Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1901-11-12

delight had missed by not Knowing
my Nais earlier! But she had will
of her own through it all, and some
quaint conceits which made her all
the more adorable. She rallied me ON
the new cleanness of my chin, and on
the robe which had taken as "a COW
ering. She professed pretty awe
for my kingship, and vowed that had
she known OF my coming dignities she
would never have dared to discover a
love for me.
Phorenice, 1t seemed, had more
rage against the Priests clan on the
mountain and more bright genius to
help her to vengeance than I had
credited. Her troops stormed easily
the gates we had left to them, and
swarmed up till they stood where the
pathway was broken down. In the
ferceness of their rush the foremost
were thrust over the brink by those
pressing up behind before the adj
vance could be halted, and these went
screaming to horrid death in the
great gulf below. But it was no po-
sition here that lavish spending of
men could take, and presently all
were drawn of, save for some half
score who stood as outpost sentries
and lodged out of arrow-shot behind
angles of the rock.
It seems, too, that the empress
herself reconnoitered the place, using
due caution and quickness, and so
got for herself full plan of its re-
quirements without being obliged to
trust the measuring of another eye.
With extraordinary nimbleness she
must have planned an engine such as
| was necessary to suit her purposes,
| and given orders for it's making; for
even with the vast force and re-
sources at her disposal, the speed
with which it was built was pro-
| digious.
There was very little noise made
| to tell of what was afoot. MI the
woodwork and metal-work was cut
and tongued and forged and fitted
| first by skilled craftsmen below in
| the plain at the foot of the cleft; and
when each ponderous balk and each
crosspiece and each plank was
dragged up the steep pass through
the conquered gates, it was ready
instantly for fitting into its appoint
ed place in the completed machine.
The cleft was straight where they
set about their building, and there
was no curve or spur of the cliff to
hide their handiwork from those
| of the priests who watched from the
ramparts al owe our one remaining
| gate. But Phorenice had coyness
/ lest her engine should be seen be
| fore it was completed, and so tc
screen it she had vast fire built
at the uppermost point where the
| causeway was broken Off and fed
| diligently with wet sedge and green
wood, so that a great smoke poured
out, rising like curtain that shut
out all view. And so, though the
priests on the rampant above the gate
| picked off now and again some of
those who tended the fire, they could
do the besiegers no further injury,
and remained up to the last quite in
| ignorance of their tactics.
The passage up the cleft was in
shadow during the night hours, for,
though all the crest of the Sacred
Mountain was always lit brightly by
| the eternal fires which made It's de-
Tense on the farther side, their glow
] threw no CLEAN down that flank
where the cliff ran sheer to the plains
| beneath. And so it was under cover
of the darkness that Phorenice
brought up her engine into position
for attack.
Planking had been laid down for its
wheels, and the wheels themselves
well creased, and it may be that she
hoped to march in upon us while all
slept. But there was certain
creaking and grooming of timbers
and labored painting of men which
| gave advertisement that something
was being attempted, and the alarm
was spread quietly in the hope that,
u 9 surprise had been planned, the
real surprise might be turned the
other way.
A messenger came to me, running,
where | sat in the house at the side
of my love, and she, like the soldiers
wife she was made to be, kissed mo
and babe me go quickly and care for
my honor, and bring back my wounds
for her to mend,
On the rampant above the gate
all was silence, save for the faint
rustic of armed men, and out of the
black darkness ahead, from the other
side of the broken causeway, came
the sounds of which the messenger
had warned me.
The captain of the gate came to
me and whispered: 1--WE have made
no light Till the king came, not know
ing the kings will in the matter. Is
IT wished send some of the throw
| ing-tire down yonder, on the chance
that it does some harm. and at the
same time lights up the place? Or
is it willed that we wait for their sur
| prisea"
Send the fire." said, cor we may
find that Phorenice's brain has been
| one too many for u.s."
The captain of the gate took one
Of the balls In his hand lit the fuse
and hurled it. The horrid thing
burst among mass of men who were
laboring with huge engine, spatter-
ing them with its deadly fire, and
lipht inu their Uarp,an+c trl,a ,>1