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Palos of the Dog 星/主役にする Pack
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肩書を与える: Palos of the Dog 星/主役にする Pack
Author: John Ulrich Giesy
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Palos of the Dog 星/主役にする Pack

by

John Ulrich Giesy

Cover Image

BOOK ONE IN THE JASON CROFT TRILOGY

Serialised in All-Story 週刊誌, July 13-August 10, 1918
Reprinted in Famous Fantastic Mysteries, October 1941

This unabridged e-調書をとる/予約する 版: 事業/計画(する) Gutenberg Australia, 2018



Cover Image

All-Story 週刊誌, July 13, 1918, with first
part of "Palos of the Dog 星/主役にする Pack"



Cover Image

Famous Fantastic Mysteries, October 1941,
with "Palos of the Dog 星/主役にする Pack"



TABLE OF CONTENTS



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS



I. — OUT OF THE STORM

IT was a 哀れな night which brought me first in touch with Jason Croft. There was a rain and enough 勝利,勝つd to send it in gusty dashes against the windows. It was the sort of a night when I always felt glad to cast off coat and shoes, don a 式服 and slippers, and sit 負かす/撃墜する with the curtains drawn, a lighted 麻薬を吸う, and the soft glow of a lamp 落ちるing across the pages of my 調書をとる/予約する. I am, I 収容する/認める, always strangely susceptible to the shut-in sense of 慰安 afforded by a 麻薬を吸う, the 安定した yellow of a light, and the 魔法 of printed lines at a time of elemental 騒動 and 強調する/ストレス.

It was with a feeling little short of and shoes, don a 式服 and slippers, and sit 負かす/撃墜する with the curtains drawn, a lighted 麻薬を吸う, and the soft glow of a lamp 落ちるing across the pages of my 調書をとる/予約する. I am, I 収容する/認める, always strangely susceptible to the shut-in sense of 慰安 afforded by a 麻薬を吸う, the 安定した yellow of a light, and the 魔法 of printed lines at a time of elemental 騒動 and 強調する/ストレス.

It was with a feeling little short of opened the outer door, to 明らかにする/漏らす the 人物/姿/数字 of an old woman, somewhat stooping, her 長,率いる covered by a shawl, which sloped wetly from her 長,率いる to either shoulder, and was caught and held beneath her chin by one bony 手渡す.

"Doctor," she began in a トン of almost frantic excitement. "Dr. Murray—come quick!"

Perhaps I may 同様に introduce my-self here as anywhere else. I am Dr. George Murray, still, as at the time of which I 令状, in 告発(する),告訴(する)/料金 of the 明言する/公表する Mental Hospital in a Western 明言する/公表する. The 会・原則 was not then very large, and since taking my position at the 長,率いる of its staff I had 設立する myself with かなりの time for my 熟考する/考慮する along the lines of human psychology and the さまざまな 力/強力にするs and aberrations of the mind.

Also, I may 同様に 自白する, as a first step toward a better understanding of my part in what followed, that for years before coming to the 亡命 I had delved more or いっそう少なく 深く,強烈に into such 熟考する/考慮するs, 捜し出すing to learn what I might 関心ing both the normal and the 異常な manifestations of mental 軍隊.

There is good reading and 高度に entertaining, I 保証する you, in the さまざまな philosophies 取引,協定ing with life, 宗教, and the several beliefs regarding the soul of man. I was therefore 公正に/かなり conversant not only with the Occidental creeds, but with those of the Oriental races 同様に. And I knew that 確かな of the Eastern sects had 前進するd in their knowledge far beyond our Western world. I had even 努力するd to make their knowledge 地雷, so far as I could, in 確かな lines at least, and had from time to time 適用するd some of-that knowledge to the 治療 of 事例/患者s in the 会・原則 of which I was the 長,率いる.

But I was not thinking of anything like that as I looked at the shawl-wrapped 直面する of the little bent woman, wrinkled and wry enough to have been a very part of the 嵐/襲撃する which (警官の)巡回区域,受持ち区域 about her and blew 支援する the skirts of my lounging-式服 and 冷気/寒がらせるd my ankles. I lived in a 住居 detached from the 亡命 buildings proper, but 非,不,無 the いっそう少なく a part of the 会・原則; and, as a 事柄 of fact, my 単独の thought was a feeling of surprise that any one should have come here to find me, and にもかかわらず the woman's manifest 明言する/公表する of 苦悩 and haste, a decided 不本意 to go with her quickly or さもなければ on such a night.

I rather temporized: "But, my dear woman, surely there are other doctors for you to call. I am really not in general practice. I am connected with the 亡命—"

"And that is the very 推論する/理由 I always said I would come for you if anything happened to Mr. Jason," she 削減(する) in.

"Whom?" I 問い合わせd, 利益/興味d in spite of myself at this plainly premeditated 需要・要求する for my service.

"Mr. Jason Croft, sir," she returned. "He's dead maybe—I dunno. But he's been that way for a week."

"Dead?" I exclaimed in almost an involuntary fashion, startled by her words.

"Dead, or asleep. I don't know which."

明確に there was something here I wasn't getting into fully, and my 利益/興味 was 誘発するd. The whole 事件/事情/状勢 seemed to be taking on an atmosphere of the peculiar, and it was 平等に (疑いを)晴らす that the gusty doorway was no place to talk.

"Come in," I said. "What is your 指名する?"

"Goss," said she, without making any move to enter. "I'm housekeeper for Mr. Jason, but I'll not be comin' in unless you say you'll go."

"Then come in without any more 延期する," I replied, making up my mind. I knew Croft in a way—by sight at least. He was a big fellow with light hair and a splendid physique, who had been pointed out to me すぐに after my arrival. Once I had even got の近くに enough to the man to look into his 注目する,もくろむs. They were gray, and held a peculiar something in their gaze which had 逮捕(する)d my attention at once. Jason Croft had the 注目する,もくろむs of a mystic—of a student of those very things I myself had 熟考する/考慮するd more or いっそう少なく.

They were the 注目する,もくろむs of one who saw deeper than the mere 客観的な surface of life, and the old woman's words at the last had waked up my 利益/興味 in no uncertain degree. I had decided I would go with her to Croft's house, which was not very far 負かす/撃墜する the street, and see, if I might, for myself just what had occurred to send her 急ぐing to me through the night.

I gave her a seat, said I would get on my shoes and coat, and went 支援する into the room I had left some moments before. There I dressed quickly for my 投機・賭ける into the 嵐/襲撃する, 追加するing a raincoat to my other attire, and was 支援する in the hall inside five minutes at most.

WE 始める,決める out at once, 現れるing into the 勝利,勝つd-driven rain, my long raincoat flapping about my 脚s and the little old woman tottering along at my 味方する. And what with the rain, the 勝利,勝つd, and the 予期しない 召喚するs, I 設立する myself in a rather strange でっちあげる,人を罪に陥れる of mind. The whole thing seemed more like some story I had read than a happening of real life, 特に so as my companion kept pace with me and uttered no sound save at times a rather rasping sort of breath. The whole thing became an almost eery experience as we 急いでd 負かす/撃墜する the 嵐/襲撃する-swept street.

Then we turned in at a gate and went up toward the large house I knew to be Croft's, and the little old woman 打ち明けるd a 激しい 前線 door and led me into a hall. It was a most unusual hall, too, its 塀で囲むs draped with rare tapestries and rugs, its 床に打ち倒す covered with other rugs such as I had never seen outside 私的な collections, lighted by a 大打撃を与えるd 厚かましさ/高級将校連 lantern through the pierced 味方するs of which the rays of an electric light shone 前へ/外へ.

Across the hall she scuttered, still in evident haste, and flung open a door to 許す me to enter a room which was plainly a 熟考する/考慮する. It was lined with 事例/患者s of 調書をとる/予約するs, furnished richly yet plainly with 議長,司会を務めるs, a 激しい desk, and a 幅の広い couch, on which I saw in one swift ちらりと見ること the stretched-out 団体/死体 of Croft himself.

He lay wholly relaxed, like one sunk in 激しい sleep, his eyelids の近くにd, his 武器 and 手渡すs dropped limply at his 味方するs, but with no 明白な 調印する of respiration animating his 深い 十分な chest.

Toward him the little woman gestured with a 手渡す, and stood watching, still with her wet shawl about her 長,率いる and shoulders, while I approached and bent over the man.

I touched his 直面する and 設立する it 冷淡な. My fingers sought his pulse and failed to find it at all. But his 団体/死体 was limp as I 解除するd an arm and dropped it. There was no rigor, yet there was no 証拠 of decay, such as must follow once rigor has passed away. I had brought 器具s with me as a 事柄 of course. I took them from my pocket and listened for some sound from the heart. I thought I 設立する the barest ぱたぱたする, but I wasn't sure. I 実験(する)d the 緊張 of the 注目する,もくろむ-ball under the の近くにd lids and 設立する it 会社/堅い. I straightened and turned to 直面する the little old woman.

"Dead, sir?" she asked in a sibilant whisper. Her 注目する,もくろむs were wide in their sockets. They 星/主役にするd into 地雷.

I shook my 長,率いる. "He doesn't appear to be dead," I replied. "See here, Mrs. Goss, what did you mean by 説 he せねばならない have been 支援する three days ago? What do you mean by 支援する?"

She fingered at her lips with one bony 手渡す. "Why—awake, sir," she said at last.

"Then why didn't you say so?" I snapped. "Why use the word 支援する?"

"Because, sir," she 滞るd, "that's what he says when he wakes up. '井戸/弁護士席, Mary, I'm 支援する.' I—I guess I just said it because he does, doctor. I was worrit when he didn't come 支援する—when he didn't wake up, to-night, an' it took to rainin'. I reckon maybe it was th' 嵐/襲撃する 脅すd me, sir."

Her words had, however, given me a 手がかり(を与える). "He's been like this before, then?"

"Yes, sir. But never more than four days without telling me he would. Th' first time was months ago—but it's been gettin' oftener and oftener, till now all his sleeps are like this. He told me not to be 脅すd—an' to—to never bother about him—to— to just let him alone; but—I guess I was 脅すd tonight, when it begun to 嵐/襲撃する an' him layin' there like that. It was like havin' a 死体 in the house."

I began to 伸び(る) a fuller 評価 of the 状況/情勢. I myself had seen people in a cataleptic 条件, had even induced the 明言する/公表する in 支配するs myself, and it appeared to me that Jason Croft was in a 類似の 明言する/公表する, no 事柄 how induced.

"What does your 雇用者 do?" I asked.

"He 熟考する/考慮するs, sir—just 熟考する/考慮するs things like that." Mrs. Goss gestured at the 事例/患者s of 調書をとる/予約するs. "He don't have to work, you know. His uncle left him rich."

I followed her arm as she swept it about the glass-前線d 事例/患者s. I brought my ちらりと見ることs 支援する to the desk in the 中心 of the room, between the woman and myself as we stood. Upon it I 秘かに調査するd another 容積/容量 lying open. It was unlike any 調書をとる/予約する I had ever seen, yellowed with age; in fact not a 調書をとる/予約する at all, but a 一連の parchment pages tied together with bits of silken cord.

I took the thing up and 設立する the open pages covered with ごくわずかの 公式文書,認めるs in English although the 初めの was plainly in Sanskrit, an 古代の language I had seen before, but was wholly unable to read. The notations, however, threw some light into my mind, and as I read them I forgot the 嵐/襲撃する, the little old woman—everything save what I read and the 耐えるing it held on the man behind me on the couch. I felt sure they had been written by his own 手渡す, and they bore on the 支配する of astral 発射/推定— the ability of the soul to separate itself, or be separated, from the physical 団体/死体 and return to its fleshy husk again at will.

I finished the open pages and turned to others. The notations were still 現在の wherever I looked. At last I turned to the very 前線 and 設立する that the manuscript was by Ahmid, an occult adept of Hindustan, who lived somewhere in the second or third century of the Christian 時代.

With a strange sensation I laid 負かす/撃墜する the silk-bound pages. They were very, very old. Over a thousand years had come and passed since they were written by the dead Ahmid's 手渡す. Yet I had held them to-night, and I felt sure Jason Croft had held them often— read them and understood them, and that the 条件 in which I 設立する him this night was in some way subtly connected with their 蓄える/店 of 古代の lore. And suddenly I sensed the 嵐/襲撃する and the little old woman and the silent 団体/死体 of the man at my 支援する again, with a feeling of something uncanny in the whole 事件/事情/状勢.

"You can do nothing for him?" the woman broke my introspection.

I looked up and into her 注目する,もくろむs, dark and 有望な and 尋問 as she stood still clutching her damp shawl.

"I'm not so sure of that," I said. "But—Mr. Croft's 条件 is rather—peculiar. Whatever I do will 要求する 静かな—that I am alone with him for some time. I think if I can be left here with him for かもしれない an hour, I can bring him 支援する."

I paused 突然の. I had used the woman's former words almost. And I saw she noticed the fact, for a slight smile gathered on her faded lips. She nodded.

"You'll bring him 支援する," she said. "Mind you, doctor, th' trouble is with Mr. Jason's 長,率いる, I've been thinking. 'Twas for that I've been telling myself I would come for you, if he forgot to come 支援する some time, like I've been afraid he would."

"You did やめる 権利," I agreed. "But—the trouble is not with Mr. Croft's mind. In fact, Mrs. Goss, I believe he is a very learned man. How long have you known him, may I ask?"

"Ever since he was a boy, except when he was travelin'," she returned.

"He has traveled?" I took her up.

"Yes, sir, a lot. Me an' my husband kept up th' place while he was gone."

"I see," I said. "And now if you will let me try what I can do."

"Yes, sir. I'll 始める,決める out in th' hall," she agreed, and turned in her 早い putter from the room.

Left alone, I took a 議長,司会を務める, dragged it to the 味方する of the couch, and 熟考する/考慮するd my man.

So far as I could 裁判官, he was at least six feet tall, and 対応して built. His hair was 激しい, almost tawny, and, as I knew, his 注目する,もくろむs were gray. The whole contour of his 長,率いる and features showed what appeared to me remarkable 知能 and strength, the nose finely chiseled, the mouth 井戸/弁護士席-formed and 会社/堅い, the chin unmistakably strong. That Croft was an unusual character I felt more and more as I sat there. His very 条件, which, from what I had learned from the little old woman and his own notation on the 利ざやs of Ahmid's writings, I believed self-induced, would certainly 示す that. But my own years of 熟考する/考慮する had taught me no little of hypnosis, suggestion, and the さまざまな 段階s of the subconscious mind. I had developed no little 力/強力にする with さまざまな 患者s, or "支配するs," as a hypnotist calls them, who from time to time had submitted themselves to my 支配(する)/統制する. Wherefore I felt that I knew about what to do to waken the sleeping 客観的な mind of the man on the couch. I had asked for an hour, and the time had been 認めるd. It behooved me to get to work.

I began. I concentrated my mind to the 除外 of all else upon my 仕事, sending a mental call to the soul of Jason Croft, wherever it might be, 命令(する)ing it to return to the 団体/死体 it had 一時的に quitted of its own volition, and once more animate it to a conscious life. I forgot the strangeness of the 状況/情勢, the 動揺させる of the rain against the glass panes of the room. And after a time I began speaking to the form beside which I sat as to a conscious person, 堅固に repeating over and over my 需要・要求する for the presence of Jason Croft—需要・要求するing it, nor letting myself 疑問 for a 選び出す/独身 instant that the 需要・要求する would be given 注意する in time.

It was a 神経-racking 仕事. In the end it (機の)カム to seem that I sat there and struggled against some intangible, invisible 軍隊 which resisted all my 成果/努力s. I look 支援する now on the time spent there that night as an ordeal such as I never 願望(する) to again 試みる/企てる. But I did not desist. I had asked for an hour, because when I asked I never dreamed the thing I had 試みる/企てるd, the thing which is yet to be 関係のある, 関心ing the weird, yet true narrative, as I fully believe, of Jason Croft.

I had then no conception of how far his venturesome spirit had plumbed the universe. If I thought of him at all, it was 単に as some experimenter who might have need of help rather than as an adept of adepts, who had transcended all human 業績/成就s in his line of 研究 and thought.

In my own blindness I had fancied that his overlong period in his cataleptic trance might even be 予定 to some 無(不)能 on his part to reanimate his own 団体/死体, after leaving it where it lay. I thought of myself as かもしれない 補佐官ing him in the 仕事 by what I would do in the time for which I had asked.

But the hour ran away, and another, and still the 団体/死体 over which I worked lay as it had lain at first, nor gave any 調印する of any 影響 of my concentrated will. It had been の近くに to ten when I (機の)カム to the house. It was three in the morning when I 伸び(る)d my first reward. And when it (機の)カム, it was so sudden that I 現実に started 支援する in my 議長,司会を務める and sat clutching its carved 武器, and 星/主役にするing in something almost like horror, I think, at first at the 団体/死体 which had 解除するd itself to a sitting posture on the couch.

And I know that when the man said, "So you are the one who called me 支援する?" I 現実に gasped before I answered:

"Yes."

Croft fastened his 注目する,もくろむs upon me in a 安定した regard. "You are Dr. Murray, from the Mental Hospital, are you not?" he went on.

"Ye-es," I stammered again. Mrs. Goss had said his sleep was like having a 死体 about the house. I 設立する myself thinking this was nearly as though a 死体 should rise up and speak.

But he nodded, with the barest smile on his lips. "Only one 熟知させるd with the nature of my 条件 could have roused me," he said. "However, you were engaging in a dangerous 請け負うing, friend."

"Dangerous for you, you mean," I 再結合させるd. "Do you know you have lain cataleptic for something like a week?"

"Yes." He nodded again. "But I was 占領するd on a most important 使節団."

"占領するd!" I exclaimed. "You mean you were engaged in some 請け負うing while you lay there?" I pointed to the couch where he sat.

"Yes." Once more he smiled.

井戸/弁護士席, the man was sane. In fact, it seemed to me in those first few moments that he was far saner than I, far いっそう少なく excited, far いっそう少なく 影響する/感情d by the whole 商売/仕事 from the-first to last. In fact, he seemed やめる 静める and a trifle amused, while I was admittedly upset. And my very knowledge 伸び(る)d by years of 熟考する/考慮する told me he was sane, that his was a perfectly balanced brain. There was nothing about him to even hint at anything else, save his 驚くべき/特命の/臨時の words. In the end I continued with a question:

"Where?"

"On the 惑星 Palos, one of the Dog 星/主役にする pack—a 星/主役にする in the system of the sun Sirius," he replied.

"And you mean you have just returned from—there?" I 滞るd over the last word 不正に. My brain seemed わずかに dazed at the astounding 声明 he had made—that I—I had called him from a 惑星 beyond the ken of the naked 注目する,もくろむ, known only to those who 熟考する/考慮するd the heavens with powerful glasses—さらに先に away than any 星/主役にする of our own earthly system of 惑星s. The thing made my senses reel.

And he seemed to sense my emotions, because he went on in a softly modulated トン: "Do not think me in any way 類似の to those unfortunates under your 告発(する),告訴(する)/料金. As an alienist you must know the truth of that, just as you knew that my trance-like sleep was wholly self-induced."

"I gathered that from the 容積/容量 on your desk," I explained.

He ちらりと見ることd toward Ahmid's work. "You read the Sanskrit?" he 問い合わせd.

I shook my 長,率いる. "No, I read the ごくわずかの 公式文書,認めるs."

"I see. Who called you here?"

I explained.

Croft frowned. "I cannot 非難する her; she is a faithful soul," he 発言/述べるd. "I can comprehend her worry. I have explained to her as fully as I dared, but—she does not understand, and I remained away longer than I really ーするつもりであるd, to tell the truth. However, now that you can 安心させる her, I must ask you to excuse me, doctor, for a while. Come to me in about twelve hours and I will be here to 会合,会う you and explain in part at least."

He stretched himself out once more on the couch.

"Wait!" I cried. "What are you going to do?"

"I am going 支援する to Palos," he told me with a smile.

"But—will your 団体/死体 stand the 緊張する?" I questioned, beginning to 疑問 his sanity after all.

He met my 反対 with another smile. "I have 熟考する/考慮するd that 井戸/弁護士席 before I began these little excursions of 地雷. 会合,会う me at, say, four o'clock this afternoon." He appeared to relax, sighed softly, and sank again into his trance.

I sprang up and stood looking 負かす/撃墜する upon him. I hardly knew what to do. I began pacing the 床に打ち倒す. Finally I gave my attention to the 調書をとる/予約するs in the 事例/患者s which lined the room. They 構成するd the most wonderful collection of 作品 on the occult ever gathered within four 塀で囲むs. They helped me to (不足などを)補う my mind in the end. I decided to take Jason Croft at his word and keep the 約束/交戦 tor the coming afternoon. I went to the 熟考する/考慮する door and 始める,決める it open. The little old woman sat 密談する/(身体を)寄せ集めるd on a 議長,司会を務める. At first I thought she slept, but almost at once I 設立する her 有望な 注目する,もくろむs upon me, and she started to her feet.

"He (機の)カム 支援する—I—I heard him speaking," she began in a husky whisper. "He—is he all 権利?"

"All 権利," I replied. "But he is asleep again now and has 約束d to see me this afternoon at four. In the 合間 do not 試みる/企てる to 乱す him in any way, Mrs. Goss."

She nodded. Suddenly she seemed wholly 満足させるd. "I won't, sir," she gave her 約束. "I was worrit—worrit-that was all."

"You need not worry any more," I sought to 安心させる her. "I fancy Mr. Croft is able to take care of himself."

And, oddly enough, I 設立する myself believing my own words as I went 負かす/撃墜する the steps and turned toward my own home to get what sleep I could—since, to tell the truth, I felt utterly exhausted after my 成果/努力s to call Jason Croft 支援する from—the 惑星 of, a distant sun.


II. — A COUNTRY IN THE CLOUDS

AND yet when I woke in the morning and went about my 義務s at the 亡命, I 自白する the events of the night before seemed rather unreal. I began to half fancy myself the 犠牲者 of some sort of hoax. I did not 疑問 that Croft had been up to some psychic 実験 when his old servant, Mrs. Goss, had become alarmed and brought me into the 状況/情勢. But—I felt inclined to believe that after I had waked him from his self-induced trance he had deliberately turned the conversation into a channel which would give me a mental 揺さぶる before he had calmly gone 支援する to sleep. I knew something of the occult, of course, but I was hardly ready to credit the rather lurid 声明 he had made. Before noon I was smiling at myself, and 決定するing to keep my 任命 with him for the afternoon, and show him from the start that I was not so 完全にする a fool as I had seemed.

Hence it was with a 解決する not to be swept off my feet by any unusual 捏造/製作 of his 工夫するing that I approached his house at about three o'clock and turned in from the street to his porch.

He sat there, in a wicker 議長,司会を務める, smoking an excellent cigar. No 疑問 but he had 回復するd 完全に from the 明言する/公表する in which I had beheld him first. He rose as I 機動力のある the steps and put out a 手渡す.

"Ah, Dr. Murray," he 迎える/歓迎するd me with a smile. "I have been waiting your coming. Let me 申し込む/申し出 you a 議長,司会を務める and a smoke while we talk."

We shook 手渡すs, and then I sat 負かす/撃墜する and lighted the mate of the cigar Croft held between his strong, even teeth. Then, as I threw away the match, I looked straight into his 注目する,もくろむs. And, believe me or not, it was as though the man read my thoughts.

He shook his 長,率いる. "I really told you the truth, Murray, you know," he said.

"About—Palos?" I smiled.

He nodded. "Yes, I was really there, and—I went 支援する after we had our talk."

"Rather quick work," I 発言/述べるd, and puffed out some smoke. "Have you 人物/姿/数字d out how long it takes even light to reach the earth from that distant 星/主役にする, Mr. Croft?"

"Light?" He half-knit his brows, then suddenly laughed without sound. "Oh, I see—you 言及する to the equation of time?"

"井戸/弁護士席, yes. The distance is かなりの, as you must 収容する/認める."

He shook his 長,率いる. "How long does it take you to think of Palos— of Sirius?" he asked.

"Not long," I replied.

He leaned 支援する in his seat. "Murray," he went on, 星/主役にするing straight before him, "time is but the 手段 of consciousness. Outside the atmospheric envelopes of the 惑星s—outside the 限界 of, 井戸/弁護士席—say—human thought—time 中止するs to 存在する. And—if between the 惑星s there is no time beyond the depths of their surrounding-atmosphere—how long will it take to go from here to there?"

I 星/主役にするd. His 声明 was startling, at least.

"You mean that time is a mental conception?" I managed at last.

"Time is a mental 手段 of a (期間が)わたる of eternity," he said slowly. "Past planetary atmospheres, eternity alone 存在するs. In eternity there is no time. Hence, I cannot use what is not, either in going to or returning from that 惑星 I have 指名するd. You 収容する/認める you can think 即時に of Palos. I 主張する that I can think myself, carry my astral consciousness 即時に to Palos. Do you see?"

I saw what he meant, of course, and I 示すd as much by a nod.

"But," I 反対するd, "you told me you had to return to Palos. Now you tell me you had 事業/計画(する)d your astral 団体/死体 to that 星/主役にする. What could you do there in the astral 明言する/公表する?"

He smiled. "Very little. I know. I have passed through that 行う/開催する/段階. As a 事柄 of fact, I have a 団体/死体 there now."

"You have what—" As I remember, I (機の)カム half out of my 議長,司会を務める, and then sank 支援する. The thing 攻撃する,衝突する me as nothing else in my whole life had done before. His 静める avowal was unbelievable on its 直面する— impossible—a man with a 二塁打 corporeal 存在 on two separate 惑星s at one and the same time.

"A 団体/死体—a living, breathing 団体/死体," he repeated his 宣言. "Oh, man, I know it 倒すs all human conceptions of life, but—last night you asked me a question 関心ing this 団体/死体 of 地雷—and I told you I knew what I was doing. And I know you must have 熟考する/考慮するd some of the teachings of the higher 教団—the esoteric philosophies, if you will. And therefore you must have read of the ability of a spirit to dispossess a 団体/死体 of its 初めの spiritual tenant and 占領する its place—"

"Obsession," I interrupted. "You are practicing that—up there?"

"No. I've gone さらに先に than that. I took this 団体/死体 when its 初めの occupant was done with it," he said. "Murray—wait—let me explain. I'm a 内科医 like yourself."

"You?" I exclaimed, 非,不,無 too politely, I 恐れる, in the 直面する of this 付加 surprise.

Croft's lips twitched. He seemed to understand and yet be わずかに amused.

"Yes. That's why I was able to 保証する you I knew how long the 団体/死体 I 占領する now could 耐える a cataleptic 条件 last night. I am a 卒業生(する) of 急ぐ, and I fancy, fully qualified to speak 関心ing the 団体/死体's needs. And—" He paused a moment, then 再開するd: "率直に, Murray, I find myself 直面するd by what I think I may call the strangest position a man was ever called, upon to 直面する. Last night I 認めるd in you one who had probably far from a minor understanding of mental and spiritual 軍隊s. Your ability to 軍隊 my return at a time when I was さもなければ engaged showed me your understanding. For that very 推論する/理由 I asked you to, return to me here to-day. I would like to talk to you—a brother 内科医; to tell you a story—my story, 供給するd you would care to hear it. Most men would call me insane. Something tells me you, who 充てる your time to the care of the insane, will not."

He paused and sat once more 星/主役にするing across the sunlit landscape which, after the 嵐/襲撃する of the night before, was glowing and fresh. After a time he turned his 注目する,もくろむs and looked into 地雷 with something almost an 控訴,上告, in his ちらりと見ること. In 返答, I nodded and settled myself in my 議長,司会を務める.

"I'm not going to 否定する a natural curiosity. Dr. Croft," I said, since, to tell the 絶対の truth, I was anxious to get at the inward facts underlying the entire peculiar 事件/事情/状勢.

"Then," he said in an almost eager fashion, "I shall tell you— the whole thing, I think. Murray, when Shakespeare wrote into one of his character's mouth the 声明 that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of, he told the truth. Mankind in the main is like a (人が)群がる 嵐/襲撃するing the doors of a show-house sold out to capacity and unable to 融通する anyone else. Mankind is the (人が)群がる in the ロビー, shut out from the real sights 支援する of the 隠すing doors which 妨げる/法廷,弁護士業 their perception of what goes on within. Mankind stands only on the fringe of life, does not dream of the truth. Only here and there is there one who knows. It was one such who first directed my mind toward the truth.

"Murray"—he paused and once more fastened me with his gaze—"I am going to tell that truth to you... But first—in order that you may understand, and believe if you can, I shall tell you something of myself."

That telling took a long time—hours, the 残り/休憩(する) of the afternoon, and most of the に引き続いて night. It was a strange tale, an unbelievably strange story. And yet, in 見解(をとる) of what happened inside that same week, I am not sure, after all, but it was the truth, just as Croft 申し立てられた/疑わしい. What, when all is said, do any of us know beyond the 一連の会議、交渉/完成する of our own human life? What do we know of those things which may 嘘(をつく) outside the 範囲 of our mental 見通し? There must be things in heaven and earth not dreamt of in the philosophy of Horatio. Here is the tale.

Jason Croft was born in New Jersey, but brought West at an 早期に age by his parents, who had become 変えるs to a 確かな 約束. 権利 there, it seems to me, may have been laid the 創立/基礎 of Croft's 利益/興味 in the occult in later life, since that 約束 含む/封じ込めるs かもしれない a greater number of 平行のs to occult teachings than any of the Occidental creeds. Of course, in all 宗教s there is the germ of truth. Were it not, they would be dead dogmas rather than living sects. But in this church, which has grown strong in the Western 明言する/公表するs, I think there is a closer approach to the Eastern theory of soul and spiritual life.

Be that as it may, Croft grew to manhood in the very 明言する/公表する and town where I was now 雇うd, and in the home on the porch of which we sat. He elected 薬/医学 as a career. He went to Chicago and put in his first three years. The second year his mother died, and-a year later his father. He returned on each occasion, and went 支援する to his 熟考する/考慮するs after the obsequies were done. In his fourth year he met a man 指名するd Gatua Kahaun, 運命にあるd, as it seems, to change the entire course of his life.

Gatua Kahaun was a Hindu, a member of an Eastern brotherhood, come to the 部隊d 明言する/公表するs to 熟考する/考慮する the 宗教s of the West. One can see how 自然に he took up with Croft, who had been raised in one of those 宗教s. The two became friends. From what Croft told me, the Hindu was a man of 示すd attainments, 井戸/弁護士席 詩(を作る)d in the Oriental creeds. When Croft (機の)カム West after his 卒業, Gatua Kahaun was his companion and stopped at his home, which had been kept up by Mrs. Goss and her husband, then still alive. The two lived there together for some weeks, and the Hindu taught Croft the rudiments at least of the occult philosophy of life.

Then, with little 警告. Croft was 割り当てるd on a 使節団 to Australia by his church. He got a letter from "Box B," as he told me, smiling, knowing I would understand. The church of which he was a member has a custom of sending their members about the world as missionaries of their 約束, to spread its doctrines and 勝利,勝つ 変えるs to their 階級s. Croft went, though even then he had begun to see the similarity between his own lifelong creed and the 計画/陰謀 of things held before him by Gatua Kahaun.

For over two years he did not see the Hindu, though he kept up his 熟考する/考慮するs of the occult, to which he seemed inclined by a natural bent. Then, just as he was nearly finished with his "使節団," what should happen but that, walking the streets of Melbourne, he bumped into Gatua Kahaun.

The two men 新たにするd their 知識 at once. Gatua Kahaun taught Croft Hindustani and the mysteries of the Sanskrit tongue. When Croft's 使節団 was finished he 勝つ/広く一帯に広がるd upon him to visit India before returning home.

Croft went. Through Gatua's 影響(力) he was 認める to the man's own brotherhood. He forgot his former 反対するs and 目的(とする)s in life in the new world of thought which opened up before his mental 注目する,もくろむs. He 熟考する/考慮するd and thought. He learned the secrets of the 磁石の or enveloping 団体/死体 of the soul, and after a time he became 納得させるd that by constant 使用/適用 to the major 目的 the spirit could break the 社債s of the 構成要素 団体/死体 without going through the change which men call death. He (機の)カム to believe that beyond the 現象 of astral 発射/推定—the sending of the conscious ego about the earthly sphere— 発射/推定s might be made beyond the 惑星, with only the universe to 限界 the 範囲 of the flight.

At times he lay 星/主役にするing at the starry 丸天井 of the heavens with a vague longing within him to put the thing to the 実験(する). And always there was one 星/主役にする which seemed to call him, to beckon to him, to draw his spirit toward it as a magnet may draw a fleck of アイロンをかける. That was the Dog 星/主役にする, Sirius, known to 天文学者s as the sun of another planetary system like our own.

合間 his 熟考する/考慮するs went on. He learned that 事柄 is the reflex of spirit; that no blade of grass, no 化学製品 原子 存在するs save as the envelope of an essence which cannot and does not die. He (機の)カム to see that nature is no more than a realm of 軍隊, 構成するing light, heat, magnetism, 化学製品 affinity, aura, essence, and all the imponderables which go to produce the さまざまな forms of 動議 as 表現s of the ocean of 軍隊, so that 動議 comes to be no more than 軍隊 refracted through the さまざまな forms of 存在, from the lowest to the highest, as a ray of light is 分裂(する) into the seven 最初の/主要な colors by a prism, each 存在 different in itself, yet each but an integral part of the 初めの ray.

He (機の)カム to comprehend that all 行う/開催する/段階s of 存在 are but 行う/開催する/段階s and nothing more, and that mind, spirit, is the highest form of life 軍隊—the true essence—manifesting through 構成要素 means, yet 独立した・無所属 of them in itself. So only, he argued, was life after death a possible thing. And so, he 推論する/理由d その上の, could the mystery be solved, there was no real 推論する/理由 why the spirit could not be 始める,決める 解放する/自由な to roam and return to the 団体/死体 at will. If that were true, it seemed to him that the spirit could return from such excursions, bringing with it a conscious recollection of the place where it had been.

Then once more he was called home by a thing which seems like no more than a その上の step in the course of what mortals call 運命/宿命. His father's brother died. He was a bachelor. He left Croft 十分な wealth to 供給する for his every need. Croft decided to 追求する his 熟考する/考慮するs at home. He had 伸び(る)d all India could give him. Indeed, he had rather startled even Gatua Kahaun by some of the theories he had deduced.

He began work at once. He 在庫/株d the library where I had 設立する him the night before with everything on the 支配する he could find. And the more he 熟考する/考慮するd, the more 堅固に did he become 納得させるd that ordinary astral 発射/推定 was but the first step in developing the spirit's 力/強力にする—that it was akin to the first step of an 幼児 learning to walk, and that, if 信用/信任 were 来たるべき, if the will to dare the 実験 were 十分に strong—then he could 遂行する the thing of which he dreamed.

He began to 実験, sending his astral consciousness here and there. He 中心d on that one 段階 of his knowledge alone. He roamed the earth at will. He perfected his ability to bring 支援する from such excursions a vivid recollection of all he had seen. So at last he was ready for the 広大な/多数の/重要な 実験. Yet in the end he made it on impulse rather than at any preselected time.

He sat one evening on his porch. Over the eastern mountains which hem in the valley the 十分な moon was rising in a 炎 of mellow glory. Its rays caught the sleeping surface of a lake which lies 近づく our little city, touching each rippling wavelet until they seemed made of molten silver. The lights of the town itself were like fireflies twinkling まっただ中に the trees. The mountains, 煙霧d somewhat in a silvery もや 構内/化合物d of the moon-rays and distance, seemed to him no more than the figments of a fairy-tale or a dream.

Everything was 静かな. Mrs. Goss, now a 未亡人, had gone to bed, and Croft had 簡単に been enjoying the soft 空気/公表する and a cigar. Suddenly, as the moon appeared to leap 解放する/自由な of the mountains, it 示唆するd a thought of a spirit 始める,決める 解放する/自由な and rising above the 構成要素 爆撃する of 存在 to his mind.

He sat watching the golden wheel radiant with 反映するd light, and after a time he asked himself why he should not try the 広大な/多数の/重要な adventure without a longer 延期する. He was the last of his race. No one depended upon him. Should he fail, they would 単に find his 団体/死体 in the 議長,司会を務める. Should he 後継する, he would have won his ambition and placed himself in a position to learn of things which had heretofore baffled man.

He decided to try it there and then. Knocking the ash from his cigar, he took one last, long, かもしれない 別れの(言葉,会) whiff, and laid it 負かす/撃墜する on the 幅の広い arm of his 議長,司会を務める. Then, 召喚するing all the potent 力/強力にする of his will, he 直す/買収する,八百長をするd his whole mind upon his 目的 and sank into cataleptic sleep.

The moon is dead. In so much science is 権利. It is lifeless, without moisture, without an atmosphere. Croft won his 広大な/多数の/重要な 実験, or its first step at least. His 団体/死体 sank to sleep, but his ego leaped into a fuller, wider life.

There was a sensation of airy lightness, as though his sublimated consciousness had dropped 構成要素 負わせる. His 団体/死体 sat beneath him in the 議長,司会を務める. He could see it. He could see the city and the lake and the mountains and the yellow disk of the moon. He knew he was rising toward the latter 速く. Then—space was 絶滅するd in an instant, and he seemed to himself to be standing on the topmost 辛勝する/優位 of a mighty 噴火口,クレーター in the 十分な, unobstructed glare of a blinding light. He sensed that as the sun, which hung like a ball of 解雇する/砲火/射撃 halfway up from the horizon, flinging its rays in a dazzling brilliance against the dead 衛星's surface, unprotected by an atmospheric 審査する. His first sensation was an amazing 現実化 of his own success. Then he gazed about.

To one 味方する was the 広大な (犯罪の)一味 of the 噴火口,クレーター itself, a 井戸/弁護士席 of unutterable 不明瞭 and unplumbed depth, as yet not opened up to the 燃やすing light of the sun. To the other was the downward sweep of the 噴火口,クレーター's 側面に位置する, dun, dead, wrinkled, seamed and seared by the stabbing rays which bathed it in pitiless light. And beyond the foot of the 噴火口,クレーター was a 広大な 不規律な plain, lower in the 中心 as though eons past it might have been the bed of some 消えるd sea. About the plain were the crests of barren mountains, crags, pinnacles, misshapen and weird beyond thought.

Yes, the moon is dead—now. But—there was life upon it once. Croft willed himself 負かす/撃墜する from the lip of the 噴火口,クレーター to the plain. He moved about it. Indeed it had been a sea. There in the airless 炎, still etched in the lifeless 形式s, he 設立する an 古代の water-line, the 示す of the fingers of 消えるd waters—like a mockery of what had been. And skirting the 輪郭(を描く) of that long-lost sea, he (機の)カム to the 廃虚 of a city which had stood upon the shores a myriad years ago. It stood there still—a thing of 覆うd streets, and dead 塀で囲むs, 安全な in that moistureless world from decay.

Through those dead streets and houses, some of them thrown 負かす/撃墜する by terrific 地震s which he 裁判官d had …を伴ってd the final 冷静な/正味のing 行う/開催する/段階s and death of the moon, Croft took his way, pausing now and then to 診察する some 古代の inscriptions 削減(する) into the 封鎖するs of 石/投石する from which the buildings had been 後部d. In a way they impressed him as 類似の in many 尊敬(する)・点s to the Asiatic structures of to-day, most of them 存在 windowless on the first story, but built about an inner 法廷,裁判所, gardens of beauty in the time when the moon supported life.

So far as he could 裁判官 from the buildings themselves and frescoes on the 塀で囲むs, done in pigments which still 勝つ/広く一帯に広がるd, the lunarians had been a tiny people, probably not above an 普通の/平均(する) of four feet in 高さ, but 極端に intelligent past any 疑問, as shown by the remains of their homes. They had 所有するd rather large 長,率いるs in 割合 to their slender 団体/死体s, as the 絵s done on the inside 塀で囲むs led Croft to believe.

From the same source he became 納得させるd that their social life had been 高度に developed, and that they had been 井戸/弁護士席 詩(を作る)d in the arts of 製造(する) and 商業, and had at the time when lunar seas 固執するd 持続するd a merchant 海洋.

Through the hours of the lunar day he 調査するd. Not, in fact, until the sun was dropping 速く below the 縁 of the mountains beyond the old sea-bed, did he desist. Then, 解除するing his 注目する,もくろむs, he beheld a luminous 三日月, many times larger than the moon appears to us, emitting a soft, green light. He stood and gazed upon it for some moments before he realized fully that he looked upon a sunrise on the earth—that the monster 三日月 was the earth indeed as seen from her 衛星.

Then, as 現実化 (機の)カム upon him, he remembered his 団体/死体—left on the porch of his home in the 議長,司会を務める. Suddenly he felt a longing to return, to forsake the forsaken 遺物s of a life which had passed and go 支援する to the 十分な, pulsing tide of life which still flowed on.

Here, then, he was 直面するd by the second step of his 実験. He had consciously reached the moon. Could he return again to the earth? If so, he had 証明するd his theory beyond any その上の 疑問. Fastening his 十分な 力/強力にする upon the 努力する, he willed himself 支援する, and—

He opened his 注目する,もくろむs—his physical 注目する,もくろむs—and gazed into the 早期に sun of a new day rising over the mountains and turning the world to emerald and gold. The sound of a caught-in breath fell on his ears. He turned his ちらりと見ること. Mrs. Goss stood beside him.

"法律s, sir, but you was sound asleep!" she exclaimed. "I come to call you to breakfast an' you wasn't in your room, an' when I 設立する you you was sleepin' like th' dead. You must have got up awful 早期に, Mr. Jason."

"I was here before you were moving," Croft said as he rose. He smiled as he spoke. Indeed, he 手配中の,お尋ね者 to laugh, to shout. He had done what no mortal had ever 遂行するd before. The wonders of the universe were his to 調査する at will. Yet even so he did not dream of what the 未来 held.


III. — BEYOND THE MOON

AND now the Dog 星/主役にする called. Croft had 証明するd his ability to 事業/計画(する) his conscious self beyond earth's attraction and return. And, having 証明するd that, the old 誘惑する of the 星/主役にする he had watched when a student in the Indian mountains (機の)カム 支援する with a 二塁打 strength. No longer was it an 時折の 誘発するing. Rather it was a never-中止するing 勧める which nagged him night and day.

He 産する/生じるd at last. But remembering his return from his first 実験, he arranged for the next with 予定 care. In order that Mrs. Goss might not become alarmed by seeing his 団体/死体 入り口d, he arranged for her to take a holiday with a married daughter in another part of the 明言する/公表する, telling her 簡単に that he himself 推定する/予想するd to be absent from his home for an 不明確な/無期限の time and would 召喚する her upon his return.

He knew the woman 井戸/弁護士席 enough to be sure she would spread the word of his coming absence, and so felt 保証するd that his 団体/死体 would remain undisturbed during the period of his 投機・賭ける into 全世界の/万国共通の space.

Having seen the old woman 出発/死, he entered the library, drew 負かす/撃墜する all the blinds, and stretched himself on the couch. 直す/買収する,八百長をするing his mind on Sirius to the 除外 of everything else, he threw off the 社債s of the flesh.

Yet here, as it chanced, even Croft made a 井戸/弁護士席-nigh 致命的な mistake. It was toward Sirius he had willed himself in his thoughts, and Sirius is a sun. As a result, he realized 非,不,無 too soon that he was floating in the actual 星雲 surrounding the 炎上ing orb itself. 直接/まっすぐに beneath him, as it appeared, the Dog 星/主役にする rolled, a 集まり of electric 解雇する/砲火/射撃. Mountains of 炎上 ran darting off into space in all directions. Between them the whole surface of the sun boiled and 泡d and seethed like a world- wide caldron. Not for a moment was there any 残り/休憩(する) upon that surface toward which he was 沈むing with incredible 速度(を上げる). Every 原子 of the monster sun was in 動議, ever-転換ing, ever- changing, yet always the same. It quivered and 大波d and shook. 炎上s of every 考えられる color radiated from it in waves of awful heat. 広大な 爆発s recurred again and again on the ever-heaving surface. What seemed 考えられない ハリケーンs 急ぐd into the 無効のs created by the 爆発するing gases.

In this maelstrom of titanic 軍隊s Croft 設立する himself caught. Not even the wonderful 軍隊 his spirit had 達成するd could 打ち勝つ the sun's 力/強力にする of repulsion. His 進歩 stayed, he hung above the molten globe beneath him, 拘留するd, unable to extricate him-self from his position, buffeted, 渦巻くd about and swayed by the irresistible 軍隊s which warred around him in a never-中止するing tumult such as he had never conceived.

Something like a vague question as to his 運命/宿命 rather than any 恐れる 攻撃する,非難するd him, something like a blind wonder. The 軍隊 which held him was one beyond his experience or knowledge. He knew that a true spirit, a pure ego, could not wholly 死なせる/死ぬ, yet now he asked himself what would be the 影響 of の近くに proximity to such an enormous 中心 of elemental activity upon an ego not wholly sublimated, such as his.

His will 力/強力にする 現実に 滞るd, staggered. For the time 存在 he lost his ability to chose his course. He had willed himself here, and here he was, but he 設立する himself unable to will himself 支援する or anywhere else, in fact. The sensation crept through his soul that he was a plaything of 運命/宿命, a mad ego which had 投機・賭けるd too far, dared too much, sought to learn those things かもしれない forbidden, hence caught in a 逮捕する of 全世界の/万国共通の 法律, woven about him by his own mad かわき for knowledge—a spirit doomed by its own daring to an eternity of something closely approaching the 正統派の hell.

Through eons of time, as it seemed to him, he hung above that 炎ing orb, surrounded by seething gases which dimmed but did not wholly obscure his 見通し. Then a change began taking place. A 広大な/多数の/重要な 位置/汚点/見つけ出す of 不明瞭 appeared on the pulsing 団体/死体 of the sun. It 広げるd 速く. About it the fiery elements of molten 集まり seemed to 中心 their main 努力する. 広大な streamers of 炎上ing gas leaped and darted about its spreading 中心. It stretched and spread.

To Croft's fascinated 見通し it showed a mighty, funnel-like chasm, reaching 負かす/撃墜する for thousands of miles into the very heart of their solar 集まり. And suddenly he knew that once more he was 沈むing, was 存在 drawn 負かす/撃墜する, 負かす/撃墜する, to be (海,煙などが)飲み込むd in that terrible throat of the terrifying funnel, swept and sucked 負かす/撃墜する like a bit of driftwood into the maw of a whirlpool, 権力のない to resist.

負かす/撃墜する he sank, 負かす/撃墜する, between 塀で囲むs of living 解雇する/砲火/射撃 which 渦巻くd about him with an 信じられない velocity of 革命. The vapors which の近くにd about him seemed to stifle even his spirit senses. 負かす/撃墜する, 負かす/撃墜する, how far he had no conception. He had lost all 支配(する)/統制する, all conscious 力/強力にする to 裁判官 of time or distance. Yet he was able still to see. And so at last he sensed that the fiery 塀で囲むs were coming 速く together.

For a wild instant he conceived himself (海,煙などが)飲み込むd. Then he knew that he was 存在 thrown out and 上向き again with terrific 軍隊, literally (人が)群がるd 前へ/外へ with the outrushing gases between the 崩壊(する)ing 塀で囲むs, and 投げつけるd again into space.

不明瞭 (機の)カム 負かす/撃墜する, a 不明瞭 so 深い it seemed a thousand suns might not pierce it through with their rays. Sirius, the 広大な/多数の/重要な sun, seemed blotted out. He was 掴むd by a sense of 落ちるing through that Stygian shroud. In which direction he knew not, or why or how. He knew only that his ego over which he had lost 支配(する)/統制する was 渦巻くing in 広大な spirals 負かす/撃墜する and 負かす/撃墜する through an endless 無効の to an endless 運命/宿命—that he who had come so confidently 前へ/外へ to 調査する the 全世界の/万国共通の secrets had become a waif in the uncharted immensity of the eternal universe.

The sensation went on and on. So much he knew. Still he was conscious. The thought (機の)カム to him that this was his 罰 for daring to know. Still conscious, he must be still bound by natural 法律. Had he broken that 法律 and been cast into utter 不明瞭, to remain forever conscious of his 運命/宿命? Yet if so, where was he 落ちるing, where was he to wander, and for how long? His senses reeled.

By degrees, however, he fought 支援する to some 手段 of 支配(する)/統制する. His very necessity 誘発するd the 試みる/企てる. And by degrees there (機の)カム to him a sense of not 存在 any longer alone. In the almost palpable 不明瞭 it seemed that other 形態/調整s and forms, whose warp and woof was 不明瞭 also, floated and writhed about him as he fell.

