Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1902-02-01
my return had not enamored ME very

my return had not enamored me very
much with it's new conditions.
The little temple in which ! was
gaoled had been robbed and de-
spoiled of all it's furnishments. But
the light Sits, where at certain hours
of the day the rays of our Lord the
Sun had fallen upon the image Of the
god, before this had been taken
away, gave me vantage places from
which 1 could see over the camp of
these rebel besiegers, and a dreary
prospect it was. The people seemed
to have shucked off the culture of
centuries in as many months, and to
have gone back for the most part to
sheer brutishness. The majority har-
bored on the bare ground. Few
owned shelter, and these were merely
bowers of mud and branches.
They fought and quarreled among
themselves for food, eating their
meat raw and their grain (when they
had it) unground. Many who passed
my vision [ saw were even gnawing
the soft inside of tree bark.
The dead lay where they fell. The
sick and the wounded found no hand
to tend them. Great man-eating birds
lowered above the camp or skulked
about, heavy with gorging, among the
novels, and no one had public spirit
enough to give them battle. The
stink of the place rose up to heaven
as foul incense inviting pestilence.
There was no order, no trace of
strong command anywhere. With
800 well-disciplined troops it seemed
poor desperate hordes flying in panic
to the forest.
However, there was no very
lengthy space of time granted me for
thinking out the policy of this mat
ter to any great depth. The attack
on the gate had been delivered with
suddenness; the repulse was not
slow. Of what desperate fighting
took place in the galleries and in the
circus between the two sets of gates
the detail will never be told in full.
At the first alarm the great cave
tigers were set loose, and these ragged
impartially against keeper and foe.
Of those that went in through the
tunnel, not one in ten returned, and
there were few of these but what car
ried bloody wound. Some, with the
ruling passion still strong in them,
bore back plumber; one trailed along
with him the head of the captain of
the gate; and among them they
dragged cut two of the warders who
were wounded, and whom revenge
had urged them to take as prisoners.
But for my part I saw nothing of
this disgusting scene. I heard the
bolt CRATE stealthily against the door
of the little temple in which l was
imprisoned, and was minded to give
these british rebels somewhat of
surprise. / had rid myself of my
bonds handily enough; 1 had rubbed
my limbs to that perfect suppleness
which is always desirable before
fight; and l had planned to rush out
as soon as the door was swung, and
kill those that came first with fist
blows on the brow and chin.
They had not suspected my name,
it was clear, for my stature and garb
were nothing out of the ordinary;
but if my bodily strength and fight
ing power had been sufficient to raise
me to viceroyalty like that of Yucca
tan, and let me endure alive in that
government throughout 20 hard bat
Ting years, why, it was likely that
this rabble of savages would see
something that was new and admir-
able in the practice of arms before
the crude weight of their numbers
could drag me down. Nay, l did not
even despair of winning free alto
gether. I must find me a weapon
from those that came up to battle,
with which 1 could write worthy sig
natures, and / must attempt no stand
ing fight. Godsi but what glow the
prospect did send through me as I
stood there waiting.
But the door did not open wide to
give me space for my first rush. 1t
creaked gratingly outward on it's
pivots, and a slim hand and white
arm slipped inside, reckoning me to
quietude. Here was some woman.
The door creaked wider, and she
came inside.
"Nais," I said.
silence, or they will hear you, and
remember. At present those who
brought you here are killed, and un-
less by chance some one blunders into
this robbed shrine you will not be
found"
''Then if that is so, let me go out
and walk among these people as one
of themselves"
She shook her head.
"But, Nais, l am not known here. I
am merely a man in very plain and
mudstained robe. I should be in no
ways remarkable
A smile twitched her face. "My
lord" she said, "wears no beard, and
his is the only clean chin in the camp"
I joined in her laugh. ga pest on
my want of foppishness then. But I
am forgetting somewhat. 1t comes
to my mind that we still have unfin-
ished that small discussion of ours
concerning the length of my poor life.
Have you decided to cut it off from
risk of further mischief, or do you
propose to give me further span?"
She turned to me with look of
sharp distress. "My lord" she said,
Il would have you forget that silly
talk of mine. This last two hours L
thought you were dead in real truth"
"And you were not relieved?"
Il felt that the only man was gone
out of the world mean, my lord,
the only man who can save Atlantis"
Your words give me confidence.
Then you would have me go back and
become husband to Phorenice?
I'll there is no other way"
81 warn you 1 shall do that, if she
still so desires it, and if it seems to
me that the course will be best. This
is no hour for private likings or dis
ikings."