事業／計画（する） Gutenberg Australia a treasure-trove of literature treasure 設立する hidden with no 証拠 of 所有権

BROWSE the 場所／位置 for other 作品 by this author (and our other authors) or get HELP Reading, Downloading and 変えるing とじ込み／提出するs) or SEARCH the entire 場所／位置 with Google 場所／位置 Search

肩書を与える: The Lost Race
Author: Robert E. Howard
* A 事業／計画（する） Gutenberg of Australia eBook *
eBook No.: 0608001h.html
Language: English
Date first 地位，任命するd:  Oct 2006
Most 最近の update: Jan 2018

This eBook was produced by Richard Scott and updated by Roy Glashan.

事業／計画（する） Gutenberg of Australia eBooks are created from printed 版s
which are in the public domain in Australia, unless a copyright notice
is 含むd. We do NOT keep any eBooks in 同意／服従 with a particular
paper 版.

Copyright 法律s are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
copyright 法律s for your country before downloading or redistributing this
とじ込み／提出する.

This eBook is made 利用できる at no cost and with almost no 制限s
どれでも. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the 条件
of the 事業／計画（する） Gutenberg of Australia License which may be 見解（をとる）d online at
http://gutenberg.逮捕する.au/licence.html

To 接触する 事業／計画（する） Gutenberg of Australia go to http://gutenberg.逮捕する.au

GO TO 事業／計画（する） Gutenberg Australia HOME PAGE

The Lost Race

by

Robert E. Howard

First published in Weird Tales, January 1927

Weird Tales, January 1927

CORORUC ちらりと見ることd about him and 急いでd his pace. He was no coward, but he did not like the place. Tall trees rose all about, their sullen 支店s shutting out the sunlight. The 薄暗い 追跡する led in and out の中で them, いつかs skirting the 辛勝する／優位 of a ravine, where Cororuc could gaze 負かす／撃墜する at the treetops beneath. Occasionally, through a 不和 in the forest, he could see away to the forbidding hills that hinted of the 範囲s much さらに先に to the west, that were the mountains of Cornwall.

In those mountains the 強盗 長，指導者, Buruc the Cruel, was supposed to lurk, to descend upon such 犠牲者s as might pass that way. Cororuc 転換d his 支配する on his spear and quickened his step. His haste was 予定 not only to the menace of the 無法者s, but also to the fact that he wished once more to be in his native land. He had been on a secret 使節団 to the wild Cornish tribesmen; and though he had been more or いっそう少なく successful, he was impatient to be out of their inhospitable country. It had been a long, wearisome trip, and he still had nearly the whole of Britain to 横断する. He threw a ちらりと見ること of aversion about him. He longed for the pleasant woodlands, with scampering deer, and chirping birds, to which he was used. He longed for the tall white cliff, where the blue sea lapped merrily. The forest through which he was passing seemed uninhabited. There were no birds, no animals; nor had he seen a 調印する of human habitation.

His comrades still ぐずぐず残るd at the savage 法廷，裁判所 of the Cornish king, enjoying his 天然のまま 歓待, in no hurry to be away. But Cororuc was not content. So he had left them to follow at their leisure and had 始める，決める out alone.

Rather a 罰金 人物／姿／数字 of a man was Cororuc. Some six feet in 高さ, 堅固に though leanly built, he was, with gray 注目する，もくろむs, a pure Briton but not a pure Celt, his long yellow hair 明らかにする／漏らすing, in him as in all his race, a trace of Belgae.

He was 覆う？ in skillfully dressed deerskin, for the Celts had not yet perfected the coarse cloth which they made, and most of the race preferred the hides of deer.

He was 武装した with a long 屈服する of イチイ 支持を得ようと努めるd, made with no especial 技術 but an efficient 武器; a long bronze broadsword, with a buckskin sheath; a long bronze dagger and a small, 一連の会議、交渉／完成する 保護物，者, rimmed with a 禁止（する）d of bronze and covered with 堅い buffalo hide. A 天然のまま bronze helmet was on his 長，率いる. Faint 装置s were painted in woad on his 武器 and cheeks.