They thrust against him; they gibbered soundlessly at him. They taunted him as he passed. And yet their very presence helped him in the end. He called his own knowledge to his 援助. He 認めるd these 形態/調整s of terror as those elementals of which occult teaching spoke, things which roamed in the 不明瞭, which had as yet never been able to reach out and 伸び(る) a soul for themselves.

With understanding (機の)カム again the 力/強力にする of 独立した・無所属 活動/戦闘. Unknowing whither, Croft willed himself out of their 中央 to some 位置/汚点/見つけ出す 無名の, where he might 伸び(る) a spiritual moment of 残り/休憩(する)—to the nearest bit of 事柄 afloat in the 全世界の/万国共通の 無効の. 突然の he became aware of the 近づく presence of some solid 実体, the sense of 落ちるing ended, and he knew that his will had 設立する 表現 in fact.

Yet wherever it was he had landed, the 地域 was dead. Like the moon, it was wholly devoid of moisture or atmosphere. The presence of solid 事柄, however, gave him 支援する a still その上の sense of 支配(する)/統制する. Though he was still enveloped in 不明瞭, he 推論する/理由d that if this was a 惑星 and 所有するd of a sun in its system, its さらに先に 味方する must be bathed in light. 推論する/理由 also told him that in all probability he was still within the system of Sirius にもかかわらず the seemingly endless distance he had come.

発揮するing his will, he passed over the darkened 直面する and 現れるd on the other 味方する in the 中央 of a ghostly light. At once he became conscious of his surroundings, of a valley and encircling lofty mountains. Prom the 味方するs of the latter (機の)カム the peculiar light. Examination showed Croft that it was given off by some 実体 which glowed with a phosphorescence 十分な to cast faint 影をつくる/尾行するs of the 激しく揺するs which まき散らすd the dead and silent waste.

Not knowing where he was, loath to dare again the 無効の, hardly knowing whether to will himself 支援する to earth or remain and がまんする the 問題/発行する of his own adventure, Croft waited, 審議ing the question, until at length the 最高の,を越す of a mountain lighted as if from a rising sun. Inside a few moments the valley was bathed in light; he saw the 広大な/多数の/重要な sun Sirius wheel up the morning sky.

Peace (機の)カム into his soul. He was still a conscious ego, still a creature in the universe of light. He gazed about. の近くに to the line of the horizon, and 向こうずねing with what was plainly 反映するd light, he saw the 広大な 輪郭(を描く)s of another 惑星 he had failed to 公式文書,認める until now.

He understood. This was the major 惑星, surely one of the Dog 星/主役にする's pack; and he had alighted on one of its moons. All 願望(する) to remain there left him. He was tired of dead worlds, of bottomless 無効のs.

As before on the moon itself, he felt a resurgent 願望(する) to bathe in an atmosphere of life. By now, 公正に/かなり himself again, the wish was father to the fact. 召喚するing his will, he made the final step of his 旅行, as it was to 証明する, and 設立する himself standing on a world not so vastly different from his own.

He stood on the 味方する of a mountain in the 中央 of an almost tropic vegetation. 巨大(な) trees were about him, 巨大(な) ferns sprouted from the 国/地域. But here, as on earth, the color of the leaves was green. Through a break in the forest he gazed across a 広大な, wide-flung plain through which a mighty river made its way. Its waters glinted in the rays of the rising sun. Its banks were lined with patches of what he knew from their 外見 were cultivated fields. Beyond them was a dun 跡をつける, reminding him of the arid stretches of a 砂漠, reaching out as far as his 見通し could plumb the distance.

He turned his 注目する,もくろむs and followed the course of the river. By 行う/開催する/段階s of swift 利益/興味 he traced it to a point where it disappeared beneath what seemed the dull red 塀で囲むs of a mighty city. They were 抱擁する 塀で囲むs, high and 幅の広い, bastioned and towered, flung across the course of the river, which ran on through the city itself, passed beyond a さらに先に 塀で囲む, and— beyond that again there was the glint of silver and blue in Croft's 注目する,もくろむs—the shimmer of a 広大な 団体/死体 of water—whether lake or ocean he die not know then.

The call of a bird brought his attention 支援する. Life was waking in the mountain forest where he stood. Gay-plumaged creatures, not unlike earthly parrots, were ぱたぱたするing from tree to tree.

The sound of a grunting (機の)カム toward him. He swung about. His 注目する,もくろむs 遭遇(する)d those of other life. A creature such as he had never seen was coming out of a quivering 集まり of sturdy fern. It had small, beady 注目する,もくろむs and a snout like a pig. Two tusks sprouted from its jaws like the tusks of a boar. But the 残り/休憩(する) of the 団体/死体, although something like that of a hog, was covered with a long wool-like hair, 罰金 and seemingly almost silken soft.

This, as he was to learn later, was the tabur, an animal still wild on Palos, though domesticated and raised both for its hair, which was woven into fabrics, and for its flesh, which was valued as food. While Croft watched, it began やじ about the foot of a tree on one 味方する of the small glade where he stood. Plainly it was 追跡(する)ing for something to eat.

Once more he turned to the plain and stood lost in something new. Across the dun reaches of the 砂漠, beyond the green 地域 of the river, was moving a long dark string of 人物/姿/数字s, 長,率いるd toward the city he had seen. It was like a caravan, Croft thought, in its 協定, save that the moving 反対するs which he みなすd animals of some sort, belonged in no picture of a caravan such as he had ever seen.

速く he willed himself toward them and moved along by their 味方する. Something like amazement filled his 存在. These beasts were such creatures as might have peopled the earth in the Silurian age. They were 抱擁する, twice the size of an earthly elephant. They moved in a majestic fashion, yet with a surprising 速度(を上げる). Their 団体/死体s were covered with a hairless 肌, 赤みを帯びた- pink in color, wrinkled and warted and plainly 極端に 厚い. It slipped and slid over the muscles beneath it as they swung 今後 on their four 大規模な 脚s, each one of which ended in a five-toed foot 武装した with short, 激しい claws.


Illustration

But it was the 長,率いる and neck and tail of the things which gave Croft pause. The 長,率いる was more that of a sea-serpent or a monster lizard than anything else. The neck was long and 柔軟な and curved like that of a camel. The tail was 激しい where It joined the main spine, but thinned 速く to a point. And the crest of 長,率いる and neck, the 支援する of each creature, so far as he could see, was covered with a sort of 激しい 規模, an armor 工夫するd by nature for the thing's 保護, as it appeared. Yet he could not see very 井戸/弁護士席, since each sarpelca, as he was to learn their Palosian 指名する, was, 負担d ひどく with bundles and bales of what might be 価値のある 商品/売買する.

And on each sat a man. Croft hesitated not at all to give them that 肩書を与える, since they were strikingly like the men of earth in so far as he could see. They had 長,率いるs and 武器 and 脚s and a 団体/死体, and their 直面するs were white. Their features 出発/死d in no particular, so far as he could see,-from the 直面するs of earth, save that all were smooth, with no 証拠 of hair on upper lip, or cheek or chin.

They were 覆う? in loose cloak-like 衣料品s and a hooded cap or cowl. They sat the sarpelcas just 支援する of the juncture of the 団体/死体 and neck, and guided the strange-appearing monsters by means of slender reins affixed to two of the fleshy tentacles which sprouted about the beast's almost snakelike mouths.

That this strange cort鑒e was a caravan Croft was now 保証するd. He decided to follow it to the city and 検査/視察する that 同様に. Wherefore he kept on beside it 負かす/撃墜する the valley, along what he now saw was a 井戸/弁護士席-defined and carefully-建設するd road, built of 石/投石する, 削減(する) to a nice approximation, along which the unwieldy 行列 made good time. The road showed no small knowledge of 工学. It was like the roads of 古代の Rome, Croft thought with quickened 利益/興味. It was in a perfect 明言する/公表する of 保護 and showed 調印するs of 最近の mending here and there. While he was feeling a quickened 利益/興味 in this the caravan entered the cultivated 地域 along the river, and Croft gave his attention to the fields.

The first thing he 公式文書,認めるd here was the fact that all growth was 予定 to irrigation, carried out by means of 溝へはまらせる/不時着するs and laterals very much as on earth at the 現在の time. Here and there as the caravan passed 負かす/撃墜する the splendid road he 設立する a 農業者's hut 始める,決める in a bower of trees. For the most part they were built of a tan- colored brick, and roofed with a thatching of 急ぐs from the river's bank. He saw the natives working in the fields, strong- 団体/死体d men, 覆う? in what seemed a 選び出す/独身 short-skirted tunic reaching, to the 膝s, with the 武器 and lower 四肢s left 明らかにする.

One or two stopped work and stood to watch the caravan pass, and Croft noticed that their 直面するs were intelligent, 井戸/弁護士席-featured, and their hair for the most part a sort of rich, almost chestnut brown, worn rather long and wholly 暴露するd or else caught about the brows by a cincture which held a bit of woven fabric draped over the 長,率いる and 負かす/撃墜する the neck.

Travel began to thicken along the road. The natives seemed 長,率いるing to the city, to sell the produce of their fields. Croft 設立する himself 製図/抽選 aside in the 圧力(をかける) as the caravan overtook the others and (人が)群がるd past. So real had it become to him that for the time he forgot he was no more than an impalpable, invisible thing these people could not 接触する or see. Then he remembered and gave his attention to what he might behold once more.

They had just passed a 激しい cart drawn by two 半端物 creatures, 似ているing a deer save that they were larger and 所有するd of hoofs like those of earth-born horses, and instead of antlers sported two little horns not over six インチs long. They were in color almost a creamy white, and he fancied them の中で the most beautiful forms of animal life he had ever beheld. On the cart itself were high-piled crates of some unknown fowl, as he supposed—some edible bird, with the 長,率いる of a goose, the plumage of a pheasant so far as its brilliant coloring went, a long neck and bluish, webbed feet. Past the cart they (機の)カム upon a 禁止(する)d of native women carrying baskets and other 重荷(を負わせる)s, strapped to their shoulders. Croft gave them particular attention, since as yet he had seen only men.

The Palosian 女性(の)s were fit mates, he decided, after he had given them a 包括的な ちらりと見ること. They were strong-四肢d and 深い-breasted. These 小作農民 folks at least were 簡単に 覆う?. Like the men, they wore but a 選び出す/独身 衣料品, 落ちるing just over the bend of the 膝s and caught together over one shoulder with an embossed metal button, so far as he could tell. The other arm and shoulder were left wholly 明らかにする, as were their feet and 脚s, save that they wore coarse sandals of 支持を得ようと努めるd, strapped by leather thongs about ankle and calf. Their baskets were piled with vegetables and fruit, and they chattered and laughed の中で themselves as they walked.

And now, as the sarpelcas shuffled past, the 主要道路 grew 現実に packed. Also it drew nearer to the river and the city itself. The caravan thrust its way through a drove of the taburs—the woolly hogs such as Croft had seen on the 味方する of the mountain. The hogsherds, rough, powerful, bronzed fellows, 覆う? in hide aprons belted about their waists and nothing else, stalked beside their 告発(する),告訴(する)/料金s and 交流d 激しい banter with the riders of the sarpelcas as the caravan passed.

From behind a sound of shouting reached Croft's ears. He ちらりと見ることd around. 負かす/撃墜する the 主要道路, splitting the throng of 早期に market people, (機の)カム some sort of conveyance, drawn by four of the beautiful creamy deer-like creatures he had seen before. They were harnessed abreast and had nodding plumes 直す/買収する,八百長をするd to the 長,率いる- 禁止(する)d of their bridles in 前線 of their horns. These plumes were all of a purple color, and from the way the (人が)群がるs gave way before the 前進する of the equipage. Croft みなすd that it bore someone of 公式文書,認める. Even the captain of the sarpelca train, 公式文書,認めるing the 前進する of the gorgeous team, drew his 抱擁する beasts to the 味方する of the road and stood up in his seat-like saddle to 直面する inward as it passed.

The 乗り物 (機の)カム on. Croft watched intently as it approached. So nearly as he could tell, it was a four-wheeled conveyance something like an old-time chariot in 前線, where stood the driver of the cream-white steeds, and behind that 保護するd from the sun by an arched cover draped on each 味方する with a 実体 not unlike 激しい silk. These draperies, too, were purple in shade, and the 団体/死体 and wheels of the carriage seemed fashioned from something like burnished 巡査, as it glistened brightly in 前進する.

Then it was upon them, and Croft could look squarely into the shaded depths beneath the cover he now saw to be supported by upright metal 棒s, save at the 支援する where the 団体/死体 continued straight up in a curve to form the 最高の,を越す.

The curtains were drawn 支援する, since the morning 空気/公表する was still fresh, and Jason 伸び(る)d a 見解(をとる) of those who 棒. He gave them one ちらりと見ること and mentally caught his breath. There were two 乗客s in the coach—a woman and a man. The latter was plainly past middle age, 井戸/弁護士席 built, with a 堅固に-始める,決める 直面する and hair somewhat ぱらぱら雨d with gray. He was 覆う? in a tunic the like of which Croft had never seen, since it seemed woven of gold, etched and embroidered in what appeared 石/投石するs or jewels of purple, red, and green. This covered his entire 団体/死体 and ended in half-sleeves below which his forearms were 明らかにする.

He wore a jeweled cap supporting a 選び出す/独身 spray of purple feathers. From an インチ below his 膝s his 脚s were incased in what seemed an open-meshed 事例/患者ing of metal, in color not unlike his tunic, 共同のd at the ankles to 許す of 動議 when he walked. There were no seats proper in the carriage, but rather a 幅の広い padded couch upon which both 乗客s lay.

So much Croft saw, and then, forsaking the caravan, let himself drift along beside the strange conveyance to 検査/視察する the girl. In fact, after the first swift ちらりと見ること at the man, he had no 注目する,もくろむs save for his companion in the coach.

She was younger than the man, yet strangely like him in a feminine way—more slender, more graceful as she lay at her 緩和する. Her 直面する was a perfect oval, でっちあげる,人を罪に陥れるd in a wealth of golden hair, which, save for a jeweled cincture, fell unrestrained about her shoulders in a silken flood. Her 注目する,もくろむs were blue—the purple blue of the pansy—her 肌, seen on 直面する and throat and 明らかにするd left shoulder and arm, a soft, 会社/堅い white. For she was dressed like the 小作農民 women, save in a richer fashion. Her 選び出す/独身 式服 was white, lustrous in its sheen. It was broidered with a simple jeweled 利ざや at throat and hem and over the breasts with 石/投石するs of blue and green.

Her girdle was of gold in color, catching her just above the hips with long ends and fringe which fell 負かす/撃墜する the left 味方する of the 膝-length skirt. Sandals of the finest imaginable 肌 were on the 単独のs of her slender pink-nailed feet, 明らかにする save for a jewel- studded toe and instep 禁止(する)d, and the lacing cords which were twined about each 四肢 as high as the 最高の,を越す of the calf. On her left arm she wore a bracelet, just above the wrist, as a 選び出す/独身 ornament.

Croft gave her one ちらりと見ること which took in every 詳細(に述べる) of her presence and attire. He quivered as with a 冷気/寒がらせる. Some change as cataclysmic as his experience of the night before above the Dog 星/主役にする itself took place in his spiritual 存在. He felt drawn toward this beautiful girl of Palos as he had never in all his life on earth been drawn toward a woman before.

It was as though suddenly he had 設立する something he had lost—as though he had met one known and forgotten and now once more 認めるd. Without giving the 行為/法令/行動する the slightest thought of consideration, he willed himself into the coach between the ぱたぱたするing curtains of purple silk, and crouched 負かす/撃墜する on the padded 壇・綱領・公約 at her feet.


IV. — NAIA, PRINCESS OF PALOS

CROFT, in his earth life, had never looked on a woman with the longing such as is apt to 所有する the 普通の/平均(する) healthy male at times. But in his 熟考する/考慮するs of the occult he had more than once come in 接触する with the doctrine of twin souls—that theory that in the beginning the spirit is 二重の, and that 事業/計画(する)ing into 構成要素 存在 the 二重の (独立の)存在 separates into two halves, a male and a 女性(の), and so 存在するs forever until the two halves 会合,会う once more and 部隊.

いつかs because he had never 設立する a woman to 控訴,上告 to him as he wished a woman to 控訴,上告, he had been half inclined to 疑問. But this morning on Palos he no longer 疑問d. He believed. More than that he knew now why no earth woman had ever reached to the 中心 of his 存在 with her soft attraction. He knew now why the Dog 星/主役にする had always drawn him during his student days. That longing to (期間が)わたる the miles between Sirius and earth was explained. It was because in the economy of the Infinite it had been seen fit, God alone knew why, to send his half of their 初めの spirit to earth, and his 女性(の) 相当するもの to this life on another sphere.

This beautiful girl was his twin. He knew her. He had 設立する her. A wonderful elation filled his conscious soul as he sat feasting his 注目する,もくろむs upon her every graceful line and feature. But suddenly his contemplation was followed by the bitterest despair.

He had 設立する her, yes; but to what avail? The mere fact that he saw her now and was unseen by either her or her father, as he 裁判官d the man with whom she 棒 to be, was proof that his finding her was vain. She was a living, breathing woman, every 独房 of whose glowing 団体/死体 sent a subtle call to his spirit, such as only the true mate can send to its 絶対の complement.

He felt love, a sense of 保護, a 願望(する) for 所有/入手, spiritual uplift, and physical passion all in a breath. He felt a mad 勧める to cast himself at her 味方する; there on the padded cushion, and gather her lovely form to his heart の近くに within his 武器. And he knew himself but a spirit—invisible to her— imperceptible to her—realized that should he follow his impulse she would not know—or should she know even faintly would not understand.

Croft knew himself but a sublimated 形態/調整, and nothing more, and it was then he went 負かす/撃墜する into the deepest depths of a mental hell of despair. The 拷問 of Tantalus was his. He could see her, sense her 青年, her beauty, her sweetness, every charm which was hers; experience every potent wave of her 控訴,上告, yet he could not 明らかにする/漏らす his presence or make known his 返答 to her spirit- call. Could he have done so he would have groaned in a 鎮圧するing anguish too 広大な/多数の/重要な to be 耐えるd. Yet even that 表現 was 否定するd.

The stopping of the gnuppas, as he was to learn the half horse-, half deer-like steers were called, brought him 支援する from his introspection after a time. He could hear the driver shouting, and now やめる oddly, these people 存在 human, and thoughts 存在 more or いっそう少なく akin to all thinking minds, he 設立する he could understand the 意図, even though the words were strange.

"Way! Way for Prince Lakkon, 助言者/カウンセラー to the King of Aphur!"

On the words the girl opened her lips.

"There is a wonderful 圧力(をかける) of 旅行者s this morning, my father."

Croft gloried in the soft, 十分な トンs of her 発言する/表明する, even before Prince Lakkon made answer.

"Aye, the 主要道路 is like to a 群れている of insects; Naia, my child."

Naia! The sound was music in Croft's ears. He whispered it over and over to himself as the carriage once more 前進するd through the throngs of market-people, carters, 貨物船s, past a caravan of ひどく-負担d sarpelcas outward bound.

Naia. The word fitted her—seemed oddly appropriate—was music in his ears. Naia, Naia—the other part of his soul. The word (警官の)巡回区域,受持ち区域 upon his senses through the shuffle of passing feet.

"I shall tell Chythron to 運動 直接/まっすぐに to our home," Prince Lakkon said.

"You will go on to 会談する with Uncle Jadgor from there?"

"Aye. You will have most of the day to 始める,決める the servants about the 準備s for the coming of Prince Kyphallos. Spare no expense, Naia, in those 準備s. 報告(する)/憶測 hath it he is a hard young man to please."

"Such 報告(する)/憶測s as I have heard would not 確認する yours, my father," Naia retorted with a contemptuous curl of her crimson lips. "What has come to my ears would 証明する him no better than a beast, far too 平易な to please, indeed."

Prince Lakkon shook his 長,率いる.

"Child!" he chided in sibilant fashion. "You must not speak such words of a Prince of Tamarizia, Naia."

But the maid replied more calmly: "I speak not of him as a Prince of Tamarizia, but as a man and his 態度 toward women."

Croft was rather surprised to see Lakkon frown at his daughter's speech. He himself 拍手喝采する her 態度 toward a man he 裁判官d must be a profligate of 国家の 評判. He 始める,決める the man's facial grimace 負かす/撃墜する to mere distaste for 審理,公聴会 anyone of 王室の 血 disrated, and as the prince made no reply, sat waiting what might happen next and watching Naia where she reclined.

"What brings him to Himyra?" she questioned at length.

"He comes on 事柄s of 明言する/公表する."

Prince Lakkon's reply was almost rudely sharp and short. As he ended his answer he sighed and 解除するd himself to a cross-legged seat. "Ah, here we are at the gate. Naia, there is nothing finer in all Tamarizia than this. No, not even in Zitra itself."

Whether he uttered the exact truth or not Croft did not then know, but as he gazed from the coach between the curtains of ぱたぱたするing purple he was inclined to agree. They had come to a place outside the 塀で囲むs—those monster 塀で囲むs Croft had seen hours ago, 向こうずねing a dull 深い red in the morning sun. Now の近くに by, they towered above him in their mighty 集まり—still red—a 深い, ruddy red with an 半端物 影響 of a glaze on the surface of what he could now perceive was some sort of 人工的な building-封鎖する laid in 固く結び付ける. So far as he could 裁判官, the 塀で囲む rose a good hundred feet above the road and stretched away on either 味方する, 強化するd and guarded every so far by a jutting tower as far as his 注目する,もくろむ could reach.

Where they now stood the road (機の)カム 負かす/撃墜する to the bank of the river on a wide-built approach made of 石/投石する masonry laid in 固く結び付ける, 保護するd on the shore-line by a 塀で囲む or rail, fully six feet wide across its 最高の,を越す, which was 供給するd every so far with 抱擁する 石/投石する urns, blackened about their upper 辛勝する/優位s as though from 解雇する/砲火/射撃. Croft 認めるd their 目的 as that of 炎上ing beacons to light the wide 石/投石する esplanade before the gate at night.

Beyond the 塀で囲む was the river—a 広大な yellow flood, moving slowly along. It was at least a half-mile wide where it met the 塀で囲む. And the 塀で囲む crossed it on a 一連の arches, leaving 解放する/自由な way for the boats Croft now saw upon the yellow water, equipped with sails and masts, making slow 前進する against the 現在の, or driven perhaps by their 乗組員s at long sweep-like oars.

He 公式文書,認めるd that each arch was guarded by what seemed gates of metal lattice, and that drawn up above each was a 抱擁する metal door which could be let 負かす/撃墜する in 事例/患者 of need to 現在の an 無傷の outward 前線 above the surface of the flood.

It was a wonderful sight, river, 塀で囲む, and wide-覆うd approach as the gnuppas drew the carriage 速く toward the gates. Then it all 消えるd. Croft caught sight of two men dressed something like 古代の Roman 兵士s, 抱擁する, powerful fellows, with metal cuirass, spear and 保護物,者, 明らかにする-legged half up their thighs where a short skirt 延長するd, their 向こうずねs covered by metal greaves, their 長,率いるs inside metal casques from the 最高の,を越す of which sprouted a tuft of ワイン-red plumes. They stood beside the leaves of two 抱擁する doors, fashioned from 巡査, as it seemed to Croft, things solidly molded, carved, 墓/厳粛/彫る/重大なd, and embossed in an intricate design. These doors were open and the carriage darted through, entering a shadowy tunnel in the 塀で囲む itself. It was high, wide, and 深い, the latter dimension giving the actual width of the 塀で囲む itself. Croft 裁判官d it to be nearly as wide as tall. Then it was passed, and he 設立する himself gazing upon such a scene as had never met mortal 注目する,もくろむs perhaps since the days of Babylon.

The 広大な/多数の/重要な river flowed straight before him for a distance so 広大な/多数の/重要な that the さらに先に 塀で囲む was lost in a shimmering 煙霧 of heat. It flowed between solid 塀で囲むs of 石/投石する, 削減(する) and fitted to perfect jointure. From the lowest quay the banks sloped 支援する in gentle terraces, green with grass and studded with trees and blooming 集まりs of flowers and shrubs.

抱擁する stairways and 徐々に sloping roadways ran from terrace to terrace, 負かす/撃墜する the river's course. And 支援する of the terraced banks there stretched off and away the splendid piles of house after house, 抱擁する, 大規模な, each a palace in itself, until beyond them, seemingly halfway 負かす/撃墜する the wonderful river gardens, there ぼんやり現れるd a structure greater, vaster, more wide-flung than any of the 残り/休憩(する). In the light of the risen sun it shone an almost blinding white. To Croft at that distance it appeared built of an 絶対 spotless 石/投石する.

As for the other houses, surely as he felt the abodes of the nobles and the rich, they were 建設するd おもに of red sandstone, red granites and marbles, although here and there was one which glowed white through the surrounding trees, or perhaps a combination of red and white both. Yet, aside from the monster structure in the distance, the 大多数 were red. Indeed, he was to come to know later that the word Himyra meant red in the literal sense; that in the Palosian tongue this was the "red city," just as he was to learn also that the 指名する of the mighty river was Na, because of its yellow colored flood.

But this morning he knew 非,不,無 of that as he gazed 負かす/撃墜する the terraced vista, bathed in the rays of Sirius, now 速く 開始するing the sky.

And there was much to see. Across from the 広大な white building, on the other 味方する of the river Na, he beheld a pyramid. He could call it nothing else in his earthly mind. It, too, was 抱擁する, 広大な—a monster red pile, rising high above all other buildings in the city, until 近づく the 最高の,を越す was a final terrace or story of blinding white, capped with a finishing 禁止(する)d of red; the whole thing supporting a pure white structure, 中心存在d and porticoed like a 寺 on its truncated 最高の,を越す. Even in the distance it was a monster thing. How large he could not tell. Later he was to know it was two thousand feet square at the base, and three hundred feet in its rise above its 創立/基礎, ere the 寺 of Zitu was reached.

But then it struck him 単に as 広大な. Indeed, the whole vista so impressed him, with its palaces, its mighty river, its terraces and parks, and the 広大な/多数の/重要な white structure toward which they Were 速く dashing along a road before the 大規模な dwellings, each surrounded by its own 私的な park.

Far, far ahead he caught the 薄暗い 輪郭(を描く) of the さらに先に city 塀で囲む. He began to feel somewhat like Gulliver in the land of Brobdingnag save that the city life which he had seen was little larger than that of its 肉親,親類d on earth.

And now between the 広大な/多数の/重要な white palace and the pyramid a 橋(渡しをする) grew into 存在 before his 注目する,もくろむs. While he watched (期間が)わたる after (期間が)わたる swung into place to form the whole. Already he had 公式文書,認めるd a 一連の masonry 中心存在s in the stream, but had not comprehended what they meant. Closer examination was to teach him that each supported a metal (期間が)わたる, 機動力のある on rollers and worked by the 強く引っ張る of the 現在の itself through a 一連の bucket-like bits of apparatus, which dragged the sections open or drew them shut; also that at night the sections were opened to 許す 解放する/自由な passage to boats.

The things like the terraces and the roads showed a good knowledge of 工学 as a characteristic of the Palosian peoples. But from the fact that the terraces and the river 堤防 were studded at intervals with more of the 石/投石する 解雇する/砲火/射撃- urns. Croft decided that they were unacquainted with the use of electricity in any form. Nor did they seem to be 所有するd of a practical knowledge of the さまざまな 使用/適用s of steam.

非,不,無 of the boats on the river, of which there were many, some plainly 楽しみ-(手先の)技術 equipped with parti-colored sails and others as plainly freight and 商業の 船s, but were propelled by sail and oar. Nor was the traffic of the streets other than by foot, or by equipages drawn by gnuppas, such as Prince Lakkon's driver was guiding 負かす/撃墜する the 井戸/弁護士席-覆うd street.

In fact, the more Croft saw of the city of Himyra, the more did he become 納得させるd that civilization on Palos had risen little above the 行う/開催する/段階 which had 示すd the Assyrian and Babylonian 明言する/公表するs on earth in their day.

Prince Lakkon spoke now to Chythron a word of direction and turned to his daughter again.

"I shall be with Jadgor the greater part of the day. You, Naia, as 長,率いる of my 世帯, must see to these 準備s, since as 助言者/カウンセラー to the king I must show a noble from Cathur what 儀礼 I may, in an 公式の/役人 capacity at least. Aphur and Cathur guard the 主要道路 to all outer nations. Those who would carry goods must pass through the gate and so up the Na even to the 地域 of Mazzer. Cathur is a mighty 明言する/公表する."'

"As is Aphur, which 持つ/拘留するs the mouth of the Na," the girl returned.

"Aye. Together with Nodur, whose 利益/興味s are Aphur's 利益/興味s, the three could place your Uncle Jadgor on the 皇室の 王位 when the 称する,呼ぶ/期間/用語 of the Emperor Tamhys shall 満了する/死ぬ."

Croft pricked his ears, even as he saw a quickened 利益/興味 wake in Naia's 直面する. Plainly Lakkon spoke of さまざまな 明言する/公表するs of the country, and it was evident that the girl understood the 十分な 輸入する of her father's words.

"Only Bithur would be against him," she said.

"Hardly all of Bithur. It lies too の近くに to the lost 明言する/公表する of Mazhur for that," Lakkon replied. "There were seven 明言する/公表するs in the Tamarizian Empire, as you know, before the war with the Zollarians took one and gave Zollaria their first seaport on the central ocean, through our loss."

His 直面する darkened as he spoke. "Small good it did them, however, since there is still the Na, and our other rivers to which they 支払う/賃金 (死傷者)数, if they wish to sail to Mazzer or the other barbarian tribes. And as long as Cathur and Aphur guard the gate small good will it do them. Zitemku take them and all their spawn!"

"As long as Cathur 持つ/拘留するs!" Naia exclaimed.

Lakkon nodded.

"Aye. Cathur stands 削減(する) off from the 残り/休憩(する) of Tamarizia, as you know, by Mazhur's 落ちる. Jadgor would see to it that Cathur still stands にもかかわらず that fact or Zollaria's 計画(する)s, if she has them, as some of us 恐れる. Tamhys is a man of peace. So am I if I may be and Zitu sends it; yet will I fight for my own."

"And Kyphallos comes in regard to this—this—同盟?"

Prince Lakkon nodded.

"Aye. 名簿(に載せる)/表(にあげる) you, Naia. Order Bazka to send 走者s to the hills to bring 支援する snows on the eighth day from this. Kyphallos likes his ワインs 冷静な/正味のd, and will drink no other. In our own place I have given orders for all fruits and fish and fowls to be made ready at the 任命するd time. See to it that the house is decked for his coming—that all things are made clean and fit for 査察. As for yourself, you must have a new 式服. Spare no expense, my child, spare no expense."

Naia's 注目する,もくろむs lighted as he paused.

"I should 願望(する) it of gold broidered in purple," she flashed 支援する, smiling; "with purple sandals wrought with gold."

And suddenly as the carriage turned into a 幅の広い approach 主要な from the main street to a 抱擁する red palace, Lakkon laughingly 発言/述べるd:

"Have what you will, so long as it becomes thy beauty. 井戸/弁護士席 are you called Naia—maid of gold."

The carriage paused before the 二塁打 leaves of a molded 巡査 door. Chythron reached out and, 掴むing a cord which hung 負かす/撃墜する from an arm at one 味方する, tugged はっきりと upon it to sound a 深い- トンd gong, which にわか景気d faintly within.

Hardly had the sound died than the two leaves rolled 支援する, 沈むing into sockets in the 塀で囲むs, of the building itself, to 明らかにする/漏らす a 広大な 内部の to the 注目する,もくろむ, and in the 即座の foreground the 人物/姿/数字 of a man who gave Croft a start of surprise.

He was nude as Adam, save for a 狭くする cord about the loins, supporting a 幅の広い phallary of purple leather. And he was blue! From his shaven scalp which supported a 選び出す/独身 stiff upstanding tuft of ruddy hair throughout his entire superbly supple length he was blue. And the color was natural to his 肌. At first Jason had thought him painted, until a closer ちらりと見ること had 証明するd his mistake. Aside from his surprising complexion he seemed human enough, with dark 注目する,もくろむs, high molar prominences, and a 堅固に-橋(渡しをする)d nose. He was indeed not unlike an American Indian, Croft thought, or perhaps a Tartar. He remembered now that in times long past the Tartars had worn scalp locks, too.

The blue man 屈服するd from the hips, straightened, and stood waiting. Lakkon sprang from the coach and 補助装置d Naia to alight.

"Bazka," he spoke in 命令(する), "your mistress returns. Give ear to her words and do those things she says until I come again."

He sprang 支援する into the coach, and Chythron swung the equipage about. He cried aloud to the gnuppas, and they dashed away, 支援する toward the road along the Na.

Croft 設立する himself standing before the open door of Prince Lakkon's city palace with Naia and the strange blue man.

"Call thy fellow servants," the Palosian princess directed as she passed inside and Bazka の近くにd the doors by means of a golden lever affixed to the inner 塀で囲む. "I shall see them here and 問題/発行する my 命令(する)s."

She walked with the grace of 四肢s unrestrained toward the 中心 of the wonderful hall.

For wonderful it was. At first Croft had thought it 覆うd, in part at least, with glass of a faultless grade. But as he passed by Naia's 味方する toward the 中心 of the half-room, half-法廷,裁判所 in which flowers and shrubs and even small trees grew in beds between the pavement, he saw it was in reality some sort of transparent, colorless 水晶, 削減(する) and 始める,決める into an intricate design.

Yet that the Palosians made glass he soon 設立する proof. Casting his 注目する,もくろむs aloft, he saw the metal 枠組み of an enclosing roof arching the 法廷,裁判所 above his 長,率いる. Plainly it was thrown across the width of the 法廷,裁判所 to support shutters made of glass of several colors, some of them in place, others 除去するd or laid 支援する to leave the 法廷,裁判所 open to the 空気/公表する.

The 法廷,裁判所 itself was two stories high, and from either end rose a staircase of some 実体 like a lemon-yellow onyx, save that it seemed devoid of any mottling or veins. These stairs 機動力のある to the upper gallery, supported above the central grand apartment on a 一連の pure white 中心存在s, between which gleamed the exquisite forms of sculptured 人物/姿/数字s and groups.

There was also a group done in some 石/投石する of a translucent white, at the foot of each 広大な/多数の/重要な stair. One, Croft 公式文書,認めるd, 描写するd a man and a woman locked in each other's 武器. The other showed a winged 人物/姿/数字, binding up the broken pinion of a bird.

"Love" and "Mercy," he thought. If this were a 見本 of the ideal of this people, they must be a nation 価値(がある) while.

So much he saw, and then Naia seated herself on a 議長,司会を務める of a ワイン-red 支持を得ようと努めるd, 始める,決める beside a hedge of some unknown vegetation which enclosed a splendid central space of the 水晶 床に打ち倒す.

Bazka had disappeared, but now (機の)カム the sound of 発言する/表明するs, and the servants appeared, 現れるing from a passage beneath one of the stairs. There were several members of both sexes in the group, and, like Bazka himself, one and all wore no more than a purple apron about the thighs. Croft was to learn in the end that the Palosians wore 着せる/賦与するing more as a 保護 against the elements than for any 願望(する) to 隠す the form; and with that fact he was to find them a 高度に moral people 非,不,無 the いっそう少なく.

Now, though their apparel, or 欠如(する) of it, was something of a shock to his sense of 条約s, as the men and women of the blue tribe 前進するd to 迎える/歓迎する their mistress in her 議長,司会を務める and listen to those directions she gave, he 設立する himself wondering if they were slaves. Indeed he so regarded them until he knew more of the 惑星 to which he had come. Then he knew slavery no longer 存在するd の中で the Tamarizians, and that the blue men and women were the children of former slaves 逮捕(する)d in wars, but now 解放する/自由なd, given the 権利s of 市民権 and paid by those whom they served!

In the end Naia turned to one of the women and ordered her to go to a cloth-merchant and 企て,努力,提案 him …に出席する her at once, with fabrics from which to choose her gown. That done, she 解任するd each to his or her 仕事, rose, and moved 負かす/撃墜する the 法廷,裁判所. Croft followed as she went, 機動力のある one of the yellow stairs, and (機の)カム out on the upper balcony, 負かす/撃墜する which she passed over an inlaid 床に打ち倒す, beside 塀で囲むs frescoed with what he took to be scenes of Palosian history and social life.

She paused at a door fashioned from the ワイン-red 支持を得ようと努めるd, 始める,決める it open, and entered an apartment plainly her own.

Its 塀で囲むs were 直面するd with the same yellow 石/投石する used in the stairs. Purple draperies broke the color here and there. Purple curtains hung beside two windows which she 始める,決める open, turning the casings on hinges, to let in the 空気/公表する. In the 中心 of the 床に打ち倒す, which was covered with woven rugs and the 肌s of さまざまな beasts, was a circular metal 水盤/入り江 持つ/拘留するing water in a shallow pool. On one 味方する was a pedestal of gold supporting a pure white miniature of a winged male 人物/姿/数字, 均衡を保った on toes as if about to take flight.

Beside the pool Naia paused as she turned from 開始 the window. Her 人物/姿/数字 was 反映するd from the motionless surface. Croft 認めるd it as a mirror in 目的, 類似の in all 尊敬(する)・点s to those the 古代の Phoenicians used. For a time she stood gazing at the image of her 人物/姿/数字, then turned away to a chest, made of the ワイン-red 支持を得ようと努めるd, ひどく bound with burnished 巡査 禁止(する)d.

Beside the chest, the room held several 議長,司会を務めるs and stools, and a molded 巡査 couch covered with rich draperies.

Naia rummaged in the chest while Croft watched. She rose and turned with a 衣料品 in her 手渡すs. Gossamer it was, 罰金, soft, sheer, a cobweb of texture as she shook it out. It shimmered with an indefinable play of colors, transparent as gauze. She 解除するd a 手渡す and unfastened the gown she wore from the 激しい shoulder boss that held it in place.


V. — PALOSIAN DIPLOMACY

TAKEN wholly by surprise, Croft caught one glimpse of a glowing, pliant 人物/姿/数字, cinctured just above the hips by a golden girdle. Then, realizing that the maiden believed herself utterly alone, he turned to the open window and incontinently fled.

Light as a thistle-負かす/撃墜する in his sublimated self he 現れるd into the 十分な Palosian day. Yet he quivered in his soul as with a 冷気/寒がらせる. Naia of Aphur, Princess of the Tamarizian nation, was a woman to 動かす the soul of any man. And she was his—his! The thought blurred his senses as he 急ぐd 前へ/外へ. His? A second thought gave him pause. His indeed, yet no more his now than always since their 二重の spirit had 事業/計画(する)d into the 構成要素 world and had been lost each to the other how many eons ago? His—設立する now at last, yet unclaimable still! Unclaimable!

The thought was madness. Croft put it away—or tried. To distract himself he wandered over the city of Himyra stretched red in the Sirian ray. And as before he knew it 広大な. From the river it stretched in its red and white collection of 塀で囲むs both ways. He visited each part, finding it poorer and poorer as he wandered from the river to the 塀で囲むs until inside them, at all parts, save where the main avenue by the river reached the two 主要な/長/主犯 gates, he 設立する the poorest classes of the people dwelling in huts of yellow-red brick.

Yet Himyra was a wonderful place. Croft visited the quays along the Na, farthest from the gate, where he had entered with Prince Lakkon and his daughter hours before. They 群れているd with life, were lined with boats, built principally of 支持を得ようと努めるd, though some were mere 肌-covered coracles, more than anything else. They lay by the 石/投石する 負担ing 壇・綱領・公約s, taking on or 発射する/解雇するing the 商業 of the Palosian world. Men, white and blue, 群れているd about them, tugging, sweating, 緊張するing at their 仕事s, speaking a variety of tongues.

From the 負担ing 壇・綱領・公約s on the lower levels tunnels ran up beneath the terraces on the surface to reach the 倉庫/問屋s above where the goods were 蓄える/店d. Within them, moving in metal-grooves を締めるd to an equal width by cross-妨げる/法廷,弁護士業s 直す/買収する,八百長をするd to the 床に打ち倒すs, small flat-topped cars were drawn by whipcord-muscled creatures like 巨大(な) dogs.

Croft followed, one such team to a 倉庫/問屋 and watched the 蓄える/店ing of the 負担 by a 一連の blue-skinned porters, under the captaincy of a white Aphurian who 示すd each 一括 and bale with a symbol before it was carried away. This captain wore a tunic, metal-work 事例/患者s on his calves, and sandals and a belt, from which depended a short, 幅の広い-bladed sword. He had seen his 相当するもの on the quays 同様に and was 満足させるd that Himyra had a very efficient system of officers of the port.

From the 倉庫/問屋 he went toward an 隣接する section, evidently the 小売 市場 of the town. Here were shops of every 考えられる nature, open in 前線 like those of some Oriental bazaar. At this hour of the day 商売/仕事 was きびきびした. More than one Palosian lady had come in a gnuppa-drawn conveyance to see and choose her 購入(する)s for herself. A 安定した 現在の of life, 動議 and speech, ran through the section. Blue attendants, male or 女性(の), as the chance fell out, walked with these matrons of Palos, 保護物,者ing their 長,率いるs from the sun with parasols woven of feathers, held above them on long 扱うs, while they 診察するd, selected, and bought. Porters brought baskets of fruit and flowers, bolts of cloth, strings of jewels to the metal-built carriages behind returning women, and 屈服するd their patrons away.

Suddenly the sound of a 広大な, mellow gong, a 一連の gongs, like an old-time carillon rang out. The bustle of the market stopped. As by one (許可,名誉などを)与える the people turned toward the 広大な pyramid beyond the river and stood standing, gazing toward it.

It (機の)カム over Croft that it was here the 広大な/多数の/重要な chime had sounded— that this 中央の-day 停止 in the activities of life had something to do with the 宗教 of the nation. Driven by his will, he reached the 広大な/多数の/重要な structure where the topmost 寺 shone, dazzling in the noontime light. He 設立する himself on the 広大な level 最高の,を越す of the pyramid itself. Before him was the 寺 supported on a base, its doors reached by a flight of stairs. It was 中心存在d with monster monoliths, 栄冠を与えるd by 抱擁する 資本/首都s which supported the porticoed roof.

A sound as of 詠唱するing (機の)カム from within. Croft 機動力のある the stairs and passed the doors and paused before the beauty of what he saw.

The 寺 was roofed with 大規模な 厚板s of 石/投石する save in the exact 中心, where an 開始 was left. Through that aperture the light of the midday sun was 落ちるing to bathe a wonderful 人物/姿/数字 in its rays.

The 直面する of the statue was divine—the 直面する of a man, superbly strong, 幅の広い-browed, and with 潔白 and strength 令状 in its every line. The 長,率いる and 直面する were wrought in purest white as were the 明らかにするd left shoulder and arm. Below that the 人物/姿/数字 was portrayed! as 覆う? in gold, which was also the 構成要素 used in modeling the staff 栄冠を与えるd by a 宙返り飛行 and cross-妨げる/法廷,弁護士業, しっかり掴むd by the 手渡す of the 延長するd left arm. The man was portrayed as seated on a 大規模な 王位. Now, as the sun's rays struck 十分な upon it, it seemed that the strong 直面する glowed with an inward 解雇する/砲火/射撃.

On either 味方する of the statue stood a living man, shaven of 長,率いる, wearing long white 式服s which 延長するd to his feet. Each held in his 手渡す a miniature replica of the 突き破る held by the statue—a staff 栄冠を与えるd by a golden cross-妨げる/法廷,弁護士業 and 宙返り飛行.

Croft started. This was the crux ansata of the 古代の Egyptians in all outward form—the symbol of life everlasting, of man's immortality. And he 設立する it here on Palos on the 最高の,を越す of a pyramid.

The 詠唱する he had heard was growing louder. It held a feminine timbre to his ears. At the 後部 of the 寺 a curtain swept aside seemingly of its own volition and a 行列 appeared. It was formed of young girls—their hair garlanded with flowers, each carrying a 炎上ing blossom in her 手渡す. They 前進するd, singing as they (機の)カム, to form a ひさまづくing circle in 前線 of the monster statue on its 王位.

They were 覆う? in purest white, unadorned from their rosy shoulders to their dimpled 膝s save for a cincture of golden tissue which ran about the neck, 負かす/撃墜する between the breasts, 支援する about the 団体/死体, and around to fasten in 前線 like a sash with pendent ends, which hung in a golden fringe to the 辛勝する/優位 of the 膝-length skirt.

And as they 前進するd and knelt and rose and cast their 申し込む/申し出ing of flowers before the glowing statue, they continued to 詠唱する the harmony which had first reached Croft's ear. In it the word Zitu recurred, again and again. Zitu then was the 指名する of the statue the 指名する of the god. He listened intently and finally 伸び(る)d the 趣旨 of the hymn.

"Zitu, あられ/賞賛する Zitu! Father of all life! Who through thy angels Give life and 身を引く it, Into our 団体/死体s—out of our 団体/死体s; God— the one god—受託する our 賞賛する."

The 詠唱する died and the singers turned 支援する behind the curtain, which swung shut as they passed.

Croft left the 寺 and stood on the 最高の,を越す of its 幅の広い approach, gazing across the river at the 広大な white structure which he had first seen at a distance that morning, and which now stretched 直接/まっすぐに before his 注目する,もくろむs. It (機の)カム to him that this was the 資本/首都 of Aphur—the palace of that Jadgor Prince Lakkon had について言及するd, brother of Naia's mother, as he was to learn. Bent on seeing the man who aspired to Tamarizia's 皇室の 王位 at の近くに 4半期/4分の1s, he willed himself toward the far-flung white pile.

It was built of 石/投石する he did not know, as he 設立する when he (機の)カム 負かす/撃墜する to the 幅の広い, 覆うd esplanade before it. But the 実体 seemed to be between a marble and an onyx, as nearly as he could 裁判官. It stretched for the best part of an earth-mile and housed the entire working 軍隊 of the Aphur 政府, as he (機の)カム to know in the に引き続いて days.

Now, however, he gave more attention to his 即座の surroundings—the 広大な towers on either 味方する of the monstrous 入り口, 激しい and 課すing and each 側面に位置するd by 後見人 人物/姿/数字s of what seemed winged dogs, whose 前線 脚s supported webbed membranes from 団体/死体 to paw.

Croft passed between them through the 入り口 where flowed 反対する-streams of Palosians, on foot or dashing past in gnuppa- drawn chariot's, trundling on two wheels, and driven by men 覆う? in cuirasses and belted with short swords.

He entered a 広大な 法廷,裁判所, surrounded by colonnades, reached by sloping inclines and stairs and 覆うd with a dull red 石/投石する. Here stood more of the chariots before the doors of this or that office of 明言する/公表する. Blue porters moved about it, ぱらぱら雨ing the pavement with 冷静な/正味のing streams of water from metal 戦車/タンクs strapped to their shoulders and fitted with a curved nozzle and spraying 装置.

It made a splendid picture as the sun struck 負かす/撃墜する on the red 床に打ち倒す, the gaily-罠にかける gnuppas, the metal of the chariots and the flashing armor on the 団体/死体s of those who 棒 them, or the men at 武器 who stood here and there about the 法廷,裁判所, 武装した with sword and spear. This was the heart of Aphur's life, Croft thought, gave it a ちらりと見ること, and 始める,決める off in 追求(する),探索(する) of Aphur's king.

He passed through 広大な 議会s of audience, of 会議, or 祝宴ing and 歓迎会, as he 裁判官d from the furnishing of each place. He passed other 法廷,裁判所s, marveling always at the blending of grace with strength in the construction of the whole. Also, he marveled at the richness of the draperies with which さまざまな rooms and doorways and arches were hung. Much of it seemed to 所有する a metallic 質 in texture. It seemed like thin-spun gold. Yet it was everywhere about the palace as he passed. Finally he paused. He was getting nowhere. He decided there was but one means of 達成するing his 願望(する). He put it into 軍隊. He willed himself into the presence of Jadgor without その上の search.

Thereafter he was in a room, where, beside a 抱擁する ワイン-red (米)棚上げする/(英)提議する, two men sat. The one was Prince Lakkon, whom he knew. The other was even a larger man—激しい-始める,決める, dark of complexion, with grizzled hair, and a mouth held so tightly by habit that it gave the impression of lips consciously compressed. His 注目する,もくろむs were dark as those of a bird. His nose high and somewhat bent at the middle of the 橋(渡しをする). The whole 直面する was that of a man of 運動ing 目的, who would brook small hindrance between himself and a predetermined goal.

Aside from that, however, there was little of the king about him, since he was 覆う? 簡単に in a loose, white tunic, out of which his neck rose 大規模な, below which his lower 四肢s showed, corded with muscle and strong. Plainly Jadgor was talking 明言する/公表する 商売/仕事 with his brother-in-法律 at 緩和する.

