Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1901-10-01
The Lost Continent
By CUTCLLFFE HYNE
rubNshsd cu,ei6. Hyns
By cUTCLIEEE HYNE.

Copyright $780, By cuselihs Ryns.
q double tyranny. ana her rule
alone Is more cruelty heavy than we
can bear already"
II pass no criticism on Phorenice's
rule. have not seen 1t. But crave
+, your mercy, Nais, on the newcomer
into this kingdom. I am strong, say
you, and therefore am a tyrant.
say you. Now to me this sequence is
faulty"
"Who should strong man use
strength for, II not for himself? And
Il for himself. why that spells tyran.
ny. You will got all your hearts de-
sires. my lord, and you will forget
that many . thousand of the common
people will have to pay for them"
And this Is all your accusation?"
1T seems to be black enough.
am one that has a compassion for my
fellow men, my lord, and because of
that compassion you see me what I
am to-day. There was time, not
long passed, when slept as soft and
ate as dsinty as any in Atlantis"
smiled. your speech told me
that much from the first"
"Then would l had cast the
speech off, too, If that is also livery
of the tyrant's class. But tell you
l saw all the oppression myself from
the oppressor's side. was high in
Phorenice's favor then"
THAT, too, is easy of credence.
Ylga is the fangirl to the empress
now, and second lady in the kingdom,
and those who have seen Ylga could
make an easy guess at the parentage
Of Nais."
I'VE were the daughters Of one
birth"
Tho torch had filled the captains
room with resinous smoke, but the
fame was growing pale. Dawn was
coming In grayly through 9 slender
srrow slit. and with IL ever and again
the glow from some mountain out Of
sight. which was shooting forth spas
modio bursts of fire. With it also
were mutterings of distant falling
rocks and sullen tremblings, which
had endured all the night through
and I Judged that earth was in one
of her quaking moods, and would
probably during the Forthcoming day
ofter US some Christening discomforts.
On this account, perhaps, my senses
were stilled to certain evidences
which would otherwise have given me
q suspicion; and, also, there is no de-
nying that my general wakefulness
was Slapped by another matter. This
woman, Nais, interested me vastly
out of the common; the mere pres
ence of her seemed to warm the or
gans of my interior; and. while she
was there. oil my thoughts and senses
were present in the room of the cap
tain OF the gate in which we sat.
But Of q sudden the floor of the
chamber rocked and fell away be-
meath me, and in tumult of dust
and litter and bales of the captains
plumber I fell down (still seated on
the fagstone) into pit which had
been digged beneath it. With the Vi
olence Of the descent and the fiutter
of all these articles about my head
I was In no condition for immediate
action; and while was still half
stunned by the shock. and long be-
fore could get my eyes into service
again, had been seized and bound
and half strangled with moose Of
hide. Voices were raised that I
should be dispatched at once out of
the way; but one in authority cried
out that killing me at leisure, and as
q prisoner, promised more genteel
sport; and SO 1 was thrust down on
the floor, while whole army of men
| trod In over me to the attack.
What had happened was clear to
me now, though was powerless to
do anything In hinderanoe. The reb-
els, with more craft than anyone had
credited to them, had driven gal
ley from their camp under the
ground, intending SO to make an en-
trance into the heart Of the city. In
their clumsy ignorance, and having
no ono of sufficient talent in men,
suration, they had bungled sadly both
in direction and length, and SO had
ended their burrow under this cham
Der OF the captain Of the gate. The
great flagstone in its fall had, 1t APP
peared, crushed four of them to
death, but these were little noticed
| or lamented. Life was to them a
bauble of the slendertst price, and a
horde of others pressed through the
opening, lusting for the fight, and
rocking nothing of their risks and
| perils.
Half choked by the foul dir of the
galley, and trodden on by this great
procession of feet, it was little
enough could do to help my imme.
date self, much less the more dis.
tant city. But when the chief mass
of the attackers had passed through
and there came only here and there
one eager to take his share at storm.
ing the gate, couple of fellows
| plucked me up out of the mud on the
floor and began dragging me down
through the shrinking darkness of the
galley towards the pit that gave il
entrance.
Twenty times we were jostled by
others Fastening to the attack, either
form hunger for fight OF from appe-
lite for what they could steal. But
we came to the open at last; and,
half suffocated though was, con-
trived to do obeisance and say aloud
the prescribed prayer to the most
high gods in gratitude for the fresh
air which they had provided.
Our Lord the Sun was on the verge
OF rising for his day. and all things
| were plainly shown. Before me were