadow of sadness when they were thoughtful or in repose, but which did
+not ill become them.
+
+"She may be a goddess," thought Zenas to himself, "and she is beautiful
+enough to be a real one; but if she hasn't gone silly as a cow-girl
+over this lad of ours, then I'm a donkey, and a blind one, to boot. O
+Trouble, you've worn skirts ever since you quit fig-leaves."
+
+Zenas shook his head. The geologist had never married.
+
+It was no brief pleasure-jaunt on which Glorian led, but nearly
+two days' hard riding into the northwest from Zele-omaz, across
+heavily-wooded mountains and through valleys deep with snow.
+
+Leaving the hills at last, the party came to a vast, dark forest,
+silent, somber and covering the rolling land like a black pall. Into
+its soundless glades the riders penetrated and rode for miles.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Presently they saw ahead of them a clearing in the depths of the wood,
+and a stretch of long buildings, built of stone, and with their windows
+set high in the walls near their roofs.
+
+It was late afternoon when the riders entered the clearing and
+approached the buildings, which stood about the four sides of a square,
+enclosing a space of nearly three acres. As they rode into this court,
+following a path between two of the buildings, the travelers saw that a
+number of smaller structures of stone and wood occupied a part of the
+square. Here and there in the court, fires of brush were burning--for
+it was bitter cold in the forest depths--and dark figures of men passed
+to and fro about the fires. A pack of shaggy, wolf-bred dogs came
+yapping at the horses' heels.
+
+"Who comes?" cried a voice. Men bearing spears ran forward from the
+fires.
+
+"Glorian of Ruthar comes to visit Zoar of the Amalocs," answered Oleric.
+
+Straightway the armed men knelt in the courtyard, and one in a stern
+voice called back the dogs.
+
+A door in one of the houses near the center of the square was opened,
+and the form of a man stood there, silhouetted against a flaring light
+within the dwelling.
+
+"Methought that I heard a voice well known to me, speaking of Glorian
+of Ruthar and of Zoar of the Amalocs." The tones of the man in the
+doorway were low, but clear and sonorous as a bell. "I thought it the
+voice of one Oleric the Learned," the man went on. He bent forward and
+shaded his eyes with his hand. "Are you indeed come, red one? Ride
+forward that I may see."
+
+Oleric's answer was drowned in a terrific chorus of squealing groans,
+which seemed to issue from the larger buildings on all three sides of
+the square. So unearthly and piercing was the din, that Zenas Wright
+would have clapped his hands to his ears; but he found his best efforts
+needed to control his horse. The steeds of all the party snorted and
+reared in terror of that hideous outburst. They would have bolted, but
+knew not where to bolt; and presently the clamor was ceased, and they
+stood still and trembling.
+
+"What demons of the place are these?" cried Polaris. He sprang down
+from his horse, tossed the reins to the man nearest him, and ran to the
+head of Glorian's palfrey, which was curveting and threatening to pitch
+its mistress from her saddle.
+
+"Those are the pets of Zoar," Oleric answered, "the amalocs. They know
+his voice and answer him in their own fashion." Spurring his restive
+horse, the red captain rode forward to the porch of the dwelling.
+
+"So, 'tis you, indeed," said Zoar as the captain advanced into the ring
+of firelight. This time the man spoke softly, almost in a whisper, and
+was not again interrupted. He stepped to the side of the captain's
+horse and took him by the hand. "Who rides with you, and why do you
+ride to seek Zoar?" he asked. "Is the time come, red one? Is it come?"
+
+"Aye; the time is here, Zoar," said Oleric soberly. "Our years have not
+been in vain. Yonder sits the Goddess Glorian, and holding her horse's
+head is the hope of Ruthar, whom I have brought up from the sea."
+
+"And the Kimbrian Wall?" Zoar asked.
+
+"It waits but the coming of the amalocs, when we will push it down like
+a barrier of straw," Oleric answered. "Ruthar stands in arms as she
+never has before, and the land rustles with banners. We have come to
+ask your aid. When we know that Zoar of the amalocs is on the march,
+then will the war-drums be sounded."
+
+"Has the ancient crown touched his brow?" asked Zoar.
+
+"Not yet; we wait your word."
+
+"It is given." Zoar lifted his face to the dim sky. "Beyond the mists
+the stars of Ruthar shine, never so brightly," he muttered. He laid his
+hand on the captain's arm.
+
+"On the third day from now Zoar of the Amalocs will march," he
+said. "Now bring your party within, and they shall enjoy what poor
+hospitality I have for them, who entertain so few guests."
+
+Men led away the horses, and the travelers entered the hall of Zoar.
+
+"Ah, daughter of the stars," he said, and bowed, as Glorian crossed his
+threshold, "many years have gone since I last looked into your eyes;
+but I find that the will burns strongly still, and your beauty has not
+dimmed. But I grow old, daughter, old and very weary."
+
+Gravely and courteously Zoar welcomed his guests, and bade them rest
+and sit at meat with him. It was a plain place into which he ushered
+them; yet was it rich, as the world counts riches, and its wealth was
+all of ivory. Seats, tables, cabinets, even the casings of the windows
+and the doors were of ivory--wonderful, finely grained stuff, some of
+it white as alabaster, and some of it cream-yellow with the tint of
+age. And the carvings on it must have been the work of years.
+
+Zoar, the host, the travelers found quite as remarkable as his ivory
+treasure. He was a slight, short man, hardly so tall as Zenas Wright
+and not so stocky as the geologist. He wore a long white beard, and his
+hair, of the same silver, flowed across his shoulders. His eyes, under
+bushy brows, were bright and kindly. His step was quick and firm, nor
+did his limbs or hands tremble. Yet there was on him the stamp of an
+unutterable, incredible age.
+
+His skin was as yellow-pale as the oldest of his ivory, and the whole
+surface of it was fretted with thousands of infinitesimal wrinkles.
+When he spoke or moved it was with spirit and animation; but when he
+fell into fits of abstraction--and that was often--Zoar looked very
+like a mummy fresh-stripped from its tomb.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Polaris the old man regarded with especial interest, and when the meal
+had been cleared away he sat and talked with him and Glorian for many
+minutes, recalling odd, old tales of the history of Ruthar, with which
+he showed remarkable familiarity.
+
+"But Ruthar's greatest story is yet to be made," he said in conclusion
+of his tales. Then he called his servants to show his guests to their
+chambers.
+
+"What! Have I ridden all these miles, friend Oleric, and then to be
+put to bed without the chance to tell you that these wonderful beasts
+about which you have bragged so much are only elephants after all?"
+said Zenas Wright, forgetting in his stubbornness the ivory gateway at
+Zele-omaz.
+
+The red captain grinned and put a question to Zoar. The old man
+answered with a shake of his head:
+
+"The amalocs love not to be disturbed at night, and especially they
+love not fires or lights. If you and your friends would sleep in peace
+this night, I counsel that you wait till daybreak to see the beasts.
+Otherwise they may revile you in such fashion as will shake your
+couches and drive all sleep from your pillows."
+
+So Zenas was forced to be content and go to his bed with no chance to
+crow over Oleric. All night long there penetrated occasionally through
+the geologist's slumbers the noise of raucous trumpeting and the
+padding stamp of ponderous feet.
+
+When they had broken their fast in the morning, Zoar led his guests
+into the court and sent men to throw open the great bronze doors in the
+front of the nearest of the stone buildings.
+
+"Now for an elephant," muttered Zenas. "Perhaps a mighty big one, but
+still an elephant." Then Zenas stopped, amazed.
+
+Out through the doors of bronze and into the open court stalked a
+mountain of flesh and ivory and stood swaying restlessly from one foot
+to another, flapping ears that would have made a bed covering, and
+looking keenly about with little, inflamed eyes. Elephantine in shape
+only was this monster. The points of its shoulders were fifteen feet
+from the ground--a full yard taller than the most stalwart elephant
+that ever bore the howdah of a mogul emperor.
+
+Tusks that were ten feet long projected from its massive skull, curving
+downward where they left the bone and then out and up in such fashion
+that if they had been continued farther they would have formed spirals.
+The body of the monster was covered with a coarse and woolly growth of
+reddish-brown hair, through which there pricked long, black bristles.
+On the trunk the wool was sparse and the bristles shorter, and one
+could see that the hide of the beast was a drab-gray. Neck it had none;
+but along the spine, just back of the skull and extending beyond the
+shoulders, was a ridge or mane of coarse, black hair.
+
+His face gone white and his eyes round and goggling, Zenas Wright stood
+and stared up at this Gargantuan offspring of the hinder ages.
+
+"_Loxodon!_" he breathed.
+
+Never in all his life had the geologist felt so small and insignificant
+as in the presence of that towering survivor of the prehistoric past.
+
+Zoar stepped forward in front of the beast.
+
+"Ixstus!" he called gently.
+
+The great ears inclined forward to attention.
+
+"_Stekkar mal!_" the old man commanded.
+
+Down swung the vast, wrinkled trunk in a huge loop, into which Zoar
+stepped and was hoisted to the table of the monstrous skull--a flat
+place where five men might have sat and played at cards.
+
+Another word of command, and the mammoth advanced a couple of paces.
+The snakelike trunk groped forward, and Zenas, wriggling some as he
+went, was swung aloft and found himself seated breathlessly by the side
+of Zoar.
+
+The master of the beasts smiled at the other old man.
+
+"When you come again to your own land, you may tell your children's
+children, if you have them, that you have sat on the head of an amaloc,
+the grandfather of all beasts," said Zoar.
+
+While Zenas appreciated that honor, it might be said that he was much
+relieved when he got his feet on the ground again.
+
+From building to building of the immense stables, the scientist was led
+with growing wonder. Ninety and three of the giant mammals there were,
+of which no one stood less than twelve feet high. But Ixstus was the
+champion and patriarch of the herd.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As the riders journeyed back to Zele-omaz, Oleric told again how the
+Children of Ad had driven the beasts southward from their lands with
+fire, and how the men of Ruthar likewise had made war upon them, until
+they were in danger of becoming extinct.
+
+"But then came the prophecy, and men of wisdom set themselves to study
+and tame the beasts," he said. "And now, when the wall is down, and
+Ruthar takes the road to Adlaz, the amalocs shall lead the way, and
+Zoar and his servants shall drive them against the hosts of Bel-Ar."
+
+"Won't the Maeronicans scare them again with fires?" asked Everson.
+
+"Nay; that has been provided against," said the captain.
+
+"Lady," Polaris said to Glorian, "I have heard and seen many strange
+things in this country of yours, and I have learned much. One more
+thing I would ask that you make clear to me. Oleric has, and last night
+the old man back yonder did again speak of things of the long ago, in
+which you had a part. What did they mean? You are scarcely of mine own
+years."
+
+Glorian glanced hastily at Oleric, and then she answered:
+
+"When the world was younger, men had the secret of years. The slave
+O'Connell told Oleric that it was written in your sacred book out
+yonder in the world that such was so. That secret was lost. For ages it
+was lost. But it was found again in Ruthar. I am one of those to whom
+it has been imparted."
+
+"You mean, lady, that _you_--" Polaris gasped.
+
+"My friend, I first saw the light on Ruthar's hills well-nigh three
+hundred years ago," Glorian replied, and as he involuntarily shrank
+in his saddle, she added hastily, "It is a matter of the inward will
+that holds the spirit and the flesh. To only a few is it given to have
+the will to prevail for a time against time itself. And they are not
+immortal. Presently old age will come to me as it has to Zoar, and I
+shall shrivel away--and die." She shuddered.
+
+Polaris looked at this fair, fresh woman, beautiful as a goddess
+indeed, and by all earthly standards in the first bloom of her young
+womanhood, and he felt that this matter was beyond his comprehension.
+
+"Are there, then, any others, besides you and Zoar?" he asked.
+
+"One other only--and he rides at your side," she answered. "Oleric the
+Learned is younger than I by only fifty years."
+
+"Now, my brother, are some of my wild sayings explained to you," Oleric
+said. "We do not ask that you believe, for this thing is new to you and
+contrary to all that you have learned. Only the years will show you the
+truth of what we tell you--if they pass without accidents. For we are
+not proof against mischance. A sword-stroke may end my days as swiftly
+as any man's."
+
+"Would you that I impart the secret to you?" asked Glorian. And she
+turned and looked deep into Polaris's eyes. "You have a will that is
+stronger than most, and I think that you might well exert it to hold
+back the years, were you instructed. Say, shall we teach it you?"
+
+"Nay, lady," said Polaris. "I will live my appointed years, be they few
+or many, and die when my time comes. One short human life, it seems,
+can hold all the troubles for which a man has heart. And I would not,
+if this thing be possible, see my friends grow old and die, while I
+lived on."
+
+Glorian sighed. Then she seemed struck by a new thought, and asked:
+
+"What will happen if Ruthar is too late, and you reach not your friends
+in Adlaz--and the lady Rose, of whom Oleric has told me? What if you
+come not to Adlaz in time to save them?"
+
+"I think that I shall be in time," Polaris said grimly. "If I am not,
+then I think death shall find me on the road--and be welcome."
+
+Zenas Wright, hearing these things, and marveling, became troubled.
+
+"Wow!" he said to the lieutenant. "I can believe anything now. To-day I
+have seen a living mammoth, and I felt about three thousand years old
+myself. And now, too, look out for squalls."
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER VII
+
+                       POLARIS MAKES HIS CHOICE
+
+
+Dawn, the cheerless gray of clouded winter, crept over the city of
+Adlaz. In her bed in the prison-palace of Bel-Tisan the dark-haired
+Princess Memene of Sardanes lay, and beside her was her new little
+son. But Memene was not well, and Rose knew she would not live.
+
+"Oh, that Minos were here to see!" Memene said faintly. And again--"It
+is the king he was so sure of." She smiled at Rose. "It is the king,
+my sister. And he shall be named Patrymion, after a man who is dead--a
+very brave man." And smiling, she passed away.
+
+When she could control her grief--she had come to love Memene
+dearly--Rose summoned Brunar and told him what had befallen. The
+captain heard her sorrowfully, for he had honored and admired the
+Sardanian princess and pitied her sad circumstance. He sent the old
+woman out to fetch a younger one to care for the child. And then he
+brought men to bear Memene away. Out of the kindness that was in him,
+the captain looked to it that she lay in a fair and pleasant spot, and
+not where the common people of Ad buried their dead.
+
+Persuaded by Rose, and because he had some knowledge of English and
+could bear the message, Brunar took horse at noon and rode down to the
+harbor, there to seek Minos.
+
+This happening was nearly two months after the departure of Polaris and
+the others who had gone to Ruthar. In the intervening time, Oleric the
+Red had tried and tried again to get word through to Adlaz, informing
+those who were left behind of the fair progress of events. Always he
+had failed until one of his men, by craft and waiting, had gained a
+place with the prison guard.
+
+With him Rose Emer managed to get speech, and they arranged that on
+the following day he should slip away and try to reach Ruthar again,
+bearing a message from her to Polaris.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+On one of the quays in the harbor of Adlaz sat Minos, the Sardanian. It
+was cold on the quay, but he did not feel it. His back was weary with
+carrying burdens, but he was unconscious of that weariness. Why should
+the body live when the soul is dead within it? Nor did his eyes see
+the dancing waters of the harbor, where the fademes of Bel-Ar rode at
+their anchors. Until this day he had counted the hours with hope, and
+had borne his tasks with patience. Now hope had gone, and the taste of
+living was as dry dust.
+
+For Memene was dead.
+
+When Brunar had brought him the news, he had heard the captain through,
+and thanked him gravely. Then he had turned twice in his tracks and
+fallen like a stone. So long had he lain that Brunar deemed him dead.
+When he had come back from that swoon, Minos would work no more; nor
+did any seek to force him. He had wandered aimlessly out on the quay.
+When night fell, it found him still sitting there.
+
+It was a wild night. The moon shone but dimly, and often was veiled
+by scudding snow-clouds, and the stars were wan. Far to the south,
+over Ruthar, a faint rose-pink against the sky told that the southern
+lights, aurora australis, were playing. Somewhere beneath their
+flickering radiance lay the lost kingdom of Sardanes that the snows had
+covered deep. A wind, gusty and fitful, leaped over the mountain-rim
+and tossed the waters of the crater-lake so that the fademes swung
+restlessly and clanked their anchor-chains. One by one the mitzl globes
+among the warehouses and along the quays were hooded, until only the
+watch-lights were burning.
+
+A soldier of the guard hailed Minos; but the Sardanian answered not,
+stirred not.
+
+"Now let the fool sit and freeze," said the soldier impatiently. And
+then he added, "Poor fellow." For he had heard the story of the fallen
+king, and had a good wife and bairns of his own in Adlaz town.
+
+In Sardanes, Minos had been known as the smiling prince. But for all
+his patient, kindly ways, he was high-spirited. And once roused, none
+was quicker to strike than he. Events of the last few weeks had galled
+his temper. Now, coming out of the stupor into which this final blow
+had cast him, he was near to madness.
+
+Willingly would have Minos found his way to Adlaz, plucked Bel-Ar
+from his gilded bed and broken him across his knee. But the way was
+treacherous, and there were many guards, and he knew that he could not
+reach the king. Into the south he would have gone, to seek Polaris and
+to play a man's part in the great war. But that way was closed to him
+also. The few men that he might slay in the attempt before they pulled
+him down and slew him would be all too few to satisfy the fires within
+him that burned fiercely for vengeance. With only a great calamity
+would Minos be content.
+
+Uneasily tossed the fademes in the harbor, their anchor-chains
+rattling.
+
+Finally Minos heard them. Then he knew why they were calling to him.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Many times in his work about the harbor of Adlaz the Sardanian had been
+on board the fademes. He had helped to discharge the cargoes of those
+which came in from the fair islands of the southern seas, bringing
+strange tropical fruits, dainties for the lords and ladies of Adlaz,
+and other articles of the commerce which their captains carried on
+with the savage islanders. On many an atoll of the Pacific the brown
+Melanesians knew all the steel and gold clad white men who came up from
+the sea to trade with them.
+
+But they kept out of the track of civilization; for that was their law.
+Civilized men saw them not, though they sometimes heard tales of them
+among the savages--tales which, of course, they did not believe.
+
+Working on the ships as he had, Minos had learned much of the mode of
+their operation. Himself no mean worker in metals, the mysteries of
+these wonderful ships of the underseas had caught his fancy, and he
+had studied them. He knew that such a lever turned would start the
+fademe forward; that such another halted it; and others which caused
+it to turn and to dive beneath the surface or emerge at the will of
+its engineer. He also knew where were the levers which controlled
+the mighty power in the four great shafts of yellow glass and which
+released the terrible rays of light, the rays of the nameless color,
+before which all things were destroyed, and which turned even the water
+that they met into surging vapor.
+
+With that knowledge in his mind and the red fury in his heart, Minos
+knew why the clanging anchor-chains were calling to him.
+
+It was past midnight when the Sardanian king stood up at the end of
+the quay. He stretched wide his arms and the iron-sinewed thews of
+his shoulders and back cracked as he stretched. He glanced up at the
+distant stars.
+
+"Once aforetime, so told the red man from the sea, those Hellenes who
+were my ancestors did turn back this nation when it was swollen with
+conquest and would have mastered all the world," he whispered. "Once
+more the power of Adlaz rides high, and it makes ready to go forth and
+subdue it again--and what I leave, may my brother Polaris finish."
+
+In the shadow of a warehouse the king rubbed and strained his chilled
+muscles back to life. At the side of the wharf he found an open boat,
+and fetched its oars. Then he rowed cautiously out into the harbor.
+
+Scarce a score of yards from the quays rode the nearest of the fademes.
+Minos boarded it on noiseless feet, and cast his boat adrift.
+
+In the cabin of the fademe were sleeping two sailors of its crew and
+the engineer. Them Minos slew with his bare hands. And though the
+engineer ere he died slashed the king's shoulder deeply with a dagger,
+he heeded it not, scarcely felt it.
+
+Going on deck again, he unhooked the chain of the anchor and let it
+slip quietly into the water. Then he closed the double doors fore and
+aft, and made them fast.
+
+Under the lights in the lower gallery, Minos studied the levers and
+the engines. At a turn of his hand he felt the vessel sink beneath the
+surface. Another lever wrenched, and the fademe started gently ahead,
+and the king felt that he was safely launched on his dangerous venture.
+
+Before he had submerged the vessel, Minos had set in his mind the
+location of the fademes. There were nearly one hundred and fifty of
+them in the harbor. Five he knew were on patrol duty constantly off
+the Maeronican headlands. There were perhaps another dozen sailing the
+outer seas on the missions of Bel-Ar. Those at anchor in the harbor
+were disposed in three long, irregular lines, with nearly fifty ships
+in a line.
+
+Minos had submerged the fademe, which he had taken, some forty feet.
+When he reached a point which he thought must be nearly under the first
+vessel in the southern line, he turned off the power and halted. He
+fetched ropes and tied them, one to the starting lever and one to that
+which would stop the fademe. Carrying with him the other ends of the
+ropes, he climbed the ladders to the pilothouse, which rode like a
+small tower at the top of the fademe.
+
+Here in the pilothouse was a powerful revolving searchlight. Here,
+also, were the levers which controlled the tubes of glass which
+projected the deadly light-rays.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Swinging the searchlight to point upward through the crystal roof of
+the pilothouse, Minos unhooded it, and its bright, white bar of light
+thrust upward through the water. By its radiance he saw that he was not
+yet under the first of the fademes. Its golden hull glittered just a
+few feet beyond the radius of his light. A twitch of the rope which he
+had adjusted below sent his own vessel ahead.
+
+Under the first fademe he halted; and with a grim prayer that the
+destroying agency might not be out of order, he pressed the lever that
+controlled the upper shaft of the glass.
+
+With a mighty hissing and seething of the water, the indescribable
+light-ray leaped upward, so dazzlingly brilliant in its unknown color
+that it nearly blinded the man who had loosed it.
+
+Full on the bottom of the fademe above him the light ray struck and
+played, with the water boiling around it. The metal hull crumpled away
+like solder before the tinsmith's point. So swift and furious was its
+action that in an instant Minos saw the vessel above come sinking down.
+He had barely time to pull his rope and get his own fademe from under.
+As it was, the descending wreck grazed the stern of his vessel with a
+jar that nearly unseated him. Thereafter he went more swiftly.
+
+From ship to ship he went down the long line, scarcely pausing under
+each. Ship after ship he left behind him--sunken and useless wrecks.
+
+Minos had finished with the first row of fademes, and was coming back
+on the second line, when a guardsman on shore saw an upthrust of
+furious light from the deck of one of the golden ships, and then saw
+the doomed fademe plunge down.
+
+Throwing up his hands, the soldier ran across the harbor court,
+shouting that some captain had gone mad and was destroying the fleet.
+
+Then the harbor that had been still became alive. Lights flashed up.
+Men ran hither and thither. A messenger was dispatched to Adlaz to
+report to the king. Some sober-minded and brave men launched small
+boats into the harbor to go out and warn the engineers of the other
+fademes.
+
+Well near the end of his second line was Minos when he bethought him
+that his activities must draw attention to him. Then he loosed in
+succession the other three tubes, and their deadly rays shot forth, one
+from each side and one below. The king let them roar unchecked, and all
+around his vessel the water was turned into a boiling inferno. Like the
+evil genius of Adlaz, he rode on, leaving only wreckage in his wake.
+
+Part way down the last northern line, the end found him.
+
+Engineers on the other fademes had been awakened. Hastily they plunged
+their vessels beneath the surface and set out against the destroyer.
+Because of the fierce play of his four rays, they could not come at him
+from either side or from above or below.
+
+But one pilot steered in behind and, with the blazing peril a fair
+target, loosed the destroying ray from his own fademe.
+
+From behind him Minos heard a roar of steam and water entering in.
+A blinding radiance shot through the gallery below the pilothouse,
+withering all things as it passed. The structure of the fademe crumpled
+away beneath him.
+
+"Memene!" he cried. "I come!"
+
+Then the rising waters and the great darkness.
+
+So by the hand of Minos of Sardanes perished the mighty navy which
+the king Bel-Ar had amassed to go forth and conquer the world. Of his
+hundred and fifty fademes that had ridden in the harbor of Adlaz, a
+bare score remained to him. And this is the tale which Brunar, the
+captain, told in the morning to Rose Emer in the old prison-palace of
+Bel-Tisam, and which she set down and sent by messenger to cross the
+Kimbrian Wall to Polaris Janess in Ruthar.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Meanwhile, scarcely had the riders from the forest home of Zoar of the
+Amalocs come again to Zele-omaz when Everson was off to see to the
+course of his operations at the Kimbrian Wall. He snatched only a few
+hours of rest and sleep, and rode out in the night.
+
+On the day after the return, which also was the day on which Zoar had
+promised to set out with his mighty herd on the road to the barrier,
+Oleric the Red sought Polaris in the camp to the west of the city, and
+bade him accompany him to the Temple of Glorian.
+
+Oleric told naught of the meaning of the summons, but rode with Janess
+through the city, saying little and staring at his horse's ears. Never
+had Polaris seen the red captain so silent and so thoughtful.
+
+"What ails you, friend?" asked the son of the snows. "Why so moody, as
+is not your wont? Has aught gone amiss?"
+
+"Nothing amiss," the captain answered. "But a matter is toward that
+concerns yourself closely--and I know not if I have been wise to keep
+it from you so long."
+
+He would say no more, and presently they were at the temple.
+
+Oleric led Polaris into the high-domed audience-hall, which they found
+empty, save for the Goddess Glorian, who sat in one of the seats on
+the double throne, and who looked on Polaris with kindling eyes as he
+crossed the hall.
+
+To the northern wall led Oleric, and they paused before an ancient
+panel of black rock, which had been set into the marble at about the
+height of a man's head. So old was this slab or block of adamant that
+its surface was all crackled, yet it was smooth as polished slate.
+Across its face ran carven lines of writing, like the lines of a runic
+legend.
+
+"This stone bears the ancient prophecy of Ruthar," Oleric said. "Here
+in the long ago were writ the words of that which we believe is now to
+come to pass. See how the stone shines. It has been worn smooth by the
+lips of countless chiefs of Ruthar."
+
+With unwonted solemnity the captain gazed into the eyes of his friend.
+"Give close heed, and I will read it you," he said, and read:
+
+    "In a far time--more than the length of years of three amalocs--a
+    mighty, fair-haired man shall come up from the sea. He shall break
+    down the wall at the north. He shall lead Ruthar and the beasts of
+    Ruthar through the wall. And they shall take Adlaz and destroy the
+    king of Adlaz--"
+
+The captain paused, and again looked strangely at Polaris. He concluded
+the reading:
+
+    "And the man shall be king over Ruthar and Adlaz."
+
+Janess stared at the ancient writing in silence, and his brow clouded
+over.
+
+"This is the whole of the prophecy of Ruthar--the part of which I have
+kept concealed from you--though every lad in Ruthar knows it," said
+Oleric hastily. "I beg of you, my brother, that you will forgive me if
+I have done ill. But I have thought it wise to keep silence this far.
+Now is come the time when nothing must be kept back."
+
+He stopped speaking, and both he and Glorian gazed earnestly at the
+doubtful face of Polaris.
+
+"You mean that I shall be king of Ruthar," Polaris said at length. From
+one to the other of them he glanced.
+
+The red captain nodded slowly.
+
+"So it is writ in the prophecy," said Glorian. She left the throne, and
+came and took Polaris by the hand.
+
+"And, O man from the sea, for whom Ruthar has waited so long and
+patiently, you cannot gainsay us now," she pleaded. A smile of
+appealing sweetness came to her aid.
+
+"But, lady, to be a king I did not bargain when I came hither with the
+captain; though," and he smiled, "I was in an ill place to drive a
+bargain, and might have yielded almost anything. But to be a king--I
+like it not. I am neither of Ruthar nor of Ad. I am a simple American
+of common birth. I do not wish to be a king, but merely to go hence
+with my own people, if I may. And if I did wish it, what of the people?
+Would they relish the thought of an outlander on their throne?"
+
+Again Glorian answered him:
+
+"It is so writ in the prophecy."
+
+And Oleric said: "And the prophecy is known to all the people, as it
+has been for centuries. From the wall to the southern cliffs, there is
+no man or woman in all Ruthar who does not already look upon you as the
+king. Think well, my brother."
+
+"But would it not do as well if I were to serve you and Ruthar for a
+while, and those with me, as leaders? Then, when we have won, if we
+_do_ win, might I not go hence? Would that not serve as well?"
+
+Glorian smiled faintly, and Oleric shook his head.
+
+"Nay, my brother," the captain replied. "You must put your hands in the
+hands of the zinds of Ruthar and swear the oath of kingship. That is
+the only way. 'And the man shall be king over Ruthar and Adlaz,' runs
+the prophecy." Oleric traced the writing on the slab with his finger.
+"By those words do the zinds and the people hold. It is the only way."
+
+"And if I refuse?"
+
+"Then," said Glorian, "the army will not march to-morrow, nor will Zoar
+drive on the beasts--unless all of the prophecy shall be fulfilled.
+Then we who have stood as sponsors for you will be derided as cheats
+and fools, if, indeed, worse things do not befall you and us. And
+bethink you--those whom you love, who are in Adlaz, will perish
+miserably, while Bel-Ar and the priests of Shamar mock their miseries.
+Without you we fail, and without us and the hosts of Ruthar you, too,
+are powerless."
+
+"You argue strongly, lady, and you, too, comrade," Polaris said.
+"Still, I like not this prospect of being king. I must have a little
+space in which to ponder it over."
+
+"It is now nearly noon," Oleric said. "To-day the zinds from every
+province and city of Ruthar ride into Zele-omaz--to greet their king.
+Until to-night, my brother."
+
+"Then to-night will I give my answer--here in this hall," Polaris said,
+and he turned and went to seek out old Zenas Wright. And neither of the
+two whom he left behind could have guessed at what his answer would be,
+though it seemed to them that there could only be one answer. For they
+had come to know him as a man of surpassing determination, and here was
+a path in which he did not want to set his feet.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the old laboratory Janess found Zenas. The work of the geologist
+was completed. Melinite he had turned out of his workshops by the ton,
+and the most of it had been transported carefully, and was stored in
+the forests near to the Kimbrian Wall. Now his thunder factory was
+deserted. Every last man of his force had gone to join the army.
+
+"Yes, my lad, I know," said Zenas, after one glance at Polaris's face.
+"They have told you about this king business. I know, too--for I know
+you--that you are bucking it--hard."
+
+"I do not want to be a king, old Zenas, but--"
+
+"Yes, there's a 'but' in it, and a big one. What are you going to do
+about it? Our red-headed, two-hundred-and-fifty-year-old youngster, the
+antique lady, and their old father, Methuselah Zoar, have it all cut
+and dried. If you can see any way out of it except their way, you have
+devilish keen eyes. I can't, and I've been looking at it for quite a
+few days. Oleric told me about it all some time ago. Take it, boy; take
+it. And make the most of it. It isn't every day that one gets a chance
+to be absolute ruler over a rich country and nearly five millions of
+people. You'll make a better king than any they've ever had on either
+side of the wall. That I'll guarantee." And the old man looked at his
+troubled friend with bright eyes and patted him on the knee.
+
+While they sat and talked this matter over, came a man to the door,
+crying out that a messenger had come through from Adlaz bringing a
+written word to Polaris.
+
+The courier was brought in. He proved to be that same Rutharian who had
+gained a place with the prison guard under Brunar. Already he had told
+in the city of the destruction of the fademes of Bel-Ar, and Zele-omaz
+was going wild with the news.
+
+When Polaris had read the letter sent him by Rose Emer, and he and
+Zenas had heard what the messenger had to add to its news, the face of
+the son of the snows grew very stern. The kindly old scientist's eyes
+were moist. After the man was gone, neither of them spoke for quite a
+time. The two who were gone had been dear friends, and the friendship
+had been knit by perils and hardships, in which each had learned the
+worth of the others.
+
+"Now is the score that I have to settle with this king of Adlaz grown
+long indeed," Polaris said at length, "and I am minded to tilt him for
+his kingdom, as these folk would have me do. He made a good ending, did
+Minos; and I do not think that Bel-Ar, even if he come free of Ruthar,
+will live to see the day when another fleet shall lie ready to go out
+and win the world for him."
+
+He became silent. While the town, filling up with the arrival of zinds
+and their retinues, gave itself to rejoicing at the blow that had been
+struck Bel-Ar, and the old man sat by the fire and dozed, Polaris paced
+moodily up and down the long laboratory. An hour passed, and the half
+of another. Then he struck one hand hard into the other.
+
+"Now in all these happenings I think I see my way at last," he muttered.
+
+With the fall of night he cloaked himself and went up to the temple on
+the hill, and Zenas went with him.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+From every principality and town in Ruthar the zinds had come to
+Zele-omaz. Those who were too old or infirm to make the journey had
+sent their sons or representatives. In the hall of Glorian these were
+gathered to the number of one hundred-and-seven--tall and stately men,
+most of them, clad in chain armor plated with silver and bossed with
+plates of steel--for they had come to fight for their king as well as
+to crown him. A shout went up that made the torches flare, when a guard
+opened one of the doors of bronze, and Polaris Janess and Zenas came
+into the hall.
+
+Eager-eyed, they pressed around the son of the snows, to welcome him
+whom their prophets and their goddess had said would redress their
+ancient wrongs.
+
+Polaris met their greetings with a heightened color and a glow in his
+eyes. Almost, he thought, it would be a joy to be the king of such as
+these--he, the dweller in no-man's land, a waif from the eternal snows.
+
+And the Goddess Glorian, watching him from her ivory throne, smiled
+to herself, though there was a pang at her heart that she could not
+manage to quench or still.
+
+Presently Polaris stood in the open space at the foot of the throne.
+The zinds gathered before him in a glittering semicircle, and made
+silence in the hall.
+
+"Chieftains of Ruthar," he began, lifting his voice so that all might
+hear, "this day have I been asked to become your king, to take your
+crown upon my head, to sit upon your throne, to lead you in battle, and
+to rule over you as wisely as I may--all this because of certain words
+on a stone which, it seems, may not be changed. Is this your wish, men
+of Ruthar--to have me, an outlander, as your king?"
+
+A deep-voiced shout was the answer, and every voice said "Aye."
+
+"Then this is my answer, men of Ruthar, seeing that there is no dissent
+among you: when I came unwillingly to the shores of Maeronica, there
+came with me a friend, a true man. You have heard much of him to-day.
+It was he that sank the fademes of Bel-Ar. He was named Minos, and he
+was the king of a nation that has passed away. That man is dead by a
+glorious means. Yonder in the harbor he struck a great blow for Ruthar
+and for the world. He gave his life.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"To-day word reached me by the messenger who brought the tidings of
+that deed, and the word was that this Minos who is dead, left behind
+him a son, an infant newly born.
+
+"Now I will yield me to your wishes, chieftains of Ruthar. I will go
+with you to the Kimbrian Wall, and beyond it. I will fight with you
+to overthrow Bel-Ar. I will do all that a man may to be the king you
+wish me. But it is my will that when this son of Minos the Sardanian is
+grown to manhood's years and wisdom, he shall relieve me of my kingship
+and become your king, and his son after him, if he have one. That is my
+answer, men of Ruthar. I thank you for the high honor you would do me."
+
+He turned and bowed deeply to the Goddess Glorian, and then stood back
+at the side of the throne.
+
+A murmur of surprise arose in the hall, and then was silenced, for
+Glorian arose to speak.
+
+"Zinds of my people," she said in her clear, low voice, "to the weight
+of this man's words add that of Glorian's. He comes, this man, from a
+land where there are no kings. He is willing to fight for you--to die
+with you. What he promises will fulfil the prophecy by which we hold.
+It is a noble choice that he has made. It is my rede that you accept
+it--mine and that of Oleric the Learned, to whom you sometimes have
+looked for counsel."
+
+As she reseated herself, the red captain stood forth and said simply:
+
+"My brother has chosen well. I stand with him. Should you not agree, I
+still stand with him, and he and I and such as are faithful to us will
+break the Kimbrian Wall and perish on the road to Adlaz."
+
+For a short time the zinds took counsel among themselves. When they had
+done, an aged man--he was Atra, the ruler of Zele-omaz--stood out from
+among them.
+
+"We are agreed, O goddess," he said. "We will have this man as king
+until the prophecy is fulfilled and for so long afterward as he will,
+until the babe be grown to manhood. He is a true man. We are content,
+and perhaps"--here Atra smiled--"with the passing of the years he may
+change his mind."
+
+They brought the crown of Ruthar--a heavy torque of gold set with
+fire-opals--and led Polaris to the ivory throne, and set him beside the
+Goddess Glorian and crowned him. And he put his hands in the hands of
+the zinds and swore the oath of kingship.
+
+"Yonder in Adlaz is a larger palace and a wider throne," said Glorian.
+
+"Aye, lady," he answered. "To-morrow I shall go to seek it."
+
+A great feast followed the coronation. When it was done, all night
+long through the streets of Zele-omaz and across the bridges of Illia,
+sounded the rumbling of chariot-wheels and the tramp of marching feet.
+Ruthar was on the march at last, and the destination was the Kimbrian
+Wall.
+
+So it fell out that the ambition of Minos of Sardanes had not been so
+vain of attainment. He had won a kingdom for "the king that was to
+come."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As near as they dared, Everson's army of workmen had pushed the
+completion of their broad highway to the Kimbrian Wall, clearing and
+building up the old, disused road. Trees had been felled and removed
+where it was necessary, and rocks had been dragged away with much
+labor--and all with as little noise as possible, so that the men of
+Atlo who garrisoned the wall might know nothing of the work, and that
+when the time should come, Maeronica could be taken unawares.
+
+To do that the road-makers had been forced to halt their work two
+hundred yards from the wall, where a belt of thick forest was left
+standing across the way which effectually screened their operations.
+
+When the roadway had been completed to that point, molelike, the
+engineers and sappers dug into the earth and pushed on. The old
+roadway, suiting their purposes well, led to the wall at a point nearly
+midway between two of the watchtowers, which were distant from one
+another about a mile. Another circumstance which was favorable to the
+lieutenant's plan was that the neck or isthmus which connected Ruthar
+to Maeronica was, though high above the sea, comparatively level.
+
+Back of a knoll in the forest the miners sank their shaft. Twelve feet
+down in the earth they struck the living rock and proceeded along that,
+excavating a tunnel, or gallery, eight feet high by ten feet across.
+This work was done swiftly, for the tunnel was wide enough so that four
+men might work in it abreast, and as fast as one quartet was wearied
+another took its place, and the picks were swinging day and night. As
+the diggers went on, a multitude of workers behind them carried back
+the loosened earth and shored the gallery up with timbers so that it
+might not cave.
+
+When Everson returned from the ride to the place of Zoar, he found that
+his tunnel was ended--against the face of the Kimbrian Wall, which was
+founded on the rock itself. Following his instructions, the sappers had
+branched the tunnel right and left along the wall, until the working
+was in the shape of an elongated letter "T", the cross-arm of which lay
+along the foundation stones of the wall and was sixty feet long.
+
+With the same ceaseless industry that had built the tunnel so swiftly,
+they then had attacked the face of the wall with chisels and sledges,
+cutting in at intervals of about ten feet. This had been difficult
+work and perilous. The rock of the wall was adamant-hard. However, by
+attacking the cement in which the stones were set, the miners had been
+able to remove numbers of the great blocks entire, rolling them by
+dint of herculean effort across the gallery and into cavities made to
+receive them.
+
+In that work had been the danger. Eight men had been crushed under
+falling fragments--first toll of Ruthar in the warfare.
+
+The excavations had been carried into the foundation of the wall a
+matter of fifteen feet when Everson arrived. He at once ordered that
+work stopped. Remained only the placing of the explosive. That he
+superintended in person.
+
+Bar by bar--for the lieutenant would suffer no man to carry more than
+one of old Zenas's patty-cakes at a time--and with extreme care, the
+melinite was borne in through the tunnel and packed in the cavities
+in the wall. The geologist's workshop had turned out a plenty of the
+stuff, and it was used without stint. Everson judged that he placed
+nearly two tons of the explosive in each of the six chambers under the
+wall.
+
+Banks of loose, dry earth were piled about the melinite charges;
+Everson laid his wires, and his workmen then filled the cavities with
+fragments of the rock taken from the wall.
+
+Still further to retard the release of the gases when the charges
+should be set off, the lieutenant set his men to wall up the openings
+to the chambers, using heavy rocks and cement, having done which, they
+filled in the cross-arm of the "T" with earth and fragments of stone,
+tamping all in firmly.
+
+Very workmanlike was the finished task over which Everson nodded his
+approval and told his grimy legion, "Well done."
+
+During all the progress of the labor the patrols of Bel-Ar rode to and
+fro along the wall, and never guessed that sixty feet below them in the
+rock their enemies were planting the fearful seeds that would put forth
+the red flower of war.
+
+It was midnight of the third day after the gathering of the zinds
+in the temple of Glorian at Zele-omaz, when Everson walked out of
+the tunnel for the last time, his wires laid, his batteries ready.
+Retiring to one of the shelters which had been built in the forest, the
+lieutenant threw himself on a couch for a few brief hours of sleep.
+
+Five hours later one of his engineers awakened him and told him that
+the zinds of Ruthar with a great host had gone into camp for the night
+along the roadway ten miles back from the wall, and that the levies of
+the upper hills, the light-armed archers, slingers and javelin men,
+were pouring into the vast camp which had been prepared nearby in the
+forest.
+
+"And these last swear that when they sleep again it will be beyond the
+wall," the engineer added.
+
+"Many of them, poor chaps, are likely to sleep there forever," said
+Everson. "Where is the king?"
+
+"With the zinds."
+
+The lieutenant arose and went out on the hillside; for he knew that
+the time had come.
+
+Calling a messenger, he told him to go and summon the skirmishers from
+the camp. Presently he saw them coming, long, silent files of men,
+ghostly in the gray light, picking their way over the snow-covered
+slopes and among the trees, some of the lines led by zinds and others
+by their captains.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the forests opposite the wall, Everson posted a wedge of five
+thousand javelin men, who were armed also with short swords. These were
+to rush the breach in the wall and deploy on the other side to hold
+the gap from any assault from beyond until the gap could be cleared
+and the roadway brought up and through the breach to connect with the
+Maeronican highway which lay on the other side of the barrier. Back of
+that force gathered the miners and road-builders.
+
+Right and left along the wall the lieutenant sent bodies of archers and
+slingers, so they might command the top of the wall and prevent the
+garrisons of the watchtowers from galling the men at work in the breach.
+
+At each of the sixty towers along the stretch of the wall were
+stationed some twenty men--a force of nearly twelve hundred in all.
+Everson foresaw that these in all probability, or most of them, would
+come to the breach from either side, leaving but few soldiers to man
+the towers. So he sent two parties of a thousand men each east and
+west, to lie in the forests near the wall. These were heavy-armed
+swordsmen and spearsmen. They bore long ladders with them, and it was
+to be their task to scale the wall, flank the men of Bel-Ar at its
+summit, and take and hold the watchtowers.
+
+A few miles below the wall lay a Maeronican hilltown, and there Bel-Ar
+maintained a prominent garrison, composed of a section of his standing
+army, some ten thousand men strong. These soldiers had proved the bane
+of many a Rutharian raiding party, and they now gave Everson much
+trouble in his mind. If they should come up quickly to the wall and
+drive back his force or retake the towers, his thrust would be all but
+ill delivered and fail of much of its power. That must be chanced--and
+he judged by the look of these fighting men of Ruthar that they would
+stand considerable driving and still not be driven.
+
+Silently the long lines stole into position, and the men sank out of
+sight among the trees. A small patrol party of Maeronican soldiers rode
+down the wall from the watchtower to the west, where the mitzl lights
+burned pale against the sky. They passed on, met the patrol from the
+east, and both returned--seeing nothing of the menace that lay hidden
+in the shadows of the pines.
+
+Ruthar had been quiet of late, and a few noises in the forest meant
+nothing to these soldiers, strong in their position on the mighty wall.
+Of such things as the pastries of Zenas Wright they had never even
+dreamed.
+
+In a clump of trees Everson attached his wires to his batteries. He
+knelt by one of them, and five of his sappers knelt with him.
+
+"One--two--_three_!" he counted.
+
+The six poised hands fell as one.
+
+For a moment, silence; then a burst of hell from the bowels of the
+earth.
+
+From end to end, down all its length, the roof of Everson's
+subterranean gallery was torn out by the rending gases. From the mouth
+of the tunnel a mass of rocks, beams and loose earth was belched down
+the slope with such force that trees fell before it.
+
+Through clouds of falling earth and a drift of smoke, the distended
+eyes of the Rutharian soldiery saw the basalt structure of the Kimbrian
+Wall that had stood firm for thirty centuries heave up, sunder, and
+open, as a gate opens, then come thundering down to ruin. Right in the
+midst of the chaos of falling rock an awful sheet of green flame arose
+like a giant fan and stood for an instant against the sky.
+
+Then came the noise. It was neither a crash nor a roar, but a sustained
+rumbling bellow--as though Mother Earth herself were muttering at this
+desecration of her aged bones. Such was the power of that tremulous
+diapason that the forests shook and the hills trembled. Followed a
+moment of the silence of the pit, and then the clatter and spat of the
+débris as it showered the slopes and the forests.
+
+"Shields up!" shouted a tall zind of Ruthar, and the next moment he was
+stretched senseless by a fragment of rock because he had not been quick
+to obey his own order. Many others were injured, and some were killed.
+But what did a few deaths matter now? The Kimbrian Wall was down. For
+eighty feet the gap extended wide and free!
+
+And beyond lay Maeronica.
+
+In the forests and on the hills the companies cheered wildly as they
+saw the path the melinite had opened, and cheered again when they saw
+that the watchtower to the west had been shaken from its perch by the
+terrific concussion and lay a crumble of stonework at the foot of the
+wall.
+
+"Into the breach!" shouted Everson. "Through the wall!"
+
+From their lair on the hillsides the five thousand javelin bearers
+arose gleefully and crossed the space to the gap in the wall at a
+swinging trot, singing as they went.
+
+So clean had been the sweep of the melinite that it had torn away every
+vestige of the wall down to the living rock of the isthmus, leaving a
+wide trench or ditch, stone-bottomed and with sloping sides of earth,
+which it was an easy matter for the light-armed men to scramble across.
+But first the soldiers had to throw loose earth into the bottom of the
+trench; for the terrific pressure of the melinite against the rock had
+heated it until it was almost molten.
+
+For hundreds of feet around, heaps of earth and pulverized stone sent
+up columns of the greenish, acrid vapor of the explosive.
+
+On the heels of the javelin men pressed the engineers and road-men,
+swarming into the breach to fill the trench and make a way for the
+charioteers and the amalocs of Zoar, which were to follow. Along the
+screen of forest at the end of the road axes rang, and the trees began
+to fall.
+
+One of the first men into the breach after the skirmishers had crossed
+the ragged ditch, was Everson. With Mazoe, chief of his sappers, the
+lieutenant directed the work at the trench; for now was the time for
+haste.
+
+Shaken from their beds by the dull thunder of Everson's fireworks,
+Bel-Ar's steel riders at the eastern tower came clattering down their
+wall. Before ever they reached the gap, a trumpet sounded on the
+hillside, the archers and the slingers arose like wraiths from the
+forests, and the horsemen were met by a shower of shafts and stones
+that rattled and clanged on their armor and drove them back.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Messengers sped east and west from tower to tower. Within an hour
+every garrison along the barrier knew that the gods of Ruthar had
+rifted their fortress and the hillsmen were pouring through. But these
+soldiers of Bel-Ar were picked men, and they did not fear. Every
+man-at-arms that could be spared from the turrets was horsed, and they
+came riding recklessly down their lofty pathway, firm in the belief
+that their own god presently would have a say in this matter.
+
+At the third tower to the east of the breach was Atlo, captain of the
+wall. The tremor of the explosion reached even there. While the captain
+and his men wondered at what it might be, a messenger reached them.
+Atlo at once sent a horseman down the curving path, one of which led
+from each tower to the ground on the northern side of the wall, to ride
+through the forest to the town of Barme and arouse the army there.
+
+Then Atlo armed himself, gathered his men and started west. Straight
+to the brink of the gap he rode, heeding neither arrows nor stones. At
+the edge of the breach he dismounted, and while the long shafts of the
+archers hummed around him and the missiles of the slingers dented his
+golden armor, he knelt and peered into the gorge below him.
+
+Much the captain marveled at the force which had broken the barrier.
+His quick eyes of the soldier took in the disposition of the men and
+fathomed the plan of the enemy. He saw that a swarm of javelin men and
+a number of companies of heavier armed infantry were through the wall
+and prepared to defend their ground. More he saw; that the trench below
+was black with men who labored to fill it in; on the southern side of
+the wall another army of laborers was laying a broad road over which
+chariots might pass; and beneath him in the breach a man in mud-stained
+garments stood on a point of rock directing his grimy toilers.
+
+Breathing a curse, Atlo lifted his spear and cast with all his might.
+Then he mounted and rode back to the nearest tower to await the coming
+of his garrisons.
+
+Too late did the archers in the forests shout their warning when they
+saw that spear-arm poised.
+
+At the foot of the rock Everson fell and lay face downward among his
+workmen.
+
+Tenderly they bore him out of the trench and up the slope of the
+forest, those sturdy men of Ruthar who had worked with him and loved
+him. Four of his engineers carried him, and Mazoe walked beside, trying
+to stanch the flow of blood. Atlo's spear-point had bitten deeply just
+above the collar-bone.
+
+At the crest of the rise Everson spoke in a weak voice and bade them
+set him down. Mazoe knelt and held him.
+
+Through dim eyes the lieutenant peered back toward the sundered wall.
+He lifted his hand slowly and with infinite effort and pointed.
+
+"We have done--good work," he said. "Go on--with it. I fear I
+shall--not--be with you."
+
+His eyes closed, and Mazoe, who thought that he was spent, burst into
+tears.
+
+Below in the camp arose a mighty clamor of shouting. Everson's eyelids
+fluttered open.
+
+"Why do the soldiers cheer?" he asked.
+
+Mazoe listened intently to the shouting.
+
+"They cheer because the king is coming," he answered.
+
+Everson smiled faintly.
+
+"Tell him--I have made--a way--for him--"
+
+His voice trailed away, and he sank into unconsciousness. And though
+he did not die, he sailed so near to the quiet coasts that it was many
+weeks before he knew that the work he had begun had gone on without
+him, and had been done well.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER VIII
+
+                        BEL-AR HEARS THE DRUMS
+
+
+In the early brightness of the morning, the king of Ruthar rode up the
+southern stretch of the slope toward the wall. With him came old Zenas
+and Oleric the Red.
+
+Bedight in chain mail rode the king, a shield of shining steel on his
+arm, his two-handed sword at his back, dagger in belt, and spear and
+battle-ax at saddle-bow. Behind him clattered a company of zinds. Back
+of them, down the long road as far as the eye could see, marched rank
+on rank of men-at-arms. These were to pass the wall at once, and push
+on along the isthmus to meet and hold any force which the captains of
+Bel-Ar might throw against them.
+
+In the camp in the forest, ready to ride when the way should be
+cleared, were thousands of the wild horsemen of the hills. As soon as
+they might pass the breach, they would outstrip the heavy-marching
+infantry, spread and harry the country, and dash into the mountain
+passes at the northern end of the isthmus, which must be taken and held
+before any considerable force could come up from Maeronica and occupy
+them.
+
+Behind, the horsemen would push on the footmen and the chariots which
+made up the main host of Ruthar. Such was the plan which had been laid
+by Everson, Polaris, and Oleric.
+
+As they neared the top of the rise, Polaris and those with him met a
+little clump of downcast men plodding along the road and carrying a
+burden. Then Mazoe saw the riders and ran to meet them, holding his
+arms above his head and weeping.
+
+"What says he? Everson--"
+
+Polaris sprang down from his horse and pushed through the tramping men.
+Behind him an army halted while he stood and looked into the still face
+of Everson. In the heart of the son of the snows there entered a pang
+as keen as that which had stabbed it when he had heard of the passing
+of the Sardanian King Minos and his lady.
+
+But Zenas Wright, who had bent over the lieutenant, and bared his
+breast and listened to his heart, spoke up:
+
+"This boy has been hard hit; but he's still alive. With good care--and
+he's going to get it--I think he has a chance. This jab over the
+shoulder isn't so bad as it looks."
+
+"Look at him, Father Zenas," said Polaris. "Let no effort that this
+land can produce be spared to make him whole again; for he is a gallant
+gentleman, and deserves no such death. His reward from Ruthar for what
+he has done shall be great."
+
+Mazoe told all his story, and Polaris bent and took the earth-stained
+hand of the unconscious man in his own.
+
+"Fare you well for a time, Everson," he said softly. "I shall not
+forget. And I shall find the way you made."
+
+Mazoe and the engineers bore Everson to the camp, and Zenas Wright went
+with them.
+
+Polaris touched the red captain on the shoulder.
+
+"Captain Oleric, bide you here at the wall until the path is prepared.
+I make you general-in-chief of the army. Carry out the work which
+our friend has so well begun. Father Zenas will give you of his good
+counsel. Build the road as Everson and you have planned it."
+
+"But you--where are you going?" Oleric asked.
+
+Polaris pointed northward to the breach in the Kimbrian Wall.
+
+"I am going to tread the way he made for me," he answered. "When all is
+well, come on and find me on the other side."
+
+Giving the reins of his horse to a servant, Polaris reached his spear
+from the saddle and placed himself in the first rank of the footmen,
+under the great, blood-red banner of Ruthar. A mighty cheer swept down
+the ranks as he joined them. The horsemen drew out to the side of the
+roadway; a blare of trumpets sounded the advance; the crimson standard
+dipped and went forward. Over the seamed and broken hill, past the
+masses of fallen ruin, across the melinite-blasted trench, and through
+the breach in the wall flowed the iron stream.
+
+As far as they could see it, the little group on the hilltop watched
+the tall form that strode under the tossing banner.
+
+"This king of ours has a will of his own," muttered Oleric. "Now to do
+the work he bade us."
+
+But first of all the red captain sent for old Jastla of the hills. When
+the white-bearded chieftain stood before him, Oleric said:
+
+"The king has gone yonder through the wall, Jastla. Take a hundred of
+your best men--men who know how to die as well as fight. Find the king.
+Ring him round with a band of steel. Guard him with your lives." Oleric
+grinned as he added, "'Twill be a task to your liking, old bear. Ever
+you loved fighting, and this man will lead you to where it is thicker
+than earth-berries. I have seen him at the game. But watch him well,
+Jastla; he is of a reckless temper when his blood is stirred, and
+caution is not his watchword."
+
+Lifting his arm in salute, Jastla replied:
+
+"When harm comes to the king, it shall have set its foot on Jastla's
+corpse." The chief drew a deep breath of pride and satisfaction. "I
+thank you, Oleric the Learned, for this task. I have trained the lad,
+and I love him."
+
+Jastla hurried into the forest to the camp. Presently he, too, was gone
+through the wall on his mission.
+
+When the last of the armed force had passed the gap, another army took
+its place--an army of pick and shovel men, with chains and ropes and
+tugging, sweating horses. Speedily the last of the screen of trees was
+down and the stumps torn out. On a foundation of crushed rock Oleric
+built up his roadway, and brought it through to the shadow of the
+Kimbrian Wall; and there he met trouble.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+All of the day on which Everson was stricken, and through the night and
+the forenoon following, the builders wrought at the road. Wherever was
+room for a pair of hands to labor, the hands were not lacking. Still
+the work was not completed, nor was the ditch filled in.
+
+And the reason for the delay was--Atlo.
+
+From the turrets along the wall to the east the captain had collected
+a force of nearly five hundred fighting men, and led them in person.
+Leaving their horses behind them, these warriors marched to the lip of
+the breach and harassed the workmen of Oleric. Nor could the Rutharian
+bowmen and slingers come at them with their weapons to do them much
+scathe. The edge of the wall had a coping which was nearly breast-high.
+Behind that the defenders were sheltered, and might creep, which they
+did, to the very brink of the gap, whence they showered the men in the
+trench with arrows and javelins.
+
+Following the example of Atlo, the under captains of the towers on the
+western stretch of the wall gathered another half a thousand men and
+came to the end of the breach on their side. Between the activities
+of these two parties, the task of the besiegers was made heavy and
+perilous.
+
+Time and again the red captain was forced to withdraw his laborers
+from the cross-fire of deadly missiles which the warriors on the wall
+rained into the ditch. His losses were appalling. Still his men did not
+falter. When the order was given, they swarmed into the gaping trench,
+and those who died there were content if they but cast one shovel of
+earth before the spirit fled.
+
+Oleric groaned in spirit as he watched this havoc, which he had little
+power to hinder. The distance to the top of the wall was too great to
+allow of effective javelin-casting, and such weapons as did reach the
+summit were seized upon by the enemy and turned back on the attackers.
+Having the advantage of the sheltered height from which to cast and
+shoot, one of Atlo's soldiers was worth in efficiency a hundred of
+those on the ground.
+
+"Swords and axes on the top of the wall, and that only, will clear out
+that nest," said Oleric to Zenas, when the geologist had come back from
+the camp, where for hours he had labored over Everson, and of whose
+condition he now had high hopes.
+
+"Where are our ladder-men tarrying?" snarled Oleric, and the captain
+ground his teeth as he saw his workmen decimated and driven back again.
+"We have not the time to spare to starve these birds from their perch.
+Yet if I fill that hole now it will be with the bodies of brave men
+dead and not with earth and stone."
+
+Bethinking himself of another plan, the captain ordered three companies
+of heavy-armed foot-soldiers up from the camp and sent them into the
+working to shelter the laborers under their shields. By that means a
+little progress was made; but the work was slow and cumbersome and the
+toll in lives was still heavy.
+
+Long-delayed relief came in the shape of the fighting men whom Everson
+had sent out along the wall with ladders. These had lain in the forests
+until they saw the turrets depleted of their garrisons. Then they
+had crept up to the wall and erected their scaling ladders, choosing
+points a number of miles from the breach. That attack was not without
+its perils and losses. Scant in numbers, but desperate, the defenders
+sallied out on the wall to turn the storming parties. Many warriors
+died under the javelins and arrows from above. Comrades took their
+places as they fell, and at length, by dint of hard fighting, gained
+footing on the crest of the wall.
+
+Guessing how matters must stand at the breach, the Rutharian swordsmen
+paid no further attention to the turrets which lay between them and the
+sea, but set themselves to the taking of those toward the gap. As soon
+as they carried one of these they were able to augment their numbers
+from the forces which earlier had passed the wall through the breach,
+and which now were besieging the towers from the north side, where the
+sloping pathways were defended by gates and doors of bronze.
+
+By the time the men at the east had taken the last of the watchtowers
+which intervened between them and the battle at the roadway, their
+brothers on the western stretch of the wall had passed the ruins of
+the toppled turret there and fallen furiously on the rear of the
+Maeronicans who were baiting the trenchmen of Oleric.
+
+From across the chasm where he fought, Atlo saw the new turn of the
+battle and bethought him of his own flank. Too late! The shouts of
+dismay from his rear were mingled with the thunder of galloping hoofs.
+
+At the eastern tower the men of Ruthar had found the horses which the
+defenders had left behind. While the stubborn conflict of swordsmen
+was waging on the western wall, these warriors mounted the Maeronican
+steeds and charged down the stone road between the copings, sweeping
+everything before them.
+
+Brave men, these of the King of Adlaz. Cut off from behind and with
+the yawning chasm before, they arose from their crouching and turned
+to meet the new foe. Then a grim and pitiless struggle began on
+the ancient wall, in which the clangor and clash of arms and the
+cursing of death-locked foeman was commingled with the screaming of
+pain-maddened horses.
+
+To the rear, which had become the front, went Atlo. He rallied his men
+and charged into the teeth of the oncoming horsemen, and kept charging
+until he died. Neither side asked quarter or gave it. The last of the
+Maeronican fighting men were pushed over the brink of the gap by the
+rushing horsemen and died under the merciless blades in the trench.
+
+At the west the fighting was more prolonged and bitter; but the
+superior numbers of the Rutharians prevailed, and the end was the same.
+
+The Kimbrian Wall was taken at a fearful cost. But Ruthar paid the toll
+smiling. Now Oleric might push through with his wall speedily and in
+peace.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+When the night of the passing of Minos had worn into morning and
+disclosed the extent of the destruction which the Sardanian had wrought
+in the harbor of Adlaz, Vedor, the port captain, Nealdo, head of the
+harbor guardsmen, and such captains of the fademes as had escaped with
+their lives met in council in one of the offices at the wharves. Fear
+sat heavy at the hearts of all; for there was not one of them that
+dared go up to the city and make a report to the king of the loss of
+his fademes.
+
+"Not I," Vedor said hastily, when it was suggested that he, as captain
+of the port, was the logical bearer of the news. "It were worth a man's
+life to tell the king that a slave has shattered his fleet. Besides, my
+duties here do not allow me to absent myself. Choose ye some other to
+carry the tidings to Bel-Ar."
+
+Listening to the discussion was a rough old soldier of the guard.
+Brenak was his name, and he was a brave man. When it seemed that none
+of the gilded captains had heart for the task, Brenak stepped forward.
+
+"I will carry the news," he volunteered. "Lend me a horse, and give me
+a few dekkars to buy wine at the wine-shops in the Street of Sherne,
+and I will go. It may be my last drinking, though I think not. I fought
+with the king in the wars, and I am known to him. I think he will spare
+me."
+
+So Brenak rode up to the city and bought his wine. From the wine-shops
+he went to the palace and gained admittance to the king and told the
+tidings, which already were flying from mouth to mouth through the
+streets.
+
+"Fool! You are crazed!" Bel-Ar exclaimed when Brenak had made a short
+tale of it. But in the eyes of the soldier the king saw the truth, and
+his pallid face turned a shade more pale. In his fury, scarce knowing
+what he did, he struck Brenak with his closed fist so that the soldier
+died from it.
+
+For days thereafter the temper of the king was such that those who
+must come near him did so with fear and trembling. Even his queen, the
+petulant, flower-faced Raissa, who dared him more than most, avoided
+him and kept to her own apartments.
+
+Weeks before, when it became known that the captives had escaped,
+little heed had been paid to their going. They were only slaves, and
+who cared what became of a slave! Interest in them had been swallowed
+up in the general indignation at the defection of Oleric the Red and
+the supposed treachery of Mordo. Only Bel-Ar and Rhaen, the arch-priest
+of Shamar, had chafed, and that because of the escape of the man whom
+they had doomed for the slaying of the sacred bull. The king had sent
+fademes to scour the sea, and one to go up the coast to Ruthar to head
+the fugitives, should they have gone that way. That fademe had never
+returned.
+
+These happenings had irked the pride of the king, who, like all
+despots, was of a wild and ungovernable temper that flared to madness
+when he was crossed.
+
+Came then the blow of Minos--a calamity which shook the nation and
+struck the foundation of Bel-Ar's dearest ambition. Without his
+fademes, his dreams of world-conquest vanished. Small wonder that his
+lords and ladies feared him and quaked at his approach.
+
+But the king was of a courage and perseverance equal to his temper.
+When the first shock of the catastrophe had worn away, he took stock of
+the damage and set about to repair so much of it as might be. At the
+bottom of the harbor his divers labored among the sunken fademes. Some
+few of the vessels were raised and rehabilitated. By far the most of
+them were useless, save for the metal in their hulks. Minos had done
+his work thoroughly, and the priceless engines, the living power of
+which was mined from the depths of the earth only by great labor, were
+nearly all ruined.
+
+Increasing his forces, both underground and in his workshops, Bel-Ar
+drove his miners and his builders ceaselessly to the replacement of
+what he had lost.
+
+Some weeks after the destruction of the fademes, rumor came down from
+the south--fleeting words in the mouths of the people, of which no man
+could trace the source--that a great host was gathering in Ruthar to
+assail the Kimbrian Wall. That report the king laughed at and did not
+believe, or if he did believe, it fretted him not at all. The Kimbrian
+Wall had stood an unshakable barrier since it had been completed,
+nearly thirty centuries before. It would go on standing to the end of
+time. It was well garrisoned, and Atlo was a good captain and vigilant.
+Ruthar must be mad if it thought to march against the wall.
+
+Rumor, again traceless, spoke further and told that Oleric the Red had
+appeared in Ruthar, and with him the slaves who had gone with him from
+Adlaz, and that they had hands in this matter of the wall-storming.
+Bel-Ar heard that also, and smiled grimly. Let Oleric and the slaves,
+if they were indeed in Ruthar, keep well within its boundaries, if they
+set any store by life.
+
+Progress was being made with the reconstruction of his fleet, and the
+king's poise was returning. Once more his court, that had been silent
+and almost deserted, echoed to the laughter of the gay courtiers, and
+Raissa sat upon her throne and toyed with the pearls that she loved.
+
+Then one afternoon a wan and haggard-faced man, spurring a weary horse
+to its utmost speed, rode in through the southern gates of Adlaz and
+clattered up the broad avenue to the palace. From the mountain town of
+Barme he had come, riding two days and a night by relays of horses and
+leaving some of his hard-ridden beasts dead along the road. So nearly
+dead was the rider himself from the rack of that journey that he fell
+from his horse at the palace gates, and men of the guard carried him
+before the king.
+
+From the floor of the audience-chamber where they laid him, the soldier
+raised his arm in salute and cried weakly:
+
+"The Kimbrian Wall is sundered, O king. She whom they name the Goddess
+Glorian of Ruthar cracked the wall in twain with thunders and green
+lightning that shook the land like a hammer." (So the messenger
+described the melinite mines of Everson.) "Through the wall poured a
+great host, which is rolling down upon Barme. Atlo is dead at the break
+in the wall. From the center to the sea-wall, the towers are held by
+Ruthar. Men say that the dreadful beasts of the forest are coming to
+make war on the children of Ad. Ruthar has crowned a king--a giant
+with hair of gold, who came up from the sea with Oleric the Red, who
+was your captain--and he leads the armies against Barme."
+
+Ending his tidings, the man lost grip of his wits. His head fell on his
+arm, and he slept. Nor could he be roused for many hours.
+
+"Now, here is a message with meat and spirit," said the king. Bel-Ar,
+who went near to madness when he heard of the loss of his fademes,
+could laugh when he heard that an army was marching against him. Of all
+the news only one thing galled him, and that was that the yellow-haired
+slave from the hated world to the north was kinging it in Ruthar.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Summoning his captains, the king banished his court of fluttering
+butterflies and filled his audience-chamber with the clash of golden
+armor. No sluggard was Bel-Ar when his foe was on the march, but a
+wise and resourceful leader. When his mind was not clouded by the
+rages which at times came upon him, he could plan with the best of his
+generals.
+
+Bel-Ar in his early youth had been a soldier, and he, too, had fought
+Ruthar at the Kimbrian Wall. Since coming to the throne of Maeronica he
+had put down two rebellions, leading his armies in person and waging
+with a strong and ruthless hand a warfare that had entailed the taking
+of cities.
+
+First move of the king was to despatch his messengers south and north
+to raise all the levies of Maeronica and the garrisons of the cities
+which were tributary to Adlaz. These he directed should be assembled
+at the crook of the river Thebascu, as the birds fly, ninety miles to
+the south of Adlaz. He sent Fanaer, one of his most trusted captains,
+in hot haste into the south to gather what forces he might and stem the
+tide of invasion until the main host could be mustered and brought up.
+Before nightfall the war-drums were beating in every city and hamlet of
+Maeronica.
+
+"If these rash forest wolves and their slave-king win through Barme and
+the mountain passes and overwhelm Fanaer, which I doubt, then we will
+meet them beyond the Thebascu, on the plains of Nor," said Bel-Ar to
+his councilors.
+
+"How they have broken through the wall, I know not; but warrant that it
+is some trick of the strangers.
+
+"As for the great beasts whereof the soldier spoke, I believe that they
+were all dead many years ago. Surely no man of Ad can say with truth
+that he ever has set eyes on one. They are but a myth wherewith Ruthar
+would affright us. And if they be alive, and as terrible as tradition
+tells, I am not afeared of them. We will drive them back with fire, as
+once before our ancestors drove them, in the days before the wall.
+
+"Friends, I welcome this war that has come to seek me, for I was
+growing dull and rusty with inaction.
+
+"If the wall be truly down, then will we drive Ruthar speedily to
+the other side of it--and having so done, we will follow on and bend
+the necks of these stubborn mountain boors to the yoke that has long
+awaited them."
+
+So he dreamed; so he spoke and heartened his captains.
+
+Two days later the trumpets blew at the southern gates, and with a
+rumbling of drums and a tossing of banners overhead, the first division
+of the garrison and the levies of the city of Adlaz, thirty thousand
+strong, marched out the Mazanion Road for the plains of Nor. At their
+head, under the rustling folds of his war-standard of gold and blue,
+rode Bel-Ar, the king.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+To Rose Emer, grown pale with waiting, Brunar brought these tidings in
+the prison of Bel-Tisam.
+
+When she heard that the wall was down, and that Polaris had set his
+face toward Adlaz, her joy, which she strove to conceal from the
+captain, knew no bounds. After Brunar was gone, the girl bent over the
+cradle of the little Patrymion, now a thriving youngster.
+
+"Ah, little mischief," said Rose, and shook her finger at him, "not
+much longer in this prison for you and me. Friends are coming,
+Patrymion; friends who will set us free."
+
+Patrymion, who had small care for what destiny had in store for him, so
+that his immediate requirements in goats' milk were satisfied, sucked a
+pink thumb and blinked up at her out of sleepy eyes.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the meantime, telling off companies of men to east and west to aid
+in the fight at the wall by laying siege to the towers, Polaris pushed
+straight ahead through the forests toward the town of Barme. Counting
+in the forces of light-armed soldiery who had preceded him through the
+wall, the son of the snows had in command a division of nearly seven
+thousand men. Of these there were a thousand archers, fifteen hundred
+slingers, two thousand and a half of javelin men, and nearly two
+thousand more of heavy armored footmen with swords and spears.
+
+Two hours along the way, Jastla and his picked hundred passed swiftly
+up the lines and joined the vanguard. Tall and stately men of the hills
+were these, led by the old chieftain, scarcely a one of the company
+under six feet, and splendidly armed after the fashion of their land.
+
+"Here be a few lads of the rocks who would have a tale to tell to their
+sweet-hearts when they go home again," said Jastla as he fell in beside
+Polaris.
+
+With small scouting parties thrown out ahead of him, Polaris hastened
+on. It was his plan to meet and intercept any expedition which might be
+sent from Barme to the relief of Atlo at the wall, and so to prevent
+interference with Oleric's work at the breach. In this fortune favored.
+For the javelin men ambushed and cut down no less than three riders
+sent from the wall to rouse the garrison at Barme; so that the first
+news that reached the town and the Captain Broddok, who commanded
+there, was brought in by the peasantry of the hills who fled through
+the forests before the advance of Polaris.
+
+Mightily disturbed, and not knowing the strength of the force which was
+marching against him, Broddok held his men under arms in indecision
+until it was too late for him to go to the wall. In the evening of the
+day after the breaching of the wall a battered soldier who had escaped
+from one of the turrets and slipped through the Rutharian cordons
+brought word to Broddok of the end of the Kimbrian fighting and the
+fall of Atlo. Then the Maeronican commander dispatched a relay-rider to
+Adlaz and made ready to defend his own gates, around which the jaws of
+Ruthar were closing.
+
+From the lower end of the isthmus a number of passes led through the
+mountains into the forests, beyond which were the plains of Nor.
+Through only one of these defiles lay a direct road, broad and suitable
+to the speedy passage of an army with its impedimenta and provision
+trains. That path was bestridden by the town of Barme.
+
+Midway of the pass and near the foot of its western precipice was a
+low, bald hill, over which the road lay. Around the lower slopes of
+the hill straggled the town, and at its summit was the walled citadel.
