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肩書を与える: The Devil in アイロンをかける
Author: Robert E. Howard
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The Devil in アイロンをかける

by

Robert E. Howard

First published in Weird Tales, August 1934

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

Weird Tales, August 1934, with "The Devil in アイロンをかける"

A tale of Conan the barbarian—and an amazing island city of green 石／投石する.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1

THE fisherman 緩和するd his knife in its scabbard. The gesture was 直感的に, for what he 恐れるd was nothing a knife could 殺す, not even the saw-辛勝する／優位d 三日月 blade of the Yuetshi that could disembowel a man with an 上向き 一打／打撃. Neither man nor beast 脅すd him in the 孤独 which brooded over the castellated 小島 of Xapur.

He had climbed the cliffs, passed through the ジャングル that 国境d them, and now stood surrounded by 証拠s of a 消えるd 明言する／公表する. Broken columns 微光d の中で the trees, the straggling lines of 崩壊するing 塀で囲むs meandered off into the 影をつくる／尾行するs, and under his feet were 幅の広い 覆うs, 割れ目d and 屈服するd by roots growing beneath.

The fisherman was typical of his race, that strange people whose origin is lost in the gray 夜明け of the past, and who have dwelt in their rude fishing huts along the southern shore of the Sea of Vilayet since time immemorial. He was 概して built, with long, apish 武器 and a mighty chest, but with lean loins and thin, bandy 脚s. His 直面する was 幅の広い, his forehead low and 退却／保養地ing, his hair 厚い and 絡まるd. A belt for a knife and a rag for a loin cloth were all he wore in the way of 着せる／賦与するing.

That he was where he was 証明するd that he was いっそう少なく dully incurious than most of his people. Men seldom visited Xapur. It was uninhabited, all but forgotten, 単に one の中で the myriad 小島s which dotted the 広大な／多数の／重要な inland sea. Men called it Xapur, the 防備を堅める／強化するd, because of its 廃虚s, 残余s of some 先史の kingdom, lost and forgotten before the 征服する／打ち勝つing Hyborians had ridden southward. 非，不，無 knew who 後部d those 石／投石するs, though 薄暗い legends ぐずぐず残るd の中で the Yuetshi which half intelligibly 示唆するd a 関係 of immeasurable antiquity between the fishermen and the unknown island kingdom.

But it had been a thousand years since any Yuetshi had understood the 輸入する of these tales; they repeated them now as a meaningless 決まり文句／製法, a gibberish でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れるd to their lips by custom. No Yuetshi had come to Xapur for a century. The 隣接する coast of the 本土／大陸 was uninhabited, a reedy 沼 given over to the grim beasts that haunted it. The fisherman's village lay some distance to the south, on the 本土／大陸. A 嵐／襲撃する had blown his frail fishing （手先の）技術 far from his accustomed haunts and 難破させるd it in a night of ゆらめくing 雷 and roaring waters on the 非常に高い cliffs of the 小島. Now, in the 夜明け, the sky shone blue and （疑いを）晴らす; the rising sun made jewels of the dripping leaves. He had climbed the cliffs to which he had clung through the night because, in the 中央 of the 嵐／襲撃する, he had seen an appalling lance of 雷 fork out of the 黒人／ボイコット heavens, and the concussion of its 一打／打撃, which had shaken the whole island, had been …を伴ってd by a cataclysmic 衝突，墜落 that he 疑問d could have resulted from a riven tree.

A dull curiosity had 原因（となる）d him to 調査／捜査する; and now he had 設立する what he sought, and an animal-like uneasiness 所有するd him, a sense of lurking 危険，危なくする.

の中で the trees 後部d a broken ドーム-like structure, built of gigantic 封鎖するs of the peculiar ironlike green 石／投石する 設立する only on the islands of Vilayet. It seemed incredible that human 手渡すs could have 形態／調整d and placed them, and certainly it was beyond human 力／強力にする to have overthrown the structure they formed. But the thunderbolt had 後援d the トン-激しい 封鎖するs like so much glass, 減ずるd others to green dust, and ripped away the whole arch of the ドーム.

The fisherman climbed over the 破片 and peered in, and what he saw brought a grunt from him. Within the 廃虚d ドーム, surrounded by 石／投石する dust and bits of broken masonry, lay a man on a golden 封鎖する. He was 覆う？ in a sort of skirt and a shagreen girdle. His 黒人／ボイコット hair, which fell in a square mane to his 大規模な shoulders, was 限定するd about his 寺s by a 狭くする gold 禁止（する）d. On his 明らかにする, muscular breast lay a curious dagger with a jeweled 鞍馬, a shagreen- bound hilt, and a 幅の広い, 三日月 blade. It was much like the knife the fisherman wore at his hip, but it 欠如（する）d the serrated 辛勝する／優位 and was made with infinitely greater 技術.

The fisherman lusted for the 武器. The man, of course, was dead; had been dead for many centuries. This ドーム was his tomb. The fisherman did not wonder by what art the 古代のs had 保存するd the 団体／死体 in such a vivid likeness of life, which kept the muscular 四肢s 十分な and unshrunken, the dark flesh 決定的な. The dull brain of the Yuetshi had room only for his 願望（する） for the knife with its delicate, waving lines along the dully gleaming blade.

緊急発進するing 負かす／撃墜する into the ドーム, he 解除するd the 武器 from the man's breast. As he did so, a strange and terrible thing （機の）カム to pass. The muscular, dark 手渡すs knotted convulsively, the lids ゆらめくd open, 明らかにする／漏らすing 広大な／多数の／重要な, dark, 磁石の 注目する，もくろむs, whose 星／主役にする struck the startled fisherman like a physical blow. He recoiled, dropping the jeweled dagger in his perturbation. The man on the 演壇 heaved up to a sitting position, and the fisherman gaped at the 十分な extent of his size, thus 明らかにする／漏らすd. His 狭くするd 注目する，もくろむs held the Yuetshi, and in those slitted orbs he read neither friendliness nor 感謝; he saw only a 解雇する／砲火／射撃 as 外国人 and 敵意を持った as that which 燃やすs in the 注目する，もくろむs of a tiger.

Suddenly the man rose and towered above him, menace in his every 面. There was no room in the fisherman's dull brain for 恐れる, at least for such 恐れる as might 支配する a man who has just seen the 根底となる 法律s of nature 反抗するd. As the 広大な／多数の／重要な 手渡すs fell to his shoulders, he drew his saw-辛勝する／優位d knife and struck 上向き with the same 動議. The blade 後援d against the stranger's corded belly as against a steel column, and then the fisherman's 厚い neck broke like a rotten twig in the 巨大（な） 手渡すs.

2

JEHUNGIR AGHA, lord of Khawarizm and keeper of the 沿岸の 国境, scanned once more the ornate parchment scroll with its peacock 調印（する） and laughed すぐに and sardonically.

"井戸／弁護士席?" bluntly 需要・要求するd his counsellor Ghaznavi.

Jehungir shrugged his shoulders. He was a handsome man, with the merciless pride of birth and 業績／成就.

"The king grows short of patience," he said. "In his own 手渡す he complains 激しく of what he calls my 失敗 to guard the frontier. By Tarim, if I cannot 取引，協定 a blow to these robbers of the steppes, Khawarizm may own a new lord."

Ghaznavi tugged his gray-発射 耐えるd in meditation. Yezdigerd, king of Turan, was the mightiest 君主 in the world. In his palace in the 広大な／多数の／重要な port city of Aghrapur was heaped the plunder of empires. His (n)艦隊／(a)素早いs of purple-sailed war galleys had made Vilayet an Hyrkanian lake. The dark-skinned people of Zamora paid him 尊敬の印, as did the eastern 州s of Koth. The Shemites 屈服するd to his 支配する as far west as Shushan. His armies 荒廃させるd the 国境s of Stygia in the south and the 雪の降る，雪の多い lands of the Hyperboreans in the north. His riders bore たいまつ and sword 西方の into Brythunia and Ophir and Corinthia, even to the 国境s of Nemedia. His gilt-helmeted swordsmen had trampled hosts under their horses' hoofs, and 塀で囲むd cities went up in 炎上s at his 命令（する）. In the glutted slave markets of Aghrapur, Sultanapur, Khawarizm, Shahpur, and Khorusun, women were sold for three small silver coins—blonde Brythunians, tawny Stygians, dark-haired Zamorians, ebon Kushites, olive- skinned Shemites.

Yet, while his swift horsemen overthrew armies far from his frontiers, at his very 国境s an audacious 敵 plucked his 耐えるd with a red-dripping and smoke-stained 手渡す.

On the 幅の広い steppes between the Sea of Vilayet and the 国境s of the easternmost Hyborian kingdoms, a new race had sprung up in the past half- century, formed 初めは of 逃げるing 犯罪のs, broken men, escaped slaves, and 砂漠ing 兵士s. They were men of many 罪，犯罪s and countries, some born on the steppes, some 逃げるing from the kingdoms in the West. They were called kozak, which means wastrel.

