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肩書を与える: Beyond the 黒人／ボイコット River
Author: Robert E. Howard
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Date first 地位，任命するd:  May 2006
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Beyond the 黒人／ボイコット River

by

Robert E. Howard

Serialized in Weird Tales, May-June 1935
This e-調書をとる／予約する 版: 事業／計画（する） Gutenberg Australia, 2020

Weird Tales, May 1935, with first part of "Beyond the 黒人／ボイコット River"

A thrilling novelette of the Picts and the wizard Zogar 下落するmdash;
a startling,weird saga of terrific adventures and dark 魔法.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART I

1. — CONAN LOSES HIS AX

THE stillness of the forest 追跡する was so primeval that the tread of a soft-booted foot was a startling 騒動. At least it seemed so to the ears of the wayfarer, though he was moving along the path with the 警告を与える that must be practised by any man who 投機・賭けるs beyond 雷鳴 River. He was a young man of medium 高さ, with an open countenance and a mop of tousled tawny hair unconfined by cap or helmet. His garb was ありふれた enough for that country—a coarse tunic, belted at the waist, short leather breeches beneath, and soft buckskin boots that （機の）カム short of the 膝. A knife-hilt jutted from one boot-最高の，を越す. The 幅の広い leather belt supported a short, 激しい sword and a buckskin pouch. There was no perturbation in the wide 注目する，もくろむs that scanned the green 塀で囲むs which fringed the 追跡する. Though not tall, he was 井戸／弁護士席 built, and the 武器 that the short wide sleeves of the tunic left 明らかにする were 厚い with corded muscle.

He tramped imperturbably along, although the last 植民／開拓者's cabin lay miles behind him, and each step was carrying him nearer the grim 危険，危なくする that hung like a brooding 影をつくる／尾行する over the 古代の forest.

He was not making as much noise as it seemed to him, though he 井戸／弁護士席 knew that the faint tread of his booted feet would be like a tocsin of alarm to the 猛烈な／残忍な ears that might be lurking in the 背信の green fastness. His careless 態度 was not 本物の; his 注目する，もくろむs and ears were 熱心に 警報, 特に his ears, for no gaze could 侵入する the leafy 絡まる for more than a few feet in either direction.

But it was instinct more than any 警告 by the 外部の senses which brought him up suddenly, his 手渡す on his hilt. He stood 在庫／株-still in the middle of the 追跡する, unconsciously 持つ／拘留するing his breath, wondering what he had heard, and wondering if indeed he had heard anything. The silence seemed 絶対の. Not a squirrel chattered or bird chirped. Then his gaze 直す／買収する，八百長をするd itself on a 集まり of bushes beside the 追跡する a few yards ahead of him. There was no 微風, yet he had seen a 支店 quiver. The short hairs on his scalp prickled, and he stood for an instant 決めかねて, 確かな that a move in either direction would bring death streaking at him from the bushes.

A 激しい chopping crunch sounded behind the leaves. The bushes were shaken violently, and 同時に with the sound, an arrow arched erratically from の中で them and 消えるd の中で the trees along the 追跡する. The wayfarer glimpsed its flight as he sprang frantically to cover.

Crouching behind a 厚い 茎・取り除く, his sword quivering in his fingers, he saw the bushes part, and a tall 人物／姿／数字 stepped leisurely into the 追跡する. The traveller 星／主役にするd in surprise. The stranger was 覆う？ like himself in regard to boots and breeks, though the latter were of silk instead of leather. But he wore a sleeveless hauberk of dark mesh-mail in place of a tunic, and a helmet perched on his 黒人／ボイコット mane. That helmet held the other's gaze; it was without a crest, but adorned by short bull's horns. No civilized 手渡す ever (1)偽造する／(2)徐々に進むd that 長，率いる-piece. Nor was the 直面する below it that of a civilized man: dark, scarred, with smoldering blue 注目する，もくろむs, it was a 直面する as untamed as the primordial forest which formed its background. The man held a 幅の広い-sword in his 権利 手渡す, and the 辛勝する／優位 was smeared with crimson.

"Come on out," he called, in an accent unfamiliar to the wayfarer. "All's 安全な now. There was only one of the dogs. Come on out."

The other 現れるd dubiously and 星／主役にするd at the stranger. He felt curiously helpless and futile as he gazed on the 割合s of the forest man—the 大規模な アイロンをかける-覆う？ breast, and the arm that bore the reddened sword, 燃やすd dark by the sun and 山の尾根d and corded with muscles. He moved with the dangerous 緩和する of a panther; he was too ひどく supple to be a 製品 of civilization, even of that fringe of civilization which composed the outer frontiers.

TURNING, he stepped 支援する to the bushes and pulled them apart. Still not 確かな just what had happened, the wayfarer from the east 前進するd and 星／主役にするd 負かす／撃墜する into the bushes. A man lay there, a short, dark, thickly-muscled man, naked except for a loin-cloth, a necklace of human teeth and a 厚かましさ／高級将校連 armlet. A short sword was thrust into the girdle of the loin-cloth, and one 手渡す still gripped a 激しい 黒人／ボイコット 屈服する. The man had long 黒人／ボイコット hair; that was about all the wayfarer could tell about his 長，率いる, for his features were a mask of 血 and brains. His skull had been 分裂（する） to the teeth.

"A Pict, by the gods!" exclaimed the wayfarer.

The 燃やすing blue 注目する，もくろむs turned upon him.

"Are you surprised?"

"Why, they told me at Velitrium, and again at the 植民／開拓者s' cabins along the road, that these devils いつかs こそこそ動くd across the 国境, but I didn't 推定する／予想する to 会合，会う one this far in the 内部の."

"You're only four miles east of 黒人／ボイコット River," the stranger 知らせるd him. "They've been 発射 within a mile of Velitrium. No 植民／開拓者 between 雷鳴 River and Fort Tuscelan is really 安全な. I 選ぶd up this dog's 追跡する three miles south of the fort this morning, and I've been に引き続いて him ever since. I （機の）カム up behind him just as he was 製図／抽選 an arrow on you. Another instant and there'd have been a stranger in Hell. But I spoiled his 目的（とする） for him."

The wayfarer was 星／主役にするing wide 注目する，もくろむd at the larger man, dumbfounded by the 現実化 that the man had 現実に 跡をつけるd 負かす／撃墜する one of the forest devils and 殺害された him unsuspected. That 暗示するd woodsmanship of a 質 undreamed, even for Conajohara.

"You are one of the fort's 守備隊?" he asked.

"I'm no 兵士. I draw the 支払う／賃金 and rations of an officer of the line, but I do my work in the 支持を得ようと努めるd. Valannus knows I'm of more use 範囲ing along the river than 閉じ込める／刑務所d up in the fort."

Casually the slayer 押すd the 団体／死体 deeper into the thickets with his foot, pulled the bushes together and turned away 負かす／撃墜する the 追跡する. The other followed him.

"My 指名する is Balthus," he 申し込む／申し出d. "I was at Velitrium last night. I 港／避難所't decided whether I'll （問題を）取り上げる a hide of land, or enter fort service."

"The best land 近づく 雷鳴 River is already taken," grunted the slayer. "Plenty of good land between Scalp Creek—you crossed it a few miles 支援する—and the fort, but that's getting too devilish の近くに to the river. The Picts steal over to 燃やす and 殺人—as that one did. They don't always come singly. Some day they'll try to sweep the 植民／開拓者s out of Conajohara. And they may 後継する—probably will 後継する. This 植民地化 商売／仕事 is mad, anyway. There's plenty of good land east of the Bossonian marches. If the Aquilonians would 削減（する） up some of the big 広い地所s of their barons, and 工場／植物 wheat where now only deer are 追跡（する）d, they wouldn't have to cross the 国境 and take the land of the Picts away from them."

"That's queer talk from a man in the service of the 知事 of Conajohara," 反対するd Balthus.

"It's nothing to me," the other retorted. "I'm a mercenary. I sell my sword to the highest 入札者. I never 工場／植物d wheat and never will, so long as there are other 収穫s to be 得るd with the sword. But you Hyborians have 拡大するd as far as you'll be 許すd to 拡大する. You've crossed the marches, 燃やすd a few villages, 皆殺しにするd a few 一族／派閥s and 押し進めるd 支援する the frontier to 黒人／ボイコット River; but I 疑問 if you'll even be able to 持つ／拘留する what you've 征服する／打ち勝つd, and you'll never 押し進める the frontier any その上の 西方の. Your idiotic king doesn't understand 条件s here. He won't send you enough 増強s, and there are not enough 植民／開拓者s to withstand the shock of a 一致した attack from across the river."

"But the Picts are divided into small 一族／派閥s," 固執するd Balthus. "They'll never 部隊. We can whip any 選び出す／独身 一族／派閥."

"Or any three or four 一族／派閥s," 認める the slayer. "But some day a man will rise and 部隊 thirty or forty 一族／派閥s, just as was done の中で the Cimmerians, when the Gundermen tried to 押し進める the 国境 northward, years ago. They tried to colonize the southern marches of Cimmeria: destroyed a few small 一族／派閥s, built a fort-town, Venarium—you've heard the tale."

"So I have indeed," replied Balthus, wincing. The memory of that red 災害 was a 黒人／ボイコット blot in the chronicles of a proud and warlike people. "My uncle was at Venarium when the Cimmerians 群れているd over the 塀で囲むs. He was one of the few who escaped that 虐殺（する）. I've heard him tell the tale, many a time. The barbarians swept out of the hills in a ravening horde, without 警告, and 嵐／襲撃するd Venarium with such fury 非，不，無 could stand before them. Men, women, and children were butchered. Venarium was 減ずるd to a 集まり of charred 廃虚s, as it is to this day. The Aquilonians were driven 支援する across the marches, and have never since tried to colonize the Cimmerian country. But you speak of Venarium familiarly. Perhaps you were there?"

"I was," grunted the other. "I was one of the horde that 群れているd over the 塀で囲むs. I hadn't yet seen fifteen snows, but already my 指名する was repeated about the 会議 解雇する／砲火／射撃s."

Balthus involuntarily recoiled, 星／主役にするing. It seemed incredible that the man walking tranquilly at his 味方する should have been one of those screeching, 血-mad devils that 注ぐd over the 塀で囲むs of Venarium on that long-gone day to make her streets run crimson.

"Then you, too, are a barbarian!" he exclaimed involuntarily.

The other nodded, without taking 罪／違反.

"I am Conan, a Cimmerian."

"I've heard of you." Fresh 利益／興味 quickened Balthus' gaze. No wonder the Pict had fallen 犠牲者 to his own sort of subtlety! The Cimmerians were barbarians as ferocious as the Picts, and much more intelligent. Evidently Conan had spent much time の中で civilized men, though that 接触する had 明白に not 軟化するd him, nor 弱めるd any of his 原始の instincts. Balthus' 逮捕 turned to 賞賛 as he 示すd the 平易な catlike stride, the effortless silence with which the Cimmerian moved along the 追跡する. The oiled links of his armor did not clink, and Balthus knew Conan could glide through the deepest thicket or most 絡まるd copse as noiselessly as any naked Pict that ever lived.

"You're not a Gunderman?" It was more 主張 than question.

Balthus shook his 長，率いる. "I'm from the Tauran."

"I've seen good woodsmen from the Tauran. But the Bossonians have 避難所d you Aquilonians from the outer wilderness for too many centuries. You need hardening."

That was true; the Bossonian marches, with their 防備を堅める／強化するd villages filled with 決定するd bowmen, had long served Aquilonia as a 衝撃を和らげるもの against the 辺ぴな barbarians. Now の中で the 植民／開拓者s beyond 雷鳴 River here was growing up a 産む／飼育する of forest men 有能な of 会合 the barbarians at their own game, but their numbers were still scanty. Most of the frontiersmen were like Balthus—more of the 植民／開拓者 than the woodsman type.

THE sun had not 始める，決める, but it was no longer in sight, hidden as it was behind the dense forest 塀で囲む. The 影をつくる／尾行するs were lengthening, 深くするing 支援する in the 支持を得ようと努めるd as the companions strode on 負かす／撃墜する the 追跡する.

"It will be dark before we reach the fort," commented Conan casually; then: "Listen!"

He stopped short, half crouching, sword ready, transformed into a savage 人物／姿／数字 of 疑惑 and menace, 均衡を保った to spring and rend. Balthus had heard it too—a wild 叫び声をあげる that broke at its highest 公式文書，認める. It was the cry of a man in 悲惨な 恐れる or agony.

Conan was off in an instant, racing 負かす／撃墜する the 追跡する, each stride 広げるing the distance between him and his 緊張するing companion. Balthus puffed a 悪口を言う／悪態. の中で the 解決／入植地s of the Tauran he was accounted a good 走者, but Conan was leaving him behind with maddening 緩和する. Then Balthus forgot his exasperation as his ears were 乱暴／暴力を加えるd by the most frightful cry he had ever heard. It was not human, this one; it was a demoniacal caterwauling of hideous 勝利 that seemed to exult over fallen humanity and find echo in 黒人／ボイコット 湾s beyond human ken.

Balthus 滞るd in his stride, and clammy sweat beaded his flesh. But Conan did not hesitate; he darted around a bend in the 追跡する and disappeared, and Balthus, panicky at finding himself alone with that awful 叫び声をあげる still shuddering through the forest in grisly echoes, put on an extra burst of 速度(を上げる） and 急落（する），激減（する）d after him.

The Aquilonian slid to a つまずくing 停止（させる）, almost 衝突する／食い違うing with the Cimmerian who stood in the 追跡する over a crumpled 団体／死体. But Conan was not looking at the 死体 which lay there in the crimson-soaked dust. He was glaring into the 深い 支持を得ようと努めるd on either 味方する of the 追跡する.

Balthus muttered a horrified 誓い. It was the 団体／死体 of a man which lay there in the 追跡する, a short, fat man, 覆う？ in the gilt-worked boots and (にもかかわらず the heat) the ermine-trimmed tunic of a 豊富な merchant. His fat, pale 直面する was 始める，決める in a 星／主役にする of frozen horror; his 厚い throat had been 削除するd from ear to ear as if by a かみそり-sharp blade. The short sword still in its scabbard seemed to 示す that he had been struck 負かす／撃墜する without a chance to fight for his life.

"A Pict?" Balthus whispered, as he turned to peer into the 深くするing 影をつくる／尾行するs of the forest.

Conan shook his 長，率いる and straightened to scowl 負かす／撃墜する at the dead man.

"A forest devil. This is the fifth, by Crom!"

"What do you mean?"

"Did you ever hear of a Pictish wizard called Zogar 下落する?"

Balthus shook his 長，率いる uneasily.

"He dwells in Gwawela, the nearest village across the river. Three months ago he hid beside this road and stole a string of pack-mules from a pack-train bound for the fort—drugged their drivers, somehow. The mules belonged to this man"—Conan casually 示すd the 死体 with his foot—"Tiberias, a merchant of Velitrium. They were 負担d with ale-ケッグs, and old Zogar stopped to guzzle before he got across the river. A woodsman 指名するd Soractus 追跡するd him, and led Valannus and three 兵士s to where he lay dead drunk in a thicket. At the importunities of Tiberias, Valannus threw Zogar 下落する into a 独房, which is the worst 侮辱 you can give a Pict. He managed to kill his guard and escape, and sent 支援する word that he meant to kill Tiberias and the five men who 逮捕（する）d him in a way that would make Aquilonians shudder for centuries to come.

"井戸／弁護士席, Soractus and the 兵士s are dead. Soractus was killed on the river, the 兵士s in the very 影をつくる／尾行する of the fort. And now Tiberias is dead. No Pict killed any of them. Each 犠牲者—except Tiberias, as you see—欠如（する）d his 長，率いる—which no 疑問 is now ornamenting the altar of Zogar 下落する's particular god."

"How do you know they weren't killed by the Picts?" 需要・要求するd Balthus.

Conan pointed to the 死体 of the merchant.

"You think that was done with a knife or a sword? Look closer and you'll see that only a talon could have made a gash like that. The flesh is ripped, not 削減（する）."

"Perhaps a panther—" began Balthus, without 有罪の判決.

Conan shook his 長，率いる impatiently.

"A man from the Tauran couldn't mistake the 示す of a panther's claws. No. It's a forest devil 召喚するd by Zogar 下落する to carry out his 復讐. Tiberias was a fool to start for Velitrium alone, and so の近くに to dusk. But each one of the 犠牲者s seemed to be smitten with madness just before doom overtook him. Look here; the 調印するs are plain enough. Tiberias （機の）カム riding along the 追跡する on his mule, maybe with a bundle of choice カワウソ pelts behind his saddle to sell in Velitrium, and the thing sprang on him from behind that bush. See where the 支店s are 鎮圧するd 負かす／撃墜する.