His beardless 直面する was of the highest type of Briton, （疑いを）晴らす, straightforward, the shrewd, practical 決意 of the Nordic mingling with the 無謀な courage and dreamy artistry of the Celt.

So Cororuc trod the forest path, warily, ready to 逃げる or fight, but preferring to do neither just then.

The 追跡する led away from the ravine, disappearing around a 広大な／多数の／重要な tree. And from the other 味方する of the tree, Cororuc heard sounds of 衝突. Gliding warily 今後, and wondering whether he should see some of the elves and dwarfs that were という評判の to haunt those woodlands, he peered around the 広大な／多数の／重要な tree.

A few feet from him he saw a strange tableau. 支援するd against another tree stood a large wolf, at bay, 血 trickling from gashes about his shoulder; while before him, crouching for a spring, the 軍人 saw a 広大な／多数の／重要な panther. Cororuc wondered at the 原因（となる） of the 戦う／戦い. Not often the lords of the forest met in 戦争. And he was puzzled by the snarls of the 広大な／多数の／重要な cat. Savage, 血-lusting, yet they held a strange 公式文書，認める of 恐れる; and the beast seemed hesitant to spring in.

Just why Cororuc chose to take the part of the wolf, he himself could not have said. Doubtless it was just the 無謀な chivalry of the Celt in him, an 賞賛 for the dauntless 態度 of the wolf against his far more powerful 敵. Be that as it may, Cororuc, characteristically forgetting his 屈服する and taking the more 無謀な course, drew his sword and leaped in 前線 of the panther. But he had no chance to use it. The panther, whose 神経 appeared to be already somewhat shaken, uttered a startled screech and disappeared の中で the trees so quickly that Cororuc wondered if he had really seen a panther. He turned to the wolf, wondering if it would leap upon him. It was watching him, half crouching; slowly it stepped away from the tree, and still watching him, 支援するd away a few yards, then turned and made off with a strange shambling gait. As the 軍人 watched it 消える into the forest, an uncanny feeling （機の）カム over him; he had seen many wolves, he had 追跡（する）d them and had been 追跡（する）d by them, but he had never seen such a wolf before.

He hesitated and then walked warily after the wolf, に引き続いて the 跡をつけるs that were plainly defined in the soft loam. He did not 急いで, 存在 単に content to follow the 跡をつけるs. After a short distance, he stopped short, the hairs on his neck seeming to bristle. Only the 跡をつけるs of the hind feet showed: the wolf was walking 築く.

He ちらりと見ることd about him. There was no sound; the forest was silent. He felt an impulse to turn and put as much 領土 between him and the mystery as possible, but his Celtic curiosity would not 許す it. He followed the 追跡する. And then it 中止するd altogether. Beneath a 広大な／多数の／重要な tree the 跡をつけるs 消えるd. Cororuc felt the 冷淡な sweat on his forehead. What 肉親，親類d of place was that forest? Was he 存在 led astray and eluded by some 残忍な, supernatural monster of the woodlands, who sought to ensnare him? And Cororuc 支援するd away, his sword 解除するd, his courage not 許すing him to run, but 大いに 願望（する）ing to do so. And so he （機の）カム again to the tree where he had first seen the wolf. The 追跡する he had followed led away from it in another direction and Cororuc took it up, almost running in his haste to get out of the 周辺 of a wolf who walked on two 脚s and then 消えるd in the 空気／公表する.

The 追跡する 負傷させる about more tediously than ever, appearing and disappearing within a dozen feet, but it was 井戸／弁護士席 for Cororuc that it did, for thus he heard the 発言する／表明するs of the men coming up the path before they saw him. He took to a tall tree that 支店d over the 追跡する, lying の近くに to the 広大な／多数の／重要な bole, along a wide-flung 支店.

Three men were coming 負かす／撃墜する the forest path.

One was a big, burly fellow, vastly over six feet in 高さ, with a long red 耐えるd and a 広大な／多数の／重要な mop of red hair. In contrast, his 注目する，もくろむs were a beady 黒人／ボイコット. He was dressed in deerskins, and 武装した with a 広大な／多数の／重要な sword.

