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肩書を与える: The Tower of the Elephant
Author: Robert E. Howard
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eBook No.: 0600831h.html
Language: English
Date first 地位，任命するd:  May 2006
Most 最近の update: 損なう 2020

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The Tower of the Elephant

by

Robert E. Howard

First published in Weird Tales, March 1933

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

Weird Tales, March 1933, with "The Tower of the Elephant"

Conan 始める，決める his teeth and drove the sword 深い.

A strange, 血-氷点の story of an idol that wept on its 王位,
and a valiant barbarian from the fringes of an 年上の civilization.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1

TORCHES ゆらめくd murkily on the revels in the Maul, where the thieves of the east held carnival by night. In the Maul they could carouse and roar as they liked, for honest people shunned the ４半期/4分の1s, and watchmen, 井戸／弁護士席 paid with stained coins, did not 干渉する with their sport. Along the crooked, unpaved streets with their heaps of 辞退する and sloppy puddles, drunken roisterers staggered, roaring. Steel glinted in the 影をつくる／尾行するs where wolf preyed on wolf, and from the 不明瞭 rose the shrill laughter of women, and the sounds of scufflings and strugglings. Torchlight licked luridly from broken windows and wide-thrown doors, and out of those doors, stale smells of ワイン and 階級 sweaty 団体／死体s, clamor of drinking-jacks and 握りこぶしs 大打撃を与えるd on rough （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs, snatches of obscene songs, 急ぐd like a blow in the 直面する.

In one of these dens merriment 雷鳴d to the low smoke- stained roof, where rascals gathered in every 行う／開催する／段階 of rags and tatters—furtive 削減（する）-purses, leering kidnappers, quick- fingered thieves, swaggering bravoes with their wenches, strident-発言する／表明するd women 覆う？ in tawdry finery. Native rogues were the 支配的な element—dark-skinned, dark-注目する，もくろむd Zamorians, with daggers at their girdles and guile in their hearts. But there were wolves of half a dozen outland nations there 同様に. There was a 巨大（な） Hyperborean renegade, taciturn, dangerous, with a broadsword strapped to his 広大な／多数の／重要な gaunt でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる—for men wore steel 率直に in the Maul. There was a Shemitish counterfeiter, with his hook nose and curled blue-黒人／ボイコット 耐えるd. There was a bold- 注目する，もくろむd Brythunian wench, sitting on the 膝 of a tawny-haired Gunderman—a wandering mercenary 兵士, a 見捨てる人／脱走兵 from some 敗北・負かすd army. And the fat 甚だしい／１２ダース rogue whose bawdy jests were 原因（となる）ing all the shouts of mirth was a professional kidnapper come up from distant Koth to teach woman-stealing to Zamorians who were born with more knowledge of the art than he could ever 達成する.

This man 停止（させる）d in his description of an ーするつもりであるd 犠牲者's charms, and thrust his muzzle into a 抱擁する tankard of frothing ale. Then blowing the 泡，激怒すること from his fat lips, he said, 'By Bel, god of all thieves, I'll show them how to steal wenches: I'll have her over the Zamorian 国境 before 夜明け, and there'll be a caravan waiting to receive her. Three hundred pieces of silver, a count of Ophir 約束d me for a sleek young Brythunian of the better class. It took me weeks, wandering の中で the 国境 cities as a beggar, to find one I knew would 控訴. And is she a pretty baggage!'

He blew a slobbery kiss in the 空気／公表する.

'I know lords in Shem who would 貿易（する） the secret of the Elephant Tower for her,' he said, returning to his ale.

A touch on his tunic sleeve made him turn his 長，率いる, scowling at the interruption. He saw a tall, 堅固に made 青年 standing beside him. This person was as much out of place in that den as a gray wolf の中で mangy ネズミs of the gutters. His cheap tunic could not 隠す the hard, rangy lines of his powerful でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる, the 幅の広い 激しい shoulders, the 大規模な chest, lean waist and 激しい 武器. His 肌 was brown from outland suns, his 注目する，もくろむs blue and smoldering; a shock of tousled 黒人／ボイコット hair 栄冠を与えるd his 幅の広い forehead. From his girdle hung a sword in a worn leather scabbard.

The Kothian involuntarily drew 支援する; for the man was not one of any civilized race he knew.

'You spoke of the Elephant Tower,' said the stranger, speaking Zamorian with an 外国人 accent. 'I've heard much of this tower; what is its secret?'

The fellow's 態度 did not seem 脅すing, and the Kothian's courage was 支えるd up by the ale, and the evident 是認 of his audience. He swelled with self-importance.

'The secret of the Elephant Tower?' he exclaimed. 'Why, any fool knows that Yara the priest dwells there with the 広大な／多数の／重要な jewel men call the Elephant's Heart, that is the secret of his 魔法.'

The barbarian digested this for a space.

'I have seen this tower,' he said. 'It is 始める，決める in a 広大な／多数の／重要な garden above the level of the city, surrounded by high 塀で囲むs. I have seen no guards. The 塀で囲むs would be 平易な to climb. Why has not somebody stolen this secret gem?'

The Kothian 星／主役にするd wide-mouthed at the other's 簡単, then burst into a roar of derisive mirth, in which the others joined.

'Harken to this heathen!' he bellowed. 'He would steal the jewel of Yara!—Harken, fellow,' he said, turning portentously to the other, 'I suppose you are some sort of a northern barbarian—'

'I am a Cimmerian,' the outlander answered, in no friendly トン. The reply and the manner of it meant little to the Kothian; of a kingdom that lay far to the south, on the 国境s of Shem, he knew only ばく然と of the northern races.

'Then give ear and learn 知恵, fellow,' said he, pointing his drinking-jack at the discomfited 青年. 'Know that in Zamora, and more 特に in this city, there are more bold thieves than anywhere else in the world, even Koth. If mortal man could have stolen the gem, be sure it would have been filched long ago. You speak of climbing the 塀で囲むs, but once having climbed, you would quickly wish yourself 支援する again. There are no guards in the gardens at night for a very good 推論する／理由—that is, no human guards. But in the watch-議会, in the lower part of the tower, are 武装した men, and even if you passed those who roam the gardens by night, you must still pass through the 兵士s, for the gem is kept somewhere in the tower above.'

'But if a man could pass through the gardens,' argued the Cimmerian, 'why could he not come at the gem through the upper part of the tower and thus 避ける the 兵士s?'

Again the Kothian gaped at him.

'Listen to him!' he shouted jeeringly. 'The barbarian is an eagle who would 飛行機で行く to the jeweled 縁 of the tower, which is only a hundred and fifty feet above the earth, with 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd 味方するs slicker than polished glass!'

The Cimmerian glared about, embarrassed at the roar of mocking laughter that 迎える／歓迎するd this 発言／述べる. He saw no particular humor in it, and was too new to civilization to understand its discourtesies. Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls 分裂（する）, as a general thing. He was bewildered and chagrined, and doubtless would have slunk away, abashed, but the Kothian chose to goad him その上の.

'Come, come!' he shouted. 'Tell these poor fellows, who have only been thieves since before you were spawned, tell them how you would steal the gem!'

'There is always a way, if the 願望（する） be coupled with courage,' answered the Cimmerian すぐに, nettled.

The Kothian chose to take this as a personal 中傷する. His 直面する grew purple with 怒り／怒る.