As Croft 伸び(る)d the room Jadgor struck the (米)棚上げする/(英)提議する at which he sat with clenched 握りこぶし.

"Cathur must still guard the gateway with Aphur, Prince Lakkon!" he cried. "Let Zollaria 計画(する). Cathur's mountains make her impregnable now as fifty years before. Had Mazhur been other than a low-lying country she had never fallen 犠牲者 to Zollaria's greed. But Cathur must be 保証するd in her 忠義 to the 明言する/公表する."

"Her 忠義?" Prince Lakkon exclaimed. "What does Aphur's king mean?"

"What he says." Jadgor 始める,決める his lips やめる 堅固に. "Scythys is king—a dotard! Kyphallos is what—a fop—a voluptuary, as you know—as all Tamarizia knows. When he 開始するs the 王位—as he doubtless will since there seems 非,不,無 to …に反対する him—what will Zollaria do? Cathur, since Mazhur was taken, stands alone—安全な・保証する in her mountains, it is true, but alone, 非,不,無 the いっそう少なく. And Cathur guards the western gate to the inland sea.

"Fifty years ago Zollaria meant to take Cathur 同様に, and she failed. The 逮捕(する) of Mazhur, save the 領土の 新規加入 to her 国境s, gave her nothing at which she 目的(とする)d. True, she has now a seaport at Niera, yet to what end? We 持つ/拘留する the gate and the mouths to all rivers 開始 into the sea. Yet has Zollaria 中止するd to prate of a freedom of the seas? You know she has not. With Kyphallos on Cathur's 王位, will she 捜し出す to 伸び(る) by (手先の)技術 what was 否定するd to her 武器?"

"But Kyphallos himself?" Lakkon 反対するd as Jadgor paused.

"Kyphallos!" The 激しい shoulders of Aphur's 君主 shrugged. "名簿(に載せる)/表(にあげる) ye Lakkon! Zollaria is strong. Cathur stands alone. Cathur guards the gate. Aphur could not 持つ/拘留する it alone. Think you our foemen to the north have 中止するd of their ambition or to 計画(する) or 準備する, while Tamarizia, 負傷させるd by Mazhur's loss, has licked her 負傷させるs for fifty years—and what now? Tamhys—Zitu knows I mean no 不正な 批評 of a nobleman—is one who believes in peace. So, too, do I, if peace can be enjoyed without the sacrifice of the innate 権利 of man to 規制する his own ways of life. Yet were I on the 王位 at Zitra, do you think I would ignore the possible 危険,危なくする to the north? No! I would 準備する to 会合,会う move by move should the occasion arise."

"And your first step?" Lakkon asked.

"To make sure of Cathur," Jadgor said.

"How?"

Jadgor leaned toward his companion before he replied.

"I would take a lesson from Zollaria herself. Lakkon, we have lived—each 明言する/公表する too much in itself. Tamarizia is a loosely-held collection of 明言する/公表するs, each 支配するd by what—a 名目上の king and a 明言する/公表する 議会? And those 議会s in turn elect the central 支配者—the emperor of the nation—to serve for ten Palosian cycles.

"Zollaria is what? A nation 支配するd by one man and a circle of 助言者s, whose word is ultimate 法律. How was that brought about? By intermarriage—by making the 治める/統治するing house of Zollaria one, bound wholly together by a ありふれた 利益/興味 without regard to anything else save that. Hence, let us make the 利益/興味s of Aphur and Cathur one, and let us not 延期する."

"By intermarriage?"

"Aye. With the 権利 princess on Cathur's 王位 Kyphallos might be swayed, and certainly nothing would transpire without our 伸び(る)ing word."

"You have such an one in mind?" Lakkon asked.

"Aye. I 計画(する) not so ばく然と, Lakkon. I would give him the fairest maid of Aphur to wife. It would 要求する such to 持つ/拘留する a man of his type. Do you know that inside the last cycle he has been seen frequently at Niera, mingling with the Zollarian nobles who come to summer there?"

"So I have heard 噂するd." Prince Lakkon inclined his 長,率いる. "But this woman?"

"Your daughter Naia," Jadgor 宣言するd.

"Naia! Your sister's own child!" Prince Lakkon half rose from his 議長,司会を務める.

"Hilka!" Jadgor waved him 支援する. "Stop, Lakkon! She is beautiful as Ga, the mother of Azil. It is because of her Kyphallos comes to Himyra now. I, Jadgor of Aphur, sent him the 招待 with this in mind for Tamarizia's good. The betrothal must be agreed upon before he returns. Lakkon, I speak as your king."

Prince Lakkon's 直面する seemed to Croft to age, to grow drawn and somewhat pale as he 屈服するd to his king's 命令(する). He looked to Croft, indeed, as Jason knew he himself felt. Never had he seen Prince Kyphallos of Cathur, yet he had heard him について言及するd that morning in Lakkon's coach. He had heard Naia's soft lips utter sincere disgust of the lecherous young noble. Now Naia—the woman he himself loved—was planned a sacrifice to 政策 of 明言する/公表する. Every 原子 of his soul cried out in 反乱—"not that—not that." He might not 勝利,勝つ her himself, as he very 井戸/弁護士席 knew. Yet he had seen her—known her, loved her. A sick loathing evoked by Jadgor's 計画(する) waked in his soul. The thought of her 降伏する to the foul embrace of the northern prince roused within him a 反乱 so 広大な that his senses whirled.

Lakkon rose slowly. His features were dull and his 発言する/表明する a monotone of feeling too 深い for an accent of 表現.

"King of Aphur, I shall 知らせる the maid that she is chosen a sacrifice," he said. "I know her mind. She loathes this Prince of Cathur in her heart."

"Yet other women have sacrificed themselves to their nation in Tamarizia's history," Jadgor replied.

"I shall place the 事柄 before her in that light," Lakkon 知らせるd him, and turned to leave the room.

Croft left, too, flitting out of the palace and once more taking up his own purposeless wandering about the town.

Naia, Naia, Naia, his soul cried out within him! Naia, mate of his spirit!—甘い, pure maid of gold.. Would that he had a 団体/死体 here on the 惑星 of Palos! He would fight this monstrous step, he told himself, to the death! He would 掴む this golden girl and 耐える her away—somewhere—anywhere, beyond the reach, the touch of the satyr Prince of Cathur. He would 妨げる this ーするつもりであるd sacrifice of all that was 宗教上の in human 存在-or die in the 試みる/企てる!

Here and there he made his way の中で the life of Himyra, torn by an agony of thought. Dimly he saw where he went—through the stables of the mighty caravans 十分な of the ungainly sarpelcas— through what seemed a market of cattle, where were droves of the long-haired taburs and herds of other creatures like monster sheep save that they had 抱擁する pendulous udders, evidently the source of the nation's 供給(する) of milk.

He 公式文書,認めるd these things without 存在 fully aware of the fact at the time. Only later did he 解任する them as 反対するs beheld before. In a 類似の fashion he (機の)カム upon the 兵舎 of 軍隊/機動隊s guarding the さまざまな gates in the 広大な/多数の/重要な 塀で囲む, entered them, passed through them, 設立する Himyra's 武器s no more than strong 屈服するs and swords and spears, her soldiery, sturdy-looking fellows 覆う? in leathern tunics.

Yet not for one instant did the tumult in his senses 中止する as he passed from scene to scene. Always was the thought of Naia with him. Always was his spirit hot in 反乱 against the 計画(する) of Aphur's king. And so in the end thoughts of Naia seemed to draw him 支援する in a 回路・連盟 to Lakkon's palace where was the girl herself.

He reached it and paused outside its doors. They were open. The 巡査-hued chariot drawn by the four plumed gnuppas stood before them, with Chythron 支援する of the reins.

Bazka, too, stood between the open leaves of the portal, and across the 水晶 pavement, 主要な to them, Lakkon was 主要な Naia toward the coach.

While Jason watched, Aphur's prince and his daughter entered the conveyance and the 広大な/多数の/重要な doors の近くにd. Chythron spoke to the gnuppas and they sprang into their stride. やめる as he had done that morning Croft entered the carriage and crouched on the padded cushion where Naia already reclined. Where they were going, he did not know. Nor did he care, so long as she lay there before his 注目する,もくろむs.


VI. — A VIRGIN'S PRAYER

FOR a time as they turned toward the city gate, which they had entered that morning, silence held between Prince Lakkon and his child.

Lakkon broke it himself at last. "All is arranged as you thought best, my Naia?" he 問い合わせd.

"Aye, my father." She turned her 注目する,もくろむs. "The messengers have 出発/死d to the mountains for the snows; the servants are きれいにする. I have ordered the (米)棚上げする/(英)提議するs 始める,決める in the 水晶 法廷,裁判所, inside the hedge, and I have arranged for a 禁止(する)d of ダンサーs and musicians on the 任命するd day."

"And the 式服. You did not forget the new 式服?" Lakkon smiled.

Naia shook her 長,率いる, her 注目する,もくろむs dancing.

"I am a woman," she replied. "The 製造者s (機の)カム at my 召喚するs to take my 手段. It will be ready on the seventh day from this."

"That is 井戸/弁護士席," Prince Lakkon said. But he sighed.

And suddenly Naia's 直面する lost its light and grew sweetly brooding. She stretched out a 一連の会議、交渉/完成するd arm and touched him on the breast.

"You are tired, my father," she spoke in almost crooning fashion, 辛勝する/優位ing nearer to him.

"The day with Uncle Jadgor has left you 疲れた/うんざりした."

"Aye, somewhat," Lakkon 自白するd.

With a swift yet powerful gesture, he reached out and swept her into his 武器, 製図/抽選 her against his 大規模な chest and 沈むing his cheek to touch her golden hair.

"Naia, my daughter, thou knowest that I love you 井戸/弁護士席," he said.

Croft quivered in his 存在. It seemed to him he was looking into Lakkon's heart and reading there all his lips held 支援する—the fatherly love, the fatherly 苦痛, attendant on that scene in Jadgor's apartment, where he had spent much of the day. It was that, he felt, 奮起させるd that sudden, almost hungry clasping of the girl's supple 人物/姿/数字 to the father's breast—that almost plaintive cry for her 保証/確信 of her 約束 in his love.

But Naia seemed not to sense any deeper 推論する/理由 than the mere love between them 表明するd. Her red lips parted, and she laughed softly as she lay against him, 解除するing a 手渡す to his gray-発射 hair.

"Know that you love me?" she repeated. "Think you I could 疑問 it? Did you not give me my life? Do we not love what we create— so long as it comes from ourselves?"

She nestled her 長,率いる in the hollow of his corded neck. Above that gold-栄冠を与えるd 長,率いる the man's 直面する worked.

"We were happy the day of thy birth, thy mother and I," he said.

And now it seemed that at last the woman sensed some trouble unexpressed in the mind of the man. Very gently she 解放(する)d herself and sat up on the padded cushion. Her almost purple 注目する,もくろむs looked 十分な into those of her parent.

"関心ing what did you speak with Uncle Jadgor to-day?"

"関心ing thee."

Lakkon met the 問題/発行する 公正に/かなり now that it 直面するd him at last.

"関心ing me?"

To Croft every line of Naia's 人物/姿/数字 強化するd.

"Aye." Prince Lakkon sat up. He spoke 速く, 簡潔に, and paused. Yet ere he paused he had fully 輪郭(を描く)d all King Jadgor planned.

And while he spoke the 注目する,もくろむs of the woman 広げるd 速く, as the iris stretched, to leave her pupils 深い 井戸/弁護士席s of horror.

Then as Lakkon finished speaking she cried out: "No!" in swift 直感的に 抗議する, and 解除するd herself upon her pink bent 膝s to 宙に浮く so an instant before she flung herself once more upon her father's breast.

"No!" she cried again, 粘着するing to him. "No, no! Not that—not that! Father, unsay it! Give me not to that beast!"

"Hush!" Prince Lakkon stayed her. "Chythron will hear your 激しい抗議."

"Chythron!" she exclaimed. "Not Chythron but all Aphur—all Tamarizia shall hear my 激しい抗議 against what Jadgor ーするつもりであるs—every woman in the nation shall give thanks to Azil and Ga, that she stands not in my place."

"Naia." Her father spoke in a 発言する/表明する not wholly 安定した.

"Would you profane a 神社, sully a 寺, defile a sacred thing?" she ゆらめくd. "Is a virgin's 団体/死体 a thing to be 物々交換するd and sold in Aphur? Does my uncle regard me as a shameless creature who sells herself for a price? Azil and his 宗教上の mother would 隠す their 直面するs from such marriage 儀式s."

"Think not I wish it," her father said. "Yet can I not 否定する the truth of Jadgor's words, or that the union of the houses of the two 明言する/公表するs would work for Tamarizia's 広大な/多数の/重要な good."

Naia was panting. "Tamarizia's?" she 滞るd now.

"Aye, did you not comprehend what I said 関心ing the 福利事業 of our nation?" Lakkon asked.

She shook her 長,率いる. "I—I think horror must have dulled, my understanding," she said. "Explain to me again."

Long since they had left the city gates and were に引き続いて a 井戸/弁護士席-built road which led off toward those mountains where Croft had first stood and 見解(をとる)d the Palosian landscape in the light of this 病弱なing day.

As he reached the end of his second 解説,博覧会 of the facts Prince Lakkon turned and suddenly swept aside the purple curtain which draped the 味方する of the coach. He flung out an arm and pointed straight to where the dull red 塀で囲むs of Himyra still shone in the afternoon rays.

"Behold Himyra, jewel on the breast of Aphur," he cried. "There she lies. Think you I would have given ear to Jadgor's 計画(する)s save for that? Think you I would send you, flesh of my loins, to such a union save for the good of unborn souls to come? Think you were it not for Himyra, Aphur, Tamarizia herself, I would, have 屈服するd my 長,率いる to the words of Aphur's king? Nay. If so, you are wrong. But for Tamarizia and that glory and 栄誉(を受ける) which are hers and have been for a thousand cycles of our sun, a true son of the nation must 沈む all thoughts of self, must live, if by living he can serve, or should it serve better, must—die!"

にもかかわらず himself Croft thrilled at the words, such as only a true 愛国者 might speak in such トンs of 解雇する/砲火/射撃—トンs which quivered and pulsed with emotion one might not 否定する. In spite of his own sorry 反乱 of spirit, echoed, as he now knew, in the soul of the gentle girl before him, some feeling akin to pity for this 王室の father of hers crept through his mind. Prince Lakkon was a man torn between parental love and the love of his nation— 運命にあるd, as it seemed, to 苦しむ, no 事柄 how this thing fell out.

And while he spoke, the girl, his child, flesh of his flesh, crept to his 味方する, to ひさまづく and gaze out at the distant 塀で囲むs of the city she knew as her own. Her 表現 changed. Some of the indefinable 質 of girlhood seemed to 落ちる from her and expose the deeper, firmer woman's nature, as though a 隠す had been torn aside.

"And I must live for her—with—Kyphallos?" she whispered tensely as Lakkon once more paused.

"If you can 勝利,勝つ him—持つ/拘留する him—sway him—with Jadgor on the 王位 at Zitra you will have made Tamarizia strong."

"I—will have made—Tamarizia—strong."

O girl of gold! Croft's heart cried out as he caught her scanning speech. O wonderful woman—so true to womanhood—so true now to the spirit of ultimate woman, ultimate sacrifice through which せいにする of woman comes life itself!

Unseen, unknown to her or the man who 棒 beside her, Croft approached and bent above her in that moment of struggle and 決定/判定勝ち(する). For, as she turned her 注目する,もくろむs 支援する to the 内部の of the coach. Croft knew she had decided, and that in deciding she had chosen the path which led against every personal impulse of her own clean spirit.

"What am I against Tamarizia?" she said.

"You are my daughter and I love you," said Lakkon, Aphur's prince.

"I know." Naia crept to him and laid herself in his 武器. "I know," she murmured after a time of silence.

Lakkon's 武器 強化するd about her as the coach swung along. Her arm crept up and stole about his neck. Silence (機の)カム 負かす/撃墜する again save for the patter of the gnuppa's feet on the 石/投石する surface of the 主要道路 which had now left the plain and begun to 規模 the mountain-味方する.

Crouched invisible, Croft turned his gaze from the man and woman to 星/主役にする out between the ぱたぱたするing curtains. The road (機の)カム to an end in a mountain valley, open toward the east and so 明かすd a fresh scene of beauty to Jason's 注目する,もくろむs. Here was a country palace, gleaming white above a 一連の terraced gardens which rose from the shores of a tiny mountain lake. Toward it Chythron guided his steeds along a 私的な 運動 which 支店d off from the 主要道路 they had 横断するd thus far.

As though the turning had been a signal, Naia 緩和するd the embrace which held her and sat up, still without speaking, before Chythron brought his team to a stand. Then, as in the morning, Prince Lakkon helped her to descend and walked beside her up a low, 幅の広い flight of steps to reach the portals of their home.

At their heels Croft followed on. His 注目する,もくろむs swept the 範囲 of the valley so far as he could 示す it from the steps.

Groups of the woolly, sheep-like cattle he had seen in Himyra fed in the lush grass of mountain meadows. Cultivated fields stretched out before his 注目する,もくろむs. At the 最高の,を越す of the steps he turned 簡潔に, and looked off to the east. There his 注目する,もくろむs caught the glint of distant sun-kissed water—the Central Sea, of which Prince Lakkon had spoken, he now believed. Then the portals before which Lakkon and Naia stood swung open, and once more a blue native appeared. Beside him was a monster beast, 類似の in all 尊敬(する)・点s to those Croft had seen harnessed to the tiny trams in the 貨物 tunnels. It 示すd the advent of Lakkon and Naia with a slow wagging of its tail, and suddenly 後部ing, laid its 抱擁する 前線 paws, one on each of the girl's shoulders.

She spoke to the creature softly, and when it dropped 支援する, at her 命令(する), she patted its 長,率いる. Then, turning to the man of Mazzer, who stood waiting, she uttered a 命令(する): "I am going to my apartments, Miltos; send Maia to me there."

"You will …に出席する me later—over our evening viands?" her father asked.

"Aye, presently," she returned as she moved toward a stair at one end of the 入り口 法廷,裁判所, which, in a smaller way, was not unlike Prince Lakkon's Himyra palace, save that here its pavement was laid in 補欠/交替の/交替する squares of pale yellow and dull red. The treads of the stairway, also, were of yellow and red, as Croft saw while 開始するing, and the 中心存在s which supported the balcony were yellow, while the balcony itself was red.

Here, too, as in the city, a group of white sculpture stood at the foot of the stair. It 描写するd a very Hercules of a man throttling a creature not far unlike a tiger, while behind him crouched a woman, 持つ/拘留するing a tiny 人物/姿/数字 of a child.

All this he saw as Naia 上がるd without pause, reached a door, guarded by a 激しい golden curtain, swept it aside and entered into her own room.

Here, as In Himyra, Croft 設立する couch and 議長,司会を務めるs, and windows, the mirror 水盤/入り江, the pedestal, and the winged 人物/姿/数字 均衡を保った as though for flight.

Once more the golden curtain was drawn 支援する and a young Mazzer woman appeared.

Naia turned. "Maia, how is the pool?"

"It should be delightful, princess," the blue girl replied. "All this day Zitu warmed it with his light."

Naia tapped with her foot. "Procure fresh raiment and bring it thither," she said. "The ride was tiresome and I will bathe."

Five minutes later, …を伴ってd by Maia, who bore fresh 式服s, she left the room and led the way to one end of the 回廊(地帯) and through a small door to an outer stair. Descending that she passed through a sort of sunken garden, laid out in 半端物 geometric designs and 工場/植物d with shrubs and trees and flowers, の中で which gleamed the white of ornamental urns, 解雇する/砲火/射撃-urns, and statues, toward a low, white 塀で囲む in which an 開始 appeared. Passing this, she turned about the angle of a 保護するing inner 石/投石する 審査する and stood on the 利ざや of an open bath, its water (疑いを)晴らす as 水晶 and 色合いd a delicate amber from the yellow 底(に届く) and 味方するs of the peculiar onyx-like 石/投石する.

Naia bathed. 辞退するing to 秘かに調査する upon her, Croft waited without the 隠すing 塀で囲む, while twilight fell and the sounds of soft splashings (機の)カム to his ear. The bath took a long time. Croft fancied the girl 設立する some vague 慰安 in the soft, warm kiss of the waters, tempered all day by the sun—that to 嘘(をつく) wrapped in their liquid caress soothed somewhat her spirit, torn by the 発覚s her 最近の 旅行 had held.

While he waited twilight 深くするd, and after a time a softer light stole through the garden. He 解除するd his gaze to the skies. Three moons hung there, casting their blended light over mountain and valley and plain. ばく然と he wondered which of the three he had visited during the night before—that night with its weird experience, ending on the 辛勝する/優位 of this day, which, after all, had been but little いっそう少なく weird—this day in which he had 設立する and 認めるd and 産する/生じるd to the one feminine 相当するもの of his nature, only to find her 運命にあるd to another いっそう少なく worthy than himself, and to know himself unable to 介入する between her and her 運命/宿命.

While he sat there brooding the whole strange 状況/情勢—a man in all save 構成要素 団体/死体—a consciousness, 苦しむing all the pangs of spirit he was unable to 肉体的に 表明する, Naia (機の)カム 前へ/外へ and moved with her …を伴ってing servant, a pure, white 人物/姿/数字, through the garden to the house.

Like her 影をつくる/尾行する. Croft 追求するd her every step. He stood beside her while she sat waiting for the evening meal. He was behind her when she reclined on the couch beside the (米)棚上げする/(英)提議する, opposite her father, and ate. He dogged her steps when she once more sought the 静かな of her room, and bade Maia leave her for the night.

Hence he 証言,証人/目撃するd what no other 注目する,もくろむs beheld as the ゆらめくing oil lamp, with its guttering wick little better than a candle 消滅させるd, and the apartment flooded only by the light of the Palosian moons, she knelt by the mirror 水盤/入り江, before the winged 人物/姿/数字 on the ワイン-red pedestal.

And he heard what no other ears save her own could hear as she 解除するd her 手渡すs to the 人物/姿/数字 before which she knelt—the cry of her soul—her womanhood's suppliant 祈り.

"O, Azil, Giver of Life, must this be 軍隊d upon me? O Ga, Mother of Azil—thou virgin woman, whom Zitu 任命するd the one to give an angel life, that he might speak to men of Zitu himself and teach them how to live, do thou intercede for me! Thou knowest woman guards the sacred 炎上, which is life itself; so that it 燃やすs (疑いを)晴らす and never-中止するing. Must that 炎上 in me be fouled? Ga the Mother, Azil the Son—Azil the Angel—hear ye my 祈り!"

She 中止するd and knelt on, silent, with 手渡すs clasped and lovely 長,率いる 屈服するd 負かす/撃墜する.

And once more it seemed to Croft that his senses went spinning, eddying, whirling around. Azil the Giver of Life. Ga the mother of Azil the Son. A Virgin and a Child. And Zitu the father—God. She prayed to them.

This was the Palosian 宗教, at least, in part. Strange analogy to the earth-creed Croft 設立する it—to the creed in which he had been raised. Zitu was the one creative source here as どこかよそで, no 事柄 by what 指名する called—the source to which the 事業/計画(する)d 原子s of its thought looked 支援する, to whom they 解除するd their 発言する/表明するs in 賞賛する or 祈り. What did it 事柄 whether on earth or Palos, life was then the same, and the source was one place as another, all-embracing, 全世界の/万国共通の, always the same? And Azil the Angel of Life was what? A Messianic spirit, surely, which had come to speak to the human 原子s and tell them of the source. What else? And Ga—the medium, through which spirit was translated into 事柄—the eternal woman, through whom Life (機の)カム to the incarnated man.

And to these, this maid—this other woman who had 誓約(する)d herself as a sacrifice for her nation, prayed. Alone here before the pedestal 神社 of Azil, Son of Zitu, she knelt and asked that the cup she had 約束d to drink might be divinely 除去するd from her lips since all human hope of such a 除去 seemed to have died in so far as she could know.

Should that 祈り go unheeded or unheard? Could the pure cry of a clean spirit fail to reach the listening ears of the source?

No! Croft's spirit cried the word to his soul. No, no! A thousand times no! Somehow, some way, he knew not how that 祈り must be heard and answered.

He tore himself 解放する/自由な from the (一定の)期間 of the ひさまづくing 人物/姿/数字, and with no 限定された 目的 in his going save to 除去する himself from a privacy upon which he felt he must no longer intrude, went blindly out of the room.


VII. — KYPHALLOS AND KALAMITA

YET once outside the mountain 郊外住宅, Croft knew where he 手配中の,お尋ね者 to go. It was 支援する to Himyra—支援する to the palace of Lakkon itself—to be alone with his thoughts. To that point, therefore, he once more willed himself.

The city swam beneath him. The yellow Na sparkled and glinted in the flickering gleams of the 解雇する/砲火/射撃 水盤/入り江s lighted along the 堤防s as they leaped and ゆらめくd. Other 解雇する/砲火/射撃s flashed out in さまざまな of the public squares. And here the 全住民 met for their hours of 緩和. Here groups of wandering musicians played on reed and harp and horn as the gaily-decked (人が)群がるs とじ込み/提出するd by. Here mountebanks plied their 在庫/株 of tricks and acrobats 証明するd their supple agility and strength. Over it all the three moons of Palos 注ぐd a silvery light as Croft flitted past.

Then he was at the palace of Lakkon, finding still open a window of Naia's own room, and so at length the place he sought. The moonlight filtered in. It fell in a 幅の広い bank, which struck across the pure white 人物/姿/数字 of Azil with its outstretched wings.

Through a long moment Croft stood gazing at the statue, bathed in the light of the moons. Then, without 除去するing his 注目する,もくろむs, he 設立する the couch and sat 負かす/撃墜する upon it, and thought, still 星/主役にするing at Azil—the 構成要素 symbol of that spirit to whom the girl, the aura of whose presence pervaded this room, had prayed.

And, after a time, out of all his agony of spirit, his tumult of thought, his 反乱 at what was 提案するd for the girl's 運命/宿命, the sick knowledge of his own futility to 援助(する) her, there (機の)カム to him a 誘発するing impulse as to his 未来 course. To what end he did not know. In his 現在の 明言する/公表する he could do nothing and knew it—had 激怒(する)d at the knowledge ever since he had seen Naia of Aphur on her way to this room, where he now sat.

Yet にもかかわらず the 定評のある fact of impotency, something seemed to 勧める him to go on, to learn all he might of Palos and its people, of Tamarizia and its history, its manners and customs, its 政府 and 法律s, and more 特に the true 明言する/公表する of things in Cathur and the truth 関心ing Kyphallos, son of Cathur's king.

To Cathur then would he go, Croft decided, while he sat there 星/主役にするing at Azil, the Angel of Life. And Cathur, he 裁判官d, lay toward the north since Jadgor had spoken of the 明言する/公表する of Nodhur as lying beyond Aphur on the Na. Hence he willed his spirit in 発射/推定 without その上の 延期する.

Thereafter followed a week in which Jason Croft, disembodied spirit, learned much 関心ing the nation and the country to which he had dared 投機・賭ける across millions of miles of space.

He 設立する Cathur, a 山地の 明言する/公表する lying to the north of a wide mountain-塀で囲むd 海峡. He 設立する Scira, its 資本/首都 city, not unlike Himyra save that it was built of an 半端物 blue 石/投石する quarried from the mountains which ribbed the 明言する/公表する in all directions. There was white 石/投石する, too, used in the 政治の palace, and also in a splendid collection of buildings lying on a small 高原 above the city proper. This was the 国家の University, of Tamarizia, as Jason quickly learned, once he was inside its 塀で囲むs.

Endowed as he was with the peculiar ability of reading the words of the people by 推論する/理由 of his sublimated 明言する/公表する, he 設立する this school a wonderful means of quickly 伸び(る)ing all knowledge of the nation which he 願望(する)d to know. He literally went to school, an unknown scholar who listened to the recitation of classes and the lectures of 墓/厳粛/彫る/重大な professorial men 覆う? in long 式服s of spotless white. 地理学 held his 利益/興味 おもに at first.

He learned that Tamarizia lay upon a continent 持つ/拘留するing itself 完全に surrounded save for the 狭くする 海峡, a 広大な central sea, studded here and there with islands, the major of which, Hiranur, some fifty miles long by twenty wide, was the seat of the 皇室の 王位 at the city of Zitra, of which Jadgor had made について言及する before. The Tamarizian 明言する/公表するs 国境d this central ocean—or had done so before the Zollarian war had ひったくるd Mazhur, on the extreme north shore, from the 初めの group of 明言する/公表するs.

East of Mazhur lay Bithur. South of that was Milidhur, 完全にするing the eastern 味方する of the Central Sea. Aphur joined Milidhur on the west—its 指名する literally meaning "the 明言する/公表する to the west," and south of Milidhur and Aphur was Nodhur, 伸び(る)ing 出口 for its 商業 by means of the river Na.

Cathur lay west of Mazhur, north of the 海峡, to the outer ocean, 完全にするing the circle. Its 指名する might be translated as "the 戦う/戦い-ground," which, in fact, it was, Zollaria having more than once sought to 征服する/打ち勝つ it and lost because of the nature of its 山地の 地形. Having learned so much, he could readily see wherein the 所有/入手 of this 明言する/公表する would give Zollaria the freedom of the seas, which she 願望(する)d, and a 共同の 支配(する)/統制する of the entire Central Sea.

From 地理学 he turned to sociology and science. He 設立する out quickly that the Tamarizians used a metric system, numbering their 全住民 by tens and dividing the 国家の 国勢(人口)調査 on the basis of thousands and tens of thousands, each thousand 部隊 having a captain and each ten thousand a 地元の 知事. Their day was twenty-seven hours long, their year longer than that of earth, but divided into twelve periods or months, each in their belief 支配するd over by an angel 指定するd by a 象徴的な 調印する. They believed in the immortality of the soul, as he had learned the first day. They believed in the resurrection of the dead. They used a system of social castes, to which the naturalized 子孫s of the Mazzerian nations belonged, 存在 純粋に a caste of the lowest or serving type. The 貿易(する)s of fathers descended to sons, 指示/教授/教育 in (手先の)技術s and arts 存在 大部分は by word of mouth alone. They had a 妨げる/法廷,弁護士業d or minstrel caste, a caste of ダンサーs wholly 女性(の) in its circle.

A Palosian year was called a cycle, a day a sun, a month a Zitran—or period 始める,決める by Zitu, the 国家の God. There was a 聖職者 and a vestal order of women. Also, there was an order of knighthood, to which belonged men of noble 血 or those raised to it by kingly 法令 for some signal 業績/成就 in the arts or sciences or some other service to the 明言する/公表する.

The 王室の house of each 明言する/公表する was hereditary, but 治める/統治するd 共同で with a 明言する/公表する 議会 elected by the 投票(する) of each ten thousand 部隊 of 全住民, each 部隊 selecting a 明言する/公表する 委任する/代表 to the 議会. The 皇室の 王位 was filled by the choice of the 明言する/公表するs as he had once before heard Jadgor of Aphur, say.

農業 was 高度に held and 大いに 専攻するd. Metal- working was a very 前進するd science, as he had already guessed. 巡査 was abundant, and the Tamarizians held the secret of tempering the metal now unknown on earth. Of it they made their 武器s and most of their public 構造上の metal, 含むing their carriages and chariots and all conveyances of a finer sort. Gold was plentiful, too. But silver and lead were rare and held in high esteem. Steam and electricity were unknown in their 使用/適用, as Croft had already seen.

They had reached a high 計画(する) in art, sculpture and weaving. He discovered that the golden cloth was 現実に gold spun into threads and mixed with a vegetable 繊維 to form warp and woof.

There was also a 医療の caste, somewhat 天然のまま, but seemingly efficient, so far as he could learn, and 大(公)使館員d to it a 女性(の) or nursing caste, consisting wholly again of women, who entered it from choice. In fact, women, as he (機の)カム to see, held a 目だつ place in the nation. They held the 権利 of 選挙権/賛成. Their 市民権 was coequal with their men. They sat in the classrooms of the university, as he 現実に saw, and even took part in public 儀式のs and competed in the public games.

All in all, before his week at Scira was past, he had come to understand that Tamarizia was a very democratic nation にもかかわらず its form of 王室の rulership, and that the emperor of Zitra was little more than a 遺物 of old-time 政府, with little more 力/強力にする than a 共和国の/共和党の 大統領,/社長.

And that, like most 共和国s, the nation had grown weak in the 追跡 of the profession of 武器, he had to 収容する/認める that Jadgor was 権利. Each city had a sort of 市民の guard—each 部隊 of ten thousand 所有するd a 軍の police. There was an 皇室の guard at Zitra of かもしれない five hundred men. 市民の guards, 皇室の guards and police, the 国家の 最大限 軍隊 非,不,無 too 井戸/弁護士席 武装した or trained would not be 裁判官d as aggregating over fifty thousand 効果的な men.

To the north of Tamarizia lay Zollaria, her western shore line that of the 広大な/多数の/重要な or outer ocean. Like Tamarizia, Zollaria was a nation of whites, 異なるing, however, in their 国家の 政権 and their physical 外見 to no small degree. As Jadgor had said to Lakkon, theirs was a 支配する of absolutism, first and last, with the 治める/統治するing class 際立った from the ありふれた people in each 詳細(に述べる) of their life.

Larger than Tamarizia, Zollaria looked with envy on the position of the country to the south. Fifty years before she had sought to change it and failed. Yet Jadgor was 保証するd she had not laid aside her ambition, and Croft was inclined to agree.

The Zollarians themselves were a light-haired race, to a 広大な/多数の/重要な extent ひどく built, strong, virile, sturdy, many of them blue- 注目する,もくろむd, except in the southern part of the nation, where they approached more nearly to the Tamarizian type.

East of Tamarizia and south of Zollaria, in the hinterland of the continent on which the three nations lived, was the half-savage tribe of Mazzer, the blue men, 住むing a 地域 consisting おもに of semitropic forests and plains, living 大部分は by 追跡(する)ing and the 輸出(する)ing of 肌s and 乾燥した,日照りのd meats and natural fruits, together with a variety of cheese. In these articles they 持続するd 商業 with Zollaria and Tamarizia, along their 隣接するing 国境s, and had done so for years. 商業 was 完全に by water in such boats as Croft had seen on the Na, and by means of the sarpelca caravans across stretches of 砂漠 to 地域s not approachable by the streams.

That week in school 証明するd a rather peculiar experience to Croft. He (機の)カム to feel 現実に at home in Scira. Without 存在 seen or known he (機の)カム to know the 青年s of the さまざまな classes.

And to one in particular he gave special 公式文書,認める. He was a wonderful man in so far as physique was 関心d. He stood a good six feet in 高さ and was built in perfect 割合. In the games and sports he always excelled because of his splendid strength. And there he 中止するd. Mentally he was not the equal of those with whom he strove.

Nature seemed to have left her 仕事 uncompleted so far as Jasor was 関心d. That was his 指名する—Jasor, from Nodhur, the 明言する/公表する to the south of Aphur as Croft learned by degrees. He was a lovable young man, 穏やかな-mannered, friendly and 肉親,親類d. But he was 率d in his 熟考する/考慮するs with 青年s two years his juniors and appeared unable to do more than 持続する his standing with them. Watching him, Croft felt both pity and 利益/興味 develop through the course of the seven days wherein he himself acquired so 広大な/多数の/重要な an understanding of Palosian life. It seemed a pity to Croft that one so splendidly endowed with physical perfection should be so mentally weak. He rather followed young Jasor about and discovered to his 楽しみ that although seemingly 井戸/弁護士席 供給するd with means the 青年 was 自然に of a cleanly life. More than that, through 協会 with him, he (機の)カム to know that Jasor felt his position acutely, and was brooding over his own mental capacity to an unwise degree.

THROUGHOUT his stay in Cathur, however, Croft did not lose sight of his main 反対する in coming to the northern 明言する/公表する. He had come to find and 裁判官 Kyphallos for himself, and he …に出席するd to that, not the first night, as he had ーするつもりであるd, but the next night after that. There was a 推論する/理由 for the 延期する. Kyphallos was not in Scira when Croft (機の)カム to the 資本/首都 of Cathur. Jason managed to see Scythys the king. He 設立する him in a splendid room 覆う? in a loose 式服 of scarlet, a senile husk of a once 大規模な man, with a look of vague trouble in his half-blinded cataract-filmed 注目する,もくろむs. But of Kyphallos the son there was no 調印する.

Only by chance 発言/述べるs was Croft able to learn the どの辺に of the prince. By such means he finally learned of a second palace 持続するd on an island in the Central Sea, off the coast of Cathur, not far from the 国境 of the former Tamarizian 明言する/公表する of Mazhur. The island was known as Anthra, was a part of the 明言する/公表する of Cathur, and a favorite 退却/保養地 with the 栄冠を与える prince.

To Anthra on the second night Croft went. And on Anthra he 急落(する),激減(する)d into such a scene as he had not met in Tamarizia as yet. Heretofore he had been struck with the 穏やかな beauty of Palosian life, with a sort of personal dignity which seemed to pervade the nation, にもかかわらず the magnificence of their public structures and the undoubted wealth of the 明言する/公表する.

Not but what, 存在 human, there was a 百分率 of criminality in the social life. Such things, as の中で other races, were known and 認めるd, but he had 設立する it here 規制するd to a surprising extent.

On Anthra, he (機の)カム into an atmosphere the antithesis of this, 連合させるd with a degree of voluptuous 高級な, cradled in a setting of utter magnificence.

He (機の)カム upon a saturnalia of 楽しみ. He could に例える it to nothing else. A feast was in 進歩 in the palace Kyphallos had made the scene of his 私的な debauches for years.

Above an 人工的な harbor as 静める as glass, the palace rose an 課すing pile. At the quays of the harbor, their colored sails 選ぶd out by 炎上ing 解雇する/砲火/射撃-urns, their gilded 船体s 始める,決める asparkie in the flicker of the light-giving 炎上s, lay a number of (a)手の込んだ/(v)詳述する 楽しみ (手先の)技術, more like gold and 巡査 galleys than anything else.

Steps led up from the 石/投石する quays to the palace proper, giving on a wide expanse of 水晶 flagging, under a 激しい portico supported by 中心存在s of lemon-yellow 石/投石する. And beyond this, through wide arty arches, was the main 法廷,裁判所, in the 中心 of which was a pool of limpid water, some fifty feet long by as many wide.

Like the other Palosian palaces this central 法廷,裁判所 was the main 集会 place of the inmates and guests. On Anthra the structure was flagged in a pale-green 石/投石する. The 中心存在s supporting the balcony about it were lemon-yellow, and the stairways at either end of a (疑いを)晴らす translucent blue. Innumerable oil-lamps lighted it this night, and about one corner of the central pool were arranged the (米)棚上げする/(英)提議するs for the feast.

Here Croft 設立する the man he sought, reclining on a padded divan, his too-十分な red lips わずかに parted in a bibulous smile, his long hair curled and anointed and perfumed till he reeked of aromatic scents; his 井戸/弁護士席-formed 手渡すs 負担d with (犯罪の)一味s, his 団体/死体 覆う? in a crimson 衣料品 embroidered in gold.

Beside him, lying outstretched like some splendid creature of the ジャングル as it (機の)カム to Croft, was a woman; tawny as a lioness in the 色合い of her hair and 激しい-lidded 注目する,もくろむs, lithe as a lioness, too, in every 感覚的な line of her 団体/死体, 井戸/弁護士席 nigh unclothed.

Her sandalless feet were stained on the 単独のs with crimson. Anklets gripped her lower 四肢s, and tinkled tiny golden bells as she moved. Bracelets banded her graceful naked 武器. Gem- incrusted cups fastened by jeweled 禁止(する)d covered in part her breasts. A bit of gold gauze, studded with 有望な red 石/投石するs, accentuated rather than 隠すd the 残り/休憩(する) of her perfect 人物/姿/数字 from waist to the bend of her 膝s. She lay there の近くに to Kyphallos and after a bit she 解除するd a golden goblet and 圧力(をかける)d it to his lips and laughed.

Beyond her was a man, Croft 示すd at a ちらりと見ること. He was 激しい, 甚だしい/12ダース; yet gave an impression of mighty strength in the size of his hairy 武器, the 中心存在s of his mighty 四肢s, the breadth of his shoulder and chest. And he, too, was tawny haired.

And, on the other 味方する, of Kyphallos was a 人物/姿/数字 to give Croft pause. A blue 軍人 sat there; but surely no member of the serving class, Jason thought. This man was never made to serve. His were the features of one who 命令(する)s, strong, 会社/堅い-lipped, high-cheeked, with almost a somnolent sneer in the 表現 of his mouth and the glint of his 注目する,もくろむs as he turned them on Kyphallos and the woman by his 味方する. This was some Mazzerian 長,指導者—here in the palace of Cathur's prince. Who then were the tawny woman and man, Croft asked himself, and 設立する he was soon to know.

For as the woman laughed Kyphallos spoke. "Your laughter is music better than any I can 申し込む/申し出, my Kalamita. Since first I heard it in Niera, the time I met you there with your brother, Bandhor, I have longed to hear it more. Your graciousness in coming to this 別れの(言葉,会) feast, ere I sail for Aphur, 重荷(を負わせる)s me with 負債. Yet were I loath to have sailed without a final sight of you—a parting word. And I have 供給するd such entertainment as I might."

"As you do always, Prince of Aphur," his companion 答える/応じるd. "Is it not true, Bandhor, my brother, that we are 栄誉(を受ける)d to be 現在の when Cathur 願望(する)s?"

"Aye. ワイン, food, music, and women. What more can a man 願望(する)?" the 大規模な individual at whom she smiled over her 一連の会議、交渉/完成するd shoulder replied. "When Cathur returns, he must come to our house at Niera as he has done before. There are others of Zollaria I 願望(する) him to 会合,会う, 同様に as other men of Mazzer, besides the noble Bazd, whom we made bold to bring with us tonight."

As he finished the blue man smiled and Kyphallos 選ぶing up his own goblet of ワイン passed it to the Mazzerian with a languid grace.

"Thy friends are my friends, O Bandhor of Zollaria!" he exclaimed, and bending の近くに to the 直面する of the girl said: "Shall I come when I return from Aphur?"

And as he gazed upon her the 激しい lids slowly 契約d until her 注目する,もくろむs 狭くするd to slits. Then they 発射 up, fully open, and she flashed him a smile.

"Aye, my Kyphallos, unless you 願望(する) me to 苦しむ, come when you return."

Kyphallos took 支援する the cup from which Bazd, the Mazzerian, had drunk and drained it at a gulp. "I shall come," he shouted and clapped his 手渡すs. "Let the entertainment begin!"

After that Croft could only watch and, marvel at what he beheld. A sound of harps burst 前へ/外へ. Golden and scarlet curtains drew apart at one end of the 巨大な 法廷,裁判所. He caught a glimpse of moving 人物/姿/数字s behind them, and then fifty dancing-girls broke 前へ/外へ. Swaying, posturing, gesturing they moved 負かす/撃墜する the hall toward the (米)棚上げする/(英)提議するs. At first they were 着せる/賦与するd. But as they 前進するd they dropped 隠す after 隠す from their posturing 団体/死体s, until they gleamed white and pink, swinging 人物/姿/数字s caught in the eddies of the dance. Closer and closer they (機の)カム. They reached the (米)棚上げする/(英)提議するs themselves. They sprang upon them. They danced の中で the 残余s of the feast. The 手渡すs of the guests— other companions of Cathur's prince, reached toward them—sought to 逮捕(する) them and draw them 負かす/撃墜する upon the divans.

And then the music 中止するd. Crying aloud, the ダンサーs leaped from the (米)棚上げする/(英)提議する into the pool. Like nymphs they swam across it and disappeared behind a curtain of flowers and shrubs at the さらに先に end. Yet in a moment they were 支援する, dragging what looked like a monster 爆撃する in which sat the 人物/姿/数字 of an 老年の man, carrying yet another 爆撃する in his 手渡す, and wearing a long green 式服.

This they 開始する,打ち上げるd in the pool, and 掴むing ropes fastened to it, they swam 支援する toward the (米)棚上げする/(英)提議するs, 牽引するing it along. At the corner of the pool they clustered on each 味方する, while the 老年の 乗客 rose and stepped to land.

Kyphallos rose, too. "あられ/賞賛する Kronhor—支配者 of the Seas!" he' exclaimed. "I am about to ゆだねる myself to your domain for a 旅行 to the south. What fare may I 推定する/予想する?"

"Good, O Prince of Cathur," the 老年の one returned. "I shall 教える all handmaids to wait upon you and steer your ship in safety, even as they have brought me into your presence to- night."

Kyphallos, filled a goblet with ワイン and held it out.

He who played Kronhor took it.

"Drink!" the Cathurian cried. "Cathur does 栄誉(を受ける) to Kronhor— thus."

Kalamita sprang to her feet. She filled other goblets, 速く 動議ing the others about the (米)棚上げする/(英)提議するs to do the same. "Drink!" her 発言する/表明する rang out. "Drink to Kronhor. Drink to Kyphallos and the safety of his voyage."

The toast was drunk. Kronhor made his adieus and was 牽引するd 支援する to the other 味方する of the pool. Kalamita was leaning with both 手渡すs locked over Kyphallos's shoulder.

"Tell me," she whispered. "Why does Jadgor of Aphur ask your presence, my friend?"

"I know not," said the Cathurian prince. "Some 商売/仕事 of 明言する/公表する, no 疑問, to which I must …に出席する for my father, who grows feeble with age as you know."

The dancing girls were 運ぶ/漁獲高ing the 爆撃する from the pool. They made what looked like a 緊張するing group in pink bisque.

"It was a pretty play," Kalamita murmured. "Did you design-it, Kyphallos? I know from the past you are clever."

The man turned and looked once more into her 注目する,もくろむs. "I designed it—I planned it to amuse—you."

Croft turned away. He had seen enough. This was the man to whom it was planned to give the woman he—Jason Croft—loved; that 甘い, pure Naia of Aphur who had knelt two nights ago in 控訴,上告 before Azil the Angel of Life. This scented sensualist, caught 急速な/放蕩な in the charms of a Zollarian woman, of a type Croft could not mistake. Jadgor had hinted at something like this in his talk with Lakkon two days before. And to-night—on the eve of his 出発 of Aphur, Kyphallos of Cathur sat as the host of the enemies of his land. Surely Jadgor had 推論する/理由 for the 恐れるs he had 表明するd. Surely here was food for serious thought.


VIII. — APHUR ACCEPTS

CROFT left the 法廷,裁判所 and made his way outside into the 静める beauty of the night. Flooded by the moonlight, he stood watching the flicker of the 解雇する/砲火/射撃-urns on the waters of the tiny harbor, where lay the gilded 楽しみ (手先の)技術.

And after a time he turned 支援する, attracted by the fact that the inner lights had died. Only for a moment, however, did he remain inside. In the 法廷,裁判所, flooded now only by the moons, a wild and loathsome orgy was taking place between the dancing girls and the guests, in and about the pool. Cries, shrill laughter, sounds of splashing and (n)艦隊/(a)素早いing glimpses of flitting 形態/調整s told him the 十分な story as to the end of Kyphallos's feast. It sickened him, and once more he fled the 位置/汚点/見つけ出す to spend the night outside.

Naia! The thought (機の)カム to him. Suddenly he 手配中の,お尋ね者 to see her, be 近づく her, away from this scene of 残虐な carnival where license 統治するd 最高の. He 手配中の,お尋ね者 to be in the hills of Aphur, where she had her home. And 速く he was.

There was Lakkon's palace, white under the 3倍になる moons—and here was the window of the room where she had knelt and prayed. Invisible, yet seeing, he crept inside, like a wraith of the night. Only the moon gave him light. But it showed him the woman of his soul. She lay on the metal couch, asleep. Her fair hair 影をつくる/尾行するd her 直面する as he bent above her.

A slender arm was thrown out to one 味方する. Coverings as light as silk betrayed the grace of her form. Her lips were half parted, and as Jason bent 負かす/撃墜する, she sighed.

Croft straightened and stood like a 後見人 spirit above her. His soul was once more on 解雇する/砲火/射撃 at the thought of what was planned. This was the girl who was to be 申し込む/申し出d to the lecherous young spawn of 王族, even now disporting himself with the tawny サイレン/魅惑的な from another nation—that Kalamita, whose 指名する, Croft knew, might best be translated into English as Magnet. Kalamita—the magnet—a human magnet—a 女性(の) magnet to draw men to her by her shameless charms and 貯蔵所d them 急速な/放蕩な past any chance of escape.

