Atlantis

The Book Of Angels
By D. Bridgman-Metchim

LIBER II

Index

LIBER I | LIBER III

I. PREPARATIONS
II. THE SHADE OF HUITZA
III. THE RISING SUN
IV. THE CAMP OF TOLTIAH
V. THE TACOATLANTA
VI. THE FIRST STEP OF FAME
VII. HUITZA AND TERROR
VIII. A VISION OF WARNING
IX. THE MARCH OF TOLTIAH
X. THE NIGHT OF SPIRITS
XI. THE HOUSE DIVIDED
XII. THE WOOING OF ZUL
XIII. THE HILL OF THE TALCOATLA
XIV. THE SHAME OF THE STRONG
XV. THE JUBILEE OF ZUL
XVI. "O TERQUE QUATERQUE BEATI--! "
XVII. THE INFERNAL COUNCIL
XVIII. THE VISION OF THE EARTH
XIX. THE HEART OF THE WORLD
XX. THE THRONE OF ATLANTIS
XXI. THE DEAFNESS OF THE NATION
XXII. SUSI

And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt;
for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. Genesis VI 12

CHAPTER I. PREPARATIONS.

OE, Earth, for all thy rebellion and foolishness, for the trouble of to-day to ensure a result that recoils on thy head in ruins or eludes thy grasp! Builder of towers, where are all thy mighty works now, and who knows thy sons' names? Men of unsurpassed greatness were they, of godlike presence and terrible power, but they are gone and none know of them or of manner of their passing. Only God lives on forever as at the beginning, perfect and deathless Life and Love, awful in unswerving evolution, passing onward through the centuries and long ages, sublime, remorseless.

Thee would I contemplate in wondering awe, almighty and mysterious, and feel with thrilling terror thy presence in all atoms, of brightest deeps of immense space or darkest centres of Worlds; feel thy vast Life in the subtle air and flame and the core of adamantine rocks Thine eve watches from leaf and stone and star, Thy voice speaks in all sounds, and I fallen, fallen I tremble for ever in Thy constant and unavoidable presence.

Thee would I contemplate when soft night throws her gemmy veil high over the Earth, and hear in the cool depths, unhindered by details, the music of Thy Life that never sleeps, and weep with wondering anguish that Earth can attract a soul by one bewildering atom.

Yet is sorrow and remorse unceasing, and for ever and ever might we fitly bewail our sins; but thereby we should not profit others, for each soul stands alone in its blindness and will not see. And my Love, for whom I gave up all, could not perceive until the Earth had passed and left the spirit free; and I know not if my state would have been different if she had. O Azta!

There were long seasons that passed, and many who prepared themselves in them for calculated results; for after one great blow had been struck there would not be left to the vanquished aught but surrender. And thus they of Zul, and especially many princes who wished to supplant Shar-Jatal, yet being fearful of one another, spent many months in great works of war, manufacturing engines to batter in walls, and a great number of kites wherewith to carry up injurious things to drop over the enemy. Enormous quantities of all manner of arms were made, of swords, spears, bows and arrows, bucklers and helmets. And as particularly Talascan was wished to be seized, the warships Tacoatlanta, Mexteo and others were looked to, and more built; for the city was most pregnable from the river front on the Hilen river, and was a most strong centre for warlike operations. The idols were greatly propitiated to grant success, the fish-god by the waterway, which held in its hands the model of the Tacoatlanta, being much entreated of all seamen. Acoa advised long and careful preparations, and greatly hindered many things by omens and feigned messages from the gods; also causing an irksome taxation to be put on the people, so that, in spite of the need, Shar-Jatal became unpopular.

Now Noah had fled with his family afar from Tek-Ra to the mountains beyond Talascan, and hid himself so that none ever chanced on him; to where also I conveyed Azta. And there was with them Nahuasco with his guards and the child Toltiah, which one rapidly increased in stature and beauty and loved the practice of arms, being held in some awe by reasons of his strange monstrosity and the swiftness of his growth, having a voice that was of a mighty volume yet as musical as a woman's, and combining also a giant's strength and rudeness of arrogance with a feminine grace and persuasiveness that caused him to be beloved and feared after an unearthly fashion. To the woman Susi, who was as a mother to him, he bore a great regard, and Azta loved the fair woman for her kindness to him, and wept over the boy and ever gazed rapturously upon him. Which thing was a great sorrow to me, for he was wondrous like to Huitza; yet to my Love I did not show the sorrow in my heart. But oft I looked upon the fair Susi, and envied her lord the possession of such an onel Why was not my Love as this? And yet I too clearly perceived that it was not through her that I suffered, but through my own headstrong wantonness.

To Talascan occasionally went messengers from Noah, to strengthen the report that Huitza should return, and to perceive how the feelings of the people ran. And there was much information known respecting the great preparations of Zul for the subjugation of the land, so that all feared exceedingly; nevertheless the cities had agreed to fight for freedom and to aid one another, and the smallet cities and villages had been deserted, their inhabitants aiding to swell the fighting strength of the larger ones. Yet what would have come had there been separate governments granted to them then I know not, save much dissension, and Zul would have ever boasted herself ruler of all, and become paramount by sin and by all the great ones flocking thither.

Now concerning Talascan, the city lay on the farther bank of the Hilen river from Zul, and behind rose the peaks of a great volcanic range of mountains, trending to the west, then south-west and south. Their lower hills at intervals lay on the river banks, enclosing level tracts of land covered with mighty trees, the territories of Atala and Axatlan.

Through a natural valley in the highlands of Astra, whose northern boundary was thus terminated by it, the Hilen flowed into the sea with a swift current, a great span in width at its mouth, between two tall cliffs called the Gates of Talascan, and inland its tributaries watered a great tract of country. Axatlan lay farther to the west than Atala, and held the burning mountain that so affrighted the people, where the great serpent Nake was believed to keep watch over mines of gems and quarries of red stone which were of the Lord Nezca.

Under the shadows of the mountains, surrounded by forests, streams and meadows and with the great river surrounding it on three sides, Talascan was a beautiful and healthy city, raising its walls and towers and columns from a sea of verdure.

Chanoc was the Governor of Atala, who also loved Huitza greatly and believed that he would appear as the rumours said. For the prince had gone to Talascan secretly and declared that he would free them from the bondage of Rhadaman when that he had captured Zul for himself. He commanded them to spread no rumour of his presence there and to disclaim all knowledge of it; and many of their warriors went with his legions. He also promised to give the Talascans freedom on condition that they would ahvays help him if required; for he perceived the natural strength of the place and how it could be stoutly defended, having, as it were, the river for a wall; the which could only be forded by an army many miles up above the city, being too mountainous below for such. The Talascans, who were hardy and brave, would aid him greatly; and thus, exacting solemn oath from Chanoc and the great chiefs of the city that they would ever be faithful to him, he had gone forth; and the next news they heard of him, which thing many also perceived with their own eyes, was that he had returned to Zul and had slain the Lord Rhadaman in single combat.

The people were in high spirits, but the following news of Huitza's death damped them. But Chanoc was ambitious and stirred up the people to resistance, sending a secret invitation for all who had loved the prince and wished for freedom to come to them.

Still they feared the wrath of Tekthah, yet were they not also a great community? There were many mighty men there, for Rhadaman, after the dreadful raid spoken of by Noah to avenge resistance to his tax-collectors, had made great concessions to induce many to go there. For from Atala came the beautiful scented woods, colouring woods and earths, great quantities of gold and very handsome women, and much fish from the river. Yet many feared another raid, remembering the day when the legions of Rhadaman made a furious onslaught; when the huge bulk of the Tacoatlanta, crashing through their little fleets up to the landing-stage, disgorged its freight of fierce warriors, and their streets ran red with blood. That day the war-ship lay in a red harbour, and only night put a stop to the fratricidal carnage.

Then came a rumour that Huitza would return again in the flesh, and after, that Tekthah was dead and Shar-Jatal reigned in Zul. So that every one was glad, by reason of the usurper's, popularity. Yet messengers arrived from the great High Priest Acoa, commanding them to resist such an accession, saying that Shar-Jatal was accursed of Zul in that he had murdered the Tzan, and exhorting all to unite against him and wait for Huitza to appear. Whereupon was much bewilderment, and the messengers remained, as also did others; and then arrived the news that Izta had been created Lord of Atala. Now Izta's reputation was an evil one, and, Tekthah dead, (whom all feared yet reverenced,) it was determined that the greater cities should remain free, offering to shelter and protect the inhabitants of the smaller ones.

How greatly was I bewildered with it all! For Nezca sent by stealth to Axatlan, bidding his people defend the river and he would make to them great concessions, and Azco stirred up the new Tzan's own land of Trocoatla to resistance. All the country rose in wrath against the Representative, who was as one of themselves and had dared to do this thing, yet feared the reports of the preparations being made against them.

All was forgotten save war, and evil enjoyment while yet there was time for such; but long times passed and nothing happened, only went on manufactures of weapons and of all sorts of arms, and all manner of foul preparations were placed in bowls on the walls to hurl upon the besiegers when they came. Some cities surrounded themselves with moats filled with water, one beyond another, others with barricades of combustibles that could be fired by flaming arrows from the walls, while nomad tribes were loaded with gifts to harry the enemy when he appeared and give timely warning of such appearance.

Chanoc barricaded the river front and constructed in the Hilen below the city a vast boom to prevent the warships coming up, and the rows of idols on the walls were entreated to prevent mishap, for all cities had these hideous creations along the fortifications.

All these things I saw, and wondered which should conquer in the end; and in these years Azta's love for Toltiah grew and increased with his growth, and I knew that it was spoken that he should be Lord of Atlantis. Me she suffered as much as I would, yet I knew in her heart she loved me not, and ofttimes I wished that I had never seen her; while her nature, exasperated by conditions that caused me to despair in silence, grew violent and outrageous. But her beauty chained me with the chains of Hell and I could not depart from her now; knowing that I never should had she loved me, and only would do so because her heart was turned from me. I had sinned deeply and could but wait events; which indeed were interesting while they lasted, for none know all the Future save God alone.

And Toltiah grew more fond than was seemly of strong drink and was also enamoured of the smoking-herb. By reason of my virtue he had great knowledge of hidden things, pondering deeply over all the instruction of Noah. And many things such as should not be known he imagined, and was much exercised in his mind concerning them; searching into such that concerned life and death, yet not with reverence, but with curiosity. He grew tall and strong and greatly excelled in the use of arms, being instructed by Nahuasco therein; while the sons of Noah taught him many things in hunting and arts, so that he became greatly accomplished, and far more than they, becoming also taller than Ham, which was the tallest of them, at the appointed time that was spoken.

CHAPTER II. THE SHADE OF HUITZA.

YET being much smaller, Talascan was built after the fashion of Zul: and the great ports, shut above the moat, bid defiance to any attack from land, but the river front was open. The architecture, though not equalling the massiveness or grandeur of the capital, was nevertheless sufficiently remarkable. There was a vast temple to the Lord of Light and many others also; the Governor's palace where also the Lord of the Territory resided whenever he visited it; the Market-place by the river, surrounded by bazaars and having a collection of deistic symbols and representations; and innumerable houses built of lava stone.

Down by the waterway lay a fleet of boats and rafts, numerous others being tied to the banks or lying on them. Single tree-trunks, hollowed by fire, formed the greater part of them, but there were many rush-framed and skin-covered boats and rafts floated by whole skins of animals inflated. There were no large vessels there, and the only one they had ever seen of large size was the Tacoatlanta, which at times came up the river through the Gates of Talascan with a great wash of water around her, either to call there or go beyond, and occasionally smaller war-vessels from Zul would come up. These were such as were designed to sail round the encircling moat, and were shallow boats.

The population reminded the visitor of Zul during the period of the annual tournaments, for here there were always many hunters, miners, fishers and collectors of gums and feathers; and, although every man was a warrior and liable to be called upon to attack or resist an enemy, there was nevertheless a troop clothed and armed uniformly and kept in idleness for any emergency.

Here, also, in addition to the vices of a barbarous civilization, was exhibited the natural life of the country before cities were built, the life of the single-handed warrior and hunter searching for his daily bread with no farther care or ambition; yet who had also fallen into idolatry and worshipped whatsoever his fancy gave him.

As at Zul, there was kept, in the temple of the Sun, Tekthah's standard and symbol, a four-armed cross; and all over the city, on pedestals, in temples or niches, wriggled in wooden or stone semblance the worshipped offspring of degraded ideas: there a bird-headed Thoth stood, and there foul Lamia writhed their serpent-coils. Dagons and Bellerophons, Centaurs, antlered men and winged monsters and the hermaphrodite gods of Atlantis were represented under various names; but by far the greater number were the most grossly prostituted representations of female forms, the producers and nurses of life. Before them burned sweetly-scented natural woods in earthern braziers, and strong animal odours were offered to their gross nostrils. The human mind went out of its way to exaggerate and degrade, and crazed priests, mad with excesses, fanned the popular enthusiasm and preached the righteousness of it all.

The nobles followed the lead of Zul, and I saw how terrible a thing is a bad example set in high places. For ambition Tekthah had poured violence and excitement into the people's hearts, and now he had himself fallen beneath the whirlwind. It seemed that nought could check the chaos of sin, and no terror of nature turned the nation's heart to God; for when to the west the thin vapour that ever wreathed the head of Axatlan lifted at times to the rush of a column of fire that burst forth with a roar and outpourings of rivers of gold, the people would but offer up more victims and drench their idols with wine, imploring them to hear and save them.

Large of limb and but half-civilized were most of the Talascans, cursing the Lord Rhadaman and crying to the Sun to burn him; yet they went not elsewhere, because if the master were not Rhadaman it was Izta or some other; and also the human breast was strongly inclined not to leave the place of its birth, thereby preventing some places becoming overpopulous and others empty. And this, notwithstanding that they might be desert, or subject to earthquakes, or greatly overrun by noxious beasts or insects.

The Talascans, as all of Atala, I have said, were hardy mountaineers. Great hunters were they, armed with axes and spears of flint and bone and metal, with which they killed the large bears that lived in the caves. In their forests were the elk and the mammoth, and others huge of bulk and terrific in appearance and power, rending the trees and devouring the crops of wheat and maize; and there were great saurians in the rivers, whose teeth were used for spearheads, while a very large species of land-crab at times invaded them and covered the earth with its multitudes. Eagles harried their flocks, and serpents of vast length terrified them; a certain fowl, with a body as great as an ox and formidable mandibles, furnished dangerous sport for the hunters, but was excellent to the taste as meat; and the fierce aurochs ran in dark herds on the borders of Axatlan and to the south, many lives being lost in the pursuit of such. There were lynxes and panthers that carried off the domestic fowls, and also vexatious wild cats and dogs and smaller vermin.

Before such a statement as this we can but bow the head in silence. Neither the oldest histories nor palaeontological researches have discovered so great a bird, although there were of old larger animal forms than now. The Dodo, which, classified among the pigeons, was a giant of its species; the gigantic ostrich-like Dinornis of New Zealand the Pelagornis, a winged monster of the albatross tribe; the Moa, the Gastornis Parisiensis whose remains have been recently found in the Eocene conglomerates of Meudan all these as birds far surpass any we can muster now, but would not furnish a parallel to the bird of Atlantis, although they might prove the descending scale of size.

Yet the land was rich, and the people always had enough wherewith to pay the taxes; while by their prowess commanding respect they were always well cared for and favourably noticed at the Capital when they went up to trade or attend the Circus festivals.

Out beyond the river-mouth and Astra lay the great pearl-oyster beds, whose white gems were so much in request among the belles and fair women of Zul, commanding great prices wherever exhibited and being a valuable revenue to the land. And this was a great covetousness to Chanoc, for if the country were swept by fire and sword the new Tzan could not destroy the pearl-fisheries, which could be a revenue to them against the rest of the land.

Great meetings were called for discussion of defence against the threatened invasion. Often messengers arrived from Acoa, declaring that the gods would aid Huitza, who might shortly be expected; and at length came one who asserted that he had seen the prince himself. This one was sent by Noah, for the time appointed had arrived that Toltiah, being now grown, should appear.

And in this manner the youth came to Talascan: Noah and his family, with Azta and Nahuasco and the guards, arrived before the walls and were admitted, causing no small comment, for all knew Azta and many recognised the Tzantan Nahuasco and most of the family of the aforetime governor of Tek-Ra. The patriarch declared] that, Huitza dead, he had been drawn into the wilderness to seek him, and would now reveal the reappearing leader to the land. Crowds gathered around the group, and my Love, with her wonderful presence and surrounded by the glamour of a myriad tales and romances, real and imaginary, greatly aided the enthusiasm attendant. Noah vowed that he would next day produce Huitza in the flesh before all, sent to them by the Lord Jehovah to avenge his forgotten and insulted name, being also Father of Zul before whom other gods were preferred. He reminded them that Huitza was greatly beloved of Zul, and at his words Azta's eyes flashed so that my soul fainted with sorrow. Running messengers were despatched to every city and all the tribes to tell them, Huitza comes, rejuvenated, pregnant with victory, to bring freedom to the land and avenge the nation on the tyrants that ground it down.

Thus he would come, and in this favoured city would he appear, preferring it before any of Tek-Ra, and would make it a mighty name in Atlantis.

The populace was in a state of wild enthusiasm; Chanoc gave a palace for Azta and Noah and their people to dwell in, and that night the city flared with bonfires. Everyone was drunk with wine, and the large square of the Market-place was full of revellers in a state bordering on insanity. They shouted and shrieked, pouring wasteful libations over the bestial images until they shimmered under the lurid glow of the fires, with their trickling, odorous streams. Skin-clad hunters shook their spears in the air, leaping like madmen with formidable cries, some imitating the roaring of lions or the trumpet-call of the deer; and women with dishevelled hair and bared bosoms ran shrieking among them, their eyes flashing in the lights as they rolled them with wanton glances. The banging of drums and shrieks of whistles added greatly to the din, but the chiefs and nobles discussed the advent of the great Huitza and wondered what should come of it.

Myself, I dared not interfere. These mortals knew the temper and inclinations of one another better than I, and surely one born as Toltiah should be able to cope with matters of Earth.

Thus the next day Noah came down to the Market-place attended by Chanoc and his guards, with Nahuasco's troop, his servants and his family, among whom was Azta. Mounted upon a block, the patriarch stood elevated above the thousands who came running from all around, leaving the walls and barricades at the call of the Governor's trumpets, waiting to hear what he might say to them and forgetting his corrective reputation in the knowledge that he was the trusted vizier of their great chieftain.

Among the crowds mingled warriors of the city guards, their bright helmets flashing above the more sombre headdresses, and shadowed by the beautiful plumes of the ostrich, which were eagerly obtained, or that of the wild swan. None in all the land wore the plumage of the peacock, fearing it with a great superstition, and holding it as the emblem of the setting sun, of which they supposed its spread tail to be a symbol.

Azta, in a slung carriage, commanded nearly as much enthusiasm as the expectation of Huitza, for there were weird legends muchly connecting the twain, and all believed her to be potential in the matter. Tall Shem stood impassive and watchful, Ham and Japheth leaned on their spears, the former rolling his eyes with vast amusement over the crowd of whom he stood one of the tallest. The women and children, among whom stood the fair Susi, were timid and fearful of the multitudes, yet confident in their leader and their God. Only I had no place there, and should scarce indeed have been there at all.

Beyond the rustling of the crowd and the occasional clang of armour there was no sound. Noah began to speak, rousing the people's anger against the usurper, Shar-Jatal, and all the evil lords of Zul. But as yet he would not denounce the evil doings of the land, preferring to wait until the monster of Sin with bruised head should lay at his mercy; in which hope all my soul was also, and I greatly dwelt on its fulfilment.

Now Toltiah lay in the midst of his people, hidden and as yet unsuspected; but after a prayer of exhortation from Noah this one stepped forth and mounted on to the block which the patriarch surrendered in his favour.

The crowd perceived a godlike beardless youth of vast stature and splendid presence, with the ruddy hair and commanding eye of the great Chief. There, younger, taller and still more majestic, he stood, a very miracle before their astonished eyes, a dreadful beauty enstamped upon his features that were like unto a very beautiful woman's. A golden plate covered his chest, broad as an archangel's, and upon his head he placed now the winged helmet.

The silence was broken up, and the air was rent by a vast roar, deafening and prolonged. Four tall warriors, mounting him on their shields, raised him high above the heads of the people, shout on shout rolling to the sky, and Azta's child, in the character of Azta's Love, seemed exalted to the altitude of a god.

Those nearest to him noted that his eyes were yellow and of great penetration, and his hair as dark molten gold. Never had such perfection of form been seen before, such splendid limbs and carriage, and I felt a great pride in my own sad heart as I looked on him and wondered how so strange a being would act. With enthusiastic shouts the people raised their swords and spears, and the crowd swayed under a veil of tossing yellow mantles. Young girls and children were lifted towards him, and in the delirium of their joy even the abominable idols were pulled down and abased before him, all manners of excesses being committed in the frenzy.

And this was also my child, this strange, beautiful being 1 What power lay within the grasp of this splendid Amazon-like man! For one moment, as I thought of Zul and the land of a thpusand cities, I felt a great joy at the thought that it would be his own and he would wield the sceptre of Atlantis from that great red palace, and influence the peoples for good and for Jehovah. And then, perchance, might I claim my Love for mine own and purge my folly in righteousness.

Yet I liked not the look upon Toltiah's countenance, which was one of great arrogance, bespeaking an Earthly spirit. He kissed his thumbs towards the shouting people, seeking the warriors particularly with his eyes and casting a long stare upon Susi, who had refused his secret advances. On Azta, his mother, he smiled triumphantly, and with still more triumph she returned his glance. I perceived the great emotions with which she gazed upon him the love of a mother and, O God! of a lover! the confidence of nigh satisfied ambition that filled her eyes with tears of joy as she watched and heard the roars of enthusiasm that hailed the youth's appearance. His foster-brothers were loudest in their demonstrations, waving spears and shields high with exultant glee, and all were happy save myself. For in that long, deep breath of freedom and the lustful stare around I saw written, as with a flaming finger upon the clouds, my completed doom; and gazing with a horror of longing passion upon Azta, saw that her whole absorbed attention rested upon that shield-borne Majesty that should drag Earth to its doom the consummation of her foolishness and mine.

Mine! I could have melted with agony; and then my attention was fixed again. Suddenly shouts of a different import spread rapidly through the crowd. Above the river barricades appeared three moving poles, the foremost topped with the Cross of Atlantis, and no explanation was needed to tell the crowd what they signified.

Agape and silent they stood for an instant, the moving poles coming up rapidly amid a crashing, creaking and splashing medly of sounds from the flotilla of shipping, and instantly an iron grappler flew to the top of the barricades and held there.

There were many, among whom was Toltiah, who knew not what was portending, but a great shout of dismay enlightened most of them:

"The Tacoatlanta!"

CHAPTER III. THE RISING SUN.

HIGH above the cries of the people rang the voice of Chanoc, claiming attention and distilling confidence. The women ran to hide themselves in the houses, terrified and shrieking, while Nahuasco and the city legionaries ran to repel what might threaten.

There was no time to be lost. Messengers were despatched to the garrisons round the walls to bid them be ready to resist any attack by land, while bands of warriors sped to aid them, and spies were sent to the highest roofs to give warnings and issue directions.

With the guards, towering above all, ran Toltiah, with sword and buckler, eager for the fray and recollecting now all that he had heard of the war-ship and her manner of attack. But most were sorely puzzled as to how the vessel had passed the boom and why no warning of her approach had heen sounded. The city was in an uproar, drums heating and whistles shrieking above the long-drawn war-whoops.

Azta bade her bearers remain where they stood, her heart too full for expression with unknown fears, as, astonished to find the massive barricades opposed to them, the men on the Tacoatlanta nevertheless ran her close up to the landing, with a proud and ferocious confidence in the irresistibility of their wild onrush and the moral. effect of their unshaken valour upon those before them. Clustering upon the bulwarks, they prepared to leap upon the defences when the great vessel could be hauled near enough by the ropes attached to the grapplers, aided by the slaves at the oars.

The defenders were scarce in time to repel them as in scores they crowned the barricades. Toltiah waved his mighty blade in flashing circles and smote at the foremost, shouting " Huitza and Zul!" The warriors took up the cry; as the sound of a storm it spread from mouth to mouth, and the Imperial troops perceiving the ruddy mane of the leader and his resemblance to the dead chief, remembered the prophecy, wavered in dismayed confusion, and were hurled backwards, many falling into the water and drowning in their harness.

It was a victory, for the cry spread through the attacking forces, and some of the grapplers were hauled back to them as the warriors hesitated. The heads of the Talascans were raised above the barricade with triumphant shouts, and the archers on the warship let their weapons fall as Ham and Nahuasco raised Toltiah on their shields in full view of all.

But now shouts arose from the roofs and a distant uproar told of war along the land battlements. Leaving his victorious comrades, Toltiah sped thither, accompanied by Shem and Nahuasco, which one would not leave him. The streets were empty, for all were round the walls, but as Toltiah sped Azta cried out to him victoriously, watching the splendid being eagerly until he was gone.

By the walls men fought hand to hand with the glittering warriors of the Imperial Guards, who had landed from the warship to the number of five hundred and were furiously assailing them. Now, above the clangour of armour and the clash of swords, the shouts, shrieks and groans of the combatants and the cries of the captains, rang out a formidable war-cry: "Huitza! Huitza and Zull"

The Talascans with shouts of victory rushed forward, driving the foe from the breaches. Men slipped in blood, and spears were buried in human flesh: limbs dropped, shorn clean off by the heavy swords, and the godlike form of Toltiah, pressing through the swaying crowds, forced its way to the front.

There he fought, the tall wings gleaming above the press, the ruddy hair that there had been no time to wrap round the head flying in yellow masses; the returned Chief, the Prince on whom the hopes of Atlantis were centreed.

The unconquered warriors of Zul stared in wild dismay and hesitated. The Tzantan Nezca cried out that they surrendered to Huitza, while the erstwhile foemen shouted his name exultingly, raising spear and sword in salute.

Flushed with his first success, the youth could afford to be gracious, neither had long wars steeled his heart. Stepping forward, he took Nezca's hand and placed it on his heart, himself performing the same action on the other's person, looking with great regard on the chief, for he was a very goodly man. "We are brothers," he said, and all the warriors shouted with joy, climbing the walls and kneeling in obeisance to the prince.

But I caused a voice to speak to Toltiah; " Go, seize the warship, for there are others that come;" and speeding swiftly to the barricades by the river, he cried, " Seize the Tacoatlanta! "

He was too late. With a confusion of cries, with trailing rigging and mingled oars the great warship was drifting sideways down the centre of the stream; and as the victors crowded down to take her with the little boats that were left unharmed, the painted sail on the fore-mast was raised, the huge steering oars were brought into play and, the other two sails being set to the wind, the monster moved rapidly away, while the pursuers hastened back on perceiving an armada approaching. For, clearing the wreck of the enormous boom, three more warships, towing rafts full of men, were approaching, but stopped on perceiving the flight of the Tacoatlanta and the crowding foemen.

The victors were disappointed in this failure to take the warship. Messengers were instantly despatched to warn the Axatlans who held the fords, eight leagues above the city; for beyond that to the West the mighty stream flowed through defiles and deserts, prohibiting the passages of troops and stores, and even far-wandering hunters knew of no other place for such purpose within any practical distance.

Yet the warships could float over the fords, and therein lay much danger; and a great council was held.

From Nezca was learned that yet another army, under the Tzantan Izta, was on the march against them, with great stores and many engines of war and a multitude of warriors. This army had laid waste the land as it marched, sacking towns and villages and pitilessly murdering all the inhabitants, and going afar from its course to destroy the cities of Tek-Ra and all the territory of Huitza. Upon Chuza was made a night attack, and ere the morning sun had risen the houses and streets ran red with the blood of midnight revellers surprised at their debaucheries and slain, only such escaping as managed to climb up into the great pallo, whose reduction would take more time than was agreeable to accomplish, it being amply stocked with food; for it was used to a great extent as a granary, and there was a well of water within. But the town was left in ruins and the walls razed to the ground A messenger brought back the news to Zul, and, the army on its march for Talascaa, four warships had started under the governance of Budil, a son of Shar-Jatal; and it was hoped that, Talascan crushed, the land would be at the Usurper's mercy.

Then arose the daring ambition of Toltiah, who declared that he would do no less than march upon Zul! This boldness pleased the chiefs, and that night was the youth proclaimed publicly Tzan of Atlantis, king of the Earth, and presented amid impressive ceremonies with the National Standard, taken from its temple for the purpose of being used as the battle-standard until peace should come again.

Crowds assisted, and the city was jubilant. The new Huitza appeared more than victorious, a promise of unlimited joy and freedom! He refused to have an Imperial helmet made, declaring that he would wear Tekthah's and none other.

Azta was triumphant, with an immense pride in her heart, being considered the next most important person to Toltiah. Also she was treated by him (who also stood somewhat in awe of her, being indeed a stranger) and the rest of the populace as Empress, occupying the half of a double throne with him in the palace of Chanoc. Her presence, rendered more majestic and imposing by her sublime pride, impressed all very greatly, and her mystic eyes touched their superstitions deeply. She was supposed, nay, reputed, to be of celestial mould and power, and to her was ascribed the reappearance of Huitza, while her furious impatience of delayed respect made her feared by all.

Mere repute was turned into certainty by her coldness and continence, which commanded respect while inflaming desires, and with the wish of possessing her the thoughts of all who deemed themselves of sufficiently high degree dwelt with a daring joy on possibilities; in the which I perceived much future trouble, yet none could ever encounter the glance of those yellow eyes without feeling a sensation of chill and fear.

Toltiah would fain have rested a while to form a court and establish a household. Arrogant with victory and believing himself to be, as the people declared, a god, he wished to enjoy those growing passions that possibilities bred and nurtured; but the savage impatience of Azta and the exhortations of the governor and the Tzantans advised him to be energetic until the Throne of Atlantis was actually beneath his feet.

Yet now fresh preparations must be made, for they were not ready as regards the offensive, being but as yet desirous of protecting themselves from the power of Zul. To every city was sent the news that Huitza had returned, and it flew abroad on the swift wings of rumour, strengthening the weak and rejoicing the strong; and warriors began to gather across the river by the fords, and journey to Talascan. But the warships and armaments in the river were a vast menace, and perchance had Toltiah more experience he would not have thought of aught yet but protection. But all believed in him, and while residing with his chiefs in the palace he formed a camp also without the walls, bidding all the cities of the province mass their warriors around Talascan; and his genius rising with his power, he showed them how to make a fortress of the city and directed how to form another boom across the river.

Preparations for an immense armament commenced, and the peoples of the city and the tribes without were formed into various legions. Runners were sent to bring in the wandering tribes and even to treat with the western savages and some of the weird peoples who lived in the mountains and deserts of Axatlan. Noah preached a holy war, greatly enthusing all by his frenzy and his zeal, and Azta's gracious words to the Tzantans rendered them eager to commence already a rush on the capital, regardless of the warships and the approaching army of Izta. Yet Nahuasco, and Noah, and such as had followed Tekthah in the old wars, advised caution concerning such a move; for here they would face men of their own race behind impregnable walls, which would have to be surrounded by an encircling trench that would forbid any desperate sallies and bring a long starvation. Nor would this dire famine cause themselves less suffering, seeing how great an army was being raised, which could scarce be fed upon one spot.

But Toltiah would brook no caution; weapons of war were manufactured in great quantities, and because of the clouds of slingers that hung on the flanks of the warships and rafts these had to keep far down the river and on the other side, waiting for Izta to arrive. Bows and arrows were made as fast as eager workers could turn them out; and now Japheth remembered the great engine constructed by his sons outside Chuza, the catapult, heaving a vast bolt upon the enemy. Therefore he set to work to construct one; gangs of men worked at the engine, exulting in all they learned of its possibilities, and the city rejoiced greatly because of the powerful men who had arrived to aid.

The first catapult was set to command the river below the city, in which direction lay the armada, and afterwards more were constructed, and the new legions trained in archery, for all knew the use of spear, sword and sling.

CHAPTER IV. THE CAMP OF TOLTIAH.

EACH day brought reinforcements from all parts by tribes and thousands, encamping under the orders of their own Patriarchs, but all owning the supreme authority of Toltiah.

From the plains came the wild herdsmen of Assa, Het, Emok, and Alorus, powerful chiefs with many followers, the tribes of the Owl standard, and all the spearmen of Enoch; the tribes of the Vulture, the Unicorn, and the Crow.