"Tiberias gave one 叫び声をあげる, and then his throat was torn open and he was selling his カワウソ 肌s in Hell. The mule ran away into the 支持を得ようと努めるd. Listen! Even now you can hear him thrashing about under the trees. The demon didn't have time to take Tiberias' 長，率いる; it took fright as we （機の）カム up."

"As you （機の）カム up," 修正するd Balthus. "It must not be a very terrible creature if it 逃げるs from one 武装した man. But how do you know it was not a Pict with some 肉親，親類d of a hook that 引き裂くs instead of slicing? Did you see it?"

"Tiberias was an 武装した man," grunted Conan. "If Zogar 下落する can bring demons to 援助（する） him, he can tell them which men to kill and which to let alone. No, I didn't see it. I only saw the bushes shake as it left the 追跡する. But if you want その上の proof, look here!"

The slayer had stepped into the pool of 血 in which the dead man sprawled. Under the bushes at the 辛勝する／優位 of the path there was a 足跡, made in 血 on the hard loam.

"Did a man make that?" 需要・要求するd Conan.

BALTHUS felt his scalp prickle. Neither man nor any beast that he had ever seen could have left that strange, monstrous, three-toed print, that was curiously 連合させるd of the bird and the reptile, yet a true type of neither. He spread his fingers above the print, careful not to touch it, and grunted explosively. He could not （期間が）わたる the 示す.

"What is it?" he whispered. "I never saw a beast that left a spoor like that."

"Nor any other sane man," answered Conan grimly. "It's a 押し寄せる／沼地 demon—they're 厚い as bats in the 押し寄せる／沼地s beyond 黒人／ボイコット River. You can hear them howling like damned souls when the 勝利，勝つd blows strong from the south on hot nights."

"What shall we do?" asked the Aquilonian, peering uneasily into the 深い blue 影をつくる／尾行するs. The frozen 恐れる on the dead countenance haunted him. He wondered what hideous 長，率いる the wretch had seen thrust grinning from の中で the leaves to 冷気／寒がらせる his 血 with terror.

"No use to try to follow a demon," grunted Conan, 製図／抽選 a short woodman's ax from his girdle. "I tried 跡をつけるing him after he killed Soractus. I lost his 追跡する within a dozen steps. He might have grown himself wings and flown away, or sunk 負かす／撃墜する through the earth to Hell. I don't know. I'm not going after the mule, either. It'll either wander 支援する to the fort, or to some 植民／開拓者's cabin."

As he spoke Conan was busy at the 辛勝する／優位 of the 追跡する with his ax. With a few 一打／打撃s he 削減（する） a pair of saplings nine or ten feet long, and denuded them of their 支店s. Then he 削減（する） a length from a serpent-like vine that はうd の中で the bushes 近づく by, and making one end 急速な／放蕩な to one of the 政治家s, a couple of feet from the end, whipped the vine over the other sapling and interlaced it 支援する and 前へ／外へ. In a few moments he had a 天然のまま but strong litter.

"The demon isn't going to get Tiberias' 長，率いる if I can help it," he growled. "We'll carry the 団体／死体 into the fort. It isn't more than three miles. I never liked the fat fool, but we can't have Pictish devils making so 悪口を言う／悪態d 解放する／自由な with white men's 長，率いるs."

The Picts were a white race, though swarthy, but the 国境 men never spoke of them as such.

Balthus took the 後部 end of the litter, の上に which Conan 無作法に 捨てるd the unfortunate merchant, and they moved on 負かす／撃墜する the 追跡する as 速く as possible. Conan made no more noise laden with their grim 重荷（を負わせる） than he had made when unencumbered. He had made a 宙返り飛行 with the merchant's belt at the end of the 政治家s, and was carrying his 株 of the 負担 with one 手渡す, while the other gripped his naked broadsword, and his restless gaze roved the 悪意のある 塀で囲むs about them. The 影をつくる／尾行するs were thickening. A darkening blue もや blurred the 輪郭（を描く）s of the foliage. The forest 深くするd in the twilight, became a blue haunt of mystery 避難所ing unguessed things.

They had covered more than a mile, and the muscles in Balthus' sturdy 武器 were beginning to ache a little, when a cry rang shuddering from the 支持を得ようと努めるd whose blue 影をつくる／尾行するs were 深くするing into purple.

Conan started convulsively, and Balthus almost let go the 政治家s.

"A woman!" cried the younger man. "広大な／多数の／重要な Mitra, a woman cried out then!"

"A 植民／開拓者's wife 逸脱するing in the 支持を得ようと努めるd," snarled Conan, setting 負かす／撃墜する his end of the lifter. "Looking for a cow, probably, and—stay here!"

He dived like a 追跡（する）ing wolf into the leafy 塀で囲む. Balthus' hair bristled.

"Stay here alone with this 死体 and a devil hiding in the 支持を得ようと努めるd?" he yelped. "I'm coming with you!"

And 控訴ing 活動／戦闘 to words, he 急落（する），激減（する）d after the Cimmerian. Conan ちらりと見ることd 支援する at him, but made no 反対, though he did not 穏健な his pace to 融通する the shorter 脚s of his companion. Balthus wasted his 勝利，勝つd in 断言するing as the Cimmerian drew away from him again, like a phantom between the trees, and then Conan burst into a 薄暗い glade and 停止（させる）d crouching, lips snarling, sword 解除するd.

"What are we stopping for?" panted Balthus, dashing the sweat out of his 注目する，もくろむs and gripping his short sword.

"That 叫び声をあげる （機の）カム from this glade, or 近づく by," answered Conan. "I don't mistake the 場所 of sounds, even in the 支持を得ようと努めるd. But where—"

突然の the sound rang out again—behind them; in the direction of the 追跡する they had just quitted. It rose piercingly and pitifully, the cry of a woman in frantic terror—and then, shockingly, it changed to a yell of mocking laughter that might have burst from the lips of a fiend of lower Hell.

"What in Mitra's 指名する—" Balthus' 直面する was a pale blur in the gloom.

With a scorching 誓い Conan wheeled and dashed 支援する the way he had come, and the Aquilonian つまずくd bewilderedly after him. He 失敗d into the Cimmerian as the latter stopped dead, and 回復するd from his brawny shoulders as though from an アイロンをかける statue. Gasping from the 衝撃, he heard Conan's breath hiss through his teeth. The Cimmerian seemed frozen in his 跡をつけるs.

Looking over his shoulder, Balthus felt his hair stand up stiffly. Something was moving through the 深い bushes that fringed the 追跡する—something that neither walked nor flew, but seemed to glide like a serpent. But it was not a serpent. Its 輪郭（を描く）s were indistinct, but it was taller than a man, and not very bulky. It gave off a 微光 of weird light, like a faint blue 炎上. Indeed, the eery 解雇する／砲火／射撃 was the only 有形の thing about it. It might have been an 具体的に表現するd 炎上 moving with 推論する／理由 and 目的 through the blackening 支持を得ようと努めるd.

Conan snarled a savage 悪口を言う／悪態 and 投げつけるd his ax with ferocious will. But the thing glided on without altering its course. Indeed it was only a few instants' (n)艦隊／(a)素早いing glimpse they had of it—a tall, shadowy thing of misty 炎上 floating through the thickets. Then it was gone, and the forest crouched in breathless stillness.

With a snarl Conan 急落（する），激減（する）d through the 介入するing foliage and into the 追跡する. His profanity, as Balthus floundered after him, was lurid and 情熱的な. The Cimmerian was standing over the litter on which lay the 団体／死体 of Tiberias. And that 団体／死体 no longer 所有するd a 長，率いる.

"Tricked us with its damnable caterwauling!" raved Conan, swinging his 広大な／多数の／重要な sword about his 長，率いる in his wrath. "I might have known! I might have guessed a trick! Now there'll be five 長，率いるs to decorate Zogar's altar."

"But what thing is it that can cry like a woman and laugh like a devil, and 向こうずねs like witch-解雇する／砲火／射撃 as it glides through the trees?" gasped Balthus, mopping the sweat from his pale 直面する.

"A 押し寄せる／沼地 devil," 答える／応じるd Conan morosely. "得る，とらえる those 政治家s. We'll take in the 団体／死体, anyway. At least our 負担's a bit はしけ."

With which grim philosophy he gripped the leathery 宙返り飛行 and stalked 負かす／撃墜する the 追跡する.

2. — THE WIZARD OF GWAWELA

FORT TUSCELAN stood on the eastern bank of 黒人／ボイコット River, the tides of which washed the foot of the stockade. The latter was of スピードを出す／記録につけるs, as were all the buildings within, 含むing the donjon (to dignify it by that 呼称), in which were the 知事's ４半期/4分の1s, overlooking the stockade and the sullen river. Beyond that river lay a 抱擁する forest, which approached ジャングル-like 濃度／密度 along the spongy shores. Men paced the 滑走路s along the スピードを出す／記録につける parapet day and night, watching that dense green 塀で囲む. Seldom a 脅迫的な 人物／姿／数字 appeared, but the 歩哨s knew that they too were watched, ひどく, hungrily, with the mercilessness of 古代の hate. The forest beyond the river might seem desolate and 空いている of life to the ignorant 注目する，もくろむ, but life teemed there, not alone of bird and beast and reptile, but also of men, the fiercest of all the 追跡（する）ing beasts.

There, at the fort, civilization ended. Fort Tuscelan was the last outpost of a civilized world; it 代表するd the westernmost thrust of the 支配的な Hyborian races. Beyond the river the 原始の still 統治するd in shadowy forests, 小衝突-thatched huts where hung the grinning skulls of men, and mud-塀で囲むd enclosures where 解雇する／砲火／射撃s flickered and 派手に宣伝するs rumbled, and spears were whetted in the 手渡すs of dark, silent men with 絡まるd 黒人／ボイコット hair and the 注目する，もくろむs of serpents. Those 注目する，もくろむs often glared through bushes at the fort across the river. Once dark-skinned men had built their huts where that fort stood, yes, and their huts had risen where now stood the fields and スピードを出す／記録につける cabins of fair-haired 植民／開拓者s, 支援する beyond Velitrium, that raw, 騒然とした frontier town on the banks of 雷鳴 River, to the shores of that other river that bounds the Bossonian marches. 仲買人s had come, and priests of Mitra who walked with 明らかにする feet and empty 手渡すs, and died horribly, most of them; but 兵士s had followed, men with axes in their 手渡すs and women and children in ox-drawn wains. 支援する to 雷鳴 River, and still 支援する, beyond 黒人／ボイコット River, the aborigines had been 押し進めるd, with 虐殺（する） and 大虐殺. But the dark-skinned people did not forget that once Conajohara had been theirs.

The guard inside the eastern gate bawled a challenge. Through a 閉めだした aperture torchlight flickered, glinting on a steel headpiece and 怪しげな 注目する，もくろむs beneath it.

"Open the gate," snorted Conan. "You see it's I, don't you?"

軍の discipline put his teeth on 辛勝する／優位.

The gate swung inward and Conan and his companion passed through. Balthus 公式文書，認めるd that the gate was 側面に位置するd by a tower on each 味方する, the 首脳会議s of which rose above the stockade. He saw （法などの）抜け穴s for arrows.

The guardsmen grunted as they saw the 重荷（を負わせる） borne between the men. Their pikes jangled against each other as they thrust shut the gate, chin on shoulder, and Conan asked testily: "Have you never seen a headless 団体／死体 before?"

The 直面するs of the 兵士s were pallid in the torchlight.

"That's Tiberias," blurted one. "I 認める that fur-trimmed tunic. Valerius here 借りがあるs me five lunas. I told him Tiberias had heard the loon call when he 棒 through the gate on his mule, with his glassy 星／主役にする. I wagered he'd come 支援する without his 長，率いる."

Conan grunted enigmatically, 動議d Balthus to 緩和する the litter to the ground, and then strode off toward the 知事's ４半期/4分の1s, with the Aquilonian at his heels. The tousle-長，率いるd 青年 星／主役にするd about him 熱望して and curiously, 公式文書，認めるing the 列／漕ぐ／騒動s of 兵舎 along the 塀で囲むs, the stables, the tiny merchants' 立ち往生させるs, the 非常に高い blockhouse, and the other buildings, with the open square in the middle where the 兵士s 演習d, and where, now, 解雇する／砲火／射撃s danced and men off 義務 lounged. These were now hurrying to join the morbid （人が）群がる gathered about the litter at the gate. The rangy 人物／姿／数字s of Aquilonian pikemen and forest 走者s mingled with the shorter, stockier forms of Bossonian archers.

He was not 大いに surprised that the 知事 received them himself. 独裁的な society with its rigid caste 法律s lay east of the marches. Valannus was still a young man, 井戸／弁護士席 knit, with a finely chiseled countenance already carved into sober cast by toil and 責任／義務.

"You left the fort before daybreak, I was told," he said to Conan. "I had begun to 恐れる that the Picts had caught you at last."

"When they smoke my 長，率いる the whole river will know," grunted Conan. "They'll hear Pictish women wailing their dead as far as Velitrium—I was on a 孤独な scout. I couldn't sleep. I kept 審理，公聴会 派手に宣伝するs talking across the river."

"They talk each night," reminded the 知事, his 罰金 注目する，もくろむs 影をつくる／尾行するd, as he 星／主役にするd closely at Conan. He had learned the unwisdom of 割引ing wild men's instincts.

"There was a difference last night," growled Conan. "There has been ever since Zogar 下落する got 支援する across the river."

"We should either have given him 現在のs and sent him home, or else hanged him," sighed the 知事. "You advised that, but—"

"But it's hard for you Hyborians to learn the ways of the outlands," said Conan. "井戸／弁護士席, it can't be helped now, but there'll be no peace on the 国境 so long as Zogar lives and remembers the 独房 he sweated in. I was に引き続いて a 軍人 who slipped over to put a few white notches on his 屈服する. After I 分裂（する） his 長，率いる I fell in with this lad whose 指名する is Balthus and who's come from the Tauran to help 持つ／拘留する the frontier."

Valannus approvingly 注目する，もくろむd the young man's frank countenance and 堅固に- knit でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる.

"I am glad to welcome you, young sir. I wish more of your people would come. We need men used to forest life. Many of our 兵士s and some of our 植民／開拓者s are from the eastern 州s and know nothing of woodcraft, or even of 農業の life."

"Not many of that 産む／飼育する this 味方する of Velitrium," grunted Conan. "That town's 十分な of them, though. But listen, Valannus, we 設立する Tiberias dead on the 追跡する." And in a few words he 関係のある the grisly 事件／事情／状勢.

Valannus paled. "I did not know he had left the fort. He must have been mad!"

"He was," answered Conan. "Like the other four; each one, when his time （機の）カム, went mad and 急ぐd into the 支持を得ようと努めるd to 会合，会う his death like a hare running 負かす／撃墜する the throat of a python. Something called to them from the 深いs of the forest, something the men call a loon, for 欠如（する） of a better 指名する, but only the doomed ones could hear it. Zogar 下落する has made a 魔法 that Aquilonian civilization can't 打ち勝つ."

To this thrust Valannus made no reply; he wiped his brow with a 不安定な 手渡す.

"Do the 兵士s know of this?"

"We left the 団体／死体 by the eastern gate."

"You should have 隠すd the fact, hidden the 死体 somewhere in the 支持を得ようと努めるd. The 兵士s are nervous enough already."

"They'd have 設立する it out some way. If I'd hidden the 団体／死体, it would have been returned to the fort as the 死体 of Soractus was—tied up outside the gate for the men to find in the morning."

VALANNUS shuddered. Turning, he walked to a casement and 星／主役にするd silently out over the river, 黒人／ボイコット and shiny under the glint of the 星／主役にするs. Beyond the river the ジャングル rose like an ebony 塀で囲む. The distant screech of a panther broke the stillness. The night 圧力（をかける）d in, blurring the sounds of the 兵士s outside the blockhouse, dimming the 解雇する／砲火／射撃s. A 勝利，勝つd whispered through the 黒人／ボイコット 支店s, rippling the dusky water. On its wings （機の）カム a low, rhythmic pulsing, 悪意のある as the pad of a ヒョウ's foot.