Of the two others, one was a lanky, villainous-looking scoundrel, with only one 注目する，もくろむ, and the other was a small, wizened man, who squinted hideously with both beady 注目する，もくろむs.

Cororuc knew them, by descriptions the Cornishmen had made between 悪口を言う／悪態s, and it was in his excitement to get a better 見解（をとる） of the most villainous 殺害者 in Britain that he slipped from the tree 支店 and 急落（する），激減（する）d to the ground 直接／まっすぐに between them.

He was up on the instant, his sword out. He could 推定する／予想する no mercy; for he knew that the red-haired man was Buruc the Cruel, the 天罰（を下す） of Cornwall.

The 強盗 長，指導者 bellowed a foul 悪口を言う／悪態 and whipped out his 広大な／多数の／重要な sword. He 避けるd the Briton's furious thrust by a swift backward leap and then the 戦う／戦い was on. Buruc 急ぐd the 軍人 from the 前線, 努力する／競うing to （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 him 負かす／撃墜する by sheer 負わせる; while the lanky, one-注目する，もくろむd villain slipped around, trying to get behind him. The smaller man had 退却／保養地d to the 辛勝する／優位 of the forest. The 罰金 art of the 盗品故買者 was unknown to those 早期に swordsmen. It was 切り開く／タクシー／不正アクセス, 削除する, を刺す, the 十分な 負わせる of the arm behind each blow. The terrific blows 衝突，墜落ing on his 保護物，者 （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 Cororuc to the ground, and the lanky, one-注目する，もくろむd villain 急ぐd in to finish him. Cororuc spun about without rising, 削減（する） the 強盗's 脚s from under him and stabbed him as he fell, then threw himself to one 味方する and to his feet, in time to 避ける Buruc's sword. Again, 運動ing his 保護物，者 up to catch the 強盗's sword in 空中, he deflected it and whirled his own with all his 力／強力にする. Buruc's 長，率いる flew from his shoulders.

Then Cororuc, turning, saw the wizened 強盗 scurry into the forest. He raced after him, but the fellow had disappeared の中で the trees. Knowing the uselessness of 試みる／企てるing to 追求する him, Cororuc turned and raced 負かす／撃墜する the 追跡する. He did not know if there were more 強盗団の一味 in that direction, but he did know that if he 推定する／予想するd to get out of the forest at all, he would have to do it 速く. Without 疑問 the villain who had escaped would have all the other 強盗団の一味 out, and soon they would be （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing the woodlands for him.

After running for some distance 負かす／撃墜する the path and seeing no 調印する of any enemy, he stopped and climbed into the topmost 支店s of a tall tree that towered above its fellows.

On all 味方するs he seemed surrounded by a leafy ocean. To the west he could see the hills he had 避けるd. To the north, far in the distance, other hills rose; to the south the forest ran, an 無傷の sea. But to the east, far away, he could barely see the line that 示すd the thinning out of the forest into the fertile plains. Miles and miles away, he knew not how many, but it meant more pleasant travel, villages of men, people of his own race. He was surprized that he was able to see that far, but the tree in which he stood was a 巨大（な） of its 肉親，親類d.

Before he started to descend, he ちらりと見ることd about nearer at 手渡す. He could trace the faintly 示すd line of the 追跡する he had been に引き続いて, running away into the east; and could make out other 追跡するs 主要な into it, or away from it. Then a glint caught his 注目する，もくろむ. He 直す／買収する，八百長をするd his gaze on a glade some distance 負かす／撃墜する the 追跡する and saw, presently, a party of men enter and 消える. Here and there, on every 追跡する, he caught ちらりと見ることs of the glint of accouterments, the waving of foliage. So the squinting villain had already roused the 強盗団の一味. They were all around him; he was 事実上 surrounded.