From the raided province of Tek-Ra came fugitives: from Chuza, Bab-Ista, Bab-An and other cities; from Sular, Karbandu v Azod, Bitaranu, Surapa, Sham; and other great chiefs of the plains with their 'stout followers and countless herds of sheep, goats, and oxen.

And I saw where the young chief Lotis, of Katalaria in Trocoatla, gathered his tall borderers in battle array, his mother being that Yeteve, sister of Azco the governor, who had great distinctions given to her for compliance to the wishes of Shar-Jatal in past days. And notwithstanding that she was a hard woman, she loved her son with a mighty love and was in great distress that he should so depart from her, entreating the gods concerning it upon her knees with floods of tears. Fain would she ever keep her boy by her side, gazing upon him with all the best love of a mother. But San, his beloved, although sorrowing equally with her, would prefer that her lord should go where glory might be reaped. She vowed that she would not survive him, yet loved not to keep her warrior back in shameful security; and although in his absence she wept with the sad mother, in his presence she was brave and exalted, speaking of nought but of glory to be reaped.

And here were two loves, and of the two which was the better?

And in the issue Lotis went forth with all the many thousands that ran to join Toltiah.

How great an enthusiasm was there! The hope of sacking Zul aroused their savage hopes to a terrific pitch, and the name of Huitza was a power, in itself, promising a future beyond all dreams of spoliation and rapine. The total effect of the crowds was as of that great congregation which gathered round the capital at the time of the Circus games; for, stretching in a dense selvedge around the walls of Talascan, some encamped under tents of skin or cloth, others dug holes in the earth, with screens, stretched on poles, surrounding them; while hunters, accustomed to all the hardships of their existence, lay on the ground, encamped round fires. Some of these last, clothed in the whole skins of animals, presented an extraordinary appearance, many wearing over their matted hair, which was usually gathered at the back into a plaited thong, the heads of. wolves, bears, aurochs, and stags with the spreading antlers. Some wore horse skins from which the long, thick tails swung, and one or two carried the horn and cranium of the dreaded unicorn.

The name Unicorn, as its etymology denotes, is given to any animal with one horn, but generally, I believe, refers to the single-horned rhinoceros. In this case it as probably indicates the antelope mentioned in chapter IX.

But among these semi-savages were races who cultivated the arts of cities, and tribes whose wealth permitted the purchase of elaborate war-harness; and among such the plumes of the eagle and ostrich towered above metal helmets, adding to the splendid stature of the wearers clad in gleaming vantbraces and cothurns, cuirass and backplate, their arms of metal and obsidian looking formidable among the clumsy stone axes and mighty tusk-studded clubs of their humbler comrades.

The southern warriors brought with them beautiful women, who fastened lantern-beetles among their ebon tresses, where the lights glowed until the creatures died; and these women were the occasion of many broils and quarrels because of their beauty and wantonness, dallying with any who would.

It was a gay scene of warlike splendour in that great city and the country surrounding the walls. Mingled with rough aprons of hides there were mantles of leopard-skins and the beautiful furs of the beaver, bear, lynx, lion and rabbit; there were breastplates of rough silver from Trocoatla, the whole shells of large turtles bartered from the Astran fishermen, and tortoises from the forests of Axatlan; cuirasses of stout leather, covered with the formidable shield and attached horns of a species of wild ox, or with the spiked scales of the Hilen saurians.

Over far-spreading shoulders hung huge, massy bucklers, leather-covered and studded with metal bosses, some being entirely of metal and very glittering, yet showing dents and hollows received by weapons of war. Some of the Tzantans wore mantles of feather-work, and among the birds that thus gave their coloured beauties for a warrior's ornamentation were conspicuous the white swan, the scarlet flamingo, various macaws and the gem-like humming-bird. The skin-clad hunters gazed with envy on these gorgeous trappings, yet their own sterner robes of lion-skin cost more than feather mantles in manly prowess. There were other garments, of woven cotton and silk,, dyed in various colours, and bartered for eagerly in Zul at the Circus periods; but most of the military cloaks were entirely scarlet, being plain but of striking effect among the other ornaments and trapping.

Abandoned women thronged to the camp, idols were set up to be worshipped and propitiated, and some of the nomad tribes who owned no god at all, were initiated into this or that belief. Those from the southern plains were awe-struck by the mountains, and worshipped the hill Axatlan, visible on the very far horizon; and there were those who had never seen a city and were terrified by the walls and the mighty uncouth colossi that supported the buildings.

Some tribes of savages came in, but these were panicky and fearful of their white companions, and were especially awed by the great city. There were many thousands in the great, roaring camp, more and more arriving as the rumour of the gathering and its object spread, and still the army of Izta came not, and still the armada in the river waited. There were some terrible peoples from the western wildernesses, some huge, some small, all deformed and monstrous, who hung on the outskirts of the vast gathering, feeding on earth-roots and the offal of the camp; and from the north came a great number of Amazons, whose advent seemed likely to cause a strife in the camp, as their reputation, exaggerated and half-mythical, aroused the keenest interest among the licentious crowds, a There were many dangerous episodes and not a little bloodshed before this extraordinary and warlike race was understood to be capable of defending its creed, and some of the best warriors of Toltiah had to own to the strength and courage of these tall, ferocious women, and their skill in the use of weapons. Lithe and agile as panthers, with rounded but sturdy limbs, and thick hair tied in knots under their helmets of animals' craniums, they wore their skin garments girded up under a belt, while their small breasts did not prevent the most perfect use of their arms in wielding spear or axe, most of them wearing over them a tough ceinture of hide fastened round the shoulders. Leathern cothurns covered their legs, and sandals protected their feet; their shields were oblong, made of wolf-skins, with the tails flapping from them, and the heads fastened to the centre. They gazed with great curiosity upon the women of the cities, sneering at their use of powder to decorate their faces, and staring amazed at their jewelled teeth and elaborate head-dresses, and their inhaling of smoke through pipes.

Azta was greatly interested in these warrior-women, whose Queen was a majestic figure, taller than herself; and between the two sprang up a firm friendship. To the Amazon the splendid symmetry and mystic beauty of the Tizin was a wonder and a delight, while no less was the latter's admiration compelled by the high bearing and the bold, free carriage of this woman who dared to compete with men in war. This was the life that won her admiration, and now she wished that, Tizin of Atlantis, she could be surrounded by such guards, their Chieftainess. Vet she could but own herself scarce fitted for the stern hardships of actual warfare as she surveyed the large, strong limbs and hard features of the Amazons and compared them with her own softly-rounded beauties.

In most ancient histories we hear of Amazons, and these women warriors have been usually regarded as mythical, although they were apparently quite equal to the men among the Sarmatians, the Sauromatiz of Herodotus. This race occupied the steppes between the Don and the Caspian, and the women rode, hunted and fought in battle like the men. Indeed on one occasion we learn that Amage, the wife of the dissolute King, accompanied by 120 chosen horsemen, delivered Chersonesus in Taurus from the neighbouring Scythian King, whom she slew with all his followers and gave the kingdom to his son. The Sarmatians appear to be superior to the Scythians, but by speaking a nearly identical language would probably be an allied race.

Thousands of the new arrivals were drafted into the various legions, everything displaying on the part of Toltiah a genius that might well have befitted the prince he was supposed to be, and Chanoc, Nahuasco and experienced leaders were content to approve and aid in everything he did, pleased in his daring scheme and the vast preparations made for carrying it out. Far and wide thousands more supplied the army with food, and great drafts of men were sent to the fords. The mechanical genius of the camp was exercised to discover engines for siege, to be constructed when near the threatened city, for human limbs, though of formidable strength, were powerless against turrets of rock and stone, and those tall warriors whose godlike fronts were so terrible in their iron-muscled power would face men of like mould, Tekthah's veterans and the haughty lords of Zul. The prowess of Shar-Jatal appalled none, but there were men there like Iztli, the dread conqueror of the territory of Trocoatla; the mysterious and mighty Toloc; the gray-haired Colosse and the giant Amal with the seven toes on each foot, who had marched with the Tzan from the North. The witch Pocatepa would raise the legions of the dead against them that black-eyed sorceress with the aquiline nose and voluptuous lips and perchance even Acoa would fight against his Sun-favoured children, Azta and Huitza, and cause a terrible night to overspread them.

In spite of all the great preparations, a certain idleness was already beginning to work mischief, and the chiefs advised a speedy start before the masses should become demoralized or lose their warlike ardour. Each night was a roaring saturnalia, bonfire-lighted; and although reinforcements came in daily, there were also vast desertions. Riots occurred and much wantonness was committed through suppressed energy, yet the leaders could scarce deem such rabble as was most of that vast array prepared sufficiently to conquer Atlantis. All were inexperienced in the storming of walls, and the chiefs feared terrible reverses.

The thousands were ordered to make spear-heads, hatchets and arrow-heads of bone and flint, while legions were raised and practised in warlike manoeuvres. It was at length decided to leave the rabble behind, for the greater part, while the trained legions, with some thousands of hunters and some of the more superior tribes, should cross the river, and, surrounding and crushing the army of Izta, strike terror on the armada and treat for its surrender.

To that end a great concourse of archers, crossing by the fords to the opposite side of the river, so galled the ships (who thus were enduring a storm of missiles from both banks without being able to obtain immunity by the too-near centre of the stream), that they moved away round a bend, sea-ward; and this prevention being gone, a great boom was constructed across the river, made of trees fastened together with hide ropes, below the city, so that the warships might not interfere-with the passage of the troops. This work kept crowds employed with great efforts for some days, and the legionaries played games of chance, exhibited their terrific muscular powers or philandered with the women; hunted, fished in the river and quarrelled. Not a day passed without some rupture, the outcome of idleness; not a night without some wild scene of debauchery. The savages, made to work like slaves on the boom, and losing many lives, deserted by the hundreds. Large rafts were constructed for transporting the troops, who were filled with a vast enthusiasm and were confident of victory, causing a danger by their very confidence. Their leaders were not so ready to leave the city in the face of the armada that ever menaced, for their only trust was in Nezca's guards, the Talascan legions, the Amazons and a few warlike tribes. The rest would only bear the brunt of the carnage and serve as a hindrance to the enemy by disjointed and persistent attacks.

But it was the only thing to be done. The army could not be left longer idle, nor might it be allowed to lose confidence by hesitation. The next day the transportation would commence, >and at the evening camp the warriors reclined around flaring fires, with mirth and wildest enthusiasm. It was a strangely grotesque crowd, encamped over miles of land on plains and among forests. The moon shone bright from a cloudless sky, lighting the great white city and almost hiding the red vapour that rose from Axatlan. The structure of the lower catapult stood black and grim against the sky, completed and formidable, only waiting to be brought into use when its range should be ascertained, for it was not desirable to display its deficiencies by wanton aim: from the city-wall to where the opposite bank showed darkly, floated the tide-swept boom, like the backbone of some mighty cetacean.

Suddenly exclamations arose and the wanton shrieks of women. Far off, but distinctly visible, a great dark shadow swept round the bend of the river with a foamy wave of water around it, from which it rose square and threatening. It came up rapidly, keeping in the middle of the stream, and when the spectators imagined it about to approach the boom at speed it reduced its proportions, and with a great back-churning of waters stood revealed a long, low shape with three bare poles rising from it; and again arose the dismayed cry of "the Tacoatlanta!" as, slightly heaving on the waters, the warship lay as though contemplating the opposing obstacle with its great human-like head.

Then slowly she moved back again and vanished. The moon set and darkness lay on the waters. Men watched all night, and some believed they heard strange sounds from the river, but a kite sent up with a flaming torch attached revealed nothing, and none dared venture on the boom of a night for fear of the great reptiles and the river-demons.

But next morning the huge boat lay opposite the city, and the boom swung down stream by its opposite ends, severed in the middle.

CHAPTER V. THE TACOATLANTA.

WITH shouts of rage, men clustered along the water's edge, and in anticipation of an attack the garrisons went to their several posts; although the Amazons, required to keep the walls while the men took the field, haughtily refused to obey, and held themselves in readiness for an attack.

The slingers, archers and spearmen were in their respective camps, ready for the passage. The hunters and savages, scattered along the banks in a long, dense array, were ordered to be on the alert to oppose any attempt at landing. Some thousands of these untrained but formidable men were in the walls, and harassed the enemy by slinging stones and offal within his bulwarks. Another boom was prepared and made ready to swing across the current, twisted hawsers securing it to the bank; while to the chiefs, Shem propounded a scheme, to cover such enterprise, of floating down some of the vast trunks, with their forests of branches intact, on to the warship, following up the confusion by an attack with boats and rafts.

The foemen hurled abuse the one at the other, roaring fearful threats and vowing horrible tortures to the vanquished; and suddenly a cry spread among the warriors on the banks as the three other vessels were perceived to be approaching, towing rafts full of men. The Mexteo led, her two large sails bellying to the fresh breeze, her many oars sending her along apace, with a swirl of foam around her and astern.

A shout of welcome went up from the Tacoatlanta, a howl of rage from the Talascans. The warships and rafts came on up to the larger vessel, dropping grapplers and swinging to the current by the twisted skin hawsers. On and around them flew a hail of missiles, so that all lay under their shields; while the army of Toltiah, besieged by these comparatively few men, roared and shouted with rage, sending in hot haste to the Axatlans to prepare for an attack by the armada, while large rocks were brought and piled up secretly for the catapults. But few had any knowledge of the use and power of this direful weapon, and had those on the armada known its range they would scarce have dared to venture so closely; yet, untried, it was decided not to use them yet and fruitlessly, preferring to make an attempt to capture one or more of the warships.

Presently the Mexteo and her two smaller consorts shifted their moorings, and, hoisting their sails and aided by their oars, went up the river with the towed rafts. All looked propitious for swinging the boom (which would be received by those archers who were upon the other bank), and for a night-attack on the Tacoatlanta, which lay opposite the waterway; and while great trees were hauled to the water's edge for launching down on her, the warriors who were to attempt the capture were selected.

Akin would lead them, an old, tried chieftain, and used to. the handling of boats, and to him was given full powers as to the conduct of the affair. The warriors were to embark after dark, to wear no armour, so that if thrown into the water they could save themselves by swimming, and were to attack simultaneously at all points.

Word was passed from chief to chief, from the Tzantans of the armies to the tribal Patriarchs, Polemarchs, Centurions and Captains, to hold their men in readiness to cross at any moment; the time probably being when the Tacoatlanta, enmeshed with the trees and violently assailed, would be so engaged that the new boom could be drifted across the river, men being posted to swing it by the hawsers, and others to run swiftly across the moving mass, leap to the shore and secure it with the aid of those others.

All eagerly waited for the night, yet fearing it, because of the demons of the waters and the reptiles that lay beneath them. The gods were propitiated in trust that they might aid the attack, much sacrifices being offered to them; and in the temple of the Moon Azta prayed, invoking all the spirits of night to aid, and such as flew in winged shape.

Thus all were enthusiastic when night came, and with her clouds hid all light. Hundreds of tall dark figures crowded rafts and boats, keeping carefully out of the reach of such slight glow as reached them from the near temple of the Sun, yet which spread not far, being suffered to burn low.

Whispering crowds thronged round the attackers as in darkness they pushed off silently and disappeared like shadows on the bosom of the water, with keen eyes striving to pierce the night to where, from higher up, the floating trees bore down on the vessel, secured to one another in order to be the more formidable. Enormous bats wheeled and squeaked over the stream, and bright insects flew like moving torches of fire, terrifying the watchers. The tension was very great, the legions waiting anxiously the signal of the formation of the boom to prepare for crossing; and sudden and shrill, splitting the silence with a thrilling yell, came a long, tremulous whoop, rising to a shriek.

Shout upon shout answered and drums were beaten for encouragement. From the river came crashes and thuds and the sounds of war. Sparks flew from crossing swords, and it appeared that the warship was not unprepared, for amid the distant storm of sounds rose the heavy splash of oars in regular fall, audible above crashes, shouts and shrieks. Yells came from furious throats, yet to the anxious, thrilling watchers the uproar seemed to be moving farther off.

Yet now how greatly rose thy daring genius, Toltiah! For, revolving in his mind the great benefit of destroying the army of Izta and seizing his stores and engines, he perceived a chance of passage. The Tacoatlanta was drifting down the current, possibly disabled, and messengers, despatched by the prince, flew from post to post and to the engineers of the causeway who waited to let the restrained mass swing across the stream.

Slowly the huge boom, released now from its restraining moorings, felt the current. Levers pushed forth the long trunks of trees, and the swift stream swung it in its joined masses across to the far bank. Already nimble hunters, reckless with haste and excitement and mindful of future reward, had run to the opposite end, and many more, wielding levers, secured more firmly the several portions; and while returning from the attack on the war-ship, on battered rafts or swimming like fishes, dripping warriors with streaming wounds climbed from the river, reporting a futile attempt at capture and the escape of the Tacoatlanta, the mighty boom was signalled secure, and over it began the passage of the army of Toltiah.

Through the barricades they poured, vanishing into the gloom; first Nezca with the guards, then the Amazons, and then hundreds of long-haired, skin-clad hunters. Many, overcome with excitement, and valiant by reason of much company, plunged into the river, and soon the churning water was alive with heads. With spear and sword strapped to their backs they swam with long powerful strokes, and hundreds of the savage tribesmen, from far up the banks, emulating them, plunged in and braved the waves.

The breast of the leader was full of hope and joy. In imagination he saw the defeat of Izta and rejoiced in the welcome necessaries captured; he saw the surrender of Budil and the armada and then the triumphant march to the Throng of Atlantis. Then a glowing light sprang up from down the river as a war-kite sailed slowly up, carrying a blazing torch, and by its light showed an appalling spectacle. The Tacoatlanta was returning! The noise made by the passing army had reached the ears of her crew, Shar-Jatal's myrmidons and formidable opponents, and with eager oars and filled sails she was coming up with rapidity.

The passage of the army stopped, the nearest to either shore going onward or hastily returning; while another light leaped from the bows of the warship as a bonfire was ignited on a protruding platform.

A murmur rose like the sound of a storm, and Toltiah and all the chiefs beat their breasts with clenched fists, and growled in their throats. The archers were ordered to send their shafts into the galley while men flew in eager haste to the large catapult, crying to the gods to be propitious, regulating the range and directing their aim. A rock was placed on the beam, the levers tightening the cords at the opposite end until they sang. The huge missile, released, flew forth, hurled with gigantic power by the beam, and falling into the current astern and beyond the warship, raised a watery column that gleamed golden in the blaze of the bonfire.

But straight at the boom, fretted with moving forms, the great hulk rushed, and struck. For an instant she stopped dead, her foremast falling with a crash, the bonfire flying in lines of light far in advance. A terrible shock convulsed her and the boom, and by the faint light of the far-soaring kite the watchers could see the causeway was cleared of men as it slowly swayed forward, and then, rushing with the stream, parted with a great rending, and drifted downwards, divided, the Tacoatlanta slowly forging ahead. With gathered speed she went onwards again, and dark forms in commotion were seen on her bulwarks busy among the floating heads, stabbing at them with oars, smashing them with clubs, splitting them with swords and spears and axes tied to poles

Howls of rage rose from both shores at witnessing this daring deed. The Amazons yelled their long, clear war-whoop, and a formidable sound of beaten bucklers arose as the warriors smote them with rage. The leaders held a consultation, fearful of the approach of the army of Izta that would destroy the army on the farther bank. It was decided to move in force to the fords, where, wading to their armpits, they might have a chance of boarding and capturing the vessels there, the archers killing the rowers and slaughtering the crew by pouring their shafts through the port-holes.

All lay on their arms till dawn, when, with the first light, the divided arrays poured flights of missiles on the Tacoatlanta as she lay between them, preventing attempts to repair the damage of the fallen mast and compelling all to lay beneath their shields. Azta, lying in an open palanquin, watched the dark vessel and cursed her by all the gods of Zul and the demons of darkness. The catapults were prepared for use, not being understood by the enemy, who had not fathomed the meaning of that watery column that rose so near them in the night-attack, and such even as perceived it judging it to be a Spirit risen from the wave. Now three of them raised their dark beams from the walls, one below and one above the city, and the large one that had fired the bolt in the night, the course of which was influenced by other wedges of rock placed beneath.

To an extent the presence of the army on the farther shore was comforting, for the ships could not land men to revictual the larders, and soon all believed the provisions failing would cause a retreat if all else failed, for the fish had two much food to eat to venture on a hook, the bodies of many warriors feasting them to the full. The march to the fords was prepared for, where it was hoped to find that the enemy had attempted to land, and consequently, wearied with fighting and perchance in disorder, would fall an easy prey.

Camped around fires, the warriors were breaking fast, when a shout apprised all that something claimed attention. The Mexteo was coming down the river.

Azta perceived her approach first, and her quick mind revolved a scheme. She rose up in her palanquin, raising her voice in command to the hastening warriors, her proud head raised high and her eyes flaming with enthusiasm. "To the catapults!" she cried; and standing to her full majestic height at the added height of the shoulders of tall negroes, waved her arm with a sweep from horizon to horizon, crying that the whole world lay before Huitza and all who followed him.

Shouts answered her, the warriors declaring her to be a goddess, while the artillerists manned the engines, and trumpets and drums sounded all over the city. The missiles were fitted, and as the galley arrived opposite the machine above the city, a huge bolt flew through the air and plunged into the waves under her beam, sending a mound of water over her and the oars into inextricable confusion.

A roar of triumph rose from Talascan and the thousands beyond the walls who witnessed this. The boat, under confused orders, slowly drifted into the very range, and the artillerists, shrieking with eagerness and sweating at their work, fitted another missile. The army on the farther shore raised howls of gleeful jubilation, and the crew of the Tacoatlanta ventured from under their shields to watch what might happen.

With a twang and a whiz the rock sped. The breathless thousands watched it as it flew, presenting all sorts of shapes in its gyrating path. It fell with a crashing thud on the bulwarks, and a shriek of terror, drowned in another prolonged burst of exultation, rose as, amid splinters and blood, the water swirled into the breach. The warship lurched horribly, but the shouts of triumph drowned the shrieks of despair of her heavily-harnessed crew, which, falling down the inclining deck, fearfully increased the list that the flooding waves gave the vessel. With a lurch forward and a heavy roll she turned over, the eddies swirling around her; and only her sails on the water, like two great domes with the air they enclosed, kept her from completely turning over.

The Tacoatlanta with grapplers down watched the dire sight. Tentativeness changed into the wildest dismay on beholding the unfortunate Mexteo wallow and overturn. But for Budil and other leaders the crew would have surrendered at once, fearful of such fate; but these, with threats and blows, forced them to hoist the sails, while, abandoning the grapplers, the oars beat the water.

Within range of the catapult below the city a vast missile flew forth, striking the mainsail and tearing in from the mast, which snapped at the foundations and fell, drenching all with bounding waves, heaving the vessel greatly on the swelling wash and mingling the oars in confusion.

Cries of terror arose, drowned by irrepressible shouts of enthusiasm from the army. Some of the galley-slaves, mad with terror, leaped overboard and dived deeply so that they drowned; upon the catapult a man mounted, waving a cloak and gesticulating towards the artillerists, who wound down the great beam preparatory for another shot. All down the barricades clustered thousands of warriors, and now they began to stream through on to the waterway. On the pedestal of the colossus Mele, a water-god supporting one end of the architrave shadowing the steps of the river gate, stood Toltiah; on the top step was Azta, standing as a goddess in her palanquin, jubilant with triumph, who had travelled along the battlements in glorious victory.

Ignorant of the powers of the dire engine, the enemy believed it to be able to follow them up and sink the ship, and terribly alarmed by the startling warning they had received, hauled down the remaining sail; while a cloak was waved in answer to the one on shore, as the great warship sullenly rowed up to the waterway to surrender.

CHAPTER VI. THE FIRST STEP OF FAME.

ENTHUSIASTIC crowds watched the galley, as, towing the hamper of two masts she came up and struck. There was no need for grapplers: hundreds of hands clutched and held her, warriors swarmed over the bulwarks, and but for the authority of the chiefs she would have been sunk by sheer weight of numbers.

The crew landed, among them being a few of the notables of Zul, come on what they had deemed a pleasurable trip. Not a few were wounded by the fury of the night-surprise and the ceaseless missiles of the army; most of these were secretly murdered and with those who were already dead thrown overboard; while the warriors, enraged by the mischief wrought, hanged the Captain Budil from his own masthead. The body, barbarously profaned in the market-place, had the head struck off, the which was sent by a tall hunter to be cast into Zul in token of what would befall when Toltiah were master. A score of the Mexteo's crew, clinging to their wreck, were killed with sling-shots and arrows; while, under pretence of enrolment with the conquering legions, all the crew of the Tacoatlanta, together with those notables, were overcome by violence and murdered in a place beyond the walls.

And now all was bustle again and a rush of preparation for the interrupted passage of the army to be continued before the other war-ships might appear. All thoughts of gratitude to the gods were forgotten. Boats carried ropes across the river from bank to bank, and the wrecks of the two booms were by them hauled together and secured. Nezca's spies, looking in far-reaching circles for Izta, gave yet no sign of his approach; and now, crowding the boom and on rafts and boats, and thousands swimming, the army crossed; and the menace of the approaching one, albeit disciplined and terrible, lost its sting. The ill-fated Mexteo, smashed and waterlogged, was drawn up to the waterway and secured, to be raised again as soon as preparations were ready; while a catapult was fitted on the Tacoatlanta and her masts replaced, the body of Budil being suspended by the heels from the foremast. Her management was left to the Talascans, who were used to the sea and river, and Akin commanded them.

The boom was crowded with arrogant conquerors, and in the sunny streets of Talascan women and children swarmed again, the fear of violence removed. They laughed and chatted and gazed with awe on the tall catapults, revering them as gods. To the populace the name of Huitza was a power in itself, for besides being that of a popular hero, it was, with Tekthah and Rhadaman, one of the three that reminded the people of the old days and the glory of the land. Shar-Jatal was hated as a brother who had objectionably seized a sire's power, and Izta, his right hand, was hated likewise for his upstart insolence and tyrannies; while Japheth was lauded with mighty enthusiasm, being called saviour of Talascan and Wielder of the bolts of the gods.

But on Azta and Toltiah the regards of the people were poured with a frenzied enthusiasm, and images were made of them and sold to be worshipped. And now with levers and inflated skins, (the people hauling on ropes,) the Mexteo was turned on her proper side, and, the water being bailed out, floated in ordinary fashion upon the water, the breach being repaired by skilled men and everything set in order. There were many bodies of drowned warriors within her, but these were flung with scant ceremony to the waves, while jubilant Talascans ran freely from bank to bank over the causeway. On this a catapult was constructed to hurl a volley of missiles, but at the first trial the levers broke and hurried violent death to many, nor was it until much time had passed that confidence in it was restored.

In the darkness of the night one of the two warships by the fords came down the river to see if aught had occurred, and dimly perceiving the Tacoatlanta, rowed up to her. Whose crew, also understanding what the crew of the galley took to be the case, permitted the approach, and grappling her, made an easy capture; and thus Toltiah possessed three of the four vessels of the armada, and the people rejoiced greatly.

With the dawn of the next day the three warships sailed up the river, the great Tacoatlanta displaying at her fore the ill-fated Budil, dead; and at noon perceived where the rafts lay, and the other galley. The landing at the fords had been barricaded with pointed stakes and piles of wood, which in places showed where the devices of the enemy had fired it. These, believing the approaching ships to be full of their friends, shouted to them, and the crews replied; the while surrounding the galley, which was named the Tzan, the one captured being named Tizin. The vessel, being thus hemmed in, would have surrendered, but the savage attackers would take no tameness like this, and pouring over the sides, killed every man on board. Yet they too suffered in a great measure, for the Tzan's crew fought furiously as long as there was a man left.

The Axatlans and all those which were sent down to aid them were greatly enthusiastic seeing how things ran, and began to pour missiles upon the crowded rafts, of which there were three. These, with hot haste, began to make for the farther bank, but the crew of the Tacoatlanta, perceiving this, prepared to fall upon them, fitting also a missile on the catapult. This plunged between two of them, causing a great wash of water and much consternation; but they redoubled their efforts to escape as the huge galley bore down on them.

She struck the first with a devastating crash, again sending the foremast, with its horrid burden, overboard, with much havock to the bulwarks; but cutting this adrift, continued on, and by the crew going astern, in order to raise the long bows, the second raft was completely submerged beneath the mighty bulk of the vessel.

The river was crowded with heads and shoulders. Half-drowning men plunged about in their harness, making for the farther bank; but mad with excitement, the light warriors of Axatlan swam like fierce sharks after them, and the Mexteo and Tizin, victorious, came along, towering from the crimson waves. The high Tacoatlanta bore down on the third raft, and its crew, perceiving this, and how merciless were their enemies, prepared to surrender their lives dearly; and as the dark mass reached them they leaped like cats upon the sides, or, clinging to the oars, thrust their spears through the port-holes to slay the rowers.

So furious was the attack and so desperate were the doomed warriors that, had there but have been the Tacoatlanta to contend with, the chances would have halted for a space. But the Mexteo and the Tzan bore down among the struggling men, and the fierce Axatlans swam and dived among them, stabbing their bewildered foemen on all sides, and many a haughty legionary died there in the crimson water. Not one escaped, for the swimming pursuers darted about and cut off every fugitive that the warships, awkwardly handled and fouling one another, could not get near.

Joyful messengers carried news of the victory to Toltiah, and vast rejoicings celebrated the return of the warships. The conquest of Zul appeared to be but a little thing to all that had been already accomplished, and it was greatly wished that Izta's army would appear.

Arrangements were made for the great march to the capital? a large guard being left behind for the protection of Talascan, and another at the fords, in the event of Izta slipping past their flank. Messengers were sent to all the cities far and near to bid as many as were able to come from their walls, to join the marching army; and these spread the certain news of the coming of Huitza and of the great successes that had attended him thus far. The armada was to stay in the river, guarding causeway and fords, and the former was not to be destroyed unless very seriously aiding a siege. Indeed it was well defended, for in addition to the catapult below the city that would keep rafts from coming up the river unless, comprehending it, they forsook the centre of the stream for the farther side there was that one in the midst of it, now faced to the shore from the city, that threw many bolts at once. Also messengers could always be landed by night to carry news to the army if necessary; yet those left behind thus were greatly discontented, and only on agreement of equal shares of spoil with the rest would they agree.

But the army refused to move without its women, loud demands being made to bring them out from the city and the camp, and mocking insolence being cast at the leaders, who had brought their harems with them. The hunters and the more savage tribes were particularly clamorous, and the more degraded thousands became riotous. In vain their leaders explained the hindrance of a female following; they swore by all their gods they would not march without them, nor were the trained legionaries less obstinate. A body of the rabble suddenly attacked the camp of the Amazons, where was Azta with the wives and mistresses of Chanoc, Noah, and other chiefs, and this resulted in a furious and determined battle on both sides, which might have ended with dire results, for the rabble was largely reinforced continuously.

The Amazons fought with a noble fury free from any trace of fear, defending their terrified charges well and dealing death with their great axes; yet, fearful, I summoned Toltiah, who with his chiefs and Nezca's warriors, propitiated, attacked the rebels in the rear and drove them before their onslaught on to the vengeful weapons of their foes in front, all who escaped being publicly tortured before the army as an example to others.

But advised by Azta, Toltiah gave the army its women, which as they came over made a large crowd of themselves. There was a great wonderment at the delay of Izta's army, and the Tzantans wished to wait for it, feeling secure with the catapults and warships behind them, and mistrusting the quality of their vast armament. In the centre were the guards of Xezca and Chanoc, the Amazons were to the rear of these. Right and left were immense bodies of archers, spearmen and slingers, and unnumbered tribes and thousands of irregular warriors, hunters and savages. The forests here would prove a fearful trap for the advancing army, but by no signs of the flights of birds or animals, nor by far-circling scouting-parties could they perceive it.

The primitive hunters thought that the gods had devoured them, and the superstition of all was greatly exercised concerning this thing. Yet in the inaction an apathy began to settle down over all, and Toltiah, under pretence of visiting Azta, dallied long with Marisa, leader of the Amazons, and wasted long whiles in foolishness with Azca, who was of great beauty, while the warriors gambled with their gold and metal ornaments, with their arms and armour, and with their women. They held gross competitions among themselves and shouted continually out of wantonness. There were jugglers among them and sword-swallowers, men who devoured fire, and women who stood naked, wreathed in flames and uttering incantations. Many were murdered and their bodies flung to the waves, and women giving birth to children killed them that they might not be troubled with them on the march. Sometimes bands of men were decoyed into a wild spot and killed, that their women might be obtained by the murderers, nor did the chiefs scruple to use this end to their enjoyment.

