The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1902-03-13
90 The 90'
Lost Continent
BY cuTCLIFFE HYNE.
pss by Hr,rssrs Copyright 1901, " csellfs Hys../
CHAPTER IX.
PHoRENIcE. GODDESS.

n motley crowd hllcd the street
which ran past the from, Of the OBJ
scurc temple, through which I gained
entrance to the city. and oil were
hurrylng one way. With what had
been told, IL did not take much art
20 guess that the great stone circle
Of our Lord the sun was their mark,
and II grieved me to think OF how
many venerable centuries that great
fame had uprcarcd before the wealth
er and the earth tremors. without
such PROCLAMATION MS u would witness
to-day. And also the thought oc-
Cured to me: "wns our Great Lord
above drawing this woman On to her
destruction? Would He take some
vast and final act OF vengeance when
she contaminated her final sacrifice ?"
but the crowd pressed on, thrilled
and excited, and thinking little (as is
n crowds WON'T on the deeper mat
ters which lay beneath the bare spec
tacle. From one quarter OF the city
walls the din Of an attack from the
besicgcrs made itself clearly heard
from over the houses, and the tenn
Piles and the palaces intervening, but
no one needed II. They had grown
callous, these townsfolk. 20 the bat
tering OF rams, and the fliph, OF fire.
darts, and the other emotions OF n
bombardmcnt. Their nerves, their
hunger, their desperation were stung
to such pitch that little short of nn
actual storm could stir them into new
excitement over the siege.
All were weaponcd. The naked car
ried arms II. the hope OF meeting
some one whom they could overcome
and rob; those that had n possession
walked ready TO do battle for it's
ownership. There was no security,
no trust; the lesson of civilization
had dropped away from these COM
mon people as mud Is washed from
the feet by rain,. and In their new
habits and their thoughts they had
gone back to the grade from which
savages like those Of Europe have
never yet emerged. II was n grim
commentary on the success of Pho
renice's rule.
The crowd merged me into their
ranks without question, and with
them pressed forward down the
winding streets, once so clean and
trim, now so foul and mud-strewn.
Men and women had died of hunger
In these streets these latter years,
and rotted where they lay, and. we
trod their bones under foot as we
walked. Yet rising out of this squat
or and this misery were great pyra-
mids and palaces, the like of which
for splendor and mngnficcnce had
never been seen before. II was jar
ring admixture.
In time we came to the open space
in the center of the city, which even
Phorcnicc had not dared to encronch
upon with her ambitious building
scnemes, and stood on the secular
ground which surrounds the most an
Client, the most grand, and the barest OF
all this worlds temples.
Since the beginning of time. when
man first emerged among the beasts,
our Lord the Sun has always been
his chicfest god, and legend says that
he raised this circle Of stones him
self to be place where votaries
should offer him worship. 1t Is the
fashion among us moderns not to take
these old tales In too literal sense;
but for myself, this one satisfies me.
BY our wits we can lift blocks weigh
ing 600 men, and set them as the cap
stones of our great pyramids. But
to uprear the stones Of that great
circle would be beyond all our art,
and much more would 10 be impos-
sible to-day to transport them from
their distant .qunrries across the rug.
gcd mountains.
There were. nlne-and-forty of the
stones, alternating with spaces, aud
set In an ..ccurate circle. and across
the tops of them other stones were
set, equally huge. The stones were
undressed and rugged; but the huge
massivcness OF them impressed thr
eye more than all the temples and
daintily fooled pyramids Of our won.
drous city. And in the center Of the
circle was thpt still greater stone
which formed. the altar, and round
which was carved, in the rude chisel-
Ing of the ancients, the snake and
the. outstretched hand.
The crowd which bore me on came
to q standstill before the circle OF
stones. To trespass beyond this Is
death for the common people, and
for myself. although had the right
Of entrance, I chose to stay where
was for the present, unnotlced among
the mob. and wait upon events.
Nearer and nearer drew the drums
and the braying Of the other music, and
presently the head Of glittering
procession began to arrive and dis.
pose itself In the space which had
been set apart. Many a thousand
poor, starving wretches sighed when
they saw the wanton splendor Of t.
Hut tbsse lords and these courtiers
Of THU now Atlantis had NO concern
beyond their own bellies and their
own becks, except for their one
alien regard-their simpcring afYec-
ton for Phorenice.
think, though, their loyalty for
the empress was real enough; and II
wns not TO be wondered ut, since
everything they had came from her
lavIsh hnnds Indeed, the woman had