How much he wondered did Jadgor of Aphur really know of what was going on. How fully was he 知らせるd of what was coming now to seem, to Croft, as one 味方する of the workings of Zollaria's 陰謀(を企てる)? Surely he must know how much to be willing to sacrifice this fair young sleeper, his sister's child. Little by little Croft was coming to understand the workings of Jadgor's mind—to believe him a 愛国者 really rather than a 探検者 of selfish 力/強力にする, such as he had fancied he might be for all his 勇敢に立ち向かう words at first.

What then? Croft could not answer. Bound as he was—にもかかわらず his ability to hear and see and know—he could do nothing in himself. All night long he raved in impotent 激怒(する), unknowing that by degrees he was solving the problem 現在のd to him.

At morn he went 支援する to Anthra. He 証言,証人/目撃するd the 出発 of Kyphallos in a gilded galley with red sails and red silken cordage 列/漕ぐ/騒動d by twenty blue men, ten to each bank of oars.

Kalamita's 船, in which 棒 the Zollarian woman, her brother and Bazd the Mazzerian 長,指導者, …を伴ってd the Cathurian for some two hours before it turned north and made off for Niera, as Croft gathered from what conversation passed.

Kyphallos's (手先の)技術 continued south. Croft let him go. He himself went 支援する to Scira and the 国家の school for his lessons of the day. The Cathurian prince was 安全な for five days while he sailed and 列/漕ぐ/騒動d to Himyra. 一方/合間 Croft was 決定するd to learn all. he could. It was after that he first met Jasor and 熟考する/考慮するd him during the few days remaining until the first 会合 between Kyphallos and Naia which he had 決定するd to …に出席する. And in so 熟考する/考慮するing the 青年, he discovered Jasor's 十分な 承認 of his own shortcomings, and that his knowledge of his own backward mental 力/強力にするs was preying upon his mind to produce a melancholic turn in the young man's thoughts.

At night Jasor sat in his 4半期/4分の1s brooding, or took long 独房監禁 walks. Even in the four days he lost flesh. Croft realized that his introspections were sapping the young Nodhurian's strength—that he was 肉体的に as 井戸/弁護士席 as mentally sick. He had drawn into himself and no longer took part in the games in which, not only the dares of his classmates, but his very stature, told Croft he had once excelled.

Then (機の)カム the seventh day, and Croft had willed himself 支援する to Himyra once more, with an 注目する,もくろむ out for the galley from Anthra along the yellow Na.

He 設立する it a little below the city 塀で囲む, and followed it as it worked its way up the 現在の with flashing, dripping blades which rose and glistened and fell in the brilliant light. Under a scarlet awning, Kyphallos, curled and perfumed, lay on a burnished divan and watched the city slip past until the galley swung into one of the quays in 前線 of the palace, where a chariot …を伴ってd by a part of the 王室の guard waited as the galley moored. 一方/合間 広大な (人が)群がるs lined the terraces along that 部分 of the Na and trumpets blared a 迎える/歓迎するing to the northern guest.

The Cathurian (機の)カム 岸に and entered the burnished car. The detachment of the guards fell in on either 味方する. The 行列 機動力のある the inclines from terrace to terrace, past the gathered throngs, until in the end it passed through the monster 入り口 of the palace and brought up in the 主要な/長/主犯 法廷,裁判所.

There さまざまな nobles of the 明言する/公表する, Lakkon の中で them, waited to 行為/行う the visiting noble to Aphur's king. Under their 護衛する Kyphallos moved through the 回廊(地帯)s and across 法廷,裁判所s to where, in an audience-room of 抱擁する 割合s, Jagdor sat in 明言する/公表する. Here his guard of 栄誉(を受ける) drew aside and left the prince standing alone as Jadgor rose.

"Welcome Cathur, to such poor 歓待 as is 地雷," said Aphur's king.

"あられ/賞賛する Aphur," Kyphallos replied, 屈服するing in the least degree. "Cathur sends 迎える/歓迎するing through me, his son."

Jagdor descended a step of the 演壇 on which he sat. He put out a 手渡す. "受託する a seat beside me, son of Cathur, whose presence gladdens the 注目する,もくろむ," he went on.

Kyphallos 前進するd, clasped palms with the Aphurian king, 機動力のある the steps and seated himself on the gilded divan where Jadgor had sat alone.

The king of Aphur turned to two guards 駅/配置するd on either 味方する. "発表する that Cathur is Aphur's guest."

"Cathur is the guest of Aphur!" 布告するd the 兵士 先触れ(する)s.

This 完全にするd the 儀式の of the 王室の arrival and the nobles withdrew with the exception of Lakkon, who, at a 調印する from Jadgor, remained and approached the 演壇.

Jadgor waved away his guards. "I would speak with you on 事柄s of 負わせる, O Cathur," he said when the three were alone.

"I give ear. King of Aphur," Kyphallos replied.

Like the man of 目的 he was Jadgor did not waste time in airy persiflage.

"Cathur guards the western gate with Aphur, Kyphallos," he began. "To my mind it occurs the guards are bound by a ありふれた 利益/興味. It occurs to me to 強化する the tie."

"To what end?" A slight frown grew between the younger man's 注目する,もくろむs. He seemed like one taken suddenly by surprise and his words (機の)カム only after a perceptible pause.

"To the end of 強化するing our nation," Jadgor 発射 out his reply. "In one year Tamhys's 統治する is done, unless he be re- elected, as you know. With Cathur's help and that of Nodhur, which is 井戸/弁護士席 保証するd, and support from Milidhur already 約束d, Aphur can 勝利,勝つ the day."

"Ah!" Suddenly Kyphallos smiled. And as 速く his eyelids drew together. "But what," he asked, "if Cathur should look toward Zitra 同様に?"

Like a を刺す of light a thought pierced Croft's listening brain. Was that it—was that the bait Zollaria held 前へ/外へ? Kyphallos on the 王位 of Tamarizia—not for ten years, but for life— Zollaria and Tamarizia 事実上 one if not 現実に 部隊d— Cathur in Zollaria's 手渡すs and Kyphallos a noble of a 広大な empire—a 二重の 君主国 such as Palos had never seen. The conception from the stand-point of 王族 at least was no いっそう少なく than magnificent.

Jadgor, too, gave his companion a piercing ちらりと見ること. "Could Cathur 勝利,勝つ without Aphur?" he asked.

Kyphallos shrugged. "My words were but a question," he 避けるd the answer direct. "What does Aphur 提案する?"

"An 同盟 of their houses," Jadgor said and paused.

And once more Kyphallos frowned without reply. Plainly he was giving this 事柄 consideration.

Jadgor 再開するd. "It is in our minds to 申し込む/申し出 you the fairest flower in Aphur's garden of women to this end."

"Hai! A woman! Thou meanest marriage?" Kyphallos cried.

"Aye."

Kyphallos smiled. "And this wonderful woman—who is she?"

"The daughter of Prince Lakkon here," Jadgor 宣言するd. "Naia, the child of my sister, more beautiful than any girl in Aphur and pure as the Virgin Ga."

"Naia!" Kyphallos's 注目する,もくろむs lighted. "I have heard of her, O Aphur. It would seem you 計画(する) to make this 同盟 strong."

"The guard of the western gate should be strong," Jadgor said.

Kyphallos nodded. "Yet have I never seen her," he 発言/述べるd in a トン of musing, "though the fame of her beauty has reached Cathur ere this. I have heard she has hair like spun gold and 注目する,もくろむs as purple as the twilight in the mountains. Is this true?"

"Cathur shall 裁判官 the truth for himself," Jadgor made 返答. "Prince Lakkon craves the presence of Kyphallos at a feast to- morrow night. The maiden shall be there."

"Good." Once more Kyphallos smiled. Women were his main 利益/興味 in life.

"I have never given serious thought to marriage, yet it can do no 害(を与える) to see this fairest of Aphur's maids. Say to Prince Lakkon that Cathur shall do himself the 楽しみ to 受託する his 招待 to a feast. As for the 残り/休憩(する)—" He shrugged. "A man, O Jadgor, should never marry in haste. I must think upon your words."

There was something in the Cathurian's mind. Croft tried to read the secret thought, and failed. Jadgor, too, seemed to sense some 推論する/理由 beyond the one 割り当てるd for the man's hesitation, although an 即座の answer was hardly to have been 推定する/予想するd to such a proposition as that by which the prince was 直面するd.

And Jadgor did not 捜し出す to 圧力(をかける) the 事柄 その上の. Instead, he turned to Lakkon with a request to 護衛する the 王室の guest to the rooms 用意が出来ている against his coming, and rose from his seat.

CROFT sought Prince Lakkon's palace without more 延期する.

He 設立する it receiving the finishing touches of 準備 for the Cathurian's entertainment, and Naia, with her own maid beside her, 監督するing the hangings of fresh draperies in the 抱擁する central 法廷,裁判所.

His soul quickened at sight of her and then sank as he saw the 表現 on her 直面する. It was an 表現 of 審議する/熟考する endurance, and he 解任するd how nights before she had sighed in her sleep.

Yet he hovered 近づく her and, after hours Lakkon, himself arrived and (機の)カム to her 味方する. Father and daughter sat upon one of the carved and gilded seats with which the 法廷,裁判所 had been 始める,決める 前へ/外へ.

Naia looked into Lakkon's 注目する,もくろむs. "What said the Cathurian to Jadgor's 提案?" she 問い合わせd.

"He 受託するd our 招待 for the night after this," Lakkon replied. "He seems a 用心深い man. He would see you before he decides."

"He would see me!" Naia of Aphur flashed. "He would 見解(をとる) me— learn if I please his 王室の fancy—Zitu! must I 服従させる/提出する to this?"

"Nay." Lakkon shook his 長,率いる. "Cathur's prince was but 伸び(る)ing time to consider all 味方するs of the 事例/患者. Jadgor's 申し込む/申し出 took him by surprise."

"Perhaps," said Naia in almost eager fashion, "he does not wish a wife."

Lakkon shook his 長,率いる again. "Scythys, his father, is old. Kyphallos must marry when he 伸び(る)s the 王位 at 最新の. Is everything 用意が出来ている?"

"Aye—even to—the sacrifice." Naia's トン was bitter. She rose and moved away without more words, 開始するing the stairs toward her rooms.

Croft's heart was bitter, too, as he left the place and returned by his will to Scira and the apartment of Jasor of Nodhur.

Just why he went there he hardly knew—save that the sympathy he felt for the soul-sick 青年 seemed to keep the boy in his mind. Yet once in his presence he 設立する the 青年 sitting before an untouched plate of food. And after a time he 投げつけるd this to the 床に打ち倒す and buried his 長,率いる in his 手渡すs, to break into muttered speech.

Croft listened and after a time he 設立する the 原因(となる). Jasor's father had sent him word to come home. The two leaves of a 令状ing tablet—bits of thin metal covered with 常習的な wax, in which characters were 削減(する) with a metal stylus, lay unbound and spread out on the (米)棚上げする/(英)提議する where the food had sat. Jasor's father had evidently become 納得させるd that his son was a dullard and was wasting his time in 捜し出すing to learn more than he already knew.

Croft remained with him during the night. For a time he whimpered and 悪口を言う/悪態d. Later he destroyed the tablets as he had destroyed his food. After that he flung himself on his couch and for hours he dozed and waked and 投げ上げる/ボディチェックするd and muttered. Croft fancied him in a fever from the broken nature of the words he spoke.

And in the morning the boy did not rise. The woman of whom he rented his lodgings (機の)カム to clean and 設立する him muttering and mouthing. He sprang up and drove her from the room. She ran crying downstairs and out to the street and along it for some distance to a house where やめる evidently one of the nursing caste lived.

Presently a woman in the uniform of her calling, a short blue- skirted 衣装 embroidered with a red, heart-形態/調整d symbol (機の)カム 前へ/外へ and followed her 支援する to her house. Five minutes after her arrival she had sent the old woman for a doctor and was herself bathing Jasor's 紅潮/摘発するd neck and 直面する.

The doctor (機の)カム, 診察するd the 患者, left some liquid 実体 to be given in interval doses and went away.

Croft remained till evening. Jasor was more 静かな by then, and he left. But, 内科医 as he was, he felt that the young Nodhurian's days were numbered, that unless he had the will to 回復する he would 沈む slowly and die in the end. And he knew Jasor had not the will to get 井戸/弁護士席.

His own will carried him to Himyra in a flash, and to Lakkon's palace at once. Night had fallen when he reached it and the central 法廷,裁判所 was a 炎 of light from a myriad of oil-lamps. In the main expanse of the 水晶 床に打ち倒すing the (米)棚上げする/(英)提議するs were 始める,決める 前へ/外へ, decked with flowers, and 負担d with viands. Serving men and maidens of the blue Mazzerian race were still at work in the final 準備s. Of Naia or Lakkon there was no 調印する.

The latter (機の)カム 負かす/撃墜する the stairs at one end after some time, however, and 調印 to Bazka, the Mazzerian majordomo, took up a place 近づく the 大規模な doors. There he remained until a clatter of hoofs 示すd the first arriving guests.

They (機の)カム in a stream thereafter: nobles of Aphur and their daughters and wives, captains of the 市民の guard, and finally, with a blare of trumpets from riders 機動力のある on gnuppas, Jadgor himself and Kyphallos in a golden coach drawn by eight gnuppas harnessed four abreast.

And still Naia had not appeared.

But as the King of Aphur and the Prince of Cathur moved 負かす/撃墜する the 水晶 覆う from the doors toward the (米)棚上げする/(英)提議するs in the 中心 of the 法廷,裁判所, she (機の)カム slowly 負かす/撃墜する the stairs.

Croft 星/主役にするd in delight. She was a thing of purple and gold. The gown she had 述べるd that first day wrapped her supple form like a second 肌, from 権利 shoulder to hip, and fell from there to the 膝s. It was a shimmering thing embroidered in purple 石/投石するs.

Halfway 負かす/撃墜する the stairs she stood and inclined, her 長,率いる, while Jadgor and Kyphallos paused. Then as the men 前進するd she began again to descend, until 近づく the 長,率いる of the (米)棚上げする/(英)提議するs she sank on her left 膝 and 屈服するd before the king.

Jadgor's own 手渡す helped her to rise. Jadgor made Kyphallos known. Prince and princess touched 手渡すs. Lakkon led toward the feast.

At the 長,率いる sat Jadgor and Kyphallos 味方する by 味方する. Lakkon reclined beside the king. Naia's place was on the Prince of Cathur's left. Blue servants in Lakkon's livery placed the other guests and began their service at once.

For an hour the feast went on. Hidden musicians filled the 空気/公表する with the sound of their harps. That snow-冷気/寒がらせるd ワイン, of which Lakkon had spoken, 注ぐd from golden 投手s into goblets of silver as serving-maids passed up and 負かす/撃墜する the board to keep all 井戸/弁護士席 供給(する)d.

Croft 公式文書,認めるd Kyphallos more closely than the 残り/休憩(する). He had seen the swift lighting of his 注目する,もくろむs when Naia appeared on the stairs, the swift 直感的に parting of his too 十分な lips, the twitch of his nostrils, …を伴ってing that first ちらりと見ること of the maid 示唆するd for his wife.

Now, as he lay on the divan, he 設立する him watching her with what seemed a 安定した 利益/興味, plying her with gallant conversation, finding excuse to frequently touch her 手渡すs, 星/主役にするing into her long-攻撃するd purple 注目する,もくろむs. With his 憤慨 for the Cathurian growing by swift leaps and bounds, he realized that Kyphallos was impressed, sensed that before this chaste beauty of his own people, he had forgotten Zollaria's magnet for the time. Also he thought it had been better had the ワイン been いっそう少なく nicely 冷気/寒がらせるd, for Kyphallos drank 深い and his 注目する,もくろむs began to sparkle as time passed with new toasts 提案するd and drunk about the board. It (機の)カム to Croft that Cathur's prince was losing his 長,率いる at a time when he had better have kept it, as his 発言する/表明する became more and more loud.

Intoxication may be very 井戸/弁護士席 on Anthra, where it was the 受託するd thing. In Himyra and the palace of Lakkon, before his 提案するd bride, it might 証明する another thing. He was 強化するd in his belief by the 尋問 ちらりと見ること Naia cast at the northern noble from time to time—a ちらりと見ること of something like surprised 狼狽.

The harps struck up a different 手段 toward the last. Golden curtains parted under the balcony 近づく the stairs. A 禁止(する)d of dancing girls 軍隊/機動隊d in. They were things of beauty, laughing- 直面するd, their soft hair flowing, 覆う? in what seemed no more than garlands of flowers twined about their slender 団体/死体s and half- way 負かす/撃墜する their 四肢s. Beginning to dance they 前進するd and as they danced they sang. The scene became one of rhythmic beauty, delightful to the senses. Each girl bore a parti-colored 隠す of gauze and waved it as she moved. 集まりd inside the rectangle of the (米)棚上げする/(英)提議するs on the 水晶 床に打ち倒す, they seemed to be a very dancing, nodding bed of flowers, まっただ中に which twinkled their 飛行機で行くing feet and gesturing 武器, (警官の)巡回区域,受持ち区域ing time to the' pulse of the harps.

Then it was done. The ダンサーs were 製図/抽選 支援する with graceful genuflections, as 賞賛 broke 前へ/外へ from the guests. Lakkon 投げ上げる/ボディチェックするd a handful of silver pieces の中で them. Jadgor cast a 二塁打 handful of jewels into the scarf of a maid who 前進するd at his 調印する.

"Divide them の中で you," he said. The girl sank to the 床に打ち倒す, and rose.

"持つ/拘留する!" cried Cathur's prince. His 直面する was 紅潮/摘発するd and his 注目する,もくろむs shone with an unholy light. Croft saw his nostrils 公正に/かなり quiver as he watched the lissom ダンサー. He 解除するd himself and struck the (米)棚上げする/(英)提議する. "Up!" he 命令(する)d thickly. "Up beauteous maid!"

With a ちらりと見ること at Jadgor, who made no 調印する whatever, the dancing girl obeyed. She stood on the (米)棚上げする/(英)提議する before Kyphallos.

"明かす!" he said.

Again the woman ちらりと見ることd at Aphur's king. But Jadgor did not draw 支援する from the 状況/情勢 invoked by his bibulous guest. Too much hung on the moment as Jadgor saw it to quibble over the uncloaking of a ダンサー. "明かす!" he 追加するd his 命令(する).

The girl 解除するd her 手渡すs. Her garlands fell away. She stood a lithely 一連の会議、交渉/完成するd form, her feet lost in the 集まり of blossoms she had worn.

Kyphallos laughed. His 注目する,もくろむs were 炎ing. He caught up a goblet of ワイン and rose.

"あられ/賞賛する Adita, goddess of womanly beauty," he exclaimed. "Now, are you perfect as you stand 明らかにする/漏らすd, stripped of the silly trappings which 隠すd the greater charms beneath. Flowers are things of beauty in their place, but woman unadorned is the fairest flower of life. Arise, my friends, and drink with me to woman as she is, this new Adita I have 設立する!"

They rose at Jadgor's 調印する, though Croft caught more than one ちらりと見ること of question passing の中で the guests. So much he saw and turned 支援する to Naia who had risen, too, her 直面する a mask of 乱暴/暴力を加えるd dignity and 軽蔑(する).

Kyphallos 解除するd his goblet and 始める,決める it to his lips.

Naia 解除するd hers and cast it from her so that its contents 流出/こぼすd and flowed across the (米)棚上げする/(英)提議する at the ダンサー's feet.

"Thou beast!" her 発言する/表明する (機の)カム in トンs of sharp displeasure. "Thou 感覚的な offspring of Cathur! 'Tis thus I drink your toast!"


Illustration x

Silence (機の)カム 負かす/撃墜する—a breathless pause about the (米)棚上げする/(英)提議するs.

Kyphallos lowered his cup and turned toward the Princess of Aphur slowly. And suddenly the Cathurian smiled. He 取って代わるd his goblet on the (米)棚上げする/(英)提議する and sank to one 膝 before the haughty daughter of his host.

"By Zitu!" his 発言する/表明する rang out; "but you are truly 王室の. You are magnificent, daughter of Aphur. Did I 選ぶ me a lesser toy, 'twas but that I knew you for what you are—one fit to be a queen. Naia of Aphur, wilt 誓約(する) yourself queen of Cathur's 王位?"

The words were out. Croft felt his senses 沈む. Yet even so he saw the whole psychology of the event. To Cathur, the maiden 申し込む/申し出d, had seemed but an 平易な prize—to take at his 楽しみ, if at all. To Cathur drunk the dance had 控訴,上告d. To Cathur still drunk Naia of Aphur, 感情を害する/違反するd, 怒り/怒るd, 投げつけるing her 軽蔑(する) an his teeth, appeared suddenly not a thing to be taken lightly, but a beautiful consort to be won if taken at all.

On Jadgor's 直面する was a satisfaction unvoiced, He rose and 解除するd his 手渡すs.

"My lords and ladies," he 発表するd, "I call you to 証言,証人/目撃する that Cathur asks the 手渡す of Aphur's princess. Let Naia choose."

Kyphallos drew himself up and 倍のd his 武器. To Croft it seemed the man was sobered by Jadgor's words. Yet as cries of assent and acclamation rang out through the 法廷,裁判所, he remained silent before the 緊張した 人物/姿/数字 of the girl.

And slowly the golden 長,率いる beneath the curling plume of purple 屈服するd. One 明らかにするd arm rose and 延長するd its fingers toward the northern prince.

"Aphur 受託するs."

Her words (機の)カム scarcely above a whisper and were 溺死するd in a 迎える/歓迎するing roar of 発言する/表明するs upraised by the waiting guests.

Cathur caught the 延長するd 手渡す and turned to the 今後- 緊張するing 直面するs, the watching 注目する,もくろむs.

"A happy consummation to our feast," rang the words of Aphur's king. "Men and women of Aphur this shall be arranged. I, Jadgor, myself shall sponsor the formal betrothal on a day one twelfth of a cycle hence."

The thing was done. A month from to-night would see it 批准するd. A sick impotency filled Croft's soul as once more cries of approbation 迎える/歓迎するd the 約束 of the king. And into the 中央 of his despair there flashed one ray of blinding thought. Before it he staggered, drew 支援する, shaken in the primal elements of his 存在. Yet he did not put it aside. He held it. He marveled at it. And suddenly taking it with him, he left the scented atmosphere of Lakkon's palace 法廷,裁判所 and rose up toward the heavens, studded with 星/主役にするs.

To earth! His will gathered, 中心d, 焦点(を合わせる)d by the wonder of the thing he had conceived, cast all its 運動ing 力/強力にする into the 需要・要求する. Palos and all it held sank 速く away beneath him. He opened the 注目する,もくろむs of the form he left on his library couch.


IX. — 'TWIXT EARTH AND HEAVEN

NOTHING had been 乱すd. Everything was as he had last seen it, save that a 層 of dust had collected, thanks to the absence of Mrs. Goss, and that 予定 to the difference of the length of the Palosian day. Nine terrestrial days had passed since Croft had lain his 団体/死体 on the couch.

Rising slowly, he 点火(する)d the 炎上 of a small alcohol-lamp and quickly brewed himself a cup of strong beef-抽出する, which he drank. The hot (水以外の)飲料 and the food put new physical life into his 不振の veins, as he knew it would.

Seating himself in a 議長,司会を務める, he gave himself over to a consideration of the thought he had brought with him from Palos—a thought more weird than any of which he had ever dreamed.

簡潔に, Croft had conceived of a way to acquire a physical life on Palos. That was his unheard-of 計画(する), the 可能性 of which had wakened in his consciousness as Jadgor 発表するd the formal betrothal of Naia to Kyphallos at the end of the month. It was that that had sent him 支援する here to his 熟考する/考慮する and his 調書をとる/予約するs.

And after a bit he rose and drew a 容積/容量 from a 事例/患者 and brought it 支援する to the desk. It was a work 取引,協定ing with obsessions—that theory of the occultist that a stronger spirit might 追い出す the 女性 tenant of an earthly 爆撃する, and 占領する, and 支配する the 団体/死体 it had 所有するd.

He read over the written page and sat pondering once more while the night dragged past. Even as he had gone a step さらに先に in astral 発射/推定, carrying it into spirit 発射/推定 as a その上の step, so now he was considering a step beyond mere obsession and 尋問 whether or not it were possible for a spirit, potent beyond the 普通の/平均(する) ego of earth, to enter and revivify the 団体/死体 laid 負かす/撃墜する by another soul.

His thoughts were of Jasor as he sat, there wrapped in thought. The young Nodhurian was dying, unless Croft's 医療の knowledge was all at fault. Yet he was dying not from 病気 in the physical sense. His 団体/死体 was organically healthy. It was his soul which was sick unto death. And—here was the wonderful question: Could Croft's strong spirit enter Jasor's 団体/死体 as Jasor laid it aside and, operating on the still inherent and reasonably sound 独房-energy still 含む/封じ込めるd within it, 所有する it for its own?

It was an amazing thought—a daring thought—yet not so far beyond the spirit which had dared the emptiness of the unknown in the adventure which had brought Croft to his 現在の position, その為に 奮起させるing the thought itself. Day broke, however, before Croft made up his mind.

He realized fully that he must remain on earth for a day or two to 供給する his 現在の 団体/死体 against another period of trance. He realized also that in the 実験 he meant to make he might lose that earthly 団体/死体 and fail in his other 試みる/企てる at one and the same time. But he made up his mind 非,不,無 the いっそう少なく. Should he 後継する, he would live as an inhabitant of Palos—would be able to 肉体的に stand between Naia—the one woman of his soul—and her 運命/宿命—and, winning, be able perhaps to (人命などを)奪う,主張する her for himself. Against the 可能性 of such a consummation to his 広大な/多数の/重要な adventure no argument of a personal 危険,危なくする held 負わせる.

Croft sent for Mrs. Goss, telegraphing her すぐに after it was light. He spent the day waiting her arrival in feeding his 団体/死体 with concentrated foods. He met her when she (機の)カム, and for a week life went on in the Croft house as it had gone on before. Then Croft 召喚するd the little woman and bade, her sit 負かす/撃墜する in one of the library 議長,司会を務めるs.

He told her he was engaged on a wonderful 調査 of the 軍隊s of life. He made her understand dimly he was doing something never 試みる/企てるd before, which, if it 後継するd, would make him very happy. He explained that he was about to take a long sleep—that it would last for three, and かもしれない four days. He forbade her to 乱す his 団体/死体 during that time, or to touch it for a week.

Then, if he was not returned and in his sane mind, she might know that he was dead.

With quivering lips and wide 注目する,もくろむs and apron-plucking 手渡すs, she 約束d to obey. Croft sensed her 苦悩 for himself, and tried to be very gentle as he saw her from the room. But with the door の近くにd behind her, he moved quickly to the couch and stretched himself out. For a moment he lay 星/主役にするing about the familiar room. Then into his mind there (機の)カム a thought of Naia—and of Jasor—of love for the one and pity for the other. He smiled and fastened his mind on the 反対する of this 現在の 試みる/企てる. And suddenly his eyelids の近くにd and his 団体/死体 relaxed. Once more time and space 苦しむd annihilation, and he knew himself in Jasor's room.

It was 十分な. The nurse was there, and the 内科医. And there was another—a young man with a strong, composed 直面する, 覆う? in a tunic of unembroidered brown, whom Croft 認めるd as a priest.

He stood by the couch on which Jasor lay, pallid as wax, with の近くにd lids, and a barely perceptible respiration. He held a silver 水盤/入り江 in his 手渡すs, and as Croft watched he ぱらぱら雨d the 直面する of the dying 青年 with his fingers dipped in the water it 含む/封じ込めるd. A quiver of emotion shook Croft's spirit. He had returned to Palos 非,不,無 too soon. The priest drew 支援する. The doctor approached the bed. He 解除するd the wrist of Jasor and 始める,決める his fingers to the pulse. In a moment he laid it 負かす/撃墜する, and 屈服するd his 長,率いる. And as he did so, Jasor sighed once 深く,強烈に like one very tired.

"He passes," the 内科医 said.

Priest, nurse, and 内科医 all saw it. But Croft saw more than they. He saw the astral form, the soul-団体/死体 of Jasor, rise from the discarded clay. And, 速く casting aside all other considerations, he willed his own consciousness into the 空いている brain.

Thereafter followed an experience, the most terrible he had ever known. He was within Jasor's 団体/死体, yet he was chained. For what seemed hours he fought to 支配(する)/統制する the physical elements of the fleshy form he had 掴むd. And always he failed. In some indefinable way it seemed to resist the new tenant who had taken the place of the old. Croft 述べるs his own sensations as those of one who 圧力(をかける)s against and 捜し出すs to move an immovable 負わせる. He 苦しむd—苦しむd until the very 苦しむing broke 負かす/撃墜する the 社債s in a 需要・要求する for some outward 表現. Then, and only then he knew that the chest of the 団体/死体 had once more moved, and that he had drawn 空気/公表する into the 肺s. Encouraged, he 発揮するd his staggering will afresh, and he knew he was looking into the 直面するs above him—through Jasor's physical 注目する,もくろむs!

"He lives!"

With Jasor's ears he heard the 内科医 exclaim:

"This passes understanding, man of Zitu. He was dead, yet now he lives again!"

"The ways of Zitu oft pass the understanding, man of 傷をいやす/和解させるing," said the priest, 前進するing to the bed. "What is man to understand the things that Zitu 計画(する)s?"

Croft thrilled. 調整 between his conscious spirit and the 団体/死体 of the man of Palos was 設立するd. He had won again—won a 明白な, 構成要素 存在 on the 惑星 with the woman he loved. The thought brought a sense of 絶対の satisfaction. He の近くにd the lids above Jasor's 注目する,もくろむs, and slept.

For several hours he lay in restful slumber, then awoke refreshed. His deductions had been 訂正する. Jasor's 団体/死体 was healthy, aside from the 弱めるing 影響(力)s of his spirit. Given a strong spirit to 支配する it now, and it 答える/応じるd in 十分な tide.

He ちらりと見ることd about. It was night. By the 薄暗い light of an oil-lamp he saw two persons in the room. One was the nurse. The other was the priest. They appeared to converse in lowered トンs.

"Man of Zitu," Croft spoke for the first time with his new-設立する tongue.

The priest rose and hurried to him.

"My son."

"I am much 改善するd," said Croft. "In the morning I shall be almost wholly 井戸/弁護士席."

"It is a 奇蹟," the priest 宣言するd, 持つ/拘留するing his forearms horizontally before him until he made a perfect cross.

A 奇蹟! Croft considered the words. They carried a sudden meaning to his mind. Truly the priest had spoken rightly. This was little short of a 奇蹟 indeed, did the other know the facts.

速く Croft formed a 計画(する). "Father, what is your 指名する?" he 問い合わせd.

"Abbu, my son."

Croft turned his 注目する,もくろむs. "Send the nurse away. I would talk with you alone."

The priest spoke to the woman, who withdrew slowly, her 直面する a mingled mask of emotions, 長,指導者 の中で which Croft read a sort of awed wonder.

"Why does she look at me like that?" he asked.

The priest seated himself on a stool beside the couch. "I said your 回復 was a 奇蹟, my son," he replied. "I am minded that I told the truth. You have changed, even your 直面する has changed while you slept. You are not the same."

Croft felt his muscles 強化する. He understood. The new spirit was molding the fleshy elements to itself—部隊ing itself to them, knitting soul and 団体/死体 together. The 実験 was a success.

He smiled. "That is true. Father Abbu," he replied. "I am not the same as the Jasor who died."

"Died?" The priest drew 支援する. His 注目する,もくろむs 広げるd.

"Died," repeated Croft. "Listen, father. These things must be in 信用/信任."

"Aye," Abbu agreed.

Croft told what had occurred.

Abbu heard him out. At the end he was 掴むd by a shaking which 原因(となる)d him to quiver through 団体/死体 and 四肢s.

"Listen, father," Croft said. "I am not Jasor, though I 住む his form. Yet I know something of him, and of Tamarizia 同様に. Jasor had a father."

"And a mother." The priest inclined his 長,率いる.

Croft had 伸び(る)d (警察などへの)密告,告訴(状), but he did not make a comment upon it then.

"To them I must appear still as Jasor," he returned.

"They are looked for in Scira," Abbu 宣言するd. "We hoped for their coming. Why have you done this thing? Are you good or evil?"

"Good, by the grace of Zitu," said Croft. "I come to help Tamarizia. Think you I could have come had not Zitu willed?"

Suddenly the 直面する of the young priest 炎上d. "Nay!" he cried, and rose to stand by the couch. "Now my 注目する,もくろむs are open and I see. This thing is of Zitu, nor could be save by his will. It is, as I said, a 奇蹟 indeed." Again he 解除するd his 武器 in the 調印する of the cross.

"Then," said Croft, striking quickly while the man was lost in the 支配する of 宗教的な fervor. "Wilt thou help me to do that for which I (機の)カム—wilt thou help me to help Tamarizia should the need arise?"

"Aye."

To his surprise Abbu sank before him on bended 膝s.

"How am I to serve him who comes at the 命令 of Zitu in so miraculous a way?"

"Call me Jasor as in the past," decided Croft. The 指名する was 近づく enough to his own to fit easily into both his ears and mouth. "Yet think me not Jasor," he went on. "Jasor was a dullard, weak in his brain. Soon shall I show you things such as you have never dreamed. Think you I am Jasor or another indeed?"

"You are not Jasor," said the priest.

"Nay—by Zitu himself, I 断言する it," said Croft. "Go now and send 支援する the nurse. Say nothing of what I have told you. 断言する silence by Zitu, and come to me every day."

"I 断言する," Abbu 約束d, rising, "and—I shall come, O Spirit sent by Zitu." He left the room backward and with 屈服するd 長,率いる.

Croft let every 独房 of his new 団体/死体 relax and stretched out. He の近くにd his 注目する,もくろむs as he heard the nurse return, and gave himself up to thought. It appeared to him that he had made a very good beginning and won an 同盟(する) in Abbu, into whose astonishment he had woven a thread of the man's own 宗教 to 強化する his belief. Now it remained to 伸び(る) utter 支配(する)/統制する of the 団体/死体 he 所有するd—to master it 完全に, and make it not only responsive to his physical use, but to so impregnate it with his own essence that he might leave it—for short times at least—ーするために return to the earth.

And to 遂行する that he had just four days. Lying there 明らかに asleep, he sought to 演習 that 支配(する)/統制する he 所有するd over the 団体/死体 now lying on his library couch. And he failed. 努力する/競う as he might, he could not compass success. In something like a panic he desisted after a time and sought to fight 支援する, to a balanced mental 静める.

Was he 罠にかける? he asked himself. Was he a 囚人 of the thing he had sought to make his own? 推論する/理由 told him the question was folly—that already the 団体/死体 was 答える/応じるing in a physical sense. In the end he decided to take a longer time in his 努力するs, and so at last fell into a 本物の sleep.

From that he awakened to the sound of 発言する/表明するs, and turned his 注目する,もくろむs to behold a woman past middle age, with graying hair, and a man, 堅固に built, with a 井戸/弁護士席-featured 直面する, in the room.

Waking 速く, his mind 解任するd Abbu's words 関心ing Jasor's parents. The priest had said they were 推定する/予想するd in Scira. This woman, then, must be the Nodhurian's mother.

He opened his lips and called her by that word.

She ran to him and sank her 膝s by the couch.

"Jasor, my son!" she cried in a 発言する/表明する which quavered, and as the man approached more slowly, turned her 直面する 上向き to 会合,会う his 注目する,もくろむs. "He knows me, Sinon—he knows me," she said.

"Aye, Mellia, 賞賛する be to Zitu. Jasor, my son, dost know me also?" the Nodhurian's father said.

"Aye, sir," said Croft, 場内取引員/株価 his parents' 指名するs. "But—how come you in Scira?"

"Did we not 令状 that we should arrive and take you with us on our return?" Sinon asked.

Croft saw it in a flash, and the slip he had made. This explained Abbu's 主張 that they were 推定する/予想するd. The tablets 投げつけるd to the 床に打ち倒す by Jasor had been deciphered after his illness, it appeared.

"Aye," he 認める somewhat faintly. "But—I have been ill."

"And are 回復するd now," he who was to be his father said.

"Aye. Had I my 着せる/賦与するing I could rise."

"We shall return then at once," Sinon 宣言するd.

But Mellia, the mother, broke into 抗議するs, and Croft became much more 用心深い, spoke for 延期する. He did not wish to 請け負う a trip to Nodhur before he had returned to earth. That was necessary if he was to 保護する his earth 団体/死体 from Mrs. Goss at the end of the week, since now he knew he must have more time.

He 決定するd to make another 試みる/企てる at escape from his new 団体/死体, when he would appear 単に to be asleep. And he 後継するd late that night, 解放する/自由なing himself and once more rousing on the library couch. He did several things at once. He 診察するd his own 団体/死体 and 設立する it sound. He wrote a 公式文書,認める telling his housekeeper he had returned and gone away for at least a month. He knew many a 団体/死体 had been kept 入り口d for longer periods by the Indian adepts of the East, so did not 恐れる the 試みる/企てる.

Next he crept upstairs to his former bedroom and packed a スーツケース, carrying it to one of the several spare rooms, seldom used and always kept の近くにd. Locking himself into this room, he opened the window わずかに to 保証する a 供給(する) of 空気/公表する.

He had told Mrs. Goss to remain at the house or go to her daughter's, as she preferred, until his return. He felt 保証するd he would be undisturbed.

Laying himself on the bed, he once more 満足させるd himself that all was as he wished it, and returned to Jasor's room.


X. — WHOM ZITU CHANGED

DAWN was breaking on Palos as he opened his 注目する,もくろむs. The nurse dozed not far from his couch. He waked her and 需要・要求するd his 着せる/賦与するing. She brought it in some 疑問 and 補助装置d him to put it on. Ten minutes later he sat on the 辛勝する/優位 of the couch—a Palosian in all physical seeming. Yet the woman regarded him still in a more or いっそう少なく uncertain fashion.

Croft smiled. "Thank you for your 親切, my nurse," he said. "I shall ask my father to remunerate you for it. Now I would eat."

She nodded and hurried from the room, to return with food. Hardly had Croft 性質の/したい気がして of the meal with a zest evoked of his physical needs, than Sinon of Nodhur appeared.

Croft rose and stood as the man (機の)カム in.

"We return home to-day, my father," he 宣言するd.

Sinon seemed embarrassed before the words of his son. "Aye, if you wish," he made answer after a pause. "Sit you, my son. We must speak together. Your sickness has wrought changes within you. You are not the Jasor to whom I wrote it were useless to remain in Scira. The ちらりと見ること of your 注目する,もくろむ, the sound of your 発言する/表明する, even the lines of your 直面する, have changed."

Croft smiled. "That is true," he agreed. "Yet even so it is of small value to remain in Scira, since now I know all and more than the learned men can teach me, were I to ぐずぐず残る の中で them for many more cycles than I have."

"Zitu!" Sinon regarded him oddly. "My son, is this change to make you a braggart instead of a dullard?" he began slowly after a time.

"Not so," Croft returned. "My father, I am as one born もう一度. I shall 証明する my words, yet not until I have returned to our home. Let us begin the 旅行 this day."

"It shall be as you wish," Sinon said, and left the room.

Later Abbu (機の)カム and was 認める. To him Croft explained that he was going south to Nodhur with his father. He went その上の and questioned the priest 関心ing Sinon himself, learning that he was a 豊富な merchant, residing in Ladhra, 資本/首都 of the southern 明言する/公表する.

The (警察などへの)密告,告訴(状) was a かなりの shock to Croft. The merchant caste, while 演習ing 広大な/多数の/重要な 影響(力) and 負わせる in Tamarizian 事件/事情/状勢s, were not of noble 血. Hence now, at the very beginning he 設立する himself 直面するd by a 湾 of caste separating him from Naia of Aphur hardly いっそう少なく 完全に than before he had made Jasor's 団体/死体 his own. For a moment the thought occurred to him that he had chosen that 団体/死体 rather 不正に. Then his natural 決意 (機の)カム to his 援助(する), and he 始める,決める his lips as he 解決するd to find a way to 勝利,勝つ to Naia's 味方する.

Abbu rather drew 支援する before the gleam which crept into his 注目する,もくろむs.

"Jasor, since I know you by no other 指名する," he cried, "wherein have I given 罪/違反?"

Croft laughed. He rose and flexed his 武器 and 星/主役にするd into Abbu's 直面する. "In nothing; I was but thinking," he made answer. "Abbu, give me tablets to the 聖職者 at Himyra, 明言する/公表するing those things you have seen."

Abbu nodded. "You stop at Himyra?" he said.

"Aye."

The first step of winning to the woman of his soul flashed into Croft's brain, even as his 計画(する) for winning a 団体/死体 had flashed there days before. But he kept it to himself, locked 安全に in his breast, as he 始める,決める 前へ/外へ for his new home, with his parents, Sinon and Mellia, that afternoon.

That Sinon of Nodhur was 豊富な he was 保証するd when he saw the galley in which the homeward 旅行 was to be made. It was a swift (手先の)技術, gilded and ornate as to 船体 and masts and spars. Ten rowers furnished 力/強力にする on its two banks of oars, seated on the (法廷の)裁判s in the waist of the 船体. Behind them were the cabin and a deck under an awning of the silk-like fabric, a brilliant green in hue. Not only did all this show Croft his supposed father's 財政上の 条件, but he learned from Sinon that he was owner of a (n)艦隊/(a)素早い of merchant (手先の)技術 which plied up and 負かす/撃墜する the Na, and across the Central Sea. In 新規加入, the largesse Sinon bestowed on the nurse was 証拠 of a 井戸/弁護士席-filled purse.

All these things Croft considered in the intervals of conversation with Sinon and Mellia while the galley ran south. In his boyhood Jason had been 所有するd of a natural aptitude for mechanics. In later manhood he had owned and operated his own automobiles, making most of the 修理s upon the cars himself. Learning now of his father's line of 商売/仕事, it occurred to him to revolutionize transportation on Palos as a first step toward making his 指名する a word familiar to every tongue.

To this end he approached Sinon the first evening as he and Mellia reclined on the deck.

"My father," he said, "what if the trip to Ladhra could be 縮めるd by half?"

"縮めるd, in what fashion?" Sinon asked, turning a swift ちらりと見ること toward Croft.

"By 増加するing the 速度(を上げる)."

Sinon smiled; "The galley is the best 製品 of our 建設業者s," he replied.

"認めるd," said Croft. "But were one to place a 装置 upon it to do the work of the rowers with ten times their strength?"

"Zitu!" Sinon 解除するd himself on his couch. "What, Jasor, is this? What mean you, my-son? What is this 装置?"

"One I have in mind," Croft told him. "Come. You make your money with ships. 適用する some of it to making them more swift of 動議. Let me make this 装置, and they shall 開始する the Na more 速く than now they run with the 現在の and the 勝利,勝つd."

Sinon turned his 注目する,もくろむs to the woman at his 味方する. "And this is our son, who was a dullard!" he exclaimed.

"In whom I always have had 約束," Mellia replied with a smile of maternal joy on her 直面する.

"You have 約束 in this thing he 提案するs?" Sinon went on.

"Aye. I think Zitu himself spoke to him in his deathlike sleep," the woman said.

"Then, by Zitu—he shall make the 試みる/企てる!" Sinon roared. "Should he 後継する, the king himself would make him a knight for his service to the 明言する/公表する."

Croft's heart leaped and ran racing for a minute at the words. Knighthood! That was the answer to the question in his brain—the 橋(渡しをする) which should cross the 湾 between Naia of Aphur and himself. He 鎮圧するd 支援する his emotions, however, and 直面するd Sinon again. "Then I may carry out my 計画(する)?"

"Aye—to the half of my wealth," Sinon 宣言するd. "Jasor, I do not understand the change which has come upon you. But this thing you may do if you can."

"Then we stop at Himyra," Croft 発表するd.

"At Himyra!" Sinon 星/主役にするd.

"Aye. I would see Jadgor of Aphur so quickly as I may."

"See Jadgor? You?" Sinon 抗議するd. "Think you Jadgor receives men of our caste without good 原因(となる)?"

"He will see Jasor of Nodhur," Croft told him with a smile. "Wait, my father? and you shall 証言,証人/目撃する that, and more."

And now all 疑問, all foreboding left him, and he planned. That night as he lay in his bunk 船内に the galley, he smiled. To him it seemed that any 疑問 must have been transferred to the minds of Sinon and Mellia. He heard them speaking above the (競技場の)トラック一周 of the waters and the squeak of the oars. He realized how much of an enigma he had become to these two who believed themselves his parents—how wonderful to them must be the change in their son.

But his own mind was coolly collected and 静める. He would see Jadgor. He would use his knowledge of that 君主's 現在の wishes to 利益/興味 him in his 計画(する)s. He would become not a knight of Nodhur, but a knight of Aphur instead. And then—then—Croft smiled and fell asleep.

The next day he questioned Sinon 関心ing the nature of the oil used in the lamps, and 設立する it a vegetable 製品, as he had 恐れるd. But—he had been given 証拠 that the ワイン 供給(する) of the country held no small アル中患者 content, which could be 回復するd in pure form with comparative 緩和する. And—he knew enough of モーターs to know that slight changes would enable them to 燃やす alcohol in lieu of 石油-gas. Straightway he asked for something on which to 草案 his 計画(する)s.

Sinon, eager now in the 開発 of his son's remarkable 計画(する), furnished parchment and 小衝突s with a square of color, something like India 署名/調印する, and Croft 始める,決める to work during the 残りの人,物 of the trip. He had 組み立てる/集結するd more than one モーター in his day, and after deciding upon his type of construction he すぐに went to work. At the end of four days, while the galley was 開始するing the Na toward the gates of Himyra, he finished the first 草案ing of parts, and was ready for Jadgor the king. Yet he did not go to Jadgor first, when once he has stepped 岸に.

"Wait here," he requested Sinon. "After a time I shall return."

"持つ/拘留する, my son," Sinon 反対するd at once.

"What have you in mind?"

"To see the priest of Zitu without 延期する," Croft replied without 回避. "Shall Jadgor not give ear, if the priest of Zitu asks?"

"And the priest?" Sinon asked.

"I carry a message to him from Abbu of Scira." Croft held up the tablets that Abbu had inscribed.

"My son," Sinon gave him a ちらりと見ること of 賞賛. "Go, and Zitu go with you. We shall wait for you here."

Croft nodded and left. He had purposely had the galley moored as 近づく the palace as he might. Now he 速く made his way to the 橋(渡しをする) across the Na, and along it to the middle (期間が)わたる. And there he paused and gazed about him at the palace, the pyramid, the vista of the terraced stream. This was Himyra—this was the home of Naia. Today he stood here unheralded and unknown. Yet he stood there because of the 支配的な spirit which was his, which had dared all to stand there, and it should not be long until all Himyra—all Tamarizia—knew of Jasor of Nodhur, as he surely must be known.

He went on across the 橋(渡しをする) and approached the pyramid. It 解除するd its 広大な pile above him. He 設立する an inclined way and began to 開始する. After a かなりの time he reached the 最高の,を越す and entered the 寺 itself. The 抱擁する statue of Zitu sat there as he had seen it in his former 明言する/公表する. Now almost without volition he bent his 膝s before it. After all, it stood for the One Eternal Source. He gave it reverence as such.

A 発言する/表明する spoke to him as he knelt. He rose and 直面するd a priest.

"Who art thou?" the latter asked, 前進するing toward him. "How come you here at no hour 任命するd for 祈り?"

Croft smiled and held 前へ/外へ the tablets he had brought.

The priest took them, unbound them, and looked at the salutation. His 利益/興味 quickened. "Ye come from Scira?" he said.

"Aye. Carrying these tablets from the good Abbu, as you see."

The priest considered. "Come," he said again at last, and led the way 支援する of the statue to the 長,率いる of a descending stair.

Together they went 負かす/撃墜する, along the worn tread of 石/投石する steps, turning here and there, until at length they (機の)カム into a lofty apartment where sat a man in 式服s of an azure blue. Before him Croft's guide 屈服するd.

"Thy 容赦, Magur, Priest of Zitu," he spoke, still in his stilted formal way. "But one comes carrying tablets inscribed with thy 指名する. Even now he knelt in the 宗教上の Place, so that I questioned—asking what he sought."

Magur, high priest in Himyra, at least as Croft 裁判官d, took the tablets and scanned each leaf. As he read, his 表現 altered, grew at first 井戸/弁護士席-nigh startled, and after that nothing short of amazed.

In the end he waved the lay brother from the room and 直面するd Croft alone.

"Thou art called how?" he began.

"Jasor of Nodhur—son of Sinon and Mellia of Nodhur," Croft replied.

"Whom, Abbu 令状s, Zitu hath changed?"

"Aye."

"Thou comest to Himyra, why?"

"To 補助装置 the 明言する/公表する—to 保護(する)/緊急輸入制限 Tamarizia from the designs of Zollaria perhaps."

