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肩書を与える: Jewels of Gwahlur
Author: Rober E. Howard
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Language: English
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Jewels of Gwahlur

by

Rober E. Howard

HOWARD'S ORIGINAL TITLE:
"THE SERVANTS OF BIT-YAKIN"

First published in Weird Tales, March 1935
Also published as "The Teeth of Gwahlur"

This e-調書をとる／予約する 版: 事業／計画（する） Gutenberg Australia. 2020

Weird Tales, March 1935, with "Jewels of Gwahlur

The tale of a weird, ジャングル-hidden palace and a strange, weird people
—and the marvelous, sacred jewels known as the Teeth of Gwahlur.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. — PATHS OF INTRIGUE

THE CLIFFS rose sheer from the ジャングル, 非常に高い ramparts of 石／投石する that glinted jade-blue and dull crimson in the rising sun, and curved away and away to east and west above the waving emerald ocean of fronds and leaves. It looked insurmountable, that 巨大（な） palisade with its sheer curtains of solid 激しく揺する in which bits of quartz winked dazzlingly in the sunlight. But the man who was working his tedious way 上向き was already halfway to the 最高の，を越す.

He （機の）カム from a race of hillmen, accustomed to 規模ing forbidding crags, and he was a man of unusual strength and agility. His only 衣料品 was a pair of short red silk breeks, and his sandals were slung to his 支援する, out of his way, as were his sword and dagger.

The man was powerfully built, supple as a panther. His 肌 was bronzed by the sun, his square-削減（する） 黒人／ボイコット mane 限定するd by a silver 禁止（する）d about his 寺s. His アイロンをかける muscles, quick 注目する，もくろむs and sure feet served him 井戸／弁護士席 here, for it was a climb to 実験（する） these 質s to the 最大の. A hundred and fifty feet below him waved the ジャングル. An equal distance above him the 縁 of the cliffs was etched against the morning sky.

He labored like one driven by the necessity of haste; yet he was 軍隊d to move at a snail's pace, 粘着するing like a 飛行機で行く on a 塀で囲む. His groping 手渡すs and feet 設立する niches and knobs, 不安定な 持つ／拘留するs at best, and いつかs he 事実上 hung by his finger nails. Yet 上向き he went, clawing, squirming, fighting for every foot. At times he paused to 残り／休憩（する） his aching muscles, and, shaking the sweat out of his 注目する，もくろむs, 新たな展開d his 長，率いる to 星／主役にする searchingly out over the ジャングル, 徹底的に捜すing the green expanse for any trace of human life or 動議.

Now the 首脳会議 was not far above him, and he 観察するd, only a few feet above his 長，率いる, a break in the sheer 石／投石する of the cliff. An instant later he had reached it—a small cavern, just below the 辛勝する／優位 of the 縁. As his 長，率いる rose above the lip of its 床に打ち倒す, he grunted. He clung there, his 肘s 麻薬中毒の over the lip. The 洞穴 was so tiny that it was little more than a niche 削減（する） in the 石／投石する, but it held an occupant. A shriveled brown mummy, cross-legged, 武器 倍のd on the withered breast upon which the shrunken 長，率いる was sunk, sat in the little cavern. The 四肢s were bound in place with rawhide thongs which had become mere rotted wisps. If the form had ever been 着せる／賦与するd, the 荒廃させるs of time had long ago 減ずるd the 衣料品s to dust. But thrust between the crossed 武器 and the shrunken breast there was a roll of parchment, yellowed with age to the color of old ivory.

The 登山者 stretched 前へ／外へ a long arm and wrenched away this cylinder. Without 調査, he thrust it into his girdle and 運ぶ／漁獲高d himself up until he was standing in the 開始 of the niche. A spring 上向き and he caught the 縁 of the cliffs and pulled himself up and over almost with the same 動議.

There he 停止（させる）d, panting, and 星／主役にするd downward.

It was like looking into the 内部の of a 広大な bowl, rimmed by a circular 石／投石する 塀で囲む. The 床に打ち倒す of the bowl was covered with trees and denser vegetation, though nowhere did the growth duplicate the ジャングル denseness of the outer forest. The cliffs marched around it without a break and of uniform 高さ. It was a freak of nature, not to be 平行のd, perhaps, in the whole world: a 広大な natural amphitheater, a circular bit of forested plain, three or four miles in 直径, 削減（する） off from the 残り／休憩（する） of the world, and 限定するd within the （犯罪の）一味 of those palisaded cliffs.

But the man on the cliffs did not 充てる his thoughts to marveling at the topographical 現象. With 緊張した 切望 he searched the tree-最高の，を越すs below him, and exhaled a gusty sigh when he caught the glint of marble ドームs まっただ中に the twinkling green. It was no myth, then; below him lay the fabulous and 砂漠d palace of Alkmeenon.

Conan the Cimmerian, late of the Baracha 小島s, of the 黒人／ボイコット Coast, and of many other climes where life ran wild, had come to the kingdom of Keshan に引き続いて the 誘惑する of a fabled treasure that outshone the hoard of the Turanian kings.

KESHAN was a 野蛮な kingdom lying in the eastern hinterlands of Kush where the 幅の広い 牧草地s 合併する with the forests that roll up from the south. The people were a mixed race, a dusky nobility 判決，裁定 a 全住民 that was 大部分は pure Negro. The 支配者s—princes and high priests—（人命などを）奪う，主張するd 降下／家系 from a white race which, in a mythical age, had 支配するd a kingdom whose 資本／首都 city was Alkmeenon. 相反する legends sought to explain the 推論する／理由 for that race's 結局の downfall, and the abandonment of the city by the 生存者s. 平等に nebulous were the tales of the Teeth of Gwahlur, the treasure of Alkmeenon. But these misty legends had been enough to bring Conan to Keshan, over 広大な distances of plain, river-laced ジャングル, and mountains.

He had 設立する Keshan, which in itself was considered mythical by many northern and western nations, and he had heard enough to 確認する the 噂するs of the treasure that men called the Teeth of Gwahlur. But its hiding place he could not learn, and he was 直面するd with the necessity of explaining his presence in Keshan. Unattached strangers were not welcome there.

But he was not nonplussed. With 冷静な／正味の 保証／確信 he made his 申し込む／申し出 to the stately, plumed, 怪しげな grandees of the barbarically magnificent 法廷，裁判所. He was a professional fighting man. In search of 雇用 (he said) he had come to Keshan. For a price he would train the armies of Keshan and lead them against Punt, their hereditary enemy, whose 最近の successes in the field had 誘発するd the fury of Keshan's irascible king.

The proposition was not so audacious as it might seem. Conan's fame had に先行するd him, even into distant Keshan; his 偉業／利用するs as a 長，指導者 of the 黒人／ボイコット corsairs, those wolves of the southern coasts, had made his 指名する known, admired and 恐れるd throughout the 黒人／ボイコット kingdoms. He did not 辞退する 実験（する）s 工夫するd by the dusky lords. 小競り合いs along the 国境s were incessant, affording the Cimmerian plenty of 適切な時期s to 論証する his ability at 手渡す-to-手渡す fighting. His 無謀な ferocity impressed the lords of Keshan, already aware of his 評判 as a leader of men, and the prospects seemed 都合のよい. All Conan 内密に 願望（する）d was 雇用 to give him 合法的 excuse for remaining in Keshan long enough to 位置を示す the hiding place of the Teeth of Gwahlur. Then there （機の）カム an interruption. Thutmekri （機の）カム to Keshan at the 長，率いる of an 大使館 from Zembabwei.

Thutmekri was a Stygian, an adventurer and a rogue whose wits had recommended him to the twin kings of the 広大な／多数の／重要な hybrid 貿易（する）ing kingdom which lay many days' march to the east. He and the Cimmerian knew each other of old, and without love. Thutmekri likewise had a proposition to make to the king of Keshan, and it also 関心d the conquest of Punt—which kingdom, incidentally, lying east of Keshan, had recently expelled the Zembabwan 仲買人s and 燃やすd their 要塞s.

His 申し込む／申し出 outweighed even the prestige of Conan. He 誓約（する）d himself to 侵略する Punt from the east with a host of 黒人／ボイコット spearmen, Shemitish archers, and mercenary swordsmen, and to 援助（する） the king of Keshan to 別館 the 敵意を持った kingdom. The benevolent kings of Zembabwei 願望（する）d only a monopoly of the 貿易（する） of Keshan and her 支流s—and, as a 誓約（する） of good 約束, some of the Teeth of Gwahlur. These would be put to no base usage, Thutmekri 急いでd to explain to the 怪しげな chieftains; they would be placed in the 寺 of Zembabwei beside the squat gold idols of Dagon and Derketo, sacred guests in the 宗教上の 神社 of the kingdom, to 調印（する） the covenant between Keshan and Zembabwei. This 声明 brought a savage grin to Conan's hard lips.

The Cimmerian made no 試みる／企てる to match wits and intrigue with Thutmekri and his Shemitish partner, Zargheba. He knew that if Thutmekri won his point, he would 主張する on the instant banishment of his 競争相手. There was but one thing for Conan to do: find the jewels before the king of Keshan made up his mind, and 逃げる with them. But by this time he was 確かな that they were not hidden in Keshia, the 王室の city, which was a 群れている of thatched huts （人が）群がるing about a mud 塀で囲む that enclosed a palace of 石／投石する and mud and bamboo.

While he ガス／煙d with nervous impatience, the high priest Gorulga 発表するd that before any 決定／判定勝ち（する） could be reached, the will of the gods must be ascertained 関心ing the 提案するd 同盟 with Zembabwei and the 誓約（する） of 反対するs long held 宗教上の and inviolate. The oracle of Alkmeenon must be 協議するd.

This was an awesome thing, and it 原因（となる）d tongues to wag excitedly in palace and beehive hut. Not for a century had the priests visited the silent city. The oracle, men said, was the Princess Yelaya, the last 支配者 of Alkmeenon, who had died in the 十分な bloom of her 青年 and beauty, and whose 団体／死体 had miraculously remained unblemished throughout the ages. Of old, priests had made their way into the haunted city, and she had taught them 知恵. The last priest to 捜し出す the oracle had been a wicked man, who had sought to steal for himself the curiously 削減（する） jewels that men called the Teeth of Gwahlur. But some doom had come upon him in the 砂漠d palace, from which his acolytes, 逃げるing, had told tales of horror that had for a hundred years 脅すd the priests from the city and the oracle.

But Gorulga, the 現在の high priest, as one 確信して in his knowledge of his own 正直さ, 発表するd that he would go with a handful of 信奉者s to 生き返らせる the 古代の custom. And in the excitement tongues buzzed indiscreetly, and Conan caught the 手がかり（を与える） for which he had sought for weeks—the overheard whisper of a lesser priest that sent the Cimmerian stealing out of Keshia the night before the 夜明け when the priests were to start.

RIDING as hard as he dared for a night and a day and a night, he （機の）カム in the 早期に 夜明け to the cliffs of Alkmeenon, which stood in the southwestern corner of the kingdom, まっただ中に uninhabited ジャングル which was タブー to the ありふれた men. 非，不，無 but the priests dared approach the haunted vale within a distance of many miles. And not even a priest had entered Alkmeenon for a hundred years.

No man had ever climbed these cliffs, legends said, and 非，不，無 but the priests knew the secret 入り口 into the valley. Conan did not waste time looking for it. 法外なs that 妨げるd these 黒人／ボイコット people, horsemen and dwellers of plain and level forest, were not impossible for a man born in the rugged hills of Cimmeria.

Now on the 首脳会議 of the cliffs he looked 負かす／撃墜する into the circular valley and wondered what 疫病／悩ます, war, or superstition had driven the members of that 古代の white race 前へ／外へ from their 要塞／本拠地 to mingle with and be 吸収するd by the 黒人／ボイコット tribes that hemmed them in.

This valley had been their citadel. There the palace stood, and there only the 王室の family and their 法廷，裁判所 dwelt. The real city stood outside the cliffs. Those waving 集まりs of green ジャングル vegetation hid its 廃虚s. But the ドームs that glistened in the leaves below him were the 無傷の pinnacles of the 王室の palace of Alkmeenon which had 反抗するd the corroding ages.

Swinging a 脚 over the 縁 he went 負かす／撃墜する 速く. The inner 味方する of the cliffs was more broken, not やめる so sheer. In いっそう少なく than half the time it had taken him to 上がる the outer 味方する, he dropped to the swarded valley 床に打ち倒す.

With one 手渡す on his sword, he looked alertly about him. There was no 推論する／理由 to suppose men lied when they said that Alkmeenon was empty and 砂漠d, haunted only by the ghosts of the dead past. But it was Conan's nature to be 怪しげな and 用心深い. The silence was primordial; not even a leaf quivered on a 支店. When he bent to peer under the trees, he saw nothing but the marching 列／漕ぐ／騒動s of trunks, receding and receding into the blue gloom of the 深い 支持を得ようと努めるd.

