Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1902-03-26

AACI0 IS ~ OI4uSiuS CutSe udmeb
or smothering them. On either side
of their line for a hundred PAGES
the ground CLOVIS with heat, and
q man would be turned to ash
who tried to cross it. Round full
one-ha1f of the mountain slopes the
fires make a rampant unbreakable,
and on the other side the rocks run
in one sheer precipice from the crest
to the plain which spreads beyond it's
foot. But it is on this farther side
that there is the only entrance way
which gives passage to the crest of
the Sacred Mountain from below.
Running diagonally up the steep face
of the cliff is a gigantic assure, which
succeeding ages Gas man has grown
more luxurious) have made more
easy to climb.
Looking at the additions, in the
ancient days, can we'll imagine that
none but the most daring could have
made the ascent. But one generation
has thrown a bridge over bad gap
here, and another has cut the living
stone and widened a gap ledge there,
till in these latter years there is q
path with cut steps and carved balus-
trade such as the feeblest or most
giddy might traverse with little eff
fort or exertion. But always when
these improvers made smooth the
obstacles, they were careful to weak
en- in no possible way the defenses,
but rather to add to them.
Eight gates of stone there were
cutting the pathway, each command
ing a straight, steep piece of the as
cent, and overhanging each gate was
a gallery secure from arrow shot, yet
so contrived that great stones could
be hurled through holes in the floor
of it, in such manner that they
must irretrievably smash to pulp
any man advancing against it from
below. And in caves dug out from
the rock on either hand was great
hoard of these stones, so that no en-
envy through sheer expenditure of
troops could hope to storm gate by
exhausting it's ammunition.
But though there were eight of
these granite gates in the series, we
had the whole number to depend on
no longer. The lowest gate was held
by garrison of Phorenice's troops,
who had built wall above them to
protect their occupation. The gate
had been gained by no brilliant feat
of arms-it had been won by threats,
bribery and promises; or, in other
words, it had been given up by the
blacklist treachery.
And here lay the keynote of the
weakness in our defense. The most
perfect rampant that brains can in
vent are useless without men to line
them, and it was men we lacked. OF
students entering into the colleges
of the Sacred Mountain there had
been none now for many year. The
younger generation thought little of
the older gods. Of the men that had
grown up among the sacred groves,
and filled offices there, many had be-
come lukewarm in their faith and re-
manned on only through habit, and
because an easy living stayed near
them there; and these, when the
siege began, quickly made their way
over to the other side.
Phorenice was no fool to fight
against unnecessary strength. Her
heralds4 ", made. :, proclamation that
peace and q good subsistence would
be given to those who chose to come
out to her willingly; and as an alter
native she would kill by torture and
mutilation those she caught in the
place when she took it by storm, as
she most assuredly would do before
she had finished with it. And so great
was the prestige of her name that
quite one-half of those that remained
on the mountain took themselves
away from the defense.
There was no attempt to hold back
these sorry priests, nor was there
any Furnishing them as they went
Zaemon, indeed, was minded $50 he
told me with grim meaning himse1f)
to give them some memento of their
apostasy to carry away which would
not wear out, but the others of the
high council made him stay his
vengeful hand. And so. when I came
to the place, the garrison numbered
no more than so, counting even feeble
old dotards who could barely walk;
and of men not past their prime
could barely command score.
Still, seeing the narrowness of the
passages which led to each of the
gates, up which in no place coult
more than two men advance togeth.
er, we were by no means in desperate
straits for the defense as yet, ano
even if my new-given kingdom was sc
far small, consisting as it did of the
Sacred Mountain, and no other part
| of Atlantis, at any rate there
seemed little danger of it's being fur
Their contracted.
Another of the wise precautions Of
the men of old stood in good stea6
then. In the ancient times, wher
grain was first grown as food, il
came to be looked upon as the acme
of wealth. Tribute was always paic
from the people to their priests, an6
presently, so the old histories say, il
was appointed that this should take
the form of grain, as this was medi
um both dignitied and fitting. Ant
those of the people who had it were
not forced to barter their other prod
uce for grain before they could pay
! this tribute.
On the Sacred Mountain itself vas1
storehouses were dug in the rock
and here the grain was teemed il
great yellow heaps, and each genera
ton of those that were set over il