"持つ/拘留する!" Magur cried. "What know ye of Zollaria's 計画(する)s?"

"Zollaria 願望(する)s Cathur and 陰謀(を企てる)s the downfall of Tamarizia, Priest of Zitu. Think you that I bring no knowledge to my 仕事?"

"Yet, were you Jasor indeed, thou mightest know somewhat of Zollaria's 計画(する)s to some extent," said the priest.

"And Jasor was a dullard, as the schools of Scira will 宣言する," Croft flashed 支援する. "Let my 作品 show whether I stand a fool or not."

"Thy 作品?" Magur 問い合わせd.

"Aye—those I shall do in Tamarizia's 指名する. The first shall be one which shall (期間が)わたる the 砂漠 twenty times as quickly as the sarpelca caravan—or 運動 a boat without sails or oars, or 推進する a carriage without any gnuppa, and so 運ぶ/漁獲高 ten times the 負担."

"Thou canst do this?" Magur laid the tablets on the (競技場の)トラック一周 of his 式服 and sat 星/主役にするing at the man who spoke such words.

"Aye."

"And what do you 願望(する) of me?"

"An audience with Jadgor," Croft replied: "Since Aphur's king 嫌疑者,容疑者/疑うs the things Zollaria 計画(する)s."

Magur frowned. Croft's knowledge seemed to have swept him somewhat off his feet. For moments he sat without 動議 or sound. But after a time he raised his 長,率いる. "To me Abbu seemeth 権利 in this," he said. "In this Zitu's 手渡す is. This thing shall be arranged."

He clapped his 手渡すs. A brown-式服d priest appeared.

"準備する my chariot for use," the high priest said.

The other 屈服するd and withdrew.

Thereafter Magur sat through another period of silence ere he rose and, 調印 to Croft, led him through a passage to a small metal 壇・綱領・公約-which, when Magur pulled on a slender cord, began to de-scend. Croft smiled. It was a 原始の sort of elevator as he saw while they sank 負かす/撃墜する a 狭くする 軸. He fancied it not unlike the 古代の 解除するs 雇うd in Nero's palace in Rome. But he made no comment as they reached the 底(に届く) of the 軸 and 現れるd past 二塁打 lines of 屈服するing priests to the waiting chariot. Magur 機動力のある and took the reins.

Croft stepped into a place at his 味方する. The gnuppas leaped 今後 at a word.

They rumbled 負かす/撃墜する the street and out upon the 橋(渡しをする). Croft had crossed it alone and on foot an hour before. Now he 棒 支援する in the car of Zitu's priest.


XI. — WITH A MOTOR IN PALOS

AND in that car he passed the palace gates, where the winged dogs stood guard, and entered the palace 法廷,裁判所. Guards in burnished cuirasses leaped to the gnuppas' 長,率いるs when Magur drew rein.

Inclining his 長,率いる, Magur stepped from his car and led the way within that wing of the palace where Croft already knew that Jadgor led his 私的な life. The high priest moved as of perfect 権利, saluted by a 歩哨 here and there in 回廊(地帯) and hall. So at length he (機の)カム to two guardsmen 地位,任命するd outside a door of molded 巡査, embossed with the symbol of a setting sun, which Croft sensed at once as Aphur's 調印する.

And here Magur asked for the king. Quitting his fellow, one of the guardsmen disappeared through the door, was absent for some few moments, and returned. Leaving the door agape behind him, he 調印するd Magur and Croft to enter the room beyond.

Thus for the third time Croft (機の)カム upon Jadgor of Aphur. And now, as on the first occasion, he 設立する him in the room where he had conversed with Lakkon 関心ing a way to 反対する Zollaria's 計画(する)s. Yet now for the first time he met Aphur's 支配者 in the flesh, and 直面するd him man to man.

Magur approached the seat where Jadgor waited his coming.

"King of Aphur," he said. "I bring with me Jasor of Nodhur, in whom Zitu himself has worked a 奇蹟, as it seems, so that he who was known a dull wit for cycles at Scira's school, having fallen ill unto death, returns to life with a changed mind, and comes bringing tablets to me from a brother in Scira to the end that I 伸び(る) him audience with thee."

"With me," Jadgor' said, bending a ちらりと見ること at Croft.

"Aye."

Jadgor continued to 熟考する/考慮する Croft. "To what end?" he 問い合わせd at length.

"To the end that Himyra and all Aphur may grow strong beyond any Tamarizian dream, and Cathur never 開始する the 王位 at Zitra," Croft replied.

Jadgor started. He 狭くするd his 注目する,もくろむs.

"What talk is this?" he cried, his strong 手渡す gripping the 辛勝する/優位 of his seat.

"Jadgor the king knows best in his heart," said Croft, and waited. "I ask but his 援助(する) to bring this thing to pass."

"These things have been spoken to Magur?" Jadgor turned his 注目する,もくろむs to the 直面する of the priest.

"Aye," Croft said quickly.

Jadgor nodded. "Then speak of them to me."

An hour passed while Croft explained and the two Tamarizians listened or bent above the 製図/抽選s he unrolled.

"And this—how do you 指名する it—" Jadgor began at last.

"Motur." Croft threw the word into the native speech.

"This motur will do these things?" Jadgor asked in a トン of amaze.

"All I have 約束d, and more."

"And what is 要求するd to bring this to pass?"

"労働者s in metals—a 供給(する) of ワイン to be used as I shall direct—and a の近くにd mouth that Cathur shall not be adviced, nor permitted to 見解(をとる) the work until done."

"Those things are 認めるd. I shall see it arranged." Jadgor turned his 注目する,もくろむs again in Magur's direction. "Priest of Zitu, Zitu's own 手渡す appears in the 計画(する)s of Jasor's mind. The designs of Zitu himself have surely entered his soul. I, Jadgor, shall sponsor the carrying out."

And once more, he 演説(する)/住所d Croft.

"When shall this work begin?"

"So soon as Aphur wills."

"Good." Jadgor clapped his 手渡すs. He was a man of 活動/戦闘 as Croft knew, quick to see an 適切な時期 and 掴む it. Now as a guardsman answered the 召喚するs, he spoke quickly in direction.

"Make search for my son, Prince Robur, and say I 願望(する) him here."

The 兵士 withdrew, and Jadgor 急落(する),激減(する)d into その上の questions 関心ing Croft's 計画(する)s. Croft on his part answered him fully, 約束ing other wonders than the モーター in good time, until a faint tinge of color crept into Jadgor's cheeks and his 注目する,もくろむs were aglint with a 深い and subtle light. Croft would not 疑問 but that he saw Aphur 支配するing all the nation, that he dreamed a far-reaching dream.

And at that moment there entered the room a 青年 to whom Croft's heart went out. Clean-四肢d, strong-featured, with a 井戸/弁護士席-形態/調整d jaw, and a mouth not 欠如(する)ing in humor, he 前進するd with a springing stride and stood before the king.

"Robur, my son," Jadgor began. "Jasor of Nodhur is our guest. In all things shall you 援助(する) him, speaking in all such 事柄s as the mouthpiece of the king. See to it that he has metal-労働者s under his 命令(する) to do his bidding, also that ワイン is given into his 手渡すs for such use as he sees fit."

Robur put 前へ/外へ a 手渡す, which Croft took in his own. The Prince of Aphur smiled. "My father's word is the 法律 in Aphur," he said. "Welcome, Nodhur. Ask and I obey."

"First, then," said Croft, "I would visit my father's galley at the quays and 熟知させる them with what has occurred before they continue up the Na."

"Come, then," Robur 答える/応じるd to the natural request.

He led Croft from the room. Five minutes later the two men were 運動ing 負かす/撃墜する the terraced inclines to the quay where Sinon's galley lay. Not only that, but at his own request, Croft held the reins above the four gnuppas and guided them 負かす/撃墜する the sloping roads. He felt for the first time that at last he stood on the threshold of that success for which he had planned.

AND thus he began that work on Palos which was to 持つ/拘留する him for many months.

He 現在のd Sinon and Mellia to Robur, and after an hour spent in explanations, and ending with a 約束 to visit Ladhra after he had his work in Himyra started, he left them divided between amazement and pride in their son.

"Once what I ーするつもりである is 完全にするd, we will 開始する these splendid roads without gnuppas, and at many times their 速度(を上げる)," he said as Robur and he re-entered the prince's car.

Robur opened his 注目する,もくろむs. "Say you so? Is it for that I am to 援助(する) you as my father said?"

"Aye."

"Then let us begin at once. I would like to see the thing 遂行するd," Robur 勧めるd.

Croft nodded and 簡潔に 述べるd what was 要求するd.

"There is a place where the doors of metal and the 団体/死体s of the chariots and carriage are molded," Robur said.

"Metal is melted and worked into 形態/調整, によれば designs."

Croft had felt 保証するd that some such 産業 存在するd from the molded doors and the type of the other metalwork he had seen.

"Take me there, O Robur of Aphur," he said.

Robur laughed. He was an exceedingly companionable man.

"Call me not by so 非常に長い a 肩書を与える," he exclaimed. "I am drawn to you, Jasor. Let us forget questions of caste or 階級 between ourselves. Speak to me as 略奪する."

"喜んで will I call you so," said Croft, his heart warming to this proffered friendship of Aphur's 相続人. "And let us 誓約(する) ourselves now to work for the 福利事業 of our nation until it is 保証するd."

He thrust out a 手渡す.

Robur's 注目する,もくろむs lighted as they held Croft's palm. "This is a day of wonder for all Tamarizia," he said, and turned the gnuppas southward along the river road.

In the end he brought them to a stand before an enormous building, wherein Croft 設立する the ゆらめくs of 解雇する/砲火/射撃s, and men, 井戸/弁護士席- nigh naked, at work in their glare. Robur led him to the captain in 告発(する),告訴(する)/料金 of the place, and made him 熟知させるd with Croft's needs. Inside an hour Croft was superintending the makings of 確かな 木造の patterns, to be molded and cast in tempered 巡査, while Robur looked on, all 注目する,もくろむs.

And his 注目する,もくろむs were glinting as they left the Palosian foundry and drove toward the 王室の 倉庫・駅s of ワインs, after Croft had given 確かな of the metal-労働者s the designs for a 抱擁する 巡査 retort to be made at once.

At the 倉庫・駅s, where Croft 設立する 制限のない 供給(する)s of ワイン, 蓄える/店d in 肌 瓶/封じ込めるs of tabur hide, Jason ordered the building of a brick furnace for the retort when it was done, giving the dimensions and 計画(する)s of construction to masons hurriedly called. That 仕事 arranged for, Robur drove him 支援する to the palace, and led him straight to his own 私的な 控訴.

A woman rose as they entered. She was 甘い-直面するd, with brown 注目する,もくろむs and hair. Robur 現在のd Croft to her as his wife, a princess of Milidhur, and proudly 陳列する,発揮するd two children, a boy and a girl.

Croft 設立する his 歓迎会 gracious in the extreme, and learned he was to be the guest of Robur and Gaya while engaged in his work. He was to learn also that Gaya was no uncommon 指名する in Tamarizia, and that it fitted the wife of Aphur's prince. She was a cheerful, 有望な, and 同情的な soul, who listened to Robur's and Croft's description of their 計画(する)s, and cried out with delight at what they 提案するd.

THEREAFTER the days passed quickly, and Croft checked off each as it fled as bringing one day nearer the time 始める,決める for the formal betrothal of Naia to Kyphallos, whom, he learned, was also a guest of the palace, through 会合 him now and again, and 尋問 the prince, whom, when alone, he now called 略奪する.

And as the days passed, part after part of the new engine which was to revolutionize transportation on Palos was 草案d, molded, and made. Robur's wonder grew, as it seemed, with the making of each new part, and his impatience of the final result became 激しい.

But many 手渡すs made 早い work. Croft selected each man who showed any particular aptitude and 委任する/代表d him to that individual 仕事. The 抱擁する retort was 始める,決める up and was producing pure アル中患者 spirit every day. Inside ten days Croft himself began the 組み立てる/集結するing of the already finished parts. At his own request, Robur was permitted to 補助装置. More than once Croft smiled to himself as he beheld the 栄冠を与える prince of Aphur 国/地域d, grimy, smudged, and enjoying himself immensely, tugging away at a wrench or (権力などを)行使するing a riveting-大打撃を与える on the growing work of wonder which they built.

To 伸び(る) 速度(を上げる), Croft had introduced the unheard-of night-転換 in Himyra. Day and night now the work went on, and his first 創造 前進するd apace. Only on the winding of the magneto did he 持続する 広大な/多数の/重要な secrecy. Over that he and Robur worked alone. It was the main, 必須の part, he explained to the prince. Without it the whole thing would be useless and dead. He even tried to make Robur understand the electric nature of the 装置 and, failing, told him it was the same as the 雷 in the clouds.

"Zitu!" cried Robur with a ちらりと見ること of something akin to fright. "Jasor, would you harness Zitu's 解雇する/砲火/射撃?"

"By Zitu's 許可," Croft said.

Aphur's prince 熟考する/考慮するd that. "Aye," he said at length. "My friend, you are a strange and wonderful man. Jadgor believes that Zitu himself had endowed your mind, and Magur says as much in your 好意, also."

"Magur speaks the truth," Croft 宣言するd, once more sensing a possible means of 調和させるing the approaching need for his return to earth, were he to keep the 社債 無傷の between Palos and his earthly 団体/死体.

"Listen, 略奪する. Strange things occurred in this 団体/死体 of 地雷 in Scira. At times—when the need occurs—it shall 落ちる asleep; and from each sleep shall it return with new knowledge for the good of Tamarizia's race, and the confounding of Zollaria's 計画(する)s."

"Zollaria! Hai!" Robur exclaimed. It was the first time Croft had について言及するd the northern nation to him.

"To …に反対する which Jadgor designs to betroth your cousin to Kyphallos of Cathur." Suddenly Croft grew bold.

Robur frowned.

"略奪する," Croft went on, "I would ask a 好意 if it may be 認めるd."

"Speak," Robur said.

"I would be 現在の at the betrothal-feast inside the next few days."

"By. Zitu, and you shall," Robur 宣言するd.

"My caste—" Croft began.

Robur laughed and tapped him on the breast with a wrench.

"Rise, Hupor! If this work 後継するs, that will be arranged."

Croft felt his pulses quicken. "You mean—" he began again, and once more paused.

Robur nodded. "That Jadgor, my father, will raise you to the first 階級 be-neath the 王位."


XII. — THE NEW PRINCE, HUPOR JASOR

ON the day before the betrothal-feast Croft finished his magneto, 実験(する)d it out before Robur's 注目する,もくろむs, and 得るd a good, fat 誘発する. あわてて connecting it with the now 組み立てる/集結するd モーター, for which workmen were building a chassis such as Palos had never seen, he filled a 実験(する)ing-戦車/タンク with spirit, primed the carburetor that he had somewhat changed for the use of the different 燃料, and then laid 持つ/拘留する of the crank. It was a 緊張した moment, and his 発言する/表明する showed his 現実化 of the fact as he spoke to Robur:

"Watch now, 略奪する—watch!"

He spun the crank around. For the first time on Palos there (機の)カム a モーター's cough. Again Croft whirred the crank, spinning it to 生成する the life-giving 誘発する. He was answered by a hearty hum. The モーター quivered and shook. A staccato sound of 安定した 爆発s filled the room in which it stood. Like gun-解雇する/砲火/射撃 its exhaust broke 前へ/外へ. The 激しい balance-wheel Croft had arranged for the 裁判,公判 to 負担 it to safety spun 速く 一連の会議、交渉/完成する and 一連の会議、交渉/完成する.

A commotion rose in the shop. Captains and sub-captains ran from their work to 見解(をとる) the success of that for which they had worked. They stood 星/主役にするing at the throbbing, quivering engine.

Croft straightened and stood, pale of 直面する but with 炎ing 注目する,もくろむs, before them. He had won! Won! Robur's 直面する told him he had won! It was a 直面する filled with a mighty wonder and delight.

And suddenly the 栄冠を与える prince spoke:

"支援する—支援する to your work. Work as ye have never worked before. 完全にする the でっちあげる,人を罪に陥れる for this to ride upon, the wheels. Make all ready, men of Aphur, and spare no 成果/努力 to the 目的(とする). A new day has 夜明けd in Aphur—in Tamarizia. Inside the hour there shall be a new prince. Salute him, Hupor Jasor, who thus has served the 明言する/公表する."

They 解除するd their 手渡すs in salute, those captains, and turned away. Croft looked into Robur's 注目する,もくろむs.

"略奪する," he stammered, and put out his 手渡すs. "略奪する—"

"Aye," Robur said. "Such is the order of Aphur's king did the 実験(する) we were to make today 後継する. He will himself 確認する it tomorrow night. In the 合間 I am told to 企て,努力,提案 Jasor to the betrothal feast of Naia of Aphur to Cathur's prince. What now of caste my friend?"

Croft quivered. He shook in every 四肢. The 湾 was 橋(渡しをする)d—that 湾 of 階級 between himself and the girl of gold at the 神社 of whose 甘い presence his own spirit 屈服するd. He opened his lips yet 設立する himself 圧倒するd with emotion, unable to speak. Robur cast an arm about his shoulders as the two men stood.

"Jasor, my friend," he once more began. "Means this thing so much to you? Why? What things have you in mind I know not of?

"Speak. Know you not, Jasor, that I love you?"

"Aye," said Croft. "Yet 略奪する, I may not speak of those things as yet."

Nor did he feel that he could at 現在の 自白する the thing in his heart. "Later you shall know all," he 宣言するd. "As for the 残り/休憩(する)—you are my dearest friend."

"Speak when you will," Robur replied. "Tomorrow at the house of Prince Lakkon, Jadgor shall 指名する you Hupor before the nobles of Aphur. So is it planned. And when this motur of ours is 完全にするd, you shall 運動 it to Ladhra and take with you the noble 階級 for Sinon, since he has served his 明言する/公表する in bringing about your birth."

Tomorrow night at the house of Prince Lakkon! The words rang in Croft's brain. Naia—his beloved should see him exalted, made a noble of Aphur. What more auspicious 会合 could he 願望(する) than this? It was 運命/宿命—運命/宿命.

Suddenly Croft felt his 直面する 紅潮/摘発する and his 注目する,もくろむs took on a flashing light. "略奪する," he cried. "This is only the beginning. What we shall do for Tamarizia Zitu only knows."

"Would Zitu had sent you before this then," Robur growled.

Croft 公式文書,認めるd his change of manner with amaze, and plainly Robur was not unmindful of his regard.

"I question not the 知恵 of Jadgor, my father," he went on quickly. "Yet like I not this sacrifice of a virgin maid to the lecherous son of Cathur's king."

"略奪する!" Croft cried, as his friend and comrade paused and caught a 選び出す/独身 肺-filling breath and went on. "Zitu himself must frown upon such a thing."

Robur 注目する,もくろむd him with 開始するing 利益/興味, and suddenly Croft raced ahead in eager question. "略奪する—how long between the night of betrothal and the marriage itself?"

"Hai!" Robur 狭くするd his 注目する,もくろむs. "A cycle, my friend. By 王室の custom these things are never 事柄s of haste."

"A cycle!" Croft threw up his 長,率いる and laughed. "略奪する, could we make Tamarizia strong beyond any dream of her wisest men inside that cycle, what then?"

Robur frowned. "A 約束 is a 約束, my friend."

"But," said Croft, "Much may happen in a cycle—and Zollaria 計画(する)s..."

"What mean you?" Robur 掴むd his arm in a 支配する like アイロンをかける, "Jasor—you are a strange man. Twice now have you spoken of Zollaria's 計画(する)s. What do you have in mind?"

"To watch Cathur's prince," said Croft. "持つ/拘留する, 略奪する—the priest, Abbu, is my friend. He will help us in this. Magur, too, must give us 援助(する). Let us watch—and work."

Work—yes, work. With a Sirian year in which to work for such a prize what could a man not do? Croft threw up his 直面する and met Robur's 尋問 gaze: "Aphur shall show the way to the nation," he cried. "Zollaria's 計画(する)s shall come to naught, my friend."

"Zitu!" Robur gasped. "After tomorrow night we must speak of these things to Aphur's king. Jasor, I am minded that Magur is 権利. Zitu 作品 through you to his ends."

The モーター coughed and died, having used up its 燃料. Croft smiled, and called Robur 支援する to work. Through the day they toiled, and by night the engine was bolted to-the chassis, wheeled into the 組み立てる/集結するing-room by the workmen that afternoon. There remained now no more than the 組み立てる/集結するing of the clutch and the 伝達/伝染 before the 団体/死体 should be affixed to 完全にする the car. And the 団体/死体 was ready and waiting to be bolted 急速な/放蕩な.

Croft worked throughout the night. Robur 申し込む/申し出d to 補助装置, but he 辞退するd. He 手配中の,お尋ね者 to be alone—to think—think—計画(する) the 未来 steps of those things he would do inside the coming year. He had sworn to make Aphur strong. And as he 組み立てる/集結するd the final 部分s of this first work of his genius, he considered that.

The answer was plain. Aphur must arm—and Nodhur—and Milidhur from whence (機の)カム the gentle, sweetly 同情的な, Gaya, Robur's wife. And of 武器 he knew little, but—he could learn. Only he had to return to earth. There, not many miles from his own town, was the home of a man who before now had won fame as a 製造者 of 武器. Indeed, as Croft knew he had designed 武器s afterward 可決する・採択するd by the 王室の nations of Europe and made by them on a 特許 賃貸し(する) from this man, Croft's friend.

It would be 平易な, then, to learn what he 願望(する)d; to bring 支援する the 計画(する)s of those selfsame 武器s and make them here under the patronage of Aphur's king. Then—井戸/弁護士席—let Zollaria 計画(する) and 持つ/拘留する what bait she would before Cathur's 注目する,もくろむs. Croft chuckled to himself as he worked, and the captain 補助装置ing him in Robur's place thought him pleased with their 進歩 and smiled.

"This motur of thine will surely draw the car in lieu of gnuppas, my lord?" he 問い合わせd.

"Aye," said Croft with a nod.

"By Zitu! Never was anything like it dreamed of in Tamarizia before thy coming," the captain rumbled in his throat.

Croft nodded again. "Tomorrow I shall bring you orders to start all men working on those parts they have made for this, in untold numbers," he returned. "And hark you, captain. Each man shall make but the one part—which he makes the best. So shall we make many and build them together at once and produce a 広大な number of cars, and other モーターs to 運動 boats on the Na."

"By Zitu! Then shall Aphur 支配する the seas indeed."

"Tamarizia shall 支配する," said Croft with an 保証/確信 not to be 否定するd.

The captain gave him a ちらりと見ること. What he read carried 有罪の判決 to his mind. "My lord," he said. "My lord."

"Lord." They called him that now. Croft chuckled again to himself and went to work. Lord. And tomorrow night—no, the night of this day as it would be on earth—they would call him "lord" before Naia herself. He would 会合,会う her—speak to her, perhaps. He called upon the captain for 援助 and redoubled his 率 of work.

And as the first rays of Sirius began to gild the red 塀で囲むs of Himyra, he finished filling the 燃料 戦車/タンク with spirits, told the captain to open wide the doors of the building wherein they had toiled through the night, and 掴むd 持つ/拘留する upon the crank of the engine he had built.

The モーター roared out. Croft sprang to the driver's seat. He let in his clutch. And slowly—very slowly the car moved toward the open doors.

One glimpse Jason had of the captain's 直面する—a thing wide-注目する,もくろむd, agape with amazed belief, and then he was outside the 大規模な 塀で囲むs of that foundry womb in which the car had been formed. He was out in the streets of Himyra, riding the thing he had made—the first of many things as he had 決定するd during the night.

For a moment 見通しs of 海洋 モーターs, tractors, airplanes, filled his brain. Then as a night guard at the throat of the street caught sight of him, and wavering between 恐れる and 義務, 産する/生じるd 速く to the former and fled with a yell of terror, he (機の)カム 支援する to the 事柄 in 手渡す.

He 伸び(る)d the river road and opened the throttle notch by notch. 速く and more 速く the new car moved. The 甘い 空気/公表する of morning sang about his ears. The throb of the モーター was a paean of 賞賛する—a 約束 of what was to come. He reached the palace 入り口 and turned in. Straight to the steps of the king's wing he drove and brought the car to a stand.

Like their fellow of the street, the guards shrank 支援する in amazement from this strangest of chariots they had ever seen, until Croft, rising in his seat, ordered them to send word to Robur and Jadgor himself, that he waited their 査察 of the car. He himself was thrilling with creative 解雇する/砲火/射撃, divine. It was in his mind to 論証する the new 創造 in the 広大な 法廷,裁判所, 砂漠d thus 早期に in the day. He throttled 負かす/撃墜する and sat waiting while a guardsman hurried away.

Then into the 中央 of his elation broke the 発言する/表明する of Aphur's prince.

"Hai, Jasor, my lord, this is a surprise. Now I see that which last night you planned."

Robur had hurried 前へ/外へ with Gaya by his 味方する, and behind him now (機の)カム Jadgor, between a 二塁打 列/漕ぐ/騒動 of guards.

While Croft rose and gave a 手渡す to Robur and Gaya in turn, and 屈服するd before the king, the latter 前進するd やめる to the 味方する of the new, and to his experience, wonderful machine.

"You (機の)カム here in the motur itself?" Robur asked.

"Yes," Croft replied. "And 井戸/弁護士席 nigh 脅すd a night guard out of his wits when he saw me 耐えるing 負かす/撃墜する on him, 同様に as carrying びっくり仰天 into the minds of even 兵士s here."

Robur laughed. "I can 井戸/弁護士席 believe that," he agreed. "Had I known not of it I 恐れる I should have been sadly 乱すd myself."

Jadgor smiled. "If it carried 恐れる into the hearts of Aphur's guards, might it not do likewise to an enemy's men 同様に?" he 発言/述べるd.

"O king, it is in my mind that it would do even that," Croft returned, sensing the deeper meaning 支援する of the mere words as 適用するing to a 明確な/細部 enemy. He gave Jadgor a meaning ちらりと見ること. "May I show you the motur in 活動/戦闘, O King of Aphur?" he asked.

"Yes," Jadgor agreed.

"Wait!" Robur cried, as Croft 再開するd his seat. "Wait, Jasor, I shall go with you. Gaya will be the first woman of Aphur to ride in such a chariot."

Gaya smiled. Like most of the Tamarizian women, Croft had seen she seemed devoid of any particular 恐れる. She took Robur's 手渡す and stepped into the car. Robur followed with scant dignity in his 切望 to put this new 方式 of travel to the 実験(する).

Then Croft engaged his clutch and the car moved off, rolling without 明らかな means of propulsion in circles about the 広大な/多数の/重要な red 法廷,裁判所 while the guards and Jadgor watched. For some five minutes Croft kept up the circling before he brought the machine to a stand before the king, and once more rising, 屈服するd.

"Your words were true, O Jasor," spoke Jadgor then. "In this I see 広大な/多数の/重要な service to the 明言する/公表する. あられ/賞賛する Hupor!"

He caught a sword from the nearest 兵士, and 前進するing, struck Croft lightly upon the breast with the flat of the blade.

"More of this to-night," he said, stepping 支援する. "In the 合間 arrange to build as many of these moturs as you may—also for those which shall 推進する the boats."

Turning, he withdrew with his guard, disappearing into the palace.

Gaya smiled at her husband and Croft. "I, too, shall 身を引く now," she began. "I can see you are eager to be alone with this new toy. My thanks, Lord Jasor, for the ride. All my life long I shall remember myself the first of Tamarizian women to 開始する your wonderful car."

Robur helped her to get out, then sprang 支援する to Croft's 味方する. His 直面する was alight. "Now—go! Let us ride!" he exclaimed. "Let us leave the city along the 主要道路 to the south and 実験(する) the motur for 速度(を上げる)."

Nothing loth, Croft once more 前進するd gas and 誘発する and let in the clutch. Outside the palace 入り口 he turned south along the Na. Robur, beside him, seemed strangely like a boy.

"Approach the gate slowly," he chuckled as they 棒. "Let me see for myself what 影響 we have on the guards."

His wish was 認めるd in a surprisingly short time. As they 近づくd the gate, not yet open to morning traffic, a guardsman, appeared. Plainly he was watching, yet he made no move. He seemed 事実上 麻ひさせるd at the sight which met his 注目する,もくろむs. In the end, however, he suddenly 解除するd his spear as though 推定する/予想するing to 会合,会う a 告発(する),告訴(する)/料金 with its point.

His 直面する was rigidly 始める,決める. He appeared one 決定するd to die in the path of 義務 if die he must.

"Open, fellow!" Robur shouted with a grin.

His 発言する/表明する wrought a change in the man. He caught a 深い breath, dropped his spear and flung himself toward the levers which worked the gate. "My lord," he said, as Croft drove past where he now stood at attention with the gate swung wide. "My lord!"

Robur flung him a bit of silver and a laugh. Then they were out of the tunnel through the 塀で囲む and 急ぐing up the 井戸/弁護士席-built road. "That fellow thought us Zutemque himself, to 裁判官 by his 表現," he chuckled. "Jasor, my friend, go faster, let—"

"Let her out!" Croft could not resist the 表現 of earth.

"Aye," said Robur, 星/主役にするing. "Let—her—out. Where got you that form of speech, my friend?"

"I—it was used on the moment to 表明する the idea ーするつもりであるd," Croft replied. "It is as though one 解放(する)d the reins and 許すd the gnuppas to run 解放する/自由な."

Robur nodded. "Yes, I sense it. Let—her-out."

Croft 従うd. They sped south. Without a speedometer Croft could only 見積(る) their 率 of 進歩, but he 裁判官d the new engine made thirty miles an hour at least.

Robur was amazed. So were others after a time. The スピード違反 car met the first of the 早期に market throng and (疑いを)晴らすd the road of everything it met. Men, women, and live 在庫/株 bolted as the undreamed engine of locomotion roared past. Their cries blended into an uproar which tore laughter from Robur's throat. Croft himself gave way to more than one smile.

速く they passed the area of cultivation and entered the 砂漠 road where Croft had seen the sarpelca caravan on his first Palosian day. On, on they roared along the level surface between dunes of yellow sand and across golden arid flats. The exhilaration of 動議 was in their veins. 長,率いる 負かす/撃墜する above his wheel Croft sent the car ahead, until dashing between two dunes they (機の)カム to where a second road joined that on which they ran.

Robur cried out. Croft flung up his 長,率いる. One swift glimpse he had of a team of purple-plumed gnuppas 後部d on their haunches, their forefeet pawing the 空気/公表する, their nostrils ゆらめくing, their 注目する,もくろむs maddened with fright, and of a burnished carriage behind them. Then he was past, throttling the engine, 捜し出すing to bring the car to a stand. While from behind the sound of a strong man shouting, (機の)カム hoarsely to his ears.


XIII. — HOW NAIA FIRST SAW JASOR

THE car slowed 負かす/撃墜する and stood still.

Robur sprang to his feet. Croft turned to look 支援する. The carriage was off the road and dashing across a level stretch of sand.

How it (機の)カム that Prince Lakkon's carriage was here, neither man knew. They were to only learn later that Naia, 疲れた/うんざりしたd of her 準備s for the coming feast of betrothal, had induced her father to take here to her mountain home on the previous night, and that now she was returning in time to 避ける the later heat of the Sirian day. Yet both men had 認めるd the purple-plumed gnuppas and the conveyance which now swayed and 激しく揺するd behind their fright-maddened flight.

"Lakkon's!" Croft gasped.

"Aye, by Zitu," Robur gave assent. "And should Chythron fail to 持つ/拘留する them soon, death lies in that direction at the 底(に届く) of the gorge."

"Sit 負かす/撃墜する. 持つ/拘留する 急速な/放蕩な!" Even as Robur spoke. Croft sensed his 十分な meaning and planned. Under his touch the engine roared. He let in his clutch with a jerk which 発射 the car into 動議 with a leap. Death lay ahead of the careening carriage behind the beasts he had 脅すd out of their driver's 支配(する)/統制する. Whether Chythron alone or Lakkon or the prince and his daughter 棒 in that 激しく揺するing conveyance it was his place to do what he could. Leaving the road with a lurch which nearly unseated Robur and himself, he swung the car about and in-creased its 速度(を上げる).

He had told Jadgor he would build an engine to outrun the Tamarizian gnuppa, and here at once was the 実験(する). True, Croft thought not of that in any such fashion as he drove. His only 恐れる was lest he fail to 精密検査する the 飛行機で行くing beasts in time. His greatest 恐れる was that Naia herself might be in that frantic 急ぐ toward death, hurtling to an end invoked at his 手渡すs. His soul sank in a sick wave of horror. Yet he 始める,決める his lips and clenched his jaws and drove.

Faster and faster leaped the roaring car behind the leaping things of flesh and 血 he sought to 追いつく. And he was 追いつくing them now. He crossed the second road with a 神経- wracking swing and 揺さぶる. Unable to procure rubber for his wheels he had 直面するd them with 激しい leather some two インチs 厚い, which 欠如(する)d the resiliency of 空気/公表する. His 武器 ached from the wrench with which he crossed the road. But that past he gathered 速度(を上げる) with every 革命 of the wheels.

"Faster! Zitu! Faster!" Robur 勧めるd at his 味方する. "Faster, Jasor—the gorge is just ahead!"

Croft made no reply. He was almost abreast of the carriage now. But he himself had seen the break in the surface of the flat across which he drove. He 始める,決める his teeth till the muscles in his strong jaws bunched and drove toward it at 最高の,を越す 速度(を上げる). His one hope was that the thing which had 始める,決める the gnuppas into flight might be able to turn them 支援する. And he was past them now! Past them, with the gorge 直接/まっすぐに ahead. He began to 辛勝する/優位 in upon them. He would stop them or turn them at any cost to himself. And the 利ざや was scant.

Nearer and nearer to the lip of the sheer 降下/家系 he was 軍隊d to turn in order to 持つ/拘留する his lead.

"Jump! Save yourself!" His 発言する/表明する rose in a cry of 警告 to his companion in the car. The gorge was very の近くに. He turned to 平行の its course and 設立する it angling off at a slant. And the gnuppas were turning, too—辛勝する/優位ing away from the thing they 恐れるd—辛勝する/優位ing, 辛勝する/優位ing away. Croft 辛勝する/優位d with them, turning them more and more. Chythron was sawing on his reins. Suddenly the beasts stopped in a 一連の ragged 肺s and stood quivering and panting. Croft stopped the car.

"By Zitu! Jasor, you are a man!"

He became conscious that Robur was still with him on the seat, and that he himself was aquiver in every 四肢. Yet he forgot that as the purple curtains of the carriage were swept 支援する and Prince Lakkon leaped out, gave Robur and him a swift ちらりと見ること, and 補助装置d Naia to alight.

Robur and he leaped 負かす/撃墜する. They 前進するd toward Lakkon and his daughter.

"My uncle and my cousin," Robur began; "we crave your 容赦 for 原因(となる)ing you this inconvenience through no 意図 of our own. Yet must you give thanks to our 勇敢に立ち向かう Lord Jasor here for undoing our work so quickly as he might, and turning 支援する the gnuppas from their course. By Zitu, I am 保証するd, had he not 後継するd he would have gone with you into the gorge."

Lakkon 屈服するd. "My Lord Jasor," said he, "it appears that I 借りがある you my safety 同様に as that of my child. 受託する my service at your need. I have heard of you and yonder wonder-carriage you have wrought. After tonight I go to my 郊外住宅 in the mountains. You must be our guest for a time. Naia, my child, 延長する your thanks to the noble Jasor for your life."

Croft 設立する himself looking into the purple 注目する,もくろむs of the woman he loved. He thrilled as she 解除するd her ちらりと見ること. Then, as her red lips parted, he opened his own.

"Nay, not your life. Princess Naia—some bruises had you leaped from the carriage, perhaps."

"My thanks for the service 非,不,無 the いっそう少なく, my lord," she made answer in her own 井戸/弁護士席-remembered 発言する/表明する. "I like not bruises truly, and at least you did save me those."

She 延長するd a slender 手渡す.

Croft took her fingers in his and 設立する his pulses leaping at the 接触する. What more 都合のよい 会合 could have brought him before this girl in the flesh? 誘発するd by a sudden impulse, he bent and 始める,決める his lips to the fingers he held, straightened and looked 深い into the 井戸/弁護士席s of her 注目する,もくろむs.

A swift color 機動力のある into the maiden's cheeks at the unwonted form of homage and the 解雇する/砲火/射撃 in Croft's ちらりと見ること. She dropped her lids and seemed 混乱させるd for the first time during the course of the whole 事件/事情/状勢.

Robur broke into the rather 緊張した pause. "What say you, Lakkon; your gnuppas are hardly fit to be 信用d more today. Enter this car our Hupor has built, and be the first Prince of Aphur to enter Himyra thus."

Lakkon smiled. He spoke to Chythron, ordering him to 運動 the gnuppas to the city as best he might. Then, with Croft 事実上の/代理 as Naia's guide, turned with Robur toward the car.

Nor was he niggard in his 賞賛する as Croft started the engine and, placing the girl beside him, drove 支援する to the road and along it to the city gates. He even laughed with enjoyment at the その上の びっくり仰天 their 進歩 原因(となる)d along the road, and when a team of 草案 gnuppas, bolting, scattered a 集まり of broken crates 十分な of the strange water-fowl Croft had 設立する the first day in a squawking 混乱, he scattered largesse to the owner of team and 負担 and bade Croft proceed.

As for Croft, that ride with the girl of his ultimate 願望(する) at his 味方する was a delight, such as he had never known. Coupled with the sense that he had saved her from possible 傷害 at least, if not from actual death, and at the same time 証明するd his own daring, was blended the sheer enjoyment of her presence and the sound of her 発言する/表明する as she questioned him 関心ing the—to her—marvelous, conveyance he drove. Those questions he answered 自由に, knowing her loyal to Tamarizia at heart.

So in the end they passed the city gates and made their way to Lakkon's house, where Croft turned in toward the 大規模な moulded doors.

Naia showed some surprise. "My lord," she said, "you know our dwelling, it would seem."

"I have looked upon it with longing ere this," said Croft, growing bold through the 親切 of 運命/宿命. For 運命/宿命 he felt it was which had brought them together in a fashion such as this.

And Naia gave him a ちらりと見ること and once more 隠すd her 注目する,もくろむs while a tide of responsive color dyed her 直面する. Plainly she caught the meaning of his words.

"Your 指名する is の中で those of our guests for tonight," she said. "Your welcome will be doubly 広大な/多数の/重要な after today, and—you will 受託する our 招待 to the mountains?"

"If you 追加する your 招待 to your father's, so soon as I may arrange the work on other moturs," Croft agreed.

"Then you will come," she told him softly without 解除するing her 注目する,もくろむs. And Croft thrilled at her manner as much as at her words. He stopped the car, reached up and rang the gong as Chythron had done the first day he (機の)カム to Aphur, leaped out and 補助装置d Naia to alight.


XIV. — THE SLIP 'TWIXT CUP AND LIP

AND that night all Himyra was en f黎e. Under the light of 解雇する/砲火/射撃-urns, oil lamps, and ゆらめくing たいまつs, whose glare lit up the sky above the 塀で囲むs, the Red City of Aphur made holiday. (人が)群がるs 群れているd the public squares and clustered about the 解放する/自由な entertainments, the 解放する/自由な refreshment booths 築くd by order of Jadgor, Aphur's king, to celebrate the coming 同盟 between Cathur and the 明言する/公表する.

行列s of the people moved through the streets, laughing, singing, shouting and making merry in 栄誉(を受ける) of the event. Once before when Robur brought a princess of Milidhur to Himyra the city had ゆらめくd thus red in the night. Now again Jadgor was making greater his prestige of 力/強力にする and 増加するing Aphur's political might.

Croft, returning to his 4半期/4分の1s in the palace from a day spent in starting 集中的な work on a hundred engines and a 海洋 採択 of the same, met a surprise.

Upon his 巡査 couch was a noble dress consisting of a golden cuirass embossed in silver, a kilted skirt, gold and silver 脚. casings, and sandals, a leathern belt, and a tempered 巡査 sword.

As he (機の)カム in a Mazzerian servant rose and bade him to one of the palace baths. Returning from that, Croft donned a sleeveless shirt of silk-like tissue and the cuirass over that. ひさまづくing, the servant adjusted the sandals and rose to buckle on the sword. These things he について言及するd were a gift from Jadgor himself, a 示す of Croft's service to the 明言する/公表する.

Jason had been いっそう少なく than human had he not felt a glow of satisfaction in this 調印する of 王室の esteem and friendship. But greater far than that was the knowledge that this night in Lakkon's house he would 会合,会う Naia herself as a friend already known, and be 解除するd to high 階級 before her 注目する,もくろむs. That tonight would see her 誓約(する)d to Kyphallos, he chose to overlook. A year must follow before she became the Cathurian's wife. Much could happen in a year, as he had said to Robur days ago. Something he had read (機の)カム into his mind.


"Let him who 勝利,勝つs her take and keep Faustine."


He thought that was the form of the quotation. At least it was the sense. He nodded to himself, Let him who could 勝利,勝つ her take and keep Naia of Aphur. He, Croft, had a year in which to 勝利,勝つ the woman he 願望(する)d.

Robur (機の)カム into the room. Gaya had gone to Lakkon's earlier in the day to 行為/法令/行動する as Naia's lady in the 儀式の 準備s. He 示唆するd that Croft and he be off. Aphurian etiquette 法令d that the 主要な/長/主犯 guest be the last to arrive, in order that the 組み立てる/集結するd company might do him 栄誉(を受ける) when he (機の)カム. Jadgor and Kyphallos would follow, said the prince. Croft assented at once. 解除するing a circlet supporting a tuft of orange feathers, he 始める,決める it upon his 長,率いる, and Robur and he 始める,決める out, in the prince's own car, drawn by four beautiful gnuppas, their bridles trimmed with nodding scarlet plumes.

Before Lakkon's house they 設立する themselves in a 圧力(をかける) of other carriages and chariots from which were descending the best of Aphur's life. The 抱擁する doors of the 法廷,裁判所 stood open, and the 法廷,裁判所 itself 炎d with light. A 二塁打 line of guards stood within the portals as the guests streamed in, and a 先触れ(する) in gold and purple cried the 指名する of each new arrival aloud through a wide-mouthed trumpet held before his lips.

Inside, the (米)棚上げする/(英)提議するs were spread much as on the former occasion Croft had 証言,証人/目撃するd, save that now a 演壇 had been 建設するd at one end, where were the places of Kyphallos and Naia, Jadgor and Lakkon, and as Jason was to learn of Robur, Gaya and himself. Lakkon stood at the end of the 二塁打 列/漕ぐ/騒動 of guards and welcomed his guests. He gave Croft his 手渡す with a smile which lighted his 注目する,もくろむs.

"Welcome, Lord Jasor—to 地雷 house—to Himyra's happiness, to the 栄誉(を受ける) of Aphur," he said, and bent his 膝 to Robur as the two men passed.

It was then Robur led Croft to the 演壇 and 機動力のある the steps as one who knew beforehand his place 割り当てるd. Croft hung 支援する, and his companion laughed.

"Up," he cried. "Tonight you are 栄誉(を受ける)d of Aphur above most men."

Tingling at the knowledge, Croft 機動力のある and seated himself at a wave from Robur's 手渡す. The prince gazed on the brilliant scene with a smile of something like pride.

"A goodly company," he said.

Croft, too, gazed around before he replied. Surely Robur had spoken aright, he thought as he swept the 団体/死体 of the guests where colors blended in endless harmony of shades, and the white 武器 and shoulders of matron and maid gleamed in the play of the lights.

Lights! He cast his 注目する,もくろむs about the myriad of 炎上ing lamps and suddenly he smiled.

"Yet would it be even more brilliant were the oil lamps 除去するd and in their place we were to put small globes of glass which would 放出する a radiance not 予定 to oil, but to a glowing filament shut within them, so that they would need no filling, but would 燃やす when a small knob were turned."

"Zitu!" Robur gave him a ちらりと見ること. "Are you at it again—with your wonderful dreams?"

"Yes." Once more Croft smiled and grew serious as it recurred to his mind that before long he must again return to earth. "Call them dreams, 略奪する," he said. "Dreams they may be—yet shall you see them come true. And—listen, my loyal friend; it may be that before long I shall dream again as I dreamed before—that my 団体/死体 shall 嘘(をつく) as Jasor's 団体/死体 lay in Scira—shall seem to die."

"What mean you?" Robur cried. "This you have said before."

Croft shook his 長,率いる. "I may not tell you more; yet I would exact your 約束 that when the time comes, as I know it will, you shall 始める,決める a guard about my 団体/死体 and forbid that it be 乱すd until I shall again awake with a 十分な-knowledge of what more shall be done for Aphur's good."

"You mean this—you do not jest?" Robur's 発言する/表明する had grown little better than a whisper, and his 注目する,もくろむs 燃やすd the question into Croft's brain.

"Yes. Will you 約束, 略奪する?"

"I will 約束, and what I 約束 I 実行する," said Robur. "Yet—you 誘発する fancies within me, Jasor. One would think Zitu himself spoke to you in that sleep."

"No—yet what I do, I do by His grace," Croft replied. "And from each sleep I am 保証するd shall come good to the Tamarizian race."

And suddenly, as trumpets 発表するd the arrival of Kyphallos and the King, he felt light, relieved, 解放する/自由な. He had arranged for those periods of unconsciousness for Jasor's 団体/死体, and need not trouble more about it with the 約束 he had won from Jadgor's son.

He watched while Kyphallos (機の)カム in with Jadgor now and approached the 演壇. Then, attracted by other trumpets, he turned toward the stair. As before, Naia stood there with Gaya by her 味方する. Yet now she was not the same. Then she had been radiant in gold and purple. Now she stood 簡単に 覆う? in white. White was her 式服, 辛勝する/優位d in silver; white were her sandals and white the plumes which rose above her hair.

Kyphallos and Jadgor waited while the guests took their seats. Lakkon 前進するd to 会合,会う the two women on the stairs, gave his 手渡す to his daughter and turned to descend.

Another 人物/姿/数字 appeared. It was Magur, the priest, 式服d in blue, …を伴ってd by two young boys, each 耐えるing a silver goblet on a tray of the same metal. He 前進するd and met Naia and Lakkon as they reached the foot of the stairs.

"Who comes?" his 発言する/表明する rang out.

"A maid who would 誓約(する) herself and her life to a 青年, O Prince of Zitu," Lakkon replied.

"The 青年 is 現在の?" Magur went on with the ritualistic form.

"Aye. He stands yonder with Aphur's king," Lakkon 宣言するd.

"Who sponsors this woman at this time?" Magur spoke again.

"I—King of Aphur—brother of her who gave her life," Jadgor's 発言する/表明する にわか景気d 前へ/外へ.

"Come then," Magur said.

The party 前進するd again across the 水晶 床に打ち倒す. They joined Kyphallos and the king. They 上がるd the 演壇 and stood before the 組み立てる/集結するd guests, who rose.

Magur spoke もう一度.

"Naia of Aphur—thou woman—存在 woman sister of Ga, and hence a priestess of that 神社 of life which is eternal, and 後見人 of the 解雇する/砲火/射撃 of life which is eternal, is it your 意図 to 誓約(する) thyself to this man of Cathur who stands now at thy 味方する?"

While Croft watched, Naia's lips moved. "Aye," (機の)カム her 返答 into the 続いて起こるing silence. "Myself I 誓約(する) to him."

"And thou, Kyphallos of Cathur, do you 受託する this 誓約(する) and with it the woman herself, to make her in the fullness of time thy bride to 心にいだく her and 原因(となる) her to live as a glory to the 指名する of woman to whom all men may 正確に,正当に give 尊敬(する)・点?"

"Aye! So I 誓約(する), by Zitu, and Azil, Giver of Life," said Cathur's prince.

"Then take ye this, maid of Aphur."

Magur drew from his 式服 a 宙返り飛行d silver cross and 圧力(をかける)d it into her 手渡すs.

"持つ/拘留する it and guard it; look upon is at the symbol of that life eternal which through you shall be kept eternal, and which taken from the 手渡すs of Azil the Angel shall be transmuted within thee into the life of men."

Turning, he took two goblets and 注ぐd ワイン from one to the other and 支援する. One he 延長するd to Naia and one to Cathur's prince.

"Drink," he said. "Let these symbolize thy two 団体/死体s, the life of which shall be 部隊d from this time on in 目的. Drink, and may Zitu bless ye in that union which comes by his 意図."

Cathur raised his goblet. "I drink of thee 深く,強烈に," he spoke, 演説(する)/住所ing Naia.