Dwelling on the wild, open steppes, owning no 法律 but their own peculiar code, they had become a people 有能な even of 反抗するing the Grand 君主. Ceaselessly they （警察の）手入れ，急襲d the Turanian frontier, retiring in the steppes when 敗北・負かすd; with the 著作権侵害者s of Vilayet, men of much the same 産む／飼育する, they harried the coast, preying off the merchant ships which plied between the Hyrkanian ports.

"How am I to 鎮圧する these wolves?" 需要・要求するd Jehungir. "If I follow them into the steppes, I run the 危険 either of 存在 削減（する） off and destroyed, or of having them elude me 完全に and 燃やす the city in my absence. Of late they have been more daring than ever."

"That is because of the new 長，指導者 who has risen の中で them," answered Ghaznavi. "You know whom I mean."

"Aye!" replied Jehungir feelingly. "It is that devil Conan; he is even wilder than the kozaks, yet he is crafty as a mountain lion."

"It is more through wild animal instinct than through 知能," answered Ghaznavi. "The other kozaks are at least 子孫s of civilized men. He is a barbarian. But to 配置する／処分する／したい気持ちにさせる of him would be to 取引，協定 them a 手足を不自由にする／（物事を）損なうing blow."

"But how?" 需要・要求するd Jehungir. "He has 繰り返して 削減（する） his way out of 位置／汚点／見つけ出すs that seemed 確かな death for him. And, instinct or cunning, he has 避けるd or escaped every 罠（にかける） 始める，決める for him."

"For every beast and for every man there is a 罠（にかける） he will not escape," quoth Ghaznavi. "When we have 交渉，会談d with the kozaks for the 身代金 of 捕虜s, I have 観察するd this man Conan. He has a keen relish for women and strong drink. Have your 捕虜 Octavia fetched here."

Jehungir clapped his 手渡すs, and an impressive Kushite eunuch, an image of 向こうずねing ebony in silken pantaloons, 屈服するd before him and went to do his bidding. Presently he returned, 主要な by the wrist a tall, handsome girl, whose yellow hair, （疑いを）晴らす 注目する，もくろむs, and fair 肌 identified her as a pure-血d member of her race. Her scanty silk tunic, girded at the waist, 陳列する，発揮するd the marvelous contours of her magnificent 人物／姿／数字. Her 罰金 注目する，もくろむs flashed with 憤慨 and her red lips were sulky, but submission had been taught her during her 捕らわれた. She stood with hanging 長，率いる before her master until he 動議d her to a seat on the divan beside him. Then he looked inquiringly at Ghaznavi.

"We must 誘惑する Conan away from the kozaks," said the counsellor 突然の. "Their war （軍の）野営地，陣営 is at 現在の pitched somewhere on the lower reaches of the Zaporoska River—which, as you 井戸／弁護士席 know, is a wilderness of reeds, a swampy ジャングル in which our last 探検隊／遠征隊 was 削減（する） to pieces by those masterless devils."

"I am not likely to forget that," said Jehungir wryly.

"There is an uninhabited island 近づく the 本土／大陸," said Ghaznavi, "known as Xapur, the 防備を堅める／強化するd, because of some 古代の 廃虚s upon it. There is a peculiarity about it which makes it perfect for our 目的. It has no shoreline but rises sheer out of the sea in cliffs a hundred and fifty feet tall. Not even an ape could 交渉する them. The only place where a man can go up or 負かす／撃墜する is a 狭くする path on the western 味方する that has the 外見 of a worn stair, carved into the solid 激しく揺する of the cliffs.

"If we could 罠（にかける） Conan on that island, alone, we could 追跡（する） him 負かす／撃墜する at our leisure, with 屈服するs, as men 追跡（する） a lion."

"同様に wish for the moon," said Jehungir impatiently. "Shall we send him a messenger, bidding him climb the cliffs and を待つ our coming?"

"In 影響, yes!" Seeing Jehungir's look of amazement, Ghaznavi continued: "We will ask for a 交渉，会談 with the kozaks in regard to 囚人s, at the 辛勝する／優位 of the steppes by Fort Ghori. As usual, we will go with a 軍隊 and 野営する outside the 城. They will come, with an equal 軍隊, and the 交渉，会談 will go 今後 with the usual 不信 and 疑惑. But this time we will take with us, as if by casual chance, your beautiful 捕虜." Octavia changed color and listened with 強めるd 利益／興味 as the counsellor nodded toward her. "She will use all her wiles to attract Conan's attention. That should not be difficult. To that wild reaver, she should appear a dazzling 見通し of loveliness. Her vitality and 相当な 人物／姿／数字 should 控訴，上告 to him more vividly than would one of the doll-like beauties of your seraglio."

OCTAVIA sprang up, her white 握りこぶしs clenched, her 注目する，もくろむs 炎ing and her 人物／姿／数字 quivering with 乱暴／暴力を加えるd 怒り／怒る.

"You would 軍隊 me to play the trollop with this barbarian?" she exclaimed. "I will not! I am no market-封鎖する slut to smirk and ogle at a steppes robber. I am the daughter of a Nemedian lord—"

"You were of the Nemedian nobility before my riders carried you off," returned Jehungir cynically. "Now you are 単に a slave who will do as she is 企て，努力，提案."

"I will not!" she 激怒（する）d.

"On the contrary," 再結合させるd Jehungir with 熟考する／考慮するd cruelty, "you will. I like Ghaznavi's 計画（する）. Continue, prince の中で counsellors."

"Conan will probably wish to buy her. You will 辞退する to sell her, of course, or to 交流 her for Hyrkanian 囚人s. He may then try to steal her, or take her by 軍隊—though I do not think even he would break the 交渉，会談 一時休戦. Anyway, we must be 用意が出来ている for whatever he might 試みる／企てる.

"Then, すぐに after the 交渉，会談, before he has time to forget all about her, we will send a messenger to him, under a 旗 of 一時休戦, 告発する／非難するing him of stealing the girl and 需要・要求するing her return. He may kill the messenger, but at least he will think that she has escaped.

"Then we will send a 秘かに調査する—a Yuetshi fisherman will do—to the kozak （軍の）野営地，陣営, who will tell Conan that Octavia is hiding on Xapur. If I know my man, he will go straight to that place."

"But we do not know that he will go alone," Jehungir argued.

"Does a man take a 禁止（する）d of 軍人s with him, when going to a rendezvous with a woman he 願望（する）s?" retorted Ghaznavi. "The chances are all that he will go alone. But we will take care of the other 代案／選択肢. We will not を待つ him on the island, where we might be 罠にかける ourselves, but の中で the reeds of a marshy point, which juts out to within a thousand yards of Xapur. If he brings a large 軍隊, we'll （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 a 退却／保養地 and think up another 陰謀（を企てる）. If he comes alone or with a small party, we will have him. Depend upon it, he will come, remembering your charming slave's smiles and meaning ちらりと見ることs."

"I will never descend to such shame!" Octavia was wild with fury and humiliation. "I will die first!"

"You will not die, my 反抗的な beauty," said Jehungir, "but you will be 支配するd to a very painful and humiliating experience."

He clapped his 手渡すs, and Octavia paled. This time it was not the Kushite who entered, but a Shemite, a ひどく muscled man of medium 高さ with a short, curled, blue-黒人／ボイコット 耐えるd.

"Here is work for you, Gilzan," said Jehungir. "Take this fool, and play with her awhile. Yet be careful not to spoil her beauty."

With an inarticulate grunt the Shemite 掴むd Octavia's wrist, and at the しっかり掴む of his アイロンをかける fingers, all the 反抗 went out of her. With a piteous cry she tore away and threw herself on her 膝s before her implacable master, sobbing incoherently for mercy.

Jehungir 解任するd the disappointed torturer with a gesture, and said to Ghaznavi: "If your 計画（する） 後継するs, I will fill your （競技場の）トラック一周 with gold."

3

IN the 不明瞭 before 夜明け, an unaccustomed sound 乱すd the 孤独 that slumbered over the reedy 沼s and the misty waters of the coast. It was not a drowsy waterfowl nor a waking beast. It was a human who struggled through the 厚い reeds, which were taller than a man's 長，率いる.

It was a woman, had there been anyone to see, tall, and yellow-haired, her splendid 四肢s molded by her draggled tunic. Octavia had escaped in good earnest, every 乱暴／暴力を加えるd 繊維 of her still tingling from her experience in a 捕らわれた that had become unendurable.

Jehungir's mastery of her had been bad enough; but with 審議する／熟考する fiendishness Jehungir had given her to a nobleman whose 指名する was a byword for degeneracy even in Khawarizm.

Octavia's resilient flesh はうd and quivered at her memories. Desperation had 神経d her climb from Jelal 旅宿泊所's 城 on a rope made of （土地などの）細長い一片s from torn tapestries, and chance had led her to a picketed horse. She had ridden all night, and 夜明け 設立する her with a 創立者d steed on the swampy shores of the sea. Quivering with the abhorrence of 存在 dragged 支援する to the 反乱ing 運命 planned for her by Jelal 旅宿泊所, she 急落（する），激減（する）d into the morass, 捜し出すing a hiding place from the 追跡 she 推定する／予想するd. When the reeds grew thinner around her and the water rose about her thighs, she saw the 薄暗い ぼんやり現れる of an island ahead of her. A 幅の広い （期間が）わたる of water lay between, but she did not hesitate. She waded out until the low waves were lapping about her waist; then she struck out 堅固に, swimming with a vigor that 約束d unusual endurance.