にもかかわらず he went warily, sword in 手渡す, his restless 注目する，もくろむs 徹底的に捜すing the 影をつくる／尾行するs from 味方する to 味方する, his springy tread making no sound on the sward. All about him he saw 調印するs of an 古代の civilization; marble fountains, voiceless and 崩壊するing, stood in circles of slender trees whose patterns were too symmetrical to have been a chance of nature. Forest-growth and underbrush had 侵略するd the 平等に planned groves, but their 輪郭（を描く）s were still 明白な. 幅の広い pavements ran away under the trees, broken, and with grass growing through the wide 割れ目s. He glimpsed 塀で囲むs with ornamental copings, lattices of carven 石／投石する that might once have served as the 塀で囲むs of 楽しみ pavilions.

Ahead of him, through the trees, the ドームs gleamed and the 本体，大部分／ばら積みの of the structure supporting them became more 明らかな as he 前進するd. Presently, 押し進めるing through a 審査する of vine-絡まるd 支店s, he （機の）カム into a comparatively open space where the trees straggled, unencumbered by undergrowth, and saw before him the wide, 中心存在d portico of the palace.

As he 機動力のある the 幅の広い marble steps, he 公式文書，認めるd that the building was in far better 明言する／公表する of 保護 than the lesser structures he had glimpsed. The 厚い 塀で囲むs and 大規模な 中心存在s seemed too powerful to 崩壊する before the 強襲，強姦 of time and the elements. The same enchanted 静かな brooded over all. The cat-like pad of his sandaled feet seemed startingly loud in the stillness.

Somewhere in this palace lay the effigy or image which had in times past served as oracle for the priests of Keshan. And somewhere in the palace, unless that indiscreet priest had babbled a 嘘（をつく）, was hidden the treasure of the forgotten kings of Alkmeenon.

CONAN passed into a 幅の広い, lofty hall, lined with tall columns, between which arches gaped, their doors long rotted away. He 横断するd this in a twilight dimness, and at the other end passed through 広大な／多数の／重要な 二塁打-弁d bronze doors which stood partly open, as they might have stood for centuries. He 現れるd into a 広大な ドームd 議会 which must have served as audience hall for the kings of Alkmeenon.

It was octagonal in 形態／調整, and the 広大な／多数の／重要な ドーム up in which the lofty 天井 curved 明白に was cunningly pierced, for the 議会 was much better lighted than the hall which led to it. At the さらに先に 味方する of the 広大な／多数の／重要な room there rose a 演壇 with 幅の広い lapis-lazuli steps 主要な up to it, and on that 演壇 there stood a 大規模な 議長，司会を務める with ornate 武器 and a high 支援する which once doubtless supported a cloth-of-gold canopy. Conan grunted explosively and his 注目する，もくろむs lit. The golden 王位 of Alkmeenon, 指名するd in immemorial legendry! He 重さを計るd it with a practised 注目する，もくろむ. It 代表するd a fortune in itself, if he were but able to 耐える it away. Its richness 解雇する／砲火／射撃d his imagination 関心ing the treasure itself, and made him 燃やす with 切望. His fingers itched to 急落（する），激減（する） の中で the gems he had heard 述べるd by story-tellers in the market squares of Keshia, who repeated tales 手渡すd 負かす／撃墜する from mouth to mouth through the centuries—jewels not to be duplicated in the world, rubies, emeralds, diamonds, bloodstones, opals, sapphires, the 略奪する of the 古代の world.

He had 推定する／予想するd to find the oracle-effigy seated on the 王位, but since it was not, it was probably placed in some other part of the palace, if, indeed, such a thing really 存在するd. But since he had turned his 直面する toward Keshan, so many myths had 証明するd to be realities that he did not 疑問 that he would find some 肉親，親類d of image or god.

Behind the 王位 there was a 狭くする arched doorway which doubtless had been masked by hangings in the days of Alkmeenon's life. He ちらりと見ることd through it and saw that it let into an alcove, empty, and with a 狭くする 回廊（地帯） 主要な off from it at 権利 angles. Turning away from it, he 秘かに調査するd another arch to the left of the 演壇, and it, unlike the others, was furnished with a door. Nor was it any ありふれた door. The portal was of the same rich metal as the 王位, and carved with many curious arabesques.

At his touch it swung open so readily that its hinges might recently have been oiled. Inside he 停止（させる）d, 星／主役にするing.

He was in a square 議会 of no 広大な／多数の／重要な dimensions, whose marble 塀で囲むs rose to an ornate 天井, inlaid with gold. Gold friezes ran about the base and the 最高の，を越す of the 塀で囲むs, and there was no door other than the one through which he had entered. But he 公式文書，認めるd these 詳細（に述べる）s mechanically. His whole attention was 中心d on the 形態／調整 which lay on an ivory 演壇 before him.

He had 推定する／予想するd an image, probably carved with the 技術 of a forgotten art. But no art could mimic the perfection of the 人物／姿／数字 that lay before him.

It was no effigy of 石／投石する or metal or ivory. It was the actual 団体／死体 of a woman, and by what dark art the 古代のs had 保存するd that form unblemished for so many ages Conan could not even guess. The very 衣料品s she wore were 損なわれていない—and Conan scowled at that, a vague uneasiness stirring at the 支援する of his mind. The arts that 保存するd the 団体／死体 should not have 影響する／感情d the 衣料品s. Yet there they were—gold breast-plates 始める，決める with concentric circles of small gems, gilded sandals, and a short silken skirt upheld by a jeweled girdle. Neither cloth nor metal showed any 調印するs of decay.

Yelaya was coldly beautiful, even in death. Her 団体／死体 was like alabaster, slender yet voluptuous; a 広大な／多数の／重要な crimson jewel gleamed against the darkly piled 泡，激怒すること of her hair.

Conan stood frowning 負かす／撃墜する at her, and then tapped the 演壇 with his sword. 可能性s of a hollow 含む／封じ込めるing the treasure occurred to him, but the 演壇 rang solid. He turned and paced the 議会 in some 不決断. Where should he search first, in the 限られた／立憲的な time at his 処分? The priest he had overheard babbling to a courtesan had said the treasure was hidden in the palace. But that 含むd a space of かなりの vastness. He wondered if he should hide himself until the priests had come and gone, and then 新たにする the search. But there was a strong chance that they might take the jewels with them when they returned to Keshia. For he was 納得させるd that Thutmekri had corrupted Gorulga.

Conan could 予報する Thutmekri's 計画（する）s, from his knowledge of the man. He knew that it had been Thutmekri who had 提案するd the conquest of Punt to the kings of Zembabwei, which conquest was but one move toward their real goal—the 逮捕（する） of the Teeth of Gwahlur. Those 用心深い kings would 需要・要求する proof that the treasure really 存在するd before they made any move. The jewels Thutmekri asked as a 誓約（する） would furnish that proof.

With 肯定的な 証拠 of the treasure's reality, the kings of Zimbabwei would move. Punt would be 侵略するd 同時に from the east and the west, but the Zembabwans would see to it that the Keshani did most of the fighting, and then, when both Punt and Keshan were exhausted from the struggle, the Zembabwans would 鎮圧する both races, 略奪する Keshan and take the treasure by 軍隊, if they had to destroy every building and 拷問 every living human in the kingdom.

But there was always another 可能性: if Thutmekri could get his 手渡すs on the hoard, it would be characteristic of the man to cheat his 雇用者s, steal the jewels for himself and decamp, leaving the Zembabwan 特使s 持つ／拘留するing the 解雇（する）.

Conan believed that this 協議するing of the oracle was but a ruse to 説得する the king of Keshan to accede to Thutmekri's wishes—for he never for a moment 疑問d that Gorulga was as subtle and devious as all the 残り／休憩（する） mixed up in this grand 搾取する. Conan had not approached the high priest himself, because in the game of 贈収賄 he would have no chance against Thutmekri, and to 試みる／企てる it would be to play 直接／まっすぐに into the Stygian's 手渡すs. Gorulga could 公然と非難する the Cimmerian to the people, 設立する a 評判 for 正直さ, and rid Thutmekri of his 競争相手 at one 一打／打撃. He wondered how Thutmekri had corrupted the high priest, and just what could be 申し込む／申し出d as a 賄賂 to a man who had the greatest treasure in the world under his fingers.

At any 率 he was sure that the oracle would be made to say that the gods willed it that Keshan would follow Thutmekri's wishes, and he was sure, too, that it would 減少（する） a few pointed 発言／述べるs 関心ing himself. After that Keshia would be too hot for the Cimmerian, nor had Conan had any 意向 of returning when he 棒 way in the night.

THE oracle 議会 held no 手がかり（を与える） for him. He went 前へ／外へ into the 広大な／多数の／重要な 王位 room and laid his 手渡すs on the 王位. It was 激しい, but he could 攻撃する it up. The 床に打ち倒す beneath, a 厚い marble 演壇, was solid. Again he sought the alcove. His mind clung to a secret crypt 近づく the oracle. Painstakingly he began to tap along the 塀で囲むs, and presently his taps rang hollow at a 位置／汚点／見つけ出す opposite the mouth of the 狭くする 回廊（地帯）. Looking more closely he saw that the 割れ目 between the marble パネル盤 at that point and the next was wider than usual. He 挿入するd a dagger point and 調査するd.

Silently the パネル盤 swung open, 明らかにする／漏らすing a niche in the 塀で囲む, but nothing else. He swore feelingly. The aperture was empty, and it did not look as if it had ever served as a crypt for treasure. Leaning into the niche he saw a system of tiny 穴を開けるs in the 塀で囲む, about on a level with a man's mouth. He peered through, and grunted understandingly. That was the 塀で囲む that formed the partition between the alcove and the oracle 議会. Those 穴を開けるs had not been 明白な in the 議会. Conan grinned. This explained the mystery of the oracle, but it was a bit cruder than he had 推定する／予想するd. Gorulga would 工場／植物 either himself or some 信用d minion in that niche, to talk through the 穴を開けるs; the credulous acolytes, 黒人／ボイコット men all, would 受託する it as the veritable 発言する／表明する of Yelaya.

Remembering something, the Cimmerian drew 前へ／外へ the roll of parchment he had taken from the mummy and unrolled it carefully, as it seemed ready to 落ちる to pieces with age. He scowled over the 薄暗い characters with which it was covered. In his roaming about the world the 巨大（な） adventurer had 選ぶd up a wide smattering of knowledge, 特に 含むing the speaking and reading of many 外国人 tongues. Many a 避難所d scholar would have been astonished at the Cimmerian's linguistic abilities, for he had experienced many adventures where knowledge of a strange language had meant the difference between life and death.

The characters were puzzling, at once familiar and unintelligible, and presently he discovered the 推論する／理由. They were the characters of archaic Pelishtic, which 所有するd many points of difference from the modern script, with which he was familiar, and which, three centuries ago, had been 修正するd by conquest by a nomad tribe. This older, purer script baffled him. He made out a 頻発する phrase, however, which he 認めるd as a proper 指名する: Bit-Yakin. He gathered that it was the 指名する of the writer.

Scowling, his lips unconsciously moving as he struggled with the 仕事, he 失敗d through the manuscript, finding much of it untranslatable and most of the 残り／休憩（する） of it obscure.

He gathered that the writer, the mysterious Bit-Yakin, had come from afar with his servants, and entered the valley of Alkmeenon. Much that followed was meaningless, interspersed as it was with unfamiliar phrases and characters. Such as he could translate seemed to 示す the passing of a very long period of time. The 指名する of Yelaya was repeated frequently, and toward the last part of the manuscript it became 明らかな that Bit-Yakin knew that death was upon him. With a slight start Conan realized that the mummy in the cavern must be the remains of the writer of the manuscript, the mysterious Pelishti, Bit-Yakin. The man had died, as he had prophesied, and his servants, 明白に, had placed him in that open crypt, high up on the cliffs, によれば his 指示／教授／教育s before his death.

It was strange that Bit-Yakin was not について言及するd in any of the legends of Alkmeenon. 明白に he had come to the valley after it had been 砂漠d by the 初めの inhabitants—the manuscript 示すd as much—but it seemed peculiar that the priests who （機の）カム in the old days to 協議する the oracle had not seen the man or his servants. Conan felt sure that the mummy and this parchment was more than a hundred years old. Bit-Yakin had dwelt in the valley when the priests （機の）カム of old to 屈服する before dead Yelaya. Yet 関心ing him the legends were silent, telling only of a 砂漠d city, haunted only by the dead.

Why had the man dwelt in this desolate 位置／汚点／見つけ出す, and to what unknown 目的地 had his servants 出発／死d after 配置する／処分する／したい気持ちにさせるing of their master's 死体?

CONAN shrugged his shoulders and thrust the parchment 支援する into his girdle—he started violently, the 肌 on the 支援するs of his 手渡すs tingling. Startingly, shockingly in the slumberous stillness, there had にわか景気d the 深い strident clangor of a 広大な／多数の／重要な gong!