+It was a strong place, made so both by nature and by man. So closely
+did it nestle to the towering face of the defile's acclivity, and so
+rounding was the bulge of the mountain wall, that if one climbed to the
+top and looked down the precipice, he would see only the houses of the
+lower town and the citadel would be entirely hidden from him by the
+rock. At each side of the hill was rocky, wooded land, cut through by
+many gullies and the ravines of mountain streams.
+
+A hard place to come at, Polaris thought, as he stood in the gorge and
+looked at the hill by the dim light of the stars--for he came to Barme
+in the night. Yet it must be taken, and that speedily. The swiftest
+road into Maeronica lay over the hill, and the citadel's gates were the
+gates of the road also.
+
+An hour before the dawn he occupied the town, from which most of the
+people had fled, and attacked the fortress furiously, thereby losing
+many men. Though the walls of the place were not high, they were ably
+defended. Broddok was a skilled general, and his garrison was superior
+in numbers to the force which laid siege to his stronghold. Still
+Polaris, counting on the speedy arrival to his support of the van of
+his main army, kept up the assault until well into the day, trying in
+turn every point of the fortress--and failing at every turn.
+
+Finding that attempts against the wall availed them nothing, for they
+were without siege machinery, and Broddok's swordsmen clustered so
+thickly on the parapets that no footing could be gained thereon with
+ladders, the Rutharians boldly assailed the main gate to the citadel.
+Cutting a tree from the forest, threescore stout men bore it to the
+gate. While the archers and slingers from the tops of the nearest
+houses of the town swept the citadel walls with clouds of missiles,
+the men in the street swung their battering-ram until their arms were
+weary. But Broddok's doors were strongly built of oak, reinforced with
+bars of steel and set well within the arch of the gateway. Beyond the
+snapping of a few chains, the ram did them little damage.
+
+Maeronicans on the battlements mocked the men of Polaris with sharp
+words and sharper weapons, and through mortises in the vault of the
+arch poured down streams of boiling water. The Rutharians lost fifty
+men-at-arms before they desisted from the assault.
+
+"Smoke them out," was the counsel of Jastla.
+
+Fagots were fetched up from the town and drenched with oil, and men set
+fire to them and ran and cast them blazing into the archway.
+
+This means might have succeeded in burning away the stubborn oak. But
+the Maeronican captain, tiring of the din at his gates, mounted five
+hundred horsemen, opened his portals, and charged so fiercely through
+the fire that he cleared the street, and for a time his doors were
+unmolested.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Through the defile a chill wind swept from the north, carrying with it
+a light drift of snow, and Polaris's men found it cold work roosting
+without the walls. They had left their camp carrying food for only a
+two days' march. The country through which they had come was wild and
+sparsely settled, and offered little opportunity for foraging. When
+they began to feel the pinch of hunger, Polaris ordered his men to go
+among such of the townsmen of Barme as had not been frightened from
+their homes, and gather provisions, paying for all that they took with
+gold, for he would have no looting.
+
+And those orders were in part, at least, obeyed.
+
+Smoke was curling from the chimney of a small house in a side street
+near where they stood, and Jastla said to the king:
+
+"While these fellows are filling their bellies, let us look to our own.
+I could eat the wolf for which I am named, I am that hungered. See;
+here is a house and fire. Let us go and seek food."
+
+When they had struck upon the door, it was opened by a little lad, who
+stared at them, round-eyed, and then fled screaming across the room.
+
+"Ai! Raula!" he cried. "Here be two giants from the forests. Will they
+eat us, think you, as Darno said they would?"
+
+"Not so, small man," called Polaris gently, who had learned somewhat
+of the Maeronican tongue from Oleric. "We are two hungry men, indeed;
+but we would not harm little boys; and Darno, whoever he may be, should
+not affright you with such tales."
+
+At his words, a lean and fierce-eyed girl stood up from the fireplace
+where she had been crouched and came to the door. She clutched a baby
+to her breast. While she eyed the two men sourly, there was no fear in
+her regard.
+
+"Now who may you be, who wear the arms of a forest raider, yet who know
+our tongue and bespeak a child so fairly?" she asked of Polaris.
+
+"I am a soldier of Ruthar, lady," Polaris said, bowing to her. "My
+comrade here and myself are cold and hungry. May we be warmed at your
+fire and eat a little of the bread and meat yonder on the table? We
+have had no food for many hours. We will pay you well."
+
+The girl pressed closer and peered up at him.
+
+"Ah! I know who you are now," she said triumphantly. "You are no robber
+of the hills, though belike your comrade is," and she shot a glance of
+no favor at Jastla. "You are neither of Maeronica or Ruthar. You are
+the mighty man who came up from the sea to lead the south against the
+north and take Adlaz." She laughed discordantly. "Well, you have made a
+good beginning, they say; but you have a man's task ahead of you.
+
+"Come in and eat and be warmed. I care not. All the menfolks have fled
+the house to the hills in fear of you. I stayed, I and little Telo,
+here. I fear no soldiers. Nay, close that door behind you, old man; I
+would not that winter came in with you and sat at meat."
+
+Laughing grimly into his beard, Jastla made fast the door. While the
+two men sat and ate, the girl resumed her crouching by the fire, where
+she crooned over the babe, at times staring furtively at Polaris. Telo
+soon conquered his fear of the strangers and climbed to the knees of
+Polaris, where he fingered the big man's chain armor curiously and
+prattled many childish questions.
+
+When the hungry men had finished their meal, the girl spoke up again:
+
+"Say, man from the sea, I have heard that there is a beautiful lady who
+waits for you in a prison in Adlaz town. Is that true?"
+
+"Yes, lady, it is true," Polaris said; and he sighed.
+
+"And you lead a great host thither to set her free?" the girl persisted.
+
+"Yes, if I may."
+
+"But to get on the way to Adlaz, you must take this fortress of Barme;
+and you find it a hard nut to crack. Is that not so?"
+
+"That is true, also, lady."
+
+"Well, hark you, man." The girl stood up and came to the table. "You
+who are true to a woman as few men are ever true; perhaps the poor,
+despised, cast-off Raula may aid you somewhat in this undertaking."
+
+While Polaris stared at her and Jastla grunted, she went on:
+
+"Oh, for your wars, and for who is king, I care not. Still, I would
+see that lady in Adlaz town go free--if you are strong enough to pass
+Bel-Ar and his army. Those matters you must look after later. But
+listen. Other men are not so true as you are. There is one in the
+fortress yonder who once thought Raula fair. Now she is a deserted
+wife, while he seeks other maids to listen to his lies. Oh! how I hate
+him!" She spat the words and stamped fiercely on the floor.
+
+"I would see that man humbled and cast down. I would see his red blood
+on the stones at my feet.
+
+"There is a way into the fort, a hidden way, which is known to none but
+me and Telo.
+
+"Now, Telo here shall show you that way. There is a spring on the hill.
+'Tis back of the stables, in a grove of stunted trees. It flows down
+through the rock under the wall and escapes on the hillside. Years ago,
+when I tended cows on the hill, I found the entrance. The water has so
+worn the stone that one may climb its course from the old cowpath to
+the brow of the hill. If a girl can clamber there, surely active men
+will not find it at all hard to do.
+
+"When night is fallen, bid your men to storm the gate again. Then, if
+your force is strong enough to make the venture, take a part of it and
+gain the hill. While those of Broddok's men who do not watch the walls
+are sleeping, you may fall upon them and open the gates."
+
+Polaris and Jastla looked on the girl, amazed.
+
+"Stare not at me," she said. "I am an outcast and reckless woman--and I
+would be revenged. Besides, we poor folk care little what the fate of
+Bel-Ar may be, who does oppress us so that life is a great weariness."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was arranged that they should come back at nightfall for the boy,
+and Polaris and Jastla left the house. When the chieftain fingered his
+pouch and would have paid her for the entertainment, Raula would have
+none of his gold.
+
+"This night's work will be pay enough for Raula," she said.
+
+After they had gone, Jastla set a soldier to watch the house and report
+to him if any left it; for Jastla trusted no woman and feared a trap.
+His fears proved to be unfounded. No one left or visited the house
+through the afternoon.
+
+For the remainder of the day Polaris rested his soldiers, and kept
+up only the semblance of an attack on the walls of Barme citadel. He
+wondered much at the delay of the army of Ruthar, having as yet learned
+nothing of the fighting at the Kimbrian breach; but he was resolved to
+delay not himself, but make the attempt on the fortress as the girl
+Raula had suggested.
+
+With the fall of night he brought the bulk of his force up into the
+cross-streets near the gate and posted sentries to see that none passed
+from the town to the fort. Then he went to the house of Raula and
+fetched the lad. Telo was afraid of the night and the many armed men,
+and would go only if Polaris, whom he trusted, would carry him.
+
+"Show him the spring at the head of the old cowpath, Telo," said
+Raula, and to Polaris, "Bend down the clump of evergreen bushes above
+the spring, and you will find the way through the rock. Beware of the
+sentries at the stables. Once one of them nearly slew me when I came
+suddenly on him out of the dark." She bent nearer and whispered:
+
+"Perchance you will meet and slay Broddok, the captain. I pray you do.
+And ere you smite, tell him that Raula, daughter of Hecar, sent you to
+him."
+
+As Polaris went out to the street, with the lad on his shoulder, he
+heard the girl's shrill laughter within the house--laughter that made
+him shiver.
+
+Followed by a thousand of his swordsmen, including the hundred men
+of Jastla, Polaris marched silently around rough devious streets
+to the side of the hill, and then into the rough ground where the
+boy directed. It was a dark night, for the stars were dimmed by
+storm-clouds, and the going was slow. Raula had said it would take at
+least an hour and the half of another to gain the crest of the hill,
+and Polaris had ordered his men in the town to hold their hands until
+they should hear his trumpets, and then to attack the gates of the
+citadel with trees and fire.
+
+At the spring the clump of bush was found easily, and behind it in the
+face of the hill was a hole in the rock, so low that a man must bend
+nearly double to enter it. Here Polaris gave Telo into the arms of a
+young Rutharian soldier, bidding him bear the lad safely back to his
+sister.
+
+Bending down, the son of the snows entered the hole. Jastla, who never
+let his charge beyond arm's reach, crowded in at his heels. For six
+feet or more they walked with their knees nearly to their chins, and
+then were able to stand upright. The girl had told them that a light
+in the passage could not be seen from above because of the trees, and
+one of the soldiers had nursed a smouldering torch under his cloak.
+That was brought in and whirled into flame, and they proceeded along a
+narrow gully, over the floor of which the water trickled.
+
+"Oof! That maid must have been very love-sick, or she has the courage
+of a fighting man, to have climbed this place in the dark," muttered
+Jastla, as he surveyed the gloomy cavern.
+
+For nearly three hundred yards the party followed the subterranean
+ravine, the floor of which sloped upward sharply. It ended in a shaft
+that was nearly perpendicular, which the men must climb by the aid of
+jagged rocks where the course of the stream had been worn for centuries.
+
+The torchbearer was posted at the angle, so that the light might be
+shed both down the passage and through the shaft. Wrapping his sword
+and spear in his cloak to prevent them from clanging against the
+stones, Janess, insisting that he should be first, went silently up
+through the rock, and Jastla followed close behind. They came out at
+the top through thick bushes into a basin or pool, where the water was
+ankle-deep. They were inside the wall of the fortress on the western
+side of the hill-crest. Around the pool was a grove of stunted trees,
+to the east of which lay the low, wooden stable buildings. South of the
+stables were the stone barracks of the garrison.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Man by man, the Rutharians came up through the darksome hole and took
+cover among the trees, until the grove bristled with swords. Polaris
+and Jastla worked their way to the edge of the wood nearest the stables.
+
+The chieftain pointed to the wooden buildings.
+
+"We will fire them," he whispered, "and have a light to fight by."
+
+As he spoke, a sentry paced out from the shadow of the stables and
+passed along the edge of the grove to the wall. So near he passed
+to the hidden men that they might have reached out and touched his
+shoulder.
+
+"Now that man must be disposed of," muttered Polaris, "and I like it
+not, this smiting of men from behind."
+
+No such niceties of warfare ruled Jastla. When the man came back, the
+chieftain stepped noiselessly from the trees behind him. For a pace
+or two the big mountaineer trod in the tracks of the unsuspecting
+sentry. Then Jastla sprang, and a brief and wordless struggle under the
+trees followed. A dagger flashed. Arising, Jastla took the cloak of
+the fallen man and stepped calmly into his beat. At the corner of the
+stable the chieftain met and slew the second sentry.
+
+At the side of the stable the Rutharian swordsmen formed for battle.
+A man with a torch ran from point to point along the rear of the
+buildings and set fire to the timbers. As they caught and the flames
+leaped crackling up, the frightened horses began to pound and scream.
+
+Polaris bade his trumpeter blow. The notes blared piercing clear. The
+swordsmen broke cover with a roar and charged the stone barracks.
+Lighting torches at the blazing barns, men ran with them to light
+the way. Hardly were they half-way across the intervening space when
+there was an answering flare from the streets below, and the thunder
+of the battering-ram announced that the fight at the gates was on with
+redoubled fury.
+
+While half of his force entered the barracks and fell upon the
+bewildered men there, Polaris, with the remainder, swept down the broad
+roadway, past the dwelling of the officers. Cutting their way through
+the defenders of the gate, the Rutharians tore out the bars, and their
+comrades in the streets swarmed through and up the hillside.
+
+In the midst of the wild mêlée that followed, Broddok did the only
+thing that he could do to save his skin. He rallied such of his men
+as were under arms, fought through to the stables, and released the
+fear-maddened horses. All who could of the Maeronicans mounted in
+haste. For a moment it seemed that the captain would give the order to
+charge down the street into the fighting press, where the men of Ruthar
+were putting his comrades to the sword. But Broddok thought better of
+it.
+
+With nearly four hundred men, the captain rode down the northern slope
+of the hill, opened the road-gates there, and galloped off through the
+pass, leaving his leaderless garrison to fend for itself.
+
+When that became known, the Maeronican soldiers, beset on both sides
+and confused and disheartened by the suddenness of the stroke, threw
+down their arms and surrendered, on promise of their lives.
+
+So fell the strong fortress of Barme, because its captain had broken
+faith with a woman.
+
+With the first light of morning, Polaris sent his prisoners south
+toward Ruthar under a strong guard. Leaving a thousand men under one of
+Jastla's hill-captains to hold the citadel, the son of the snows pushed
+on through the pass with the remainder of his division.
+
+That move of his came near to costing Ruthar a king.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER IX
+
+                       THE COMING OF THE BEASTS
+
+
+Seated on her ivory throne in the empty hall of her temple, the Goddess
+Glorian fought within her heart a battle that was every whit as fierce
+and hard as that of Ruthar in the field. In that sounding citadel two
+forces stood arrayed, one for good and one for evil, and the conflict
+between them was passing bitter. It was the world-old war of duty and
+love that has ever torn the heart of woman.
+
+No outward signal of the struggle marred the supernal beauty of her
+face. She sat as one sits who is thoughtful and somewhat weary.
+Light-rays that stole down from the windows in the lofty dome wrought
+strange effects of fire in the wonder of her hair--fire which smoldered
+and glowed and ran in tiny sparks along the silklike filaments. Her
+head was slightly bowed. The slender hands, which lay in her lap, were
+quiet and listless. Only in the depths of her eyes was she betrayed. In
+those red-brown deeps, could one have seen them through the half-closed
+lids, one would have found a pleading misery that would not still,
+almost a terror.
+
+Compelled by the ancient secret and a will that never slept, the
+passing years had dealt splendidly by Glorian. Experience they had
+given her, which is more than knowledge, and patience, and an almost
+supernatural poise; but they had not made her more than human.
+
+And a man had come.
+
+Why should she give way to this other woman? Why should she not reach
+out and take that for desire of which her soul yearned and her heart
+was consumed by flame? 'Twould be easy. A delay, a word in the ear of
+Zoar, a seeming mischance--and the priests of Shamar in Adlaz would
+clear her way. Why should she shrink and hesitate?
+
+The man had said that, were he too late, he would die upon the road.
+Well, that might be prevented. Besides, men do not die so easily, and
+time will heal all heart-wounds. But will it? And were that other woman
+dead, could Glorian win him to herself--this man whose will was as
+strong as her own?
+
+He was through the wall now and on the road to Adlaz. Oleric had sent
+messengers to tell her that. And they had told her, too, of that
+brave friend of his, who had nearly given his life while opening the
+way. Many had died--her own countrymen--and many more would die--and
+why? Because of an ambition which she herself had nurtured and kept
+bright--now hollow and of no appeal. What should Glorian care who held
+dominion over Adlaz or over Ruthar--she, who desired only peace and to
+rule in the heart of a man?
+
+All of a long afternoon she sat there, and a statue were not more
+still. For the better part of the night the struggle raged on above her
+pillow, and left it drenched with tears. Then evil fled the field, and
+she who had mastered her spirit slept dreamlessly until the morrow.
+
+In the morning she sent away her tire-women, and ordered that a horse
+be equipped for a warrior and left at the temple doors.
+
+When that steed went down the hill there was no one in all Ruthar who
+would have known that the Goddess Glorian was the rider. For she was
+arrayed in the glittering armor, silver-wrought above its steel, of a
+Rutharian zind. She wore a closed and vizored helm. A sword swung at
+her back, and there were both ax and spear at her saddle-bow.
+
+"I will go down with him into the battle," she whispered, "and let
+things fall out as they may. Some day, somewhere, my time will come. My
+soul has promised it."
+
+She crossed the Illia and rode northward through the forests.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+After the fall of Atlo the fighting went on at the wall for the rest
+of that day, the Rutharians storming tower after tower, until they held
+every turret from sea to sea. Through the afternoon and the night and
+the next day Oleric pushed on with his road, working his men in relays,
+and snatching for himself only brief spells of sleep. Through the night
+in which the king of Ruthar stormed and took Barme, the sappers and
+miners labored on at the breach.
+
+Morning saw the task completed.
+
+First through the breach went a flying squadron of the horsemen from
+the hills, six thousand strong, led by two of the mountain zinds,
+Maxtan and Albar. After them marched a great division of infantry,
+nearly fifty thousand of them, the chest of the army, each section
+carrying with it a number of companies of archers and slingers. Then
+a force of nearly thirteen thousand chariots rumbled through the
+breach--these following the infantry because they would be of little
+use until the host should pass the mountain defiles to more level
+fighting ground. Followed an endless train of baggage and provision
+wains.
+
+No siege machinery was carried, for two reasons. Rutharians long ago
+had found such engines as their skill had devised to be powerless
+against the Kimbrian Wall, and had lost faith in them. Secondly,
+certain carefully handled bundles from the laboratories of Nematzin
+were judged to be of more avail than any catapult, ram or mantelet.
+
+At intervals Oleric halted the divisions to allow of the passage of
+more cavalry, which spread out at each side of the main array and rode
+down through the forest paths of the isthmus.
+
+For more than twelve hours Ruthar poured her armed men through the
+breach in the barrier, with scarcely a break--and the way was wide.
+Reserves in the camp and on the wall cheered the various regiments as
+they went by, marching under their banners and to the music of pipe and
+drum.
+
+Last of all, over the slope and through the gap came Zoar of the
+Amalocs with no less than fifty-eight of the monsters of his herd.
+In single file the amalocs marched, each holding fast with his trunk
+to the tail of the beast ahead, as elephants are wont to do. Ixstus,
+father and patriarch of the herd, led the line, and on the mighty head
+of Ixstus rode Zoar, the master.
+
+On they came, these mountains of red-wooled flesh, swinging their
+gleaming wealth of ivories. Though their shambling tread was soft and
+padding, the roadway, made smooth and hard by the passing of thousands
+of feet and hoofs and wheels, shook under their advance.
+
+Zoar had been preparing against this day for many years. All of his
+beasts were armored for battle. Their heads were protected by immense
+bosses or shields of steel. He had also armor for their forelegs, with
+chains, which could be attached in such a manner that they would swing
+out when the animals charged, and strike down any living thing that
+came near them. The tips of the spreading tusks were equipped with
+sockets, to which sharp steel points could be fitted. More than half of
+the great brutes bore fighting turrets on their backs, in each of which
+was room for a half a score of men. A few tons more or less of metal
+and men meant nothing to the boundless strength of an amaloc.
+
+Until he saw that Zoar had passed the breach, Oleric waited. Then he
+took horse and rode forward. Zenas and certain of his workmen had gone
+through with the first of the cavalry. With them had gone the dog
+Rombar. The animal had escaped from the laboratories in Zele-omaz,
+where Polaris had left him, and had come into the camp half starved
+and nearly frantic with anxiety to find his master. Zenas could not
+withstand the appeal of the brute's dumb search, so he took Rombar
+along. Everson, getting better of his wound, still sick and delirious,
+had been transferred to Zele-omaz and lay at the house of Zind Atra,
+tended by the best medical skill in Ruthar.
+
+When the head of the host was some six hours upon its way, it met the
+first of the long lines of captives, which Polaris had sent back from
+the storming of Barme. The cheering which greeted the tale of that
+exploit of their king passed down the marching regiments like a gale
+and through the Kimbrian breach into Ruthar. When Zenas, with the
+riders, clattered up the hill in the gorge and saw the strength of the
+citadel that had been taken, his heart beat high with pride for what
+his boy had done.
+
+Learning there that the king had passed on to the north, the horsemen,
+their numbers continually augmented by new companies from the rear,
+pushed on along the road in the hope of overtaking him.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In a dark and narrow glen, wild with rocks and trees, with a mountain
+wall at his back and steel death, many-handed and triumphant, closing
+in along his front, a tawny-haired giant crouched warily among his
+thinning ranks of fighting men. If ever a man was hard beset, it
+was the king of Ruthar. Hemmed in where there was no way of escape,
+he waited with his dwindling company the fifth charge of a horde of
+Maeronican warriors, who were forming for the rush at the mouth of the
+glen. Gone wild with glee were the sons of Ad. They had trapped the
+king of Ruthar like a wounded bear. Great would be their reward from
+Bel-Ar if they took him.
+
+Among the rocks and bushes lay a grim reminder in shattered men of four
+previous charges. Some comfort it was to those who waited above to know
+that for every one of Ruthar who had gone to the stars, at least two of
+Bel-Ar's men had traveled the same path--or perhaps to the sun; for the
+Maeronicans prayed to Shamar.
+
+After leaving Barme, Polaris had led his followers along the main road,
+and they had almost reached the end of the pass, where it debouched
+into the forests of upper Maeronica, before mischance overtook them. It
+came in the shape of that same Captain Broddok, whom they had driven
+from his blazing hold at Barme.
+
+Broddok had ridden through the pass at speed, and beyond it had met a
+strong outpost of cavalry and five regiments of foot-soldiers, sent up
+to hold the passes. For Captain Fanaer had already arrived in upper
+Maeronica.
+
+Scouts brought word of the advance of Polaris with the most of his
+force through the principal pass. He, too, had sent out small parties
+to explore through the outer defiles, of which there were four, and
+bring him word of the lay of the land.
+
+"Now let him come on," counseled Broddok to the Maeronican commander,
+"and we shall have a surprise for him."
+
+Swiftly galloping riders at once swarmed into the four smaller passes,
+overwhelmed the Rutharians whom they found there and drove them into
+the hills. The horsemen then joined forces and swept down the road in
+the rear of Polaris, having come into the defile by bridle paths over
+the hills which were known to them.
+
+Turning his front to meet this menace, the son of the snows was beset
+from behind by both cavalry and infantry, and his force was split up
+before it could be massed or a place be found suitable for defense.
+With nearly a thousand of his men of mixed armament, Janess had been
+driven into the glen, discovering too late that it was a cul-de-sac,
+from which there was no escape.
+
+Four charges the Rutharians had met, and their numbers were now less
+than three hundred. But Jastla's ring of steel still held, and Polaris
+himself was not even wounded. Where the fighting had been the thickest,
+there he had gone; but ever when some perilous blow fell, there was
+one of Jastla's mountaineers to meet it or to die under it. Of the
+hundred men less than fifty lived, and scarcely a score of those were
+scatheless.
+
+"All that you can do here, you have done, O king," said Jastla
+earnestly, as they waited for the fifth charge. "A man unhindered might
+scale yonder rocks and escape into the hills. Do you make the attempt?
+I and these with me will hold back these howling whelps of Bel-Ar.
+Haste you, or 'twill be too late."
+
+Polaris turned on him sternly.
+
+"And you have been comrade to me, Jastla, and did train and make me
+skilled with arms, and yet think that I am so small of spirit," he
+said. "Jastla, I take it ill of you. You and these men are fighting for
+the man whom Ruthar has crowned king. What sort of a king would he be,
+think you, who deserted when he had those still lines yonder before him
+for example?" He pointed down where the dead warriors lay.
+
+"Here I may die, and here I may buried be; but I will not turn back."
+
+Under his shaggy brows old Jastla's eyes were moist.
+
+He grunted loudly.
+
+"I didn't think that you would go. Forgive me that I spoke of it," he
+said. He turned to his hillsmen, and the word went round that every
+last one of the wolves of Ruthar was to die in his tracks. There would
+be no giving back before the next charge.
+
+Broddok on foot waved his sword and gave the word, and the Maeronicans
+raised their battle-cry and came swarming up through the rocks to the
+attack. The mountaineers answered them with a deep-voiced shout:
+
+"For the king! For Polaris!"
+
+None of the combatants heard a thin cry far above them at the brink of
+the cliff and the frenzied barking of a dog.
+
+On came the Maeronicans, Broddok leading, his face flushed with triumph
+and hatred. In the captain's way was a large fragment of rock. As he
+sprang around it, it split in twain and flew into splinters, belching
+green flame. That flash was the last thing the captain ever saw; the
+thunderous roar that shook the hillside was the crack of doom for him.
+A sliver of rock smote him on the temple. Raula was avenged.
+
+Another terrific explosion tore up the earth and boulders right in the
+midst of the startled Maeronicans, and then another. Men were dying by
+the hundred. Bel-Ar's men turned and fled shrieking for the roadway.
+The charge was turned into a rout. Hardly were they out of the glen
+where such fearsome happenings had befallen them, when a cloud of
+Rutharian cavalry rolled down through the main pass and swept Bel-Ar's
+men and their supports into headlong flight toward the lowlands.
+
+On the brow of the rock a small, white-haired old man, clad in armor
+several sizes too large for him, stood up from his knees and patted a
+great black dog on the head.
+
+"Good shots those were, Rombar," he said. "Used to be a baseball
+pitcher once, and haven't lost my wing yet. By golly! I was just in
+time."
+
+Presently Zenas was down in the road with the others to greet Polaris.
+The geologist made light of what he had done, but Janess and the others
+knew that they owed their lives to his quick wit.
+
+Soldiers who had been driven into the hills had met the Rutharian
+riders and told them of the plight of their king. While the cavalry
+engaged the Maeronicans in the pass and cleared it, the old man and
+a small party, carrying melinite bombs, some few of which Zenas had
+fashioned in his laboratories, had ridden by a bridle-path to the top
+of the cliff.
+
+"Be careful, son," said Zenas, when Polaris threw an arm lovingly
+across his shoulder. "This chain jerkin of mine is packed with enough
+of that green hell-cake to spread us over two counties. And keep the
+brute away."
+
+For Rombar had found his master and was leaping about him like a crazed
+thing and barking as if to tell the whole army about it.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Despite the utmost efforts of Fanaer, the most trusted of Bel-Ar's
+captains and a general skilled in all the arts of war, Ruthar held
+the isthmus and the mountain passes, and through the Kimbrian defile
+poured down with horse and foot and chariot into upper Maeronica.
+Failing to hold back the host of the invader and fortify the passes, as
+he had hoped to do, Fanaer began a harrying, guerrilla warfare. From
+sea to sea he made the land barren of supplies for his enemy, sending
+the peasants and hill-dwellers with their cattle and provisions down
+to the coast cities of Zeddar and Aklon. He sent swarms of light
+riders into the hills, where by sally and ambuscade and the breaking
+of bridges and a hundred other means they fretted the advance of the
+Rutharian army.
+
+Did the way lie through a forest, Fanaer fired it, and Ruthar marched
+in flames and smoke. Did the road follow the turn of a hill, there were
+men at the crest to roll huge rocks down on the tramping legions. Was a
+gorge to be passed, the bridges were ruined.
+
+Days wore away, days which Ruthar could ill spare, and which Polaris
+counted with a sinking heart, seeing his army go forward so slowly.
+Still it did advance--slowly, painfully, but surely, the steel lines
+made progress.
+
+Craft against craft Oleric matched with Fanaer. Ruthar had her light
+horsemen, too. Right and left Oleric sent them into the uplands to
+clear his path of the stinging pests of Fanaer. Scores of times in
+a day, on hilltop or in wooded glen, short, fierce engagements were
+fought, but never a pitched battle. Maeronica was playing for delay.
+Far behind the shifting screen of Fanaer's operations Bel-Ar and his
+generals were consolidating the main strength of Maeronica in the
+lowlands along the river Thebascu.
+
+When hill-riding and skirmishing was done, the generals of both armies
+knew that the real war would begin--that the issue would be joined and
+decided on the plains of Nor.
+
+Careful as any general in modern warfare was Oleric with regard to
+his flanks and rear. Well he knew, did the red captain, that in the
+slow-moving trains of provisions that crept ceaselessly along the
+isthmus from Ruthar was the strength of his host in the field. Once
+that line was cut, Bel-Ar might laugh indeed.
+
+It took many men to keep the rear ways open and man the isthmian
+passes. On the morning when the Rutharian army writhed forth from the
+forests like a wounded but tenacious serpent onto the level stretches
+of the plains of Nor, Oleric had under his banners a scant hundred
+thousand men. Thirty thousand more warded the rear. Fifty thousand in
+reserves were massed in the forests and on the isthmus. Twenty thousand
+were with the slain.
+
+The sun was shining as the host wound out from the gloom of the
+forests. To right and to left were wooded hills and beyond them the
+peaks of mountain ranges, blue against the skies. Ahead, the plains, a
+reach of level land some thirty miles broad from east and west and a
+score of miles across, were divided by the gleaming, irregular ribbon
+of the river Thebascu.
+
+In a loop of the river in a camp that was strongly entrenched, for all
+the haste with which it had been constructed, lay the army of Ad, fresh
+and unwearied and ready for battle. And it outnumbered the host of
+Ruthar by nearly two to one. Across the river, down the hundred miles
+to Adlaz, the Mazanion Road was choked with supply trains and reserves.
+
+Snow still lay in patches in the forest defiles; but the plains were
+faintly green with a promise of the spring-time. On the trees the buds
+were swelling. Through a month of wearisome marching Ruthar had come.
+In less than forty-five days the trumpets would sound from the towers
+of Adlaz for the Feast of Years.
+
+"Now by her who sits at Flomos," said Oleric to Polaris, as they sat
+their horses on a hillside and looked across the plains to where the
+gold and blue standards fluttered, "here will be a battle worth the
+waiting of all my years."
+
+Somewhat worn with anxiety was the face of the son of the snows; but
+his eyes were bright and his strength was unimpaired. He, too, was
+ready.
+
+"Shall we not strike at the nearest point of the river?" he asked,
+pointing to the west of Bel-Ar's camp. "If we gain the bank of the
+stream, it will shorten our front, and it seems that we shall not
+easily be flanked."
+
+Oleric swore that the plan was good, and Ruthar's army began to fight
+its way across the plain. It could scarcely be said that battle was
+beginning. All the way through the forests had been one long, unending
+struggle with Fanaer. Already on the plains cavalry skirmishes were in
+progress. Now was to come the climax of a month of conflict.
+
+Steadily Ruthar pressed on, and with the fall of night pitched her
+tents on the plain, her left wing resting on the river below the
+Maeronican camp. By common consent, the fighting ceased at dusk and the
+armies rested on their arms. The next day would tell the tale, and they
+were content to await it. Such was the contour of the land that there
+was little ground for strategy and juggling of men. This was to be a
+battle, front to front, with victory to the strongest arms. And though
+their force was the greater, there was much of doubt in the hearts
+of the men of Ad. Tales had been brought in of the prowess of these
+mountain warriors.
+
+Other camp gossip had put uneasiness upon the soldiers of Bel-Ar. How,
+for instance, had the Kimbrian Wall been sundered, if it were not the
+work of the gods? And the beasts, the mighty red beasts, against which
+men were as flies. Rumor had told that they had come into Maeronica
+and would fight in the field against Adlaz. The sun set that night in
+a sea of fire. Men did not know how to interpret that omen. Was Shamar
+angered? And if he was, on whose heads would his blows fall on the
+morrow? The stars shone calm and clear. Ruthar worshiped the stars.
+
+Those and other thoughts caused many a stout Maeronican to shake his
+head over his campfire. But most of all they feared the beasts.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Wary Oleric had kept Zoar and his herd well to the rear. Never in the
+march had the amalocs gone forward until the way had been cleared. None
+of the Maeronican fighting men had set eyes on them. The beasts were
+Ruthar's strongest hope. If even the thought of them struck terror into
+the hearts of the Children of Ad, Oleric reasoned that their sudden
+appearance in battle might be counted upon to produce a panic.
+
+Ruthar would try a tilt against Maeronica, the red captain planned, and
+if she might would win her battle by force of arms alone. But if the
+fight should swing against her, then the beasts would be better than an
+army in reserve. So he bade Zoar camp in the forests, and he surrounded
+the encampment with a strong guard and cordons of sentries.
+
+In the morning Ruthar's stars paled, and Shamar came up smiling--seeing
+which the men of Bel-Ar took fresh heart.
+
+Scarcely had the first shafts of light thrust over the mountain-tops
+when Oleric, from the shadows of the forest, launched a great bolt of
+cavalry across the plain. Another division which had been moved in the
+night swept east along the south bank of the river. While the riders of
+Bel-Ar went out to meet them, the trumpets of the king of Ruthar were
+sounded in the center of the camp, and long files of men-at-arms crept
+forth into the dawn behind the screen of dashing horsemen.
+
+In three deep columns Polaris moved his footmen into battle, with lanes
+between them, into which the cavalry might retire, and through which
+the charioteers would charge when the time came. Each of the marching
+columns was tipped with regiments of swiftly moving javelin men, and
+behind them came the archers, stringing their long bows and singing a
+lilting chorus as they moved out on the plain.
+
+Mounted on his black stallion, Polaris led the center, riding behind
+the first ranks of his swordsmen and accompanied by the men of Jastla
+and some score of the Rutharian zinds, all in full armor. Far to the
+right rode Oleric the Red. The left was headed by Tarnos, one of the
+zinds. That post Polaris had offered to old Jastla of the hills, but
+the chieftain had declined it.
+
+"'Tis a great honor, O king," he said when the proffer was made, and
+his eyes shone. "But I pray you give it not to me. I would fight at
+your side. That post will be troublesome enough, as I well know."
+Jastla grinned broadly. "Give the command to a nobler man."
+
+"There is none nobler, old wolf," Polaris replied. "But have it as you
+will."
+
+So Tarnos led the left, along the river Thebascu, and Jastla and his
+ring of steel rode with his king, and he was content.
+
+Midway between the camps, as Oleric had ordered it, the charging
+horsemen swerved aside, doubled, and, as though in fear, plunged
+back between the advancing columns. Hard on their flying heels came
+the shouting riders of Ad. As they came the javelin men cast, and
+the archers bent bows and loosed a bitter flight from their twanging
+strings that shrieked among the horsemen like a white drift of blizzard
+through the mountain trees. Then, before the eyes of the Maeronican
+riders, the horsemen they pursued were gone; the bowmen and the
+javelin-throwers melted away; fanwise the heads of the three columns
+spread out and joined each to each, their front ranks kneeling; and
+Ruthar received her plunging foemen on an unbroken front of leveled
+spears.
+
+Fell ruin awaited that splendid charge. Unable to turn back because
+of the surging squadrons behind them, the foremost ranks were dashed
+against the grim steel barrier, and went down in a horrible tangle of
+struggling men and horses.
+
+Into the mêlée, through the lines and over the shoulders of their
+comrades, leaped the light-armed footmen with their javelins and
+daggers, and slew hundreds of horses, whose riders fell easy prey to
+the two-handed blades that now were aloft and busy.
+
+At the rear the Rutharian cavalry formed again, and dashing around the
+flanks of the columns in two flying wedges, closed like nippers behind
+Bel-Ar's confused squadrons.
+
+First cast in the game had gone to Ruthar. The horsemen of Ad were
+routed and pushed back--all those who could go. Those that remained
+were done with fighting.
+
+From the earthen wall of his camp, standing among his golden-armored
+generals, Bel-Ar saw his cavalry broken and flung back--saw it, and
+laughed aloud.
+
+"They fight well, these mountain wolves," he said. "But that was the
+play of children. Now will we send them a taste of the swords of Ad."
+
+Beyond the wall of the camp were massed the legions of the Maeronican
+heavy infantry, flower of the fighting men of seven cities, the core
+of which was formed of the garrison of Adlaz itself, fifteen thousand
+veteran men-at-arms.
+
+Bidding his captains go forward, the king called for his horse.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Somber as he had appeared in his dull garments in the midst of his
+butterfly court, Bel-Ar, among his captains, offered an even greater
+contrast. He loved the pomp and pride of power, its show and its
+glitter, but not in his own person. While his generals rode in gold,
+and the armor of some of them blazed with gems and patterns in
+orichalcum that made them glow like fireflies in the night, the king
+wore a simple suit of arms of black steel, plain of design and undecked
+by any flashing gauds. Only the majesty that dwelt in his pallid face
+and the fires of his mystic's eyes distinguished him from some humble
+gentleman of poor estate.
+
+Mounting his war-horse, a gaunt, powerful roan beast of vicious temper,
+the king, with a number of his favorite captains, rode down the field
+in the wake of his advancing phalanxes. With them was advanced the blue
+and gold battle-standard.
+
+Bel-Ar marshaled his legions in wide divisions, each of nearly a
+thousand men, marching in quadruple lines, and the divisions in such
+close touch that they might form, when there was need, a solid front.
+At the wings of the force were stationed the light-armed men and
+archers. Behind those, two wedge-shaped masses of chariots rolled forth
+from the camp gates and rumbled across the plain.
+
+At the foot of a gentle dip of the land the Rutharians had met and
+hurled back the horsemen. There they elected to remain and await the
+enemy's sterner onset.
+
+On came the shimmering lines of Ad across the meadows now dewed with
+blood; on with a rattle of drums, a brazen peal of trumpets, the clank
+and clash of armor mingling with the pounding hoofs on the hard turf,
+the thumping of chariot-wheels, and the shouted commands of the file
+leaders--the ancient, many-tongued clamor that stirs the soul of Mars.
+
+Silent and watchful, the men of mountainous Ruthar crouched low behind
+their shields and waited.
+
+Over the bodies of their dead comrades, over the fallen horses, the
+phalanxes marched. Then, closing into a living wall, they took the last
+tangled barrier of corpses with a rush and a shout, and the battle was
+joined. All across the field echoed the hollow thunder of the meeting
+shields as the lines closed. Followed a clanging as of a thousand
+trip-hammers. For now the spears were down and the swords were at work.
+
+Following their custom, the Rutharians cast their shields behind them
+after the first shock of the onset, and plied their long blades with
+both hands, making them serve both as swords and bucklers.
+
+On pushed the Maeronican wall under its tossing banners. So fierce was
+the rush and pressure of those charging thousands that Ruthar's line,
+strive as her warriors might, was bent backward like a bow. A wild
+cheering went up from the ranks of Ad when they saw the red standard
+give back. Gathering themselves again, they swept the mountain legions
+to the crest of the rise.
+
+Sitting his charger on the slope behind the line of his men-at-arms,
+Polaris looked down into that hell of combat. Like the unfolding vista
+of a hideous dream, it seemed to him, which he was powerless to break
+or to hinder. Yet above the din of the blood-maddened legions the sky
+was blue and calm, the sun shone bright, and back there in the forests
+the birds of spring were calling to their mates.
+
+Under his fascinated eyes the line of his warriors bent and came
+nearer. The red banner of Ruthar--a moment ago it had been planted
+at the foot of the slope, and now it was almost touching his horse's
+muzzle! Down there in the field another flag was coming, and with it a
+company of riders whose armor flashed back the sunlight from plates and
+shields of burnished gold.
+
+The spell was broken.
+
+Rising in his stirrups, the son of the snows drew his two-handed sword
+from over his shoulder. Among the Maeronican generals his keen eyes had
+seen a face that he remembered well.
+
+"Zinds of Ruthar!" he cried, his voice ringing above the clamor.
+"Yonder rides Bel-Ar of Adlaz. Let us go and greet him."
+
+All around him he heard the clinking of closing vizors. The zinds were
+ready.
+
+Casting down his shield, Polaris called to the swordsmen in front to
+open and make way. Before the Maeronican soldiery could advantage
+themselves of the gap, he was down the slope and upon them like a
+living thunderbolt. Under the urge of the spurs, his horse reared
+and struck out with its forefeet as it met the foemen. Leaning well
+over the good beast's shoulder, the rider whirled his heavy blade and
+struck so fast and so fiercely that eyes could not follow the blows.
+Adlaz's stoutest warriors shrank bewildered from the menace of that
+lightning-stroke and those steel-shod hoofs. Before one might count ten
+he was through them, leaving a wake of crumpled men. Behind him rode
+gray Jastla and the zinds of Ruthar.
+
+As they passed, one of the zinds bent and snatched the crimson banner
+from the standard-bearer.
+
+A roar like that of angry lions went down the Rutharian front when
+the hillsmen saw their flaming standard rise over the heads of the
+fighting men and advance into the field. Where their king led, no wall
+of steel could hold them back. As though the string had been released,
+the mighty bow straightened. All down that long, grim battle-line the
+two-handed swords clove through.
+
+Rallying around their king, the golden captains waited the shock that
+was coming.
+
+For Polaris had one goal, and one only, on all that stricken field.
+Outstripping the fleetest of his riders, he hewed his way through the
+Maeronican nobles, nor stopped until his sable war-horse was shoulder
+to shoulder with the steed of Bel-Ar, the king.
+
+"By Shamar, 'tis the slave-king!" shouted Bel-Ar, as the apparition in
+steel and silver burst through his gilded riders and bore down upon
+him. Sword and shield he lifted to meet the assault, fending himself
+with that skill of arms by which he oft had made good the boast of
+Adlaz that he was the hardiest fighting man in the two kingdoms.
+
+While the battle on the plain raged around them unheeded, king met king
+in the play of swords.
+
+First stroke of Polaris fell on the rounded shield and beat it down so
+that Bel-Ar reeled in his saddle. Before the great blade could swing
+again, the Maeronican straightened and smote with his own good sword of
+tempered bronze. A clang as of a descending hammer rang in the ears of
+Polaris. Under the trampling feet of the horses lay one of the golden
+wings of his helmet. Another stroke fell on his shoulder, cracking a
+steel boss of his armor and thrilling his arm with a sting of pain.
+Heeding it not, he rose in the saddle and swung his sword to his two
+arms' height. No shield or arm would stay that blow.
+
+For the fraction of a second Bel-Ar's doom hung poised in air. Ere it
+fell, Polaris's stallion reared, screaming. The mighty stroke that the
+rider sped fell on empty air. Overbalanced by the weight of his own
+effort, Polaris bent nearly to his saddle-bow. Beneath him the black
+stallion shuddered and went down. An unhorsed captain of Adlaz had run
+in and thrust the animal through the vitals with a spear.
+
+Janess sprang free from the falling horse. Above him, Bel-Ar shouted
+in triumph and hewed down with his bronze sword. But the zinds of
+Ruthar had torn through Bel-Ar's riders to the support of their king,
+upsetting both men and horses as they came. One of them, a slender
+youth in silver armor, leaped from his steed and flashed between Bel-Ar
+and his dismounted and helpless foeman, taking the king's sword-stroke
+on his head.
+
+Jastla closed his steel ring, then, and Bel-Ar was carried away in a
+swirling press of his own cavalry, which had charged fiercely in to
+save him.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Polaris knelt beside his fallen horse and lifted the still form of the
+man who had saved him. The red banner of Ruthar, held by Zind Albar,
+floated above them. Around the circle of riders which Jastla had drawn
+the battle whirled like a seething maelstrom around a rock in a sea of
+clashing steel.
+
+"Who is he?" Polaris asked of Albar, and pillowed the head in its
+silver helm on his knee. In vain he tried to lift the vizor. The
+sword-stroke of the Maeronican king had shattered the upper flare of
+the helmet and bent down its crest so that the vizor would not yield.
+
+"I know him not," said Albar, who was a hillsman. "Some zind of the
+lower cities, I judge, from the armor he wears. Whoever he is, he is a
+brave man. He has this day saved the life of the king of Ruthar, and
+I fear that he has lost his own in the deed. Bel-Ar strikes bitterly.
+See; he has cracked the helmet like an egg. Ah-h--!"
+
+Striking the steel-shod shaft of the standard into the earth, Albar
+leaped down from his horse and knelt beside Polaris.
+
+While the zind had been speaking, the fingers of the son of the snows
+had loosed the clasps of the helmet and lifted it. From under the
+cloven silver shell rippling coils of red-brown hair slipped down and
+flowed over his arm and his knee, where the sunlight caught and turned
+them into dancing flames. The pale face turned up to the sky, unmarred
+save by a small stain of blood at one of the temples, was that of the
+Goddess Glorian of Ruthar!
+
+Janess groaned. Albar stared like a man transfixed. But Glorian was not
+dead. As the air struck her face she moved her head faintly and her
+lips trembled.
+
+"Illia--roars--loudly to-day," she murmured. "It must be--the
+freshets--of spring."
+
+She opened her eyes, saw the faces bent above her, and smiled wanly at
+Polaris.
+
+"Then I was not too late?" she said, the halting gone out of her voice.
+"'Tis well."
+
+"Lady, why did you come hither--into the battle?" asked Polaris. "And
+why--" His voice broke; for the courage of this woman moved him almost
+to tears; the memory of that crushing stroke of bronze which she had
+taken in his stead made him shudder.
+
+Glorian smiled again.
+
+"Vex yourself not about me," she said. "Shall Ruthar's bravest shed
+their lives for their land and king, and Glorian not do her part?" She
+lifted her hand and pointed to the standard. "Where Ruthar's banner
+goes, there goes Glorian also--even into the battle. And I am not
+dying, or greatly hurt, only dizzied, and my head hums. See; I can
+arise."
+
+And arise she did, with Polaris's arm to support her. Around Jastla's
+narrowing circle broke the shock of the battle-tide. But for the moment
+neither the man nor the woman heeded it.
+
+"But you are wounded, lady," Janess said. "There is blood on your
+forehead."
+
+She slipped a hand from its gauntlet and raised it to her head.
+
+"Hardly a scratch," she said.
+
+Just at the roots of her long tresses a splinter from the shivered
+helmet had scarred the scalp--a tiny cut, scarcely a quarter of an inch
+in length.
+
+Now Albar the zind, who had hung on every word, came out of the spell
+of horror that had bound him. He swung himself onto his horse. Then for
+the one time in his life Albar gave orders to a king.
+
+"Guard you the goddess and the banner," he cried to Polaris. "I go to
+tell the men of Ruthar that which shall put in each one the strength of
+ten!"
+
+He rode to Jastla's side.
+
+"Gray wolf, may your ring be strong till I come again," he said. "You
+have within it a king and a goddess."
+
+Down rang his vizor, and setting spurs to his horse Albar set out to
+cross the field and find Oleric the Red.
+
+No longer was the fight on the plains one of ordered lines of men. The
+charge of Polaris had broken the Maeronicans' long front, and they
+had not been able to close up the gap he had made. So they had swung
+into the smaller phalanxes of their legions, and the battle was one of
+division against division, with many breaks between. Here and there
+the divisions had split up into still smaller groups, and occasionally
+there might be seen two warriors who fought alone, one laying on for
+Ruthar and one for Ad.
+
+Gray Jastla, fighting with his face to the west, heard Albar's words as
+the zind flashed past him. To find their meaning, the chieftain cast a
+hurried glance over his shoulder. He saw Polaris and Glorian standing
+together under the crimson standard, and was near to letting his sword
+fall in his surprise. Next instant he rose in his stirrups and clove a
+Maeronican from shoulder to breastbone. Out rang the chief's voice in a
+hollow roar through his vizor:
+
+"Strike as ye never struck before! Behind you is the Goddess Glorian,
+come to see that ye do well. Would ye have these Maeronican hounds take
+her? Strike!"
+
+Around the circle echoed the war-cry:
+
+"For the Goddess Glorian! Strike!"
+
+Like living sword-blades did the Rutharian zinds answer that fierce
+appeal. The circle grew smaller and drew in upon itself, but it did not
+break. Under their resistless blades the zinds piled a rampart of dead
+Maeronicans to defend their goddess. A riderless horse backed into the
+circle, and Polaris, quitting Glorian's side, mounted the steed with
+his two-handed steel and joined the zinds.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Standing up on the body of Polaris's fallen war-horse, supporting
+herself with one hand on the staff of the banner, Glorian watched that
+deadly fray. With her long hair flowing on her shoulders, she looked in
+her warlike gear like one of the valkyries of Adin come down to earth
+from Valhalla to watch the passing of the souls of heroes. Ever her
+gaze followed Polaris. And if she seemed like one of the Norse god's
+daughters, the man who fought under her eyes was a fitting part of the
+simile.
+
+His sword wrenched from his grasp in the body of a man he had slain, he
+snatched the heavy ax that swung at his saddle-bow, and with it laid on
+like Thor with his hammer.
+
+Aid was coming.
+
+Down the field as he rode Albar spread the tidings. From mouth to mouth
+flew the word that the Goddess Glorian was on the plains of Nor, and
+that she and the king were in sore peril yonder where the red standard
+flew. The effect was instantaneous. Each warrior became a host in
+himself. Wounded men who had turned to the rear heard and forgot their
+hurts and staggered into the fight again.
+
+When Albar reached Oleric the Red on the right, the zind found that his
+news had preceded him.
+
+"Get you to Maxtan," shouted Oleric. "Charge with every horse that can
+bear a rider. A messenger has gone into the forests, and another charge
+is coming. Clear the way for the amalocs."
+
+Maxtan and Albar gathered their wild horsemen and charged and charged
+again. So well did they do their work that they hacked a way to the
+first rank of the Maeronican chariots, deep between the two horns of
+which was waging the struggle around the red banner.
+
+Vainly Oleric urged his own charioteers forward. Bel-Ar's blood was up,
+and he was smiling no longer. Battalion on battalion of his infantry he
+sent in to meet the steeds and feed the blades of Ruthar. Almost within
+his grasp the Maeronican king saw victory. Already he counted as taken
+the slave whom his foeman had crowned. Sooner than give back a foot, or
+allow that little band of riders to go free, he was prepared to spend
+his army to the last man, and himself with it.
+
+No less than three horses Oleric had killed under him. When the last
+was gone, he climbed into a chariot and fought at the point of his
+rumbling wedge. Behind him from the forests a force entered the plain
+and the conflict that was mightier than all the red captain's horsemen
+and battalions.
+
+Zoar had come.
+
+In the shadow of the tall trees where the bending limbs swept their
+mighty backs, Zoar marshaled thirty of his amalocs and set them in
+battle array--a single line, with twenty intervening feet between each
+beast. If Zoar knew aught of amalocs, and he thought that he did, there
+would be need for no second line. A hundred men and as many horses ran
+about the legs of the monsters, tightening the broad girths that held
+the basketlike turrets on the mammoths' shoulders. The beasts stood
+quietly, swinging their huge trunks and weaving from side to side,
+as was their habit. Occasionally one of them cocked forward a great
+blanket of an ear as though in lazy wonderment at the din on the plains.
+
+On the head of each, with his back to the turret, and clutching his
+keen-pointed ankus, sat a driver in full armor.
+
+When all was ready, the spear-throwers and archers clambered up by
+rope-ladders and took their places in the towers.
+
+At the left of the line, and nearest to the river, was Ixstus,
+patriarch and giant of the herd. And on the broad head of Ixstus beside
+the driver rode Zoar of the many years.
+
+Along the line from beast to beast passed the word:
+
+"We are ready, Father Zoar."
+
+"Ixstus!" said the old man. The sail-like ears gave attention. "Ixstus,
+I have raised you since a calf, and I think you love me after your
+fashion. Do not fail me now, Ixstus. Go forward, fearing nothing. _Akko
+dor!_"
+
+Zoar's last words were spoken loudly. Thirty vast trunks lifted up.
+From thirty huge proboscides pealed forth the amaloc trumpet-call--such
+a call as might have shaken the forests in the ages before the first
+puny man began his life of fear.
+
+For of amalocs the records of the Garden of Eden make no mention.
+
+Swaying their ponderous heads, and with the turrets on their shoulders
+heaving and tossing like boats on a troubled sea, the amalocs went
+forward.
+
+Far in the turmoil of the fight Oleric heard that trumpeting. Over his
+shoulder he looked and saw the mighty red bulk of Ixstus push out from
+among the trees.
+
+With their trunks curled out of harm's way, their thick and ropy tails
+stretched straight out behind, and their ears flapping to their stride,
+the amalocs came down the grim lanes of battle. Though the legs that
+were as the trunks of trees for size swung with no apparent haste,
+the beasts came on at a pace that it would have troubled a trotting
+horse to distance. The lengths of chain fastened to their knee-harness
+whistled through the air like flails.
+
+From division to division along Ruthar's jagged battle-line sped the
+warning cry:
+
+"Way! Way for Zoar! Make way for the amalocs!"
+
+Under the tossing ivory fronts the divisions parted and drew aside.
+Zoar increased the distance between his beasts. Into thirty wide
+aisles the army split. From forest to front, save for the dead, the
+way was clear. From the wild vortex of the battle rose a stormy burst
+of cheering as the amalocs thundered down the aisles, and Ruthar's
+exultant warriors welcomed their gigantic allies.
+
+Wilder still was the cheering when it was seen that at the ends of the
+pathways the phalanxes of Bel-Ar's men-at-arms were crumbling away.
+Flesh and blood could not abide the onset that was coming, and the
+Maeronican legions broke and fled ingloriously across the plains in
+droves, many of them casting away their arms and shields as they ran.
+
+Bidding his charioteer pull in his horses, Oleric climbed up on the
+high front of his chariot to watch how Bel-Ar would meet this new
+stroke. What would meet the drive of the amalocs? As he reached his
+vantage-point, the answer came--a cavalry charge!
+
+From the wall of his camp, where he had been taken, nursing an arm
+that was numb from wrist to shoulder, the Maeronican king ground his
+teeth in fury as he saw the new force enter the battle and witnessed
+the melting of his legions. Once before, in the morning, his cavalry
+had been rudely handled, and he had laughed. Now, with tears of rage
+in his eyes, he dispatched his shattered squadrons in the teeth of the
+oncoming peril.
+
+White-faced captains and quaking men scrambled into their saddles to
+do their king's bidding, and the horsemen rode desperately to meet the
+beasts.
+
+What happened was simple. The amalocs plowed through the clouds of
+cavalry that opposed them with scarcely a break in their stride,
+overthrowing men and horses as though they had been of paper, and
+leaving ghastly ruins behind them where their ponderous feet had
+trodden.
+
+One such onset was enough. No horse that ever lived could have been
+forced to face another. For the amalocs, when they joined battle, set
+up such a din of squealing and trumpeting as nearly split the ears that
+heard it. The horse that could have met that grievous onslaught must
+have been both blind and deaf.
+
+From above, in the basket-turrets, the archers and spearsmen poured
+down a deadly hail of missiles on the riders. Did a horseman avoid the
+thrashing chains and get near enough to the vast side of an amaloc to
+strike--and not many did so--he found his spear-point rebound from
+the tough hide. The utmost power of his stroke was not a pin-prick to
+an amaloc. Even as the swordsmen had fled, so fled now the riders,
+betaking themselves in a fear-maddened stream to their camp, whither
+the charioteers had preceded them.
+
+"The beasts of Ruthar are a myth," had said Bel-Ar, the king. And his
+soldiers had believed him, had fostered confidence with the thought
+that the frightful tales that had been told of the strength and fury
+of the amalocs were mere traditions which had come down from the days
+of old. Now here before the camp were the beasts, red and awesome and
+raging--more terrible by far than even tradition had painted them--and
+among the Children of Ad there was none who had the heart to go out
+and face them--unless, indeed, it were the king himself. Bel-Ar in his
+rage would have fronted the overlord of all evil that day had he come
+against him.
+
+So it came about that the ring of Jastla, the chief, found the
+pressure of assault slackening and falling away. Maeronicans who had
+been fiercest to meet the sword-blades, now were stumbling over each
+other's legs in their haste to escape the amalocs. What was left of the
+ring--barely a score and five of battered men and horses--opened, and
+through its gap strode Ixstus and paused beside the red banner.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER X
+
+                     THE GODDESS GLORIAN'S DECREE
+
+
+Zoar quit the straps where he had held and stood on the head of Ixstus.
+A triumph shone in the eyes of the master of the amalocs, and a smile
+spread over his mummified old-ivory features as he looked down at
+Glorian.
+
+"Daughter, they told me that I would find you here--in the forefront of
+the battle," he said. "And so it is. Your zeal for Ruthar has carried
+you far--so far that Oleric the Learned could not follow, and sent
+Father Zoar to find you." He laughed in his bell-like tones.
+
+"But for the King of Ruthar and these brave men here, you would have
+had a longer journey, Father Zoar," Glorian replied. "It might have
+been to the camp of Bel-Ar yonder, or--to the stars. Take me up with
+you, Zoar, for I am weary."
+
+"_Stekkar deen!_" commanded Zoar, and Ixstus looped his trunk and swung
+Glorian gently to a seat beside his master.
+
+Glorian looked around at the little circle of wearied men--so wearied
+that they reeled in their saddles. She looked at those others, who lay
+where they had fallen, and to whom the long rest had come. Her eyes
+filled with tears.
+
+"I thought to thank you," she said, "but I find no words splendid
+enough."
+
+Old Jastla lifted his arm in salute. "Lady, to those of us who live,
+it is sufficient to know that you live also. Those who are dead, died
+gladly to make it so. We have held our goddess safe, and our king has
+held himself." And he turned and saluted Polaris.
+
+Of the hundred zinds and fifty tall hillsmen who had formed in Jastla's
+ring, five and twenty were left. Not one was unwounded. Jastla's beard
+was red with blood, where a spear-point had penetrated through the
+bars of his vizor and torn his mouth. In addition to the bruised and
+stiffening shoulder caused by the blow of Bel-Ar that had broken his
+armor, Polaris had been gashed on the cheek by an arrow. Otherwise he
+was the least harmed of the party.
+
+It was midafternoon when Ixstus set foot in the circle. Presently
+Oleric arrived in his chariot. Behind him came the host of
+Ruthar--weary and with many of its battalions sadly thinned, but still
+a host, and ready to go on if need be.
+
+Another amaloc rolled up alongside of Ixstus. Over the edge of the
+wicker basket it bore, a white old head bobbed up with the suddenness
+of a jack-in-the-box.
+
+"Hey, son," said Zenas Wright to Polaris, "will you never quit your
+foolhardy ways? Look what you have made me do--come a-hunting you,
+riding on the back of one of these animated stacks of red hay, that
+should have been dead and fossilized six thousand years ago. Well,
+well; we've given his majesty Bel-Ar a bellyful, I'm thinking." Out of
+his basket and down the rope-ladder Zenas clambered to shake Polaris by
+the hand.
+
+"Oh, boy," the geologist said, "you're a better king than those
+heathen will see again, if they all live to be as old as Father
+Methuselah yonder says he is. But be careful, lad, be careful."
+
+On the head of Ixstus the Goddess Glorian stood and pointed toward the
+camp of Bel-Ar, and her beautiful face grew stern.
+
+"There are still three hours of daylight, Father Zoar," she said. "Let
+us go and finish what we have begun."
+
+"As well now as ever, daughter," Zoar replied. "I am minded to teach
+this Maeronican king a lesson that shall become a tradition in the
+land. What passes in the camp? My eyes are too dim to see."
+
+"Confusion, father, and the running to and fro of many men. They are
+adding to the height of their earthen walls. They are piling their
+gateways with timbers and the fragments of broken chariots."
+
+Zoar laughed. "Think they with walls of mud to stop my amalocs?" he
+muttered. He lifted his voice, and word was passed down the line that
+the beasts were to be advanced against the camp.
+
+Under the orders of Polaris, the dead zinds and men of his guard were
+borne off the field, and those who were still living, but wounded,
+were carried tenderly to the rear. When he learned that the amalocs
+were to attack the camp, he climbed with Zenas to the turret which the
+geologist had occupied. Jastla and the others he urged to seek rest.
+But they were men of great spirit, and only one or two of them went.
+The most of them sent for fresh horses, determined to see the fighting
+through to its end.
+
+At a word from Glorian, Jastla took up the war-standard of Ruthar and
+passed it to the fighting men of Zoar, who set it fast in the wicker
+tower on the back of Ixstus. Glorian caught its floating folds and
+kissed it.
+
+"Now Ixstus bears our banner. Who shall withstand it?" she said.
+
+A blare of trumpets, a ruffle of drums, sounded the advance of Ruthar.
+Louder and above all arose the roar of the thirty amalocs, strident and
+deafening, as the shaggy, red line surged forward.
+
+In the camp of Bel-Ar that call found answer in the howl of hate and
+terror that went up from the ranks of the Maeronicans when they saw
+that their terrible foes were coming.
+
+"Fire!" shouted Bel-Ar to his generals. "We must meet and turn the
+beasts with fire! Man the walls with torches and set a blaze before
+each gate."
+
+Bel-Ar had pitched his encampment in a loop of the River Thebascu,
+a broad, swift stream, now swollen by the spring freshets into a
+dun-colored torrent. From bank to bank across the loop, the soldiers
+had constructed a wall of earth and stones, ten feet high, and pierced
+by six wide gateways, wherein were set heavy gates of steel and oak.
+Inside the line of the outer wall, with some fifty feet of space
+intervening, was another rampart, also of earth, and a few feet higher
+than the first. Outside of the works the camp was protected further by
+a semicircular ditch, or moat, spanned at each of the gateways by a
+solid bridge of timbers. The Maeronican engineers had turned the waters
+of the river into the moat and filled it level full. At the rear of the
+camp was the crossing of the Thebascu--three wide bridges of stone,
+which had been built in the long ago.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+When they saw the advance of the amalocs, soldiers swarmed from the
+camp with ropes and horses, and strove to pull the timber bridges away
+from the ditch. But the weight of the passing and repassing of the
+army had sunk the beams into the earth so deeply that they could not
+be stirred. Failing in that attempt, the Maeronicans piled débris on
+the floors of the bridges and set fire to it, hoping to burn away the
+approaches. That, too, was a failure. The water of the moat, nearly
+level with the side-beams, was ankle-deep on the bridge-floors, and had
+soaked the timbers so that they would not catch from the fires.
+
+As Zoar and his monsters came to the moat, the men of Bel-Ar shot at
+them with arrows, stones, and javelins. But Ruthar could play that
+game, too. Oleric lined the ditch between the bridges with slingers
+and archers, who kept up so thick a bombardment that they killed many
+men, and soon drove the Maeronicans to the shelter of their walls. As
+they went in, Bel-Ar's men touched flames to the piles of timbers and
+wrecked chariots before their gateways and closed their gates.
+
+"Shall we cross the bridges and clear the way, Father Zoar?" asked
+Oleric.
+
+"Nay," the master of the beasts replied, "that would be at the expense
+of many men, and yon is an ill place to fight in. Methinks I know a
+better plan."
+
+Under his directions, his foresters ungirthed one of the mammoths and
+took from its back the wicker turret. Zoar called the driver of the
+beast to him. Whatever it was that the old man said, the amaloc-driver
+blanched somewhat at the words. He cast a quick glance toward the armed
+camp, and under his swarthy skin his face turned pale. Then he drew
+himself up proudly, saluted, and went back to his beast.
+
+Clambering to his perch, the man found and pulled two small chains
+connected with the armored plates which protected the skull of his
+ponderous steed. These drew into place and closed fast two small doors,
+or lids, cunningly wrought of steel, and devised to cover the eyes of
+the beast. So blinded, the heart within the vast bulk became uneasy,
+and the mammoth began to back and sway, groping before it with its
+trunk.
+
+While the army stood breathless to see what he would do, the driver
+struck with his ankus, and with a shout launched the amaloc straight at
+the center gate of the camp.
+
+Deprived of its eyesight, the mammoth obeyed the superior will
+expressed by the voice that it knew and loved. Across the bridge, where
+ordinarily it would have paused and tested the timbers carefully before
+trusting its immense bulk upon them, it now charged blindly, trumpeting
+as it went.
+
+Showers of missiles from the camp of Ad fell on the beast; ahead of it
+roared the blazing pile. It screamed out with pain and terror when the
+flames touched it, but it did not stop. Scattering the burning tangle
+like fiery chaff, it tore on, and its armored frontlet clanged on the
+bars of the gateway.
+
+That shock tore the gates from their hinges and brought the amaloc to
+its knees. For an instant it knelt on the fallen gate, then, trumpeting
+with rage, rose up and danced on the ruin.
+
+On the head of the beast the driver lay flat on his belly, his arms and
+legs thrust under the leather bands placed there to hold him. Ahead,
+scarcely fifty feet away, was the second gateway. With voice and steel
+the man urged the amaloc on, and it crashed through that gate as it had
+through the first, and plunged into the center of the Maeronican camp.
+
+Began then a mad rout for safety. No one thought of fighting the terror
+that had come among them; but each man for himself ran for the river,
+casting away anything that might weight down his legs. Soon all three
+bridges of the Thebascu were black with a horrid, writhing mêlée--a
+tangle of fear-maddened men, cursing and striking at each other for
+way, and screaming, terrified horses. Many soldiers, unable to fight
+into the jams on the bridges, threw themselves into the swift stream
+with all their armor on, and some swam across and others were seen no
+more.
+
+To and fro through the encampment raged the now thoroughly crazed
+amaloc, sundering and crushing all that it met. The long, red wool
+had caught fire from the blaze at the gateway and burned fiercely up
+over its shoulders. Wild with the pain of it, the beast ran hither and
+thither, seeking to escape from the flames. A two-horsed chariot was
+in its path at one moment. It scooped it up like a toy and carried it
+forward on its mighty tusks, the horses dangling in their harness. Then
+with a heave of its vast shoulders the monster cast the wreck in the
+air. Lying on his face, the driver closed his eyes and prayed wildly to
+his stars.
+
+At length, smelling the water of the river, the amaloc turned thither,
+to quench its agonies in the rushing stream. On it drove, across the
+camp, upsetting everything in its way. It reached the river to the
+left of one of the bridges. In its path a horse bearing a steel-clad
+rider slipped and fell. The groping trunk that sought the water found
+the man, plucked him from the ground, whirled him aloft, and dashed
+him against an abutment of the bridge so that his armor cracked like a
+nutshell and his blood ran down the stones.
+
+With a final shriek of fury, the amaloc plunged into the river. The
+waters closed over its upthrown trunk, and its mad career was ended.
+With it went the driver, well content to give his life for Ruthar.
+
+This one beast in the outpouring of its majestic strength had done
+more to shatter the power of Adlaz than had the legions of Ruthar in a
+month's fighting.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Soon after the death of the amaloc, night fell swiftly across the
+plains of Nor. The other beasts of Zoar, made uneasy by the experiences
+through which they had passed, and stirred by the screaming of their
+flame-maddened comrade, were in such a state that their master deemed
+it unwise to attempt to urge them farther in the darkness and against
+the fires. So he drove them back to the forest, and Ruthar camped on
+the plain.
+
+In the night was heard a clamor as of men who fought on the other side
+of the Thebascu, and when morning came it was seen that the host of
+Bel-Ar was divided. The royal standards waved over the bridge-heads at
+the crossing of the river. Farther down the stream, and opposite to the
+camp of Ruthar was gathered by far the greater part of the Maeronican
+host.
+
+When the dawn was full, a boat crossed the river, bearing messengers
+to Ruthar from the lords of the six cities which had fought for Adlaz.
+These heralds came to Oleric and asked what terms he would make them.
+
+"For," said they, "did we have to fight with men only, we would stand
+firm until the end, and with our united power sweep Ruthar from the
+field and crush her. But against such as the great beasts no men may
+war."
+
+The red captain referred them to the king of Ruthar for their answer.
+Polaris bade them go back to the lords of the cities and say that he
+wished to make war on none save Adlaz and the king thereof--but that
+war he would wage until the death or the submission of Bel-Ar.
+
+"Our lords will not join ye in war against Adlaz," said one of the
+heralds hastily. "We be not such traitors; but our soldiers will bear
+arms against the terrible beasts no more."
+
+"Ruthar asks no help in her warfare against Bel-Ar," Polaris replied.
+"Take your armies to their homes in peace."
+
+That answer satisfied the lords of the cities, and they sent word that
+so they would do; and if Polaris in the end prevailed against Adlaz,
+they would bend the knee to his rule. Secretly they hoped that he
+would win. Bel-Ar had been a hard master, and those who had seen the
+tawny-haired king of Ruthar deemed him to be the better man to serve,
+outlander though he was.
+
+So that host was dispersed and went its various ways homeward. The
+soldiers of Adlaz and the levies from the lands around the city were of
+a different kidney. To a man they stood firm for their king. Beasts or
+no beasts, they swore, they would die for him, did he wish it.
+
+It seemed likely that their promise would be required of them. Bel-Ar,
+stubborn and high of spirit, was resolved to fight on. He still
+mustered under his banners a force of nearly sixty thousand men,
+veterans of his former wars and the flower of the fighting men of the
+land. Besides, he held the advantage of position.
+
+When Ruthar would have gone on against him in the morning, it was
+found that his engineers, working through the night, had piled the
+bridge-heads with barricades of stones, so thick and high that
+no amaloc charge would beat them down. Behind those barriers the
+Maeronican generals reorganized their broken forces and sent in the
+front fresh soldiers drawn from the reserves that were waiting along
+the Mazanion Road.
+
+Not for many weary miles was there another crossing of the
+Thebascu--if, indeed, there were any on the course of the river where
+were bridges strong enough to support an army and the weight of the
+amalocs.
+
+Taking counsel together, Polaris and Oleric and their generals decided
+that they must hammer their way through at the three bridges. They
+might have blown up the barriers with melinite; but they dared not, for
+fear of destroying the structures of the bridges also; and they had not
+the time to build new bridges. Only a sustained frontal attack, at the
+cost of many men, would clear the way.
+
+For a score and ten days and nights the furious struggle was waged at
+the Thebascu. Then one of the bridges was taken. Polaris, his great
+frame grown gaunt from continual fighting, and his face sunken and
+haggard with anxiety and loss of sleep, saw through hollow and burning
+eyes his hosts swing across the river and into the Mazanion Road.
+
+Fourteen days were left him, and then--the Feast of Years, and the end.
+
+Summer was coming, and with it the feast of the return of Shamar, that
+could not be set forward or delayed. Though the foe were hammering at
+its gates, Oleric said, the feast would be held in the city. Such was
+the ancient law laid down in the early days of Adlaz.
+
+On the Mazanion Road they found the captain Fanaer once more, tireless
+and vengeful. As he had harried them all the way from the isthmian
+passes to the plains of Nor, so he harried them now. Every foot of
+the hundred miles down the Mazanion Road he fought them, and with him
+fought Bel-Ar, his master. Wall after wall they built and lost.
+
+It was not until afternoon of the last day that the Rutharian vanguard,
+so worn with battle that it staggered as it rode, broke through the
+final barrier and marched through the gorgeous suburban estates to the
+wall of Adlaz. Under the leadership of Fanaer, the remnant of Bel-Ar's
+army made a last desperate stand, but was swept away.
+
+As night came on, the Maeronican king, broken-hearted, but still
+defiant, entered his city and closed his gates--there to sit down and
+wait for the coming of the Goddess Glorian.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was nine o'clock of a morning--the morning of the third day of the
+Maeronican month of Kanar, corresponding to the fifteenth of November;
+or, to reverse the seasons to the terms of our northern clime, the
+sixteenth of May. A man who bore a heavy heart within his golden armor
+faced a white-faced maid in the ancient audience-hall of the dead king
+Bel-Tisam.