'What!' he roared. 'You dare tell us our 商売／仕事, and intimate that we are cowards? Get along; get out of my sight!' And he 押し進めるd the Cimmerian violently.

'Will you mock me and then lay 手渡すs on me?' grated the barbarian, his quick 激怒（する） leaping up; and he returned the 押し進める with an open-手渡すd blow that knocked his tormenter 支援する against the rude-hewn （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. Ale splashed over the jack's lip, and the Kothian roared in fury, dragging at his sword.

'Heathen dog!' he bellowed. 'I'll have your heart for that!' Steel flashed and the throng 殺到するd wildly 支援する out of the way. In their flight they knocked over the 選び出す／独身 candle and the den was 急落（する），激減（する）d in 不明瞭, broken by the 衝突，墜落 of upset （法廷の）裁判s, 派手に宣伝する of 飛行機で行くing feet, shouts, 誓いs of people 宙返り／暴落するing over one another, and a 選び出す／独身 strident yell of agony that 削減（する） the din like a knife. When a candle was relighted, most of the guests had gone out by doors and broken windows, and the 残り／休憩（する） 密談する／（身体を）寄せ集めるd behind stacks of ワイン-ケッグs and under （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs. The barbarian was gone; the 中心 of the room was 砂漠d except for the gashed 団体／死体 of the Kothian. The Cimmerian, with the unerring instinct of the barbarian, had killed his man in the 不明瞭 and 混乱.

CHAPTER 2

THE lurid lights and drunken revelry fell away behind the Cimmerian. He had discarded his torn tunic, and walked through the night naked except for a loin-cloth and his high- strapped sandals. He moved with the supple 緩和する of a 広大な／多数の／重要な tiger, his steely muscles rippling under his brown 肌.

He had entered the part of the city reserved for the 寺s. On all 味方するs of him they glittered white in the starlight—雪の降る，雪の多い marble 中心存在s and golden ドームs and silver arches, 神社s of Zamora's myriad strange gods. He did not trouble his 長，率いる about them; he knew that Zamora's 宗教, like all things of a civilized, long-settled people, was intricate and コンビナート／複合体, and had lost most of the pristine essence in a maze of 決まり文句／製法s and rituals. He had squatted for hours in the 中庭 of the philosophers, listening to the arguments of theologians and teachers, and come away in a 煙霧 of bewilderment, sure of only one thing, and that, that they were all touched in the 長，率いる.

His gods were simple and 理解できる; Crom was their 長，指導者, and he lived on a 広大な／多数の／重要な mountain, whence he sent 前へ／外へ dooms and death. It was useless to call on Crom, because he was a 暗い／優うつな, savage god, and he hated weaklings. But he gave a man courage at birth, and the will and might to kill his enemies, which, in the Cimmerian's mind, was all any god should be 推定する／予想するd to do.

His sandalled feet made no sound on the gleaming 覆う. No watchmen passed, for even the thieves of the Maul shunned the 寺s, where strange dooms had been known to 落ちる on violators. Ahead of him he saw, ぼんやり現れるing against the sky, the Tower of the Elephant. He mused, wondering why it was so 指名するd. No one seemed to know. He had never seen an elephant, but he ばく然と understood that it was a monstrous animal, with a tail in 前線 同様に as behind. This a wandering Shemite had told him, 断言するing that he had seen such beasts by the thousands in the country of the Hyrkanians; but all men knew what liars were the men of Shem. At any 率, there were no elephants in Zamora.

The shimmering 軸 of the tower rose frostily in the 星／主役にするs. In the sunlight it shone so dazzlingly that few could 耐える its glare, and men said it was built of silver. It was 一連の会議、交渉／完成する, a わずかな／ほっそりした perfect cylinder, a hundred and fifty feet in 高さ, and its 縁 glittered in the starlight with the 広大な／多数の／重要な jewels which crusted it. The tower stood の中で the waving exotic trees of a garden raised high above the general level of the city. A high 塀で囲む enclosed this garden, and outside the 塀で囲む was a lower level, likewise enclosed by a 塀で囲む. No lights shone 前へ／外へ; there seemed to be no windows in the tower—at least not above the level of the inner 塀で囲む. Only the gems high above sparkled frostily in the starlight.

Shrubbery grew 厚い outside the lower, or outer 塀で囲む. The Cimmerian crept の近くに and stood beside the 障壁, 手段ing it with his 注目する，もくろむs. It was high, but he could leap and catch the 対処するing with his fingers. Then it would be child's play to swing himself up and over, and he did not 疑問 that he could pass the inner 塀で囲む in the same manner. But he hesitated at the thought of the strange 危険，危なくするs which were said to を待つ within. These people were strange and mysterious to him; they were not of his 肉親，親類d—not even of the same 血 as the more westerly Brythunians, Nemedians, Kothians and Aquilonians, whose civilized mysteries had awed him in times past. The people of Zamora were very 古代の, and, from what he had seen of them, very evil.

He thought of Yara, the high priest, who worked strange dooms from this jeweled tower, and the Cimmerian's hair prickled as he remembered a tale told by a drunken page of the 法廷，裁判所—how Yara had laughed in the 直面する of a 敵意を持った prince, and held up a glowing, evil gem before him, and how rays 発射 blindingly from that unholy jewel, to envelop the prince, who 叫び声をあげるd and fell 負かす／撃墜する, and shrank to a withered blackened lump that changed to a 黒人／ボイコット spider which scampered wildly about the 議会 until Yara 始める，決める his heel upon it.

Yara （機の）カム not often from his tower of 魔法, and always to work evil on some man or some nation. The king of Zamora 恐れるd him more than he 恐れるd death, and kept himself drunk all the time because that 恐れる was more than he could 耐える sober. Yara was very old—centuries old, men said, and 追加するd that he would live for ever because of the 魔法 of his gem, which men called the Heart of the Elephant, for no better 推論する／理由 than they 指名するd his 持つ／拘留する the Elephant's Tower.

The Cimmerian, engrossed in these thoughts, shrank quickly against the 塀で囲む. Within the garden someone was passing, who walked with a 手段d stride. The listener heard the clink of steel. So after all a guard did pace those gardens. The Cimmerian waited, 推定する／予想するd to hear him pass again, on the next 一連の会議、交渉／完成する, but silence 残り／休憩（する）d over the mysterious gardens.

At last curiosity overcame him. Leaping lightly he しっかり掴むd the 塀で囲む and swung himself up to the 最高の，を越す with one arm. Lying flat on the 幅の広い 対処するing, he looked 負かす／撃墜する into the wide space between the 塀で囲むs. No shrubbery grew 近づく him, though he saw some carefully trimmed bushes 近づく the inner 塀で囲む. The starlight fell on the even sward and somewhere a fountain tinkled.

The Cimmerian 慎重に lowered himself 負かす／撃墜する on the inside and drew his sword, 星／主役にするing about him. He was shaken by the nervousness of the wild at standing thus unprotected in the naked starlight, and he moved lightly around the curve of the 塀で囲む, hugging its 影をつくる／尾行する, until he was even with the shrubbery he had noticed. Then he ran quickly toward it, crouching low, and almost tripped over a form that lay crumpled 近づく the 辛勝する／優位s of the bushes.