Also I looked upon a fearful sight, where many of the hybrid savages, hungry for food, crossed the river to where that crew of the Tacoatlanta was killed, and fed themselves upon such stark bodies as the wolves and vultures had left. Yet it was not much, for vast numbers of animals hung on the outskirts of the army, and overhead the eagles and vultures sailed in circles; but beneath the pile of bodies lay some untouched, and these the dark beings, rooting like hogs in the putrid mass, pulled forth and ate.

At length a captain of the archers, by name Maxo, disappeared, and the fear of what inaction would lead to terrified the leaders, so that the order was given to march. With scouts and flanking parties and a loose array of thousands of the irregular warriors leading, to throw the enemy into confusion when they came upon him, the forward movement began. Drums beat and whistles and trumpets shrilled above the shouts and songs, as with the war-cry of " Huitza and Zul! " the march to the Throne of Atlantis commenced.

And I, brooding upon the banks of the Hilen, rested in thought and looked around by night, when the bright stars reflected themselves in the quiet waters, with only the long boom and the shadowy masses of Talascan to speak of the presence of man. Yet thence methought I heard a shriek, and on the water were voices and soft moans, and many spiritual appearances. I longed for rest, for the sweet innocent love of such an one as Susi, whose pure face was ever before my mind with its deep, serious eyes, chiding my presence here. Yet with a fierce pang of anguish I turned me to contemplate Azta, my Love! I would not own to my mind that she did not love me, and thus I ever hoped and believed in a lie; and, yearning for the innocent and mighty joy and power of past times, could not leave her. What should happen now? I dared not consider the apparent character of Toltiah, her son and mine, nor what should come of it; I dared not pray to that Throne that ruled the Worlds to aid my Earthly love.

And thus I sat and pondered on that starry night, what time Toltiah marched with his legions to the conquest of Atlantis.

CHAPTER VII. HUITZA AND TERROR.

IN Zul Shar-Jatal lay, surrounded by myrmidons and sycophants, yet standing uneasy beneath the crown and the great power that he felt himself unable to administer. From all the Imperial province of Hava the warriors of every city had been forced to the capital, lying in great camps within the walls and happy with the thought of great pillage over all the land, when they should march forth to conquer. But among the chiefs Acoa spread dissensions and thereby weakened the power of Shar-Jatal, there being also many of the haughty lords and ladies who plainly regarded him as an upstart, and only trusted to his cleverness to save them now from the vengeance of that prince whom terrifying rumour said again led the armies of the land. Handsome, vain and licentious, the usurper was withal indolent, and became greatly embittered by reason of the loss of his hand. The only one who bore a real regard for him for his own sake was Pocatepa, the wife of Ju, whom also Mah held in some thrall; and with a wicked passion she loved him, greatly upholding his power by her arts. More than all the rest was she disturbed at the rumour that Azta was in Talascan, because she knew Shar-Jatal loved the Tizin and that her power was very great in the land, all believing her to be under the special protection of Zul, and a goddess; thus, inwardly deploring the weakness of her chosen lord, she stirred him up to resist the failings of his nature, to take his power and dispense it as became the Tzan of Atlantis and master of a headstrong nation threatened with dissolution.

She held her lord completely by her willing pandering to his wishes, and both that twain were much discussed for their licences and wantonness. But they feared the friends of Ju, particularly the chiefs Zebra, Eliaz, Ombar and Eto-masse, who were powerful among all such as lived by the sea and all sailormen, and whom they durst not put away secretly, (for already there was great disgust at many such proceedings,) and were uneasy and amazed as the time passed with no message of the sack of Talascan. Tek-Ra was in ruins and soon would Azco be brought in chains from Trocoatla to answer for his insolent rebellion; but, before that, Talascan must fall, Shar-Jatal's territory being far off.

Yet the Tzan's love for his mistress grew colder as a horror settled down upon him and a great distrust to every person. For Pocatepa warned him of Acoa, whom he relied upon greatly, and the thought came to him that the falling of the Solar symbol upon the throne had turned the regards of this one against him. Of a night the spirit of Azta appeared to him and fearful larva? haunted his dreams: the shade of Huitza threatened him with atrocious gestures, and in sweating horror he perceived a whirling sword menace his life.

An uneasiness spread abroad as there came no news of Izta or Budil, and a gloom that was of unquiet consciences sprang up and lay over all. Everybody feared a certain vengeance for the sins of past years: the services to Zul were conducted fervently and the evil crowds bowed down before their divinities, performing those rites which were abominable and obscene, prostituting themselves to their own foul creations. In the silence they perceived an approaching Terror, and committed vast excesses, hoping to make up by the exhausting and reckless enjoyment of to-day for what awful thing might come to-morrow.

And Mali, mindful also of his ambition to become ruler in Zul and the first of a Priestly line, persuaded to his scheme a great multitude of other priests and as many followeis as they could collect for the purpose of seizing the power when opportunity offered, which plan came to the ears of Acoa, who was not unwilling that there should be dissension in the city, for the army there was very strong and there was much material of war and many engines; so that any civil strife would greatly weaken them. And the plan being ripe, Pocatepa was summoned by Mah and bidden to administer to her lord a certain potion that would destroy him.

But alone with him in their apartments her heart failed her because of the love she had for him, and summoning the Captain of the Guard, whose name was Bel, she bade him see the watch was well kept, and adjured him on his life to seize any loiterer by the palace, whomsoever it might be. Whereat Shar-Jatal was greatly disturbed and demanded what such orders might portend.

"My dear lord," said the weird woman, smiling on him, "this day would I show thee how my love for thee triumphs over all considerations of power. Watch thou!"

Now it was the time of sunset, and on a mirror of polished gold the great light flashed, dazzling and beauteous, glittering also on a black veil covered with bright metal stars that overshadowed the flashing circle. From the ceiling there hung diaphanous draperies like clouds, and cabalistic symbols were set on the walls; upon a pedestal sat a huge black ape, and beneath, in chains, was crouched a human figure with the head enclosed in a bronze cage. This was old Na. on whom the dire sorceress had rivetted the incubus because of her refusal to concoct certain subtle perfumes that Azta was envied for, and this cage prevented any free movement on the part of the old woman.

Pocatepa, wearing the mystic insignia of Neptsis, reclined on a throne-like seat, of which the arms were carven to represent a large sort of beetle that came up, shining, from the earth of a night to fly in circles; which also was her Divinity, her slaves and guards wearing its emblem upon them. Her footstool was a block of marble formed to represent the same insect, and over it lay a cloth covered with scales of innumerable elytrse of the real beetle and irridescent with bright stones. Behind the throne was a mystic circle of luminous atoms, the centre representing the moon, and thousands of stars filling the circumference; yet only I knew the awful significance of what the daring idea pretended.

The lady summoned a slave, commanding him to strike from off the head of Na the bronze cage, which, being done, the old woman stood forth free. Half she hoped her mistress had caused this, and on her wrinkled face was a smile as she waited what should come.

"Come hither," said Pocatepa, her harsh voice attuned to sweetness; " come and drink to my lord and me from this golden goblet that shall usher in thy freedom. See, my lord, in her hands I place the cup, and soon perchance shall we envy the lot of this old slave."

Amazed at her words, the bowed woman took the massy cup, brimmed with generous wine, yet methinks she drank a curse to the pair instead of a blessing, as Pocatepa threw herself back against her uneasy lord and watched with an evil glitter in her eyes.

Na dropped the bowl and her sunken eyes grew large as they rested on the sorceress before her. She swayed and sank to the ground, and in an instant a slight froth rose to her lips and the golden skewer through her nostrils was flecked with tiny drops of blood. So she stayed, dreadful in silent immobility, and then Pocatepa spoke.

" She hath passed, my lord, and is free, whilst ourselves

"What is this, woman!" demanded the Tzan, clutching the hilt of his sword, and greatly dismayed.

His mistress cast herself upon him, kissing his lips and caressing him. "Fear not," she said, "the danger is passed, and what might have come to thee love hath turned aside": and to him she revealed the heavy plot of Mah; while I, watching her amorous play, wondered why only to me should no love be given.

And of her sort Pocatepa was fair to look upon. Clad in a black, transparent mantle, her eyes more brilliant than the shining plates on her forehead and of a mystic fascination, with bright diamonds gleaming in her teeth, she appeared as a goddess, yet of evil. Her breasts were bare, the mantle gathered closely beneath them by a belt covered with symbols; her arm was encircled by a living snake, fastened by tiny gold skewers and rings, and tremulating occasionally, causing myriads of little gems with which it was studded to scintillate, whilst its forked tongue waved incessantly.

The Tzan suffered her caresses sullenly, fearing her somewhat, and uneasy at his position, yet shamelessly she importuned his embraces. Suddenly it grew dark, and in the darkness I saw Acoa as before I had seen him appear to Azta. The two people gazed around, believing some power of Mah to be upon them, and thinking the potency of the poison in the dead slave at their feet to be rising to their brains, yet hoping it to be but the coming of night.

Still the darkness seemed to roll down in palpitating waves, almost visible, and the throne-like settee, from which they had arisen, stood out gradually in fearful relief against a background of phosphorescent light in which circles seemed to revolve all ways. To their sudden fright at such proximity they perceived a figure seated there, which forbade them to stir; directing their attention to where a clear round of brightness showed the mirror standing, untouched by the surrounding obscurity. Whispers, as of voices, floated through the air, and a blast of deadly chill made the terrified pair shiver, while an impression that the figure, in the proportions of a giant, huge, black, awful, had arisen and was regarding them, held them spell-bound. Their hairs crept and the blood ran cold at their hearts, as their eyes, dazzled by the luminous appearances and the moving blackness, fixed themselves on the clear bright surface of the mirror that appeared to regard them as a great eye, their straining optics directed and focussed by the darkness around until it seemed as though they gazed down a tunnel into a very bright place. The mind contracted itself to this observation alone, and with all their souls they stared at the disc of glowing light that claimed the attention irresistibly.

The darkness around gave place to another phenomenon, that was not light, for there were no shadows and nought was visible, yet was no longer darkness, for a bright atmosphere assimilated itself with the brightness of the mirror. There was a feeling of the spirit standing alone in infinite space, expectant: a possession of fear, a wish to be elsewhere, as an impression of passing long periods was apparent. Years, centuries, appeared to roll by, unmarked, unbounded; there was nought to start from, nothing to be reached; only a knowledge of life in a glowing atmosphere, a sensation of wonder and waiting; and through it all the circle of light compelled the terrified attention that strained every tight nerve to concentrate itself yet more fully in a fearful effort of contemplation.

On rushing pinions the soul sped to the centre of potential attraction, yet never reaching it: on and onward with panting heart and vast exhaustion, striving with bursting nerves to reach a point whence came sounds less dream-like every instant, and certain complications of vague movement.

As if a veil had been lifted away the sounds deepened and a Thing was visible, wavy and shadowy a mass; indefinable and nebulous. The atmosphere shook and a figure stood forth, vast, grisly and of faint outlines; a larva that overpowered by the horrid sensation of being in the presence of a floating cloud of black immensity with the knowledge that this dread thing was a man. The weird horror was overpowering; it would suffocate, overwhelm in oceans of air and in silence made awful by the movements that caused no sound.

The glow had given place to a pale green brightness: the vague shadow slowly took shape and form and the outlines appeared, human, yet how vast and unnatural! These contracted and the shadow darkened.

An appearance as of a stroke of lightning sprang from obscurity and vanished: the figure seemed to move and stretch its limbs as awakening from sleep, and, in an increasing light that brought out its features with distinctness, to turn its face on the expectancy. The eyes opened, the lips compressed themselves tightly as a frown settled on the face, and the Tzantan Huitza looked again forth in human guise.

A long shaft quivered through his body, the blood-dripping point protruding through his chest. With a movement, as of a dream, he drew the weapon from his back, and, poising it, cast the long shaft upwards. A flash of brightness fell, dazzling and terrible, and a shriek cleft the atmosphere.

In the streets of Zul was great rioting and disorder, where the adherents of Mali and the priests who followed him met the legions sent by Shar-Jatal to take them the next morning.

Terrified by the vision he believed to have been sent by Mah, the Tzan wished to seize him and demand an explanation of it, which thing Pocatepa greatly urged; and for a lesson to all whom it might profit to learn, it was commanded that not one of the rebellious people should escape.

And many, on the appearance of the armed legions, fled and disclaimed all knowledge of such a plot, but many joined battle, led by priests, and very furious in fanaticism.

There were huge missiles cast from roofs that crushed many, and long streams of blood trickled down the streets, but the warriors of the Tzan overcame the rioters, putting them to the sword; and as many of them as escaped fled to the temple of Neptsis, which was accounted a sanctuary for the vanquished and such as would plead for life. But Shar-Jatal, reckless in his wrath and terror, caused them to be slain, and the blood of scores drenched the outraged altar of the goddess until all had ceased to live. And among them were many of the eunuch priests of Zul, but none could find Mah.

The city was uneasy by reason of this thing and many others, and in the evening the people discussed many things concerning the rebellion and the massacre of the priests of their gods. They were much exercised in their minds also by the lack of news from before Talascan, to where swift messengers had been sent; for they believed that the great army of Izta and the warships of Budil should by this have returned triumphant with great numbers of captives and much spoil. They vowed oblations to the gods and told how the altars of Zul should smoke with grateful sacrifices, for Acoa had said there should be vengeance taken for the murder of men who ministered to the gods.

Yet the warriors by the walls sang lewd songs, unheeding, and talked profanely among themselves of the same subjects. A group sat recounting what they would do when the rebel cities were conquered, and disclosed the grossness of their minds by rehearsing tortures, and what would happen to this one and that, and laying indecent bets on various performances that they would undertake. Something fell by them with a thud, and, looking up quickly, they perceived a long spear quivering in the ground; and, gyrating around it, a human head, fastened by the long, thick hair.

It was the head of Budil, and dismay fell on the city.

And all, remembering the rumour concerning Huitza, and fearful that they, the attackers, might well become the attacked, forsook their waning arrogance concerning the conduct of the war. Hurried councils were held, whereat it was commanded that the huge granaries of the city should be filled, and flocks and herds from without should be driven in. The bolder ones were minded to go forth and avenge the insult, yet on all men's hearts lay the fear of treachery and unscrupulous ambition; and at all councils were many dissentient voices to every scheme of safety, mocking at caution.

CHAPTER VIII. A VISION OF WARNING.

WITH songs and merriment Toltiah's army marched onward, drums, whistles and all manner of instruments of music sounding, wild and discordant, above the tramp of myriad feet, waving spear-points scintillating like gems above the moving masses, o'ertopped by all sorts of standards and rallying-poles of various tribes. Reinforcements joined them occasionally, and thousands of wolves and wild dogs followed the march, while overhead ever hung that winged army of fierce birds which all believed would carry the souls to the Sun. With the Amazons went Azta in her slung couch, accompanied by Toltiah and some of the Tzantans and a great number of messengers.

They passed rapidly along, camping around villages by river banks or on plains, where hasty shelters were erected for the Tizin and one or two of the more luxurious among them. The women following the army shared the hardships and the stony couches of the men, and a few joined the ranks of the Amazons; yet such were very few, tor the manner of living of these women-warriors was hard, and one among them was put to death for a violation of chastity that would have passed as nought among the women of the towns.

Now in the distress of my thoughts I had held myself from Azta; yet not blaming her for my sorrow, which was caused by myself, but because I cared not to force her regards. Therefore I kept aloof in a great measure, concerned by sad thoughts, unfitted for Earth and fallen from Heaven. And in those days I loved the sea, for in its restless waves was my soul comforted, and its voice cried to me from wind-kissed wave-top and hidden depth of unknown mystery. Yet my passion for Azta tormented me, and one night I came in to her, the army being encamped among uncouth ruins that caused much amaze, herself being beneath a canopy. All around blazed the innumerable fires of the multitudes, who pulled down the luxuriant vegetation hiding up the old places that but few of the hunters even knew of; and among the high mounds many believed there lurked the larvse of that ancient people whose existence they perceived in the ruins by sundry rude weapons of war.

I looked upon my Love with the same wild, deep yearning as of old, and perceived her to be affrayed at my presence, whereat I grieved sadly.

"Be not in fear of me, O my Love!" I cried, embracing her tenderly; " have we not conversed enough for thee to trust in me? I will not force thee, my Azta; neither indeed can I, for the heart that is not fully given is not given at all, and though for a few brief moments our souls mingled, yet thou canst never love me."

"Vet I do love thee, Beloved." Her words faltered under my stern and searching glance that pierced her soul as the eyes of the angels Zora and Zarabel sought in the tombs for what the professions denied. Kneeling beside her, I kissed her forehead with a chaste salute and took her hand in mine.

She looked out to where in the flickering fire-light dark shadows stalked slowly at times across the space of vision, and imperiously bade the young slave-girl who combed her hair, retire.

"O Asia," she said, "to-night my thoughts go very deep and I would speak to thee, whom I fear not; yet when I see thy tall form come with such stately stride and such solemn majesty something terrifies me. Nay, hear me," she said, as I made as though to speak; "to-night, I know not why, I think of that night on which I first saw thee Yonder shines the moon as it shone then, and still those spirits fly, perchance the same ones, in the mystic shadows; yet then I fretted with vain hopes and impotent ideas that now will be fulfilled. For see, poor Love, in this strange being that is our child hast thou given me an accomplished ambition to thine own disastrous cost, for also as thou art ever before my mind's eye, majestic, silent and sublime, I see in thine eyes the soul's agony, (which I know,) the hopeless, despairing horror of one who looks on the heart and only sees there a forced sentiment that dies in the absence of its object. In Toltiah I see Huitza, the one who aroused in my bosom a passion pure, strong and unconquerable, and at times methinks he is in verity a reincarnation of my Love, a child of Zul, grand beyond Earth, almost as thyself. Yet have we many loves and next to this comes the love of thee, who deserves of me the most that I can give, a better love than any that Earth could offer."

She ceased and a shudder passed through her, great sobs broke from her heart. The barriers of my callousness were broken down.

"O God! O God!" I cried in the torture of hell, "behold, I love thee more than all the times before! " A long time passed in horror and darkness, a period of wild, awful grief, where embracing one another we wept. Ah, the hopelessness of Earth! The subtlety of Souls! My Love's words misjudged me, for though I deserved her love I had forsaken my own fealty to Heaven to strive to obtain it; and now, Ruler of the Worlds! I had lost all!

And thus we stayed until Toltiah prayed admittance from without, and entering in all his splendour of person stared to perceive me.

"Welcome, my child," I said, with a bitter gnawing pain at my heart, noting how the moonlight shone on his ruddy mane that fell over his breast and shoulders. He blushed deeply at the hesitance of address, and bowed low in somewhat awed salutation, yet with a certain hauteur; and because of the place wherein we were encamped I was minded to show a thing.

"Thou hast attained to a great station, O youth," I said, " wherein lies much danger to such whose inclinations tend to evil and unseemly ambition, and whose ardour overruns experience. Great indeed canst thou reign, leader of a free and enlightened people, if thou wilt follow the laws of Jehovah, the God of thy fathers and of me. Cast pride away from thee, for of what may mortal man boast himself? Body and estate are given and taken away, and for gifts should such be thankful, remembering they are bestowed by One who can remove them at will. For consider! Thou wert a babe, or beautiful or hideous it were not thy making; naked, than didst not clothe thyself; mighty or of no account, it was written so in Heaven; dead, thou canst not aid thy Soul, nor will thy God-given Talents do aught but demand of thee for why they were used this way or that, save it is in the way of the meaning of thy Creator, to whom thou art in debt for all."

Toltiah hung his head, but an inner anger overspread his countenance, and looking upon him, I felt wrath to perceive a mortal so arrogant.

"This night," I said, "will I show thee a thing for a warning and an example, and to thee also, O Queen. Look upon the mounds. They are the past dwellings of a race that lived long centuries before the foot of Adam pressed Eden's soil. Come and see what may be revealed concerning them who followed not the plan of God on Earth, thereby causing confusion."

I looked on them with the look of power that compels the mind of man, so that they believed themselves to stand upon a mound, and, gazing around, noted that they were the only people in sight and the time was of noon. The army was gone, and in their ears that which seemed to be rather a thought than a voice spoke:

"What matter? Men come and go, and the great event of yesterday is a fading remembrance of to-day, a sentiment of absolute indifference. Only God and Love go on for ever."

They looked upon one another, yet without emotion, and gazed around on the mounds, nor were surprised to perceive a large structure of stones and rock near them. Upon this a figure of human outlines squatted without motion, and they even deemed it dead; but as Toltiah made a step towards it the creature fled with precipitancy, seeming to doubt whether to escape to some holes near by in a hill, or to caves formed by huge masses of stone builded one upon another. On perceiving no pursuit it returned to the stone structure, uttering a loud cry.

Other cries answered, and several figures ran past them, of great size and bulk, most of them larger than Toltiah, leaping with great speed on hands as well as feet. One stopped near the pile, regarding them fixedly with an eye that looked forth from the back of its head, ot which, slightly moving, gave to the weird orb a rolling movement. It was a human-like creature of uncouth and vast muscular development, with enormous feet and long arms, and clothed all over with red hair; and thus it rested with its back to them, ready to fly to its retreat.

This third optic has been often stated by modern writers to have existed in archaic man, the seat of it being the pineal gland. Dr. Carter Blake of the London Anthropological Society tells us that Palaeontology has ascertained that there was actually a third real organ of vision among the animals of the Cenozoic age, and especially the Saurians, a fact upheld by Sir Richard Owen, who points out its presence in many fossil animals.

An entirely unrecognisable species. If allied to the Pterodactyle, it would carry man's antiquity very far back.

The watchers stood still, and presently from similar erections all around other forms issued, vast and weird, most moving backward, ready to run again to the caves, but the bolder faced them. Some carried huge clubs, and amongst them were beings of monstrous growths and frightful aspects, half human and half animal, which uttered strange cries.

"Behold," the voice said, "the disorder of Earth and to what things the violence of Man leads him; his thoughts ever tend to evil and to the working of iniquity, and how can the purpose of God be fulfilled when His laws are set at nought?"

Then appeared a great shadow, moving rapidly upon the earth, and looking up they perceived a winged creature of the shape of the animals that lived in the Hilen river. Azta cried put to me to save them, while Toltiah loosened his sword and grasped his spear firmly, advancing his shadowy buckler.

"Fear not," I said to my Love; "yet now does thine heart know that I can protect thee more than this one which is half of Earth."

"In thy love I trust," she said.

"It is well," I answered her; "and ever in thy nature shall there war distinctly the Spirit and the Flesh. Yet watch further.'

The inhabitants of the stone city had all vanished as the winged beast swooped. It was a marine animal, and Azta, looking through an opening in the masses of stone, perceived the scintillating glitter of. wavelets, and fancied she heard the roar of the surf beating on an iron-bound shore. As though conscious of a certain anxiety she glanced around in search of something she could not give form to.

But now the inhabitants of the stone caves had crept forth with stealth upon the beast. Two huge clubs, simultaneously applied, blinded it, and with uncouth cries it rose into the air, falling with a tempest of beating pinions, amid streams of blood, among the rocks, where it was despatched with cruel weapons.

"Thou seest that without these caves man could not live among such beasts as the one thou hast seen," I said: "it is his nature to live in colonies together and to build cities; yet, with vague longings for grandeur, which is of the soul, he combines the body of an animal smaller and feebler than the brute beasts, but directed to violence by skill of imagination. And see the pity of it! that mind that should steer to great accomplishments, disregarding the laws of Nature that serve for a mind to the beasts, is exerted to commit all manners of confusion. See how he would pervert the ordinances of the Creator!"

Azta looked and perceived horrible shapes that basked in the sun, being scarce human. She understood that a period had passed, and these abortions were the offspring of foul unions, their vague eyes lacking any emotion; which thing would in course of time, affect all creation. One came forth, bearing a small new-born monster, which by-and-by it dashed upon the ground and proceeded to tear limb from limb to devour, others coming up likewise for the horrid repast.

With curdling blood Azta turned to me. " Such was the world," I said, "before Adam; one long series of evolutions, of failure through sin, of destruction and re-creation. See, the end of this degenerate race is come!"

Water trickled between the rocks, running and falling, while around was an amorphous darkness that had come instantly and yet seemed to have been gathering for a long period, and in the water a long way off lay a fearful vision. A long dark body, motionless and phosphorescent; a giant shark whose evil eye looked menace and death, watching and waiting with others the flooding waters, and heedless of the storm. The waves swirled in increasing volumes through the rocky interstices, and gurgling sounds and little squeaks arose as hundreds of tiny monsters were swept out from lower caves where they had been hidden. Many hideous females ran forth also, and many that were feeble or sick, but the waters surrounded them on all sides.

Cast down and tossed about, sucked beneath the waves in vortices and dashed on rocks, the wretched beings died; yet still hundreds of terrified creatures ran from the caves and climbed to the highest rocks, fighting and struggling among themselves for any point that offered above the waves. A tempest of waters swept down from the sky, and animals mingled with human beings in the rush for degraded and impossible life.

A vast creature with floating mane, stranded on the stormy waves, beat the waters wildly with distorted limbs, throwing them, leaping in torrents of foam in its death-struggles, from a trunk that elongated its hybrid head, the while plunging under water the strangling forms of smaller beasts and men. The shark was among them now, and horrid things that were more like vegetables than animals drew down with slimy tentacles the miserably struggling creatures beneath the waves encrimsoned with blood.

Now to the horizon spread a long expanse of heaving waters from which all of life had disappeared, save where the fins of sharks cut the waves as the monsters searched for more victims. The deluge had ceased, and in the waters all was still; but from them seemed to rise larvae of vast shapes, that, spreading over all the sky, became clouds.

" Thus after death alone are such of use," I said, "contributing to the development of another generation by causing the elements of the atmosphere to keep their proper proportions, as their bodies nourish the earth."

The waters subsided and the hills arose, the stony monuments erected instinctively by a gregarious race showing above the diminished waves. The Earth, pregnant with life that fed full on its great feast of animal matter, threw forth vegetation and covered them all.

Another race of men was there, filling all the Earth and wondering at the great collections of piled-up rocks and flower-grown mounds that no records told of. A camp the army the dawning day and remembrance of the march on Zul.

"Now write it in your hearts," said I, "that thou hast looked upon the primitive Man, that might have developed and grown to give great praise to his Creator, but was hindered by his own folly and weakness and was destroyed before he could stray yet farther. Unto whom also came Adam, the Last-created Man, to lead the way to Heaven. And having thus seen, beware!"

CHAPTER IX. THE MARCH OF TOLTIAH.

Now there came news of the army of Izta, brought by the scouts that were far in advance ofToltiah and his legions, which said that the warriors of Zul were encamped in some far-spreading villages that lay by a river, round a great pallo. The army halted and the chiefs held a consultation as to what should be done, advising a great attack by night, which, being agreed upon, the legions were secretly disposed so that an onslaught should be made upon all sides at once, and chiefly was it arranged for a great number to surround the pallo and prevent any access to so impregnable a citadel whose reduction would take many men a long while to accomplish.

And in the darkness, when Izta's fires blazed afar and the wanton legionaries debauched themselves with the enforced cheer of the villagers, it was but the myriad-voiced war-whoops of their enemies that gave them warning of the portending fate; nor could they, unprepared, withstand the rushing thousands that poured upon them lying in disorder. The ribald songs and merriment were drowned in shouts and the shrieks of women, the blazing fires were quenched with spouting blood, while round the useless engines of war the corpses lay thickly where men gathered as to a standard and fought hard for life. The Tzantan Izta with some of his great chiefs, nobles of Zul and men of high degree, fought fiercely and slew many of their enemies, but the great hordes pressed upon them so that they went down in the rush and were seen no more.

By the lights of flaming huts the combatants fought, but soon there was but a great dark field whereon lay dead and dying, and in fear the carnage stopped. Only the degraded and monstrous savages from afar, that followed the army, crept among the bodies to gorge their obscene stomachs on the flesh and blood of men and to steal whatsoever they could of what pleased their fancy. And the next day, of those left which were unable to escape because of the encircling warriors, most were killed, but some were taken into the legions of Toltiah.

There was great joy because of the victory, for many villagers had escaped upwards into the pallo and served greatly in preventing Izta's troops from gaining access to it, being in favour of starvation rather than sharing the unhappy fates of their companions in the lower villages. These rejoiced, being made much of as allies in the enthusiasm of victory, and of the enemy there were many women captured and engines of siege and much store of arms and food and prepared herbs for smoking, and luxuries which were distributed all that day; and in the night, when the legions encamped around the flesh-fed bonfires, when the swift bats flew above the countless numbers of the living and the dead, they drank deep draughts of wine and shouted with enthusiasm, toasting their leaders with little stint.

Thus with great joy was the march resumed, and the kites and eagles fed full on the bodies that stayed upon the field. The savages were forced to move the engines, being also the carriers of stores; and to the farthest parts were sent more messengers to declare victory and demand reinforcements.

From the West came other companies from Chalac and Trocoatla, tall plainsmen, enduring and hardened by border warfare, leaving their defended walls; and many of whole villages from there also. They marched beneath the standards of the Vulture and the Serpent, and rallied to the cry of the large prairie antelope that carried a formidable spiral horn between its eyes, the horny base protecting the whole forehead. This cry, which was a succession of grunting barks, emitted from the vast chest of a Trocoatlan troop-leader, was in itself sufficient to appal, and the ferocious appearance of these men rendered their presence welcome. The warriors of Chalac wore a circle of ostrich plumes dyed black at the tips, these nodding head-dresses lending to them a terrific aspect of warlike majesty, as of a portentious storm-cloud moving along. The Governor Iru led these, a squat man of vast build; those of Trocoatla were commanded by the Prince Azco, wearing the vulture-winged helmet of a son of Tekthah, between which wings was a grand mass of ostrich-feathers.

Past cities and villages, levying tribute, and through vast forests marched the legions, and ever reinforcements followed; for the most remote peoples wished to be present when Zul should be sacked, and great hordes of these were of tiny stature and monstrous forms, pink-eyed and with spots and stripes like the brutes, squeaking and making unseemly noises for speech. They fought over the offal of the encampments with the birds and beasts, and my heart was sore as I looked upon these poor little beings brought into a world of lust and loathing by the unnamed sins of others.

By great streams where quaint animals dived beneath the waters, and herds of others fled inland, were yet more ruins, vast and grotesque, wherein perchance lived, in those days when all was huge, some mighty nation that had subjugated all the land and then had vanished, and no man might tell whence their footsteps had gone. And in the desert were great refuse heaps of encampments and vanished towns of the nomad tribes, and tall mounds that were like the Pyramids, yet being formed of piled-up rocks and stones, upon which many of the army that were of the plains cast more stones. And these I learned were the rude mausoleums of departed chiefs, and beside them were the smaller ones which rose above their wives, being thus in the pair, male and female, which God had ordained. And the stones, being first cast above the Clay to prevent the wolves carrying it off, were greatly added to by all who passed by, until at length they became of great height and pyramidal. Thus were they copied in such form in stone of comely proportions for a symbol and a thing of awe; for indeed there rested upon these buildings a vast solemnity as the last of the army passed by and left them standing in their solitary state above that which looked ever with upturned face to the Heavens. Yet few saw them thus, for a thick dark cloud of dust arose behind and above the multitudes that spread to the horizon. And occasionally also there were tall pallos built upon hills, to which their inhabitants fled in fear, leaving their fruitful fields; for such people, cultivating the soil and being always upon the same place, (whereby they could easily be found), were preyed upon by any nomads who chose. Yet within the strong citadel they were safe, for it was well stored with food and watered by a stream to which a tunnel led. And these Toltiah compelling to promise aid in case of retreat, left in safety.

