Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1902-04-30

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 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 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
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 a year. The
younger genera ton thought little of
the older gods. Of the men that had
grown up among the sacred groves,
and filed offices there, many had be-
come lukewarm in their faith and re-
NAMED on only through habit, and
because an easy living stayed near
them there; and these, when the
over to the other side.
Phorenice was no fool to fight
against unnecessary strength. Her
heralds made proclamation that
peace and a 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
mutila ton 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 ESQ he
told me with grim meaning himself)
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 1 came
to the place, the garrison numbered
no more than 80, counting even feeble
old dotards who could barely walk;
and of men not past their prime /
could barely command a score.
Still, seeing the narrowness of the
passages which led to each of the
gates, up which in no place could
more than two men advance togeth-
er, we were by no means in desperate
straits for the defense as yet, and
even if my new-given kingdom was so
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 stead
then. In the ancient times, when
grain was first grown as food, it
came to be looked upon as the acme
of wealth. Tribute was always paid
from the people to their priests, and
presently, so the old histories say, it
was appointed that this should take
the form of grain, as this was medi-
um both dignified and fitting. And
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 vast
storehouses were dug in the rock,
and here the grain was teemed in
great yellow heaps, and each genera
ton of those that were set over it
took pride IN adding to the accumu-
lation.
In modern days it had been the Gus
tom among the younger and more
forward of the priests to scott at this
ancient provision, ard to hold that
a treasure of gold or weapons or
jewels would have more value and no
less of dignity; and more than once
it had been close thing lest these
innovators should not be outvoted.
But as it was, the old constitution
had happily been preserved, and now
in these years of trial the clan
reaped the benefit. And so with
these granaries and series of great
tanks and cisterns which held the
rainfall, there was no chance of Pho
renice reducing our stronghold by
mere close investment, even though
she sat down stubbornly before it for
score of years.