A faintly heard burst of savage yells, from 支援する up the 追跡する, startled him. So, they had already thrown a 非常線，警戒線 about the place of the fight and had 設立する him gone. Had he not fled 速く, he would have been caught. He was outside the 非常線，警戒線, but the 強盗団の一味 were all about him. 速く he slipped from the tree and glided into the forest.

Then began the most exciting 追跡（する） Cororuc had ever engaged in; for he was the 追跡（する）d and men were the hunters. Gliding, slipping from bush to bush and from tree to tree, now running 速く, now crouching in a covert, Cororuc fled, ever eastward, not daring to turn 支援する lest he be driven さらに先に 支援する into the forest. At times he was 軍隊d to turn his course; in fact, he very seldom fled in a straight course, yet always he managed to work さらに先に eastward.

いつかs he crouched in bushes or lay along some leafy 支店, and saw 強盗団の一味 pass so の近くに to him that he could have touched them. Once or twice they sighted him and he fled, bounding over スピードを出す／記録につけるs and bushes, darting in and out の中で the trees; and always he eluded them.

It was in one of those headlong flights that he noticed he had entered a defile of small hills, of which he had been unaware, and looking 支援する over his shoulder, saw that his pursuers had 停止（させる）d, within 十分な sight. Without pausing to ruminate on so strange a thing, he darted around a 広大な／多数の／重要な 玉石, felt a vine or something catch his foot, and was thrown headlong. 同時に, something struck the 青年's 長，率いる, knocking him senseless.

When Cororuc 回復するd his senses, he 設立する that he was bound, 手渡す and foot. He was 存在 borne along, over rough ground. He looked about him. Men carried him on their shoulders, but such men as he had never seen before. 不十分な above four feet stood the tallest, and they were small of build and very dark of complexion. Their 注目する，もくろむs were 黒人／ボイコット; and most of them went stooped 今後, as if from a lifetime spent in crouching and hiding; peering furtively on all 味方するs. They were 武装した with small 屈服するs, arrows, spears and daggers, all pointed, not with crudely worked bronze but with flint and obsidian, of the finest workmanship. They were dressed in finely dressed hides of rabbits and other small animals, and a 肉親，親類d of coarse cloth; and many were tattooed from 長，率いる to foot in ocher and woad. There were perhaps twenty in all. What sort of men were they? Cororuc had never seen the like.

They were going 負かす／撃墜する a ravine, on both 味方するs of which 法外な cliffs rose. Presently they seemed to come to a blank 塀で囲む, where the ravine appeared to come to an abrupt stop. Here, at a word from one who seemed to be in 命令（する）, they 始める，決める the Briton 負かす／撃墜する, and 掴むing 持つ／拘留する of a large 玉石, drew it to one 味方する. A small cavern was exposed, seeming to 消える away into the earth; then the strange men 選ぶd up the Briton and moved 今後.

Cororuc's hair bristled at the thought of 存在 borne into that forbidding-looking 洞穴. What manner of men were they? In all Britain and Alba, in Cornwall or Ireland, Cororuc had never seen such men. Small dwarfish men, who dwelt in the earth. 冷淡な sweat broke out on the 青年's forehead. Surely they were the malevolent dwarfs of whom the Cornish people had spoken, who dwelt in their caverns by day, and by night sallied 前へ／外へ to steal and 燃やす dwellings, even 殺すing if the 適切な時期 arose! You will hear of them, even today, if you 旅行 in Cornwall.

The men, or elves, if such they were, bore him into the cavern, others entering and 製図／抽選 the 玉石 支援する into place. For a moment all was 不明瞭, and then たいまつs began to glow, away off. And at a shout they moved on. Other men of the 洞穴s （機の）カム 今後, with the たいまつs.

Cororuc looked about him. The たいまつs shed a vague glow over the scene. いつかs one, いつかs another 塀で囲む of the 洞穴 showed for an instant, and the Briton was ばく然と aware that they were covered with 絵s, crudely done, yet with a 確かな 技術 his own race could not equal. But always the roof remained unseen. Cororuc knew that the seemingly small cavern had 合併するd into a 洞穴 of surprizing size. Through the vague light of the たいまつs the strange people moved, （機の）カム and went, silently, like 影をつくる／尾行するs of the 薄暗い past.