+
+"Now am I in my heart almost a traitor to my king and land, lady,"
+Brunar said. "For I have almost wished that your lover might prevail
+over Bel-Ar and save you. But the day has come and the time is at
+hand, and Ruthar is still without the walls. Would that I might save
+you, lady--I think that to do so I would willingly give my life. But
+Shamar's servants have watched this place by day and by night. It
+cannot be. Already they wait for you without the doors to lead you to
+the temple."
+
+For an instant the girl's eyes swam with terror. She gazed hither
+and yon about the hall like a hunted thing. Then the heritage of her
+northern race came to her aid and saved her from collapse.
+
+Bravely she faced and spoke to the captain.
+
+She stepped to the cradle of the little Patrymion and kissed the babe.
+
+"I am ready," she said, then.
+
+At the doors of the prison a chariot waited, and with it were four of
+the white-robed priests of Shamar. The girl was lifted into the car.
+The charioteer drove up the side avenue of Chedar's Flight, past the
+Place of Games, now standing empty and silent, to the grounds of the
+Temple of the Sun. They saw many armed men in the street as they passed
+along. As they entered the gateway of the temple grounds they heard a
+dull booming that beat up with the wind from the south, where Ruthar
+hammered at the Mazanion gates.
+
+The priests carried the girl up the hundred white marble steps to
+the western entrance to the temple and through the splendid arch of
+a doorway that was fifty feet from pave to vault. Within all was dim
+twilight, except in the mighty dome, two hundred feet aloft. There it
+was light, indeed.
+
+At the doorway the party halted, and two soldiers shackled Rose with
+fetters of heavy gold at her wrists and ankles. Around her waist they
+set a girdle of the same yellow metal, to which chains were attached.
+That done, they placed a gag in her mouth and led her into the temple.
+
+Here was a place of wonders, such as had its like nowhere in the world.
+All around the hall, supporting the ring of masonry on which the dome
+rested, were magnificent pillars of marble. The circle of the pavement
+which was enclosed by the pillars, and which was nearly a hundred feet
+across, was bare, except at its center. There an oblong slab of black
+basalt lay from west to east across the gleaming white floor. That
+block was the height of a man's waist from the pavement, some six feet
+across, and at least ten yards in length.
+
+On one end of the slab, that which pointed west, stood a solid column
+of orichalcum, more than a yard in diameter and fifteen feet tall, its
+whole substance glowing in the half-light like a pillar of lambent
+flame. From base to top the surface of this marvelous plinth was carved
+with Maeronican characters and mystic signs. It was the ancient Column
+of Laws, whereon was written the prophecy of the future dominion of
+Adlaz over all the world.
+
+Over across from the fiery pillar, at the other extremity of the slab,
+was a vase, cut out of solid rock-crystal, as tall as a man, but
+slenderly fashioned, and as fragile in structure as thin-blown glass.
+
+This basalt block, with its gleaming column and crystal vase, was the
+altar of Shamar.
+
+Though the light was dim in the hall below, high in the arch of the
+dome was a dazzling play of light and colors. Through prismatic
+windows the rays of the sun poured and were translated into all of
+the changing hues of the spectrum, and as the prisms were turned by a
+concealed mechanism operated from below, the multiplying and shifting
+color-shafts, reflected back from the marble walls, combined into a
+bewildering and fairy display.
+
+Seated in a stone chair at the foot of one of the pillars in the
+northern arc of the circle was Bel-Ar. He was in full armor of black
+steel. His pallid face made a ghastly patch in the dusk. Except for the
+large, glowing eyes, it might have been taken for the face of a dead
+man. Back of the king, filling in the spaces between the pillars with
+silent rows of bronze, were the five companies of the palace-guard.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Immediately upon the arrival of the girl the ceremonies were opened.
+Followed by a train of his priests, chanting a deep-voiced hymn
+of praise, the arch-priest of Shamar, the aged Rhaen, entered the
+hall through the western portals. Thrice the procession of singing,
+white-robed attendants of the god passed around the circle within the
+pillars. Then they massed themselves in the space to the south of the
+altar. Rhaen retired, to come forth again, clad in a surplice of pale
+blue, and with a tall cap of the same color atop of his white locks. As
+he passed Rose, she fancied that she saw a frightened look in his keen
+old hawk's eyes.
+
+Four men brought in the head of one of the sacred bulls, freshly slain
+in the courtyard.
+
+This gory trophy was laid on the altar, a few feet from the crystal
+vase.
+
+At a command from Rhaen, a company of the priests bore the struggling
+form of a man from behind the pillars and proceeded to chain him down
+on the basalt slab near its center. He was fettered and gagged; but
+even so trussed up, he fought frantically, giving the priests much
+trouble before they had him chained in such a fashion that he could
+scarcely move a limb.
+
+Now came the turn of Rose.
+
+As the priests bore her to the altar and lifted her, she saw that the
+man who lay there was Ensign Brooks, of the _Minnetonka_. He had been
+fetched from the mines by order of Rhaen to take the place of Everson.
+When the girl saw the young sailor, chubby and cheerful no longer, but
+worn to skin and bones, and with eyes that glared in their sockets, she
+would have cried out in horror and pity--for to the last she thought
+not of herself--but she was gagged and helpless to utter one word of
+comfort.
+
+Brooks saw her as she was borne past him, and he struggled terribly.
+His utmost effort resulted only in a violent shaking of his head.
+
+The servants of Rhaen chained Rose to the rock midway between the
+sailor and the head of the bull. Aided by his priests, Rhaen clambered
+onto the rock and took his stand at the foot of the orichalcum pillar.
+He bent his head in prayer. While his lips moved, the priests knelt on
+the pavement with lifted hands and upturned faces. Every eye was fixed
+on the dome. Whatever was to come, it was evident that it would proceed
+thence.
+
+Lying on the black altar, doomed to be the first sacrifice to Shamar
+in the Feast of Years, Rose for a time was dazed and near to fainting.
+Then her mind cleared, and a mad whirl of tortured thought began.
+What of Polaris? With the memory of her lover came a stab of grief so
+keen that it banished all fear of the priests and what they could do.
+No pain that they could bring to her body could be so terrible as this
+anguish that made her very soul quail.
+
+Minutes passed. Again she became calm and fell to studying her
+surroundings. What manner of doom was coming? Fire in some shape, she
+was sure. She had noticed that the surface of the basalt slab was
+deeply scored down its center, where she and Brooks were chained,
+and its substance was crumbled and calcined as if by the passing of
+a fierce heat many times repeated. She besought her God that before
+Shamar struck, her senses might leave her, so might she die in peace.
+
+Rhaen prayed on. Above in the dome the brilliant colors played and
+shifted. Their magnificence hurt the girl's eyes, and she closed them.
+Would the end never come? Out in the city the din of war swelled louder.
+
+Bel-Ar spoke harshly, bidding Rhaen delay not. The arch-priest quit his
+mumbled prayer long enough to reply with some show of spirit that the
+doings of the god could not be hastened.
+
+The truth of the matter was, Rhaen was proceeding slowly, and with a
+reason. Rhaen was a politician. He had watched through the long weeks
+the course of war, and he did not find it hard to guess whose would be
+the ultimate victory. When that time came, what mercy would the king of
+Ruthar show to those who had given his lady to the tortures of Shamar?
+He lifted his hands high above his head, finally, and led his priests
+in a sonorous chant.
+
+As the notes of the song arose, the prismatic colors ceased in the
+dome. The prisms disappeared. Doors glided back in the golden roof, and
+an immense circular plate, or lens, of crystal made its appearance. So
+high was the arch of the dome where the crystal lens was hung, that it
+was impossible from the floor to judge its size; but it must have been
+at least thirty feet in diameter. It was set in a metal rim, and the
+whole was swung into place by chains, the mechanism doubtless operated
+by servants of Rhaen concealed in the vault of the dome.
+
+Tilted slightly to the east, the crystal hung. Above it a round
+aperture suddenly appeared in the roof. Through that opening shot a
+splendid shaft of sunshine that pierced the gloom of the temple-hall
+like an arrow of light. Blinding in its radiance, it cut downward and
+struck on the basalt altar, full on the head of the bull.
+
+Immediately arose the stench of burning hair and sizzling flesh. The
+power of the crystal lens so condensed the light-ray that where it fell
+its heat was all-consuming. Within half a minute naught was left of the
+head of the sacred bull save a few cinders and bits of calcined bone
+and charred tips of the horns.
+
+Where the head had been, the basalt rock glowed ruby-red in the path of
+that awful lance of fire. Inch by inch, and very slowly, the consuming
+ray crept along the altar toward the head of the girl.
+
+Rose had been nearly blinded, even through her closed lids, by the
+flash of light from the dome. Although she could not turn her head to
+see, she could smell the scorching flesh of the bull, and could guess
+what was coming.
+
+"Good-by, my love, good-by," she said in her heart. Then He to whom she
+had prayed made answer, and she fainted.
+
+Louder rose the chant of the priests. The merciless finger of their god
+moved on. Bel-Ar strained forward in his stone seat and stared at the
+sacrifice as though fascinated.
+
+Some five feet were yet to be traversed by the ray before it would
+reach the girl, when a soldier ran up the southern steps of the temple
+and hurled himself through the kneeling ranks of the priests. Behind
+him a wild clamor of battle arose in the street.
+
+"Adlaz is lost!" shouted the soldier, as he broke into the open space
+before the king. "Already is the foe at the very gates of Shamar!"
+
+Without stirring in his seat, hardly removing his eyes from the altar,
+Bel-Ar gave an order to the captains behind him. The silent files of
+the palace-guard came from behind the pillars and ranged themselves
+before the four entrances of the temple.
+
+Across the face of the altar the relentless fire-beam seared its way.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Meanwhile, at the walls of Adlaz the Rutharian army had halted.
+
+Night had found the men of the hills battering at the Mazanion gates.
+Urged on by the tireless energy of Polaris and the equally indomitable
+zeal of Oleric--for the red captain had made a promise--the zinds
+mustered their weary legions for a night of sleepless battle. War-worn
+by a quarter-year's conflict, the echoes of which would go whispering
+down their history for centuries to come, the king's battalions did not
+fail him. Every man in the army knew the terrible stake that was set
+for the game. None faltered. None complained.
+
+Assault on assault was directed at the gates, but still the southern
+doors of Adlaz remained unshaken. Riders had made the round of the city
+and had reported that the other three gateways had been walled up with
+stone masonry that it would be a work of days to dislodge--and they had
+only seventeen hours to reach the temple of Shamar. Oleric, who knew,
+said that the sacrifice of the Feast of Years would begin at noon of
+the next day, and not one moment sooner.
+
+Fanaer, Ruthar's most dreaded antagonist, was manning his last
+barricade. As soon as he had drawn his shattered army within the gates
+before the advance of his foemen, the captain ordered great rocks,
+which had been brought to the top of the walls in preparation for his
+purpose, cast down until they formed a jagged but powerful defense
+before the gates. That was to keep back the amalocs.
+
+Vainly the infantry of Ruthar charged over that irregular wall. Did
+any of them reach the gates, their battle-axes were but puny weapons
+against the bronze and steel of the doors. In vain they tried to carry
+in and place the melinite with which Zenas supplied them. Fanaer
+showered them with stones and blazing timbers. Three times men carrying
+the deadly cakes of explosive were stricken so that the melinite blew
+up and tore them to shreds.
+
+All night long the attack was maintained. All the night Polaris raged
+helplessly before that stubborn barrier of stone. In the morning light
+he counseled with Oleric, Zenas, and Zoar.
+
+"If you could but clear a way for my beasts!" groaned Zoar. "Then I
+would send them against the gates, though it killed them--which might
+well happen, for those gates are heavy enough to challenge even the
+strength of an amaloc."
+
+Zenas sprang up and beat himself on the forehead.
+
+"Doddering fool that I am!" he cried. "Here we have wasted men and
+time, and because my wits were sleeping in my boot-heels. Get your
+amalocs ready, Zoar."
+
+While Oleric sent one more assault against the gates, the geologist
+directed his engineers, under the cover of the attack, to mine, not
+the gates, but the pile of stones itself, with the melinite. Four big
+charges of the explosive they placed in Fanaer's barricade, and Zenas,
+with a tap of his finger on the battery, blew the barrier against the
+wall.
+
+Hardly had the stones quit falling when an amaloc rushed the gateway.
+Zoar spoke truly when he said those gates were strong. Fearful as
+was the impetus of the beast's charge, and though it cracked the
+great steel plates which protected its head with the impact, it did
+not shatter the gates. It withdrew from the onset somewhat sick and
+groggy--if that word may be applied to the mental condition of the
+amaloc. Zoar sent in another.
+
+Four of the monsters were launched successively against the portals
+before the gates crashed down. The last shock was so fearful that the
+beast which delivered it fell just beyond the gateway and died with a
+broken skull in the midst of the ruin it had made.
+
+Through the gap and into the Mazanion avenue, almost under the lee
+of the falling mammoth, flashed Polaris, mounted and in full armor.
+Hard behind him rode Oleric. Ahead of them the wide street was choked
+with Maeronican soldiery, and the son of the snows would have charged
+without pause; for the time that was left him was reduced to minutes
+now. Taking of the gates had not been quick or easy, and Shamar was
+high in the heavens.
+
+But the red captain caught at his bridle-rein.
+
+"Hold, friend and king; you will peril your life needlessly," he
+shouted. "Leave this desperate scum to Zoar, and follow where he leads.
+Ah! here he comes! Now see them scatter!"
+
+Oleric threw back his head and laughed. But Polaris, with that sun
+riding high above him, was in no mood for laughter.
+
+In through the rifted gateway thrust Ixstus. The giant amaloc was
+in his full panoply of war. On his head he bore proudly his master,
+Zoar the aged, and in the turret behind Zoar rode the Goddess
+Glorian--Glorian coming to the end to take what gift fate had in store.
+
+Under the swaying tusks of Ixstus terror shouted aloud in the street.
+Behind him, his sons and grandsons were pushing in through the gap in
+the wall. Bel-Ar's battered soldiers had had enough and full measure of
+Ixstus and his family. They did not wait now for the first screaming
+trumpet-call, but cast down their arms and scampered away--anywhere, so
+that they might put strong walls between themselves and the tribe of
+Ixstus.
+
+Then the general Fanaer rode forward and surrendered his sword to
+Oleric. He was a small, thin man, this famous warrior, with a twisted
+nose between pale-blue eyes, and curling, yellow beard.
+
+"I have fought you my best for the king, my master," he said. "But
+you have taken Adlaz, and my work is done." He glanced curiously at
+Polaris. "Haste you, king of Ruthar," he said, not unkindly. "They are
+doing sacrifice in Shamar's temple."
+
+Like an arrow from a bow, Polaris shot forward, spurring his horse.
+Oleric galloped after him. Behind them thundered Ixstus, shaking the
+pavement with his tread. Nor, strive as the fleet horses might, could
+they more than barely keep ahead of the amaloc. A race with death had
+begun.
+
+Lest harm befall, the zind Maxtan led a squadron of his mounted
+hillsmen in the wake of the speeding riders. Gray Jastla rode in the
+front rank.
+
+Before Polaris's galloping steed leaped and barked the great dog
+Rombar, who was more fleet of foot than any horse. To keep him out of
+harm's way in the battles, Rombar had been chained in hateful captivity
+for months. When the Mazanion gates were down and the amalocs cleared
+the street, the man who had charge of Rombar slipped his leash and let
+him go.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+They rode madly through the splendid grounds of the temple, where the
+sacred bulls fled bellowing before the approach of Ixstus. At the foot
+of the long stairway, Polaris and Oleric threw themselves from their
+steeds, and, drawing their swords, dashed up the marble steps. But
+Zoar with a word of command, set Ixstus to the ascent, and the amaloc
+distanced the running men.
+
+Scarce two feet of Shamar's black altar separated the head of Rose Emer
+from the fiery danger, and the rock where she lay was almost blistering
+hot, when Ixstus, with a scream of triumph, burst through the ranks of
+the guard at the southern door and strode into the lofty shrine. As the
+beast paused, blinking and stretching out an inquiring trunk in the
+direction of the puzzling shaft of light, two armored men ran around
+his ponderous bulk and leaped onto the altar.
+
+Rhaen would have given the word then to close the dome and stop the
+ray; but the strain of his anxiety had been too much for the aged
+priest. As he opened his mouth to shout, his knees loosened, and he
+fell in a swoon at the base of the orichalcum pillar.
+
+With four strokes of his sword, Polaris severed the golden chains and
+swept the senseless form of Rose from the altar. Oleric the Red did
+the like service for Brooks. Now might the finger of Shamar move on
+unheeded.
+
+Polaris knelt with his love in his arms. As he bent over her, Oleric
+shouted in warning. The son of the snows leaped to his feet in time to
+catch on his sword the blade of Bel-Ar, the king.
+
+Once again Ruthar and Ad, personified in their two rulers, were face to
+face.
+
+From the four doorways came the devoted men of the palace-guard.
+Bel-Ar, who had fallen back a pace, lifted his hand.
+
+"There is that between this man and me which only death may take away,"
+he said. "Let none interfere--unless the slave is afraid to fight." He
+fixed his burning eyes on Polaris. At that last remark Oleric the Red
+laughed loudly.
+
+Under other circumstances, Janess might have been minded to let Bel-Ar
+go free. Whatever were his faults, the Maeronican king was a brave
+man, one who did not bow down and weep when misfortune overtook him.
+But Polaris had just seen his dear lady chained to the horror of the
+sacrificial stone because of this man, and his fell religion and
+relentless practices against strangers. Minos, Memene, Everson, the
+company of the _Minnetonka_, the fallen of the hosts of Ruthar and of
+Ad--for all those deaths Bel-Ar was responsible. Surely his doors were
+haunted by many ghosts!
+
+With no word in answer to the king's taunt, Polaris swung his sword,
+and the fight began. Bel-Ar pressed in with a shower of blows, seeking
+to bear his adversary down by the sheer weight and fury of his attack.
+He was a powerful man, perhaps the strongest warrior in all his broad
+lands, as he had boasted--but he had met a stronger now.
+
+With the skill in fence that had been taught him by Jastla, the son of
+the snows guarded himself against those lightning blows, letting Bel-Ar
+weary himself until an opening should come--as his patience had told
+him it always would, no matter how hardy the fighter.
+
+Jastla himself stood by the altar and watched his pupil fight. For
+Maxtan and his cavalry had reached the temple. On one side of the
+altar stood the men of Ruthar and Ixstus. On the other were ranged the
+gleaming bronze lines of Bel-Ar's guard.
+
+Harder and harder the Maeronican pressed the fight. His blade swung
+like a circle of flame. Warily Polaris fended. Came a clash and a
+clang of falling steel, and a cry of dismay from the Rutharians. Under
+the stout bronze of Bel-Ar their champion's sword had snapped short off
+at the hilt.
+
+With a yell of exultation, Bel-Ar sprang in to make an end. And those
+who watched the fray were bound by honor not to interfere. Oleric
+groaned, and Jastla tugged at his white beard and ground his teeth in
+dismay. Then he sent up a roaring shout:
+
+"Well thrown! Oh, well thrown!"
+
+Under the vengeful sweep of the singing blade Polaris had leaped and
+caught the Maeronican around the middle. The blow of the sword fell
+harmless. But Polaris swung Bel-Ar up to his shoulder, aye, and over
+it, and dashed him down on the marble floor.
+
+One of the golden captains of the guard ran to the king's side and
+unhelmed him. Bel-Ar was dead, his back broken by the terrible fall.
+
+"Heard ever a man the like?" roared Jastla. "The strongest warrior in
+Adlaz tossed like a toy and slain by an unarmed man!"
+
+Through the fierce fray Glorian had sat like a statue, unable to stir
+or speak. As the Rutharians shouted in triumph, she roused and cried
+out:
+
+"Look to the priest! Haste! He burns!"
+
+Unnoticed in the stir of the combat, the ray of Shamar had moved on
+down the length of the altar. The priests in the dome had fled their
+posts in terror, and there had been none to stay the mechanism. In
+the path of Shamar's finger lay Rhaen, Shamar's priest, swooned and
+helpless. The ray struck him. Aid was too late.
+
+Rhaen was a horrid sight when he was pulled from the altar. His soul
+had gone--perhaps to seek the god whom he had served.
+
+On Ixstus's head stood Glorian in her silver armor.
+
+"So ends the religion of Shamar!" she cried. With the battle-ax she
+carried, she bent over and struck the crystal vase and shattered it.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At the other end of the altar of basalt the great ray beat on the
+pillar of orichalcum, so that the surface of the metal was melted and
+the cruel laws of Ad were effaced. With the laws perished the prophecy.
+
+Water was dashed on the face of Rose Emer, and presently she opened
+her eyes and sat up and realized that she was not dead. Before them
+all, Polaris took her into his arms and kissed her--for such is the
+privilege of kings. Glorian, watching from Ixstus's back, turned white
+with agony and clenched her slender fingers so that the nails bit into
+her palms.
+
+"Oh, be strong, my heart," she whispered to herself. "My soul has said
+it--_my time will come_!"
+
+Zenas Wright came soon, and at the altar of Shamar was held a reunion
+where hearts were too full for talking, until Ensign Brooks spoke up
+and Said:
+
+"Lead me to a dinner-table, somebody. First they worked the flesh off
+my bones. Then they tried to roast me along with a bull's head and a
+pretty woman--but never once did they give me a decent meal."
+
+"You shall have your dinner," said Polaris. "But first there is
+something which I will have done, here and now, if may be." He turned
+to Oleric, while Rose Emer's cheeks, that had been so wan, flamed rosy
+red.
+
+"Has one of these priests here the power to perform a marriage
+ceremony?" Janess asked.
+
+"Surely," replied Oleric. And then the red captain smiled broadly as he
+caught the import of the question. "Hale one of them here, Jastla," he
+said.
+
+Jastla came soon, gripping a sadly scared priest of Shamar by the slack
+of his gown. "Do you, Oleric, who understand more of his jargon than I
+do, listen that he does a good job of it," grumbled the chieftain. "For
+if he doesn't, I'll flay him."
+
+But Glorian was great-hearted, even befitting her title of goddess. She
+now stepped down from the amaloc to the altar.
+
+"In this let Glorian of Ruthar serve you," she said. "I have the power,
+and the knot that I shall tie, though it shall be more gentle than if
+done by this dog of Shamar, yet will it be as binding."
+
+So, after the long years and their perils, Polaris and his Rose-maid
+were wedded, Oleric the Red producing the ring. And when she had
+pronounced the words which made them one, Glorian took Rose in her arms
+and kissed her on the forehead.
+
+"May you be very happy, my sister," she whispered.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Now here the pen that has written this history ceases, to give place to
+that of one of its chief actors, who has a parting word to tell.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I, Zenas Wright, now in my sixty-seventh year, and being in full
+possession of my health, mind, and faculties (as lawyers write it in
+the wills) having been asked by the writer of the foregoing work to
+make some comment on it, do hereby aver, asseverate, maintain, etc.,
+that it is in the main a faithful account of certain events in which it
+has been my privilege to play a small part. In fact, I cannot well do
+otherwise, seeing that I furnished him the information.
+
+Such changes as I might be tempted to make in the history he has
+written would only vex the writer, and so I'll let it be. They would be
+in the nature of scientific details, anyhow, and I fear would make only
+dry reading for any but brother scientists.
+
+I have told the author that he has made altogether too much of my part
+in the events which he has described. I am not a hero, and never will
+be; but in this description of that brush in the Kimbrian defile--which
+was altogether a matter of chance--he has made me almost heroic. I have
+asked him to amend the account; but he will not listen to it, and so I
+suppose that it will have to stand. I hereby disclaim it.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It is more than six months since the fademe _Oaron_ dropped anchor in
+the Potomac (where its arrival created a fine sensation), and I landed
+once more in Washington. With me came Lieutenant Everson. He did not
+get to Adlaz until some weeks after it had been taken, and he's not the
+man yet that he was before he got that jab from Atlo's spear. But he's
+improving. He had the loss of a cruiser to report; but he brought with
+him a sum in gold and gems, sent by the king of Ruthar and Maeronica,
+sufficient to reimburse the Government for the loss of the ship, and
+with a splendid sum left over to be distributed among the relatives of
+those who went down with her. The king is a man who doesn't do things
+by halves.
+
+Ensign Brooks came with us also. He was pining for a peep up Broadway
+and a whiff of "America's strongest cigarette." I hope that he has had
+enough to eat since he came back.
+
+Through the kindness of Oleric, I was enabled to bring with me a
+splendid pair of mammoth's tusks, which I took great pleasure in adding
+to the collection of the Smithsonian Institution. Some time I hope
+to be the means of bringing to these shores specimens of the _Elephas
+primigenius_ themselves, which the Rutharians call amalocs.
+
+Before this history comes to the eyes of the world--if it ever does, of
+which I have some doubt--I shall have gone back to the south. I thought
+that I wanted to end my days in my home in Buffalo and be buried there;
+but I don't. I'm going back to be with my boy. He is making a wise
+ruler there in Adlaz. Perhaps an old man's life will not be altogether
+useless there, where there is so much to be done.
+
+Before I left Adlaz, two small princes were playing in the royal
+palace--Patrymion, the boy of Minos, who eventually will be king if he
+lives, and another youngster, who must stagger through life under the
+burden of the name of Polaris Zenas Janess. Guess that's pretty good
+for an old rock-splitter--to have the first-born son of a real king
+named after him. Constituting himself the special guardian of the two
+little chaps is a simple-minded little cockney sailor, whom Polaris
+found in prison, Jack Melton by name. Sunlight has cured him of some of
+his hallucinations, and he no longer hates Rombar.
+
+There is one thing more, which I did not find in the history, and will
+now add here. It concerns that remarkable woman, Glorian of Ruthar.
+One day when we were discussing the power which she and Oleric declare
+they have to prolong their lives (privately, I think it is rank bosh),
+Glorian told me that it was possible for one who knew the secret to
+make use of it to keep another person alive, and without that person
+knowing about it. Now Glorian is living in Adlaz, where she has had
+the temple of Shamar fixed over to suit her. She sees Polaris often.
+I am of the opinion that, if she has any such power--mind you, I'm
+not admitting she has--she is using it on Polaris, and is planning
+to outwait Mrs. Janess (Queen Rose, I suppose I should call her) and
+eventually have him for herself. The outcome of this, only time will
+tell, and I shall not live to know it. I have not the means to prolong
+my life--and would not if I had.
+
+By the way, Zoar of the Amalocs died shortly after the taking of Adlaz.
+The excitement of the war was too much for his heart.
+
+Oh, yes! And Oleric married Bel-Ar's widow, the Queen Raissa; and that
+is all.
+
+Good-by.
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POLARIS AND THE GODDESS
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+<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Polaris and the Goddess Glorian, by Charles B. Stilson</p>
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+<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Polaris and the Goddess Glorian</p>
+<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Charles B. Stilson</p>
+<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: January 7, 2022 [eBook #67121]</p>
+<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p>
+  <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net</p>
+<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POLARIS AND THE GODDESS GLORIAN ***</div>
+
+<div class="titlepage">
+
+<h1>Polaris and the Goddess Glorian</h1>
+
+<h2>By Charles B. Stilson</h2>
+
+<p><i>Copyright 1917 by Popular Publications, Inc.</i></p>
+
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+<h2>Introduction</h2>
+
+
+<p>In the antarctic wilds far below Ross Sea, Polaris Janess (Polaris&mdash;of
+the Snows), was born, of a mother he never knew, and grew to manhood's
+years knowing one human face only, that of his father. When that father
+died, the young man set his face to the north, to find the world of
+men, of which his father and his books had told him; and to deliver
+to the National Geographic Society in Washington a packet containing
+scientific data compiled by his explorer sire.</p>
+
+<p>Journeying through the silent wastes with his dog team, the son of the
+snows found Rose Emer, an American heiress, who had strayed from an
+exploring party, and who waited death in the icy wilderness.</p>
+
+<p>Hurled southward again in a breakup of the ice floes where they had
+camped, Polaris and the girl came upon the kingdom of Sardanes&mdash;a
+valley girded by volcanic hills which warmed it, and peopled by a lost
+fragment, some two thousand strong, of the ancient Greeks.</p>
+
+<p>The adventures of the man of the snows and the American maid in
+Sardanes; how they escaped thence; how their love bloomed amid
+the eternal snows; and how they won at last to America, where the
+Geographic Society hailed the dead Stephen Janess as the first man to
+set foot on the Southern Pole&mdash;all these things have been related.</p>
+
+<p>Zenas Wright, friend of Polaris's father, and a celebrated student
+of volcanic phenomena, told Polaris that the fires which had warmed
+Sardanes for centuries were passing away from the valley, and that all
+life in the ancient kingdom must perish.</p>
+
+<p>Chartering the United States second-class cruiser <i>Minnetonka</i>,
+Polaris, Wright, and Captain James Scoland set sail to rescue the
+Sardanians. Scoland, who loved Rose Emer, deserted Janess and Wright in
+the wilderness and went back to America to woo the Rose-maid. But Rose
+Emer refused him, and gray Marcus, Polaris's dog, protected her from
+Scoland's profaning lips and tore the recreant captain so horribly that
+the man went mad, and in his madness revealed his inhuman treachery.</p>
+
+<p>Again the <i>Minnetonka</i> turned her nose to the mysterious South, and
+Rose Emer went down the bitter seas to find her sweetheart.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Polaris and old Zenas Wright found Sardanes a waste of snows,
+its volcanic girdle cold and dead, its people, led by the mad priest
+of Analos, gone to their doom through the fiery "Gateway" of their
+god Hephaistos. Only Minos, the kind, and his bride, the Lady Memene,
+remained alive, hidden in a cave in the hills. Those four, Polaris,
+Wright, and the two Sardanians, were picked up by the <i>Minnetonka</i> near
+the Antarctic Circle as they were making their perilous way northward
+in a small launch which they had found in the wreck of Captain
+Scoland's supply ship.</p>
+
+<p>In the story which follows will be related the tale which was brought
+back to America by old Zenas Wright&mdash;what befell Polaris and his
+companions after the <i>Minnetonka</i> turned northward&mdash;homeward.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2>CHAPTER I</h2>
+
+<h3>THE GOLDEN STRANGER</h3>
+
+
+<p>On the bridge of the cruiser <i>Minnetonka</i> stood Minos, the Sardanian
+king, staring southward in the wake of the ship, southward where his
+lost, dead kingdom lay buried under the soft, cruel snows beyond the
+unchartered antarctic seas. Ahead of the ship, full of promise, full
+of hope, was America. For the <i>Minnetonka</i> had rounded the Horn that
+morning and was on her long straight course for the port of home.</p>
+
+<p>Below him, in her cabin, was the girl bride of Minos, the Lady Memene,
+so strangely won and saved from the crowning horror of his kingdom's
+fall. It was mid-forenoon of a cloudless day. Gay voices echoed along
+the decks of the cruiser. Gladness was in the very air the voyagers
+breathed&mdash;the gladness of the homeward-bound.</p>
+
+<p>But the mien of the king was somber. There was a shadow on his brow
+and deeper shadows in his dark eyes gazing so steadily into the south.
+Bright as were his prospects, memory still whispered sadly to him of
+the only spot on earth which had been home to him. He could not forget.</p>
+
+<p>Far away on the dancing, sparkling waters something caught the eye of
+the king, a something which flashed and disappeared and flashed again,
+as the wave on which it rode dipped and arose among its fellows. Minos
+watched it curiously.</p>
+
+<p>Leaning against the rail beside the king, so close that their elbows
+almost touched, was Lieutenant Irwin Everson, commander of the
+<i>Minnetonka</i>, trim in his naval blue. Minos touched his shoulder and
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"Yonder&mdash;something shines on the water."</p>
+
+<p>Everson followed with his eyes the course indicated by the pointing
+finger of the king. Again the distant object flashed in the sunlight,
+far away on the starboard quarter. "Might be ice; but I've seen enough
+of that lately to know that it isn't," muttered Everson as he, too,
+caught the flash, "and no wave ever shone like that."</p>
+
+<p>Stepping into the pilothouse, the lieutenant returned with his glasses.
+Their lenses revealed to his eyes a glittering patch from which the
+rays of the sun were reflected as it rose and fell with the waves. But
+even the powerful binoculars were inadequate to distinguish the form
+and substance of the thing.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't make it out," Everson said as he lowered the glasses. "But
+here comes the keenest pair of eyes on the ship." He leaned from the
+bridge and called down to a tall man who was crossing the deck below.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Mr. Janess! Can you spare us a moment? We need your eyesight."</p>
+
+<p>Polaris turned a smiling face in response to the call. He, too, was
+glad of the home-going; no man on the ship more so. In a moment he
+joined the king and the lieutenant on the bridge.</p>
+
+<p>Though he was not so tall by the breadth of a hand as the Sardanian,
+who was indeed a giant, the tawny head of the son of the snows was
+inches above that of the young naval man. As they stood one on either
+side of him, Everson involuntarily stepped back a pace. He felt puny
+and absurd, and he was by no means a small man.</p>
+
+<p>For the half of a minute, Janess gazed through the glasses, altering
+their focus slightly. He lowered them suddenly and swung on his heel to
+face Everson.</p>
+
+<p>"Put the ship&mdash;" He stopped and his face flushed. "I beg pardon," he
+continued. "It is not mine to give orders, but yonder a man floats. He
+lies face downward across a piece of wreckage."</p>
+
+<p>Lieutenant Everson hurried into the pilot house, and down to old
+MacKechnie among his boilers was flashed the signal which swung the
+gray cruiser off her course in a long arc to the southward.</p>
+
+<p>"A man, you say?" the commander queried as he rejoined Polaris and the
+king. "But what is it that glitters so?"</p>
+
+<p>Polaris, with the glasses at his eyes again, did not at once reply.
+When he did, the answer was surprising.</p>
+
+<p>"It is the man that glitters. If he be not of metal himself, then is he
+clothed in it from head to toe, and it glimmers&mdash;" He turned to Minos
+and lapsed into the Greek of Sardanes. "It glimmers, Minos, as did that
+suit of armor which thou didst leave behind thee in the cave on the
+Mount of Latmos," he said.</p>
+
+<p>The king stirred to quick interest. The eyes of the naval lieutenant
+widened with amazement as Polaris repeated his remark in English.</p>
+
+<p>"A man clothed in metal! In armor!" he exclaimed. "And floating here
+in the South Atlantic! What can that mean? Poor chap; whoever he is,
+he will never tell us. He must have been dead for days. But it's well
+worth the investigation."</p>
+
+<p>Impatiently the three men stood at the rail of the bridge as the ship
+swung on.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>At an eighteen-knot clip, the <i>Minnetonka</i> cut swiftly through the
+waves, nearer and nearer to the flashing burden of the waves. Soon
+other eyes not so keen as those of Polaris could descry the strange
+objective of the ship. Forward along the rail, sailors clustered,
+shouting their surprise, and staring at the unusual spectacle of the
+glittering man afloat.</p>
+
+<p>Presently, with a deep thrumming of her valves, the <i>Minnetonka</i> slowed
+down. With a word to Everson, Polaris left the bridge and hastened
+across the deck. As a boat was swung over the side in the davits, he
+sprang into it with the sailors. Less than two-score strokes of the
+oars took the boat alongside the floating mystery.</p>
+
+<p>Then, indeed, had the sailors cause to stare with open mouths.</p>
+
+<p>On a crisscross tangle of slender beams, oddly twisted and broken, lay
+the body of a man. So small was the raft of wreckage which supported
+him that his head and feet projected at each side, and as the waves
+tossed his unstable craft, first his face and then his heels were
+dipped beneath the water. Very wide of shoulder was the stranger and
+powerfully framed, if the outlines of the garb he wore did not belie
+him.</p>
+
+<p>From crown to sole he was dressed in jointed armor, cunningly fashioned
+and decorated, and the whole of which gleamed in the sunlight as only
+burnished copper or red gold can gleam. His hands only were bare;
+smooth, strong hands, clenched fast about two of the broken beams
+beneath him.</p>
+
+<p>But it was none of those things, and they were strange enough, that
+caused the coxswain to cry out hoarsely as the boat wore alongside, or
+that caused Polaris Janess, bent over with outstretched hands, to draw
+them back from the floating stranger, while his lips parted and his
+breath came hard.</p>
+
+<p>"He's alive! By the grace of God, he's alive!" cried the coxswain.</p>
+
+<p>Face downward the stranger lay, as Polaris had said, loose-flung and
+inert, and sprawled as though some force had pitched him there. But
+though his head was more often under the water than above it, his broad
+shoulders heaved and fell regularly. He was alive.</p>
+
+<p>The supreme wonder of it, and that which awed Polaris and the sailors,
+was that <i>the man breathed when his head was under water</i>!</p>
+
+<p>When a wave tilted the raft so that his face was raised, his breath was
+expelled with a wheezing, whistling sound. When he was submerged, a
+stream of small bubbles arose about his neck and clung to the surface
+of his metal helmet.</p>
+
+<p>For a long moment Polaris stood and looked down at this amazing thing.
+Then he reached out and very gently took the stranger by the shoulders
+to turn his face to the sky. So tight was the clutch of those strong
+bare hands about the two beams of the raft which they held that the
+entire structure tipped when the son of the snows laid hold. In vain he
+tried to loosen that grasp. It was not to be done without breaking the
+man's fingers. To make an end of it, Janess took an axe from the hands
+of the coxswain and cut through the beams.</p>
+
+<p>Still gripping the wooden fragments, the man turned over on his back.</p>
+
+<p>Then the mystery of the stranger's breathing was partially made clear.
+Under the flare of the helmet he wore his brow was hidden. His eyes
+were fast closed. Fitting tightly over the bridge of his nose and
+extending down so that it covered his mouth and part of his chin, was
+a projecting masklike contrivance of metal and leather. Its straps
+covered the man's ears and were made fast somewhere at the back of his
+head under the helmet. So tightly was the mask affixed that its straps
+cut into the flesh of the man's cheeks. It much resembled the masks
+worn by the soldiers in modern warfare to protect themselves from the
+gas attacks of their enemy.</p>
+
+<p>Through its mechanism the breath of its wearer hissed and whistled like
+escaping steam.</p>
+
+<p>Alive though the man was, and under circumstances which made his
+discoverers marvel, he was near death. Above and below the confines of
+the mask he wore, the bones of his face seemed almost thrusting through
+the flesh. The flesh itself was wasted and puckered by the action of
+the sea water, and the skin was cracked and raw. His hands, which clung
+so tenaciously to the bits of broken wood, were bleeding about the
+nails, and his wrists were gashed and water-eaten.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, here is work for Dr. Marsey," Polaris said. He gathered the limp
+form of the stranger into his arms and lifted him into the boat.</p>
+
+<p>At the rail of the <i>Minnetonka</i> as the boat was shipped, a curious
+crowd met the advent of the man from the sea. Carrying him as lightly
+as though he had been a child, Polaris laid the man on the deck. The
+ship's doctor pushed through the wondering sailors and bent over him.</p>
+
+<p>"Not dead?" he exclaimed when he saw the stranger's face. "A most
+amazing thing!"</p>
+
+<p>"What resurrection from antiquity have we here?" said old Zenas Wright,
+falling on his knees beside Polaris, who was supporting the man's
+head. "No museum I ever saw boasted a suit of armor like this one."
+The scientist ran a finger over the delicate tracery on the glittering
+corselet of the stranger.</p>
+
+<p>Polaris sought and found the catch which released the chin strap and
+laid the open helmet on the deck. Another chorus of exclamations
+greeted the appearance of the stranger's head. It was covered with a
+mass of wavy red hair, so red that it shone like flames in the sunlight.</p>
+
+<p>Rumors of the wonder on deck had drawn the grizzled MacKechnie up from
+his beloved engines.</p>
+
+<p>"Mark me, yon laddie's a Scot&mdash;if he isna' of the wild Irish," was his
+dry comment when he saw the fiery head on the deck.</p>
+
+<p>Undoing its buckle, Janess next laid aside the odd mask from the face
+of the stranger. Except that he had a high, bold nose and a mouth that
+closed in a thin, firm line, little could be made of the features of
+the man, they were so damaged by his long immersion in the sea and
+impressed by the tightly drawn trappings of the mask. But he apparently
+was a young man, of not more than thirty years.</p>
+
+<p>In vain Dr. Marsey endeavored to force the man's clenched teeth apart
+so that he might apply the neck of the brandy flask which a steward had
+fetched. The jaw of the stranger was set like a rock and resisted all
+effort, and the doctor was compelled to pour the liquor between the
+locked teeth.</p>
+
+<p>"If that doesna' fetch him, nothing whatever will," said MacKechnie,
+the nostrils of his ruddy old nose twitching.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, he's getting it!" said Zenas Wright. With the first trickle of
+the brandy down his throat, the unconscious man stirred faintly. His
+mouth opened and closed again with a snap, and his hands unclenched and
+let fall the bits of beams they had held so long. He coughed weakly. A
+faint tinge of color flowed into his face. His eyelids twitched, but
+did not open.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Marsey touched the man's temples and then his wrists with practised
+fingers.</p>
+
+<p>"I think that we shall hear his story yet," he said. "What he needs
+now is a bed and nourishment. Bring him below."</p>
+
+<p>Polaris looked into the battered face and was strangely stirred. The
+grim plight of the man he had rescued, the mystery of him, the strength
+of the spirit that seemed to dominate even that unconscious body; all
+struck an answering chord in the nature of the son of the snows. For
+he, too, had suffered and endured, almost to the gates of death, and
+had remained steadfast. Was it a premonition that made him feel so
+strongly that this man, should he live, would be his friend above many?</p>
+
+<p>When the sailors would have taken up the stranger, Polaris waved them
+aside, and himself carried the inert body below, the blazing head
+resting on his shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>MacKechnie gazed after him thoughtfully as he strode across the deck.</p>
+
+<p>"Beware, laddie lad, beware!" the Scotchman muttered softly. "'Tis only
+ill luck he'll be bringin' to ye, yon gowden mon. For ye hae saved him
+from the sea."</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Shivering throughout the length of her steel hull, the <i>Minnetonka</i>
+drove southward. A shrieking wilderness of wind and wave surrounded the
+ship. Reft from all guidance, she sheared through the furious waters
+with no more of volition than some monster projectile launched by the
+battling elements. Twice had the stout cruiser come free of scathe from
+the white portals of the Antarctic. Now she seemed winged by death to
+enter them once more and forever. In the grip of the tempest the ship
+was no more than a toy&mdash;a helpless, beaten thing.</p>
+
+<p>Calamity, like a black dog, had crept hard upon the heels of the
+bizarre stranger. He had not been on the cruiser for six hours when a
+storm burst, the like of which for violence no man on board the ship
+ever had seen.</p>
+
+<p>In an attempt to breast the gale and make for some port of safety,
+one of the propeller shafts&mdash;weakened perhaps by the pounding of the
+ice-drift months before&mdash;had snapped short off. Unequal to the double
+task, its twin had sprung beyond all use. Thereafter the scant mercy of
+chance ruled the destinies of the ship and of all she bore.</p>
+
+<p>Nor was the damage to the shafting all that disaster had wrought. In
+her great peril the ship was stricken dumb and could not summon aid.
+Her wireless was out of commission. She could send no call across the
+face of the waters to sister ships, bidding them to hasten to her
+succor.</p>
+
+<p>MacKechnie's dismal prophecy was likely to be visited, not on Polaris
+Janess alone, but upon the entire ship's company.</p>
+
+<p>In the pilothouse, with the gale screeching outside his windows,
+Lieutenant Everson bent above his charts; but he was helpless and
+well-nigh hopeless. Down in the engine room, its busy clamor stilled,
+MacKechnie sat and stared bitterly at the mechanism which he so loved.
+It was useless now, its splendid powers crippled, its fires dying away
+to embers. If the inward prayers of the engineer were fervent, the
+flow of Scotch profanity which passed his lips at whiles was far more
+eloquent. He, too, was helpless. He cursed the day when he had decided
+with Everson to round the Horn and take the eastern route. They had
+learned at Dunedin, in New Zealand, that the Panama Canal was closed by
+another Culebra slide, and they had thought that this was the quicker
+way to the port of home.</p>
+
+<p>Better the delay than this!</p>
+
+<p>On all the ship two hearts only were unshaken by the catastrophe. One
+was that of the stranger.</p>
+
+<p>Freed of his armor, his body cleared and his scarred face and arms in
+bandages, he lay tossing in a bunk in one of the cabins. Dr. Marsey was
+unremitting in his care of the patient whom the sea had given him. Hot
+gruel and small doses of brandy, administered alternately, had turned
+the ebbing tide of the man's vitality. He was gathering strength. But
+his consciousness still strayed beyond the powers of any tempest to
+disturb it.</p>
+
+<p>Another who thought nothing of the gale and its accompanying terrors
+was Zenas Wright.</p>
+
+<p>Coupled with his keen and scientific mind, there was in the old
+geologist the enthusiasm of a boy, and an overmastering curiosity to
+learn new things. Many and wild had been the guesses which had followed
+the finding of the red-haired stranger. That he had been shipwrecked
+was plain enough to all. But who and what was he?</p>
+
+<p>Some star out of <i>opéra-bouffe</i>, said one, out of a job and reduced to
+the necessity of wearing one of his own costumes. A lunatic, another
+said, and found more to agree with him. But whence the armor and the
+mask?</p>
+
+<p>Let guessers guess and tempests roar, said Zenas Wright to himself. He
+was on the trail of knowledge. So he slipped into the cabin where the
+stranger lay. He stood at the head of the bunk and looked down where
+the red hair of the derelict flared on the pillow. The impressions left
+by the straps of his mask had filled out, and the lineaments of the man
+were more distinguishable than they had been. It was an agreeable face,
+thought Zenas Wright; all of it that the bandages did not hide. There
+were distinct lines of humor at the corners of the straight mouth and
+tiny wrinkles at the base of the craggy nose&mdash;lines which said that the
+wearer of them was a hearty fellow, who ofttimes had laughed long and
+merrily at jokes, whether of his own or another's making.</p>
+
+<p>"But," thought Zenas to himself, "Marsey's been giving the fellow
+altogether too much brandy, or else he is in a rare fever." The
+geologist laid the back of his hand to the man's cheek. He found
+it cool. But it was ruddy to the ears, with the ruddiness that is
+associated with an intimate camaraderie with the wine cups.</p>
+
+<p>At the touch of the old man's fingers, the stranger ceased his tossing.
+His eyes opened. One flash from them Zenas Wright caught, and he saw
+that they were sea-blue, bright and leaping eyes. Then their lids
+closed. The man shook his head wearily, and from his lips trembled what
+might have been a moan or a muttered word. The scientist bent hastily
+to listen, but the man made no further sound. As the old man watched
+him, his form relaxed and he lay apparently in a dreamless, voiceless
+slumber.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>From the floor, Wright took up the shining helmet, and from a stand
+the queerly fashioned mask. He was about to leave the cabin when
+his attention was arrested by the garb which the stranger had worn
+underneath his armor and which was flung across the back of a chair.
+One garment it was, even to the feet of it, like the sleeping suit of a
+child. It was of a soft, fine fabric, almost of the thinness of gauze,
+yet firmly and closely woven and warm to the feel. But it was neither
+of cotton nor of wool, nor yet of silk, or any other material with
+which the scientist was familiar.</p>
+
+<p>He shook his head over it; and then, with the mask and helmet, he left
+the cabin.</p>
+
+<p>Straight to the deserted ship's laboratory the geologist went, and shut
+himself in. And there, some time afterward, Polaris, threading his way
+through the swaying corridors with Rose Emer clinging to his arm, found
+him.</p>
+
+<p>So busy with his work was old Zenas that he did not see or hear the
+entrance of Janess and the girl. For a time they stood in silence and
+watched him. They saw him spill drops from a vial on the surface of
+the helmet. Then he went at it with a small drill which he had fetched
+from the machine shop. That was a bit of hard work, for he puffed and
+mopped his brow. He collected with care the particles which fell under
+the bite of the drill. Those he tested with drops from another bottle,
+and then again, opening and discarding a number of chemicals. At length
+he got a reaction which appeared to satisfy him, for he chirruped
+gleefully and nodded his white old head.</p>
+
+<p>Next Wright donned the mask and fastened its straps. Polaris and Rose
+heard the whistling of his breath through it. He then drew a bucket of
+water from a tap, set it on one of the laboratory stands, ascended a
+stool, and suddenly plunged his head into the pail.</p>
+
+<p>Zenas had not stopped to figure out the displacement of the container
+of a well-developed scientific brain. It was considerable. Much of
+the water splashed out on the floor, and not a little of it went down
+inside the scientist's collar. Nothing daunted by the cold trickle of
+the inundation, he bravely kept his head in the bucket, from which
+arose at once a prodigious gurgling and bubbling.</p>
+
+<p>The old man's shoulders shook as though a fit of coughing had seized
+him. One minute, two, three, passed. Zenas stood so still that Polaris
+became alarmed. He stepped to the geologist's side and shook him by the
+arm. The only response he got was an impatient gesture of a hand, which
+seemed to say, "Go away and don't bother me."</p>
+
+<p>Presently Wright raised his head from the depths of the bucket, and
+ludicrous enough he looked, with the odd snout of the mask projecting
+from his face, his white thatch of hair all plastered flat and the
+water running from his beard and making a mess of his cravat and shirt
+front. But above the mask his little dark eyes were triumphant. When he
+saw Polaris at his side, he could scarcely wait to unfasten the mask.</p>
+
+<p>"There," he shouted, and he shook the thing above his head, "there is
+one of the greatest inventions of modern times. I don't know what is in
+the inside of it, or just what it does, but I'll find out. If that chap
+yonder is the inventor of it, he can take it to the United States, take
+out a patent on it and make a scandalous amount of dollars, and we can
+all become human submarines. How long was I down?"</p>
+
+<p>"About five minutes, Daddy Wright," said the girl, who had taken a
+strong liking to the plucky old geologist and his bluff ways.</p>
+
+<p>"Five minutes!" Wright's tones were awestruck. "And I took every breath
+regularly and naturally, except when I had to sneeze! And it was real
+oxygen I got, too. Not a drop of water came through this thing, and it
+was very good breathing. Well, I've made two discoveries."</p>
+
+<p>"And those are?" Polaris questioned.</p>
+
+<p>"That our friend yonder with the red topknot can live under the water
+like a fish, <i>and that he wears armor of gold which makes a light in
+the dark</i>. Look here."</p>
+
+<p>Wright took up the open helmet. Stepping to the switch, he shut off the
+lights in the laboratory.</p>
+
+<p>Faintly at first, and then strongly and more strongly, the helmet
+glowed in the darkness. The light grew, until the two men and the girl,
+standing close together, could dimly see each other's faces.</p>
+
+<p>It was uncanny, this strange metal headpiece with its fan-shaped crest,
+all luminous with a flickering and phosphorescent radiance.</p>
+
+<p>"What does it?" Rose Emer whispered, the tempest for the time forgotten.</p>
+
+<p>Zenas Wright turned on the lights.</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot tell," he replied. "But if it's not radium, it is something
+that is closely akin to radium. The outer surface of the helmet is of
+gold. I've tested it with acids. The gold is laid&mdash;not plated, but laid
+on thickly&mdash;over an inner shell of steel. And finely tempered steel it
+is, too, as my drill will bear me witness. But the light comes from
+still another metal, which is inlaid upon the tracery in the gold here."</p>
+
+<p>He turned the helmet in his hands. Over all of its surfaces were the
+fine lines of a design of twining vinery, with here and there small,
+conventionally shaped flowers. In the lines of the chasing was inlaid,
+as Wright had said, another metal. It seemed to be a reddish and rusty
+dust, which clung in the surface of the gold along all of the lines of
+the graven design. It was that which made the light.</p>
+
+<p>"That chap over there is no actor, and he's not a crazy man," said the
+geologist earnestly; "but an enigma that I'm going to solve, if the
+good Lord will give me the time. We had on this ship before he came two
+survivors of a history to make an archeologist weep tears of joy. Now
+we have a third, and, to my mind, more wonderful even than are they!</p>
+
+<p>"Boy&mdash;" He turned and clapped Polaris on the shoulder. "I only hope
+that I shall live long enough to pen the 'finis' to the book that I'm
+going to write some day!"</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>For seven days, fraught with perils through every passing hour, the
+hurricane belabored the staggering ship. South by southeast, the storm
+drove her on. The whip of the gale and the shock of the mighty waves
+which arose to meet its lash were incessant.</p>
+
+<p>Past the Falklands, their rocky headlands dimly seen through the flying
+scud; past the Aurora Island group, and on past lonely Georgia, the
+hard-pressed <i>Minnetonka</i> fled down the raging sea path under the goads
+of the storm demons. Nowhere might she tarry. Candlemas Island and
+Saunders and Montague in turn were left behind, and then Thule, last
+link between the South Atlantic and the frigid wastes of the Antarctic
+Sea.</p>
+
+<p>Off the adamant cliffs of far Thule the cruiser nearly left her bones.
+She struck a hidden rock, struck so fiercely that the massive steel ram
+was torn from her prow, and with it the triple rails, with which she
+had been equipped to withstand the ice-shocks, in her antarctic voyage,
+were stripped from her entire starboard side.</p>
+
+<p>When Thule had disappeared in the murk, the swing of the tempest
+turned, and the cruiser was forced eastward in a whirling race of
+current and gale. Like a smitten thing that seeks a lonesome spot in
+which to die, the ship passed on into the mysteries of the uncharted,
+treacherous seas which lie east by south from Thule.</p>
+
+<p>Helpless still the cruiser rode. Unable to make repairs to her
+shafting, Lieutenant Everson did the only thing that he could do; he
+kept her head-on with the seas and let her run before the tempest.</p>
+
+<p>Through all those days and nights of peril the stranger lay in his
+cabin. His consciousness had returned, and at times he sat up and gazed
+curiously at those who visited him; but he seemed to be in a mental
+haze. He ate heartily of what was given to him, and his strength grew.
+He spoke to no one.</p>
+
+<p>Among the men on the <i>Minnetonka</i> were those who, one or another, were
+conversant in nearly all of the languages of the civilized world. One
+by one they were called in by Zenas Wright to try their tongues on the
+stranger. He met them all with blank looks, sometimes with smiles; but
+he answered none. He seemed to comprehend none.</p>
+
+<p>Polaris visited the cabin often. His liking for the man grew. He
+imagined that the stranger was more cordial to him than to any of
+those who attended him. Once or twice the son of the snows surprised a
+wistful regard in the bright blue eyes of the man, an expression that
+was lost almost as soon as perceived. And once the stranger reached
+Janess's hand and held it with his own for a moment, turning it and
+feeling of its wonderful thews with his fingers. It was then that he
+seemed the nearest to speech. Presently he let the hand fall with a
+smile and a flash of white teeth.</p>
+
+<p>It was after that last disaster, off the hard coasts of Thule, that
+Engineer Ian MacKechnie went quite daft.</p>
+
+<p>What had come upon the ship had seemed to numb the Scotchman. By day
+and by night he sat in his silent engine room beside the lifeless
+boilers, his cold pipe clenched between his set teeth, his lips
+working. Occasionally he stumped heavily up the steel stairways to the
+decks. His stays above were brief always, and always he returned to the
+engine room. When he slept at all, it was only to nod in his chair.
+Before his bloodshot eyes strange fantasies played themselves through,
+and were sequeled in his fitful dreams. Always, they had the same
+grisly climax.</p>
+
+<p>In one of the night watches the old man appeared on the cruiser's
+bridge. Everson, almost as sleepless as the engineer, was in the
+pilothouse. The fury of the gale had subsided somewhat; but it still
+roared on with a vigor that chilled the strong heart of the commander.
+He saw the engineer as he came onto the bridge, and went out to speak
+to him.</p>
+
+<p>"Meester Everson," MacKechnie said, raising his voice to a shout to
+cope with the shrieking clamor of the storm, "Meester Everson, wull ye
+do a strange act and save the bonnie ship and a'?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, what is it, Mac? What do you advise now?" the lieutenant asked.</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis you mon that the laddie plucked from the sea," replied
+MacKechnie. "Wull ye no gi' orders to cast him o'er the side again, and
+save the ship?"</p>
+
+<p>Everson answered with a short laugh. "This is a poor time for joking,
+Mac," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"'Tisna' jokin' wi' me, Meester Everson," MacKechnie said. His tones
+were deadly earnest. "Yon's no' a proper mon, whatever. He's one that
+has sorely angered the big sea, and the deep rages mightily for him. If
+ye dinna gi' him up, we'll all be ganging our way wi' him, down to auld
+Davy Jones." His voice rose shrilly. "I'm fey," he cried. "I'm fey, and
+I hae the secon' seeght! Heed me, mon!"</p>
+
+<p>Everson shifted his position so that he got the light from the
+pilothouse full on MacKechnie's face. It was drawn and wild-eyed.</p>
+
+<p>"You're a superstitious fool, Mac," the lieutenant said. "You had
+better go below and turn in. You look as though you had not had a wink
+in a week."</p>
+
+<p>"Supersteetious! Aye, mon, maybe, and a fu' to bootie," rejoined the
+Scot. "And I've been havin' no sleep, I grant ye. Ma certes, how can a
+mon sleep wi' <i>him</i> glarin' and glommerin' yonder i' the engine room?
+Heave him o'er the side, I'm tullin' ye, Meester Everson, as was done
+wi' the prophet Jonah. 'Tis the only way whatever to save the ship.</p>
+
+<p>"Supersteetious! An' are ye no supersteetious yer ain sel', Meester
+Everson? Haven't I seen that ye always throw the deuces fra' yer hand
+when ye play for siller at poker? I tull ye, yon's a deuce-mon. He
+mustna' remain. Think it o'er, laddie; think it o'er. When ye hae seen
+what I hae seen&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>He turned away, and the rest of his words were lost in the skirl of the
+wind. Suddenly he backed up, clutching at the bridge rail and colliding
+violently with Everson.</p>
+
+<p>"See! See!" he screamed. "He's comin' for me the noo! I lockit him fast
+i' the great kist i' the boiler room; but such as him are na' held by
+bolts or bars. He's comin' for me!"</p>
+
+<p>Moaning in abject terror, MacKechnie went down on his knees. He pointed
+at the decks below with a trembling arm.</p>
+
+<p>Everson looked in the direction indicated by the shaking finger of the
+Scot.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>A light hung at the foot of the bridge ladder. In the patch of radiance
+it made, stood the stranger. He was dressed from head to foot in his
+golden armor. His helm was on his head, and the whole flashed and
+shimmered in the rays from the lamp.</p>
+
+<p>As Everson stared at him, the man turned away from the foot of the
+ladder and walked to the rail of the ship. There he stood gazing out
+into the darkness and the storm.</p>
+
+<p>Unnerved by the sudden appearance of the object of their discussion,
+Everson hesitated for a moment. Then he started for the ladder to
+descend to the deck. MacKechnie, his teeth chattering with fright, laid
+hold of the lieutenant by the leg, but Everson shook off his grasp and
+went on. As the commander set foot on the ladder, the stranger quit the
+rail and came back toward the bridge.</p>
+
+<p>Everson, half-way down the ladder, called sharply as the man came
+opposite him. But the stranger did not pause or look up. He passed
+the bridge with steady steps and crossed the deck toward the main
+companionway. The lieutenant was about to proceed to the deck and
+follow, when a wild and wailing cry behind him, piercing above the
+booming of the seas, halted his step. He turned.</p>
+
+<p>It was MacKechnie who had screamed. He was on his feet and coming along
+the bridge. In the set face of the Scot was a look of such frozen
+horror that it shook the lieutenant. With eyes glaring straight ahead,
+the engineer passed Everson by as though he did not see him, descended
+the ladder to the deck, and walked to the rail. He paused where the
+stranger had stood only a moment before. He raised his hand as if to
+strike at some shape visible to him alone. Again he cried out wildly.</p>
+
+<p>Before Everson could move to stay him, the Scot climbed the rail and
+threw himself into the sea.</p>
+
+<p>Shouting to the men of the watch to fetch lanterns, Everson ran aft
+along the side. It was useless. The crazed MacKechnie, whirled away in
+a raging swirl of waters in which no man could live, was gone beyond
+their ken. No cry came back to his fellows from the blackness. Only the
+wind roared and the tortured waters thundered. In the plight of the
+ship it was impossible even to attempt to pick up the lost man.</p>
+
+<p>Far aft Everson clung to the rail, dazed, stunned at the suddenness of
+his old comrade's taking off. Knowing that he could do nothing to save
+the mad Scotchman, the lieutenant at length turned back and went below,
+to the cabin of the stranger. He threw open the door. The cabin was
+dark, except where the curious armor shed its glow along the floor. For
+that phenomenon Everson was prepared. Zenas Wright had told him of the
+luminous metal. What did surprise the lieutenant was that the armor lay
+on the floor. And so recently he had seen it on the cruiser's deck, and
+its owner inside of it. To that he could swear. He turned on a light.</p>
+
+<p>The stranger lay quietly in his bunk, apparently in slumber, his broad
+chest rising and falling regularly. Not the flicker of an eyelid
+betrayed that he was conscious of the keen scrutiny which the commander
+bent upon him. Almost then did Everson give way to the superstitious
+imaginings of MacKechnie. Then his searching eyes saw the gleam of
+drops of sea water which beaded the golden corselet and helm. He drew
+a long breath of relief; for he knew that he had not dreamed. Pursuing
+his investigations no further, the lieutenant returned to his vigil on
+the bridge.</p>
+
+<p>Next day, to the gratification of Dr. Marsey and to the general
+surprise of the others on the ship, the stranger left his cabin.
+Clothing had been provided for him, but he would have none of it and
+appeared on the deck clad in his armor. He proved to be an exceedingly
+curious man, the stranger. He went everywhere about the ship,
+apparently in fear of nothing, although the gale still ran high. He
+watched all of the operations of seamanship with the closest interest,
+but was careful to get in the way of no one.</p>
+
+<p>His ruddy face and flaming hair, with the outer trappings which he
+wore, made the man the object of much comment on the part of the
+sailors of the <i>Minnetonka</i>; comment which was not untinged with
+awe. All of that he heeded not at all. In the full possession of his
+faculties, he still was speechless. What communication anyone on the
+ship had with him was by means of signs, and that necessarily was
+limited. He took his meals with those who shared the officers' mess.
+Although it evidently was unfamiliar to him, he was quick to observe
+and to imitate the table etiquette of his companions.</p>
+
+<p>Only Everson was not surprised at his appearance. The lieutenant kept
+his counsel and waited.</p>
+
+<p>Word of the mad act of MacKechnie went abroad through the ship, spread
+by the men of the watch. Among the sailors, superstitious after the
+manner of their kind, grew a hostility to the strange man, an enmity
+that became more and more pronounced as the hours brought to the
+cruiser no relief from the battering of the elements. So strong did the
+feeling grow that Lieutenant Everson feared for the safety of the man,
+and told Polaris of it. Thereafter the son of the snows constituted
+himself a bodyguard for the stranger in his wanderings about the ship,
+and remained with him as much as possible. Zenas Wright, too, watched
+over his prize with the jealous zeal of a proper scientist.</p>
+
+<p>Not for worlds would the explorer allow this living conundrum to come
+to harm until he had solved him. The old man continually plied the
+stranger with English words, pointing out to him their equivalents and
+seeking to encourage speech. For, unless the man might be taught to
+talk, Zenas felt that his chances of learning more of him were slim
+indeed.</p>
+
+<p>To all of those advances the man answered with smiles only. He was very
+courteous, extremely good-natured, but beyond the ring of silence which
+he had drawn about himself, he would not or could not go.</p>
+
+<p>Everson was little surprised, although he was mightily angered, when,
+on the third day following the death of MacKechnie, he was waited upon
+by a delegation of his sailors with a demand that the stranger be sent
+from the ship. They did not ask his death&mdash;merely that he be set adrift
+in one of the cruiser's small boats. A sea was running in which such a
+craft could not survive for two minutes.</p>
+
+<p>Shamefacedly, but sullenly, the men listened to the stern rebuke of
+their commander. When they had left him reluctantly&mdash;and their ears
+must have tingled to his opinions of their superstitions&mdash;Everson
+redoubled his precautions for the safety of the stranger. The
+lieutenant was morally certain that at the first opportunity that
+should offer, an "accident" would befall the man from the sea.</p>
+
+<p>Abruptly as it had struck, the storm of wind subsided. It was succeeded
+by a torrential downpour of rain. The cruiser was left tossing on a
+choppy sea. Dead ahead to the south was land&mdash;what land, no one on
+the ship could say. A scant five miles away it loomed up before them
+through the mists and the driving rain, a long and towering coastline,
+the peaks of its frowning cliffs almost touching the low-rolling clouds.</p>
+
+<p>In this, the first respite from many hours of perils, Lieutenant
+Everson at once set about the task of repairing his crippled ship.</p>
+
+<p>Then the crown was placed upon the work of calamity.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Lashed no longer by the flail of the tempest, the <i>Minnetonka</i> was laid
+to. Hope returned to those who rode upon her. Those who gathered on her
+decks were almost gay again.</p>
+
+<p>For the first time in many days the two Sardanians came up from their
+cabin. The Lady Memene had proved a poor sailor, and in her deathly
+illness that came of the buffeting of the ship, Minos never had left
+her side, but had nursed her with all the tenderness of a woman. The
+king remembered well a time, not long before, when he had lain near
+death, and her soft hands had soothed him, and her care had kept the
+spark of life within him.</p>
+
+<p>It was nearly noon. Chatting of their experiences in the storm, and
+laughing at their appearance in the oilskins which they wore against
+the rain, a little group gathered on the forward deck of the cruiser.
+Almost it seemed that the hand of fate collected and placed them there.
+Polaris Janess and Rose Emer, the Sardanians, old Zenas Wright, and
+Ensign Willis Brooks, a happy-go-lucky youth of large dimensions and an
+inexhaustible supply of good spirits, who was the second in command on
+the <i>Minnetonka</i>, made up the party.</p>
+
+<p>Presently Lieutenant Everson, his repair work well under way, came
+up from below and joined the others. Dr. Marsey might have been with
+them also, but the kindly physician delayed below to attend one of
+the engineers who lay ill of a fever. Before he had finished his
+ministrations, the stroke fell which was so strangely to alter the life
+course of every one of that party, and the good doctor was too late to
+be numbered among them.</p>
+
+<p>Almost on the heels of Everson the red-haired stranger ascended the
+companionway. With his armor on as usual, but dangling his helmet and
+his mask from his hand, he clanked across the deck, all unheedful of
+the anathemas that the sailors mouthed as he stalked past them.</p>
+
+<p>From the port in his cabin he, too, had seen the new land that lay
+ahead. He strode by the group on the forward deck, but his eyes were
+not for them. Ever watchful, Zenas Wright noted that the mien of the
+stranger was curiously excited. His blue eyes gleamed. His lips were
+parted. Something seemed deeply to concern him. He stood at the rail
+and studied the looming coastline long and searchingly. In his face was
+the rapt expression of the man who greets again a well-loved friend
+after an absence of many days. From the shore he turned his eyes to the
+sea and scrutinized it keenly.</p>
+
+<p>Zenas Wright, watching, started. What was the man about? Was he
+signaling? And whom? The explorer took a hasty step toward the rail to
+investigate.</p>
+
+<p>Beneath his feet he felt the deck of the cruiser heave like the breast
+of an unquiet sleeper. A terrific roar burst from the bowels of the
+ship, and she quivered in every plate of steel and oaken beam.</p>
+
+<p>"The magazine!" cried Everson. The commander dashed for the
+companionway, but he never reached it.</p>
+
+<p>Amidships the decks heaved up and opened in a yawning wound that rent
+the cruiser almost from rail to rail. Through the gap shot skyward an
+immense column of smoke, laced with spurts of flame, and spread fanwise
+many feet in the air. With it there ascended a mass of débris torn from
+the vitals of the ship. For yards around the waves splashed to the fall
+of the splintered wreckage. The swaying decks were littered with it.
+And some of the fragments were of steel and iron that clanged as they
+fell, and others were horrible shreds of men, and made no clangor.</p>
+
+<p>Paralyzed in his tracks, his eyes distended, his very flesh stirring
+from his bones at the horror of it, Everson faced the wraith of ruin
+that arose in his path. A new manifestation tore speech from his lips.</p>
+
+<p>"Look!" he shouted aloud in a strained and unnatural voice. "My God,
+look! <i>The color!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>In the heart and center of the standing column of smoke, seen faintly
+at first and then in blazing brilliance, towered a mighty pillar of
+light. But it was not like any light that any of those who gazed
+upon it had ever known. For it was neither of red nor white, nor yet
+of violet, yellow, or green, or any other color or hue of the solar
+spectrum. Radiant, scintillant, indescribably beautiful, it thrust up
+through the murk of disaster steadily and cruelly as the flaming sword
+of an unkind fate. It was this that had pierced the ship and exploded
+the magazine.</p>
+
+<p>Zenas Wright, who had looked unshaken on many strange things, looked
+upon this and cried out, even as had Everson:</p>
+
+<p>"The color! A new color! Impossible; yet it <i>is</i>!"</p>
+
+<p>With chaos and death linked together and roaring in front of him, the
+old man, true scientist to the last, bent his eyes on the flaming
+pillar in a challenging and analytical stare. If this was to be his
+final vision, why, he would learn what he might from it before he went
+into the shadow where all learning is valueless.</p>
+
+<p>Like painted puppets carved from wood, the men and women on the deck
+stood and gazed at the appalling ruin of that fell disaster. It was
+only a moment in the happening, but a moment that bore the burden of
+many moments in its intensity.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>The pillar of light moved, and those that watched saw that everything
+that it touched it destroyed. It swayed toward them, and the deck
+crumpled away before its advance. It swung back. In its path was one of
+the massive steel turrets of the cruiser. The light played against it.
+The turret tottered; the steel of it seemed to melt and disintegrate.
+The entire structure crumbled and crashed down, disappearing through
+the gash in the decking. With the fall of the turret the light vanished
+also.</p>
+
+<p>From the companionway came the horrid remnant of a man who crossed the
+deck to Everson. One of his arms had been torn away between the wrist
+and elbow. His features were blackened and marred beyond recognition.
+An eye was gone. His clothing hung about him in tatters, and the
+tatters were burning. He halted in front of the lieutenant and raised
+the maimed arm, from which the blood was spurting, in the semblance of
+a salute.</p>
+
+<p>"The ship&mdash;sinks. The&mdash;sea&mdash;on fire."</p>
+
+<p>He croaked the words brokenly, and fell, and died at the feet of his
+commander.</p>
+
+<p>Up through the gap in her bottom surged the sea water, and the ship
+began to settle. The <i>Minnetonka</i> was sinking.</p>
+
+<p>Everson pulled himself out of the daze which in that moment of dread
+had benumbed his faculties. A glance he gave to the settling decks and
+the useless boats. He had neither men nor the time to unship them.</p>
+
+<p>He turned to his companions.</p>
+
+<p>"Those who have prayers to say had best say them; for this is the end
+of our traveling," he said simply. Suiting his action to the words, he
+knelt on the deck.</p>
+
+<p>At the side of Polaris Janess appeared the red-haired stranger. As he
+had once before, he now caught up the hand of the son of the snows.