A quick look to 権利 and left showed him no enemy in sight at least, and he bent の近くに to 調査／捜査する. His keen 注目する，もくろむs, even in the 薄暗い starlight, showed him a 堅固に built man in the silvered armor and crested helmet of the Zamorian 王室の guard. A 保護物，者 and a spear lay 近づく him, and it took but an instant's examination to show that he had been strangled. The barbarian ちらりと見ることd about uneasily. He knew that this man must be the guard he had heard pass his hiding-place by the 塀で囲む. Only a short time had passed, yet in that interval nameless 手渡すs had reached out of the dark and choked out the 兵士's life.

緊張するing his 注目する，もくろむs in the gloom, he saw a hint of 動議 through the shrubs 近づく the 塀で囲む. Thither he glided, gripping his sword. He made no more noise than a panther stealing through the night, yet the man he was stalking heard. The Cimmerian had a 薄暗い glimpse of a 抱擁する 本体，大部分／ばら積みの の近くに to the 塀で囲む; felt 救済 that it was at least human; then the fellow wheeled quickly with a gasp that sounded like panic, made the first 動議 of a 今後 急落（する），激減（する）, 手渡すs clutching, then recoiled as the Cimmerian's blade caught the starlight. For a 緊張した instant neither spoke, standing ready for anything.

'You are no 兵士,' hissed the stranger at last. 'You are a どろぼう like myself.'

'And who are you?' asked the Cimmerian in a 怪しげな whisper.

'Taurus of Nemedia.'

The Cimmerian lowered his sword.

'I've heard of you. Men call you a prince of thieves.'

A low laugh answered him. Taurus was as tall as the Cimmerian, and heavier; he was big-bellied and fat, but his every movement betokened a subtle dynamic magnetism, which was 反映するd in the keen 注目する，もくろむs that glinted vitally, even in the starlight. He was barefooted and carried a coil of what looked like a thin, strong rope, knotted at 正規の／正選手 intervals. 'Who are you?' he whispered.

'Conan, a Cimmerian,' answered the other. 'I （機の）カム 捜し出すing a way to steal Yara's jewel, that men call the Elephant's Heart.'

Conan sensed the man's 広大な／多数の／重要な belly shaking in laughter, but it was not derisive.

'By Bel, god of thieves!' hissed Taurus. 'I had thought only myself had courage to 試みる／企てる that poaching. These Zamorians call themselves thieves—bah! Conan, I like your grit. I never 株d an adventure with anyone, but by Bel, we'll 試みる／企てる this together if you're willing.'

'Then you are after the gem, too?'

'What else? I've had my 計画（する）s laid for months, but you, I think, have 行為／法令／行動するd on a sudden impulse, my friend.'

'You killed the 兵士?'

'Of course. I slid over the 塀で囲む when he was on the other 味方する of the garden. I hid in the bushes; he heard me, or thought he heard something. When he （機の）カム 失敗ing over, it was no trick at all to get behind him and suddenly 支配する his neck and choke out his fool's life. He was like most men, half blind in the dark. A good どろぼう should have 注目する，もくろむs like a cat.'

'You made one mistake,' said Conan.

Taurus's 注目する，もくろむs flashed 怒って.

'I? I, a mistake? Impossible!'

'You should have dragged the 団体／死体 into the bushes.'

'Said the novice to the master of the art. They will not change the guard until past midnight. Should any come searching for him now, and find his 団体／死体, they would 逃げる at once to Yara, bellowing the news, and give us time to escape. Were they not to find it, they'd go on （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing up the bushes and catch us like ネズミs in a 罠（にかける）.'

'You are 権利,' agreed Conan.

'So. Now …に出席する. We waste time in this 悪口を言う／悪態d discussion. There are no guards in the inner garden—human guards, I mean, though there are sentinels even more deadly. It was their presence which baffled me for so long, but I finally discovered a way to 回避する them.'

'What of the 兵士s in the lower part of the tower?'

'Old Yara dwells in the 議会s above. By that 大勝する we will come—and go, I hope. Never mind asking me how. I have arranged a way. We'll steal 負かす／撃墜する through the 最高の，を越す of the tower and strangle old Yara before he can cast any of his accursed （一定の）期間s on us. At least we'll try; it's the chance of 存在 turned into a spider or a toad, against the wealth and 力／強力にする of the world. All good thieves must know how to take 危険s.'

'I'll go as far as any man,' said Conan, slipping off his sandals.

'Then follow me.' And turning, Taurus leaped up, caught the 塀で囲む and drew himself up. The man's suppleness was amazing, considering his 本体，大部分／ばら積みの; he seemed almost to glide up over the 辛勝する／優位 of the 対処するing. Conan followed him, and lying flat on the 幅の広い 最高の，を越す, they spoke in 用心深い whispers.

'I see no light,' Conan muttered. The lower part of the tower seemed much like that 部分 明白な from outside the garden—a perfect, gleaming cylinder, with no 明らかな 開始s.

'There are cleverly 建設するd doors and windows,' answered Taurus, 'but they are の近くにd. The 兵士s breathe 空気／公表する that comes from above.'

The garden was a vague pool of 影をつくる／尾行するs, where feathery bushes and low spreading trees waved darkly in the starlight. Conan's 用心深い soul felt the aura of waiting menace that brooded over it. He felt the 燃やすing glare of unseen 注目する，もくろむs, and he caught a subtle scent that made the short hairs on his neck instinctively bristle as a 追跡（する）ing dog bristles at the scent of an 古代の enemy. 'Follow me,' whispered Taurus, 'keep behind me, as you value your life.'

Taking what looked like a 巡査 tube from his girdle, the Nemedian dropped lightly to the sward inside the 塀で囲む. Conan was の近くに behind him, sword ready, but Taurus 押し進めるd him 支援する, の近くに to the 塀で囲む, and showed no 指示，表示する物 to 前進する, himself. His whole 態度 was of 緊張した 見込み, and his gaze, like Conan's, was 直す／買収する，八百長をするd on the shadowy 集まり of shrubbery a few yards away. This shrubbery was shaken, although the 微風 had died 負かす／撃墜する. Then two 広大な／多数の／重要な 注目する，もくろむs 炎d from the waving 影をつくる／尾行するs, and behind them other 誘発するs of 解雇する／砲火／射撃 glinted in the 不明瞭.

'Lions!' muttered Conan.

'Aye. By day they are kept in subterranean caverns below the tower. That's why there are no guards in this garden.' Conan counted the 注目する，もくろむs 速く.

'Five in sight; maybe more 支援する in the bushes. They'll 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 in a moment—'

'Be silent!' hissed Taurus, and he moved out from the 塀で囲む, 慎重に as if treading on かみそりs, 解除するing the slender tube. Low rumblings rose from the 影をつくる／尾行するs and the 炎ing 注目する，もくろむs moved 今後. Conan could sense the 広大な／多数の／重要な slavering jaws, the tufted tails 攻撃するing tawny 味方するs. The 空気／公表する grew 緊張した—the Cimmerian gripped his sword, 推定する／予想するing the 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 and the irresistible hurtling of 巨大（な） 団体／死体s. Then Taurus brought the mouth of the tube to his lips and blew powerfully. A long jet of yellowish 砕く 発射 from the other end of the tube and 大波d out 即時に in a 厚い green-yellow cloud that settled over the shrubbery, blotting out the glaring 注目する，もくろむs.