He wheeled, crouching like a 広大な／多数の／重要な cat, sword in 手渡す, glaring 負かす／撃墜する the 狭くする 回廊（地帯） from which the sound had seemed to come. Had the priests of Keshia arrived? This was improbable, he knew; they would not have had time to reach the valley. But that gong was indisputable 証拠 of human presence.

Conan was 基本的に a direct-actionist. Such subtlety as he 所有するd had been acquired through 接触する with the more devious races. When taken off guard by some 予期しない occurrence, he 逆戻りするd instinctively to type. So now, instead of hiding or slipping away in the opposite direction as the 普通の／平均（する） man might have done, he ran straight 負かす／撃墜する the 回廊（地帯） in the direction of the sound. His sandals made no more sound than the pads of a panther would have made; his 注目する，もくろむs were slits, his lips unconsciously asnarl. Panic had momentarily touched his soul at the shock of that 予期しない reverberation, and the red 激怒（する） of the 原始の that is wakened by 脅し of 危険，危なくする, always lurked の近くに to the surface of the Cimmerian.

He 現れるd presently from the winding 回廊（地帯） into a small open 法廷，裁判所. Something glinting in the sun caught his 注目する，もくろむ. It was the gong, a 広大な／多数の／重要な gold disk, hanging from a gold arm 延長するing from the 崩壊するing 塀で囲む. A 厚かましさ／高級将校連 mallet lay 近づく, but there was no sound or sight of humanity. The surrounding arches gaped emptily. Conan crouched inside the doorway for what seemed a long time. There was no sound or movement throughout the 広大な／多数の／重要な palace. His patience exhausted at last, he glided around the curve of the 法廷，裁判所, peering into the arches, ready to leap either way like a flash of light, or to strike 権利 or left as a cobra strikes.

He reached the gong, started into the arch nearest it. He saw only a 薄暗い 議会, littered with the 破片 of decay. Beneath the gong the polished marble 旗s showed no 足跡, but there was a scent in the 空気／公表する—a faintly fetid odor he could not 分類する; his nostrils dilated like those of a wild beast as he sought in vain to identify it.

He turned toward the arch—with appalling suddenness the seemingly solid 旗s 後援d and gave way under his feet. Even as he fell he spread wide his 武器 and caught the 辛勝する／優位s of the aperture that gaped beneath him. The 辛勝する／優位s 崩壊するd off under his clutching fingers. 負かす／撃墜する into utter blackness he 発射, into 黒人／ボイコット icy water that gripped him and whirled him away with breathless 速度(を上げる）.

2. — A GODDESS AWAKENS

THE Cimmerian at first made no 試みる／企てる to fight the 現在の that was 広範囲にわたる him through lightless night. He kept himself afloat, gripping between his teeth the sword, which he had not 放棄するd, even in his 落ちる, and did not 捜し出す to guess to what doom he was 存在 borne. But suddenly a beam of light lanced the 不明瞭 ahead of him. He saw the 殺到するing, seething 黒人／ボイコット surface of the water, in 騒動 as if 乱すd by some monster of the 深い, and he saw the sheer 石／投石する 塀で囲むs of the channel curved up to a 丸天井 総計費. On each 味方する ran a 狭くする ledge, just below the arching roof, but they were far out of his reach. At one point this roof had been broken, probably fallen in, and the light was streaming through the aperture. Beyond that 軸 of light was utter blackness, and panic 攻撃する，非難するd the Cimmerian as he saw he would be swept on past that 位置／汚点／見つけ出す of light, and into the unknown blackness again.

Then he saw something else: bronze ladders 延長するing from the ledges to the water's surface at 正規の／正選手 intervals, and there was one just ahead of him. 即時に he struck out for it, fighting the 現在の that would have held him to the middle of the stream. It dragged at him as with 有形の, animate, slimy 手渡すs, but he buffeted the 急ぐing 殺到する with the strength of desperation and drew closer and closer inshore, fighting furiously for every インチ. Now he was even with the ladder and with a 猛烈な／残忍な, gasping 急落（する），激減（する） he gripped the 底（に届く） rung and hung on, breathless.

A few seconds later he struggled up out of the seething water, 信用ing his 負わせる dubiously to the corroded rungs. They sagged and bent, but they held, and he clambered up の上に the 狭くする ledge which ran along the 塀で囲む scarcely a man's length below the curving roof. The tall Cimmerian was 軍隊d to bend his 長，率いる as he stood up. A 激しい bronze door showed in the 石／投石する at a point even with the 長，率いる of the ladder, but it did not give to Conan's 成果／努力s. He transferred his sword from his teeth to its scabbard, spitting 血—for the 辛勝する／優位 had 削減（する） his lips in that 猛烈な／残忍な fight with the river—and turned his attention to the broken roof.

He could reach his 武器 up through the crevice and 支配する the 辛勝する／優位, and careful 実験（する）ing told him it would 耐える his 負わせる. An instant later he had drawn himself up through the 穴を開ける, and 設立する himself in a wide 議会, in a 明言する／公表する of extreme disrepair. Most of the roof had fallen in, 同様に as a 広大な／多数の／重要な section of the 床に打ち倒す, which was laid over the 丸天井 of a subterranean river. Broken arches opened into other 議会s and 回廊（地帯）s, and Conan believed he was still in the 広大な／多数の／重要な palace. He wondered uneasily how many 議会s in that palace had 地下組織の water 直接／まっすぐに under them, and when the 古代の 旗s or tiles might give way again and precipitate him 支援する into the 現在の from which he had just はうd.

And he wondered just how much of an 事故 that 落ちる had been. Had those rotten 旗s 簡単に chanced to give way beneath his 負わせる, or was there a more 悪意のある explanation? One thing at least was obvious: he was not the only living thing in that palace. That gong had not sounded of its own （許可，名誉などを）与える, whether the noise had been meant to 誘惑する him to his death, or not. The silence of the palace became suddenly 悪意のある, fraught with はうing menace.

Could it be someone on the same 使節団 as himself? A sudden thought occurred to him, at the memory of the mysterious Bit-Yakin. Was it not possible that this man had 設立する the Teeth of Gwahlur in his long 住居 in Alkmeenon—that his servants had taken them with them when they 出発／死d? The 可能性 that he might be に引き続いて a will-o'-the-wisp infuriated the Cimmerian.

Choosing a 回廊（地帯） which he believed led 支援する toward the part of the palace he had first entered, he hurried along it, stepping gingerly as he thought of that 黒人／ボイコット river that seethed and 泡，激怒することd somewhere below his feet.

His 憶測s recurrently 回転するd about the oracle 議会 and its cryptic occupant. Somewhere in that 周辺 must be the 手がかり（を与える） to the mystery of the treasure, if indeed it still remained in its immemorial hiding place.

The 広大な／多数の／重要な palace lay silent as ever, 乱すd only by the swift passing of his sandaled feet. The 議会s and halls he 横断するd were 崩壊するing into 廃虚, but as he 前進するd the 荒廃させるs of decay became いっそう少なく 明らかな. He wondered 簡潔に for what 目的 the ladders had been 一時停止するd from the ledges over the subterranean river, but 解任するd the 事柄 with a shrug. He was little 利益／興味d in 推測するing over unremunerative problems of antiquity.

He was not sure just where the oracle 議会 lay, from where he was, but presently he 現れるd into a 回廊（地帯） which led 支援する into the 広大な／多数の／重要な 王位 room under one of the arches. He had reached a 決定／判定勝ち（する）; it was useless for him to wander aimlessly about the palace, 捜し出すing the hoard. He would 隠す himself somewhere here, wait until the Keshani priests （機の）カム, and then, after they had gone through the farce of 協議するing the oracle, he would follow them to the hiding place of the gems, to which he was 確かな they would go. Perhaps they would take only a few of the jewels with them. He would content himself with the 残り／休憩（する）.

DRAWN by a morbid fascination, he re-entered the oracle 議会 and 星／主役にするd 負かす／撃墜する again at the motionless 人物／姿／数字 of the princess who was worshipped as a goddess, 入り口d by her frigid beauty. What cryptic secret was locked in that marvelously molded form?

He started violently. The breath sucked through his teeth, the short hairs prickled at the 支援する of his scalp. The 団体／死体 still lay as he had first seen it, silent, motionless, in breast-plates of jeweled gold, gilded sandals and silken skirt. But now there was a subtle difference. The lissome 四肢s were not rigid, a peach-bloom touched the cheeks, the lips were red—

With a panicky 悪口を言う／悪態 Conan ripped out his sword.

"Crom! She's alive!"

At his words the long dark 攻撃するs 解除するd; the 注目する，もくろむs opened and gazed up at him inscrutably, dark, lustrous, mystical. He glared in frozen speechlessness.

She sat up with a supple 緩和する, still 持つ／拘留するing his ensorcelled 星／主役にする.

He licked his 乾燥した，日照りの lips and 設立する 発言する／表明する.

"You—are—are you Yelaya?" he stammered.

"I am Yelaya!" The 発言する／表明する was rich and musical, and he 星／主役にするd with new wonder. "Do not 恐れる. I will not 害（を与える） you if you do my bidding."

"How can a dead woman come to life after all these centuries?" he 需要・要求するd, as if skeptical of what his senses told him. A curious gleam was beginning to smolder in his 注目する，もくろむs.

She 解除するd her 武器 in a mystical gesture.

"I am a goddess. A thousand years ago there descended upon me the 悪口を言う／悪態 of the greater gods, the gods of 不明瞭 beyond the 国境s of light. The mortal in me died; the goddess in me could never die. Here I have lain for so many centuries, to awaken each night at sunset and 持つ／拘留する my 法廷，裁判所 as of yore, with specters drawn from the 影をつくる／尾行するs of the past. Man, if you would not 見解（をとる） that which will 爆破 your soul for ever, go hence quickly! I 命令（する） you! Go!" The 発言する／表明する became imperious, and her slender arm 解除するd and pointed.

Conan, his 注目する，もくろむs 燃やすing slits, slowly sheathed his sword, but he did not obey her order. He stepped closer, as if impelled by a powerful fascination—without the slightest 警告 he grabbed her up in a 耐える-like しっかり掴む. She 叫び声をあげるd a very ungoddess-like 叫び声をあげる, and there was a sound of ripping silk, as with one ruthless wrench he tore off her skirt.

"Goddess! Ha!" His bark was 十分な of angry contempt. He ignored the frantic writhings of his 捕虜. "I thought it was strange that a princess of Alkmeenon would speak with a Corinthian accent! As soon as I'd gathered my wits I knew I'd seen you somewhere. You're Muriela, Zargheba's Corinthian dancing girl. This 三日月-形態／調整d birthmark on your hip 証明するs it. I saw it once when Zargheba was whipping you. Goddess! Bah!" He smacked the betraying hip contemptuously and resoundingly with his open 手渡す, and the girl yelped piteously.

All her imperiousness had gone out of her. She was no longer a mystical 人物／姿／数字 of antiquity, but a terrified and humiliated dancing girl, such as can be bought at almost any Shemitish market place. She 解除するd up her 発言する／表明する and wept unashamedly. Her captor glared 負かす／撃墜する at her with angry 勝利.

"Goddess! Ha! So you were one of the 隠すd women Zargheba brought to Keshia with him. Did you think you could fool me, you little idiot? A year ago I saw you in Akbitana with that swine, Zargheba, and I don't forget 直面するs—or women's 人物／姿／数字s. I think I'll—"

Squirming about in his しっかり掴む she threw her slender 武器 about his 大規模な neck in an abandon of terror; 涙／ほころびs coursed 負かす／撃墜する her cheeks, and her sobs quivered with a 公式文書，認める of hysteria.

"Oh, please don't 傷つける me! Don't! I had to do it! Zargheba brought me here to 行為／法令／行動する as the oracle!"

"Why, you sacrilegious little hussy!" rumbled Conan. "Do you not 恐れる the gods? Crom! Is there no honesty anywhere?"

"Oh, please!" she begged, quivering with abject fright. "I couldn't disobey Zargheba. Oh, what shall I do? I shall be 悪口を言う／悪態d by these heathen gods!"

"What do you think the priests will do to you if they find out you're an ペテン師?" he 需要・要求するd.

At the thought her 脚s 辞退するd to support her, and she 崩壊（する）d in a shuddering heap, clasping Conan's 膝s and mingling incoherent 嘆願s for mercy and 保護 with piteous protestations of her innocence of any malign 意向. It was a vivid change from her 提起する／ポーズをとる as the 古代の princess, but not surprising. The 恐れる that had 神経d her then was now her undoing.

"Where is Zargheba?" he 需要・要求するd. "Stop yammering, damn it, and answer me."

"Outside the palace," she whimpered, "watching for the priests."

"How many men with him?"

"非，不，無. We （機の）カム alone."