Past the cities of En-Ra, Sham, and strong Surapa, which were in Astra, they went with much misfortune to the inhabitants and detriment to the flocks and herds. And in those days Toltiah became enamoured of Marisa, who led the Amazons, notwithstanding that she would have none of him and sought to escape from his attentions. And Azta looked favorably on her child's desire, pleased that his masculine inclinations should prevail, admiring the Amazon and greatly esteeming her, for the strange romantic legends of her race caused the Tizin to wish to retain her among the people as an ally. Also her pride and love for Toltiah could not brook the thought of an alliance with an ordinary woman, or dreadful contingencies that her spirit revolted at; and her eyes, blinded with arrogance of his prowess, could not perceive his leaning to shameful pleasures that would supplant all other ambitions. Yet she besought him that he would tarry until such time as he was lord of Zul, telling him many things concerning the city; of its power and strength and greatness, the multitude of the buildings and the beauty of the courts and gardens; of the sea-moat surrounding it and the massy terror of the walls. A little he remembered the palace, especially as concerned the thronging stairways and the lions that guarded the Hall of the Throne. For Azta had ofttimes taken him thither and placed him upon the seat, bowing before him in adoration.

To all these things he listened, and was also greatly advised by Noah, who was as a father to him, and his sons as brothers. And he regarded them also the more because he had covert regards for Susi, the wife of Shem, whom in secret he importuned greatly; whereby he caused the fair woman much sorrow and shame, and myself also. For in him I perceived the consummation of my sin, and at times could I have slain him, yet I dared not.

One day a great cry ran through the army, as emerging from a forest they perceived very far off a vast white city. They ran to high places and climbed trees to gaze upon the beauty that crowned the wilderness, howling jubilantly and demanding if this were Zul. Most knew it well, the Queen of the Waves, that raised her beauteous temples of hidden vice from the deep waters; the savages gazed in fear, the half-wild hunters and plainsmen with remembrances of wild enjoyments on those terraced heights. All thirsted for her painted halls and open coffers, her splendour of treasures, and women whose wild legends and burning glances given amid scenes of furious excitement raised to the wonder of unearthly beings. The licentious soldiery dreamed of the charms of queens whose exaggerated glories filled them with ecstacy, loaded with jewellery; and they swung their great arms like birds soaring for flight as they looked on the walls that stood between them and their desires, nor saw in imagination those walls splashed horribly with blood their blood neither perceived their souls going' up to the Sun in the smoke of Zul's diabolical flame.

Marisa and her warriors gazed with intense curiosity on those far walls, laughing with childish glee over the beauty of the towering architecture, beating their shields with spear and axehead and smiting their bosoms with open palms in ferocious gladness.

But with what emotions Azta gazed, believing she could perceive the long red building that lay beneath the Temple and the gardens where the fountains played! Where were the old faces now? where old Na? When would it be that she should rule the land from that red palace? By her stood Toltiah and the family of Noah, Chanoc, Nezca, Nahuasco and many Tzantans, and to such as were ignorant of the walls she pointed out where the great ports lay, and where the larger buildings.

The stragglers were hastened up, and the haulers of the huge engines sweated at their task with a joyful knowledge that soon it would be over. Nearer and nearer they drew until at evening time the gods that sat in rows on the walls could be perceived where the Sun gilded them in the clear atmosphere, and the dark waving line of thousands of human beings; and the devout or superstitious bowed themselves, falling upon their knees before the sublime majesty of the Sacred City whose Divinity they came to take from the usurper and exalt in jubilant greatness.

And Shar-Jatal and the people, looking forth through the night, felt their hearts sink within them as their fears were realised, perceiving, as it were, a flaming sea encompassing them about, where a myriad twinkling fires showed the hosts of the enemy stretched in a vast semicircle from the eastern coast-line of Astra away westward and south until they shone again on the sea-shore eastward below the city; and fancied in their ears they perceived the shout of "Huitza! Huitza and Zul! " mingled with the screams of victims where the reed roofs of Lasan, Bab-Ala, Dar, Bari and Ko, and three score cities of the coast, fell in flaming ruins on ravished women and murdered warriors.

CHAPTER X. THE NIGHT OF SPIRITS.

AND in the night Toltiah slept, and as he slept he dreamed. And ignorant of the storming of walls or the conduct of the long siege, save by the councils of others, his bold imagining perceived the legions climb upwards to victory, and himself the ruler of all the land.

In spirit he walked free of Earth, and reviewed the past and all the triumphs up to the present, where before him lay that which should be lost or won. Before his eyes a Shape weighed in balances the two events and bade him consider well as he watched. And coming in vivid reality, as a living thing through the mazes of a dream, an Elemental spirit approached from the walls, a grisly shape of majesty and fear.

"Go back," it said, "go back: for thou art begotten of that which is hateful to Zul, and wilt thou arrogantly dare to present thyself antagonist to the Lord of Light?"

Toltiah, in dismayed argument, said: " But who art thou? and by what name art thou known?"

And the Elemental spirit answered: " I have no name, being but the wisdom of Pocatepa; and of that wisdom I say, go back, nor dare that which is more strong than thou."

There came also another spirit of a bright and shining countenance, which said, " The city is thine, for in itself is it divided: in its heart have I sowed dissensions."

Whereat Toltiah was amazed, looking now upon the walls, and now upon the camp; blown upon the winds of conflicting sayings that led his own self captive, yet rebelling in obstinate pride.

"And who art thou?" he asked.

" I am of Acoa and am even as thyself," answered the bright spirit: "that which gave me life has transmitted it to thee. But of greater earthly power, thou shalt greater prevail on Earth. The city is thine already, the seed of destruction is sown: sever the aqueduct and storm the walls."

But a voice said:

"Happy is the man who never reaches his highest ambition, for there is nought beyond; save those closed doors, the gift required to enter which is not thine to bestow."

Amazed at all these things the dreamer stood, nor answered a word. And voices contended in the air and all around him, as though Heaven warred in argument concerning a vexed question; and when it appeared at times that one would speak with him, a multitude of tongues drowned such speech.

Yet, compelled by some power, the Shades of Huitza and Ju demanded the vengeance of Atlantis upon Shar-Jatal; and opposing them fiercely, the Elemental spirits of Bel, the captain of Pocatepa's guards, and Arioch the archer dared the bold besieger to farther annoy the city where slept the dust of Tekthah, the chosen abode of Zul.

To him thus Nezca:

"Contend not in wanton argument of mind with such as these, child of Azta. To thee is the sceptre of Atlantis, and the opening gates of Zul shall hail thee conqueror crowned with wisdom and glory. In thy hands lie the powers of life and death and that which shall come of thee shall live for ever in song. Up, up, Atlantis! Nor craven fears shall stay thy march of glory and death when great Toltiah leads the legions to victory."

He ceased, and a great multitude of voices echoed:

"Up, up, Atlantis! up, for Toltiah and victory!"

And a throne grew up beneath him, reaching far above the Earth, so that its top touched Heaven. Whereon seated, half in fear, yet arrogant withal, the Chief surveyed the populous places. And certain balances were hung before him, wherein were weighed affairs of grave importance and momentous, yet with hardness of heart he perceived not the reason of such, daringly seeking other things in impatient longing. A desire for self-glorification entirely absorbed him, and he wished to obtain the Word whereby all becomes subservient; so that, carried away irresistibly, his mind conceived the most outrageous powers whereby he became possessed of a fatal force of blasting and destructive magnitude. Transcending all capable power he entered the Infinite, and by potency of birth begot the memory of past and vaguely experienced things, increasing in bigness of perception until he confronted an intangible Veto. Appalling in its gloomy menace the shadowy barrier forbade all vision, and an impious fury arose in his heart as such hindrance.

The glorious throne sank in silence, folding up within itself and shrinking to small dimensions: and from the silence arose a sweet voice.

"Is there none to plead with this Soul?" it asked in thrilling niournfulness; " behold, it is a Soul that lives and will live for ever. '

But a great voice answered the sweet pleader:

" The soul of Man on Earth belongs to Man, neither can aught direct it, save communion with God which is its Father and itself."

"May it not pray for guidance and be guided?"

"Too dear are the prayers of these my Self-children to pass unheeded, Beloved, yet is volition given with life."

" Can there not be instructors among them to lead the way to Heaven?"

" Not though Myself descended for their guidance would they follow. Man must lead Man, but God can lead the willing soul by love and sympathy."

" And this one will lead Mankind astray."

"There is a God, dear lover of Souls."

Then was placed within the dreamer's hand a balance. And on one side were many desirable things, yet of evil, and in the other were all wisdom and moderation. Nor stayed the level scales for an instant, but by virtue of the holder's bias the evil side weighed downward so that the other kicked the beam.

A cry of sorrow and dismay arose, and sounds as of mocking laughter; colossi, that appeared to support the might of tall pylons, leered horribly from the gloom and held forth repelling hands, waving backward. There lay a great serpent, fold on fold of scintillating mystery, as of shapely clouds set with stars rolling backward in wondrous majesty, and rising high above its mystic front the towering head crowned with thunder, whose dire eyes swayed empires. Hovering in their fires of vibrating gold hung the glory of his dreadful pinions; and now his form was as that of a god enthroned upon a cloudy tower of horror, and now as of a glorious figure clothed with the sunset and the might of storms. Which one spake with the voice of Earth, saying:

" Who art thou to come up against me with men and with legions and with many weapons? what will avail thee thine arm of flesh when thou meetest my intangible power hereafter, in the midst of which thou wilt be engulfed and utterly lost? Go back, proud conqueror of earthly men, nor dare to impiously raise the anger of gods."

The wings tremulated among the coils as swift lightning running behind clouds, and the high crest cast a baleful light around.

The dreamer groaned in dismay, yet, undaunted, gazed upon the cloudy Horror.

"What if I go not back?" he asked; "dost thou love me that thou wouldst save me from destruction? or fearest thou the reign of starvation that perchance may aid me in level war with thee?"

l O impious," answered the coiled majesty, " dost vaunt thyself the equal of the gods! To save vexation to those high altars I command thee, go! Go with thy legions and possess the land, but touch not Zul nor the habitations of the gods which were of old times before thee."

But as falling lightnings from Heaven that obliterate all view, came a figure of surpassing splendour, filling all space with glory; before whom the many-folded king was but as a dark mystery going forth into the night. In restrained awe bowed the worlds before his icy grandeur that exhaled an atmosphere of most chaste horror and fatal power. Upon his brows enthroned sat Cruelty and Death, and his eyes as purest crystal compelled all that was not of God. His feet rested on night, from his awful head rolled the great storms in the semblance of serpents.

In a voice as of a silver trumpet he spoke:

"Arise,' my son, nor heed such interested counsels. The fair mistress loves not a hesitant lover, and a hot wooing will cause a swift surrender."

The vision faded. The majesty of fire and cloud sank into nebula and left a period of void and nonentity. The morning of Earth swept away the mysteries of the dark night with the life and bustle of the Present moment; yet in Toltiah's soul remained a saying and a dim remembrance that was the voice of Death.

CHAPTER XI. THE HOUSE DIVIDED.

THE city was terrified now in earnest, as tentative gloom gave place to assured imminence of danger; for instead of marching upon the enemy, he had come in legions and in rushing thousands to them. Yet against him burned also a great hatred for desolated provinces, and the daring insolence that would face the proud lords of Zul in such manner of war. They divined that the army of Izta had been overcome, nor were they the more dismayed when the standards of his legions were next morning waved in insult under their eyes. All night long the chiefs of both armies consulted, the one as to defence, the other concerning attack; yet the former looked with dark suspicions, the one upon the other, for many had slain their friends' brothers to advance their own interests, and none owned a leader. The granaries were but half full, owing to treachery, and the owners of flocks and herds, perceiving them to be rudely seized, drove off the remainder and went afar. Only such as had cause to fear the dread wrath of Huitza worked heartily to defend the city, yet in so doing fearing secret death. But the citizens knew that for them was massacre if the walls were gained, and worked freely for their defence, fearing also the intrigues of the nobles. Upon the battlements were placed large vessels containing abominable stuffs to be hurled upon the attackers should they actually attempt an assault, and both sides prepared war-kites to carry up and drop other abominations. Vast offerings of slaves and valuables were placed upon the reeking altars of Zul, and as the blood-fed flame dropped an unctious black soot on the city it glowered fiery and terrible and appeared to take the form of a demon waving a sword over them. Not even in their wide moat did the citizens esteem themselves safe from Huitza, and still more would they have feared had they seen where the workmen of godly Japheth collected materials for the building of catapults, and understood the omen.

The beleaguering thousands were eager for a storming attack, and by morning they were still nearer the walls, that they might look upon their prey and feast their eyes upon her fatness. The busy councils determined that the building of the far-spreading entrenchment might well be delayed until force of arms was powerless, when they could replenish their power while impoverishing the city. Within easy recognition from the walls were the standards of the cities of Atala, Chalac, Trocoatla, Axatlan and Astra; the dragon token of Talascan, the vulture ot the Chalacian cities, the serpent of Lote and the towns of Trocoatla, of Karbandu, Bar-Asan, Muzran, and of Bitsar and certain nomad tribes; and the Fishes of Hanat, Surapa, Sagara and Mutasara, towns of the sea. Before the eyes of the anxious people in the walls stalked Toltiah in all his pride of great stature and beauty, amid frenzied shouts of "Huitza! Huitza!" His appearance filled them with horror and dismay as they believed themselves to be gazing in truth upon the Prince himself.

Lifting his great voice he invited them to surrender, pointing to the captured standards and to the encircling hosts; but though many craven ones would have done so, the braver and wiser knew it would be the beginning of a dire vengeance, for Huitza never brooked rebellion. Therefore they shouted to him to be gone and cast missiles upon him, so that he turned in enraged scorn upon his heel and left them.

There was a hill between the city and the far forest, and upon the summit was a vast skeleton of some unknown animal that lay half-embedded. On this hill, among all the impedimenta of the army, Azta encamped with the women and such as took no part in warfare, watching the preparing of engines of war and the placing of such as were ready. Machines for the scaling of walls were made, and the aqueduct which crossed the moat for the conveyance of fresh water to the city was broken down, large wooden causeways being made for crossing the moat. These would be conveyed across by levers thrust into the farther side and pushed upward from the hither; yet could the enemy by vigilance prevent this, until such time as the catapults were ready to keep them afar.

The bestial gods upon the walls reeked with all manner of oblations, and steamed in the Sun that vaporised the wine poured over their soaking forms; those in the market-square holding in their deformed hands strings of rare gems, gold armlets and necklaces, tiaras, wrought hair-pins, coins of value, and heads of women with their long silky hair matted with blood and dust and flies. The hideous figure that represented the god of these unclean insects and whose open mouth was always filled by his priests with clotted blood to attract them, was importuned to conceive more, that they might cleanse the city with the vultures and the dogs

A glimpse caught of Azta also greatly terrified the people, and Shar-Jatal was vastly dismayed. From walls, terraces and roofs the citizens gazed upon the countless hordes, noting all their movements with anxiety, cursing the Imperial Guards with frenzied oaths as they perceived them, and quaking at the uncouth savages and the tribes of nondescripts, albinos and pintos, and the echoing sounds of whistles, shells, drums and instruments of all kinds that came to their ears.

So eager were the besiegers for their prey that many could scarce be restrained from rushing upon the walls at once; and considering well the human heart, I perceived how one passion can reign supreme to the distaste of all others, as here I saw how the joy of the warrior spurned all conjugal bliss and only rejoiced in furious prowess of battle. They hurled missiles from their slings and bows and howled taunts and insults and threats; while Marisa begged a favour from Toltiah, which was, to be permitted to make a midnight raid on the walls; nor would the chieftainess be dissuaded by aught that could be put forward against it. Mindful of his dream, and enamoured the more of this woman by her splendid bravery, Toltiah consented on condition of a half-hearted promise to consider his suit, and Marisa went forth to prepare for her reckless venture.

The main port, opposite the market-place, deeply embayed amid its huge colossi, and with raised causeway within, was to be the first-tried place, and the Amazons would have to swim the moat. Then, if possible, they would open the ports and lower the causeway by its levers and vast ropes of hide, and the army which Toltiah promised to hold in readiness would follow up the confusion in its pouring myriads.

Thus all the trained legions were moved to the front, and Shem and Ham, Toltiah's instructors in many manly exercises, had also obtained the leader's promise to head storming-parties when the causeways were built upon the morrow. They rejoiced to think of the time that saw them the first to smite the evildoers, nor dreamed of the preference being given to a woman in the field of arms.

A certain exultation entered the hearts also of the warriors of Zul at the prospect of imminent war, notwithstanding its peril and their horrid fate if vanquished. They drank deeply in watch-tower and battlement, heedless of the fact that the great machines and causeways of Toltiah were nearly ready; and all over the city lights shone out as the darkness dropped, the. flames on the temples gleaming brightly, attended by the priests. The Amazons gathered opposite their point of attack, ready with scaling-ladders of rope attached to grapplers to gain the summit of the walls, and waiting with axe, spear and buckler slung on their backs, to glide into the moat and swim silently across.

The drunken sentinels did not perceive the coming foe. Swift shafts pierced them as the grapplers flew upward, and the attackers swarmed unresisted over the walls into the glare of the bonfire-lighted streets, laying low all who opposed them. Then indeed, aroused by long clear whoops to a sense of danger, both friend and foe gazed, startled, to where arose tha sounds of conflict, and as dripping Amazons scaled the high walls lightly, the warriors of Zul poured upon them from all sides. In an instant, hemmed round and driven back by irresistible numbers, that being in readiness arrived swiftly, the reckless Amazons fought stoutly, swinging their great axes and warding off blows with their wolf-skin shields with valiant energy.

They looked for the port and the raised causeway, but a surging crowd of flashing helmets glimmered above the dense shadows of the legions that pressed them back thence.

Around lay many dead and dying, so furious was the conflict, and Marisa, perceiving how powerless she was to accomplish her errand, uttered the long-drawn whoop that commanded retreat. Before her, bounding through the ranks of her warriors, appeared a huge Tzantan wielding a spear, the blow of which she escaped but by an active leap, leaving her shield transfixed upon the ground. She swung her axe upon him and the weapon bit deeply, but as, carried from her balance by the fury of her attack, she fell, his buckler that would have crushed her beneath its vast weight, fell also with a hollow clang by her side, the warrior falling upon it and covering her with blood. The legions of Toltiah, apprised by the leader of what was taking place, looked eagerly for an opportunity to attack the walls also, and could scarce be restrained from rushing into the moat to swim across. The Amazons, as they could, regained the summit of the wall, but some half-dozen, perceiving in the faint light the plight of their Queen, dashed upon the enemy with ready weapons, and clearing a space by the impetuosity of their attack, carried her off. The warriors of Zul made a rush to secure one whom they took to be a chief of note, possibly Huitza himself, but a tempest of spears and axes beat them back, and a tall Amazon, wrenching one of the hideous gods from its pedestal, hurled the uncouth mass towards them, as a missile from the twisted strings of a catapult. Running upon the walls they also poured upon the citizens their own preparations, a few keeping back the warriors until their comrades should have recrossed the moat, and then themselves crossing.

Thus bruised and bleeding they wrathfully retired, hurling insults upon the foe, and casting a certain discouragement upon the besiegers, of whom also the Tzantans were furious at preference being given to a woman, but Toltiah declared it to have been unknown to himself.

The high-spirited chieftainess replied haughtily to his enquiries as to how she had fared, nor would she hear of any things of soft meaning. Her people loved not to be repulsed, nor did they think of aught but blows when in war. Of intercourse with man they knew not save through the medium of axe and shield, and Toltiah, enraged and mortified, was bidden to depart from her presence.

The people of the city were jubilant with their success, believing this to be an attack in force, and were greatly encouraged that the gods had not favoured Huitza for no suspicion of Toltiah being other than the prince was dreamed of, the chiefs believing with Tekthah that the child of Azta had been killed on the night of the massacre. Now from both armies great kites soared up, skilfully directed, dropping combustibles and abominations upon those below, so that many were injured. Yet the citizens liked not the appearance of the camp fires, like a fallen heaven of stars surrounding them, the points of which environment resting on the shores and cliffs above and below the walls.

How greatly were they astonished when they discovered that their fierce assailants of the night were women! They were likewise enraged and ashamed, and two of the Amazons who had been taken alive were subjected to nameless indignities and were miserably butchered upon the altar of the temple of Neptsis, which was near the walls and within clear view of the enemy, who howled with impotent rage at beholding.

The great preparations continued, thousands of men in all directions working like ants in a hill, hauling beams and erecting great machines round the walls, while continuously the large kites soared up and spread their vile cargoes on those beneath.

The Tzantan Coyo-Lote advised a sallying forth from the city upon the forces of the enemy before they could gather in ready might, but Shar-Jatal, who was ever cautious, would not permit this, suspecting treachery. Also, if in good faith, he feared a repulse that would not only discourage all, but seriously hinder the defence, and agreed to wait until such time as a decisive blow could be struck. But the impetuous nobles, stirred up by the former success, would not hear of caution, and insisted upon an attack being made, urging their plan by the greatest show of reasonable arguments, and furious at being thus bearded even by Huitza's self.

Therefore it was planned that the main port should be opened, the causeway dropped, and an army pour forth upon the enemy to do what mischief it might and return when ready. The warriors of Lasan and those other towns which had been overwhelmed and destroyed, cried aloud for vengeance, and formed the main part of the attacking force, while to Colosse and Toloc was entrusted the personal charge of capturing alive Toltiah, who, conspicuous, strode in plain view of all, his enormous shield hung behind his back as a gleaming Sun.

Thus these vengeful men were gathered by the port, and vast crowds stood upon the walls to watch the movements of the foe and their discomfiture by those legions. It seemed as though the enemy had also set himself upon action, for one of the prepared wooden bridges was thrust across the moat by the great gates through which the warriors of Zul were preparing to pour; which was also secured to the walls, despite a downpour of blazing pitch and heavy missiles that stretched howling, mangled workers beneath the battlements.

Around a machine opposite to the port the frantic crowds observed numbers of warriors gather, and presently a great rock was placed upon a beam, while innumerable missiles darkened the air in protection of the causeway, rattling on wall and armour and dashing chips from the idols. Men with levers heaved downward the beam of the engine, which, suddenly rising with terrific violence, launched the rock towards them, flying in varying shapes and gyrations like an approaching thunderbolt.

Cries of terror arose, and a wild heedless stampede took place, the terrified people screaming with fright, striking with great blows and pushing underfoot all who barred their way. Women and children went down in that panic-stricken rush to escape an unknown danger; men stumbled and were pushed down to rise no more, some wriggling impaled on their own or others' weapons, some perfectly nude, others in flying rags. The legions were broken up and confused, and great blows were exchanged; while above shouts, shrieks and cries came an appalling sound as the great idol over the port, smashed into a myriad flying splinters by the missile from the catapult, flew into their midst, and the bounding rock cleared a bloody lane for itself until it fell against a wall.

CHAPTER XII. THE WOOING OF ZUL.

WITH the shot from the catapult the besiegers started into motion. From the lines of their encampment issued a mob of rushing thousands, chiefs leading and standards waving. Two tall warriors led the rest, one waving the National Standard, and like a tidal wave stretching from horizon to horizon the multitudes moved over the intervening space. Waiting in front of the main port Toltiah held the trained legions in readiness to enter the opening valves, as, amid shouts of command, scores of bridges spanned the moat and catapults showered volleys of stones and single rocks upon the walls, smashing idols and overturning vessels of pitch. From the watch-towers issued darts and sling-shot, but, regardless, the attackers moved forward from their encampment, from which their dark legions appeared never to cease to pour; for as the van prepared to run across the causeways the rear still issued forth.

With the long springing step of panthers they advanced and hurled themselves with yells of menace upon the walls, swinging clubs armed with blades of obsidian, at, and waving spears, swords and knives of long flakes of flint and chalcedony and copper, climbing upon each others' shoulders, up ladders of hide or pegged beams to reach the top; while from behind sped overhead the hail of missiles from their comrades. A sound high above caused an instant's cessation, as from Zul's fire-tower boomed the great drum, smitten by Shar-Jatal's hand, like a long roll of thunder, bidding the legions pour to the battlements, as a myriad heads crowned the walls; men helped up on the shoulders of others, forming a living ladder for comrades to climb upwards.

The description would make this weapon appear to be the prototype of the Mexican Alaquahiiatl.

The army inside the main port having recovered from the rush of the panic, spread along the battlements, sling-shot and arrows rattling upon the armour as the sound of a hail-storm; while, pushed across the prepared causeways by the besiegers, and presented to every gate along the walls, came a slung beam in an engine, tipped with a bronze beak, for battering down the opposing defences. The six remaining warships of the fleet lying by the entrance of the moat, fearful of the pouring masses of the foe, ran out to sea, nor attempted a fighting passage round the walls; watching the legions run across the causeways and leap upwards, despite furious resistance.

Savage howls of agony rose as the boiling pitch burned hollows in human flesh, or a sling-shot or slave-whip tipped with bronze claws wounded some sensitive part; but in spite of overturned masses and falling pitch the besiegers streamed upward. And, before God! it was a stirring and a brave sight to witness how those swarming thousands scaled the battlements, and to hear the thud thud thud of the battering-beams falling upon the mighty gates and picking them to pieces; whose grim colossi seemed to smile on their efforts.

Up they went, some over, some to fall back, dead or dying, into the moat, heaving red with blood. An idol, caught by a grappler, fell downwards with its load, clearing a dreadful path by the weight of falling men; and now in one or two red spots human men, mingled with beams and smashed fragments and the horror of broken causeways, filled up the moat and made a dreadful bridge. Mid veils of high-splashing waters the black legions covered the walls, and high waved the victorious Standard of Atlantis as tall Shem raised it to the skies and shouted a jubilant war-whoop. Ham's spear dripped with blood, and all along thy walls, fair Zul, rose near and far the long continuous roar of howls and shrieks of wounded men, the clash of metal and horrid thuds of huge tusk-studded clubs. With furious avenge the savage warriors of Bab-Ala, Ko and Lasan smote at the attackers with their clubs armed with swinging balls of brass; the thrown sticks of Dar and Bari flew like winged missiles into the thronging foemen and caused horrid wounds. Yet up come the enemies with dreadful bravery, undaunted, pyramids of men climbing upon one another.

This would describe equally the Zulu Knobken ie or the Australian boomerang, which latter weapon was at one time more universal than might be supposed, one form of it being found among the Hindoos and another among the ancient Egyptians. The throwing stick is also used by the Andaman Islanders and the Esquimaux.

There fought the swift Amazons with spear and reeking axe, yonder the terrific war-cries of Chalac and Trocoatla rose like the sounds of savage animals amidst the din, as, beaten back continuously, the assailants flew at the walls with desperate valour, opposed by glittering Adar, Izal and Coyo-Lote, and the legions of Hoetlan, Saman and Bel, Oris, Uta, Ataleel and Hammur.

Derion's archers pour over the walls their death-dealing shafts, the piercing cries of the spearmen of the Owl tribes sound like a wild song; Azta, like a goddess in her majestic fury, cheers them on, and Toltiah points to where the leaders, fighting upon the walls, stand within a bloody circle of foemen, red from crest to heel. Would that the gate would yield that he might lead the chafing thousands to victory! With mighty weapons the assailants fight with no advantage to either side, for if ever a valorous band enter the walls a rushing mass of defenders hurls them backward.

The battlements run red with blood that smokes where the sun can reach it, yet still the desperate foemen scale them, some to leap inside and fight until beaten down by numbers, others to fall back, pierced through and through by arrow, spear or sword, or with heads smashed by sling-shot, club, axe or shattering buckler.

And ever arose the sounds, rising, falling, of that long strife, from near and graduating afar, until there was no atom but vibrated with uproar where thousands fought and died. Some hurled down the hideous idols on their enemies, crushing many, and jumping down in the cleared space endeavoured to gain a footing and fight their way to the ports; but, charging furiously, the warriors of Zul ever beat them back. There died of Toltiah's warriors the stout Ez-Ra, the only survivor before the prowess of Izta's troops, and smitten by Amal fell Mazapilli and the valorous Aramath, governor of Bitsar, and Abbas of Surapa in Astra.

There fought Colosse and Iztli amid Princes and Tzantans of Tekthah's Court, covered with horrid stains, with dinted armour and battered crest; mighty Toloc hurls back the assailants with a giant's strength, and the enormous seven-toed Amal fights desperately on the walls with half a score of furious Amazons who tug and tear at him and endeavour to cast him down among their comrades.

Above the heads a rushing mass hurtles, and a serpent column of the temple of Neptsis, shattered by a bolt from one of the engines, falls in ruins and scatters death on the crowd around. Stones from the slings of both parties fly over the wall like a thick hail, humming, whistling, filling the air with hideous flying lumps of flesh and brains and long splashes of blood. Men pant in the stifling crush, and some, smitten dead, sway upright with protruding brains slipping down over their shoulders. Blood shows horribly on ashen faces, but now all is diabolical frenzy, and teeth are bared and eyes blaze like the fires of Hell. The sharp sounds that rose at the commencement have lulled to a long roaring growl and moan as the red weapons flash and circle and fall in deadly onslaught. Still up they go and now men fight on mounds of dead bodies, while choking dust rises thickly, and Shar-Jatal from the highest roof of Zul can scarce discern how the battle goes.

Another shot from a catapult splinters on the crest of the wall, smashing men like flies, and afar the engines hurl their masses pregnant with death, and the great beams fall upon the stubborn gates. Azta gazes with her yellow eyes ablaze, her fierce spirit deeply stirred by the brave sight.

The walls are all red now, the moat in places exposes the half-submerged heaps, and above the death-locked masses rush the bolts from the engines and the unceasing hail of smaller missiles. The palaces and all those buildings near the walls are chipped and redly spattered, and the streets and squares are full of mangled bodies and debris. From near roofs rains down a storm of harmful things, rocks, stones, bricks, sling-shot and arrows, and wretched prisoners, captured at the walls, are hurried to the temples for sacrifice.

Those of Zul fight for their life and liberty, and high blood and superior arms begin to tell against the wearied attackers, mindful of the fate of the captured.

No good now for Shem to raise his war-cry; Ham's great spear lies shivered at his feet; the Standards waver. Marisa, wounded, falls back, fighting sullenly; the ostrich-plumes of Chalac roll backwards like a baffled cloud of thunder. No need for causeways now for the retreat, the path that they recross is the heaped-up path of the dead.

In their encampment Susi prays by the side of Noah, wildly and entreatingly; Asta passionately invokes her spirits, and all cry to their different divinities. Japheth at his artillery taps the humming cords and directs the aim, now of this one, now of that. They perceive the storming-parties, beaten back and repulsed, return discouraged, decimated, weary, and red from, crest to heel, with trailing standards and dishonoured arms. Shem's head lowers with grief and shame despite his valorous deeds, and as they slowly stream lack, those myriad heroes who rushed onward so jubilantly at noon, the setting sun throws long mournful shadows afar. They bewail lost comrades, many whose relationship were very close and dear, and many a blood-mingled tear falls. There, behind them lie friends and foes, horribly mingled in their ensanguined grasps, on the walls or beneath the crimson waters of the moat. Azco lies there surrounded by dead foemen, and many a haughty chief with him now stiff and dead. Amal lies there, gashed and unrecognisable beneath a red pile of friends and foes that press over him his vast shield, gold and studded with gems of onyx. Hadalia, the Amazon, places his mighty armlet of bronze upon her black hair as a coronet, than which none more grand.

Shar-Jatal did not pursue; the fight had been too severe and exhausting to all, and he perceived still the swarming hordes who covered the land to the rear and were unfatigued. Rest was necessary for the wearied ones, and the women tenderly bathed and nursed the wounds of their warriors, resting their weary heads on their bosoms and ministering to all their needs.

Toltiah consulted with the Tzantans as to what they should do, this one proposing to batter down the walls with the beams and catapults, that advising to starve the city into submission. Yet this last would not do, because of the like danger to their own immense armament. Azta, like a goddess of battles, urged passionately another assault, Nezca likewise advising this thing. Surely must some be able to open the ports! So also advised Noah and Chanoc and Nahuasco, nor were wanting the voices of Japheth and Marisa.

Thus it was resolved, and messengers were sent to bring up the rearmost troops and to hasten the savages and hunters and such to the front, for it was thought that these less valuable warriors could exhaust the enemy and prepare the way thus for a most formidable onslaught of the more trained legions. And from the dark encampment there sailed up over the city a great kite which rained fire and poisons above the houses. And others sailed high in the air, until it seemed as though the Heavens rained horror upon the doomed city, scattering fiery death and pestilential atmosphere all around. Many were transfixed by arrows and brought down, yet the sending them back over the besiegers was of small avail, (which had no houses to fire). In fainting horror people died, racked with the deadly poisons, while the city was lighted by flaming roofs that blazed in all directions and fell in upon the people. Yet Tunipa, a mighty archer, caused the downfall of many of the fatal destroyers by rending them with arrows, while upon their arms the foemen slept, exhausted, save those who had taken no part in the fight, which ones kept watch to preserve the camp from an attack.