+Holding it, he looked into Polaris's face and smiled, a fearless and
+whimsical smile.</p>
+
+<p>"A strong hand, my brother, strong to hold a kingdom. This is not your
+death that is coming. I will save you and these with you. I promise,"
+he said&mdash;and the marvel to Polaris and to the others was that the man
+who before had been speechless now spoke readily and in excellent
+English.</p>
+
+<p>Not waiting for the answer, which, in his surprise, Polaris was slow to
+give, the stranger left his side and ran across the deck. He strapped
+his odd mask over his face, clapped his helmet on his head and fastened
+it. He caught up from the deck a length of steel chain. With a run and
+a leap, he was gone&mdash;over the fast settling rail and into the sea.</p>
+
+<p>Scarcely had the golden helmet disappeared over the side when the waves
+crossed the decks to meet the water that was spouting from the interior
+of the cruiser.</p>
+
+<p>"A madman!" Polaris muttered. He turned and gathered Rose Emer in his
+arms. She clung to him, sobbing softly.</p>
+
+<p>"Be brave, dear heart," he whispered. "It isn't hard to die, and
+wherever we are going, we shall go together."</p>
+
+<p>Around them rose the waves.</p>
+
+<p>Held fast in the swirl of the sinking ship, every soul on the
+<i>Minnetonka</i> went down with her. From Everson, kneeling on his deck, to
+the lowliest coal-passer in the depths of the cruiser, there was no man
+but bowed his face to the waters.</p>
+
+<p>Clasping his sweetheart with one arm, Polaris struck out fiercely. For
+a moment he cherished the hope that he might keep to the surface and
+reach the land beyond. But the suction of the sinking ship was too
+strong for even his giant strength. He saw the others, his friends
+struggling about him. The water came between his dear lady's face
+and his. He strove to reach her lips with his own. His lungs seemed
+bursting. His senses swayed.</p>
+
+<p>Through the green waters he saw a great golden shape like a globe
+approaching him. Another fantasy. Strong hands gripped him. They, too,
+must be dreams.</p>
+
+<p>The blackness became absolute.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2>CHAPTER II</h2>
+
+<h3>THE LONG BLACK ROAD TO ADLAZ</h3>
+
+
+<p>In illimitable darkness a spark glowed and lived, and the soul of
+Polaris Janess awoke and once more knew it was a soul. The silence
+of oblivion was broken by a roaring as of a thousand mighty rivers
+torrenting on their courses far underground. One by one the man endured
+the tortures that those must endure who come back from the claim
+of the sea. Slowly and with exquisite agony came the consciousness
+that his body still lived&mdash;an agony so keen that he fain would have
+wrenched himself free of the flesh and departed it. Fire, liquid and
+intolerable, raced through his every vein and artery. His head, no
+longer tenanted by a brain, it seemed, was a vast and empty cavern,
+through which wild winds moaned.</p>
+
+<p>An age it was in seeming that the soul fought its way through travail,
+back to command of the faculties it had quitted, until it had regained
+the mastery of its two provinces, the brain and the body. The fiery
+rivers were quenched. The winds ceased their roaring. With a groan and
+a shudder the son of the snows once more took up the burden of living.
+Weak and dizzy and deathly sick, he opened his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>He lay on a soft bed of furs in a small and swaying room. Almost at
+his elbow he heard the splash of waves against metal walls. Above him,
+an expression of sympathy and concern on his ruddy face, bent the
+red-haired stranger.</p>
+
+<p>When he saw the eyes of Polaris quiver open, the man smiled, a rare and
+winning smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, by the four rivers," he said, "I am glad to see you return to the
+living. So long did you tarry in the beyond that I thought that I had
+lost you."</p>
+
+<p>For a moment Polaris gazed into that rubicund countenance in
+bewilderment, but for a moment only. With the floods of life came
+memory. He tried to spring to his feet, but the struggle in the water
+and the nausea of his returning vitality had sapped the strength from
+him. He fell weakly back. The look he bent upon the stranger was
+poignant with its question.</p>
+
+<p>"Rose&mdash;the Rose-maid? Where is she?" he gasped, wresting the words out
+painfully.</p>
+
+<p>With a graceful gesture, the stranger drew to one side and pointed
+across the room.</p>
+
+<p>"Your lady? She is there," he said.</p>
+
+<p>On the other side of the room, only a few feet away, was another couch,
+similar to the one on which Polaris had found himself. Rose Emer lay
+upon it. The oilskins she had worn were in a crumpled heap upon the
+floor. Her gown, sodden with sea water, clung to her limbs. A careful
+hand had partly covered her with the folds of a robe of soft, dark
+furs. The coils of her long, chestnut hair, disheveled and damp, had
+fallen about her face and neck. Her long lashes lay upon her cheeks.
+Her lips were slightly parted. One arm hung down from the edge of the
+couch, its hand relaxed and open, the fingers limp.</p>
+
+<p>Long and earnestly Polaris looked at her. He could see only her
+profile. Her face was very white and still, outlined there against
+the furs. The light went out of his tawny eyes, and he set his teeth
+and turned his face to the wall. The sob that arose in his throat
+was wrung from the depths of a spirit sorely stricken. Now death were
+welcome indeed.</p>
+
+<p>"Grieve not so," the stranger said hastily. "She is not dead, and I
+am a fool to bring such fright upon you. She did but swoon when you
+yourself were overlong in returning to the realm of the living. Here."</p>
+
+<p>He passed an arm under the shoulders of Polaris, and assisted him to
+rise and cross to the other couch.</p>
+
+<p>Swaying like a drunken man, the son of the snows bent and touched the
+wrist of the girl with his fingers. When he felt the tides of the
+life-blood leaping through the warm flesh, a joy welled up within him
+that was akin to pain in its throbbing. Come what might, his lady
+lived, and once again there was light in his world. He laid his cheek
+against hers and he was near to tears in his weakness.</p>
+
+<p>Presently he raised his head, and for the first time gave a thought to
+his surroundings. The room he was in was shaped like the quarter of a
+circle. The couch on which he had lain was along the curved side of the
+room, and there the wall was of steel or iron, against which he could
+hear the lapping of waters. At each end, where the cabin narrowed to
+the points of its arc, were cabinets carved of polished woods. At the
+side where the girl lay the wall was of wood, also, and was pierced by
+a small door. A number of garments hung from pegs in the paneling. Near
+to the door, in a golden sheath, swung a heavy, short-bladed sword.</p>
+
+<p>Overhead was a crisscross of slender wooden beams, and in the midst of
+them was set a translucent globe of porcelain or clouded glass, through
+which a strong light was shed, light that was almost as clear in its
+quality as that of day.</p>
+
+<p>At the sight of those crossed beams, Polaris's memory stirred quickly.
+Where had he seen such before? Ah, he had it! It was just such a
+lattice-work that had made a raft for the stranger when he had found
+him floating in the sea. What was the meaning of it?</p>
+
+<p>The screaming fury of the tempest, with its menace to all that he held
+dearest; the terrible moments when the <i>Minnetonka</i> went roaring down
+to ruin; the struggle in the sea; the agony of resuscitation; the grim
+fear that had choked him when he saw his dear lady lying there so pale
+and still&mdash;all those transitions had shaken even the strong will and
+cool brain of the son of the snows. He shook his head impatiently, as
+though the fog through which his mind groped were a physical fact, to
+be dismissed so.</p>
+
+<p>Here at his side was the living answer to the questions that now
+trooped thick and fast&mdash;the man who had promised him life on the
+sinking deck of the cruiser and who had made that promise good.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are we, and who and what are you?" Polaris asked him.</p>
+
+<p>The answer was as ready as it was surprising.</p>
+
+<p>"We are under the sea in the captain's cabin of a fademe in the navy
+of the great king, Bel-Ar. And I"&mdash;he bowed slightly and smiled&mdash;"I am
+the Captain Oleric the Red, also of the navy of the great king, but at
+present without a fademe to command."</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>So unusually circumstanced from his very birth had been the life of
+Polaris Janess that he long before had accepted and made his own the
+philosophy which the Prince of Denmark taught to Horatio. Things that
+the ordinary man would scoff at and reject as preposterous had been
+the incidents of his everyday existence. So now the extraordinary
+declaration of him who named himself Oleric the Red did not move him to
+any great show of surprise.</p>
+
+<p>Instead, there came to him the sorrowful vision of the good gray
+cruiser, sundered and wrecked and going down to the ocean's bed,
+bearing with her many a man whom he had been glad to call his
+friend&mdash;men who twice had risked their lives in the antarctic perils
+that others might live. With that picture in his mind came a thought
+that drove all the mists from his brain and made it burn with a sense
+of outrage and anger.</p>
+
+<p>He snapped himself erect, and with hands clenched and blazing eyes
+looked down on Oleric.</p>
+
+<p>"The breaking of the good ship yonder came not from within, but from
+without," he said sternly. "That great ray of strange light that
+cut her like a knife was some devil's device of these that you call
+fademes. Is it not true?"</p>
+
+<p>Over the face of Oleric passed a shadow that made it sad. But his eyes
+were steadfast and unflinching.</p>
+
+<p>"It is true," he answered. "I would have prevented it if I could have.
+Your ship has gone the way of all others which have come to the coasts
+of Maeronica."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it, then, the custom of your 'great king' so to greet strangers who
+come to his shores?" asked Polaris.</p>
+
+<p>"Such have been the orders of the king of Maeronica," replied Oleric.
+"Many a long century has rolled into the past since any ship, save the
+fademes, cast anchor in the harbor of the city of Adlaz. It is the law.
+It is so writ upon the sacred column. But it is a bad law."</p>
+
+<p>"An hour ago we had not guessed of the existence even of this land of
+Maeronica of yours, with its city of Adlaz and its rule of death in
+the sea," said Polaris. "All that we asked was to go our ways in peace
+and a safe journey to America. Now, because of the evil law of an evil
+land, a great ship's company is food for the fishes. You say well that
+it is a bad law.</p>
+
+<p>"And, hark you, Oleric the Red, I count the reckoning between this King
+Bel-Ar of yours and me as both long and heavy. I do not know how it
+will fall about, or when; but my heart tells me that some time I shall
+make settlement of that score."</p>
+
+<p>Rose Emer stirred and moaned, and Polaris turned to her. He knelt again
+at the side of her couch and chafed her hands.</p>
+
+<p>Running his fingers through his red hair, Oleric looked down at
+Polaris. A strange light shone in the blue eyes of the captain, and
+over his face spread a crafty and satisfied smile. He nodded his head
+as though a thought had come to him that pleased him much.</p>
+
+<p>"Yourself and the lady here are not the only ones saved from the ship,"
+he said at length.</p>
+
+<p>"What? There are others that live?" Polaris asked quickly. "Who, and
+where are they?"</p>
+
+<p>"In the opposite cabin of the fademe is the old man Zenas," Oleric
+replied, "and with him is the large and fat young man who made all
+of the jokes at the table on the ship. And in another fademe is the
+captain&mdash;Everson&mdash;and the two you saved from Sardanes, the giant Minos
+and the dark and splendid lady, Memene."</p>
+
+<p>"What know you of Sardanes?" Polaris asked. "And how comes it that you
+speak our English speech, now that your tongue is loosened?"</p>
+
+<p>Oleric smiled. "Though my tongue was idle on your ship yonder, my
+ears were not," he said, "nor were my eyes, and they gathered me much
+information. I know that you, whom they call the son of the snows, have
+lived a strange life and looked upon many wonders. But they are as
+nothing to the wonders which you are to see presently&mdash;and I, Oleric
+the Red, shall show them to you." He laughed soundlessly.</p>
+
+<p>"But the language&mdash;where learned you the English tongue?" Polaris asked
+again. "Surely it is not spoken in this Maeronica, this land whereof no
+man has ever heard."</p>
+
+<p>"Many years ago I learned it&mdash;from the lips of a slave. He, too, had
+been taken from the deck of a ship which was sunk by the fademes," was
+the answer of Oleric. He regarded Polaris keenly. Nor was that reply
+without its effect.</p>
+
+<p>"Slaves!" Polaris cried. "Is this another of the laws of this land of
+yours&mdash;to make slaves of strangers?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is the law of the great king," Oleric said. "Few such have been
+taken alive, but they have lived as slaves or died on the sands of the
+arena to make sport for the people at the great games which are a part
+of the Feast of Years."</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>For a moment, even Rose Emer was forgotten. Polaris looked up at the
+Maeronican captain with a blaze in his eyes that boded little of
+submission to the laws of Bel-Ar, the king.</p>
+
+<p>When he spoke, it was very quietly. "Law or no law, backs shall break
+and spirits set out on their journeys before I shall become slave to
+any man."</p>
+
+<p>"But the maid here," interposed Oleric&mdash;"would you bring doom upon her
+as well as upon yourself? Be not so rash, my brother. 'All things come
+to him that waits,' was a saying of that slave from whom I learned your
+tongue&mdash;O'Connell, he did call his name. I know not if his saying be
+true. I know he waited many long years, and death came to him."</p>
+
+<p>Polaris shook his head slowly.</p>
+
+<p>"There is little cheer in these words of yours, Oleric the Red," he
+said. "And I do not know why you should call me brother, for whom you
+foretell a life of slavery. But these things are bridges to be crossed
+when met." He turned back to Rose Emer. "Have you such a thing as wine
+on this ship?" he asked. "This swoon is long in passing."</p>
+
+<p>Again the red captain regarded the broad back with satisfaction and
+smiled his craftful smile.</p>
+
+<p>He stepped to the end of the cabin, and from the cabinet there fetched
+a tall glass flagon, bound with golden filagree-work, and a slender,
+twisted goblet. The liquor which he poured from the flagon was
+cherry-red, and sent forth a pleasing aroma.</p>
+
+<p>"Here is of the best in Maeronica," he said. "Trust a captain of the
+fademes to know it."</p>
+
+<p>Lifting Rose's head on his arm, Polaris held the goblet to her lips
+and let the red wine trickle down. As he did so, the door of the cabin
+was opened from without. A man thrust his head through and shouted to
+Oleric in a strange though not unmusical tongue. The captain answered
+him a word or two, and the door was closed again. Polaris saw that the
+man wore armor of a pattern similar to that of Oleric, and that, like
+the captain's, his face was ruddy. But his hair was black, and he wore
+a short, curling beard. While the door was opened, the purr of smoothly
+running machinery could be heard, and with it a steady hissing,
+bubbling noise, like that of escaping steam.</p>
+
+<p>Rose sat up suddenly and glanced around her with frightened eyes. She
+threw her arms around Polaris's neck and clung to him.</p>
+
+<p>"You lay so still," she sobbed, "I thought that you were dead. But you
+are alive&mdash;alive!"</p>
+
+<p>Oleric bent forward and spoke hurriedly.</p>
+
+<p>"We are nearing the harbor of the city of Adlaz," he said. "I do not
+know when I shall have opportunity to talk with you again. But if it be
+not soon, wait; and accept with patience, even though it shall try you
+sorely, all that shall happen.</p>
+
+<p>"Just now you asked me why I called you 'brother.' You saved me from
+the sea. On the ship yonder you and the old man Zenas, and another whom
+I grieve that I could not save, tended me when you thought that I was
+near to death. And after, when your sailors murmured, and they would
+have cast me into the sea, you guarded me from harm. All those things I
+know and shall not forget. That is why I call you brother. And back of
+all of those things there is still another reason, of which I hope to
+tell you soon. I learned from the slave O'Connell that the shake of the
+hands between men is a bond of friendship. Will you shake my hand, my
+brother?"</p>
+
+<p>Polaris took the proffered hand in a grip that made its owner wince.
+"It seems that despite the laws of Bel-Ar, the king, I have found a
+friend," he said. "I shall try to be patient, Oleric."</p>
+
+<p>"Hold your hand from anger," enjoined the red captain earnestly, "even
+though you be put to serve as a slave in the mines of Bel-Ar. And
+instruct your companions that they do likewise. Great days are coming
+upon Maeronica, and I promise you faithfully that you shall play a
+great part in them&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>He broke his speech suddenly.</p>
+
+<p>Again the door swung open. Somewhere in the depths of the fademe a bell
+rang clearly. The noise of the mechanism ceased. The black-bearded man
+who had thrust his head into the cabin before, stood in the doorway and
+beckoned to Oleric.</p>
+
+<p>"Remember," warned the captain as he passed Polaris. "Patience and that
+strong heart of yours shall carry you far before your sun goes down."</p>
+
+<p>He went out and the door closed after him.</p>
+
+<p>"What does he mean, with his talk of slaves and the mines and all those
+strange names?" Rose Emer asked wonderingly. "Where are we?"</p>
+
+<p>Polaris told her all that he had learned from the captain. She heard
+him with wide eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>You</i>&mdash;a slave!" she cried. "Ah, no, not that? Is it to be like this
+all our lives&mdash;to see happiness just ahead of us, but never reach it?
+Fate cannot be so cruel. Think what you have endured. And now to be a
+slave here in this terrible foreign land!"</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps Fate was listening then&mdash;Fate, who can be both cruel and kind,
+sordid and splendid, according to her whim. She had played many strange
+tricks on this man. But she now decreed that he should never serve the
+king Bel-Ar as a slave.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Soon after the departure of Oleric, the door of the cabin was opened
+again, and an armored man entered. It was he of the black beard, whom
+Polaris rightly guessed to be the captain of the fademe. With him came
+three other men, unarmored, who evidently were members of the crew of
+the craft.</p>
+
+<p>Sturdy, black-haired fellows these were, dressed alike in loose,
+neckless blue tunics of some woven material, with elbow-sleeves,
+and belted in at the waist. Beneath the tunics they wore long,
+close-fitting nether garments like the hose of the Middle Ages, only
+these were both hose and trousers, too. On their feet were shoes of
+soft leather, the tops of which came nearly to their knees, and which
+were laced with gay-colored cords. Their heads were covered with flat
+caps of cloth which resembled somewhat the tam-o'-shanters of the
+Scots. Those, too, were dyed in bright colors.</p>
+
+<p>With a motion of his arm the captain indicated to Rose and Polaris that
+they were to leave the cabin. The girl still was weak from her swoon,
+and tottered when she stood, and her garments were wet and bedraggled.
+Polaris wrapped her in the robe of furs with which Oleric had covered
+her, and lifted her in his arms. As he did so, one of the sailors spoke
+harshly and snatched at the robe. He was clumsy, and his fingers caught
+in Rose's unbound hair and pulled it so that she winced.</p>
+
+<p>Polaris set the girl down and in the same motion spun on his heel and
+struck the man under the ear.</p>
+
+<p>Well it was for the Maeronican sailor that the son of the snows, quick
+as was his anger at the affront to the girl, remembered the counsel of
+Oleric. Even as he struck, he remembered, and he opened his hand; else
+the stroke, directed by his mighty thews, had ended all things for the
+sailor. As it was, the blow partly lifted the man from his feet and
+shot him sprawling through the open door to fall heavily outside.</p>
+
+<p>From its peg on the wall the captain caught down the short-bladed sword
+and tore it from the sheath. At a word from him, his two remaining men
+plucked knives from their belts and closed in.</p>
+
+<p>Prospects of battle cleared the last of the numbness from the limbs of
+Polaris. He thrust Rose Emer behind him. He ran his eyes hastily over
+the cabin in search of a weapon, but saw none which would serve him. In
+another instant he would have sprung barehanded against the Maeronican
+steel.</p>
+
+<p>At that juncture a voice cried out, and Oleric the Red stepped over
+the fallen sailor and entered the cabin. Whatever may have been the
+failings of the red captain, slowness in action was not one of them.
+Gripping the two crouching sailors, each by the belt from behind, he
+tugged so mightily that their feet flew from under them, and they sat
+hard on the cabin floor. With a catlike leap, Oleric reached the side
+of the captain of the fademe and struck the sword from his hand. As the
+blade clanged on the floor, Oleric set his foot across it. Then, and
+not until then, did he seek to learn the trouble's cause.</p>
+
+<p>"What now, comrade," he said to Polaris. "Do you then court death so
+soon?"</p>
+
+<p>But when he heard of the sailor's action, he nodded his red head.</p>
+
+<p>"So would I have done," he said shortly. He turned on the other captain
+and spoke to him sternly in the Maeronican tongue. Almost choking in
+his rage, the commander answered him in sneering tones, and with a
+shrug of his shoulders stalked from the cabin. The sailors slunk after
+him.</p>
+
+<p>Oleric watched their departing backs with a hard and level stare.
+"Daelo grows insolent," he said. "He thinks, because I have had the
+misfortune to lose a fademe, that I shall get no pretty welcome from
+Bel-Ar. Maybe he is right. Bel-Ar loves not to lose his ships. Ah,
+well&mdash;" He, too, shrugged his shoulders, and then he smiled.</p>
+
+<p>"And you, my brother&mdash;" He shook his finger at Polaris. "Unless you
+learn to curb that fine spirit of yours, I need to be no prophet to
+foretell what shall befall you. But come; let us leave this place. The
+air of it grows foul."</p>
+
+<p>With Rose in his arms, Polaris stepped from the cabin and gazed
+curiously about him.</p>
+
+<p>He stood in a long gallery or corridor, some nine feet wide by thirty
+in extent. It was lighted brightly by a number of globes similar to
+that in the cabin. The flooring was of wood, the ceiling of steel.
+Opposite him was the door of another cabin. A few feet along the
+corridor ahead of him, toward the prow of the fademe, the floor was
+pierced to admit a large post or beam, which thrust up through it and
+disappeared through another opening in the ceiling of the gallery.
+Around the beam spiraled a slender winding stair of yellow metal.</p>
+
+<p>Oleric led on toward the bow. As he passed the stairway, Janess saw
+that it led to a small, towerlike structure above. A glance through the
+opening in the floor showed him another gallery, or deck, below, and he
+had a glimpse of a mass of mechanism and shafting. It was the engine
+room of the fademe into which he looked. Near the prow, the flooring
+was cut away again to allow the passage of what seemed to be a pillar
+of solid, yellow glass, as large around as the body of a man.</p>
+
+<p>As they passed the second pillar by, Oleric struck it lightly with his
+palm.</p>
+
+<p>"There is what brought death to your good ship, my brother," he said.
+"It is the secret of the power of the navy of Bel-Ar."</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>At the end of the corridor was an open door. Beyond it was a small
+chamber and another door. The chamber was constructed entirely of
+steel. Both of its doors were circular in shape, and they were fitted
+with valves and bars which made them resemble the breechblocks of
+enormous cannon. From beyond the second door came the sound of the
+splashing of waves and the hum of many human voices.</p>
+
+<p>Oleric passed through the chamber. At the outer door he paused and
+gave Polaris a hand with his burden. A breeze of salt air fanned their
+faces. Through the door Polaris saw an expanse of blue water alight
+with shafts of sunshine&mdash;for the rain had ceased&mdash;and the line of a
+rocky wall.</p>
+
+<p>"The harbor of the city of Adlaz," the red captain said.</p>
+
+<p>They stood on a metal deck six feet square on the extreme prow of the
+fademe. From the deck a narrow, swaying gangplank reached to the edge
+of the quay that was built of massive blocks of masonry, alongside of
+which the fademe was moored.</p>
+
+<p>At their right was the tossing blue and white of a harbor large enough
+to have given shelter to the ships of all the navies of the world,
+could they have come to it. Nearly three miles in width and length it
+lay, the whole girt round by the ring of a lofty mountain wall, in
+which on the seaward side there was not a notch or a break. Two hundred
+feet up from the water's edge the sheer cliffs towered, their faces
+smooth and precipitous.</p>
+
+<p>It was more a lake than a harbor that held the navy of Bel-Ar. Later
+the Americans learned that its only entrance from the sea was a natural
+tunnel many feet below the level of the water, through which the
+fademes passed out and in. The harbor was the giant cup or crater of a
+volcano, ages quenched.</p>
+
+<p>Along the wharves of stone and anchored in the lake rocked the fademes
+of the Maeronican fleet, each one resembling nothing so much as a
+monstrous goldfish carrying a glass tower on its back. Gold they were,
+indeed&mdash;and they shimmered and glittered in the sunlight as only gold
+can glitter.</p>
+
+<p>Like immense, flattened globes the fademes were fashioned&mdash;globes forty
+feet through their lengthened axes, and drawn to points at their stems
+and sterns. Where the dorsal fin of a fish projects from its spine,
+each fademe bore a small, round deckhouse with ribs of metal and sides
+of polished crystal.</p>
+
+<p>Yes; the harbor of Adlaz was very like a vast bowl with many goldfish
+(the fleet of fademes must have numbered one hundred and fifty). But
+they were far from being the harmless toys of children, these golden
+ships of the underseas. Deadly enspine, each fademe bore a small, round
+bee sent forth on cruel errands.</p>
+
+<p>On the dancing surface of the lake and in and out among the gleaming
+fademes plied a number of small open boats, driven by oarsmen, and
+here and there in the anchorage were scattered undersea craft of a make
+smaller by half and more slender than the fademes. These were called
+marizels.</p>
+
+<p>Back of the quays and the wharves was a line of low buildings of black
+and red stone, well constructed, with doors of wood and glass windows.
+Except that their architecture was quaint and ran much to carved faces
+of men and beasts, interspersed with squat domes and spires, they might
+have been the warehouses of some well-to-do port of the old world.</p>
+
+<p>An open space, a number of acres in extent, lay beyond the buildings
+and reached to the frowning face of the cliff-wall. The wall itself was
+pierced by a broad arch or tunnel wide enough for a squadron of cavalry
+to have ridden through it abreast and so high that a galleon's masts
+would not have touched its vaulted roof.</p>
+
+<p>Above the center of the arch, and carved in the rock of the cliffside,
+was a great round face, many feet across. It was a piece of sculpture
+to crook the fingers of a miser; for it was covered with beaten gold,
+so that it resembled a rising sun. That semblance was heightened
+further by long shafts or rays which extended from the face across the
+surface of the rock in all directions. They, too, were of gold. Work of
+a master-sculptor, it was, who had guided his chisel in bold, strong
+strokes. The features were noble, but the smiling lips were cruel, and
+there was cruelty in the golden eyes which looked down on the golden
+ships in the harbor.</p>
+
+<p>All these things Polaris saw from the forward deck of the fademe, and
+more. The quays and the court were black with people. At one side of
+the archway was drawn up a line of horsemen clad in steel armor. In
+the midst of the throng in the court a man in a yellow tunic and cap
+was cleaving his way through the press toward the wharf on a big black
+horse.</p>
+
+<p>As he crossed the swaying plank to the wharf with Rose Emer in his
+arms, Polaris heard a great cry of wonder go up from the crowd. In a
+moment he learned that it was not the appearance of the strangers that
+had caused the outcry. It was the return of Oleric the Red, who had
+long been given up as lost. Evidently the red captain was a popular man
+in his land. People crowded around him and clapped him on the back and
+gave him words of welcome home. Greetings none the less hearty for that
+they were tinged with a note of apprehension for his future welfare,
+which even Polaris could sense, though he understood no word of it all.</p>
+
+<p>Down from his horse sprang the man in the yellow tunic and enfolded
+Oleric in a mighty embrace. "Ah, old red bear, it is good for the eyes
+to see you once again. We had thought the fishes had you. But"&mdash;and he
+lowered his voice&mdash;"you will have to think of a pretty tale to tell to
+Bel-Ar. He raves at the loss of a fademe."</p>
+
+<p>"That he does," answered Oleric, "but I am good at the telling of
+tales, as you know. Besides, I have with me a matter of a small sack,
+which was not lost with the fademe, and which shall make the eyes of
+his queen to glisten. So mayhap I shall find forgiveness."</p>
+
+<p>The other ran his eye over Polaris and Rose. "What, more slaves?" he
+asked. "Orlas already has brought in three, and one of them a giant."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Brunar, more slaves." Oleric's face grew sober. "Poor souls. My
+heart is heavy for them, for they did save my life out yonder on the
+sea, and treat me kindly."</p>
+
+<p>"Here, old bear, take you my horse and ride on to Adlaz," said Brunar.
+"I have business here. I will come on anon through the canal in a
+marizel. And, if the hand of Bel-Ar lie not too heavy upon you, there
+will be a rare night to-night, a rare night; eh, old bear?" Laughing,
+he tossed the reins to Oleric and disappeared in the crowd.</p>
+
+<p>From the stern of the fademe they had quitted sounded a high-pitched
+voice in notes of vituperation. Oleric looked back. The captain Daelo
+stood on the rear deck of his vessel. When he saw Oleric turn, he shook
+his clenched fist at the red captain. With a laugh, Oleric flung back a
+remark of such import that it made Daelo dance upon his deck with rage.</p>
+
+<p>"Now there's a fool," grumbled Oleric, "who may be troublesome. I have
+the best of him this time, though. Back to sea patrol he goes. And
+there is a maid in Adlaz town&mdash;a sweet and comely maid, for love of
+whom he's well-nigh witless. I just did tell him that I'd comfort her
+in his absence." The captain tossed his head and laughed his soundless
+laugh.</p>
+
+<p>Bidding a lad hold his horse, Oleric led Polaris and Rose into one
+of the buildings near the end of the wharf. There, under a guard of
+sailors, they found old Zenas, the two Sardanians, Everson, and Brooks.
+Lacking an interpreter, such as Oleric, these others were in sore
+bewilderment. The stunning blow of the loss of the <i>Minnetonka</i> had
+cast them in a depth of gloom, which the appearance of Polaris and
+Rose Emer and the few explanations they were able to give did little
+to lighten. Everson, especially, was like a man distraught. Even the
+scientific zeal of Zenas Wright for once was quenched, and he met the
+marvels about him with a listless eye.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Under orders from Oleric, men fetched from stables near the quays a
+long, low car, to which two span of horses were attached, and the
+Americans were bidden to take their places in it. Wild and reckless
+drivers these Maeronicans were. Two of them climbed into the car,
+turned their horses' heads toward the great archway and whipped them
+into a gallop. With a yell, the crowd parted. The hoofs of the horses
+rang on the stones of the paved courtyard. As they passed from the
+court into the tunnel, the line of steel horsemen came clattering after
+them. Oleric rode at the side of the car.</p>
+
+<p>At intervals in the walls of the tunnel were set translucent globes
+like those on the fademe, which shed a strong white light along the
+way. The flooring was paved and smooth. For perhaps five minutes the
+cavalcade thundered through the passage in the rock, and then it
+emerged again into the light of day.</p>
+
+<p>Ahead stretched a long, wide roadway, paved from side to side with
+blocks of black stone, fast embedded in a cement of the same hue.
+At both sides of the road were low walls, and beyond the walls were
+handsome mansions and grounds, where fair trees tossed their greenery
+and bright flowers bloomed amid a wealth of shrubbery. From the
+splendid and fragrant lawns men and women looked forth as the car
+whirled past, and children left their play to run to the walls and
+stare wide-eyed at the strangers.</p>
+
+<p>Most of the men were garbed as had been those of the fademe's crew and
+also the crowd at the harbor, in loose, belted tunics and hose, but
+finer in texture and more showy in coloring than those of the commoner
+sort.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the old men wore flowing gowns. The women and children were
+clad in short kirtles. Everywhere was a riot of color. The garments
+of the people were gay with many tints and hues. The grounds were
+flecked with flowers. The dwellings, all of which were built of stone,
+made their brave show of colors, too. The quarries from which the
+masonry was cut yielded white and black and red stone, and in their
+construction work the builders had varied them pleasingly.</p>
+
+<p>From the tunnel's mouth at the base of the ancient hill, the long,
+black road sloped up gradually. Far ahead loomed the walls and domes
+of a great city. Oleric rose in his stirrups and pointed to where they
+were outlined against the sky.</p>
+
+<p>"Yonder lies Adlaz, chief city of the Children of Ad," he cried.</p>
+
+<p>Midway in their course to the city, the shouting drivers pulled their
+horses suddenly to one side of the road, and the riders of the escort
+scattered to right and left to leave a clear passage. From far up the
+wonderful street sounded the clash and clatter of pounding hoofs in
+desperate haste.</p>
+
+<p>But no horse it was that galloped so madly from Adlaz town to the sea,
+but a giant, bronze-coated bull. On he came, head down and tail aloft,
+his hoofs striking fire from the smooth, hard rock of the roadway. At
+intervals he gave voice to a deep-throated bellow.</p>
+
+<p>He was still three hundred yards from the car when Rose Emer screamed
+out in horror. "Ah, the child! Save the child!" she cried.</p>
+
+<p>From one of the mansions farther up the street, a child had strayed,
+a baby girl, a fragile, black-haired little thing, not more than five
+years old. Shrieking with laughter, she had eluded her mother and run
+out through the gateway to the center of the road. Half-way across the
+pavement, she slipped and fell. Down the street on thundering hoofs
+came the great bronze death.</p>
+
+<p>Upsetting one of the drivers in his haste, Polaris leaped down over
+the wheel of the car. Scarcely had his feet touched the roadway, when
+Minos, the Sardanian, was down behind him. Snatching a short spear from
+the hand of one of the steel riders, the son of the snows bounded up
+the street to meet the bull, going at a speed which few living things
+could have equaled. Over his shoulder he called to Minos:</p>
+
+<p>"Care for the child, Minos; leave the beast to me."</p>
+
+<p>Just beyond where the baby girl lay, he met the furious mass of
+charging flesh. The little red eyes of the oncoming monster saw the man
+in its path, and for an instant the bull seemed to halt in its stride,
+and its hoofs slid on the smooth pavement. Then it lowered its head
+still farther and charged on with a roar.</p>
+
+<p>From the tail of his eye, Janess saw the Sardanian snatch the baby from
+the perilous path and leap to one side. Behind them the red captain,
+shouting and cursing, alone of all the troop of riders strove to urge
+his affrighted horse forward.</p>
+
+<p>"Hold! Hold!" he shouted in English. "Let the beast go!"</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Even had he heard, Polaris would have been little minded to let the
+bull go free. It was plain that the animal was mad. A bloody froth
+dripped from its jaws as it ran. Behind the son of the snows, right
+where the bull was headed, were his friends, and among them one who
+meant more to him than all of the rest of the world.</p>
+
+<p>Directly in the path of the lowered horns, that were coming on with
+the power of a mighty battering-ram, Polaris stood. Then he sprang
+sidewise, turning as he leaped. So narrowly did he time the onset that
+the shoulder of the bull grazed his knee. As the huge body passed him,
+the man drove the short spear home behind its shoulder, guiding the
+steel with the strength of arm and the keenness of eye that had helped
+him to survive through the long years when combat with the beasts of
+the wild was a part almost of his daily existence.</p>
+
+<p>The stroke was true. So deeply did the steel spear bite, that its shaft
+was wrenched from the hands of Polaris, and he was pitched on his side
+on the pavement.</p>
+
+<p>Unhurt, the man was up in an instant, but his work was done. That bull
+would charge no more. He lay dead at the side of the roadway, his
+tongue thrust out, his eyes glazing, and his life-blood making a pool
+on the stones. The Maeronican spear was set fast in his heart.</p>
+
+<p>Hardly was Polaris on his feet again when the armored horsemen rode
+down on him with lifted spears, cursing him in their own tongue. Oleric
+had conquered his horse, and he now interposed to prevent another
+struggle which would have been all too one-sided. For, weaponless as
+they were, the three other American men clambered down and ran to the
+aid of Polaris.</p>
+
+<p>Minos, who had returned the child to her mother, who knelt half
+fainting in her gateway, was the first to reach his side. Though he
+bore no weapon, the giant Sardanian squared his mighty figure and made
+ready to withstand the onset of horse and steel.</p>
+
+<p>Polaris leaped to the side of the fallen bull and tore the spear from
+its body. Then he turned on the horsemen. He could not guess the cause
+of their sudden anger, but he, too, was ready.</p>
+
+<p>Before blows could be struck, Oleric thrust his horse into the
+open space between the friends and the Maeronican riders. By dint
+of persuasion, interlarded with not a few threats, he induced his
+followers to forego their hostile intentions.</p>
+
+<p>"You fools!" he shouted. "Would you cheat Bel-Ar of the terrible
+vengeance he is sure to take, and have a part of it fall back on you
+for balking him?"</p>
+
+<p>When he had quieted his men, the captain turned gloomily to Polaris.</p>
+
+<p>"My brother, your doom is sealed, indeed," he said. "This is one of the
+sacred bulls from the temple of Shamar, the great sun, that you have
+slain. When one of these goes mad, as did this one, no man in the land
+does aught to stay it. That is the law. From its horns to its hoofs,
+every hair of it is sacred. Bel-Ar may forgive me the loss of a fademe,
+though it will be a great vexation to him; but the death of one of
+these sacred bulls of Shamar he will not forgive any man. Sooner might
+you expect mercy if you declared yourself a follower of the Goddess
+Glorian of Ruthar. In this matter I cannot hope to persuade him. By
+the bones of the ten thousand kings, I am sorry that this thing has
+happened!"</p>
+
+<p>But later, as they rode on toward the city of Adlaz, the red captain
+seemed to be far from rueful. He rode behind the car, and, when he
+thought none was observing him, he smiled to himself, as though the
+course events were taking pleased him very well indeed.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2>CHAPTER III</h2>
+
+<h3>THE KING JUDGES</h3>
+
+
+<p>Like the shape of a mighty wheel with four spokes was the plan of
+the city of Adlaz&mdash;or more like a circle drawn around the angles of
+a cross, the curved line of the outer boundary passing through the
+far-flung arms. Built in a long-ago time of perils and wars, Adlaz
+was a walled city, and its wall was both stout and high, and set with
+many castellated towers. It was also a very ancient wall, to which its
+moss-grown, weather-worn gray stones bore witness.</p>
+
+<p>In all of the sweeping circumference of the outer wall, which enclosed
+some ten square miles of street and square, there were four breaks
+only, and those were protected by ponderous gates of bronze and guarded
+well by soldiers of the king. Those breaks were where the rim of the
+wheel met its four spokes. The wall was the rim. The spokes were four
+wide roadways, which ran east, west, north and south from the city's
+center. The hub of the wheel was a park or esplanade, fronted on all
+sides by magnificent buildings in which the colored rocks hewn from the
+Maeronican quarries were blended splendidly. In the very center towered
+the massive structure of the Temple of the Sun, built all of white
+marble, the tips of its hundred spires capped with solid gold.</p>
+
+<p>Other and many streets were laid out in all directions within the
+angles of the four great avenues; but none was so wide as they by many
+feet. Within the wall dwelt nearly half a million souls, Maeronicans,
+if one named them from their country, but loving to call themselves the
+Children of Ad, after their city, which in turn drew its name from a
+certain mighty king, the time of whose rule was so lost in the mists of
+dim antiquity that he was little more than a tradition in the mouths of
+the people.</p>
+
+<p>Across from the Temple of the Sun, and in the northeast angle of the
+arms of the cross, stood the palace of the kings of Maeronica, another
+immense pile of masonry, built also of a solid color, not dazzling
+white as was the marble of the house of the god, but the deep, rich
+red of granite porphyry. Back of the palace lay the barracks of the
+king's guard of half a thousand picked men, his stables, and the
+quarters of countless servants. In the southwest angle was the Place of
+Games&mdash;a hippodrome and circus, with an amphitheater of black basalt
+of an age and splendor that would not have shamed the proudest days of
+seven-hilled Rome itself, although its foundation stones were laid long
+before Remus leaped over his brother's wall.</p>
+
+<p>Around the hub and extending to the wall were the homes of the Children
+of Ad&mdash;nobles, captains, rich idlers, merchants, money-lenders, and the
+common people. In latter years, since Adlaz, strong and triumphant,
+defied her enemies, it had been the pleasure of many of her wealthier
+sons to build their mansions beyond the sheltering wall of the city,
+and along the four splendid roadways stretched many a fair and wide
+estate. Such were those the prisoners from the fademes saw as their car
+was driven up the long, black road from the harbor in the mountain.</p>
+
+<p>It was late afternoon, and the sun was casting his last slant rays over
+the distant mountain-rim, when the car was halted at the bronze gates
+of the western entrance to Adlaz. The red captain trotted his horse
+forward to parley with the captain of the gate-guard and explain why he
+led Brunar's horsemen, and who were these whom he brought with him to
+the city. That parleying was added to by one of the riders in steel.
+Whatever he told the gate-captain, it did not add to that worthy's
+esteem for the captives, for he favored them with an exceedingly evil
+look as they rode through his gates.</p>
+
+<p>"Ugh-h," remarked Ensign Brooks, "I can't say that I care for that
+party. He has a lean and hungry look. Speaking of hunger, I wonder how
+soon we will get where we are going to, and whether it will be supper
+time when we get there. I could eat cat right now, I'm so near to
+starvation."</p>
+
+<p>Oleric heard him and replied with a smile. "You shall eat soon, and of
+good fare. So much at the least I can promise."</p>
+
+<p>To which the ensign replied with a stare. For the young naval man did
+not like the red captain and his ways, whom he blamed partly for the
+loss of the <i>Minnetonka</i> and all of the rest of the troubles, of which
+this land seemed to hold a plenty.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after the car entered the gates, the sunlight faded into dusk, and
+then white-capped messengers passed through the streets, plucking the
+cloth hoods from globes which were fixed on posts of stone at intervals
+along all of the ways. From each globe, as its hood was removed, sprang
+a broad circle of white light. On the tall buildings and their many
+spires and on the towers of the city wall similar lights flared up.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Except for the quaint architecture of the place, and the strange
+garb of the folk who thronged its streets, the Americans might have
+imagined themselves entering some stately capital of the modern world,
+and not Adlaz of Maeronica, the oldest of all peopled cities of the
+earth&mdash;older, indeed, than many among the buried ruins in which
+archeologists love to delve.</p>
+
+<p>For its pavements were curbed and guttered, and between them and the
+building fronts and lawns were walks of stone, bordered by well-ordered
+rows of trees and many shrubs and beds of flowers. The people who
+walked the streets, too, were quiet and orderly folk. They stared hard
+at those who rode in the car, but there was no unseemly outcry. Only
+an occasional shout of surprise and welcome went up as some group of
+strollers recognized the merry face and flaming poll of Oleric the Red.</p>
+
+<p>At all of these marvels the two Sardanians gazed wonderingly and talked
+together of them in their tongue.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, surely here is one of the greatest cities of the world of men,
+my prince," said the Lady Memene. "Note the mighty towers yonder and
+how they flash and gleam. And the folk! In one short ride we have seen
+enough of them to people two lands like our own lost Sardanes."</p>
+
+<p>"Aye, Memene, these be wonders, indeed," Minos answered. "And here
+is a kingdom and a city well worth the ruling over. Yet these, even
+these, must be as nothing to the things beyond in the greater world,
+whereof Polaris hath told us. I wonder if we shall ever reach them.
+For myself, though, I find this land and its folk more to my manner of
+understanding than the world-dwellers way to the north. Here, methinks,
+one might, did opportunity offer, carve out a kingdom for the king that
+is to come."</p>
+
+<p>Memene flushed and hung her head, and the two of them lapsed into
+thoughtful silence.</p>
+
+<p>Truly, Minos of Sardanes lacked not in ambition.</p>
+
+<p>"Too late, now, to hope to meet Bel-Ar the king before the morrow,"
+Oleric said. "And perhaps that is as well. By another coming of Shamar
+his wrath may have cooled somewhat, though 'twill still burn hot
+enough, I'll wager."</p>
+
+<p>The charioteers drove their car to the front of a long, low building,
+the façade of which verged almost upon the pavement of the black avenue
+which was known as Chedar's Flight, because of an ancient battle which
+had been fought along its course. There, the riders of Brunar left the
+car and clattered away up the street to their own place. A group of
+street idlers surrounded the car and began to discuss its passengers,
+taking note especially of the giant form of Minos and the beauty of the
+two ladies.</p>
+
+<p>"This was a palace, once, but it serves as a prison, now," Oleric said
+to Polaris, as gates of bronze were thrust back and the charioteers
+drove through and into a roomy court, partly paved and partly lawn and
+trees. "Sorry I am, comrade, that this must be, but 'tis not of my
+working."</p>
+
+<p>"I blame you not, friend," said Polaris. "But other days bring other
+fortunes. I do not think that I shall stay long in your prison. And it
+comes to me also that your king best had let this party depart his land
+in peace, else the next turn of the wheel may bring to him that which
+he least desires. And I think that you may have a hand in that turn,
+Oleric."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you a prophet, my brother?" exclaimed Oleric, searching the face
+of Polaris for a hidden meaning. "For if you be not one, then you have
+a rare spirit."</p>
+
+<p>"No prophet I," Polaris answered. He sprang down over the wheel and
+stretched his weary limbs. "Only at times, when all seems black, my
+heart does whisper courage, and then all things turn well. It did so
+just now, when I saw the lights spring up along that splendid street
+out there." He held up his arms and assisted Rose Emer to alight from
+the car.</p>
+
+<p>Oleric gazed at him curiously. "So you think that the wheel will turn,
+and that I will have a hand in it, my brother, do you?" he whispered to
+himself. "Perchance I shall."</p>
+
+<p>He swung down from his horse and cast the reins to an attendant.</p>
+
+<p>"What! Mordo! Where do you tarry? Here be guests for you," he shouted.</p>
+
+<p>They stood in the dusk under the spreading boughs of an ancient oak and
+waited while a tall, loosely built man, black-bearded, and clad in the
+armor of gold that was the badge of power in Maeronica, came down from
+a pillared porch on the other side of the court and shambled across.
+They noticed that his step was somewhat uncertain, and once or twice he
+stumbled as he approached.</p>
+
+<p>"Mordo, captain, and keeper of the king's prison house," Oleric
+muttered to Polaris. "He's a good fellow, but does love his wine cup
+exceeding well."</p>
+
+<p>As the prison keeper came across the stones and the grass, he shouted,
+and an underling ran to him, swinging a lighted globe encaged in a
+metal net. Mordo took the lamp and cast its rays on the party. His face
+was flushed, and his eyes rolled until they saw Oleric. Then his mouth
+gaped in a delighted grin.</p>
+
+<p>"Hoy! Hoy!" he exclaimed. "By the wall and the beasts and the shadows
+of the fathers of Ad, if it is not my old bottle-crony come sailing
+home again! I thought my ears had lied when I heard that voice in the
+dark." He set the lamp down and pitched forward, steadying himself with
+his hands on Oleric's shoulders. "And the same old dekkar, eh?" (A
+dekkar was a broad goldpiece of the coin of Maeronica.) "They said that
+you were gone across the black river, but I believed them not. 'Not
+Oleric,' I told them. 'Not so long as there is left unemptied a single
+one of those long-stemmed bottles in old Mordo's cellar.' And I was
+right, eh, old firetop? Ah! Many a glass shall clink to-night, and many
+a rack be made lighter when Brunar and the others come."</p>
+
+<p>Mordo threw his head back and laughed, a roaring gale of mirth.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, I was so lonely to-night that already I have cracked two flagons,
+just for the good wine's company."</p>
+
+<p>"So it seems," put in Oleric, sniffing. "Are you sure there were only
+two of those flagons?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mayhap it was three; I care not; there's still space for more, as you
+well know," Mordo replied, still shaking with laughter. He took up his
+lantern again.</p>
+
+<p>"But whom do you bring with you to Mordo's house?" he asked, peering
+once more at the strangers. "Women, too! And pretty ones!"</p>
+
+<p>"Have an end to your banter, Mordo," Oleric interposed. "These be six
+guests for whom Bel-Ar will ask accounting. Hold them well. And harken,
+old friend; treat them kindly and to the best you have, for they did
+befriend me when I was in evil straits and sore in need of friends.
+That tale you shall hear later. Now hasten and bestow them. They are
+weary. And bethink you, man, your wine grows stale with waiting to be
+drunk, and my throat aches for the smack of it."</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Through his porch and into the depths of the building beyond, Mordo led
+the party. Along many halls and passages he led, and through gates and
+doors of bronze and steel, whereof an attendant bore the keys.</p>
+
+<p>An ill place, this, to come out of, thought Polaris, noting the
+strength and number of the gates. Nor did the son of the snows relish
+at all the grim clanking of chains which issued from certain of the
+chambers which they passed along their route.</p>
+
+<p>At length the jailer paused, in a hall so wide that its boundary walls
+could be seen only dimly by the light of the few globes which hung from
+its pillars of black stone, and so lofty that the pillars' tops were
+lost in the upper dusk. The hall was circular, and all around its walls
+were the doors to lesser chambers.</p>
+
+<p>"Here may your stranger friends from the sea await the pleasure of
+Bel-Ar in peace," hiccoughed Mordo. "And 'tis better by far for them
+than some of the places that I have below, as you know, Oleric. Kings
+have sat in judgment here, and the beds in yonder chambers&mdash;queens have
+slept on them. May your guests sleep well, old fox; I can offer them
+no better, no better lodging place than the audience-hall of the great
+King Bel-Tisam. I'll send them meat and wine. Now haste we to those
+bottles. Shamar send that Brunar be not long delayed."</p>
+
+<p>"Here I must leave you for a space, my friends," Oleric said. "I
+would have you believe that I am not ungrateful for many good deeds
+remembered, and I hope yet to find the means to repay them. To-morrow I
+will go with you before Bel-Ar the king."</p>
+
+<p>He bowed and went out with Mordo.</p>
+
+<p>Presently came men with an abundance of fresh-cooked meats and
+trenchers and tall bottles of Maeronican wine.</p>
+
+<p>Little heart for conversation was there among the seven friends. Each
+was busy with bitter thoughts. They ate, sitting on cushions about a
+low table which the attendants spread for them at the foot of one of
+the pillars. The two women, weary from the events of the day, soon went
+to their rest. Old Zenas Wright was not long in following their example.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm growing old, boys," he said as he left the table. "And this has
+been a hard day&mdash;a terribly hard day. We appear to have strayed far
+into the yesterdays. To-morrow we will talk, and it will be strange
+if we cannot between us figure our way out. I don't want to leave my
+old bones in this place. I intend that they shall be buried in Woodlawn
+Cemetery in Buffalo, near where I was born; ah me, where I was born. I
+vow and vum, I've seen some mighty queer sights since I walked up Main
+Street last."</p>
+
+<p>The geologist turned and trudged sturdily away to the chamber which he
+had selected for his own.</p>
+
+<p>Soon only Polaris and Lieutenant Everson were left in the great hall,
+Janess lying stretched on the floor, his head pillowed on his hand, and
+the lieutenant standing gloomily with folded arms, his back resting
+against one of the pillars. For many minutes those two talked of the
+things which had befallen; but neither one had a plan to offer.</p>
+
+<p>"We must trust to the wit of this Oleric, of which I think he has
+plenty," said Polaris at length. "I believe that he wished us no ill,
+and I believe, too, that he forms some scheme for our advantage, though
+what it is I cannot guess."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't like him," Everson said bluntly. "He is one of this nation of
+devils whose submarine sank my ship. Oh, for a few files of marines and
+a couple of twelve-inch guns!"</p>
+
+<p>When Everson had gone, Polaris still lay at the foot of the pillar,
+thinking and planning, for he was a man in whom hope never died. He
+dozed at length, but suddenly he was wide awake. And, though he did not
+at once open his eyes, his wilderness-trained faculties, keen as those
+of any animal, were alert and watchful.</p>
+
+<p>Something had come into the hall.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing in living shape ever had struck fear into the heart of Polaris,
+and he had a healthy disbelief in the supernatural. He was not afraid
+now. But he felt that the presence that had entered the hall was both
+baleful and menacing. He felt the fixed regard of hidden eyes, and it
+sent an uneasy thrill through the roots of his hair at the back of his
+head. Whatever it was that had wakened him, it was not in the direction
+of the chambers where the others of his party lay, but far across the
+hall.</p>
+
+<p>Cautiously he opened his eyes.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>At first he could make out nothing. Then something stirred soundlessly
+from behind a far pillar near the wall. Polaris stared hard, and his
+eyes were almost more than mortal keen. For a fleeting instant he saw
+it clearly&mdash;the shape of a tall old man with snowy beard and hair, and
+with piercing eyes, full of evil. The man was dressed in flowing robes
+of white, on the breast of which glittered some object of burnished
+metal.</p>
+
+<p>For an instant only the vision persisted on Polaris's retina. Then it
+was gone, and with no sound that even his sharp ears could catch.</p>
+
+<p>Polaris snapped himself to his feet and bounded across the hall on
+the balls of his feet, almost as noiselessly as the shadow which had
+departed. And it had departed. Along the wall and behind the pillars
+Polaris glanced quickly. There was nothing there. Back of the pillar
+where he had seen the white shape was the closed door of a chamber. He
+tried the door and found it fast. He listened.</p>
+
+<p>From the darkness beyond the closed door, he thought he heard the ghost
+of a thin chuckle. Immediately his attention was drawn to another
+quarter. Close behind him arose a deep growl, which had nothing ghostly
+in its quality, but was most material. Polaris spun upon his heels.</p>
+
+<p>Some ten feet from him, and beside one of the pillars, from the foot
+of which it evidently had arisen, stood a huge dog. It was the first
+animal of its kind which the son of the snows had seen in Maeronica,
+and the largest he ever had set eyes on in his life; larger by far even
+than gray old Marcus, his friend and comrade that he'd left behind in
+Boston town.</p>
+
+<p>This brute was neither Great Dane nor mastiff, though in points it
+resembled both of those breeds. Its jaws were square, and its head and
+neck were massive. The tips of its powerful shoulders were a long yard
+up from the stone floor where it stood.</p>
+
+<p>It was smooth of coat and of a glossy, blue-black color, except on its
+breast, where was a triangular patch of tawny yellow. Its ears had
+been clipped and stood erect and pointed. As it regarded the man, its
+big eyes glittered in the dim light. Its lips were writhed back from
+formidable teeth.</p>
+
+<p>Another low growl rumbled from its deep chest.</p>
+
+<p>Instinctively, dogs trusted Polaris. He had had much experience with
+their kind, and never had he seen one that in the end he could not make
+his friend. Unhesitatingly he extended his hand and crossed the floor
+to where the big beast stood. He guessed that it must have come in
+with the old man whom he had glimpsed, and had been left behind when
+the silent visitor had made his hurried departure. As he drew nearer,
+Polaris saw that the animal wore a broad leather collar, bossed with
+gold.</p>
+
+<p>Unhurriedly, the son of the snows approached the brute until there was
+not the space of a yard between them. There he paused. The dog neither
+shrank nor cowered, but waited with muscles tensed and teeth exposed.
+Polaris was very watchful.</p>
+
+<p>"Good fellow," he said.</p>
+
+<p>At the sound of the man's voice, the dog shifted his position slightly.
+His head swayed. From Polaris's face he glanced to the outstretched
+hand. The bristling hackles at his neck subsided. He took a stiff
+step forward, then another. The tip of his cold muzzle touched the
+man's fingers. He sniffed. A long, red tongue crept forth and licked
+Polaris's hand. Another step, and the brute rubbed his great head
+against the man's thigh.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah; I thought you would," said Polaris. "Come on." He turned and
+crossed the hall to his sleeping chamber. The dog padded beside him on
+silent feet. The last thing the son of the snows heard, after he had
+called Brooks to take the watch, and closed his eyes to slumber, was
+the sigh of the huge beast as it stretched itself before his open door.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Worn of body and of nerves, Polaris slumbered deeply. Shamar rose high
+in the east and lighted the golden spires of his mighty temple in Adlaz
+town; still the man slept on, and as he slept, he dreamed. Far into the
+white, mysterious southland his fancies led, to a waste of ice and snow
+and bitter winds. He drove a team of splendid dogs&mdash;his gray brothers
+they seemed to be in the dream, those tried friends who had given their
+lives for their master, and of whom Marcus, if he still lived, was the
+last.</p>
+
+<p>On the sledge which the dogs drew, rode Rose Emer, wrapped in furs,
+as in truth she once had ridden. There, too&mdash;and even in the dream he
+seemed strangely out of place&mdash;was the Maeronican captain. Yes, Oleric
+the Red trudged through the snows beside the sledge, clad in his golden
+armor, his teeth chattering in the chill blasts of the wilderness, and
+bearing in his hand a naked sword.</p>
+
+<p>Danger, unseen, unknown, but frightful, encompassed the wanderers in
+the snow path. The dogs snarled and tore at their harness. Oleric ran
+forward, waving his sword, which seemed to drip blood on the white
+snows, and shouting.</p>
+
+<p>"Up, brother, and call off this beast of yours!" the red captain cried.
+"For soon must we go before Bel-Ar."</p>
+
+<p>With those words ringing in his ears, Polaris awoke. He sprang from his
+couch to the middle of the chamber. No dream's part was the shouting of
+Oleric. He stood in the hall before the chamber door, his lips still
+parted and a smile on his ruddy face.</p>
+
+<p>And the snarling of a dog&mdash;that, too, was real.</p>
+
+<p>Planted squarely in the doorway, hackles bristling, ears erect and
+fangs bared, was the immense animal with which Polaris had made friends
+in the night watches. All through the dark hours and the dawning, the
+beast had guarded the door, suffering none to approach it. He now
+barred the way to Oleric, and the chamber echoed to his angry challenge.</p>
+
+<p>"By the ten kings!" exclaimed the captain with a laugh. "You do raise
+up friends wherever you go, my brother. Here is one that dearly would
+love to make a breakfast off my lean shanks, armored as they are, and
+all because I would tell you that Shamar has brought to us another day."</p>
+
+<p>At the call of Polaris, the dog backed out of the doorway, but still
+with a wary and suspicious eye to the movements of the red captain.</p>
+
+<p>Mordo, the prison captain, was not in attendance, but certain of his
+servants were spreading the table near the center of the hall. The
+Americans and the Sardanians were gathered in a group about one of the
+pillars.</p>
+
+<p>Everson looked wan, like one whose pillow had been ridden by evil
+visions. The others of the party seemed in better spirits and were
+talking among themselves. Zenas Wright gave evidence that his
+scientific zeal had only lain dormant. For now he noted all about him
+with a keen and kinding interest, paying his attention especially to
+the architecture of the lordly hall which had housed them, and its
+sculptures, of which there were many. Young Brooks' interest was fully
+as keen, if more material, as that of the geologist. The eyes of the
+ensign were all for the table preparations.</p>
+
+<p>Seeing the party thus, and the broad bands of sunlight which streamed
+into the hall through windows of crystal high in the masonry, Polaris
+grew shamefaced.</p>
+
+<p>"Now it seems that I alone, who of all should be wakeful, have slept
+dully like a wintered bear," he muttered.</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis well. You have gained strength which perhaps shall not come
+amiss," Oleric answered.</p>
+
+<p>Near the center of the hall a fountain played, its spray falling
+through a bar of sunshine which changed the silver drops to gold as
+they fell. Calling his morning greetings to his friend, Polaris went
+thither and laved his face and hands and smoothed his mass of tawny
+hair. The dog followed close at heel and lapped greedily from the
+fountain's basin.</p>
+
+<p>"Strange that this brute should be here," said Oleric. "Do you know
+what manner of beast this is that so befriends you, Polaris?"</p>
+
+<p>Polaris shook his head; nor did he at that time see fit to acquaint
+Oleric with the circumstances of the dog's appearance.</p>
+
+<p>"This is one of the dogs the priests keep at the temple of Shamar," the
+captain informed. "There are few of the breed in the land, and all are
+at the temples of the god in the cities. Almost as sacred are these
+brutes as are the bulls, whereof you already know, and are likely to
+learn more. The holy men do say of them that they are dwelt in by the
+souls of heroes passed away, whom Shamar chooses to guard his temple
+gates, even as the bulls are inhabited by the souls of dead kings.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not believe such tales," he added quickly. "But now you will
+see why Bel-Ar will be more than passing wroth at the death of the
+bull, believing as he does that it is a dwelling place for one of his
+ancestors, and that you may, indeed, have slain his father or his
+grandfather."</p>
+
+<p>Oleric, who had breakfasted, sat by while the others ate. The dog,
+from the collar of which the captain read the name Rombar, signifying
+thunder, stood behind the seat of Polaris and ate with dignity whatever
+his self-appointed master passed to him. But he would take food from no
+other hand, not even from Rose Emer, who liked all dogs.</p>
+
+<p>Thereafter, sleeping or waking, the huge beast remained at Polaris's
+side, and none could coax him thence. And many Maeronicans deemed that
+strange. But as no man, not even Shamar's priests, dared to interfere
+with the sacred brutes, except when they played their parts in the
+ceremonials of the god, the attendance of Rombar upon the stranger was
+permitted.</p>
+
+<p>Under a guard of mailed foot-soldiers, led by Brunar, who was a captain
+in the palace regiment, the prisoners were marched from the ancient
+palace of Bel-Tisam to the newer palace of Bel-Ar. At their right, as
+they passed up the street called Chedar's Flight, was the wall, pierced
+by many gateways, of the Place of Games, with its basalt amphitheater
+and its arena.</p>
+
+<p>As they passed they heard the hoofs of galloping steeds, the rumble of
+chariot wheels, and the cries of the charioteers, where the young lords
+of Adlaz exercised their horses. From slits in the wall low down near
+the pavement, issued the howling and snarling of wild beasts; for a
+menagerie was a part of the equipment of the Place of Games.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Beyond the hippodrome, their way led around half the circle of the
+broad drive on which the four main avenues gave, and which surrounded
+the wonderful gardens of the Temple of the Sun. The Americans, three
+of whose number were widely traveled, marveled anew at the splendor of
+that mighty pile of white marble, its lofty columns, towers and domes,
+dazzling in the sunlight, their golden caps ablaze. Luxor and Karnac in
+the days when Pharaoh Rameses ruled in Egypt could not have shown the
+equal of this structure.</p>
+
+<p>With armed men clanking on each side, the captives entered through a
+massive peristyle of vari-colored pillars which was the portal to the
+house of the king. Along a corridor in which four elephants might have
+found way and clearance to walk abreast, the guards conducted them. At
+each end of the corridor there stood ajar tall gates of bronze, their
+bars interlaced with heavy patterns of gleaming gold, encrusted with
+the luminous metal, known in Maeronica as orichalcum, and set with many
+precious gems.</p>
+
+<p>Through the second gateway the prisoners were marched, and were in the
+audience chamber of Bel-Ar, the great king. It was similar in shape to
+the place where they had been quartered for the night; but there all
+similitude ceased. Bel-Tisam of old had sat in a plain and massive hall
+and been content. The house of Bel-Ar held treasures in metals and gems
+on its sculptured walls and pillars, aye, and on its floors, too, which
+could have paid the national debt of a wide and wasteful state.</p>
+
+<p>Dull gold smoldered underfoot in the mosaic of the pavement. Gold
+and orichalcum glittered and shimmered on pillar and wall. Chairs
+and tables of stone and bronze and polished woods were heavy with
+the precious metal. Set in the bases of the seventy and six pillars
+which upheld the roof were patterns gorgeous in agate, lapis-lazuli,
+turquoise, quartz, and rock-crystal. Other and similar panels
+adorned the walls. Farther up, where the work in gold and orichalcum
+began&mdash;placed so high, perhaps, to be out of reach of avaricious
+fingers&mdash;were more precious stones. There topaz, moonstone, amethyst,
+opal, sapphire, diamond, and priceless ruby and emerald flaunted their
+hundred fires.</p>
+
+<p>"Lordy!" muttered Zenas Wright under his breath to Ensign Brooks as
+they crossed the hall. "Give me a pick and a ladder and a half hour
+alone in which to use them, and you may have and welcome the rubies of
+Sardanes which went down with the <i>Minnetonka</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Near a fountain, the jets of which fell and flowed over a grotto of
+opalescent glass lighted from within, sat the master of all this
+splendor, Bel-Ar, king of Maeronica and lord of the underseas. On no
+raised dais or lofty throne sat this monarch who was absolute in his
+own land. A high-backed chair of carved black wood sufficed him, raised
+from the flooring on a single slab of red porphyry, scarcely twelve
+inches high. On another chair at his right sat his queen. The two
+were in the center of a wide crescent of seats and benches, whereon
+sat the nobles and ladies of Maeronica who made up the court. Without
+the semicircle stood attendants and slaves. Farther back, ranged in
+a double line, was one full company, one hundred men, of the palace
+guard, all in bronze mail, and each carrying his bared sword.</p>
+
+<p>Like a dull moth among a concourse of gaudy and fluttering butterflies
+was this powerful Maeronican king. He was attired simply in cloth
+of dark blue. A cloak of the same material had fallen back from his
+shoulders. On his knee rested a flat black cap of the same pattern
+that his meanest sailors wore. Only a light circlet of twisted gold,
+fashioned in the semblance of a slender serpent, set on his heavy
+black hair above his temples, and a short, broad sword which swung at
+his belt, distinguished the garb of Bel-Ar from that of the ordinary
+citizen of Adlaz.</p>
+
+<p>Seeing these things, one looked into the king's face for royalty,
+and found it there. He sat with an elbow on the arm of his chair,
+his chin cupped in his right hand, so that it hid his mouth. His
+forehead was broad and low, his nose short and tilted slightly at
+its tip. His cheeks were rounded and well-shaped. His ears, almost
+hidden in the black hair, which was cut evenly around his neck, were
+small and delicately turned as a woman's. But every other feature was
+cast into insignificance and forgotten, when one looked at the king's
+eyes. Set far apart, they were extraordinarily large, and black, so
+that iris and pupil seemed as one. They were the eyes of a mystic, a
+far-seeing dreamer, but filled with subdued fires; eyes of a strong and
+self-willed man, one not to be tampered with or led. In contrast to
+them, the skin of the face was fair, almost pallid. The king's figure
+was above medium height, broad and powerfully framed. His years were
+not more than thirty-seven.</p>
+
+<p>As the prisoners were brought near to him, Bel-Ar had fallen into a fit
+of abstraction. He gazed fixedly across the hall, seeing it not, nor
+its people and its walls. At his feet a little slave boy sat asleep,
+his head leaned against the leg of his king's chair, his small golden
+harp fallen across his lap.</p>
+
+<p>If Bel-Ar was the dull moth, his consort, Queen Raissa, who sat beside
+him, was the most gorgeous of all the butterflies. She was younger than
+the king, by a full ten years. Her face was small and flower-like, with
+pouting lips and proud blue eyes that shone like stars. Hair yellow as
+the golden, shell-shaped comb which was set in it, was piled high on
+her head, and was yet in such abundance that two heavy braids fell down
+across her shoulders. She was robed in a graceful gown of pale blue,
+the bodice of which blazed with gems. Her fingers toyed with a costly
+fan, whereof the stem was ivory and the sticks the colored plumes of
+rare birds. She gazed curiously at the strangers whom the soldiers
+brought in, and when her eyes alighted upon Oleric they became eager.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>At the edge of the open space just beyond the semicircle of the
+courtiers, the guards halted. For a few moments the silence in the hall
+was broken only by the low-toned gossip of gay lords and ladies, who
+paid scant attention to guards or prisoners. Then the queen touched
+Bel-Ar's knee with her fan and spoke a few words in his ear. He started
+from his reverie.</p>
+
+<p>"Come hither, Brunar," he said in a deep, low voice. As he raised his
+head, it was to be seen that his chin was square and heavy, but that
+his mouth was lacking in the strength of his other features.</p>
+
+<p>Brunar made his report, and was replaced by Oleric the Red, who bowed
+low before the king, his ready smile playing about his lips.</p>
+
+<p>"You would make report of a fademe lost, Captain Oleric," said the
+king. "Doubtless a small matter to you, but meaning much to me, who ill
+can spare my fademes." He frowned.</p>
+
+<p>"Not so, O king," replied the captain, composing his features and
+speaking earnestly. "As you know, not all of our engineers have learned
+to govern wisely the mighty force that gives the fademes life."</p>
+
+<p>Bel-Ar nodded. "That is true," he said. "Now what of this engineer of
+yours?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, he was a careless fellow, and whoof! one day under his hands went
+engine and fademe. They lie in fragments on the sea-bottom near the
+great south cape on the way to the ocean named Pacific, and the crew
+lies with them."</p>
+
+<p>"How is it, then, that you stand here to make report?"</p>
+
+<p>"My star watched over me, O king. I floated to the surface, alone of
+all the fademe's crew. On the wreckage of the cabin I floated. I had
+by me my hamess (mask). I donned it. Later my senses departed me. I
+was taken up by a ship from the northern world, and was treated with
+kindness by these whom you see here. Driven by storm, that ship came to
+the coast of Maeronica, and&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Enough; I had the rest of the tale from Brunar," interposed Bel-Ar.</p>
+
+<p>"But of your mission to the far Pacific? What of that?" questioned
+Raissa, leaning forward eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>Again Oleric smiled, and smiling, drew from his belt a small leather
+bag. He advanced, and kneeling, handed the bag to the queen.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! Lovely!" she gasped as she poured a part of its contents into her
+palm&mdash;pearls, five score or more of them, as fine as ever came from the
+ocean bed, she held. One great and lustrous globe of faint rose-pink
+she seized upon with a cry of delight. She held it out toward the
+king. "See! Is it not beautiful?" she exclaimed. She turned to the red
+captain.</p>
+
+<p>"You have done well, indeed, good Oleric," she said quickly. "My king
+shall forgive you for the lost fademe, the losing of which was surely
+no fault of yours. And these&mdash;these be worth many fademes to me." She
+selected two of the pearls of fair size and goodly sheen and gave them
+to Oleric.</p>
+
+<p>"You did venture your life to get them. Perchance some maid of Adlaz
+town shall look on you more kindly for the gift," she said.</p>
+
+<p>Bel-Ar frowned; then he smiled, too.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Raissa has said it. I must agree, I suppose. I forgive you the
+fademe," he said, somewhat dryly, while the lords and ladies laughed.
+"Only sail no more ships at present, captain. Get you to the harbor,
+and there for a space relieve Atlo as captain of the port. I have need
+of him at the Kimbrian Wall, where the robbers of Ruthar have grown
+overbold.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, another matter." The king's brow clouded. "Which of these
+foreigners slew the bull of Shamar? This one surely." He pointed to
+Minos. "Never saw I such a man."</p>
+
+<p>"No, O king, not he," Oleric said. "He is from a far land in the
+southern snow wastes, which was destroyed by the earth-fires. There he
+was the king. The other one, the golden-haired man, it was, who slew
+the bull&mdash;to save a child&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Have done. The reason for the deed avails him not," Bel-Ar broke in.
+"Have him come hither, that I may judge."</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Oleric fetched Polaris Janess into the space before the throne. The son
+of the snows advanced with a firm step and halted directly in front of
+Bel-Ar, where he gazed at the king with steady eyes. Close at his heels
+came the great dog Rombar.</p>
+
+<p>"Why does the man not bow?" inquired Bel-Ar harshly. "Where learned he
+his manners? And how does it come that he is attended by a sacred dog
+of Shamar, that seems ready to do battle for him?"</p>
+
+<p>In truth, Rombar, who feared not kings, was ready for battle. He stood
+at the side of Polaris, his hackles raised and a rumbling challenge in
+his throat.</p>
+
+<p>Bel-Ar regarded the pair of them sternly, though many in his court
+found much to admire in the powerful form and steadfast demeanor of the
+son of the wilderness.</p>
+
+<p>Oleric spoke hastily in English. "Bow, brother; bow to the king; though
+I fear that 'twill not mend matters," he grumbled.</p>
+
+<p>Polaris inclined his head shortly and continued to meet the gaze of the
+angered king. "His bow is grudging enough," said Bel-Ar to the captain;
+"but no matter."</p>
+
+<p>Just then a tall old man in white and flowing robes came forward to
+the left of Bel-Ar's seat. He was lean of face, like an ancient hawk,
+and like a hawk's was his thin, curved beak. His eyes glittered with
+malice. On his breast, done in gold in the garment he wore, was the
+likeness of the rising sun, the insignia of the priests of Shamar.</p>
+
+<p>Well Polaris knew that shape and face. It was the master chuckler that
+had disturbed him the night before.</p>
+
+<p>"This man is marked by Shamar," the priest said in a high, cracked
+voice, and regarding Polaris hatefully. "As for the dog, 'tis sent by
+the god to watch that the man escape not his doom."</p>
+
+<p>"Oleric, hold your peace," said Bel-Ar, as the stout captain was about
+to speak. "And flout not the holy Rhaen, lest it be the worse for
+you. I will judge." The king paused and ran his eyes over the other
+prisoners.</p>
+
+<p>"He that slew the sacred bull, he shall be given over to the servants
+of Shamar, to be done with as the god shall will at the feast of years.
+He that was a king, he shall now serve a greater king. Let him be sent
+to the harbor, where strong backs are always welcome. The other two
+young men shall go into my mines. The old one shall be a scullion in my
+kitchens, as harder work doubtless would kill him.</p>
+
+<p>"Take the two women and the slayer of the bull to the prison and keep
+them fast until Shamar claims them for the feast. The women must die.