"After all," said Valannus, as if speaking his thoughts aloud, "what do we know—what does anyone know—of the things that ジャングル may hide? We have 薄暗い 噂するs of 広大な／多数の／重要な 押し寄せる／沼地s and rivers, and a forest that stretches on and on over everlasting plains and hills to end at last on the shores of the western ocean. But what things 嘘（をつく） between this river and that ocean we dare not even guess. No white man has ever 急落（する），激減（する）d 深い into that fastness and returned alive to tell us what he 設立する. We are wise in our civilized knowledge, but our knowledge 延長するs just so far—to the western bank of that 古代の river! Who knows what 形態／調整s earthly and unearthly may lurk beyond the 薄暗い circle of light our knowledge has cast?

"Who knows what gods are worshipped under the 影をつくる／尾行するs of that heathen forest, or what devils はう out of the 黒人／ボイコット ooze of the 押し寄せる／沼地s? Who can be sure that all the inhabitants of that 黒人／ボイコット country are natural? Zogar 下落する—a 下落する of the eastern cities would sneer at his 原始の 魔法-making as the mummery of a fakir; yet he has driven mad and killed five men in a manner no man can explain. I wonder if he himself is wholly human."

"If I can get within ax-throwing distance of him I'll settle that question," growled Conan, helping himself to the 知事's ワイン and 押し進めるing a glass toward Balthus, who took it hesitatingly, and with an uncertain ちらりと見ること toward Valannus.

The 知事 turned toward Conan and 星／主役にするd at him thoughtfully.

"The 兵士s, who do not believe in ghosts or devils," he said, "are almost in a panic of 恐れる. You, who believe in ghosts, ghouls, goblins, and all manner of uncanny things, do not seem to 恐れる any of the things in which you believe."

"There's nothing in the universe 冷淡な steel won't 削減（する）," answered Conan. "I threw my ax at the demon, and he took no 傷つける, but I might have 行方不明になるd in the dusk, or a 支店 deflected its flight. I'm not going out of my way looking for devils; but I wouldn't step out of my path to let one go by."

Valannus 解除するd his 長，率いる and met Conan's gaze squarely.

"Conan, more depends on you than you realize. You know the 証拠不十分 of this 州—a slender wedge thrust into the untamed wilderness. You know that the lives of all the people west of the marches depend on this fort. Were it to 落ちる, red axes would be 後援ing the gates of Velitrium before a horseman could cross the marches. His Majesty, or his Majesty's 助言者s, have ignored my 嘆願 that more 軍隊／機動隊s be sent to 持つ／拘留する the frontier. They know nothing of 国境 条件s, and are averse to expending any more money in this direction. The 運命／宿命 of the frontier depends upon the men who now 持つ／拘留する it.

"You know that most of the army which 征服する／打ち勝つd Conajohara has been 孤立した. You know the 軍隊 left is 不十分な, 特に since that devil Zogar 下落する managed to 毒（薬） our water 供給（する）, and forty men died in one day. Many of the others are sick, or have been bitten by serpents or mauled by wild beasts which seem to 群れている in 増加するing numbers in the 周辺 of the fort. The 兵士s believe Zogar's 誇る that he could 召喚する the forest beasts to 殺す his enemies.

"I have three hundred pikemen, four hundred Bossonian archers, and perhaps fifty men who, like yourself, are 技術d in woodcraft. They are 価値（がある） ten times their number of 兵士s, but there are so few of them. 率直に, Conan, my 状況／情勢 is becoming 不安定な. The 兵士s whisper of desertion; they are low-spirited, believing Zogar 下落する has loosed devils on us. They 恐れる the 黒人／ボイコット 疫病／悩ます with which he 脅すd us—the terrible 黒人／ボイコット death of the swamplands. When I see a sick 兵士 I sweat with 恐れる of seeing him turn 黒人／ボイコット and shrivel and die before my 注目する，もくろむs.

"Conan, if the 疫病／悩ます is loosed upon us, the 兵士s will 砂漠 in a 団体／死体! The 国境 will be left unguarded and nothing will check the sweep of the dark-skinned hordes to the very gates of Velitrium—maybe beyond! If we cannot 持つ／拘留する the fort, how can they 持つ／拘留する the town?

"Conan, Zogar 下落する must die, if we are to 持つ／拘留する Conajohara. You have 侵入するd the unknown deeper than any other man in the fort; you know where Gwawela stands, and something of the forest 追跡するs across the river. Will you take a 禁止（する）d of men tonight and 努力する to kill or 逮捕（する） him? Oh, I know it's mad. There isn't more than one chance in a thousand that any of you will come 支援する alive. But if we don't get him, it's death for us all. You can take as many men as you wish."

"A dozen men are better for a 職業 like that than a 連隊," answered Conan. "Five hundred men couldn't fight their way to Gwawela and 支援する, but a dozen might slip in and out again. Let me 選ぶ my men. I don't want any 兵士s."

"Let me go!" 熱望して exclaimed Balthus. "I've 追跡（する）d deer all my life on the Tauran."

"All 権利. Valannus, we'll eat at the 立ち往生させる where the foresters gather, and I'll 選ぶ my men. We'll start within an hour, 減少（する） 負かす／撃墜する the river in a boat to a point below the village and then steal upon it through the 支持を得ようと努めるd. If we live, we should be 支援する by daybreak."

3. — THE CRAWLERS IN THE DARK

THE river was a vague trace between 塀で囲むs of ebony. The paddles that propelled the long boat creeping along in the dense 影をつくる／尾行する of the eastern bank dipped softly into the water, making no more noise than the beak of a heron. The 幅の広い shoulders of the man in 前線 of Balthus were a blur in the dense gloom. He knew that not even the keen 注目する，もくろむs of the man who knelt in the prow would discern anything more than a few feet ahead of them. Conan was feeling his way by instinct and an 集中的な familiarity with the river.

No one spoke. Balthus had had a good look at his companions in the fort before they slipped out of the stockade and 負かす／撃墜する the bank into the waiting canoe. They were of a new 産む／飼育する growing up in the world on the raw 辛勝する／優位 of the frontier—men whom grim necessity had taught woodcraft. Aquilonians of the western 州s to a man, they had many points in ありふれた. They dressed alike—in buckskin boots, leathern breeks and deerskin shirts, with 幅の広い girdles that held axes and short swords; and they were all gaunt and scarred and hard-注目する，もくろむd; sinewy and taciturn.

They were wild men, of a sort, yet there was still a wide 湾 between them and the Cimmerian. They were sons of civilization, 逆戻りするd to a 半分- 野蛮／未開. He was a barbarian of a thousand 世代s of barbarians. They had acquired stealth and （手先の）技術, but he had been born to these things. He excelled them even in lithe economy of 動議. They were wolves, but he was a tiger.

Balthus admired them and their leader and felt a pulse of pride that he was 認める into their company. He was proud that his paddle made no more noise than did theirs. In that 尊敬（する）・点 at least he was their equal, though woodcraft learned in 追跡（する）s on the Tauran could never equal that ground into the souls of men on the savage 国境.

Below the fort the river made a wide bend. The lights of the outpost were quickly lost, but the canoe held on its way for nearly a mile, 避けるing 行き詰まり，妨げるs and floating スピードを出す／記録につけるs with almost uncanny precision.

Then a low grunt from their leader, and they swung its 長，率いる about and glided toward the opposite shore. 現れるing from the 黒人／ボイコット 影をつくる／尾行するs of the 小衝突 that fringed the bank and coming into the open of the midstream created a peculiar illusion of 無分別な （危険などに）さらす. But the 星／主役にするs gave little light, and Balthus knew that unless one were watching for it, it would be all but impossible for the keenest 注目する，もくろむ to make out the shadowy 形態／調整 of the canoe crossing the river.

They swung in under the overhanging bushes of the western shore and Balthus groped for and 設立する a 事業／計画（する）ing root which he しっかり掴むd. No word was spoken. All 指示／教授／教育s had been given before the scouting-party left the fort. As silently as a 広大な／多数の／重要な panther, Conan slid over the 味方する and 消えるd in the bushes. 平等に noiseless, nine men followed him. To Balthus, しっかり掴むing the root with his paddle across his 膝, it seemed incredible that ten men should thus fade into the 絡まるd forest without a sound.

He settled himself to wait. No word passed between him and the other man who had been left with him. Somewhere, a mile or so to the northwest, Zogar 下落する's village stood girdled with 厚い 支持を得ようと努めるd. Balthus understood his orders; he and his companion were to wait for the return of the （警察の）手入れ，急襲ing-party. If Conan and his men had not returned by the first tinge of 夜明け, they were to race 支援する up the river to the fort and 報告（する）／憶測 that the forest had again taken its immemorial （死傷者）数 of the 侵略するing race. The silence was oppressive. No sound （機の）カム from the 黒人／ボイコット 支持を得ようと努めるd, invisible beyond the ebony 集まりs that were the overhanging bushes. Balthus no longer heard the 派手に宣伝するs. They had been silent for hours. He kept blinking, unconsciously trying to see through the 深い gloom. The dank night-smells of the river and the damp forest 抑圧するd him. Somewhere, 近づく by, there was a sound as if a big fish had flopped and splashed the water. Balthus thought it must have leaped so の近くに to the canoe that it had struck the 味方する, for a slight quiver vibrated the （手先の）技術. The boat's 厳しい began to swing, わずかに away from the shore. The man behind him must have let go of the 発射／推定 he was gripping. Balthus 新たな展開d his 長，率いる to hiss a 警告, and could just make out the 人物／姿／数字 of his companion, a わずかに blacker 本体，大部分／ばら積みの in the blackness.

The man did not reply. Wondering if he had fallen asleep, Balthus reached out and しっかり掴むd his shoulder. To his amazement, the man crumpled under his touch and 低迷d 負かす／撃墜する in the canoe. 新たな展開ing his 団体／死体 half about, Balthus groped for him, his heart 狙撃 into his throat. His fumbling fingers slid over the man's throat—only the 青年's convulsive clenching of his jaws choked 支援する the cry that rose to his lips. His finger 遭遇（する）d a gaping, oozing 負傷させる—his companion's throat had been 削減（する） from ear to ear.

In that instant of horror and panic Balthus started up—and then a muscular arm out of the 不明瞭 locked ひどく about his throat, strangling his yell. The canoe 激しく揺するd wildly. Balthus' knife was in his 手渡す, though he did not remember jerking it out of his boot, and he stabbed ひどく and blindly. He felt the blade 沈む 深い, and a fiendish yell rang in his ear, a yell that was horribly answered. The 不明瞭 seemed to come to life about him. A bestial clamor rose on all 味方するs, and other 武器 grappled him. Borne under a 集まり of hurtling 団体／死体s the canoe rolled sidewise, but before he went under with it, something 割れ目d against Balthus' 長，率いる and the night was 簡潔に illuminated by a blinding burst of 解雇する／砲火／射撃 before it gave way to a blackness where not even 星／主役にするs shone.

4. — THE BEASTS OF ZOGAR SAG

FIRES dazzled Balthus again as he slowly 回復するd his senses. He blinked, shook his 長，率いる. Their glare 傷つける his 注目する，もくろむs. A 混乱させるd medley of sound rose about him, growing more 際立った as his senses （疑いを）晴らすd. He 解除するd his 長，率いる and 星／主役にするd stupidly about him. 黒人／ボイコット 人物／姿／数字s hemmed him in, etched against crimson tongues of 炎上.

Memory and understanding （機の）カム in a 急ぐ. He was bound upright to a 地位，任命する in an open space, （犯罪の）一味d by 猛烈な／残忍な and terrible 人物／姿／数字s. Beyond that （犯罪の）一味 解雇する／砲火／射撃s 燃やすd, tended by naked, dark-skinned women. Beyond the 解雇する／砲火／射撃s he saw huts of mud and wattle, thatched with 小衝突. Beyond the huts there was a stockade with a 幅の広い gate. But he saw these things only incidentally. Even the cryptic dark women with their curious coiffures were 公式文書，認めるd by him only absently. His 十分な attention was 直す／買収する，八百長をするd in awful fascination on the men who stood glaring at him.

Short men, 幅の広い-shouldered, 深い-chested, lean-hipped, they were naked except for scanty loin-clouts. The firelight brought out the play of their swelling muscles in bold 救済. Their dark 直面するs were immobile, but their 狭くする 注目する，もくろむs glittered with the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 that 燃やすs in the 注目する，もくろむs of a stalking tiger. Their 絡まるd manes were bound 支援する with 禁止（する）d of 巡査. Swords and axes were in their 手渡すs. 天然のまま 包帯s banded the 四肢s of some, and smears of 血 were 乾燥した，日照りのd on their dark 肌s. There had been fighting, 最近の and deadly.

His 注目する，もくろむs wavered away from the 安定した glare of his captors, and he repressed a cry of horror. A few feet away there rose a low, hideous pyramid: it was built of gory human 長，率いるs. Dead 注目する，もくろむs glared glassily up the 黒人／ボイコット sky. Numbly he 認めるd the countenances which were turned toward him. They were the 長，率いるs of the men who had followed Conan into the forest. He could not tell if the Cimmerian's 長，率いる were の中で them. Only a few 直面するs were 明白な to him. It looked to him as if there must be ten or eleven 長，率いるs at least. A deadly sickness 攻撃する，非難するd him. He fought a 願望（する） to retch. Beyond the 長，率いるs lay the 団体／死体s of half a dozen Picts, and he was aware of a 猛烈な／残忍な exultation at the sight. The forest 走者s had taken （死傷者）数, at least.

新たな展開ing his 長，率いる away from the 恐ろしい spectacle, he became aware that another 地位，任命する stood 近づく him—a 火刑／賭ける painted 黒人／ボイコット as was the one to which he was bound. A man sagged in his 社債s there, naked except for his leathern breeks, whom Balthus 認めるd as one of Conan's woodsmen. 血 trickled from his mouth, oozed sluggishly from a gash in his 味方する. 解除するing his 長，率いる as he licked his livid lips, he muttered, making himself heard with difficulty above the fiendish clamor of the Picts: "So they got you, too!"

"こそこそ動くd up in the water and 削減（する） the other fellow's throat," groaned Balthus. "We never heard them till they were on us. Mitra, how can anything move so silently?"

"They're devils," mumbled the frontiersman. "They must have been watching us from the time we left midstream. We walked into a 罠（にかける）. Arrows from all 味方するs were ripping into us before we knew it. Most of us dropped at the first 解雇する／砲火／射撃. Three or four broke through the bushes and （機の）カム to 手渡す-支配するs. But there were too many. Conan might have gotten away. I 港／避難所't seen his 長，率いる. Been better for you and me if they'd killed us 完全な. I can't 非難する Conan. Ordinarily we'd have gotten to the village without 存在 discovered. They don't keep 秘かに調査するs on the river bank as far 負かす／撃墜する as we landed. We must have つまずくd into a big party coming up the river from the south. Some devilment is up. Too many Picts here. These aren't all Gwaweli; men from the western tribes here and from up and 負かす／撃墜する the river."

Balthus 星／主役にするd at the ferocious 形態／調整s. Little as he knew of Pictish ways, he was aware that the number of men clustered about them was out of 割合 to the size of the village. There were not enough huts to have 融通するd them all. Then he noticed that there was a difference in the 野蛮な 部族の designs painted on their 直面するs and breasts.

"Some 肉親，親類d of devilment," muttered the forest 走者. "They might have gathered here to watch Zogar's 魔法-making. He'll make some rare 魔法 with our carcasses. 井戸／弁護士席, a 国境-man doesn't 推定する／予想する to die in bed. But I wish we'd gone out along with the 残り／休憩（する）."

The wolfish howling of the Picts rose in 容積／容量 and exultation, and from a movement in their 階級s, an eager 殺到するing and （人が）群がるing, Balthus deduced that someone of importance was coming. 新たな展開ing his 長，率いる about, he saw that the 火刑／賭けるs were 始める，決める before a long building, larger than the other huts, decorated by human skulls dangling from the eaves. Through the door of that structure now danced a fantastic 人物／姿／数字.

"Zogar!" muttered the woodsman, his 血まみれの countenance 始める，決める in wolfish lines as he unconsciously 緊張するd at his cords. Balthus saw a lean 人物／姿／数字 of middle 高さ, almost hidden in ostrich plumes 始める，決める on a harness of leather and 巡査. From まっただ中に the plumes peered a hideous and malevolent 直面する. The plumes puzzled Balthus. He knew their source lay half the width of a world to the south. They ぱたぱたするd and rustled evilly as the shaman leaped and cavorted.

With fantastic bounds and prancings he entered the （犯罪の）一味 and whirled before his bound and silent 捕虜s. With another man it would have seemed ridiculous—a foolish savage prancing meaninglessly in a whirl of feathers. But that ferocious 直面する glaring out from the 大波ing 集まり gave the scene a grim significance. No man with a 直面する like that could seem ridiculous or like anything except the devil he was.