As she 近づくd the island, she saw that it rose sheer from the water in 城-like cliffs. She reached them at last but 設立する neither ledge to stand on below the water, nor to 粘着する to above. She swam on, に引き続いて the curve of the cliffs, the 緊張する of her long flight beginning to 負わせる her 四肢s. Her 手渡すs ぱたぱたするd along the sheer 石／投石する, and suddenly they 設立する a 不景気. With a sobbing gasp of 救済, she pulled herself out of the water and clung there, a dripping white goddess in the 薄暗い starlight.

She had come upon what seemed to be steps carved in the cliff. Up them she went, flattening herself against the 石／投石する as she caught a faint clack of muffled oars. She 緊張するd her 注目する，もくろむs and thought she made out a vague 本体，大部分／ばら積みの moving toward the reedy point she had just quitted. But it was too far away for her to be sure in the 不明瞭, and presently the faint sound 中止するd and she continued her climb. If it were her pursuers, she knew of no better course than to hide on the island. She knew that most of the islands off that marshy coast were uninhabited. This might be a 著作権侵害者's lair, but even 著作権侵害者s would be より望ましい to the beast she had escaped.

A 浮浪者 thought crossed her mind as she climbed, in which she mentally compared her former master with the kozak 長，指導者 with whom—by compulsion—she had shamefully flirted in the pavillions of the （軍の）野営地，陣営 by Fort Ghori, where the Hyrkanian lords had 交渉，会談d with the 軍人s of the steppes. His 燃やすing gaze had 脅すd and humiliated her, but his cleanly elemental fierceness 始める，決める him above Jelal 旅宿泊所, a monster such as only an 極端に opulent civilization can produce.

She 緊急発進するd up over the cliff 辛勝する／優位 and looked timidly at the dense 影をつくる／尾行するs which 直面するd her. The trees grew の近くに to the cliffs, 現在のing a solid 集まり of blackness. Something whirred above her 長，率いる and she cowered, even though realizing it was only a bat.

She did not like the looks of those ebony 影をつくる／尾行するs, but she 始める，決める her teeth and went toward them, trying not to think of snakes. Her 明らかにする feet made no sound in the spongy loam under the trees.

Once の中で them, the 不明瞭 の近くにd frighteningly about her. She had not taken a dozen steps when she was no longer able to look 支援する and see the cliffs and the sea beyond. A few steps more and she became hopelessly 混乱させるd and lost her sense of direction. Through the 絡まるd 支店s not even a 星／主役にする peered. She groped and floundered on, blindly, and then （機の）カム to a sudden 停止（させる）.

Somewhere ahead there began the rhythmical にわか景気ing of a 派手に宣伝する. It was not such a sound as she would have 推定する／予想するd to hear in that time and place. Then she forgot it as she was aware of a presence 近づく her. She could not see, but she knew that something was standing beside her in the 不明瞭.

With a stifled cry she shrank 支援する, and as she did so, something that even in her panic she 認めるd as a human arm curved about her waist. She 叫び声をあげるd and threw all her supple young strength into a wild 肺 for freedom, but her captor caught her up like a child, 鎮圧するing her frantic 抵抗 with 緩和する. The silence with which her frenzied 嘆願s and 抗議するs were received 追加するd to her terror as she felt herself 存在 carried through the 不明瞭 toward the distant 派手に宣伝する, which still pulsed and muttered.

4

AS the first tinge of 夜明け reddened the sea, a small boat with a 独房監禁 occupant approached the cliffs. The man in the boat was a picturesque 人物／姿／数字. A crimson scarf was knotted about his 長，率いる; his wide silk breeches, of 炎上ing hue, were upheld by a 幅の広い sash, which likewise supported a scimitar in a shagreen scabbard. His gilt-worked leather boots 示唆するd the horseman rather than the 船員, but he 扱うd his boat with 技術. Through his 広範囲にわたって open white silk shirt showed his 幅の広い, muscular breast, 燃やすd brown by the sun.

The muscles of his 激しい, bronzed 武器 rippled as he pulled the oars with an almost feline 緩和する of 動議. A 猛烈な／残忍な vitality that was evident in each feature and 動議 始める，決める him apart from the ありふれた men; yet his 表現 was neither savage nor somber, though the smoldering blue 注目する，もくろむs hinted at ferocity easily wakened. This was Conan, who had wandered into the 武装した （軍の）野営地，陣営s of the kozaks with no other 所有／入手 than his wits and his sword, and who had carved his way to leadership の中で them.

He paddled to the carven stair as one familiar with his 近郊 and moored the boat to a 発射／推定 of the 激しく揺する. Then he went up the worn steps without hesitation. He was 熱心に 警報, not because he consciously 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd hidden danger, but because alertness was a part of him, whetted by the wild 存在 he followed.

What Ghaznavi had considered animal intuition or some sixth sense was 単に the かみそり-辛勝する／優位d faculties and savage wit of the barbarian. Conan had no instinct to tell him that men were watching him from a covert の中で the reeds of the 本土／大陸.

As he climbed the cliff, one of these men breathed 深く，強烈に and stealthily 解除するd a 屈服する. Jehungir caught his wrist and hisssed an 誓い into his ear. "Fool! Will you betray us? Don't you realize he is out of 範囲? Let him get upon the island. He will go looking for the girl. We will stay here awhile. He may have sensed our presence or guessed our 陰謀（を企てる）. He may have 軍人s hidden somewhere. We will wait. In an hour, if nothing 怪しげな occurs, we'll 列／漕ぐ／騒動 up to the foot of the stair and を待つ him there. If he does not return in a reasonable time, some of us will go upon the island and 追跡（する） him 負かす／撃墜する. But I do not wish to do that if it can be helped. Some of us are sure to die if we have to go into the bush after him. I had rather catch him with arrows from a 安全な distance."

* * *

一方／合間, the unsuspecting kozak had 急落（する），激減（する）d into a forest. He went silently in his soft leather boots, his gaze 精査するing every 影をつくる／尾行する in 切望 to catch sight of the splendid, tawny-haired beauty of whom he had dreamed ever since he had seen her in the pavilion of Jehungir Agha by Fort Ghori. He would have 願望（する）d her even if she had 陳列する，発揮するd repugnance toward him. But her cryptic smiles and ちらりと見ることs had 解雇する／砲火／射撃d his 血, and with all the lawless 暴力／激しさ which was his 遺産 he 願望（する）d that white-skinned, golden-haired woman of civilization.

He had been on Xapur before. いっそう少なく than a month ago, he had held a secret conclave here with a 著作権侵害者 乗組員. He knew that he was approaching a point where he could see the mysterious 廃虚s which gave the island its 指名する, and he wondered if he could find the girl hiding の中で them. Even with the thought, he stopped as though struck dead.

Ahead of him, の中で the trees, rose something that his 推論する／理由 told him was not possible. It was a 広大な／多数の／重要な dark green 塀で囲む, with towers 後部ing beyond the battlements.

Conan stood 麻ひさせるd in the disruption of the faculties which demoralizes anyone who is 直面するd by an impossible negation of sanity. He 疑問d neither his sight nor his 推論する／理由, but something was monstrously out of 共同の. いっそう少なく than a month ago, only broken 廃虚s had showed の中で the trees. What human 手渡すs could 後部 such a mammoth pile as now met his 注目する，もくろむs, in the few weeks which had elapsed? Besides, the buccaneers who roamed Vilyet ceaselessly would have learned of any work going on, on such stupendous 規模 and would have 知らせるd the kozaks.

There was no explaining this thing, but it was so. He was on Xapur, and that fantastic heap of 非常に高い masonry was on Xapur, and all was madness and paradox; yet it was all true.

He wheeled to race 支援する through the ジャングル, 負かす／撃墜する the carven stair and across the blue waters to the distant （軍の）野営地，陣営 at the mouth of the Zaporoska. In that moment of unreasoning panic, even the thought of 停止（させる）ing so 近づく the inland sea was repugnant. He would leave it behind him, would やめる the 武装した （軍の）野営地，陣営s and the steppes and put a thousand miles between him and the blue, mysterious East where the most basic 法律s of nature could be 始める，決める at naught, by what diabolism he could not guess.

For an instant, the 未来 運命／宿命 of kingdoms that hinged on this gay-覆う？ barbarian hung in the balance. It was a small thing that tipped the 規模s—単に a shred of silk hanging on a bush that caught his uneasy ちらりと見ること. He leaned to it, his nostrils 拡大するing, his 神経s quivering to a subtle 興奮剤. On that bit of torn cloth, so faint that it was いっそう少なく with his physical faculties than by some obscure 直感的に sense that he 認めるd it, ぐずぐず残るd the tantalizing perfume that he connected with the 甘い, 会社／堅い flesh of the woman he had seen in Jehungir's pavilion. The fisherman had not lied, then; she was here! Then in the 国／地域 he saw a 選び出す／独身 跡をつける in the loam, the 跡をつける of a 明らかにする foot, long and slender, but a man's, not a woman's, and sunk deeper than was natural. The 結論 was obvious; the man who made that 跡をつける was carrying a 重荷（を負わせる）, and what should it be but the girl the kozak was 捜し出すing?