+The law commands that no foreign woman, however fair, shall live in
+Maeronica. So may the ancient blood never be tainted. I have judged.
+Let it be so, and so writ down, unless the holy Rhaen, chief servant to
+Shamar, has other claims." Bel-Ar looked inquiringly at the priest.</p>
+
+<p>Now it chanced that Lieutenant Everson, face to face with the man by
+whose decree his ship had perished, had fixed on the king a glance of
+undying hatred. None had noted it except the priest, Rhaen, who saw all
+things. He now asked that the naval man be turned over to the god along
+with Polaris. Bel-Ar nodded his assent.</p>
+
+<p>At a sign from the king, Oleric led Polaris back to his companions.
+The judgment was ended. The guards closed in around the prisoners and
+marched them away.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+
+<h3>"DEAD MEN ARE BEHIND US"</h3>
+
+
+<p>Along the black avenue, back to the prison house of Mordo, the captives
+were marched. For Oleric, through the friendship Brunar bore him, won
+from that captain the half of a day for his friends, that they might
+pass it together before the separation decreed by Bel-Ar.</p>
+
+<p>Understanding little of what had taken place, and no word of what had
+been said in the audience-chamber of the king&mdash;for Oleric the Red was
+their only interpreter&mdash;the prisoners still had the heart to look with
+curiosity upon the doings in that part of Adlaz town which lay along
+the way that they traversed.</p>
+
+<p>As Zenas Wright trudged, his bright old eyes were busy, and he shook
+his white head often at the marvels which he saw. A group of the
+young bloods of Maeronica clattered by on horses. As they passed, the
+old geologist stared and stopped in his tracks, so that an impatient
+soldier of the guard hustled him with the butt of a spear.</p>
+
+<p>"Gold, gold, everywhere," muttered Zenas as he started on. "They even
+shoe their horses with it."</p>
+
+<p>In the hall where they had slept the friends gathered for council.
+Oleric had come in with them, and all eyes were turned to him. Before
+he would speak the captain insisted that meat and wine should be
+brought, and he set his helmet on the floor and ate with them.</p>
+
+<p>Fate willed that it should be the last time that the seven friends
+should sit at the same table.</p>
+
+<p>When the meal was ended, Oleric told simply and briefly of the judgment
+of Bel-Ar, holding back nothing.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment, silence was his answer. Then Zenas Wright brought his
+jaws together with a snap.</p>
+
+<p>"What! Me a scullion in that barbarian's greasy kitchen!" he barked.
+"Why not nursemaid to the royal brats?" Then Zenas groaned as his anger
+was swallowed in the realization of what was to befall the friends he
+whom had come to love so well.</p>
+
+<p>With his topaz eyes ablaze, Polaris Janess sprang up from the table and
+stood over the captain.</p>
+
+<p>"You, Oleric, who call yourself my friend, why did you not interpret
+this to us while we were in the hall yonder?" he asked quietly. "Then
+had this kingdom been kingless." He glanced down at his sinewy hands.
+Suddenly he bent over and snatched the captain's sword from its sheath.
+So he, who had seen so much of fighting, made ready to fight again, and
+for the last time. For what else was left him but to give his life for
+his lady and go to his appointed place?</p>
+
+<p>"Of those who come to take us, some at least shall go a long journey
+with us," he said as he toyed with the heavy blade.</p>
+
+<p>Everson and Brooks, picked men who had sailed the seas for Uncle Sam,
+nodded their heads, saying nothing. There have been traditions in that
+service of which they were officers. When their time came they would
+uphold them.</p>
+
+<p>White and straight, the Lady Memene stood up from the table and fixed
+her glorious eyes upon the Sardanian king. She plucked from the bosom
+of her gown a small, keen dagger, a blade of ilium, which a certain
+Kard the Smith had forged for her in far-away Sardanes. She reached the
+weapon across the table and into the hands of Minos.</p>
+
+<p>"If I understand the words of this man aright, death waiteth," she said
+in the ancient Greek of her native land. "Memene prefers it at thy
+hands, O king of mine. Slay thou me and&mdash;and the unborn king, Minos."
+Her lips trembled pitifully, and her voice broke. Then she became hard
+again, and with a fire in her eyes. "Join thou then with our good
+brother here, and slay, and slay, and slay&mdash;for this is an evil land.
+And begin with this man whom we saved from the sea, and who is evil,
+also. See! He smileth, while we are about to die."</p>
+
+<p>Oleric, who had made no move when his sword was taken from him, sat
+quietly, studying the faces about him and smiling his enigmatical smile.</p>
+
+<p>"What does the lady say?" he asked of Polaris.</p>
+
+<p>Janess told him.</p>
+
+<p>When Rose Emer heard, she threw her arms about the Sardanian princess
+and hid her face in Memene's bosom. Presently she looked up, a mist of
+tears in her gray eyes, but her voice was clear and steady as she said:</p>
+
+<p>"If we are to die, let us die together. Polaris, let me go with Memene."</p>
+
+<p>Oleric's smile vanished. He held up his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Let there be no more talk of dying&mdash;at least not for many long years,"
+he said, and there were both feeling and strength in his tones.</p>
+
+<p>The others looked at him, wondering what his words portended.</p>
+
+<p>"Now the time has come for me to avow myself," continued the red
+captain. "I will speak all that has been in my mind, and you shall
+judge if I be worthy of your trust&mdash;for trust to me you must, if we are
+to see a straight way out of this tangle."</p>
+
+<p>He turned to Polaris.</p>
+
+<p>"My brother," he said, "do you recall that yesterday, when you had
+slain the bull of Shamar, I said to you that Bel-Ar would be as little
+likely to forgive you that deed as to forgive one who confessed himself
+a follower of the Goddess Glorian of Ruthar?"</p>
+
+<p>Polaris nodded. "I remember," he answered, "but understand not."</p>
+
+<p>"That is my crime," said Oleric. "I am of Ruthar, a follower of the
+Goddess Glorian, and a faithful one. I will make clear to you what you
+do not understand. Listen. I will make the tale brief.</p>
+
+<p>"In the long ago, the very long ago&mdash;so long that most of the world
+you know was wilderness and its peoples barbarians&mdash;a mighty people
+flourished on an island in the ocean that you name Atlantic. They
+called themselves the Children of Ad, or Adlaz, after the eldest of the
+ten kings that once ruled in that land. Tradition has it that their
+island was the first cradle of civilization; for they, because of their
+isolation, alone of all the peoples of the earth, dwelt in peace and
+plenty, and were not wasted by wars.</p>
+
+<p>"If the ancient maps were truly drawn, that island of Adlaz lay
+opposite and southward from the straits of a fair sea, and the straits
+were known as the Pillars of Heracles. With time and the growth of
+the nation of Ad came greed upon her children, greed and the love of
+conquest. Great navies carried their armies east and west. Along both
+shores of that blue sea, which you know as Mediterranean, they gained a
+foothold, and made the nations bend to their yoke. Westward they sailed
+to another continent across the ocean, conquering the red men of the
+wildernesses there, and founding provinces and building cities.</p>
+
+<p>"Then in the flower of her pride and conquests, Adlaz was cut down.
+Both sides of the Mediterranean she held as far as the gates of Egypt
+and the islands of the Hellenes. But the nation of the Hellenes was
+the rock on which the fortunes of Adlaz split. A wise and crafty king
+led the Hellenes in battle to withstand the flood of invasion from the
+island empire. He beat their army and nearly destroyed it. He trapped
+the mighty navy that had sailed from Adlaz against the Hellenes. While
+Egypt sat quaking, waiting to bend the neck to the heel of the invader,
+the Hellenes, under their wise leader, turned the tide.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>"Balked and broken, those who had gone forth to conquer returned to
+their island. But the great sea-god whom they worshiped must have been
+sorely angered at their failure. For in one day he arose and swallowed
+their island. The land heaved and split; the mountains were rent, and
+vomited up both fires and waters, and the entire island disappeared
+into the depths of the sea. East and west on the two continents, the
+barbarians rose against the colonies of Adlaz, and they too perished.
+O'Connell, the slave, who was learned, told me that so utterly was the
+race of Adlaz wiped from the earth that naught remains, excepting the
+half-buried ruins of some of their cities, which stand in the jungles
+of the western continent, concerning the very origin of which the minds
+of men are vague. And of the island of Adlaz itself, he told that it
+was only a dim tradition, a myth, the truth of which is doubted even by
+the learned.</p>
+
+<p>"But all of Adlaz did not perish. A part, a small part, of the mighty
+fleet which had sailed against the Hellenes was not lost, but was
+driven southward in the tidal-waves of the inundation which swallowed
+the island.</p>
+
+<p>"Afloat, but with every hand in the world turned against them, their
+colonies crumbling before the wrath of the barbarians, those chiefs of
+Adlaz turned for guidance to the son of one of their princes who was on
+one of the ships. Of his wisdom that prince told them that since they
+were hated of all the world, and that even the hand of the sea-god was
+set against them&mdash;why, they would sail to the end of the world to find
+them an abiding place, until in the fulness of time they should once
+more rule the earth. So they passed like a flame down the coasts of the
+western continent until they reached this place; and here they stopped
+and stayed, maintaining the old traditions of their race, keeping
+themselves apart&mdash;a hateful people, waiting for the day of which their
+leader told them, when they shall once more conquer the world.</p>
+
+<p>"But even in those days they found this land, which is warmed strangely
+by the ocean currents, was inhabited. A free and fearless race of
+barbarians dwelt here, and them the warriors of Adlaz were never able
+to subdue. Great beasts dwelt here, also&mdash;beasts so mighty that the
+earth shook when they walked&mdash;and the Children of Ad found themselves
+beset by troubles in their new land. But they throve. Though they
+could not conquer the barbarians, they drove them from the north of
+the island. And though they could not slay the mighty beasts, they
+affrighted them with fire, burning whole forests, and forced them also
+to the south. At one point the land is narrow, scarcely sixty of your
+English miles across. There the Children of Ad builded them a wall so
+tall and thick that even the beasts might not push it down.</p>
+
+<p>"On the other side of that wall&mdash;the Kimbrian Wall&mdash;lies Ruthar, a land
+of forests and hills and rivers, but a fair land. And there dwell the
+Rutharians and the beasts; and down through all the years to this day
+there has been war across the wall.</p>
+
+<p>"Now to the meat of this tale of mine, which grows long. In Ruthar
+there is a prophecy, also, to match that of those who call themselves
+Maeronicans. It is that there shall come up from the sea a mighty man
+with yellow hair like unto gold, who shall break down the Kimbrian
+Wall and let the beasts pass through, and who shall lead the chiefs
+of Ruthar in a warfare that shall break the power of Adlaz, and cast
+down the hateful kings and the cruel religion of Shamar. For that man
+the Rutharian chieftains always wait, and with them waits the Goddess
+Glorian, who is more than any king or chief."</p>
+
+<p>Oleric paused, and looked long and earnestly into the face of Polaris.</p>
+
+<p>"That is my tale, my brother," he said. "And if you are not the man of
+the ancient prophecy of Ruthar, at least I believe that you will serve."</p>
+
+<p>Breathlessly Zenas Wright had followed the course of the red captain's
+words. The scientist could contain himself no longer.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Atlantis!</i>" he cried. From face to face about the table he looked,
+with a shadow of awe in his eager eyes. "Just so surely as we are
+sitting here&mdash;if this man tells the truth, and I think that he does&mdash;we
+are among the descendants of the people of the lost continent of
+Atlantis. Word for word, his story fits in with that which the old
+Egyptian priest at Sais told to Solon, the Greek, and which Plato
+recorded. I have read it all in the compilation by Ignatius Donnelly,
+in which he gathered all the evidence which he could find in the world
+to prove that Atlantis was not a myth."</p>
+
+<p>Zenas sat back with half-closed eyes. A long, low whistle passed his
+lips.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you call the luminous metal with which your helmet and armor
+are decorated?" he asked of Oleric.</p>
+
+<p>"It is called orichalcum," replied the captain.</p>
+
+<p>Wright nodded. "It is the same," he said. "Plato wrote that such was
+the name of a similar metal, of which the Atlanteans had the secret.
+They delved it from the ground. It was far more precious to them than
+gold. In their temples stood columns of it, on which their laws were
+carved."</p>
+
+<p>"O'Connell told me that there were still traditions in the world of the
+continent that was; but he never told me this," Oleric said. "You are
+right. In the Temple of Shamar, here in Adlaz, such a column stands,
+and on it the laws are writ. On it, too, is the prophecy of Maeronica,
+against which I now match the prophecy of Ruthar, whose son I am."</p>
+
+<p>He looked at Polaris. "Say, brother, how is it with you? Are you minded
+to come with me to Ruthar and try a tilt at the Kimbrian Wall&mdash;a tilt
+for a kingdom?"</p>
+
+<p>Polaris had heard the tale of Oleric with grave and earnest attention,
+studying the face of the captain as he talked. Now the son of the snows
+laughed dryly.</p>
+
+<p>"Mad talk, Oleric the Red," he said. "I am not the hero of your
+prophecy; and if I were, how are we to come from Adlaz to this Ruthar
+of which you tell us so glibly; and when we are come there, if that be
+possible, how are we to break down the wall which has stood against
+your armies for years&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"So it must seem to you," interrupted Oleric, with clouding brow. "Mad
+talk, indeed; and perhaps it is. But here in Adlaz is death&mdash;death and
+slavery. I know a way to Ruthar. For the matter of the wall, I have one
+question to put. Well answered, all will be well.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>"Here in Maeronica there are some few things in which the folk have
+progressed as far ahead of the rest of the world as the world has
+outstripped them in most others. Of these are the fademes and their
+power of destruction&mdash;the mighty force of which even I know can only be
+used beneath the sea. On land, that force is powerless except to use
+as a light. In battle the Maeronicans fight as did their forefathers,
+bearing the arms that you have seen. I know that out in the world men
+have mastered the secret of engines which slay from afar, casting
+globes of metal which fly apart with a loud noise, rending all that is
+near. Such I saw on the ship yonder.</p>
+
+<p>"We have, as you reckon time, nearly six months before the Feast of
+Years, when doom will be meted out to those who are marked for death.
+I know that is not time enough, nor do I think we have the means to
+construct such engines. But, say&mdash;has no one among you the knowledge to
+make the stuff which you feed into them? If there is such a one, why,
+I know in Ruthar a laboratory where he might work, with many willing
+hands to do his bidding. I have tried it myself, but have discovered
+nothing. Surely one of you, who are instructed, shall do better. So
+might we destroy even the great wall."</p>
+
+<p>He paused, and gazed hard at Zenas Wright and then at Lieutenant
+Everson.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>An explosive!</i>" Zenas Wright almost shouted the words. "You have a
+brain in that red head, my boy. With the proper chemicals it might be
+done." He clapped Everson on the shoulder. "With you to help me, it
+might be done. What do you think, lieutenant?"</p>
+
+<p>"I would do most anything to get a chance at this nest of devils," said
+Everson, and his eyes glittered. "I have not trusted this man. I do
+not know that I trust him now. But if he is playing fair, there seems
+no other way. Whatever you decide to do, I am with you, and will do my
+best. If we can find the chemicals, we can make an explosive powerful
+enough to move a few tons of stone, if that will do any good."</p>
+
+<p>"Break you the wall, and I will promise you the rest of the trick,"
+the captain cried, "or Ruthar will die to the last man on the road to
+Adlaz!"</p>
+
+<p>He considered for a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"One man I can surely take with me to Ruthar," he said. "Two will
+double, aye more than double the risk; and three would more than triple
+it. Still, it may be accomplished. I must have a little time; but I
+will do my best.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, my brother, what say you? If I can bring it about so that you and
+the old man here, Father Zenas, and this other, who, though he trust me
+not, I will yet play fair by&mdash;if I can manage it that these go with me
+to Ruthar&mdash;will you come, also?"</p>
+
+<p>"What of these others?" Polaris asked, and looked at Rose Emer.</p>
+
+<p>"Here they must stay," Oleric answered.</p>
+
+<p>"'Twill be hard enough to take the three of you&mdash;and slaying will be
+done before it is accomplished. It is impossible to take more. By the
+way which we shall go, no woman might pass undetected. But I tell you
+they shall come to no harm in your absence. The very law of the land
+protects them. They be marked for the ceremonies of Shamar. Until the
+appointed time, not even the king himself dare harm them. Bethink you,
+brother; this is the only way."</p>
+
+<p>"Yonder on the ship you made a promise, Oleric," replied Polaris. "I
+think you will try to keep it. I trust you. But there are other things
+to consider." He addressed himself to Rose Emer.</p>
+
+<p>"Lady, you have heard this madness, which yet, as says the captain,
+does seem to be the only road save that to death. In such things
+ofttimes the heart of a woman is wiser than the brains of men. Let your
+heart answer. Shall I go to Ruthar, and with this man and his people
+fight my way back to Adlaz, if it may be done?"</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>"The future of this company hangs on your word, lady," put in Oleric.
+"And I make another promise. By day and by night I will not leave the
+side of my brother. If he shall find that in any word I have lied, if
+he shall meet with any treachery through me, then let him wring this
+red head from off my shoulders."</p>
+
+<p>"If we stay here, we must die to-day, or be separated and die later,"
+Rose Emer said with a shudder. "And our friends, if they do not die,
+face a life of slavery." She looked into the face of Polaris, and
+though her lips trembled and the tears started to her gray eyes, she
+said bravely:</p>
+
+<p>"Go to Ruthar, and come back if you can. If you do not come, I will
+know that you have done all that a man can do."</p>
+
+<p>"I will go with you, Oleric," Polaris said simply. "Now, what is your
+plan?"</p>
+
+<p>"This," answered the captain. "When the guards come, as they will
+presently, you, my brother, will go with them to the dungeons that lie
+below this house. Though they are cut in the rock they are lighted well
+and are not terrible. You will not fare badly there. The ladies will be
+quartered above here, and I will exert my influence to see that they
+are treated well. These others will not fare so well; but they are men,
+and can stand it. Let them do as they are bid without protest. Within
+ten days from this day I will plan to have you out of your prison, and
+will contrive, also, to bring with me Father Zenas and the captain
+of the ship. By stealth or by force, we shall seize a marizel, pass
+through the hidden canal from Adlaz to the harbor, thence to the sea
+and down the coast to Ruthar.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall have some aid; for within the walls of Adlaz there is one
+other man of Ruthar who is faithful to me. You may wonder how it is
+that I, who am of Ruthar and hate Adlaz, yet am a captain in the
+service of Bel-Ar. Years ago I passed the Kimbrian Wall, coming as a
+spy and giving it out that I was the son of Maeronican parents taken
+captive in a foray; that I had been born in Ruthar, but had escaped
+into my own country. Here I have stayed at the bidding of the Goddess
+Glorian, ready against the time for which all Ruthar waits. Bel-Ar
+likes men of brains. I have some, and I have risen to be one of his
+captains. Also, I have learned much. That is all my story."</p>
+
+<p>"Who is the Goddess Glorian?" Rose Emer asked. "Is she the queen of
+Ruthar?"</p>
+
+<p>Oleric's eyes widened at the question; but he answered readily enough:</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, lady; she is the queen."</p>
+
+<p>"You say that there are great beasts in Ruthar," said Zenas Wright.
+"What are they&mdash;elephants?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; they are not what you call elephants," replied the captain.
+"O'Connell thought they were until he saw them. Then he gave them
+another name, which I have forgot. He told me of elephants; but they
+must be puny beasts compared to those which dwell in the forests of
+Ruthar. We call them amalocs. This man is a giant." He pointed to
+Minos, who stood six feet eight on his naked feet. "But were he twice
+as tall, he could not look across the back of an amaloc. But they are
+shaped like the elephants of which O'Connell told, and, like them, they
+are tusked. Their bodies are covered with red wool&mdash;almost as red as is
+my own thatch."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Elephas primigenius!</i> Mammoths, no less," said Zenas. And he added
+under his breath, "I will believe that when I see them, my friend."</p>
+
+<p>Low as were his words, Oleric heard them.</p>
+
+<p>"You shall see them, Father Zenas," he said, and laughed.</p>
+
+<p>Presently came the guards, and the friends were separated. Some of them
+were never to be reunited.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Deep in the rock below the old palace of Bel-Tisam, where Mordo ruled,
+the guards led Polaris Janess, and left him there. Oleric had spoken
+truly concerning the place, and the captive might have fared much worse
+in a modern prison in a civilized land. For the place was roomy and
+well ventilated, and, above all, it was clean. A chamber or cell, it
+was, some forty feet square by thirty feet in height. Its outer wall
+was the living rock. On the other three sides was masonry. A circular
+door of bronze, small and of great strength, was its only entrance.</p>
+
+<p>Through that door from the corridor without stepped Polaris, and behind
+him, close as a shadow, padded the huge dog, Rombar, rumbling in his
+throat so that the guards shrank from him. The door clanged shut, and
+the bars and wards clashed into place. The guards had neither bound
+nor chained Polaris. They had not even searched his clothing. The
+thickness of the dungeon walls was their guarantee that he would do no
+mischief; and besides, they went well armed.</p>
+
+<p>Air entered the chamber through mortises in the wall near the ceiling
+and above the ground level, where began the foundation of the
+palace. It was lighted by a single globe, with its enclosed curious
+battery&mdash;mitzl, the Maeronicans called it; but the Americans had
+decided that the source of the light was some new application of
+electricity.</p>
+
+<p>By the light from the globe Polaris saw that he was not alone in the
+cell. A small man, whose features were concealed by a mat of unkempt
+gray hair and a shaggy beard, sat on a low cot in the angle of the wall
+nearest to the door. He was clothed in rags.</p>
+
+<p>This man did not look up when another was thrust in to break his
+solitude, but bent low over something which he had on the cot, swaying
+back and forth as he sat, and crooning softly to himself.</p>
+
+<p>Polaris cast his fellow prisoner a glance, and then fell to pacing
+up and down the length of the cell. His mood was gloomy. Above him
+somewhere through those gray walls dwelt his dear lady; but, ah, how
+far away! For he was powerless now to comfort her or to aid. Oleric
+would keep faith. Of that he was sure; but his heart misgave him
+mightily lest the plans of the captain should go awry.</p>
+
+<p>Yes; above him were Rose and Lady Memene, who through the long weeks of
+their prisonment, each night when they went to rest, would kneel and
+pray for his welfare and that of Minos and the others, and that all
+plans might prevail.</p>
+
+<p>Presently the son of the snows sat himself on a second cot on the far
+side of the chamber, and fell to fondling Rombar and toying with the
+dog's pointed ears.</p>
+
+<p>"Good Rombar," he said. "Good fellow and comrade."</p>
+
+<p>At his words, the man in the corner sprang up from his cot as though
+fire had touched him. He shrieked hoarsely and tottered across the
+floor, moving and clawing at the air with his hands. Unheeding the
+snarling menace of Rombar, he came on until he stood in front of the
+cot where Polaris sat holding the dog back by the collar.</p>
+
+<p>The man bent over, resting his hands on his knees, and peered into
+Polaris's face with darkling, rheumy eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Hinglish!" he croaked, gasping for his breath. "Hinglish! Did Hi 'ear
+a Hinglish word, or was I a-dreamin'? Sye?"</p>
+
+<p>He trembled in a terrible eagerness.</p>
+
+<p>"You did, indeed," Polaris said gently. "Now tell me how you came here,
+who speak it also, and who are you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Gor'bly me; Hi never 'oped to 'ear another Hinglish word in this
+life&mdash;me wot's rottin' 'ere into my grave!" the man said. "Gor'! Gor'!"
+He subsided into a tattered heap on the floor of the cell, covered his
+eyes with his shaking, grimy hands, and sobbed hysterically.</p>
+
+<p>Restraining the dog, which would have sprung upon the weeping man,
+Polaris leaned forward and patted the poor fellow on the shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"Who are you, and how do you come to be in a Maeronican dungeon?" he
+asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Jack Melton's me nyme, sir," the man said brokenly. "Hi'm from old
+Lunnon, Gor' bless 'er! Hi was cook on the ship <i>Aldine</i>, sir, from
+'Ong-Kong to Durban, round the Cape. We got off our course, and the
+bloody devils sunk us&mdash;skewered us like a mutton shank, sir, with a
+streak of light. An' w'y in 'ell they did it, sir, is more than Hi can
+tell.</p>
+
+<p>"Hi floated free on a cask&mdash;a biscuit cask, sir. Or mayhap it was a
+'encoop; Hi've forgot, Hi was that flustered. Hup bobs a bloomin' big
+gold ball from the sea&mdash;it's Gord's truth. They took me aboard, an'
+they brought me ashore. They sets me to work in their mines; but Hi'd
+not do a stroke for them, sir. Hi near killed one of the bosses. Then
+they brought me here, sir. Oh, Gor'! Oh, Gor'-a-me!"</p>
+
+<p>He broke out weeping afresh and rocked himself back and forth.</p>
+
+<p>"How long have you been here?" questioned Polaris.</p>
+
+<p>"That Hi can't tell, sir," Melton replied. "Hi used to keep count of
+the weeks an' months; but Hi lost it. Mayhap 'alf a year; mayhap a
+year."</p>
+
+<p>Melton fell silent for a time. Then he chuckled to himself and tottered
+to his feet.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Hi'll</i> get even with 'em, sir," he said. "Never fear; <i>Hi'll</i> get
+even. Come an' see, sir."</p>
+
+<p>He took Polaris by the hand and led him across the floor to the other
+cot. "Look!" he said, and fumbled back the ragged covers.</p>
+
+<p>Beady black eyes glistened among the rags. A sharp and whiskered gray
+snout was thrust forth, twitching and sniffing; then another and
+another. A mother rat and two half-grown young ones were hidden in
+Melton's bed. Out they crept to their master's coaxing, only to scurry
+back, squeaking, when Rombar thrust his head from behind Polaris,
+whining with eagerness to be at them.</p>
+
+<p>"Keep the tyke back, sir," said Melton. "'E frights 'em. This 'ere's
+'Enrietta, an' 'ere's Bobby an' Bill. 'Enrietta's an old fool, an'
+Bobby's no better; but Bill, 'e's a wonner, sir. See!"</p>
+
+<p>From his breast he took a splinter of wood, to which was attached a bit
+of frayed red rag, on which he had rudely drawn in black the lines of
+the Union Jack. He placed one of the young rats on his palm, and laid
+the sliver with its frayed shred of bunting in front of the little
+animal. Softly he began to whistle the bars of "God Save the King."</p>
+
+<p>"Come, Bill; 'urry," he said, and resumed his low whistling. The rat
+took up the flag in its teeth and sat on its haunches in its master's
+hand. As long as the whistling continued the little beast shook its
+head vigorously, waving the tiny emblem. When Melton ceased the anthem,
+Bill let fall the flag and swarmed, squeaking, down the man's arm, to
+nestle away among the rags at his breast.</p>
+
+<p>"Gor'bly me, Bill, you're a wonner!" Melton said with pride. He placed
+his strange pet back with the others and pulled the coverlet over them.</p>
+
+<p>"Listen. Hi'll tell you wot no man knows," he whispered to Janess.
+"They're hoff a plyge-ship. 'Enrietta an' Bobby an' Bill is. They
+carried it to us from a bloomin' junk at 'Ong-Kong. The cap'n was
+dyin' of it in 'is cabin when the ship went down, sir. And Hi'm
+a-nursin' of 'em along, sir. Hi saved 'Enrietta, and she became a
+mother, sir. When there's enough of them, Hi shall loose them, sir.
+That's 'ow Hi'll get even. Gor'bly me! Hi'll kill hevery beggar in this
+land with the plyge. 'Enrietta an' Bobby an' Bill will do it, sir."</p>
+
+<p>Melton sat down on his cot again, and crooned to himself over his pets.
+He seemed to forget the presence of Janess. Neither then or afterward
+did he ask Polaris any questions as to how he came to share his prison.
+Polaris drew away from him and went back to his own side of the cell.
+He saw that the man was mad.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Twice each day one of Mordo's guards brought the captives their
+meals&mdash;bread and meat and water in generous measure, enough for the men
+and the dog. Melton from his rations fed his whiskered family.</p>
+
+<p>With his pocket-knife and a bit of wood from the frame of his cot, the
+son of the snows made shift to keep track of the passing of the days,
+cutting a nick in the wood for each. "God send that they be not many
+before the coming of Oleric," he prayed fervently.</p>
+
+<p>One night he was startled from his sleep by an uproar in the chamber.
+Melton's cursing and shrieking was intermingled with the angry snarls
+of Rombar. Polaris sprang up and threw off the cloth with which he was
+wont to darken the mitzl globe when he slept.</p>
+
+<p>Melton was crouched in the middle of the cell. His face was livid and
+contorted. Tears of rage were on his cheeks, and his breath was coming
+in gasps. His lips were writhed away from his ragged teeth. In front
+of him, tensed and ready to spring, was Rombar. On the floor, where it
+had dropped from the dog's jaws, lay a little bundle of gray fur, still
+twitching feebly.</p>
+
+<p>Before the impending grapple, Polaris bounded between them and jerked
+the dog back by the collar.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?" he cried. "What ails you, Melton?"</p>
+
+<p>Then Janess saw the maimed little fragment of life on the floor, and
+his face saddened.</p>
+
+<p>"'Fore Gord, 'e's murdered my 'Enrietta!" howled Melton. "The tyke's
+murdered 'er, Hi sye! And Hi'll kill 'im, Hi will&mdash;and you, too, if you
+tries to stop me! And you, too, Hi says!"</p>
+
+<p>He staggered toward Janess and lunged out with his right hand.
+Something glistened in the light as he struck. Polaris avoided the
+blow, and caught and wrenched the outstretched arm. A slender bar of
+iron fell tinkling to the floor. Janess picked it up. Where it had come
+from he did not know; but Melton, by patient rubbing against the stones
+of the wall, had ground it to a needle point.</p>
+
+<p>"Let me at 'im!" the crazed man shrieked. "Hi'll tear 'im with me bare
+'ands!"</p>
+
+<p>Polaris pushed him back.</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry, very sorry, for what he has done," he said. "But he is my
+good friend, and I shall not let him come to harm. He did but follow
+the instincts of his nature."</p>
+
+<p>Melton stared at him for a moment, and then, weeping and cursing,
+retired to his cot. Far into the night Polaris heard him moaning and
+mumbling to himself, and pitied him.</p>
+
+<p>Janess hid the weapon under his own pillow. Then with strips of his
+bedding he wove a stout cord, and thereafter when he slept he tied
+Rombar fast to a leg of the bed.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Days passed away&mdash;ten days, eleven, twelve, and still another. And yet
+there was no sign of Oleric. Polaris's stout heart sank.</p>
+
+<p>In the dark hours of the fourteenth day he awoke. He heard the grating
+of bronze hinges. At the side of his bed, Rombar growled softly.
+Polaris snatched the hood from the light.</p>
+
+<p>The door of bronze was open. The mitzl rays shone on the tall form of
+a man in golden armor.</p>
+
+<p>Oleric had come!</p>
+
+<p>"I am late at my tryst," whispered the red captain, "but I could not
+manage it sooner. Now we must haste, or 'twill be too late forever."
+He grinned. "I see your beard has grown somewhat," he said. "Perchance
+those bristles shall serve well. You are an ill man to disguise. Who is
+here?" he asked as he caught sight for the first time of Melton, who
+had not awakened.</p>
+
+<p>"A poor crazed English sailor," Polaris answered. He crossed the
+chamber, with Rombar at his heels; for he had stopped to undo the rope.</p>
+
+<p>"What? The brute, too?" groaned Oleric.</p>
+
+<p>"I fear we must," Polaris said. "If I leave him, he will rouse the
+prison with his howling, and I will not slay him. He has been too good
+a friend. Can we not manage to take him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Aye; bring him," grumbled the captain. "First fetch yonder light."</p>
+
+<p>Janess took down the globe. As he swung it toward Oleric, he saw that
+the hands of the captain were splashed red with blood. Oleric noted his
+glance.</p>
+
+<p>"Dead men are behind us," he said. "Thrice to-night have I used my
+sword&mdash;once at the mines, where I got Everson, and twice above. Two of
+the men of Mordo will turn no more prison keys. Come!"</p>
+
+<p>He stepped cautiously out through the door.</p>
+
+<p>Polaris glanced across to where the mad Cockney lay breathing heavily.</p>
+
+<p>"Some day, if it be given me, I will open this door again and set you
+free, John Melton," he whispered.</p>
+
+<p>He stooped and went out through the doorway, and Rombar followed.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Outside the door of the dungeon-chamber Polaris stumbled over the form
+of a tall man in armor, who lay with his face to the floor.</p>
+
+<p>"More death?" Janess asked of Oleric, who busied himself with the bolts
+of the bronze door.</p>
+
+<p>"Not so," said the captain with a chuckle, as he shot the last bar home
+in its socket. "Only the death that good wines bring. He has the best
+part of seven bottles in his skin."</p>
+
+<p>He looked up at Polaris apologetically.</p>
+
+<p>"Bel-Ar would flay him for this night's work, did he find him," he
+said. "You say the dog has been a good friend to you. Well, this man
+Mordo, with all his glum ways, is a good fellow. I will not leave my
+old drinking companion to the mercy of Bel-Ar."</p>
+
+<p>Without answer, Polaris handed the light to Oleric, and stooped and
+swung the limp figure of Mordo to his shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>Oleric glanced at the keys in his hand and then at the door.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll not turn the locks," he said. "I would not have the poor slave
+within starve while they made new keys."</p>
+
+<p>He led the way along the corridor, past a broad stone stairway, to the
+south wall of the old palace, where it fronted on the black avenue
+called Chedar's Flight. There in the wall were other doors of bronze.
+Oleric paused before one of them.</p>
+
+<p>"Will I ever enter Mordo's wine-cellars again, I wonder?" he said. He
+found the key and opened the heavy door. Within, the light disclosed
+rack after rack, seemingly without end, of dust-covered flagons. They
+threaded their way among them until Oleric found what he sought. In
+the stone floor of the chamber in a far corner was a round trap-door
+of bronze. The captain had to tug one of the wine-racks to one side to
+disclose it.</p>
+
+<p>"Lay Mordo down, comrade, and help," he said, when his utmost strength
+had failed to stir the door.</p>
+
+<p>Polaris, still balancing his burden on his shoulder, bent down and
+caught the ancient ring of the door in one hand. Before Oleric could
+lay hold to help him he straightened, the mighty muscles of his back
+cracking with the effort. The door was open.</p>
+
+<p>The trap yawned on a dark stairway leading down through the rock. Far
+below sounded the plashing of waters. "Mind where you set your feet,"
+warned Oleric as he started down.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are Everson and the old man?" asked Polaris.</p>
+
+<p>"They wait us below in the hidden canal&mdash;they and one other," replied
+the captain. "They entered by another way, while I was busied in the
+house of Mordo."</p>
+
+<p>Oleric closed the trap and left the keys on the stair-top. Down fully
+threescore steps they went, and stood on a wharf of stone at the edge
+of a narrow canal that had been cut in the rock. Overhead, the roof was
+arched and vaulted. At the lip of the wharf was moored a small marizel,
+the golden plates of which caught the rays of the lamplike fire.</p>
+
+<p>"All the way from the Temple of the Sun to the harbor of Adlaz this
+canal leads, cut through the rock underneath Chedar's Flight," said
+Oleric. He stepped on the rear deck of the little craft and struck
+softly on its door, which was opened at once. A short man of middle
+age came onto the deck. He was clothed in the garb of a sailor. As the
+light fell on him, Polaris saw that his hair was almost as red as that
+of Oleric.</p>
+
+<p>"Now here is another good man of Ruthar," said the captain. And to the
+man he said, "Urk, this is the man whereof I have told you." From head
+to foot, Urk gave the son of the snows a long and searching glance.
+Then he folded his arms on his breast and bowed low.</p>
+
+<p>With Mordo on his shoulder, Polaris stepped onto the deck and through
+the door, followed by Rombar.</p>
+
+<p>Oleric closed the double doors of the craft, and Urk, who was skilled
+about the engines, at once got her under way. Submerged and showing no
+light, they crept cautiously down the canal toward the sea.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>In the cabin of the marizel were Everson and Wright&mdash;though Polaris had
+to look twice and then again to recognize the geologist. Zenas wore the
+mean black of a servant in the king's kitchens. His white hair had been
+bobbed and his beard shaved from him. But his little black eyes were as
+bright and restless as ever, and his voice was hearty as he wrung the
+hand of Polaris and said:</p>
+
+<p>"Lordy, son, but it's good to see you."</p>
+
+<p>Everson, who had discarded the dirty garments of a delver in the earth
+for the full golden armor of a Maeronican captain, caught Polaris's
+hand as Zenas relinquished it.</p>
+
+<p>"Our work has begun," he said, "and begun well. I shall distrust this
+man no more." He pointed to Oleric. "He has kept his promise in blood.
+He released me to-night, and he killed a man to do it."</p>
+
+<p>As they neared the harbor, Oleric explained that they would be forced
+to leave the marizel in the canal and cross the open court of the
+harbor to the wharves.</p>
+
+<p>"Else we must undergo inspection by the guards at the mouth of the
+canal," he said. "There is a gate there, and no marizel may pass
+without inspection. My lucky star it was that made Bel-Ar name me
+captain of the port in Atlo's stead. But even I could not pass you
+through the guards. Their eyes are keen, and one of us at least is a
+marked man in Adlaz." He glanced at Polaris. "There be too many of
+them to slay," he added. "I would have fitted you out with a suit of
+mail, brother; but there is none in Maeronica of a size to cover those
+shoulders of yours&mdash;unless it be that of Bel-Ar, which I could not well
+borrow."</p>
+
+<p>"When we leave this craft, what then, Oleric?" Polaris asked.</p>
+
+<p>"I have another waiting at the end of the southern quay," replied
+Oleric. "Urk knows the harbor as he knows the palm of his hand. Once
+through the outer channel, then down the coast to Ruthar."</p>
+
+<p>They left the marizel moored in the canal and went up through a passage
+in the rock to where a door led into the great arched tunnel above,
+where Chedar's Flight ended at the harbor of Adlaz town. Now there was
+only the crossing of the wharf and all would be well.</p>
+
+<p>But hark! As Oleric laid his hand on the door of the passage, came the
+thunder of hoofs through the tunnel, and a steel rider on a white horse
+flashed past and clattered across the court to the warehouses. He rode
+furiously, and as he neared the quays he cried out.</p>
+
+<p>Oleric tore the door open.</p>
+
+<p>"Our work behind there is overtaking us!" he cried. "We must run for
+it!"</p>
+
+<p>Polaris shifted Mordo's weight from his shoulder to his arms and
+bounded across the pavement at the heels of the captain. Behind came
+Wright, Everson, and Oleric's Rutharian henchman. Rombar leaped at the
+side of Polaris.</p>
+
+<p>Lights flashed ahead of them as they ran. When they neared the south
+quay, they saw that the way to it was barred by a thin line of men in
+steel, among whom glittered the golden armor of the captain of the
+canal guard.</p>
+
+<p>Casting a glance over his shoulder as he ran, to note the disposal of
+his own party, Oleric drew his sword and charged the line. The guard
+captain leaped out to meet him, shield up and sword aloft. Him Oleric
+cut down with a single stroke, laughing as he struck. In another
+instant Everson's blade was out and busy. His cutlass exercises at
+old Annapolis stood him well. The line of steel gave. The other three
+fugitives, running together, dashed through and gained the quay. But
+behind them came many men.</p>
+
+<p>Polaris laid Mordo on the wharf and looked about him for a weapon.
+The door of the nearest warehouse was made fast with a bar of bronze
+or steel, nearly eight feet in length. Janess tore it from its rests.
+At the end of the quay he saw the marizel of Oleric riding in its
+moorings, and saw that Urk had clambered aboard it and was making all
+ready to cast off.</p>
+
+<p>Whirling his ponderous weapon, which was a weight to tax the strength
+of an ordinary man to lift from the ground, Polaris rushed into the
+thick of the press, where the red captain and the naval lieutenant
+fought side by side.</p>
+
+<p>"Get you to the boat!" he shouted. "When all is ready, whistle that I
+may know."</p>
+
+<p><i>Clang!</i> The metal bar fell, and three men in steel went down under its
+sweep. With the agility of a panther, the son of the snows leaped and
+struck again. At his side black Rombar raged like a demon. Before those
+terrible blows no man, however well begirt in steel, could stand and
+live.</p>
+
+<p>The Maeronican fighting men drew back, aghast. The way to the wharf was
+clear.</p>
+
+<p>Laughing aloud, Oleric drew out of the fight and ran along the wharf to
+the marizel. Everson paused at the side of Polaris.</p>
+
+<p>"Best go on," Janess told him. "I shall need no aid. Or, if you stay,
+stand to one side a bit. I have need for much room."</p>
+
+<p>Once more the Maeronican men-at-arms closed in. Polaris, with his bar,
+charged them, shouting; for his blood was up. They should take him back
+to no dungeon when his freedom beckoned so near. Two more armored men
+fell, their mail cracking like egg-shell under the clanging flail that
+opposed them. Another went down under the murderous jaws of Rombar who
+fought at his master's thigh.</p>
+
+<p>Loud and clear then sounded the whistle of Oleric. Hurling the bar in
+the faces of the bewildered men of the guard, the son of the snows ran
+to the end of the wharf and sprang to the deck of the marizel. Everson
+entered the door just ahead of him. Oleric and Urk already had stowed
+Mordo within the vessel and cut loose the mooring ropes.</p>
+
+<p>As he paused for an instant on the rear deck to call the great dog to
+him, Polaris saw a giant figure come from one of the stone warehouses
+and run out to the end of the next quay. In the dusk, and at that
+distance, he yet was able to recognize Minos.</p>
+
+<p>"It is I, Polaris!" Janess shouted. "We leave for Ruthar, if we may win
+through. Farewell for a space, until we come again."</p>
+
+<p>Back came the deep voice of the king in answer:</p>
+
+<p>"Fare thee well, my brother!" he cried in the ancient Greek of
+Sardanes. "May the high God guide thy footsteps."</p>
+
+<p>Many a time in after years did the son of the snows recall to mind
+that scene: the great, circular basin of the harbor of Adlaz, dim under
+the light from the stars; the glittering fademes that were riding at
+anchor; the twinkling of mitzl globes along the wharves, where men
+ran to and fro; the court and its huge, black archway; the armored
+men of the guard coming on across the wharf; and the tall form of the
+Sardanian king standing at the end of the quay and waving farewell.</p>
+
+<p>Reenforcements had come to the Maeronican guards, and they rushed
+the quay. But Urk had his engine going. The marizel shot out into
+the harbor. In a moment more the little craft had dived beneath the
+surface. Like an arrow, it clove through the under water. Crafty
+steersman was Urk. Through the harbor he drove the marizel in safety,
+and through the tunnel to the sea, meeting no incoming danger. Once out
+of the channel, he turned the nose of the craft southward, down the
+coast toward Ruthar.</p>
+
+<p>Miles away, amid the dim Rutharian forests, fierce-eyed men gripped
+their sword-hilts firmer, and prayed to their stars and their goddess
+for the safe making of that journey and the glory of the war that
+was to come. For word had come to Ruthar&mdash;over the Kimbrian Wall it
+had come&mdash;that Oleric the Red had turned his face toward home again,
+bringing with him the man for whom a nation waited.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2>CHAPTER V</h2>
+
+<h3>WHERE THE ILLIA MEETS THE SEA</h3>
+
+
+<p>In the watches of the night arose a great clamor and outcry in the old
+palace of Bel-Tisam. So loud was the din that it aroused Rose Emer and
+the Lady Memene from their slumbers in the chamber off the ancient hall
+where they were quartered. In the outer corridors they heard the clang
+of feet of armored men and their hoarse shouts as they called to one
+another. This grew faint and passed away, and then swelled loud and
+near again, as of men who had penetrated into the lower dungeons of the
+prison and returned.</p>
+
+<p>Sitting up in their bed and holding each other by the hand for comfort,
+the two women were afraid for what might have happened.</p>
+
+<p>"Something untoward is on foot," said Memene. "Perhaps this is the
+night chosen by the red man from the sea" (for so she called Oleric)
+"to go forth as he did promise, although it is past the time he set
+for his going."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think that they have discovered the plan, and that
+he&mdash;Polaris&mdash;is taken again? I pray to God that is not so," whispered
+Rose.</p>
+
+<p>"Something has greatly stirred the guards," Memene replied. "But I do
+not think that the mighty man of the wilderness and his red friend are
+taken. Those shouts we heard but now were those of disappointed men."</p>
+
+<p>As the uproar continued through the rooms of the old prison, Rose and
+Memene arose and donned their garments. Sleep, for that night, had fled
+them.</p>
+
+<p>Presently they heard, but faint and muffled through the intervening
+walls, the clatter of hoofs on the pavement of the black avenue as a
+horse passed by, ridden at furious speed.</p>
+
+<p>A little later the door from the corridor outside the hall of audience
+was opened, and through it came that captain of the palace-guard who
+was named Brunar. From Oleric, the captain had learned a few words
+of the English tongue, and he now made shift with them to tell the
+two fair prisoners that Polaris and Oleric, and likewise the captain,
+Mordo, had gone. The escape of Zenas Wright and Everson had not been
+discovered as yet. Two dead guards in the rooms of Mordo, and the
+absence of the marizel from its moorings in the hidden canal near the
+Temple of the Sun, accounted for part of the story. A rider on the
+fleetest horse in the stables of Bel-Ar, said Brunar, had been sent to
+the harbor to warn the guards there, so they might trap the fugitives.</p>
+
+<p>From the manner in which his news was received, the captain was able
+to guess that Rose and Memene knew something of what was on foot. But
+this Brunar was a very courteous man, and he forbore to question them
+closely, if indeed he had enough English to do so. In the morning he
+came again, and told them of the fight at the harbor and the sailing
+of the marizel; for Brunar now took up his abode in the palace of
+Bel-Tisam and looked after the duties of Mordo. His two wards found
+him a kindly jailer, and as indulgent as circumstances would permit
+him to be, who could not set them free. Brunar was angry indeed at the
+supposed treachery of Oleric and of Mordo, not knowing that the one was
+a spy of Ruthar and that the other had had no will in the manner of his
+going forth from Adlaz.</p>
+
+<p>Report was made later in the day of the escape of Everson from the
+mines, and of Zenas Wright from the household of the king, and men
+marveled at the daring of the deed and the craft of it. But the two
+women in their prison, or Ensign Brooks in the mines, or Minos at the
+harbor, got no more news of the fugitives for many a long day.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>With Urk, the sailor, squatting among the levers of his engine, the
+marizel of Oleric swam steadily and swiftly down the western coast of
+Maeronica. Under water she went, well off from the shore and showing no
+lights. Oleric showed his passengers the marvelous valves in the sides
+of the little vessel which were similar in construction to the mask
+with which they already were familiar, and by means of which the air in
+the marizel was replenished with oxygen drawn from the sea water.</p>
+
+<p>Also, he told them somewhat of the land to which they were journeying,
+explaining why it was that Ruthar, though smaller and more sparsely
+populated by far than Maeronica, had never been conquered by the larger
+power. It was a land of forests and mountains, he said, and all the
+way around its ragged coastline were huge, precipitous cliffs, the
+overhanging crags of which were a natural barrier to invasion. Wherever
+had been a break in the cliff-line, the Rutharians, by dint of great
+labors, had filled the breaks with walls, closing the gaps so that the
+only places where one might land on Ruthar from the sea were certain
+spots where narrow stretches of beach lay at the foot of the towering
+cliffs.</p>
+
+<p>At only one point could one come at the interior of the country from
+the sea, Oleric said, and that was at the mouth of a river named Illia.
+That place was closely guarded, and nature and the hand of man had
+united to make of it a way where one man might defy a thousand.</p>
+
+<p>Years before, the red captain said, the Rutharians had had a few small
+ships. But they had little use for them, and with the perfection of
+the fademes by the Maeronicans, nearly a century before, the Rutharian
+vessels had been promptly sent to the bottom. Metals were easily mined,
+and in abundance, especially gold, in Maeronica. But the materials
+which produced the power for the fademes and for their terrible
+destroyers were scarce and precious. Therefore, the growth of the navy
+of Adlaz had been slow.</p>
+
+<p>But with the fulfillment of the mighty destiny of the Children of Ad
+in mind, the scientists labored unceasingly, and it was in the mind
+of Bel-Ar that he was to be the man to see the accomplishment of that
+destiny. He waited but the equipment of a few more fademes to send
+his dreadful messengers forth to take and hold all the seas on earth,
+compelling the nations of the world to bow to the power of Adlaz, as
+tradition told him they once had bowed before.</p>
+
+<p>"Now Ruthar, if her stars shine brightly, shall put a big stone before
+his chariot-wheels and break his power," Oleric said, "repaying evil
+with evil until good come of it, and the Goddess Glorian reigns from
+the capes at the north to the southern seas. And in that I pray that
+my part shall not be small." With a laugh he added, "This is a strange
+game for me to play&mdash;Oleric the Red, loose-mouthed soldier and slayer
+of men&mdash;who in Ruthar am known as Oleric the learned, a professor in
+the University of Nematzin, which is hard by the hill of Flomos, on the
+banks of the river Illia."</p>
+
+<p>"And this Goddess Glorian&mdash;" asked Zenas Wright curiously. "Is she a
+statue in a temple, or the good star of Ruthar, or is she merely a
+name?"</p>
+
+<p>For once the readiness in answer of the red captain deserted him, and
+he stared at the geologist with open mouth. Then he said soberly:</p>
+
+<p>"No statue in a temple is the Goddess Glorian. Good star of Ruthar she
+is surely, and, in addition, she is the fairest woman on whom Shamar
+ever had looked down from the skies. And now her time comes on, for
+which she has waited many a hun&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Oleric broke off suddenly and turned his eyes on Polaris with a strange
+look.</p>
+
+<p>"Nay," he said; "for the rest you must learn from the goddess herself.
+My tongue does clack like a shepherd-wife's." Nor would he then or
+thereafter tell more of Ruthar and its goddess.</p>
+
+<p>Zenas Wright mused to himself, and the train of his musings ran thus:
+"Oleric, you seem to keep your promises, and you are a good fighter,
+for I have seen you fight. But when it comes to your tales of living
+mammoths in this twentieth century, and of a goddess in the shape of
+a woman who has <i>waited many a hundred years</i>&mdash;for that was what you
+almost said, my friend&mdash;why, then, I can't follow you; and I think you
+like to draw the long bow."</p>
+
+<p>Swiftly as the marizel traveled, that night wore into dawn, and day and
+darkness came, and still another dawning, ere Urk turned off his power
+and filled the air-chambers which raised the vessel to the surface of
+the sea. They had rounded the southern coast of Ruthar and beat up
+along the eastern shores, and here, as they arose from the depths,
+straight ahead of them lay the mouth of the river Illia. When the
+voyagers saw it, they did not wonder that Adlaz found little fortune in
+attacking Ruthar by sea.</p>
+
+<p>An irregular fissure in the frowning face of the cliff discharged the
+river into the sea. That rift was nearly thirty yards wide at its
+bottom, and narrowed almost to nothingness far above, where the red
+granite of the headlands towered many hundreds of feet in height. Down
+the glen in the fissure the river Illia tripped to the sea like a lady
+down a stately stairway. For the rock of the river-bed was shelving,
+in strata which varied from less than a foot to nearly three feet in
+height, and some of the shelves were as much as ten yards in breadth;
+so that the water came down that great natural stair in a series of
+broad cascades.</p>
+
+<p>"Up yonder stairway lies the path into Ruthar," Oleric said, pointing,
+as they stood on the deck of the marizel, and Urk laid the vessel as
+near to the shelving bank below the river-mouth as he could. "Here we
+must leave the marizel, and to the kindness of the waves; for there is
+no harbor in which to store her."</p>
+
+<p>Oleric clambered from the deck and stood up to his knees on the
+lowermost step of the Illia's wide stairway. The others followed, Urk
+last of all, haling before him the captain, Mordo, with his hands bound.</p>
+
+<p>For Mordo had proved an unruly passenger. When the fumes of the wine
+cleared from his brain, which was not for many hours, he had so cursed
+and raged at Oleric, forswearing all friendship that had been between
+them, that the Rutharian had lost his temper. He told Mordo roundly
+that he wished that he had left him to the mercy of Bel-Ar and the
+priests of Shamar.</p>
+
+<p>"Better that than the company of a traitorous hound," growled Mordo out
+of a soul in which no gratitude dwelt. Oleric deemed that it was best
+to bind him, lest he do mischief.</p>
+
+<p>Ascent of the river-stair was not difficult at first, for the steps
+were broad, and at that season of the year the volume of water coming
+down them was not so strong but that a man might keep his footing if he
+used care.</p>
+
+<p>Hardly were the climbers well within the shadow of the glen when there
+arose from the foot of the stair a mighty shouting and splashing.
+Oleric spun round with a curse on his lips.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Quickly as they had come from Adlaz town, their destination had been
+guessed, and others had come almost as quickly. As the fugitives
+turned, they saw a Maeronican fademe swing alongside the lowermost step
+of the ascent, her fore and after decks crowded with men, who swarmed
+off her onto the rock and ran up the stairway. Foremost among them,
+gorgeous in his golden armor, was the Captain Daelo, and he matched the
+curse of Oleric with another as he shook his gauntleted fist at his
+enemy.</p>
+
+<p>"Haste! Haste!" Oleric cried, then pursed his lips and sent a long
+whistle skirling up the glen. As he did so he lost his footing, clawed
+wildly at the air and the rocks, and went down.</p>
+
+<p>Though the push of the down-rushing waters of the Illia was not strong
+enough to sweep a man from his feet if he were cautious, it was yet
+of sufficient power to keep him going once he fell. From shelf to
+shelf down the great stairway Oleric went, his armor clanging. More
+than that, he swept Mordo and the sturdy Urk from their footing, also;
+and all three of them slid straight into the hands of Daelo's men,
+outstretched to receive them.</p>
+
+<p>As the soldiers seized Oleric and stood him upright, he wrenched free
+one arm and waved it at his companion.</p>
+
+<p>"Tarry not for me!" he shouted. "Go on! There be friends waiting at the
+top&mdash;" A soldier smote him on the mouth and silenced him.</p>
+
+<p>On the step where he stood Polaris halted. He bent, and with his strong
+fingers snapped the strings of his shoes and removed them&mdash;for he still
+wore his own clothing in which he had been dragged from the sea. With
+his feet bared, he had a better grip on the slippery rock. He snatched
+the sword of Everson from its sheath and went down the river-path, all
+unarmored as he was, to meet the swordsmen of Daelo. On they clambered,
+cursing and shouting; but the way was difficult for their mailed feet,
+and the son of the snows leaped down at them like an avalanche. With
+him, breast-deep in the current, went Rombar.</p>
+
+<p>First man to meet the descending danger was Daelo, and he paid the
+penalty of his temerity with his life. Polaris, striking from above,
+smote him from his foothold, a blow that shore away half of his golden
+helm and split the skull within it, and the Captain Daelo pitched
+backward into the sea.</p>
+
+<p>Another bound and a stroke so bitter that it hewed off the arm of a
+steel-clad soldier, severing it between wrist and elbow, and the son of
+the snows had freed Oleric from the hands that held him. Straightway
+the red captain drew sword and took up the tale. Daelo's men, of whom
+there were nearly a score, faltered, staggering and slipping on the
+rocky shelves. Almost their courage was broken, when Polaris caught
+his naked foot in a crevice in the rock and tripped. Before he could
+recover, a heavy sword-blade fell upon his unprotected head from
+behind. He let fall his own blade and sank to his knees and then to his
+face on the steps of Illia.</p>
+
+<p>Short-lived was the triumph of the Maeronicans. The cry of exultation
+which greeted the fall of their dreaded enemy was turned into a howl of
+dismay as half a hundred fierce-eyed fighting men of Ruthar poured down
+the glen, waving their bared swords and shouting:</p>
+
+<p>"For the Goddess Glorian! Slay the Maeronican dogs!"</p>
+
+<p>That tide overwhelmed the company of Daelo to the last man, and with
+them died black Mordo. Less by one more fademe was the navy of King
+Bel-Ar.</p>
+
+<p>When the warriors of the forests turned up the stair once more, they
+found Oleric kneeling in the water, supporting Polaris's head on his
+arm, while old Zenas and Everson bound with strips torn from their
+clothing the gaping wound which the sword-blade had left at the back of
+his head. Beside the group, Rombar, standing nearly to his neck in the
+wash of the river, lifted up his head and howled dolefully.</p>
+
+<p>Six strong men took up the limp form of the fair-haired giant and bore
+it away up the river staircase.</p>
+
+<p>So Polaris came at last to Ruthar.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Up the rocky shelves of Illia the Rutharians trudged and splashed, the
+chasm becoming ever narrower and more gloomy. With the narrowing of the
+rift, the water became deeper and its current stronger. Then one of the
+party uncoiled a long rope from his shoulder, and the party marched on
+in single file, each clinging to the rope like Alpine climbers.</p>
+
+<p>Oleric urged haste and more haste.</p>
+
+<p>Presently the water was too deep for Rombar, and the current set so
+strongly that the dog could not swim against it. At an order from
+Oleric, two Rutharian hunters seized the brute by the collar, and
+though one of them got a gashed hand for his pains, they bound Rombar's
+jaws and feet with ropes and carried him on their shoulders&mdash;a task
+which neither they nor Rombar found pleasant.</p>
+
+<p>At a point in the ascent where further progress against the deepening
+stream was impossible, the party left the bed of the river and
+clambered to the right, where a flight of steep and narrow steps had
+been cut in the rock along a fissure which branched from the main
+gorge. Up nearly two hundred of those steps they toiled, until Zenas
+Wright and Everson, unused to such exertions, nearly fainted with
+exhaustion. At the top of the stairs they emerged into a forest of tall
+trees, oak and pine and chestnut, which grew almost to the edge of the
+cliffs.</p>
+
+<p>No sooner had he stepped from the rock stairway than Oleric knelt and
+kissed the black earth.</p>
+
+<p>"This, my friends, is Ruthar," he said as he arose and faced the two
+Americans.</p>
+
+<p>From among the trees came a tall, white-bearded chieftain, who was
+armored from head to heel in a wonderful suit of chain mail, links of
+steel that shone like silver. At his back swung a two-handed sword
+which was nearly the length of a man.</p>
+
+<p>He advanced to Oleric and laid his hands on the captain's shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>"You are Oleric the Red, and no other," he said. "Well do I remember
+you. Once I was your pupil. But that was more than three times ten
+years ago." He shook his head wonderingly. "You serve Ruthar well," he
+added.</p>
+
+<p>Now, had Zenas Wright been able to understand the speech of Ruthar, he
+certainly would have set this chieftain down as a hoary-headed liar.
+For how could he have been a pupil to Oleric the Red more than thirty
+years before, when it was plain for any one to see that the captain
+must at that time have been a babe in his mother's arms?</p>
+
+<p>"Aye, Jastla, it is the old red fox come back to his hole again,"
+Oleric answered, striking the old chief fondly across his broad
+shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>"Which of these with you is the man&mdash;the hope of Ruthar?" questioned
+Jastla. His eyes passed the stubby form of Zenas Wright by and rested
+inquiringly on the square and soldierly Everson.</p>
+
+<p>Oleric's ruddy face went sober. His voice choked as he answered:</p>
+
+<p>"Nay, Jastla, neither of these. He comes yonder&mdash;and I fear that he is
+sorely smitten."</p>
+
+<p>As he spoke the six Rutharians who bore Polaris Janess came over the
+brink of the stair and laid their burden down.</p>
+
+<p>Jastla strode to the side of Polaris and looked down at him.</p>
+
+<p>"A mighty man, with golden hair&mdash;and comely, as was written in the
+prophecy," he muttered into his beard. "What has befallen him?" he
+asked of Oleric.</p>
+
+<p>While the captain told of the fight at the river-mouth, Zenas Wright
+knelt at Polaris's head and rearranged the bandages, which had become
+loosened in the rough journey through the gorge. Rombar, who had been
+that moment untrussed, pushed growling through the group of men and
+crouched and licked at his master's face.</p>
+
+<p>"Will he live, Father Zenas? Will he live?" Oleric asked. "Tell us,
+you, who are skilled."</p>
+
+<p>"God knows," groaned Zenas. The hand which he laid on the steel cheek
+of Polaris shook so that he snatched it away and hid it. "God only
+knows. There is a little life in him yet."</p>
+
+<p>"He plucked me from the sea," said Oleric wildly. "That was fated of
+the gods. Twice has he fought at my side. This day perchance he has
+given his life for me; and that was of his own strong spirit. I tell
+you, Father Zenas, that if it would do my brother any good, here would
+Oleric fall upon his sword and render up his soul unto those that sent
+it forth." Then he controlled himself. "Can he be moved? Can you keep
+the vital spark within him for a little space, good father? We must
+haste and get him to the Goddess Glorian. If his soul be not sped when
+he reaches her, she can hold it back, if any on earth can. Say, Father
+Zenas, can you do it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will try," answered Zenas. "If I had a little wine, now&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Wine!" Oleric shouted. "Bring wine, some one of you, and haste, though
+your lungs burst. And slay a kid, so that we may have broth."</p>
+
+<p>A fleet-footed Rutharian lad set off through the forest, running with
+the speed of a deer.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Jastla, see you to a horse-litter. Two gentle beasts, mind you,
+but speedy. For we must travel fast and far. I take my brother to the
+Hill of Flomos. And send on a swift messenger to the Goddess Glorian,
+to tell her that the hope of Ruthar lies wounded in the forests and is
+near to death. Haste, Jastla; haste!"</p>
+
+<p>Wine was brought, and it was good wine; for the grapes that grow in
+the valleys of Ruthar are the finest in all the world. Zenas Wright
+forced apart the set jaws of the stricken man, using a sword-point
+to do it, and even as Dr. Marsey, who was dead, had done for Oleric,
+poured the purple wine and a little broth into Polaris's mouth. The
+kindly old geologist could only pray that some of it penetrated to the
+man's stomach, for most of it was spilled out again when they moved him.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Chief Jastla brought a horse-litter. In it, between two powerful
+beasts, Polaris was slung. The Rutharians wrapped him closely with
+blankets and furs. The sun had turned to his northward journey, and in
+the forests of Ruthar the air was keen with the tang of approaching
+winter&mdash;felt there in the uplands long before it reached to the plains
+and valleys of Maeronica.</p>
+
+<p>Horses were fetched for Oleric, Wright and Everson, and they set off at
+once along the mountain trails skirting the mighty cañon of the Illia.
+An escort of half a score of Rutharian hunters rode with them.</p>
+
+<p>All that day and night and until sunset of the next day they rode with
+only brief stops at small Rutharian hamlets, where they ate hurriedly
+and changed horses. Word had been sent on before of their coming, and
+fresh horses were always in waiting. Sleep they did not, save in their
+saddles, and the two Americans felt that they might die from sheer
+weariness.</p>
+
+<p>Oleric did not sleep at all, though of all the party his vitality
+seemed the least impaired by that racking journey. His face grew
+haggard and gaunt, and his eyes red-rimmed, but a wonderful
+determination seemed to sustain his body. He spoke seldom, and then to
+urge his faltering companions to renewed efforts.</p>
+
+<p>Rombar ran with the horses until he was utterly done up. Then Oleric
+left the dog at one of the mountain villages, to be brought on later.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning of the second day the party swung to the right, away
+from the gorge of the Illia, to come to it again about noon and cross
+it on a bridge of steel and stone that spanned it three hundred feet up
+from the torrent's course.</p>
+
+<p>Everson, looking at those piles and trusses, judged the building of
+that bridge to be the feat of no mean engineer. Though there had been a
+waste of material, the structure would have stood comparison with many
+a bridge in Europe or America.</p>
+
+<p>Throughout the long ride, Polaris lay like a log in the litter.
+Occasionally, at the stopping places, the scientist redressed the
+wound, smearing it with a healing balsam which an old woman in one of
+the villages had given him. It was a fearsome gash, and Zenas shook his
+head over it whenever he saw it. The point of the sword had laid open
+the scalp at the back of Polaris's head for a matter of inches, then
+had glanced from the bone beneath and bitten deeply into the neck near
+the spinal column.</p>
+
+<p>Wright sheared the hair away from the wound and stitched it as neatly
+as he could. Despite his care the edges of the cut turned blue, as
+is the way with such hurts if they have not expert attention. In the
+afternoon of that second day's ride he found that Polaris's hands and
+feet were becoming cold, and that the geologist deemed the worst sign
+of all.</p>
+
+<p>Shortly after they had crossed the bridge the contour of the country
+became less wild. They emerged from among the crags and peaks of the
+mountains into the foot-hills, where the forests were not so dense as
+above, and from time to time they came upon large spaces of cleared
+lands with tilled fields and many vineyards.</p>
+
+<p>In one of the forest glades the party passed a spot where a number
+of fair-sized trees had been uprooted and partly stripped of their
+branches and bark. Others, still standing, were mere distorted stubs of
+trees, their trunks scored and twisted and their foliage gone.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope such storms as the one that did this damage are not frequent
+hereabouts," said Zenas, pointing out the wrecks to Everson.</p>
+
+<p>Oleric heard the remark.</p>
+
+<p>"'Storms,' say you, Father Zenas?" he said. "The storm that went
+through here walked on four feet. When we of Ruthar see such a sight in
+the forest, we know that an amaloc has breakfasted there. I forget the
+high-sounding name you call him by."</p>
+
+<p>"That lad should have been a writer of fiction," said Zenas to himself
+when the captain had ridden on. "He almost makes me believe in him."</p>
+
+<p>"Gorry-me," Zenas groaned, easing himself in his saddle, "I wish we
+were at the end of this ride, wherever it is. I do not think that I
+shall ever be able to walk again. You," he said to Everson, "you ride
+along there in your golden armor like&mdash;what is it?&mdash;a paladin of old,
+and never a word out of you. Well, I'd sooner stand it, at that,
+than to go back to that roasting-spit I was put to tend in the King's
+kitchen." Zenas grunted as recollection stung him.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, do you know, one day I was figuring out a bit of calculus in my
+head, just for practise, and I let the meat scorch; and the head cook
+actually laid a dog-whip across my back. Yes, sir; me, a fellow in the
+National Geographic Society, whipped across a kitchen by a greasy-faced
+dough-slinger who doesn't know gneiss from rotten-stone!"</p>
+
+<p>Wright grunted again at the memory of that indignity, and then rambled
+on:</p>
+
+<p>"But we've got to stand it all for the boy here, and for the folks we
+left behind. God knows I'm willing to for their sakes, and worse yet,
+if it's to come. But I must grumble once in a while, and I can't help
+it. Say, Everson, do you believe any of that chaff of our red-headed
+friend about the mammoths?"</p>
+
+<p>The lieutenant did not answer, and Wright, peering into his face, saw
+that he was asleep in the saddle.</p>
+
+<p>Well down upon his course was the sun, and the shadows of the trees
+were lengthening eastward, when the travelers, who for some time had
+been following a smooth, straight road through rolling hills, came to
+an old Rutharian villa, which stood among its gardens a considerable
+distance back from the highway. A low wall bordered the grounds at the
+front along the roadway, a wall with a pillared gateway, where a drive
+led in from the road. At the foot of each of the pillars, sitting his
+horse like a statue, was a Rutharian gentleman.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>As the weary cavalcade came down the road the two riders left their
+posts and advanced to meet it, parleying with Oleric. Scarcely half a
+dozen words passed back and forth when the red captain set up a joyful
+shout. When he reached the gateway he turned his horse in, bidding the
+others to follow.</p>
+
+<p>"Here's hoping that some one will introduce me to a bed before I clean
+forget what one feels like," said Zenas.</p>
+
+<p>At the side of the ancient house the riders dismounted, Everson reeling
+from his horse like a drunken man and throwing himself face downward on
+the grass.</p>
+
+<p>Oleric superintended the removal of Polaris from the litter.</p>
+
+<p>The geologist was bending over his charge as the hunters bore him along
+when he became aware of the tall figure of a woman that came down from
+the porch of the mansion and hastened along the walk. She had thrown a
+long, dark red cloak about her shoulders. In the dusk of the garden the
+scientist could not distinguish her features, but he saw that her hair
+was dark, or seemed to be, and that she was taller than most women and
+splendidly formed.</p>
+
+<p>"The Goddess Glorian!" Oleric cried aloud. "Oh, by the stars of Ruthar,
+but you are welcome!"</p>
+
+<p>Down on one knee sank the captain and kissed her hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, goddess, after all these years I have brought you the hope of
+Ruthar. But he is sorely wounded&mdash;dying&mdash;and you alone can save him. We
+were bringing him to Flomos with all the speed we might, and thought
+not to find you here."</p>
+
+<p>"Where else should Glorian be, but on the way to meet this man?" she
+answered simply. "Jastla's messenger reached Flomos this morning. He
+rode four horses to their deaths upon his way. You have done well,
+Oleric the Learned."</p>
+
+<p>When he heard the silvery cadences of that voice, though he understood
+not a word save the name of the captain, a thrill passed through Zenas
+Wright, old as he was, and through his aged veins he felt the blood
+course faster. The woman came nearer. He smelled the warm perfume of
+her hair as she bent and touched the cheek of Polaris with her hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Bring him within, Oleric," she said, "and, oh, haste, for&mdash;" Her
+glorious voice broke. "For he is nearly gone."</p>
+
+<p>Swinging the still form of Polaris shoulder high, the Rutharian hunters
+passed on and into the mansion, leaving Zenas behind.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, what do you know about that?" gasped the scientist as he sank
+wearily to the ground beside Everson. "Goddess, indeed! What, I want
+to know, will Rose Emer say when she learns of this young person? Well,
+I hope she saves the lad; but she'll need to be a doctor of parts, or
+I'm a donkey. Poor boy! Poor boy!"</p>
+
+<p>In a few moments came Oleric to show Wright and Everson to their
+quarters for the night in the rear of the house. And a rare time he had
+to arouse the lieutenant sufficiently to lead him to bed.</p>
+
+<p>White and still, Polaris Janess lay on a bed in an upper chamber of the
+old house. By the light from a mitzl globe&mdash;trophy of some Rutharian
+chieftain in a foray over the Kimbrian Wall&mdash;the Goddess Glorian bent
+above him and studied his pale features.</p>
+
+<p>"My friend, my poor friend," she said brokenly. "How often through the
+weary years I have seen you in my dreams&mdash;and now to find you&mdash;only to
+lose you."</p>
+
+<p>Hot tears ran down her cheeks and fell on the stricken man's face.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! It shall not be!" she said fiercely. "You shall not die&mdash;not if
+Glorian must give her soul to hold you back from the gates of darkness."</p>
+
+<p>Throwing aside her cloak, she drew a chair to the bedside. With her
+fingers she lifted Polaris's eyelids and held them open. She gazed deep
+into the tawny eyes, now, alas, so dull and lifeless. For hours she sat
+there, with no more apparent movement than the man she watched over.
+The whole strength of her being seemed concentrated in some inward,
+unyielding struggle.</p>
+
+<p>And as the long hours passed a change came over the sick man. He did
+not stir. He scarcely seemed to breathe. But his face became less gray
+and haggard, and the icy chill of death was driven from his hands and
+feet.</p>
+
+<p>Long after midnight it was when the Goddess Glorian stood up from that
+bedside and in her heart said wildly, "I have won!"</p>
+
+<p>Summoning her women, who waited without the door, she bade them dress
+anew the now festering wound and pour a little wine and broth into his
+throat.</p>
+
+<p>All night long the Goddess Glorian sat and watched him.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning, when Oleric came to the door in answer to her summons,
+she looked up at him with a wan smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Fear no longer," she said. "The man will live."</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>On the third day after his arrival at the old Rutharian mansion,
+Polaris left it. But he knew nothing of that going. He still lay in
+the heavy stupor which was to hold him thrall for many days. Zenas
+Wright doubted much the wisdom of moving a man so ill. The scientist
+himself, after two days' rest, felt scarcely equal to the journey, and
+the thought of again bestriding a horse made him shudder. Still, he
+reasoned that it was by a miracle that Janess lived at all, and if she
+who had wrought that miracle, the Goddess Glorian, said he might be
+moved in safety, why, doubtless she knew what she was about.</p>
+
+<p>A low, four-wheeled car was brought. Across the box of it the hunters
+lashed light and springy poles and on them piled robes and blankets,
+making a soft and easy bed for the sick man. At the head of that couch
+rode the Goddess Glorian, cloaked and hooded, and at its foot crouched
+black Rombar, who had been brought in from the village where he had
+been left, and who seemed little the worse for his long jaunt. Wright
+and the lieutenant occupied another smaller car in the rear, and in
+a third vehicle rode a number of the women of Glorian's household.