"Ha!" It was much like the 満足させるd grunt of a 追跡（する）ing lion. "You must have left Keshia a few hours after I did. Did you climb the cliffs?"

SHE shook her 長，率いる, too choked with 涙／ほころびs to speak coherently. With an impatient imprecation he 掴むd her わずかな／ほっそりした shoulders and shook her until she gasped for breath.

"Will you やめる that blubbering and answer me? How did you get into the valley?"

"Zargheba knew the secret way," she gasped. "The priest Gwarunga told him, and Thutmekri. On the south 味方する of the valley there is a 幅の広い pool lying at the foot of the cliffs. There is a 洞穴-mouth under the surface of the water that is not 明白な to the casual ちらりと見ること. We ducked under the water and entered it. The 洞穴 slopes up out of the water 速く and leads through the cliffs. The 開始 on the 味方する of the valley is masked by 激しい thickets."

"I climbed the cliffs on the east 味方する," he muttered. "井戸／弁護士席, what then?"

"We （機の）カム to the palace and Zargheba hid me の中で the trees while he went to look for the 議会 of the oracle. I do not think he fully 信用d Gwarunga. While he was gone I thought I heard a gong sound, but I was not sure. Presently Zargheba （機の）カム and took me into the palace and brought me to this 議会, where the goddess Yelaya lay upon the 演壇. He stripped the 団体／死体 and 着せる／賦与するd me in the 衣料品s and ornaments. Then he went 前へ／外へ to hide the 団体／死体 and watch for the priests. I have been afraid. When you entered I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to leap up and beg you to take me away from this place, but I 恐れるd Zargheba. When you discovered I was alive, I thought I could 脅す you away."

"What were you to say as the oracle?" he asked.

"I was to 企て，努力，提案 the priests to take the Teeth of Gwahlur and give some of them to Thutmekri as a 誓約（する）, as he 願望（する）d, and place the 残り／休憩（する） in the palace at Keshia. I was to tell them that an awful doom 脅すd Keshan if they did not agree to Thutmekri's 提案s. And, oh, yes, I was to tell them that you were to be skinned alive すぐに."

"Thutmekri 手配中の，お尋ね者 the treasure where he—or the Zembabwans — could lay 手渡す on it easily," muttered Conan, 無視（する）ing the 発言／述べる 関心ing himself. "I'll carve his 肝臓 yet—Gorulga is a party to this 搾取する, of course?"

"No. He believes in his gods, and is incorruptible. He knows nothing about this. He will obey the oracle. It was all Thutmekri's 計画（する）. Knowing the Keshani would 協議する the oracle, he had Zargheba bring me with the 大使館 from Zembabwei, closely 隠すd and secluded."

"井戸／弁護士席, I'm damned!" muttered Conan. "A priest who honestly believes in his oracle, and can not be 賄賂d. Crom! I wonder if it was Zargheba who banged that gong. Did he know I was here? Could he have known about that rotten flagging? Where is he now, girl?"

"Hiding in a thicket of lotus trees, 近づく the 古代の avenue that leads from the south 塀で囲む of the cliffs to the palace," she answered. Then she 新たにするd her importunities. "Oh, Conan, have pity on me! I am afraid of this evil, 古代の place. I know I have heard stealthy footfalls padding about me—oh, Conan, take me away with you! Zargheba will kill me when I have served his 目的 here—I know it! The priests, too, will kill me if they discover my deceit.

"He is a devil—he bought me from a slave-仲買人 who stole me out of a caravan bound through southern Koth, and has made me the 道具 of his intrigues ever since. Take me away from him! You can not be as cruel as he. Don't leave me to be 殺害された here! Please! Please!"

She was on her 膝s, clutching at Conan hysterically, her beautiful 涙／ほころび-stained 直面する 上昇傾向d to him, her dark silken hair flowing in disorder over her white shoulders. Conan 選ぶd her up and 始める，決める her on his 膝.

"Listen to me. I'll 保護する you from Zargheba. The priests shall not know of your perfidy. But you've got to do as I tell you."

She 滞るd 約束s of explicit obedience, clasping his corded neck as if 捜し出すing 安全 from the 接触する.

"Good. When the priests come, you'll 行為／法令／行動する the part of Yelaya, as Zargheba planned—it'll be dark, and in the torchlight they'll never know the difference. But you'll say this to them: 'It is the will of the gods that the Stygian and his Shemitish dogs be driven from Keshan. They are thieves and 反逆者s who 陰謀（を企てる） to 略奪する the gods. Let the Teeth of Gwahlur be placed in the care of the general Conan. Let him lead the armies of Keshan. He is beloved of the gods.'"

She shivered, with an 表現 of desperation, but acquiesced.

"But Zargheba?" she cried. "He'll kill me!"

"Don't worry about Zargheba," he grunted. "I'll take care of that dog. You do as I say. Here, put up your hair again. It's fallen all over your shoulders. And the gem's fallen out of it."

He 取って代わるd the 広大な／多数の／重要な glowing gem himself, nodding 是認.

"It's 価値（がある） a roomful of slaves, itself alone. Here, put your skirt 支援する on. It's torn 負かす／撃墜する the 味方する, but the priests will never notice it. Wipe your 直面する. A goddess doesn't cry like a whipped schoolgirl. By Crom, you do look like Yelaya, 直面する, hair, 人物／姿／数字, and all! If you 行為／法令／行動する the goddess with the priests 同様に as you did with me, you'll fool them easily."

"I'll try," she shivered.

"Good; I'm going to find Zargheba."

At that she became panicky again.

"No! Don't leave me alone! This place is haunted!"

"There's nothing here to 害（を与える） you," he 保証するd her impatiently. "Nothing but Zargheba, and I'm going to look after him. I'll be 支援する すぐに. I'll be watching from の近くに by in 事例／患者 anything goes wrong during the 儀式; but if you play your part 適切に, nothing will go wrong."

And turning, he 急いでd out of the oracle 議会; behind him Muriela squeaked wretchedly at his going.

TWILIGHT had fallen. The 広大な／多数の／重要な rooms and halls were shadowy and indistinct; 巡査 friezes glinted dully through the dusk. Conan strode like a silent phantom through the 広大な／多数の／重要な halls, with a sensation of 存在 星／主役にするd at from the 影をつくる／尾行するd 休会s by invisible ghosts of the past. No wonder the girl was nervous まっただ中に such surroundings.

He glided 負かす／撃墜する the marble steps like a slinking panther, sword in 手渡す. Silence 統治するd over the valley, and above the 縁 of the cliffs, 星／主役にするs were blinking out. If the priests of Keshia had entered the valley there was not a sound, not a movement in the 青葉 to betray them. He made out the 古代の broken-覆うd avenue, wandering away to the south, lost まっただ中に clustering 集まりs of fronds and 厚い-leaved bushes. He followed it warily, hugging the 辛勝する／優位 of the 覆うing where the shrubs 集まりd their 影をつくる／尾行するs thickly, until he saw ahead of him, dimly in the dusk, the clump of lotus-trees, the strange growth peculiar to the 黒人／ボイコット lands of Kush. There, によれば the girl, Zargheba should be lurking. Conan became stealth personified. A velvet-footed 影をつくる／尾行する, he melted into the thickets.

He approached the lotus grove by a circuitous movement, and scarcely the rustle of a leaf 布告するd his passing. At the 辛勝する／優位 of the trees he 停止（させる）d suddenly, crouched like a 怪しげな panther の中で the 深い shrubs. Ahead of him, の中で the dense leaves, showed a pallid oval, 薄暗い in the uncertain light. It might have been one of the 広大な／多数の／重要な white blossoms which shone thickly の中で the 支店s. But Conan knew that it was a man's 直面する. And it was turned toward him. He shrank quickly deeper into the 影をつくる／尾行するs. Had Zargheba seen him? The man was looking 直接／まっすぐに toward him. Seconds passed. The 薄暗い 直面する had not moved. Conan could make out the dark tuft below that was the short 黒人／ボイコット 耐えるd.

And suddenly Conan was aware of something unnatural. Zargheba, he knew, was not a tall man. Standing 築く, his 長，率いる would scarcely 最高の，を越す the Cimmerian's shoulders; yet that 直面する was on a level with Conan's own. Was the man standing on something? Conan bent and peered toward the ground below the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す where the 直面する showed, but his 見通し was 封鎖するd by undergrowth and the 厚い boles of the trees. But he saw something else, and he 強化するd. Through a slot in the underbrush he glimpsed the 茎・取り除く of the tree under which, 明らかに, Zargheba was standing. The 直面する was 直接／まっすぐに in line with that tree. He should have seen below that 直面する, not the tree-trunk, but Zargheba's 団体／死体—but there was no 団体／死体 there.

Suddenly tenser than a tiger who stalks his prey, Conan glided deeper into the thicket, and a moment later drew aside a leafy 支店 and glared at the 直面する that had not moved. Nor would it ever move again, of its own volition. He looked on Zargheba's 厳しいd 長，率いる, 一時停止するd from the 支店 of the tree by its own long 黒人／ボイコット hair.

3. — THE RETURN OF THE ORACLE

CONAN wheeled supplely, 広範囲にわたる the 影をつくる／尾行するs with a ひどく 追求（する），探索（する）ing 星／主役にする. There was no 調印する of the 殺人d man's 団体／死体; only yonder the tall lush grass was trampled and broken 負かす／撃墜する and the sward was dabbled darkly and wetly. Conan stood scarcely breathing as he 緊張するd his ears into the silence. The trees and bushes with their 広大な／多数の／重要な pallid blossoms stood dark, still, and 悪意のある, etched against the 深くするing dusk.

原始の 恐れるs whispered at the 支援する of Conan's mind. Was this the work of the priests of Keshan? If so, where were they? Was it Zargheba, after all, who had struck the gong? Again there rose the memory of Bit-Yakin and his mysterious servants. Bit-Yakin was dead, shriveled to a hulk of wrinkled leather and bound in his hollowed crypt to 迎える／歓迎する the rising sun for ever. But the servants of Bit-Yakin were 原因不明の／行方不明の（unaccounnted-for） for. There was no proof they had ever left the valley.

Conan thought of the girl, Muriela, alone and unguarded in that 広大な／多数の／重要な shadowy palace. He wheeled and ran 支援する 負かす／撃墜する the 影をつくる／尾行するd avenue, and he ran as a 怪しげな panther runs, 均衡を保った even in 十分な stride to whirl 権利 or left and strike death blows.

The palace ぼんやり現れるd through the trees, and he saw something else—the glow of 解雇する／砲火／射撃 反映するing redly from the polished marble. He melted into the bushes that lined the broken street, glided through the dense growth and reached the 辛勝する／優位 of the open space before the portico. 発言する／表明するs reached him; たいまつs bobbed and their ゆらめく shone on glossy ebon shoulders. The priests of Keshan had come.

They had not 前進するd up the wide, overgrown avenue as Zargheba had 推定する／予想するd them to do. 明白に there was more than one secret way into the valley of Alkmeenon.

They were とじ込み／提出するing up the 幅の広い marble steps, 持つ／拘留するing their たいまつs high. He saw Gorulga at the 長，率いる of the parade, a profile chiseled out of 巡査, etched in the たいまつ glare. The 残り／休憩（する） were acolytes, 巨大（な） 黒人／ボイコット men from whose 肌s the たいまつs struck 最高潮の場面s. At the end of the 行列 there stalked a 抱擁する Negro with an 異常に wicked cast of countenance, at the sight of whom Conan scowled. That was Gwarunga, whom Muriela had 指名するd as the man who had 明らかにする／漏らすd the secret of the pool-入り口 to Zargheba. Conan wondered how 深く，強烈に the man was in the intrigues of the Stygian.

He hurried toward the portico, circling the open space to keep in the fringing 影をつくる／尾行するs. They left no one to guard the 入り口. The たいまつs streamed 刻々と 負かす／撃墜する the long dark hall. Before they reached the 二塁打-弁d door at the other end, Conan had 機動力のある the outer steps and was in the hall behind them. Slinking 速く along the column-lined 塀で囲む, he reached the 広大な／多数の／重要な door as they crossed the 抱擁する 王位 room, their たいまつs 運動ing 支援する the 影をつくる／尾行するs. They did not look 支援する. In 選び出す／独身 とじ込み／提出する, their ostrich plumes nodding, their ヒョウ-肌 tunics contrasting curiously with the marble and arabesqued metal of the 古代の palace, they moved across the wide room and 停止（させる）d momentarily at the golden door to the left of the 王位-演壇.

Gorulga's 発言する／表明する にわか景気d eerily and hollowly in the 広大な／多数の／重要な empty space, でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れるd in sonorous phrases unintelligible to the lurking listener; then the high priest thrust open the golden door and entered, 屈服するing 繰り返して from the waist and behind him the たいまつs sank and rose, にわか雨ing flakes of 炎上, as the worshippers imitated their master. The gold door の近くにd behind them, shutting out sound and sight, and Conan darted across the 王位-議会 and into the alcove behind the 王位. He made いっそう少なく sound than a 勝利，勝つd blowing across the 議会.