He stood silently 直面するing the dark towers that ぼんやり現れるd through the trees, his 注目する，もくろむs slits of blue balefire. 願望（する） for the yellow-haired woman vied with a sullen, primordial 激怒（する） at whoever had taken her. His human passion fought 負かす／撃墜する his ultra-human 恐れるs, and dropping into the stalking crouch of a 追跡（する）ing panther, he glided toward the 塀で囲むs, taking advantage of the dense foliage to escape （犯罪，病気などの）発見 from the battlements.

As he approached, he saw that the 塀で囲むs were composed of the same green 石／投石する that had formed the 廃虚s, and he was haunted by a vague sense of familiarity. It was as if he looked upon something he had never before seen but had dreamed of or pictured mentally. At last he 認めるd the sensation. The 塀で囲むs and towers followed the 計画（する） of the 廃虚s. It was as if the 崩壊するing lines had grown 支援する into the structures they 初めは were.

NO sound 乱すd the morning 静かな as Conan stole to the foot of the 塀で囲む, which rose sheer from the luxuriant growth. On the southern reaches of the inland sea, the vegetation was almost 熱帯の. He saw no one on the battlements, heard no sounds within. He saw a 大規模な gate a short distance to his left and had no 推論する／理由 to suppose that it was not locked and guarded. But he believed that the woman he sought was somewhere beyond that 塀で囲む, and the course he took was characteristically 無謀な.

Above him, vine-festooned 支店s reached out toward the battlements. He went up a 広大な／多数の／重要な tree like a cat, and reaching a point above the parapet, he gripped a 厚い 四肢 with both 手渡すs, swung 支援する and 前へ／外へ at arm's length until he had 伸び（る）d 勢い, and then let go and catapulted through the 空気／公表する, 上陸 catlike on the battlements. Crouching there, he 星／主役にするd 負かす／撃墜する into the streets of a city.

The circumference of the 塀で囲む was not 広大な／多数の／重要な, but the number of green 石／投石する buildings it 含む／封じ込めるd was surprising. They were three or four stories in 高さ, おもに flat-roofed, 反映するing a 罰金 architectural style. The streets converged like the spokes of a wheel into an octagon-形態／調整d 法廷，裁判所 in the centre of the town, which gave upon a lofty edifice, which, with its ドームs and towers, 支配するd the whole city. He saw no one moving in the streets or looking out of the windows, though the sun was already coming up. The silence that 統治するd there might have been that of a dead and 砂漠d city. A 狭くする 石／投石する stair 上がるd the 塀で囲む 近づく him; 負かす／撃墜する this he went.

Houses shouldered so closely to the 塀で囲む that halfway 負かす／撃墜する the stair, he 設立する himself within arm's length of a window and 停止（させる）d to peer in. There were no 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s, and the silk curtains were caught 支援する with satin cords. He looked into a 議会 whose 塀で囲むs were hidden by dark velvet tapestries. The 床に打ち倒す was covered with 厚い rugs, and there were （法廷の）裁判s of polished ebony and an ivory 演壇 heaped with furs.

He was about to continue his 降下／家系, when he heard the sound of someone approaching in the street below. Before the unknown person could 一連の会議、交渉／完成する a corner and see him on the stair, he stepped quickly across the 介入するing space and dropped lightly into the room, 製図／抽選 his scimitar. He stood for an instant statue-like; then, as nothing happened, he was moving across the rugs toward an arched doorway, when a hanging was drawn aside, 明らかにする／漏らすing a cushioned alcove from which a slender, dark-haired girl regarded him with languid 注目する，もくろむs.

Conan glared at her tensely, 推定する／予想するing her momentarily to start 叫び声をあげるing. But she 単に smothered a yawn with a dainty 手渡す, rose from the alcove, and leaned negligently against the hanging which she held with one 手渡す.

She was undoubtedly a member of a white race, though her 肌 was very dark. Her square-削減（する） hair was 黒人／ボイコット as midnight, her only 衣料品 a wisp of silk about her supple hips.

Presently she spoke, but the tongue was unfamiliar to him, and he shook his 長，率いる. She yawned again, stretched lithely and, without any show of 恐れる or surprise, 転換d to a language he did understand, a dialect of Yuetshi which sounded strangely archaic.

"Are you looking for someone?" she asked, as indifferently as if the 侵略 of her 議会 by an 武装した stranger were the most ありふれた thing imaginable.

"Who are you?" he 需要・要求するd.

"I am Yateli," she answered languidly. "I must have feasted late, last night; I am so sleepy now. Who are you?"

"I am Conan, a hetman の中で the kozaks," he answered, watching her 辛うじて. He believed her 態度 to be a 提起する／ポーズをとる and 推定する／予想するd her to try to escape from the 議会 or rouse the house. But, though a velvet rope that might be a signal cord hung 近づく her, she did not reach for it.

"Conan," she repeated drowsily. "You are not a Dagonian. I suppose you are a mercenary. Have you 削減（する） the 長，率いるs off many Yuetshi?"

"I do not war on water ネズミs!" he snorted.

"But they are very terrible," she murmured. "I remember when they were our slaves. But they 反乱d and 燃やすd and slew. Only the 魔法 of Khosatral Khel has kept them from the 塀で囲むs—" she paused, a puzzled look struggling with the sleepiness of her 表現. "I forgot," she muttered. "They did climb the 塀で囲むs, last night. There was shouting and 解雇する／砲火／射撃, and the people calling in vain on Khosatral." She shook her 長，率いる as if to （疑いを）晴らす it. "But that cannot be," she murmured, "because I am alive, and I thought I was dead. Oh, to the devil with it!"

She （機の）カム across the 議会, and taking Conan's 手渡す, drew him to the 演壇. He 産する／生じるd in bewilderment and 不確定. The girl smiled at him like a sleepy child; her long silky 攻撃するs drooped over dusky, clouded 注目する，もくろむs. She ran her fingers through his 厚い 黒人／ボイコット locks as if to 保証する herself of his reality.

"It was a dream," she yawned. "Perhaps it's all a dream. I feel like a dream now. I don't care. I can't remember something—I have forgotten—there is something I cannot understand, but I grow so sleepy when I try to think. Anyway, it doesn't 事柄."

"What do you mean?" he asked uneasily. "You said they climbed the 塀で囲むs last night? Who?"

"The Yuetshi. I thought so, anyway. A cloud of smoke hid everything, but a naked, bloodstained devil caught me by the throat and drove his knife into my breast. Oh, it 傷つける! But it was a dream, because see, there is no scar." She idly 検査／視察するd her smooth bosom, and then sank upon Conan's （競技場の）トラック一周 and passed her supple 武器 about his 大規模な neck. "I cannot remember," she murmured, nestling her dark 長，率いる against his mighty breast. "Everything is 薄暗い and misty. It does not 事柄. You are no dream. You are strong. Let us live while we can. Love me!"

He cradled the girl's glossy 長，率いる in the bend of his 激しい arm and kissed her 十分な red lips with unfeigned relish.

"You are strong," she repeated, her 発言する／表明する 病弱なing. "Love me—love—" The sleepy murmur faded away; the dusky 注目する，もくろむs の近くにd, the long 攻撃するs drooping over the 感覚的な cheeks; the supple 団体／死体 relaxed in Conan's 武器.

He scowled 負かす／撃墜する at her. She seemed to partake of the illusion that haunted this whole city, but the 会社／堅い resilience of her 四肢s under his 追求（する），探索（する）ing fingers 納得させるd him that he had a living human girl in his 武器, and not the 影をつくる／尾行する of a dream. No いっそう少なく 乱すd, he あわてて laid her on the furs upon the 演壇. Her sleep was too 深い to be natural. He decided that she must be an （麻薬）常用者 of some 麻薬, perhaps like the 黒人／ボイコット lotus of Xuthal.

Then he 設立する something else to make him wonder. の中で the furs on the 演壇 was a gorgeous spotted 肌, whose predominant hue was golden. It was not a clever copy, but the 肌 of an actual beast. And that beast, Conan knew, had been extinct for at least a thousand years; it was the 広大な／多数の／重要な golden ヒョウ which 人物／姿／数字s so prominently in Hyborian legendry, and which the 古代の artists delighted to portray in pigments and marble.

SHAKING his 長，率いる in bewilderment, Conan passed through the archway into a winding 回廊（地帯）. Silence hung over the house, but outside he heard a sound which his keen ears 認めるd as something 上がるing the stair on the 塀で囲む from which he had entered the building. An instant later he was startled to hear something land with a soft but 重大な thud on the 床に打ち倒す of the 議会 he had just quitted. Turning quickly away, he hurried along the 新たな展開ing hallway until something on the 床に打ち倒す before him brought him to a 停止（させる）.

It was a human 人物／姿／数字, which lay half in the hall and half in an 開始 that 明白に was 普通は 隠すd by a door, which was a duplicate of the パネル盤s of the 塀で囲む. It was a man, dark and lean, 覆う？ only in a silk loincloth, with a shaven 長，率いる and cruel features, and he lay as if death had struck him just as he was 現れるing from the パネル盤. Conan bent above him, 捜し出すing the 原因（となる） of his death, and discovered him to be 単に sunk in the same 深い sleep as the girl in the 議会.

