Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1902-04-26
. 3 The 3 D
Lost Continent
By CUTCLIFFE HYNE.
Pub by Harper Bros Copyright 1901 by Gutsffe Hyns
CHAPTER XVI.-CoNT1NUED.
Pub by Harper Bros Copyright ieoi by cutafe lyme

CHAPTER XVI.-CoNTINUED.
"Phorenice is headstrong. No, my
lord, there is no need to shake your
head and try to deny it. l have had
some acquaintance with her. But
the order has been made, and her
Immortality will be snatched from
from her very rudely. Now mark
solemnly my words. /, Deucalion,
have been appointed king of Atlantis
by the high council of the priests
who are the mouthpiece of the most
high gods, and if l do not have my
reign, then there will be no Atlantis
left to carry either king or empress.
You know me, Tatho, for man that
never lies
He nodded.
"Then save yourself before it is too
late. You shall have again your
viceroyalty in Yucatan."
But, man, there is no Yucatan.
A great horde of little hairy crea-
lures, that were something less than
human and something more than
beasts, swept down upon our cities
if you choose. Others sneered when 1
came home, till the empress stopped
them. But you know what train of
driver-ants is that you meet with in
the forests? You may light fires
across their path, and they will
march into them in their blind BRAY
cry, and put them out with their
bodies, and those that are left will
march on in an unbroken column,
and devour all that stands in their
path. | tell you, my lord, those little
hairy creatures were like ants-aye,
for numbers and wooden bravery, as
well as for appetite. AS q result, to-
day there is no Yucatan."
You shall have Egypt, them
He burst at me holly. 4 would
not take seven Egypts and ten Yucca
tans. My lord, you think more poor
~ of me than is kind when you ask
me to become a traitor. In your
place would you throw your Nais
away if the doing it would save you
from a danger?"
THAT is different
I'm no degree. You have a kind
ness for her. I have all that and
more for PhoreGice, who is, besides,
my wife and the mother of my chill
dren. If | have qualms-and l freely
confess | know you are desperate
men up there, and have dreadful
powers at your command-my shiv-
erings are for them and not for my
self. But 1 think, my lord, this par
ley is leading to nothing, and though
these common soldiers here will I'M
derstand little enough of our talk,
they may be picking up a word here
and there, and I do not wish them
to go on to their death (as you will
see them do shortly and carry evil
reports about me to whatever gods
they chance to come before"
He saluted me with his sword and
drew back, and once more the mis-
siles began to fly, and the doomed
wretches who had been hating be-
side the steep rock walls of the pass
began once more to press hopelessly
forward. They had scaling-ladders
certainly, but they had no chance of
getting these planted. They could
do naught but fill the narrow way
with their bodies, and to that end
they had been sent, and to that end
they humbly died. Our priests with
crow and lever wrenched from their
lodging places the great rocks which
had been made ready, and sent them
crashing down, so that once more
screams filled the pass, and the hor-.
rid butchery was renewed.
But ever and again some arrow. or
some slngstone, or some fire-tube's
dart would find its way up from be-
low and through the defenses, and
there we would be with man the
less to carry on the fight. 1t was
well enough for Phorenice to be
lavish with her troops; indeed, if she
wished for success, there were no
two ways for it; and when those she
had levied were killed, she could
readily press others into the service,
seeing that she had the whole broad
face of the country under her rule.
But with us it was different. man
down on our side was a man whose
arm would bitterly be missed, and
one which could in no possible way
be replaced.
| made calculation of the chances,
and saw clearly that if we continued
the fight on the present plan, they
would storm the gates one after an
other as they came to them, and
that by the time the uppermost gate
was reached there would be no priest
alive to defend it. And so, not dis
daining to fashion myself on Pho
renice's newer plan, which held that
a general should at times in prefer
ence plot coldly from place of some
safety, and not lead the thick of the
fighting, l left those who stood to
the gate with some rough soldiers
words of cheer, and withdrew again
up the narrow stair of the pass.
This one approach to the Sacred
Mountain was, as / have said before,
vastly more difficult and dangerous
in the olden days when it stood as
mere bare cleft as the high gods
made it. But a cnasm had been
bridged here, and shelf cut through
the solid rock there, and in many
Piaces the roadway was built up on
PIERS from distant crags below so as
20 make all uniform and easy. 1t
came TO my mind now that if l could
destroy this path, we might gain
s9re pre-. ping space for further effort.
The idea seemed good, or at least
no other occurred to me which would
in any way relieve our desperate sit
uation, and / looked around me for
means to put it into execution. IN
and down from the mountain to the