Taurus ran 支援する あわてて to the 塀で囲む. Conan glared without understanding. The 厚い cloud hid the shrubbery, and from it no sound （機の）カム.

'What is that もや?' the Cimmerian asked uneasily.

'Death!' hissed the Nemedian. 'If a 勝利，勝つd springs up and blows it 支援する upon us, we must 逃げる over the 塀で囲む. But no, the 勝利，勝つd is still, and now it is dissipating. Wait until it 消えるs 完全に. To breathe it is death.'

Presently only yellowish shreds hung ghostily in the 空気／公表する; then they were gone, and Taurus 動議d his companion 今後. They stole toward the bushes, and Conan gasped. Stretched out in the 影をつくる／尾行するs lay five 広大な／多数の／重要な tawny 形態／調整s, the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 of their grim 注目する，もくろむs dimmed for ever. A sweetish cloying scent ぐずぐず残るd in the atmosphere.

'They died without a sound!' muttered the Cimmerian. 'Taurus, what was that 砕く?'

'It was made from the 黒人／ボイコット lotus, whose blossoms wave in the lost ジャングルs of Khitai, where only the yellow-skulled priests of Yun dwell. Those blossoms strike dead any who smell of them.'

Conan knelt beside the 広大な／多数の／重要な forms, 保証するing himself that they were indeed beyond 力／強力にする of 害（を与える）. He shook his 長，率いる; the 魔法 of the exotic lands was mysterious and terrible to the barbarians of the north.

'Why can you not 殺す the 兵士s in the tower in the same way?' he asked.

'Because that was all the 砕く I 所有するd. The 得るing of it was a feat which in itself was enough to make me famous の中で the thieves of the world. I stole it out of a caravan bound for Stygia, and I 解除するd it, in its cloth-of-gold 捕らえる、獲得する, out of the coils of the 広大な／多数の／重要な serpent which guarded it, without awaking him. But come, in Bel's 指名する! Are we to waste the night in discussion?'

They glided through the shrubbery to the gleaming foot of the tower, and there, with a 動議 enjoining silence, Taurus unwound his knotted cord, on one end of which was a strong steel hook. Conan saw his 計画（する）, and asked no questions as the Nemedian gripped the line a short distance below the hook, and began to swing it about his 長，率いる. Conan laid his ear to the smooth 塀で囲む and listened, but could hear nothing. Evidently the 兵士s within did not 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う the presence of 侵入者s, who had made no more sound than the night 勝利，勝つd blowing through the trees. But a strange nervousness was on the barbarian; perhaps it was the lion-smell which was over everything.

Taurus threw the line with a smooth, ripping 動議 of his mighty arm. The hook curved 上向き and inward in a peculiar manner, hard to 述べる, and 消えるd over the jeweled 縁. It 明らかに caught 堅固に, for 用心深い jerking and then hard pulling did not result in any slipping or giving.

'Luck the first cast,' murmured Taurus. 'I—'

It was Conan's savage instinct which made him wheel suddenly; for the death that was upon them made no sound. A (n)艦隊／(a)素早いing glimpse showed the Cimmerian the 巨大（な） tawny 形態／調整, 後部ing upright against the 星／主役にするs, 非常に高い over him for the death- 一打／打撃. No civilized man could have moved half so quickly as the barbarian moved. His sword flashed frostily in the starlight with every ounce of desperate 神経 and thew behind it, and man and beast went 負かす／撃墜する together.

悪口を言う／悪態ing incoherently beneath his breath, Taurus bent above the 集まり, and saw his companion's 四肢s move as he strove to drag himself from under the 広大な／多数の／重要な 負わせる that lay limply upon him. A ちらりと見ること showed the startled Nemedian that the lion was dead, its slanting skull 分裂（する） in half. He laid 持つ／拘留する of the carcass, and by his 援助（する）, Conan thrust it aside and clambered up, still gripping his dripping sword.

'Are you 傷つける, man?' gasped Taurus, still bewildered by the 素晴らしい swiftness of that touch-and-go episode.

'No, by Crom!' answered the barbarian. 'But that was as の近くに a call as I've had in a life noways tame. Why did not the 悪口を言う／悪態d beast roar as he 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金d?'

'All things are strange in this garden,' said Taurus. 'The lions strike silently—and so do other deaths. But come—little sound was made in that 殺すing, but the 兵士s might have heard, if they are not asleep or drunk. That beast was in some other part of the garden and escaped the death of the flowers, but surely there are no more. We must climb this cord—little need to ask a Cimmerian if he can.'

'If it will 耐える my 負わせる,' grunted Conan, 洗浄するing his sword on the grass.

'It will 耐える thrice my own,' answered Taurus. 'It was woven from the tresses of dead women, which I took from their tombs at midnight, and 法外なd in the deadly ワイン of the upas tree, to give it strength. I will go first—then follow me closely.'

The Nemedian gripped the rope and, crooking a 膝 about it, began the ascent; he went up like a cat, belying the 明らかな clumsiness of his 本体，大部分／ばら積みの. The Cimmerian followed. The cord swayed and turned on itself, but the 登山者s were not 妨げるd; both had made more difficult climbs before. The jeweled 縁 glittered high above them, jutting out from the perpendicular—a fact which 追加するd 大いに to the 緩和する of the ascent.

Up and up they went, silently, the lights of the city spreading out その上の and その上の to their sight as they climbed, the 星／主役にするs above them more and more dimmed by the glitter of the jewels along the 縁. Now Taurus reached up a 手渡す and gripped the 縁 itself, pulling himself up and over. Conan paused a moment on the very 辛勝する／優位, fascinated by the 広大な／多数の／重要な frosty jewels whose gleams dazzled his 注目する，もくろむs—diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires, turquoises, moonstones, 始める，決める 厚い as 星／主役にするs in the shimmering silver. At a distance their different gleams had seemed to 合併する into a pulsing white glare; but now, at の近くに 範囲, they shimmered with a million rainbow 色合いs and lights, hypnotizing him with their scintillations.

'There is a fabulous fortune here, Taurus,' he whispered; but the Nemedian answered impatiently. 'Come on! If we 安全な・保証する the Heart, these and all other things shall be ours.'

Conan climbed over the sparkling 縁. The level of the tower's 最高の，を越す was some feet below the gemmed ledge. It was flat, composed of some dark blue 実体, 始める，決める with gold that caught the starlight, so that the whole looked like a wide sapphire flecked with 向こうずねing gold-dust. Across from the point where they had entered there seemed to be a sort of 議会, built upon the roof. It was of the same silvery 構成要素 as the 塀で囲むs of the tower, adorned with designs worked in smaller gems; its 選び出す／独身 door was of gold, its surface 削減（する） in 規模s, and crusted with jewels that gleamed like ice.

Conan cast a ちらりと見ること at the pulsing ocean of lights which spread far below them, then ちらりと見ることd at Taurus. The Nemedian was 製図／抽選 up his cord and coiling it. He showed Conan where the hook had caught—a fraction of an インチ of the point had sunk under a 広大な／多数の／重要な 炎ing jewel on the inner 味方する of the 縁.

'Luck was with us again,' he muttered. 'One would think that our 連合させるd 負わせる would have torn that 石／投石する out. Follow me; the real 危険s of the 投機・賭ける begin now. We are in the serpent's lair, and we know not where he lies hidden.'