Suddenly he froze to statuesque stillness; the plumes rippled once and sank about him. The howling 軍人s fell silent. Zogar 下落する stood 築く and motionless, and he seemed to 増加する in 高さ—to grow and 拡大する. Balthus experienced the illusion that the Pict was 非常に高い above him, 星／主役にするing contemptuously 負かす／撃墜する from a 広大な／多数の／重要な 高さ, though he knew the shaman was not as tall as himself. He shook off the illusion with difficulty.

The shaman was talking now, a 厳しい, guttural intonation that yet carried the hiss of a cobra. He thrust his 長，率いる on his long neck toward the 負傷させるd man on the 火刑／賭ける; his 注目する，もくろむs shone red as 血 in the firelight. The frontiersman spat 十分な in his 直面する.

With a fiendish howl Zogar bounded convulsively into the 空気／公表する, and the 軍人s gave tongue to a yell that shuddered up to the 星／主役にするs. They 急ぐd toward the man on the 火刑／賭ける, but the shaman （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 them 支援する. A snarled 命令（する） sent men running to the gate. They 投げつけるd it open, turned and raced 支援する to the circle. The （犯罪の）一味 of men 分裂（する）, divided with desperate haste to 権利 and left. Balthus saw the women and naked children scurrying to the huts. They peeked out of doors and windows. A 幅の広い 小道／航路 was left to the open gate, beyond which ぼんやり現れるd the 黒人／ボイコット forest, （人が）群がるing sullenly in upon the （疑いを）晴らすing, unlighted by the 解雇する／砲火／射撃s.

A TENSE silence 統治するd as Zogar 下落する turned toward the forest, raised on his tiptoes and sent a weird 残忍な call shuddering out into the night. Somewhere, far out in the 黒人／ボイコット forest, a deeper cry answered him. Balthus shuddered. From the timbre of that cry he knew it never （機の）カム from a human throat. He remembered what Valannus had said—that Zogar 誇るd that he could 召喚する wild beasts to do his bidding. The woodsman was livid beneath his mask of 血. He licked his lips spasmodically.

The village held its breath. Zogar 下落する stood still as a statue, his plumes trembling faintly about him. But suddenly the gate was no longer empty.

A shuddering gasp swept over the village and men （人が）群がるd あわてて 支援する, jamming one another between the huts. Balthus felt the short hair 動かす on his scalp. The creature that stood in the gate was like the embodiment of nightmare legend. Its color was of a curious pale 質 which made it seem ghostly and unreal in the 薄暗い light. But there was nothing unreal about the low-hung savage 長，率いる, and the 広大な／多数の／重要な curved fangs that glistened in the firelight. On noiseless padded feet it approached like a phantom out of the past. It was a 生き残り of an older, grimmer age, the ogre of many an 古代の legend—a saber-tooth tiger. No Hyborian hunter had looked upon one of those primordial brutes for centuries. Immemorial myths lent the creatures a supernatural 質, induced by their ghostly color and their fiendish ferocity.

The beast that glided toward the men on the 火刑／賭けるs was longer and heavier than a ありふれた, （土地などの）細長い一片d tiger, almost as bulky as a 耐える. Its shoulders and forelegs were so 大規模な and mightily muscled as to give it a curiously 最高の，を越す- 激しい look, though its hindquarters were more powerful than that of a lion. Its jaws were 大規模な, but its 長，率いる was brutishly 形態／調整d. Its brain capacity was small. It had room for no instincts except those of 破壊. It was a freak of carnivorous 開発, 進化 run amuck in a horror of fangs and talons.

This was the monstrosity Zogar 下落する had 召喚するd out of the forest. Balthus no longer 疑問d the actuality of the shaman's 魔法. Only the 黒人／ボイコット arts could 設立する a 支配 over that tiny-brained, mighty-thewed monster. Like a whisper at the 支援する of his consciousness rose the vague memory of the 指名する of an 古代の god of 不明瞭 and primordial 恐れる, to whom once both men and beasts 屈服するd and whose children—men whispered—still lurked in dark corners of the world. New horror tinged the glare he 直す／買収する，八百長をするd on Zogar 下落する.

The monster moved past the heap of 団体／死体s and the pile of gory 長，率いるs without appearing to notice them. He was no scavenger. He 追跡（する）d only the living, in a life 献身的な 単独で to 虐殺（する）. An awful hunger 燃やすd greenly in the wide, unwinking 注目する，もくろむs; the hunger not alone of belly-emptiness, but the lust of death-取引，協定ing. His gaping jaws slavered. The shaman stepped 支援する, his 手渡す waved toward the woodsman.

The 広大な／多数の／重要な cat sank into a crouch, and Balthus numbly remembered tales of its appalling ferocity: of how it would spring upon an elephant and 運動 its sword-like fangs so 深く，強烈に into the 巨人's skull that they could never be 孤立した, but would keep it nailed to its 犠牲者, to die by 餓死. The shaman cried out shrilly, and with an ear-粉々にするing roar the monster sprang.

Balthus had never dreamed of such a spring, such a hurtling of incarnated 破壊 具体的に表現するd in that 巨大（な） 本体，大部分／ばら積みの of アイロンをかける thews and ripping talons. 十分な on the woodsman's breast it struck, and the 火刑／賭ける 後援d and snapped at the base, 衝突，墜落ing to the earth under the 衝撃. Then the saber-tooth was gliding toward the gate, half dragging, half carrying a hideous crimson hulk that only faintly 似ているd a man. Balthus glared almost 麻ひさせるd, his brain 辞退するing to credit what his 注目する，もくろむs had seen.

In that leap the 広大な／多数の／重要な beast had not only broken off the 火刑／賭ける, it had ripped the mangled 団体／死体 of its 犠牲者 from the 地位，任命する to which it was bound. The 抱擁する talons in that instant of 接触する had disemboweled and 部分的に／不公平に dismembered the man, and the 巨大（な） fangs had torn away the whole 最高の，を越す of his 長，率いる, shearing through the skull as easily as through flesh. Stout rawhide thongs had given way like paper; where the thongs had held, flesh and bones had not. Balthus retched suddenly. He had 追跡（する）d 耐えるs and panthers, but he had never dreamed the beast lived which could make such a red 廃虚 of a human でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる in the flicker of an instant.

The saber-tooth 消えるd through the gate, and a few moments later a 深い roar sounded through the forest, receding in the distance. But the Picts still shrank 支援する against the huts, and the shaman still stood 直面するing the gate that was like a 黒人／ボイコット 開始 to let in the night.

冷淡な sweat burst suddenly out on Balthus' 肌. What new horror would come through that gate to make carrion-meat of his 団体／死体? Sick panic 攻撃する，非難するd him and he 緊張するd futilely at his thongs. The night 圧力（をかける）d in very 黒人／ボイコット and horrible outside the firelight. The 解雇する／砲火／射撃s themselves glowed lurid as the 解雇する／砲火／射撃s of Hell. He felt the 注目する，もくろむs of the Picts upon him—hundreds of hungry, cruel 注目する，もくろむs that 反映するd the lust of souls utterly without humanity as he knew it. They no longer seemed men; they were devils of this 黒人／ボイコット ジャングル, as 残忍な as the creatures to which the fiend in the nodding plumes 叫び声をあげるd through the 不明瞭.

ZOGAR sent another call shuddering through the night, and it was utterly unlike the first cry. There was a hideous sibilance in it—Balthus turned 冷淡な at the 関わりあい／含蓄. If a serpent could hiss that loud, it would make just such a sound.

This time there was no answer—only a period of breathless silence in which the 続けざまに猛撃する of Balthus' heart strangled him; and then there sounded a swishing outside the gate, a 乾燥した，日照りの rustling that sent 冷気／寒がらせるs 負かす／撃墜する Balthus' spine. Again the firelit gate held a hideous occupant.

Again Balthus 認めるd the monster from 古代の legends. He saw and knew the 古代の and evil serpent which swayed there, its wedge-形態／調整d 長，率いる, 抱擁する as that of a horse, as high as a tall man's 長，率いる, and its palely gleaming バーレル／樽 rippling out behind it. A forked tongue darted in and out, and the firelight glittered on 明らかにするd fangs.

Balthus became incapable of emotion. The horror of his 運命／宿命 麻ひさせるd him. That was the reptile that the 古代のs called Ghost Snake, the pale, abominable terror that of old glided into huts by night to devour whole families. Like the python it 鎮圧するd its 犠牲者, but unlike other constrictors its fangs bore venom that carried madness and death. It too had long been considered extinct. But Valannus had spoken truly. No white man knew what 形態／調整s haunted the 広大な／多数の／重要な forests beyond 黒人／ボイコット River.

It （機の）カム on silently, rippling over the ground, its hideous 長，率いる on the same level, its neck curving 支援する わずかに for the 一打／打撃. Balthus gazed with a glazed, hypnotized 星／主役にする into that loathsome gullet 負かす／撃墜する which he would soon be （海，煙などが）飲み込むd, and he was aware of no sensation except a vague nausea.

And then something that glinted in the firelight streaked from the 影をつくる／尾行するs of the huts, and the 広大な／多数の／重要な reptile whipped about and went into instant convulsions. As in a dream Balthus saw a short throwing-spear transfixing the mighty neck, just below the gaping jaws; the 軸 protruded from one 味方する, the steel 長，率いる from the other.

Knotting and 宙返り飛行ing hideously, the maddened reptile rolled into the circle of men who strove 支援する from him. The spear had not 厳しいd its spine, but 単に transfixed its 広大な／多数の／重要な neck muscles. Its furiously 攻撃するing tail mowed 負かす／撃墜する a dozen men and its jaws snapped convulsively, splashing others with venom that 燃やすd like liquid 解雇する／砲火／射撃. Howling, 悪口を言う／悪態ing, 叫び声をあげるing, frantic, they scattered before it, knocking each other 負かす／撃墜する in their flight, trampling the fallen, bursting through the huts. The 巨大（な） snake rolled into a 解雇する／砲火／射撃, scattering 誘発するs and brands, and the 苦痛 攻撃するd it to more frenzied 成果／努力s. A hut 塀で囲む buckled under the 押し通す-like 衝撃 of its flailing tail, disgorging howling people.

Men 殺到d through the 解雇する／砲火／射撃s, knocking the スピードを出す／記録につけるs 権利 and left. The 炎上s sprang up, then sank. A 赤みを帯びた 薄暗い glow was all that lighted that nightmare scene where the 巨大（な） reptile whipped and rolled, and men clawed and shrieked in frantic flight.

Balthus felt something jerk at his wrists, and then, miraculously, he was 解放する／自由な, and a strong 手渡す dragged him behind the 地位，任命する. Dazedly he saw Conan, felt the forest man's アイロンをかける 支配する on his arm.

There was 血 on the Cimmerian's mail, 乾燥した，日照りのd 血 on the sword in his 権利 手渡す; he ぼんやり現れるd 薄暗い and gigantic in the shadowy light.

"Come on! Before they get over their panic!"

Balthus felt the haft of an ax 押すd into his 手渡す. Zogar 下落する had disappeared. Conan dragged Balthus after him until the 青年's numb brain awoke, and his 脚s began to move of their own （許可，名誉などを）与える. Then Conan 解放（する）d him and ran into the building where the skulls hung. Balthus followed him. He got a glimpse of a grim 石／投石する altar, faintly lighted by the glow outside; five human 長，率いるs grinned on that altar, and there was a grisly familiarity about the features of the freshest; it was the 長，率いる of the merchant Tiberias. Behind the altar was an idol, 薄暗い, indistinct, bestial, yet ばく然と man-like in 輪郭（を描く）. Then fresh horror choked Balthus as the 形態／調整 heaved up suddenly with a 動揺させる of chains, 解除するing long misshapen 武器 in the gloom.

Conan's sword flailed 負かす／撃墜する, crunching through flesh and bone, and then the Cimmerian was dragging Balthus around the altar, past a 密談する／（身体を）寄せ集めるd shaggy 本体，大部分／ばら積みの on the 床に打ち倒す, to a door at the 支援する of the long hut. Through this they burst, out into the enclosure again. But a few yards beyond them ぼんやり現れるd the stockade.

It was dark behind the altar-hut. The mad 殺到 of the Picts had not carried them in that direction. At the 塀で囲む Conan 停止（させる）d, gripped Balthus, and heaved him at arm's length into the 空気／公表する as he might have 解除するd a child. Balthus しっかり掴むd the points of the upright スピードを出す／記録につけるs 始める，決める in the sun-乾燥した，日照りのd mud and 緊急発進するd up on them, ignoring the havoc done his 肌. He lowered a 手渡す to the Cimmerian, when around a corner of the altar-hut sprang a 逃げるing Pict. He 停止（させる）d short, glimpsing the man on the 塀で囲む in the faint glow of the 解雇する／砲火／射撃s. Conan 投げつけるd his ax with deadly 目的（とする）, but the 軍人's mouth was already open for a yell of 警告, and it rang loud above the din, 削減（する） short as he dropped with a 粉々にするd skull.

Blinding terror had not 潜水するd all ingrained instincts. As that wild yell rose above the clamor, there was an instant's なぎ, and then a hundred throats bayed ferocious answer and 軍人s （機の）カム leaping to repel the attack presaged by the 警告.

Conan leaped high, caught, not Balthus' 手渡す but his arm 近づく the shoulder, and swung himself up. Balthus 始める，決める his teeth against the 緊張する, and then the Cimmerian was on the 塀で囲む beside him, and the 逃亡者／はかないものs dropped 負かす／撃墜する on the other 味方する.

PART II

Weird Tales, June 1935, with second part of "Beyond the 黒人／ボイコット River"

THE STORY THUS FAR

BALTHUS, a young Aquilonian, was on his way to Fort Tuscelan, the westernmost outpost of the frontier 州 of Conajohara, when he was 待ち伏せ／迎撃するd by a Pictish 軍人 from beyond 黒人／ボイコット River. Conan, a Cimmerian barbarian 雇うd as a scout by Valannus, the 知事 of Conajohara, killed the Pict, and …を伴ってd Balthus to the fort. On their way they （機の）カム upon a 豊富な merchant who had been beheaded by a hideous 存在 that moved in a fiery もや, and which Conan called a 押し寄せる／沼地 devil. This demon, he said, had been 召喚するd by Zogar 下落する, a Pictish wizard, to 殺人 Zogar 下落する's personal enemies の中で the Aquilonians, Valannus 存在 one of these.

They arrived at the fort after dark, and Valannus 明らかにする／漏らすd to them his 恐れるs that Zogar 下落する's 魔法 would 原因（となる） the loss of the fort, and the conquest of Conajohara by the Picts who dwelt in the forests on the other 味方する of 黒人／ボイコット River. In an 成果／努力 to kill or 逮捕（する） the wizard, Conan 始める，決める out with Balthus and a group of frontiersmen. They crossed the river and left Balthus and another man in the canoe, while Conan and the others started through the forest toward the wizard's village.

Picts, unseen in the 不明瞭, stole up, 削減（する） the throat of Balthus' companion and knocked Balthus senseless. He 回復するd consciousness in the Pictish village, tied to a 地位，任命する; one of the men who had …を伴ってd Conan was tied to another 火刑／賭ける, and the 長，率いるs of the others were heaped in a 恐ろしい pyramid before him. The village was 十分な of Pictish 軍人s from many tribes. Conan's 禁止（する）d had run into an 待ち伏せ／迎撃する.

By his 魔法 Zogar 下落する 召喚するd a saber-tooth tiger out of the 黒人／ボイコット ジャングル, which killed and dragged away the other 囚人, and then the wizard 召喚するd a 抱擁する snake to devour Balthus. A spear thrown from the 影をつくる／尾行するs transfixed the serpent, and then Conan, appearing 突然に, 削減（する） Balthus' 社債s and hurried him away in the 混乱. They fled through the altar-hut, where Conan killed a 抱擁する, shaggy, man-like thing, and fled into the forest, with the Picts howling behind them like so many devils.

5. — THE CHILDREN OF JHEBBAL SAG

"WHICH way is the river?" Balthus was 混乱させるd.

"We don't dare try for the river now," grunted Conan. "The 支持を得ようと努めるd between the village and the river are 群れているing with 軍人s. Come on! We'll 長，率いる in the last direction they'll 推定する／予想する us to go—west!"