Tiny beams of light streamed through the apertures in the 塀で囲む, as he 調査するd open the secret パネル盤. Gliding into the niche, he peered through. Muriela sat upright on the 演壇, her 武器 倍のd, her 長，率いる leaning 支援する against the 塀で囲む, within a few インチs of his 注目する，もくろむs. The delicate perfume of her foamy hair was in his nostrils. He could not see her 直面する, of course, but her 態度 was as if she gazed tranquilly into some far 湾 of space, over and beyond the shaven 長，率いるs of the 黒人／ボイコット 巨大（な）s who knelt before her. Conan grinned with 評価. "The little slut's an actress," he told himself. He knew she was shriveling with terror, but she showed no 調印する. In the uncertain ゆらめく of the たいまつs she looked 正確に／まさに like the goddess he had seen lying on that same 演壇, if one could imagine that goddess imbued with vibrant life.

Gorulga was にわか景気ing 前へ／外へ some 肉親，親類d of a 詠唱する in an accent unfamiliar to Conan, and which was probably some invocation in the 古代の tongue of Alkmeenon, 手渡すd 負かす／撃墜する from 世代 to 世代 of high priests. It seemed interminable. Conan grew restless. The longer the thing lasted, the more terrific would be the 緊張する on Muriela. If she snapped—he hitched his sword and dagger 今後. He could not see the little trollop 拷問d and 殺害された by 黒人／ボイコット men.

But the 詠唱する—深い, low-pitched, and indescribably ominous — （機の）カム to a 結論 at last, and a shouted acclaim from the acolytes 示すd its period. 解除するing his 長，率いる and raising his 武器 toward the silent form on the 演壇, Gorulga cried in the 深い, rich resonance that was the natural せいにする of the Keshani priest: "O 広大な／多数の／重要な goddess, dweller with the 広大な／多数の／重要な one of 不明瞭, let thy heart be melted, thy lips opened for the ears of thy slave whose 長，率いる is in the dust beneath thy feet! Speak, 広大な／多数の／重要な goddess of the 宗教上の valley! Thou knowest the paths before us; the 不明瞭 that 悩ますs us is as the light of the midday sun to thee. Shed the radiance of thy 知恵 on the paths of thy servants! Tell us, O mouthpiece of the gods: what is their will 関心ing Thutmekri the Stygian?"

THE high-piled, burnished 集まり of hair that caught the torchlight in dull bronze gleams quivered わずかに. A gusty sigh rose from the 黒人／ボイコットs, half in awe, half in 恐れる. Muriela's 発言する／表明する （機の）カム plainly to Conan's ears in the breathless silence, and it seemed 冷淡な, detached, impersonal, though he winced at the Corinthian accent.

"It is the will of the gods that the Stygian and his Shemitish dogs be driven from Keshan!" She was repeating his exact words. "They are thieves and 反逆者s who 陰謀（を企てる） to 略奪する the gods. Let the Teeth of Gwahlur be placed in the care of the general Conan. Let him lead the armies of Keshan. He is beloved of the gods!"

There was a quiver in her 発言する／表明する as she ended, and Conan began to sweat, believing she was on the point of an hysterical 崩壊（する）. But the 黒人／ボイコットs did not notice, any more than they identified the Corinthian accent, of which they knew nothing. They smote their palms softly together and a murmur of wonder and awe rose from them. Gorulga's 注目する，もくろむs glittered fanatically in the torchlight.

"Yelaya has spoken!" he cried in an exalted 発言する／表明する. "It is the will of the gods! Long ago, in the days of our ancestors, they were made タブー and hidden at the 命令（する） of the gods, who wrenched them from the awful jaws of Gwahlur the king of 不明瞭, in the birth of the world. At the 命令（する） of the gods the Teeth of Gwahlur were hidden; at their 命令（する） they shall be brought 前へ／外へ again. O 星／主役にする-born goddess, give us your leave to go to the secret hiding-place of the Teeth to 安全な・保証する them for him whom the gods love!"

"You have my leave to go!" answered the 誤った goddess, with an imperious gesture of 解雇／（訴訟の）却下 that 始める，決める Conan grinning again, and the priests 支援するd out, ostrich plumes and たいまつs rising and 落ちるing with the rhythm of their genuflexions.

The gold door の近くにd and with a moan, the goddess fell 支援する limply on the 演壇. "Conan!" she whimpered faintly. "Conan!"

"Shhh!" he hissed through the apertures, and turning, glided from the niche and の近くにd the パネル盤. A glimpse past the jamb of the carven door showed him the たいまつs receding across the 広大な／多数の／重要な 王位 room, but he was at the same time aware of a radiance that did not emanate from the たいまつs. He was startled, but the 解答 現在のd itself 即時に. An 早期に moon had risen and its light slanted through the pierced ドーム which by some curious workmanship 強めるd the light. The 向こうずねing ドーム of Alkmeenon was no fable, then. Perhaps its 内部の was of the curious whitely 炎上ing 水晶 設立する only in the hills of the 黒人／ボイコット countries. The light flooded the 王位 room and seeped into the 議会s すぐに 隣接するing.

But as Conan made toward the door that led into the 王位 room, he was brought around suddenly by a noise that seemed to emanate from the passage that led off from the alcove. He crouched at the mouth, 星／主役にするing into it, remembering the clangor of the gong that had echoed from it to 誘惑する him into a snare. The light from the ドーム filtered only a little way into that 狭くする 回廊（地帯）, and showed him only empty space. Yet he could have sworn that he had heard the furtive pad of a foot somewhere 負かす／撃墜する it.

While he hesitated, he was electrified by a woman's strangled cry from behind him. Bounding through the door behind the 王位, he saw an 予期しない spectacle, in the 水晶 light.

The たいまつs of the priests had 消えるd from the 広大な／多数の／重要な hall outside—but one priest was still in the palace: Gwarunga. His wicked features were convulsed with fury, and he しっかり掴むd the terrified Muriela by the throat, choking her 成果／努力s to 叫び声をあげる and 嘆願d, shaking her 残酷に.

"Traitress!" Between his 厚い red lips his 発言する／表明する hissed like a cobra. "What game are you playing? Did not Zargheba tell you what to say? Aye, Thutmekri told me! Are you betraying your master, or is he betraying his friends through you? Slut! I'll 新たな展開 off your 誤った 長，率いる—but first I'll—"

A 広げるing of his 捕虜's lovely 注目する，もくろむs as she 星／主役にするd over his shoulder 警告するd the 抱擁する 黒人／ボイコット. He 解放（する）d her and wheeled, just as Conan's sword 攻撃するd 負かす／撃墜する. The 衝撃 of the 一打／打撃 knocked him headlong backward to the marble 床に打ち倒す, where he lay twitching, 血 oozing from a ragged gash in his scalp.

Conan started toward him to finish the 職業—for he knew that the 黒人／ボイコット's sudden movement had 原因（となる）d the blade to strike flat—but Muriela threw her 武器 convulsively about him.

"I've done as you ordered!" she gasped hysterically. "Take me away! Oh, please take me away!"

"We can't go yet," he grunted. "I want to follow the priests and see where they get the jewels. There may be more 略奪する hidden there. But you can go with me. Where's that gem you wore in your hair?"

"It must have fallen out on the 演壇," she stammered, feeling for it. "I was so 脅すd—when the priests left I ran out to find you, and this big brute had stayed behind, and he grabbed me—"

"井戸／弁護士席, go get it while I 配置する／処分する／したい気持ちにさせる of this carcass," he 命令（する）d. "Go on! That gem is 価値（がある） a fortune itself."

She hesitated, as if loth to return to that cryptic 議会; then, as he しっかり掴むd Gwarunga's girdle and dragged him into the alcove, she turned and entered the oracle room.

CONAN 捨てるd the senseless 黒人／ボイコット on the 床に打ち倒す, and 解除するd his sword. The Cimmerian had lived too long in the wild places of the world to have any illusions about mercy. The only 安全な enemy was a headless enemy. But before he could strike, a startling 叫び声をあげる checked the 解除するd blade. It （機の）カム from the oracle 議会.

"Conan! Conan! She's come 支援する!" The shriek ended in a gurgle and a 捨てるing shuffle.

With an 誓い Conan dashed out of the alcove, across the 王位 演壇 and into the oracle 議会, almost before the sound had 中止するd. There he 停止（させる）d, glaring bewilderedly. To all 外見s Muriela lay placidly on the 演壇, 注目する，もくろむs の近くにd as if in slumber.

"What in 雷鳴 are you doing?" he 需要・要求するd acidly. "Is this any time to be playing jokes—"

His 発言する／表明する 追跡するd away. His gaze ran along the ivory thigh molded in the の近くに-fitting silk skirt. That skirt should gape from girdle to hem. He knew, because it had been his own 手渡す that tore it, as he ruthlessly stripped the 衣料品 from the ダンサー's writhing 団体／死体. But the skirt showed no rent. A 選び出す／独身 stride brought him to the 演壇 and he laid his 手渡す on the ivory 団体／死体—snatched it away as if it had 遭遇（する）d hot アイロンをかける instead of the 冷淡な immobility of death.

"Crom!" he muttered, his 注目する，もくろむs suddenly slits of balefire. "It's not Muriela! It's Yelaya!"

He understood now that frantic 叫び声をあげる that had burst from Muriela's lips when she entered the 議会. The goddess had returned. The 団体／死体 had been stripped by Zargheba to furnish the accouterments for the pretender. Yet now it was 覆う？ in silk and jewels as Conan had first seen it. A peculiar prickling made itself manifest の中で the short hairs at the base of Conan's scalp.

"Muriela!" he shouted suddenly. "Muriela! Where the devil are you?"

The 塀で囲むs threw 支援する his 発言する／表明する mockingly. There was no 入り口 that he could see except the golden door, and 非，不，無 could have entered or 出発／死d through that without his knowledge. This much was indisputable: Yelaya had been 取って代わるd on the 演壇 within the few minutes that had elapsed since Muriela had first left the 議会 to be 掴むd by Gwarunga; his ears were still tingling with the echoes of Muriela's 叫び声をあげる, yet the Corinthian girl had 消えるd as if into thin 空気／公表する. There was but one explanation, if he 拒絶するd the darker 憶測 that 示唆するd the supernatural—somewhere in the 議会 there was a secret door. And even as the thought crossed his mind, he saw it.

In what had seemed a curtain of solid marble, a thin perpendicular 割れ目 showed and in the 割れ目 hung a wisp of silk. In an instant he was bending over it. That shred was from Muriela's torn skirt. The 関わりあい／含蓄 was unmistakable. It had been caught in the の近くにing door and torn off as she was borne through the 開始 by whatever grim 存在s were her captors. The bit of 着せる／賦与するing had 妨げるd the door from fitting perfectly into its でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる.

Thrusting his dagger-point into the 割れ目, Conan 発揮するd てこ入れ／借入資本 with a corded forearm. The blade bent, but it was of unbreakable Akbitanan steel. The marble door opened. Conan's sword was 解除するd as he peered into the aperture beyond, but he saw no 形態／調整 of menace. Light filtering into the oracle 議会 明らかにする／漏らすd a short flight of steps 削減（する） out of marble. Pulling the door 支援する to its fullest extent, he drove his dagger into a 割れ目 in the 床に打ち倒す, propping it open. Then he went 負かす／撃墜する the steps without hesitation. He saw nothing, heard nothing. A dozen steps 負かす／撃墜する, the stair ended in a 狭くする 回廊（地帯） which ran straight away into gloom.

He 停止（させる）d suddenly, 提起する／ポーズをとるd like a statue at the foot of the stair, 星／主役にするing at the 絵s which frescoed the 塀で囲むs, half 明白な in the 薄暗い light which filtered 負かす／撃墜する from above. The art was unmistakably Pelishti; he had seen frescoes of 同一の 特徴 on the 塀で囲むs of Asgalun. But the scenes 描写するd had no 関係 with anything Pelishti, except for one human 人物／姿／数字, frequently 頻発する: a lean, white-bearded old man whose racial 特徴 were unmistakable. They seemed to 代表する さまざまな sections of the palace above. Several scenes showed a 議会 he 認めるd as the oracle 議会 with the 人物／姿／数字 of Yelaya stretched upon the ivory 演壇 and 抱擁する 黒人／ボイコット men ひさまづくing before it. And there behind the 塀で囲む, in the niche, lurked the 古代の Pelishti. And there were other 人物／姿／数字s, too—人物／姿／数字s that moved through the 砂漠d palace, did the bidding of the Pelishti, and dragged unnamable things out of the subterranean river. In the few seconds Conan stood frozen, hitherto unintelligible phrases in the parchment manuscript 炎d in his brain with 冷気／寒がらせるing clarity. The loose bits of the pattern clicked into place. The mystery of Bit-Yakin was a mystery no longer, nor the riddle of Bit-Yakin's servants.