Like stalking tigers they crept across the darkly gleaming 床に打ち倒す and 停止（させる）d outside the sparkling door. With a deft and 用心深い 手渡す Taurus tried it. It gave without 抵抗, and the companions looked in, 緊張したd for anything. Over the Nemedian's shoulder Conan had a glimpse of a glittering 議会, the 塀で囲むs, 天井 and 床に打ち倒す of which were crusted with 広大な／多数の／重要な white jewels which lighted it brightly, and which seemed its only 照明. It seemed empty of life.

'Before we 削減（する） off our last 退却／保養地,' hissed Taurus, 'go you to the 縁 and look over on all 味方するs; if you see any 兵士s moving in the gardens, or anything 怪しげな, return and tell me. I will を待つ you within this 議会.'

Conan saw scant 推論する／理由 in this, and a faint 疑惑 of his companion touched his 用心深い soul, but he did as Taurus requested. As he turned away, the Nemedian slipped inside the door and drew it shut behind him. Conan crept about the 縁 of the tower, returning to his starting-point without having seen any 怪しげな movement in the ばく然と waving sea of leaves below. He turned toward the door—suddenly from within the 議会 there sounded a strangled cry.

The Cimmerian leaped 今後, electrified—the gleaming 床に打ち倒す swung open and Taurus stood でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れるd in the 冷淡な 炎 behind him. He swayed and his lips parted, but only a 乾燥した，日照りの 動揺させる burst from his throat. Catching at the golden door for support, he lurched out upon the roof, then fell headlong, clutching at his throat. The door swung to behind him.

Conan, crouching like a panther at bay, saw nothing in the room behind the stricken Nemedian, in the 簡潔な／要約する instant the door was partly open—unless it was not a trick of the light which made it seem as if a 影をつくる／尾行する darted across the gleaming door. Nothing followed Taurus out on the roof, and Conan bent above the man.

The Nemedian 星／主役にするd up with dilated, glazing 注目する，もくろむs, that somehow held a terrible bewilderment. His 手渡すs clawed at his throat, his lips slobbered and gurgled; then suddenly he 強化するd, and the astounded Cimmerian knew that he was dead. And he felt that Taurus had died without knowing what manner of death had stricken him. Conan glared bewilderedly at the cryptic golden door. In that empty room, with its glittering jeweled 塀で囲むs, death had come to the prince of thieves as 速く and mysteriously as he had dealt doom to the lions in the gardens below.

Gingerly the barbarian ran his 手渡すs over the man's half-naked 団体／死体, 捜し出すing a 負傷させる. But the only 示すs of 暴力／激しさ were between his shoulders, high up 近づく the base of his bull- neck—three small 負傷させるs, which looked as if three nails had been driven 深い in the flesh and 孤立した. The 辛勝する／優位s of these 負傷させるs were 黒人／ボイコット, and a faint smell as of putrefaction was evident. 毒（薬）d darts? thought Conan—but in that 事例／患者 the ミサイルs should be still in the 負傷させるs.

慎重に he stole toward the golden door, 押し進めるd it open, and looked inside. The 議会 lay empty, bathed in the 冷淡な, pulsing glow of the myriad jewels. In the very 中心 of the 天井 he idly 公式文書，認めるd a curious design—a 黒人／ボイコット eight-味方するd pattern, in the 中心 of which four gems glittered with a red 炎上 unlike the white 炎 of the other jewels. Across the room there was another door, like the one in which he stood, except that it was not carved in the 規模 pattern. Was it from that door that death had come?—and having struck 負かす／撃墜する its 犠牲者, had it 退却／保養地d by the same way?

の近くにing the door behind him, the Cimmerian 前進するd into the 議会. His 明らかにする feet made no sound on the 水晶 床に打ち倒す. There were no 議長，司会を務めるs or （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs in the 議会, only three or four silken couches, embroidered with gold and worked in strange serpentine designs, and several silver-bound mahogany chests. Some were 調印（する）d with 激しい golden locks; others lay open, their carven lids thrown 支援する, 明らかにする／漏らすing heaps of jewels in a careless 暴動 of splendor to the Cimmerian's astounded 注目する，もくろむs. Conan swore beneath his breath; already he had looked upon more wealth that night than he had ever dreamed 存在するd in all the world, and he grew dizzy thinking of what must be the value of the jewel he sought.

He was in the 中心 of the room now, going stooped 今後, 長，率いる thrust out warily, sword 前進するd, when again death struck at him soundlessly. A 飛行機で行くing 影をつくる／尾行する that swept across the gleaming 床に打ち倒す was his only 警告, and his 直感的に sidelong leap all that saved his life. He had a flashing glimpse of a hairy 黒人／ボイコット horror that swung past him with a 衝突／不一致ing of frothing fangs, and something splashed on his 明らかにする shoulder that 燃やすd like 減少（する）s of liquid hellfire. Springing 支援する, sword high, he saw the horror strike the 床に打ち倒す, wheel and scuttle toward him with appalling 速度(を上げる）—a gigantic 黒人／ボイコット spider, such as men see only in nightmare dreams.

It was as large as a pig, and its eight 厚い hairy 脚s drove its ogreish 団体／死体 over the 床に打ち倒す at headlong pace; its four evilly gleaming 注目する，もくろむs shone with a horrible 知能, and its fangs dripped venom that Conan knew, from the 燃やすing of his shoulder where only a few 減少（する）s had splashed as the thing struck and 行方不明になるd, was laden with swift death. This was the 殺し屋 that had dropped from its perch in the middle of the 天井 on a 立ち往生させる of its web, on the neck of the Nemedian. Fools that they were not to have 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd that the upper 議会s would be guarded as 井戸／弁護士席 as the lower!

These thoughts flashed 簡潔に through Conan's mind as the monster 急ぐd. He leaped high, and it passed beneath him, wheeled and 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金d 支援する. This time he 避けるd its 急ぐ with a sidewise leap, and struck 支援する like a cat. His sword 厳しいd one of the hairy 脚s, and again he barely saved himself as the monstrosity swerved at him, fangs clicking fiendishly. But the creature did not 圧力（をかける） the 追跡; turning, it scuttled across the 水晶 床に打ち倒す and ran up the 塀で囲む to the 天井, where it crouched for an instant, glaring 負かす／撃墜する at him with its fiendish red 注目する，もくろむs. Then without 警告 it 開始する，打ち上げるd itself through space, 追跡するing a 立ち往生させる of slimy grayish stuff.

Conan stepped 支援する to 避ける the hurtling 団体／死体—then ducked frantically, just in time to escape 存在 snared by the 飛行機で行くing web-rope. He saw the monster's 意図 and sprang toward the door, but it was quicker, and a sticky 立ち往生させる cast across the door made him a 囚人. He dared not try to 削減（する） it with his sword; he knew the stuff would 粘着する to the blade, and before he could shake it loose, the fiend would be 沈むing its fangs into his 支援する.

Then began a desperate game, the wits and quickness of the man matched against the fiendish （手先の）技術 and 速度(を上げる） of the 巨大（な） spider. It no longer scuttled across the 床に打ち倒す in a direct 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金, or swung its 団体／死体 through the 空気／公表する at him. It raced about the 天井 and the 塀で囲むs, 捜し出すing to snare him in the long 宙返り飛行s of sticky gray web-立ち往生させるs, which it flung with a devilish 正確. These 立ち往生させるs were 厚い as ropes, and Conan knew that once they were coiled about him, his desperate strength would not be enough to 涙／ほころび him 解放する／自由な before the monster struck.