"And of thee I drink," she made answer, and 始める,決める the ワイン to her lips. As she did so her 注目する,もくろむs leaped over the silver 縁 and met the 注目する,もくろむs of Croft. For a 選び出す/独身 instant his ちらりと見ること 燃やすd into hers, and she 滞るd, her 手渡す lowered the goblet quickly and she swayed. Yet even so, she caught herself on the instant as a 嵐/襲撃する of 賞賛 broke from the guests, and sank to the divan, supported by Kyphallos's 手渡す.

As for Croft, for him the light of the oil lamps flickered and paled. He sat momentarily lost in a mental tumult roused by that ちらりと見ること in Naia's 注目する,もくろむs. In that moment he felt he had spoken to her soul—had reached to her inmost spirit, and made himself known. He had not meant to do it. He had not realized while he leaned 今後 watching the betrothal 儀式, that all his loathing of it, all his 抗議する of spirit against it, had kindled in his 注目する,もくろむs. Not, indeed, until he had plumbed the purple depths of her 注目する,もくろむs over the 縁 of the goblet had he known—or dreamed that she could see and know—as now he felt she had known.

Now, however, he stole a second ちらりと見ること to where she sat and 設立する her deathly pale with 始める,決める lips and a bosom heaving so 堅固に beneath the pure white fabric of her 式服, that it seemed to 現実に ぱたぱたする above her 一連の会議、交渉/完成するd breasts. Her 手渡す stole out and 解除するd a goblet from the (米)棚上げする/(英)提議する and she drank. It seemed to Croft that she sought so to 安定した herself before she 始める,決める the ワイン 支援する, and 軍隊d herself to smile.

Thereafter (機の)カム the feast, the music, the ダンサーs, a troupe of singers and another of acrobats—the usual gamut of a Tamarizian 明言する/公表する entertainment, dragging out its length, before Jadgor rose at last in his place and a hush fell over the 法廷,裁判所.

Croft, who throughout it all had been strangely silent, roused to the 圧力 of Robur's 手渡す, and as the prince 誘発するd, he rose.

Thereafter he left his place and knelt before Jadgor while the king drew his sword and struck him upon the breast and dubbed him so a Prince of Aphur, and, rising, 屈服するd to the king and to the guests who rose to salute him in his new-設立する 階級. But of them all to Croft it seemed that he saw only the fair young girl beside the Cathurian prince. And now, as before, his 注目する,もくろむs-leaped 速く to her 直面する.

Only now, instead of an 表現 of something like a startled knowledge, there leaped toward him a purple light of 楽しみ, of 是認, of congratulation, and she smiled, as one may smile in 承認 of an old and 井戸/弁護士席-known friend.

Then he 設立する himself clasping 手渡すs with Robur, with Lakkon, with Kyphallos, since the thing could not be 避けるd. Gaya, too, gave him her 手渡す and a word of congratulation, and—Naia was 持つ/拘留するing 前へ/外へ her 一連の会議、交渉/完成するd, 明らかにする arm and the slender fingers which that morning he had kissed. He took them now and held them in his own. He trembled, and knew it, and even so dared again to 会合,会う her 注目する,もくろむs. Once more he 設立する them startled, puzzled, almost 混乱させるd. A faint color crept into her cheeks.

"My lord," she said, "Aphur has given her highest 評価 of your 価値(がある). That should mean much to you."

"Aye," Croft 設立する his tongue. "Since it (許可,名誉などを)与えるs me the 特権 of a その上の word with you."

She drew her 手渡す away. "Is a word with me of so 広大な/多数の/重要な a value?" she questioned with a somewhat unsteady laugh.

"To speak with Naia of Aphur I would dare death itself." Croft did not tell her how much he had already dared for that word indeed.

"You are a bold man," she said, as he paused, and went on quickly. "Yet, since you value it so 高度に, forget not our 招待 of this morning or that house in the mountains which is ours."

"I shall not forget. Princess Naia," Croft replied. His brain was in a whirl. She had repeated the 招待. Did she really wish him to come? Had he read her glorious 注目する,もくろむs aright? Had she sensed the truth as he had sensed it the first time he had seen her? Did she feel it? Did she know? Had the call of his spirit reached the spirit which was hers?

Croft hardly believed that it had. He scarcely believed that her knowledge of that call was a 限定された thing as yet. Still, he was sure she felt something she herself could not wholly fathom—that her 招待 was sincere, dictated by the call she as yet did not understand. Therefore he 約束d himself 同様に as her, to 受託する. And he 公約するd that before that visit to her mountain home was ended, she should 認める the truth.


XV. — THE MAN'S DEMAND

TOWARD that end and what it should finally bring about, Croft now made his 計画(する)s. Kyphallos he learned would leave on the morrow for Scira, and as he knew would very すぐに thereafter make that 約束d 旅行 to Niera, where he would once more come under the attraction of the Zollarian Magnet—that tawny Kalamita who had …に出席するd the feast on Anthra before he started south.

On the に引き続いて day, therefore, he asked audience of Jadgor, took Robur with him when he appeared before the king and 示唆するd the use of a 秘かに調査する on Cathur's 相続人, telling so much as he felt he dared, to support his 嘆願.

At first Jadgor was amazed. "How know you these things, Lord Jasor!" he cried.

"I have heard things in the north," Croft replied without 指名するing the 場所, letting Jadgor suppose it was during his days in Scira if he would. And it seemed that Jadgor did that very thing, since after a time he asked 正確に/まさに what Jasor would 提案する.

Croft 示唆するd a 協議 with Magur—and the sending of word to Abbu in the 指名する of both Jasor and the 長,指導者 Priest of Himyra to see what Kyphallos did. That there was 推論する/理由 for his suggestion the very next day brought proof. A sailor from a Cathurian galley was 設立する 隠すd in the shop where the new engines were 存在 made. This に引き続いて hard on the heels of Kyphallos's 出発, Croft held 怪しげな indeed.

He smiled in rather a grim way when Robur told him of the occurrence, 急ぐing into the room where he sat engaged in the 製図/抽選 of some その上の 計画(する)s. But he took no steps save to have the sailor taken 支援する to his ship and his captain 警告を与えるd to keep him out of 害(を与える)'s way, and to recommend that Robur place a guard about the shop. Indeed he was not 大いに worried as he knew of one way in which he could watch Kyphallos and learn what he planned.

On the sixth day, having seen the work on the engines 井戸/弁護士席 under way, he took the car, filled its 戦車/タンクs with spirits and drove out the north road toward that white palace in the mountains where he had been bidden as a guest.

He had sent no word of his coming, yet he felt 保証するd that a welcome would be his. There was a smile on his lips and a paean of joy in his heart as he 嵐/襲撃するd up the mountain grades and out across those gorges the road crossed on 大規模な arches of 石/投石する.

So at last he stopped before the steps 主要な up to the doors of the white Aphurian mansion, and sprang 負かす/撃墜する. He 機動力のある the steps and 設立する once more the blue servant he had seen on another occasion, watching in awed 見込み just inside. To him he gave his 肩書を与える and asked for Naia herself.

The blue man 屈服するd. "She lies yonder. Lord," he replied. "I shall lead you to her."

に引き続いて the servant. Croft (機の)カム about a cluster of flowering bushes to find the hostess he sought.

She lay upon a ワイン-red 支持を得ようと努めるd divan, while beside her sat the blue girl Maia, her supple 団体/死体 swinging in 平易な rhythm as she waved a fan for the 慰安 of the woman she served.

By now Croft was fully accustomed to the 無視(する) of 着せる/賦与するing 陳列する,発揮するd by the Tamarizian servants and even the nobles themselves in their more 私的な life.

Hence he was not 乱すd by the fact that Maia's 井戸/弁護士席-turned torso swayed before him unclothed, or surprised that, since she knew not of his coming, no more than a tissue so sheer that the flesh beneath it lent it color, draped Naia's perfect form as she rose to stand before him and stretch 前へ/外へ her 手渡すs.

"My Lord, Jasor," she exclaimed. "Your coming is as 予期しない as welcome. Would you feel flattered were I to 自白する that I was thinking of you before you appeared?"

"Nay, not flattered, but filled with a delight beyond words and a 恐れる lest I deserve いっそう少なく than that!" Croft smiled, as he took her warm flesh in his 手渡すs and, gazing 負かす/撃墜する into her 注目する,もくろむs, 設立する in their wide opened purple depths no surprise or startled question, but only 楽しみ as it seemed to him then.

Hupor, the 広大な/多数の/重要な hound-like beast who had been lying beside the two women, rose and, 解除するing himself upon his 大規模な haunches, laid his fore-paws on Croft's shoulder and 星/主役にするd into his 直面する.

"Ah, Hupor gives you his 好意, 認めるd a few. 除去する your cuirass and 残り/休憩(する)," Naia said 再開するing her seat and 調印 the Mazzerian to 補助装置 her guest. Then as he slipped out of the metal harness and stood in the soft shirt beneath it, she 招待するd him to a place at her 味方する and directed both servants to 身を引く.

"You are come for the 約束d visit?" she began when they sat alone.

"If the time fits in with your convenience," Croft replied.

Naia looked 負かす/撃墜する at her sandalless feet, high-arched and pink of nail.

"I will be frank," she went on. "I have been piqued because you 延期するd your coming." She ちらりと見ることd up with a little laugh.

"And I that I could not come the sooner," Croft blended his laughter with hers.

"You (機の)カム in your car?"

"Yes."

"Tell me," she said, and laid a 手渡す on his arm. "My father 宣言するs that Jadgor thinks you 奮起させるd of Zitu to make Tamarizia 広大な/多数の/重要な. Tell me, about these moturs and your work."

Next to his love, these things were first in Croft's mind. For an hour he talked to the girl at his 味方する. And he talked 井戸/弁護士席. Her presence 解雇する/砲火/射撃d him, 緩和するd his tongue. He painted for her a picture of Aphurian transportation transformed, of モーターs filling the 主要道路s, of モーター-driven ships on river and sea, and swept on by his own conceptions spoke of モーターs as possible things of the 空気/公表する.

"Zitu!" she cried. "My lord would dare what 非,不,無 save the birds dare now?"

"Even so,", said Croft. "So shall Aphur become strong—stronger than any other 明言する/公表する of Tamarizia—strong enough to guard the western gate without another's 援助(する)."

He had made the 発言/述べる of 審議する/熟考する 目的, and now he heard the girl beside him catch her breath, and ちらりと見ることing toward her, 設立する her 注目する,もくろむs wide and very, very dark, with a strange light in their depths.

"You—my Lord Jasor, you can do this thing?"

"And will," he 宣言するd.

He saw Naia of Aphur quiver. "One who did that might ask what he would, and receive it of the 明言する/公表する," she said slowly; and then once more her fingers touched his arm and he 設立する them icy 冷淡な. "My lord, does Zitu answer 祈りs?"

Croft's mind leaped 速く from her words to a night when he had seen her ひさまづくing before the 人物/姿/数字 of Azil in this self-same house—when he had heard her 嘆願, 解除するd out of an anguished spirit—to the One Eternal Source. "What mean you?" he asked.

"If one—in sore trouble—one with a spirit which rebelled at a 仕事 to which it was 始める,決める should cry for 援助(する), would Zitu give 注意する?"

O girl of gold, sang the heart in Croft's breast—O wonder-woman of all the universe of life! How 井戸/弁護士席 he knew her meaning. How 井戸/弁護士席 he sensed that in his words of 約束 for a 未来 strength in her nation which would (判決などを)下す needless her living immolation on the altar of 愛国的な 義務, she saw a possible answer to that 祈り she had 解除するd to Zitu, and Ga, and Azil the Giver of Life, And, how he longed to turn and sweep her supple form into his 武器, 鎮圧する it against his breast and speak to her soul the words which should 保証する her that he stood even now between her and the coming 運命/宿命 she loathed.

As it was he sought to 安心させる by his reply. "Yes, Naia of Aphur, I think that indeed Zitu hears a troubled spirit's 祈り. As for the form his answer may take—what man knows?"

Her lips parted. "Aye, who knows," she repeated. "How long a time shall it 要求する to bring these things to pass?"

"They shall be Aphur's before a cycle has run out," said Croft.

"Zitu! Then—then Aphur shall be strong beyond Jadgor's dreams ere—ere so short a time is gone!"

Again Croft's heart 続けざまに猛撃するd in his breast. Almost she had said ere she was 軍隊d into hated wedlock with Kyphallos, he thought. He inclined his 長,率いる.

"But why," Naia went on more calmly, "存在 of Nodhur, did you come with these 計画(する)s to Aphur, my lord?"

"You have said it." Croft turned to 直面する her fully.

"I?" She drew herself a trifle 支援する as in surprise.

"Yes. Because I am your lord." Croft did not hesitate now.

And suddenly he saw once more that strange, startled look of half 承認 which had leaped at him over the 縁 of the silver goblet the night of the betrothal feast.

"My lord?" Naia began and 滞るd and (機の)カム to a pause.

"Aye—yours." Croft bent toward her. "Because I knew of you—, and so knowing, knew you the one woman in all Tamarizia, or in all the worlds Zitu has made, whom I wished to 所有する as wife. Because I love you, Naia, Princess of Aphur. Because you are 地雷, and I yours, and have been since Zitu himself sent our two souls to dwell in the flesh. Because your flesh cries to 地雷, your soul calls to 地雷, your spirit 捜し出すs to be one with 地雷, as 地雷 with yours. Therefore, forgetting caste and all else, (機の)カム I to Aphur and to you. Caste I have overridden and risen above. Think you I shall let Cathur stand between me and the heaven of your lips, the soft 刑務所,拘置所 of your 武器?"

For one wild instant while he spoke he thought her about to answer word for word. For she smiled. The thing started in her 注目する,もくろむs and spread in a slow, divine wonder to her lips. Then, she sprang 速く to her feet and 直面するd him tensely 築く, both 発言する/表明する and 人物/姿/数字 vibrant as she cried: "Stop! Jasor of Nodhur, you forget yourself. Think you so lightly of my 苦境d word, that you dare to 演説(する)/住所 me thus? To Cathur I am 誓約(する)d. To a maid of Tamarizia—or a woman of my house, and to all the 法廷,裁判所s of our nation that 約束 is sacred, not to be broken or put aside, save by an 行為/法令/行動する of Zitu himself—save it be broken by death."

Croft had risen, too. "An 行為/法令/行動する of Zitu," he said as she paused. "And may not my coming to Aphur in itself be an answer to your 祈り for deliverance from the embraces of Cathur's unworthy 相続人?"

"My 祈り?" Some of the resentful 緊張 left Naia's form. "What know you—?"

"I know much," Croft 削減(する) her short. "Am I dull of comprehension not to sense the 指名する of her who prayed to Zitu in her travail? And what should wring such 祈りs from your flower-甘い breast, save that defilement it is planned to bring about, to 追加する to Aphur's strength?"

Once more she 炎上d before him. "Were I to speak your words to Lakkon or to Jadgor, it would mean your death," she hissed.

"Then speak them—if you wish, beloved." Croft smiled.

As quickly as she had 脅すd, she drooped now at his words. Something akin to 恐れる (機の)カム into her 注目する,もくろむs. "Who are you—" she began in the 発言する/表明する of a child.

"One who loves you," said Croft. "Who has loved you always—, who always will. One whom you love—"

"持つ/拘留する!" Once more she checked him. But he shook his 長,率いる. "What need of the sacrifice—when I shall give Aphur and all Tamarizia that strength they would 購入(する) now with you?"

"Yet for that strength your price would be the same."

"Nay—" Croft 否定するd, "unless it were paid 喜んで."

"And if it were not?"

"Still would I give Tamarizia strength."

Suddenly Naia of Aphur smiled. To Croft it seemed that she was 井戸/弁護士席 pleased with his answer. But barely had her lips parted as though for some その上の reply, than the Mazzerian passed toward the outer doors of the 法廷,裁判所.

The princess's whole 表現 altered. "My father comes. I cannot speak その上の 関心ing this 事柄 now. Did he dream of our discussion, there would be no bounds to his wrath. Did he know that I could consider such things, Zitu himself might not quench his 激怒(する)."

"Yet will you consider them, my Naia. You will give me an answer."

"Later," she told him quickly. "I—we may not discuss it その上の now, my lord."


XVI. — THE WOWAN'S ANSWER

HOURS later Croft looked from the windows of his room. The evening had been spent in a far more formal fashion than the late afternoon. Lakkon had come in. He had welcomed his guest. Naia had gone to her rooms to dress for the evening meal. They had dined. Over the meal Croft had 述べるd again his 計画(する)s, to the flattering attention of his host. Naia had ぐずぐず残るd with them for a time, now and then 会合 Croft's ちらりと見ること with a smile of her crimson lips before she had gone to her room.

Now as he leaned from his window he 設立する all the garden beneath him, the mountain valley, the lake flooded in the light of the Palosian moons. The night called to him, and his heart was too 十分な, his brain too busy with thought, to feel the (一定の)期間 of sleep. 製図/抽選 支援する he left his apartment, passed 負かす/撃墜する the balcony 回廊(地帯) to the small door giving の上に the garden stair and ran quickly 負かす/撃墜する. The breath of flowering shrubs was about him. Light and 影をつくる/尾行する filled the place with a 静かな beauty. Choosing a path which ran off before him he strolled along. So by degrees he approached the white 塀で囲むs of the garden bath, doubly white now in the night. And having approached them he paused. The sound of a gentle splashing (機の)カム from within.

Croft smiled. Another had felt the call of the outside world beside himself, and surely he felt that he knew who that one was.

"Princess," he called softly, from beside the 入り口 審査する.

"Aye." The word (機の)カム as soft as his own and was followed by a gentle laugh. "Wait, Jasor of Nodhur." There (機の)カム a louder sound of movement, followed by a silence, and then: "And now my lord you may come."

Croft passed the 審査する. The maiden stood before him. Her hair was coiled about her 長,率いる. Her shoulder and 武器 showed glistening in the moonlight from the moisture of her 肌.

"Naia," said the man.

"My lord." She smiled.

"Nay—call me Jasor at least," he returned.

"Jasor," said she.

They were alone—a man and a maid. The white 塀で囲むs of the bath shut them in from all 調査するing 注目する,もくろむs. The pool lay silvered by the moonlight beneath them. And suddenly, Croft reached out toward her and swept her into his 武器.

That bold spirit which was his brooked no longer 延期する. He drew her to him. His 武器 sensed the lithe coolness of her 人物/姿/数字 as its dampness struck through the 選び出す/独身 衣料品, あわてて donned at his call. So he held her and sensed all her maddening presence.

"地雷!" he cried, 圧力(をかける)ing her closer in the circle of his 武器. "地雷! Woman whom Zitu himself has made for me."

"Hush." Her 手渡す fell over his lips, and he felt her tremble. "Jasor, how knew you I was here?"

"I knew not until the night called me into the garden and I heard the sound of the water," he replied. "Then your presence told me of itself and I spoke your 指名する."

There was a 石/投石する seat at one end of the pool. She led him there and seated herself at his 味方する. "You are bold," she said, speaking quickly. "Jasor, I (機の)カム here to think—as I have thought ever since we spoke together today."

"And having thought, will you give me my answer now?"

She 解除するd her 注目する,もくろむs, dark in the silver night. "Can you truly do those things you spoke of?" she questioned him again as she had questioned before.

"Do you 疑問 it?" he questioned in reply.

"Nay, I think not. You would do all you say—for me?"

"All and more, for you, or to save you a 悲しみ," Croft said.

"Think you," said she, "that Kyphallos of Aphur is aught to me?"

"No," Croft laughed. "I know you hate him. Princess—指名する him the beast he is."

"You know much," she said in 返答 and her 発言する/表明する was vibrant with a トン he had never heard her use before. "Yet things there may be you know not of. Listen, my lord. My lips touched not the ワイン in the silver goblet the night of the betrothal feast."

"Naia!" Croft (機の)カム to his feet. Naia of Aphur rose also. Her 注目する,もくろむs were 星/主役にするs in the night. She stood before him a slender, swaying 形態/調整. She put 前へ/外へ her 手渡すs. "My 注目する,もくろむs looked into yours above the goblet," she said softly, still in that strange new トン. "They forbade my lips to drink. Hence, Jasor, this is my answer—I am yours can you 勝利,勝つ me in time."

And now she (機の)カム into his 武器 of her own volition. Croft 設立する her upon his breast, 粘着するing to him with her slender 手渡すs, looking up into his 直面する. Some way his 直面する sank to 会合,会う hers. Some way his mouth 設立する her lips.

Then she had torn her mouth away. "Zitu, what have I done?" she cried. "No maid of Aphur may touch the lips of a man not of her 血, unless she is his bride. But-but—this thing is stronger than I. Days (期間が)わたる the time since I have known you, yet Zitu knows it seems I have known you always—have waited for you to come, and knew it not, until that night when your ちらりと見ること met 地雷 and told me I was yours. Jasor of Nodhur, you must save me—勝利,勝つ me—now."

"Aye, I shall 勝利,勝つ you." Once more Croft (人命などを)奪う,主張するd her lips and she did not resist. A mad exaltation filled him. He had won—Naia of Aphur. She lay in his 武器. She had given him more than a maid of her race had any 権利 to give によれば 条約's code. No question then but that her heart which (警官の)巡回区域,受持ち区域 so wildly against his breast, (警官の)巡回区域,受持ち区域 with the pulse of love. He had won—and he would 勝利,勝つ, not only this, but all that she could give.

"断言する it," she panted when once more her lips were 解放する/自由な. "O Zitu, 断言する I shall be wholly yours. Think you I could 産する/生じる to Kyphallos now? Nay—I had rather die."

"I 断言する," said Croft. "And tomorrow I shall return to Himyra and my work."

"Tomorrow." 失望 rang in her トンs. "When I have counted each day until you should come."

"Himyra is not far in the car already made," Croft said ignoring her ingenuous 自白. "I shall come to you again—aye, again and again."

"Yet must we be 控えめの," Naia exclaimed. "You must come—I must see you—but we must keep this secret in our hearts. Did Lakkon dream that Naia had dared to break her spoken 誓約(する)—" She paused. A (軽い)地震 shook her as she leaned against him with his arm about her waist.

"You must return to your room," he 勧めるd. "恐れる not. Yet when you pray, ask of Zitu that he give me 速度(を上げる) and knowledge in my work. And should you not see or hear from me for a time, be sure that all I do is for you, that you are ever in my thoughts."

"As you will be in 地雷." Once more she turned to 直面する him. "Yet before I go in now, my lord, give me again your lips."

"Beloved!" Croft held her a final moment and saw her 出発/死.

Himself he ぐずぐず残るd by the pool. His soul was on 解雇する/砲火/射撃. He had won—Naia of Aphur in her soul was his. The soft warmth of her lips still ぐずぐず残るd upon his own. Aye, he had won—her 降伏する to himself. That final kiss showed how 完全にする that 降伏する was. So 完全にする was it, that she had overstepped all the code of her nation and caste ーするために give it 表現, had placed herself where, should her 行為/法令/行動する be learned, she would stand before her people 不名誉d.

Nor was his love いっそう少なく than hers. It was a 広大な/多数の/重要な love, which had brought him to this time—so 広大な/多数の/重要な, so all-説得力のある, he felt now that even in his student days in India it had drawn him in a strange, subconscious fashion not then understood—so 広大な/多数の/重要な that for it he had dared the unknown, to find the feminine complement of his spirit, whom tonight he had held within his 武器. No mere 誘惑する of the flesh was his divine passion, which had drawn him and 解雇する/砲火/射撃d him now to a 決意/決議 to work, work for it and it alone, until he had won not only Naia's love, but Naia 同様に. She had said the thing was stronger than herself. Croft knew it was stronger than himself as he sat beside the moonlit pool. It was one of those 広大な/多数の/重要な loves, which have made history before this and will again. Hence tomorrow he would go 支援する to Himyra, and there he would work and 計画(する).

And, thought Croft, he must 秘かに調査する upon Cathur's prince, in the way only he could compass so far as he knew. Kyphallos must be in Scira now, unless he had gone 支援する to Anthra. Kyphallos must be watched. There was that trip to Niera he had 約束d Kalamita to make. Would he tell her what had occurred in Himyra? And if so, what would Zollaria's Magnet of white flesh do? That she felt any emotion for Kyphallos other than as a pawn to her 手渡す. Croft did not believe. He knew her type, and 率直に he believed her an スパイ/執行官 of her nation 始める,決める to ensnare the 相続人 of Cathur and その上の Zollaria's 計画(する)s. He nodded his 長,率いる and rose. He would find this Cathurian prince and see what he did, and where at 現在の he was.

Quickly he went 支援する to his own apartment and laid himself on the couch. Naia he fancied was lying so even now in that room where Azil 解除するd his carved white wings beside her mirror pool. He smiled. Some day he 約束d his heart, his empty 武器, they should not 嘘(をつく) apart, but together, on a moonlit Palosian night.

Then he put all that out of his mind and 直す/買収する,八百長をするd its 十分な 力/強力にする on his 仕事. 速く that conscious (独立の)存在 which was the real man flitted across the Central Sea, and 設立する itself in the palace of Scythys, the Cathurian king. About it he prowled, invisible and unseen by the nodding palace guards. And in it he 設立する no 調印する of Scythys's son.

Once more he flitted 解放する/自由な. To Abbu he went and 設立する the 修道士 asleep in a room of the Scira pyramid. And from there he flashed to Anthra, and 設立する the gilded galley of the fickle 青年 tied up in the harbor 水盤/入り江, and Kyphallos lost in dalliance with a slender and beautiful ダンサー. He turned away with disgust; yet not before he learned that Kyphallos went to Niera tomorrow, as he had 約束d Kalamita he would do more than a month before.

支援する to his 議会 and the 団体/死体 of Jasor of Nodhur went Croft. At least now he was 満足させるd that he could watch Kyphallos and 示す his every move. Then let Kyphallos beware. He gave a final ちらりと見ること to the moon-flooded night and slept.

And in the morning he entered the モーター and ran 支援する to Himyra before the heat of the day. Work—work. That was to be his motto for the golden days to come. But first he must again return to earth. That day, therefore, he spent in coaching Robur toward keeping the work moving on the engines. Also he requested that he have a 広大な/多数の/重要な shop 築くd beyond the one they were using to 促進する the work, and drew for him the 計画(する)s for a sort of ドッキングする/減らす/ドックに入れる, wherein モーターs might be 任命する/導入するd in a number of ships.

"Why give these to me?" Robur asked after Croft had explained.

"Since, that tonight, 略奪する, I shall 落ちる into the sleep of which I have told you," Croft replied.

"Zitu! You feel it upon you?" Robur half started 支援する.

"Yes."

"And it will last for how long a time?"

"I know not," said Croft. "It shall 耐える until I am 所有するd of the next means for making Aphur strong. Do you remember your 約束 to guard my 団体/死体 井戸/弁護士席?"

"It shall be 井戸/弁護士席 guarded, my strange friend," Robur 約束d again.

Yet that night a sudden panic 掴むd upon Croft. What, he asked himself, if some unknown 危険,危なくする should 脅す Naia while he was 熟考する/考慮するing 軍需品-making on earth? He considered that for a time, before he saw a way around. And then he sought out Gaya, and finding her alone as luck would have it, explained to her as he had explained to Robur before the nature of his coming sleep.

She heard him wide-注目する,もくろむd, and before she could break 前へ/外へ in comment Croft went on. "But Gaya, wife of my friend, should any 危険,危なくする or danger 脅す Naia, daughter of Lakkon, the cousin of your lord, and I be still asleep—come quickly to me and bend to whisper, 'Naia needs you' and I 約束 I shall awake."

Gaya gave him a wide-注目する,もくろむd, startled ちらりと見ること. "Her 指名する will rouse you from this sleep of deathlike seeming?" she exclaimed.

"Aye," Croft smiled. Gaya's 表現 had told him in a flash that she understood.

"Wife of my friend, I think her 指名する might wake me from death itself."

"Jasor!" Gaya cried. "My lord—can this thing be?"

"That my heart lies at her pink nailed feet?" Croft retorted. "Aye."

"Yet is she 誓約(する)d to Cathur." Gaya grew 速く pale. "Jasor, my good lord—and you love her, speak not 関心ing it to any other save myself. I 断言する by Zitu to keep your words in my heart. Do you 支配(する)/統制する your tongue."

Croft smiled into her troubled 直面する again. "My tongue I may 支配(する)/統制する," he 宣言するd. "But my heart can I not 抑制(する) in its mad passion for the maid, nor make it いっそう少なく 反逆者/反逆する against this 苦境d troth."

"Robur 認可するs not of it, nor I," Gaya told him softly. "Love brought Milidhur and Aphur together. But—this—this of—of other design." And suddenly she knit her 井戸/弁護士席-formed brows.

"Jasor," said she speaking very quickly; "you are strong—you have thoughts above other men; and something tells me the maid would 嘘(をつく) happy in your 武器."

Croft sprang to his feet. "You would 認可する it, Gaya, my 甘い friend?" he exclaimed with flashing 注目する,もくろむs.

"I am a woman," she replied in almost breathless fashion. "Naia loathes this Cathurian prince."

"And a cycle lies before us, ere he (人命などを)奪う,主張するs her for his own," Croft smiled.

"What mean you?" Gaya half rose. Her 手渡す 解除するd to her breast.

"Nay." Croft shook his 長,率いる. "I cannot tell you. Yet, as you say, I am strong, and I shall make Aphur and Tamarizia strong as myself and stronger a thousand-倍の. Remember, therefore, the words I have told you to speak, and say them の近くに in my ear, in 事例/患者 any need should arise."


XVII. — THE TEUTONS IN THE SKY

NAIA! Naia of Aphur would 嘘(をつく) happy in his 武器. And by Zitu! Some day she should. This was for her. Croft laid himself on his couch and fell into that deathlike sleep of the 団体/死体 he had learned so 井戸/弁護士席 to produce.

But his spirit fled across the Central Sea to Niera, willing itself into the presence of Cathur's 相続人 wherever he might be.

He 設立する him in the room of a red 石/投石する palace overlooking the sea from the terraced 味方する of the shore on which it stood. He lay on a 巡査 couch, covered with silken cloth of a (疑いを)晴らす pure yellow, and he wore an 表現 of sullen pique upon his 直面する.

For he was not alone. Nor was this his 私的な apartment as Croft understood in a ちらりと見ること. It was the 控訴 of Kalamita herself. And the tawny beauty was 現在の in やめる shameless fashion, plainly 準備するing herself for some coming 機能(する)/行事 as it appeared from the litter of feminine articles of 洗面所 which lay on the red 支持を得ようと努めるd (米)棚上げする/(英)提議する at which she sat.

"Nay—think you I have no other source of (警察などへの)密告,告訴(状) beyond your own rosy lips, good Kyphallos," she broke 前へ/外へ in an almost taunting 発言する/表明する; "or that I know not men for what they are? This flower of Aphur is pretty as I have heard, as Bzad who has disguised him-elf and 旅行d to Himyra as a ありふれた sailor and seen her, tells me of his own knowledge. Also it comes to my ears that you drank too 深く,強烈に of the Aphurian ワイン. A drunkard and a pretty fleshly toy. Zitemque himself never fashioned a stronger design for the making of trouble, and fools. Think you I cannot understand?"

Kyphallos frowned. "One would think you Gayana," he 不平(をいう)d as Kalamita paused.

She shrugged. "Nay, I am no priestess of Ga, nor a virgin as you know. Nor do I ask that you look no いっそう少なく clay [sic]. What are your pastimes with ダンサーs and women of the people to me? Yet Kalamita gives not herself to be cast aside for a woman of Aphur's choosing—or a woman of equal 階級."

So that was it, thought Croft. Kyphallos was in this woman's 力/強力にする indeed.

And now Kyphallos quitted his couch and crossed to her 味方する. He caught her and raised her in his 武器. "You are the fool!" he cried. "Yet by Zitu, I delight to see you heated, by word of another than yourself. Listen—and this time believe. I 設立する myself in a 罠(にかける) of Jadgor's 工夫するing, as I have said. Had I 辞退するd this 儀式 of betrothal, how think you he would have looked upon my 行為/法令/行動する? Could I 静める all 疑惑 of those things which shall bring you queen to Zitra's 王位 in better fashion than to 受託する?

"Think not all the 知恵 of mankind lies wrapped in your beauteous 長,率いる. Kyphallos of Cathur is no more a fool than another. Hence I stand 誓約(する)d to Naia, of Aphur, whom Bzad himself may have for a toy, should he wish, so long as I keep Kalamita in my 武器! Thus have I 伸び(る)d the time of a cycle for the その上の perfecting of my 計画(する)s."

"This is the truth?" A flash of selfish satisfaction crept into the woman's 注目する,もくろむs.

"Aye—as I tell you. Small need of your 秘かに調査するs in Aphur to bring you word. Myself, I left a 秘かに調査する to find out the secret of this new car which runs itself, as I told you. Aye—Cathur, too, knows how to 計画(する)."

Croft felt a thrill of humor at the words. He knew 井戸/弁護士席 what had happened to Cathur's 秘かに調査する. He watched while Kalamita 解放する/自由なd herself from Kyphallos's embrace and began 負担ing herself with jewels.

"And how does Cathur 計画(する) when the cycle is run out?" she 問い合わせd at length. "What of this 誓約(する) with Aphur, then?"

"Zollaria will be ready then," Kyphallos said.

Zollaria would be ready. The thing was plotted then, arranged. There was a 十分な understanding between Kyphallos and the nation which had used this beautiful vampire to bait its 罠(にかける).

"And if not?" she said.

"The 誓約(する) can be forsworn—and Aphur can do what she likes."

"Your father?"

"Knows not his own mind from day to day, as you yourself know. Even now he speaks of giving me the 王位." Kalamita smiled.

"Yet Bzad says Naia is very fair." She 狭くするd her 注目する,もくろむs.

"Bzad speaks truth, yet have I not come straight to you as I said on my return?"

"Aye. Good then, my lord. Tonight let us speak as one of this 旅行 to the south. Myself, I shall seem as one who knows and understands, and am 満足させるd in all that has occurred. Do you 持続する your 活動/戦闘 単独で to 伸び(る) time and 静める all 疑惑 in Aphur's mind. Tonight shall you know Zollaria's final 計画(する)s which shall bring you to Zitra's 王位."

She rose and stood before him. "Do you love me indeed, my lord?"

"Yes, by Zitu!" Kyphallos's 発言する/表明する was thickened. He reached out eager 手渡すs. But Kalamita laughed. "Not Kyphallos alone may 誓約(する) himself for 推論する/理由s of 明言する/公表する," she taunted, 製図/抽選 支援する. "I also have given my troth to another since you left."

"You!" For an instant the Cathurian seemed bereft of その上の 力/強力にする of speech. He grew deadly pale. Then the red 血 殺到するd 支援する into his 直面する. It grew dark, with a deadly passion. He sprang 今後 and 掴むd her by her jewel-banded 武器, 持つ/拘留するing her in a 支配する she might not resist.

"What mean you? Say quickly your words are a jest, or, by Zitu and Azil, you shall find no time before I 鎮圧する in your unfaithful breast!"

It (機の)カム over Croft that the Cathurian loved her—with such love as a man of his type could give; that for her he was ready to sacrifice 栄誉(を受ける) and country and all a true man would 持つ/拘留する sacred; that this explained all he had so far heard. And it (機の)カム into his mind that the woman was in danger. But she smiled in mockery into the 脅すing 直面する.

"For 推論する/理由s of 明言する/公表する, my lord," she said.

"What?" Kyphallos caught a breath. Kalamita 緩和するd his 支配する on her 武器, carried his 武器 downward beside her and drew them about her form.

"計画(する)s have gone 今後 since you 出発/死d for the south. When all is ready you shall 招待する me to Anthra—and once in your 力/強力にする you shall 辞退する to 許す my return. Zollaria, and he to whom I am 誓約(する)d, shall 需要・要求する it, and still shall you 辞退する. Then shall Zollaria 行う war on Cathur and Cathur shall 控訴,上告 to Tamarizia for 援助(する). And since Cathur guards the gate to the Central Sea and her loss would (一定の)期間 the downfall of a thousand cycles of 力/強力にする that 援助(する) may not be 辞退するd."

The 強姦 of Helen—the 包囲 of Troy. Woman—woman—the source of life and the 原因(となる) of so much death. Croft felt his senses 渦巻く as he saw the subtle way in which nothing いっそう少なく than a war of conquest had been planned and 事実上 保証するd.

Kyphallos spoke. "And Cathur's unprepared army, thanks to Tamhys's thoughts of peace, and of others before him, shall scarcely stop the armies Zollaria has trained and 武装した and taught for fifty years. Then shall Kyphallos and Kalamita 開始する the 王位 of Zitra, and—"

"Naia!" Once more the woman taunted with a smile.

"Bzad can have her, if he takes her," Kyphallos cried.

Bzad—the blue Mazzerian 長,指導者! Naia to a savage! Croft's spirit quivered and shook with a righteous 激怒(する). The last 痕跡 of any compunction he might have held against 主要な the girl to 宣言する her passion for himself disappeared.

"Not an impossible 運命/宿命," he heard Kalamita speaking and 公式文書,認めるd a crafty light creep into her yellow 注目する,もくろむs. "Come, then. Let us descend. Play your part 堅固に, my lord, and all, I think, shall be 井戸/弁護士席."

Croft followed them downstairs to the 法廷,裁判所 where a (米)棚上げする/(英)提議する was spread. Save Kalamita herself the guests were wholly men. He 認めるd Bandhor, her brother, and the Mazzerian Bzad. The others, plainly Zollarians and men of Mazzer by their 外見 and speech, were as yet unknown to him.

The 外見 of the Zollarian Magnet and her 捕虜 犠牲者 was a signal for all to take their seats. Thereafter, as the meal 進歩d, Croft learned the final 詳細(に述べる)s of the 計画(する).

It was おもに such as he had already conceived, save that the Mazzerian nation was to 援助(する) Zollaria in the war of 併合 she planned. For this Mazzeria was to be given a seaport on the Central Sea and 解放する/自由な use of a river 主要な from it through the 明言する/公表する of Bithur, 同様に as the eastern half of Bithur itself. War would be made by Mazzeria on the eastern frontier, while Zollaria threw her main 軍隊 against Cathur and 鎮圧するd her smaller army by sheer 軍隊 of 負わせる.

"Thus," said one of the party, a man unknown to Croft, yet one, he felt, could be no いっそう少なく than a 代表者/国会議員 of the Zollarian 支配者 himself from the deference paid him by the others, "shall Zollaria make good that freedom of the seas she has long 願望(する)d, and 証明する her good 約束 and her friendship for our Mazzerian 同盟(する)s to the east. Thus shall Zollaria and Tamarizia become one nation, with Cathur to 支配する the southern half. As for the fashion in which our good Prince Kyphallos met Aphur's 計画(する)s, it is 井戸/弁護士席. For since war is to be the 結果 of all our planning, what 事柄s one 誓約(する) broken more or いっそう少なく?"

This was Zollarian statecraft. Croft thought. This was the 負わせる of Zollaria's word. This was the 権利 of might. To take what she wished, to trick, betray, seduce, that she might 伸び(る) her ends その為に. Nothing which mankind held sacred was sacred to her, it appeared. She sent a 王室の woman of 平易な morals to 誘惑する Cathur into a snare. She would make this tawny enchantress her final excuse for war. She was callous, overbearing, greedy of 力/強力にする, 甚だしい/12ダース save for a surface seeming of culture she used as a mask— behind which lurked the true nature which 奮起させるd her 計画(する)s and 行為/法令/行動するs. To her Kyphallos would sell his birthright, his 明言する/公表する, his nation, for the 好意 of the wanton beside him and a place upon a 第2位 王位.

And it was Kyphallos who spoke now.

"And thus shall Kalamita be queen at Zitra when all is done! A toast to Kalamita now!"

"To Kalamita, queen of women now. Queen of Zitra later!" the unknown noble cried and 解除するd a goblet brimming with ワイン.

"To Kalamita!" the party drank.

"And now," said the unknown, rising and 解除するing the goblet above his 長,率いる, "another toast, my friends. To those things we have planned and their fruition. To—the day—whenever it shall be!"

"To the day!" They drank it standing.

Bandhor, in whose palace Croft 裁判官d the 会議/協議会 has occurred, clapped his 手渡すs はっきりと and a 禁止(する)d of ダンサーs 軍隊/機動隊d in.

Croft left. He had learned all he had hoped and more. He knew now what Tamarizia 直面するd—war. And he knew more. He knew that Naia, of Aphur, was his! He knew that Cathur meant to forswear her—that there would be no need on his part to 勝利,勝つ her other than by winning this war. His part now to arm Aphur, Nodhur, Milidhur—so much of Tamarizia as he could in the space of a year. His part to bring 災害 to these carefully laid 計画(する)s of a greedy nation and a 反逆者 prince.

That was his work. It was best he should be about it. To do what he must the time was painfully short. Turning his mind upon the first step which should lead him to its 完成, he 焦点(を合わせる)d his mind upon it with all his 力/強力にする and left Palos for the earth.


XVIII. — "ARMS AND THE MAN"

TWO weeks went by before he once more opened the 注目する,もくろむs of Jasor's 団体/死体 and 設立する himself in a guarded room in the palace of Aphur's king.

He had spent them on earth in the 熟考する/考慮する of 小火器 and 軍需品s and the さまざまな 装置s 要求するd for making the same. Now he returned with a consciousness 十分な of designs and an 緊急の 願望(する) to 試みる/企てる their carrying out.

He sat up. "名簿(に載せる)/表(にあげる), 兵士, I would drink!" he 発表するd.

The guard inside the door of his 議会 started, 発射 a quick ちらりと見ること toward his bed, and approached 非,不,無 too 速く, Croft thought. The man 現実に seemed afraid.

"ワイン!" he snapped, 捜し出すing to 打ち勝つ the first shock induced by his words.

"Aye, my lord." The guard turned to the door and 始める,決める it open. "ワイン!" he bawled. "The Lord Jasor awakes!"

"My 着せる/賦与するs." Croft left his couch.

Ten minutes later a 非難する fell on the door. Robur appeared. Word of Croft's waking had spread. The prince himself (機の)カム with a page bringing ワイン. Croft drank: "I would see Jadgor at once," he 宣言するd.

"He sleeps," Prince Robur began.

"Then wake him. All Tamarizia totters to a 落ちる unless we be ready in いっそう少なく than a 選び出す/独身 cycle, 略奪する."

"Zitu!" Robur 星/主役にするd. "Say you truly? How know you this, Jasor, my friend?"

Croft turned and pointed toward his couch. "I was told while my 団体/死体 lay there," he said quickly. "You call on Zitu in vain unless you give 注意する to my words!"

"Nay, not so. Come," replied Aphur's prince. "I myself shall take you to my father without 延期する."

That was a strange night in Himyra of Aphur, 妊娠している with the 運命s of a nation—and nothing いっそう少なく. Jadgor, no king in seeming now, but a 厳しい-直面するd man in a simple 衣料品 sat upon his couch while Croft 明らかにする/漏らすd his knowledge of what Zollaria planned.

"By Zitu!" he roared at the end, "would Cathur dare this thing?"

"Aye—for the woman and Zitra's 王位," said Croft.

"To forswear his 誓約(する) to Aphur?"

"Aye."

"To 降伏する his 明言する/公表する?"

"Aye—that too, Jadgor the king."

And suddenly Jadgor was king indeed にもかかわらず the disadvantage of position and 着せる/賦与するs. "Then let Zilla the 破壊者 take me unless we 会合,会う them, spear to spear and sword to sword! Jasor of Nodhur, I understand you not—nor yet how your knowledge is 得るd save Zitu speaks through you as a mouthpiece for his own designs. Yet know I that what you say 落ちるs out. Wherefore I shall once more 注意する your words. This 落ちるs on Aphur, Nodhur, Milidhur, I think, with Tamhys, man of peace on Zitra's 王位. Yet shall Aphur, Nodhur, and Milidhur 準備する. Inside a cycle, should we work together, we shall have a very horde of ready spears and swords."

"Nay, scarcely that," said Croft.

"What else?" Jadgor 星/主役にするd.

"Stronger 武器s than those, for which I bring the 計画(する)s. If made in time, a thousand men 教えるd in their use, can end this war almost before it starts. Let Aphur, Milidhur, and Nodhur 計画(する) together, that these 武器s may be produced—some in Himyra and some in Ladhra. The work is 広大な. Yet shall the final end be sure if this is done before Zollaria strikes. Robur and I shall 請け負う the carrying out of my designs, if Jadgor gives the word."

"Then Jadgor gives it," said the king. "On Nodhur will I call and Milidhur. No man may say that Aphur failed to think of Tamarizia's good. For though I see that should you do this thing your 指名する will stand above all others in the 明言する/公表する—I love my nation more than I love either fame or 階級. Hence, Nodhur, make your 武器s for this coming 裁判,公判 of strength, and I shall give you moneys, metals, men—all things, you may 要求する."

Croft's heart swelled in his breast. Had he ever 疑問d Jadgor's 愛国的な 動機s for a moment, those 疑問s died now as he heard him lay aside those dreams of 皇室の 階級 he knew had once been his. And in that moment there was born within his brain the 計画(する) he was 運命/宿命d to carry out—a 計画(する) which would make Tamhys the last emperor of Tamarizia, and after him no other ever again.

"Then," he 受託するd the king's 保証/確信, "Robur and I shall 計画(する) that this work may start at once. Aphur, I crave your 容赦 for having broken your sleep."

That was the beginning of Croft's real work. Oddly enough, on a 惑星 where he had come upon seeming peace, his first 仕事 outside the 初めの モーター was in 準備するing for war; and even the モーター entered 大部分は into that.

At once he 急落(する),激減(する)d into a very frenzy of 活動/戦闘, almost appalled himself by the 量 to be done inside a year. That first night he spent with Robur 草案ing to his attentive ears those things which they must do—the finishing of the モーターs—their 取り付け・設備 in ships.

"The structure for that end is 井戸/弁護士席-nigh 完全にするd," Robur said.

"Good!" Croft cried, and went on 速く to 需要・要求する the construction or (資金の)充当/歳出 of buildings for the making of 武器. As to the nature of the latter, he held 支援する the 詳細(に述べる)s for the time and spoke of 準備するing a (n)艦隊/(a)素早い of swift モーター-driven galleys in which to 輸送(する) the 軍隊/機動隊s they would raise across the Central Sea when the need should arise.

Robur's 注目する,もくろむs sparkled at that. "We shall come upon them ere they dream we can arrive. Jasor, my friend, your 指名する shall be greatest の中で Tamarizia's men."

"No greater than that of Jadgor," Croft replied. "略奪する, your father is a man above other men. 非,不,無 save a man of noble spirit forgets himself to 保証する his nation's good."

In the month that followed Croft did many things. He began the training of a number of men in 組み立てる/集結するing the モーターs, choosing only such as seemed peculiarly adapted to the work. He 任命する/導入するd a モーター in a galley and drove the (手先の)技術 through Himyra along the Na at a 速度(を上げる) which had never been seen in a ship in Palos before. In this, with Jadgor himself and Lakkon, whom he 説得するd to bring Naia along, he 旅行d on up the river to make his long-約束d visit to Jasor's parents at Ladhra and enlist Belzor, King of Nodhur, in their 計画(する)s.

Sinon and Mellia scarcely knew how to take him they thought their son.

"By Zitu! You have done it!" Sinon cried as he 棒 the galley across the Na's yellow flood.

Later, 負担d with 栄誉(を受ける)s, both by Jadgor and Belzor himself, he grew abashed.

"That my son should raise me to noble 駅/配置する," he 滞るd to Mellia at his 味方する. "Strange days are coming to Tamarizia, wife of my heart, when he who was a dullard sits in the 会議 of the kings."

For Croft had appeared before Belzor inside the first day after Ladhra was reached. And Belzor, startled by the fact of a galley which ran up the turgid 現在の of the mighty river without oars or sails, had listened to him and Jadgor and joined his support to their 計画(する)s. That settled, he arranged with Sinon to send several galleys to Himyra to be equipped with モーターs, and returning to that city for a few days, dropped 石油精製, entered the Central Sea, and sailed to the 資本/首都 city of Milidhur.

On this trip Gaya made one of their party, and though Croft perforce 行為/法令/行動するd as engineer, he managed more than one word with Naia during the course of the voyage, and once the (n)艦隊/(a)素早いing bliss of a stolen kiss.

In Milidhur, Gaya's 発言する/表明する helped to turn the tide to Jadgor and Croft. A princess of 明言する/公表する, she brought all her 影響(力) to 耐える. And since Milidhur was asked only to form a part of the army, to be equipped before Zollaria struck, the 事柄 was soon arranged.

支援する in Himyra at length. Croft 設立する the work on the モーターs 進歩ing 速く under Robur's direction and at once began the actual construction of machines for the fashioning of 武器. Now and then he stole away for an evening and drove out to Lakkon's mountain palace for a meal. Not only did he find 楽しみ in the going, but Naia pleaded for the all too short hours they managed to spend together, and to Croft it seemed, that each time he brought 支援する from her presence a freshened and 運動ing energy to his work.

