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

which had been promised Force
would be useless here. 1 should nave
one good fight-a gorgeous ight-one
man against an army, and my useful
ness would be ended. No; this was
the occasion for guile, and / found
covert in the outskirts of wood. and
lay there cudgeling my brain for a
plan.
In that covert of the woods I Law
day and a night raging with myself for
not discovering some plan to get with
in the defenses of the Sacred Mountain.
but in the morning which followed
there came a man towards me running
You need not threaten me with
your weapons" he cried. 81 mean no
harm. 1t seems that you are Deucalion,
though l should not have>known you
myself in those rags and skins, and be-
hind that tangle of hair and beard.
Zaemon laid a command on me. He
came to my house. l asked his pleas
ure. 1t was to find you when you came
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 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 I
wasted no more precious time. The
grass blazed up for a signal almost be-
fore the messengers heels were clear
of it; and that night, when the dark
ness gave me cover, l took the risk of
what beasts might be prowling, and
went to the place appointed. There
was no rope dangling, but presently
one came down the smooth cliff-face
like some slender snake. I made
loop, slipped it over leg, and pulled
hard as signal. Those above began
to haul, and so / 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 l knew the reason, / won
dered why knot of younger priests
had not been appointed for the duty.
But l put no question. With us of the
Priests elan 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 / could have wished.
The old man greeted me with the
royal sign. 'All hail to Deucalion," he
cried, king 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.
must have my queen first, or am not
strong enough to give my whole mind
to this ruling
She shall be brought here
$50! Then l 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. ring of fires, fed eternally
from the earth-breath which wells up
from below, burns round one-half of
the crest, lighting it always a bright
as day, and in fact forming no small
part of its fertilization. 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
man would be turned to ash
who tried to cross it. Round full
| one-half of the mountain slopes the
| fires make a rampant unbreakabl
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 gigantic assure, which
succeeding ages (as man has grown
more luxurious) have made more
easy to climb.
! Looking at the additions, in the
ancient days, / can well imagine that