+Oleric, mounted and aglitter in chain armor of steel&mdash;for he had
+discarded as soon as might be the hated golden livery of Bel-Ar&mdash;rode
+at the side of the first car. For escort the party had the company of
+nearly a score of young Rutharian zinds&mdash;zind was the only title of
+nobility in Ruthar.</p>
+
+<p>So they set out for Flomos, traveling by easy stages and with many
+rests. The roads were smooth and the country more even than that they
+had left behind. All along the way, be the time of day what it might,
+they rode between two long lines of people&mdash;people silent for the most
+part, who stood with bowed heads as the cars and the riders passed by.</p>
+
+<p>Far and wide throughout the land had gone the word that the man who
+had come to be known as the hope of Ruthar was journeying to Flomos,
+and the circumstances of that journey. These who lined the road were
+gathered there to do him silent homage. Satisfied were they if they
+only caught a fleeting glimpse of his still face on its pillow of furs.
+Over all of Ruthar went up a many-voiced and ceaseless prayer for his
+welfare.</p>
+
+<p>"H'm, Everson, folks will never stand like that for us, living or
+dead," said Zenas Wright to the lieutenant, when Oleric had told them
+the meaning of the silent lines of people. Despite his banter, the old
+geologist was deeply touched.</p>
+
+<p>Two days and part of a third they traveled&mdash;for they did not
+hurry&mdash;stopping for the nights at the homes of Rutharian gentlemen
+along the road. It was nearly afternoon of the third day when they
+followed the winding of the highway around the last low hills of the
+mountain range and came out upon a plateau-plain of wide extent, in
+the center of which was a wooded eminence, and on its crest the white
+pillars of a temple shone in the sunlight.</p>
+
+<p>The road stretched straight across the plain through a broad expanse
+of tilled lands and gardens, which ringed a city that stood at the
+foot of the hill. It was scarcely a fifth the proportions of Adlaz,
+this ancient town of Ruthar, which was called Zele-omaz, or City by
+the River; but it was a pretty place of broad streets shaded by many
+trees, gardens and low-built, pleasant homes, with here and there the
+statelier dwellings of some zind or wealthy man.</p>
+
+<p>Here, too, was the Illia, rock-bound no longer, but a fair and gentle
+stream, winding through the town and spanned by many bridges.</p>
+
+<p>Skirting the city at the right, the travelers followed a sloping path
+that led up the hill to where the temple stood.</p>
+
+<p>"Yonder," Oleric said, pointing down to where a group of low buildings
+of gray stone rambled at the waterside under spreading yew trees, "is
+the University of Nematzin, of which I am a professor. And there is the
+laboratory of which I spoke, where we shall make the thunder-dust to
+shake down the Kimbrian Wall."</p>
+
+<p>"One more day's rest, and I will be fit for anything," answered Everson.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you teach in this university, friend?" Zenas queried.</p>
+
+<p>"A little of the science of the stars, Father Zenas&mdash;or I did, for it
+is many years since I have sat among my pupils&mdash;somewhat of history and
+of language," replied the red captain.</p>
+
+<p>"Humph; you must have been a young teacher," said Zenas Wright, and he
+ran his fingers through the sprouting stubble of his beard, as he had a
+habit of doing when things vexed him. Suddenly he jumped in his seat,
+though the wrench to his sore flesh cost him a wry face.</p>
+
+<p>"Hey! Everson! Look at that, and then tell me if I'm dreaming."</p>
+
+<p>The "that" was a gateway through which the car was about to pass.
+Oleric followed with a glance the direction in which the geologist
+pointed and then rode on with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>It was a very curious gate, so curious that, if it still stands, and
+it doubtless does, for it was built to endure, there is none other
+just like it in the world. At each side of the roadway was a section
+of black stone wall, extending along the path a matter of a dozen feet
+and some ten feet high. At intervals along the tops of the two walls
+were set round, squat pillars, also of stone. Those had been hollowed
+out and served as bases for enormous ivory tusks, which were embedded
+in cement in the hollowed pillars, and from them curved up to meet over
+the center of the roadway, where their tips were made fast with double
+sockets of bronze.</p>
+
+<p>Ivory the tusks were; there was no doubting that; weather-checked and
+stained yellow by age and the elements, but still ivory. But the size
+of them! No elephant that ever walked the earth bore ivories of such
+proportions. For they were as large around at their bases as the chest
+of an average man; and from base to tapering tip there was none of them
+that did not measure eleven feet. Seven pair of them there were, and
+all splendidly matched.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Zenas stared back at that marvelous arch&mdash;for it was more an archway
+than a gate&mdash;as hard as he could stare. Not until a turn of the road
+hid it, did he relax into his seat.</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe he isn't so great a liar, after all," he said, and he meant
+Oleric. "Everson, those are mammoth's tusks&mdash;sure's I'm a sinner."</p>
+
+<p>"Strange land, strange things," answered Everson laconically.</p>
+
+<p>The home or temple of the Goddess Glorian on the hill of Flomos was a
+small thing by comparison with the mighty Temple of Shamar, but in its
+way was quite as beautiful. Like the temple of the sun-god, the house
+of Glorian was built all of white marble. Fronting north toward the
+city of Zele-omaz was a façade of four-and-twenty sixty-foot pillars.
+A broad, paved porch, reached by half a hundred steps, lay at the foot
+of the façade. Back of the pillars were twelve double doors of bronze,
+leading into a lofty hall, the marble dome of which towered high above
+the pillars and could be seen from the countryside for miles about when
+the sun shone on it.</p>
+
+<p>Back of the hall the structure was divided into three floors, or
+stories, each of many roomy chambers and corridors. The whole was well
+lighted by windows of clear glass, of which an abundance was used in
+both Maeronica and Ruthar. Behind the temple, southward down the hill,
+were the dwellings of Glorian's personal retainers and servants.</p>
+
+<p>Well back from the center of the domed hall and near the foot of a
+grand staircase which led to the second floor, was a raised dais of
+marble, whereon Glorian was wont to sit and give judgment in matters of
+state which were too high for the administration of the zinds who ruled
+in the different cities and provinces. Once Ruthar had had its dynasty
+of kings, but that was many years before. The royal line died out, and
+because of certain circumstances at that time the people raised up no
+more kings. At the time of the coming of the strangers the Goddess
+Glorian was the absolute power in Ruthar.</p>
+
+<p>On the dais in the throne-room was another wonder for Zenas Wright to
+see. It was a massive, double-seated chair, constructed, even to the
+pegs which held its parts together, of ivory like in the giant tusks
+of the arch. An artist of surpassing skill had wrought that chair and
+had carved it into the semblance of tall lily-stalks with heavy-headed,
+drooping blossoms and slender fronds. All around the larger stalks were
+cut the clinging tendrils of a creeping vine, a tracery as fine as lace.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Wright and Everson were given rooms on the second floor of the temple
+at its western side. Polaris was borne to a chamber on the upper
+story, where he was tended by Glorian herself and the servants of her
+household. Rombar took up his quarters in that chamber also, and only
+Oleric could lure the dog forth from his master's side, and then not
+for long at a time.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after their arrival at the hill of Flomos, and when they had
+rested some of the stiffness from their joints, Everson and the
+scientist went down with Oleric to the laboratories of Nematzin to
+begin their work. Though the students of Ruthar were not unskilled in
+chemistry of a sort, they knew nothing of explosives. So Zenas prepared
+himself for a series of tests to discover the materials of which he was
+in need, or, if he could not find what he desired, some combination
+which would serve.</p>
+
+<p>In that constructive analysis the naval lieutenant could be of little
+aid. Oleric then found a task for him which was more to his liking. It
+was the drilling of men.</p>
+
+<p>From her center to her rock-bound coasts, Ruthar hummed with the
+preparation for war.</p>
+
+<p>"If we are to fight, let us first know how many men we can raise, and
+how they will be disposed," said Everson. "What is the population of
+this country, and how will it match up, man for man, with Maeronica?"</p>
+
+<p>All told, Ruthar's people numbered something like a million and a
+quarter, Oleric informed him; and in Maeronica the population was near
+to three and one-half millions, at least a half a million of which
+dwelt in the great city of Adlaz.</p>
+
+<p>"As it is figured in the world, your army then will be made up of one
+fighting man to every ten persons," the lieutenant said. "If the spirit
+of the people is with us, we should be able to put at least one hundred
+and twenty-five thousand men in the field&mdash;and Bel-Ar, three hundred
+and fifty thousand. Those are heavy odds."</p>
+
+<p>"Ruthar shall do better even than that," Oleric said with pride. "I
+promise you that two hundred thousand men shall march when they hear
+the war-drums&mdash;and more may be found if the need grows bitter."</p>
+
+<p>"Can you equip and maintain them?" Everson asked.</p>
+
+<p>"In Ruthar every man is a soldier. They will equip themselves. This day
+has been awaited for long. Ruthar is ready to give all for the uses of
+her warrior sons. Fear not. Besides, though I will not deny that the
+men of Ad are good fighters and their country is far the richer, yet
+many of them are fat city dwellers and traders, of whom two are not a
+match for one of the hardy men of the mountains who will march under
+the banners of the Goddess Glorian. Show them the ruins of the Kimbrian
+Wall, and were the armies of Ad twice their strength, yet they should
+not turn Ruthar from her purpose."</p>
+
+<p>Everson nodded thoughtfully. "How will this force be divided?" he
+asked. "Have you many horsemen? In such a war as this promises to be,
+cavalry will be invaluable."</p>
+
+<p>The red captain knit his brow in calculation.</p>
+
+<p>"Forty thousand wild horsemen of the hills and mountains, who know
+not fear, can I promise," he said at length. "Five thousand chariots
+we can muster, each of two horses, and carrying each two fighting men
+and a driver to guide the horses; twenty thousand skilled archers;
+ninety thousand heavily armed men with swords and spears; ten thousand
+slingers; and twenty thousand men armed with javelins&mdash;these last to
+serve as skirmishers."</p>
+
+<p>Everson's eyes kindled at the recital of that tale of men, and he
+smiled&mdash;one of the few smiles that had lightened his face since his
+ship had been lost.</p>
+
+<p>"We must gather them into camps at once," he said. "The time is all too
+short in which to make an enemy out of raw levies. We must drill them
+all winter, and that will be a man's job."</p>
+
+<p>Straightway he threw himself into the task with tireless energy. And
+he vowed to himself that the men who had dared to sink a United States
+cruiser should learn a lesson of tears and death, and that he would
+have a hand in the teaching of the lesson.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Oblivion, like a deep and dreamless sleep, was the portion of Polaris
+Janess. It seemed that his soul had withdrawn itself to some place of
+peace to wait until its racked and weary body should once more be fit
+for tenancy. The wound in his neck closed and healed. Somewhat of color
+crept back into his cheeks. His body began to thrive, but there was in
+it seemingly little more of sentient life than in a tree which draws
+its nourishment from the soil and knows not of days and nights and the
+cares thereof.</p>
+
+<p>"It is a blood-clot that presses somewhere on the brain," Glorian told
+his friends, who stood often at his quiet bedside. "'Twill pass away
+ere long, and he will be whole again."</p>
+
+<p>To the surprise of Zenas and Everson, Glorian and a number of the
+learned men of the college of Nematzin spoke English almost with the
+facility of Oleric, from whom, indeed, they had learned it. And this
+was a great source of delight to the old geologist, who liked to talk
+and grumble over his labors. And what use is there in grumbling, if
+there is no one to hear and understand?</p>
+
+<p>Came a day when the curtain lifted from the brain of the sick man, and
+memory peopled the vacant stage, as once before it had done when he lay
+ill in the cabin on the ship <i>Felix</i> on his first journey from his home
+in the wilderness.</p>
+
+<p>Wondering, he lay still with closed lids, as he had a trick of doing
+when he waked from slumber. He began to reconstruct. The wreck of the
+<i>Minnetonka</i> passed before him, and then, like a series of pictures,
+the events which had followed the sinking of the ship; the stranger
+people; the judgment of the king; the parting from his love; the coming
+of the red captain in the night and the flight from Adlaz; the fight at
+the wharves and the farewell of Minos; the great stairway of the Illia&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>There the pictures ceased. He could not then, or ever afterward, recall
+the fight in the river, where he had gone down to aid Oleric and come
+by his wound.</p>
+
+<p>Into his nostrils was wafted a breath of faint perfume. A cool hand
+was laid against his cheek. He opened his eyes. The details of a high,
+arched room he saw; windows of glass at the north, where the sun shone
+thinly and big flakes of snow were floating slowly down&mdash;for winter had
+come to Ruthar; at his cheek a long, wonderfully shaped, white hand,
+with tapering, ringless fingers; a slender wrist; beyond it a face. He
+closed his lids again, with a frown of disbelief. The beauty of that
+face was such as no mortal ever saw, save in a dream.</p>
+
+<p>The hand stirred, and he looked again.</p>
+
+<p>From the times of Helen of Troy on down through the pages of all
+recorded history, those pages have been made bright by the faces of
+fair women who were their nations' boast. Here, before the eyes of the
+sick man, was a face that was the peer of any that ever shone in fable
+or in fact. A broad, high forehead above two dark and well-defined
+arches; beneath them, delicately veined lids and long dark lashes,
+veiling red-brown eyes. Eyes so wonderfully alive with expression that
+their change was like the bewildering melting of colors in a sunset;
+between their marvelous valleys, a slenderly bridged nose with a hint
+of the Roman. A rich, full-lipped mouth that was the playground of
+smiles, but which showed also the quality of rare determination, a
+promise sustained by the firmly rounded chin beneath it, a skin so fine
+of texture that through it might be traced the ebb and flow of life, as
+flames show roseate through a marble vase.</p>
+
+<p>Her head had the poise of an empress, and at its shapely crown, piled
+high, were lustrous coils of hair which at first glance seemed black;
+but when the light struck on it, glowed as an ember glows when a breath
+renews its dullness into fire.</p>
+
+<p>Such was the beauty of the woman on whom Polaris looked&mdash;and as he
+gazed, acknowledgment was forced within him that here was one that
+surpassed in fairness even the Rose-maid whom he loved. And there was
+no disloyalty in that acknowledgment. Rose Emer was a beautiful woman;
+but she who sat before him, and who seemed of nearly the same age and
+whose figure much resembled that of his own dear lady, she had the
+beauty of unearthly things.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment he stared in silence.</p>
+
+<p>"Where am I, and who are you?" he asked, and smiled faintly in response
+to her little exclamation of delight that his senses had come back to
+him. Before she could speak, he muttered, "I had forgotten; she will
+not understand."</p>
+
+<p>"But I do understand, my poor friend," she said, "and can make answer
+in your own tongue&mdash;if we keep to simple talk."</p>
+
+<p>As the quality of that voice had thrilled old Zenas, so now it sent a
+tremor through the veins of the son of the snows.</p>
+
+<p>"You are in the city of Zele-omaz, and I, who have watched while you
+lay wounded and ill, am a poor lady of wild Ruthar," she continued.</p>
+
+<p>"'Poor' and 'wild' are words that ill beseem you, lady," replied
+Polaris in the quaint expression that in the long years when his father
+had been his sole companion, he had absorbed from the pages of Scott's
+romantic "Ivanhoe," and which contact with modern English had not worn
+away.</p>
+
+<p>"I think that one Oleric has spoken oft of you, and that I can guess
+the name you bear&mdash;and I find it a most fitting name."</p>
+
+<p>Rose-pink the Goddess Glorian flushed, in a most mortal fashion, and
+was glad that at that moment black Rombar thrust his head forward over
+the edge of the bed to claim a share in the attention of his master.</p>
+
+<p>Polaris stirred his hands, and then looked up wonderingly.</p>
+
+<p>"I am weak," he said. "How long have I lain ill, and what misfortune
+befell me to so lay me by the heels? I understand it not at all; for my
+memory has tricked me."</p>
+
+<p>Toying with Rombar's collar, Glorian told him what she had learned from
+the others of the fight at the mouth of the Illia.</p>
+
+<p>"And I do thank you for the life of my faithful captain," she said,
+"as he will presently. It was a brave deed, a very brave deed. Now
+you must talk no more, and no more must I weary you. You are worn with
+sickness, and it will be many days before your strength comes back.
+Rest and fret not. All things are going well."</p>
+
+<p>She left him, and presently he slept.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+
+<h3>ZOAR OF THE AMALOCS</h3>
+
+
+<p>Beyond their knowledge of the working of metals, in which they had
+great facility, Zenas Wright soon found that the scientists of Nematzin
+could avail him little in his search for explosive compounds. Ordinary
+gunpowder, indeed, he knew he could make easily enough, after a
+fashion, but he sought for something more powerful by far than that.
+From the descriptions which he had heard of the Kimbrian Wall, he
+judged that it would be a rare task to shake it down.</p>
+
+<p>"We might do it with nitroglycerin," he told Everson. "But we would
+have to set all of the old wives of Ruthar to soap-making to get our
+glycerin, and it would be a difficult job to get it pure enough to
+serve our turn. Besides, nitroglycerin is mean and uncertain to handle."</p>
+
+<p>The two men sat before a ruddy coal fire in the big laboratory room
+which had been turned over to the uses of the geologist&mdash;a fire well
+screened from the rest of the room, so that no flying spark should
+raise mischief among the experiments of Zenas. Three weeks had elapsed
+since their arrival at Zele-omaz. Polaris Janess was well along
+the road to health. Everson and Oleric, laboring tirelessly, had
+established five great training camps, one on the plain near the city,
+and four others in the forests to the north beyond the Illia. Already
+the levies of Ruthar were pouring into the camps, where they were
+drilled by the zinds and captains, under the direction of the naval
+lieutenant and the red captain.</p>
+
+<p>Everson had thrown his whole heart into the work. Already he had made
+considerable progress in the learning of the Rutharian language. He
+was beginning to take a vast pride in the army he was welding. Born
+soldiers he found these Rutharians, amenable to the strict discipline
+which he preached, and to whom his word was law.</p>
+
+<p>He had ridden in this day from a tour of inspection of his camps to
+visit Wright and learn of the progress of the work on which depended
+their entire scheme of campaign.</p>
+
+<p>"Nitroglycerin," said Everson. "So you have found a source of nitric
+acid, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," replied Wright. "One of the first things which took my eye among
+a number of specimens of rock which I found in a case here, was a chunk
+of sodium nitrate. You know the stuff&mdash;Chile saltpeter, they call it."</p>
+
+<p>"Why not a picrate powder, if you have nitrates to work with?"
+suggested the lieutenant.</p>
+
+<p>"Picrate&mdash;nitric acid&mdash;phenol," said old Zenas. "That's the way of it.
+And to get phenol&mdash;lots of it&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>He broke off and stared into the depths of the fire.</p>
+
+<p>"Hey!" he cried, and jumped to his feet so suddenly that Everson
+started. Zenas pointed at the fire, his little black eyes dancing and
+his beard wagging with his excitement.</p>
+
+<p>"Well?" queried Everson.</p>
+
+<p>"Coal, my boy, coal! There's oodles of it here. All I've got to do is
+to rig up a kiln for the distillation of coal-tar oil, and I'll have
+the phenol. God knows, these beggars are handy enough in the gentle
+art of blacksmithing. Tell your red-headed master of ceremonies to
+give me a little help&mdash;say two hundred or two hundred and fifty of his
+armorers, till I get a few kilns in operation and build me a bank of
+Glover towers, and I'll show you a line of stuff that will beat all of
+the Fourth of July celebrations you ever saw. Picrates! Humph! I'll
+turn out a brand of melinite for you that will jar the back door of
+hell off its hinges&mdash;if I don't whiff us all to kingdom come while I'm
+at the stuff."</p>
+
+<p>Oleric was summoned. The red captain turned over to Zenas Wright not
+two hundred, but nearer five hundred men, and the old university was
+straightway turned into a munitions plant, the stench and the fires of
+which ascended to heaven by day and by night.</p>
+
+<p>"And bring me about all the fat you can find in the kingdom," directed
+Zenas. "I'll need it to mix with my nice little patty-cakes."</p>
+
+<p>"You shall have it, Father Zenas," Oleric replied. "And it will not
+come amiss to make all that you can of this pastry. After the Kimbrian
+Wall is down, we may find some of it useful at the gates of Adlaz."</p>
+
+<p>So interested did Zenas become in this new work of his that he
+scarcely stopped for meals, and he slept on a cot of skins beside
+his fire in the old laboratory. One day, as he labored among his
+test-tubes, the outer door opened, and a tall figure robed in
+furs strode across the room and stood beside him. Zenas looked up
+impatiently.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Lordy, laddie!" he cried, his face lighting up. "It's good to see
+you on your feet again."</p>
+
+<p>It was Polaris&mdash;still somewhat gaunt and tottery, but with a welcome
+color in his cheeks and a brightness in his topaz eyes that augured
+well.</p>
+
+<p>"Aye, old friend, 'tis I," he answered. "While you do wear yourself
+thin in this place of many smells, and Everson rides his flesh off his
+bones, shall I then be doing nothing but to lie in a soft bed and dream
+the days away? I will have no more of it."</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>From that day strength came back to the son of the snows with
+surprising rapidity, considering that he had been so ill. Nor would he
+chafe in restless idleness, but demanded work to do. Soon in the five
+great camps of fighting men his figure and that of the huge black dog
+which followed him like a shadow were as well known to the soldiers as
+were those of Everson and the lieutenant. Under the tutelage of the
+Goddess Glorian, he had advanced in mastery of the Rutharian tongue
+much faster than either of the other two Americans; for he was a
+natural linguist and did not find the ancient language difficult.</p>
+
+<p>Old Jastla had come down out of his hills, and it was his particular
+pride to superintend the training of the son of the snows in the use of
+the arms of Ruthar. At his first trial, weakened though he was by his
+illness, Polaris cast a javelin farther by half a score of paces than
+could any warrior of Ruthar. Within a fortnight, although they might
+touch him by tricks of fence, there was not a swordsman in the five
+armies who could wear him down in the play of blades.</p>
+
+<p>Jastla boasted of him throughout the land.</p>
+
+<p>But though he took pleasure in all these things, he knew anxiety with
+the passing of the days, and in his heart pined mightily for news of
+his lady in Adlaz town. For that strong, true heart could not forget.
+Occasionally Oleric had word from over the wall from some of his secret
+spies in Maeronica, but never a word of the welfare of the stranger
+captives.</p>
+
+<p>All of his story Polaris had one day told to Glorian. And she had
+smiled and cheered him with brave words. And then, when he had gone,
+she had sat for the half of a day in her chamber, looking out at the
+snow-capped hills of Ruthar, striving to remember that she was a
+goddess, and to forget that she also was a woman. Too late she found
+that the woman conquered.</p>
+
+<p>Five weeks went by from the day when Polaris first went down to the
+workshop of Zenas. And then the geologist announced that he would give
+a show. He had some wares which he was anxious to display, he said.</p>
+
+<p>Near the south bank of the Illia, above the city and beyond the camp,
+stood an old stone tower which long had been crumbling into decay and
+which Atra, the zind who ruled in Zele-omaz, had purposed some day to
+tear down. There it was that the geologist said he would stage his
+performance, and all the camp and a goodly part of the citizens of the
+town went thither to see what he would do.</p>
+
+<p>At the appointed hour, early in the afternoon, the scientist rode out
+to the tower, attended by three of his assistants from the laboratory.
+With them they took a number of cakes of what looked remarkably like
+the bars of brown soap wherewith the American housewife labors o'
+Mondays. As much as two men could carry of the stuff they took. The
+third man bore a rude battery which Zenas had contrived, and a coil of
+copper wire which the Rutharian smiths had drawn for him, and which he
+had insulated with woven fiber dipped in gums from the forests.</p>
+
+<p>The tower had been a massive old structure, covering nearly a half acre
+of ground, and the lower parts of it were still solid. Its roof was
+gone, and portions of the upper walls had fallen in.</p>
+
+<p>Zenas found that there were a number of chambers below the ground level
+of the structure. In the central one of them he bestowed his precious
+cakes, and with them the end of his copper wire. He directed his
+assistants to cover the whole over with heavy stones.</p>
+
+<p>"And handle them with care," he cautioned, "or you will come a lot
+closer to the stars than you are ever likely to be by any other means."</p>
+
+<p>His preparations completed, the geologist bade his henchmen to make
+themselves scarce, which they were very glad to do. Bidding every one
+in the neighborhood of the tower to withdraw to a distance of several
+hundred feet, Zenas uncoiled his wire, of which he had brought a
+quantity sufficient to keep him out of harm's way. He squatted down
+behind the bole of a big yew-tree and struck the knob of his battery.</p>
+
+<p>For an instant nothing happened, and Zenas, peering forth from behind
+his tree, felt his heart sink with disappointment. Then very quietly
+the entire structure of the tower, which was nearly seventy feet in
+height, quitted the earth. For a second it seemed to hang suspended in
+the air like some enchanted thing. A hollow booming reverberated across
+the plain. The tower flew into fragments. The ice-bound surface of the
+Illia was shattered by the falling rocks. A gust of air rushed across
+the plain and through the ranks of the Rutharian soldiery and with it a
+shower of smaller débris, which fell among them like a storm. From the
+spot where the tower had stood, a column of greenish-yellow smoke arose
+and hung heavily.</p>
+
+<p>From the camp and the crowds of citizens went up a low moan of awe,
+followed by a shout of triumph from thirty thousand throats. Men ran
+across the meadows to view the aftermath of this wonder&mdash;such a thing
+as never had been seen in Ruthar. Where the tower had stood was a hole
+in the earth, wherein the structure itself might almost have been
+buried. No vestige of the masonry was left. Not one stone remained upon
+another, and many of the larger foundation rocks had been sundered into
+fragments by the terrific force of the released gases of the melinite.</p>
+
+<p>Rutharians from that day on called Zenas Wright "Father of the
+Thunders," and accorded him a respect second only to that in which they
+held Polaris.</p>
+
+<p>Janess, the red captain, and Everson, who had been witnesses to his
+experiment, ran to the side of the geologist and wrung his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"And now do you, Father Zenas, stay away from that laboratory," said
+Oleric.</p>
+
+<p>"See to it that my men keep to the trick of making this stuff; but
+do you keep away. Some careless fellow might let a cake of your
+earth-shaker fall&mdash;and we cannot spare you."</p>
+
+<p>"Now show me this Kimbrian Wall," was the comment of Zenas. But the
+scientist yielded to the entreaties of his friends, and thereafter
+went no more to the laboratories, except once a day only, to test the
+purity of the chemicals with which his workmen wrought.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Soon after the destruction of the tower, Oleric, with Polaris and the
+lieutenant, rode down through the forests to visit the Kimbrian Wall.
+Now that they were assured of a means to open the way to Adlaz, they
+were all of them impatient to map out their plan of campaign, in which,
+as he alone of them all was skilled in such matters, they looked to
+Everson for counsel.</p>
+
+<p>Three days riding brought the party to the great barrier which the
+Children of Ad had built far back in the dim centuries to separate them
+from their hated enemies.</p>
+
+<p>As the riders approached the wall, they found the land narrowed to an
+isthmus, which Oleric told them was nearly eighty miles in extent, by
+something less than sixty across. The Kimbrian Wall crossed the neck of
+land nearly midway to its length, but if anything, a few miles nearer
+to the mainland of Maeronica than it was to Ruthar. On the hither side
+of the barrier stretched thick forests of oak and pine. Along the
+isthmus and near its western sea-border lay the course of an ancient
+road, which once had connected the two countries. To this old highway
+Everson gave careful attention. In some places it was broken up and
+overgrown with timber, but the lieutenant thought that little work
+would be required to put it in shape for travel.</p>
+
+<p>From a pine-clad knoll in the forest they had their first glimpse of
+the wall, and a mighty work it was. Built of gray stone, now moss-grown
+and weather-aged, it stretched away to the right and left as far as
+they could see and ended sheer with the precipitous cliffs above the
+sea. So enormous were the stones of which it was constructed that it
+reminded Everson of remnants of the cyclopean masonry, which are to be
+found in the old countries and which tradition used to tell were built
+by a race of giants. Probably this work was as old as they.</p>
+
+<p>The wall was nearly fifty feet high, and so broad as its top that two
+chariots might pass thereon. At intervals of a mile all along its
+length were watchtowers, garrisoned by the border-soldiers of Bel-Ar.
+In addition to all those points of strength, the wall had been so
+constructed that near its top there was an overhang of a number of
+feet, making it exceedingly difficult for scaling.</p>
+
+<p>Still, Oleric said, it had been scaled, and many times, by small
+parties of raiders from both sides&mdash;and some of them had never returned.</p>
+
+<p>"Look!" the captain exclaimed. "Here comes one of the patrols."</p>
+
+<p>From the nearest tower to the east three men on horseback came riding
+along the top of the wall, clearly outlined against the pale sky. As
+they came nearer the forest-watchers could see that the riders were
+muffled in cloaks. A sharp wind was sweeping down from the south, and
+it must have been bitter indeed on the unprotected eminence of the wall.</p>
+
+<p>"Ha! 'Tis Atlo himself&mdash;the captain whom I replaced at the port," said
+Oleric as the patrol came opposite him. "See, the foremost of the
+riders."</p>
+
+<p>Sight of his enemies riding by so close proved too much of a temptation
+to one of the Rutharian fighting men who had ridden down with the party
+to the wall. He was a master bowman. While the eyes of his companions
+were fixed on the three riders, he dismounted and slipped away among
+the trees to the left. In the shadow of a pine he paused and set an
+arrow to the string.</p>
+
+<p>It was a long shot&mdash;nearly a hundred yards&mdash;but the winged shaft flew
+straight and true. It smote the captain, Atlo, on the shoulder, and
+the riders in the forest could hear the faint clink as the point fell
+blunted from the armor which he wore beneath his cloak.</p>
+
+<p>Atlo started in his saddle, then turned and waved his hand, with a
+laugh. He rode on as if the arrow were a matter of little moment. The
+other two riders were more timorous than their captain, and they sent
+many a glance back toward the dark forest shadow as they rode along.</p>
+
+<p>Oleric shouted to the archer to loose no more arrows.</p>
+
+<p>"Let no more raids be made over the wall," Everson directed, "and have
+a force of men clear and rebuild the old road yonder. Bring it up as
+near to the wall as may be, without attracting attention. We must
+attack and take them unawares. We will have to mine underground from
+the forest to the wall and place our explosives. As soon as the wall
+is down, we shall throw a force of infantry through the breach, starve
+the garrison off the wall and hold the territory on the other side
+against all attack until we can clear the wreck of the wall and lay a
+road through the gap so that our cavalry and charioteers may pass it.
+Otherwise, the Maeronicans will hold the breach against us, in which
+case there would be a delay which we cannot afford&mdash;if, indeed, we
+should be able to fight our way through at all."</p>
+
+<p>Oleric pondered on the plan for a few moments. He looked up with
+shining eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"A wise counsel," he said. "All of these things shall be done, and
+right speedily."</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Almost miracles are the things which may be accomplished by human
+brains and hands, if there be enough of them and they are united to
+their work by a common and all-pervading purpose.</p>
+
+<p>Into the old forests above the Kimbrian barrier the Rutharian zinds
+threw a force of two thousand men and half again as many horses. The
+ancient roadway through the wood to the foot of the wall was cleared
+and rebuilt as though by magic. Everson, visiting the scene of the
+work, reflected somewhat bitterly on the contrast between the manner
+of this labor and any similar task to be done in the land where he was
+born.</p>
+
+<p>There, he knew, there would have been the delays caused by failure to
+supply the necessary materials, and failure again to get them to their
+appointed places on contract time. There would have been labor strikes,
+jealousies and bickering among leaders. In the end, of course, the work
+would have been done, and well done&mdash;but with much trouble.</p>
+
+<p>But in Ruthar there were no walking delegates. Happy were the workmen
+to labor from sun to sun, and others to take up the task in the hours
+of darkness. Materials were free and inexhaustible, and the zinds and
+leaders worked together like brothers, each doing what was required of
+him, as though his very life depended upon it.</p>
+
+<p>Within a fortnight of his first view of the Kimbrian Wall, the
+lieutenant deemed that the time to strike was nearly ripe. Two months
+and nearly a half of another of the allotted six were past. Three
+months and a half remained before Adlaz would gather for the Feast
+of Years. Three months and a half in which to conquer a nation and
+take a walled city, the strength of which was a tradition! Yet it
+must be done. And Everson, when he saw the tools with which he had to
+work, hoped high. This was an archaic people; but he found its sons
+good companions; sturdy, truthful, straightforward as their own long
+sword-blades. He believed they would follow to the death and that they
+would not come too late to the Adlaz gates.</p>
+
+<p>One day, Glorian, who of late had avoided Polaris, summoned the son of
+the snows and bade him bring with him his American comrades and Oleric
+the Red.</p>
+
+<p>"I know that you are nearly ready to go up against the Kimbrian Wall
+and the hosts of Bel-Ar," she said. "But before that day comes, there
+is a pilgrimage that must be made to one without the aid of whom
+perchance your greatest effort would be in vain. Bring horses; for on
+this journey I ride with you."</p>
+
+<p>Polaris rode a splendid black stallion, splotched with white at
+forehead and fetlock, which had been the gift of Jastla, of the hills.
+When they were ready to leave the temple gates, Rombar came barking at
+the horses' heels.</p>
+
+<p>"Best to leave the dog behind, brother," said Oleric. "We go upon a
+path where he may find ill-favor."</p>
+
+<p>Cloaked in a wondrous robe of red fox-skins, Glorian rode on a
+cream-colored palfrey, attended by one of her women in waiting only.
+Never had she seemed more fair and queenly. Like some bright daughter
+of the white North of the long ago, was she, of whom the skalds have
+sung in their undying sagas.</p>
+
+<p>From her he glanced to Polaris, who rode beside her. The son of the
+snows was clad from head to heel in the glittering chain armor which
+Rutharian smiths had forged for him, and cloaked in the black skin
+of a forest bear. At his back swung a two-handed sword. A winged
+helm, brilliant with gold-work and curtained with a hood and cape of
+delicately wrought links, sat upon his tawny hair. Long since a razor
+of keen bronze had swept the beard from his cheeks and chin.</p>
+
+<p>Only in the amber eyes had the troubles of the years left their mark&mdash;a
+shadow of sadness when they were thoughtful or in repose, but which did
+not ill become them.</p>
+
+<p>"She may be a goddess," thought Zenas to himself, "and she is beautiful
+enough to be a real one; but if she hasn't gone silly as a cow-girl
+over this lad of ours, then I'm a donkey, and a blind one, to boot. O
+Trouble, you've worn skirts ever since you quit fig-leaves."</p>
+
+<p>Zenas shook his head. The geologist had never married.</p>
+
+<p>It was no brief pleasure-jaunt on which Glorian led, but nearly
+two days' hard riding into the northwest from Zele-omaz, across
+heavily-wooded mountains and through valleys deep with snow.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving the hills at last, the party came to a vast, dark forest,
+silent, somber and covering the rolling land like a black pall. Into
+its soundless glades the riders penetrated and rode for miles.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Presently they saw ahead of them a clearing in the depths of the wood,
+and a stretch of long buildings, built of stone, and with their windows
+set high in the walls near their roofs.</p>
+
+<p>It was late afternoon when the riders entered the clearing and
+approached the buildings, which stood about the four sides of a square,
+enclosing a space of nearly three acres. As they rode into this court,
+following a path between two of the buildings, the travelers saw that a
+number of smaller structures of stone and wood occupied a part of the
+square. Here and there in the court, fires of brush were burning&mdash;for
+it was bitter cold in the forest depths&mdash;and dark figures of men passed
+to and fro about the fires. A pack of shaggy, wolf-bred dogs came
+yapping at the horses' heels.</p>
+
+<p>"Who comes?" cried a voice. Men bearing spears ran forward from the
+fires.</p>
+
+<p>"Glorian of Ruthar comes to visit Zoar of the Amalocs," answered Oleric.</p>
+
+<p>Straightway the armed men knelt in the courtyard, and one in a stern
+voice called back the dogs.</p>
+
+<p>A door in one of the houses near the center of the square was opened,
+and the form of a man stood there, silhouetted against a flaring light
+within the dwelling.</p>
+
+<p>"Methought that I heard a voice well known to me, speaking of Glorian
+of Ruthar and of Zoar of the Amalocs." The tones of the man in the
+doorway were low, but clear and sonorous as a bell. "I thought it the
+voice of one Oleric the Learned," the man went on. He bent forward and
+shaded his eyes with his hand. "Are you indeed come, red one? Ride
+forward that I may see."</p>
+
+<p>Oleric's answer was drowned in a terrific chorus of squealing groans,
+which seemed to issue from the larger buildings on all three sides of
+the square. So unearthly and piercing was the din, that Zenas Wright
+would have clapped his hands to his ears; but he found his best efforts
+needed to control his horse. The steeds of all the party snorted and
+reared in terror of that hideous outburst. They would have bolted, but
+knew not where to bolt; and presently the clamor was ceased, and they
+stood still and trembling.</p>
+
+<p>"What demons of the place are these?" cried Polaris. He sprang down
+from his horse, tossed the reins to the man nearest him, and ran to the
+head of Glorian's palfrey, which was curveting and threatening to pitch
+its mistress from her saddle.</p>
+
+<p>"Those are the pets of Zoar," Oleric answered, "the amalocs. They know
+his voice and answer him in their own fashion." Spurring his restive
+horse, the red captain rode forward to the porch of the dwelling.</p>
+
+<p>"So, 'tis you, indeed," said Zoar as the captain advanced into the ring
+of firelight. This time the man spoke softly, almost in a whisper, and
+was not again interrupted. He stepped to the side of the captain's
+horse and took him by the hand. "Who rides with you, and why do you
+ride to seek Zoar?" he asked. "Is the time come, red one? Is it come?"</p>
+
+<p>"Aye; the time is here, Zoar," said Oleric soberly. "Our years have not
+been in vain. Yonder sits the Goddess Glorian, and holding her horse's
+head is the hope of Ruthar, whom I have brought up from the sea."</p>
+
+<p>"And the Kimbrian Wall?" Zoar asked.</p>
+
+<p>"It waits but the coming of the amalocs, when we will push it down like
+a barrier of straw," Oleric answered. "Ruthar stands in arms as she
+never has before, and the land rustles with banners. We have come to
+ask your aid. When we know that Zoar of the amalocs is on the march,
+then will the war-drums be sounded."</p>
+
+<p>"Has the ancient crown touched his brow?" asked Zoar.</p>
+
+<p>"Not yet; we wait your word."</p>
+
+<p>"It is given." Zoar lifted his face to the dim sky. "Beyond the mists
+the stars of Ruthar shine, never so brightly," he muttered. He laid his
+hand on the captain's arm.</p>
+
+<p>"On the third day from now Zoar of the Amalocs will march," he
+said. "Now bring your party within, and they shall enjoy what poor
+hospitality I have for them, who entertain so few guests."</p>
+
+<p>Men led away the horses, and the travelers entered the hall of Zoar.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, daughter of the stars," he said, and bowed, as Glorian crossed his
+threshold, "many years have gone since I last looked into your eyes;
+but I find that the will burns strongly still, and your beauty has not
+dimmed. But I grow old, daughter, old and very weary."</p>
+
+<p>Gravely and courteously Zoar welcomed his guests, and bade them rest
+and sit at meat with him. It was a plain place into which he ushered
+them; yet was it rich, as the world counts riches, and its wealth was
+all of ivory. Seats, tables, cabinets, even the casings of the windows
+and the doors were of ivory&mdash;wonderful, finely grained stuff, some of
+it white as alabaster, and some of it cream-yellow with the tint of
+age. And the carvings on it must have been the work of years.</p>
+
+<p>Zoar, the host, the travelers found quite as remarkable as his ivory
+treasure. He was a slight, short man, hardly so tall as Zenas Wright
+and not so stocky as the geologist. He wore a long white beard, and his
+hair, of the same silver, flowed across his shoulders. His eyes, under
+bushy brows, were bright and kindly. His step was quick and firm, nor
+did his limbs or hands tremble. Yet there was on him the stamp of an
+unutterable, incredible age.</p>
+
+<p>His skin was as yellow-pale as the oldest of his ivory, and the whole
+surface of it was fretted with thousands of infinitesimal wrinkles.
+When he spoke or moved it was with spirit and animation; but when he
+fell into fits of abstraction&mdash;and that was often&mdash;Zoar looked very
+like a mummy fresh-stripped from its tomb.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Polaris the old man regarded with especial interest, and when the meal
+had been cleared away he sat and talked with him and Glorian for many
+minutes, recalling odd, old tales of the history of Ruthar, with which
+he showed remarkable familiarity.</p>
+
+<p>"But Ruthar's greatest story is yet to be made," he said in conclusion
+of his tales. Then he called his servants to show his guests to their
+chambers.</p>
+
+<p>"What! Have I ridden all these miles, friend Oleric, and then to be
+put to bed without the chance to tell you that these wonderful beasts
+about which you have bragged so much are only elephants after all?"
+said Zenas Wright, forgetting in his stubbornness the ivory gateway at
+Zele-omaz.</p>
+
+<p>The red captain grinned and put a question to Zoar. The old man
+answered with a shake of his head:</p>
+
+<p>"The amalocs love not to be disturbed at night, and especially they
+love not fires or lights. If you and your friends would sleep in peace
+this night, I counsel that you wait till daybreak to see the beasts.
+Otherwise they may revile you in such fashion as will shake your
+couches and drive all sleep from your pillows."</p>
+
+<p>So Zenas was forced to be content and go to his bed with no chance to
+crow over Oleric. All night long there penetrated occasionally through
+the geologist's slumbers the noise of raucous trumpeting and the
+padding stamp of ponderous feet.</p>
+
+<p>When they had broken their fast in the morning, Zoar led his guests
+into the court and sent men to throw open the great bronze doors in the
+front of the nearest of the stone buildings.</p>
+
+<p>"Now for an elephant," muttered Zenas. "Perhaps a mighty big one, but
+still an elephant." Then Zenas stopped, amazed.</p>
+
+<p>Out through the doors of bronze and into the open court stalked a
+mountain of flesh and ivory and stood swaying restlessly from one foot
+to another, flapping ears that would have made a bed covering, and
+looking keenly about with little, inflamed eyes. Elephantine in shape
+only was this monster. The points of its shoulders were fifteen feet
+from the ground&mdash;a full yard taller than the most stalwart elephant
+that ever bore the howdah of a mogul emperor.</p>
+
+<p>Tusks that were ten feet long projected from its massive skull, curving
+downward where they left the bone and then out and up in such fashion
+that if they had been continued farther they would have formed spirals.
+The body of the monster was covered with a coarse and woolly growth of
+reddish-brown hair, through which there pricked long, black bristles.
+On the trunk the wool was sparse and the bristles shorter, and one
+could see that the hide of the beast was a drab-gray. Neck it had none;
+but along the spine, just back of the skull and extending beyond the
+shoulders, was a ridge or mane of coarse, black hair.</p>
+
+<p>His face gone white and his eyes round and goggling, Zenas Wright stood
+and stared up at this Gargantuan offspring of the hinder ages.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Loxodon!</i>" he breathed.</p>
+
+<p>Never in all his life had the geologist felt so small and insignificant
+as in the presence of that towering survivor of the prehistoric past.</p>
+
+<p>Zoar stepped forward in front of the beast.</p>
+
+<p>"Ixstus!" he called gently.</p>
+
+<p>The great ears inclined forward to attention.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Stekkar mal!</i>" the old man commanded.</p>
+
+<p>Down swung the vast, wrinkled trunk in a huge loop, into which Zoar
+stepped and was hoisted to the table of the monstrous skull&mdash;a flat
+place where five men might have sat and played at cards.</p>
+
+<p>Another word of command, and the mammoth advanced a couple of paces.
+The snakelike trunk groped forward, and Zenas, wriggling some as he
+went, was swung aloft and found himself seated breathlessly by the side
+of Zoar.</p>
+
+<p>The master of the beasts smiled at the other old man.</p>
+
+<p>"When you come again to your own land, you may tell your children's
+children, if you have them, that you have sat on the head of an amaloc,
+the grandfather of all beasts," said Zoar.</p>
+
+<p>While Zenas appreciated that honor, it might be said that he was much
+relieved when he got his feet on the ground again.</p>
+
+<p>From building to building of the immense stables, the scientist was led
+with growing wonder. Ninety and three of the giant mammals there were,
+of which no one stood less than twelve feet high. But Ixstus was the
+champion and patriarch of the herd.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>As the riders journeyed back to Zele-omaz, Oleric told again how the
+Children of Ad had driven the beasts southward from their lands with
+fire, and how the men of Ruthar likewise had made war upon them, until
+they were in danger of becoming extinct.</p>
+
+<p>"But then came the prophecy, and men of wisdom set themselves to study
+and tame the beasts," he said. "And now, when the wall is down, and
+Ruthar takes the road to Adlaz, the amalocs shall lead the way, and
+Zoar and his servants shall drive them against the hosts of Bel-Ar."</p>
+
+<p>"Won't the Maeronicans scare them again with fires?" asked Everson.</p>
+
+<p>"Nay; that has been provided against," said the captain.</p>
+
+<p>"Lady," Polaris said to Glorian, "I have heard and seen many strange
+things in this country of yours, and I have learned much. One more
+thing I would ask that you make clear to me. Oleric has, and last night
+the old man back yonder did again speak of things of the long ago, in
+which you had a part. What did they mean? You are scarcely of mine own
+years."</p>
+
+<p>Glorian glanced hastily at Oleric, and then she answered:</p>
+
+<p>"When the world was younger, men had the secret of years. The slave
+O'Connell told Oleric that it was written in your sacred book out
+yonder in the world that such was so. That secret was lost. For ages it
+was lost. But it was found again in Ruthar. I am one of those to whom
+it has been imparted."</p>
+
+<p>"You mean, lady, that <i>you</i>&mdash;" Polaris gasped.</p>
+
+<p>"My friend, I first saw the light on Ruthar's hills well-nigh three
+hundred years ago," Glorian replied, and as he involuntarily shrank
+in his saddle, she added hastily, "It is a matter of the inward will
+that holds the spirit and the flesh. To only a few is it given to have
+the will to prevail for a time against time itself. And they are not
+immortal. Presently old age will come to me as it has to Zoar, and I
+shall shrivel away&mdash;and die." She shuddered.</p>
+
+<p>Polaris looked at this fair, fresh woman, beautiful as a goddess
+indeed, and by all earthly standards in the first bloom of her young
+womanhood, and he felt that this matter was beyond his comprehension.</p>
+
+<p>"Are there, then, any others, besides you and Zoar?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"One other only&mdash;and he rides at your side," she answered. "Oleric the
+Learned is younger than I by only fifty years."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, my brother, are some of my wild sayings explained to you," Oleric
+said. "We do not ask that you believe, for this thing is new to you and
+contrary to all that you have learned. Only the years will show you the
+truth of what we tell you&mdash;if they pass without accidents. For we are
+not proof against mischance. A sword-stroke may end my days as swiftly
+as any man's."</p>
+
+<p>"Would you that I impart the secret to you?" asked Glorian. And she
+turned and looked deep into Polaris's eyes. "You have a will that is
+stronger than most, and I think that you might well exert it to hold
+back the years, were you instructed. Say, shall we teach it you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nay, lady," said Polaris. "I will live my appointed years, be they few
+or many, and die when my time comes. One short human life, it seems,
+can hold all the troubles for which a man has heart. And I would not,
+if this thing be possible, see my friends grow old and die, while I
+lived on."</p>
+
+<p>Glorian sighed. Then she seemed struck by a new thought, and asked:</p>
+
+<p>"What will happen if Ruthar is too late, and you reach not your friends
+in Adlaz&mdash;and the lady Rose, of whom Oleric has told me? What if you
+come not to Adlaz in time to save them?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think that I shall be in time," Polaris said grimly. "If I am not,
+then I think death shall find me on the road&mdash;and be welcome."</p>
+
+<p>Zenas Wright, hearing these things, and marveling, became troubled.</p>
+
+<p>"Wow!" he said to the lieutenant. "I can believe anything now. To-day I
+have seen a living mammoth, and I felt about three thousand years old
+myself. And now, too, look out for squalls."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2>
+
+<h3>POLARIS MAKES HIS CHOICE</h3>
+
+
+<p>Dawn, the cheerless gray of clouded winter, crept over the city of
+Adlaz. In her bed in the prison-palace of Bel-Tisan the dark-haired
+Princess Memene of Sardanes lay, and beside her was her new little
+son. But Memene was not well, and Rose knew she would not live.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that Minos were here to see!" Memene said faintly. And again&mdash;"It
+is the king he was so sure of." She smiled at Rose. "It is the king,
+my sister. And he shall be named Patrymion, after a man who is dead&mdash;a
+very brave man." And smiling, she passed away.</p>
+
+<p>When she could control her grief&mdash;she had come to love Memene
+dearly&mdash;Rose summoned Brunar and told him what had befallen. The
+captain heard her sorrowfully, for he had honored and admired the
+Sardanian princess and pitied her sad circumstance. He sent the old
+woman out to fetch a younger one to care for the child. And then he
+brought men to bear Memene away. Out of the kindness that was in him,
+the captain looked to it that she lay in a fair and pleasant spot, and
+not where the common people of Ad buried their dead.</p>
+
+<p>Persuaded by Rose, and because he had some knowledge of English and
+could bear the message, Brunar took horse at noon and rode down to the
+harbor, there to seek Minos.</p>
+
+<p>This happening was nearly two months after the departure of Polaris and
+the others who had gone to Ruthar. In the intervening time, Oleric the
+Red had tried and tried again to get word through to Adlaz, informing
+those who were left behind of the fair progress of events. Always he
+had failed until one of his men, by craft and waiting, had gained a
+place with the prison guard.</p>
+
+<p>With him Rose Emer managed to get speech, and they arranged that on
+the following day he should slip away and try to reach Ruthar again,
+bearing a message from her to Polaris.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>On one of the quays in the harbor of Adlaz sat Minos, the Sardanian. It
+was cold on the quay, but he did not feel it. His back was weary with
+carrying burdens, but he was unconscious of that weariness. Why should
+the body live when the soul is dead within it? Nor did his eyes see
+the dancing waters of the harbor, where the fademes of Bel-Ar rode at
+their anchors. Until this day he had counted the hours with hope, and
+had borne his tasks with patience. Now hope had gone, and the taste of
+living was as dry dust.</p>
+
+<p>For Memene was dead.</p>
+
+<p>When Brunar had brought him the news, he had heard the captain through,
+and thanked him gravely. Then he had turned twice in his tracks and
+fallen like a stone. So long had he lain that Brunar deemed him dead.
+When he had come back from that swoon, Minos would work no more; nor
+did any seek to force him. He had wandered aimlessly out on the quay.
+When night fell, it found him still sitting there.</p>
+
+<p>It was a wild night. The moon shone but dimly, and often was veiled
+by scudding snow-clouds, and the stars were wan. Far to the south,
+over Ruthar, a faint rose-pink against the sky told that the southern
+lights, aurora australis, were playing. Somewhere beneath their
+flickering radiance lay the lost kingdom of Sardanes that the snows had
+covered deep. A wind, gusty and fitful, leaped over the mountain-rim
+and tossed the waters of the crater-lake so that the fademes swung
+restlessly and clanked their anchor-chains. One by one the mitzl globes
+among the warehouses and along the quays were hooded, until only the
+watch-lights were burning.</p>
+
+<p>A soldier of the guard hailed Minos; but the Sardanian answered not,
+stirred not.</p>
+
+<p>"Now let the fool sit and freeze," said the soldier impatiently. And
+then he added, "Poor fellow." For he had heard the story of the fallen
+king, and had a good wife and bairns of his own in Adlaz town.</p>
+
+<p>In Sardanes, Minos had been known as the smiling prince. But for all
+his patient, kindly ways, he was high-spirited. And once roused, none
+was quicker to strike than he. Events of the last few weeks had galled
+his temper. Now, coming out of the stupor into which this final blow
+had cast him, he was near to madness.</p>
+
+<p>Willingly would have Minos found his way to Adlaz, plucked Bel-Ar
+from his gilded bed and broken him across his knee. But the way was
+treacherous, and there were many guards, and he knew that he could not
+reach the king. Into the south he would have gone, to seek Polaris and
+to play a man's part in the great war. But that way was closed to him
+also. The few men that he might slay in the attempt before they pulled
+him down and slew him would be all too few to satisfy the fires within
+him that burned fiercely for vengeance. With only a great calamity
+would Minos be content.</p>
+
+<p>Uneasily tossed the fademes in the harbor, their anchor-chains
+rattling.</p>
+
+<p>Finally Minos heard them. Then he knew why they were calling to him.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Many times in his work about the harbor of Adlaz the Sardanian had been
+on board the fademes. He had helped to discharge the cargoes of those
+which came in from the fair islands of the southern seas, bringing
+strange tropical fruits, dainties for the lords and ladies of Adlaz,
+and other articles of the commerce which their captains carried on
+with the savage islanders. On many an atoll of the Pacific the brown
+Melanesians knew all the steel and gold clad white men who came up from
+the sea to trade with them.</p>
+
+<p>But they kept out of the track of civilization; for that was their law.
+Civilized men saw them not, though they sometimes heard tales of them
+among the savages&mdash;tales which, of course, they did not believe.</p>
+
+<p>Working on the ships as he had, Minos had learned much of the mode of
+their operation. Himself no mean worker in metals, the mysteries of
+these wonderful ships of the underseas had caught his fancy, and he
+had studied them. He knew that such a lever turned would start the
+fademe forward; that such another halted it; and others which caused
+it to turn and to dive beneath the surface or emerge at the will of
+its engineer. He also knew where were the levers which controlled
+the mighty power in the four great shafts of yellow glass and which
+released the terrible rays of light, the rays of the nameless color,
+before which all things were destroyed, and which turned even the water
+that they met into surging vapor.</p>
+
+<p>With that knowledge in his mind and the red fury in his heart, Minos
+knew why the clanging anchor-chains were calling to him.</p>
+
+<p>It was past midnight when the Sardanian king stood up at the end of
+the quay. He stretched wide his arms and the iron-sinewed thews of
+his shoulders and back cracked as he stretched. He glanced up at the
+distant stars.</p>
+
+<p>"Once aforetime, so told the red man from the sea, those Hellenes who
+were my ancestors did turn back this nation when it was swollen with
+conquest and would have mastered all the world," he whispered. "Once
+more the power of Adlaz rides high, and it makes ready to go forth and
+subdue it again&mdash;and what I leave, may my brother Polaris finish."</p>
+
+<p>In the shadow of a warehouse the king rubbed and strained his chilled
+muscles back to life. At the side of the wharf he found an open boat,
+and fetched its oars. Then he rowed cautiously out into the harbor.</p>
+
+<p>Scarce a score of yards from the quays rode the nearest of the fademes.
+Minos boarded it on noiseless feet, and cast his boat adrift.</p>
+
+<p>In the cabin of the fademe were sleeping two sailors of its crew and
+the engineer. Them Minos slew with his bare hands. And though the
+engineer ere he died slashed the king's shoulder deeply with a dagger,
+he heeded it not, scarcely felt it.</p>
+
+<p>Going on deck again, he unhooked the chain of the anchor and let it
+slip quietly into the water. Then he closed the double doors fore and
+aft, and made them fast.</p>
+
+<p>Under the lights in the lower gallery, Minos studied the levers and
+the engines. At a turn of his hand he felt the vessel sink beneath the
+surface. Another lever wrenched, and the fademe started gently ahead,
+and the king felt that he was safely launched on his dangerous venture.</p>
+
+<p>Before he had submerged the vessel, Minos had set in his mind the
+location of the fademes. There were nearly one hundred and fifty of
+them in the harbor. Five he knew were on patrol duty constantly off
+the Maeronican headlands. There were perhaps another dozen sailing the
+outer seas on the missions of Bel-Ar. Those at anchor in the harbor
+were disposed in three long, irregular lines, with nearly fifty ships
+in a line.</p>
+
+<p>Minos had submerged the fademe, which he had taken, some forty feet.
+When he reached a point which he thought must be nearly under the first
+vessel in the southern line, he turned off the power and halted. He
+fetched ropes and tied them, one to the starting lever and one to that
+which would stop the fademe. Carrying with him the other ends of the
+ropes, he climbed the ladders to the pilothouse, which rode like a
+small tower at the top of the fademe.</p>
+
+<p>Here in the pilothouse was a powerful revolving searchlight. Here,
+also, were the levers which controlled the tubes of glass which
+projected the deadly light-rays.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Swinging the searchlight to point upward through the crystal roof of
+the pilothouse, Minos unhooded it, and its bright, white bar of light
+thrust upward through the water. By its radiance he saw that he was not
+yet under the first of the fademes. Its golden hull glittered just a
+few feet beyond the radius of his light. A twitch of the rope which he
+had adjusted below sent his own vessel ahead.</p>
+
+<p>Under the first fademe he halted; and with a grim prayer that the
+destroying agency might not be out of order, he pressed the lever that
+controlled the upper shaft of the glass.</p>
+
+<p>With a mighty hissing and seething of the water, the indescribable
+light-ray leaped upward, so dazzlingly brilliant in its unknown color
+that it nearly blinded the man who had loosed it.</p>
+
+<p>Full on the bottom of the fademe above him the light ray struck and
+played, with the water boiling around it. The metal hull crumpled away
+like solder before the tinsmith's point. So swift and furious was its
+action that in an instant Minos saw the vessel above come sinking down.
+He had barely time to pull his rope and get his own fademe from under.
+As it was, the descending wreck grazed the stern of his vessel with a
+jar that nearly unseated him. Thereafter he went more swiftly.</p>
+
+<p>From ship to ship he went down the long line, scarcely pausing under
+each. Ship after ship he left behind him&mdash;sunken and useless wrecks.</p>
+
+<p>Minos had finished with the first row of fademes, and was coming back
+on the second line, when a guardsman on shore saw an upthrust of
+furious light from the deck of one of the golden ships, and then saw
+the doomed fademe plunge down.</p>
+
+<p>Throwing up his hands, the soldier ran across the harbor court,
+shouting that some captain had gone mad and was destroying the fleet.</p>
+
+<p>Then the harbor that had been still became alive. Lights flashed up.
+Men ran hither and thither. A messenger was dispatched to Adlaz to
+report to the king. Some sober-minded and brave men launched small
+boats into the harbor to go out and warn the engineers of the other
+fademes.</p>
+
+<p>Well near the end of his second line was Minos when he bethought him
+that his activities must draw attention to him. Then he loosed in
+succession the other three tubes, and their deadly rays shot forth, one
+from each side and one below. The king let them roar unchecked, and all
+around his vessel the water was turned into a boiling inferno. Like the
+evil genius of Adlaz, he rode on, leaving only wreckage in his wake.</p>
+
+<p>Part way down the last northern line, the end found him.</p>
+
+<p>Engineers on the other fademes had been awakened. Hastily they plunged
+their vessels beneath the surface and set out against the destroyer.
+Because of the fierce play of his four rays, they could not come at him
+from either side or from above or below.</p>
+
+<p>But one pilot steered in behind and, with the blazing peril a fair
+target, loosed the destroying ray from his own fademe.</p>
+
+<p>From behind him Minos heard a roar of steam and water entering in.
+A blinding radiance shot through the gallery below the pilothouse,
+withering all things as it passed. The structure of the fademe crumpled
+away beneath him.</p>
+
+<p>"Memene!" he cried. "I come!"</p>
+
+<p>Then the rising waters and the great darkness.</p>
+
+<p>So by the hand of Minos of Sardanes perished the mighty navy which
+the king Bel-Ar had amassed to go forth and conquer the world. Of his
+hundred and fifty fademes that had ridden in the harbor of Adlaz, a
+bare score remained to him. And this is the tale which Brunar, the
+captain, told in the morning to Rose Emer in the old prison-palace of
+Bel-Tisam, and which she set down and sent by messenger to cross the
+Kimbrian Wall to Polaris Janess in Ruthar.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Meanwhile, scarcely had the riders from the forest home of Zoar of the
+Amalocs come again to Zele-omaz when Everson was off to see to the
+course of his operations at the Kimbrian Wall. He snatched only a few
+hours of rest and sleep, and rode out in the night.</p>
+
+<p>On the day after the return, which also was the day on which Zoar had
+promised to set out with his mighty herd on the road to the barrier,
+Oleric the Red sought Polaris in the camp to the west of the city, and
+bade him accompany him to the Temple of Glorian.</p>
+
+<p>Oleric told naught of the meaning of the summons, but rode with Janess
+through the city, saying little and staring at his horse's ears. Never
+had Polaris seen the red captain so silent and so thoughtful.</p>
+
+<p>"What ails you, friend?" asked the son of the snows. "Why so moody, as
+is not your wont? Has aught gone amiss?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing amiss," the captain answered. "But a matter is toward that
+concerns yourself closely&mdash;and I know not if I have been wise to keep
+it from you so long."</p>
+
+<p>He would say no more, and presently they were at the temple.</p>
+
+<p>Oleric led Polaris into the high-domed audience-hall, which they found
+empty, save for the Goddess Glorian, who sat in one of the seats on
+the double throne, and who looked on Polaris with kindling eyes as he
+crossed the hall.</p>
+
+<p>To the northern wall led Oleric, and they paused before an ancient
+panel of black rock, which had been set into the marble at about the
+height of a man's head. So old was this slab or block of adamant that
+its surface was all crackled, yet it was smooth as polished slate.
+Across its face ran carven lines of writing, like the lines of a runic
+legend.</p>
+
+<p>"This stone bears the ancient prophecy of Ruthar," Oleric said. "Here
+in the long ago were writ the words of that which we believe is now to
+come to pass. See how the stone shines. It has been worn smooth by the
+lips of countless chiefs of Ruthar."</p>
+
+<p>With unwonted solemnity the captain gazed into the eyes of his friend.
+"Give close heed, and I will read it you," he said, and read:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>"In a far time&mdash;more than the length of years of three amalocs&mdash;a
+mighty, fair-haired man shall come up from the sea. He shall break
+down the wall at the north. He shall lead Ruthar and the beasts of
+Ruthar through the wall. And they shall take Adlaz and destroy the
+king of Adlaz&mdash;"</p></div>
+
+<p>The captain paused, and again looked strangely at Polaris. He concluded
+the reading:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>"And the man shall be king over Ruthar and Adlaz."</p></div>
+
+<p>Janess stared at the ancient writing in silence, and his brow clouded
+over.</p>
+
+<p>"This is the whole of the prophecy of Ruthar&mdash;the part of which I have
+kept concealed from you&mdash;though every lad in Ruthar knows it," said
+Oleric hastily. "I beg of you, my brother, that you will forgive me if
+I have done ill. But I have thought it wise to keep silence this far.
+Now is come the time when nothing must be kept back."</p>
+
+<p>He stopped speaking, and both he and Glorian gazed earnestly at the
+doubtful face of Polaris.</p>
+
+<p>"You mean that I shall be king of Ruthar," Polaris said at length. From
+one to the other of them he glanced.</p>
+
+<p>The red captain nodded slowly.</p>
+
+<p>"So it is writ in the prophecy," said Glorian. She left the throne, and
+came and took Polaris by the hand.</p>
+
+<p>"And, O man from the sea, for whom Ruthar has waited so long and
+patiently, you cannot gainsay us now," she pleaded. A smile of
+appealing sweetness came to her aid.</p>
+
+<p>"But, lady, to be a king I did not bargain when I came hither with the
+captain; though," and he smiled, "I was in an ill place to drive a
+bargain, and might have yielded almost anything. But to be a king&mdash;I
+like it not. I am neither of Ruthar nor of Ad. I am a simple American
+of common birth. I do not wish to be a king, but merely to go hence
+with my own people, if I may. And if I did wish it, what of the people?
+Would they relish the thought of an outlander on their throne?"</p>
+
+<p>Again Glorian answered him:</p>
+
+<p>"It is so writ in the prophecy."</p>
+
+<p>And Oleric said: "And the prophecy is known to all the people, as it
+has been for centuries. From the wall to the southern cliffs, there is
+no man or woman in all Ruthar who does not already look upon you as the
+king. Think well, my brother."</p>
+
+<p>"But would it not do as well if I were to serve you and Ruthar for a
+while, and those with me, as leaders? Then, when we have won, if we
+<i>do</i> win, might I not go hence? Would that not serve as well?"</p>
+
+<p>Glorian smiled faintly, and Oleric shook his head.</p>
+
+<p>"Nay, my brother," the captain replied. "You must put your hands in the
+hands of the zinds of Ruthar and swear the oath of kingship. That is
+the only way. 'And the man shall be king over Ruthar and Adlaz,' runs
+the prophecy." Oleric traced the writing on the slab with his finger.
+"By those words do the zinds and the people hold. It is the only way."</p>
+
+<p>"And if I refuse?"</p>
+
+<p>"Then," said Glorian, "the army will not march to-morrow, nor will Zoar
+drive on the beasts&mdash;unless all of the prophecy shall be fulfilled.
+Then we who have stood as sponsors for you will be derided as cheats
+and fools, if, indeed, worse things do not befall you and us. And
+bethink you&mdash;those whom you love, who are in Adlaz, will perish
+miserably, while Bel-Ar and the priests of Shamar mock their miseries.
+Without you we fail, and without us and the hosts of Ruthar you, too,
+are powerless."</p>
+
+<p>"You argue strongly, lady, and you, too, comrade," Polaris said.
+"Still, I like not this prospect of being king. I must have a little
+space in which to ponder it over."</p>
+
+<p>"It is now nearly noon," Oleric said. "To-day the zinds from every
+province and city of Ruthar ride into Zele-omaz&mdash;to greet their king.
+Until to-night, my brother."</p>
+
+<p>"Then to-night will I give my answer&mdash;here in this hall," Polaris said,
+and he turned and went to seek out old Zenas Wright. And neither of the
+two whom he left behind could have guessed at what his answer would be,
+though it seemed to them that there could only be one answer. For they
+had come to know him as a man of surpassing determination, and here was
+a path in which he did not want to set his feet.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>In the old laboratory Janess found Zenas. The work of the geologist
+was completed. Melinite he had turned out of his workshops by the ton,
+and the most of it had been transported carefully, and was stored in
+the forests near to the Kimbrian Wall. Now his thunder factory was
+deserted. Every last man of his force had gone to join the army.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, my lad, I know," said Zenas, after one glance at Polaris's face.
+"They have told you about this king business. I know, too&mdash;for I know
+you&mdash;that you are bucking it&mdash;hard."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not want to be a king, old Zenas, but&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, there's a 'but' in it, and a big one. What are you going to do
+about it? Our red-headed, two-hundred-and-fifty-year-old youngster, the
+antique lady, and their old father, Methuselah Zoar, have it all cut
+and dried. If you can see any way out of it except their way, you have
+devilish keen eyes. I can't, and I've been looking at it for quite a
+few days. Oleric told me about it all some time ago. Take it, boy; take
+it. And make the most of it. It isn't every day that one gets a chance
+to be absolute ruler over a rich country and nearly five millions of
+people. You'll make a better king than any they've ever had on either
+side of the wall. That I'll guarantee." And the old man looked at his
+troubled friend with bright eyes and patted him on the knee.</p>
+
+<p>While they sat and talked this matter over, came a man to the door,
+crying out that a messenger had come through from Adlaz bringing a
+written word to Polaris.</p>
+
+<p>The courier was brought in. He proved to be that same Rutharian who had
+gained a place with the prison guard under Brunar. Already he had told
+in the city of the destruction of the fademes of Bel-Ar, and Zele-omaz
+was going wild with the news.</p>
+
+<p>When Polaris had read the letter sent him by Rose Emer, and he and
+Zenas had heard what the messenger had to add to its news, the face of
+the son of the snows grew very stern. The kindly old scientist's eyes
+were moist. After the man was gone, neither of them spoke for quite a
+time. The two who were gone had been dear friends, and the friendship
+had been knit by perils and hardships, in which each had learned the
+worth of the others.</p>
+
+<p>"Now is the score that I have to settle with this king of Adlaz grown
+long indeed," Polaris said at length, "and I am minded to tilt him for
+his kingdom, as these folk would have me do. He made a good ending, did
+Minos; and I do not think that Bel-Ar, even if he come free of Ruthar,
+will live to see the day when another fleet shall lie ready to go out
+and win the world for him."</p>
+
+<p>He became silent. While the town, filling up with the arrival of zinds
+and their retinues, gave itself to rejoicing at the blow that had been
+struck Bel-Ar, and the old man sat by the fire and dozed, Polaris paced
+moodily up and down the long laboratory. An hour passed, and the half
+of another. Then he struck one hand hard into the other.</p>
+
+<p>"Now in all these happenings I think I see my way at last," he muttered.</p>
+
+<p>With the fall of night he cloaked himself and went up to the temple on
+the hill, and Zenas went with him.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>From every principality and town in Ruthar the zinds had come to
+Zele-omaz. Those who were too old or infirm to make the journey had
+sent their sons or representatives. In the hall of Glorian these were
+gathered to the number of one hundred-and-seven&mdash;tall and stately men,
+most of them, clad in chain armor plated with silver and bossed with
+plates of steel&mdash;for they had come to fight for their king as well as
+to crown him. A shout went up that made the torches flare, when a guard
+opened one of the doors of bronze, and Polaris Janess and Zenas came
+into the hall.</p>
+
+<p>Eager-eyed, they pressed around the son of the snows, to welcome him
+whom their prophets and their goddess had said would redress their
+ancient wrongs.</p>
+
+<p>Polaris met their greetings with a heightened color and a glow in his
+eyes. Almost, he thought, it would be a joy to be the king of such as
+these&mdash;he, the dweller in no-man's land, a waif from the eternal snows.</p>
+
+<p>And the Goddess Glorian, watching him from her ivory throne, smiled
+to herself, though there was a pang at her heart that she could not
+manage to quench or still.</p>
+
+<p>Presently Polaris stood in the open space at the foot of the throne.
+The zinds gathered before him in a glittering semicircle, and made
+silence in the hall.</p>
+
+<p>"Chieftains of Ruthar," he began, lifting his voice so that all might
+hear, "this day have I been asked to become your king, to take your
+crown upon my head, to sit upon your throne, to lead you in battle, and
+to rule over you as wisely as I may&mdash;all this because of certain words
+on a stone which, it seems, may not be changed. Is this your wish, men
+of Ruthar&mdash;to have me, an outlander, as your king?"</p>
+
+<p>A deep-voiced shout was the answer, and every voice said "Aye."</p>
+
+<p>"Then this is my answer, men of Ruthar, seeing that there is no dissent
+among you: when I came unwillingly to the shores of Maeronica, there
+came with me a friend, a true man. You have heard much of him to-day.
