The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1902-03-14

in here from some distant part of the
land and deliver to you his message.
Then tell me the message said L.
'You are to make a great blaze. You
may fire the grasses of the plain in
front of this wood if you choose. And
on the night which follows you are to
go round to that flank of the Sacred
Mountain away from the city where
the rocks run down sheer, and there
they will lower rope and haul you up
to their hands above"
He took himself off then, and 1
wasted no more precious time. The
grass blazed up for signal almost be-
! fore the messengers heels were clear
of it; and that night, when the dark
ness gave me cover, took the risk of
what beasts might be proving, and
went to the place appointed. There
was no rope dangling, but presently
one came down the smooth cliff-face
| like some slender snake. 1 made a
loop, slipped it over a leg, and pulled
hard as a signal. Those above began
to haul, and so I went back to the Sa-
cred Mountain after an absence of so
many toilsome and warning years.
There were none to disturb the ascent.
Phorenice's troops had no thought to
guard that gaunt, bare, seamless preci-
pice.
The men who hauled me up were old,
and painted heavily with their task,
and, until 1 knew the reason, 1 won
dered why knot of younger priests
had not been appointed for the duty.
But put no question. With US of the
Priests clan on the Sacred Mountain
it is always taken as granted that
when an order is given it is given for
the best. Besides, these priests did
not offer themselves to question. They
took me off at once to Zaemon, and
that is what 1 could have wished.
The old man greeted me with the
royal sign. Cali hail to Deucalion, he
cried, liking of Atlantis, duly called
thereto by the high council of the
priests"
Then being king, can speak with
out seeming to make use of threat.
l must have my queen first, or am not
strong enough to give my whole mind
10 lhIS ru1ng.
"She shall be brought here"
$50! Then will be a general now,
and see to the defenses of this place,
and view the men who are here to
stand behind them"
went out of the dwelling then, Zae-
mon giving place and following me. 1t
was night still, but there is no darkness
on the upper part of the Sacred Noun
tain. A ring of fires, fed eternally
! from the earth-breath which wells up
from below, burns round one-half of
the crest, lighting it always as bright
as day, and in fact forming no small
part of its fortifcation. Indeed, it is
said that in the early dawn of history
men first came to the mountain as a
stronghold because of the natural de-
Tense which the fires offered.
There is no bridging these flames
or smothering them. On either side
of their line for a hundred PAGES
the ground glows with heat, and
a man would be turned to ash
who tried to cross it. Round full
one-half of the mountain slopes the
fires make a rampant unbreakG BILE,
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 las man has grown
more luxuriOus) have made more
easy to climb.
Looking at the additions, in the
ancient days, I can well imagine that
none but the most daring could have
made the ascent. But one generation
has thrown bridge over a bad gap
here, and another has cut the living
stone and widened a gap ledge there,
III in these latter years there is a
'ath 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
| OOoboSACSB OuS WGIC CdI6lul 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 a pulp
any man advancing against it from
below. And in caves dug out from
the rock on either hand was a great
hoard of these stones, so that no en-
envy through sheer expenditure of
troops could hope to storm a gate by
eXhausting its 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 a garrison of Phorenice's troops,
who had built a wall above them to
protect their occupation. The gate
had been gained by no brilliant feat