All over the 議会 went on that devil's game, in utter silence except for the quick breathing of the man, the low scuff of his 明らかにする feet on the 向こうずねing 床に打ち倒す, the castanet 動揺させる of the monstrosity's fangs. The gray 立ち往生させるs lay in coils on the 床に打ち倒す; they were 宙返り飛行d along the 塀で囲むs; they overlaid the jewel-chests and silken couches, and hung in dusky festoons from the jeweled 天井. Conan's steel-罠（にかける） quickness of 注目する，もくろむ and muscle had kept him untouched, though the sticky 宙返り飛行s had passed him so の近くに they rasped his naked hide. He knew he could not always 避ける them; he not only had to watch the 立ち往生させるs swinging from the 天井, but to keep his 注目する，もくろむ on the 床に打ち倒す, lest he trip in the coils that lay there. Sooner or later a gummy 宙返り飛行 would writhe about him, python-like, and then, wrapped like a cocoon, he would 嘘（をつく） at the monster's mercy.

The spider raced across the 議会 床に打ち倒す, the gray rope waving out behind it. Conan leaped high, （疑いを）晴らすing a couch—with a quick wheel the fiend ran up the 塀で囲む, and the 立ち往生させる, leaping off the 床に打ち倒す like a live thing, whipped about the Cimmerian's ankle. He caught himself on his 手渡すs as he fell, jerking frantically at the web which held him like a pliant vise, or the coil of a python. The hairy devil was racing 負かす／撃墜する the 塀で囲む to 完全にする its 逮捕（する）. Stung to frenzy, Conan caught up a jewel chest and 投げつけるd it with all his strength. It was a move the monster was not 推定する／予想するing. 十分な in the 中央 of the 支店ing 黒人／ボイコット 脚s the 大規模な ミサイル struck, 粉砕するing against the 塀で囲む with a muffled sickening crunch. 血 and greenish わずかな／ほっそりした spattered, and the 粉々にするd 集まり fell with the burst gem-chest to the 床に打ち倒す. The 鎮圧するd 黒人／ボイコット 団体／死体 lay の中で the 炎上ing 暴動 of jewels that 流出／こぼすd over it; the hairy 脚s moved aimlessly, the dying 注目する，もくろむs glittered redly の中で the twinkling gems.

Conan glared about, but no other horror appeared, and he 始める，決める himself to working 解放する／自由な of the web. The 実体 clung tenaciously to his ankle and his 手渡すs, but at last he was 解放する／自由な, and taking up his sword, he 選ぶd his way の中で the gray coils and 宙返り飛行s to the inner door. What horrors lay within he did not know. The Cimmerian's 血 was up, and since he had come so far, and 打ち勝つ so much 危険，危なくする, he was 決定するd to go through to the grim finish of the adventure, whatever that might be. And he felt that the jewel he sought was not の中で the many so carelessly strewn about the gleaming 議会.

Stripping off the 宙返り飛行s that fouled the inner door, he 設立する that it, like the other, was not locked. He wondered if the 兵士s below were still unaware of his presence. 井戸／弁護士席, he was high above their 長，率いるs, and if tales were to be believed, they were used to strange noises in the tower above them—悪意のある sounds, and 叫び声をあげるs of agony and horror.

Yara was on his mind, and he was not altogether comfortable as he opened the golden door. But he saw only a flight of silver steps 主要な 負かす／撃墜する, dimly lighted by what means he could not ascertain. 負かす／撃墜する these he went silently, gripping his sword. He heard no sound, and （機の）カム presently to an ivory door, 始める，決める with 血-石／投石するs. He listened, but no sound （機の）カム from within; only thin wisps of smoke drifted lazily from beneath the door, 耐えるing a curious exotic odor unfamiliar to the Cimmerian. Below him the silver stair 負傷させる 負かす／撃墜する to 消える in the dimness, and up that shadowy 井戸／弁護士席 no sound floated; he had an eery feeling that he was alone in a tower 占領するd only by ghosts and phantoms.

CHAPTER 3

CAUTIOUSLY he 圧力（をかける）d against the ivory door and it swung silently inward. On the shimmering threshold Conan 星／主役にするd like a wolf in strange surroundings, ready to fight or 逃げる on the instant. He was looking into a large 議会 with a ドームd golden 天井; the 塀で囲むs were of green jade, the 床に打ち倒す of ivory, partly covered by 厚い rugs. Smoke and exotic scent of incense floated up from a brazier on a golden tripod, and behind it sat an idol on a sort of marble couch. Conan 星／主役にするd aghast; the image had the 団体／死体 of a man, naked, and green in color; but the 長，率いる was one of nightmare and madness. Too large for the human 団体／死体, it had no せいにするs of humanity. Conan 星／主役にするd at the wide ゆらめくing ears, the curling proboscis, on either 味方する of which stood white tusks tipped with 一連の会議、交渉／完成する golden balls. The 注目する，もくろむs were の近くにd, as if in sleep.

This then, was the 推論する／理由 for the 指名する, the Tower of the Elephant, for the 長，率いる of the thing was much like that of the beasts 述べるd by the Shemitish wanderer. This was Yara's god; where then should the gem be, but 隠すd in the idol, since the 石／投石する was called the Elephant's Heart?

As Conan （機の）カム 今後, his 注目する，もくろむs 直す／買収する，八百長をするd on the motionless idol, the 注目する，もくろむs of the thing opened suddenly! The Cimmerian froze in his 跡をつけるs. It was no image—it was a living thing, and he was 罠にかける in its 議会!

That he did not 即時に 爆発する in a burst of murderous frenzy is a fact that 対策 his horror, which 麻ひさせるd him where he stood. A civilized man in his position would have sought doubtful 避難 in the 結論 that he was insane; it did not occur to the Cimmerian to 疑問 his senses. He knew he was 直面する to 直面する with a demon of the 年上の World, and the 現実化 robbed him of all his faculties except sight.

The trunk of the horror was 解除するd and 追求（する），探索（する）d about, the topaz 注目する，もくろむs 星／主役にするd unseeingly, and Conan knew the monster was blind. With the thought （機の）カム a 雪解けing of his frozen 神経s, and he began to 支援する silently toward the door. But the creature heard. The 極度の慎重さを要する trunk stretched toward him, and Conan's horror froze him again when the 存在 spoke, in a strange, stammering 発言する／表明する that never changed its 重要な or timbre. The Cimmerian knew that those jaws were never built or ーするつもりであるd for human speech.

'Who is here? Have you come to 拷問 me again, Yara? Will you never be done? Oh, Yag-kosha, is there no end to agony?'

涙／ほころびs rolled from the sightless 注目する，もくろむs, and Conan's gaze 逸脱するd to the 四肢s stretched on the marble couch. And he knew the monster would not rise to attack him. He knew the 示すs of the rack, and the searing brand of the 炎上, and 堅い-souled as he was, he stood aghast at the 廃虚d deformities which his 推論する／理由 told him had once been 四肢s as comely as his own. And suddenly all 恐れる and repulsion went from him, to be 取って代わるd by a 広大な／多数の／重要な pity. What this monster was, Conan could not know, but the 証拠s of its sufferings were so terrible and pathetic that a strange aching sadness （機の）カム over the Cimmerian, he knew not why. He only felt that he was looking upon a cosmic 悲劇, and he shrank with shame, as if the 犯罪 of a whole race were laid upon him.