+It was he that sank the fademes of Bel-Ar. He was named Minos, and he
+was the king of a nation that has passed away. That man is dead by a
+glorious means. Yonder in the harbor he struck a great blow for Ruthar
+and for the world. He gave his life.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>"To-day word reached me by the messenger who brought the tidings of
+that deed, and the word was that this Minos who is dead, left behind
+him a son, an infant newly born.</p>
+
+<p>"Now I will yield me to your wishes, chieftains of Ruthar. I will go
+with you to the Kimbrian Wall, and beyond it. I will fight with you
+to overthrow Bel-Ar. I will do all that a man may to be the king you
+wish me. But it is my will that when this son of Minos the Sardanian is
+grown to manhood's years and wisdom, he shall relieve me of my kingship
+and become your king, and his son after him, if he have one. That is my
+answer, men of Ruthar. I thank you for the high honor you would do me."</p>
+
+<p>He turned and bowed deeply to the Goddess Glorian, and then stood back
+at the side of the throne.</p>
+
+<p>A murmur of surprise arose in the hall, and then was silenced, for
+Glorian arose to speak.</p>
+
+<p>"Zinds of my people," she said in her clear, low voice, "to the weight
+of this man's words add that of Glorian's. He comes, this man, from a
+land where there are no kings. He is willing to fight for you&mdash;to die
+with you. What he promises will fulfil the prophecy by which we hold.
+It is a noble choice that he has made. It is my rede that you accept
+it&mdash;mine and that of Oleric the Learned, to whom you sometimes have
+looked for counsel."</p>
+
+<p>As she reseated herself, the red captain stood forth and said simply:</p>
+
+<p>"My brother has chosen well. I stand with him. Should you not agree, I
+still stand with him, and he and I and such as are faithful to us will
+break the Kimbrian Wall and perish on the road to Adlaz."</p>
+
+<p>For a short time the zinds took counsel among themselves. When they had
+done, an aged man&mdash;he was Atra, the ruler of Zele-omaz&mdash;stood out from
+among them.</p>
+
+<p>"We are agreed, O goddess," he said. "We will have this man as king
+until the prophecy is fulfilled and for so long afterward as he will,
+until the babe be grown to manhood. He is a true man. We are content,
+and perhaps"&mdash;here Atra smiled&mdash;"with the passing of the years he may
+change his mind."</p>
+
+<p>They brought the crown of Ruthar&mdash;a heavy torque of gold set with
+fire-opals&mdash;and led Polaris to the ivory throne, and set him beside the
+Goddess Glorian and crowned him. And he put his hands in the hands of
+the zinds and swore the oath of kingship.</p>
+
+<p>"Yonder in Adlaz is a larger palace and a wider throne," said Glorian.</p>
+
+<p>"Aye, lady," he answered. "To-morrow I shall go to seek it."</p>
+
+<p>A great feast followed the coronation. When it was done, all night
+long through the streets of Zele-omaz and across the bridges of Illia,
+sounded the rumbling of chariot-wheels and the tramp of marching feet.
+Ruthar was on the march at last, and the destination was the Kimbrian
+Wall.</p>
+
+<p>So it fell out that the ambition of Minos of Sardanes had not been so
+vain of attainment. He had won a kingdom for "the king that was to
+come."</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>As near as they dared, Everson's army of workmen had pushed the
+completion of their broad highway to the Kimbrian Wall, clearing and
+building up the old, disused road. Trees had been felled and removed
+where it was necessary, and rocks had been dragged away with much
+labor&mdash;and all with as little noise as possible, so that the men of
+Atlo who garrisoned the wall might know nothing of the work, and that
+when the time should come, Maeronica could be taken unawares.</p>
+
+<p>To do that the road-makers had been forced to halt their work two
+hundred yards from the wall, where a belt of thick forest was left
+standing across the way which effectually screened their operations.</p>
+
+<p>When the roadway had been completed to that point, molelike, the
+engineers and sappers dug into the earth and pushed on. The old
+roadway, suiting their purposes well, led to the wall at a point nearly
+midway between two of the watchtowers, which were distant from one
+another about a mile. Another circumstance which was favorable to the
+lieutenant's plan was that the neck or isthmus which connected Ruthar
+to Maeronica was, though high above the sea, comparatively level.</p>
+
+<p>Back of a knoll in the forest the miners sank their shaft. Twelve feet
+down in the earth they struck the living rock and proceeded along that,
+excavating a tunnel, or gallery, eight feet high by ten feet across.
+This work was done swiftly, for the tunnel was wide enough so that four
+men might work in it abreast, and as fast as one quartet was wearied
+another took its place, and the picks were swinging day and night. As
+the diggers went on, a multitude of workers behind them carried back
+the loosened earth and shored the gallery up with timbers so that it
+might not cave.</p>
+
+<p>When Everson returned from the ride to the place of Zoar, he found that
+his tunnel was ended&mdash;against the face of the Kimbrian Wall, which was
+founded on the rock itself. Following his instructions, the sappers had
+branched the tunnel right and left along the wall, until the working
+was in the shape of an elongated letter "T", the cross-arm of which lay
+along the foundation stones of the wall and was sixty feet long.</p>
+
+<p>With the same ceaseless industry that had built the tunnel so swiftly,
+they then had attacked the face of the wall with chisels and sledges,
+cutting in at intervals of about ten feet. This had been difficult
+work and perilous. The rock of the wall was adamant-hard. However, by
+attacking the cement in which the stones were set, the miners had been
+able to remove numbers of the great blocks entire, rolling them by
+dint of herculean effort across the gallery and into cavities made to
+receive them.</p>
+
+<p>In that work had been the danger. Eight men had been crushed under
+falling fragments&mdash;first toll of Ruthar in the warfare.</p>
+
+<p>The excavations had been carried into the foundation of the wall a
+matter of fifteen feet when Everson arrived. He at once ordered that
+work stopped. Remained only the placing of the explosive. That he
+superintended in person.</p>
+
+<p>Bar by bar&mdash;for the lieutenant would suffer no man to carry more than
+one of old Zenas's patty-cakes at a time&mdash;and with extreme care, the
+melinite was borne in through the tunnel and packed in the cavities
+in the wall. The geologist's workshop had turned out a plenty of the
+stuff, and it was used without stint. Everson judged that he placed
+nearly two tons of the explosive in each of the six chambers under the
+wall.</p>
+
+<p>Banks of loose, dry earth were piled about the melinite charges;
+Everson laid his wires, and his workmen then filled the cavities with
+fragments of the rock taken from the wall.</p>
+
+<p>Still further to retard the release of the gases when the charges
+should be set off, the lieutenant set his men to wall up the openings
+to the chambers, using heavy rocks and cement, having done which, they
+filled in the cross-arm of the "T" with earth and fragments of stone,
+tamping all in firmly.</p>
+
+<p>Very workmanlike was the finished task over which Everson nodded his
+approval and told his grimy legion, "Well done."</p>
+
+<p>During all the progress of the labor the patrols of Bel-Ar rode to and
+fro along the wall, and never guessed that sixty feet below them in the
+rock their enemies were planting the fearful seeds that would put forth
+the red flower of war.</p>
+
+<p>It was midnight of the third day after the gathering of the zinds
+in the temple of Glorian at Zele-omaz, when Everson walked out of
+the tunnel for the last time, his wires laid, his batteries ready.
+Retiring to one of the shelters which had been built in the forest, the
+lieutenant threw himself on a couch for a few brief hours of sleep.</p>
+
+<p>Five hours later one of his engineers awakened him and told him that
+the zinds of Ruthar with a great host had gone into camp for the night
+along the roadway ten miles back from the wall, and that the levies of
+the upper hills, the light-armed archers, slingers and javelin men,
+were pouring into the vast camp which had been prepared nearby in the
+forest.</p>
+
+<p>"And these last swear that when they sleep again it will be beyond the
+wall," the engineer added.</p>
+
+<p>"Many of them, poor chaps, are likely to sleep there forever," said
+Everson. "Where is the king?"</p>
+
+<p>"With the zinds."</p>
+
+<p>The lieutenant arose and went out on the hillside; for he knew that
+the time had come.</p>
+
+<p>Calling a messenger, he told him to go and summon the skirmishers from
+the camp. Presently he saw them coming, long, silent files of men,
+ghostly in the gray light, picking their way over the snow-covered
+slopes and among the trees, some of the lines led by zinds and others
+by their captains.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>In the forests opposite the wall, Everson posted a wedge of five
+thousand javelin men, who were armed also with short swords. These were
+to rush the breach in the wall and deploy on the other side to hold
+the gap from any assault from beyond until the gap could be cleared
+and the roadway brought up and through the breach to connect with the
+Maeronican highway which lay on the other side of the barrier. Back of
+that force gathered the miners and road-builders.</p>
+
+<p>Right and left along the wall the lieutenant sent bodies of archers and
+slingers, so they might command the top of the wall and prevent the
+garrisons of the watchtowers from galling the men at work in the breach.</p>
+
+<p>At each of the sixty towers along the stretch of the wall were
+stationed some twenty men&mdash;a force of nearly twelve hundred in all.
+Everson foresaw that these in all probability, or most of them, would
+come to the breach from either side, leaving but few soldiers to man
+the towers. So he sent two parties of a thousand men each east and
+west, to lie in the forests near the wall. These were heavy-armed
+swordsmen and spearsmen. They bore long ladders with them, and it was
+to be their task to scale the wall, flank the men of Bel-Ar at its
+summit, and take and hold the watchtowers.</p>
+
+<p>A few miles below the wall lay a Maeronican hilltown, and there Bel-Ar
+maintained a prominent garrison, composed of a section of his standing
+army, some ten thousand men strong. These soldiers had proved the bane
+of many a Rutharian raiding party, and they now gave Everson much
+trouble in his mind. If they should come up quickly to the wall and
+drive back his force or retake the towers, his thrust would be all but
+ill delivered and fail of much of its power. That must be chanced&mdash;and
+he judged by the look of these fighting men of Ruthar that they would
+stand considerable driving and still not be driven.</p>
+
+<p>Silently the long lines stole into position, and the men sank out of
+sight among the trees. A small patrol party of Maeronican soldiers rode
+down the wall from the watchtower to the west, where the mitzl lights
+burned pale against the sky. They passed on, met the patrol from the
+east, and both returned&mdash;seeing nothing of the menace that lay hidden
+in the shadows of the pines.</p>
+
+<p>Ruthar had been quiet of late, and a few noises in the forest meant
+nothing to these soldiers, strong in their position on the mighty wall.
+Of such things as the pastries of Zenas Wright they had never even
+dreamed.</p>
+
+<p>In a clump of trees Everson attached his wires to his batteries. He
+knelt by one of them, and five of his sappers knelt with him.</p>
+
+<p>"One&mdash;two&mdash;<i>three</i>!" he counted.</p>
+
+<p>The six poised hands fell as one.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment, silence; then a burst of hell from the bowels of the
+earth.</p>
+
+<p>From end to end, down all its length, the roof of Everson's
+subterranean gallery was torn out by the rending gases. From the mouth
+of the tunnel a mass of rocks, beams and loose earth was belched down
+the slope with such force that trees fell before it.</p>
+
+<p>Through clouds of falling earth and a drift of smoke, the distended
+eyes of the Rutharian soldiery saw the basalt structure of the Kimbrian
+Wall that had stood firm for thirty centuries heave up, sunder, and
+open, as a gate opens, then come thundering down to ruin. Right in the
+midst of the chaos of falling rock an awful sheet of green flame arose
+like a giant fan and stood for an instant against the sky.</p>
+
+<p>Then came the noise. It was neither a crash nor a roar, but a sustained
+rumbling bellow&mdash;as though Mother Earth herself were muttering at this
+desecration of her aged bones. Such was the power of that tremulous
+diapason that the forests shook and the hills trembled. Followed a
+moment of the silence of the pit, and then the clatter and spat of the
+débris as it showered the slopes and the forests.</p>
+
+<p>"Shields up!" shouted a tall zind of Ruthar, and the next moment he was
+stretched senseless by a fragment of rock because he had not been quick
+to obey his own order. Many others were injured, and some were killed.
+But what did a few deaths matter now? The Kimbrian Wall was down. For
+eighty feet the gap extended wide and free!</p>
+
+<p>And beyond lay Maeronica.</p>
+
+<p>In the forests and on the hills the companies cheered wildly as they
+saw the path the melinite had opened, and cheered again when they saw
+that the watchtower to the west had been shaken from its perch by the
+terrific concussion and lay a crumble of stonework at the foot of the
+wall.</p>
+
+<p>"Into the breach!" shouted Everson. "Through the wall!"</p>
+
+<p>From their lair on the hillsides the five thousand javelin bearers
+arose gleefully and crossed the space to the gap in the wall at a
+swinging trot, singing as they went.</p>
+
+<p>So clean had been the sweep of the melinite that it had torn away every
+vestige of the wall down to the living rock of the isthmus, leaving a
+wide trench or ditch, stone-bottomed and with sloping sides of earth,
+which it was an easy matter for the light-armed men to scramble across.
+But first the soldiers had to throw loose earth into the bottom of the
+trench; for the terrific pressure of the melinite against the rock had
+heated it until it was almost molten.</p>
+
+<p>For hundreds of feet around, heaps of earth and pulverized stone sent
+up columns of the greenish, acrid vapor of the explosive.</p>
+
+<p>On the heels of the javelin men pressed the engineers and road-men,
+swarming into the breach to fill the trench and make a way for the
+charioteers and the amalocs of Zoar, which were to follow. Along the
+screen of forest at the end of the road axes rang, and the trees began
+to fall.</p>
+
+<p>One of the first men into the breach after the skirmishers had crossed
+the ragged ditch, was Everson. With Mazoe, chief of his sappers, the
+lieutenant directed the work at the trench; for now was the time for
+haste.</p>
+
+<p>Shaken from their beds by the dull thunder of Everson's fireworks,
+Bel-Ar's steel riders at the eastern tower came clattering down their
+wall. Before ever they reached the gap, a trumpet sounded on the
+hillside, the archers and the slingers arose like wraiths from the
+forests, and the horsemen were met by a shower of shafts and stones
+that rattled and clanged on their armor and drove them back.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Messengers sped east and west from tower to tower. Within an hour
+every garrison along the barrier knew that the gods of Ruthar had
+rifted their fortress and the hillsmen were pouring through. But these
+soldiers of Bel-Ar were picked men, and they did not fear. Every
+man-at-arms that could be spared from the turrets was horsed, and they
+came riding recklessly down their lofty pathway, firm in the belief
+that their own god presently would have a say in this matter.</p>
+
+<p>At the third tower to the east of the breach was Atlo, captain of the
+wall. The tremor of the explosion reached even there. While the captain
+and his men wondered at what it might be, a messenger reached them.
+Atlo at once sent a horseman down the curving path, one of which led
+from each tower to the ground on the northern side of the wall, to ride
+through the forest to the town of Barme and arouse the army there.</p>
+
+<p>Then Atlo armed himself, gathered his men and started west. Straight
+to the brink of the gap he rode, heeding neither arrows nor stones. At
+the edge of the breach he dismounted, and while the long shafts of the
+archers hummed around him and the missiles of the slingers dented his
+golden armor, he knelt and peered into the gorge below him.</p>
+
+<p>Much the captain marveled at the force which had broken the barrier.
+His quick eyes of the soldier took in the disposition of the men and
+fathomed the plan of the enemy. He saw that a swarm of javelin men and
+a number of companies of heavier armed infantry were through the wall
+and prepared to defend their ground. More he saw; that the trench below
+was black with men who labored to fill it in; on the southern side of
+the wall another army of laborers was laying a broad road over which
+chariots might pass; and beneath him in the breach a man in mud-stained
+garments stood on a point of rock directing his grimy toilers.</p>
+
+<p>Breathing a curse, Atlo lifted his spear and cast with all his might.
+Then he mounted and rode back to the nearest tower to await the coming
+of his garrisons.</p>
+
+<p>Too late did the archers in the forests shout their warning when they
+saw that spear-arm poised.</p>
+
+<p>At the foot of the rock Everson fell and lay face downward among his
+workmen.</p>
+
+<p>Tenderly they bore him out of the trench and up the slope of the
+forest, those sturdy men of Ruthar who had worked with him and loved
+him. Four of his engineers carried him, and Mazoe walked beside, trying
+to stanch the flow of blood. Atlo's spear-point had bitten deeply just
+above the collar-bone.</p>
+
+<p>At the crest of the rise Everson spoke in a weak voice and bade them
+set him down. Mazoe knelt and held him.</p>
+
+<p>Through dim eyes the lieutenant peered back toward the sundered wall.
+He lifted his hand slowly and with infinite effort and pointed.</p>
+
+<p>"We have done&mdash;good work," he said. "Go on&mdash;with it. I fear I
+shall&mdash;not&mdash;be with you."</p>
+
+<p>His eyes closed, and Mazoe, who thought that he was spent, burst into
+tears.</p>
+
+<p>Below in the camp arose a mighty clamor of shouting. Everson's eyelids
+fluttered open.</p>
+
+<p>"Why do the soldiers cheer?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>Mazoe listened intently to the shouting.</p>
+
+<p>"They cheer because the king is coming," he answered.</p>
+
+<p>Everson smiled faintly.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell him&mdash;I have made&mdash;a way&mdash;for him&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>His voice trailed away, and he sank into unconsciousness. And though
+he did not die, he sailed so near to the quiet coasts that it was many
+weeks before he knew that the work he had begun had gone on without
+him, and had been done well.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+
+<h3>BEL-AR HEARS THE DRUMS</h3>
+
+
+<p>In the early brightness of the morning, the king of Ruthar rode up the
+southern stretch of the slope toward the wall. With him came old Zenas
+and Oleric the Red.</p>
+
+<p>Bedight in chain mail rode the king, a shield of shining steel on his
+arm, his two-handed sword at his back, dagger in belt, and spear and
+battle-ax at saddle-bow. Behind him clattered a company of zinds. Back
+of them, down the long road as far as the eye could see, marched rank
+on rank of men-at-arms. These were to pass the wall at once, and push
+on along the isthmus to meet and hold any force which the captains of
+Bel-Ar might throw against them.</p>
+
+<p>In the camp in the forest, ready to ride when the way should be
+cleared, were thousands of the wild horsemen of the hills. As soon as
+they might pass the breach, they would outstrip the heavy-marching
+infantry, spread and harry the country, and dash into the mountain
+passes at the northern end of the isthmus, which must be taken and held
+before any considerable force could come up from Maeronica and occupy
+them.</p>
+
+<p>Behind, the horsemen would push on the footmen and the chariots which
+made up the main host of Ruthar. Such was the plan which had been laid
+by Everson, Polaris, and Oleric.</p>
+
+<p>As they neared the top of the rise, Polaris and those with him met a
+little clump of downcast men plodding along the road and carrying a
+burden. Then Mazoe saw the riders and ran to meet them, holding his
+arms above his head and weeping.</p>
+
+<p>"What says he? Everson&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Polaris sprang down from his horse and pushed through the tramping men.
+Behind him an army halted while he stood and looked into the still face
+of Everson. In the heart of the son of the snows there entered a pang
+as keen as that which had stabbed it when he had heard of the passing
+of the Sardanian King Minos and his lady.</p>
+
+<p>But Zenas Wright, who had bent over the lieutenant, and bared his
+breast and listened to his heart, spoke up:</p>
+
+<p>"This boy has been hard hit; but he's still alive. With good care&mdash;and
+he's going to get it&mdash;I think he has a chance. This jab over the
+shoulder isn't so bad as it looks."</p>
+
+<p>"Look at him, Father Zenas," said Polaris. "Let no effort that this
+land can produce be spared to make him whole again; for he is a gallant
+gentleman, and deserves no such death. His reward from Ruthar for what
+he has done shall be great."</p>
+
+<p>Mazoe told all his story, and Polaris bent and took the earth-stained
+hand of the unconscious man in his own.</p>
+
+<p>"Fare you well for a time, Everson," he said softly. "I shall not
+forget. And I shall find the way you made."</p>
+
+<p>Mazoe and the engineers bore Everson to the camp, and Zenas Wright went
+with them.</p>
+
+<p>Polaris touched the red captain on the shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"Captain Oleric, bide you here at the wall until the path is prepared.
+I make you general-in-chief of the army. Carry out the work which
+our friend has so well begun. Father Zenas will give you of his good
+counsel. Build the road as Everson and you have planned it."</p>
+
+<p>"But you&mdash;where are you going?" Oleric asked.</p>
+
+<p>Polaris pointed northward to the breach in the Kimbrian Wall.</p>
+
+<p>"I am going to tread the way he made for me," he answered. "When all is
+well, come on and find me on the other side."</p>
+
+<p>Giving the reins of his horse to a servant, Polaris reached his spear
+from the saddle and placed himself in the first rank of the footmen,
+under the great, blood-red banner of Ruthar. A mighty cheer swept down
+the ranks as he joined them. The horsemen drew out to the side of the
+roadway; a blare of trumpets sounded the advance; the crimson standard
+dipped and went forward. Over the seamed and broken hill, past the
+masses of fallen ruin, across the melinite-blasted trench, and through
+the breach in the wall flowed the iron stream.</p>
+
+<p>As far as they could see it, the little group on the hilltop watched
+the tall form that strode under the tossing banner.</p>
+
+<p>"This king of ours has a will of his own," muttered Oleric. "Now to do
+the work he bade us."</p>
+
+<p>But first of all the red captain sent for old Jastla of the hills. When
+the white-bearded chieftain stood before him, Oleric said:</p>
+
+<p>"The king has gone yonder through the wall, Jastla. Take a hundred of
+your best men&mdash;men who know how to die as well as fight. Find the king.
+Ring him round with a band of steel. Guard him with your lives." Oleric
+grinned as he added, "'Twill be a task to your liking, old bear. Ever
+you loved fighting, and this man will lead you to where it is thicker
+than earth-berries. I have seen him at the game. But watch him well,
+Jastla; he is of a reckless temper when his blood is stirred, and
+caution is not his watchword."</p>
+
+<p>Lifting his arm in salute, Jastla replied:</p>
+
+<p>"When harm comes to the king, it shall have set its foot on Jastla's
+corpse." The chief drew a deep breath of pride and satisfaction. "I
+thank you, Oleric the Learned, for this task. I have trained the lad,
+and I love him."</p>
+
+<p>Jastla hurried into the forest to the camp. Presently he, too, was gone
+through the wall on his mission.</p>
+
+<p>When the last of the armed force had passed the gap, another army took
+its place&mdash;an army of pick and shovel men, with chains and ropes and
+tugging, sweating horses. Speedily the last of the screen of trees was
+down and the stumps torn out. On a foundation of crushed rock Oleric
+built up his roadway, and brought it through to the shadow of the
+Kimbrian Wall; and there he met trouble.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>All of the day on which Everson was stricken, and through the night and
+the forenoon following, the builders wrought at the road. Wherever was
+room for a pair of hands to labor, the hands were not lacking. Still
+the work was not completed, nor was the ditch filled in.</p>
+
+<p>And the reason for the delay was&mdash;Atlo.</p>
+
+<p>From the turrets along the wall to the east the captain had collected
+a force of nearly five hundred fighting men, and led them in person.
+Leaving their horses behind them, these warriors marched to the lip of
+the breach and harassed the workmen of Oleric. Nor could the Rutharian
+bowmen and slingers come at them with their weapons to do them much
+scathe. The edge of the wall had a coping which was nearly breast-high.
+Behind that the defenders were sheltered, and might creep, which they
+did, to the very brink of the gap, whence they showered the men in the
+trench with arrows and javelins.</p>
+
+<p>Following the example of Atlo, the under captains of the towers on the
+western stretch of the wall gathered another half a thousand men and
+came to the end of the breach on their side. Between the activities
+of these two parties, the task of the besiegers was made heavy and
+perilous.</p>
+
+<p>Time and again the red captain was forced to withdraw his laborers
+from the cross-fire of deadly missiles which the warriors on the wall
+rained into the ditch. His losses were appalling. Still his men did not
+falter. When the order was given, they swarmed into the gaping trench,
+and those who died there were content if they but cast one shovel of
+earth before the spirit fled.</p>
+
+<p>Oleric groaned in spirit as he watched this havoc, which he had little
+power to hinder. The distance to the top of the wall was too great to
+allow of effective javelin-casting, and such weapons as did reach the
+summit were seized upon by the enemy and turned back on the attackers.
+Having the advantage of the sheltered height from which to cast and
+shoot, one of Atlo's soldiers was worth in efficiency a hundred of
+those on the ground.</p>
+
+<p>"Swords and axes on the top of the wall, and that only, will clear out
+that nest," said Oleric to Zenas, when the geologist had come back from
+the camp, where for hours he had labored over Everson, and of whose
+condition he now had high hopes.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are our ladder-men tarrying?" snarled Oleric, and the captain
+ground his teeth as he saw his workmen decimated and driven back again.
+"We have not the time to spare to starve these birds from their perch.
+Yet if I fill that hole now it will be with the bodies of brave men
+dead and not with earth and stone."</p>
+
+<p>Bethinking himself of another plan, the captain ordered three companies
+of heavy-armed foot-soldiers up from the camp and sent them into the
+working to shelter the laborers under their shields. By that means a
+little progress was made; but the work was slow and cumbersome and the
+toll in lives was still heavy.</p>
+
+<p>Long-delayed relief came in the shape of the fighting men whom Everson
+had sent out along the wall with ladders. These had lain in the forests
+until they saw the turrets depleted of their garrisons. Then they
+had crept up to the wall and erected their scaling ladders, choosing
+points a number of miles from the breach. That attack was not without
+its perils and losses. Scant in numbers, but desperate, the defenders
+sallied out on the wall to turn the storming parties. Many warriors
+died under the javelins and arrows from above. Comrades took their
+places as they fell, and at length, by dint of hard fighting, gained
+footing on the crest of the wall.</p>
+
+<p>Guessing how matters must stand at the breach, the Rutharian swordsmen
+paid no further attention to the turrets which lay between them and the
+sea, but set themselves to the taking of those toward the gap. As soon
+as they carried one of these they were able to augment their numbers
+from the forces which earlier had passed the wall through the breach,
+and which now were besieging the towers from the north side, where the
+sloping pathways were defended by gates and doors of bronze.</p>
+
+<p>By the time the men at the east had taken the last of the watchtowers
+which intervened between them and the battle at the roadway, their
+brothers on the western stretch of the wall had passed the ruins of
+the toppled turret there and fallen furiously on the rear of the
+Maeronicans who were baiting the trenchmen of Oleric.</p>
+
+<p>From across the chasm where he fought, Atlo saw the new turn of the
+battle and bethought him of his own flank. Too late! The shouts of
+dismay from his rear were mingled with the thunder of galloping hoofs.</p>
+
+<p>At the eastern tower the men of Ruthar had found the horses which the
+defenders had left behind. While the stubborn conflict of swordsmen
+was waging on the western wall, these warriors mounted the Maeronican
+steeds and charged down the stone road between the copings, sweeping
+everything before them.</p>
+
+<p>Brave men, these of the King of Adlaz. Cut off from behind and with
+the yawning chasm before, they arose from their crouching and turned
+to meet the new foe. Then a grim and pitiless struggle began on
+the ancient wall, in which the clangor and clash of arms and the
+cursing of death-locked foeman was commingled with the screaming of
+pain-maddened horses.</p>
+
+<p>To the rear, which had become the front, went Atlo. He rallied his men
+and charged into the teeth of the oncoming horsemen, and kept charging
+until he died. Neither side asked quarter or gave it. The last of the
+Maeronican fighting men were pushed over the brink of the gap by the
+rushing horsemen and died under the merciless blades in the trench.</p>
+
+<p>At the west the fighting was more prolonged and bitter; but the
+superior numbers of the Rutharians prevailed, and the end was the same.</p>
+
+<p>The Kimbrian Wall was taken at a fearful cost. But Ruthar paid the toll
+smiling. Now Oleric might push through with his wall speedily and in
+peace.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>When the night of the passing of Minos had worn into morning and
+disclosed the extent of the destruction which the Sardanian had wrought
+in the harbor of Adlaz, Vedor, the port captain, Nealdo, head of the
+harbor guardsmen, and such captains of the fademes as had escaped with
+their lives met in council in one of the offices at the wharves. Fear
+sat heavy at the hearts of all; for there was not one of them that
+dared go up to the city and make a report to the king of the loss of
+his fademes.</p>
+
+<p>"Not I," Vedor said hastily, when it was suggested that he, as captain
+of the port, was the logical bearer of the news. "It were worth a man's
+life to tell the king that a slave has shattered his fleet. Besides, my
+duties here do not allow me to absent myself. Choose ye some other to
+carry the tidings to Bel-Ar."</p>
+
+<p>Listening to the discussion was a rough old soldier of the guard.
+Brenak was his name, and he was a brave man. When it seemed that none
+of the gilded captains had heart for the task, Brenak stepped forward.</p>
+
+<p>"I will carry the news," he volunteered. "Lend me a horse, and give me
+a few dekkars to buy wine at the wine-shops in the Street of Sherne,
+and I will go. It may be my last drinking, though I think not. I fought
+with the king in the wars, and I am known to him. I think he will spare
+me."</p>
+
+<p>So Brenak rode up to the city and bought his wine. From the wine-shops
+he went to the palace and gained admittance to the king and told the
+tidings, which already were flying from mouth to mouth through the
+streets.</p>
+
+<p>"Fool! You are crazed!" Bel-Ar exclaimed when Brenak had made a short
+tale of it. But in the eyes of the soldier the king saw the truth, and
+his pallid face turned a shade more pale. In his fury, scarce knowing
+what he did, he struck Brenak with his closed fist so that the soldier
+died from it.</p>
+
+<p>For days thereafter the temper of the king was such that those who
+must come near him did so with fear and trembling. Even his queen, the
+petulant, flower-faced Raissa, who dared him more than most, avoided
+him and kept to her own apartments.</p>
+
+<p>Weeks before, when it became known that the captives had escaped,
+little heed had been paid to their going. They were only slaves, and
+who cared what became of a slave! Interest in them had been swallowed
+up in the general indignation at the defection of Oleric the Red and
+the supposed treachery of Mordo. Only Bel-Ar and Rhaen, the arch-priest
+of Shamar, had chafed, and that because of the escape of the man whom
+they had doomed for the slaying of the sacred bull. The king had sent
+fademes to scour the sea, and one to go up the coast to Ruthar to head
+the fugitives, should they have gone that way. That fademe had never
+returned.</p>
+
+<p>These happenings had irked the pride of the king, who, like all
+despots, was of a wild and ungovernable temper that flared to madness
+when he was crossed.</p>
+
+<p>Came then the blow of Minos&mdash;a calamity which shook the nation and
+struck the foundation of Bel-Ar's dearest ambition. Without his
+fademes, his dreams of world-conquest vanished. Small wonder that his
+lords and ladies feared him and quaked at his approach.</p>
+
+<p>But the king was of a courage and perseverance equal to his temper.
+When the first shock of the catastrophe had worn away, he took stock of
+the damage and set about to repair so much of it as might be. At the
+bottom of the harbor his divers labored among the sunken fademes. Some
+few of the vessels were raised and rehabilitated. By far the most of
+them were useless, save for the metal in their hulks. Minos had done
+his work thoroughly, and the priceless engines, the living power of
+which was mined from the depths of the earth only by great labor, were
+nearly all ruined.</p>
+
+<p>Increasing his forces, both underground and in his workshops, Bel-Ar
+drove his miners and his builders ceaselessly to the replacement of
+what he had lost.</p>
+
+<p>Some weeks after the destruction of the fademes, rumor came down from
+the south&mdash;fleeting words in the mouths of the people, of which no man
+could trace the source&mdash;that a great host was gathering in Ruthar to
+assail the Kimbrian Wall. That report the king laughed at and did not
+believe, or if he did believe, it fretted him not at all. The Kimbrian
+Wall had stood an unshakable barrier since it had been completed,
+nearly thirty centuries before. It would go on standing to the end of
+time. It was well garrisoned, and Atlo was a good captain and vigilant.
+Ruthar must be mad if it thought to march against the wall.</p>
+
+<p>Rumor, again traceless, spoke further and told that Oleric the Red had
+appeared in Ruthar, and with him the slaves who had gone with him from
+Adlaz, and that they had hands in this matter of the wall-storming.
+Bel-Ar heard that also, and smiled grimly. Let Oleric and the slaves,
+if they were indeed in Ruthar, keep well within its boundaries, if they
+set any store by life.</p>
+
+<p>Progress was being made with the reconstruction of his fleet, and the
+king's poise was returning. Once more his court, that had been silent
+and almost deserted, echoed to the laughter of the gay courtiers, and
+Raissa sat upon her throne and toyed with the pearls that she loved.</p>
+
+<p>Then one afternoon a wan and haggard-faced man, spurring a weary horse
+to its utmost speed, rode in through the southern gates of Adlaz and
+clattered up the broad avenue to the palace. From the mountain town of
+Barme he had come, riding two days and a night by relays of horses and
+leaving some of his hard-ridden beasts dead along the road. So nearly
+dead was the rider himself from the rack of that journey that he fell
+from his horse at the palace gates, and men of the guard carried him
+before the king.</p>
+
+<p>From the floor of the audience-chamber where they laid him, the soldier
+raised his arm in salute and cried weakly:</p>
+
+<p>"The Kimbrian Wall is sundered, O king. She whom they name the Goddess
+Glorian of Ruthar cracked the wall in twain with thunders and green
+lightning that shook the land like a hammer." (So the messenger
+described the melinite mines of Everson.) "Through the wall poured a
+great host, which is rolling down upon Barme. Atlo is dead at the break
+in the wall. From the center to the sea-wall, the towers are held by
+Ruthar. Men say that the dreadful beasts of the forest are coming to
+make war on the children of Ad. Ruthar has crowned a king&mdash;a giant
+with hair of gold, who came up from the sea with Oleric the Red, who
+was your captain&mdash;and he leads the armies against Barme."</p>
+
+<p>Ending his tidings, the man lost grip of his wits. His head fell on his
+arm, and he slept. Nor could he be roused for many hours.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, here is a message with meat and spirit," said the king. Bel-Ar,
+who went near to madness when he heard of the loss of his fademes,
+could laugh when he heard that an army was marching against him. Of all
+the news only one thing galled him, and that was that the yellow-haired
+slave from the hated world to the north was kinging it in Ruthar.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Summoning his captains, the king banished his court of fluttering
+butterflies and filled his audience-chamber with the clash of golden
+armor. No sluggard was Bel-Ar when his foe was on the march, but a
+wise and resourceful leader. When his mind was not clouded by the
+rages which at times came upon him, he could plan with the best of his
+generals.</p>
+
+<p>Bel-Ar in his early youth had been a soldier, and he, too, had fought
+Ruthar at the Kimbrian Wall. Since coming to the throne of Maeronica he
+had put down two rebellions, leading his armies in person and waging
+with a strong and ruthless hand a warfare that had entailed the taking
+of cities.</p>
+
+<p>First move of the king was to despatch his messengers south and north
+to raise all the levies of Maeronica and the garrisons of the cities
+which were tributary to Adlaz. These he directed should be assembled
+at the crook of the river Thebascu, as the birds fly, ninety miles to
+the south of Adlaz. He sent Fanaer, one of his most trusted captains,
+in hot haste into the south to gather what forces he might and stem the
+tide of invasion until the main host could be mustered and brought up.
+Before nightfall the war-drums were beating in every city and hamlet of
+Maeronica.</p>
+
+<p>"If these rash forest wolves and their slave-king win through Barme and
+the mountain passes and overwhelm Fanaer, which I doubt, then we will
+meet them beyond the Thebascu, on the plains of Nor," said Bel-Ar to
+his councilors.</p>
+
+<p>"How they have broken through the wall, I know not; but warrant that it
+is some trick of the strangers.</p>
+
+<p>"As for the great beasts whereof the soldier spoke, I believe that they
+were all dead many years ago. Surely no man of Ad can say with truth
+that he ever has set eyes on one. They are but a myth wherewith Ruthar
+would affright us. And if they be alive, and as terrible as tradition
+tells, I am not afeared of them. We will drive them back with fire, as
+once before our ancestors drove them, in the days before the wall.</p>
+
+<p>"Friends, I welcome this war that has come to seek me, for I was
+growing dull and rusty with inaction.</p>
+
+<p>"If the wall be truly down, then will we drive Ruthar speedily to
+the other side of it&mdash;and having so done, we will follow on and bend
+the necks of these stubborn mountain boors to the yoke that has long
+awaited them."</p>
+
+<p>So he dreamed; so he spoke and heartened his captains.</p>
+
+<p>Two days later the trumpets blew at the southern gates, and with a
+rumbling of drums and a tossing of banners overhead, the first division
+of the garrison and the levies of the city of Adlaz, thirty thousand
+strong, marched out the Mazanion Road for the plains of Nor. At their
+head, under the rustling folds of his war-standard of gold and blue,
+rode Bel-Ar, the king.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>To Rose Emer, grown pale with waiting, Brunar brought these tidings in
+the prison of Bel-Tisam.</p>
+
+<p>When she heard that the wall was down, and that Polaris had set his
+face toward Adlaz, her joy, which she strove to conceal from the
+captain, knew no bounds. After Brunar was gone, the girl bent over the
+cradle of the little Patrymion, now a thriving youngster.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, little mischief," said Rose, and shook her finger at him, "not
+much longer in this prison for you and me. Friends are coming,
+Patrymion; friends who will set us free."</p>
+
+<p>Patrymion, who had small care for what destiny had in store for him, so
+that his immediate requirements in goats' milk were satisfied, sucked a
+pink thumb and blinked up at her out of sleepy eyes.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>In the meantime, telling off companies of men to east and west to aid
+in the fight at the wall by laying siege to the towers, Polaris pushed
+straight ahead through the forests toward the town of Barme. Counting
+in the forces of light-armed soldiery who had preceded him through the
+wall, the son of the snows had in command a division of nearly seven
+thousand men. Of these there were a thousand archers, fifteen hundred
+slingers, two thousand and a half of javelin men, and nearly two
+thousand more of heavy armored footmen with swords and spears.</p>
+
+<p>Two hours along the way, Jastla and his picked hundred passed swiftly
+up the lines and joined the vanguard. Tall and stately men of the hills
+were these, led by the old chieftain, scarcely a one of the company
+under six feet, and splendidly armed after the fashion of their land.</p>
+
+<p>"Here be a few lads of the rocks who would have a tale to tell to their
+sweet-hearts when they go home again," said Jastla as he fell in beside
+Polaris.</p>
+
+<p>With small scouting parties thrown out ahead of him, Polaris hastened
+on. It was his plan to meet and intercept any expedition which might be
+sent from Barme to the relief of Atlo at the wall, and so to prevent
+interference with Oleric's work at the breach. In this fortune favored.
+For the javelin men ambushed and cut down no less than three riders
+sent from the wall to rouse the garrison at Barme; so that the first
+news that reached the town and the Captain Broddok, who commanded
+there, was brought in by the peasantry of the hills who fled through
+the forests before the advance of Polaris.</p>
+
+<p>Mightily disturbed, and not knowing the strength of the force which was
+marching against him, Broddok held his men under arms in indecision
+until it was too late for him to go to the wall. In the evening of the
+day after the breaching of the wall a battered soldier who had escaped
+from one of the turrets and slipped through the Rutharian cordons
+brought word to Broddok of the end of the Kimbrian fighting and the
+fall of Atlo. Then the Maeronican commander dispatched a relay-rider to
+Adlaz and made ready to defend his own gates, around which the jaws of
+Ruthar were closing.</p>
+
+<p>From the lower end of the isthmus a number of passes led through the
+mountains into the forests, beyond which were the plains of Nor.
+Through only one of these defiles lay a direct road, broad and suitable
+to the speedy passage of an army with its impedimenta and provision
+trains. That path was bestridden by the town of Barme.</p>
+
+<p>Midway of the pass and near the foot of its western precipice was a
+low, bald hill, over which the road lay. Around the lower slopes of
+the hill straggled the town, and at its summit was the walled citadel.
+It was a strong place, made so both by nature and by man. So closely
+did it nestle to the towering face of the defile's acclivity, and so
+rounding was the bulge of the mountain wall, that if one climbed to the
+top and looked down the precipice, he would see only the houses of the
+lower town and the citadel would be entirely hidden from him by the
+rock. At each side of the hill was rocky, wooded land, cut through by
+many gullies and the ravines of mountain streams.</p>
+
+<p>A hard place to come at, Polaris thought, as he stood in the gorge and
+looked at the hill by the dim light of the stars&mdash;for he came to Barme
+in the night. Yet it must be taken, and that speedily. The swiftest
+road into Maeronica lay over the hill, and the citadel's gates were the
+gates of the road also.</p>
+
+<p>An hour before the dawn he occupied the town, from which most of the
+people had fled, and attacked the fortress furiously, thereby losing
+many men. Though the walls of the place were not high, they were ably
+defended. Broddok was a skilled general, and his garrison was superior
+in numbers to the force which laid siege to his stronghold. Still
+Polaris, counting on the speedy arrival to his support of the van of
+his main army, kept up the assault until well into the day, trying in
+turn every point of the fortress&mdash;and failing at every turn.</p>
+
+<p>Finding that attempts against the wall availed them nothing, for they
+were without siege machinery, and Broddok's swordsmen clustered so
+thickly on the parapets that no footing could be gained thereon with
+ladders, the Rutharians boldly assailed the main gate to the citadel.
+Cutting a tree from the forest, threescore stout men bore it to the
+gate. While the archers and slingers from the tops of the nearest
+houses of the town swept the citadel walls with clouds of missiles,
+the men in the street swung their battering-ram until their arms were
+weary. But Broddok's doors were strongly built of oak, reinforced with
+bars of steel and set well within the arch of the gateway. Beyond the
+snapping of a few chains, the ram did them little damage.</p>
+
+<p>Maeronicans on the battlements mocked the men of Polaris with sharp
+words and sharper weapons, and through mortises in the vault of the
+arch poured down streams of boiling water. The Rutharians lost fifty
+men-at-arms before they desisted from the assault.</p>
+
+<p>"Smoke them out," was the counsel of Jastla.</p>
+
+<p>Fagots were fetched up from the town and drenched with oil, and men set
+fire to them and ran and cast them blazing into the archway.</p>
+
+<p>This means might have succeeded in burning away the stubborn oak. But
+the Maeronican captain, tiring of the din at his gates, mounted five
+hundred horsemen, opened his portals, and charged so fiercely through
+the fire that he cleared the street, and for a time his doors were
+unmolested.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Through the defile a chill wind swept from the north, carrying with it
+a light drift of snow, and Polaris's men found it cold work roosting
+without the walls. They had left their camp carrying food for only a
+two days' march. The country through which they had come was wild and
+sparsely settled, and offered little opportunity for foraging. When
+they began to feel the pinch of hunger, Polaris ordered his men to go
+among such of the townsmen of Barme as had not been frightened from
+their homes, and gather provisions, paying for all that they took with
+gold, for he would have no looting.</p>
+
+<p>And those orders were in part, at least, obeyed.</p>
+
+<p>Smoke was curling from the chimney of a small house in a side street
+near where they stood, and Jastla said to the king:</p>
+
+<p>"While these fellows are filling their bellies, let us look to our own.
+I could eat the wolf for which I am named, I am that hungered. See;
+here is a house and fire. Let us go and seek food."</p>
+
+<p>When they had struck upon the door, it was opened by a little lad, who
+stared at them, round-eyed, and then fled screaming across the room.</p>
+
+<p>"Ai! Raula!" he cried. "Here be two giants from the forests. Will they
+eat us, think you, as Darno said they would?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not so, small man," called Polaris gently, who had learned somewhat
+of the Maeronican tongue from Oleric. "We are two hungry men, indeed;
+but we would not harm little boys; and Darno, whoever he may be, should
+not affright you with such tales."</p>
+
+<p>At his words, a lean and fierce-eyed girl stood up from the fireplace
+where she had been crouched and came to the door. She clutched a baby
+to her breast. While she eyed the two men sourly, there was no fear in
+her regard.</p>
+
+<p>"Now who may you be, who wear the arms of a forest raider, yet who know
+our tongue and bespeak a child so fairly?" she asked of Polaris.</p>
+
+<p>"I am a soldier of Ruthar, lady," Polaris said, bowing to her. "My
+comrade here and myself are cold and hungry. May we be warmed at your
+fire and eat a little of the bread and meat yonder on the table? We
+have had no food for many hours. We will pay you well."</p>
+
+<p>The girl pressed closer and peered up at him.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! I know who you are now," she said triumphantly. "You are no robber
+of the hills, though belike your comrade is," and she shot a glance of
+no favor at Jastla. "You are neither of Maeronica or Ruthar. You are
+the mighty man who came up from the sea to lead the south against the
+north and take Adlaz." She laughed discordantly. "Well, you have made a
+good beginning, they say; but you have a man's task ahead of you.</p>
+
+<p>"Come in and eat and be warmed. I care not. All the menfolks have fled
+the house to the hills in fear of you. I stayed, I and little Telo,
+here. I fear no soldiers. Nay, close that door behind you, old man; I
+would not that winter came in with you and sat at meat."</p>
+
+<p>Laughing grimly into his beard, Jastla made fast the door. While the
+two men sat and ate, the girl resumed her crouching by the fire, where
+she crooned over the babe, at times staring furtively at Polaris. Telo
+soon conquered his fear of the strangers and climbed to the knees of
+Polaris, where he fingered the big man's chain armor curiously and
+prattled many childish questions.</p>
+
+<p>When the hungry men had finished their meal, the girl spoke up again:</p>
+
+<p>"Say, man from the sea, I have heard that there is a beautiful lady who
+waits for you in a prison in Adlaz town. Is that true?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, lady, it is true," Polaris said; and he sighed.</p>
+
+<p>"And you lead a great host thither to set her free?" the girl persisted.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, if I may."</p>
+
+<p>"But to get on the way to Adlaz, you must take this fortress of Barme;
+and you find it a hard nut to crack. Is that not so?"</p>
+
+<p>"That is true, also, lady."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, hark you, man." The girl stood up and came to the table. "You
+who are true to a woman as few men are ever true; perhaps the poor,
+despised, cast-off Raula may aid you somewhat in this undertaking."</p>
+
+<p>While Polaris stared at her and Jastla grunted, she went on:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, for your wars, and for who is king, I care not. Still, I would
+see that lady in Adlaz town go free&mdash;if you are strong enough to pass
+Bel-Ar and his army. Those matters you must look after later. But
+listen. Other men are not so true as you are. There is one in the
+fortress yonder who once thought Raula fair. Now she is a deserted
+wife, while he seeks other maids to listen to his lies. Oh! how I hate
+him!" She spat the words and stamped fiercely on the floor.</p>
+
+<p>"I would see that man humbled and cast down. I would see his red blood
+on the stones at my feet.</p>
+
+<p>"There is a way into the fort, a hidden way, which is known to none but
+me and Telo.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Telo here shall show you that way. There is a spring on the hill.
+'Tis back of the stables, in a grove of stunted trees. It flows down
+through the rock under the wall and escapes on the hillside. Years ago,
+when I tended cows on the hill, I found the entrance. The water has so
+worn the stone that one may climb its course from the old cowpath to
+the brow of the hill. If a girl can clamber there, surely active men
+will not find it at all hard to do.</p>
+
+<p>"When night is fallen, bid your men to storm the gate again. Then, if
+your force is strong enough to make the venture, take a part of it and
+gain the hill. While those of Broddok's men who do not watch the walls
+are sleeping, you may fall upon them and open the gates."</p>
+
+<p>Polaris and Jastla looked on the girl, amazed.</p>
+
+<p>"Stare not at me," she said. "I am an outcast and reckless woman&mdash;and I
+would be revenged. Besides, we poor folk care little what the fate of
+Bel-Ar may be, who does oppress us so that life is a great weariness."</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>It was arranged that they should come back at nightfall for the boy,
+and Polaris and Jastla left the house. When the chieftain fingered his
+pouch and would have paid her for the entertainment, Raula would have
+none of his gold.</p>
+
+<p>"This night's work will be pay enough for Raula," she said.</p>
+
+<p>After they had gone, Jastla set a soldier to watch the house and report
+to him if any left it; for Jastla trusted no woman and feared a trap.
+His fears proved to be unfounded. No one left or visited the house
+through the afternoon.</p>
+
+<p>For the remainder of the day Polaris rested his soldiers, and kept
+up only the semblance of an attack on the walls of Barme citadel. He
+wondered much at the delay of the army of Ruthar, having as yet learned
+nothing of the fighting at the Kimbrian breach; but he was resolved to
+delay not himself, but make the attempt on the fortress as the girl
+Raula had suggested.</p>
+
+<p>With the fall of night he brought the bulk of his force up into the
+cross-streets near the gate and posted sentries to see that none passed
+from the town to the fort. Then he went to the house of Raula and
+fetched the lad. Telo was afraid of the night and the many armed men,
+and would go only if Polaris, whom he trusted, would carry him.</p>
+
+<p>"Show him the spring at the head of the old cowpath, Telo," said
+Raula, and to Polaris, "Bend down the clump of evergreen bushes above
+the spring, and you will find the way through the rock. Beware of the
+sentries at the stables. Once one of them nearly slew me when I came
+suddenly on him out of the dark." She bent nearer and whispered:</p>
+
+<p>"Perchance you will meet and slay Broddok, the captain. I pray you do.
+And ere you smite, tell him that Raula, daughter of Hecar, sent you to
+him."</p>
+
+<p>As Polaris went out to the street, with the lad on his shoulder, he
+heard the girl's shrill laughter within the house&mdash;laughter that made
+him shiver.</p>
+
+<p>Followed by a thousand of his swordsmen, including the hundred men
+of Jastla, Polaris marched silently around rough devious streets
+to the side of the hill, and then into the rough ground where the
+boy directed. It was a dark night, for the stars were dimmed by
+storm-clouds, and the going was slow. Raula had said it would take at
+least an hour and the half of another to gain the crest of the hill,
+and Polaris had ordered his men in the town to hold their hands until
+they should hear his trumpets, and then to attack the gates of the
+citadel with trees and fire.</p>
+
+<p>At the spring the clump of bush was found easily, and behind it in the
+face of the hill was a hole in the rock, so low that a man must bend
+nearly double to enter it. Here Polaris gave Telo into the arms of a
+young Rutharian soldier, bidding him bear the lad safely back to his
+sister.</p>
+
+<p>Bending down, the son of the snows entered the hole. Jastla, who never
+let his charge beyond arm's reach, crowded in at his heels. For six
+feet or more they walked with their knees nearly to their chins, and
+then were able to stand upright. The girl had told them that a light
+in the passage could not be seen from above because of the trees, and
+one of the soldiers had nursed a smouldering torch under his cloak.
+That was brought in and whirled into flame, and they proceeded along a
+narrow gully, over the floor of which the water trickled.</p>
+
+<p>"Oof! That maid must have been very love-sick, or she has the courage
+of a fighting man, to have climbed this place in the dark," muttered
+Jastla, as he surveyed the gloomy cavern.</p>
+
+<p>For nearly three hundred yards the party followed the subterranean
+ravine, the floor of which sloped upward sharply. It ended in a shaft
+that was nearly perpendicular, which the men must climb by the aid of
+jagged rocks where the course of the stream had been worn for centuries.</p>
+
+<p>The torchbearer was posted at the angle, so that the light might be
+shed both down the passage and through the shaft. Wrapping his sword
+and spear in his cloak to prevent them from clanging against the
+stones, Janess, insisting that he should be first, went silently up
+through the rock, and Jastla followed close behind. They came out at
+the top through thick bushes into a basin or pool, where the water was
+ankle-deep. They were inside the wall of the fortress on the western
+side of the hill-crest. Around the pool was a grove of stunted trees,
+to the east of which lay the low, wooden stable buildings. South of the
+stables were the stone barracks of the garrison.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Man by man, the Rutharians came up through the darksome hole and took
+cover among the trees, until the grove bristled with swords. Polaris
+and Jastla worked their way to the edge of the wood nearest the stables.</p>
+
+<p>The chieftain pointed to the wooden buildings.</p>
+
+<p>"We will fire them," he whispered, "and have a light to fight by."</p>
+
+<p>As he spoke, a sentry paced out from the shadow of the stables and
+passed along the edge of the grove to the wall. So near he passed
+to the hidden men that they might have reached out and touched his
+shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"Now that man must be disposed of," muttered Polaris, "and I like it
+not, this smiting of men from behind."</p>
+
+<p>No such niceties of warfare ruled Jastla. When the man came back, the
+chieftain stepped noiselessly from the trees behind him. For a pace
+or two the big mountaineer trod in the tracks of the unsuspecting
+sentry. Then Jastla sprang, and a brief and wordless struggle under the
+trees followed. A dagger flashed. Arising, Jastla took the cloak of
+the fallen man and stepped calmly into his beat. At the corner of the
+stable the chieftain met and slew the second sentry.</p>
+
+<p>At the side of the stable the Rutharian swordsmen formed for battle.
+A man with a torch ran from point to point along the rear of the
+buildings and set fire to the timbers. As they caught and the flames
+leaped crackling up, the frightened horses began to pound and scream.</p>
+
+<p>Polaris bade his trumpeter blow. The notes blared piercing clear. The
+swordsmen broke cover with a roar and charged the stone barracks.
+Lighting torches at the blazing barns, men ran with them to light
+the way. Hardly were they half-way across the intervening space when
+there was an answering flare from the streets below, and the thunder
+of the battering-ram announced that the fight at the gates was on with
+redoubled fury.</p>
+
+<p>While half of his force entered the barracks and fell upon the
+bewildered men there, Polaris, with the remainder, swept down the broad
+roadway, past the dwelling of the officers. Cutting their way through
+the defenders of the gate, the Rutharians tore out the bars, and their
+comrades in the streets swarmed through and up the hillside.</p>
+
+<p>In the midst of the wild mêlée that followed, Broddok did the only
+thing that he could do to save his skin. He rallied such of his men
+as were under arms, fought through to the stables, and released the
+fear-maddened horses. All who could of the Maeronicans mounted in
+haste. For a moment it seemed that the captain would give the order to
+charge down the street into the fighting press, where the men of Ruthar
+were putting his comrades to the sword. But Broddok thought better of
+it.</p>
+
+<p>With nearly four hundred men, the captain rode down the northern slope
+of the hill, opened the road-gates there, and galloped off through the
+pass, leaving his leaderless garrison to fend for itself.</p>
+
+<p>When that became known, the Maeronican soldiers, beset on both sides
+and confused and disheartened by the suddenness of the stroke, threw
+down their arms and surrendered, on promise of their lives.</p>
+
+<p>So fell the strong fortress of Barme, because its captain had broken
+faith with a woman.</p>
+
+<p>With the first light of morning, Polaris sent his prisoners south
+toward Ruthar under a strong guard. Leaving a thousand men under one of
+Jastla's hill-captains to hold the citadel, the son of the snows pushed
+on through the pass with the remainder of his division.</p>
+
+<p>That move of his came near to costing Ruthar a king.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2>
+
+<h3>THE COMING OF THE BEASTS</h3>
+
+
+<p>Seated on her ivory throne in the empty hall of her temple, the Goddess
+Glorian fought within her heart a battle that was every whit as fierce
+and hard as that of Ruthar in the field. In that sounding citadel two
+forces stood arrayed, one for good and one for evil, and the conflict
+between them was passing bitter. It was the world-old war of duty and
+love that has ever torn the heart of woman.</p>
+
+<p>No outward signal of the struggle marred the supernal beauty of her
+face. She sat as one sits who is thoughtful and somewhat weary.
+Light-rays that stole down from the windows in the lofty dome wrought
+strange effects of fire in the wonder of her hair&mdash;fire which smoldered
+and glowed and ran in tiny sparks along the silklike filaments. Her
+head was slightly bowed. The slender hands, which lay in her lap, were
+quiet and listless. Only in the depths of her eyes was she betrayed. In
+those red-brown deeps, could one have seen them through the half-closed
+lids, one would have found a pleading misery that would not still,
+almost a terror.</p>
+
+<p>Compelled by the ancient secret and a will that never slept, the
+passing years had dealt splendidly by Glorian. Experience they had
+given her, which is more than knowledge, and patience, and an almost
+supernatural poise; but they had not made her more than human.</p>
+
+<p>And a man had come.</p>
+
+<p>Why should she give way to this other woman? Why should she not reach
+out and take that for desire of which her soul yearned and her heart
+was consumed by flame? 'Twould be easy. A delay, a word in the ear of
+Zoar, a seeming mischance&mdash;and the priests of Shamar in Adlaz would
+clear her way. Why should she shrink and hesitate?</p>
+
+<p>The man had said that, were he too late, he would die upon the road.
+Well, that might be prevented. Besides, men do not die so easily, and
+time will heal all heart-wounds. But will it? And were that other woman
+dead, could Glorian win him to herself&mdash;this man whose will was as
+strong as her own?</p>
+
+<p>He was through the wall now and on the road to Adlaz. Oleric had sent
+messengers to tell her that. And they had told her, too, of that
+brave friend of his, who had nearly given his life while opening the
+way. Many had died&mdash;her own countrymen&mdash;and many more would die&mdash;and
+why? Because of an ambition which she herself had nurtured and kept
+bright&mdash;now hollow and of no appeal. What should Glorian care who held
+dominion over Adlaz or over Ruthar&mdash;she, who desired only peace and to
+rule in the heart of a man?</p>
+
+<p>All of a long afternoon she sat there, and a statue were not more
+still. For the better part of the night the struggle raged on above her
+pillow, and left it drenched with tears. Then evil fled the field, and
+she who had mastered her spirit slept dreamlessly until the morrow.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning she sent away her tire-women, and ordered that a horse
+be equipped for a warrior and left at the temple doors.</p>
+
+<p>When that steed went down the hill there was no one in all Ruthar who
+would have known that the Goddess Glorian was the rider. For she was
+arrayed in the glittering armor, silver-wrought above its steel, of a
+Rutharian zind. She wore a closed and vizored helm. A sword swung at
+her back, and there were both ax and spear at her saddle-bow.</p>
+
+<p>"I will go down with him into the battle," she whispered, "and let
+things fall out as they may. Some day, somewhere, my time will come. My
+soul has promised it."</p>
+
+<p>She crossed the Illia and rode northward through the forests.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>After the fall of Atlo the fighting went on at the wall for the rest
+of that day, the Rutharians storming tower after tower, until they held
+every turret from sea to sea. Through the afternoon and the night and
+the next day Oleric pushed on with his road, working his men in relays,
+and snatching for himself only brief spells of sleep. Through the night
+in which the king of Ruthar stormed and took Barme, the sappers and
+miners labored on at the breach.</p>
+
+<p>Morning saw the task completed.</p>
+
+<p>First through the breach went a flying squadron of the horsemen from
+the hills, six thousand strong, led by two of the mountain zinds,
+Maxtan and Albar. After them marched a great division of infantry,
+nearly fifty thousand of them, the chest of the army, each section
+carrying with it a number of companies of archers and slingers. Then
+a force of nearly thirteen thousand chariots rumbled through the
+breach&mdash;these following the infantry because they would be of little
+use until the host should pass the mountain defiles to more level
+fighting ground. Followed an endless train of baggage and provision
+wains.</p>
+
+<p>No siege machinery was carried, for two reasons. Rutharians long ago
+had found such engines as their skill had devised to be powerless
+against the Kimbrian Wall, and had lost faith in them. Secondly,
+certain carefully handled bundles from the laboratories of Nematzin
+were judged to be of more avail than any catapult, ram or mantelet.</p>
+
+<p>At intervals Oleric halted the divisions to allow of the passage of
+more cavalry, which spread out at each side of the main array and rode
+down through the forest paths of the isthmus.</p>
+
+<p>For more than twelve hours Ruthar poured her armed men through the
+breach in the barrier, with scarcely a break&mdash;and the way was wide.
+Reserves in the camp and on the wall cheered the various regiments as
+they went by, marching under their banners and to the music of pipe and
+drum.</p>
+
+<p>Last of all, over the slope and through the gap came Zoar of the
+Amalocs with no less than fifty-eight of the monsters of his herd.
+In single file the amalocs marched, each holding fast with his trunk
+to the tail of the beast ahead, as elephants are wont to do. Ixstus,
+father and patriarch of the herd, led the line, and on the mighty head
+of Ixstus rode Zoar, the master.</p>
+
+<p>On they came, these mountains of red-wooled flesh, swinging their
+gleaming wealth of ivories. Though their shambling tread was soft and
+padding, the roadway, made smooth and hard by the passing of thousands
+of feet and hoofs and wheels, shook under their advance.</p>
+
+<p>Zoar had been preparing against this day for many years. All of his
+beasts were armored for battle. Their heads were protected by immense
+bosses or shields of steel. He had also armor for their forelegs, with
+chains, which could be attached in such a manner that they would swing
+out when the animals charged, and strike down any living thing that
+came near them. The tips of the spreading tusks were equipped with
+sockets, to which sharp steel points could be fitted. More than half of
+the great brutes bore fighting turrets on their backs, in each of which
+was room for a half a score of men. A few tons more or less of metal
+and men meant nothing to the boundless strength of an amaloc.</p>
+
+<p>Until he saw that Zoar had passed the breach, Oleric waited. Then he
+took horse and rode forward. Zenas and certain of his workmen had gone
+through with the first of the cavalry. With them had gone the dog
+Rombar. The animal had escaped from the laboratories in Zele-omaz,
+where Polaris had left him, and had come into the camp half starved
+and nearly frantic with anxiety to find his master. Zenas could not
+withstand the appeal of the brute's dumb search, so he took Rombar
+along. Everson, getting better of his wound, still sick and delirious,
+had been transferred to Zele-omaz and lay at the house of Zind Atra,
+tended by the best medical skill in Ruthar.</p>
+
+<p>When the head of the host was some six hours upon its way, it met the
+first of the long lines of captives, which Polaris had sent back from
+the storming of Barme. The cheering which greeted the tale of that
+exploit of their king passed down the marching regiments like a gale
+and through the Kimbrian breach into Ruthar. When Zenas, with the
+riders, clattered up the hill in the gorge and saw the strength of the
+citadel that had been taken, his heart beat high with pride for what
+his boy had done.</p>
+
+<p>Learning there that the king had passed on to the north, the horsemen,
+their numbers continually augmented by new companies from the rear,
+pushed on along the road in the hope of overtaking him.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>In a dark and narrow glen, wild with rocks and trees, with a mountain
+wall at his back and steel death, many-handed and triumphant, closing
+in along his front, a tawny-haired giant crouched warily among his
+thinning ranks of fighting men. If ever a man was hard beset, it
+was the king of Ruthar. Hemmed in where there was no way of escape,
+he waited with his dwindling company the fifth charge of a horde of
+Maeronican warriors, who were forming for the rush at the mouth of the
+glen. Gone wild with glee were the sons of Ad. They had trapped the
+king of Ruthar like a wounded bear. Great would be their reward from
+Bel-Ar if they took him.</p>
+
+<p>Among the rocks and bushes lay a grim reminder in shattered men of four
+previous charges. Some comfort it was to those who waited above to know
+that for every one of Ruthar who had gone to the stars, at least two of
+Bel-Ar's men had traveled the same path&mdash;or perhaps to the sun; for the
+Maeronicans prayed to Shamar.</p>
+
+<p>After leaving Barme, Polaris had led his followers along the main road,
+and they had almost reached the end of the pass, where it debouched
+into the forests of upper Maeronica, before mischance overtook them. It
+came in the shape of that same Captain Broddok, whom they had driven
+from his blazing hold at Barme.</p>
+
+<p>Broddok had ridden through the pass at speed, and beyond it had met a
+strong outpost of cavalry and five regiments of foot-soldiers, sent up
+to hold the passes. For Captain Fanaer had already arrived in upper
+Maeronica.</p>
+
+<p>Scouts brought word of the advance of Polaris with the most of his
+force through the principal pass. He, too, had sent out small parties
+to explore through the outer defiles, of which there were four, and
+bring him word of the lay of the land.</p>
+
+<p>"Now let him come on," counseled Broddok to the Maeronican commander,
+"and we shall have a surprise for him."</p>
+
+<p>Swiftly galloping riders at once swarmed into the four smaller passes,
+overwhelmed the Rutharians whom they found there and drove them into
+the hills. The horsemen then joined forces and swept down the road in
+the rear of Polaris, having come into the defile by bridle paths over
+the hills which were known to them.</p>
+
+<p>Turning his front to meet this menace, the son of the snows was beset
+from behind by both cavalry and infantry, and his force was split up
+before it could be massed or a place be found suitable for defense.
+With nearly a thousand of his men of mixed armament, Janess had been
+driven into the glen, discovering too late that it was a cul-de-sac,
+from which there was no escape.</p>
+
+<p>Four charges the Rutharians had met, and their numbers were now less
+than three hundred. But Jastla's ring of steel still held, and Polaris
+himself was not even wounded. Where the fighting had been the thickest,
+there he had gone; but ever when some perilous blow fell, there was
+one of Jastla's mountaineers to meet it or to die under it. Of the
+hundred men less than fifty lived, and scarcely a score of those were
+scatheless.</p>
+
+<p>"All that you can do here, you have done, O king," said Jastla
+earnestly, as they waited for the fifth charge. "A man unhindered might
+scale yonder rocks and escape into the hills. Do you make the attempt?
+I and these with me will hold back these howling whelps of Bel-Ar.
+Haste you, or 'twill be too late."</p>
+
+<p>Polaris turned on him sternly.</p>
+
+<p>"And you have been comrade to me, Jastla, and did train and make me
+skilled with arms, and yet think that I am so small of spirit," he
+said. "Jastla, I take it ill of you. You and these men are fighting for
+the man whom Ruthar has crowned king. What sort of a king would he be,
+think you, who deserted when he had those still lines yonder before him
+for example?" He pointed down where the dead warriors lay.</p>
+
+<p>"Here I may die, and here I may buried be; but I will not turn back."</p>
+
+<p>Under his shaggy brows old Jastla's eyes were moist.</p>
+
+<p>He grunted loudly.</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't think that you would go. Forgive me that I spoke of it," he
+said. He turned to his hillsmen, and the word went round that every
+last one of the wolves of Ruthar was to die in his tracks. There would
+be no giving back before the next charge.</p>
+
+<p>Broddok on foot waved his sword and gave the word, and the Maeronicans
+raised their battle-cry and came swarming up through the rocks to the
+attack. The mountaineers answered them with a deep-voiced shout:</p>
+
+<p>"For the king! For Polaris!"</p>
+
+<p>None of the combatants heard a thin cry far above them at the brink of
+the cliff and the frenzied barking of a dog.</p>
+
+<p>On came the Maeronicans, Broddok leading, his face flushed with triumph
+and hatred. In the captain's way was a large fragment of rock. As he
+sprang around it, it split in twain and flew into splinters, belching
+green flame. That flash was the last thing the captain ever saw; the
+thunderous roar that shook the hillside was the crack of doom for him.
+A sliver of rock smote him on the temple. Raula was avenged.</p>
+
+<p>Another terrific explosion tore up the earth and boulders right in the
+midst of the startled Maeronicans, and then another. Men were dying by
+the hundred. Bel-Ar's men turned and fled shrieking for the roadway.
+The charge was turned into a rout. Hardly were they out of the glen
+where such fearsome happenings had befallen them, when a cloud of
+Rutharian cavalry rolled down through the main pass and swept Bel-Ar's
+men and their supports into headlong flight toward the lowlands.</p>
+
+<p>On the brow of the rock a small, white-haired old man, clad in armor
+several sizes too large for him, stood up from his knees and patted a
+great black dog on the head.</p>
+
+<p>"Good shots those were, Rombar," he said. "Used to be a baseball
+pitcher once, and haven't lost my wing yet. By golly! I was just in
+time."</p>
+
+<p>Presently Zenas was down in the road with the others to greet Polaris.
+The geologist made light of what he had done, but Janess and the others
+knew that they owed their lives to his quick wit.</p>
+
+<p>Soldiers who had been driven into the hills had met the Rutharian
+riders and told them of the plight of their king. While the cavalry
+engaged the Maeronicans in the pass and cleared it, the old man and
+a small party, carrying melinite bombs, some few of which Zenas had
+fashioned in his laboratories, had ridden by a bridle-path to the top
+of the cliff.</p>
+
+<p>"Be careful, son," said Zenas, when Polaris threw an arm lovingly
+across his shoulder. "This chain jerkin of mine is packed with enough
+of that green hell-cake to spread us over two counties. And keep the
+brute away."</p>
+
+<p>For Rombar had found his master and was leaping about him like a crazed
+thing and barking as if to tell the whole army about it.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Despite the utmost efforts of Fanaer, the most trusted of Bel-Ar's
+captains and a general skilled in all the arts of war, Ruthar held
+the isthmus and the mountain passes, and through the Kimbrian defile
+poured down with horse and foot and chariot into upper Maeronica.
+Failing to hold back the host of the invader and fortify the passes, as
+he had hoped to do, Fanaer began a harrying, guerrilla warfare. From
+sea to sea he made the land barren of supplies for his enemy, sending
+the peasants and hill-dwellers with their cattle and provisions down
+to the coast cities of Zeddar and Aklon. He sent swarms of light
+riders into the hills, where by sally and ambuscade and the breaking
+of bridges and a hundred other means they fretted the advance of the
+Rutharian army.</p>
+
+<p>Did the way lie through a forest, Fanaer fired it, and Ruthar marched
+in flames and smoke. Did the road follow the turn of a hill, there were
+men at the crest to roll huge rocks down on the tramping legions. Was a
+gorge to be passed, the bridges were ruined.</p>
+
+<p>Days wore away, days which Ruthar could ill spare, and which Polaris
+counted with a sinking heart, seeing his army go forward so slowly.
+Still it did advance&mdash;slowly, painfully, but surely, the steel lines
+made progress.</p>
+
+<p>Craft against craft Oleric matched with Fanaer. Ruthar had her light
+horsemen, too. Right and left Oleric sent them into the uplands to
+clear his path of the stinging pests of Fanaer. Scores of times in
+a day, on hilltop or in wooded glen, short, fierce engagements were
+fought, but never a pitched battle. Maeronica was playing for delay.
+Far behind the shifting screen of Fanaer's operations Bel-Ar and his
+generals were consolidating the main strength of Maeronica in the
+lowlands along the river Thebascu.</p>
+
+<p>When hill-riding and skirmishing was done, the generals of both armies
+knew that the real war would begin&mdash;that the issue would be joined and
+decided on the plains of Nor.</p>
+
+<p>Careful as any general in modern warfare was Oleric with regard to
+his flanks and rear. Well he knew, did the red captain, that in the
+slow-moving trains of provisions that crept ceaselessly along the
+isthmus from Ruthar was the strength of his host in the field. Once
+that line was cut, Bel-Ar might laugh indeed.</p>
+
+<p>It took many men to keep the rear ways open and man the isthmian
+passes. On the morning when the Rutharian army writhed forth from the
+forests like a wounded but tenacious serpent onto the level stretches
+of the plains of Nor, Oleric had under his banners a scant hundred
+thousand men. Thirty thousand more warded the rear. Fifty thousand in
+reserves were massed in the forests and on the isthmus. Twenty thousand
+were with the slain.</p>
+
+<p>The sun was shining as the host wound out from the gloom of the
+forests. To right and to left were wooded hills and beyond them the
+peaks of mountain ranges, blue against the skies. Ahead, the plains, a
+reach of level land some thirty miles broad from east and west and a
+score of miles across, were divided by the gleaming, irregular ribbon
+of the river Thebascu.</p>
+
+<p>In a loop of the river in a camp that was strongly entrenched, for all
+the haste with which it had been constructed, lay the army of Ad, fresh
+and unwearied and ready for battle. And it outnumbered the host of
+Ruthar by nearly two to one. Across the river, down the hundred miles
+to Adlaz, the Mazanion Road was choked with supply trains and reserves.</p>
+
+<p>Snow still lay in patches in the forest defiles; but the plains were
+faintly green with a promise of the spring-time. On the trees the buds
+were swelling. Through a month of wearisome marching Ruthar had come.