But why should he select such a place for his slumbers? While meditating on the 事柄, Conan was galvanized by a sound behind him. Something was moving up the 回廊（地帯） in his direction. A quick ちらりと見ること 負かす／撃墜する it showed that it ended in a 広大な／多数の／重要な door, which might be locked. Conan jerked the supine 団体／死体 out of the パネル盤 入り口 and stepped through, pulling the パネル盤 shut after him. A click told him it was locked in place. Standing in utter 不明瞭, he heard a shuffling tread 停止（させる） just outside the door, and a faint 冷気／寒がらせる trickled along his spine. That was no human step, nor that of any beast he had ever 遭遇（する）d.

There was an instant of silence, then a faint creak of 支持を得ようと努めるd and metal. Putting out his 手渡す he felt the door 緊張するing and bending inward, as if a 広大な／多数の／重要な 負わせる were 存在 刻々と borne against it from the outside. As he reached for his sword, this 中止するd and he heard a strange, slobbering mouthing that prickled the short hairs on his scalp. Scimitar in 手渡す, he began 支援 away, and his heels felt steps, 負かす／撃墜する which he nearly 宙返り／暴落するd. He was in a 狭くする staircase 主要な downward.

He groped his way 負かす／撃墜する in the blackness, feeling for, but not finding, some other 開始 in the 塀で囲むs. Just as he decided that he was no longer in the house, but 深い in the earth under it, the steps 中止するd in a level tunnel.

5

ALONG the dark, silent tunnel Conan groped, momentarily dreading a 落ちる into some unseen 炭坑，オーケストラ席; but at last his feet struck steps again, and he went up them until he （機の）カム to a door on which his fumbling fingers 設立する a metal catch. He （機の）カム out into a 薄暗い and lofty room of enormous 割合s. Fantastic columns marched about the mottled 塀で囲むs, 支持するing a 天井, which, at once translucent and dusky, seemed like a cloudy midnight sky, giving an illusion of impossible 高さ. If any light filtered in from the outside, it was curiously altered.

In a brooding twilight, Conan moved across the 明らかにする green 床に打ち倒す. The 広大な／多数の／重要な room was circular, pierced on one 味方する by the 広大な／多数の／重要な, bronze 弁s of a 巨大（な） door. Opposite this, on a 演壇 against the 塀で囲む, up to which led 幅の広い curving steps, there stood a 王位 of 巡査, and when Conan saw what was coiled on this 王位, he 退却／保養地d あわてて, 解除するing his scimitar.

Then, as the thing did not move, he scanned it more closely and presently 機動力のある the glass steps and 星／主役にするd 負かす／撃墜する at it. It was a gigantic snake, 明らかに carved of some jadelike 実体. Each 規模 stood out as distinctly as in real life, and the iridescent colors were vividly 再生するd. The 広大な／多数の／重要な wedge-形態／調整d 長，率いる was half 潜水するd in the 倍のs of its trunk; so neither the 注目する，もくろむs nor jaws were 明白な. 承認 stirred in his mind. The snake was evidently meant to 代表する one of those grim monsters of the 沼, which in past ages had haunted the reedy 辛勝する／優位s of Vilayet's southern shores. But, like the golden ヒョウ, they had been extinct for hundreds of years. Conan had seen rude images of them, in miniature, の中で the idol huts of the Yuetshi, and there was a description of them in the 調書をとる／予約する of Skelos, which drew on 先史の sources.

Conan admired the scaly torso, 厚い as his thigh and 明白に of 広大な／多数の／重要な length, and he reached out and laid a curious 手渡す on the thing. And as he did so, his heart nearly stopped. An icy 冷気／寒がらせる congealed the 血 in his veins and 解除するd the short hair on his scalp. Under his 手渡す there was not the smooth, brittle surface of glass or metal or 石／投石する, but the 産する／生じるing, fibrous 集まり of a living thing. He felt 冷淡な, 不振の life flowing under his fingers.

His 手渡す jerked 支援する in 直感的に repulsion. Sword shaking in his しっかり掴む, horror and revulsion and 恐れる almost choking him, he 支援するd away and 負かす／撃墜する the glass steps with painful care, glaring in awful fascination at the grisly thing that slumbered on the 巡査 王位. It did not move.

He reached the bronze door and tried it, with his heart in his teeth, sweating with 恐れる that he should find himself locked in with that slimy horror. But the 弁s 産する／生じるd to his touch, and he glided though and の近くにd them behind him.

He 設立する himself in a wide hallway with lofty, tapestried 塀で囲むs, where the light was the same twilight gloom. It made distant 反対するs indistinct, and that made him uneasy, rousing thoughts of serpents gliding unseen through the dimness. A door at the other end seemed miles away in the illusive light. Nearer at 手渡す, the tapestry hung in such a way as to 示唆する an 開始 behind it, and 解除するing it 慎重に he discovered a 狭くする stair 主要な up.

While he hesitated he heard, in the 広大な／多数の／重要な room he had just left, the same shuffling tread he had heard outside the locked パネル盤. Had he been followed through the tunnel? He went up the stair あわてて, dropping the tapestry in place behind him.

現れるing presently into a 新たな展開ing 回廊（地帯）, he took the first doorway he （機の）カム to. He had a twofold 目的 in his 明らかに aimless prowling; to escape from the building and its mysteries, and to find the Nemedian girl who, he felt, was 拘留するd somewhere in this palace, 寺, or whatever it was. He believed it was the 広大な／多数の／重要な ドームd edifice at the 中心 of the city, and it was likely that here dwelt the 支配者 of the town, to whom a 捕虜 woman would doubtless be brought.

He 設立する himself in a 議会, not another 回廊（地帯）, and was about to retrace his steps, when he heard a 発言する／表明する which （機の）カム from behind one of the 塀で囲むs. There was no door in that 塀で囲む, but he leaned の近くに and heard distinctly. And an icy 冷気／寒がらせる はうd slowly along his spine. The tongue was Nemedian, but the 発言する／表明する was not human. There was a terifying resonance about it, like a bell （死傷者）数ing at midnight.

"There was no life in the Abyss, save that which was 会社にする／組み込むd in me," it （死傷者）数d. "Nor was there light, nor 動議, nor any sound. Only the 勧める behind and beyond life guided and impelled me on my 上向き 旅行, blind, insensate, inexorable. Through ages upon ages, and the changeless strata of 不明瞭 I climbed—"

ENSORCELLED by that belling resonance, Conan crouched forgetful of all else, until its hypnotic 力／強力にする 原因（となる）d a strange 交替／補充 of faculties and perception, and sound created the illusion of sight. Conan was no longer aware of the 発言する／表明する, save as far-off rhythmical waves of sound. 輸送（する）d beyond his age and his own individuality, he was seeing the transmutation of the 存在 men called Khosatral Khel which はうd up from Night and the Abyss ages ago to 着せる／賦与する itself in the 実体 of the 構成要素 universe.

But human flesh was too frail, too paltry to 持つ／拘留する the terrific essence that was Khosatral Khel. So he stood up in the 形態／調整 and 面 of a man, but his flesh was not flesh; nor the bone, bone; nor 血, 血. He became a blasphemy against all nature, for he 原因（となる）d to live and think and 行為／法令／行動する a basic 実体 that before had never known the pulse and 動かす of animate 存在.

He stalked through the world as a god, for no earthly 武器 could 害（を与える） him, and to him a century was like an hour. In his wanderings he （機の）カム upon a 原始の people 住むing the island of Dagonia, and it pleased him to give this race culture and civilization, and by his 援助（する） they built the city of Dagon and they abode there and worshipped him. Strange and grisly were his servants, called from the dark corners of the 惑星 where grim 生き残りs of forgotten ages yet lurked. His house in Dagon was connected with every other house by tunnels through which his shaven-長，率いるd priests bore 犠牲者s for the sacrifice.

But after many ages, a 猛烈な／残忍な and brutish people appeared on the shores of the sea. They called themselves Yuetshi, and after a 猛烈な／残忍な 戦う／戦い were 敗北・負かすd and enslaved, and for nearly a 世代 they died on the altars of Khosatral.

His sorcery kept them in 社債s. Then their priest, a strange, gaunt man of unknown race, 急落（する），激減（する）d into the wilderness, and when he returned he bore a knife that was of no earthly 実体. It was (1)偽造する／(2)徐々に進むd of a meteor, which flashed through the sky like a 炎上ing arrow and fell in a far valley. The slaves rose. Their saw-辛勝する／優位d 三日月s 削減（する） 負かす／撃墜する the men of Dagon like sheep, and against that unearthly knife the 魔法 of Khosatral was impotent. While 大虐殺 and 虐殺（する） bellowed through the red smoke that choked the streets, the grimmest 行為／法令／行動する of that grim 演劇 was played in the cryptic ドーム behind the 広大な／多数の／重要な 演壇d 議会 with its 巡査 王位 and its 塀で囲むs mottled like the 肌 of serpents.