He felt the cords of thongs that bound his feet 緩和するd. He was 解除するd upright.

"Walk straight ahead," said a 発言する／表明する, speaking the language of his own race, and he felt a spear point touch the 支援する of his neck.

And straight ahead he walked, feeling his sandals 捨てる on the 石／投石する 床に打ち倒す of the 洞穴, until they （機の）カム to a place where the 床に打ち倒す 攻撃するd 上向き. The pitch was 法外な and the 石／投石する was so slippery that Cororuc could not have climbed it alone. But his captors 押し進めるd him, and pulled him, and he saw that long, strong vines were strung from somewhere at the 最高の，を越す.

Those the strange men 掴むd, and を締めるing their feet against the slippery ascent, went up 速く. When their feet 設立する level surface again, the 洞穴 made a turn, and Cororuc 失敗d out into a 解雇する／砲火／射撃-lit scene that made him gasp.

The 洞穴 debouched into a cavern so 広大な as to be almost incredible. The mighty 塀で囲むs swept up into a 広大な／多数の／重要な arched roof that 消えるd in the 不明瞭. A level 床に打ち倒す lay between, and through it flowed a river; an 地下組織の river. From under one 塀で囲む it flowed to 消える silently under the other. An arched 石／投石する 橋（渡しをする）, seemingly of natural make, spanned the 現在の.

All around the 塀で囲むs of the 広大な／多数の／重要な cavern, which was 概略で circular, were smaller 洞穴s, and before each glowed a 解雇する／砲火／射撃. Higher up were other 洞穴s, 定期的に arranged, tier on tier. Surely human men could not have built such a city.

In and out の中で the 洞穴s, on the level 床に打ち倒す of the main cavern, people were going about what seemed daily 仕事s. Men were talking together and mending 武器s, some were fishing from the river; women were 補充するing 解雇する／砲火／射撃s, 準備するing 衣料品s; and altogether it might have been any other village in Britain, to 裁判官 from their 占領／職業s. But it all struck Cororuc as 極端に unreal; the strange place, the small, silent people, going about their 仕事s, the river flowing silently through it all.

Then they became aware of the 囚人 and flocked about him. There was 非，不，無 of the shouting, 乱用 and 侮辱／冷遇s, such as savages usually heap on their 捕虜s, as the small men drew about Cororuc, silently 注目する，もくろむing him with malevolent, wolfish 星／主役にするs. The 軍人 shuddered, in spite of himself.

But his captors 押し進めるd through the throng, 運動ing the Briton before them. の近くに to the bank of the river, they stopped and drew away from around him.

Two 広大な／多数の／重要な 解雇する／砲火／射撃s leaped and flickered in 前線 of him and there was something between them. He 焦点（を合わせる）d his gaze and presently made out the 反対する. A high 石／投石する seat, like a 王位; and in it seated an 老年の man, with a long white 耐えるd, silent, motionless, but with 黒人／ボイコット 注目する，もくろむs that gleamed like a wolf's.

The 古代の was 着せる／賦与するd in some 肉親，親類d of a 選び出す／独身, flowing 衣料品. One claw-like 手渡す 残り／休憩（する）d on the seat 近づく him, skinny, crooked fingers, with talons like a 強硬派's. The other 手渡す was hidden の中で his 衣料品s.

The firelight danced and flickered; now the old man stood out 明確に, his 麻薬中毒の, beak-like nose and long 耐えるd thrown into bold 救済; now he seemed to recede until he was invisible to the gaze of the Briton, except for his glittering 注目する，もくろむs.

"Speak, Briton!" The words （機の）カム suddenly, strong, （疑いを）晴らす, without a hint of age. "Speak, what would ye say?"

Cororuc, taken aback, stammered and said, "Why, why—what manner people are you? Why have you taken me 囚人? Are you elves?"

"We are Picts," was the 厳しい reply.

