The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1920-12-02
CHAPTER xv-continued.


The cry Of the watcher at the top
sent a galvanic shudder over them all.
The riders!
Con went up with the sailor, and
from the mouth Of the pit they saw
three score hOrsemen strung across
the plain. They were like a sword
cutting into the desert surface. al
ready far on their way to retrieve
their fll-starred prince. Away to the
south, as if driven by invisible gods,
Yekutoi's horse was running. Leying-
ton grew conscious of many bodies
pressing about his own. The little
men were creeping up to peer out at
their fate. The riders had but one
meaning to them.
Helen had lied candidly and well.
In the wind. screen of fine sand rose
behind the flight of horsemen.
The miners were heartened by their
first favorable turn in their history.
The Arab seized the opportunity to
infiame them further. They began to
moan with anger, sensing vaguely the
opportunity that had come. The city
was open and without protection.
Like the rush of a subterranean riv-
er their voices came up. a choking
rumble. Insectlike they surged up
out of the shaft In the binding day
light the Arab fell back. and Leving-
ton had no choice but to captain them.
He got a joy from it all, a flash of
power. They were coming behind him,
score upon score. the honeycombed
earth giving up her strangest-
Their faces were hairless and
pinched. grimy. Each man had a
weapon. They were a terrifying rab-
BILE. Strong arms carried earth claws
that had yesterday cOmbed the in-
memorial clay for the seeds of koresh.
There were also daggers and pointed
horns and a number of dull swords.
From the houses beneath the city
wall the women and old men ran to
the gates and swung them shut; but
they could not hold back the ugly
swarm of workers. There was
strength in the arms that had toiled
so long underground ; new, fierce pow
er in the twisted spines. 1t was a
mad holiday of revolt. The big gates
were pressed in.
Wives and maidens of the mOnzOul
ran across the lawn, .Kalka, Turkish,
and Arabian; delicate feet were nim-
BILE beyond the fountains, and the
feminine cries were forbidden music
TO the invaders. But there was first
a matter of work to be done. The
miners hurried on, resistless as lava.
Black slaves, and gray and brown,
whined and crOuched upon the rugs.
It was early, and the palace was but
half awake. In the throne room, filled
now with golden light, a woman fed,
screaming. Beyond were the monzouls
apartments. This soft and ancient
lord reclined among his feathers and
silks and fans, like a precious grub.
His doorway darkened, his slaves went
down. but he gave small heed to the
mob that profaned his chamber He
was dreaming, perhaps of dainty white
ankles and the tinkle of wind-bells.
The wrinkles of his countenance
sagged with fat and drug Now the
brazen teeth of an earth-hook gave
him final careSs.
Here. on the walls, hanging amid the
most priced scimitarS of Per
STA, antique firearms of Cathay, and
jeweled knives of Hindu hill princes
were the weapons recently taken from
Andrew March. also the carbine Lev
ington had once bought for better
luck. He repOssesesd himself.
Down a corridor that Numbered
with the lust of benighted men, Lev
ingtOn went to Helen's door, and babe
the nearest of his followers remain