From that ドーム, the Yuetshi priest 現れるd alone. He had not 殺害された his 敵, because he wished to 持つ／拘留する the 脅し of his loosing over the 長，率いるs of his own 反抗的な 支配するs. He had left Khosatral lying upon the golden 演壇 with the mystic knife across his breast for a （一定の）期間 to 持つ／拘留する him senseless and inanimate until doomsday.

But the ages passed and the priest died, the towers of 砂漠d Dagon 崩壊するd, the tales became 薄暗い, and the Yuetshi were 減ずるd by 疫病／悩ますs and 飢饉s and war to scattered 残余s, dwelling in squalor along the seashore.

Only the cryptic ドーム resisted the rot of time, until a chance thunderbolt and the curiosity of a fisherman 解除するd from the breast of the god the 魔法 knife and broke the （一定の）期間. Khosatral Khel rose and lived and waxed mighty once more. It pleased him to 回復する the city as it was in the days before its 落ちる. By his necromancy he 解除するd the towers from the dust of forgotten millenia, and the folk which had been dust for ages moved in life again.

But folk who have tasted of death are only partly alive. In the dark corners of their souls and minds, death still lurks unconquered. By night the people of Dagon moved and loved, hated and feasted, and remembered the 落ちる of Dagon and their own 虐殺（する） only as a 薄暗い dream; they moved in an enchanted もや of illusion, feeling the strangeness of their 存在 but not 問い合わせing the 推論する／理由s therefor. With the coming of day, they sank into 深い sleep, to be roused again only by the coming of night, which is akin to death.

All this rolled in a terrible panorama before Conan's consciousness as he crouched beside the tapestried 塀で囲む. His 推論する／理由 staggered. All certainty and sanity were swept away, leaving a shadowy universe through which stole hooded 人物／姿／数字s of grisly potentialities. Through the belling of the 発言する／表明する, which was like a （死傷者）数ing of 勝利 over the ordered 法律s of a sane 惑星, a human sound 錨，総合司会者d Conan's mind from its flight through spheres of madness. It was the hysterical sobbing of a woman.

Involuntarily he sprung up.

6

JEHUNGIR AGHA waited with growing impatience in his boat の中で the reeds. More than an hour passed, and Conan had not 再現するd. Doubtless he was still searching the island for the girl he thought to be hidden there. But another surmise occurred to the Agha. Suppose the hetman had left his 軍人s 近づく by, and that they should grow 怪しげな and come to 調査／捜査する his long absence? Jehungir spoke to the oarsmen, and the long boat slid from の中で the reeds and glided toward the carven stairs.

Leaving half a dozen men in the boat, he took the 残り／休憩（する）, ten mighty archers of Khawarizm, in spired helmets and tiger-肌 cloaks. Like hunters 侵略するing the 退却／保養地 of the lion, they stole 今後 under the trees, arrows on strings. Silence 統治するd over the forest except when a 広大な／多数の／重要な green thing that might have been a parrot 渦巻くd over their 長，率いるs with a low 雷鳴 of 幅の広い wings and then sped off through the trees. With a sudden gesture, Jehungir 停止（させる）d his party, and they 星／主役にするd incredulously at the towers that showed through the verdure in the distance.

"Tarim!" muttered Jehungir. "The 著作権侵害者s have rebuilt the 廃虚s! Doubtless Conan is there. We must 調査／捜査する this. A 防備を堅める／強化するd town this の近くに to the 本土／大陸!—Come!"

With 新たにするd 警告を与える, they glided through the trees. The game had altered; from pursuers and hunters they had become 秘かに調査するs.

And as they crept through the 絡まるd gowth, the man they sought was in 危険，危なくする more deadly than their filigreed arrows.

CONAN realized with a はうing of his 肌 that beyond the 塀で囲む the belling 発言する／表明する had 中止するd. He stood motionless as a statue, his gaze 直す／買収する，八百長をするd on a curtained door through which he knew that a 最高潮に達するing horror would presently appear.

It was 薄暗い and misty in the 議会, and Conan's hair began to 解除する on his scalp as he looked. He saw a 長，率いる and a pair of gigantic shoulders grow out of the twilight doom. There was no sound of footsteps, but the 広大な／多数の／重要な dusky form grew more 際立った until Conan 認めるd the 人物／姿／数字 of a man. He was 覆う？ in sandals, a skirt, and a 幅の広い shagreen girdle. His square-削減（する） mane was 限定するd by a circle of gold. Conan 星／主役にするd at the sweep of the monstrous shoulders, the breadth of swelling breast, the 禁止（する）d and 山の尾根s and clusters of muscles on torso and 四肢s. The 直面する was without 証拠不十分 and without mercy. The 注目する，もくろむs were balls of dark 解雇する／砲火／射撃. And Conan knew that this was Khosatral Khel, the 古代の from the Abyss, the god of Dagonia.

No word was spoken. No word was necessary. Khosatral spread his 広大な／多数の／重要な 武器, and Conan, crouching beneath them, 削除するd at the 巨大（な）'s belly. Then he bounded 支援する, 注目する，もくろむs 炎ing with surprise. The keen 辛勝する／優位 had rung on the mighty 団体／死体 as on an anvil, 回復するing without cutting. Then Khosatral （機の）カム upon him in an irrestible 殺到する.

There was a (n)艦隊／(a)素早いing concussion, a 猛烈な／残忍な writhing and intertwining of 四肢s and 団体／死体s, and then Conan sprang （疑いを）晴らす, every thew quivering from the 暴力／激しさ of his 成果／努力s; 血 started where the grazing fingers had torn the 肌. In that instant of 接触する, he had experienced the ultimate madness of blasphemed nature; no human flesh had bruised his, but metal animated and sentient; it was a 団体／死体 of living アイロンをかける which …に反対するd his.

Khosatral ぼんやり現れるd above the 軍人 in the gloom. Once let those 広大な／多数の／重要な fingers lock and they would not 緩和する until the human 団体／死体 hung limp in their しっかり掴む. In that twilit 議会 it was as if a man fought with a dream-monster in a nightmare.

Flinging 負かす／撃墜する his useless sword, Conan caught up a 激しい （法廷の）裁判 and 投げつけるd it with all his 力／強力にする. It was such a ミサイル as few men could even 解除する. On Khosatral's mighty breast it 粉砕するd into shreds and 後援s. It did not even shake the 巨大（な） on his を締めるd 脚s. His 直面する lost something of its human 面, a nimbus of 解雇する／砲火／射撃 played about his awesome 長，率いる, and like a moving tower he （機の）カム on.

With a desperate wrench Conan ripped a whole section of tapestry from the 塀で囲む and whirling it, with a muscular 成果／努力 greater than that 要求するd for throwing the （法廷の）裁判, he flung it over the 巨大（な）'s 長，率いる. For an instant Khosatral floundered, smothered and blinded by the 粘着するing stuff that resisted his strength as 支持を得ようと努めるd or steel could not have done, and in that instant Conan caught up his scimitar and 発射 out into the 回廊（地帯）. Without checking his 速度(を上げる）, he 投げつけるd himself through the door of the 隣接するing 議会, slammed the door, and 発射 the bolt.

Then as he wheeled, he stopped short, all the 血 in him seeming to 殺到する to his 長，率いる. Crouching on a heap of silk cushions, golden hair streaming over her naked shoulders, 注目する，もくろむs blank with terror, was the woman for whom he had dared so much. He almost forgot the horror at his heels until a 後援ing 衝突，墜落 behind him brought him to his senses. He caught up the girl and sprang for the opposite door. She was too helpless with fright either to resist or to 援助（する） him. A faint whimper was the only sound of which she seemed 有能な.

Conan wasted no time trying the door. A 粉々にするing 一打／打撃 of his scimitar hewed the lock asunder, and as he sprang through to the stair that ぼんやり現れるd beyond it, he saw the 長，率いる and shoulders of Khosatral 衝突，墜落 through the other door. The colossus was 後援ing the 大規模な パネル盤s as if they were of cardboard.

Conan raced up the stair, carrying the big girl over one shoulder as easily as if she had been a child. Where he was going he had no idea, but the stair ended at the door of a 一連の会議、交渉／完成する, ドームd 議会. Khosatral was coming up the stair behind them, silently as a 勝利，勝つd of death, and as 速く.

The 議会's 塀で囲むs were of solid steel, and so was the door. Conan shut it and dropped in place the 広大な／多数の／重要な 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s with which it was furnished. The thought struck him that this was Khosatral's 議会, where he locked himself in to sleep securely from the monsters he had loosed from the 炭坑，オーケストラ席s to do his bidding.

HARDLY were the bolts in place when the 広大な／多数の／重要な door shook and trembled to the 巨大（な）'s 強襲，強姦. Conan shrugged his shoulders. This was the end of the 追跡する. There was no other door in the 議会, nor any window. 空気／公表する, and the strange misty light, evidently （機の）カム from interstices in the ドーム. He 実験（する）d the nicked 辛勝する／優位 of his scimitar, やめる 冷静な／正味の now that he was at bay. He had done his 火山の best to escape; when the 巨大（な） （機の）カム 衝突，墜落ing through that door, he would 爆発する in another savage 猛攻撃 with the useless sword, not because he 推定する／予想するd it to do any good, but because it was his nature to die fighting. For the moment there was no course of 活動／戦闘 to take, and his calmness was not 軍隊d or feigned.