"Picts!" Cororuc had heard tales of those 古代の people from the Gaelic Britons; some said that they still lurked in the hills of Siluria, but—

"I have fought Picts in Caledonia," the Briton 抗議するd; "they are short but 大規模な and misshapen; not at all like you!"

"They are not true Picts," （機の）カム the 厳しい retort. "Look about you, Briton," with a wave of an arm, "you see the 残余s of a 消えるing race; a race that once 支配するd Britain from sea to sea."

The Briton 星／主役にするd, bewildered.

"Harken, Briton," the 発言する／表明する continued; "harken, barbarian, while I tell to you the tale of the lost race."

The firelight flickered and danced, throwing vague reflections on the 非常に高い 塀で囲むs and on the 急ぐing, silent 現在の.

The 古代の's 発言する／表明する echoed through the mighty cavern.

"Our people （機の）カム from the south. Over the islands, over the Inland Sea. Over the snow-topped mountains, where some remained, to 殺す any enemies who might follow. 負かす／撃墜する into the fertile plains we （機の）カム. Over all the land we spread. We became 豊富な and 繁栄する. Then two kings arose in the land, and he who 征服する／打ち勝つd, drove out the 征服する／打ち勝つd. So many of us made boats and 始める，決める sail for the far-off cliffs that gleamed white in the sunlight. We 設立する a fair land with fertile plains. We 設立する a race of red-haired barbarians, who dwelt in 洞穴s. Mighty 巨大（な）s, of 広大な／多数の／重要な 団体／死体s and small minds.

"We built our huts of wattle. We tilled the 国／地域. We （疑いを）晴らすd the forest. We drove the red-haired 巨大（な）s 支援する into the forest. さらに先に we drove them 支援する until at last they fled to the mountains of the west and the mountains of the north. We were rich. We were 繁栄する.

"Then," and his 発言する／表明する thrilled with 激怒（する） and hate, until it seemed to reverberate through the cavern, "then the Celts （機の）カム. From the 小島s of the west, in their rude coracles they （機の）カム. In the west they landed, but they were not 満足させるd with the west. They marched eastward and 掴むd the fertile plains. We fought. They were stronger. They were 猛烈な／残忍な 闘士，戦闘機s and they were 武装した with 武器s of bronze, 反して we had only 武器s of flint.

"We were driven out. They enslaved us. They drove us into the forest. Some of us fled into the mountains of the west. Many fled into the mountains of the north. There they mingled with the red-haired 巨大（な）s we drove out so long ago, and became a race of monstrous dwarfs, losing all the arts of peace and 伸び（る）ing only the ability to fight.

"But some of us swore that we would never leave the land we had fought for. But the Celts 圧力（をかける）d us. There were many, and more （機の）カム. So we took to caverns, to ravines, to 洞穴s. We, who had always dwelt in huts that let in much light, who had always tilled the 国／地域, we learned to dwell like beasts, in 洞穴s where no sunlight ever entered. 洞穴s we 設立する, of which this is the greatest; 洞穴s we made.

"You, Briton," the 発言する／表明する became a shriek and a long arm was outstretched in 告訴，告発, "you and your race! You have made a 解放する／自由な, 繁栄する nation into a race of earth-ネズミs! We who never fled, who dwelt in the 空気／公表する and the sunlight の近くに by the sea where 仲買人s （機の）カム, we must 逃げる like 追跡（する）d beasts and burrow like moles! But at night! Ah, then for our vengeance! Then we slip from our hiding places, ravines and 洞穴s, with たいまつ and dagger! Look, Briton!"

And に引き続いて the gesture, Cororuc saw a 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd 地位，任命する of some 肉親，親類d of very hard 支持を得ようと努めるd, 始める，決める in a niche in the 石／投石する 床に打ち倒す, の近くに to the bank. The 床に打ち倒す about the niche was charred as if by old 解雇する／砲火／射撃s.