That work 進歩d. Of that 進歩 he spoke to her from time to time. And always she spurred him on with 注目する,もくろむs and lips through the 仕事 at the end of which she herself was the waiting and willing prize.

DAY and night the 解雇する/砲火/射撃 of 創造 ゆらめくd in Himyra, and so soon as work was started, and he had shown Robur how to keep busy the many men Jadgor had furnished for their needs. Croft put some of the new モーターs into (売買)手数料,委託(する)/委員会/権限 between Himyra and Ladhra and started other work there, in a mighty building 始める,決める apart by Belzor for his use. Those necessary bits of 機械/機構 first 任命する/導入するd in the Himyra shops he had made, like the モーター parts were now made, in numbers. Sinon's first galley up the Na carried as its 貨物 partly-組み立てる/集結するd engines of queer design to a Palosian mind, which should when 始める,決める up in the shops at Ladhra fulfil their 部分 of Croft's 計画(する).

Thereafter the 解雇する/砲火/射撃s of the new 時代 ゆらめくd in Ladhra, too, and Croft spent his time between the two shops, モーターing 支援する and 前へ/外へ おもに at night, 関わりなく the loss of sleep until he should have everything running 滑らかに.

Twenty of the hundred cars which were 徐々に taking 形態/調整 he 始める,決める apart, however, after they were 実験(する)d—and these he had equipped with all-metal wheels carrying cross-妨げる/法廷,弁護士業s on their tires like short, strong teeth. He put workmen to the 仕事 of making metal 塀で囲むs to bolt upon each chassis. And these 塀で囲むs were pierced with slots. Thus he arranged for twenty 装甲の cars and had them 始める,決める aside.

Likewise he 速度(を上げる)d the construction of numbers of flat-底(に届く)d 力/強力にする-boats 有能な of 速度(を上げる), yet having 床に打ち倒す space enough to 輸送(する) no small number of men.

A month passed, two months, three. Always the 解雇する/砲火/射撃s in Ladhra and Himyra ゆらめくd. Men toiled day and night. Croft's 計画(する)s were drawn for each part of the army he ーするつもりであるd to make. Machines were 組み立てる/集結するd and 始める,決める up—モーターs were harnessed to them to Robur's amazement. Croft 設立する the Tamarizians apt of comprehension and willing to work. Each man 雇うd was sworn to fealty to the 明言する/公表する. Each knew himself a member in an army working for the safety of the nation. At the end of three months he 設立する himself the 最高の captain of a 選ぶd 軍団. And at the end of a month he was ready to begin the actual making of 武器.

Now and then Croft went 支援する to his earthly 団体/死体, not only to 新たにする its physical life, but to 伸び(る) help in the work he was carrying on by learning fresh 詳細(に述べる)s on each trip. He gave up any 意向 of 製造業の machine-guns, as a thing 要求するing too much time. On an 普通の/平均(する) he spent two days of every week on earth. His sleeps on Palos had become too たびたび(訪れる) to 原因(となる) any その上の comment when they occurred.

Thus a fourth month passed. In it Croft 遂行するd several things. He did not stop モーター 生産/産物 with the first hundred. He continued their building and began selling the 生産(高) of the shops to 私的な owners. The things became a not too unusual sight on the Himyra streets, and the first モーター caravan was 組織するd and crossed the inland 砂漠 to Milidhur with success.

One special car Croft had built. On it he lavished all his 現在の ability of refinement. And when it was done he drove it to Lakkon's mountain mansion in the twilight of a busy day. It was for Naia, and himself he gave it to her, and after the evening meal when the three moons rose he placed her in it and taught her how to 運動.

Far 負かす/撃墜する the mountain road and out upon the 砂漠 between the foot of the hills and Himyra they went. They were alone in the soft light which turned the dun plain to silver. Far off the red 解雇する/砲火/射撃s in Croft's workshops ゆらめくd over Himyra's 塀で囲むs.

Croft stopped the car and pointed to that red reflection in the lesser light. Suddenly it seemed to him that in all the world there were just they two—that they were alone—that nothing else 事柄d. His heart swelled.

"For you!" he said, and drew Naia into his 武器, and against his breast. "For you!"

He kissed her on 注目する,もくろむs and lips. "To 解放する/自由な you and give you to me always. Those 解雇する/砲火/射撃s are 燃やすing away all need of your sacrifice. In the end they shall make you 地雷."

"Yours." Naia sighed in his 武器 as one content. "Here in the 砂漠 you 保存するd my life. Why should it not belong to you?

"Your work 進歩s 井戸/弁護士席?" she went on after a time.

"Beyond my hopes," Croft 保証するd her. "Have no 恐れる. All shall be ready—in time."

"My lord;" she whispered.

"Aye—your lord, beloved," said Croft.

"Beloved," she repeated.

For a time Croft 簡単に held her, and then he turned the car and drove 支援する up the mountain road.


XIX. — A SUMMONS FROM ZITRA

AT the end of the fourth month the first ライフル銃/探して盗む was done. It was ah 半端物-appearing 事件/事情/状勢. Tempered 巡査 took the place of earthly steel in バーレル/樽 and other metal parts. 巡査 formed the 爆撃する for the 弾薬/武器, over which Croft had experienced more trouble than in anything else. Lead was very 不十分な on Palos. But there were 広大な 量s of gold. That explained the enormous use made of it in draperies and the ありふれた 貿易(する)s as he had learned.

Yet it was with some compunction 予定 to the opposite 条件s on earth and their life-long 影響 on his brain that he finally 攻撃する,衝突する on an alloy from which the 弾丸s were made. 砕く had troubled him, too—though in the end he managed to make it. And for the fulminating 中心s of his cartridge 完全にする, he was compelled to spend several days on earth.

In the end, however, he held the first 完全にするd 武器 in his 手渡すs and gloated over its finished lines. Taking Robur in a car, he drove out along the south road to a place where he knew 広大な flocks of water-fowl were wont to たびたび(訪れる) the Na.

As a boy he had been a good 発射, until such time as he waked in his soul a repugnance for 殺人,大当り the natural creatures the One 広大な/多数の/重要な Source had made, save as necessity arose.

He gestured to the wild fowl floating on the yellow water more than a 屈服する-発射 away. "Now watch, 略奪する," he said, and took the ライフル銃/探して盗む in his 手渡すs.

ばく然と by now Prince Robur understood the design of the new 器具 of 破壊. Yet it was hard for him to comprehend fully a thing such as he had never dreamed before Croft put it into his mind. He smiled. "Had we not better draw a little closer, Jasor, my friend?" he 問い合わせd.

"No." On the word Croft 解雇する/砲火/射撃d. Nor did he 解雇する/砲火/射撃 blindly into the flock. He chose a bird swimming to one 味方する. And hard on the sound of his 発射 that bird jerked in the spasmodic fashion of a sorely stricken thing, struggled for an instant and floated away, half sunk in the yellow tide.

The entire flock rose at the new strange sound on the silent 空気/公表する. They 群れているd across the sky. Pumping up a fresh cartridge. Croft 解除するd his ライフル銃/探して盗む 速く, chanced another 攻撃する,衝突する—and 得点する/非難する/20d. One of the 飛行機で行くing creatures checked its 早い course, slanted drunkenly downward and then spun dizzily over and over to 落ちる not far from where the two men stood in the car.

"Zitu! Zitu!" Robur exclaimed, springing from the machine to retrieve the fallen bird. Croft watched him run toward it in very unprincelike haste. Then he was coming 支援する with the dead thing in his 手渡すs, 星/主役にするing wide-注目する,もくろむd at the 減少(する)s of 血 on its feathers, 解除するing his 直面する with a strange 表現 to Croft, as he climbed 支援する to his seat.

"Are you 納得させるd, 略奪する?" Croft laid the ライフル銃/探して盗む aside.

"I am 納得させるd Zitu himself but uses you as his スパイ/執行官. These things never (機の)カム from a mortal brain alone," the Prince, of Aphur replied.

"Man comes by Zitu's will; why should not Zitu use man for the things it pleases him to do?" said Croft.

"You do not 否定する it?" Robur spoke in almost startled fashion.

"Nay. Have I not already said that all I did was by Zitu's grace?"

There were times when Croft 設立する it hard to 避ける a direct avowal of the actual 明言する/公表する which was his, times when he hungered to make some human soul a confidant 関心ing all that had occurred. And he loved the strong young man by his 味方する.

Now, however, Robur laughed in a somewhat unsteady way. "There are times when you 原因(となる) me to stand in awe of your 力/強力にする, Jasor, my friend," he said.

"Think you not Zollaria will stand in awe of our 武器s when they are in the 手渡すs of our men, on foot or 機動力のある in the cars I have 装甲の and pierced with 穴を開けるs for the バーレル/樽s of the ライフル銃/探して盗むs?" Croft asked.

"Aye, by Zitu!" Robur shouted. "Turn around Jasor—and 'let her out.' We must return to our work."

But that night Croft drove out to the mountains, taking his ライフル銃/探して盗む along. Others were 存在 組み立てる/集結するd now, and he had seen Jadgor himself and arranged for the beginning of the army they must raise. The thing would be started by a public demonstration, at which Croft should show the 力/強力にする of the new 武器. The men of Aphur, and Nodhur, and Milidhur would be 招待するd to join. To each who did so a ライフル銃/探して盗む would be given wholly as his 所有物/資産/財産 for all time to come, and a 確かな 行う would be given also while they were 存在 trained.

解雇する/砲火/射撃d by the thought. Croft asked for a copy of the Tamarizian alphabet, 設立する it not unlike the 古代の Maya inscriptions in Central America and had taken it to the shop and 始める,決める his pattern- 製造者s to forming molds for the making of type. He ーするつもりであるd printing 布告/宣言s of the coming call for volunteers and 地位,任命するing them about the streets, where those who knew how to read might understand and impart the knowledge to their fellows.

Thus to his 発明s he 追加するd the printing-圧力(をかける), 天然のまま, and for large work only at first, but printing 非,不,無 the いっそう少なく. He had taken all this up with Jadgor, and advised waiting another month, until many ライフル銃/探して盗むs were finished or 存在 made, since the 市民の and 王室の guards would form the 核 of the army and must be 武装した before a call for volunteers. Jadgor had listened to all he said, gazing at the dead water-fowl Robur had 主張するd on lugging into the palace. He 診察するd the 負傷させる made by the 弾丸 and agreed to all his son and Croft had asked. Now at the end of the day Croft was スピード違反 前へ/外へ to show the woman he loved the thing which should 勝利,勝つ for them their heart's 願望(する), and 難破させる Zollaria's 計画(する)s.

Lakkon himself met him as he descended at the door. にもかかわらず his 解決する Croft's visits were growing more and more たびたび(訪れる) and Lakkon was not a fool.

"My lord," he said, giving his 手渡す, "what brings you again thus soon?"

Croft drew himself up. "Success," he returned. "I (機の)カム but to 証明する to you the 力/強力にする of the first of the new 武器s we have made. And having done so I shall return to Himyra so soon as I may."

"Nay." A trouble 表現 waked in Lakkon's 注目する,もくろむs. "Take not my words amiss." He seemed suddenly abashed. "The 武器 does all you said?"

"Aye. I shall show you and the princess, if I may."

Lakkon's 注目する,もくろむs flashed. The meaning of this wonder-労働者's 声明, if 証明するd, which he did not 疑問, swept all else out of his mind for the time.

"What do you 要求する?" he asked in a 緊張した トン.

Croft ちらりと見ることd about. Below him 近づく the lake in a mountain meadow were some of the strange sheep-like cattle, 膝 深い in grass. He gestured toward them with his 手渡す. "許可 to 殺す one of those."

"認めるd, so be you can do it," Lakkon smiled. The distance was twice the 範囲 of any 屈服する.

Croft 反映するd the smile as he made answer. "If the princess may be 召喚するd." He turned and took the ライフル銃/探して盗む from the car.

Lakkon 注目する,もくろむd it with unconcealed 利益/興味. He called the Mazzerian from within the door and directed that Naia be bidden to appear.

While they waited, Croft opened the magazine and 抽出するd a 弾丸. He was explaining it to Lakkon when Naia hurried 前へ/外へ. "A 砕く within the 爆撃する furnishes the 力/強力にする to 推進する the ball in the end," he finished in time to 迎える/歓迎する her. "And now Prince Lakkon, to take you at your word." He 解除するd the 向こうずねing バーレル/樽.

"What would you do?" Naia exclaimed.

"Behold," said Croft and 解雇する/砲火/射撃d.

Far below in the meadow one of the woolly creatures appeared to つまずく, to stagger a pace or two 今後 before it sank into the grass.

"Zitu!" (機の)カム Lakkon's 発言する/表明する.

Croft smiled.

Naia approached. Her 直面する was devoid of color—as white as though the 弾丸 had pierced her heart instead of the 団体/死体 of the unknowing sacrifice to developing science, now lying in swift 解散 beside the lake. Slowly she put 前へ/外へ a finger and touched the 向こうずねing thing in Croft's 手渡すs.

"This is the new 武器?" she said in a sibilant whisper, and 解除するd her 直面する to his.

"Aye. And having shown Lakkon its 力/強力にする, I must return to Himyra." Croft turned toward the car. He hoped she would understand his abruptness, since after Lakkon's words he was afraid to 会合,会う the ちらりと見ること of her 注目する,もくろむs.

"Return?" she cried protestingly. "Must you go so soon, my lord?"

"The need 圧力(をかける)s," Lakkon 削減(する) in. "Lord Jasor (機の)カム but to show us the last fruits of his wonderful knowledge. I called you to 証言,証人/目撃する the 実験(する). You need not remain."

"You see," he went on as Naia turned with a quivering lip and slowly 機動力のある the stairs.

"What?" Croft met him 注目する,もくろむ to 注目する,もくろむ.

"That my daughter is a woman, Jasor of Nodhur, and that your 指名する is a word on every tongue in Aphur, and that the princess is 誓約(する)d to Cathur."

"Who will forswear his 誓約(する)," Croft interrupted, knowing Jadgor must have told the 助言者/カウンセラー what they had discussed.

"If your words be true?"

"You 疑問 them?"

"Nay—yet Lakkon is a 指名する of 栄誉(を受ける), and a 誓約(する) is a 誓約(する) until broken indeed."

"And should it be so broken?" Croft leaned a trifle toward him from the hips.

"Aphur would 辞退する you nothing," Prince Lakkon said.

Croft laughed as he sprang into his seat. "Forget not those words. Prince Lakkon," he flung 支援する as he started the car.

He drove to Himyra in a 激怒(する). Before him floated a 見通し of Naia's purple 注目する,もくろむs gone 黒人/ボイコット with 傷つける 誤解, of her quivering crimson lips. But his 激怒(する) was as much with himself as with Lakkon, to tell the truth. He had been indiscreet after 約束ing discretion. He had gone to the mountains too often. He had let 注目する,もくろむ and 発言する/表明する speak too plainly those things in his soul. Lakkon had been blind not to see what was ripening under his nose. And Lakkon was a man of 栄誉(を受ける) によれば his code.

He drove to the palace, 設立する Gaya, and told her the whole thing from beginning to end.

"You mean that the maiden loves you?" she cried.

"Aye," Croft said.

"You have told her of your love?" Gaya seemed a bit breathless as she paused.

"Aye." Croft inclined his 長,率いる.

"You are mad!"

"Nay—I am in love. It comes to the same thing." Croft smiled.

"Ga and Azil help you both," Gaya returned. "I can do nothing. And—you must not imperil her 栄誉(を受ける), my lord. But—I shall make it my 仕事 to see her and explain the manner of your return tonight, and," her color 深くするd 速く, "to 保証する her of your love."

"Thank you, 甘い Gaya." Croft rose. "You are a blessed hypocrite—and a true woman."

He bent and gripped her 手渡す. And Gaya smiled upon him because he was a strong man and she was a woman indeed.

For the 残り/休憩(する), as the days and weeks dragged away, Croft sought to 溺死する himself in attention to his work. All day he toiled and oftentimes far into the night. Jasor's splendid physique stood him in good stead during the months of 準備.

There were no labor troubles in Aphur. The 明言する/公表する 直す/買収する,八百長をするd the 規模 of 給料, and those who would not work were summarily sent to the 地雷s to dig the metals needed by their more energetic fellow 国民s. Thus the fifth month passed.

ライフル銃/探して盗むs were 存在 turned 前へ/外へ in a glittering array at Himyra and Ladhra and 蓄える/店d with their 弾薬/武器 for the time of need. Croft finished his printing-圧力(をかける) and struck from it the first 公式発表s which should 控訴,上告 to the men of three 明言する/公表するs to come to their country's need.

"国民s of Tamarizia," Croft wrote. "Shall Tamarizia 弱める or grow strong? 解任する the 遺産 your forebears left. Yours is the Central Sea. Yours is a 政府 of the people, for the people, under 自由主義の 長,率いるs of 明言する/公表する, who 表明する the people's will as 始める,決める 前へ/外へ once in a cycle by the 明言する/公表する 議会s you by your 投票(する)s elect. But a 政府 by the people is strong only as the people themselves shall make it. 国民s make Tamarizia strong as never before.

"Let each man step to the fore and agree to serve as a 兵士 for one year. To each shall be given a 武器 which he may keep. Ponder on this. If each year each man of good health and a 確かな age shall for one year 勝利,勝つ his 武器 and learn 関心ing its use, how long before Tamarizia shall be so strong in the strength of her men that she shall be 安全な in the 所有/入手 of the proud 駅/配置する those 勇敢に立ち向かう men your forefathers left to you in 信用? Ask of your 市民の captains 関心ing this. 入会させる yourself as 国民s of Tamarizia under them."

These 公式発表s were 地位,任命するd in Aphur, Nodhur and Milidhur, and in the 資本/首都 of each 明言する/公表する a public demonstration of the new army 武器 was held by a 選ぶd squad of Jadgor's 王室の guards whom Croft had taught to shoot. At each a herd of taburs was 虐殺(する)d, singly and in groups. All 南西 Tamarizia gasped. The word flew from mouth to mouth. The stories 解雇する/砲火/射撃d men's hearts. They flocked to the captains of the city guards.

Croft began teaching the 王室の guard and the guard of Himyra, the school of the company and squad, marksmanship and a simple 手動式の of 武器. They learned quickly and inside a month he sent many of them as special 指導者s to all Aphur and the other southern 明言する/公表するs. Thus far things had 進歩d to the end of the ninth month, when the 皇室の 王位 at Zitra 干渉するd. A messenger arrived, 命令(する)ing Jadgor and all others responsible for the warlike activity in Aphur and Nodhur to appear before Tamhys with the least possible 延期する.


XX. — WHEN THE EMPEROR HEDGED

THE thing was not 予期しない to Croft.

From the start he had 恐れるd some such event. Hence, without 申し込む/申し出ing explanation to Jadgor he had taken steps to 納得させる Magur of Himyra of the death-like stupor in which his 団体/死体 lay at such times as he was absent from it. He had gone on one occasion to the pyramid and deliberately left Jasor's form sitting in a 議長,司会を務める, while he 事業/計画(する)d himself to Scira and 設立する out Abbu, now for some months engaged in keeping watch on the moves of Cathur's prince. Returning to find Magur standing above him in something like awe, he had told 正確に/まさに what Abbu was doing at the time, and requested Magur to 立証する his words in any fashion he chose.

Now 直面するd by the 皇室の 干渉,妨害 with all his 計画(する)s, he called Magur to his 援助(する). He took him to Zitra, with Jadgor, Lakkon and himself, making the 旅行 quickly in a モーター-driven (手先の)技術 and taking the messenger along.

Croft marveled at Zitra, にもかかわらず all he had seen of Tamarizian architecture before. It rose 水晶 and silver and white, save that the 寺 of Zitu, surmounting a pyramid twice the size of that at Himyra was of an azure-blue 石/投石する—the color of the highest 聖職者, as he was to learn. The palace of Tamhys was a marvel to the 注目する,もくろむ—vaster than Himyra's mighty white structure, built wholly of white and 水晶 and roofed with burnished silver, 覆うd with 補欠/交替の/交替する squares of silver, and 水晶, and gold.

The thing was unbelievable, Croft felt. He moved as in a dream. This was the central city of empire, impregnable to any 武器 then known on Palosian 国/地域. Its 塀で囲むs rose sheer from the sea on the 味方する which they approached. The harbor was within them. Sea-gates の近くにd the 入り口 with leaves of 巡査, covered by silver 直面するs. The 塀で囲むs themselves were white. Darting through the gates their galley entered the 湾 of a harbor smooth as glass wherein were mirrored the quays and structures along the water's 辛勝する/優位. The 冷静な/正味の green of trees banked the terraces and relieved the 井戸/弁護士席-nigh blinding radiance created by the sun upon the glistening white. He forgot everything in the beauty of the 見通し and exclaimed aloud.

Magur watched him, 井戸/弁護士席 pleased. His 楽しみ grew as Croft turned and 直面するd the monstrous pile of the pyramid and the pure blue 寺 on the 最高の,を越す. They landed, and while the wharf-men were 荷を降ろすing a モーター which Croft had brought as a 現在の for Tamhys, and the messenger hurried to the palace to 発表する their arrival, he led Croft to one 味方する.

"I would have you 会合,会う Zud, High Priest of all Tamarizia," he said. "We who keep alive the love of Zitu in the hearts of the nation are not devoid of all 構成要素 力/強力にする, my friend."

Croft inclined his 長,率いる. He had hoped for something of this sort; had planned for it, indeed. "I also serve Zitu in my way," he 宣言するd. "I should be 栄誉(を受ける)d to enter the presence of him he has seen fit to exalt to so high a degree."

An 武装した guard appeared, 護衛するing a number of gnuppa-drawn chariots. At the 招待 of a noble in glistening cuirass and helmet, the party from Himyra entered the cars and drove toward the palace through the streets 覆うd in 幅の広い, flat 石/投石するs. Croft, however, 主張するd on 運動ing the モーター he had brought, and with him went Magur, the priest.

Tamhys would 認める them audience that evening, it appeared.

Magur smiled. He beckoned the noble to his 味方する. "Then will Jasor of Nodhur, who sits before me, visit first on Zud," he 発表するd. "Say this to Tamhys, when you reach the palace with Lakkon of Aphur and Jadgor, Aphur's king."

The man saluted and withdrew without question. Once more Magur smiled. Croft started the engine and moved off in the wake of the gnuppas that he might not 脅す them out of their wits.

"Turn here," said Magur after a time. Inside ten minutes they stopped in 前線 of the main approach to the mighty pyramid.

Magur told of what he had seen and of what he had heard. The High Priest 注目する,もくろむd him when he finished.

"Magur believes these things?" he 問い合わせd.

"Aye, as in Zitu I believe." Magur inclined his 長,率いる.

"That these things are of Zitu, through Jasor of Nodhur's mind?"

"Aye, Zud, servant of Zitu, so I believe."

Zud turned his 注目する,もくろむs from the priest to Croft and 支援する. "First (機の)カム he to you, at Himyra, from Abbu the brother at Scira," he recited Magur's words.

"Aye."

"As a servant of Zitu's undreamed designs to come."

"Zud speaks the words 現在の in my mind."

"Before the audience my request to be 現在の shall reach Tamhys," Zud decided. "And now, Jasor of Nodhur, how come you by the knowledge of things undreamed?"

Croft told him so much as he dared.

"My 団体/死体 lies as dead. In truth my spirit leaves it. And, while absent, acquires the knowledge with which it returns."

"As a 発言する/表明する?" said Zud.

"Nay, as something shown to me, together with the manner in which it may be made."

Zud rose and 解除するd his 手渡すs. "Who may understand Zitu?" he intoned in a 発言する/表明する of amazement. Croft felt he was 納得させるd.

Hence when he stood that night before the white-haired Tamhys, he felt a 静かな 保証/確信 born of the belief that Magur and Zud, both 現在の, were his friends, and they were the friends of his 原因(となる).

"Jadgor of Aphur," Tamhys began. "I have now 召喚するd you before me, since for some time I have had you beneath my 注目する,もくろむ. You have married your son to a princess of Milidhur, and within half a cycle you have betrothed your sister's child to Cathur, and Belzor of Nodhur and yourself are friends. Thus only Bithur seems not swayed in more or いっそう少なく degree by those wishes which are yours, and you wax strong in 力/強力にする. Why have you done these things?"

"Tamhys of Tamarizia," Jadgor replied, "these things I do not 否定する. Robur of Aphur wedded the Princess Gaya for love. Nodhur's 利益/興味s are one with Aphur, since both 所有する the Na within their lines. Naia has 苦境d her troth to Kyphallos of Aphur at my wish to make strong the guard of the western gate and 保証する to Tamarizia those things she 持つ/拘留するs." He spoke boldly and 直面するd the emperor of his nation with an unflinching 注目する,もくろむ.

But Tamhys frowned. "This is not all," he said. "It has come to my ear that you have in Himyra a man—Jasor of Nodhur—who stands now before me—a man who 作品 new marvels undreamed of before—that some of them are 武器s, designed for the work of war—that Aphur and Nodhur and Milidhur 増加する the men in their guards to an unwarranted degree. What say you to this?"

"That you have heard the truth, O Tamhys," Jadgor again replied. "These things have been made. The guards have been 増加するd. These things also have I done to make Tamarizia strong."

The lines of Tamhys's countenance 契約d その上の.' His features grew dark and he clenched a 手渡す. "You are a man of 力/強力にする, Jadgor of Aphur," he cried. "力/強力にする is beneath your nostrils. Hence you dream of war. Yet is war not of my creed, nor shall be. For fifty cycles has Tamarizia known peace—"

"Aye—and fifty cycles past lost she the 明言する/公表する of Mazhur, because she knew not the art of war as she knows it now," Jadgor ゆらめくd into interruption. Strong man that he was and crafty, he knew not the 外交の speech. "Is she to lose Cathur now 同様に?" he 急ぐd on and paused.

Tamhys smiled as one might at a child. "Jadgor of Aphur, the 警告 I have received 関心ing your 目的(とする)s comes to me from the loyal house of Cathur itself. Cathur thinks your 注目する,もくろむs turn toward the 王位. To me that is of little consequence. Yet you hesitate to see one 開始する the 王位 of Zitra to 急落(する),激減(する) our nation in war. You think, perhaps, to 勝利,勝つ Mazhur 支援する."

"And if I should—should I make Tamarizia whole again!" Jadgor's 発言する/表明する rose with a fervid 解雇する/砲火/射撃 of 愛国的な feeling.

As for Croft, he felt 保証するd he understood, the 状況/情勢 better now. Cathur's 秘かに調査するs had carried word of what was 今後 as he had felt 保証するd they would. Cathur of Zollaria's 誘発するing thus sought through the peace-loving Tamhys to tie the 手渡すs of Tamarizia while she made ready for the blow she 推定する/予想するd to strike ere long. He said as much to Magur, who repeated it to Zud.

Tamhys smiled again. "Should you 試みる/企てる it, you would send our sons to death for a little ground. Let be, Jadgor. 持つ/拘留する we not the western gate as always? Are the wails of dying men and the sobs of women things grown 甘い to your ears?"

"Nay; but if Cathur 落ちるs—if Zollaria makes war and we cannot defend what yet remains of our ground?" Jadgor's 発言する/表明する shook as he saw the end of his dream of strength in 見解(をとる).

"Would Zollaria have waited fifty years to make war had she it in mind?" Tamhys asked.

"Then what does Tamhys wish?" Jadgor 問い合わせd, with a sigh. He was no 反逆者, and under the 法律 he must 注意する the emperor's word.

"That you 中止する those unwise undertakings—that you send the men from the shops of their making 支援する to their fathers' 貿易(する)s; that you 中止する to dream of war and 追求する the ways of peace in which we have 栄えるd in the past. That you turn Jasor of Nodhur's mind to other things than the making of the 器具s of 破壊. I have heard he has builded chariots which run seemingly of themselves, and galleys which 推進する themselves up rivers and across the seas. Those things are 井戸/弁護士席. Jadgor, I 命令(する) that you forsake—"

"持つ/拘留する, Tamhys!" It was Zud, the High Priest, who spoke. "Truth you have been told, yet not all the truth as it appears. 非,不,無 know the 計画(する)s of Zitu save Zitu himself. A priest, I am as yourself, a man of peace. Yet Zitu himself may send a war at times to, like a 悲しみ, 粛清する the soul of the nation and 解任する it to him, even as a grief may turn the soul of a man to higher things. Jasor of Nodhur was a dullard till Zitu opened his mind. He died as his 内科医 宣言するs, yet now he lives again, and speaks with a mind 奮起させるd.

"Himself he says these things are 配達するd unto him while his 団体/死体 lies as dead. This I have from Magur of Himyra who has seen him in such a sleep, and Magur has the account of his changing from Abbu of Scira who 治めるd to him the last 儀式s of life, ere he seemingly died. Hence Zitu's 手渡す appears in this to the minds of Magur and myself. Shall Tamhys 捜し出す to 干渉する when Zitu directs?"

For the first time the emperor wavered in his course. Man of peace and 信奉者 in the 明言する/公表する 宗教, the priest's words had a powerful 影響 upon his mind.

"If he comes as an スパイ/執行官 of Zitu, why (機の)カム he not first to Zitra?" he questioned at length.

Zud smiled. "Zitu 行為/法令/行動するs many times through the means at 手渡す. It were easier to 納得させる the mind of Jadgor perhaps than to 説得する Tamhys," he replied.

The emperor winced, and turned to Jadgor again. "断言する to me by Zitu that your 行為/法令/行動するs were meant for Tamarizia's 福利事業 and for no 進歩 of self through an 増加する of your 力/強力にする," he 要求するd.

Jadgor's 直面する 始める,決める into lines of a swift 憤慨. His color 機動力のある, but he, controlled his 発言する/表明する. "I 断言する it, O Tamhys," he said.

"These 武器s are for Tamarizia's 弁護 alone?"

"As Zitu sees my heart."

Tamhys chose a middle course. "Keep, then, what you have," he 法令d; "yet fashion not any more. Nor 勧める your men to look for war, when peace is in their land. I have heard of strange writings 地位,任命するd on 塀で囲むs, 招待するing men to join your guards."

Jadgor's 直面する was dark, but he 屈服するd in submission to the emperor's 命令(する).

"What of the men who stand 誓約(する)d at 現在の?" he asked. "I have 約束d them a 明言する/公表するd 行う for a cycle.. It is understood. My word has passed."

"At the end of the cycle, let them be 解任するd," said Tamhys after some thought.

Again Jadgor 屈服するd.

Yet Croft 設立する himself not unduly cast 負かす/撃墜する, and he thought he caught a smile in Lakkon's 注目する,もくろむs. 嫌疑者,容疑者/疑うing some such event as had just transpired, he had 教えるd Robur to 速度(を上げる) the 組み立てる/集結するing of all ライフル銃/探して盗むs both at Himyra and at Landhra, before leaving for Zitra himself.

Tamhys's 決定/判定勝ち(する) regarding such 武器s as already 存在するd he 決定するd to 受託する in its broadest sense of 使用/適用, and as for the 解雇/(訴訟の)却下 of the guards now in 過程 of training at the end of a cycle, he knew 十分な 井戸/弁護士席 that they would probably not be needed after that time, or so hotly engaged that even Tamhys would 無効にする his 法令. Hence he felt that things had not turned out so 不正に as they might, and he fancied Lakkon's 見解(をとる) of the 事柄 was 事実上 the same. In fact, his feeling was now as all along—a wonder that Tamhys had not 干渉するd before as he had oftentimes 恐れるd he would. That he understood better now, having seen the man. He was old—wedded to a theory, rather than of practical type. His very begging of the 問題/発行する as shown by his final 判決,裁定 showed this. He carried his 願望(する) for peace even into this 会議/協議会 to which he had called the men before him, and reached—a useless 妥協 which while 名目上 影響する/感情ing the end at which he 目的(とする)d, yet literally made small difference to Croft's 計画(する)s, and, as he suddenly saw, would, when 報告(する)/憶測d to Cathur and by Cathur given to other ears, result in no more than a 決意 on Zollaria's part to carry out her 意図. This since she would now in all 見込み believe she had tied Jadgor's 手渡すs by stopping the 製造(する) of the 武器 Croft had 工夫するd.

He said as much to Jadgor and Lakkon once they were alone, and for the first time Jadgor appeared pleased.

"Nor," said Croft, "has Tamhys forbidden the construction of other 武器s, my friends."

"Hai!" Jadgor's tight lips relaxed. He gave Lakkon a ちらりと見ること. "By Zitu! So he did not. Jasor—you have other things in mind."

Croft nodded. It had occurred to him that, with 砕く and plenty of metal, it would not be impossible to 建設する some very 効果的な forms of 手りゅう弾s. He explained, and Jadgor's 注目する,もくろむs flashed 解雇する/砲火/射撃.


XXI. — MUCH MISCHIEF AFOOT

The morrow saw them on their return 旅行 to Himyra, with Croft 押し進めるing his engine 最高の,を越す 速度(を上げる). He 手配中の,お尋ね者 to get 支援する and to work on the 手りゅう弾s at once, for two 推論する/理由s. First, that they would 相殺する in part at least the 出入港禁止 against the 製造(する) of more ライフル銃/探して盗むs, and because it occurred to him that they would be of 広大な service should he have to 軍隊 入り口 to some enemy town. For now Croft was planning his (選挙などの)運動をする. His knowledge 伸び(る)d through his unsensed presence at the 会議 at Niera months before made him believe that Zollaria would throw her entire 負わせる on Cathur's northern frontier, while Mazzeria attacked Bithur and かもしれない eastern Milidhur.

From a second モーター-shop 設立するd at Ladhra and equipped with men trained in the Himyra 工場/植物 he had already sent a モーター-(n)艦隊/(a)素早い to the 資本/首都 of Gaya's home 明言する/公表する for the 早い 輸送(する) of 軍隊/機動隊s to the frontier in 事例/患者 of need. He had 組織するd a (n)艦隊/(a)素早い of モーター-driven 海洋 輸送(する)s to take men from Aphur and Nodhur to Bithur's 援助(する).

This 探検隊/遠征隊 was to be led by Robur in person, and with him Croft had 輪郭(を描く)d each step so far as he could. They would proceed up that river 約束d Mazzeria for her 援助(する) in the war of conquest Zollaria planned, and debarking 近づく the frontier, carry the war straight to the 敵.

As for himself, he planned with Jadgor to cross the Central Sea almost 予定 north, 逮捕(する) Niera, and 侵入する the 明言する/公表する of Mazhur, その為に 設立するing a dangerous 側面に位置する movement which, if successful, would result in 身を引くing, the Zollarian army operating against Cathur's frontier. Two of his 装甲の モーターs would go with the Milidhurian 探検隊/遠征隊 and two with Robur against the blue men of Mazzer. The other sixteen would …を伴って the 探検隊/遠征隊 north.

These things he now explained to Jadgor, Lakkon and Magur while they 急ぐd 支援する to the 資本/首都 of Aphur. They heard him and nodded 協定.

Jadgor smiled and turned to the priest.

"It appears Zitu has sent us a general 同様に as a genius of design," he exclaimed. "If Zitu 奮起させるs not his mind 直接/まっすぐに, then is he the most wonderful man Tamarizia has seen."

"Raised up for Tamarizia's hour of 広大な/多数の/重要な need, O Jadgor," Magur 宣言するd.

"And who should raise him save Zitu, who knows the 未来 as we know the 現在の and past? Zud says as much, and I believe it. 賞賛するd be Zitu's 指名する." He made the 半端物 水平の 調印する of the cross Croft had first seen Abbu of Scira use.

"Nay, I 疑問 it not," Jadgor replied. "Tamhys shall yet live to learn the truth of this!"

Yet Croft, にもかかわらず the 宗教的な superstitions of these truly 愛国的な minds, was human after all. He 急落(する),激減(する)d into a frenzy of work on his return. He explained all to Robur, saw him 完全に 詩(を作る)d in the making of the 手りゅう弾s, leaped into his car and drove to Ladhra to begin 操作/手術s there.

Two weeks elapsed while he was getting everything to his satisfaction, and during those two weeks other things happened, which he could not 予知する.

He returned to Himyra late one afternoon, drove to the shops, saw everything running 滑らかに, listened to the 報告(する)/憶測s of Robur, who was enthusiastic over the 進歩 存在 made, and drove on to the palace to bathe and 残り/休憩(する) for an hour, since even the splendid physique of Jasor's 団体/死体 was beginning to feel the 緊張する of the months of 計画/陰謀ing and toiling.

Fresh from his bath, he was suddenly minded to 捜し出す Gaya and learn if there were any word from Naia, such as she frequently sent him by Robur's wife. He 設立する her を待つing Robur's return, and proffered his request.

That Gaya was glad to see him there could be no 疑問. His coming seemed to afford her 救済.

"My lord, your coming lightens my heart," she 宣言するd after Croft had 迎える/歓迎するd her by 沈むing on one 膝. "The maid sent you her 別れの(言葉,会), and asked that I say this much more: 'Tell him to forget not his 約束.' She did not explain, yet I have felt you would know the meaning of her words."

"Her 別れの(言葉,会)? You say she sent me that?" exclaimed Croft, 星/主役にするing into her 直面する. "By Zitu, Gaya, my friend, what meant she by that?"

"You know not of her absence from Aphur?" Gaya 広げるd her 注目する,もくろむs in surprise. "You have not heard?"

"I have heard nothing. I (機の)カム to you for word," Croft began, and paused with an 半端物 支配する taking 持つ/拘留する of his heart.

"Aye," Gaya wrinkled her brows. "Some days ago an 護衛する (機の)カム from Cathur, asking that the maid and Lakkon, her father, visit Scira, in order that Kyphallos might 現在の his bride-to-be to his people before he 上がるd the 王位."

"Kyphallos on the 王位 of Cathur!" Croft frowned. "Has Scythys, then, laid 負かす/撃墜する the scepter in 好意 of his son?"

"Scythys has died," Gaya said. "Wherefore, にもかかわらず the fact that the cycle of betrothal has not run out, Kyphallos craves the 特権 of entertaining Naia and her father, and 保証するing his people that he has chosen a worthy queen as his consort on the 王位."

"And—and she—and they—have gone?" Croft stammered as he spoke.

"Aye." Gaya looked into his 注目する,もくろむs.

"Jasor, what of it? I—I am a woman, and I have thoughts—恐れるs, perhaps, or fancies. I like this 旅行 not. What does it portend?"

"That I know not; yet shall I ascertain," Croft replied between 始める,決める teeth. "She told me to forget not my 約束. By Zitu and Azil and Ga, I shall not. Gaya, my 甘い woman, how long have they been gone?"

"This is the third day since they 出発/死d, my lord."

"They went—how?"

"In the ship which brought the 護衛する—one Kyphallos sent."

"The day after tomorrow they arrive. So then there is time."

Croft relaxed somewhat the physical 緊張 which had held him, and his 発言する/表明する grew いっそう少なく sharp. He sighed.

"Time? Time for what, Jasor?" Gaya 問い合わせd.

"Tonight I shall sleep," Croft told her 率直に. "And while I sleep I shall learn what is the true 意図 of this sudden 願望(する) on Kyphallos's part to show Cathur their queen."

Gaya's 注目する,もくろむs grew wide. "You shall sleep—as you sleep to learn?" she 滞るd.

"Yes," Croft smiled. "And I shall learn, wife of my friend. Zitu made Naia of Aphur a maid to madden men's 血, not for Cathur, but for Jasor. Yes, I shall learn."

But にもかかわらず his 確信して トン he was more than a little 乱すd as he sought his own rooms that night and stretched himself on his couch. What 意図 lurked in the mind of Cathur's prince he could not see. Nor could he understand why, knowing what already he had told them, Jadgor and Lakkon had decided to accede to the Cathurian's request, unless they had followed the other man's course at the time of the betrothal and 行為/法令/行動するd ーするために blind 疑惑 of their 反対する-準備s so far as they might, or at least to 避ける an open 決裂 at this time.

Hence it appeared doubly important that he should learn what was toward in Cathur now. He 焦点(を合わせる)d his mind. His 団体/死体 relaxed. He 事業/計画(する)d his intelligent ego toward Scira to discover what it might.

At first he went to the 独房 of Abbu in the Scira pyramid to learn, if he might, what Abbu was about.

He 設立する him speaking with a brother priest—was half-minded to leave—yet ぐずぐず残るd, held by the first 発言/述べる of the unknown 修道士.

"A nice time for Kyphallos to be at Niera, with his 約束d queen approaching Scira on the sea."

"He will return in time to 迎える/歓迎する her," Abbu said.

"Yet I like not his たびたび(訪れる) journeyings to Niera, nor his 協会 with the Zollarian nobles who make it their 訴える手段/行楽地. Nor does Cathur like it 極端に 井戸/弁護士席."

Abbu frowned. "Nor does Cathur like the stories which come 支援する from Anthra 関心ing the things which occur there in the palace. Adita, they tell me, is more worshiped than Zitu. Ga, the true woman, or Azil, her son, have small consideration. 'Tis Adita, woman of folly and beauty, whose 神社 is there."

"I have heard said that, while a creature of beauty, this Aphurian princess is not given to folly," his lay brother replied. "Mayhap she shall 勝利,勝つ Kyphallos from his 現在の course, and so 証明する a blessing to Cathur in cycles to come."

"If so be she 開始するs the 王位 at all."

"You think she will not?"

Abbu shrugged. "Who knows? Cathur mutters even now, as you know. Scythys was a dotard. Kyphallos is a degenerate. Cathur is the worst-治める/統治するd 明言する/公表する in all Tamarizia—the most beset with 税金s, with the least returns to show. But—Cathur is loyal to Tamarizia as a people. Think you they will long brook a king who makes merry with Zollarian nobles, while 事件/事情/状勢s of 明言する/公表する go to マリファナ?"

"Come!" cried the other. "You have heard something, Abbu, it would seem."

Abbu nodded. "Perhaps I keep my 注目する,もくろむs and ears about me when I leave the pyramid."

Croft left. At least, he thought, Abbu was …に出席するing to his 義務s as Aphur's 秘かに調査する in so far as he might. And Cathur was muttering against their soon-to-be king. Cathur, then, was loyal—what if Kyphallos 設立する her betrayal いっそう少なく 平易な than he 推定する/予想するd? He smiled and willed himself to Niera, since now it appeared the Cathurian profligate was once more there. And if there, Croft thought he knew where to find him. He would be, almost without 疑問, in the presence of Kalamita of the tawny 注目する,もくろむs and hair. And it was with her and her brother and Bzad, the Mazzerian 長,指導者, he 設立する him, in a room of that palace overlooking the Central Sea. They sat together in a low-トンd conversation. Evidently something important was 今後, since they had closeted themselves thus, thought Croft.

Kalamita stretched her supple length like a cat about to yawn, and turned a slow smile on the Cathurian prince.

"So then," she said, "it is all thought out. You men, with your spears and swords, are far stronger than subtle, my lords. Leave the subtlety to a woman in your 計画(する)s."

"I see no chance of 失敗 in this, I 自白する," Bzad spoke as she paused. Croft 公式文書,認めるd a flash in his 注目する,もくろむs.

"Not unless you bungle." Kalamita laughed.

"I?" Bzad growled. "By Adita, goddess of beautiful women, I shall make no mistake. See, I shall repeat it step by step. On the fourth day after the princess arrives, Kyphallos of Cathur 招待するs her and her father to visit Anthra, and they take the ship the next day. 一方/合間 I place my galley under the cover of Anthra and wait. At the same hour they 始める,決める sail I slip 前へ/外へ. 中途の we 会合,会う and I sail の近くに in passing. A 衝突/不一致 seeming 切迫した, in the 混乱 a wrong order is given on board Kyphallos's galley. The prow of my galley strikes his ship as it 捜し出すs to cross my 屈服するs through turning in the wrong direction. Kyphallos and the maid are saved. Lakkon 溺死するs, and any 生き残るing sailors on board the Cathurian ship are destroyed, so that 非,不,無 shall 生き残る to tell what happened really.

"I sail to Scira and put Kyphallos 岸に. We tell a story of 災害 in which all 死なせる/死ぬd save only him. によれば it, this Naia died with her father. I sail away. She is 地雷—and once in Mazzeria, think you I shall not enjoy her beauty By Adita, I think I shall!"

Kalamita nodded. "You have it, Bzad," she, 宣言するd, "and soon you shall have her—to do with as you please. They tell me she is very fair indeed. She should bring you joy for some time."

A blind 激怒(する)—a fiery disgust and loathing filled Croft's soul as he heard the wanton's words. This was the 運命/宿命 her 国/地域d brain had 発展させるd for the pure, 甘い jewel of womanhood for whom his spirit cried. Yet since in his 現在の 明言する/公表する there was no chance for 表現 of those things he felt, he controlled his horror at the thought of Naia as the plaything of this 冷淡な-直面するd blue savage, and learned all he could.

"Thereafter," Bandhor spoke for the first time, with a thin- lipped leer, "our good lord Kyphallos shall come to Anthra, after a period of 嘆く/悼むing, and 招待する our sister to visit him for a time. But upon her 願望(する)ing to leave he shall 辞退する. A man of her ship's 乗組員 shall escape Anthra in a boat and bring tidings, その結果 him to whom she is 誓約(する)d shall lay the 事件/事情/状勢 before the emperor himself. Our army shall be ready. An 探検隊/遠征隊 shall proceed to Anthra to 救助(する) Kalamita. In the 合間 Kyphallos shall have taken her to Cathur, and have 隠すd her—placing her in the 聖域 of Ga, where the vestals will have her in 告発(する),告訴(する)/料金. Then shall Zollaria attack, and Mazzer. Tamarizia, finding herself 攻撃する,非難するd on all 味方するs, shall break like the 鎮圧するd-in 爆撃する of an egg!" He 契約d the fingers of a mighty 手渡す until they were flexed in his palm. "Thus it shall be."

Thus it shall be. Would it? Man 提案するs but God 配置する/処分する/したい気持ちにさせるs, Croft thought to himself. Naia of Aphur the toy to a man of blue—a member of the servants' caste nation—Cathur to Zollaria. Tamarizia 鎮圧するd. Kyphallos and his light o' love on the 王位 of Zitra where now the pacific old Tamhys sat. A pretty 計画(する). Bzad and Bandhor, Kyphallos and Kalamita, in her scented and voluptuous beauty, seemed very sure it was coming about in time. To Croft, as he left them at their 計画/陰謀ing and flitted 支援する to his room in Aphur's palace, it seemed somewhat いっそう少なく likely to occur.


XXII. — IN THE HABIT OF ZITU

ONCE in the flesh again, conscious of all he had seen and heard, he sprang from his couch and dressed. He was going in the flesh to Scira. That one thing was (疑いを)晴らす in his mind. He would go to the 資本/首都 of Cathur as quickly as his swiftest モーター-galley might take him, and get into touch with Abbu and through him with Naia. After that, things must be met as they arose, only there was another thing on which he was 平等に 決定するd: the girl should never 乗る,着手する for Anthra on the Prince of Cathur's (手先の)技術.

Leaving the palace, he entered his car, kept in the 法廷,裁判所 now always for any 緊急, and drove straight to the ドッキングする/減らす/ドックに入れる on the Na, where the (n)艦隊/(a)素早い of モーター-(手先の)技術 were kept busy. Here he selected a galley—one of the 最新の models he had 用意が出来ている, sent 走者s to 大勝する out the 乗組員 and order them 船内に, ready to sail at once.

From the ドッキングする/減らす/ドックに入れる he drove to the shops, ゆらめくing with light as the night-転換 worked, called one of his most 専門家 モーター 建設業者s to one 味方する, and directed him to 報告(する)/憶測 船内に the galley as quickly as he might. To him he gave 当局 to open a 倉庫/問屋 and 準備/条項 the boat for a voyage of some days, and 指示/教授/教育s to bring it to the quay below the palace so soon as ready to sail.

Then he went 支援する to the palace itself, and sent a nodding guard to rouse Robur and ask him to come to Croft's rooms. He waited there in a 広大な impatience until the door opened to 収容する/認める Aphur's 栄冠を与える prince.

That Robur was 重要なd to some 見込み he saw at a ちらりと見ること. The man's 注目する,もくろむs were wide, his whole 表現 eager. Croft 嫌疑者,容疑者/疑うd Gaya had whispered wifely 信用/信任s into his ear earlier that night. He 急落(する),激減(する)d into his 主題 at once:

"略奪する—I've slept—one of my 確かな sleeps. Gaya told you, I suppose."

Robur nodded. "Yes. And you have learned, Jasor—what?"

Croft told him, and Robur swore a strong Aphurian 誓い. "They 計画(する) that, do they? Naia to Bzad, a man of Mazzer. By Zitu, Jasor, I am with you in whatever you mean to do."