The gaze he turned on his fair companion was as admiring and 激しい as if he had a hundred years to live. He had 捨てるd her 無作法に on the 床に打ち倒す when he turned to の近くに the door, and she had risen to her 膝s, mechanically arranging her streaming locks and her scanty 衣料品. Conan's 猛烈な／残忍な 注目する，もくろむs glowed with 是認 as they devoured her 厚い golden hair, her （疑いを）晴らす, wide 注目する，もくろむs, her 乳の 肌, sleek with exuberant health, the 会社／堅い swell of her breasts, the contours of her splendid hips.

A low cry escaped her as the door shook and a bolt gave way with a groan.

Conan did not look around. He knew the door would 持つ／拘留する a little while longer.

"They told me you had escaped," he said. "A Yuetshi fisherman told me you were hiding here. What is your 指名する?"

"Octavia," she gasped mechanically. Then words （機の）カム in a 急ぐ. She caught at him with desperate fingers. "Oh Mitra! what nightmare is this? The people—the dark-skinned people—one of them caught me in the forest and brought me here. They carried me to—to that—that thing. He told me—he said—am I mad? Is this a dream?"

He ちらりと見ることd at the door which bulged inward as if from the 衝撃 of a 乱打するing-押し通す.

"No," he said; "it's no dream. That hinge is giving way. Strange that a devil has to break 負かす／撃墜する a door like a ありふれた man; but after all, his strength itself is a diabolism."

"Can you not kill him?" she panted. "You are strong."

Conan was too honest to 嘘（をつく） to her. "If a mortal man could kill him, he'd be dead now," he answered. "I nicked my blade on his belly."

Her 注目する，もくろむs dulled. "Then you must die, and I must—oh Mitra!" she 叫び声をあげるd in sudden frenzy, and Conan caught her 手渡すs, 恐れるing that she would 害（を与える） herself. "He told me what he was going to do to me!" she panted. "Kill me! Kill me with your sword before he bursts the door!"

Conan looked at her and shook his 長，率いる.

"I'll do what I can," he said. "That won't be much, but it'll give you a chance to get past him 負かす／撃墜する the stair. Then run for the cliffs. I have a boat tied at the foot of the steps. If you can get out of the palace, you may escape him yet. The people of this city are all asleep."

She dropped her 長，率いる in her 手渡すs. Conan took up his scimitar and moved over to stand before the echoing door. One watching him would not have realized that he was waiting for a death he regarded as 必然的な. His 注目する，もくろむs smoldered more vividly; his muscular 手渡す knotted harder on his hilt; that was all.

The hinges had given under the 巨大（な）'s terrible 強襲，強姦, and the door 激しく揺するd crazily, held only by the bolts. And these solid steel 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s were buckling, bending, bulging out of their sockets. Conan watched in an almost impersonal fascination, envying the monster his 残忍な strength.

Then, without 警告, the 砲撃 中止するd. In the stillness, Conan heard other noises on the 上陸 outside—the （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 of wings, and a muttering 発言する／表明する that was like the whining of 勝利，勝つd through midnight 支店s. Then presently there was silence, but there was a new feel in the 空気／公表する. Only the whetted instincts of 野蛮／未開 could have sensed it, but Conan knew, without seeing or 審理，公聴会 him leave, that the master of Dagon no longer stood outside the door.

He glared through a 割れ目 that had been started in the steel of the portal. The 上陸 was empty. He drew the warped bolts and 慎重に pulled aside the sagging door. Khosatral was not on the stair, but far below he heard the clang of a metal door. He did not know whether the 巨大（な） was plotting new deviltries or had been 召喚するd away by that muttering 発言する／表明する, but he wasted no time in conjectures.

He called to Octavia, and the new 公式文書，認める in his 発言する／表明する brought her up to her feet and to his 味方する almost without her conscious volition.

"What is it?" she gasped.

"Don't stop to talk!" He caught her wrist. "Come on!" The chance for 活動／戦闘 had transformed him; his 注目する，もくろむs 炎d, his 発言する／表明する crackled. "The knife!" he muttered, while almost dragging the girl 負かす／撃墜する the stair in his 猛烈な／残忍な haste. "The 魔法 Yuetshi blade! He left it in the ドーム! I—" his 発言する／表明する died suddenly as a （疑いを）晴らす mental picture sprang up before him. That ドーム 隣接するd the 広大な／多数の／重要な room where stood the 巡査 王位—sweat started out on his 団体／死体. The only way to that ドーム was through that room with the 巡査 王位 and the foul thing that slumbered in it.

But he did not hesitate. 速く they descended the stair, crossed the 議会, descended the next stair, and （機の）カム into the 広大な／多数の／重要な 薄暗い hall with its mysterious hangings. They had seen no 調印する of the colossus. 停止（させる）ing before the 広大な／多数の／重要な bronze-弁d door, Conan caught Octavia by her shoulders and shook her in his intensity.

"Listen!" he snapped. "I'm going into the room and fasten the door. Stand here and listen; if Khosatral comes, call to me. If you hear me cry out for you to go, run as though the Devil were on your heels—which he probably will be. Make for that door at the other end of the hall, because I'll be past helping you. I'm going for the Yuetshi knife!"

Before she could 発言する／表明する the 抗議する her lips were でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れるing, he had slid through the 弁s and shut them behind him. He lowered the bolt 慎重に, not noticing that it could be worked from the outside. In the 薄暗い twilight his gaze sought that grim 巡査 王位; yes, the scaly brute was still there, filling the 王位 with its loathsome coils. He saw a door behind the 王位 and knew that it led into the ドーム. But to reach it he must 開始する the 演壇, a few feet from the 王位 itself.

A 勝利，勝つd blowing across the green 床に打ち倒す would have made more noise than Conan's slinking feet. 注目する，もくろむs glued on the sleeping reptile he reached the 演壇 and 機動力のある the glass steps. The snake had not moved. He was reaching for the door...

The bolt on the bronze portal clanged and Conan stifled an awful 誓い as he saw Octavia come into the room. She 星／主役にするd about, uncertain in the deeper gloom, and he stood frozen, not daring to shout a 警告. Then she saw his shadowy 人物／姿／数字 and ran toward the 演壇, crying: "I want to go with you! I'm afraid to stay alone—oh!" She threw up her 手渡すs with a terrible 叫び声をあげる as for the first time she saw the occupant of the 王位. The wedge-形態／調整d 長，率いる had 解除するd from its coils and thrust out toward her on a yard of 向こうずねing neck.

Then with a smooth, flowing 動議, it began to ooze from the 王位, coil by coil, its ugly 長，率いる bobbing in the direction of the 麻ひさせるd girl.

CONAN （疑いを）晴らすd the space between him and the 王位 with a desperate bound, his scimitar swinging with all his 力／強力にする. And with such blinding 速度(を上げる） did the serpent move that it whipped about and met him in 十分な 空中, lapping his 四肢s and 団体／死体 with half a dozen coils. His half-checked 一打／打撃 fell futilely as he 衝突，墜落d 負かす／撃墜する on the 演壇, gashing the scaly trunk but not 厳しいing it.

Then he was writhing on the glass steps with 倍の after slimy 倍の knotting about him, 新たな展開ing, 鎮圧するing, 殺人，大当り him. His 権利 arm was still 解放する／自由な, but he could get no 購入（する） to strike a 殺人，大当り blow, and he knew one blow must 十分である. With a groaning convulsion of muscular 拡大 that bulged his veins almost to bursting on his 寺s and tied his muscles in quivering, 拷問d knots, he heaved up on his feet, 解除するing almost the 十分な 負わせる of that forty-foot devil.

An instant he reeled on wide-を締めるd 脚s, feeling his ribs 洞穴ing in on his 決定的なs and his sight growing dark, while his scimitar gleamed above his 長，率いる. Then it fell, shearing through the 規模s and flesh and vertebrae. And where there had been one 抱擁する, writhing cable, now there were horribly two, 攻撃するing and flopping in the death throes. Conan staggered away from their blind 一打／打撃s. He was sick and dizzy, and 血 oozed from his nose. Groping in a dark もや he clutched Octavia and shook her until she gasped for breath.

"Next time I tell you to stay somewhere," he gasped, "you stay!"

He was too dizzy even to know whether she replied. Taking her wrist like a truant schoolgirl, he led her around the hideous stumps that still ぼんやり現れるd and knotted on the 床に打ち倒す. Somewhere, in the distance, he thought he heard men yelling, but his ears were still roaring so that he could not be sure.

The door gave to his 成果／努力s. If Khosatral had placed the snake there to guard the thing he 恐れるd, evidently he considered it ample 警戒. Conan half 推定する／予想するd some other monstrosity to leap at him with the 開始 of the door, but in the dimmer light he saw only the vague sweep of the arch above, a dully gleaming 封鎖する of gold, and a half-moon 微光 on the 石／投石する.