Looking 支援する as they entered the 厚い growth, Balthus beheld the 塀で囲む dotted with 黒人／ボイコット 長，率いるs as the savages peered over. The Picts were bewildered. They had not 伸び（る）d the 塀で囲む in time to see the 逃亡者／はかないものs take cover. They had 急ぐd to the 塀で囲む 推定する／予想するing to repel an attack in 軍隊. They had seen the 団体／死体 of the dead 軍人. But no enemy was in sight.

Balthus realized that they did not yet know their 囚人 had escaped. From other sounds he believed that the 軍人s, directed by the shrill 発言する／表明する of Zogar 下落する, were destroying the 負傷させるd serpent with arrows. The monster was out of the shaman's 支配（する）／統制する. A moment later the 質 of the yells was altered. Screeches of 激怒（する） rose in the night.

Conan laughed grimly. He was 主要な Balthus along a 狭くする 追跡する that ran west under the 黒人／ボイコット 支店s, stepping as 速く and surely as if he trod a 井戸／弁護士席-lighted thoroughfare. Balthus つまずくd after him, guiding himself by feeling the dense 塀で囲む on either 手渡す.

"They'll be after us now. Zogar's discovered you're gone, and he knows my 長，率いる wasn't in the pile before the altar-hut. The dog! If I'd had another spear I'd have thrown it through him before I struck the snake. Keep to the 追跡する. They can't 跡をつける us by torchlight, and there are a 得点する／非難する／２０ of paths 主要な from the village. They'll follow those 主要な to the river first—throw a 非常線，警戒線 of 軍人s for miles along the bank, 推定する／予想するing us to try to break through. We won't take to the 支持を得ようと努めるd until we have to. We can make better time on this 追跡する. Now buckle 負かす／撃墜する to it and run like you never ran before."

"They got over their panic 悪口を言う／悪態d quick!" panted Balthus, 従うing with a fresh burst of 速度(を上げる）.

"They're not afraid of anything, very long," grunted Conan.

For a space nothing was said between them. The 逃亡者／はかないものs 充てるd all their attention to covering distance. They were 急落（する），激減（する）ing deeper and deeper into the wilderness and getting さらに先に away from civilization at every step, but Balthus did not question Conan's 知恵. The Cimmerian presently took time to grunt: "When we're far enough away from the village we'll swing 支援する to the river in a big circle. No other village within miles of Gwawela. All the Picts are gathered in that 周辺. We'll circle wide around them. They can't 跡をつける us until daylight. They'll 選ぶ up our path then, but before 夜明け we'll leave the 追跡する and take to the 支持を得ようと努めるd."

They 急落（する），激減（する）d on. The yells died out behind them. Balthus' breath was whistling through his teeth. He felt a 苦痛 in his 味方する, and running became 拷問. He 失敗d against the bushes on each 味方する of the 追跡する. Conan pulled up suddenly, turned and 星／主役にするd 支援する 負かす／撃墜する the 薄暗い path.

Somewhere the moon was rising, a 薄暗い white glow まっただ中に a 絡まる of 支店s.

"Shall we take to the 支持を得ようと努めるd?" panted Balthus.

"Give me your ax," murmured Conan softly. "Something is の近くに behind us."

"Then we'd better leave the 追跡する!" exclaimed Balthus. Conan shook his 長，率いる and drew his companion into a dense thicket. The moon rose higher, making a 薄暗い light in the path.

"We can't fight the whole tribe!" whispered Balthus.

"No human 存在 could have 設立する our 追跡する so quickly, or followed us so 速く," muttered Conan. "Keep silent."

There followed a 緊張した silence in which Balthus felt that his heart could be heard 続けざまに猛撃するing for miles away. Then 突然の, without a sound to 発表する its coming, a savage 長，率いる appeared in the 薄暗い path. Balthus' heart jumped into his throat; at first ちらりと見ること he 恐れるd to look upon the awful 長，率いる of the saber-tooth. But this 長，率いる was smaller, more 狭くする; it was a ヒョウ which stood there, snarling silently and glaring 負かす／撃墜する the 追跡する. What 勝利，勝つd there was was blowing toward the hiding men, 隠すing their scent. The beast lowered his 長，率いる and 消すd the 追跡する, then moved 今後 uncertainly. A 冷気／寒がらせる played 負かす／撃墜する Balthus' spine. The brute was undoubtedly 追跡するing them.

And it was 怪しげな. It 解除するd its 長，率いる, its 注目する，もくろむs glowing like balls of 解雇する／砲火／射撃, and growled low in its throat. And at that instant Conan 投げつけるd the ax.

All the 負わせる of arm and shoulder was behind the throw, and the ax was a streak of silver in the 薄暗い moon. Almost before he realized what had happened, Balthus saw the ヒョウ rolling on the ground in its death-throes, the 扱う of the ax standing up from its 長，率いる. The 長，率いる of the 武器 had 分裂（する） its 狭くする skull.

Conan bounded from the bushes, wrenched his ax 解放する／自由な and dragged the limp 団体／死体 in の中で the trees, 隠すing it from the casual ちらりと見ること.

"Now let's go, and go 急速な／放蕩な!" he grunted, 主要な the way southward, away from the 追跡する. "There'll be 軍人s coming after that cat. As soon as he got his wits 支援する Zogar sent him after us. The Picts would follow him, but he'd leave them far behind. He'd circle the village until he 攻撃する，衝突する our 追跡する and then come after us like a streak. They couldn't keep up with him, but they'll have an idea as to our general direction. They'd follow, listening for his cry. 井戸／弁護士席, they won't hear that, but they'll find the 血 on the 追跡する, and look around and find the 団体／死体 in the 小衝突. They'll 選ぶ up our spoor there, if they can. Walk with care."

He 避けるd 粘着するing briars and low-hanging 支店s effortlessly, gliding between trees without touching the 茎・取り除くs and always 工場／植物ing his feet in the places calculated to show least 証拠 of his passing; but with Balthus it was slower, more laborious work.

NO sound （機の）カム from behind them. They had covered more than a mile when Balthus said: "Does Zogar 下落する catch ヒョウ-cubs and train them for bloodhounds?"

Conan shook his 長，率いる. "That was a ヒョウ he called out of the 支持を得ようと努めるd."

"But," Balthus 固執するd, "if he can order the beasts to do his bidding, why doesn't he rouse them all and have them after us? The forest is 十分な of ヒョウs; why send only one after us?"

Conan did not reply for a space, and when he did it was with a curious reticence.

"He can't 命令（する） all the animals. Only such as remember Jhebbal 下落する."

"Jhebbal 下落する?" Balthus repeated the 古代の 指名する hesitantly. He had never heard it spoken more than three or four times in his whole life.

"Once all living things worshipped him. That was long ago, when beasts and men spoke one language. Men have forgotten him; even the beasts forget. Only a few remember. The men who remember Jhebbal 下落する and the beasts who remember are brothers and speak the same tongue."

Balthus did not reply; he had 緊張するd at a Pictish 火刑／賭ける and seen the nighted ジャングル give up its fanged horrors at a shaman's call.

"Civilized men laugh," said Conan. "But not one can tell me how Zogar 下落する can call pythons and tigers and ヒョウs out of the wilderness and make them do his bidding. They would say it is a 嘘（をつく）, if they dared. That's the way with civilized men. When they can't explain something by their half-baked science, they 辞退する to believe it."

The people on the Tauran were closer to the 原始の than most Aquilonians; superstitions 固執するd, whose sources were lost in antiquity. And Balthus had seen that which still prickled his flesh. He could not 反駁する the monstrous thing which Conan's words 暗示するd.

"I've heard that there's an 古代の grove sacred to Jhebbal 下落する somewhere in this forest," said Conan. "I don't know. I've never seen it. But more beasts remember in this country than any I've ever seen."

"Then others will be on our 追跡する?"

"They are now," was Conan's disquieting answer. "Zogar would never leave our 跡をつけるing to one beast alone."

"What are we to do, then?" asked Balthus uneasily, しっかり掴むing his ax as he 星／主役にするd at the 暗い／優うつな arches above him. His flesh はうd with the momentary 期待 of ripping talons and fangs leaping from the 影をつくる／尾行するs.

"Wait!"

Conan turned, squatted and with his knife began scratching a curious symbol in the mold. Stooping to look at it over his shoulder, Balthus felt a はうing of the flesh along his spine, he knew not why. He felt no 勝利，勝つd against his 直面する, but there was a rustling of leaves above them and a weird moaning swept ghostily through the 支店s. Conan ちらりと見ることd up inscrutably, then rose and stood 星／主役にするing somberly 負かす／撃墜する at the symbol he had drawn.

"What is it?" whispered Balthus. It looked archaic and meaningless to him. He supposed that it was his ignorance of artistry which 妨げるd his identifying it as one of the 従来の designs of some 勝つ／広く一帯に広がるing culture. But had he been the most erudite artist in the world, he would have been no nearer the 解答.

"I saw it carved in the 激しく揺する of a 洞穴 no human had visited for a million years," muttered Conan, "in the uninhabited mountains beyond the Sea of Vilayet, half a world away from this 位置／汚点／見つけ出す. Later I saw a 黒人／ボイコット witch-finder of Kush scratch it in the sand of a nameless river. He told me part of its meaning—it's sacred to Jhebbal 下落する and the creatures which worship him. Watch!"

They drew 支援する の中で the dense foliage some yards away and waited in 緊張した silence. To the east 派手に宣伝するs muttered and somewhere to north and west other 派手に宣伝するs answered. Balthus shivered, though he knew long miles of 黒人／ボイコット forest separated him from the grim beaters of those 派手に宣伝するs whose dull pulsing was a 悪意のある 予備交渉 that 始める，決める the dark 行う／開催する／段階 for 血まみれの 演劇.

Balthus 設立する himself 持つ／拘留するing his breath. Then with a slight shaking of the leaves, the bushes parted and a magnificent panther （機の）カム into 見解（をとる）. The moonlight dappling through the leaves shone on its glossy coat, rippling with the play of the 広大な／多数の／重要な muscles beneath it.

With its 長，率いる low it glided toward them. It was smelling out their 追跡する. Then it 停止（させる）d as if frozen, its muzzle almost touching the symbol 削減（する） in the mold. For a long space it crouched motionless; it flattened its long 団体／死体 and laid its 長，率いる on the ground before the 示す. And Balthus felt the short hairs 動かす on his scalp. For the 態度 of the 広大な／多数の／重要な carnivore was one of awe and adoration.

Then the panther rose and 支援するd away carefully, belly almost to the ground. With his hind-４半期/4分の1s の中で the bushes he wheeled as if in sudden panic and was gone like a flash of dappled light.

Balthus mopped his brow with a trembling 手渡す and ちらりと見ることd at Conan.

The barbarian's 注目する，もくろむs were smoldering with 解雇する／砲火／射撃s that never lit the 注目する，もくろむs of men bred to the ideas of civilization. In that instant he was all wild, and had forgotten the man at his 味方する. In his 燃やすing gaze Balthus glimpsed and ばく然と 認めるd pristine images and half-具体的に表現するd memories, 影をつくる／尾行するs from Life's 夜明け, forgotten and repudiated by sophisticated races—古代の, primeval fantasms 無名の and nameless.

Then the deeper 解雇する／砲火／射撃s were masked and Conan was silently 主要な the way deeper into the forest.

"We've no more to 恐れる from the beasts," he said after a while, "but we've left a 調印する for men to read. They won't follow our 追跡する very easily, and until they find that symbol they won't know for sure we've turned south. Even then it won't be 平易な to smell us out without the beasts to 援助（する） them. But the 支持を得ようと努めるd south of the 追跡する will be 十分な of 軍人s looking for us. If we keep moving after daylight, we'll be sure to run into some of them. As soon as we find a good place we'll hide and wait until another night to swing 支援する and make the river. We've got to 警告する Valannus, but it won't help him any if we get ourselves killed."

"警告する Valannus?"

"Hell, the 支持を得ようと努めるd along the river are 群れているing with Picts! That's why they got us. Zogar's brewing war-魔法; no mere （警察の）手入れ，急襲 this time. He's done something no Pict has done in my memory—部隊d as many as fifteen or sixteen 一族／派閥s. His 魔法 did it; they'll follow a wizard さらに先に than they will a war-長，指導者. You saw the 暴徒 in the village; and there were hundreds hiding along the river bank that you didn't see. More coming, from the さらに先に villages. He'll have at least three thousand fighting-men. I lay in the bushes and heard their talk as they went past. They mean to attack the fort; when, I don't know, but Zogar doesn't dare 延期する long. He's gathered them and whipped them into a frenzy. If he doesn't lead them into 戦う／戦い quickly, they'll 落ちる to quarreling with one another. They're like 血-mad tigers.

"I don't know whether they can take the fort or not. Anyway, we've got to get 支援する across the river and give the 警告. The 植民／開拓者s on the Velitrium road must either get into the fort or 支援する to Velitrium. While the Picts are 包囲するing the fort, war parties will 範囲 the road far to the east—might even cross 雷鳴 River and （警察の）手入れ，急襲 the thickly settled country behind Velitrium."

As he talked he was 主要な the way deeper and deeper into the 古代の wilderness. Presently he grunted with satisfaction. They had reached a 位置／汚点／見つけ出す where the underbrush was more scattered, and an outcropping of 石／投石する was 明白な, wandering off southward. Balthus felt more 安全な・保証する as they followed it. Not even a Pict could 追跡する them over naked 激しく揺する.

"How did you get away?" he asked presently.

Conan tapped his mail-shirt and helmet.

"If more borderers would wear harness there'd be より小数の skulls hanging on the altar-huts. But most men make noise if they wear armor. They were waiting on each 味方する of the path, without moving. And when a Pict stands motionless, the very beasts of the forest pass him without seeing him. They'd seen us crossing the river and got in their places. If they'd gone into 待ち伏せ／迎撃する after we left the bank, I'd have had some hint of it. But they were waiting, and not even a leaf trembled. The devil himself couldn't have 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd anything. The first 疑惑 I had was when I heard a 軸 rasp against a 屈服する as it was pulled 支援する. I dropped and yelled for the men behind me to 減少（する）, but they were too slow, taken by surprise like that.

"Most of them fell at the first ボレー that raked us from both 味方するs. Some of the arrows crossed the 追跡する and struck Picts on the other 味方する. I heard them howl." He grinned with vicious satisfaction. "Such of us as were left 急落（する），激減（する）d into the 支持を得ようと努めるd and の近くにd with them. When I saw the others were all 負かす／撃墜する or taken, I broke through and outfooted the painted devils through the 不明瞭. They were all around me. I ran and はうd and こそこそ動くd, and いつかs I lay on my belly under the bushes while they passed me on all 味方するs.

"I tried for the shore and 設立する it lined with them, waiting for just such a move. But I'd have 削減（する） my way through and taken a chance on swimming, only I heard the 派手に宣伝するs 続けざまに猛撃するing in the village and knew they'd taken somebody alive.

"They were all so engrossed in Zogar's 魔法 that I was able to climb the 塀で囲む behind the altar-hut. There was a 軍人 supposed to be watching at that point, but he was squatting behind the hut and peering around the corner at the 儀式. I （機の）カム up behind him and broke his neck with my 手渡すs before he knew what was happening. It was his spear I threw into the snake, and that's his ax you're carrying."

"But what was that—that thing you killed in the altar-hut?" asked Balthus, with a shiver at the memory of the 薄暗い-seen horror.

"One of Zogar's gods. One of Jhebbal's children that didn't remember and had to be kept chained to the altar. A bull ape. The Picts think they're sacred to the Hairy One who lives on the moon—the gorilla-god of Gullah.

"It's getting light. Here's a good place to hide until we see how の近くに they're on our 追跡する. Probably have to wait until night to break 支援する to the river."

A LOW hill pitched 上向き, girdled and covered with 厚い trees and bushes. 近づく the crest Conan slid into a 絡まる of jutting 激しく揺するs, 栄冠を与えるd by dense bushes. Lying の中で them they could see the ジャングル below without 存在 seen. It was a good place to hide or defend. Balthus did not believe that even a Pict could have 追跡するd them over the rocky ground for the past four or five miles, but he was afraid of the beasts that obeyed Zogar 下落する. His 約束 in the curious symbol wavered a little now. But Conan had 解任するd the 可能性 of beasts 跡をつけるing them.

A ghostly whiteness spread through the dense 支店s; the patches of sky 明白な altered in hue, grew from pink to blue. Balthus felt the gnawing of hunger, though he had slaked his かわき at a stream they had skirted. There was 完全にする silence, except for an 時折の chirp of a bird. The 派手に宣伝するs were no longer to be heard. Balthus' thoughts 逆戻りするd to the grim scene before the altar-hut.