Conan turned and peered into the 不明瞭, an icy finger はうing along his spine. Then he went along the 回廊（地帯）, cat-footed, and without hesitation, moving deeper and deeper into the 不明瞭 as he drew さらに先に away from the stair. The 空気／公表する hung 激しい with the odor he had scented in the 法廷，裁判所 of the gong.

Now in utter blackness he heard a sound ahead of him—the shuffle of 明らかにする feet, or the swish of loose 衣料品s against 石／投石する, he could not tell which. But an instant later his outstretched 手渡す 遭遇（する）d a 障壁 which he identified as a 大規模な door of carved metal. He 押し進めるd against it fruitlessly, and his sword-point sought vainly for a 割れ目. It fitted into the sill and jambs as if molded there. He 発揮するd all his strength, his feet 緊張するing against the 床に打ち倒す, the veins knotting in his 寺s. It was useless; a 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of elephants would scarcely have shaken that titanic portal.

As he leaned there he caught a sound on the other 味方する that his ears 即時に identified—it was the creak of rusty アイロンをかける, like a lever 捨てるing in its slot. Instinctively 活動／戦闘 followed 承認 so spontaneously that sound, impulse and 活動／戦闘 were 事実上 同時の. And as his prodigious bound carried him backward, there was the 急ぐ of a 広大な／多数の／重要な 本体，大部分／ばら積みの from above, and a thunderous 衝突，墜落 filled the tunnel with deafening vibrations. Bits of 飛行機で行くing 後援s struck him—a 抱擁する 封鎖する of 石／投石する, he knew from the sound, dropped on the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す he had just quitted. An instant's slower thought or 活動／戦闘 and it would have 鎮圧するd him like an ant.

CONAN fell 支援する. Somewhere on the other 味方する of that metal door Muriela was a 捕虜, if she still lived. But he could not pass that door, and if he remained in the tunnel another 封鎖する might 落ちる, and he might not be so lucky. It would do the girl no good for him to be 鎮圧するd into a purple 低俗雑誌. He could not continue his search in that direction. He must get above ground and look for some other avenue of approach.

He turned and hurried toward the stair, sighing as he 現れるd into comparative radiance. And as he 始める，決める foot on the first step, the light was blotted out, and above him the marble door 急ぐd shut with a resounding reverberation.

Something like panic 掴むd the Cimmerian then, 罠にかける in that 黒人／ボイコット tunnel, and he wheeled on the stair, 解除するing his sword and glaring murderously into the 不明瞭 behind him, 推定する／予想するing a 急ぐ of ghoulish 加害者s. But there was no sound or movement 負かす／撃墜する the tunnel. Did the men beyond the door—if they were men—believe that he had been 性質の／したい気がして of by the 落ちる of the 石／投石する from the roof, which had undoubtedly been 解放（する）d by some sort of 機械／機構?

Then why had the door been shut above him? Abandoning 憶測, Conan groped his way up the steps, his 肌 はうing in 予期 of a knife in his 支援する at every stride, yearning to 溺死する his 半分-panic in a barbarous burst of 流血.

He thrust against the door at the 最高の，を越す, and 悪口を言う／悪態d soulfully to find that it did not give to his 成果／努力s. Then as he 解除するd his sword with his 権利 手渡す to hew at the marble, his groping left 遭遇（する）d a metal bolt that evidently slipped into place at the の近くにing of the door. In an instant he had drawn this bolt, and then the door gave to his 押す. He bounded into the 議会 like a slit-注目する，もくろむd, snarling incarnation of fury, ferociously desirous to come to 支配するs with whatever enemy was hounding him.

The dagger was gone from the 床に打ち倒す. The 議会 was empty, and so was the 演壇. Yelaya had again 消えるd.

"By Crom!" muttered the Cimmerian. "Is she alive, after all?"

He strode out into the 王位 room, baffled, and then, struck by a sudden thought, stepped behind the 王位 and peered into the alcove. There was 血 on the smooth marble where he had cast 負かす／撃墜する the senseless 団体／死体 of Gwarunga—that was all. The 黒人／ボイコット man had 消えるd as 完全に as Yelaya.

4. — THE TEETH OF GWAHLUR

BAFFLED wrath 混乱させるd the brain of Conan the Cimmerian. He knew no more how to go about searching for Muriela than he had known how to go about searching for the Teeth of Gwahlur. Only one thought occurred to him—to follow the priests. Perhaps at the hiding-place of the treasure some 手がかり（を与える） would be 明らかにする／漏らすd to him. It was a わずかな／ほっそりした chance, but better than wandering about aimlessly.

As he hurried through the 広大な／多数の／重要な shadowy hall that led to the portico he half 推定する／予想するd the lurking 影をつくる／尾行するs to come to life behind him with rending fangs and talons. But only the （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 of his own 早い heart …を伴ってd him into the moonlight that dappled the shimmering marble.

At the foot of the wide steps he cast about in the 有望な moonlight for some sight to show him the direction he must go. And he 設立する it—petals scattered on the sward told where an arm or 衣料品 had 小衝突d against a blossom-laden 支店. Grass had been 圧力（をかける）d 負かす／撃墜する under 激しい feet. Conan, who had 跡をつけるd wolves in his native hills, 設立する no insurmountable difficulty in に引き続いて the 追跡する of the Keshani priests.

It led away from the palace, through 集まりs of exotic-scented shrubbery where 広大な／多数の／重要な pale blossoms spread their shimmering petals, through verdant, 絡まるd bushes that にわか雨d blooms at the touch, until he （機の）カム at last to a 広大な／多数の／重要な 集まり of 激しく揺する that jutted like a 巨人's 城 out from the cliffs at a point closest to the palace, which, however, was almost hidden from 見解（をとる） by vine-interlaced trees. Evidently that babbling priest in Keshia had been mistaken when he said the Teeth were hidden in the palace. This 追跡する had led him away from the place where Muriela had disappeared, but a belief was growing in Conan that each part of the valley was connected with that palace by subterranean passages.

Crouching in the 深い, velvet-黒人／ボイコット 影をつくる／尾行するs of the bushes, he scrutinized the 広大な／多数の／重要な jut of 激しく揺する which stood out in bold 救済 in the moonlight. It was covered with strange, grotesque carvings, 描写するing men and animals, and half-bestial creatures that might have been gods or devils. The style of art 異なるd so strikingly from that of the 残り／休憩（する） of the valley, that Conan wondered if it did not 代表する a different 時代 and race, and was itself a 遺物 of an age lost and forgotten at whatever immeasurably distant date the people of Alkmeenon had 設立する and entered the haunted valley.

A 広大な／多数の／重要な door stood open in the sheer curtain of the cliff, and a gigantic dragon's 長，率いる was carved about it so that the open door was like the dragon's gaping mouth. The door itself was of carven bronze and looked to 重さを計る several トンs. There was no lock that he could see, but a 一連の bolts showing along the 辛勝する／優位 of the 大規模な portal, as it stood open, told him that there was some system of locking and 打ち明けるing—a system doubtless known only to the priests of Keshan.

The 追跡する showed that Gorulga and his henchemen had gone through that door. But Conan hesitated. To wait until they 現れるd would probably mean to see the door locked in his 直面する, and he might not be able to solve the mystery of its 打ち明けるing. On the other 手渡す, if he followed them in, they might 現れる and lock him in the cavern.

Throwing 警告を与える to the 勝利，勝つd, he glided through the 広大な／多数の／重要な portal. Somewhere in the cavern were the priests, the Teeth of Gwahlur, and perhaps a 手がかり（を与える） to the 運命／宿命 of Muriela. Personal 危険s had never yet deterred him from any 目的.

Moonlight illumined, for a few yards, the wide tunnel in which he 設立する himself. Somewhere ahead of him he saw a faint glow and heard the echo of a weird 詠唱するing. The priests were not so far ahead of him as he had thought. The tunnel debouched into a wide room before the moonlight played out, an empty cavern of no 広大な／多数の／重要な dimensions, but with a lofty, 丸天井d roof, glowing with a phosphorescent encrustation, which, as Conan knew, was a ありふれた 現象 in that part of the world. It made a ghostly half-light, in which he was able to see a bestial image squatting on a 神社, and the 黒人／ボイコット mouths of six or seven tunnels 主要な off from the 議会. 負かす／撃墜する the widest of these—the one 直接／まっすぐに behind the squat image which looked toward the outer 開始—he caught the gleam of たいまつs wavering, 反して the phosphorescent glow was 直す／買収する，八百長をするd, and heard the 詠唱するing 増加する in 容積／容量.

負かす／撃墜する it he went recklessly, and was presently peering into a larger cavern than the one he had just left. There was no phosphorus here, but the light of the たいまつs fell on a larger altar and a more obscene and repulsive god squatting toad-like upon it. Before this repugnant deity Gorulga and his ten acolytes knelt and （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 their 長，率いるs upon the ground, while 詠唱するing monotonously. Conan realized why their 進歩 had been so slow. Evidently approaching the secret crypt of the Teeth was a 複雑にするd and (a)手の込んだ／(v)詳述する ritual.

He was fidgeting in nervous impatience before the 詠唱するing and 屈服するing were over, but presently they rose and passed into the tunnel which opened behind the idol. Their たいまつs bobbed away into the nighted 丸天井, and he followed 速く. Not much danger of 存在 discovered. He glided along the 影をつくる／尾行するs like a creature of the night, and the 黒人／ボイコット priests were 完全に engrossed in their 儀式の mummery. 明らかに they had not even noticed the absence of Gwarunga.

現れるing into a cavern of 抱擁する 割合s, about whose 上向き curving 塀で囲むs gallery-like ledges marched in tiers, they began their worship もう一度 before an altar which was larger, and a god which was more disgusting, than any 遭遇（する）d thus far.

Conan crouched in the 黒人／ボイコット mouth of the tunnel, 星／主役にするing at the 塀で囲むs 反映するing the lurid glow of the たいまつs. He saw a carven 石／投石する stair winding up from tier to tier of the galleries; the roof was lost in 不明瞭.

HE started violently and the 詠唱するing broke off as the ひさまづくing 黒人／ボイコットs flung up their 長，率いるs. An 残忍な 発言する／表明する にわか景気d out high above them. They froze on their 膝s, their 直面するs turned 上向き with a 恐ろしい blue hue in the sudden glare of a weird light that burst blindingly up 近づく the lofty roof and then 燃やすd with a throbbing glow. That glare lighted a gallery and a cry went up from the high priest, echoed shudderingly by his acolytes. In the flash there had been 簡潔に 公表する／暴露するd to them a わずかな／ほっそりした white 人物／姿／数字 standing upright in a sheen of silk and a glint of jewel-crusted gold. Then the 炎 smoldered to a throbbing, pulsing luminosity in which nothing was 際立った, and that わずかな／ほっそりした 形態／調整 was but a shimmering blur of ivory.

"Yelaya!" 叫び声をあげるd Gorulga, his brown features ashen. "Why have you followed us? What is your 楽しみ?"

That weird unhuman 発言する／表明する rolled 負かす／撃墜する from the roof, reechoing under that arching 丸天井 that magnified and altered it beyond 承認.

"Woe to the unbelievers! Woe to the 誤った children of Keshia! Doom to them which 否定する their deity!"

A cry of horror went up from the priests. Gorulga looked like a shocked vulture in the glare of the たいまつs.

"I do not understand!" he stammered. "We are faithful. In the 議会 of the oracle you told us—"

"Do not 注意する what you heard in the 議会 of the oracle!" rolled that terrible 発言する／表明する, multiplied until it was as though a myriad 発言する／表明するs 雷鳴d and muttered the same 警告. "Beware of 誤った prophets and 誤った gods! A demon in my guise spoke to you in the palace, giving 誤った prophecy. Now harken and obey, for only I am the true goddess, and I give you one chance to save yourselves from doom!

"Take the Teeth of Gwahlur from the crypt where they were placed so long ago. Alkmeenon is no longer 宗教上の, because it has been desecrated by blasphemers. Give the Teeth of Gwahlur into the 手渡すs of Thutmekri, the Stygian, to place in the 聖域 of Dagon and Derketo. Only this can save Keshan from the doom the demons of the night have plotted. Take the Teeth of Gwahlur and go; return 即時に to Keshia; there give the jewels to Thutmekri, and 掴む the foreign devil Conan and flay him alive in the 広大な／多数の／重要な square."

There was no hesitation in obeying. Chattering with 恐れる the priests 緊急発進するd up and ran for the door that opened behind the bestial god. Gorulga led the flight. They jammed 簡潔に in the doorway, yelping as wildly waving たいまつs touched squirming 黒人／ボイコット 団体／死体s; they 急落（する），激減（する）d through, and the patter of their スピード違反 feet dwindled 負かす／撃墜する the tunnel.