Cororuc 星／主役にするd, uncomprehending. Indeed, he understood little of what had passed. That these people were even human, he was not at all 確かな . He had heard so much of them as "little people." Tales of their doings, their 憎悪 of the race of man, and their maliciousness flocked 支援する to him. Little he knew that he was gazing on one of the mysteries of the ages. That the tales which the 古代の Gaels told of the Picts, already warped, would become even more warped from age to age, to result in tales of elves, dwarfs, trolls and fairies, at first 受託するd and then 拒絶するd, entire, by the race of men, just as the Neanderthal monsters resulted in tales of goblins and ogres. But of that Cororuc neither knew nor cared, and the 古代の was speaking again.

"There, there, Briton," exulted he, pointing to the 地位，任命する, "there you shall 支払う／賃金! A scant 支払い（額） for the 負債 your race 借りがあるs 地雷, but to the fullest of your extent."

The old man's exultation would have been fiendish, except for a 確かな high 目的 in his 直面する. He was sincere. He believed that he was only taking just vengeance; and he seemed like some 広大な／多数の／重要な 愛国者 for a mighty, lost 原因（となる）.

"But I am a Briton!" stammered Cororuc. "It was not my people who drove your race into 追放する! They were Gaels, from Ireland. I am a Briton and my race （機の）カム from Gallia only a hundred years ago. We 征服する／打ち勝つd the Gaels and drove them into Erin, むちの跡s and Caledonia, even as they drove your race."

"No 事柄!" The 古代の 長，指導者 was on his feet. "A Celt is a Celt. Briton, or Gael, it makes no difference. Had it not been Gael, it would have been Briton. Every Celt who 落ちるs into our 手渡すs must 支払う／賃金, be it 軍人 or woman, babe or king. 掴む him and 貯蔵所d him to the 地位，任命する."

In an instant Cororuc was bound to the 地位，任命する, and he saw, with horror, the Picts piling firewood about his feet.

"And when you are 十分に 燃やすd, Briton," said the 古代の, "this dagger that has drunk the 血 of a hundred Britons, shall quench its かわき in yours."

"But never have I 害（を与える）d a Pict!" Cororuc gasped, struggling with his 社債s.

"You 支払う／賃金, not for what you did, but for what your race has done," answered the 古代の 厳しく. "井戸／弁護士席 do I remember the 行為s of the Celts when first they landed on Britain—the shrieks of the 虐殺（する）d, the 叫び声をあげるs of ravished girls, the smokes of 燃やすing villages, the plundering."

Cororuc felt his short neck-hairs bristle. When first the Celts landed on Britain! That was over five hundred years ago!

And his Celtic curiosity would not let him keep still, even at the 火刑／賭ける with the Picts 準備するing to light firewood piled about him.

"You could not remember that. That was ages ago."

The 古代の looked at him somberly. "And I am age-old. In my 青年 I was a witch-finder, and an old woman witch 悪口を言う／悪態d me as she writhed at the 火刑／賭ける. She said I should live until the last child of the Pictish race had passed. That I should see the once mighty nation go 負かす／撃墜する into oblivion and then—and only then—should I follow it. For she put upon me the 悪口を言う／悪態 of life everlasting."

Then his 発言する／表明する rose until it filled the cavern. "But the 悪口を言う／悪態 was nothing. Words can do no 害（を与える）, can do nothing, to a man. I live. A hundred 世代s have I seen come and go, and yet another hundred. What is time? The sun rises and 始める，決めるs, and another day has passed into oblivion. Men watch the sun and 始める，決める their lives by it. They league themselves on every 手渡す with time. They count the minutes that race them into eternity. Man 生き延びるd the centuries ere he began to reckon time. Time is man-made. Eternity is the work of the gods. In this cavern there is no such thing as time. There are no 星／主役にするs, no sun. Without is time; within is eternity. We count not time. Nothing 示すs the スピード違反 of the hours. The 青年s go 前へ／外へ. They see the sun, the 星／主役にするs. They reckon time. And they pass. I was a young man when I entered this cavern. I have never left it. As you reckon time, I may have dwelt here a thousand years; or an hour. When not banded by time, the soul, the mind, call it what you will, can 征服する／打ち勝つ the 団体／死体. And the wise men of the race, in my 青年, knew more than the outer world will ever learn. When I feel that my 団体／死体 begins to 弱める, I take the 魔法 草案, that is known only to me, of all the world. It does not give immortality; that is the work of the mind alone; but it 再構築するs the 団体／死体. The race of Picts 消える; they fade like the snow on the mountain. And when the last is gone, this dagger shall 解放する／自由な me from the world." Then in a swift change of トン, "Light the fagots!"