"Those were ostrich plumes Zogar 下落する wore," he said. "I've seen them on the helmets of knights who 棒 from the East to visit the barons of the marches. There are no ostriches in this forest, are there?"

"They （機の）カム from Kush," answered Conan. "West of here, many marches, lies the seashore. Ships from Zingara occasionally come and 貿易（する） 武器s and ornaments and ワイン to the 沿岸の tribes for 肌s and 巡査 鉱石 and gold dust. いつかs they 貿易（する） ostrich plumes they got from the Stygians, who in turn got them from the 黒人／ボイコット tribes of Kush, which lies south of Stygia. The Pictish shamans place 広大な／多数の／重要な 蓄える／店 by them. But there's much 危険 in such 貿易（する）. The Picts are too likely to try to 掴む the ship. And the coast is dangerous to ships. I've sailed along it when I was with the 著作権侵害者s of the Barachan 小島s, which 嘘（をつく） 南西 of Zingara."

Balthus looked at his companion with 賞賛.

"I knew you hadn't spent your life on this frontier. You've について言及するd several far places. You've traveled 広範囲にわたって?"

"I've roamed far; さらに先に than any other man of my race ever wandered. I've seen all the 広大な／多数の／重要な cities of the Hyborians, the Shemites, the Stygians, and the Hyrkanians. I've roamed in the unknown countries south of the 黒人／ボイコット kingdoms of Kush, and east of the Sea of Vilayet. I've been a mercenary captain, a corsair, a kozak, a penniless vagabond, a general—hell, I've been everything except a king of a civilized country, and I may be that, before I die." The fancy pleased him, and he grinned hardly. Then he shrugged his shoulders and stretched his mighty 人物／姿／数字 on the 激しく揺するs. "This is as good a life as any. I don't know how long I'll stay on the frontier; a week, a month, a year. I have a roving foot. But it's 同様に on the 国境 as anywhere."

Balthus 始める，決める himself to watch the forest below them. Momentarily he 推定する／予想するd to see 猛烈な／残忍な painted 直面するs thrust through the leaves. But as the hours passed no stealthy footfall 乱すd the brooding 静かな. Balthus believed the Picts had 行方不明になるd their 追跡する and given up the chase. Conan grew restless.

"We should have sighted parties scouring the 支持を得ようと努めるd for us. If they've やめる the chase, it's because they're after bigger game. They may be 集会 to cross the river and 嵐／襲撃する the fort."

"Would they come this far south if they lost the 追跡する?"

"They've lost the 追跡する, all 権利; さもなければ they'd have been on our necks before now. Under ordinary circumstances they'd scour the 支持を得ようと努めるd for miles in every direction. Some of them should have passed within sight of this hill. They must be 準備するing to cross the river. We've got to take a chance and make for the river."

Creeping 負かす／撃墜する the 激しく揺するs Balthus felt his flesh はう between his shoulders as he momentarily 推定する／予想するd a withering 爆破 of arrows from the green 集まりs above them. He 恐れるd that the Picts had discovered them and were lying about in 待ち伏せ／迎撃する. But Conan was 納得させるd no enemies were 近づく, and the Cimmerian was 権利.

"We're miles to the south of the village," grunted Conan. "We'll 攻撃する，衝突する straight through for the river. I don't know how far 負かす／撃墜する the river they've spread. We'll hope to 攻撃する，衝突する it below them."

With haste that seemed 無謀な to Balthus they hurried eastward. The 支持を得ようと努めるd seemed empty of life. Conan believed that all the Picts were gathered in the 周辺 of Gwawela, if, indeed, they had not already crossed the river. He did not believe they would cross in the daytime, however.

"Some woodsman would be sure to see them and give the alarm. They'll cross above and below the fort, out of sight of the 歩哨s. Then others will get in canoes and make straight across for the river 塀で囲む. As soon as they attack, those hidden in the 支持を得ようと努めるd on the east shore will 攻撃する，非難する the fort from the other 味方するs. They've tried that before, and got the guts 発射 and 切り開く／タクシー／不正アクセスd out of them. But this time they've got enough men to make a real 猛攻撃 of it."

They 押し進めるd on without pausing, though Balthus gazed longingly at the squirrels flitting の中で the 支店s, which he could have brought 負かす／撃墜する with a cast of his ax. With a sigh he drew up his 幅の広い belt. The everlasting silence and gloom of the 原始の forest was beginning to depress him. He 設立する himself thinking of the open groves and sun-dappled meadows of the Tauran, of the bluff 元気づける of his father's 法外な-thatched, diamond-paned house, of the fat cows browsing through the 深い lush grass, and the hearty fellowship of the brawny, 明らかにする-武装した plowmen and herdsmen.

He felt lonely, in spite of his companion. Conan was as much a part of this wilderness as Balthus was 外国人 to it. The Cimmerian might have spent years の中で the 広大な／多数の／重要な cities of the world; he might have walked with the 支配者s of civilization; he might even 達成する his wild whim some day and 支配する as king of a civilized nation; stranger things had happened. But he was no いっそう少なく a barbarian. He was 関心d only with the naked 根底となるs of life. The warm intimacies of small, kindly things, the 感情s and delicious trivialities that （不足などを）補う so much of civilized men's lives were meaningless to him. A wolf was no いっそう少なく a wolf because a whim of chance 原因（となる）d him to run with the watch-dogs. 流血／虐殺 and 暴力／激しさ and savagery were the natural elements of the life Conan knew; he could not, and would never, understand the little things that are so dear to civilized men and women.

THE 影をつくる／尾行するs were lengthening when they reached the river and peered through the masking bushes. They could see up and 負かす／撃墜する the river for about a mile each way. The sullen stream lay 明らかにする and empty. Conan scowled across at the other shore.

"We've got to take another chance here. We've got to swim the river. We don't know whether they've crossed or not. The 支持を得ようと努めるd over there may be alive with them. We've got to 危険 it. We're about six miles south of Gwawela."

He wheeled and ducked as a bowstring twanged. Something like a white flash of light streaked through the bushes. Balthus knew it was an arrow. Then with a tigerish bound Conan was through the bushes. Balthus caught the gleam of steel as he whirled his sword, and heard a death 叫び声をあげる. The next instant he had broken through the bushes after the Cimmerian.

A Pict with a 粉々にするd skull lay 直面する-負かす／撃墜する on the ground, his fingers spasmodically clawing at the grass. Half a dozen others were 群れているing about Conan, swords and axes 解除するd. They had cast away their 屈服するs, useless at such deadly の近くに ４半期/4分の1s. Their lower jaws were painted white, contrasting vividly with their dark 直面するs, and the designs on their muscular breasts 異なるd from any Balthus had ever seen.

One of them 投げつけるd his ax at Balthus and 急ぐd after it with 解除するd knife. Balthus ducked and then caught the wrist that drove the knife licking at his throat. They went to the ground together, rolling over and over. The Pict was like a wild beast, his muscles hard as steel strings.

Balthus was 努力する／競うing to 持続する his 持つ／拘留する on the wild man's wrist and bring his own ax into play, but so 急速な／放蕩な and furious was the struggle that each 試みる／企てる to strike was 封鎖するd. The Pict was wrenching furiously to 解放する／自由な his knife 手渡す, was clutching at Balthus' ax, and 運動ing his 膝s at the 青年's groin. Suddenly he 試みる／企てるd to 転換 his knife to his 解放する／自由な 手渡す, and in that instant Balthus, struggling up on one 膝, 分裂（する） the painted 長，率いる with a desperate blow of his ax.

He sprang up and glared wildly about for his companion, 推定する／予想するing to see him 圧倒するd by numbers. Then he realized the 十分な strength and ferocity of the Cimmerian. Conan bestrode two of his 攻撃者s, shorn half asunder by that terrible broadsword. As Balthus looked he saw the Cimmerian （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 負かす／撃墜する a thrusting shortsword, 避ける the 一打／打撃 of an ax with a cat-like 味方する-wise spring which brought him within arm's length of a squat savage stooping for a 屈服する. Before the Pict could straighten, the red sword flailed 負かす／撃墜する and clove him from shoulder to midbreastbone, where the blade stuck. The remaining 軍人s 急ぐd in, one from either 味方する. Balthus 投げつけるd his ax with an 正確 that 減ずるd the 攻撃者s to one, and Conan, abandoning his 成果／努力s to 解放する／自由な his sword, wheeled and met the remaining Pict with his 明らかにする 手渡すs. The stocky 軍人, a 長，率いる shorter than his tall enemy, leaped in, striking with his ax, at the same time stabbing murderously with his knife. The knife broke on the Cimmerian's mail, and the ax checked in 空中 as Conan's fingers locked like アイロンをかける on the descending arm. A bone snapped loudly, and Balthus saw the Pict wince and 滞る. The next instant he was swept off his feet, 解除するd high above the Cimmerian's 長，率いる—he writhed in 空中 for an instant, kicking and thrashing, and then was dashed headlong to the earth with such 軍隊 that he 回復するd, and then lay still, his limp posture telling of 後援d 四肢s and a broken spine.

"Come on!" Conan wrenched his sword 解放する／自由な and snatched up an ax. "得る，とらえる a 屈服する and a handful of arrows, and hurry! We've got to 信用 to our heels again. That yell was heard. They'll be here in no time. If we tried to swim now, they'd feather us with arrows before we reached midstream!"

6. — RED AXES OF THE BORDER

CONAN did not 急落（する），激減（する） 深く，強烈に into the forest. A few hundred yards from the river, he altered his slanting course and ran 平行の with it. Balthus 認めるd a grim 決意 not to be 追跡（する）d away from the river which they must cross if they were to 警告する the men in the fort. Behind them rose more loudly the yells of the forest men. Balthus believed the Picts had reached the glade where the 団体／死体s of the 殺害された men lay. Then その上の yells seemed to 示す that the savages were streaming into the 支持を得ようと努めるd in 追跡. They had left a 追跡する any Pict could follow.

Conan 増加するd his 速度(を上げる）, and Balthus grimly 始める，決める his teeth and kept on his heels, though he felt he might 崩壊（する） any time. It seemed centuries since he had eaten last. He kept going more by an 成果／努力 of will than anything else. His 血 was 続けざまに猛撃するing so furiously in his ear-派手に宣伝するs that he was not aware when the yells died out behind them.

Conan 停止（させる）d suddenly. Balthus leaned against a tree and panted.

"They've やめる!" grunted the Cimmerian, scowling.

"こそこそ動くing—up—on—us!" gasped Balthus.

Conan shook his 長，率いる.

"A short chase like this they'd yell every step of the way. No. They've gone 支援する. I thought I heard somebody yelling behind them a few seconds before the noise began to get dimmer. They've been 解任するd. And that's good for us, but damned bad for the men in the fort. It means the 軍人s are 存在 召喚するd out of the 支持を得ようと努めるd for the attack. Those men we ran into were 軍人s from a tribe 負かす／撃墜する the river. They were undoubtedly 長，率いるd for Gwawela to join in the 強襲，強姦 on the fort. Damn it, we're さらに先に away than ever, now. We've got to get across the river."

Turning east he hurried through the thickets with no 試みる／企てる at concealment. Balthus followed him, for the first time feeling the sting of lacerations on his breast and shoulder where the Pict's savage teeth had 得点する／非難する／２０d him. He was 押し進めるing through the 厚い bushes that hinged the bank when Conan pulled him 支援する. Then he heard a rhythmic splashing, and peering through the leaves, saw a dugout canoe coming up the river, its 選び出す／独身 occupant paddling hard against the 現在の. He was a 堅固に built Pict with a white heron feather thrust in a 巡査 禁止（する）d that 限定するd his square-削減（する） mane.

"That's a Gwawela man," muttered Conan. "特使 from Zogar. White plume shows that. He's carried a peace talk to the tribes 負かす／撃墜する the river and now he's trying to get 支援する and take a 手渡す in the 虐殺（する）."

The 孤独な 外交官／大使 was now almost even with their hiding-place, and suddenly Balthus almost jumped out of his 肌. At his very ear had sounded the 厳しい gutturals of a Pict. Then he realized that Conan had called to the paddler in his own tongue. The man started, scanned the bushes and called 支援する something, then cast a startled ちらりと見ること across the river, bent low and sent the canoe 狙撃 in toward the western bank. Not understanding, Balthus saw Conan take from his 手渡す the 屈服する he had 選ぶd up in the glade, and notch an arrow.

The Pict had run his canoe in の近くに to the shore, and 星／主役にするing up into the bushes, called out something. His answer （機の）カム in the twang of the 屈服する-string, the streaking flight of the arrow that sank to the feathers in his 幅の広い breast. With a choking gasp he 低迷d sidewise and rolled into the shallow water. In an instant Conan was 負かす／撃墜する the bank and wading into the water to しっかり掴む the drifting canoe. Balthus つまずくd after him and somewhat dazedly はうd into the canoe. Conan 緊急発進するd in, 掴むd the paddle and sent the （手先の）技術 狙撃 toward the eastern shore. Balthus 公式文書，認めるd with envious 賞賛 the play of the 広大な／多数の／重要な muscles beneath the sun-burnt 肌. The Cimmerian seemed an アイロンをかける man, who never knew 疲労，（軍の）雑役.

"What did you say to the Pict?" asked Balthus.

"Told him to pull into shore; said there was a white forest 走者 on the bank who was trying to get a 発射 at him."

"That doesn't seem fair," Balthus 反対するd. "He thought a friend was speaking to him. You mimicked a Pict perfectly—"

"We needed his boat," grunted Conan, not pausing in his exertions. "Only way to 誘惑する him to the bank. Which is worse—to betray a Pict who'd enjoy skinning us both alive, or betray the men across the river whose lives depend on our getting over?"

Balthus 検討する，考慮するd over this delicate 倫理的な question for a moment, then shrugged his shoulders and asked: "How far are we from the fort?"

Conan pointed to a creek which flowed into 黒人／ボイコット River from the east, a few hundred yards below them.

"That's South Creek; it's ten miles from its mouth to the fort. It's the southern 境界 of Conajohara. 沼s miles wide south of it. No danger of a （警察の）手入れ，急襲 from across them. Nine miles above the fort North Creek forms the other 境界. 沼s beyond that, too. That's why an attack must come from the west, across 黒人／ボイコット River. Conajohara's just like a spear, with a point nineteen miles wide, thrust into the Pictish wilderness."

"Why don't we keep to the canoe and make the trip by water?"

"Because, considering the 現在の we've got to を締める, and the bends in the river, we can go faster 進行中で. Besides, remember Gwawela is south of the fort; if the Picts are crossing the river we'd run 権利 into them."

DUSK was 集会 as they stepped upon the eastern bank. Without pause Conan 押し進めるd on northward, at a pace that made Balthus' sturdy 脚s ache.

"Valannus 手配中の，お尋ね者 a fort built at the mouths of North and South Creeks," grunted the Cimmerian. "Then the river could be patrolled 絶えず. But the 政府 wouldn't do it.

"Soft-bellied fools sitting on velvet cushions with naked girls 申し込む／申し出ing them iced ワイン on their 膝s. I know the 産む／飼育する. They can't see any さらに先に than their palace 塀で囲む. 外交—hell! They'd fight Picts with theories of 領土の 拡大. Valannus and men like him have to obey the orders of a 始める，決める of damned fools. They'll never 得る，とらえる any more Pictish land, any more than they'll ever 再構築する Venarium. The time may come when they'll see the barbarians 群れているing over the 塀で囲むs of the eastern cities!"

A week before, Balthus would have laughed at any such preposterous suggestion. Now he made no reply. He had seen the unconquerable ferocity of the men who dwelt beyond the frontiers.

He shivered, casting ちらりと見ることs at the sullen river, just 明白な through the bushes, at the arches of the trees which （人が）群がるd の近くに to its banks. He kept remembering that the Picts might have crossed the river and be lying in 待ち伏せ／迎撃する between them and the fort. It was 急速な／放蕩な growing dark.

A slight sound ahead of them jumped his heart into his throat, and Conan's sword gleamed in the 空気／公表する. He lowered it when a dog, a 広大な／多数の／重要な, gaunt, scarred beast, slunk out of the bushes and stood 星／主役にするing at them.

"That dog belonged to a 植民／開拓者 who tried to build his cabin on the bank of the river a few miles south of the fort," gruntcd Conan. "The Picts slipped over and killed him, of course, and 燃やすd his cabin. We 設立する him dead の中で the embers, and the dog lying senseless の中で three Picts he'd killed. He was almost 削減（する） to pieces. We took him to the fort and dressed his 負傷させるs, but after he 回復するd he took to the 支持を得ようと努めるd and turned wild. What now, Slasher, are you 追跡（する）ing the men who killed your master?"