+In less than forty-five days the trumpets would sound from the towers
+of Adlaz for the Feast of Years.</p>
+
+<p>"Now by her who sits at Flomos," said Oleric to Polaris, as they sat
+their horses on a hillside and looked across the plains to where the
+gold and blue standards fluttered, "here will be a battle worth the
+waiting of all my years."</p>
+
+<p>Somewhat worn with anxiety was the face of the son of the snows; but
+his eyes were bright and his strength was unimpaired. He, too, was
+ready.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall we not strike at the nearest point of the river?" he asked,
+pointing to the west of Bel-Ar's camp. "If we gain the bank of the
+stream, it will shorten our front, and it seems that we shall not
+easily be flanked."</p>
+
+<p>Oleric swore that the plan was good, and Ruthar's army began to fight
+its way across the plain. It could scarcely be said that battle was
+beginning. All the way through the forests had been one long, unending
+struggle with Fanaer. Already on the plains cavalry skirmishes were in
+progress. Now was to come the climax of a month of conflict.</p>
+
+<p>Steadily Ruthar pressed on, and with the fall of night pitched her
+tents on the plain, her left wing resting on the river below the
+Maeronican camp. By common consent, the fighting ceased at dusk and the
+armies rested on their arms. The next day would tell the tale, and they
+were content to await it. Such was the contour of the land that there
+was little ground for strategy and juggling of men. This was to be a
+battle, front to front, with victory to the strongest arms. And though
+their force was the greater, there was much of doubt in the hearts
+of the men of Ad. Tales had been brought in of the prowess of these
+mountain warriors.</p>
+
+<p>Other camp gossip had put uneasiness upon the soldiers of Bel-Ar. How,
+for instance, had the Kimbrian Wall been sundered, if it were not the
+work of the gods? And the beasts, the mighty red beasts, against which
+men were as flies. Rumor had told that they had come into Maeronica
+and would fight in the field against Adlaz. The sun set that night in
+a sea of fire. Men did not know how to interpret that omen. Was Shamar
+angered? And if he was, on whose heads would his blows fall on the
+morrow? The stars shone calm and clear. Ruthar worshiped the stars.</p>
+
+<p>Those and other thoughts caused many a stout Maeronican to shake his
+head over his campfire. But most of all they feared the beasts.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Wary Oleric had kept Zoar and his herd well to the rear. Never in the
+march had the amalocs gone forward until the way had been cleared. None
+of the Maeronican fighting men had set eyes on them. The beasts were
+Ruthar's strongest hope. If even the thought of them struck terror into
+the hearts of the Children of Ad, Oleric reasoned that their sudden
+appearance in battle might be counted upon to produce a panic.</p>
+
+<p>Ruthar would try a tilt against Maeronica, the red captain planned, and
+if she might would win her battle by force of arms alone. But if the
+fight should swing against her, then the beasts would be better than an
+army in reserve. So he bade Zoar camp in the forests, and he surrounded
+the encampment with a strong guard and cordons of sentries.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning Ruthar's stars paled, and Shamar came up smiling&mdash;seeing
+which the men of Bel-Ar took fresh heart.</p>
+
+<p>Scarcely had the first shafts of light thrust over the mountain-tops
+when Oleric, from the shadows of the forest, launched a great bolt of
+cavalry across the plain. Another division which had been moved in the
+night swept east along the south bank of the river. While the riders of
+Bel-Ar went out to meet them, the trumpets of the king of Ruthar were
+sounded in the center of the camp, and long files of men-at-arms crept
+forth into the dawn behind the screen of dashing horsemen.</p>
+
+<p>In three deep columns Polaris moved his footmen into battle, with lanes
+between them, into which the cavalry might retire, and through which
+the charioteers would charge when the time came. Each of the marching
+columns was tipped with regiments of swiftly moving javelin men, and
+behind them came the archers, stringing their long bows and singing a
+lilting chorus as they moved out on the plain.</p>
+
+<p>Mounted on his black stallion, Polaris led the center, riding behind
+the first ranks of his swordsmen and accompanied by the men of Jastla
+and some score of the Rutharian zinds, all in full armor. Far to the
+right rode Oleric the Red. The left was headed by Tarnos, one of the
+zinds. That post Polaris had offered to old Jastla of the hills, but
+the chieftain had declined it.</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis a great honor, O king," he said when the proffer was made, and
+his eyes shone. "But I pray you give it not to me. I would fight at
+your side. That post will be troublesome enough, as I well know."
+Jastla grinned broadly. "Give the command to a nobler man."</p>
+
+<p>"There is none nobler, old wolf," Polaris replied. "But have it as you
+will."</p>
+
+<p>So Tarnos led the left, along the river Thebascu, and Jastla and his
+ring of steel rode with his king, and he was content.</p>
+
+<p>Midway between the camps, as Oleric had ordered it, the charging
+horsemen swerved aside, doubled, and, as though in fear, plunged
+back between the advancing columns. Hard on their flying heels came
+the shouting riders of Ad. As they came the javelin men cast, and
+the archers bent bows and loosed a bitter flight from their twanging
+strings that shrieked among the horsemen like a white drift of blizzard
+through the mountain trees. Then, before the eyes of the Maeronican
+riders, the horsemen they pursued were gone; the bowmen and the
+javelin-throwers melted away; fanwise the heads of the three columns
+spread out and joined each to each, their front ranks kneeling; and
+Ruthar received her plunging foemen on an unbroken front of leveled
+spears.</p>
+
+<p>Fell ruin awaited that splendid charge. Unable to turn back because
+of the surging squadrons behind them, the foremost ranks were dashed
+against the grim steel barrier, and went down in a horrible tangle of
+struggling men and horses.</p>
+
+<p>Into the mêlée, through the lines and over the shoulders of their
+comrades, leaped the light-armed footmen with their javelins and
+daggers, and slew hundreds of horses, whose riders fell easy prey to
+the two-handed blades that now were aloft and busy.</p>
+
+<p>At the rear the Rutharian cavalry formed again, and dashing around the
+flanks of the columns in two flying wedges, closed like nippers behind
+Bel-Ar's confused squadrons.</p>
+
+<p>First cast in the game had gone to Ruthar. The horsemen of Ad were
+routed and pushed back&mdash;all those who could go. Those that remained
+were done with fighting.</p>
+
+<p>From the earthen wall of his camp, standing among his golden-armored
+generals, Bel-Ar saw his cavalry broken and flung back&mdash;saw it, and
+laughed aloud.</p>
+
+<p>"They fight well, these mountain wolves," he said. "But that was the
+play of children. Now will we send them a taste of the swords of Ad."</p>
+
+<p>Beyond the wall of the camp were massed the legions of the Maeronican
+heavy infantry, flower of the fighting men of seven cities, the core
+of which was formed of the garrison of Adlaz itself, fifteen thousand
+veteran men-at-arms.</p>
+
+<p>Bidding his captains go forward, the king called for his horse.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Somber as he had appeared in his dull garments in the midst of his
+butterfly court, Bel-Ar, among his captains, offered an even greater
+contrast. He loved the pomp and pride of power, its show and its
+glitter, but not in his own person. While his generals rode in gold,
+and the armor of some of them blazed with gems and patterns in
+orichalcum that made them glow like fireflies in the night, the king
+wore a simple suit of arms of black steel, plain of design and undecked
+by any flashing gauds. Only the majesty that dwelt in his pallid face
+and the fires of his mystic's eyes distinguished him from some humble
+gentleman of poor estate.</p>
+
+<p>Mounting his war-horse, a gaunt, powerful roan beast of vicious temper,
+the king, with a number of his favorite captains, rode down the field
+in the wake of his advancing phalanxes. With them was advanced the blue
+and gold battle-standard.</p>
+
+<p>Bel-Ar marshaled his legions in wide divisions, each of nearly a
+thousand men, marching in quadruple lines, and the divisions in such
+close touch that they might form, when there was need, a solid front.
+At the wings of the force were stationed the light-armed men and
+archers. Behind those, two wedge-shaped masses of chariots rolled forth
+from the camp gates and rumbled across the plain.</p>
+
+<p>At the foot of a gentle dip of the land the Rutharians had met and
+hurled back the horsemen. There they elected to remain and await the
+enemy's sterner onset.</p>
+
+<p>On came the shimmering lines of Ad across the meadows now dewed with
+blood; on with a rattle of drums, a brazen peal of trumpets, the clank
+and clash of armor mingling with the pounding hoofs on the hard turf,
+the thumping of chariot-wheels, and the shouted commands of the file
+leaders&mdash;the ancient, many-tongued clamor that stirs the soul of Mars.</p>
+
+<p>Silent and watchful, the men of mountainous Ruthar crouched low behind
+their shields and waited.</p>
+
+<p>Over the bodies of their dead comrades, over the fallen horses, the
+phalanxes marched. Then, closing into a living wall, they took the last
+tangled barrier of corpses with a rush and a shout, and the battle was
+joined. All across the field echoed the hollow thunder of the meeting
+shields as the lines closed. Followed a clanging as of a thousand
+trip-hammers. For now the spears were down and the swords were at work.</p>
+
+<p>Following their custom, the Rutharians cast their shields behind them
+after the first shock of the onset, and plied their long blades with
+both hands, making them serve both as swords and bucklers.</p>
+
+<p>On pushed the Maeronican wall under its tossing banners. So fierce was
+the rush and pressure of those charging thousands that Ruthar's line,
+strive as her warriors might, was bent backward like a bow. A wild
+cheering went up from the ranks of Ad when they saw the red standard
+give back. Gathering themselves again, they swept the mountain legions
+to the crest of the rise.</p>
+
+<p>Sitting his charger on the slope behind the line of his men-at-arms,
+Polaris looked down into that hell of combat. Like the unfolding vista
+of a hideous dream, it seemed to him, which he was powerless to break
+or to hinder. Yet above the din of the blood-maddened legions the sky
+was blue and calm, the sun shone bright, and back there in the forests
+the birds of spring were calling to their mates.</p>
+
+<p>Under his fascinated eyes the line of his warriors bent and came
+nearer. The red banner of Ruthar&mdash;a moment ago it had been planted
+at the foot of the slope, and now it was almost touching his horse's
+muzzle! Down there in the field another flag was coming, and with it a
+company of riders whose armor flashed back the sunlight from plates and
+shields of burnished gold.</p>
+
+<p>The spell was broken.</p>
+
+<p>Rising in his stirrups, the son of the snows drew his two-handed sword
+from over his shoulder. Among the Maeronican generals his keen eyes had
+seen a face that he remembered well.</p>
+
+<p>"Zinds of Ruthar!" he cried, his voice ringing above the clamor.
+"Yonder rides Bel-Ar of Adlaz. Let us go and greet him."</p>
+
+<p>All around him he heard the clinking of closing vizors. The zinds were
+ready.</p>
+
+<p>Casting down his shield, Polaris called to the swordsmen in front to
+open and make way. Before the Maeronican soldiery could advantage
+themselves of the gap, he was down the slope and upon them like a
+living thunderbolt. Under the urge of the spurs, his horse reared
+and struck out with its forefeet as it met the foemen. Leaning well
+over the good beast's shoulder, the rider whirled his heavy blade and
+struck so fast and so fiercely that eyes could not follow the blows.
+Adlaz's stoutest warriors shrank bewildered from the menace of that
+lightning-stroke and those steel-shod hoofs. Before one might count ten
+he was through them, leaving a wake of crumpled men. Behind him rode
+gray Jastla and the zinds of Ruthar.</p>
+
+<p>As they passed, one of the zinds bent and snatched the crimson banner
+from the standard-bearer.</p>
+
+<p>A roar like that of angry lions went down the Rutharian front when
+the hillsmen saw their flaming standard rise over the heads of the
+fighting men and advance into the field. Where their king led, no wall
+of steel could hold them back. As though the string had been released,
+the mighty bow straightened. All down that long, grim battle-line the
+two-handed swords clove through.</p>
+
+<p>Rallying around their king, the golden captains waited the shock that
+was coming.</p>
+
+<p>For Polaris had one goal, and one only, on all that stricken field.
+Outstripping the fleetest of his riders, he hewed his way through the
+Maeronican nobles, nor stopped until his sable war-horse was shoulder
+to shoulder with the steed of Bel-Ar, the king.</p>
+
+<p>"By Shamar, 'tis the slave-king!" shouted Bel-Ar, as the apparition in
+steel and silver burst through his gilded riders and bore down upon
+him. Sword and shield he lifted to meet the assault, fending himself
+with that skill of arms by which he oft had made good the boast of
+Adlaz that he was the hardiest fighting man in the two kingdoms.</p>
+
+<p>While the battle on the plain raged around them unheeded, king met king
+in the play of swords.</p>
+
+<p>First stroke of Polaris fell on the rounded shield and beat it down so
+that Bel-Ar reeled in his saddle. Before the great blade could swing
+again, the Maeronican straightened and smote with his own good sword of
+tempered bronze. A clang as of a descending hammer rang in the ears of
+Polaris. Under the trampling feet of the horses lay one of the golden
+wings of his helmet. Another stroke fell on his shoulder, cracking a
+steel boss of his armor and thrilling his arm with a sting of pain.
+Heeding it not, he rose in the saddle and swung his sword to his two
+arms' height. No shield or arm would stay that blow.</p>
+
+<p>For the fraction of a second Bel-Ar's doom hung poised in air. Ere it
+fell, Polaris's stallion reared, screaming. The mighty stroke that the
+rider sped fell on empty air. Overbalanced by the weight of his own
+effort, Polaris bent nearly to his saddle-bow. Beneath him the black
+stallion shuddered and went down. An unhorsed captain of Adlaz had run
+in and thrust the animal through the vitals with a spear.</p>
+
+<p>Janess sprang free from the falling horse. Above him, Bel-Ar shouted
+in triumph and hewed down with his bronze sword. But the zinds of
+Ruthar had torn through Bel-Ar's riders to the support of their king,
+upsetting both men and horses as they came. One of them, a slender
+youth in silver armor, leaped from his steed and flashed between Bel-Ar
+and his dismounted and helpless foeman, taking the king's sword-stroke
+on his head.</p>
+
+<p>Jastla closed his steel ring, then, and Bel-Ar was carried away in a
+swirling press of his own cavalry, which had charged fiercely in to
+save him.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Polaris knelt beside his fallen horse and lifted the still form of the
+man who had saved him. The red banner of Ruthar, held by Zind Albar,
+floated above them. Around the circle of riders which Jastla had drawn
+the battle whirled like a seething maelstrom around a rock in a sea of
+clashing steel.</p>
+
+<p>"Who is he?" Polaris asked of Albar, and pillowed the head in its
+silver helm on his knee. In vain he tried to lift the vizor. The
+sword-stroke of the Maeronican king had shattered the upper flare of
+the helmet and bent down its crest so that the vizor would not yield.</p>
+
+<p>"I know him not," said Albar, who was a hillsman. "Some zind of the
+lower cities, I judge, from the armor he wears. Whoever he is, he is a
+brave man. He has this day saved the life of the king of Ruthar, and
+I fear that he has lost his own in the deed. Bel-Ar strikes bitterly.
+See; he has cracked the helmet like an egg. Ah-h&mdash;!"</p>
+
+<p>Striking the steel-shod shaft of the standard into the earth, Albar
+leaped down from his horse and knelt beside Polaris.</p>
+
+<p>While the zind had been speaking, the fingers of the son of the snows
+had loosed the clasps of the helmet and lifted it. From under the
+cloven silver shell rippling coils of red-brown hair slipped down and
+flowed over his arm and his knee, where the sunlight caught and turned
+them into dancing flames. The pale face turned up to the sky, unmarred
+save by a small stain of blood at one of the temples, was that of the
+Goddess Glorian of Ruthar!</p>
+
+<p>Janess groaned. Albar stared like a man transfixed. But Glorian was not
+dead. As the air struck her face she moved her head faintly and her
+lips trembled.</p>
+
+<p>"Illia&mdash;roars&mdash;loudly to-day," she murmured. "It must be&mdash;the
+freshets&mdash;of spring."</p>
+
+<p>She opened her eyes, saw the faces bent above her, and smiled wanly at
+Polaris.</p>
+
+<p>"Then I was not too late?" she said, the halting gone out of her voice.
+"'Tis well."</p>
+
+<p>"Lady, why did you come hither&mdash;into the battle?" asked Polaris. "And
+why&mdash;" His voice broke; for the courage of this woman moved him almost
+to tears; the memory of that crushing stroke of bronze which she had
+taken in his stead made him shudder.</p>
+
+<p>Glorian smiled again.</p>
+
+<p>"Vex yourself not about me," she said. "Shall Ruthar's bravest shed
+their lives for their land and king, and Glorian not do her part?" She
+lifted her hand and pointed to the standard. "Where Ruthar's banner
+goes, there goes Glorian also&mdash;even into the battle. And I am not
+dying, or greatly hurt, only dizzied, and my head hums. See; I can
+arise."</p>
+
+<p>And arise she did, with Polaris's arm to support her. Around Jastla's
+narrowing circle broke the shock of the battle-tide. But for the moment
+neither the man nor the woman heeded it.</p>
+
+<p>"But you are wounded, lady," Janess said. "There is blood on your
+forehead."</p>
+
+<p>She slipped a hand from its gauntlet and raised it to her head.</p>
+
+<p>"Hardly a scratch," she said.</p>
+
+<p>Just at the roots of her long tresses a splinter from the shivered
+helmet had scarred the scalp&mdash;a tiny cut, scarcely a quarter of an inch
+in length.</p>
+
+<p>Now Albar the zind, who had hung on every word, came out of the spell
+of horror that had bound him. He swung himself onto his horse. Then for
+the one time in his life Albar gave orders to a king.</p>
+
+<p>"Guard you the goddess and the banner," he cried to Polaris. "I go to
+tell the men of Ruthar that which shall put in each one the strength of
+ten!"</p>
+
+<p>He rode to Jastla's side.</p>
+
+<p>"Gray wolf, may your ring be strong till I come again," he said. "You
+have within it a king and a goddess."</p>
+
+<p>Down rang his vizor, and setting spurs to his horse Albar set out to
+cross the field and find Oleric the Red.</p>
+
+<p>No longer was the fight on the plains one of ordered lines of men. The
+charge of Polaris had broken the Maeronicans' long front, and they
+had not been able to close up the gap he had made. So they had swung
+into the smaller phalanxes of their legions, and the battle was one of
+division against division, with many breaks between. Here and there
+the divisions had split up into still smaller groups, and occasionally
+there might be seen two warriors who fought alone, one laying on for
+Ruthar and one for Ad.</p>
+
+<p>Gray Jastla, fighting with his face to the west, heard Albar's words as
+the zind flashed past him. To find their meaning, the chieftain cast a
+hurried glance over his shoulder. He saw Polaris and Glorian standing
+together under the crimson standard, and was near to letting his sword
+fall in his surprise. Next instant he rose in his stirrups and clove a
+Maeronican from shoulder to breastbone. Out rang the chief's voice in a
+hollow roar through his vizor:</p>
+
+<p>"Strike as ye never struck before! Behind you is the Goddess Glorian,
+come to see that ye do well. Would ye have these Maeronican hounds take
+her? Strike!"</p>
+
+<p>Around the circle echoed the war-cry:</p>
+
+<p>"For the Goddess Glorian! Strike!"</p>
+
+<p>Like living sword-blades did the Rutharian zinds answer that fierce
+appeal. The circle grew smaller and drew in upon itself, but it did not
+break. Under their resistless blades the zinds piled a rampart of dead
+Maeronicans to defend their goddess. A riderless horse backed into the
+circle, and Polaris, quitting Glorian's side, mounted the steed with
+his two-handed steel and joined the zinds.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Standing up on the body of Polaris's fallen war-horse, supporting
+herself with one hand on the staff of the banner, Glorian watched that
+deadly fray. With her long hair flowing on her shoulders, she looked in
+her warlike gear like one of the valkyries of Adin come down to earth
+from Valhalla to watch the passing of the souls of heroes. Ever her
+gaze followed Polaris. And if she seemed like one of the Norse god's
+daughters, the man who fought under her eyes was a fitting part of the
+simile.</p>
+
+<p>His sword wrenched from his grasp in the body of a man he had slain, he
+snatched the heavy ax that swung at his saddle-bow, and with it laid on
+like Thor with his hammer.</p>
+
+<p>Aid was coming.</p>
+
+<p>Down the field as he rode Albar spread the tidings. From mouth to mouth
+flew the word that the Goddess Glorian was on the plains of Nor, and
+that she and the king were in sore peril yonder where the red standard
+flew. The effect was instantaneous. Each warrior became a host in
+himself. Wounded men who had turned to the rear heard and forgot their
+hurts and staggered into the fight again.</p>
+
+<p>When Albar reached Oleric the Red on the right, the zind found that his
+news had preceded him.</p>
+
+<p>"Get you to Maxtan," shouted Oleric. "Charge with every horse that can
+bear a rider. A messenger has gone into the forests, and another charge
+is coming. Clear the way for the amalocs."</p>
+
+<p>Maxtan and Albar gathered their wild horsemen and charged and charged
+again. So well did they do their work that they hacked a way to the
+first rank of the Maeronican chariots, deep between the two horns of
+which was waging the struggle around the red banner.</p>
+
+<p>Vainly Oleric urged his own charioteers forward. Bel-Ar's blood was up,
+and he was smiling no longer. Battalion on battalion of his infantry he
+sent in to meet the steeds and feed the blades of Ruthar. Almost within
+his grasp the Maeronican king saw victory. Already he counted as taken
+the slave whom his foeman had crowned. Sooner than give back a foot, or
+allow that little band of riders to go free, he was prepared to spend
+his army to the last man, and himself with it.</p>
+
+<p>No less than three horses Oleric had killed under him. When the last
+was gone, he climbed into a chariot and fought at the point of his
+rumbling wedge. Behind him from the forests a force entered the plain
+and the conflict that was mightier than all the red captain's horsemen
+and battalions.</p>
+
+<p>Zoar had come.</p>
+
+<p>In the shadow of the tall trees where the bending limbs swept their
+mighty backs, Zoar marshaled thirty of his amalocs and set them in
+battle array&mdash;a single line, with twenty intervening feet between each
+beast. If Zoar knew aught of amalocs, and he thought that he did, there
+would be need for no second line. A hundred men and as many horses ran
+about the legs of the monsters, tightening the broad girths that held
+the basketlike turrets on the mammoths' shoulders. The beasts stood
+quietly, swinging their huge trunks and weaving from side to side,
+as was their habit. Occasionally one of them cocked forward a great
+blanket of an ear as though in lazy wonderment at the din on the plains.</p>
+
+<p>On the head of each, with his back to the turret, and clutching his
+keen-pointed ankus, sat a driver in full armor.</p>
+
+<p>When all was ready, the spear-throwers and archers clambered up by
+rope-ladders and took their places in the towers.</p>
+
+<p>At the left of the line, and nearest to the river, was Ixstus,
+patriarch and giant of the herd. And on the broad head of Ixstus beside
+the driver rode Zoar of the many years.</p>
+
+<p>Along the line from beast to beast passed the word:</p>
+
+<p>"We are ready, Father Zoar."</p>
+
+<p>"Ixstus!" said the old man. The sail-like ears gave attention. "Ixstus,
+I have raised you since a calf, and I think you love me after your
+fashion. Do not fail me now, Ixstus. Go forward, fearing nothing. <i>Akko
+dor!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>Zoar's last words were spoken loudly. Thirty vast trunks lifted up.
+From thirty huge proboscides pealed forth the amaloc trumpet-call&mdash;such
+a call as might have shaken the forests in the ages before the first
+puny man began his life of fear.</p>
+
+<p>For of amalocs the records of the Garden of Eden make no mention.</p>
+
+<p>Swaying their ponderous heads, and with the turrets on their shoulders
+heaving and tossing like boats on a troubled sea, the amalocs went
+forward.</p>
+
+<p>Far in the turmoil of the fight Oleric heard that trumpeting. Over his
+shoulder he looked and saw the mighty red bulk of Ixstus push out from
+among the trees.</p>
+
+<p>With their trunks curled out of harm's way, their thick and ropy tails
+stretched straight out behind, and their ears flapping to their stride,
+the amalocs came down the grim lanes of battle. Though the legs that
+were as the trunks of trees for size swung with no apparent haste,
+the beasts came on at a pace that it would have troubled a trotting
+horse to distance. The lengths of chain fastened to their knee-harness
+whistled through the air like flails.</p>
+
+<p>From division to division along Ruthar's jagged battle-line sped the
+warning cry:</p>
+
+<p>"Way! Way for Zoar! Make way for the amalocs!"</p>
+
+<p>Under the tossing ivory fronts the divisions parted and drew aside.
+Zoar increased the distance between his beasts. Into thirty wide
+aisles the army split. From forest to front, save for the dead, the
+way was clear. From the wild vortex of the battle rose a stormy burst
+of cheering as the amalocs thundered down the aisles, and Ruthar's
+exultant warriors welcomed their gigantic allies.</p>
+
+<p>Wilder still was the cheering when it was seen that at the ends of the
+pathways the phalanxes of Bel-Ar's men-at-arms were crumbling away.
+Flesh and blood could not abide the onset that was coming, and the
+Maeronican legions broke and fled ingloriously across the plains in
+droves, many of them casting away their arms and shields as they ran.</p>
+
+<p>Bidding his charioteer pull in his horses, Oleric climbed up on the
+high front of his chariot to watch how Bel-Ar would meet this new
+stroke. What would meet the drive of the amalocs? As he reached his
+vantage-point, the answer came&mdash;a cavalry charge!</p>
+
+<p>From the wall of his camp, where he had been taken, nursing an arm
+that was numb from wrist to shoulder, the Maeronican king ground his
+teeth in fury as he saw the new force enter the battle and witnessed
+the melting of his legions. Once before, in the morning, his cavalry
+had been rudely handled, and he had laughed. Now, with tears of rage
+in his eyes, he dispatched his shattered squadrons in the teeth of the
+oncoming peril.</p>
+
+<p>White-faced captains and quaking men scrambled into their saddles to
+do their king's bidding, and the horsemen rode desperately to meet the
+beasts.</p>
+
+<p>What happened was simple. The amalocs plowed through the clouds of
+cavalry that opposed them with scarcely a break in their stride,
+overthrowing men and horses as though they had been of paper, and
+leaving ghastly ruins behind them where their ponderous feet had
+trodden.</p>
+
+<p>One such onset was enough. No horse that ever lived could have been
+forced to face another. For the amalocs, when they joined battle, set
+up such a din of squealing and trumpeting as nearly split the ears that
+heard it. The horse that could have met that grievous onslaught must
+have been both blind and deaf.</p>
+
+<p>From above, in the basket-turrets, the archers and spearsmen poured
+down a deadly hail of missiles on the riders. Did a horseman avoid the
+thrashing chains and get near enough to the vast side of an amaloc to
+strike&mdash;and not many did so&mdash;he found his spear-point rebound from
+the tough hide. The utmost power of his stroke was not a pin-prick to
+an amaloc. Even as the swordsmen had fled, so fled now the riders,
+betaking themselves in a fear-maddened stream to their camp, whither
+the charioteers had preceded them.</p>
+
+<p>"The beasts of Ruthar are a myth," had said Bel-Ar, the king. And his
+soldiers had believed him, had fostered confidence with the thought
+that the frightful tales that had been told of the strength and fury
+of the amalocs were mere traditions which had come down from the days
+of old. Now here before the camp were the beasts, red and awesome and
+raging&mdash;more terrible by far than even tradition had painted them&mdash;and
+among the Children of Ad there was none who had the heart to go out
+and face them&mdash;unless, indeed, it were the king himself. Bel-Ar in his
+rage would have fronted the overlord of all evil that day had he come
+against him.</p>
+
+<p>So it came about that the ring of Jastla, the chief, found the
+pressure of assault slackening and falling away. Maeronicans who had
+been fiercest to meet the sword-blades, now were stumbling over each
+other's legs in their haste to escape the amalocs. What was left of the
+ring&mdash;barely a score and five of battered men and horses&mdash;opened, and
+through its gap strode Ixstus and paused beside the red banner.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2>CHAPTER X</h2>
+
+<h3>THE GODDESS GLORIAN'S DECREE</h3>
+
+
+<p>Zoar quit the straps where he had held and stood on the head of Ixstus.
+A triumph shone in the eyes of the master of the amalocs, and a smile
+spread over his mummified old-ivory features as he looked down at
+Glorian.</p>
+
+<p>"Daughter, they told me that I would find you here&mdash;in the forefront of
+the battle," he said. "And so it is. Your zeal for Ruthar has carried
+you far&mdash;so far that Oleric the Learned could not follow, and sent
+Father Zoar to find you." He laughed in his bell-like tones.</p>
+
+<p>"But for the King of Ruthar and these brave men here, you would have
+had a longer journey, Father Zoar," Glorian replied. "It might have
+been to the camp of Bel-Ar yonder, or&mdash;to the stars. Take me up with
+you, Zoar, for I am weary."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Stekkar deen!</i>" commanded Zoar, and Ixstus looped his trunk and swung
+Glorian gently to a seat beside his master.</p>
+
+<p>Glorian looked around at the little circle of wearied men&mdash;so wearied
+that they reeled in their saddles. She looked at those others, who lay
+where they had fallen, and to whom the long rest had come. Her eyes
+filled with tears.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought to thank you," she said, "but I find no words splendid
+enough."</p>
+
+<p>Old Jastla lifted his arm in salute. "Lady, to those of us who live,
+it is sufficient to know that you live also. Those who are dead, died
+gladly to make it so. We have held our goddess safe, and our king has
+held himself." And he turned and saluted Polaris.</p>
+
+<p>Of the hundred zinds and fifty tall hillsmen who had formed in Jastla's
+ring, five and twenty were left. Not one was unwounded. Jastla's beard
+was red with blood, where a spear-point had penetrated through the
+bars of his vizor and torn his mouth. In addition to the bruised and
+stiffening shoulder caused by the blow of Bel-Ar that had broken his
+armor, Polaris had been gashed on the cheek by an arrow. Otherwise he
+was the least harmed of the party.</p>
+
+<p>It was midafternoon when Ixstus set foot in the circle. Presently
+Oleric arrived in his chariot. Behind him came the host of
+Ruthar&mdash;weary and with many of its battalions sadly thinned, but still
+a host, and ready to go on if need be.</p>
+
+<p>Another amaloc rolled up alongside of Ixstus. Over the edge of the
+wicker basket it bore, a white old head bobbed up with the suddenness
+of a jack-in-the-box.</p>
+
+<p>"Hey, son," said Zenas Wright to Polaris, "will you never quit your
+foolhardy ways? Look what you have made me do&mdash;come a-hunting you,
+riding on the back of one of these animated stacks of red hay, that
+should have been dead and fossilized six thousand years ago. Well,
+well; we've given his majesty Bel-Ar a bellyful, I'm thinking." Out of
+his basket and down the rope-ladder Zenas clambered to shake Polaris by
+the hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, boy," the geologist said, "you're a better king than those
+heathen will see again, if they all live to be as old as Father
+Methuselah yonder says he is. But be careful, lad, be careful."</p>
+
+<p>On the head of Ixstus the Goddess Glorian stood and pointed toward the
+camp of Bel-Ar, and her beautiful face grew stern.</p>
+
+<p>"There are still three hours of daylight, Father Zoar," she said. "Let
+us go and finish what we have begun."</p>
+
+<p>"As well now as ever, daughter," Zoar replied. "I am minded to teach
+this Maeronican king a lesson that shall become a tradition in the
+land. What passes in the camp? My eyes are too dim to see."</p>
+
+<p>"Confusion, father, and the running to and fro of many men. They are
+adding to the height of their earthen walls. They are piling their
+gateways with timbers and the fragments of broken chariots."</p>
+
+<p>Zoar laughed. "Think they with walls of mud to stop my amalocs?" he
+muttered. He lifted his voice, and word was passed down the line that
+the beasts were to be advanced against the camp.</p>
+
+<p>Under the orders of Polaris, the dead zinds and men of his guard were
+borne off the field, and those who were still living, but wounded,
+were carried tenderly to the rear. When he learned that the amalocs
+were to attack the camp, he climbed with Zenas to the turret which the
+geologist had occupied. Jastla and the others he urged to seek rest.
+But they were men of great spirit, and only one or two of them went.
+The most of them sent for fresh horses, determined to see the fighting
+through to its end.</p>
+
+<p>At a word from Glorian, Jastla took up the war-standard of Ruthar and
+passed it to the fighting men of Zoar, who set it fast in the wicker
+tower on the back of Ixstus. Glorian caught its floating folds and
+kissed it.</p>
+
+<p>"Now Ixstus bears our banner. Who shall withstand it?" she said.</p>
+
+<p>A blare of trumpets, a ruffle of drums, sounded the advance of Ruthar.
+Louder and above all arose the roar of the thirty amalocs, strident and
+deafening, as the shaggy, red line surged forward.</p>
+
+<p>In the camp of Bel-Ar that call found answer in the howl of hate and
+terror that went up from the ranks of the Maeronicans when they saw
+that their terrible foes were coming.</p>
+
+<p>"Fire!" shouted Bel-Ar to his generals. "We must meet and turn the
+beasts with fire! Man the walls with torches and set a blaze before
+each gate."</p>
+
+<p>Bel-Ar had pitched his encampment in a loop of the River Thebascu,
+a broad, swift stream, now swollen by the spring freshets into a
+dun-colored torrent. From bank to bank across the loop, the soldiers
+had constructed a wall of earth and stones, ten feet high, and pierced
+by six wide gateways, wherein were set heavy gates of steel and oak.
+Inside the line of the outer wall, with some fifty feet of space
+intervening, was another rampart, also of earth, and a few feet higher
+than the first. Outside of the works the camp was protected further by
+a semicircular ditch, or moat, spanned at each of the gateways by a
+solid bridge of timbers. The Maeronican engineers had turned the waters
+of the river into the moat and filled it level full. At the rear of the
+camp was the crossing of the Thebascu&mdash;three wide bridges of stone,
+which had been built in the long ago.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>When they saw the advance of the amalocs, soldiers swarmed from the
+camp with ropes and horses, and strove to pull the timber bridges away
+from the ditch. But the weight of the passing and repassing of the
+army had sunk the beams into the earth so deeply that they could not
+be stirred. Failing in that attempt, the Maeronicans piled débris on
+the floors of the bridges and set fire to it, hoping to burn away the
+approaches. That, too, was a failure. The water of the moat, nearly
+level with the side-beams, was ankle-deep on the bridge-floors, and had
+soaked the timbers so that they would not catch from the fires.</p>
+
+<p>As Zoar and his monsters came to the moat, the men of Bel-Ar shot at
+them with arrows, stones, and javelins. But Ruthar could play that
+game, too. Oleric lined the ditch between the bridges with slingers
+and archers, who kept up so thick a bombardment that they killed many
+men, and soon drove the Maeronicans to the shelter of their walls. As
+they went in, Bel-Ar's men touched flames to the piles of timbers and
+wrecked chariots before their gateways and closed their gates.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall we cross the bridges and clear the way, Father Zoar?" asked
+Oleric.</p>
+
+<p>"Nay," the master of the beasts replied, "that would be at the expense
+of many men, and yon is an ill place to fight in. Methinks I know a
+better plan."</p>
+
+<p>Under his directions, his foresters ungirthed one of the mammoths and
+took from its back the wicker turret. Zoar called the driver of the
+beast to him. Whatever it was that the old man said, the amaloc-driver
+blanched somewhat at the words. He cast a quick glance toward the armed
+camp, and under his swarthy skin his face turned pale. Then he drew
+himself up proudly, saluted, and went back to his beast.</p>
+
+<p>Clambering to his perch, the man found and pulled two small chains
+connected with the armored plates which protected the skull of his
+ponderous steed. These drew into place and closed fast two small doors,
+or lids, cunningly wrought of steel, and devised to cover the eyes of
+the beast. So blinded, the heart within the vast bulk became uneasy,
+and the mammoth began to back and sway, groping before it with its
+trunk.</p>
+
+<p>While the army stood breathless to see what he would do, the driver
+struck with his ankus, and with a shout launched the amaloc straight at
+the center gate of the camp.</p>
+
+<p>Deprived of its eyesight, the mammoth obeyed the superior will
+expressed by the voice that it knew and loved. Across the bridge, where
+ordinarily it would have paused and tested the timbers carefully before
+trusting its immense bulk upon them, it now charged blindly, trumpeting
+as it went.</p>
+
+<p>Showers of missiles from the camp of Ad fell on the beast; ahead of it
+roared the blazing pile. It screamed out with pain and terror when the
+flames touched it, but it did not stop. Scattering the burning tangle
+like fiery chaff, it tore on, and its armored frontlet clanged on the
+bars of the gateway.</p>
+
+<p>That shock tore the gates from their hinges and brought the amaloc to
+its knees. For an instant it knelt on the fallen gate, then, trumpeting
+with rage, rose up and danced on the ruin.</p>
+
+<p>On the head of the beast the driver lay flat on his belly, his arms and
+legs thrust under the leather bands placed there to hold him. Ahead,
+scarcely fifty feet away, was the second gateway. With voice and steel
+the man urged the amaloc on, and it crashed through that gate as it had
+through the first, and plunged into the center of the Maeronican camp.</p>
+
+<p>Began then a mad rout for safety. No one thought of fighting the terror
+that had come among them; but each man for himself ran for the river,
+casting away anything that might weight down his legs. Soon all three
+bridges of the Thebascu were black with a horrid, writhing mêlée&mdash;a
+tangle of fear-maddened men, cursing and striking at each other for
+way, and screaming, terrified horses. Many soldiers, unable to fight
+into the jams on the bridges, threw themselves into the swift stream
+with all their armor on, and some swam across and others were seen no
+more.</p>
+
+<p>To and fro through the encampment raged the now thoroughly crazed
+amaloc, sundering and crushing all that it met. The long, red wool
+had caught fire from the blaze at the gateway and burned fiercely up
+over its shoulders. Wild with the pain of it, the beast ran hither and
+thither, seeking to escape from the flames. A two-horsed chariot was
+in its path at one moment. It scooped it up like a toy and carried it
+forward on its mighty tusks, the horses dangling in their harness. Then
+with a heave of its vast shoulders the monster cast the wreck in the
+air. Lying on his face, the driver closed his eyes and prayed wildly to
+his stars.</p>
+
+<p>At length, smelling the water of the river, the amaloc turned thither,
+to quench its agonies in the rushing stream. On it drove, across the
+camp, upsetting everything in its way. It reached the river to the
+left of one of the bridges. In its path a horse bearing a steel-clad
+rider slipped and fell. The groping trunk that sought the water found
+the man, plucked him from the ground, whirled him aloft, and dashed
+him against an abutment of the bridge so that his armor cracked like a
+nutshell and his blood ran down the stones.</p>
+
+<p>With a final shriek of fury, the amaloc plunged into the river. The
+waters closed over its upthrown trunk, and its mad career was ended.
+With it went the driver, well content to give his life for Ruthar.</p>
+
+<p>This one beast in the outpouring of its majestic strength had done
+more to shatter the power of Adlaz than had the legions of Ruthar in a
+month's fighting.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Soon after the death of the amaloc, night fell swiftly across the
+plains of Nor. The other beasts of Zoar, made uneasy by the experiences
+through which they had passed, and stirred by the screaming of their
+flame-maddened comrade, were in such a state that their master deemed
+it unwise to attempt to urge them farther in the darkness and against
+the fires. So he drove them back to the forest, and Ruthar camped on
+the plain.</p>
+
+<p>In the night was heard a clamor as of men who fought on the other side
+of the Thebascu, and when morning came it was seen that the host of
+Bel-Ar was divided. The royal standards waved over the bridge-heads at
+the crossing of the river. Farther down the stream, and opposite to the
+camp of Ruthar was gathered by far the greater part of the Maeronican
+host.</p>
+
+<p>When the dawn was full, a boat crossed the river, bearing messengers
+to Ruthar from the lords of the six cities which had fought for Adlaz.
+These heralds came to Oleric and asked what terms he would make them.</p>
+
+<p>"For," said they, "did we have to fight with men only, we would stand
+firm until the end, and with our united power sweep Ruthar from the
+field and crush her. But against such as the great beasts no men may
+war."</p>
+
+<p>The red captain referred them to the king of Ruthar for their answer.
+Polaris bade them go back to the lords of the cities and say that he
+wished to make war on none save Adlaz and the king thereof&mdash;but that
+war he would wage until the death or the submission of Bel-Ar.</p>
+
+<p>"Our lords will not join ye in war against Adlaz," said one of the
+heralds hastily. "We be not such traitors; but our soldiers will bear
+arms against the terrible beasts no more."</p>
+
+<p>"Ruthar asks no help in her warfare against Bel-Ar," Polaris replied.
+"Take your armies to their homes in peace."</p>
+
+<p>That answer satisfied the lords of the cities, and they sent word that
+so they would do; and if Polaris in the end prevailed against Adlaz,
+they would bend the knee to his rule. Secretly they hoped that he
+would win. Bel-Ar had been a hard master, and those who had seen the
+tawny-haired king of Ruthar deemed him to be the better man to serve,
+outlander though he was.</p>
+
+<p>So that host was dispersed and went its various ways homeward. The
+soldiers of Adlaz and the levies from the lands around the city were of
+a different kidney. To a man they stood firm for their king. Beasts or
+no beasts, they swore, they would die for him, did he wish it.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed likely that their promise would be required of them. Bel-Ar,
+stubborn and high of spirit, was resolved to fight on. He still
+mustered under his banners a force of nearly sixty thousand men,
+veterans of his former wars and the flower of the fighting men of the
+land. Besides, he held the advantage of position.</p>
+
+<p>When Ruthar would have gone on against him in the morning, it was
+found that his engineers, working through the night, had piled the
+bridge-heads with barricades of stones, so thick and high that
+no amaloc charge would beat them down. Behind those barriers the
+Maeronican generals reorganized their broken forces and sent in the
+front fresh soldiers drawn from the reserves that were waiting along
+the Mazanion Road.</p>
+
+<p>Not for many weary miles was there another crossing of the
+Thebascu&mdash;if, indeed, there were any on the course of the river where
+were bridges strong enough to support an army and the weight of the
+amalocs.</p>
+
+<p>Taking counsel together, Polaris and Oleric and their generals decided
+that they must hammer their way through at the three bridges. They
+might have blown up the barriers with melinite; but they dared not, for
+fear of destroying the structures of the bridges also; and they had not
+the time to build new bridges. Only a sustained frontal attack, at the
+cost of many men, would clear the way.</p>
+
+<p>For a score and ten days and nights the furious struggle was waged at
+the Thebascu. Then one of the bridges was taken. Polaris, his great
+frame grown gaunt from continual fighting, and his face sunken and
+haggard with anxiety and loss of sleep, saw through hollow and burning
+eyes his hosts swing across the river and into the Mazanion Road.</p>
+
+<p>Fourteen days were left him, and then&mdash;the Feast of Years, and the end.</p>
+
+<p>Summer was coming, and with it the feast of the return of Shamar, that
+could not be set forward or delayed. Though the foe were hammering at
+its gates, Oleric said, the feast would be held in the city. Such was
+the ancient law laid down in the early days of Adlaz.</p>
+
+<p>On the Mazanion Road they found the captain Fanaer once more, tireless
+and vengeful. As he had harried them all the way from the isthmian
+passes to the plains of Nor, so he harried them now. Every foot of
+the hundred miles down the Mazanion Road he fought them, and with him
+fought Bel-Ar, his master. Wall after wall they built and lost.</p>
+
+<p>It was not until afternoon of the last day that the Rutharian vanguard,
+so worn with battle that it staggered as it rode, broke through the
+final barrier and marched through the gorgeous suburban estates to the
+wall of Adlaz. Under the leadership of Fanaer, the remnant of Bel-Ar's
+army made a last desperate stand, but was swept away.</p>
+
+<p>As night came on, the Maeronican king, broken-hearted, but still
+defiant, entered his city and closed his gates&mdash;there to sit down and
+wait for the coming of the Goddess Glorian.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>It was nine o'clock of a morning&mdash;the morning of the third day of the
+Maeronican month of Kanar, corresponding to the fifteenth of November;
+or, to reverse the seasons to the terms of our northern clime, the
+sixteenth of May. A man who bore a heavy heart within his golden armor
+faced a white-faced maid in the ancient audience-hall of the dead king
+Bel-Tisam.</p>
+
+<p>"Now am I in my heart almost a traitor to my king and land, lady,"
+Brunar said. "For I have almost wished that your lover might prevail
+over Bel-Ar and save you. But the day has come and the time is at
+hand, and Ruthar is still without the walls. Would that I might save
+you, lady&mdash;I think that to do so I would willingly give my life. But
+Shamar's servants have watched this place by day and by night. It
+cannot be. Already they wait for you without the doors to lead you to
+the temple."</p>
+
+<p>For an instant the girl's eyes swam with terror. She gazed hither
+and yon about the hall like a hunted thing. Then the heritage of her
+northern race came to her aid and saved her from collapse.</p>
+
+<p>Bravely she faced and spoke to the captain.</p>
+
+<p>She stepped to the cradle of the little Patrymion and kissed the babe.</p>
+
+<p>"I am ready," she said, then.</p>
+
+<p>At the doors of the prison a chariot waited, and with it were four of
+the white-robed priests of Shamar. The girl was lifted into the car.
+The charioteer drove up the side avenue of Chedar's Flight, past the
+Place of Games, now standing empty and silent, to the grounds of the
+Temple of the Sun. They saw many armed men in the street as they passed
+along. As they entered the gateway of the temple grounds they heard a
+dull booming that beat up with the wind from the south, where Ruthar
+hammered at the Mazanion gates.</p>
+
+<p>The priests carried the girl up the hundred white marble steps to
+the western entrance to the temple and through the splendid arch of
+a doorway that was fifty feet from pave to vault. Within all was dim
+twilight, except in the mighty dome, two hundred feet aloft. There it
+was light, indeed.</p>
+
+<p>At the doorway the party halted, and two soldiers shackled Rose with
+fetters of heavy gold at her wrists and ankles. Around her waist they
+set a girdle of the same yellow metal, to which chains were attached.
+That done, they placed a gag in her mouth and led her into the temple.</p>
+
+<p>Here was a place of wonders, such as had its like nowhere in the world.
+All around the hall, supporting the ring of masonry on which the dome
+rested, were magnificent pillars of marble. The circle of the pavement
+which was enclosed by the pillars, and which was nearly a hundred feet
+across, was bare, except at its center. There an oblong slab of black
+basalt lay from west to east across the gleaming white floor. That
+block was the height of a man's waist from the pavement, some six feet
+across, and at least ten yards in length.</p>
+
+<p>On one end of the slab, that which pointed west, stood a solid column
+of orichalcum, more than a yard in diameter and fifteen feet tall, its
+whole substance glowing in the half-light like a pillar of lambent
+flame. From base to top the surface of this marvelous plinth was carved
+with Maeronican characters and mystic signs. It was the ancient Column
+of Laws, whereon was written the prophecy of the future dominion of
+Adlaz over all the world.</p>
+
+<p>Over across from the fiery pillar, at the other extremity of the slab,
+was a vase, cut out of solid rock-crystal, as tall as a man, but
+slenderly fashioned, and as fragile in structure as thin-blown glass.</p>
+
+<p>This basalt block, with its gleaming column and crystal vase, was the
+altar of Shamar.</p>
+
+<p>Though the light was dim in the hall below, high in the arch of the
+dome was a dazzling play of light and colors. Through prismatic
+windows the rays of the sun poured and were translated into all of
+the changing hues of the spectrum, and as the prisms were turned by a
+concealed mechanism operated from below, the multiplying and shifting
+color-shafts, reflected back from the marble walls, combined into a
+bewildering and fairy display.</p>
+
+<p>Seated in a stone chair at the foot of one of the pillars in the
+northern arc of the circle was Bel-Ar. He was in full armor of black
+steel. His pallid face made a ghastly patch in the dusk. Except for the
+large, glowing eyes, it might have been taken for the face of a dead
+man. Back of the king, filling in the spaces between the pillars with
+silent rows of bronze, were the five companies of the palace-guard.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Immediately upon the arrival of the girl the ceremonies were opened.
+Followed by a train of his priests, chanting a deep-voiced hymn
+of praise, the arch-priest of Shamar, the aged Rhaen, entered the
+hall through the western portals. Thrice the procession of singing,
+white-robed attendants of the god passed around the circle within the
+pillars. Then they massed themselves in the space to the south of the
+altar. Rhaen retired, to come forth again, clad in a surplice of pale
+blue, and with a tall cap of the same color atop of his white locks. As
+he passed Rose, she fancied that she saw a frightened look in his keen
+old hawk's eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Four men brought in the head of one of the sacred bulls, freshly slain
+in the courtyard.</p>
+
+<p>This gory trophy was laid on the altar, a few feet from the crystal
+vase.</p>
+
+<p>At a command from Rhaen, a company of the priests bore the struggling
+form of a man from behind the pillars and proceeded to chain him down
+on the basalt slab near its center. He was fettered and gagged; but
+even so trussed up, he fought frantically, giving the priests much
+trouble before they had him chained in such a fashion that he could
+scarcely move a limb.</p>
+
+<p>Now came the turn of Rose.</p>
+
+<p>As the priests bore her to the altar and lifted her, she saw that the
+man who lay there was Ensign Brooks, of the <i>Minnetonka</i>. He had been
+fetched from the mines by order of Rhaen to take the place of Everson.
+When the girl saw the young sailor, chubby and cheerful no longer, but
+worn to skin and bones, and with eyes that glared in their sockets, she
+would have cried out in horror and pity&mdash;for to the last she thought
+not of herself&mdash;but she was gagged and helpless to utter one word of
+comfort.</p>
+
+<p>Brooks saw her as she was borne past him, and he struggled terribly.
+His utmost effort resulted only in a violent shaking of his head.</p>
+
+<p>The servants of Rhaen chained Rose to the rock midway between the
+sailor and the head of the bull. Aided by his priests, Rhaen clambered
+onto the rock and took his stand at the foot of the orichalcum pillar.
+He bent his head in prayer. While his lips moved, the priests knelt on
+the pavement with lifted hands and upturned faces. Every eye was fixed
+on the dome. Whatever was to come, it was evident that it would proceed
+thence.</p>
+
+<p>Lying on the black altar, doomed to be the first sacrifice to Shamar
+in the Feast of Years, Rose for a time was dazed and near to fainting.
+Then her mind cleared, and a mad whirl of tortured thought began.
+What of Polaris? With the memory of her lover came a stab of grief so
+keen that it banished all fear of the priests and what they could do.
+No pain that they could bring to her body could be so terrible as this
+anguish that made her very soul quail.</p>
+
+<p>Minutes passed. Again she became calm and fell to studying her
+surroundings. What manner of doom was coming? Fire in some shape, she
+was sure. She had noticed that the surface of the basalt slab was
+deeply scored down its center, where she and Brooks were chained,
+and its substance was crumbled and calcined as if by the passing of
+a fierce heat many times repeated. She besought her God that before
+Shamar struck, her senses might leave her, so might she die in peace.</p>
+
+<p>Rhaen prayed on. Above in the dome the brilliant colors played and
+shifted. Their magnificence hurt the girl's eyes, and she closed them.
+Would the end never come? Out in the city the din of war swelled louder.</p>
+
+<p>Bel-Ar spoke harshly, bidding Rhaen delay not. The arch-priest quit his
+mumbled prayer long enough to reply with some show of spirit that the
+doings of the god could not be hastened.</p>
+
+<p>The truth of the matter was, Rhaen was proceeding slowly, and with a
+reason. Rhaen was a politician. He had watched through the long weeks
+the course of war, and he did not find it hard to guess whose would be
+the ultimate victory. When that time came, what mercy would the king of
+Ruthar show to those who had given his lady to the tortures of Shamar?
+He lifted his hands high above his head, finally, and led his priests
+in a sonorous chant.</p>
+
+<p>As the notes of the song arose, the prismatic colors ceased in the
+dome. The prisms disappeared. Doors glided back in the golden roof, and
+an immense circular plate, or lens, of crystal made its appearance. So
+high was the arch of the dome where the crystal lens was hung, that it
+was impossible from the floor to judge its size; but it must have been
+at least thirty feet in diameter. It was set in a metal rim, and the
+whole was swung into place by chains, the mechanism doubtless operated
+by servants of Rhaen concealed in the vault of the dome.</p>
+
+<p>Tilted slightly to the east, the crystal hung. Above it a round
+aperture suddenly appeared in the roof. Through that opening shot a
+splendid shaft of sunshine that pierced the gloom of the temple-hall
+like an arrow of light. Blinding in its radiance, it cut downward and
+struck on the basalt altar, full on the head of the bull.</p>
+
+<p>Immediately arose the stench of burning hair and sizzling flesh. The
+power of the crystal lens so condensed the light-ray that where it fell
+its heat was all-consuming. Within half a minute naught was left of the
+head of the sacred bull save a few cinders and bits of calcined bone
+and charred tips of the horns.</p>
+
+<p>Where the head had been, the basalt rock glowed ruby-red in the path of
+that awful lance of fire. Inch by inch, and very slowly, the consuming
+ray crept along the altar toward the head of the girl.</p>
+
+<p>Rose had been nearly blinded, even through her closed lids, by the
+flash of light from the dome. Although she could not turn her head to
+see, she could smell the scorching flesh of the bull, and could guess
+what was coming.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-by, my love, good-by," she said in her heart. Then He to whom she
+had prayed made answer, and she fainted.</p>
+
+<p>Louder rose the chant of the priests. The merciless finger of their god
+moved on. Bel-Ar strained forward in his stone seat and stared at the
+sacrifice as though fascinated.</p>
+
+<p>Some five feet were yet to be traversed by the ray before it would
+reach the girl, when a soldier ran up the southern steps of the temple
+and hurled himself through the kneeling ranks of the priests. Behind
+him a wild clamor of battle arose in the street.</p>
+
+<p>"Adlaz is lost!" shouted the soldier, as he broke into the open space
+before the king. "Already is the foe at the very gates of Shamar!"</p>
+
+<p>Without stirring in his seat, hardly removing his eyes from the altar,
+Bel-Ar gave an order to the captains behind him. The silent files of
+the palace-guard came from behind the pillars and ranged themselves
+before the four entrances of the temple.</p>
+
+<p>Across the face of the altar the relentless fire-beam seared its way.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Meanwhile, at the walls of Adlaz the Rutharian army had halted.</p>
+
+<p>Night had found the men of the hills battering at the Mazanion gates.
+Urged on by the tireless energy of Polaris and the equally indomitable
+zeal of Oleric&mdash;for the red captain had made a promise&mdash;the zinds
+mustered their weary legions for a night of sleepless battle. War-worn
+by a quarter-year's conflict, the echoes of which would go whispering
+down their history for centuries to come, the king's battalions did not
+fail him. Every man in the army knew the terrible stake that was set
+for the game. None faltered. None complained.</p>
+
+<p>Assault on assault was directed at the gates, but still the southern
+doors of Adlaz remained unshaken. Riders had made the round of the city
+and had reported that the other three gateways had been walled up with
+stone masonry that it would be a work of days to dislodge&mdash;and they had
+only seventeen hours to reach the temple of Shamar. Oleric, who knew,
+said that the sacrifice of the Feast of Years would begin at noon of
+the next day, and not one moment sooner.</p>
+
+<p>Fanaer, Ruthar's most dreaded antagonist, was manning his last
+barricade. As soon as he had drawn his shattered army within the gates
+before the advance of his foemen, the captain ordered great rocks,
+which had been brought to the top of the walls in preparation for his
+purpose, cast down until they formed a jagged but powerful defense
+before the gates. That was to keep back the amalocs.</p>
+
+<p>Vainly the infantry of Ruthar charged over that irregular wall. Did
+any of them reach the gates, their battle-axes were but puny weapons
+against the bronze and steel of the doors. In vain they tried to carry
+in and place the melinite with which Zenas supplied them. Fanaer
+showered them with stones and blazing timbers. Three times men carrying
+the deadly cakes of explosive were stricken so that the melinite blew
+up and tore them to shreds.</p>
+
+<p>All night long the attack was maintained. All the night Polaris raged
+helplessly before that stubborn barrier of stone. In the morning light
+he counseled with Oleric, Zenas, and Zoar.</p>
+
+<p>"If you could but clear a way for my beasts!" groaned Zoar. "Then I
+would send them against the gates, though it killed them&mdash;which might
+well happen, for those gates are heavy enough to challenge even the
+strength of an amaloc."</p>
+
+<p>Zenas sprang up and beat himself on the forehead.</p>
+
+<p>"Doddering fool that I am!" he cried. "Here we have wasted men and
+time, and because my wits were sleeping in my boot-heels. Get your
+amalocs ready, Zoar."</p>
+
+<p>While Oleric sent one more assault against the gates, the geologist
+directed his engineers, under the cover of the attack, to mine, not
+the gates, but the pile of stones itself, with the melinite. Four big
+charges of the explosive they placed in Fanaer's barricade, and Zenas,
+with a tap of his finger on the battery, blew the barrier against the
+wall.</p>
+
+<p>Hardly had the stones quit falling when an amaloc rushed the gateway.
+Zoar spoke truly when he said those gates were strong. Fearful as
+was the impetus of the beast's charge, and though it cracked the
+great steel plates which protected its head with the impact, it did
+not shatter the gates. It withdrew from the onset somewhat sick and
+groggy&mdash;if that word may be applied to the mental condition of the
+amaloc. Zoar sent in another.</p>
+
+<p>Four of the monsters were launched successively against the portals
+before the gates crashed down. The last shock was so fearful that the
+beast which delivered it fell just beyond the gateway and died with a
+broken skull in the midst of the ruin it had made.</p>
+
+<p>Through the gap and into the Mazanion avenue, almost under the lee
+of the falling mammoth, flashed Polaris, mounted and in full armor.
+Hard behind him rode Oleric. Ahead of them the wide street was choked
+with Maeronican soldiery, and the son of the snows would have charged
+without pause; for the time that was left him was reduced to minutes
+now. Taking of the gates had not been quick or easy, and Shamar was
+high in the heavens.</p>
+
+<p>But the red captain caught at his bridle-rein.</p>
+
+<p>"Hold, friend and king; you will peril your life needlessly," he
+shouted. "Leave this desperate scum to Zoar, and follow where he leads.
+Ah! here he comes! Now see them scatter!"</p>
+
+<p>Oleric threw back his head and laughed. But Polaris, with that sun
+riding high above him, was in no mood for laughter.</p>
+
+<p>In through the rifted gateway thrust Ixstus. The giant amaloc was
+in his full panoply of war. On his head he bore proudly his master,
+Zoar the aged, and in the turret behind Zoar rode the Goddess
+Glorian&mdash;Glorian coming to the end to take what gift fate had in store.</p>
+
+<p>Under the swaying tusks of Ixstus terror shouted aloud in the street.
+Behind him, his sons and grandsons were pushing in through the gap in
+the wall. Bel-Ar's battered soldiers had had enough and full measure of
+Ixstus and his family. They did not wait now for the first screaming
+trumpet-call, but cast down their arms and scampered away&mdash;anywhere, so
+that they might put strong walls between themselves and the tribe of
+Ixstus.</p>
+
+<p>Then the general Fanaer rode forward and surrendered his sword to
+Oleric. He was a small, thin man, this famous warrior, with a twisted
+nose between pale-blue eyes, and curling, yellow beard.</p>
+
+<p>"I have fought you my best for the king, my master," he said. "But
+you have taken Adlaz, and my work is done." He glanced curiously at
+Polaris. "Haste you, king of Ruthar," he said, not unkindly. "They are
+doing sacrifice in Shamar's temple."</p>
+
+<p>Like an arrow from a bow, Polaris shot forward, spurring his horse.
+Oleric galloped after him. Behind them thundered Ixstus, shaking the
+pavement with his tread. Nor, strive as the fleet horses might, could
+they more than barely keep ahead of the amaloc. A race with death had
+begun.</p>
+
+<p>Lest harm befall, the zind Maxtan led a squadron of his mounted
+hillsmen in the wake of the speeding riders. Gray Jastla rode in the
+front rank.</p>
+
+<p>Before Polaris's galloping steed leaped and barked the great dog
+Rombar, who was more fleet of foot than any horse. To keep him out of
+harm's way in the battles, Rombar had been chained in hateful captivity
+for months. When the Mazanion gates were down and the amalocs cleared
+the street, the man who had charge of Rombar slipped his leash and let
+him go.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>They rode madly through the splendid grounds of the temple, where the
+sacred bulls fled bellowing before the approach of Ixstus. At the foot
+of the long stairway, Polaris and Oleric threw themselves from their
+steeds, and, drawing their swords, dashed up the marble steps. But
+Zoar with a word of command, set Ixstus to the ascent, and the amaloc
+distanced the running men.</p>
+
+<p>Scarce two feet of Shamar's black altar separated the head of Rose Emer
+from the fiery danger, and the rock where she lay was almost blistering
+hot, when Ixstus, with a scream of triumph, burst through the ranks of
+the guard at the southern door and strode into the lofty shrine. As the
+beast paused, blinking and stretching out an inquiring trunk in the
+direction of the puzzling shaft of light, two armored men ran around
+his ponderous bulk and leaped onto the altar.</p>
+
+<p>Rhaen would have given the word then to close the dome and stop the
+ray; but the strain of his anxiety had been too much for the aged
+priest. As he opened his mouth to shout, his knees loosened, and he
+fell in a swoon at the base of the orichalcum pillar.</p>
+
+<p>With four strokes of his sword, Polaris severed the golden chains and
+swept the senseless form of Rose from the altar. Oleric the Red did
+the like service for Brooks. Now might the finger of Shamar move on
+unheeded.</p>
+
+<p>Polaris knelt with his love in his arms. As he bent over her, Oleric
+shouted in warning. The son of the snows leaped to his feet in time to
+catch on his sword the blade of Bel-Ar, the king.</p>
+
+<p>Once again Ruthar and Ad, personified in their two rulers, were face to
+face.</p>
+
+<p>From the four doorways came the devoted men of the palace-guard.
+Bel-Ar, who had fallen back a pace, lifted his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"There is that between this man and me which only death may take away,"
+he said. "Let none interfere&mdash;unless the slave is afraid to fight." He
+fixed his burning eyes on Polaris. At that last remark Oleric the Red
+laughed loudly.</p>
+
+<p>Under other circumstances, Janess might have been minded to let Bel-Ar
+go free. Whatever were his faults, the Maeronican king was a brave
+man, one who did not bow down and weep when misfortune overtook him.
+But Polaris had just seen his dear lady chained to the horror of the
+sacrificial stone because of this man, and his fell religion and
+relentless practices against strangers. Minos, Memene, Everson, the
+company of the <i>Minnetonka</i>, the fallen of the hosts of Ruthar and of
+Ad&mdash;for all those deaths Bel-Ar was responsible. Surely his doors were
+haunted by many ghosts!</p>
+
+<p>With no word in answer to the king's taunt, Polaris swung his sword,
+and the fight began. Bel-Ar pressed in with a shower of blows, seeking
+to bear his adversary down by the sheer weight and fury of his attack.
+He was a powerful man, perhaps the strongest warrior in all his broad
+lands, as he had boasted&mdash;but he had met a stronger now.</p>
+
+<p>With the skill in fence that had been taught him by Jastla, the son of
+the snows guarded himself against those lightning blows, letting Bel-Ar
+weary himself until an opening should come&mdash;as his patience had told
+him it always would, no matter how hardy the fighter.</p>
+
+<p>Jastla himself stood by the altar and watched his pupil fight. For
+Maxtan and his cavalry had reached the temple. On one side of the
+altar stood the men of Ruthar and Ixstus. On the other were ranged the
+gleaming bronze lines of Bel-Ar's guard.</p>
+
+<p>Harder and harder the Maeronican pressed the fight. His blade swung
+like a circle of flame. Warily Polaris fended. Came a clash and a
+clang of falling steel, and a cry of dismay from the Rutharians. Under
+the stout bronze of Bel-Ar their champion's sword had snapped short off
+at the hilt.</p>
+
+<p>With a yell of exultation, Bel-Ar sprang in to make an end. And those
+who watched the fray were bound by honor not to interfere. Oleric
+groaned, and Jastla tugged at his white beard and ground his teeth in
+dismay. Then he sent up a roaring shout:</p>
+
+<p>"Well thrown! Oh, well thrown!"</p>
+
+<p>Under the vengeful sweep of the singing blade Polaris had leaped and
+caught the Maeronican around the middle. The blow of the sword fell
+harmless. But Polaris swung Bel-Ar up to his shoulder, aye, and over
+it, and dashed him down on the marble floor.</p>
+
+<p>One of the golden captains of the guard ran to the king's side and
+unhelmed him. Bel-Ar was dead, his back broken by the terrible fall.</p>
+
+<p>"Heard ever a man the like?" roared Jastla. "The strongest warrior in
+Adlaz tossed like a toy and slain by an unarmed man!"</p>
+
+<p>Through the fierce fray Glorian had sat like a statue, unable to stir
+or speak. As the Rutharians shouted in triumph, she roused and cried
+out:</p>
+
+<p>"Look to the priest! Haste! He burns!"</p>
+
+<p>Unnoticed in the stir of the combat, the ray of Shamar had moved on
+down the length of the altar. The priests in the dome had fled their
+posts in terror, and there had been none to stay the mechanism. In
+the path of Shamar's finger lay Rhaen, Shamar's priest, swooned and
+helpless. The ray struck him. Aid was too late.</p>
+
+<p>Rhaen was a horrid sight when he was pulled from the altar. His soul
+had gone&mdash;perhaps to seek the god whom he had served.</p>
+
+<p>On Ixstus's head stood Glorian in her silver armor.</p>
+
+<p>"So ends the religion of Shamar!" she cried. With the battle-ax she
+carried, she bent over and struck the crystal vase and shattered it.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>At the other end of the altar of basalt the great ray beat on the
+pillar of orichalcum, so that the surface of the metal was melted and
+the cruel laws of Ad were effaced. With the laws perished the prophecy.</p>
+
+<p>Water was dashed on the face of Rose Emer, and presently she opened
+her eyes and sat up and realized that she was not dead. Before them
+all, Polaris took her into his arms and kissed her&mdash;for such is the
+privilege of kings. Glorian, watching from Ixstus's back, turned white
+with agony and clenched her slender fingers so that the nails bit into
+her palms.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, be strong, my heart," she whispered to herself. "My soul has said
+it&mdash;<i>my time will come</i>!"</p>
+
+<p>Zenas Wright came soon, and at the altar of Shamar was held a reunion
+where hearts were too full for talking, until Ensign Brooks spoke up
+and Said:</p>
+
+<p>"Lead me to a dinner-table, somebody. First they worked the flesh off
+my bones. Then they tried to roast me along with a bull's head and a
+pretty woman&mdash;but never once did they give me a decent meal."</p>
+
+<p>"You shall have your dinner," said Polaris. "But first there is
+something which I will have done, here and now, if may be." He turned
+to Oleric, while Rose Emer's cheeks, that had been so wan, flamed rosy
+red.</p>
+
+<p>"Has one of these priests here the power to perform a marriage
+ceremony?" Janess asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Surely," replied Oleric. And then the red captain smiled broadly as he
+caught the import of the question. "Hale one of them here, Jastla," he
+said.</p>
+
+<p>Jastla came soon, gripping a sadly scared priest of Shamar by the slack
+of his gown. "Do you, Oleric, who understand more of his jargon than I
+do, listen that he does a good job of it," grumbled the chieftain. "For
+if he doesn't, I'll flay him."</p>
+
+<p>But Glorian was great-hearted, even befitting her title of goddess. She
+now stepped down from the amaloc to the altar.</p>
+
+<p>"In this let Glorian of Ruthar serve you," she said. "I have the power,
+and the knot that I shall tie, though it shall be more gentle than if
+done by this dog of Shamar, yet will it be as binding."</p>
+
+<p>So, after the long years and their perils, Polaris and his Rose-maid
+were wedded, Oleric the Red producing the ring. And when she had
+pronounced the words which made them one, Glorian took Rose in her arms
+and kissed her on the forehead.</p>
+
+<p>"May you be very happy, my sister," she whispered.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Now here the pen that has written this history ceases, to give place to
+that of one of its chief actors, who has a parting word to tell.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>I, Zenas Wright, now in my sixty-seventh year, and being in full
+possession of my health, mind, and faculties (as lawyers write it in
+the wills) having been asked by the writer of the foregoing work to
+make some comment on it, do hereby aver, asseverate, maintain, etc.,
+that it is in the main a faithful account of certain events in which it
+has been my privilege to play a small part. In fact, I cannot well do
+otherwise, seeing that I furnished him the information.</p>
+
+<p>Such changes as I might be tempted to make in the history he has
+written would only vex the writer, and so I'll let it be. They would be
+in the nature of scientific details, anyhow, and I fear would make only
+dry reading for any but brother scientists.</p>
+
+<p>I have told the author that he has made altogether too much of my part
+in the events which he has described. I am not a hero, and never will
+be; but in this description of that brush in the Kimbrian defile&mdash;which
+was altogether a matter of chance&mdash;he has made me almost heroic. I have
+asked him to amend the account; but he will not listen to it, and so I
+suppose that it will have to stand. I hereby disclaim it.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>It is more than six months since the fademe <i>Oaron</i> dropped anchor in
+the Potomac (where its arrival created a fine sensation), and I landed
+once more in Washington. With me came Lieutenant Everson. He did not
+get to Adlaz until some weeks after it had been taken, and he's not the
+man yet that he was before he got that jab from Atlo's spear. But he's
+improving. He had the loss of a cruiser to report; but he brought with
+him a sum in gold and gems, sent by the king of Ruthar and Maeronica,
+sufficient to reimburse the Government for the loss of the ship, and
+with a splendid sum left over to be distributed among the relatives of
+those who went down with her. The king is a man who doesn't do things
+by halves.</p>
+
+<p>Ensign Brooks came with us also. He was pining for a peep up Broadway
+and a whiff of "America's strongest cigarette." I hope that he has had
+enough to eat since he came back.</p>
+
+<p>Through the kindness of Oleric, I was enabled to bring with me a
+splendid pair of mammoth's tusks, which I took great pleasure in adding
+to the collection of the Smithsonian Institution. Some time I hope
+to be the means of bringing to these shores specimens of the <i>Elephas
+primigenius</i> themselves, which the Rutharians call amalocs.</p>
+
+<p>Before this history comes to the eyes of the world&mdash;if it ever does, of
+which I have some doubt&mdash;I shall have gone back to the south. I thought
+that I wanted to end my days in my home in Buffalo and be buried there;
+but I don't. I'm going back to be with my boy. He is making a wise
+ruler there in Adlaz. Perhaps an old man's life will not be altogether
+useless there, where there is so much to be done.</p>
+
+<p>Before I left Adlaz, two small princes were playing in the royal
+palace&mdash;Patrymion, the boy of Minos, who eventually will be king if he
+lives, and another youngster, who must stagger through life under the
+burden of the name of Polaris Zenas Janess. Guess that's pretty good
+for an old rock-splitter&mdash;to have the first-born son of a real king
+named after him. Constituting himself the special guardian of the two
+little chaps is a simple-minded little cockney sailor, whom Polaris
+found in prison, Jack Melton by name. Sunlight has cured him of some of
+his hallucinations, and he no longer hates Rombar.</p>
+
+<p>There is one thing more, which I did not find in the history, and will
+now add here. It concerns that remarkable woman, Glorian of Ruthar.
+One day when we were discussing the power which she and Oleric declare
+they have to prolong their lives (privately, I think it is rank bosh),
+Glorian told me that it was possible for one who knew the secret to
+make use of it to keep another person alive, and without that person
+knowing about it. Now Glorian is living in Adlaz, where she has had
+the temple of Shamar fixed over to suit her. She sees Polaris often.
+I am of the opinion that, if she has any such power&mdash;mind you, I'm
+not admitting she has&mdash;she is using it on Polaris, and is planning
+to outwait Mrs. Janess (Queen Rose, I suppose I should call her) and
+eventually have him for herself. The outcome of this, only time will
+tell, and I shall not live to know it. I have not the means to prolong
+my life&mdash;and would not if I had.</p>
+
+<p>By the way, Zoar of the Amalocs died shortly after the taking of Adlaz.
+The excitement of the war was too much for his heart.</p>
+
+<p>Oh, yes! And Oleric married Bel-Ar's widow, the Queen Raissa; and that
+is all.</p>
+
+<p>Good-by.</p>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POLARIS AND THE GODDESS GLORIAN ***</div>
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