Conan did not follow. He was 消費するd with a furious 願望（する） to learn the truth of this fantastic 事件／事情／状勢. Was that indeed Yelaya, as the 冷淡な sweat on the 支援するs of his 手渡すs told him, or was it that little hussy Muriela, turned traitress after all? If it was —

Before the last たいまつ had 消えるd 負かす／撃墜する the 黒人／ボイコット tunnel he was bounding vengefully up the 石／投石する stair. The blue glow was dying 負かす／撃墜する, but he could still make out that the ivory 人物／姿／数字 stood motionless on the gallery. His 血 ran 冷淡な as he approached it, but he did not hesitate. He （機の）カム on with his sword 解除するd, and towered like a 脅し of death over the inscrutable 形態／調整.

"Yelaya!" he snarled. "Dead as she's been for a thousand years! Ha!"

From the dark mouth of a tunnel behind him a dark form 肺d. But the sudden, deadly 急ぐ of unshod feet had reached the Cimmerian's quick ears. He whirled like a cat and dodged the blow 目的（とする）d murderously at his 支援する. As the gleaming steel in the dark 手渡す hissed past him, he struck 支援する with the fury of a roused python, and the long straight blade impaled his 加害者 and stood out a foot and a half between his shoulders.

"So!" Conan tore his sword 解放する／自由な as the 犠牲者 sagged to the 床に打ち倒す, gasping and gurgling. The man writhed 簡潔に and 強化するd. In the dying light Conan saw a 黒人／ボイコット 団体／死体 and ebon countenance, hideous in the blue glare. He had killed Gwarunga.

Conan turned from the 死体 to the goddess. Thongs about her 膝s and breast held her upright against the 石／投石する 中心存在, and her 厚い hair, fastened to the column, held her 長，率いる up. At a few yards' distance these 社債s were not 明白な in the uncertain light.

"He must have come to after I descended into the tunnel," muttered Conan. "He must have 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd I was 負かす／撃墜する there. So he pulled out the dagger"—Conan stooped and wrenched the 同一の 武器 from the 強化するing fingers, ちらりと見ることd at it and 取って代わるd it in his own girdle—"and shut the door. Then he took Yelaya to befool his brother idiots. That was he shouting a while ago. You couldn't 認める his 発言する／表明する, under this echoing roof. And that bursting blue 炎上—I thought it looked familiar. It's a trick of the Stygian priests. Thutmekri must have given some of it to Gwarunga."

The man could easily have reached this cavern ahead of his companions. Evidently familiar with the 計画（する） of the caverns by hearsay or by 地図／計画するs 手渡すd 負かす／撃墜する in the priestcraft, he had entered the 洞穴 after the others, carrying the goddess, followed a circuitous 大勝する through the tunnels and 議会s, and ensconced himself and his 重荷（を負わせる） on the balcony while Gorulga and the other acolytes were engaged in their endless rituals.

THE blue glare had faded, but now Conan was aware of another glow, emanating from the mouth of one of the 回廊（地帯）s that opened on the ledge. Somewhere 負かす／撃墜する that 回廊（地帯） there was another field of phosphorus, for he 認めるd the faint 安定した radiance. The 回廊（地帯） led in the direction the priests had taken, and he decided to follow it, rather than descend into the 不明瞭 of the 広大な／多数の／重要な cavern below. Doubtless it connected with another gallery in some other 議会, which might be the 目的地 of the priests. He hurried 負かす／撃墜する it, the 照明 growing stronger as he 前進するd, until he could make out the 床に打ち倒す and the 塀で囲むs of the tunnel. Ahead of him and below he could hear the priests 詠唱するing again.

突然の a doorway in the left-手渡す 塀で囲む was limned in the phosphorous glow, and to his ears （機の）カム the sound of soft, hysterical sobbing. He wheeled, and glared through the door.

He was looking again into a 議会 hewn out of solid 激しく揺する, not a natural cavern like the others. The ドームd roof shone with the phosphorous light, and the 塀で囲むs were almost covered with arabesques of beaten gold.

近づく the さらに先に 塀で囲む on a granite 王位, 星／主役にするing for ever toward the arched doorway, sat the monstrous and obscene Pteor, the god of the Pelishti, wrought in 厚かましさ／高級将校連, with his 誇張するd せいにするs 反映するing the grossness of his 教団. And in his （競技場の）トラック一周 sprawled a limp white 人物／姿／数字.

"井戸／弁護士席, I'll be damned!" muttered Conan. He ちらりと見ることd suspiciously about the 議会, seeing no other 入り口 or 証拠 of 占領／職業, and then 前進するd noiselessly and looked 負かす／撃墜する at the girl whose わずかな／ほっそりした shoulders shook with sobs of abject 悲惨, her 直面する sunk in her 武器. From 厚い 禁止（する）d of gold on the idol's 武器 わずかな／ほっそりした gold chains ran to smaller 禁止（する）d on her wrists. He laid a 手渡す on her naked shoulder and she started convulsively, shrieked, and 新たな展開d her 涙／ほころび-stained 直面する toward him.

"Conan!" She made a spasmodic 成果／努力 to go into the usual clinch, but the chains 妨げるd her. He 削減（する） through the soft gold as の近くに to her wrists as he could, grunting: "You'll have to wear these bracelets until I can find a chisel or a とじ込み／提出する. Let go of me, damn it! You actresses are too damned emotional. What happened to you, anyway?"

"When I went 支援する into the oracle 議会," she whimpered, "I saw the goddess lying on the 演壇 as I'd first seen her. I called out to you and started to run to the door—then something grabbed me from behind. It clapped a を引き渡す my mouth and carried me through a パネル盤 in the 塀で囲む, and 負かす／撃墜する some steps and along a dark hall. I didn't see what it was that had 持つ／拘留する of me until we passed through a big metal door and （機の）カム into a tunnel whose roof was alight, like this 議会.

"Oh, I nearly fainted when I saw! They are not humans! They are gray, hairy devils that walk like men and speak a gibberish no human could understand. They stood there and seemed to be waiting, and once I thought I heard somebody trying the door. Then one of the things pulled a metal lever in the 塀で囲む, and something 衝突，墜落d on the other 味方する of the door.

"Then they carried me on and on through winding tunnels and up 石／投石する stairways into this 議会, where they chained me on the 膝s of this abominable idol, and then they went away. Oh, Conan, what are they?"

"Servants of Bit-Yakin," he grunted. "I 設立する a manuscript that told me a number of things, and then つまずくd upon some frescoes that told me the 残り／休憩（する）. Bit-Yakin was a Pelishti who wandered into the valley with his servants after the people of Alkmeenon had 砂漠d it. He 設立する the 団体／死体 of Princess Yelaya, and discovered that the priests returned from time to time to make offerings to her, for even then she was worshipped as a goddess.

"He made an oracle of her, and he was the 発言する／表明する of the oracle, speaking from a niche he 削減（する） in the 塀で囲む behind the ivory 演壇. The priests never 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd, never saw him or his servants, for they always hid themselves when the men （機の）カム. Bit-Yakin lived and died here without ever 存在 discovered by the priests. Crom knows how long he dwelt here, but it must have been for centuries. The wise men of the Pelishti know how to 増加する the （期間が）わたる of their lives for hundreds of years. I've seen some of them myself. Why he lived here alone, and why he played the part of oracle no ordinary human can guess, but I believe the oracle part was to keep the city inviolate and sacred, so he could remain undisturbed. He ate the food the priests brought as an 申し込む／申し出ing to Yelaya, and his servants ate other things—I've always known there was a subterranean river flowing away from the lake where the people of the Puntish highlands throw their dead. That river runs under this palace. They have ladders hung over the water where they can hang and fish for the 死体s that come floating through. Bit-Yakin 記録，記録的な／記録するd everything on parchment and painted 塀で囲むs.

"But he died at last, and his servants mummified him によれば 指示／教授／教育s he gave them before his death, and stuck him in a 洞穴 in the cliffs. The 残り／休憩（する） is 平易な to guess. His servants, who were even more nearly immortal than he, kept on dwelling here, but the next time a high priest （機の）カム to 協議する the oracle, not having a master to 抑制する them, they tore him to pieces. So since then—until Gorulga—nobody （機の）カム to talk to the oracle.

"It's obvious they've been 新たにするing the 衣料品s and ornaments of the goddess, as they'd seen Bit-Yakin do. Doubtless there's a 調印（する）d 議会 somewhere, where the silks are kept from decay. They 着せる／賦与するd the goddess and brought her 支援する to the oracle room after Zargheba had stolen her. And, oh, by the way, they took off Zargheba's 長，率いる and hung it up in a thicket."

She shivered, yet at the same time breathed a sigh of 救済.

"He'll never whip me again."

"Not this 味方する of Hell," agreed Conan. "But come on, Gwarunga 廃虚d my chances with his stolen goddess. I'm going to follow the priests and take my chance of stealing the 略奪する from them after they get it. And you stay の近くに to me. I can't spend all my time looking for you."

"But the servants of Bit-Yakin!" she whispered fearfully.

"We'll have to take our chance," he grunted. "I don't know what's in their minds, but so far they 港／避難所't shown any disposition to come out and fight in the open. Come on."

TAKING her wrist he led her out of the 議会 and 負かす／撃墜する the 回廊（地帯）. As they 前進するd they heard the 詠唱するing of the priests, and mingling with the sound the low sullen 急ぐing of waters. The light grew stronger above them as they 現れるd on a high-pitched gallery of a 広大な／多数の／重要な cavern and looked 負かす／撃墜する on a scene weird and fantastic.

Above them gleamed the phosphorescent roof; a hundred feet below them stretched the smooth 床に打ち倒す of the cavern. On the far 味方する this 床に打ち倒す was 削減（する） by a 深い, 狭くする stream brimming its rocky channel. 急ぐing out of impenetrable gloom, it 渦巻くd across the cavern and was lost again in 不明瞭. The 明白な surface 反映するd the radiance above; the dark seething waters glinted as if flecked with living jewels, frosty blue, lurid red, shimmering green, and ever-changing iridescence.

Conan and his companion stood upon one of the gallery-like ledges that banded the curve of the lofty 塀で囲む, and from this ledge a natural 橋（渡しをする） of 石／投石する 急に上がるd in a breath-taking arch over the 広大な 湾 of the cavern to join a much smaller ledge on the opposite 味方する, across the river. Ten feet below it another, broader arch spanned the 洞穴. At either end a carved stair joined the extremities of these 飛行機で行くing arches.

Conan's gaze, に引き続いて the curve of the arch that swept away from the ledge on which they stood, caught a glint of light that was not the lurid phosphorus of the cavern. On that small ledge opposite them there was an 開始 in the 洞穴 塀で囲む through which 星／主役にするs were glinting.

But his 十分な attention was drawn to the scene beneath them. The priests had reached their 目的地. There in a 広範囲にわたる angle of the cavern 塀で囲む stood a 石／投石する altar, but there was no idol upon it. Whether there was one behind it, Conan could not ascertain, because some trick of the light, or the sweep of the 塀で囲む, left the space behind the altar in total 不明瞭.

The priests had stuck their たいまつs into 穴を開けるs in the 石／投石する 床に打ち倒す, forming a semicircle of 解雇する／砲火／射撃 in 前線 of the altar at a distance of several yards. Then the priests themselves formed a semicircle inside the 三日月 of たいまつs, and Gorulga, after 解除するing his 武器 aloft in invocation, bent to the altar and laid 手渡すs on it. It 解除するd and 攻撃するd backward on its 妨げる 辛勝する／優位, like the lid of a chest, 明らかにする／漏らすing a small crypt.

延長するing a long arm into the 休会, Gorulga brought up a small 厚かましさ／高級将校連 chest. Lowering the altar 支援する into place, he 始める，決める the chest on it, and threw 支援する the lid. To the eager 選挙立会人s on the high gallery it seemed as if the 活動／戦闘 had 解放（する）d a 炎 of living 解雇する／砲火／射撃 which throbbed and quivered about the opened chest. Conan's heart leaped and his 手渡す caught at his hilt. The Teeth of Gwahlur at last! The treasure that would make its possessor the richest man in the world! His breath （機の）カム 急速な／放蕩な between his clenched teeth.

Then he was suddenly aware that a new element had entered into the light of the たいまつs and of the phosphorescent roof, （判決などを）下すing both 無効の. 不明瞭 stole around the altar, except for that glowing 位置／汚点／見つけ出す of evil radiance cast by the Teeth of Gwahlur, and that grew and grew. The 黒人／ボイコットs froze into basaltic statues, their 影をつくる／尾行するs streaming grotesquely and gigantically out behind them.

The altar was laved in the glow now, and the astounded features of Gorulga stood out in sharp 救済. Then the mysterious space behind the altar swam into the 広げるing 照明. And slowly with the はうing light, 人物／姿／数字s became 明白な, like 形態／調整s growing out of the night and silence.