The 大規模な 長，率いる swung from 味方する to 味方する and the 注目する，もくろむs glowed greenly. He did not growl or bark. Silently as a phantom he slid in behind them.

"Let him come," muttered Conan. "He can smell the devils before we can see them."

Balthus smiled and laid his 手渡す caressingly on the dog's 長，率いる. The lips involuntarily writhed 支援する to 陳列する，発揮する the gleaming fangs; then the 広大な／多数の／重要な beast bent his 長，率いる sheepishly, and his tail moved with jerky 不確定, as if the owner had almost forgotten the emotions of friendliness. Balthus mentally compared the 広大な／多数の／重要な gaunt hard 団体／死体 with the fat sleek hounds 宙返り／暴落するing vociferously over one another in his father's kennel yard. He sighed. The frontier was no いっそう少なく hard for beasts than for men. This dog had almost forgotten the meaning of 親切 and friendliness.

Slasher glided ahead, and Conan let him take the lead. The last tinge of dusk faded into stark 不明瞭. The miles fell away under their 安定した feet. Slasher seemed voiceless. Suddenly he 停止（させる）d, 緊張した, ears 解除するd. An instant later the men heard it—a demoniac yelling up the river ahead of them, faint as a whisper.

Conan swore like a madman.

"They've attacked the fort! We're too late! Come on!"

He 増加するd his pace, 信用ing to the dog to smell out 待ち伏せ／迎撃するs ahead. In a flood of 緊張した excitement Balthus forgot his hunger and weariness. The yells grew louder as they 前進するd, and above the devilish 叫び声をあげるing they could hear the 深い shouts of the 兵士s. Just as Balthus began to 恐れる they would run into the savages who seemed to be howling just ahead of them, Conan swung away from the river in a wide semicircle that carried them to a low rise from which they could look over the forest. They saw the fort, lighted with たいまつs thrust over the parapets on long 政治家s. These cast a flickering, uncertain light over the （疑いを）晴らすing, and in that light they saw throngs of naked, painted 人物／姿／数字s along the fringe of the （疑いを）晴らすing. The river 群れているd with canoes. The Picts had the fort 完全に surrounded.

An incessant あられ／賞賛する of arrows rained against the stockade from the 支持を得ようと努めるd and the river. The 深い twanging of the bowstrings rose above the howling. Yelling like wolves, several hundred naked 軍人s with axes in their 手渡すs ran from under the trees and raced toward the eastern gate. They were within a hundred and fifty yards of their 客観的な when a withering 爆破 of arrows from the 塀で囲む littered the ground with 死体s and sent the 生存者s 逃げるing 支援する to the trees. The men in the canoes 急ぐd their boats toward the river- 塀で囲む, and were met by another にわか雨 of clothyard 軸s and a ボレー from the small ballistae 機動力のある on towers on that 味方する of the stockade. 石／投石するs and スピードを出す／記録につけるs whirled through the 空気／公表する and 後援d and sank half a dozen canoes, 殺人，大当り their occupants, and the other boats drew 支援する out of 範囲. A 深い roar of 勝利 rose from the 塀で囲むs of the fort, answered by bestial howling from all ４半期/4分の1s.

"Shall we try to break through?" asked Balthus, trembling with 切望.

Conan shook his 長，率いる. He stood with his 武器 倍のd, his 長，率いる わずかに bent, a somber and brooding 人物／姿／数字.

"The fort's doomed. The Picts are 血-mad, and won't stop until they're all killed. And there are too many of them for the men in the fort to kill. We couldn't break through, and if we did, we could do nothing but die with Valannus."

"There's nothing we can do but save our own hides, then?"

"Yes. We've got to 警告する the 植民／開拓者s. Do you know why the Picts are not trying to 燃やす the fort with 解雇する／砲火／射撃-arrows? Because they don't want a 炎上 that might 警告する the people to the east. They 計画（する） to stamp out the fort, and then sweep east before anyone knows of its 落ちる. They may cross 雷鳴 River and take Velitrium before the people know what's happened. At least they'll destroy every living thing between the fort and 雷鳴 River.

"We've failed to 警告する the fort, and I see now it would have done no good if we had 後継するd. The fort's too 貧しく 乗組員を乗せた. A few more 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金s and the Picts will be over the 塀で囲むs and breaking 負かす／撃墜する the gates. But we can start the 植民／開拓者s toward Velitrium. Come on! We're outside the circle the Picts have thrown around the fort. We'll keep （疑いを）晴らす of it."

THEY swung out in a wide arc, 審理，公聴会 the rising and 落ちるing of the 容積／容量 of the yells, 場内取引員／株価 each 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 and 撃退する. The men in the fort were 持つ／拘留するing their own; but the shrieks of the Picts did not 減らす in savagery. They vibrated with a timbre that held 保証／確信 of ultimate victory.

Before Balthus realized they were の近くに to it, they broke into the road 主要な east.

"Now run!" grunted Conan. Balthus 始める，決める his teeth. It was nineteen miles to Velitrium, a good five to Scalp Creek beyond which began the 解決／入植地s. It seemed to the Aquilonian that they had been fighting and running for centuries. But the nervous excitement that 暴動d through his 血 刺激するd him to herculean 成果／努力s.

Slasher ran ahead of them, his 長，率いる to the ground, snarling low, the first sound they had heard from him.

"Picts ahead of us!" snarled Conan, dropping to one 膝 and scanning the ground in the starlight. He shook his 長，率いる, baffled. "I can't tell how many. Probably only a small party. Some that couldn't wait to take the fort. They've gone ahead to butcher the 植民／開拓者s in their beds! Come on!"

Ahead of them presently they saw a small 炎 through the trees, and heard a wild and ferocious 詠唱するing. The 追跡する bent there, and leaving it, they 削減（する） across the bend, through the thickets. A few moments later they were looking on a hideous sight. An ox-wain stood in the road piled with 不十分な 世帯 furnishings; it was 燃やすing; the oxen lay 近づく with their throats 削減（する）. A man and a woman lay in the road, stripped and mutilated. Five Picts were dancing about them with fantastic leaps and bounds, waving 血まみれの axes; one of them brandished the woman's red-smeared gown.

At the sight a red 煙霧 swam before Balthus. 解除するing his 屈服する he lined the prancing 人物／姿／数字, 黒人／ボイコット against the 解雇する／砲火／射撃, and loosed. The slayer leaped convulsively and fell dead with the arrow through his heart. Then the two white men and the dog were upon the startled 生存者s. Conan was animated 単に by his fighting spirit and an old, old racial hate, but Balthus was afire with wrath.

He met the first Pict to …に反対する him with a ferocious swipe that 分裂（する） the painted skull, and sprang over his failing 団体／死体 to grapple with the others. But Conan had already killed one of the two he had chosen, and the leap of the Aquilonian was a second late. The 軍人 was 負かす／撃墜する with the long sword through him even as Balthus' ax was 解除するd. Turning toward the remaining Pict, Balthus saw Slasher rise from his 犠牲者, his 広大な／多数の／重要な jaws dripping 血.

Balthus said nothing as he looked 負かす／撃墜する at the pitiful forms in the road beside the 燃やすing wain. Both were young, the woman little more than a girl. By some whim of chance the Picts had left her 直面する unmarred, and even in the agonies of an awful death it was beautiful. But her soft young 団体／死体 had been hideously 削除するd with many knives—a もや clouded Balthus' 注目する，もくろむs and he swallowed chokingly. The 悲劇 momentarily overcame him. He felt like 落ちるing upon the ground and weeping and biting the earth.

"Some young couple just hitting out on their own," Conan was 説 as he wiped his sword unemotionally. "On their way to the fort when the Picts met them. Maybe the boy was going to enter the service; maybe （問題を）取り上げる land on the river. 井戸／弁護士席, that's what will happen to every man, woman, and child this 味方する of 雷鳴 River if we don't get them into Velitrium in a hurry."

Balthus' 膝s trembled as he followed Conan. But there was no hint of 証拠不十分 in the long 平易な stride of the Cimmerian. There was a kinship between him and the 広大な／多数の／重要な gaunt brute that glided beside him. Slasher no longer growled with his 長，率いる to the 追跡する. The way was （疑いを）晴らす before them. The yelling on the river （機の）カム faintly to them, but Balthus believed the fort was still 持つ／拘留するing. Conan 停止（させる）d suddenly, with an 誓い.

He showed Balthus a 追跡する that led north from the road. It was an old 追跡する, partly grown with new young growth, and this growth had recently been broken 負かす／撃墜する. Balthus realized this fact more by feel than sight, though Conan seemed to see like a cat in the dark. The Cimmerian showed him where 幅の広い wagon 跡をつけるs turned off the main 追跡する, 深く，強烈に indented in the forest mold.

"植民／開拓者s going to the licks after salt," he grunted. "They're at the 辛勝する／優位s of the 沼, about nine miles from here. 爆破 it! They'll be 削減（する） off and butchered to a man! Listen! One man can 警告する the people on the road. Go ahead and wake them up and herd them into Velitrium. I'll go and get the men 集会 the salt. They'll be （軍の）野営地，陣営d by the licks. We won't come 支援する to the road. We'll 長，率いる straight through the 支持を得ようと努めるd."

With no その上の comment Conan turned off the 追跡する and hurried 負かす／撃墜する the 薄暗い path, and Balthus, after 星／主役にするing after him for a few moments, 始める，決める out along the road. The dog had remained with him, and glided softly at his heels. When Balthus had gone a few 棒s he heard the animal growl. Whirling, he glared 支援する the way he had come, and was startled to see a vague ghostly glow 消えるing into the forest in the direction Conan had taken. Slasher rumbled 深い in his throat, his hackles stiff and his 注目する，もくろむs balls of green 解雇する／砲火／射撃. Balthus remembered the grim apparition that had taken the 長，率いる of the merchant Tiberias not far from that 位置／汚点／見つけ出す, and he hesitated. The thing must be に引き続いて Conan. But the 巨大（な） Cimmerian had 繰り返して 論証するd his ability to take care of himself, and Balthus felt his 義務 lay toward the helpless 植民／開拓者s who slumbered in the path of the red ハリケーン. The horror of the fiery phantom was 影を投げかけるd by the horror of those limp, 侵害する／違反するd 団体／死体s beside the 燃やすing ox-wain.

HE hurried 負かす／撃墜する the road, crossed Scalp Creek and （機の）カム in sight of the first 植民／開拓者's cabin—a, long, low structure of ax-hewn スピードを出す／記録につけるs. In an instant he was 続けざまに猛撃するing on the door. A sleepy 発言する／表明する 問い合わせd his 楽しみ.

"Get up! The Picts are over the river!"

That brought instant 返答. A low cry echoed his words and then the door was thrown open by a woman in a scanty 転換. Her hair hung over her 明らかにする shoulders in disorder; she held a candle in one 手渡す and an ax in the other. Her 直面する was colorless, her 注目する，もくろむs wide with terror.

"Come in!" she begged. "We'll 持つ／拘留する the cabin."

"No. We must make for Velitrium. The fort can't 持つ／拘留する them 支援する. It may have fallen already. Don't stop to dress. Get your children and come on."

"But my man's gone with the others after salt!" she wailed, wringing her 手渡すs. Behind her peered three tousled youngsters, blinking and bewildered.

"Conan's gone after them. He'll fetch them through 安全な. We must hurry up the road to 警告する the other cabins."

救済 flooded her countenance.

"Mitra be thanked!" she cried. "If the Cimmerian's gone after them, they're 安全な if mortal man can save them!"

In a whirlwind of activity she snatched up the smallest child and herded the others through the door ahead of her. Balthus took the candle and ground it out under his heel. He listened an instant. No sound （機の）カム up the dark road.

"Have you got a horse?"

"In the stable," she groaned. "Oh, hurry!"

He 押し進めるd her aside as she fumbled with shaking 手渡すs at the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s. He led the horse out and 解除するd the children on its 支援する, telling them to 持つ／拘留する to its mane and to one another. They 星／主役にするd at him 本気で, making no 激しい抗議. The woman took the horse's halter and 始める，決める out up the road. She still gripped her ax and Balthus knew that if cornered she would fight with the desperate courage of a she-panther.

He held behind, listening. He was 抑圧するd by the belief that the fort had been 嵐／襲撃するd and taken, that the dark-skinned hordes were already streaming up the road toward Velitrium, drunken on 虐殺（する） and mad for 血. They would come with the 速度(を上げる） of 餓死するing wolves.

Presently they saw another cabin ぼんやり現れるing ahead. The woman started to shriek a 警告, but Balthus stopped her. He hurried to the door and knocked. A woman's 発言する／表明する answered him. He repeated his 警告, and soon the cabin disgorged its occupants—an old woman, two young women, and four children. Like the other woman's husband, their men had gone to the salt licks the day before, unsuspecting of any danger. One of the young women seemed dazed, the other 傾向がある to hysteria. But the old woman, a 厳しい old 退役軍人 of the frontier, 静かなd them 厳しく; she helped Balthus get out the two horses that were stabled in a pen behind the cabin and put the children on them. Balthus 勧めるd that she herself 開始する with them, but she shook her 長，率いる and made one of the younger women ride.

"She's with child," grunted the old woman. "I can walk—and fight, too, if it comes to that."

As they 始める，決める out, one of the young women said: "A young couple passed along the road about dusk; we advised them to spend the night at our cabin, but they were anxious to make the fort tonight. Did—did—"

"They met the Picts," answered Balthus 簡潔に, and the woman sobbed in horror.

They were scarcely out of sight of the cabin when some distance behind them quavered a long high-pitched yell.

"A wolf!" exclaimed one of the women.

"A painted wolf with an ax in his 手渡す," muttered Balthus. "Go! Rouse the other 植民／開拓者s along the road and take them with you. I'll scout along behind."

Without a word the old woman herded her 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金s ahead of her. As they faded into the 不明瞭, Balthus could see the pale-ovals that were the 直面するs of the children 新たな展開d 支援する over their shoulders to 星／主役にする toward him. He remembered his own people on the Tauran and a moment's giddy sickness swam over him. With momentary 証拠不十分 he groaned and sank 負かす／撃墜する in the road, his muscular arm fell over Slasher's 大規模な neck and he felt the dog's warm moist tongue touch his 直面する.

He 解除するd his 長，率いる and grinned with a painful 成果／努力.

"Come on, boy," he mumbled, rising. "We've got work to do."

A RED glow suddenly became evident through the trees. The Picts had 解雇する／砲火／射撃d the last hut. He grinned. How Zogar 下落する would froth if he knew his 軍人s had let their destructive natures get the better of them. The 解雇する／砲火／射撃 would 警告する the people さらに先に up the road. They would be awake and 警報 when the 逃亡者／はかないものs reached them. But his 直面する grew grim. The women were traveling slowly, on foot and on the 積みすぎる horses. The swift-footed Picts would run them 負かす／撃墜する within a mile, unless—he took his position behind a 絡まる of fallen スピードを出す／記録につけるs beside the 追跡する. The road west of him was lighted by the 燃やすing cabin, and when the Picts （機の）カム he saw them first—黒人／ボイコット furtive 人物／姿／数字s etched against the distant glare.

製図／抽選 a 軸 to the 長，率いる, he loosed and one of the 人物／姿／数字s crumpled. The 残り／休憩（する） melted into the 支持を得ようと努めるd on either 味方する of the road. Slasher whimpered with the 殺人，大当り lust beside him. Suddenly a 人物／姿／数字 appeared on the fringe of the 追跡する, under the trees, and began gliding toward the fallen 木材／素質s. Balthus' 屈服する-string twanged and the Pict yelped, staggered and fell into the 影をつくる／尾行するs with the arrow through his thigh. Slasher （疑いを）晴らすd the 木材／素質s with a bound and leaped into the bushes. They were violently shaken and then the dog slunk 支援する to Balthus' 味方する, his jaws crimson.

No more appeared in the 追跡する; Balthus began to 恐れる they were stealing past his position through the 支持を得ようと努めるd, and when he heard a faint sound to his left he loosed blindly. He 悪口を言う／悪態d as he heard the 軸 後援 against a tree, but Slasher glided away as silently as a phantom, and presently Balthus heard a thrashing and a gurgling; then Slasher （機の）カム like a ghost through the bushes, snuggling his 広大な／多数の／重要な, crimson-stained 長，率いる against Balthus' arm. 血 oozed from a gash in his shoulder, but the sounds in the 支持を得ようと努めるd had 中止するd for ever.