CHAPTER XIII. THK HILL OF THE TALCOATLA.

THE fires flared redly in Zul all night, and on top of the great temple the horrified watchers could perceive a ghastly holocaust being proceeded with, in fancy hearing the screams of agony of tortured wretches suffering horribly. The topmost flame spluttered and burned redly, flaring with the oil of consuming hearts torn wholesale from breasts throbbing with hideous tortures, and the odour of burning flesh reached even to the camp of the besiegers, and sent the blood in curdling streams to the hearts of the watchers, who deemed that such might be their fate on the morrow.

All through the night that bloody work went on, regardless of the flying terror of the kites, and Noah cursed the evil-doers, and particularly Shar-Jatal and Acoa, by Heaven and Hell and all that was upon the Earth, but Azta, with a little bitter laugh, threatened them with like treatment when she should hold them in her power. Toltiah answered her laugh with one as menacing, for the teachings of Noah affected him not.

The morning came and those who slept awoke And coming from a far hiding-place, where he had fled from the cruel wrath of Tckthah, great Mehir joined Toltiah, eager for the fray. Both sides beheld the rising of the Lord of Light with forebodings; and as Toltiah perceived the flashing tower of Zul leap into a blaze of gold through the veil of smoke that hung above the half-burnt city, he wondered, perchance, what that tower would witness. And being despite, as I have said, all teachings an idolater, deeply he bowed in reverence towards it and on his knee made obeisance, and all the army did likewise.

How many fed their last that morning round thy camp-fires, O fields of horror! And after the commands were given, the trumpets and drums and shells raised their voices of death, and the anxious watchers of Zul perceived that they were to encounter another furious attack, as band on band and army on army moved slowly towards them and the engines were manned.

There were no shoutings and insults this day, only a grim, horrid silence seemed to brood with bated breath over all. Shar-Jatal cried to the gods to aid the city; Pocatepa consulted her oracles, crying to the Shades to help in the defence of the Sacred Shrines and imploring the Spirits of all who had worshipped Zul to aid now in her sore need. But Acoa cried to the Sun by virtue of the pleasant offerings to aid Toltiah.

Now commenced again the hissing hail of flying oddments and the thudding blows of the battering-beams worked by their long array of hauling artillerists. A horrid stench filled the air, arising from the moat, and, as the shots flew, a buzzing veil of flies hid the view of the walls for some while.

Like black clouds, thousands of hunters and savages leaped towards the walls. All the women gathered round Azta and Noah, with their hands raised in supplication to the Heavens. They watched the multitudes dash at the walls, scrambling and slipping, while high in air the missiles from the engines flew in volleys and by single masses, bearing crashing doom and destruction. Hunters and slingers, heaving stones and sharp pebbles, streamed across the horrid moat, while swarms of savages raced before them, and upon the other side of the city the hordes of nondescripts were driven upon the walls.

A wild prolonged medley of shouts, shrieks and whistles rent the air as the masses splashed and plunged through the red horrors, many with feet entangled in protruding ribs falling to their doom. Showers of boiling metal flew among them, causing ghastly wounds, but the booming thunder of drums drowned for a while their shrieks of agony. Yet greatly defended by their rearward artillerists until they gained the crest of the walls, they there encountered the full fury of the flying atoms and fell back in numbers, pierced and dying. Beneath them, on the awful mound of human bodies, men wriggled, impaled on bones of corpses or writhing with dreadful wounds inflicted by the molten metal that bit deep into their flesh. Yet in reckless madness the attackers struggled up, inflamed by the shouts of those behind and in the encampment, who harassed the city with noxious kites.

Again was that echoing horror of shouts, groans and shrieksMen, pierced through the head, cried shrilly and fell on their faces, and many who were wounded whooped to encourage their comrades. Ah, those ghastly wounds! Ears were smitten oft" and eyeballs burst by the sling-shot that smashed skulls and scattered brains. Some, struck in the throat, grunted hideously, and from crushed limbs the purple blood oozed in great gouts, dropping like a heavy rain.

"Now up, ye braves of Toltiah! Forward for Zul and Atlantis! Huitza! Huitza and Victory!"

O Azta, that sweet love of a mother that shone so brightly for an instant! Would that ambition had not held thee so greatly! For a space, oppressed by nameless forebodings, she clung to her warrior; how could she let him go? what should, aught befall him! The sacred instinct rose superior to considerations of glory; and yet he must go, and she, his mother, must not be the one to hinder his triumph, though her heart break and her spirit faint in worse than death.

"Go and conquer, son of Asia!" she cried, "and the Spirits who love thee watch and protect thee. Zul awaits her lord and Victory crowns thy standard. Yet kiss me once more, O my child, for thine own sake and for his whose likeness is stamped upon thy brow. Go, my brave; I shall not survive thee! "

"Fear not, Lady," said the gentle voice of Susi at her elbow, as she stood like a statue of marble, gazing after her retreating warrior; "the God of battles is upon our side and the doom of Zul is spoken. For last night a fearful Vision hovered over her towers a great angel with streaming mane of fire and waving a sword of flame. From Mount Axatlan he came, and from his hand fell a bolt; before him went the lightnings. Didst thou not also see it, my Empress?"

Azta, still gazing, shook her head. The dark clouds of the legions were in motion! A great cry of despair came from the city, thrilling and prolonged.

Right and left, far stretching and tremendous, move forward the masses of men. There glitters the splendid armour of Tekthah's guards, and beside them the ostrich plumes of Talascan and Chalac roll like storm-waves in terrific motion; the fierce legions of the Amazons leap forward swiftly, and Trocoatla pours forward her fiery bands longing to scale the red walls and claim their prey. Swiftly advance the standards; the vermilion plumes of the flamingo flare like splashes of blood upon the moving carpet of crested heads, begemmed with flashing gold and gleaming weapon-points; the horned and antlered helms of Axatlan and the cities of the frontiers sway like a field of plants under the breath of a hurricane.

Marisa's warrior-women rush forward impetuously, and as they surmount the walls and pour like an avalanche upon the weary defenders, all down the long line surges the charging shouts of the vast array, that, fresh and irresistible, leaps to the attack. The Amazon Queen falls with an arrow through her arm, and a streaming wound on her head where a war-club has carried away her helmet and laid bare the scalp. But two vast missiles drop in swift succession into the enemy's masses, crushing and maiming and compelling a retreat.

Up the walls and overl "Huitza and Zul! " rises the frenzied shout, as blades rise and fall and bucklers are beaten down. The noise of the battle doubles the City is in its death-throes!

Toltiah, with the guards before the main port, watches keenly. But for Nezca he would have rushed forward to the walls, but from this the Tzantan begged him desist, pointing to where his legions victoriously fight and bidding him mark the sounds of mortal strife all around the walls, where all had now gathered from roof and street to aid in their defence. Yet more also than defence, for the great cry of the city's despair was not from fear of the enemy, but the news that there was no water in the reservoirs and that the aqueduct was cut. Therefore it was resolved that day to crush the army of Huitza or perish by a kindlier fate than want of water.

By reason of this resolve, suddenly the great valves of the main port slowly opened, turning upon their stony pivots, and streams of warriors issued forth, valorous with wine which had been supplied to them to increase their rage. Yet in a great measure the furious rivalry of their leaders greatly hindered them, and man}' even withheld from joining in the sally; which hesitance was of grave importance. Believing these to be his own victorious warriors who had broken through the port, Toltiah with a shout of triumph swung up his vast shield and dashed forward, but halted in astonishment as he perceived these to be of Zul and not his own troops.

Running swiftly into a fan-shaped formation these rushed upon the legions of the guards, and their great spears clanged upon the advanced bucklers, impaling many. A furious fight commenced as their impetuous charge, ever increased by outpouring numbers, drove back the assailants; and the rearmost fell upon the flanks of the storming-parties, carrying death and destruction. In a dense crowd thousands fought hand to hand where Zul at bay struggled for life, watched anxiously by those in the camp, whose jubilation stopped in anxiety. Sword to sword and spear to spear, with clanging bucklers fought. the trained legions, the guards of Nezca, with Chanoc, Nahuasco, Mehir and many more great and valorous, pressed back by the desperate and overwhelming rush with the rest of the legions of Toltiah.

Shar-Jatal watched from the great temple, pleading the loss of a hand as an excuse for not joining the fray. He saw where, towering above the crush, swayed the golden helm of Toltiah, and marked with dismay the sweeping death that laid men low before his mighty sword. He believed he perceived many of his own chiefs, and sought for where gray Colosse advanced his shield against the obsidian-headed spears of the guards and smote with his flashing sword the ostrich-plumed crests; where great Toloc charged with gory spear, and where, appalling sight, dark Mehir stalks before his eyes, crowned with vengeance and death. The vermilion plumes of officers showed like flames, and bossy bucklers, heaved upwards by some smitten to death, gleamed brightly for an instant and then fell. Clubs flourished and crashed, slinging clots of flesh and blood, swords swung in fatal circles and the long stabbing spears quivered up and down like the tongues of serpents; high sounded the crash of meeting shields amid the shrieks of horribly wounded men and the awful roaring moan of the crowd. Ill fate to him who fell! For now scarce was there room to fight, and men of mighty brawn thrust savagely with destroying elbows, strangling each other with bare hands and butting with their heads. Dented helms and blood-spattered visages rose and fell like visions of a dream, armour was torn off and quivering hands thrust themselves up as from a suffocating sea in which dead men hung by the shoulders, kept up by the crush, to presently fall and cause a stumbling mass for others. Heavy sandalled feet crashed through ribs and stuck in the corpses, and some men, mounting upon the shoulders of others, smashed at the heads beneath until they were killed by a spear-thrust in the abdomen. Here, save but for my intervention, would have fallen Lotis, the youthful chief of Katalaria, whom his mother loved, and for whose sad grief at his parting I vowed to cherish; there fought the furious refugees from Izta's desolating march and such few as had escaped the massacres of Tek-Ra; the Chalacian chiefs Astrobal of Sular and Azebe of Bitala contest the ground with the men of Arioch and Zebra, jealous chiefs whose rivalry hinders their prowess. Before Sidi-Assur, friend of Chanoc, falls Ombar and the men of Lasan, and endeavouring to stem the rush of those of Zul, fight with giants' prowess Eru, Nezca, and Nahuasco, Rhea of Muzran, Arvath of Anduqu, glorious Toltiah and many of the Amazons. The slingers of Bitaranu leap upon the glittering warriors of Zul, and Hano's Astran warriors fall fighting before the unconquered might of Colosse, Toloc, and Eto-masse, and the furious legions of Adar, Oris and Hammur.

Slowly backward swayed the troops of Toltiah, the leader fighting desperately and shouting to encourage his men. If but the thousands round the walls would but perceive his plight and hasten to aid, then would the desperate attackers be smitten in the rear and overpowered; yet so furiously were they engaged in their scaling of the walls and conquering the battlements that no warning moved them. Side by side Shem and Ham swing their heavy swords and shout for aid to them as step by step they are forced back with the struggling mass.

Now they were among the baggage and the women, and these, retreating in weeping terror as the frenzied multitude approached ever nearer, gather round Azta and Noah; the patriarch exhorting them to prayer, Azta commanding them to arm themselves with whatsoever they might and aid their warriors, who, heavily pressed by the Imperial troops, gather round the hill.

Yet even now she gazed curiously around, as here they stood by the white skeleton that stretched right and left, the bones of a Talcoatla, an animal of long past ages unknown save in legend. Behind, an untrodden land; in front, civilization and death. To her mind there arose a vision of a new world, a land whose birth she could not fathom, a realm of the years to come, vague and mysterious. Standing upon the bounds of the Past and of the far, far Future, the roar of the conflict fell upon her ears with a sense of incongruity.

Yet now was the Present and the voice of Death, and she looked for Toltiah with a terrible yearning love. Half-way up the slope he stood, surrounded by his chiefs and warriors, exhausted but unvanquished; while urged on by their leaders and the possession of victory the Imperial troops press them hard. A grim carpet of dead bodies stretches backwards from them to the sally-port; gray-haired Colosse has fallen back there under the walls, and Zebra, Uruk, Saman, Ataleel, Arvath and Astrobal, foes united in death, bear him brave company. Coyo-Lote falls wounded, and Toloc leans heavily on his sword in the rear. Shem's left arm hangs within his failing buckler, smashed by a war-club, and his head is wounded; Ham is covered with blood and dust, and Toltiah's helmet has gone, his ruddy mane flying loosely. Nezca alone appears unharmed.

Sullenly and vengefully they grapple with their foes, but a great rush drives them yet farther up the slope. They fight now in fierce despair and the women cry miserably.

In agony I called upon Heaven, descending with a fiery rush of flame to fight by the side of Toltiah and to protect my Love. Toloc with two giant chiefs, Oris and Bel, rushes up the slope, impatient of victory. Azta with deadly terror in her heart advances towards her son, and the battle closes furiously as the red swords clash and splinter and the battering bucklers meet. Toloc, smitten by my will, falls like a blasted tower with clanging arms, and Coyo-Lote, rushing upon Nezca, receives a great blow upon his crest and falls dead. But in a pool of blood Toltiah slipped and Bel's great sword had then and there ended his career and perchance have saved Atlantis; but smiting up the blade with his own, Alam leaped upon him, bearing him to the earth beneath his buckler, (which warrior was that son of Pharno whom I had seen aforetimes).

Now from the city a great roar proclaims the victory of the attacking legions of Toltiah, and now from every port their blood-stained columns race through lanes of death to the perceived imminence, and, rushing back from the walls, the fiery Amazons leap upon the enemy's rear and with their axes drive them into a dense crowd.

Downward the blood flows in long streams, but the high, clear whoop of the rescuers is as a voice from Heaven rising above the horrid uproar; and, closing in from both flanks, the vulture of Chalac flies above its crested bearers upon Zul, with the serpents of Trocoatla and Lote and the fish-tailed gods of Astra, as streaming hosts pour upon the remainder of Shar-Jatal's legions.

"Go, my child," I cried to Toltiah, "thine is the victory!" and the mighty youth rushed upon the foe, cutting down all before him, while Nezca's battle cry called the legions to the charge. Shem, lying prone in Susi's arms among the riot, shouts jubilantly as the enemies melt away before the rushing legions and men haul the remnant back as prisoners.

The battle was over. The sun had nearly set, but still his bright beams lighted upon the Hill of the Talcoatla and shone on pools of coagulating blood. Bodies of men, not all still, lay in masses along that terrible path leading from the gate of Zul, and cumber the slope of the hill on whose summit the women weep for joy and Noah and his family pray over Shem and bathe the wounds of the others, praising Heaven for the victory. The Amazons stand in groups, dark against the sky, here bending over a dead or dying comrade, there cruelly murdering a fallen foe; and Toltiah, exhausted and wounded, rests on Azta's proud bosom, assured that Zul is in his hands.

This successful storming of so strong a fortified city is, I suppose, the quickest event of the sort on record, but carrying by storm was not often attempted on such a scale.

The siege of Jerusalem occupied about four months altogether, various positions being carried by assault, and finally the central citadel. The siege of Troy is stated to have lasted ten years, but this long time is eclipsed by the siege of Ashdod by Psammetichus, who, according to Herodotus, invested it for twenty-nine years. Tyre resisted Nebuchadnezzar for thirteen years (587 574 B.C.), and then presumably capitulated on favorable terms; but was again besieged by Alexaivler and taken by storm after seven months, in July 332 B.C.

CHAPTER XIV. THE SHAME OF THE STRONG.

THERE was blood in the city; in the streets, on the walls, on columns and steps it lay in pools and splashes. The vultures that sat on the roofs of the Bazaar, scared off by the battle, returned with added numbers and gathered together to the feast of death, fighting dogs and rats that crept forth from holes and corners where they sheltered during the terrors of the siege. Flies rose in black clouds from swollen hideous corpses on the approach of any intruder, the incessant sound of their buzzing being audible all day long; and hanging dead by the heels from beams upon the walls, and drying upon the torture-stakes, were scores of victims to Toltiah's vengeance.

Large ocelots, brought in by the hunters, yelled and snarled savagely, terrifying the smaller scavengers, as they lay flat on their white bellies and drew out the entrails from the corpses. Under huge rocks lay crushed and mangled wretches in pools of purple blood, stripped and denuded of all ornaments; many of high rank who little dreamed of such an end.

The bolts from the catapults had wrought dire havoc, scarce any of the nearer buildings on the lowest terrace having escaped defacement. In the Market-place they had fallen, and the great square was littered with the debris of a late encampment and the smashed wreckage of sundry of the abominable idols, together with shattered rocks and stones and arrows.

The temple of Neptsis had suffered, but the Circus, higher up, had escaped. The Museum was damaged, and the Bazaar which was by the walls was full of horrible debris of rocks, splintered columns and idols, bodies of men with bones and crushed armour bedded in their flesh, entrails hanging like dishevelled rigging of a ship over the mounds of horror and disgust. The palace of Izta had been struck, and the flying splinters had strewn dead bodies thickly there. But the walls! The high battlements had been swept clear of all projections, and the rows of idols were lying in fragments on both sides amid piles of rotting bodies.

Partly within and partly without the city the victorious army was encamped. In the red palace were now Toltiah and Azta, some of the great Tzantans, and Noah, whose family were given palaces of nobles to live in. In one of the apartments Marisa lay, recovering from severe wounds, whom Azta spent long times with: and now the former occupants, Shar-Jatal and Pocatepa, taken alive in each other's arms in the violated sanctuary of Neptsis which they had not respected aforetimes, were in the Circus with many other prisoners, each chained to a negro guard. And fain would Azta have seen Acoa there, but he had gone, nor was he to be found; but there were other priests there among captured chieftains and warriors, of whom the more important were secured as Shar-Jatal and his mistress, but the rest were herded together in the apartments of the beasts, and most of the great ones which were of Tekthah's court were spared all indignities, among whom the queens Axazaya, Sada, Sumar, Tua and others were well entreated, yet some feared for the triumph of Azta, having cause by reason of jealousy and aforetimes annoyance.

And Azta was minded now to slay Mah, whom she feared, yet also had he disappeared, which was aforetimes; and learning of Pocatepa's treatment of Na, and the death of her old nurse, she caused the metal incubus which had been riveted upon her head to be placed upon Pocatepa's. The large ape was speared by a Captain of the guards that none might be enspelled by it, for Azta feared the magic of its mistress somewhat, knowing how Mah held her in his power.

Many of the Amazons were taken by the Tizin for her especial guard and were greatly favoured, being quartered in the palace, and great spoil was granted to all the army, which occasioned many quarrels among them; also their women who had followed them from Talascan were bitterly jealous of the captured beauties of the capital, upbraiding their fickle warriors for deserting theirs for new charms, and smiting them with weapons.

Kach day disbanded troops which were from all the cities of the territories marched back with songs and rejoicings, pleased with the liberality of the Tzan and glad to return to their families; yet there were many who preferred to remain in Zul, having with them their mistresses. And also such of Shar-Jatal's army as preferred to swear allegiance to Toltiah were permitted so to do, and among these the greatest was Iztli, who in the days of Tekthah had conquered Trocoatla.

And swift runners went afar to Akin, who held the fleet before Talascan, that he should chase and capture those six vessels which had fled from Zul; and while the aqueduct was being mended to supply the city with water, it was discussed among the chiefs as to disbandment, and also the restoration of buildings.

Now there was much discussion concerning that army which was of the savages and the wretched peoples from afar, because so great a host, notwithstanding that many had been driven to a death within the moat and their murdered bodies lay in hundreds piled against the walls, caused a scarcity of food, and it was wished to send them away: yet was this also a danger, for so great multitudes would eat up all as they went. Nevertheless it was requested of them.

They refused instantly, clamouring aloud and with menace for gifts, and threatening to drive all the food-animals afar and lay waste the fields; and certain of their leaders prevailed upon the nondescript hordes to revolt, these wretched creatures, eaters of dirt and roots and offal, clamouring and shrieking with the unreasoning and bestial rage of brute beasts, falling upon each other in their blind fury and tearing one another.

Again there was uneasiness, for all these multitudes far out-numbered the Adamites, who feared not their prowess, but the scarcity of food; neither could any support longer the masses of putrefying bodies of men that caused much illness as in gardens and amid ruins they lay, mounds of horrid vermin, filling the atmosphere with pestilence and disease and causing to breed and congregate swarms of flies that polluted everything.

It was agreed to treat comfortably with the savage chiefs of such tribes whose prowess might be feared, and these were convened in the Throne Mall of the Imperial palace. Awe-struck by the huge buildings of the city, by the temples, palaces and streets, and particularly the colossi, these great uncouth people were conducted onwards to the vast red pile and up the sweeping flights of steps flanked by the man-faced lions. Thence they entered the grand Hall where upon the throne sat Toltiah, and upon his right hand Azta sat upon another throne. Between the great beasts that guarded the entrance they passed, stepping carefully to find themselves in such awe-inspiring precincts and terrified by the enclosed space and the gleam of armour all around the hall, from which, but for the strenuous exhortations of Noah and Nezca, they had never emerged alive. For Chanoc and Iru counselled their destruction in savage phrase.

Azta glowered upon them like a Queen of the lower regions, but Toltiah addressed them graciously and allayed those fears that began to manifest themselves on perceiving the glittering guards standing like statues behind the thrones and lining the spaces behind the columns and braziers. He called them friends, praising their fidelity and declaring his wish to show his gratitude, nor said aught about their murmurings.

Presents were brought forward and promises were made to liberally reward their followers, who were to depart back to their own country immediately they received their dowers. To each of the chiefs was given a beautiful maiden, weeping and terrified, and they departed with vows of compliance to the demands asked.

Loads of presents were sent out to their encampment, and any rebellious signs were quelled by the chiefs, who recounted the awful grandeur of the city and the fear they themselves had passed through in the interview with the Tzan. Contented with the presents, they departed with shouts and yells, leaving the hordes of their more wretched compatriots to treat for themselves.

These miserable people caused no fear, and but for the fact of their destructive numbers laying waste the land, would have been forcibly dispersed. Half-witted, deformed, undersized and loathsome, they were merely formidable by the movement of their numbers, gaping foolishly at the multitudes on the walls before them who shook their fists and cursed them. Hungry and helpless, they committed cannibalism in its worst forms, and in a day all the albinos disappeared. They devoured their new-born children and all the young ones, for now, under orders, the warriors of Zul penned them in and prevented their hunting for food, enraged at the extortion inflicted by their powerful and departed allies. There was no gratitude felt for their help and no pity for their wretchedness, and it was resolved that they should render another service and then die. Toltiah manifested yet another characteristic, for as the tiger that has tasted blood, he longed to see more flow, with a terrible and evil appetite.

The manner of their riddance being decided upon, their thousands were first compelled at the point of cruel weapons, and instructed by hunters who comprehended their manners, to clear the long moat of its foul contents and cast all such into the sea; and then, driven within the city through every gate, the ports closed upon their doomed multitude.

The unhappy beings stared at the masses of architecture around them, gazing in fear upon all, as they had need to; and inside, they were forced to remove the rotting corpses and things too foul for name, and cast them over the low cliffs into the waters at the foot of the palace gardens, carrying up dreadful loads on litters borne by many from the uttermost parts of the city. Those who, starved and emaciated, dropped at their fearful task, were killed and cast upon the load, and their women and children were compelled to aid also in the carriage.

Gradually as the troops surrounded them and penned them up, following in the cleared tracks, they became herded into a dense crowd on the low cliffs and shore around and above the waterway and harbour, surrounded by the dark lines of murderous warriors who pushed them up to the higher ground rising from deep water. Their last work accomplished, they stood looking out over the sea, feeling in their poor degraded breasts a sense of fear at the quiet that hovered over them, expectant, as the warning silence of a great storm. Before them was the cliff-edge and the deep waters; around, the gleaming crests and arms of tall legionaries formed a menacing wall that struck an icy chill of apprehension to their hearts.

The sound of a drum broke the stillness of apprehension and waiting, and from the miserable beings, naked and hideous, broke forth a thrilling wail of terror as the instinctive fear of an unknown danger swept over them.

Advancing their shields, the legions made a great rush that sent hundreds of suddenly overbalanced wretches into the waves, where they swam about violently and a few managed to land below the city, being good swimmers. Fearful cries arose, gibberings and squeaks, screams, howls and hisses, and, mad with terror, the victims threw themselves down and bit at their murderers. Ah, the horrible work that followed! Justice of God, that such should be! and I, chained and speechless, was compelled to witness what I had ventured through my sin. The bloodthirsty warriors jumped upon them, smashing their helpless bodies; kicking and clubbing, impaling and strangling, heaving up the writhing bodies in their great muscular arms . and dashing them down on others; swinging them into space by their matted hair like sling-shot, crushing them with furious leaps and hurling them into the waves. Bronze knives crashed through their ribs, the smaller ones wriggled like eels on cruel spears from which they were cast into the waters.

The sea was red, that farther off became a light crimson tinged with dark purple streaks and masses, trailing entrails and splashing ripples. Bodies plunged in the water, writhing in crimson foam, and long dark hair floated like weed.

Many swiftly-moving triangular objects darted hither and thither, as the sharks, attracted first by the dead bodies being cast into the water, dashed among the living prey, their dark fins cutting the waves, and at times a long shining object rose above the horror, to vanish instantly. Slimy arms threshed the air in search of victims and dragged them under the waves, yet still they poured over the fatal shore, gashed and mutilated, moaning and shuddering, amid the brutal jests and laughter of their butchers.

Toltiah watched the hideous scene from an arbour on the cliffs; and Azta, from a part of the palace roof that commanded the scene, watched calmly. I perceived that her susceptibilities were steeled by all the scenes through which she had passed, both in the palace where, Tizin in name, she grew accustomed to all manner of confusion, and in the sanguinary siege that had filled her fierce soul with a certain joy. Her name, with Toltiah's, was now supreme in Zul, yet there was a void, goading and tormenting.

She murmured my name with a sigh; and then rehearsed to herself those words I had told her: " Ambition is a cruel mistress, a siren that .oft lures to destruction." And thus she mused, and then again she spoke: "What is this joy of murder and killing? The sublimity of destruction that comes nigh to that of creation; the wonder of the sunset and the sunrise?"

Her reverie was interrupted by observing the figures of a woman followed by an aged man hastening toward the cruel scene and to where Toltiah stood. The woman cast herself down before the towering chief, gesticulating wildly, and by her actions seemingly imploring him to bid the carnage cease, while the hoary patriarch lifted his withered arms in furious denunciation.

She perceived them to be Susi and Noah, and a gleam of haughty anger swept over her heart at such interference, the anger of the evil-doer whose fault is discovered, and an impetuous resentment of restraint. Noah pointed to the far horizon where the sky darkened, and the woman appeared to wildly implore mercy, her arms embracing the warrior's knees.

He thrust them from him impatiently as the carnage continued without cessation, the tall warriors, red with the helpless blood of victims, hewing and slashing in a frenzy of slaughter and hurling their wretched prey headlong to destruction. There might be seen a furious spearman in swift pursuit of two or three miserable little savages, whom he mercilessly swept down by a terrific swing of his weapon, and then bounded after others vainly endeavouring to escape by flight. Nor did attempts to elude destruction by means of hiding under piles of corpses avail, all the bodies being cast into the waters; and when from under a heap of removed victims an undersized figure leaped up to make a desperate rush for life, some mangled body would be flung after the fugitive, the dead limbs flying in circles as the ghastly missile sped, and the poor wretch would be felled with violence to the earth. And another splash upon the waters spoke of yet another entry through those awful gates of Death.

In vain the two mediators pleaded, in vain the lowering sky and setting sun commanded cessation of the awful carnage. A dark mist covered the ocean and a muttering roll of thunder echoed through the Heavens.

The darkness increased; the last body was thrown over, and now above the place of violence hung a, red mist, so that each man, looking uneasily upon the other, could not see where his feet stood.

A flash of lightning leaped from the dark sky towards the palace. Azta saw where it struck upon the highest pylon roof, and there in its place stood a majestic figure. Two bright wings wavered swiftly as though it prepared for instant flight, and its strangely animated countenance surveyed all the scene at a glance. Its hand rested on a sword-hilt, its vividly brilliant, eyes that flamed tremulously with a wondrous light encountered hers. Entranced, she was powerless, and gazed with wonder on the animated, beautiful being, clad in scintillating atoms, that quivered with the subtle life of a tongue of flame, the wings moving with a bird-like eagerness, and the bright Thing appearing as an illusion of air, transparent and endued with intense life. Thus it stood for an instant that seemed a long period, and then a heavy roll of thunder vibrated the stifling atmosphere. As though in obedience to a command the wings flashed out and the Accuser was gone.

CHAPTER XV. THE JUBILEE OF ZUL.

UNDER the shadows of every grove arose the songs of birds and every breeze bore afar the joyous strains of music. It was the morning of thy bright day, fair Zul, thou who, foredoomed by Man to destruction, went down into the depths and darkness with great horror at the setting of thy Sun. The mourning for the dead was over, yet in unforgetting sorrow went many for loved ones gone; where Edna mourned her lord Colosse, and deer-eyed Tamar sorrowed disconsolate for dead Izal. Yet long would live those great deeds of might, when thou, Astrobal, sought, yet unavailing, to stem the rush of Zul, with Uruk and Arvath; and how Dakka of Bitaranu fought hard against the might of Toloc. The youths of Bitala will look in vain for thee, Azebe; nor more will Napal, Roga, Nit, and Derion clasp their fond mistresses to their breasts; yet rejoice to-day, mortals, for now is the time of Earth's gladness; but, alas that it should have been so foolish.

In the waters by the city lay the Tacoatlanta, and behind her the Mexteo, Tzan and Tizin, gaily decked out with yellow, but not one of those other ships, which indeed were heard of no more. In the cleared Market-place the idols had heen reset up by their various worshippers, whom Azta supported, for Toltiah owned no restraining superstition of any sort at all, worshipping Zul alone to the oblivion of all Noah's teachings.

Azta had instituted new priests and had piously restored the pyramid wherein rested Atlace, the mother of Huitza. For this, being before the temple of Neptsis, had suffered somewhat in the siege. All buildings that had been damaged were renewed, and from arches that spanned streets hung masses of flowers in the midst of which concealed birds sang merrily. All the stems of elegant palm-trees were decorated, and now, the aqueduct being restored and the great reservoirs upon the highest point full, the ripple of a myriad fountains made sweetest music as they cast up their diamond jets among the gardens.

The great Fish-god at the entrance to the harbour, which held the model of the Tacoatlanta in its hands, was enthusiastically decked with ornaments, and the restored gods upon the walls reeked again with oblations. Yet there was certain sorrow in the city for the loss of friends and relations; and also many of the warriors who had taken part in the cruel massacre of the savages died of wounds inflicted by the poisoned hands of their victims. And in the Circus were many wretched captives who cried and bemoaned their fate, whose number was now increased by several chiefs of the departed savages and many of their followers overtaken by the vengeance of the city and brought back to cruel deaths. For all of these were being saved to administer sport to their masters at the great feast to be held in the evening at the palace and in the gardens, and jeering crowds mocked their sufferings with insolent speeches.

Among the idols on the walls the great catapults were placed, and on the flowing moat were cast baskets full of flowers and leaves and bushes of pomegranate, roses, and sartreel, so that the sweet smell rose up to Heaven. A great feeling of security reigned, and luxurious wantonness took the place of all the hard life of the long time past; Toltiah, and all at the palace, glutting their souls and bodies with grandeur, power and pleasure. Companies of beautiful girls, flower encrowned, danced hand-inhand along the streets, breaking up the mirthful crowds gathered around jugglers, musicians and astrologers and captivating the spectators with daring exhibitions of sensuous charms.

The drum of the temple of Zul called to worship and ceremony, and with fervour the multitudes repaired to the roofs, and the Court and notables to the temple. Amaziel was the High Priest, who had come from the Sun in a miracle of splendour, in place of Acoa who had vanished, not being appointed by any of Earth; yet I perceived much evil in his shining countenance and a certain fear which I could not express. His mantle was most curiously brilliant as though indeed it were in verity of the Sun, and with a great love he looked upon Toltiah and also in a measure upon Azta.