'I am not Yara,' he said. 'I am only a どろぼう. I will not 害（を与える） you.'

'Come 近づく that I may touch you,' the creature 滞るd, and Conan （機の）カム 近づく unfearingly, his sword hanging forgotten in his 手渡す. The 極度の慎重さを要する trunk （機の）カム out and groped over his 直面する and shoulders, as a blind man gropes, and its touch was light as a girl's 手渡す.

'You are not of Yara's race of devils,' sighed the creature. 'The clean, lean fierceness of the wastelands 示すs you. I know your people from of old, whom I knew by another 指名する in the long, long ago when another world 解除するd its jeweled spires to the 星／主役にするs. There is 血 on your fingers.'

'A spider in the 議会 above and a lion in the garden,' muttered Conan.

'You have 殺害された a man too, this night,' answered the other. 'And there is death in the tower above. I feel; I know.'

'Aye,' muttered Conan. 'The prince of all thieves lies there dead from the bite of a vermin.'

'So—and so!' The strange 残忍な 発言する／表明する rose in a sort of low 詠唱する. 'A 殺すing in the tavern and a 殺すing on the road—I know; I feel. And the third will make the 魔法 of which not even Yara dreams—oh, 魔法 of deliverance, green gods of Yag!'

Again 涙／ほころびs fell as the 拷問d 団体／死体 was 激しく揺するd to and fro in the 支配する of 変化させるd emotions. Conan looked on, bewildered.

Then the convulsions 中止するd; the soft, sightless 注目する，もくろむs were turned toward the Cimmerian, the trunk beckoned.

'Oh man, listen,' said the strange 存在. 'I am foul and monstrous to you, am I not? Nay, do not answer; I know. But you would seem as strange to me, could I see you. There are many worlds besides this earth, and life takes many 形態／調整s. I am neither god nor demon, but flesh and 血 like yourself, though the 実体 異なる in part, and the form be cast in a different mold.

'I am very old, oh man of the waste countries; long and long ago I （機の）カム to this 惑星 with others of my world, from the green 惑星 Yag, which circles for ever in the outer fringe of this universe. We swept through space on mighty wings that drove us through the cosmos quicker than light, because we had warred with the kings of Yag and were 敗北・負かすd and outcast. But we could never return, for on earth our wings withered from our shoulders. Here we abode apart from earthly life. We fought the strange and terrible forms of life which then walked the earth, so that we became 恐れるd, and were not （性的に）いたずらするd in the 薄暗い ジャングルs of the east, where we had our abode.

'We saw men grow from the ape and build the 向こうずねing cities of Valusia, Kamelia, Commoria and their sisters. We saw them reel before the thrusts of the heathen Atlanteans and Picts and Lemurians. We saw the oceans rise and （海，煙などが）飲み込む Atlantis and Lemuria, and the 小島s of the Picts, and the 向こうずねing cities of civilization. We saw the 生存者s of Pictdom and Atlantis build their 石／投石する-age empires, and go 負かす／撃墜する to 廃虚, locked in 血まみれの wars. We saw the Picts 沈む into abysmal savagery, the Atlanteans into apedom again. We saw new savages drift southward in 征服する／打ち勝つing waves from the 北極の circle to build a new civilization, with new kingdoms called Nemedia, and Koth, and Aquilonia and their sisters. We saw your people rise under a new 指名する from the ジャングルs of the apes that had been Atlanteans. We saw the 子孫s of the Lemurians who had 生き残るd the cataclysm, rise again through savagery and ride 西方の as Hyrkanians. And we saw this race of devils, 生存者s of the 古代の civilization that was before Atlantis sank, come once more into culture and 力／強力にする—this accursed kingdom of Zamora.

'All this we saw, neither 補佐官ing nor 妨げるing the immutable cosmic 法律, and one by one we died; for we of Yag are not immortal, though our lives are as the lives of 惑星s and 星座s. At last I alone was left, dreaming of old times の中で the 廃虚d 寺s of ジャングル-lost Khitai, worshipped as a god by an 古代の yellow-skinned race. Then （機の）カム Yara, 詩（を作る）d in dark knowledge 手渡すd 負かす／撃墜する through the days of 野蛮／未開, since before Atlantis sank.

'First he sat at my feet and learned 知恵. But he was not 満足させるd with what I taught him, for it was white 魔法, and he wished evil lore, to enslave kings and glut a fiendish ambition. I would teach him 非，不，無 of the 黒人／ボイコット secrets I had 伸び（る）d, through no wish of 地雷, through the eons.

'But his 知恵 was deeper than I had guessed; with guile gotten の中で the dusky tombs of dark Stygia, he 罠にかける me into divulging a secret I had not ーするつもりであるd to 明らかにする; and turning my own 力／強力にする upon me, he enslaved me. Ah, gods of Yag, my cup has been bitter since that hour!

'He brought me up from the lost ジャングルs of Khitai where the gray apes danced to the 麻薬を吸うs of the yellow priests, and offerings of fruit and ワイン heaped my broken altars. No more was I a god to kindly ジャングル-folk—I was slave to a devil in human form.'

Again 涙／ほころびs stole from the unseeing 注目する，もくろむs.

'He pent me in this tower which at his 命令（する） I built for him in a 選び出す／独身 night. By 解雇する／砲火／射撃 and rack he mastered me, and by strange unearthly 拷問s you would not understand. In agony I would long ago have taken my own life, if I could. But he kept me alive—mangled, blinded, and broken—to do his foul bidding. And for three hundred years I have done his bidding, from this marble couch, blackening my soul with cosmic sins, and staining my 知恵 with 罪，犯罪s, because I had no other choice. Yet not all my 古代の secrets has he ひったくるd from me, and my last gift shall be the sorcery of the 血 and the Jewel.

'For I feel the end of time draw 近づく. You are the 手渡す of 運命／宿命. I beg of you, take the gem you will find on yonder altar.'

Conan turned to the gold and ivory altar 示すd, and took up a 広大な／多数の／重要な 一連の会議、交渉／完成する jewel, （疑いを）晴らす as crimson 水晶; and he knew that this was the Heart of the Elephant.

'Now for the 広大な／多数の／重要な 魔法, the mighty 魔法, such as earth has not seen before, and shall not see again, through a million million of millenniums. By my life-血 I conjure it, by 血 born on the green breast of Yag, dreaming far-均衡を保った in the 広大な／多数の／重要な blue vastness of Space.

'Take your sword, man, and 削減（する） out my heart; then squeeze it so that the 血 will flow over the red 石／投石する. Then go you 負かす／撃墜する these stairs and enter the ebony 議会 where Yara sits wrapped in lotus-dreams of evil. Speak his 指名する and he will awaken. Then lay this gem before him, and say, "Yag-kosha gives you a last gift and a last enchantment." Then get you from the tower quickly; 恐れる not, your way shall be made （疑いを）晴らす. The life of man is not the life of Yag, nor is human death the death of Yag. Let me be 解放する／自由な of this cage of broken blind flesh, and I will once more be Yogah of Yag, morning-栄冠を与えるd and 向こうずねing, with wings to 飛行機で行く, and feet to dance, and 注目する，もくろむs to see, and 手渡すs to break.'