The men lurking on the 辛勝する／優位s of the road evidently sensed the 運命／宿命 of their companion, and decided that an open 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 was より望ましい to 存在 dragged 負かす／撃墜する in the dark by a devil-beast they could neither see nor hear. Perhaps they realized that only one man lay behind the スピードを出す／記録につけるs. They （機の）カム with a sudden 急ぐ, breaking cover from both 味方するs of the 追跡する. Three dropped with arrows through them—and the remaining pair hesitated. One turned and ran 支援する 負かす／撃墜する the road, but the other 肺d over the breastwork, his 注目する，もくろむs and teeth gleaming in the 薄暗い light, his ax 解除するd. Balthus' foot slipped as he sprang up, but the slip saved his life. The descending ax shaved a lock of hair from his 長，率いる, and the Pict rolled 負かす／撃墜する the スピードを出す／記録につけるs from the 軍隊 of his wasted blow. Before he could 回復する his feet Slasher tore his throat out.

Then followed a 緊張した period of waiting, in which time Balthus wondered if the man who had fled had been the only 生存者 of the party. 明白に it had been a small 禁止（する）d that had either left the fighting at the fort, or was scouting ahead of the main 団体／死体. Each moment that passed 増加するd the chances for safety of the women and children hurrying toward Velitrium.

Then without 警告 a にわか雨 of arrows whistled over his 退却／保養地. A wild howling rose from the 支持を得ようと努めるd along the 追跡する. Either the 生存者 had gone after 援助（する）, or another party had joined the first. The 燃やすing cabin still smoldered, lending a little light. Then they were after him, gliding through the trees beside the 追跡する. He 発射 three arrows and threw the 屈服する away. As if sensing his 苦境, they （機の）カム on, not yelling now, but in deadly silence except for a swift pad of many feet.

He ひどく hugged the 長，率いる of the 広大な／多数の／重要な dog growling at his 味方する, muttered: "All 権利, boy, give 'em hell!" and sprang to his feet, 製図／抽選 his ax. Then the dark 人物／姿／数字s flooded over the breastworks and の近くにd in a 嵐／襲撃する of flailing axes, stabbing knives and ripping fangs.

7. — THE DEVIL IN THE FIRE

WHEN Conan turned from the Velitrium road, he 推定する／予想するd a run of some nine miles and 始める，決める himself to the 仕事. But he had not gone four when he heard the sounds of a party of men ahead of him. From the noise they were making in their 進歩 he knew they were not Picts. He あられ／賞賛するd them.

"Who's there?" challenged a 厳しい 発言する／表明する. "Stand where you are until we know you, or you'll get an arrow through you."

"You couldn't 攻撃する，衝突する an elephant in this 不明瞭," answered Conan impatiently. "Come on, fool; it's I—Conan. The Picts are over the river."

"We 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd as much," answered the leader of the men, as they strode 今後—tall, rangy men, 厳しい-直面するd, with 屈服するs in their 手渡すs. "One of our party 負傷させるd an antelope and 跡をつけるd it nearly to 黒人／ボイコット River. He heard them yelling 負かす／撃墜する the river and ran 支援する to our （軍の）野営地，陣営. We left the salt and the wagons, turned the oxen loose, and （機の）カム as 速く as we could. If the Picts are 包囲するing the fort, war-parties will be 範囲ing up the road toward our cabins."

"Your families are 安全な," grunted Conan. "My companion went ahead to take them to Velitrium. If we go 支援する to the main road we may run into the whole horde. We'll strike southeast, through the 木材／素質. Go ahead. I'll scout behind."

A few moments later the whole 禁止（する）d was hurrying southeastward. Conan followed more slowly, keeping just within ear-発射. He 悪口を言う／悪態d the noise they were making; that many Picts or Cimmerians would have moved through the 支持を得ようと努めるd with no more noise than the 勝利，勝つd makes as it blows through the 黒人／ボイコット 支店s. He had just crossed a small glade when he wheeled, answering the 有罪の判決 of his 原始の instincts that he was 存在 followed. Standing motionless の中で the bushes he heard the sounds of the 退却／保養地ing 植民／開拓者s fade away. Then a 発言する／表明する called faintly 支援する along the way he had come: "Conan! Conan! Wait for me, Conan!"

"Balthus!" he swore bewilderedly. 慎重に he called: "Here I am!"

"Wait for me, Conan!" the 発言する／表明する （機の）カム more distinctly.

Conan moved out of the 影をつくる／尾行するs, scowling. "What the devil are you doing here?—Crom!"

He half crouched, the flesh prickling along his spine. It was not Balthus who was 現れるing from the other 味方する of the glade. A weird glow 燃やすd through the trees. It moved toward him, shimmering weirdly—a blue witch-解雇する／砲火／射撃 that moved with 目的 and 意図.

It 停止（させる）d some feet away and Conan glared at it, trying to distinguish its 解雇する／砲火／射撃-もやd 輪郭（を描く）s. The quivering 炎上 had a solid 核心; the 炎上 was but a green 衣料品 that masked some animate and evil （独立の）存在; but the Cimmerian was unable to make out its 形態／調整 or likeness. Then, shockingly, a 発言する／表明する spoke to him from まっただ中に the fiery column.

"Why do you stand like a sheep waiting for the butcher, Conan?"

The 発言する／表明する was human but carried strange vibrations that were not human.

"Sheep?" Conan's wrath got the best of his momentary awe. "Do you think I'm afraid of a damned Pictish 押し寄せる／沼地 devil? A friend called me."

"I called in his 発言する／表明する," answered the other. "The men you follow belong to my brother; I would not 略奪する his knife of their 血. But you are 地雷. O fool, you have come from the far gray hills of Cimmeria to 会合，会う your doom in the forests of Conajohara."

"You've had your chance at me before now," snorted Conan. "Why didn't you kill me then, if you could?"

"My brother had not painted a skull 黒人／ボイコット for you and 投げつけるd it into the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 that 燃やすs for ever on Gullah's 黒人／ボイコット altar. He had not whispered your 指名する to the 黒人／ボイコット ghosts that haunt the uplands of the Dark Land. But a bat has flown over the Mountains of the Dead and drawn your image in 血 on the white tiger's hide that hangs before the long hut where sleep the Four Brothers of the Night. The 広大な／多数の／重要な serpents coil about their feet and the 星／主役にするs 燃やす like fireflies in their hair."

"Why have the gods of 不明瞭 doomed me to death?" growled Conan.

Something—a 手渡す, foot or talon, he could not tell which, thrust out from the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 and 示すd 速く on the mold. A symbol 炎d there, 示すd with 解雇する／砲火／射撃, and faded, but not before he 認めるd it.

"You dared make the 調印する which only a priest of Jhebbal 下落する dare make. 雷鳴 rumbled through the 黒人／ボイコット Mountain of the Dead and the altar-hut of Gullah was thrown 負かす／撃墜する by a 勝利，勝つd from the 湾 of Ghosts. The loon which is messenger to the Four Brothers of the Night flew 速く and whispered your 指名する in my ear. Your race is run. You are a dead man already. Your 長，率いる will hang in the altar-hut of my brother. Your 団体／死体 will be eaten by the 黒人／ボイコット- winged, sharp-beaked Children of Jhil."

"Who the devil is your brother?" 需要・要求するd Conan. His sword was naked in his 手渡す, and he was subtly 緩和するing the ax in his belt.

"Zogar 下落する; a child of Jhebbal 下落する who still visits his sacred groves at times. A woman of Gwawela slept in a grove 宗教上の to Jhebbal 下落する. Her babe was Zogar 下落する. I too am a son of Jhebbal 下落する, out of a 解雇する／砲火／射撃-存在 from a far realm. Zogar 下落する 召喚するd me out of the Misty Lands. With incantations and sorcery and his own 血 he materialized me in the flesh of his own 惑星. We are one, tied together by invisible threads. His thoughts are my thoughts; if he is struck, I am bruised. If I am 削減（する）, he bleeds. But I have talked enough. Soon your ghost will talk with the ghosts of the Dark Land, and they will tell you of the old gods which are not dead, but sleep in the outer abysses, and from time to time awake."

"I'd like to see what you look like," muttered Conan, working his ax 解放する／自由な, "you who leave a 跡をつける like a bird, who 燃やす like a 炎上 and yet speak with a human 発言する／表明する."

"You shall see," answered the 発言する／表明する from the 炎上, "see, and carry the knowledge with you into the Dark Land."

THE 炎上s leaped and sank, dwindling and dimming. A 直面する began to take shadowy form. At first Conan thought it was Zogar 下落する himself who stood wrapped in green 解雇する／砲火／射撃. But the 直面する was higher than his own, and there was a demoniac 面 about it—Conan had 公式文書，認めるd さまざまな abnormalities about Zogar 下落する's features—an obliqueness of the 注目する，もくろむs, a sharpness of the ears, a wolfish thinness of the lips: these peculiarities were 誇張するd in the apparition which swayed before him. The 注目する，もくろむs were red as coals of living 解雇する／砲火／射撃.

More 詳細（に述べる）s （機の）カム into 見解（をとる）: a slender torso, covered with snaky 規模s, which was yet man-like in 形態／調整, with man-like 武器, from the waist 上向き; below, long crane-like 脚s ended in splay, three-toed feet like those of a 抱擁する bird. Along the monstrous 四肢s the blue 解雇する／砲火／射撃 ぱたぱたするd and ran. He saw it as through a glistening もや.

Then suddenly it was 非常に高い over him, though he had not seen it move toward him. A long arm, which for the first time he noticed was 武装した with curving, sickle-like talons, swung high and swept 負かす／撃墜する at his neck. With a 猛烈な／残忍な cry he broke the （一定の）期間 and bounded aside, 投げつけるing his ax. The demon 避けるd the cast with an unbelievably quick movement of its 狭くする 長，率いる and was on him again with a hissing 急ぐ of leaping 炎上s.

But 恐れる had fought for it when it slew its other 犠牲者s and Conan was not afraid. He knew that any 存在 着せる／賦与するd in 構成要素 flesh can be 殺害された by 構成要素 武器s, however grisly its form may be.

One flailing talon-武装した 四肢 knocked his helmet from his 長，率いる. A little lower and it would have decapitated him. But 猛烈な／残忍な joy 殺到するd through him as his savagely driven sword sank 深い in the monster's groin. He bounded backward from a flailing 一打／打撃, 涙／ほころびing his sword 解放する／自由な as he leaped. The talons raked his breast, ripping through mail-links as if they had been cloth. But his return spring was like that of a 餓死するing wolf. He was inside the 攻撃するing 武器 and 運動ing his sword 深い in the monster's belly—felt the 武器 lock about him and the talons ripping the mail from his 支援する as they sought his 決定的なs—he was lapped and dazzled by blue 炎上 that was 冷気／寒がらせる as ice—then he had torn ひどく away from the 弱めるing 武器 and his sword 削減（する） the 空気／公表する in a tremendous swipe.

The demon staggered and fell sprawling sidewise, its 長，率いる hanging only by a shred of flesh. The 解雇する／砲火／射撃s that 隠すd it leaped ひどく 上向き, now red as 噴出するing 血, hiding the 人物／姿／数字 from 見解（をとる）. A scent of 燃やすing flesh filled Conan's nostrils. Shaking the 血 and sweat from his 注目する，もくろむs, he wheeled and ran staggering through the 支持を得ようと努めるd. 血 trickled 負かす／撃墜する his 四肢s. Somewhere, miles to the south, he saw the faint glow of 炎上s that might 示す a 燃やすing cabin. Behind him, toward the road, rose a distant howling that spurred him to greater 成果／努力s.

8. — CONAJOHARA NO MORE

THERE had been fighting on 雷鳴 River; 猛烈な／残忍な fighting before the 塀で囲むs of Velitrium; ax and たいまつ had been plied up and 負かす／撃墜する the bank, and many a 植民／開拓者's cabin lay in ashes before the painted horde was rolled 支援する.

A strange 静かな followed the 嵐／襲撃する, in which people gathered and talked in hushed 発言する／表明するs, and men with red-stained 包帯s drank their ale silently in the taverns along the river bank.

There, to Conan the Cimmerian, moodily quaffing from a 広大な／多数の／重要な ワイン-glass, （機の）カム a gaunt forester with a 包帯 about his 長，率いる and his arm in a sling. He was the one 生存者 of Fort Tuscelan.

"You went with the 兵士s to the 廃虚s of the fort?"

Conan nodded.

"I wasn't able," murmured the other. "There was no fighting?"

"The Picts had fallen 支援する across 黒人／ボイコット River. Something must have broken their 神経, though only the devil who made them knows what."

The woodsman ちらりと見ることd at his 包帯d arm and sighed.

"They say there were no 団体／死体s 価値（がある） 配置する／処分する／したい気持ちにさせるing of."

Conan shook his 長，率いる. "Ashes. The Picts had piled them in the fort and 始める，決める 解雇する／砲火／射撃 to the fort before they crossed the river. Their own dead and the men of Valannus."

"Valannus was killed の中で the last—in the 手渡す-to-手渡す fighting when they broke the 障壁s. They tried to take him alive, but he made them kill him. They took ten of the 残り／休憩（する） of us 囚人s when we were so weak from fighting we could fight no more. They butchered nine of us then and there. It was when Zogar 下落する died that I got my chance to break 解放する／自由な and run for it."

"Zogar 下落する's dead?" ejaculated Conan.

"Aye. I saw him die. That's why the Picts didn't 圧力（をかける） the fight against Velitrium as ひどく as they did against the fort. It was strange. He took no 負傷させるs in 戦う／戦い. He was dancing の中で the 殺害された, waving an ax with which he'd just brained the last of my comrades. He （機の）カム at me, howling like a wolf—and then he staggered and dropped the ax, and began to reel in a circle 叫び声をあげるing as I never heard a man or beast 叫び声をあげる before. He fell between me and the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 they'd built to roast me, gagging and frothing at the mouth, and all at once he went rigid and the Picts shouted that he was dead. It was during the 混乱 that I slipped my cords and ran for the 支持を得ようと努めるd.

"I saw him lying in the firelight. No 武器 had touched him. Yet there were red 示すs like the 負傷させるs of a sword in the groin, belly, and neck—the last as if his 長，率いる had been almost 厳しいd from his 団体／死体. What do you make of that?"

Conan made no reply, and the forester, aware of the reticence of barbarians on 確かな 事柄s, continued: "He lived by 魔法, and somehow, he died by 魔法. It was the mystery of his death that took the heart out of the Picts. Not a man who saw it was in the fighting before Velitrium. They hurried 支援する across 黒人／ボイコット River. Those that struck 雷鳴 River were 軍人s who had come on before Zogar 下落する died. They were not enough to take the city by themselves.

"I （機の）カム along the road, behind their main 軍隊, and I know 非，不，無 followed me from the fort. I こそこそ動くd through their lines and got into the town. You brought the 植民／開拓者s through all 権利, but their women and children got into Velitrium just ahead of those painted devils. If the 青年 Balthus and old Slasher hadn't held them up awhile, they'd have butchered every woman and child in Conajohara. I passed the place where Balthus and the dog made their last stand. They were lying まっただ中に a heap of dead Picts—I counted seven, brained by his ax, or disemboweled by the dog's fangs, and there were others in the road with arrows sticking in them. Gods, what a fight that must have been!"

"He was a man," said Conan. "I drink to his shade, and to the shade of the dog, who knew no 恐れる." He quaffed part of the ワイン, then emptied the 残り／休憩（する） upon the 床に打ち倒す, with a curious heathen gesture, and 粉砕するd the goblet. "The 長，率いるs of ten Picts shall 支払う／賃金 for his, and seven 長，率いるs for the dog, who was a better 軍人 than many a man."

And the forester, 星／主役にするing into the moody, smoldering blue 注目する，もくろむs, knew the 野蛮な 誓い would be kept.

"They'll not 再構築する the fort?"

"No; Conajohara is lost to Aquilonia. The frontier has been 押し進めるd 支援する. 雷鳴 River will be the new 国境."

The woodsman sighed and 星／主役にするd at his calloused 手渡す, worn from 接触する with ax-haft and sword-hilt. Conan reached his long arm for the ワイン-jug. The forester 星／主役にするd at him, comparing him with the men about them, the men who had died along the lost river, comparing him with those other wild men over that river. Conan did not seem aware of his gaze.

"野蛮／未開 is the natural 明言する／公表する of mankind," the borderer said, still 星／主役にするing somberly at the Cimmerian. "Civilization is unnatural. It is a whim of circumstance. And 野蛮／未開 must always 最終的に 勝利."

THE END

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