With a gasp of gratification, he scooped it up and did not ぐずぐず残る for その上の 探検. He turned and fled across the room and 負かす／撃墜する the 広大な／多数の／重要な hall toward the distant door that he felt led to the outer 空気／公表する. He was 訂正する. A few minutes later he 現れるd into the silent streets, half carrying, half guiding his companion. There was no one to be seen, but beyond the western 塀で囲む there sounded cries and moaning wails that made Octavia tremble. He led her to the southwestern 塀で囲む and without difficulty 設立する a 石／投石する stair that 機動力のある the rampart. He had appropriated a 厚い tapestry rope in the 広大な／多数の／重要な hall, and now, having reached the parapet, he 宙返り飛行d the soft, strong cord about the girl's hips and lowered her to the earth. Then, making one end 急速な／放蕩な to a merlon, he slid 負かす／撃墜する after her. There was but one way of escape from the island—the stair on the western cliffs. In that direction he hurried, swinging wide around the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す from which had come the cries and the sound of terrible blows.

Octavia sensed that grim 危険，危なくする lurked in those leafy fastnesses. Her breath （機の）カム pantingly and she 圧力（をかける）d の近くに to her protector. But the forest was silent now, and they saw no 形態／調整 of menace until they 現れるd from the trees and glimpsed a 人物／姿／数字 standing on the 辛勝する／優位 of the cliffs.

Jehungir Agha had escaped the doom that had overtaken his 軍人s when an アイロンをかける 巨大（な） sallied suddenly from the gate and 乱打するd and 鎮圧するd them into bits of shredded flesh and 後援d bone. When he saw the swords of his archers break on that manlike juggernaut, he had known it was no human 敵 they 直面するd, and he had fled, hiding in the 深い 支持を得ようと努めるd until the sounds of 虐殺（する） 中止するd. Then he crept 支援する to the stair, but his boatmen were not waiting for him.

They had heard the 叫び声をあげるs, and presently, waiting nervously, had seen, on the cliff above them, a 血-smeared monster waving gigantic 武器 in awful 勝利. They had waited for no more. When Jehungir （機の）カム upon the cliffs, they were just 消えるing の中で the reeds beyond earshot. Khosatral was gone—had either returned to the city or was prowling the forest in search of the man who had escaped him outside the 塀で囲むs.

JEHUNGIR was just 準備するing to descend the stairs and 出発／死 in Conan's boat, when he saw the hetman and the girl 現れる from the trees. The experience which had congealed his 血 and almost 爆破d his 推論する／理由 had not altered Jehungir's 意向s に向かって the kozak 長，指導者. The sight of the man he had come to kill filled him with gratification. He was astonished to see the girl he had given to Jelal 旅宿泊所, but he wasted no time on her. 解除するing his 屈服する he drew the 軸 to its 長，率いる and loosed. Conan crouched and the arrow 後援d on a tree, and Conan laughed.

"Dog!" he taunted. "You can't 攻撃する，衝突する me! I was not born to die on Hyrkanian steel! Try again, pig of Turan!"

Jehungir did not try again. That was his last arrow. He drew his scimitar and 前進するd, 確信して in his spired helmet and の近くに-meshed mail. Conan met him halfway in a blinding whirl of swords. The curved blades ground together, sprang apart, circled in glittering arcs that blurred the sight which tried to follow them. Octavia, watching, did not see the 一打／打撃, but she heard its chopping 衝撃 and saw Jehungir 落ちる, 血 spurting from his 味方する where the Cimmerian's steel had sundered his mail and bitten to his spine.

But Octavia's 叫び声をあげる was not 原因（となる）d by the death of her former master. With a 衝突，墜落 of bending boughs, Khosatral Khel was upon them. The girl could not 逃げる; a moaning cry escaped her as her 膝s gave way and pitched her groveling to the sward.

Conan, stooping above the 団体／死体 of the Agha, made no move to escape. 転換ing his reddened scimitar to his left 手渡す, he drew the 広大な／多数の／重要な half-blade of the Yuetshi. Khosatral Khel was 非常に高い above him, his 武器 解除するd like mauls, but as the blade caught the sheen of the sun, the 巨大（な） gave 支援する suddenly.

But Conan's 血 was up. He 急ぐd in, 削除するing with the 三日月 blade. And it did not 後援. Under its 辛勝する／優位, the dusky metal of Khosatral's 団体／死体 gave way like ありふれた flesh beneath a cleaver. From the 深い gash flowed a strange ichor, and Khosatral cried out like the dirging of a 広大な／多数の／重要な bell. His terrible 武器 flailed 負かす／撃墜する, but Conan, quicker than the archers who had died beneath those awful flails, 避けるd their 一打／打撃s and struck again and yet again. Khosatral reeled and tottered; his cries were awful to hear, as if metal were given a tongue of 苦痛, as if アイロンをかける shrieked and bellowed under torment.

Then, wheeling away, he staggered into the forest; he reeled in his gait, 衝突，墜落d through bushes, and caromed off trees. Yet though Conan followed him with the 速度(を上げる） of hot passion, the 塀で囲むs and towers of Dagon ぼんやり現れるd through the trees before the man （機の）カム with dagger-reach of the 巨大（な）.

Then Khosatral turned again, flailing the 空気／公表する with desperate blows, but Conan, 解雇する／砲火／射撃d to berserk fury, was not to be 否定するd. As a panther strikes 負かす／撃墜する a bull moose at bay, so he 急落（する），激減（する）d under the bludgeoning 武器 and drove the 三日月 blade to the hilt under the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す where a human's heart would be.

Khosatral reeled and fell. In the 形態／調整 of a man he reeled, but it was not the 形態／調整 of a man that struck the loam. Where there had been the likeness of a human 直面する, there was no 直面する at all, and the metal 四肢s melted and changed... Conan, who had not shrunk from Khosatral living, recoiled blenching for Khosatral dead, for he had 証言，証人／目撃するd an awful transmutation; in his dying throes Khosatral Khel had become again the thing that had はうd up from the Abyss millennia gone. Gagging with intolerable repugnance, Conan turned to 逃げる the sight; and he was suddenly aware that the pinnacles of Dagon no longer 微光d through the trees. They had faded like smoke—the battlements, the crenellated towers, the 広大な／多数の／重要な bronze gates, the velvets, the gold, the ivory, and the dark-haired women, and the men with their shaven skulls. With the passing of the 残忍な intellect which had given them rebirth, they had faded 支援する into the dust which they had been for ages uncounted. Only the stumps of broken columns rose above 崩壊するing 塀で囲むs and broken 覆うs and 粉々にするd ドーム. Conan again looked upon the 廃虚s of Xapur as he remembered them.

THE wild hetman stood like a statue for a space, dimly しっかり掴むing something of the cosmic 悲劇 of the fitful ephemera called mankind and the hooded 形態／調整s of 不明瞭 which prey upon it. Then as he heard his 発言する／表明する called in accents of 恐れる, he started, as one awakening from a dream, ちらりと見ることd again at the thing on the ground, shuddered and turned away toward the cliffs and the girl that waited there.

She was peering fearfully under the trees, and she 迎える／歓迎するd him with a half-stifled cry of 救済. He had shaken off the 薄暗い monstrous 見通しs which had momentarily haunted him, and was his exuberant self again.

"Where is he?" she shuddered.

"Gone 支援する to Hell whence he はうd," he replied cheerfully. "Why didn't you climb the stair and make your escape in my boat?"

"I wouldn't 砂漠—" she began, then changed her mind, and 修正するd rather sulkily, "I have nowhere to go. The Hyrkanians would enslave me again, and the 著作権侵害者s would—"

"What of the kozaks?" he 示唆するd.

"Are they better than the 著作権侵害者s?" she asked scornfully. Conan's 賞賛 増加するd to see how 井戸／弁護士席 she had 回復するd her 宙に浮く after having 耐えるd such frantic terror. Her arrogance amused him.

"You seemed to think so in the （軍の）野営地，陣営 by Ghori," he answered. "You were 解放する／自由な enough with your smiles then."

Her red lips curled in disdain. "Do you think I was enamored of you? Do you dream that I would have shamed myself before an ale-guzzling, meat-gorging barbarian unless I had to? My master—whose 団体／死体 lies there—軍隊d me to do as I did."

"Oh!" Conan seemed rather crestfallen. Then he laughed with 衰えていない zest. "No 事柄. You belong to me now. Give me a kiss."

"You dare ask—"she began 怒って, when she felt herself snatched off her feet and 鎮圧するd to the hetman's muscular breast. She fought him ひどく, with all the supple strength of her magnificent 青年, but he only laughed exuberantly, drunk with the 所有／入手 of this splendid creature writhing in his 武器.

He 鎮圧するd her struggles easily, drinking the nectar of her lips with all the unrestrained passion that was his, until the 武器 that 緊張するd against them melted and twined convulsively about his 大規模な neck. Then he laughed 負かす／撃墜する into the （疑いを）晴らす 注目する，もくろむs, and said: "Why should not a 長，指導者 of the 解放する／自由な People be より望ましい to a city-bred dog of Turan?"

She shook 支援する her tawny locks, still tingling in every 神経 from the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 of his kisses. She did not 緩和する her 武器 from his neck. "Do you みなす yourself an Agha's equal?" she challenged.

He laughed and strode with her in his 武器 toward the stair. "You shall 裁判官," he 誇るd. "I'll 燃やす Khawarizm for a たいまつ to light your way to my テント."

THE END

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