The service was consummated in its usual horrid fashion, and the far crowds shouted joyfully as they returned downwards with hearts full of gratitude to the Lord of Light, (for being joyful they were devout,) pleased to return to their merry games and enjoy the bounty of their rulers, while gathering to witness the consecration of the Tzan. For earlier in the palace Toltiah had received the orbed sceptre from the Keeper of the Throne, which was the lord Lamech, the son of Jaal of the family of Enoch the righteous, and upon his head Amaziel had placed the Solar crown of Atlantis, upon the head of Azta placing the crown which held the crystal symbol of the Moon; and now, upon the highest platform of Zul before counties 5 multitudes gathered in dense array, the Lord of Light was petitioned to consecrate the saviour of the people, the man esteemed before Tekthah.

And to add to the awed enthusiasm of the nation, it was* know to every one after what fashion Toltiah was carnally endowed, as a very offspring of Zul in actual manifestation; so that there were continual great movements to get near enough to be able to see him, and very many people were trampled under foot and were killed. Nor less was Azta fearfully regarded, as being concerned in his appearance before them, all believing him to have been incarnated through her by the god Zul.

All the great ones of the land were there, either upon the same platform or in the forefront of the multitudes; and many who were pardoned when the city was taken, being among them all of Tekthah's household, who joyfully welcomed him whom they believed to be Huitza and sickening of the upstart Shar-Jatal.

There were men, women and youths, noble and great, children of Tzantans and Chiefs, Queens and Princes; old men who had grown gray in Tekthah's wars, venerable tribe-leaders who had followed the four-armed Cross of Atlantis from the north-east to the hill of southern Zul and beyond. With tears of emotion they witnessed the consecration of their Emperor, and when all was over a vast shout arose: "The Tzan, the Tzan! Huitza and Zul!" and as Azta stepped forward and saluted him with a kiss, yet wilder rushed the swelling roar to Heaven, as victoriously they shouted her name, calling her Tizin and goddess.

How wonderful she looked, raised above human passions and vibrating with a new life as she stood with head thrown back, her swelling throat alone showing the emotion that nigh overcame her! Entranced by her beauty and unearthly majesty the noble crowd upon the high platform thundered applause, and Nezca bowed the knee low before her. Toltiah gazed upon her very curiously and I perceived he liked not Nezca's act, yet he said nought, smiling haughtily around.

Heralds dispersed the crowds and After-worship was partaken of riotously; in bowls of hot wine the souls soared to the skies. The strains of music redoubled and whirling dances engrossed the joyous throngs, who cast masses of sweet flowers about and sprinkled one another with liquid perfumes. But their gambols were licentious, and many a wanton shriek arose above the roars of merriment, and not a few cruelties took place; for the people were very like to tigers at play, yet without the natural restraints of such forbidding unseasonable coarseness.

In the palace matters of state progressed. Toltiah, upon the throne of marble and ivory, supported by the princes, councillors, captains, astrologers and such as knew every detail of every thing for settlement, the geographers, judges, and rulers of tribes and cities, divided the lands and appointed to coveted posts, distributed taxes and regulated laws. Only to such as formerly owned allegiance to Shar-Jatal were no rewards given, but to all that besieged the city was granted something. This one was appointed governor of this city, another of that: Chanoc was appointed Lord of Astra, (Raim, a favourite chief of the Talascans, being appointed governor of Atala in his place); Iru, Lord of Tek-Ra; and Nahuasco, of Trocoatla. Atala, neighbouring to Axatlan, was given to Nezca, Lord of Axatlan, who was much beloved by Toltiah for his beauty and loyalty, Alam being made the governor of Talascan for saving the life of Toltiah; and Chalac was restored to Mehir. Marisa, who had risen from her couch, was offered a high appointment if she would swear to remain an ally of Zul; but she refused, to Azta's sorrow and Toltiah's chagrin, and it was given to Resaula, a son of Sifu, concubine of Tekthah whom Toltiah loved. And to such who, being already governors of certain cities, were to return to that city, power of concessions was granted; and particularly was leave of greater concessions given to all of Atala.

The sons of Noah felt no little annoyance that no province had been given to them or their sire, but Toltiah smiled upon them, saying that his love for them was such that he wished them to remain always by his side. But they knew he feared their teachings and loved not their straightness of living and had forgotten his indebtedness to them for all that he was. Yet nevertheless, embracing Noah, he conferred upon him the governorship of the city of Zul and gave him a palace and estates; and likewise embracing his mortified foster-brothers, to Shem he gave control over all the economy of the Empire, to Japheth the post of Chief of Armies, and to Ham the management of all walls and public buildings; likewise giving to each, a mansion, and certain apartments in the Imperial palace. The chief Akin was made Tzantan of the Sea, with control of the warships and fisheries; and many more posts were given to sundry. The taxes were arranged and the code of laws revised, and at evening all was completed and the drums and trumpets gave the signal for the feast.

The palace had been renovated and the dining hall restored, the old marks of violence cleared away and the frescoes touched in with fresh colours, between which the polished mirrors reflected everything with wondrous brilliance. All the notables of the land were to come as guests, and every citizen of Zul, with the Amazons and all the armies and the crews of the warships; and the gardens of the palace were prepared for the reception of the guests, many trees being cut down to leave open spaces, in which the carpenters made platforms of wood to form level surfaces for the viands and bowls of wine, which were in great abundance.

And how stared those warriors who were from the borders at all that they perceived, at the delicious fare so different from their rude victuals, and the manner of the serving. Mingled with the sweet odours of dying flowers were the odours of the feast, for among piles of fruits of every sort were steaming joints of meat and whole animals roasted; panthers, bears, horses, aurochs, antelopes, all yielded up their delicacies to fill the hungry stomachs; of fishes there were sorts without number, some great sturgeons and the turtles much sought after. White swans and gorgeous peacocks, prepared in their plumage, ornamented the board above mounds of grapes, melons, nuts, bananas and oranges, heaps of small birds reeked in pungent sauces, and baskets full of locusts, ants and such, soaked in the juice of lemons, filling the air with scent. Pine-apples lay in their red lusciousness side by side with the vast feet of mammoths, which were esteemed a great delicacy, and venison tempted the appetite with its steaming odour. There were piles of bread and cake and rich sweetmeats, and baskets full of Atalan land-crabs, and among all of these were placed strong scents of animal, flower and pungent wood, hidden beneath the enormous bowls of wine.

Upon these good things the eyes of the guests fixed themselves gluttonously. There were warriors young and old, merchants with their wives and mistresses, jovial seamen and dark tribe-leaders. Some of the warriors wore their harness, but most had cast it off and were as the citizens, for all carried arms; and thus on skins of lion, bear and all manner of animals the crowds reclined, and upon them from all around the light from torches and bonfires cast a red glow, while in front of the Hall of Feasting all shuddered pleasantly to observe the multiplied array of crosses and stakes filling the broad platform above the sweeping steps.

In the great hall, torch-lighted and brilliant with garlands of flaming sartreel flowers, Toltiah, with Azta on his right hand, reclined upon that dais unoccupied since the murder of the nobles, above the gay throng, cooled by the waving of a thousand scented fans. Below were Nezca and the Tzantans of the palace, Marisa, Amaziel, Iztli and the family of Noah, and all around I perceived many great men, among them reclining ladies of high rank, haughty queens and elegant. Behind the da'is were detachments of guards and Amazons, and either side lay Toltiah's mistresses, their masses of hair flashing with precious gems and ornaments.

Tua was there, coquettishly veiling her soft blue eyes with their long lashes whenever they encountered the admiring gaze of some chief, which was not a little often; Sumar was there, and southern Emarna, with her red complexion and large bold eyes, was among them also, gazing with love upon Ham, notwithstanding that his espoused wife Ru reclined by him; and upon these soft, luxurious beauties the Amazons looked scornfully and jeered, noting the powder upon their faces and the flaming jewels in their teeth, while with no less curiosity did the queens note where Marisa reclined, and mark her masculine beauty.

Large black slaves assisted the menials in handing the great joints of meat and other things, and walking freely among the viands poured forth the wine from the amphoras into drinking horns and cups of shells of turtles and vegetables, particularly of certain sorts of large nuts. They handed round the scented smoking-herbs, while the music of a hundred instruments swelled high and drowned for a time all other sounds, the multitudes listening in admiration to the strains.

But before the eating and wine-bibbing started, and when all were seated, Nezca arose with a huge horn of wine, crying to them to pledge the Tzan, and like the rush of an army the warriors leaped up, shouting: "The Tzan! The Tzan! Huitza and Zul! " pledging the gratified ruler in great draughts of wine, those without taking up the cry until it spread over the multitudes. Whereon Marisa, standing, cried also upon them to pledge Azta, and opening a vein in her arm so that the red blood fell into a bowl, she drank it to the Tizin. And as she bound up the flowing wound, the crowd, rendered mad by such manner of pledging and the enthusiasm of the toast, shouted with mighty noise and emptied deep horns of wine to the majesty of the Tizin; while a tempest of glittering weapons hissed in flashing salutation. Nahuasco raised one of the immense amphoras and drank to her with a vast enthusiasm, and many others followed his example; while, catching the madness, the great crowds without shouted Azta's name, coupling it with that of Neptsis. And at all this applause Toltiah's features expressed a diabolical jealousy, and the beauty of his countenance was as that of a smitten and fallen demon, sublime but terrible,

And then the feast began and the people did nought but eat and drink and smoke continuously, ravening like animals that were starving. Lying flat on their bellies they gorged themselves, and Noah and Shem, with their women, went out to their apartments, not liking the licentious doings of many.

Such as had never before seen the interior of the palace stared at the wonders around, drinking in the pictured conceptions with joy and awe, the Amazons gazing coldly upon the portrayals of huge and unrestrained imaginations. The wavy lights danced brightly on weapons and gemmy tiaras, helmets and armlets, and turned the great amphoras of wine into craters of blood as the viands disappeared. Full stomachs began to crave less haste in satisfaction, and, adding to the minstrelsy, snatches of songs arose, ribald and coarse, as the wine bred bravado and merriment. The women sang also, and bright eyes grew brighter and glances more daring as here and there one danced among the viands with tossing hair and wanton gestures.

Tairu, sweetest of musicians, declaimed in a clear space in the midst of the tables, singing the glories of Atlantis and of her present Ruler. He narrated from the beginning' the history of the Earth, from when the huge egg formed in the surrounding dark waters, impregnated by demons and monsters, product of Neptsis. He sang of the beauty of Azta and the ladies of the Court, the prowess of the Tzantans and warriors, while strains of sympathetic minstrelsy added an undertone to his song. Likewise accompanying himself upon a one-stringed instrument of music, he stirred up the 'easy enthusiasm of the audience with songs of loves and battles, the mythical amours of Neptsis and AEther, and the warlike procession of the Last-Created.

This doctrine of the Mundane egg indicates what, for want of a better word, I must call Turanian ideas, and belongs to the most archaic cosmogonies. The egg is a common mythical element, found in Egypt, Phoenicia, India, China, Finland, and Polynesia, but wherever such is found it may be traced to that old " Turanian" cosmogony which makes the world resemble an egg, formed in the water. To our day the old veneration lingers in the Easter egg, symbolical of the Resurrection.

The idea of an aqueous origin of everything is also very old. Lenormant tells us that the Akkads, whose mythology passed into that of the Semitic Babylonians, "considered the humid element as the vehicle of all life, the source of all generation;" and several myths, of which the sea-birth of Venus is the best known, testify to the prevalence of the idea. The Frog symbol and the creative Frog Ptah of Egypt undoubtedly indicate the same.

He gave place to jugglers who played with balls and knives, blowing long tongues of flame through their nostrils the while, and dancing girls who kept step with weird music, and whose graceful movements and significant gestures won the riotous applause of the drunken throngs, lying forgetful even of eating in the joy of watching. And while this progressed, one was sent to the Circus to bid the jailors bring along the oil-fed captives for the horrid amusement of the mob.

CHAPTER XVI. "O TERQUE QUATERQUE BEATI--!"

FROM under the cold star-light, driven in chains, they came; scores of wretched captives, into the menacing red glow of the fires and the merciless presence of those whose positions would have been reversed with reversed Fate. One who fainted was cast upon a bonfire, and with their devilish appetites aroused the crowds bared their teeth and waited in anticipation for what was to come.

And what followed I scarce can write, for so much the more as I partook of the nature of man so also greater did the tortures of the Clay affect my soul, and yet on such occasions was I unable to do aught but watch and suffer. O accursed man who can so rejoice over the pain inflicted joyfully on another, who will dare the curse of the injured for the devil's satisfaction of witnessing suffering! Would that I could have stopped that horror; yet I knew it was part of the damnation that man should work to his own undoing and of his own Heaven-free volition.

And so I watched, sick at heart with what I scarce knew was coming; and while shuddering wretches were being bound to the crosses and saturated with fat and oil, a captive, chained to a negro guard, was led into the clear space among the viands before the dais.

Tall and of an ashen pallor, this was Shar-Jatal, whom Toltiah did not know, but to Azta he brought back vividly the last time that she had eaten in that hall. Again she appeared to feel the curious sensation of impending catastrophe, and looked around as she had done then to see if anyone else shared her fear.

It was the same scene! There were the gaudy frescoes, the bright reflecting mirrors, the wreck of viands and the great vessels, the slaves, the flashing arms and jewels, the wanton indolence of the sprawling drunkards. But where now was mighty Tekthah? where Huitza and Rhadaman? where Colosse, Teta, Semaia, Amal and many others?

A sudden flash of a jade spear-head aroused her, and she looked to where the captive stood with his mutilated limb hanging to his side. At his feet the jailor lay in his death-struggles, for it was deemed too great a hindrance to release the fetters, and also that a slave should not live to boast of such a connection.

The chief's eyes sought Azta's with an agonized entreaty, but cries and jeers drowned his wild appeal for mercy. The jewels in his teeth were brutally jeered at as the ornaments of female vanity, and a woman threw a small bone at his face, which hung entangled in his beard; whereupon another plucked it forth with a handful of hair, saying that it was a pity to waste good food on so craven a warrior; and Marisa, whose rage flared up at remembrance of the deadly repulse of her attack, struck him in the foot with her spear, crying out that she would that he were able to face her with arms and buckler.

Then Azta spoke, her fury rising as she recited his deeds of insolence to herself and of cruelty to others, his imprisonment of her and daring pressure of an abhorred suit, his ready aid in the massacre, and in the murder of his lord, the Tzan Tekthah. His upstart seizure of the sacred Throne and audacity in resisting the risen Huitza and slaying his loyal warriors deserved more punishment than they could inflict upon him. I Ie should be sent to wander far from Zul to meet the full award of a coward and a murderer, despatched thither by such poor means as could be devised.

Abuse and insults were heaped upon the trembling wretch. the women goading themselves into an access of frenzy by crying out the names of warriors slain upon the walls, and a drunken Tzantan applied a torch to his long matted beard. The scorching flames rose swiftly, enveloping his head and burning his eyes out, and roaring with the agony, he plunged as far as his fetters would permit, falling with a crash Marisa laughed a bitter scornful laugh, echoed by her followers and all the crowd, the silvery mocking merriment of the women rising above the rest. And what followed I cannot say, for it is not well to consider too fully the cramping horror of maltreated muscles; but with consumed entrails, lying prone between strong fastenings, he died; and the panting butchers returned to their couches to watch the burning of the victims upon the crosses, and those which writhed upon the stakes.

The lions roared deeply, scenting blood, but unheeding, the revellers plunged their heads into the wine-vessels, swilling with deep, stupefying draughts. Many lay helpless, and others, unaware of their surroundings, shouted atrocious songs, brandishing their weapons dangerously.

The remains of Shar-Jatal were carried out to be cast upon a furnace, a warrior hacking a portion of flesh from a limb as the body passed, and devouring it with a ferocious jest. The Amazons chanted a weird song as tremulous lights shot up from the crucified victims without, fired at the feet by long torches, reminding each other of the torture of their comrades.

In front of this array of victims and facing towards the hall, Pocatepa hung, the heavy bronze cage enclosing her head tied by a rope to the top of the cross, so that she could see all in front of her; and, stripped of the mystic insignia of priestess of Neptsis, various degradations were put upon her, because that, being a married woman, she had defiled the shrine of the goddess. By her sides were Bel and Arioch, and these were to be left to the last, with the golden skewers of slaves thrust through their nostrils, their eyes rolling awfully as the storm of horrid shrieks arose all round them, and the flare of the leaping flames cast wavering cross-bars of light on the terrace, flung lightning-like by the writhings and confined plungings of the living torches. Choking sounds were uttered, sharp shrieks and growling yells of the most intense torture, the uncontrollable cries of staked and burning wretches. The large-bodied warriors shook the crosses with their frantic struggles, and sometimes a half-consumed limb would be torn off in the death-throes, the awful writhings of the semi-released and fiercely burning creature adding horror to the awful scene.

The spectators watched silently in a dense crowd, the trees being swarmed with them, shuddering occasionally, and with nerves at a high tension, crying out with terror when any burning clot of oil was flung near them. Azta's yellow eyes flared like a tiger's, Toltiah, nigh overcome with wine, watched with expanded nostrils, and Ham and Japheth murmured the disapproval they dared not utter.

One of the feasters crashed his head open by falling drunk on the edge of an amphora, and a tall Amazon, terribly excited by the scene, cleft a slave to the jaws for an insulting remark. Vet these things passed unnoticed in the face of that flaming Horror, and even two men fought one another to the death over the possession of a woman and none scarce perceived it.

Now a body fell, hanging by one arm, and swung in gyrating movements; another dropped, half-consumed, amid a puff of flame and sooty smoke. Blood burst from attenuated cuticles, and the sputter and hiss sounded amid the roar of the flames. From burst skulls jets of smoke rose in spiral columns, bones ( crackled and more bodies fell, some with the consumed crosses. The shrieks had fallen to a few shuddering moans, and the dreadful people began to cry for the bodies to be added to the bonfires and more living ones put up.

Many drunken wretches fell from the trees and were killed, and there were not a few fights, while such as were on the outskirts of the crowd committed violent deeds. The stench of burning hair and flesh was fearful, and the eyes smarted with the pungent smoke. The executioners bound fresh victims to the smoking poles, oil was poured over them and fired; the impaled victims were lifted and placed upon crosses, others being raised upon the bloody stakes; and again arose the horrid cries, a tempest of awful sound that drowned and quenched all else. One or two stout men plunged like impaled porpoises, so that their vessels burst and let fall a hail of splashing blood. Consumed abdomens permitted the long entrails to gush forth, while from the shivering bodies the burning oil was shaken as a rain of liquid fire.

A large drop flew upon Arioch, and instantly he was alight, plunging and tearing furiously and roaring like an impaled lion in the intensity of his sufferings, as his long beard and massy mane shrivelled in a breath, the smoke enveloping his head as with a cloud. The burning splashes of oil fell upon Pocatepa and wreathing flames sprang about her, enwrapping her rounded figure in their embrace; while Bel similarly leaped into the similitude of a genius of fire, and shrieked horribly until he died. Yet Pocatepa moved not nor uttered a sound, and those nearest her perceived her to be already dead. On her arm the coiled snake wriggled in the flames with jaws widely distended and forked tongue tremulating, but its hisses were unheard in the inferno of sound. All there, knowing her repute as a sorceress, expected to witness something extraordinary, and a cry of terror arose when the bronze cage, breaking from its calcined lashings, fell forward, and tearing the half-consumed limbs from the arms of the cross caused the body to hang suspended by the legs; when the head, with its lava-like mass of burnt hair, torn from the body and drowned in a rushing cascade of blood, fell from the burning mass.

A cry burst from all who witnessed the sight, and the crowd began to tire of its awful sport as the calcined crosses fell, carrying others with them. Yet in that horror one dared to obtain possession of the head of Pocatepa that the emeralds in the teeth be obtained. Captives, chained together, were fired in groups, the drunken murderers yelling with mirth to see their opposing struggles; but suddenly three mangled wretches broke away, and maddened by their fiery torments, ran like demons among their tormenlors, catching up weapons and slaying incapable wretches right and left; nor were they killed until over fifty people had fallen before their justly avenging fury.

Enraged, the mob fell upon the rest, and most of them died a merciful death beneath knives, spears and swords. Inside, Azta arose and drank a full horn to " the warriors of Atlantis," such as were able to move staggering to their feet with a shout of salute, Toltiah among the rest. Amphoras were drained, and some of the more sober went outside and returned hauling survivors of the prisoners by their chains, whose throats they cut over large vessels and savagely drank hot blood. They broke open the skulls to devour the brains, and tearing out the quivering hearts, raised them upon their spear-points in derision and then devoured them likewise. Their eyes swam with maddest excesses, and their mighty limbs were almost beyond control.

The work of slaughter continued until not one of the hapless prisoners remained alive, and well might those tortured wretches envy the fate of those who fell on the walls and in the fierce battles before Zul, and cry aloud with great yEneas yet long unborn: "O thrice and four times happy, whose fate it was to fall before your fathers' eyes by those high walls I"

O terquc quaterque beati!

CHAPTER XVII. THE INFERNAL COUNCIL.

IT was when everyone lay prone upon the ground and no sound save of prowling beasts broke the silence, that Amaziel, sitting upright where he was, spake unto Nezca:

"Hail, Hesorio! Look thou and say, have not we done well?' And Nezca (whom aforetimes I knew to be of no earthly mould) answered him:

"Great Leira, have we not ever done well?" Hesorio was that sarcastic Spirit that ridiculed all, who after invented the prayer-wheel and the rosary; one of those which fell by a dire ambition that threatened to wreck Heaven, among whom also was Leira. Which one had I not foreseen in the person of Amaziel, but now, perceiving, feared. Also I now understood Mah to be one of the fallen, like unto Leira, yet of a grosser nature; and was greatly distressed to think upon the latter's words and of how the powers of Heaven fought against the Earth for to destroy it. And this one strove hard to recover from the blasting oblivion into which he had been plunged, and had in a great measure recovered some of the past glory by which he could farther work the will of the master-mind of great Satan in the undermining of Heaven.

For although I will not, nor indeed could I, tell of the stupendous economy of God, yet there is the perfection of tiniest atoms that which builds up the grand whole, and who may tell how far a canker will spread? And in this dire plot to wreck Earth was a danger, menacing indeed, that could not be supported, and my thoughts sped out with eager wings to find the reasons of why such could be permitted and why sin could be allowed, and returned trembling to see the certain end of it all.

What was Man that he should endanger Heaven, and the lust of man that could shake universes unimagined? The ungoverned passion that longed for union with any strange thing, and devised all manner of confusion to gratify its furious ends, gave to the sons of Heaven the means that they desired by which they might regain that which none but God could hold or wield. And to man was it granted a power to mould his own destiny! And now, his evil increased by the perceptions of Archangels, what sweeping calamity must fall upon him. O Azta!

Among the dark forms and the wreckage of the meal which a few touches lighted, the two fiends sat with crossed knees in the shadows of the vast gloomy hall. Their sinister orbs were bent upon the debauched figures lying with far-extended limbs, and they sighed while yet they triumphed, silently regarding those whom they made the vessels of their designs.

"Now does our great work begin to gather force," said Leira; " and yet I fear the Wrath that may again descend upon us and sweep us still farther from our end. Hast marked Asia, which was sent to mitigate the evil of this race beloved of the Angels? I'truth, none served me better than yon fair Azta, in that she hath led the would-be captor captive! "

" Thou sayest well, as ever, great Leira. We have revenged ourselves upon this Creation preferred before us and have made of it a stepping-stone to our desire. The leavening Adam, which was to have led all the nations to a glorious height, with reversed steps leads them down to Hell; and in place of a wisdom that would grow with immortality and reach the skies, has forsaken it in our favour and welcomed Death, preferring the fevered joys of Earth to the calmer ecstasy of Heaven. O generous Man, that we should treat him so!"

Leira frowned darkly. " It is not all to us that he is evil and possessed of such libidinous fury," he said sullenly.

" Our measures greatly coincide with his," said Hesorio, with a bitter sneer. " And yet are we also bitten by him in that we love. And by reason of our own confusion by accursed forgetfulness of sovereign power our sweet Loves die and go from us, and their enlightened Spirits loathe us which drag them from the light."

Leira sighed, and a tear fell from his eyes. "Thy words are bitter," he said, "yet to our great end nought could have worked better than that Azta had been born to me, for I fear the might of Asia. And had not that accursed Shar-Jatal, whom I have undone, slain my son Huitza by his foul designing, he would have overcome the Earth by force of bloody arms, and falling into some fair devil's power have spread a veil of ruin over all."

" Yet Azta loved him well and would have taken him to herself? "

" Truth and in good time they twain would have wrought a mighty evil when the arms of Atlantis were carried in red victory to the ends of the Earth, and the race of Adam, weakened by wars and intermarriage, should no longer be of use for a leaven of holiness and wisdom. But then came Asia, and for him I reserved Azta, to hold him in chains lest he wreck our plans."

They sat and gazed, the one upon the other, and in the great shadows I perceived many forms that lowered above the unconscious multitude. Couldst thou have seen thy doom, O Man! And, my Love, didst thou know thy dread descent and of what awful sin came this offspring of ours?

I had wrought confusion with the daughter of a devil, and upon my soul the accursed knowledge fell as a thunderbolt.

"And where hast hidden Mah?" asked Hesorio.

" Pholia rests in Zul. Too ambitious ever is he for Earthly glory; yet he serves."

" And thus we work! and in my friendly care Toltiah rests in careless trust, subservient to my secret councils which have caused my mortal guards to fall from the high path that they would wish to tread."

They both laughed scornfully, their merriment echoing in the spaces of the vaulted roofs and around the walls.

"This great child of Asia's will aid us bravely," said Leira, glancing to where Toltiah lay on Emarna's breast, breathing with an unseemly noise in his heavy sleep, " witlj his own soul and body of man and woman shall he enslave the high lords and ladies, holding them in restraint, while Azta shall reign in deed and in truth, and by her womanly weakness countenance all confusion, afraid of rousing the nation against her cherished supremacy. Rulers with alien blood in their veins shall rule over cities and states, and the nation shall fall beneath our arts."

"Such shall be, and more," said Hesorio; and together they discussed such things as I may not tell of, whereat my wrath arose greatly. Yet was not I as bad, though not wishing to be? I dared not disclose myself when under my eyes lay the sin that I myself had wrought, wringing my heart with its unkind witness. In the silence where sat those two awful figures I watched, horrified, self-reproachful and despairing, and heard there the plans for the destruction of a world of Souls in which I, not all unwilling, aided. Oh the terror of weakness that fell upon me, the horrid rebellion of feelings! I could not forego my love; with a despairing insistence it clung to me and did but raise a storm of furious emotions that cried to me to do anything to uphold it and strive to attain my end at the same time. In a terrible chaos of wrecked emotions I stood, for I could not give up my Love, whom, nevertheless, I knew loved me not, and yet how would she act as Ruler of the land?

Between me and Paradise she stood, holding in her hand the sword of the Vengeance of Jehovah. In a vision I saw it, where a great black cloud slowly parted in the middle before the mystic Gates that no mortal comprehends, before which stood Azta chained by the lightning so that I might not pass. The atoms of Earth, pregnant with awful lust, dared impiously to mingle with the terrors of Heaven, dared because not comprehended; vaunting their power before the inviolable purity of God; and blinded by these I stumbled from the light, repulsed by a power that charmed while it resisted. Around me stretched unknown expanses of gray shadows, and in my bursting heart was a great feeling of reproach and a knowledge that although I suffered so by my own volition, yet it was also through someone else. Before me was the pure beauty of Heaven, closed against me by the dark barrier of Forgetfulness, intangible yet insurmountable; I knew I had become imbued with Earth, whose greater discoveries open up greater fields of marvel which, reached, disclose immeasurably greater, to which is no end. I saw and knew the wonders of unending mystery, limitless, boundless, awful! And then I marvelled if those two fiends yet realized the wonder of it all and dreamed of the ruinous horror that they strove to drag down upon themselves.

And then before my eyes entered a vast beautiful presence, refulgent in flaming light, and I perceived the dread glory of Satan, the potential Power-of-Evit in manifested form. A horrid beauty enwrapped the godless Angel, and upon his broad forehead shone redly the scar where the lightning-sword of Michael had smitten him with disaster, closing upon him the gates of further knowledge through which he had dared to steal. Tremendous in infernal power he strode, the acknowledged Lord of Hell and Father of Confusion, reckless in war and fertile yet of dread councils, awful in power of evil and corruption.

Prostrate before him fell the inferior fiends, yet growing in fiery volume under the eyes of their great master.

"Arise," he spoke, "ye have done well;" and his eyes floated upon them with the fire of bright stars, cold as the glittering ice, while his arms, like two columns of marble, overspread the sleeping crowds in malediction. Upon them he cast a light of such brightness that all appeared as spirits gazing upon him with terrified fascination and trembling before his countenance, which, serene and majestic, was turned upon them. Before the awful Angel in transparent nakedness they lay, tiny and insignificant before that great Evil, the embodied wisdom of countless ages that had dared to compete with God; and I marvelled how "Man could possess such self-esteem, save but that he believed his tiny horizon to hold all things.

"Who made Earth?" asked the Wonder of Sin in a voice that touched the Infinite, and a myriad voices answered him:

" Partly we made it!"

"It is well spoken; and but for lack of constant faith had we accomplished more," said the great Spirit. "Remember, ever remember for your strengthening, that it was by hesitance we lost, by doubt our backsliding gathered force until in hideous rout we fell. Remember our former power and unshaken strength of will, and how shook the Heavens before our great imagining! Then had we won, but suddenly a doubt of our powers seized us it grew, resistless, numbing our faculties, intruding beyond hindrance and increasing with its first knowledge and power slipped from our command. Our noble efforts to recover our proud confidence nigh succeeded wavered hesitated

IN BAFFLED FURY RETIRED.

gave way with one fell rush of deadly fright and terror and in tremendous amaze cast headlong, we were reduced to this. Stand firmly and trust in me, and step by step we will regain our heights! "

And the voices answered: " We trust! Our power is upon the Earth! "

A dreadful smile hovered like a shadow on those dire lips;

"Our leaven overcomes," he said; and from far distances, rolling as muffled thunder, came the triumphant shout: "It is ours! Man is our tool and Earth is ours!" In the infernal brightness those dread hands were overstretched upon Azta and Toltiah and the demon voices cried: "Strike!" But with great emotions that drove my spirit as one before the rush of a mighty wave I stood forth, crying: "Strike not, dark angel, or dread the wrath of Jehovah!"

Amazed, the shining triad stood, quailing before the brightness that even now overcame theirs, and powerless before the sword of celestial fire. In baffled fury they retired; while, awaking as from a horror of the night, men rose up trembling, nor deemed that they had slumbered beneath the wings of Doom.

CHAPTER XVIII. THE VISION OF THE EARTH.

SOME time rolled on and I began to be possessed of new ideas as I looked upon Azta and considered her. An enthusiastic fury seized upon me. I would take this one, daughter of a fiend, Love of an Archangel, and raise her in all her splendid majesty and beauty to a height of glory and of mighty knowledge, so that she should perceive all, and, perceiving, act justly.

For as the days sped, so much the more the throne of Atlantis leaned to Azta. The people rebelled in their hearts, against their new Ruler, for under his government the lands were taxed heavily, regardless of all statutes, and the Lords of territories followed the example and became greatly oppressive.

The promised aid of the capital was withheld from the rebuilders of those towns of Hava and of Tek-Ra, which had been destroyed, to the great discontent of such as were interested in it; and Iru, the Lord of Tek-Ra, scarce restrained his annoyance and rebellion. The grossest superstitions fell on all, and abominations were set up to be worshipped; for, while Man never gives up religion of some sort by reason of his frailty, yet in a degraded state of existence the symbols become likewise degraded. How sad is the lot of that land whose appointed king is weak and indolent, and evil men wax fat on its unhappy people!

Such now was becoming Atlantis, the people solacing themselves unchecked by unequalled excesses, while the savage tribes around raided their lands, destroying villages and outlying cities and carrying off the women, untroubled by the Illumed legions who quartered themselves on the inhabitants of large cities and spent their time in violence and lust.

The nation fell into despair. No other Huitza would arise to free them from an increased yoke, and as what they sowed to-day would be reaped by a tyrant's hand to-morrow, they ceased to give thought to the future and revelled in evils that were forcibly obtained.

Noah and his family were looked upon with disfavour in Zul because that they held themselves apart from evil. The patriarch did not hesitate to boldly rebuke Toltiah, who would have stood such from none other, yet his words were of no effect. Surrounded by concubines and favorites the young chief led a voluptuous existence, and Azta, cold, continent and masterful, was the real leader in Zul; for although at every festival Toltiah occupied the chief place, yet everyone recognised with reverence the Ruler in the majestic woman with the eyes of fire who was so terrible and unearthly, and every one of the arrogant chiefs and superb queens, believing they perceived a being of supernatural endowments, feared her.