Cororuc's mind was 公正に／かなり reeling. He did not in the least understand what he had just heard. He was 肯定的な that he was going mad; and what he saw the next minute 保証するd him of it.

Through the throng （機の）カム a wolf; and he knew that it was the wolf whom he had 救助（する）d from the panther の近くに by the ravine in the forest!

Strange, how long ago and far away that seemed! Yes, it was the same wolf. That same strange, shambling gait. Then the thing stood 築く and raised its 前線 feet to its 長，率いる. What nameless horror was that?

Then the wolf's 長，率いる fell 支援する, 公表する／暴露するing a man's 直面する. The 直面する of a Pict; one of the first "werewolves." The man stepped out of the wolfskin and strode 今後, calling something. A Pict just starting to light the 支持を得ようと努めるd about the Briton's feet drew 支援する the たいまつ and hesitated.

The wolf-Pict stepped 今後 and began to speak to the 長，指導者, using Celtic, evidently for the 囚人's 利益. Cororuc was surprized to hear so many speak his language, not 反映するing upon its comparative 簡単, and the ability of the Picts.

"What is this?" asked the Pict who had played wolf. "A man is to be 燃やすd who should not be!"

"How?" exclaimed the old man ひどく, clutching his long 耐えるd. "Who are you to go against a custom of age-old antiquity?"

"I met a panther," answered the other, "and this Briton 危険d his life to save 地雷. Shall a Pict show ingratitude?"

And as the 古代の hesitated, evidently pulled one way by his fanatical lust for 復讐, and the other by his 平等に 猛烈な／残忍な racial pride, the Pict burst into a wild flight of oration, carried on in his own language. At last the 古代の 長，指導者 nodded.

"A Pict ever paid his 負債s," said he with impressive grandeur. "Never a Pict forgets. Unbind him. No Celt shall ever say that a Pict showed ingratitude."

Cororuc was 解放（する）d, and as, like a man in a daze, he tried to stammer his thanks, the 長，指導者 waved them aside.

"A Pict never forgets a 敵, ever remembers a friendly 行為," he replied.

"Come," murmured his Pictish friend, tugging at the Celt's arm.

He led the way into a 洞穴 主要な away from the main cavern. As they went, Cororuc looked 支援する, to see the 古代の 長，指導者 seated upon his 石／投石する 王位, his 注目する，もくろむs gleaming as he seemed to gaze 支援する through the lost glories of the ages; on each 手渡す the 解雇する／砲火／射撃s leaped and flickered. A 人物／姿／数字 of grandeur, the king of a lost race.

On and on Cororuc's guide led him. And at last they 現れるd and the Briton saw the starlit sky above him.

"In that way is a village of your tribesmen," said the Pict, pointing, "where you will find a welcome until you wish to （問題を）取り上げる your 旅行 もう一度."

And he 圧力（をかける）d gifts on the Celt; gifts of 衣料品s of cloth and finely worked deerskin, beaded belts, a 罰金 horn 屈服する with arrows skillfully tipped with obsidian. Gifts of food. His own 武器s were returned to him.

"But an instant," said the Briton, as the Pict turned to go. "I followed your 跡をつけるs in the forest. They 消えるd." There was a question in his 発言する／表明する.

The Pict laughed softly. "I leaped into the 支店s of the tree. Had you looked up, you would have seen me. If ever you wish a friend, you will ever find one in Berula, 長，指導者 の中で the Alban Picts."

He turned and 消えるd. And Cororuc strode through the moonlight toward the Celtic village.

THE END

This 場所／位置 is 十分な of FREE ebooks - 事業／計画（する） Gutenberg Australia