Uncertainly Conan approached, and Yag-kosha, or Yogah, as if sensing his 不確定, 示すd where he should strike. Conan 始める，決める his teeth and drove the sword 深い. 血 streamed over the blade and his 手渡す, and the monster started convulsively, then lay 支援する やめる still. Sure that life had fled, at least life as he understood it, Conan 始める，決める to work on his grisly 仕事 and quickly brought 前へ／外へ something that he felt must be the strange 存在's heart, though it 異なるd curiously from any he had ever seen. 持つ／拘留するing the pulsing 組織／臓器 over the 炎ing jewel, he 圧力（をかける）d it with both 手渡すs, and a rain of 血 fell on the 石／投石する. To his surprise, it did not run off, but soaked into the gem, as water is 吸収するd by a sponge.

持つ／拘留するing the jewel gingerly, he went out of the fantastic 議会 and （機の）カム upon the silver steps. He did not look 支援する; he instinctively felt that some transmutation was taking place in the 団体／死体 on the marble couch, and he その上の felt that it was of a sort not to be 証言，証人／目撃するd by human 注目する，もくろむs.

He の近くにd the ivory door behind him and without hesitation descended the silver steps. It did not occur to him to ignore the 指示／教授／教育s given him. He 停止（させる）d at an ebony door, in the 中心 of which was a grinning silver skull, and 押し進めるd it open. He looked into a 議会 of ebony and jet, and saw, on a 黒人／ボイコット silken couch, a tall, spare form reclining. Yara the priest and sorcerer lay before him, his 注目する，もくろむs open and dilated with the ガス／煙s of the yellow lotus, far-星／主役にするing, as if 直す／買収する，八百長をするd on 湾s and nighted abysses beyond human ken.

'Yara!' said Conan, like a 裁判官 pronouncing doom. 'Awaken!'

The 注目する，もくろむs （疑いを）晴らすd 即時に and became 冷淡な and cruel as a vulture's. The tall silken-覆う？ form 解除するd 築く, and towered gauntly above the Cimmerian.

'Dog!' His hiss was like the 発言する／表明する of a cobra. 'What do you here?'

Conan laid the jewel on the ebony （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する.

'He who sent this gem bade me say, "Yag-kosha gives you a last gift and a last enchantment."'

Yara recoiled, his dark 直面する ashy. The jewel was no longer 水晶-（疑いを）晴らす; its murky depths pulsed and throbbed, and curious smoky waves of changing color passed over its smooth surface. As if drawn hypnotically, Yara bent over the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and gripped the gem in his 手渡すs, 星／主役にするing into its 影をつくる／尾行するd depths, as if it were a magnet to draw the shuddering soul from his 団体／死体. And as Conan looked, he thought that his 注目する，もくろむs must be playing him tricks. For when Yara had risen up from his couch, the priest had seemed gigantically tall; yet now he saw that Yara's 長，率いる would scarcely come to his shoulder. He blinked, puzzled, and for the first time that night, 疑問d his own senses. Then with a shock he realized that the priest was 縮むing in stature—was growing smaller before his very gaze.

With a detached feeling he watched, as a man might watch a play; immersed in a feeling of overpowering unreality, the Cimmerian was no longer sure of his own 身元; he only knew that he was looking upon the 外部の 証拠 of the unseen play of 広大な Outer 軍隊s, beyond his understanding.

Now Yara was no bigger than a child; now like an 幼児 he sprawled on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, still しっかり掴むing the jewel. And now the sorcerer suddenly realized his 運命／宿命, and he sprang up, 解放（する）ing the gem. But still he dwindled, and Conan saw a tiny, pygmy 人物／姿／数字 急ぐing wildly about the ebony （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する-最高の，を越す, waving tiny 武器 and shrieking in a 発言する／表明する that was like the squeak of an insect.

Now he had shrunk until the 広大な／多数の／重要な jewel towered above him like a hill, and Conan saw him cover his 注目する，もくろむs with his 手渡すs, as if to 保護物，者 them from the glare, as he staggered about like a madman. Conan sensed that some unseen 磁石の 軍隊 was pulling Yara to the gem. Thrice he raced wildly about it in a 狭くするing circle, thrice he strove to turn and run out across the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する; then with a 叫び声をあげる that echoed faintly in the ears of the 選挙立会人, the priest threw up his 武器 and ran straight toward the 炎ing globe.

Bending の近くに, Conan saw Yara clamber up the smooth, curving surface, impossibly, like a man climbing a glass mountain. Now the priest stood on the 最高の，を越す, still with 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするing 武器, invoking what grisly 指名するs only the gods know. And suddenly he sank into the very heart of the jewel, as a man 沈むs into a sea, and Conan saw the smoky waves の近くに over his 長，率いる. Now he saw him in the crimson heart of the jewel, once more 水晶-（疑いを）晴らす, as a man sees a scene far away, tiny with 広大な／多数の／重要な distance. And into the heart （機の）カム a green, 向こうずねing winged 人物／姿／数字 with the 団体／死体 of a man and the 長，率いる of an elephant—no longer blind or 手足を不自由にする／（物事を）損なうd. Yara threw up his 武器 and fled as a madman 逃げるs, and on his heels （機の）カム the avenger. Then, like the bursting of a 泡, the 広大な／多数の／重要な jewel 消えるd in a rainbow burst of iridescent gleams, and the ebony （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する-最高の，を越す lay 明らかにする and 砂漠d—as 明らかにする, Conan somehow knew, as the marble couch in the 議会 above, where the 団体／死体 of that strange transcosmic 存在 called Yag-kosha and Yogah had lain.

The Cimmerian turned and fled from the 議会, 負かす／撃墜する the silver stairs. So mazed was he that it did not occur to him to escape from the tower by the way he had entered it. 負かす／撃墜する that winding, shadowy silver 井戸／弁護士席 he ran, and （機の）カム into a large 議会 at the foot of the gleaming stairs. There he 停止（させる）d for an instant; he had come into the room of 兵士s. He saw the glitter of their silver corselets, the sheen of their jeweled sword-hilts. They sat 低迷d at the 祝宴 board, their dusky plumes waving somberly above their drooping helmeted 長，率いるs; they lay の中で their dice and fallen goblets on the ワイン-stained lapis-lazuli 床に打ち倒す. And he knew that they were dead. The 約束 had been made, the word kept; whether sorcery or 魔法 or the 落ちるing 影をつくる／尾行する of 広大な／多数の／重要な green wings had stilled the revelry, Conan could not know, but his way had been made （疑いを）晴らす. And a silver door stood open, でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れるd in the whiteness of 夜明け.

Into the waving green gardens （機の）カム the Cimmerian, and as the 夜明け 勝利，勝つd blew upon him with the 冷静な／正味の fragrance of luxuriant growths, he started like a man waking from a dream. He turned 支援する uncertainly, to 星／主役にする at the cryptic tower he had just left. Was he bewitched and enchanted? Had he dreamed all that had seemed to have passed? As he looked he saw the gleaming tower sway against the crimson 夜明け, its jewel-crusted 縁 sparkling in the growing light, and 衝突，墜落 into 向こうずねing shards.

THE END

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