The throne of Atlantis was hers! As the Lady of Zul her name was powerful in the land, and filled with the triumph of it, she was happy for awhile. And then the old nature came forth, the ambition, the craving for something more, the wish to fill the chaotic sphere in which she moved surrounded by gorgeous works of art and magnificence of luxury, of vast dormant powers uncomprehended and possibilities that made her brain reel to contemplate. Also I knew that although Toltiah's lethargy permitted her to rule, yet was her Ideal fallen and degraded, and it caused her to become very hasty of speech and of a biting tongue. Alone, she would have ruled bravely, but the knowledge that her supremacy was but through the degradation of one she loved so strangely, caused her to waver and to wish at times that he would assert his own supreme power.

In such humour I found her, and, full of my thought, hastened to approach her.

" Now art thou in very truth Queen of Atlantis," I said; "yet art satisfied?"

"Nay, my Asia," she replied; "but can there not be satisfaction save under such conditions?"

"There is never full happiness, it bethinks me, Love. Either is there remorse for what thou hast done to obtain the coveted prize, or disappointment that such, reached, is but the end of all the hopes that kept joy alive. Only is there satisfaction in Knowledge and in obtaining it; for it causes no envy to give thee pain, thou dost not wound thy friends in its possessing, the more thou hast the greater the horizons open around thee, and what is thine none can rob thee of."

" How great a thing, then, is Knowledge! "

" Great indeed, Beloved. In its pursuit is no sleep-destroying scheme, in its possession no armed guard is needed to protect thee, for it commands high reverence and no envy. Knowledge is the steps of the Throne of God which few mortals climb to do Him obeisance. Mystery is its pleasing spouse, never forsaken nor tired of, for as a good wife she has ever fresh charms to display."

"By Zul, my lord, thou art in truth a philosopher!"

"It is the philosophy of Experience, fair lady; besides which nought permits us to act with that moderation befitting one who would rule men."

She sat and thought for a while and then turned swiftly to me, laying her hand on mine with a bright smile on her face.

" Show me what is Knowledge," she said, " and tell me of Mystery, for I love such. And much have I thought upon it and regarded the life of mortals and the wonder of Earth.

' Dear Love," I said, embracing her, " I could tell thee of Worlds more wondrous than this, and of greater mysteries that walk as unconcerned as thou, not comprehending the awful marvel that makes them mysterious. Thou canst not tell of what or whence thou art or whither thou goest, yet to thee is given a power to raise or wreck many souls. Come thou with me, my Love, and see thy heart quail not!"

She clung to me, and raising her up I kissed her on the lips, and again my whole soul went out to her. Once more she gave me that questioning glance that she had bestowed upon me when we first met, an agonized searching for something that should fill a great void.

" Were but thy name Huitza!" she said, with an intense passion.

" My name is what thou choosest," I answered.

" But, O my Beloved, what is that which fascinates before speech in the outer person, the entering fire of the eye that we have never seen before, that binds the soul to itself?"

"It is the love of Earth, perchance unknown and unacknowledged, that strangely binds the mortal eye by its revelation of the life of Heaven. But, as all of Earth, it lessens; or is only given by one of the two who loves with a better love. Seldom indeed, two mortals love equally."

" My Ideal, then, was a reflection of something far away; methinks thou thyself, for strangely at times my soul mingles with thine in more perfect happiness than words can tell. Say, art thou my Love?"

I folded her to my breast. "How can I answer thee?" I cried.

"Show me thy wisdom," she implored, looking into my eyes.

I kissed her lips. "What shall I show thee?" I asked.

" Show me the Earth," she said.

For awhile I pondered. Not for me was it to show those mysteries which have never been spoken, nor to say under what form this thing moves, or that. Nevertheless I consented, and in visions taking her hand we moved from where we stood, going from the busy sounds of life to a place where a great silence reigned: a place of awful silence, where the soul feared to move. From very far seemed to come the sounds of roaring tempests as together we swept through unlimited space. Yet now was a horror of sadness within me and a fear that my Love would not fulfil that which should save us both.

I showed her the far places of the stars, and where spirits of fire lived in a heaven of dew where wondrous opals formed, and upon whose boundaries hovered arcs of very bright coloured light, of which long tongues ran in corruscating splendour through the flashing spaces: a moist life more congenial to atoms of Earth than those limitless depths of outer darkness where the cold is terrible and no atom moves to generate light and warmth.

In a marvel of concentration she looked upon the Earth, suspended in middle void, and knew and understood all that she saw. In unfathomable emptiness her spirit hovered as upon her pressed the sensation of unknown aeons of Time past and swiftly passing, while in the midst the World of Earth rotated in a sea of fire. Eruptions, that filled the depths with sound, convulsed it, whirling as a bright star in the night, for it was dark all around; and in a long, slow circle, yet moving with terrific speed, it travelled with the noise of a great storm. Far, very far, moved other starry points of light, and in the movement of the Earth a wind sprang up to cool the burning mass, z The encircling fire died and a steamy vapour, born of moisture surrounding, rolled in vapoury clouds and hid the wonder, as the revolving periods gave the Sun and the Moon their form and mission, the Sun a centre of wondrous attraction for other spheres rolling in their appointed paths. Ever and ever onwards rolled the swift wheels of Time as vast worlds of celestial magnitude revolved, system within system, without knowledge of limit; and in the ages passing a dazzling Moon lighted the terrestrial vapours with a blaze of glory, itself to die in the wonder of the centuries and reflect the light from the appointed Sun.

And ever His works praised the Creator, and living angels praised the mighty Father, nor impiously considered the Source of Life.

The crust of Earth hardened, the surrounding vapours cooled, condensed themselves and fell, forming one vast sea of warm water, boiling upon the burning Earth with great tossing waves. By reason of the living fire within, earthquakes convulsed the sphere and mountains of lava rushed forth; the rocks formed and evolved; this fell in the periods that remained; and as the Earth grew cooler and cooler, seas and oceans formed in the hollows made by the rising of the dry land.

The Creator breathed upon it and the atoms of Life leaped forth at his bidding, and a carpet of verdure covered the uncomely nakedness of the rocks.

Strange indeed appeared the planet! In the silent emptiness it rolled its mass, as yet not fully lighted by the nebulous Sun, and in the vast solitudes, undisturbed by aught of life, save that of the herbage and the great warm oceans, it lay in a twilight of a monotonous sombre hue, pregnant with embryo life of huge uncouth dimensions, as of the rough-hewn stone that will become a beauteous statue. Terrific shocks and cataclysms modelled the new Sphere; palms and ferns grew, nourished by the unceasing downfall of waters from above, whose atoms, mingling with those of Earth, filled her with teeming embryo particles awaiting the Word of Life. From the strand of the continents a warm silent sea stretched to the dark horizon without a movement, and the still atmosphere hung like a pall over everything.

Evolution on evolution; change on change; and after a twilight of untroubled ages the great Sun's appointed task began and the world became light by turn, and dark, with the Moon to shine upon her. The planet, as yet not in her ordered path, rotated slowly, and the long bright periods of sunlight of increasing life and warmth coloured the pale Earth and filled her with growing beauty. Long days were those, and there were long nights when the Moon cast back the reflected light into an untroubled world, and the young life slept. And then came the winds, rushing to fill the airy vacuums, roaring with the voices of storms that rolled the ocean billows upon the coasts of rock. The atmosphere was charged and the inner places received the grateful air, the herbage was shaken and its seeds scattered. Tides began in seas and rivers, that, attracted by the near mass of the Moon, arose and heaped up their waters until the central attraction of their own sphere arrested them; cascades fell over rocks, and the Sun lifted the waters in vapour to cast them back in rain that the solid portions of the earth might be moistened; forests sank and others grew above them, the buried growths forming new strata reservoirs for needs in the far, far future.

Then appeared living things that moved apart from the earth, and the life grew stronger and more distinct. The deep seas produced living things in countless numbers, and marine animals of huge bulk and fearful aspect disported themselves in the waters. Great insects crawled and flew, and birds traversed the skies; weird creatures flew in the heavens and all life was strange and vast, the half-formed progenitors of more shapely forms to come, living on one another and on the vegetable life around, increasing and multiplying in the quiet ages and forminsr earth-structures with their bodies. Their mother Earth was changing likewise, and in her various strata preserving the remains of uncouth early forms a museum for the instruction of future students, an unwritten record of those old days when Man calls the earth young.

Mammalian life appeared in forms that rivalled the marine monsters. Mastodons and mammoths, # shaking the ground beneath them, devoured the forests and slaked their thirst in the rivers, companions of uncouth hairy monsters hideous of shape, and gigantic reptiles, amphibious and terrestrial.

Evolving more perfect forms or suffered to discontinue, the terrific creatures disappeared, and a Thing, unrecognisable save but by the knowledge of it, appeared. This was man, last-created of living beings, huge and terrible, with uncurbed lusts driven by primitive ideas and vague desires. This one was cruel by the instinctive knowledge of mysterious and wonderful life and the pleasing horror of extinguishing it, violent by the realization of breathing and living power, evil for the gratification of defiance and challenge and sovereignty; developing and evolving newer and more perfect forms of both sexes; perishing in violent cataclysms and earthquakes as the Earth changed her surface together with the dependant creatures. He was made weaker and of limited powers, to check the working of confusion by the exercise of lusts too powerful to be controlled, lusts formed of vague desires that never formed themselves into conductors for organised effort, being too visionary and immense. And then the Word spake: "Let us make man in Our image;" and there came the first man of a new and godlike race, great Adam, last and most perfect being of Earth, pure and moderate in his desires which were less of Earth than of Heaven. To him was given thought and immortality and the gift of perfect speech and power that he might go among all the races of Man and civilize them, teaching them of God and many arts.

And now Azta perceived the mission of the Last created race and of the fall thereof, and I said to her: "Behold, the desire of knowing and attempting more than was good came unto this one also, as unto thy people, and the order to Cease was spoken, for where Progression stops, Decay begins."

And I showed her where righteous Abel lay dead beneath his brother's hand, the first of his race to die: " And thus in death shall all of Earth depart," I said, "and when the appointed time comes nought can save him, nor aught, save the decree of One, can remove the curse that One has spoken. Nor tears shall avail, nor anguish of spirit, nor crying of the heart; the Word of God endureth for ever inviolable, unswerving and unheeding, and the abominable thing shall be blotted out from before His face. Anguish comes and is gone, but Progress moves on for ever, and in the tears of millions the Empire rises; for as gold grows bright and hard and beautiful in the furnace and under the hammer, so in the furnace of suffering and under the pitiless blows of affliction grow the Souls, polished and rounded by friction in the sea of Time like pebbles of the ocean. And look not on thy high towers and walls and boast thyself safe, for it shall come to thee as the reality of a dream that nought shall stand of Earth before the Word."

And I showed her where Cain went forth and taught the nations eastward of Eden the arts of many things, yet not of God; and where the sons of Adam increased and multiplied, what time the angels ministered to Man in form of winged bull or brazen seraph.

The meaning of this sentence appears obscure. Winged bulls, sculptured in stone, and other creatures at the gate of an Assyrian temple or palace were called Kirubu, (whence the Hebrew Kerubim^ English "Cherubim",) and represented guardian spirits.

In Numbers XXI 6, the word "Seraphim" is used of a kind of serpent, not "fiery", but burning, meaning poisonous. In Isa. XIV. 29 and XXX. 6 the singular sarap/i occurs with the epithet "flying". Arabian legend speaks of white flying serpents (Agh., XX. 135, 30) Ency. Brit.

A long treatise might be written as to the connection between the serpent and the Seraphim, as to whether there may have been spiritual manifestations in serpentiine form, like we are told of Satan when he tempted Eve, to account for the strange hold which the reptile obtained over the minds of men. (see footnote, cap. l). The serpent was the emblem of Christ as well as of Satan, of Esculapius as of the Gorgon.

Of Cherubim, Dr. J. Kelly Cheyne, Oriel Prof, of Interpretation of Scripture, tells us:

The Psalmist gives a version that the Cherub was either an eagle or a quadruped with eagle's wings: (Ps. XVIII. 10 and precisely the same 2 Sam. XXII.). This would seem to justify connecting the word with the Assyrian Kurubuu a synonym of K'untkku or K'arakku the "circling" bird, i.e., according to Friedrich Delitzsch, the vulture. But elsewhere the Cherub is described more as the attendant and guard than as the bearer of duty (Gen. III. 24).

Kinibu is a synonym for the Steer-god, the winged bull. We should therefore connect the word Cherub primarily with the Assyrian Kirubnu but also with Kurubu"

So much for Dr. Cheyne. The vulture, as we have seen in Chapter ii. liber I, was regarded as sacred, whether in connection with Cherubim or not I cannot say. It is very curious that the names of two of the orders of angels should be given to two animals of earth or rather, should be connected with them.

" And why," she asked, " was all this life that died and was tormented in the living? Tell me, what is Life?"

" Life is Love, the Being of God; the power of creation that ever lives and begets more life, wherein Evil wars with Good, causing suffering and some joy. The finer the Soul, the more capable of feeling and of more fiery life. There is nought around thee but lives; and see, from the dead comes life, for there is no death, it is but a transposition of atoms to increase yet the more."

"Why need there be what Man calls death?"

" It is the disintegration of the atoms when he has accomplished his allotted time, wherein he has enough knowledge of that which is permitted, (in the overstepping of which bounds has this race sinned so grievously), to farther the march of Progress. For all of Earth, clever but by hereditary perception, and not by any means continuing their fathers' wisdom from that point at which they themselves emerged into the life of Earth, have to learn of their suffering the experiences that, render their hoary sires so terrible and mighty, looking down from their high seats of knowledge. Neither could they indeed learn of another's teaching, for the elder cannot tell the younger every little thing that has built the sure foundations of his power by careful trial and collecting from all places; and if he could, mere words, untried and untested by the pupil, would be forgotten or found of no account by lack of practice. Thus each one starts anew, nor will profit by aforetime experience, for such is spoken, seeing that there is otherwise no limit to Man's rebellious arrogance. Nay, ask me no more, curious Spirit! I know not why Man was made, save but as another step in the progression; but hereafter a yet more glorious being shall be created until sin shall cease through him and Jehovah behold there the Triumph of Holiness incarnate, the power of Good that shall conquer all. But it is not yet, for the lust of Evil is too strong in this Last-created, and the Consummation is far off. Poor Man! Poor, poor experimental creature! For it was known in Heaven that sin must be, yet woe to the sinner!"

"Alas, poor sinner!"

"Yet can the pure in spirit live, for he hath fulfilled his part well and aided a tittle in the forwarding: Yet also is a circle not complete until the ends meet. These are hard things to understand."

"But where is the justice of God that such can be?"

"The justice of God is too instantaneously comprehensive to be at all thought of by Man, who, indeed, cannot be just because his nature is bent to a strong line of action. I will show thee things among thine own people concerning this."

Now there was a governor named Sapalel, which one was also a judge over the people, and to him was offered certain desirable things to tempt him to do that which was unjust. The which he would have refused save but for the sake of his wife and children, (he not being a rich man). But in the sight of Man there was nought to mitigate so great a crime, they saying he sold his conscience: which perchance he did. Yet who could judge him but God, who weighs the littlest thought?

And I showed her in spirit where Myra wept for the love of Alam, the governor of Talascan, who once loved her with so great a love, yet she not knowing aught of such feeling until he went to join Toltiah before Zul. And now he had grown cold towards her by force of training to despite her. Because this human heart could never, by force of reason, punish justly, being hardened in the punishing and never relapsing from that added harshness that permitted such punishment, in the span of short life. So that, although when this one loved him, after long indifference, she received from his hardened hands the punishment she gave in the period of that indifference, yet he never at all returned that love; which caused that punishment to be very great because of remorse on her part, and too late perception of what might have been.

CHAPTER XIX. THE HEART OF THE WORLD.

VERILY was Toltiah a curse unto me by reason of his evil, and his restraint over Azta! For she, loving him, but yearned to see him rule, yet would not influence him to her own detriment. Towards me, his father, he manifested a great impatience, gazing upon me with a sinister expression that spoke of repulsion, questioning and fear, at such times that we were together; as a very Spirit of evil that upbraided and scorned, the while challenging and forbidding. And towards him my mind ever appeared as though separated by a great gulf that no thought nor speech could bridge over, neither was I able to attempt to lead him from the evil which I was ever compelled to helplessly witness. And at times this strange being, as an angel taking his pleasures equally with man or woman, born in the carnal manifestation of an hermaphrodite and discharging the functions of both earthly sexes, I say this strange being affrighted me. And gleefully aiding him in frowardness, the great lords committed all manner of wantonness, while to secure them to her support Azta permitted their allegiances, so that there were many jealous quarrels. The Court became one wild whirl of devilry and the whole city followed suit, an example that farther corrupted all the land; so that all day the people slept, and all night they danced in fevered vice, abandoning the temple services save when a hecatomb of victims brought the crowds to witness it. They believed large offerings were as acceptable to the gods as their presences, and indeed it mattered nought if they worshipped such or refrained.

The more degraded had scarcely the energy to eat or drink, and lay about in the streets in obscenity and drunkenness, worried by dogs and vultures and robbed by the legionaries, who left their posts and women at the battlements to promenade the city for drunken people. Any resistance was followed by murder, and corpses lay in many of the streets until eaten by the brutes. Alas, that I could not tear myself from thee, O Azta, and fly afar in hiding and repentance! For nought could save this people from the sink of iniquity into which they had fallen but the most rigorous measures; and if I could not bring thee under my entire sway, what would befall? Eheu! that I should have imposed so weighty and profitless a task upon myself, and taken a pillar of clay to work the redemption of Man! I, which was of Heaven.

Yet ah I the fevered grandeur of that strange time of Earth, when Man at the zenith of his youth, with the great, vague, untried ideas of youngness, strove mightily to compass works of wonder and awe, excited by competition and success. Companion of devils, with the fearful experiences of long perverted life, how wast thou suffered at all before Heaven? O vision of shadowy cyclopean halls rising in their painted arrogance from pavements of crushed and dead flowers, echoing the crashing minstrelsy that roared in blasphemy to the skies! O splendid mortals whose dishonoured clay was all too beauteous and worthy for such dreadful spirits, congregating in such bravery of magnificence round thy fatal Chief, with attendant trains and armed guards gorgeously apparelled! O splendour of combination of subtle imagery and vast effect, where straining thoughts of ages sought to burst from all restraint and, disappointed, rolled in monstrous sins!

Yet could I not go from my Love. Her eyes commanded my soul, every action but drew me closer to her: her form entranced me with the subtle beauty of its swelling curves and the poetry of its every move, and the perception of her softness and lovliness enwrapped me in a charming fire from which there was no escape. By her side I felt the sensation of a vast emptiness that might be filled with marvels could I but remove the awful incubus that held us back, which I know was Sin.

I took her afar to where mountains rose in grandeur to the skies, and bade her consider the work of the Creator in the yet untainted wilderness, where the golden sunlight bathed the Earth in warm beauty, and butterflies flitted about, large with their flashing wings. A wild dove flew into a vine overhead, beneath which lay an ocelot, delicately licking its velvet paws and washing its round face.

"It is beautiful, my lord," she said, with a sigh; but I reproved her.

"Call me not thy lord, Beloved; he is but thy lord who can command thy heart. It is not I."

She looked quickly upon me. I laid my hand very gently upon her head, and she caught it and clung to it.

"O pity me that I love another," she wept, "for of a truth I love thee well, also. Thou knowest I love theel"

"Love that will not give up all is not love; and, alas! that I love thee, for because that thou hast been preferred before Heaven am I accursed; and I, who love with the passion of souls, cannot be satisfied, and burn in the fire that I have lighted."

For a space she was silent, then she said very softly: " What is love? "

"Thou askest 'What is love?'" I said; "love is an instinct, which is to say a sensation of the spirit, my Beloved, not only an enthusiasm of the mind born of contiguity. Love dreams ever of its object, nor absence can dull it; because the spirit is there. It is the mystery of amalgamation, the union that begets life, and everything must love, for without it comes lust and disorder. Hadst thou loved as I, perchance would it have been well, but thou, not loving, shouldst not have suffered me; for also I have sinned in this thing, my Azta, and punishment is upon us. Yet canst thou save thyself and me perchance, and to this end I am minded to show thee what manner of love thou bearest for another."

Her eyes blazed and her face lighted up with what emotions I knew not. " Show me more of thy great wisdom," she cried, " and fill me with power that I may rule the land in wisdom and raise it from its sin."

"Sweet Spirit," I cried with joy, "I would take thee to where from the centre of the Thought of God spring in unending legions the sons of Life, running in ceaseless evolutions, form within form, circle within circle, until the wheels of creation whirl in stupendous wonder, perfect in infinite detail, marvellous in awful immensity; in perfect order tending to their great sire, simplicity of simplicity, complication of undreamed-of complication, springing still from an atom until their innumerable legions people empyrean depths beyond thought to conceive in magnificence of splendid immensity formed of perfection of detail. I would take thee to where burning worlds revolve in seas of molten gold, as much greater to thine Earth as itself is to the tiniest grain of sand upon it; to where Suns roll in splendours of heavenly light unseen but of God and of the Archangels, and where, in awful space, the thoughts lose themselves and the spirit faints in terror. I would take thee from North to South and East to West, farther than thy dreams could whisper to thee, and show thee therein things that have never been thought of by man, nor ever could be."

Thus spoke I, vaunting; yet in my heart I feared to look upon these and dared not participate in their love, for vanished was the intensity of vision and the power of wing, and methinks did I but encounter the glance of the Almighty I should fall, blinded and helpless, being evil.

"O mighty!" cried Azta, " my soul yearns to know what thou knowest and to see these wonders."

" O curious and desperate! and O wonder that thou wouldst make such demand of a lover to do that which would cause direst misgivings should an offspring attempt! Verily, Love is the child of admiration!"

"Wilt thou say me nay, my Love?" she asked, with such pretty pleading as held me her slave.

"Come; thou shalt again see the Earth and know its mysteries which have never yet been known of Man, yet of the love I bear thee it shall be revealed."

Now there was a vast gorge of black dread and unknown depth which divided two mountains, and in which the winds ever heaved as a stormy sea of air, with a great draught and turbulence. Which same we traversed, and the Spirit of my Love reeled in the embrace of a wild fervour of horror and delight, a dream of another life, a fearful wish to look on forbidden things though worlds should fall before the sin of it.

The shade of Eve stood with hand outstretched against her in warning, and bright things flashed across the path in bewildering convolutions, mysterious and terrifying. An exalted fear possessed her, an impious arrogance that rejoiced in its own evil and raised her to the level of an Angel, exulting and defiant.

Light and darkness and twilight covered the path, fearful sensations of changing shadows. There was a cavernous place, black and terrible, where the winds swept in roaring gusts that now drew and now repelled, moaning and shrieking and eddying. Nebulous wan bodies appeared and passed like phantasms of a dream, dark streams as of lightning traversed the black amorphous place; and then came flashes of light, reflected glimmers that tremulated awfully, while a draught of increasing potency .drew all towards it. The fitful lights grew stronger and more vivid, and leaping from their striking-points seemed to ride down the gusts of furious wind that sped like armies of shrieking larvae from all directions, breaking in multicoloured blazes of glory where the shattering echoes met.

Now there was a splendour of glowing light, and life leaped with an almost overpowering intensity. Azta breathed not, yet air pervaded her as though she were air itself. There opened out a cavy chamber of colossal wonder and mystery, filled with an intense glow that seemed to breathe and live. Blood-red rivers flowed, bearing living things in their rushing currents, vomiting subtle flames, and among which the winds mingled: falling, returning, circling with a giddy rush and casting a refulgent glow. A sound as of crashing wheels rolled in the wake of fiery serpents, as though Seraphim rode in chariots of thunder through the grandeur of the liquid furnace that lifted .its waves of horror in mountainous storms. Pulsating with awful regularity, the circles of Life revolved and mingled with the . sound of a mighty tempest, dazzling and ineffably sublime in majesty.

In the midst of the Wonder stood a Being, terrible beyond all that Azta had seen, winged with falling cascades of quivering and expanding fire. Like to the bright Vision she had seen on the palace roof that had flashed from Heaven on the swift lightning, this had the same animated features and superabundant life, and the glowing eyes burned with a wonder of perception that was terrible to encounter. The nostrils, expanded, exhaled pure flame, and around the whole figure was a light of most subtle and most wondrous splendour. Never still for an instant, the form undulated and swayed, clothed in that transcendent light that enwrapped it as with a mantle, and about its feet the swift lightnings flashed incessantly as the rosy waves encircled it.

"Is it well, Asia?" thundered a voice. I answered not. Azta gazed, terrified and exalted, yet feeling tiny beyond all description and frightened at her own temerity, scarce daring to lift her eyes. Hosts of flies assailed her, passing on in swarms to the glory of light and perishing in the fiery Wonder in a breath. She slapped at them, but if she hit one it vanished, and a new terror paralyzed her spirit, a horror of mystery.

"Whence come these swarming Spirits?" enquired the awful voice, so stern and terrible that in my soul I trembled, and in fright Azta shuddered as the buzzing legions passed. A mighty gust of wind appeared to seize her and sweep her towards the glory, a nearly irresistible draught of living air, enveloping her with a potential embrace. Voices roared and shrieked, and terrible shapes rolled from the brightness and vanished around her in giddy evolutions, as she struggled, incapable of speech. Again came the fearful draught ot air, a mighty inrush that absorbed her in itself, and in an agony of terror she fought against it, the bright terrible waves rolling in their endless pulsations at her very feet. In the intensity of her horror she shrieked, echo on echo mocking her from whirlpool and wave and whirling grandeur, and seized as by a strong arm she was drawn backwards and away from the rolling thunder-wheels of Life.

The glorious light waved and vanished and before her stretched a black immensity. Beneath yawned unknown depths peopled by horrible forms that were swayed like clouds by the roaring winds, torn, shattered, swirling and eddying; a vast and sudden change from the grandeur of light to a fearful world of gray shadows rolling in sickening coils as serpents of huge size, or displayed as appearing and vanishing larvae. Nameless Things of horror gazed upon us, and there were dreadful sounds as of one who would speak yet is not able to; and ever the wild winds moaned and swept past in their rushing courses.

There appeared a little baby, soft and beautiful, that gazed with its fearless eyes upon the Horror, and Azta would fain have gathered it to her bosom; but a loathly form enveloped it and it was no more; but in its place was a great skull, and in and out of the hollow eyes crawled a worm of fire with a devil's head. From all the great spaces, borne on the winds, came the sound of a weird laugh, that echoed and reechoed in a myriad mocking cries from where the seas of air dashed in resounding billows upon unknown boundaries. Lighter grew the waves of shadow, as, rising in adamantine splendour from darkness to darkness, appeared columns and vaulted roofs stretch ing in gloomy awe beyond perception. Azta cried out as she perceived these to be formed of the bones and skulls of men, cemented with blood, in vast number, building a palace of heroic size. In the midst rose a throne of dark adamant and upon it rested a cloud, and I may not tell the horror of perception that swept over us twain as, unaware, we stood within the columned hall of darkness athrob with a dire, intangible life emanating from every atom.

Upon my thigh hung a sword, yet it was as weighty lead, and my thoughts and wishes were as the gauzy meshes of an Earth-Spirit's wing soaked and weighted with mire in the presence of that Evil that was yet pure, and not beastly as of Earth. Hut indignation raised me, and scorn that I might perchance have sunk unknowingly to such depths where Lust dared not face Evil, and turning, I took my Love and we went forth through passage, hall and columned terrace overlooking places of fire.

"Now behold," I said, "my dear Love, after what fashion thou lovcst, for here will I show thee one who will enlighten thee."

And a small cloud arose from the place of fire, floating slowly upward and growing darker, shaped like an egg. Azta watched with parted lips and white face, her glorious beauty more etherial than aught of wholly mortal could be, as the vapoury wonder rose and grew large in the lurid atmosphere. It burst and there stood revealed a beautiful woman of majesty nigh unto herself, and very wondrous as she stood in quivering light before us. It was that Atlace, bride of Tekthah, who, in evil compliance to Leira, had cheated her lord and wrought confusion. Of a truth, beautiful she was, a very Queen of Hell; and small wonder that Angels should stoop to crave the regards of such!

" Behold the mother of Huitza!" I cried, "and thy mother I"

"My mother!"

"The same!"

Azta reeled for a moment and placed her hands to her heart. Then she laughed, a little mocking laugh with a note of triumph and challenge in it, and in despair and rage I cast the flashing lightning upon the Shade and by a whirlwind conveyed my abandoned Love from the place.

CHAPTER XX. THE THRONE OF ATLANTIS.

WOMAN, how unfitted art thou for government! Either too severe or too melting tender, never consistent or inflexible, ever biassed or impulsive. And thou, Azta, for whom I gave up all, thou woman of women, hast dragged down the Heavens in judgment upon thee and upon me. Wonder of Love, that can work such evil! And for my love to thee and thine to another hath it come that Sin is enthroned greater than all the times before; and woe is me!

What madness caused the both of us to love one who regarded us not in full measure, nor striving after an impossible goal could see the dire results of force? Can one kindle flame from iron, or will it do aught but glow with heat in the furnace itself? Would one strive to cause the leaping flames to burst in splendour from such until it were consumed? Nathless we strive to breed a love where no love is, and groan in pain and astonishment that we never succeed; and, mystery of God! I who knew this yet strove!

And Azta now, unrestrained by awe or reverence, took on a great arrogance and dismayed all by her supernatural bearing and the wonder of her surroundings. To me she manifested a wild, clinging passion, appearing as though she would kill the old love by her violent will; and I, disappointed and dismayed, yet loving her for her protestations of love to me, waited in uneasy horror and indolent dalliance, compelled to remain as a ship that has lost it rudder and all guidance, lying helpless and water-logged. All day long in those wicked halls, and indeed, most of the night, arose the sounds of music and revelling, where fair wantons danced to the sound of drum and whistle for the amusement of their licentious masters, whom they were interested in serving for hope of advancements. The queen levie had been taken from among such by reason of her beauty; and as dancing-girls were always greatly sought after, many pretty children were stolen to be early instructed, and girls of more mature age also.

It became a part of every-day life and none gave any thought to such acts; and Azta, like a being of two worlds, lived in an exalted atmosphere and was ministered to by many dreadful rites that pertained not to Earth. She greatly favoured the magicians, showing them out of arrogance many new things; so that a very daring knowledge sprang up among the people, who were overwhelmed by the glory and wonder of the Capital.

She caused the pyramid which was the tomb of Atlace to be wondrously converted into a temple, maintaining a retinue of priestesses and surpassing Zul in mystery and grandeur, being surrounded by a colonnade at the corners of which four tall pylons sent the smoke of their fires to Heaven, while a four-sided symbol of the love of Night and Neptsis crowned the pyramid itself. And ever went on the reeking sins of Zul where dark Amaziel offered human victims to the elements in dread insolence, where human hearts smoked on the abominable altars and the anguished groans of victims rose to the observant Heaven in the column of undying flame. And less guilty was the idolatrous worship of the lower peoples than the worship of untold things in the red palace, where Heaven-born Toltiah lay in wantonness and infamous adultery and corrupted still more the nobles and wealthy citizens, from whose luxurious mansions arose the wail of many an abducted maiden or the swiftly-silenced shriek of a mistress whose wantonness was suddenly cut short by a sudden death.

All in vain were the exhortations and rebukes of Noah, who perceived his charge, from whom he had hoped so much, leading the nation still farther astray. Also was his heart fearful for his own sons, who lived in their palaces and attended at court, lest they might fall before the many temptations by which they were surrounded. Angry and dismayed, he spake boldly, threatening the judgment of Heaven upon the palace and upon the accursed pile whose fire blazed to the glorification of Sin and whose priests encouraged the people in their evil. The brazen challenge of this den of corruption would reach the Throne of God from the midnight Market-place, where nude debauchees whirled in drunken dances round the bonfire-illuminated idols that shamed them by at least their silence from the Circus, where holocausts and obscene plays held weary audiences enwrapped for awhile and lent fresh ideas from the temples, where awful mysteries were unfolded to the lewd minds of blasphemous schemers who dared to mingle them with rites of Earth from the battlements, where innocent blood removed traces of a night's revels and would-be avengers dared utter no complaint from the Imperial palace, where kidnapped girls were forced to minister to the lusts of a ruler whose sin was increased by the splendour of his birth, and whose dire example, untempered by any interference, dragged the fallen to deeper depths from the whole land. where Sin bowed its scarlet head in undreamed-of oceans of drunkenness and scarce had strength to wish for more.