At first they seemed like gray 石／投石する statues, those motionless 形態／調整s, hairy, man-like, yet hideously human; but their 注目する，もくろむs were alive, 冷淡な 誘発するs of gray icy 解雇する／砲火／射撃. And as the weird glow lit their bestial countenances, Gorulga 叫び声をあげるd and fell backward, throwing up his long 武器 in a gesture of frenzied horror.

But a longer arm 発射 across the altar and a misshapen 手渡す locked on his throat. 叫び声をあげるing and fighting, the high priest was dragged 支援する across the altar; a 大打撃を与える-like 握りこぶし 粉砕するd 負かす／撃墜する, and Gorulga's cries were stilled. Limp and broken he sagged across the altar, his brains oozing from his 鎮圧するd skull. And then the servants of Bit-Yakin 殺到するd like a bursting flood from Hell on the 黒人／ボイコット priests who stood like horror-爆破d images.

Then there was 虐殺（する）, grim and appalling.

Conan saw 黒人／ボイコット 団体／死体s 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd like chaff in the 残忍な 手渡すs of the slayers, against whose horrible strength and agility the daggers and swords of the priests were 効果のない／無能な. He saw men 解除するd bodily and their 長，率いるs 割れ目d open against the 石／投石する altar. He saw a 炎上ing たいまつ, しっかり掴むd in a monstrous 手渡す, thrust inexorably 負かす／撃墜する the gullet of an agonized wretch who writhed in vain against the 武器 that pinioned him. He saw a man torn in two pieces, as one might 涙／ほころび a chicken, and the 血まみれの fragments 投げつけるd （疑いを）晴らす across the cavern. The 大虐殺 was as short and 破滅的な as the 急ぐ of a ハリケーン. In a burst of red abysmal ferocity it was over, except for one wretch who fled 叫び声をあげるing 支援する the way the priests had come, 追求するd by a 群れている of 血-dabbled 形態／調整s of horror which reached out their red-smeared 手渡すs for him. 逃亡者／はかないもの and pursuers 消えるd 負かす／撃墜する the 黒人／ボイコット tunnel, and the 叫び声をあげるs of the human （機の）カム 支援する dwindling and 混乱させるd by the distance.

MURIELA was on her 膝s clutching Conan's 脚s, her 直面する 圧力（をかける）d against his 膝 and her 注目する，もくろむs tightly shut. She was a 地震ing, quivering mold of abject terror. But Conan was galvanized. A quick ちらりと見ること across at the aperture where the 星／主役にするs shone, a ちらりと見ること 負かす／撃墜する at the chest that still 炎d open on the 血-smeared altar, and he saw and 掴むd the desperate 賭事.

"I'm going after that chest!" he grated. "Stay here!"

"Oh, Mitra, no!" In an agony of fright she fell to the 床に打ち倒す and caught at his sandals. "Don't! Don't! Don't leave me!"

"嘘（をつく） still and keep your mouth shut!" he snapped, 解放する／撤去させるing himself from her frantic clasp.

He 無視（する）d the tortuous stair. He dropped from ledge to ledge with 無謀な haste. There was no 調印する of the monsters as his feet 攻撃する，衝突する the 床に打ち倒す. A few of the たいまつs still ゆらめくd in their sockets, the phosphorescent glow throbbed and quivered, and the river flowed with an almost articulate muttering, scintillant with undreamed radiances. The glow that had 先触れ（する）d the 外見 of the servants had 消えるd with them. Only the light of the jewels in the 厚かましさ／高級将校連 chest shimmered and quivered.

He snatched the chest, 公式文書，認めるing its contents in one lustful ちらりと見ること — strange, curiously shapen 石／投石するs that 燃やすd with an icy, 非，不，無-terrestrial 解雇する／砲火／射撃. He slammed the lid, thrust the chest under his arm, and ran 支援する up the steps. He had no 願望（する） to 遭遇（する） the hellish servants of Bit-Yakin. His glimpse of them in 活動／戦闘 had dispelled any illusion 関心ing their fighting ability. Why they had waited so long before striking at the invaders he was unable to say. What human could guess the 動機s or thoughts of these monstrosities? That they were 所有するd of （手先の）技術 and 知能 equal to humanity had been 論証するd. And there on the cavern 床に打ち倒す lay crimson proof of their bestial ferocity.

The Corinthian girl still cowered on the gallery where he had left her. He caught her wrist and yanked her to her feet, grunting: "I guess it's time to go!"

Too bemused with terror to be fully aware of what was going on, the girl 苦しむd herself to be led across the dizzy （期間が）わたる. It was not until they were 均衡を保った over the 急ぐing water that she looked 負かす／撃墜する, 発言する／表明するd a startled yelp and would have fallen but for Conan's 大規模な arm about her. Growling an objurgation in her ear, he snatched her up under his 解放する／自由な arm and swept her, in a ぱたぱたする of limply waving 武器 and 脚s, across the arch and into the aperture that opened at the other end. Without bothering to 始める，決める her on her feet, he hurried through the short tunnel into which this aperture opened. An instant later they 現れるd upon a 狭くする ledge on the outer 味方する of the cliffs that circled the valley. いっそう少なく than a hundred feet below them the ジャングル waved in the starlight.

Looking 負かす／撃墜する, Conan vented a gusty sigh of 救済. He believed he could 交渉する the 降下／家系, even though 重荷（を負わせる）d with the jewels and the girl; although he 疑問d if even he, unburdened, could have 上がるd at that 位置／汚点／見つけ出す. He 始める，決める the chest, still smeared with Gorulga's 血 and clotted with his brains, on the ledge, and was about to 除去する his girdle ーするために tie the box to his 支援する, when he was galvanized by a sound behind him, a sound 悪意のある and unmistakable.

"Stay here!" he snapped at the bewildered Corinthian girl. "Don't move!" And 製図／抽選 his sword, he glided into the tunnel, glaring 支援する into the cavern.

Half-way across the upper （期間が）わたる he saw a gray deformed 形態／調整. One of the servants of Bit-Yakin was on his 追跡する. There was no 疑問 that the brute had seen them and was に引き続いて them. Conan did not hesitate. It might be easier to defend the mouth of the tunnel—but this fight must be finished quickly, before the other servants could return.

HE ran out on the （期間が）わたる, straight toward the oncoming monster. It was no ape, neither was it a man. It was some shambling horror spawned in the mysterious, nameless ジャングルs of the south, where strange life teemed in the reeking rot without the dominance of man, and 派手に宣伝するs 雷鳴d in 寺s that had never known the tread of a human foot. How the 古代の Pelishti had 伸び（る）d lordship over them—and with it eternal 追放する from humanity—was a foul riddle about which Conan did not care to 推測する, even if he had had 適切な時期.

Man and monster, they met at the highest arch of the （期間が）わたる, where, a hundred feet below, 急ぐd the furious 黒人／ボイコット water. As the monstrous 形態／調整 with its leprous gray 団体／死体 and the features of a carven, unhuman idol ぼんやり現れるd over him, Conan struck as a 負傷させるd tiger strikes, with every ounce of thew and fury behind the blow. That 一打／打撃 would have sheared a human 団体／死体 asunder; but the bones of the servant of Bit-Yakin were like tempered steel. Yet even tempered steel could not wholly have withstood that furious 一打／打撃. Ribs and shoulder-bone parted and 血 spouted from the 広大な／多数の／重要な gash.

There was no time for a second 一打／打撃. Before the Cimmerian could 解除する his blade again or spring （疑いを）晴らす, the sweep of a 巨大（な） arm knocked him from the （期間が）わたる as a 飛行機で行く is flicked from a 塀で囲む. As he 急落（する），激減（する）d downward the 急ぐ of the river was like a knell in his ears, but his 新たな展開ing 団体／死体 fell half-way across the lower arch. He wavered there precariously for one 血-冷気／寒がらせるing instant, then his clutching fingers 麻薬中毒の over the さらに先に 辛勝する／優位, and he 緊急発進するd to safety, his sword still in his other 手渡す.

As he sprang up, he saw the monster, spurting 血 hideously, 急ぐ toward the cliff-end of the 橋（渡しをする）, 明白に ーするつもりであるing to descend the stair that connected the arches and 新たにする the 反目，不和. At the very ledge the brute paused in 中央の-flight—and Conan saw it too—Muriela, with the jewel chest under her arm, stood 星／主役にするing wild-注目する，もくろむd in the mouth of the tunnel.

With a 勝利を得た bellow the monster scooped her up under one arm, snatched the jewel chest with the other 手渡す as she dropped it, and turning, 板材d 支援する across the 橋（渡しをする）. Conan 悪口を言う／悪態d with passion and ran for the other 味方する also. He 疑問d if he could climb the stair to the higher arch in time to catch the brute before it could 急落（する），激減（する） into the 迷宮／迷路s of tunnels on the other 味方する.

But the monster was slowing, like clockwork running 負かす／撃墜する. 血 噴出するd from that terrible gash in his breast, and he lurched drunkenly from 味方する to 味方する. Suddenly he つまずくd, reeled and 倒れるd sidewise—pitched headlong from the arch and hurtled downward. Girl and jewel chest fell from his nerveless 手渡すs and Muriela's 叫び声をあげる rang terribly above the snarl of the water below.

Conan was almost under the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す from which the creature had fallen. The monster struck the lower arch glancingly and 発射 off, but the writhing 人物／姿／数字 of the girl struck and clung, and the chest 攻撃する，衝突する the 辛勝する／優位 of the （期間が）わたる 近づく her. One 落ちるing 反対する struck on one 味方する of Conan and one on the other. Either was within arm's length; for the fraction of a 分裂（する） second the chest teetered on the 辛勝する／優位 of the 橋（渡しをする）, and Muriela clung by one arm, her 直面する turned 猛烈に toward Conan, her 注目する，もくろむs dilated with the 恐れる of death and her lips parted in a haunting cry of despair.

CONAN did not hesitate, nor did he even ちらりと見ること toward the chest that held the wealth of an 時代. With a quickness that would have shamed the spring of a hungry jaguar, he 急襲するd, しっかり掴むd the girl's arm just as her fingers slipped from the smooth 石／投石する, and snatched her up on the （期間が）わたる with one 爆発性の heave. The chest 倒れるd on over and struck the water ninety feet below, where the 団体／死体 of the servant of Bit-Yakin had already 消えるd. A splash, a jetting flash of 泡，激怒すること 示すd where the Teeth of Gwahlur disappeared for ever from the sight of man.

Conan scarcely wasted a downward ちらりと見ること. He darted across the （期間が）わたる and ran up the cliff stair like a cat, carrying the limp girl as if she had been an 幼児. A hideous ululation 原因（となる）d him to ちらりと見ること over his shoulder as he reached the higher arch, to see the other servants streaming 支援する into the cavern below, 血 dripping from their 明らかにするd fangs. They raced up the stair that 負傷させる up from tier to tier, roaring vengefully; but he slung the girl 無作法に over his shoulder, dashed through the tunnel and went 負かす／撃墜する the cliffs like an ape himself, dropping and springing from 持つ／拘留する to 持つ／拘留する with breakneck recklessness. When the 猛烈な／残忍な countenances looked over the ledge of the aperture, it was to see the Cimmerian and the girl disappearing into the forest that surrounded the cliffs.

"井戸／弁護士席," said Conan, setting the girl on her feet within the 避難所ing 審査する of 支店s, "we can take our time now. I don't think those brutes will follow us outside the valley. Anyway, I've got a horse tied at a water-穴を開ける の近くに by, if the lions 港／避難所't eaten him. Crom's devils! What are you crying about now?"

She covered her 涙／ほころび-stained 直面する with her 手渡すs, and her わずかな／ほっそりした shoulders shook with sobs.

"I lost the jewels for you," she wailed miserably. "It was my fault. If I'd obeyed you and stayed out on the ledge, that brute would never have seen me. You should have caught the gems and let me 溺死する!"

"Yes, I suppose I should," he agreed. "But forget it. Never worry about what's past. And stop crying, will you? That's better. Come on."

"You mean you're going to keep me? Take me with you?" she asked hopefully.

"What else do you suppose I'd do with you?" He ran an 認可するing ちらりと見ること over her 人物／姿／数字 and grinned at the torn skirt which 明らかにする／漏らすd a generous expanse of tempting ivory-色合いd curves. "I can use an actress like you. There's no use going 支援する to Keshia. There's nothing in Keshan now that I want. We'll go to Punt. The people of Punt worship an ivory woman, and they wash gold out of the rivers in wicker baskets. I'll tell them that Keshan is intriguing with Thutmekri to enslave them—which is true—and that the gods have sent me to 保護する them—for about a houseful of gold. If I can manage to 密輸する you into their 寺 to 交流 places with their ivory goddess, we'll 肌 them out of their jaw teeth before we get through with them!"

THE END

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