Scarce with his life had the patriarch escaped his temerity save but for the helplessness of his audience; but he was laughed to scorn, and Toltiah, in merry mood, laughed loudest of all, shouting that the old man was becoming a child, and hurling all manner of insults upon him. And I feared for the gray-beard, for I knew Nezca was scheming against him, and only for that he was loved of Heaven had he escaped thus far.

For myself, my revelation of Atlace to Azta, which had not checked her love, but made of it a sin by knowledge, recoiled upon myself; for half she believed myself to be her father; as, loving her, I should also have loved Atlace for such great resemblance. And, Huitza being my son, I should seek to perpetuate him in such manner, which was confusion and abomination and brought such punishment.

Thus she verily believed Toltiah to be Huitza, and in apathetic misery I had to endure the judgment of Heaven upon my choice and weakness, which caused as much awful sin. For Azta, unabashed, looked upon him as a lover and at times wished to rid him of his brutal indifference and roughness, grieving that he loved her not nor was in a trifle tender; and, wielding the supreme power, and that power being as wrongfully applied, could wonder be that the land sank into a horror of sin! None dared cross her path, for her guards were ever with her, the tall women-warriors who could fight on equal terms with men. For now it was with respect that the people watched them as they stalked proudly through the city with their great axes beneath the wolf-skin shields, splendid Marisa not deigning to notice the populace, despising their manners and softness of living.

With unavailing passion Toltiah pressed his suit to her, yet now to Azta's jealousy. The Amazon, beyond her personal attractions, however, gave her no cause for complaint, but became restless; for, as most of her warriors, tiring of a life that had no attractions, she wished to depart. Soon they would set forth, when certain schemes for passing without hindrance should be ready, and the city could revel and dance as it pleased and sigh to its mistresses in cushioned halls and on the floating gardens swinging at anchor upon their huge rafts, by which also lay the useless warships, turned into floating palaces.

Yet to the people those days of pleasant, unchecked evil were not without cares, for rumours of frontier raids and massacres reached as far as the capital, and a startling appearance of a new and terrible people aroused the languid interest for a while. These raiders were described as a combination of horse and man, fearful to look upon, swift and reckless, and, it seemed to the people, a living prototype of the stone and wooden mockeries that their debased minds had created. But so far from dealing leniently with those who might be supposed to worship them, these equine beings carried deadly warfare into their midst, murdering men and children and taking away the women with the same desires as any of themselves, and it was this touch of human nature that alleviated the first superstitious fear that the report of their appearance caused. The only places that they respected were the cities, for they feared the high walls, and fortified places were believed to be safe from their attacks; yet the people were terrified by them, not comprehending them nor agreeing as to their appearance, but it was said that they were dreadful to look upon as they sped like a storm across the plains, enveloped in rolling smoke that hung on their demon squadrons in clouds. From the dark womb of Mount Axatlan they came to carry desolation over the land, while in sympathy with this myriad-membered birth the great cone became more violent, and the reports of the dull fury of the fires rolling in a dark red column of dread in the night aroused uneasiness. All over the land the debauched people would be terrified into sobriety by a movement of the earth, that heaved with a sickening movement as though a monster wave ran beneath it. These movements increased, and one night in Zul the idols were shaken down and the people cried out with terror; yet there were never wanting many who feared neither god nor man, to jest at the fallen state of the carven abortions, and, plucking them by the limbs, raise them in their great arms in mockery to the sky; so that the people, perceiving no sudden death to fall upon these sacrilegious ones, gathered heart and continued as wickedly as before. And there were some among the merchants who bred degraded people for the sacrifices, herding them with the lower animals; others who reared large-bodied slaves for the Circus, and hybrid creatures of great size and strength.

To attract the nobles Azta held many brilliant gatherings in the Hall of the Throne, compelling homage to be rendered to herself and Toltiah from the wish of perceiving a vast concourse to bow the knee; and her proud bosom heaved with joy as mighty chieftains and princes and superb ladies swept in between the huge lions and bent low in reverence upon the golden step of the first terrace. Between the dark columns and braziers the minstrelsy crashed, as right and left the crowds spread from the throne, blazing in armour of jewels and flashing weapons, their brilliant galaxies crowned by tiaras and helmets, nodding plumes of ostrich and flamingo, and the gorgeous feathers of the peacock. Which last, although aforetimes counted of ill omen, was now greatly prized in daring challenge to evil powers, notwithstanding its significance.

Toltiah, giving full sway to every lust, and full of arrogance, caused blue stones to be set in his teeth and wore huge gems and gold dust in his hair, sitting like a dark king of the lower world above the awed crowds, upon which he gazed with a dreadful sarcasm, jealous at any preference being granted to Azta. Furious at any restraint, vain and debased, he always held the orbed sceptre; but Azta was the one who commanded real obeisance. From her yellow flamy hair a halo of light appeared to scintillate, pale and mysterious, while ever in her stormy eyes the sombre lightnings lay, as her gaze wandered indolently over the splendid throngs, awed to a certain extent, yet encouraged by their mighty rulers. But towards Toltiah there spread a feeling of disgust save when his splendid presence compelled respect and admiration; for his godlike stature was in truth beautiful with its vast proportions as softly rounded as a woman's. Yet not alone was he a thing of awe, for there were also many among the nobles of Celestial descent, which ones did not scruple to commit the most terrible excesses and were the most fertile in magic, teaching arts to their mistresses and showing the meaning of the watery larvae which came from the Sun and Moon misty embryos of fertilizing potency which dwelt in moisture. Also conjointures of animals and plants, whereby galls were formed; of the pregnancy of clouds and the mystery of Amalgamation; of the power of Heavenly bodies upon rocky parts of Earth from which were born precious metals and gemmy bodies and fcetal Things that sprang forth from the womb of Earth in the dark upward flashes of lightning. And the Demons which dwelt among them for the satisfaction of their earthly lusts excitated perfumes which encouraged madness in their mistresses and the propagation of strange memories and clear vision, using also to the same end very subtle chords of mystic music; so that there was no end to their wickedness or to the increasing sin of Man, whom the most extraordinary ideas possessed, (having all he could wish for).

The people esteemed themselves gods, believing themselves to be invincible, and greatly encouraged by their rulers. This Huitza had returned from the regions of Death, and Amaziel preached that none could die but for a space, while he brought forth Mah in the person of a slave-dealer whose mistresses spread knowledge of confusion far and wide. A wild idea occurred to many that they should turn and reenter that land of Eden whence their race had been expelled; the couch of the bright Sun, from which he arose each day to smile upon them, and to which he would surely welcome Azta, his beloved.

According to a plausible theory put forward by a distinguished Egyptologist some years ago. the territory of Eden, of which the ' garden " formed but a portion, is identified with the great watershed of Central Africa; where the immense plateau of a most remarkable river system, quadruple in form by the Zambesi, Niger, Bahr-el and Congo, has its parallel in no other portion of the globe. Three of the greatest naturalists of our time. Darwin. Wallace and Broca. have all suggested Africa as the probable birthplace of the human race. It is indeed a wonderful land: there was the great empire of Egypt, there the longest river of the world, there the largest examples of life. The elephant, the giraffe, rhinoceros, gorilla, chimpanzee, lion, leopard, camel, buffalo, ostrich, antelope, all are the largest of their species: and there are also the ordinary examples in the zebra and all kinds of birds, as well as some to be found nowhere else, as the gnu.

CHAPTER XXI. THE DEAFNESS OF THE NATION.

STILL afar Axatlan belched flames and equine devils, and rivers of boiling pitch and flying hordes of supernatural raiders terrified the people; yet heedless of the woes of their country men, those of Zul ate, drank and blasphemed, licentious and unbridled in their madness, toasting their mistresses on the altars of the temples and worshipping images of them with obscene rites.

The sons of Noah looked with a mixture of feelings on the conduct of Toltiah, who had ever been as a younger brother to them, instructed by them in everything from the time he was a small child; and now they had to bow before him and suffer condescension and hard words and sneers, which became unendurable. Shem was the most moderate in his ideas, but Ham beat upon his deep chest with his fists and murmured rebelliously, and Japheth dreamed in like wise.

The people hated these in their hearts, yet, because of their power, bowed before their nodding plumes as they stalked through them in their unimpaired manhood. Tall and goodly men were they, with bold bright eyes that never dropped for shame of aught they had committed, the only sober ones in a foul nest of revelry upon which they looked with disfavour, never having soiled their souls with its awful wickedness.

Now Ham had designed a great bath to be built in the city, upon the hill near by the palace, which would be filled from the reservoirs of water near the temple of Zul that supplied the smaller reservoirs on the terraces; and for this work numbers of slaves were employed, huge blocks of stones being piled up for the building. And the deep excavations revealed a mass of curious skulls and bones, that Ham delivered up to Shorn, which one, studious and thoughtful, bent long over with Noah, scrutinising and hazarding guesses as to their origin. No such remains could belong to any peoples they knew of, and the mode of sepulture was executed in deep and careful style; while, most interesting of all, were curiously graven stones laid there.

For long they observed them, asking themselves were they Divine histories of the past ages or individual biographies. Not yet could they understand the stories, believing them to be of the first man of their race, or even of the progress of Celestial beings, the birth of Heaven and of the worlds, the first inspiration of the creation of the Earth.

Susi, lost in dreams, clasped her hands in visionary contemplation. To her pure mind arose the figures of angels working with care the pictured records of a young world that her imagination presented to her as very bright and fair. She of all her family loved best the contemplation of that God to whom the sire directed their minds, and it was with the most disinter^ ested sorrow that she perceived her Imperial foster-brother's manner of ruling the people over whom he was set as king, and was secretly terrified by his increasing regards for herself. For, satisfied, and desirous of something new, the unnatural libertine oft looked lustfully upon her, enraged that she should scorn his embraces. Nor would he have hesitated to gratify his passion but for the fear of the patriarch, whom also to an extent the people revered.

Yet perhaps more than for this one Susi grieved for Azta, the Queen-mother, the wonderful woman who could influence for so much good and who appeared to her to be so desperately wicked; and as she sat and looked upon the palmy gardens, drinking with her eyes the sun-lights in the atmosphere, a shy thought arose in her mind of making an appeal to her and striving to influence her towards reformation before the vengeance of Heaven should sweep the nation from the Earth and only their records should be found, telling, like those early gravings perchance, of creation, rebellion and its punishment death.

The project of returning to Eden began to take root in the minds of all, terrified by the burning mountain and of other hills that arose and vomited flames. Toltiah gave much thought to it, his temper becoming morose and savage as gleamings of something terrible about to happen made him plunge yet more desperately into evil instead of curbing him; for with intuitions hereditary he dimly perceived the intoxicating inwardness of things. Urged on by pride and fear he listened to mad schemes propounded by Nezca, and oft consulted Amaziel; having his ideas greatly strengthened thereby, as also by the magician Gorgia.

The schemes grew, as imaginations, more and more inflamed by the wildest stories and conjectures, pictured its fulfilment. Toltiah, flushed with wine and excesses, dreamed with visions of a greater grandeur and vaster enjoyment than Atlantis could give, newer and more glorious; and inflamed by Gorgia he perceived the Tree of Life whose fruit is Immortality.

Reclining in all the bravery of gold and gems, dreadful by reason of his appearance and the blue stones in his teeth, at the evening meal, in the midst of his favorites and voluptuous queens with their heavy hips and great eyes like antelopes', he bethought him of Noah and of the wisdom that he had, and sent him an urgent message to appear before him. And when the patriarch came, grand in his rugged godliness, (yet not being great of stature), the young man insolently demanded of him as to what he knew of such country, and concerning how they might obtain possession of it, being terrified by the earthquakes and rumours of the wrath of the volcanoes.

And looking around upon the wanton assembly and the obscene imageries upon the walls, the patriarch was vexed.

" I know not of such place," he said, " neither would it become Man to strive to force that which God hath closed against him,"

Toltiah laughed scornfully, handing his pipe to the bearer, that he might the better converse. " Old father," quoth he, "thy gray hairs cover a cautious brain. Do not the wise ones tell of a Tree of Life, which, being possessed of, how can aught hurt us? There is our birthright, old one, and who more fit to lead the warriors of Atlantis than I! What when I reign thence thou shalt see!"

A great shouting answered him, and loud laughter. And the spirit of a great wrath shook the patriarch, so that he raised his voice boldly.

"O inexperienced!" he cried, " darest thou disregard the doom of banishment which was pronounced by God for the disobedience of His Word? A greater vengeance shall befall for a worse continuation of the same sin; and perchance wouldst thou find that Eden to be of Heaven and not of the Earth, and the revolving sword of fire to be the Gate of Memory through which none may enter, being banished. Enough there is for thee to perform as leader of the God-created race, to direct them back into the path from which they have wickedly strayed. And look thou well into thyself, Ruler of Atlantis, for thou hast sinned in that, having the chief power, thou hast raised the rebellious head to Heaven and would presume to strive with the Almighty, which is the Creator of all. Worst of all hast thou sinned, seeing that not only hast thou committed evil in thyself, but hast caused a nation to err; and a fungus spreads upon a tree so has deadly sin spread upon the land and soon will there be nought but weeping and death 1"

The words caused a great commotion among all, yet before a hand could be raised against him the patriarch turned with a commanding gesture to the company.

"Ye lords and ladies," he cried in a thrilling voice, "now shall your blindness recoil in confusion upon your heads because of your readiness to follow Evil under a disguise. For behold, this one, your ruler, is not Huitza, but a monster, which is neither a man nor a woman, whom therefore ye ignorantly declare a god, yet born of woman even as all of you are born, who hath conspired to lead you astray, too willing to follow. For Huitza is dead and shall so remain, and this Toltiah is born of Azta, in manner common to all mankind, and wickedly imposes upon your too compliant minds. To me he came, helpless and a fugitive, upon the day when Tekthah died, and had I known what devil's spawn lay beneath my hand, that day had he died also! "

A gasp of astonishment passed round the crowd, lying as petrified. The fan-bearers moved backward the heavy windy fans as Toltiah, rousing as a tiger, cried to the guards to seize the daring man; and then had it fared ill for the patriarch but that by his side suddenly appeared a shining figure of dreadful majesty, having within his hand a drawn sword of fire. And the Name by which he appeared was Arsayalalyur, Angel of the Wrath of God. A sudden great gloom fell over all, and when it had passed Noah had gone, and likewise his sons with him; neither could they be found by the swift ones sent after them, nor was any vestige of them to be found.

And a wonderment sat upon the hearts of the people because of this and of his words, yet so abandoned were they and so shameless that it passed and nought remained of it in remembrance.

And Azta lay by me in her arbour, dreaming wild dreams and smiling with satisfied desire as I caressed her in my arms.

"Thou dost not look so like Heaven as when we first met, my Asia," she said, with a little sorrow in her voice; and with a sad reproach I kissed her lips, yet feeling in my heart that I sinned, she loving another. And such another I

"Methinks thy love is waning," she murmured, her hot breath intoxicating my senses, subdued by the restful sighing of the waves and the tinkle of the nightingale-wooed fountains.

"Ah, say not so!" I cried in passion, "never did I love thee more, my dearest Love!" For very dear to all hearts is that which causes pain and sorrow in the sweet nurture, and greater joy is there in Heaven over a sinner forgiven than over the just, for he hath caused much sorrow.

" Beloved, I doubt thee not," she whispered, seeing my passion; " beautiful that thou art, how could I? Yet is a woman's heart ever anxious, my Asia, and love is as water to a flower."

Sighing softly, she lay in my arms, looking forth over the sea that lay calm and motionless as a lake of silver under the full moon. So bright it was that every ripple could be seen, and afar it stretched to where the dark veily sky met the line of the horizon, clear and lovely. Full of the soft beauty of the scene we gazed, full of the mystery of the quietness that seemed to hang above the Earth, pregnant with a great significance. A voice was in the silence, and an accumulating soft thrill of electricity; and slowly, far out at sea, a vast body rose where a monster of the great deeps protruded his length above the wave and rolled over, the water swirling and sucking down the immense thing as it wallowed, and spreading over the calm expanse in glittering wavelets and hoops of light. Over on the horizon a rolling sound was audible, echoing from north to south, and the placid water tremulated as though the earth beneath it had shivered. It was an awful phenomenon; the deep rumbling, faint but vast, appearing to shake the sea to its lowest depths; and suddenly a long low wave broke on the shore in a rush of creamy foam.

Shouts arose, and the masts of shipping rolled in circles against the sky, while a storm of flapping wings told of seabirds disturbed from their rocks and bolders amid the refuse of the harbour.

Azta nestled closely to me, and I felt her gracious form tremble in my embrace. I also trembled, for I perceived in the dark Heavens that which she could not see; yet I felt the thrill of the fair woman's glorious beauty, more lovely in her abandonment because so unconscious. Mine was the joy of the splendidly rounded limbs, the beauty of the full round breasts that heaved so tumultuously upon her swelling bosom, spreading in its white glory to the throbbing ivory -tinted neck, as a column rising from a garden of lotus-flowers; and in the midst of that mystic fear I was nigh absorbed in delighted contemplation of her plump beauty, my eyes feasting themselves on the perfection of the luxuriously rounded curves, in all the beauty of defined outline, on the tinted pallor of her cheeks surrounded by the flamy masses of hair, with the bewitchment of the shaded little soft lines and dimples; and the thrilling pressure of her soft moist palm appealing to my power filled my soul with ecstasy. I, pressed her closely to my bosom in a warm tender embrace but a terrible fear lay like a pall over my heart at what I saw and knew. Azta hid her head on my breast; did she, too, perceive?

Above waved the flame on Zul, yet it burned lower than was its wont, and the other fires flickered all over the city. A noise was abroad, an uneasy sound of moving crowds in commotion, above which arose an occasional whoop or shout.

"What means this?" whispered my Love, fearfully, turning her dilating eyes upon me, luminous in the twilight of the night.

"I know not, Beloved," I answered; "yet suffer me to take from thine hair the moulded pin, for it is wrongful in the sight of Heaven."

She suffered me meekly. It was but an emblem of what she worshipped without being greatly moved, and I cast it afar so that it dropped into the sea.

There were sounds of conflict at the main port of the city, but they ceased as the first dawn of day began to appear; and as the fire-tower of Zul flashed into light the drum rolled its reverberating echoes like thunder from the skies, reassuring and emboldening. Reechoed from the other temples, from Neptsis, the Moon, and a score of others, the sounds aroused the whole city, awakening such as slept.

But few attended the services, for on all hearts the feeling of superstitious dread mocked the futility of hypocritical ceremonies. Unrest was in the atmosphere, and all believed the demons from Axatlan to be the spell-workers; the fear of their rumour now increased by another, concerning a vast lurid cloud that hung above the burning mountain.

In the palace Toltiah lay bound and ashamed, a hindered interloper, in Marisa's apartments. The Queen had gone with her warriors, passing through the city and away by force of arms. Her armlet glittered on Toltiah's wrist, a token and a keepsake, and her mighty axe had lain by his head all night, significant of what could have been done.

By the waterway the shipping was in confusion, the warships, with dragged anchors, grinding their sides in the midst of skiffs and ruined raft-gardens. The beach was strewn with a ghastly line of skeletons and bones, among which two or three large sharks, not yet dead, lay grounded and monstrous; while above the waves the Fish-god was leaning dangerously, with the arm that held the model of the Tacoatlanta lying, with its burden, in pieces at its feet.

Later, an overpowering stench drew crowds to witness a marine mass that lay among some half-submerged rocks. It was a poulp of enormous size, the grisly tentacles waving in the water as it heaved, scaring the birds that had settled on it to eat out its great saucer-like eyes with their oblong pupils.

Eels and serpents ravened the musky flesh, leaping to reach to where, from the gaping mandibles, hung the body of a woman with lank trailing hair, and features on which a dreadful doom had placed its mark, having been cast to the sea after some brutal festival, as useless, or that no after vengeance should befall through her. It was a sickening sight where the writhing creatures fought, giant congers barking as they plunged their thick bodies up through the tangle to tear at that white flesh, pressing back the elegant serpents that sculled with flattened tails and wriggled in the mass where the limp figure lay on that dread couch in all the beauty of its lissom curves; mute witness of Earth's violence, an unheeded warning of the vengeance of Heaven.

CHAPTER XXII. SUSI.

YET Susi, the wife of Shem, coming as a last warning from Heaven, returned to the Imperial palace to obtain an audience of Azta.

Unopposed she climbed the flights of red steps guarded by the andro-sphinxes, and beneath the shadow of one she turned and gazed slowly around over the pleasant gardens, perceiving with fear a subterranean conflict shake the sartreels. Led by her righteous instinct the fair woman entered the portals of the first pylon, nor heeded the colossi that appeared to gaze intently upon her, nor the gaudy frescoes. Through courts and galleries, columned, vaulted and of stupendous gorgeousness, the soft footfall echoed, not causing to cease the songs of caged birds, nor disturbing gentle domestic animals. Up flights of steps flanked by flowery colonnades and shadowed by beautiful arches echoing the ripple of fountains, she went with a sweet gravity, her face, as that of an angel, full of an inspired lovliness.

As I reclined by Azta, striving to subdue her heart that it might be impressionable, the woman entered without hindrance, and as I gazed upon her beautiful features a great wave of holy enthusiasm swept over me.

Yet her regards went out to Azta, tall, serene and glorious, reclining on a couch of ostrich-feathers, who turned her mystic eyes and pale, immovable features upon the sweet, shy woman so suddenly and unwarned confronting her in all her fresh young lovliness, looking, with her pure countenance, of a most etherial beauty. It was not the first time Azta had seen her closely, yet she started faintly as she observed the expression in her face, while Susi's blue eyes looked as though fascinated into her yellow orbs, and dilated largely.

Azta suffered her long lashes to fall slowly, willing to exercise her charms and desirous of admiration with a longing that was the passion of her soul, although perchance she knew it not. Even from this one she desired homage, and indeed, obtained it. To Susi she appeared the most wonderful being that she had ever seen, and beautiful beyond all that report had said of her; nor less the apartment, with its mirrors and furniture, heightened her majestic personality and spread a sublime spell about her.

Dropping her blue eyes, thereby causing it to appear as though the sunlight had gone from two bright lakes, Susi made obeisance; and by her lissom grace created a more tender feeling, removing the sensation of hauteur to one whose family held so aloof from royal and popular failings and thereby conveying a reproach (to Azta).

" And who is this that would seek an audience in such sudden wise?" asked the Empress, with so gracious an intonation and yet with some astonished arrogance in it that the young woman looked up swiftly, feeling the temper of her mistress with sensitive intuition.

" I am Susi, the wife of Shem," she said modestly, in a voice so sweet and musical that, with the memories of past indebtedness, Azta's heart went out to her with a great friendship, so that her manner was singularly tender as she hastened to convey her feelings to the shy petitioner and set her at ease.

"Sit on my footstool," she said, smiling upon her with the flash of red rubies; "in my apartments thou mayest suffer all restraint to vanish; for see, I am a woman also as thyself; fear not to speak that which is in thy heart, sweetest of our subjects."

"Mighty Azta," Susi answered, "gracious is thy speech, for who could help but fear thee! and of a truth, I fear greatly. Yet suffer me to kneel at thy feet; and be kind to me, for it is a great matter of which I would speak; neither am I as thou art, nor is my woman's heart braver than belongs to our sex in this thing."

Now Azta was disturbed, believing it had something to do with Toltiah in some fashion, and restless until she should know what it was.

"Nay, nay, child!" she said swiftly. "I have told thee that I am a woman too, with a woman's heart, and I will help thee. Is it of some false beloved that thou wouldst speak? Confide in me, sweet one, I will help thee."

Susi's face flushed a rosy red of embarrassment and annoyance.

"Ah nay!" she said, " I love but one man and have never suffered any but my lord!" At which words Azta loved her yet the more, looking upon her very softly and wistfully in silence for a short space.

''Speak on, fair one, after what fashion thou wilt," she said; and then, happening to cast her eyes upon me and observing with how much attention I gazed on Susi, a petulance fell upon her and a hardening of the heart.

Susi cast her eyes around, now upon the walls, now upon the ceiling. Half she started, then halted, and, blushing deeply, fell into tears. The feeling that it was presumptuous for her to correct so great a one, her superior in age and estate, nearly overcame her. But before Azta, sullen and jealous, could offer , her tardy encouragement, a song-bird of surpassing beauty flew into the room and warbled wondrously.

Looking steadfastly upon it, the rosy woman seemed to gather within herself inspiration and courage, and a majesty that was impressive gathered about her as, raising her starry eyes to Heaven, she drew herself up like a prophetess, her sweet young face setting solemnly and firmly and her body tense and straight.

One glance she gave to me, so full of sad reproach and admonition that my soul melted within me; and then in a voice measured and beautiful she spoke as though rehearsing from a document; and although at first her dark fringy lashes quivered, soon even this sign of weakness passed, and she spoke as an Angel.

"O Queen," she said, "when the first forefathers of our race were created, the Lord Jehovah gave to them the gift of Life immortal, placing them higher in rank than the bright sons of Heaven; and unto them was created Woman, which being of more spiritual mould might lead the soul of Man without straying. And, as the teachers know, this one disobeyed the command of the Creator and did that which was unseemly in the sight of Heaven, in that she came to know more than was ordained for her to know, not possessing government to withstand such knowledge. The which, with an immortal existence, would have wrought confusion; and for this prevention the gift of Life was greatly decreased; and while forgetfulness was bestowed upon each one, that experience would have to be begun afresh, punishment fell also upon the evil doers, of such sort as to hinder too great sin and render painful that which was necessary. Desire supplanted Love, and, as the rose, tore the hand that plucked it; yet man preferred the pleasures of Earth to those of Heaven, nor did woman aid his soul longer; for, falling, and of more spiritual mould, she fell deeper than he, for the greater the height the greater also the fall. And it is told of sin increasing and growing more abominable and evil, for to aid the forbidden knowledge of Earth does Woman suffer the sons of Heaven to approach her, pulling the ruin of Evil still deeper over herself, and them also."

Azta's bosom heaved and an angry light gathered in her eyes; but she was silent, not knowing by what power Susi spoke, and being greatly impressed by her utterance.

"And these were souls with which she played," continued the inspired voice, " and with the same fatal spirit that caused the first sin, she cast them aside for others, that she might know them also. And moral Man was as wax in her hands, and physical Man in poor avenge enslaved her body by force to compel her to his will in this. And she bore offspring to celestial lovers, which by reason of sin and being of finer mould sinned yet more deeply, until Mankind becomes an eyesore and a menace to Heaven."

"Stop!" cried Azta in a terrible voice, not being able to support such things being put before her in set speech. " To what end is this?" she said in an insufferable voice; yet Susi quailed not.

"Thou askest, To what end?" she cried, with splendid fire, her brave blue eyes meeting Azta's unflinchingly now, and the high beauty of an Angel in her face. "Hearken! Thou art the ruler of Atlantis, strong in thy power and the wonder of thy presence; thou, O Queen, canst cause the sin of the land to cease. By a woman came death; by a woman can come redemption. Ay," she cried, in a thrilling voice, " by a woman redemption iv ill come! To Woman shall it be to conceive the lovliest Thing of Earth, to know it and believe in it so strongly that it shall come forth, Love Undying, in the time appointed; pregnant with the renewed gift of Life immortal to conquer Sin and Death and lead back Man to the old worship. Mediator between God and Man shall Woman be, Medium of Heaven and Earth, body of Man and soul of Angel! "

Her arms were raised, and her eyes, marvellously beautiful, seemed to pierce the sky. She appeared not to breathe, and a subtle light surrounded her and kissed her red lips into a divine smile of rapture and prophecy, as she stood scarce resting upon her feet.

Azta gazed half in fear, yet the poison of jealousy of her fair teacher cooled any enthusiasm, and she but felt angered that such should reproach her who had seen the hidden things and was so great and powerful. Therefore she said coldly,, " Thou art presumptuous."

" Forgive me, my Queen," said Susi, with majestic dignity, "if my words are unpalatable; I do but speak with the voice of the Spirit within me, and willingly would I lay down my life for thine honorable promise of reformation."

"Child!" cried the lady, leaning forward, impatient and annoyed, "thou hast said enough. Now gol"

Susi looked at her with her beautiful eyes full of sorrow, and with a bitter cry of grief slowly sank down, embracing her knees.

"My sweet lady, harden not thy heart to me," she sobbed; "didst thou but know how I regard thee and the faith I have in thy power and influence, thou wouldst not spurn me. For the souls of thy people, hear me! For thine own soul, hear!"

"I will consider," said Azta softly. "Go!"

Susi arose slowly, and never can I forget the look of those heavenly eyes that besought, adjured, warned. One long gaze she cast on all around, one last long look on Azta, and then she was gone,

The Empress shook herself as one who would cast off a garment, and laughed. "Little fooll " she said; yet the words found no echo in her heart.

Susi retraced her silent steps through hall and corridor, accompanied by the bright bird that had sung so wondrously, which left her as she passed through into the outer court. Standing in the midst of the great terraces of steps, she gazed upon the inscrutable face of one of the andro-sphinxes that looked so impassively into space.

"What dost thou see?" she whispered.

A great voice at her elbow startled her, saying, " And so my shy sweetheart has come to visit me?"

She looked round quickly, and perceived Toltiah, beautiful in his vast symmetry and majestic in his godlike carriage and presence, as an Infernal god in might; and behind him came his pipe-bearer. The startled woman gazed long, unable to remove her eyes from the great ruddy mane and turquoise-studded teeth and the orbs that were so like Azta's.

The rerriembrance of former persecutions and knowledge of his terrible character filled her with dread, even as a small antelope quails before the swift ocelot, and her eyes sought the terraces and colonnades for aid. The giant, perceiving her terror, smiled, a drear grin of horror, waving away the slave.

"Art afraid of thine old playmate?" he said in jest, albeit his voice was very rich and strong, yet falling as a note of doom.

" I am going to my husband," answered Susi, with a desperate fear in her eyes, seeking vainly for help, while her tongue clave unto her throat.

"Sweet Susi, thou wert ever wayward! Why fear me? Behold, I will give thee gifts suitable for a queen, and load thee with gems," he said; yet perceiving how her frightened eyes roamed, he became angry.

"Fool that thou art to spurn my love!" he cried. " By Zul, thou shalt repent it, and nowl"

"Toltiah, remember that thou art a man and I but a weak woman. Force me not against my will, for no good will come of it; for I have a husband, and there are others far more suited to thee than I."

"Sweet fool, what are others to me?" he cried, his passion but aroused by dalliance. " I love thee, Susi, and sure 'twere not to be despised what I offer."

With the words he laid his hand on her soft round arm, and shook it angrily as he felt her tremble.

"Think, think!" she cried piteously. "I have a husband and love none but him. Shame not thyself and me, ruler of Atlantis! What am I for such as thee?"

"I love thee!" he cried in a fury; "it is enough; I honour whom I choose.!'

Drawing her to him rudely, he imprinted an unchaste kiss on her lips. She shrieked and gasped, and, fainting, would have fallen, but the chief boisterously lifted her up into his great arms, gloating over her charms and his mastery over her.

He kissed her again and again ferociously, crushing her soft body against his and still willing to play more with the lovely victim.

A stifled sob burst from her, and a terrified wail of anguish, as she cried to Heaven to save her, struggling desperately in the brutal arms of her captor. Toltiah but laughed grimly and scanned her lissom form with delight, baring his teeth and smacking his lips in lewd enjoyment.

A dull rumbling sound shook the atmosphere and caused a sickening sensation of dread and premonition of coming peril. The earth rolled, and a noise, increasing to the appalling roar of heaviest thunder, swayed it with a heaving movement. The terrified chieftain dropped his victim, as a dreadful convulsion rent the terraces in sunder; there puffing up from the dread chasm a cloud of dust that darkened the air. As the heaving waves of the sea the ground rocked, and distant confused sounds of panic and uproar arose, with crashing sounds of falling masses. Then a flash of dark lightning leaped upwards from the cavernous gulf and all was still.

The dust settled and the sky was clear but for a small heavy cloud that rose up and up swiftly. Toltiah lay prone and terrified upon an edge of the dark pit, on the opposite side of which stood Susi.

"Farewell," she said, with a world of sadness in her voice as she slowly departed; and, without a single backward glance, disappeared,

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