Croft shook his 長,率いる. "Nay, 略奪する, my friend. Your 義務 is to Tamarizia first. You know all we have planned. Your place is here—to general the Bithurian 探検隊/遠征隊 when it is time. 地雷 is the 義務 to the maid."

"You love her." Robur made the 声明 direct.

"Aye." Croft met it and looked him in the 注目する,もくろむ.

Robur put 前へ/外へ a 手渡す. "Azil be 肉親,親類d to you and her," he made answer. "What have you planned?"

Croft explained his 意図 in a very few words. "I を待つ now the lights of the galley at the quay below," he finished. "I 願望(する) to slip 前へ/外へ unknown to any save the guards. Will you 運動 me 負かす/撃墜する with what 武器 I shall take?"

"Aye," said. Aphur's 相続人. "You can reach Scira how soon?"

"In two days—the day after Naia and Lakkon arrive."

Robur smiled thinly. "Should you save Lakkon's life 同様に as his daughter's a second time, his 感謝 should 打ち勝つ much."

Croft shook his 長,率いる. "I 計画(する) not on 感謝, 略奪する. I myself shall 打ち勝つ much—Kyphallos, Zollaria, and Mazzer. So shall I reach to the woman Zitu formed for me. I shall enter Scira at night, and go to the pyramid, and—持つ/拘留する! 運動 now with me to Magur. He must lend me a priestly 式服."

"Come!" Robur's 注目する,もくろむs flashed. Once more he smiled. "A priest shall reach Scira, my friend? He shall go to the pyramid. I understand."

The two men left the palace, entered the car, and crossed the 橋(渡しをする), swung into position on Robur's order. They stopped before the pyramid and 大打撃を与えるd on the door. A sleepy priest 認める them at last-and sent them up on the 原始の 解除する to Magur's lofty apartments. Magur himself appeared in the end, blinking sleepily with startled 注目する,もくろむs when he 直面するd Croft and Robur himself.

Croft explained.

Magur 妨げるd. "Shall the 衣料品s of Zitu be used for deception?" he exclaimed.

"Shall, not the 衣料品s of Zitu serve to guard a clean 神社 of life from 汚染?" Croft snapped in return. "Can the cloth of the Source of all Life be put to a better end?"

Magur gave him a ちらりと見ること little short of 賞賛. "Ye speak, as always, with the words of Zitu himself," he returned. "I am 納得させるd. Wait, and this 事柄 shall be arranged." He turned away.

In five minutes he was 支援する with a dark-brown 式服 and hood, not unlike a cowl, also a pair of leather sandals and a cord with which to belt the 式服 about the waist. These he placed in Croft's 手渡すs, and raised his own. "Zitu go with ye, my son," he spoke in a formal blessing. "Should he 好意 ye on this 使節団, what shall ye do with the maid? Her return to Himyra would 原因(となる) a clacking of tongues."

"I have thought of that, O Magur," Croft replied. "The maid shall go to Zitra so quickly as she may. There Zud himself shall see her in 聖域 in the 4半期/4分の1s of the virgins, until this thing has passed, unless you have better to 示唆する. Thus it is Zollaria 計画(する)s to hide their unclean Kalamita in Scira. I am minded to turn their own trick upon themselves."

"Nay," Magur smiled. "Thy 計画(する) is worthy of one of your mind. Go, then, and may Ga, the pure mother, use you to guard the maid."

The galley lights glared red in the night at the quay as Croft and Robur drove 支援する across the 橋(渡しをする), which opened behind them (期間が)わたる by (期間が)わたる. All was ready now save the 武器 and 弾薬/武器. Working in haste at the palace, the prince and Croft collected those and took them 負かす/撃墜する to the ship.

"You shall 勝利,勝つ, my friend," said Robur as he clasped 手渡すs with Croft at parting.

Croft smiled somewhat grimly. "I shall 勝利,勝つ, 略奪する," he returned, "or you need not look for me 支援する."

Then he was off, dropping 負かす/撃墜する the Na, passing the high-後部d 障壁 of the 塀で囲むs, and once past those, 開始 the モーター and スピード違反 負かす/撃墜する the mighty yellow flood to the sea.

A day passed, two days, and night (機の)カム 負かす/撃墜する. Far to the 前線 the lights of Scira 解除するd above the waters. Croft called his 乗組員 and gave them their 指示/教授/教育s in 詳細(に述べる). They were to stay by the ship, were to be ready to start at once. Then, to their amaze, he slipped on the priest's 式服 over his cuirass and sword, and appeared before them thus as they approached the harbor gates. The 基準 of Aphur broke out at the galley's 厳しい. They passed inside unchallenged and moored at the quay.

To the harbor master—a 抱擁する Cathurian captain—Croft said 単に that he was a priest come on a 使節団 from Magur to the pyramid, and stepped 岸に.

And knowing Scira as he did, he 始める,決める off in the 権利 direction without 延期する, arrived in 予定 time and without 出来事/事件 at the pyramid portals, and rapped for admission, asking for Abbu as soon as he was inside. Then—he was in Abbu's 独房, fumbling with his 式服 and casting it from him, to stand in gold and silver harness before the 修道士's 星/主役にするing 注目する,もくろむs.

"My lord—my lord!" 滞るd the priest.

"持つ/拘留する." Croft 解除するd his 手渡す. "Strange things are 今後 in Scira. What know you of them, Abbu, who have 行為/法令/行動するd as Aphur's 注目する,もくろむs?"

"Yesterday the prince returned from Niera to 迎える/歓迎する the Aphurian maid he is to 結婚する," Abbu replied. "It was a holiday occasion. The streets 群れているd with people."

"Think you Kyphallos ーするつもりであるs to lead Naia to the 王位?" Croft snapped.

"Zitu!" Abbu 解除するd his 手渡すs in the 調印する of the cross. "Is it not so 誓約(する)d, Jasor?"

"Aye—by the lips, yet not by the heart," said Croft. 速く he told the 星/主役にするing 修道士 those things he had learned.

"Zitu would not 許す this," Abbu mumbled at the last.

"Nay. Hence am I here. Listen, Abbu the priest. What I do, I do by the grace of Zitu—and with His 同意. I am come to 倒す this most foul 陰謀(を企てる). You who have sworn to help me in Zitu's 指名する must 伸び(る) 接近 to this maid. Say to her what is to be. Say to her thus when you have told her all else as a 調印する: 'Jasor has not forgotten.' 審理,公聴会 this, she will believe. Say to her then that on the night after you have spoken to her she shall 願望(する) to speak with a priest from the 宗教上の pyramid, to receive a blessing before she is 現在のd to Cathur's people. She shall prefer her request of Kyphallos himself, and 主張する that it be 認めるd.

"She shall 明示する the priest Abbu, whom she knows. I shall then go to her in the palace. 教える her that her father shall be with her when I arrive. Thereafter shall we contrive a way out of the palace and to the boat I 持つ/拘留する waiting for her escape. Say not to her that I shall come in your place. That she will learn when I appear. Now give me a place to sleep, and when you see her 明言する/公表する these facts 関心ing Kyphallos's 計画(する) as things of your own knowledge, 自白するing to her that you have 行為/法令/行動するd as Aphur's 注目する,もくろむs for 井戸/弁護士席 nigh a whole cycle past."

Abbu 屈服するd. "Indeed," he said, "I believe you speak truth, O Jasor, and with Zitu's help I shall do all you say. Take my pallet for your slumber. I shall pray through the night for your success to Zitu himself."

Throughout the next day Croft lay hid. Abbu brought him food in the morning and disappeared. He was not 乱すd during the day. What Abbu was about he could not know. Only late in the day when the 修道士 returned was he to learn how he had managed his 仕事.

"My lord, there was a 野外劇/豪華な行列 in 栄誉(を受ける) of her of Aphur and her father," he explained. "The 市民の guard and that of the palace marched before them, while the people watched, and you know that it is a custom for the lay brothers of the pyramid to solicit alms. So with my little earthen jar I passed の中で the people, and after a time I approached the raised 駅/配置する where Aphur's princess sat, and 解除するing my little jar I cried to her as Cathur's queen-to-be that she give 自由に to Cathur's 寺. This I did for a 目的 which fell out as I 願望(する)d. A guard about the noble party 怒って bade me be off.

"I 解除するd my 発言する/表明する in 抗議する, crying again to that beautiful woman for alms.

"She heard me, my lord. She has a gentle heart. '持つ/拘留する,' said she to the guard. 'Let the priest approach.' Thus, my lord, I 伸び(る)d her 味方する, and she gave me pieces of silver enough to fill my jar, 説得力のある all her party to 与える/捧げる 自由に.

"And when that had been done she asked me of our 寺, and I told her 関心ing it, and called a blessing upon her, and contrived to whisper that I had an important message, meant for her ears alone.

"The maid, my lord, is quick of comprehension. She turned to the prince himself. 'This priest finds 好意 with me,' she said. 'I would speak with him その上の. It may be that I shall select him for my own spiritual 指導者 once I am Cathur's queen.'

"Kyphallos smiled, my lord. 'As you will, my princess,' he replied, and I think he 嫌疑者,容疑者/疑うd nothing.

"Then the maid turned 支援する to me and 始める,決める a time for me to come to her at the palace on the morrow in the morning. Is it 井戸/弁護士席, my lord?"

"It is 井戸/弁護士席," said Croft, though the 延期する of another day did not please his impatience to know Naia 安全な. "Yet there is more for you to do. 供給する me a second 式服 such as Magur gave me which I wore here, and arrange for a carriage to be waiting tomorrow night on the street from the palace to the harbor. Do this in time that I may know the driver's 指名する, when I shall come upon him, and so calling him identify myself as the man for whom he is 雇うd. Here—" He drew a pouch and placed silver in Abbu's 手渡す. "支払う/賃金 the man 井戸/弁護士席, and tell him to look for as much beyond what you give him if he serves me without fail. Also 供給する me a 基準 of Cathur's colors, such, as are used on ships."

The latter request was 予定 to a sudden thought which had popped into Croft's mind, and evoked a tight-lipped smile. He had conceived a way to throw びっくり仰天 into the (軍の)野営地,陣営 of his 敵s. He 始める,決める about planning it out that same night and the 後継するing day.


XXIII. — WHEN THE TABLES WERE TURNED

AND when night (機の)カム 負かす/撃墜する once more on Scira he was ready. Once he had 投機・賭けるd 前へ/外へ, gone to the harbor, in seeming a priest, and conferred with the captain of his ship, telling him to be 用意が出来ている to sail on the word that night.

支援する in the pyramid he waited Abbu's coming with what patience he could. The 修道士 (機の)カム about noon.

"All things are ready, my lord, so far as time 許すs," he made his 報告(する)/憶測.

"You saw the maid?"

"Aye."

"And what said she?"

"At first she was amazed, bewildered, I think, as was her father whom she 召喚するd after I had told my tale, that I might relate it again to his ears. That was after I said to her the words you told me to repeat. 審理,公聴会 them, she believed and called Prince Lakkon at once. His 怒り/怒る was 広大な/多数の/重要な. He was for carrying the thing to Kyphallos himself and 説得力のある him to 収容する/認める or 否定する. But—both the maid and I 勝つ/広く一帯に広がるd upon him to see that by so doing he would destroy not only himself but her. In the end they agreed to 召喚する me to the palace as soon as it fell dark."

"That is 井戸/弁護士席," said Croft. "The 残り/休憩(する) is 用意が出来ている?"

"The driver and the 基準, aye. I shall give you the 式服 before you 出発/死."

"You shall live to receive your reward," said Croft; "Now we have naught to do save wait."

And waiting 証明するd the hardest part as the day dragged past. Of the adventure of the evening he had no 恐れる. In fact he chafed to be at it as a restive horse frets at 抑制. Never had the hours of a 選び出す/独身 day seemed so long in their course. He 示すd 中央の-afternoon, and watched the lowering sun. He welcomed evening and the creeping twilight. Dusk was a boon to give thanks for, and yet he 激怒(する)d because dusk having fallen, Naia did not send for Abbu the 修道士.

Yet in the end Abbu appeared before him and whispered that the time was come—that a chariot from the palace waited without the pyramid. He carried a tightly rolled 一括 in his 手渡すs and gave it to Croft. "The 式服, my lord," he 宣言するd. "Zitu 援助(する) you in its use."

"Zitu reward you, as I shall see you rewarded in a time to come," Croft told him, donning his own 式服 and thrusting the other beneath it.

"別れの(言葉,会) for the 現在の, Abbu. Your service is done."

Leaving the pyramid he entered the chariot sent to fetch him and 棒 速く to the palace. Once as he 公式文書,認めるd his driver he smiled as he imagined the man's びっくり仰天 could he dream who his 乗客 was にもかかわらず his priestly seeming and the final results of this 運動. But he spoke no word while they threaded the streets or when, the chariot pausing, he descended, passed inside the palace, and was led by a page to the Princess Naia's door.

That door he entered, and for the first time in months 設立する himself in the presence of the woman he loved.

She rose and stood before him. "I have done as I 約束d my father, what more must I do?" he heard her 甘い-トンd 発言する/表明する.

"Aye, what more have you to tell, us, Abbu, you could not tell us before?" asked Lakkon, rising from a couch placed さらに先に 支援する from the door.

Croft threw off his enveloping cowl and 式服. He stood before them, his cuirass with the sun of Aphur 向こうずねing on its metal breast, sending a sparkle of light through the room. "Not Abbu this time, Prince Lakkon," he said.

"Jasor!" Naia's 注目する,もくろむs went wide. She started 支援する a pace while her color faded 速く, and she 解除するd her 手渡す to her breast.

"Jasor of Nodhur, by Zitu!" Lakkon cried. "Come, my lord, what means this priestly disguise?"

"Life—for yourself—life and 栄誉(を受ける) for your daughter, as I hope, since I know she would not live without the latter," Croft returned. "Hark you, Lakkon of Aphur. You are a man with a sword at your belt. Tell me is your daughter's serving-maid, Maia, of your party here?"

"Aye," Lakkon returned, visibly impressed by Croft's presence and 耐えるing.

"Yet—"

"Enough," Croft 削減(する) him short. "Here is an extra 式服 of a priest. Let the princess and Maia don them and pass out of the palace doors. You and I shall walk 前へ/外へ together. To any who 捜し出す to stay us, I am your friend. I wear Aphur's 武器. Let them stop two nobles of Aphur at their 危険,危なくする. Without the palace, the princess and the maid will turn to the 権利 and walk 負かす/撃墜する the street toward the harbor which is by happy chance toward the Scira pyramid. We shall 追いつく them. We shall enter a carriage and 運動 to the harbor and leave this nest of 背信. Abbu has told before this what is planned."

"Aye—but—" Lakkon stammered.

"I shall 証明する his words true," Croft flashed. "召喚する Maia quickly lest something 介入するs."

"Father—do as my lord advises." Naia laid a 手渡す on Lakkon's arm.

"By Zitu—I like it not, yet—if it be for your safety. Were it not—were it for myself alone—召喚する your maid." Jadgor's 助言者/カウンセラー 産する/生じるd to her 嘆願.

The thing was so simple, indeed, that it made Croft smile. Inside five minutes the two women were 用意が出来ている. Naia's wealth of hair was lost beneath the cowl. Croft opened the door and they sallied 前へ/外へ.

"Be of good heart," he 設立する means to whisper into Naia's ear. "You see I did not forget, O maid of gold."

His reward was a 静かな smile and a 深い ちらりと見ること out of her 注目する,もくろむs. Then she was gone, a 修道士 seeming, with Maia at her 味方する. Croft felt sure of their escape. Priests were no unusual sight about the palaces of the Tamarizian 明言する/公表するs. He 疑問d they would be questioned, even though two went out where one had come in.

Hence he waited with the frowning Lakkon until some five minutes had passed. Then 開始 the door he strode 前へ/外へ and turned 負かす/撃墜する toward the palace doors. Beside him Lakkon stalked in silence. "Talk to me—seem to converse for the sake of your daughter at least," Croft 勧めるd.

Lakkon 従うd. In seemingly friendly converse they 進歩d. They reached the portals giving on the 入り口 法廷,裁判所 and passed the guards the more easily, perhaps, since 非,不,無 there as yet 嫌疑者,容疑者/疑うd what Kyphallos really planned, and so were not on guard against any 行為/法令/行動する of the father of Cathur's queen-to-be, or some Aphurian friend of his, who wore the sun of Aphur in silver 向こうずねing on his breast.

Thus what might have 証明するd difficult, 証明するd 平易な. They left the 法廷,裁判所, overtook the women, led them to the carriage and drove 速く to Croft's ship. There he paid and 解任するd the driver and took his 乗客s 船内に. Only when his sailors cast off the moorings did comment arise at his 行為/法令/行動するs. Then a harbor guard appeared and questioned the 訴訟/進行. And by then Croft was once more a priest, while Maia had 再開するd her natural part. And the priest explained he must return to Himyra quickly.

The guard saluted and withdrew with the 修道士's commendation of his attention to 義務. The ship left the quay. It passed the harbor gates and floated 解放する/自由な.

Croft heaved a sigh of 救済.

"On the fifth day you and your daughter would have 旅行d to Anthra," he turned to Lakkon to say. "中途の you would have been met by Bzad of Mazzer and your 大型船 rammed. Death for yourself and dishonor for your child would have 速く followed. Lakkon of Aphur, I told you I would 証明する my words true, and I will. We shall 会合,会う this galley of the Mazzerian's 中途の to Anthra on the fifth day."

Lakkon (警官の)巡回区域,受持ち区域 the planks of the deck with his foot. "Jasor of Nodhur, you are a bold man," he said. "You seem to have 約束 in your words. Yet should you fail to 証明する them, I think I shall have your 長,率いる."

"Then take 地雷 with it, father," Naia, who had approached unseen by either man, burst 前へ/外へ. "Once before has Jasor saved our lives. Now saves he our lives and that which I prize higher still. You are hard to 説得する, if you call him not son in the end."

"Ah—落ちる it so!" Lakkon turned upon her. "To your 4半期/4分の1s, girl. Is it seemly for her who values 栄誉(を受ける) so 高度に, to 申し込む/申し出 herself to a man?"

"To the one man, yes," she retorted, turning to go below. "Between him and her is no question of 栄誉(を受ける), nor of aught, save love. To that man she belongs, nor will 産する/生じる to any other while Zitu gives her breath."

"Azil, Giver of Life, and Ga, the Virgin!" Lakkon swore.

"Peace!" Croft's 手渡す fell on his arm. His heart was singing in his breast at Naia's words. "持つ/拘留する, Lakkon! Let me 証明する my words true."

And now Croft carried out the change he had made in his 計画(する)s. All the 後継するing day he sailed in circles, 製図/抽選 nearer and nearer to Anthra rather than to Zitra. He lay to at night, keeping no more than 前進 on the ship.

Just what Kyphallos might think when he 設立する his affianced princess flown he did not know, but he smiled more than once as he fancied a pretty to-do in Scira, and a somewhat 混乱させるd 激怒(する) in the young reprobate's mind. For indeed, as he saw it, Kyphallos must sense himself in a rather 不安定な 苦境. His 人質 to Bzad was gone. As yet there was no war. He might hardly send word to Aphur, that their princess and Lakkon were gone he knew not where. He must find it an embarrassing thing to explain the 出来事/事件 to Zollaria 同様に—a hard thing to make them swallow. A thing which might very 井戸/弁護士席 shake their 信用/信任 in himself.

Indeed, as Croft saw it, Kyphallos would put off the explanation so long as he might, hoping to find some trace of the Aphurians themselves and その為に obviate any necessity of explaining anything at all. Yes, Croft chuckled to himself, Kyphallos was in something of a 直す/買収する,八百長をする. Probably, though, failing to find his escaped guests the first day, he would go in person to 会合,会う Bzad. That must be foreseen. Hence it were best for Croft to be ready with his 武器. He got them out and saw them 負担d—and since he had chosen a war galley for his trip north, he had men 船内に he had already trained in their use. He 分配するd the 武器s to a selected number and was ready for what might occur.

Lakkon saw the ライフル銃/探して盗むs in the 手渡すs of the men and questioned 関心ing it at once. Croft, nothing loath, explained the entire 状況/情勢 as he 見解(をとる)d it. "You have asked proof, and proof I ーするつもりである to give you. Prince Lakkon," he 宣言するd. Lakkon's 直面する grew 墓/厳粛/彫る/重大な. "Indeed, I think you believe all you say, my lord," he replied.

"What do you ーするつもりである?"

"To 会合,会う Bzad の近くに to Aphur," Croft explained. "To hang 前へ/外へ the 基準 of Cathur. To 誘惑する him の近くに, and give you proof of what I have said from the man's own mouth."

For so he had planned and was bent on carrying out. The morning of the fifth day 設立する him therefore の近くに to Anthra—yet not too の近くに.

Before its shores were more than a faint blur on the horizon the 警戒/見張り 報告(する)/憶測d a galley 長,率いるing west.

Croft called Lakkon and bade him stand beside him on the deck. He directed the 基準 of Cathur hung from the 厳しい and ordered the 速度(を上げる) of the engines 増加するd. The galley 殺到するd toward the 会合 at 最高の,を越す 速度(を上げる). And the other galley (機の)カム on.

"She will sail very の近くに," said Croft.

Lakkon frowned.

"At the last I am supposed to give a wrong order," Croft spoke again. "My helmsman knows his 義務. We shall 鎮圧する her 近づく bank of oars."

The two ships drew nearer still. Croft fancied Bzad would be surprised at their 速度(を上げる), but—Cathur's 基準 rippled in the 微風. He would think everything 井戸/弁護士席.

Closer and closer. Croft raised his 手渡す. Two sailors sprang to the rail in the waist. They carried grappling hooks 大(公)使館員d to ropes. Closer still—

Croft dropped his 手渡す. The 屈服する of his galley veered.

衝突,墜落! The 近づく bank of oars snapped like straws. The 大型船s ground together. The men in the waist cast their hooks and 攻撃するd all 急速な/放蕩な.

Bzad appeared on the after-deck. His 直面する was dark, yet he seemed not yet to comprehend the 十分な 耐えるing of what had occurred. Lakkon was in 十分な sight of the Cathurian galley, and Lakkon, he knew was to be 船内に. Kyphallos was not 明白な, but another man in armor was by Lakkon's 味方する.

Bzad 解除するd his 発言する/表明する. "What means this?" he cried.

"There has been a change of 計画(する)," Croft returned.

"A change of 計画(する)!" the Mazzerian repeated. "Yes, a change of 計画(する) indeed it would seem, when you 衝突,墜落 into my 味方する and destroy my oars instead of crossing my 屈服するs as 'twas arranged. Still, small 事柄. I have others. Where is the maid?"

"Below," said 'Croft, sensing Lakkon 強化する at his 味方する. "Do you wish her still?"

"Do I wish her? Adita, goddess of beauty, was she not 約束d me for myself as a part of the price?" Bzad roared.

Again Croft 解除するd an arm. Men appeared with ライフル銃/探して盗むs in their 手渡すs.

"Then if so be you wish her, come and take her, 援助(する) of Zollaria and man of an unclean tribe. If you wish her, come and take her from a ship of Aphur, Bzad."

And now the Mazzerian understood at last. He started 支援する and raised his 発言する/表明する: "船内に them—strike, 殺す! We are betrayed. Let 非,不,無 live save the maid of the yellow hair!"

His men were no cowards. They 決起大会/結集させるd to his cry. 掴むing 武器s they 投げつけるd themselves toward the の近くに-攻撃するd rails.

"解雇する/砲火/射撃," said Croft, as an arrow whistled between himself and Lakkon.

His men 答える/応じるd with a will. This was the first 裁判,公判 of the new 武器 in actual war. They 解雇する/砲火/射撃d and 負担d and 解雇する/砲火/射撃d again. On board Bzad's 大型船 men fell. They 低迷d to the deck or 倒れるd 支援する from the rail which they had reached.

Bzad appeared の中で them. He was beside himself with 激怒(する). He sprang on the rail. A sailor 解雇する/砲火/射撃d pointblank in his 直面する and 行方不明になるd him. He reached the deck and 告発(する),告訴(する)/料金d with drawn sword toward Lakkon and Croft.

With a strange tingle running through his entire 団体/死体. Croft drew his own sword and 始める,決める himself before Aphur's prince. And then, before they could come together, Bzad staggered and fell. The sailor had not 行方不明になるd his second 発射.

Bzad struggled for a moment. He 軍隊d himself halfway up and sank 支援する. His 四肢s twitched oddly for a moment, and he died.

Beyond him the deck of his own (手先の)技術 was a shambles. Men lay on Croft's deck 同様に, some of them his, more of them Bzad's, of whom no more than six 生き残るd out of a possible 得点する/非難する/20. Of Croft's 非,不,無 had been killed and the whole 事件/事情/状勢 had taken no more than five minutes from beginning to end.

Croft's 発言する/表明する にわか景気d 前へ/外へ. "Overboard with the dead. 貯蔵所d the remaining men and take them with us. Board the galley and 沈む it. We shall leave no trace of this."

Then as his men sprang laughing to do his bidding he turned to where Lakkon stood by the 団体/死体 of Bzad. "Will you go below and 安心させる your daughter. Prince Lakkon?" he said.

"Come—we will go together," Jadgor's brother-in-法律 replied.

Croft 従うd. The two men went below. They entered the 4半期/4分の1s where Naia sought to look from a tiny port, and Maia crouched in a corner as far from the 開始 as she might.

"Come, my child," said Aphur's prince; and as she 前進するd slowly toward himself and Croft, stretched out his 手渡す for hers.

"Behold your lord," he went on and laid her 手渡す in Croft's. "To him shall you be given by Magur himself, when this thing is ended. In the 合間 shall you 嘘(をつく) with the Virgins at Zitra, even as he has 法令d."

Naia 紅潮/摘発するd. A soft color dyed her 直面する and perfect throat. She lowered her 注目する,もくろむs, and suddenly throwing all reticence aside, she 解除するd her 武器 and laid them about Croft's neck and raised her lips to his.

"Ah!" exclaimed Lakkon somewhat aghast. "Naught can keep you from her now with 栄誉(を受ける), Jasor of Nodhur—my son."

"Nothing shall keep me from her save death," Croft told him and held her very の近くに.

And lying against him, Naia turned her 長,率いる. Her 注目する,もくろむs were glowing with the light of a sacred 解雇する/砲火/射撃. But she laughed. "My father—you have called him son," she reminded. "解任する that I said you should."

"I ask no better 特権, my son and daughter," Lakkon 産する/生じるd with a smile. "Zitu himself knows I liked not the other 協定. He knows, this pleases me 井戸/弁護士席."

The captain tapped on the door. He 報告(する)/憶測d the Mazzerian's galley 沈むing, and the decks as (疑いを)晴らすd.

Two minutes later, Croft's 大型船 was 長,率いるd for Zitra south by east. Behind was an empty sea. If Kyphallos had started a galley to 知らせる Bzad of what had occurred at Scira, it was apt to search long and vainly for him it was meant to 会合,会う.


XXIV. — THE DOGS OF WAR

WAR! War between Zollaria and Tamarizia! War planned for fifty years and now 始める,決める into 動議! It had come as Croft had 予報するd, as Jadgor of Aphur had 恐れるd. As though malignly 決定するd to be avenged even in death, the 弾丸-pierced 団体/死体 of Bzad had washed 岸に, and been discovered. No other pretext was needed by the Empire to the north.

All other 計画(する)s they threw by the board. Bzad of Mazzer-a guest of their nation had been 殺害された on the Central Sea. They made 需要・要求するs for 是正する, and they asked Cathur as the price of What had just occurred.

Tamhys of Zitra, with a 苦痛d, almost puzzled 表現 in his 老年の 注目する,もくろむs, heard the 需要・要求するs of the (外交)使節/代表s and answered them finally not as a man of peace but as a 愛国者 of his country, unwilling to see his land dismembered to appease an enemy's greed.

The Na was alive with モーター-driven 大型船s, 集会 at Himyra, filling its yellow flood with a ready (n)艦隊/(a)素早い. 船内に them marched men or rolled 装甲の モーターs, soon to have their 実験(する) on a 血まみれの field. Into them were 負担d those things Croft had fashioned against this time, ライフル銃/探して盗むs and 弾薬/武器 and 手りゅう弾s. Ladhra and Himyra 群れているd with marching men. Milidhur's two 装甲の cars were 急ぐing 陸路の to join her 組み立てる/集結するing 軍隊s. Robur in his glory was 負担ing his 探検隊/遠征隊 for the 救済 of Bithur, where Mazzer was to strike. The gentle Gaya wept, while her war-lord girded on his armor and 誇るd of the 運命/宿命 he would carry の中で the blue men with his death-取引,協定ing 道具s.

Naia of Aphur was with the Vestals of Zitra, where Croft had left her a month before. He had taken her to Zud and explained what he 願望(する)d. Zud had listened and given assent. Their parting had been 簡潔な/要約する, since Croft knew he must 急いで 支援する to Himyra and begin the final 準備s for what was soon to come. Zud knowing her 誓約(する)d by Lakkon to Croft, had left them alone at the last, before he took her to the apartments of the Virgins, の近くに to the 最高の,を越す of the monster pyramid, where a white 炎上 leaped from oils never 許すd to 減らす in 前線 of a 人物/姿/数字 of Ga—the Eternal Woman—brooding over the sacred 解雇する/砲火/射撃 of life.

Croft stretched 前へ/外へ his 武器.

Naia of Aphur gave him the look of the woman, and laid herself, on his breast.

"地雷," said the man.

"Yours," said the maid, in a 発言する/表明する like the sighing of a harp. "約束 me you shall come again to (人命などを)奪う,主張する me, Jasor, my lord, whom I love."

"I shall come to (人命などを)奪う,主張する you, my Naia, and make you my own," he said.

"And should you not, no other shall (人命などを)奪う,主張する me ever," she whispered and raised her lips.

"Naught save death shall keep me," Croft 公約するd with his lips on hers.

"I know. If you come not, I stay here forever," she told him, 粘着するing to him.

"Nay." He held her from him to look 負かす/撃墜する into her 直面する. "You shall tend the 解雇する/砲火/射撃 for me, rather than Ga."

"Azil permitting, beloved." And because of the meaning of her own words to her soul she colored beneath his 注目する,もくろむs.

Then (機の)カム Zud and led her to the Vestals, and Croft, 十分な of the divine 解雇する/砲火/射撃 of that parting, went 支援する to Himyra to 準備する for those things which must come to pass ere he might return to her.

He 急落(する),激減(する)d into the 仕事 with the 十分な 協調 of Jadgor, Lakkon, and Robur. A swift boat was sent to Zitra to wait any news at that point. Word was sent to Milidhur and Ladhra to 動員する their 軍隊s and be ready to move on the word. At Himyra activities of every nature were 押し進めるd. Never had the Red City seen such ceaseless 準備 as now went on to 会合,会う and check Zollaria's 計画(する)s.

Of those 計画(する)s Croft kept 跡をつける, leaving his 団体/死体 at times in the night and hovering over Cathur and the northern nation. He knew when the (外交)使節/代表s left for Zitra to 需要・要求する Cathur, of Tamhys, as the price of peace. He 証言,証人/目撃するd the 集まりing of her army along Cathur's north frontier. He saw Kyphallos at the 長,率いる of the あわてて gathered 徴収するs of Cathur, men untrained, 準備ができていない, herded into 迅速な companies, 貧しく equipped—存在s to be led to the 虐殺(する) in a sham of 抵抗 as he knew, before Kyphallos did his part and 降伏するd to what would seem 圧倒的な 軍隊s equipped and trained for this moment through a (期間が)わたる of fifty years.

Yet Croft smiled. In all that 広大な army 始める,決める aside for this one 仕事 by the empire which had raised it, there was nothing to compare with the 武器s he 所有するd, naught to 似ている them in the least. Spears there were and 屈服するs, cross-屈服するs even, and swords. Chariots there were, and men in glistening armor, who drove them. Scythe-like blades 武装した their wheels to 削減(する) and rend asunder all who stood in their course. But what were they to his chariots which would move themselves across the field of 大虐殺 and vomit the 解雇する/砲火/射撃 of death into Zollaria's 階級s?

Then (機の)カム the swift boat from Zitra, 報告(する)/憶測ing Tamhys's answer and the return of the (外交)使節/代表s north. Tamhys had 辞退するd. Croft laughed into Jadgor's 注目する,もくろむs. Tamhys had asked—asked that Aphur and Nodhur and Milidhur use their 十分な 力/強力にする and their new 武器s to make Tamarizia strong.

"Think, you he would have been so bold had he not known of them?" Jadgor growled, with a teeth-明らかにするing grin. "Nay by Zitu! If so I do not agreed. 'Twas because he knew these things were in our 手渡すs, and Tamarizia in our hearts he 辞退するd.

"Go!" he cried to the messenger who had but returned. "Say to Tamhys that we stand ready—that we say at once—that ere Zollaria's men shall return with his word, we shall be 近づくing the northern coast! How say you, Jasor, my lord?"

"Even as Jadgor has said, O King," Croft replied, since this was what he had planned.

That night all Himyra ゆらめくd with 解雇する/砲火/射撃. That night the sound of marching feet, the rumble of モーターs filled the Red City's streets. The firelight struck on the モーターs' metal 団体/死体s, glinted on the slanting バーレル/樽s of the ライフル銃/探して盗むs carried by Aphur's sons. A swift car had flown to Ladhra carrying the word. In Ladhra, too, the night was filled with embarkation of the 軍隊s which were to join with Aphur in the north.

At break of day Croft, Jadgor and Lakkon sailed. That afternoon Ladhra's first 次第で変わる/派遣部隊 arrived. Then Robur sent part on the heels of the former (n)艦隊/(a)素早い, and took part in his own party, to Bithur's 援助(する). Belzor himself led the section which hurried after Croft. He 報告(する)/憶測d the モーター 輸送(する)s as already whirling the 本体,大部分/ばら積みの of the 軍隊/機動隊s for Milidhur's 援助(する) toward the east.

In three days Croft made landfall on the coast of Mazhur not far from Niera and coasted toward the town, after 上陸 a party under Lakkon some miles above it with 指示/教授/教育s to 前進する 負かす/撃墜する the coast, and 堅固に守る themselves on the landward 味方する of the city, at once. He appeared before the city with his (n)艦隊/(a)素早い about 中央の-morning and 需要・要求するd its 降伏する at once.

His answer was 反抗, of course.

Croft 始める,決める to work. His own galley ran の近くに in toward the gates of the harbor. The enemy 乗組員を乗せた the 塀で囲むs. They began a rain of arrows and spears and the casting 負かす/撃墜する of fireballs, hoping to 始める,決める the galley on 解雇する/砲火/射撃.


Illustration

Croft had 推定する/予想するd this. He had 用意が出来ている some metal 保護物,者s which could be used to cover the decks against arrows and spears from above. They were impregnable save for some square-削減(する) 穴を開けるs. Through these he began a 砲撃 of the gates themselves with 手りゅう弾s. 激しい as they were, they had not been built to resist the 強襲,強姦 of 砕く. Inside twenty minutes, while the 空気/公表する filled with shouts and ミサイルs of the defenders, one was blown from its hinges and fell with a mighty splash. The other followed すぐに after. Croft's galley sailed in, followed by that of Jadgor and several others of the (n)艦隊/(a)素早い.

And now he had the defenders of the 塀で囲むs in the 後部. His galley paused. The others followed 控訴. Their decks 群れているd with men who knelt and opened 解雇する/砲火/射撃 from the ライフル銃/探して盗むs Croft had made. A smell of 砕く filled the 空気/公表する. Smoke-clouds floated in the 空気/公表する. The shouts of the defenders changed to cries of alarm as they 設立する themselves stricken by this new and unknown 軍隊. Other galleys 軍隊d passage and, スピード違反 beyond the engaged 大型船s, opened a galling 解雇する/砲火/射撃 along the waterfront. Under cover of this 上陸 parties were flung 岸に. They marched into the town, engaging the Zollarian guards wherever 設立する, yet always at an advantage of 武器s and 範囲. In an hour it was done.

The Zollarian 指揮官 降伏するd. Croft shut his men in their 兵舎 and 地位,任命するd a guard. 公式発表s printed in 前進する, 約束ing freedom from 害(を与える) to all 非,不,無-combatants who kept their houses and 原因(となる)d no trouble, were affixed at the houses at the corners of the streets. The 残りの人,物 of the (n)艦隊/(a)素早い entered the harbor and debarked their men and the 装甲の, モーターs. Inside two hours more Croft marched out of the landward gate and joined Lakkon and his men where they had labored on their ざん壕s. That night Jadgor's テント stood in the 中央 of an 武装した (軍の)野営地,陣営 on Mazhurian 国/地域. Tamarizia had struck 速く and with an 圧倒的な 軍隊, for which Zollaria had been unprepared.

The next day the men of Ladhra arrived. Croft left them to 守備隊 Niera until a later 団体/死体 from the 内部の parts of Aphur should arrive, then follow on. In fact he left orders that as each new 次第で変わる/派遣部隊 appeared they should take over Niera, 解放(する)ing the 守備隊 they 設立する to 前進する through the 明言する/公表する in support of his main 軍隊.

Himself he broke (軍の)野営地,陣営 and moved inland along the splendid roads which Tamarizia had built 世代s unnumbered before, when Mazhur was one of her 明言する/公表するs.

For Palos, the sight was 半端物 as the 井戸/弁護士席-演習d 階級s moved ahead in 安定した cadence, with here and there a 抱擁する ungainly 戦う/戦い モーター rumbling along, its monster 団体/死体 filled with men. Here and there in some minor town some slight 抵抗 was met. The モーターs took care of that. Rolling irresistibly 今後 into a slithering flight of arrows and spears, they spat 解雇する/砲火/射撃 at the defenders until they fell or fled.

On and on crept the column with scarcely a pause save for 残り/休憩(する) or food. That word of it went before it Croft did not 疑問. He even smiled grimly as he 示唆するd to Jadgor what that word would be—a garbled 見解/翻訳/版 of monsters which breathed 解雇する/砲火/射撃 and slew with their breath, of 軍隊/機動隊s which 発射 not arrows but more of the monsters' 解雇する/砲火/射撃.

And Jadgor smiled in return as he gazed 負かす/撃墜する the sturdily swinging 階級s that crept along the road the 板材ing モーターs had (疑いを)晴らすd.

Luckily there were few streams, for the Zollarians seemed to understand dimly by what they were attacked. They destroyed what 橋(渡しをする)s lay in the line of their 退却/保養地. Some of them had to be 修理d, その為に losing time. Thus, as he 前進するd, Croft 設立する the countryside (疑いを)晴らすd and sensed that the 退却/保養地ing 軍隊s were 信用ing to the main 団体/死体, when they reached it, to check his 勝利を得た course.

He had some swift モーターs in which he himself and Jadgor and Lakkon 棒. Taking one of these, he sent it far ahead to feel out the road. In it he placed a 選ぶd squad of his very best marksmen and ordered them to return at all costs should they 接触する the enemy in 軍隊. But the enemy in 軍隊 was attacking the frontier of Cathur. That was as Croft had planned it. That was Zollaria's second mistake, even as her first was in not knowing the 十分な 負わせる of the 力/強力にする she 直面するd.

Thus days passed and the Tamarizian army had 現実に reached the northern bounds of Mazhur itself, as Jadgor 宣言するd, before any news of the main enemy 団体/死体 was received.

Then the scout-モーター (機の)カム 支援する and 報告(する)/憶測d 激しい 軍隊s hurrying to 迎撃する their 現在の line of march.

Croft ordered a 停止(させる) and took 在庫/株 of the 状況/情勢. Before him was a defile in the hills, through which ran the road to reach a さらに先に plain. And that was enough. He ordered an 前進する. (軍隊を)展開する,配備するing his army 権利 and left, he 始める,決める them to digging ざん壕s along the hillside so as to enfilade the plain from both 味方するs of the central pass. In these he 地位,任命するd the riflemen and one of his trained 手りゅう弾 軍団 every fifty feet.

Across the road he built a バリケード, some way 支援する on the 前線-line ざん壕. High on each 味方する of the pass he 地位,任命するd other riflemen behind 避難所s of 石/投石する in such a position that they could 解雇する/砲火/射撃 into the road or cast 負かす/撃墜する 手りゅう弾s. In 前線 of the バリケード itself he parked his 戦う/戦い-モーターs, unseen from the plain, but ready to 現れる upon it when the time should come.

He was hard at it in the 中央 of these 手はず/準備 when a 禁止(する)d of Zollarians 機動力のある on gnuppas appeared above a gentle swell in the road, perhaps a mile away, sat watching the work along the hillside for some moments, turned and disappeared in the direction from whence they had come.


XXV. — WHEN HELMOR'S SUN SET

"THEY come, O Jadgor of Aphur!" Lakkon said.

"Let them," Croft flung but, from a wonderful 信用/信任. "You shall see their 虐殺(する), O king."

The hosts of Zollaria appeared. From the 最高の,を越す of the hill above the road Croft and the other two watched. Foot and chariots, the men of the northern nation began to 最高の,を越す the rolling hill before them. It was 中央の-afternoon. The sunlight sparkled upon spear point and chariot, on cuirass and plume-tufted 舵輪/支配.

It was a wonderful sight as the 兵士s of the empire 用意が出来ている to hurl themselves against the smaller 軍隊 which held the pass and the hills to either 味方する. They (軍隊を)展開する,配備するd 権利 and left, spearmen, bowmen, with a chariot filled with some noble and his driver here and there along the far-flung 前線. And, having (軍隊を)展開する,配備するd, they began a slow 前進する, moving like a mighty living ocean toward the shoreline of the hills. 囚人s were to tell Croft later they were sorely puzzled by the scant sight of the enemy they 得るd.

The ざん壕s, wherein lurked the waiting death they 直面するd, baffled their understanding, were new in their knowledge of war. Their captains knew not 正確に/まさに what they led them against. Yet they were proud in their might and the training of fifty years for this moment.

Men had lived and been trained and had died and 手渡すd 負かす/撃墜する the tradition of this day to their sons who were 存在 trained to take their father's places in the 階級s when the day should come. Now they 前進するd without hesitation to 令状 the history of the day itself upon their nation's page.

Croft turned to Jadgor and Lakkon. "You 命令(する) the wings," he said. "I shall lead the モーターs. The next hour shall make us freemen or slaves. Say as much to your men."

He began the 降下/家系 of the hill, reached the モーターs, each with its 負担 of tensely waiting 兵士s, and entered his own—the first and 主要な car.

He gave the 命令(する). The モーターs roared. A faint 元気づける broke from the lips of the men behind the バリケード. The 装甲の cars 伸び(る)d 速度(を上げる). They left the defile of the pass. Suddenly they broke upon the sight of the Zollarian host.

For a moment it seemed to 滞る all along the line as the モーターs left the road and (軍隊を)展開する,配備するd now in their turn to 権利 and left. Then, with a shout, a flashing chariot dashed from their 階級s and 長,率いるd with 急落(する),激減(する)ing gnuppas at Croft's own machine. 衝突,墜落! 衝突,墜落! Two of the gnuppas were 負かす/撃墜する. The chariot was overturned in a smother of dust and 飛行機で行くing hoofs as the stricken creatures dragged their チーム仲間s with them in their 落ちる. Croft's モーター 前進するd. The whole line of unwieldy 形態/調整s rolled 今後. They began to spit acrid smoke and 炎上.


Illustration

衝突,墜落, 衝突,墜落! The ざん壕s opened 解雇する/砲火/射撃, 狙撃 above the moving モーターs toward the Zollarians' 階級s.

Men went 負かす/撃墜する in a swift 解散. Some one sounded the 告発(する),告訴(する)/料金. Zollaria's manhood answered the 召喚する to their manhood. They 殺到するd ahead in a roaring human flood. The モーターs were (海,煙などが)飲み込むd, but still they spat 解雇する/砲火/射撃. Men gathered about them and sought to, overturn them. They died. The 圧力(をかける) of the 告発(する),告訴(する)/料金 passed toward the hill. The モーターs 板材d about and 解雇する/砲火/射撃d into the 後部 of the 嵐/襲撃するing 軍隊s. They squatted on the plain and sent a stream of death into the 支援するs of their 敵s. And in the 直面するs of those 敵s a stream of death was 注ぐing. ライフル銃/探して盗むs 炎d and 手りゅう弾s began 爆発するing along the 味方するs of the hills. Still they 嵐/襲撃するd up. This was Zollaria's day—the day—the thing they dreamed of, planned for, through fifty years.

Only by degrees could the thought of 確かな success begin to waver in the minds of the men in that 告発(する),告訴(する)/料金. Some of them died on the hillside. Some of them reached to the lip of the ざん壕s themselves and died. Some of them entered the defile and 設立する the バリケード and died before it under the 爆破 of its ライフル銃/探して盗むs and the 手りゅう弾s 投げつけるd 負かす/撃墜する upon them from its 辛勝する/優位. And all the while the glistening モーターs squatted on the plain or ambled slowly toward the hillsides, spitting 炎上, while other men died.

So in the end Zollaria's men began at first to 疑問 and then to 恐れる. In 前線 was death, and death was at their 支援するs. Turn where they would that fiery, unknown, roaring death spat at them. The 空気/公表する was 十分な of it. The very ground seemed to leap into 炎上 at their feet and carry death. They wavered. They turned. They fled. Bowmen, spearmen, chariot, and plume-投げ上げる/ボディチェックするing gnuppa, they streamed 負かす/撃墜する the hillside and out on the plain. And after them (機の)カム death—and death met them again from the metal-covered モーターs, which 解雇する/砲火/射撃d and 解雇する/砲火/射撃d into their 集まり as they 退却/保養地d in 恐れる.

Croft saw them 消える over the rolling hill which had 隠すd their 最近の 前進する. He opened the door of his モーター and called through a trumpet to two of the cars by number. They were under 命令(する) of 信用d men. He ordered them to take each two others and follow the beaten army, giving it neither 一時的休止,執行延期 nor 緩和する while daylight should last. Himself he returned to the defile. It was a 広大な/多数の/重要な hour, the greatest hour he had ever known in his life—the hour in which all he had 約束d was proven, all he had worked for was won. He climbed 負かす/撃墜する and 機動力のある the hill to where Jadgor stood.

"O king," he said. "To you for Tamarizia, I give 支援する Mazhur, the lost 明言する/公表する. Another 会合 such as this and, I think, Zollaria will surely 告訴する for peace."

Jadgor reached out and embraced him—to Croft's surprise. "Jasor of Nodhur—man of wonder!" he exclaimed. "Did, I ever 疑問 Zitu had sent you to Tamarizia's 救済 I do not 疑問 it now."

That night Croft (軍の)野営地,陣営d where he was. The next day Belzor, with his Nodhurians, having made a 軍隊d march from Niera, (機の)カム up. Gazing on the 団体/死体-strewn hillside and plain he wept with 失望 not to have been 現在の to 証言,証人/目撃する what took place.

Croft grinned. "Patience. The emperor himself leads the army against Cathur, some of the 捕虜s tell me. Today we 前進する."

Toward midnight his モーターs had come 支援する to 報告(する)/憶測 the enemy still in flight and the road a 集まり of 負傷させるd who had fallen from exhaustion on the way. Croft's heart went out to the poor devils, who were, after all, but the 犠牲者s of their 支配者's lust for 力/強力にする. Yet he could do little for them because of the 欠如(する) of time and the fact that he passed through 率直に 敵意を持った 領土 now.

It had been somewhat different in Mazhur, where many of the inhabitants were Tamarizian still at heart. But here, should he leave men behind to …に出席する the 負傷させるd, he knew, that if discovered, they would 死なせる/死ぬ without any 疑問. Hence beyond collecting them in one place, 供給(する)ing them with 準備/条項s, and leaving the lesser 負傷させるd to wait upon the others, he could do nothing before he 前進するd on the main 団体/死体 of the enemy.

That 前進する lasted for a week. Twice, during it Croft left his 団体/死体, 満足させるd himself the 明言する/公表する of things was 安全な, returned to earth, and chatted with Mrs. Goss and went 支援する. At the end of the week he 設立する himself once more 直面するing a 敵.

His first victory had produced a wonderful 影響. Zollaria, 運動ing Cathur before her like chaff, under Kyphallos's 背信の leadership, had made 進歩 already, when word of Croft's 上陸 and 前進する from Niera had 原因(となる)d the Emperor Helmor to detach a 部分 of his army under his son to 鎮圧する the 側面に位置する attack. Instead, his son's 命令(する) was 鎮圧するd and recoiled in a sorry 大勝する. Helmor 直面するd about. 激怒(する)ing at this check to his 計画(する)s, he 急ぐd north and east to finish the Tamarizian army himself.

And now Croft 設立する the positions 逆転するd. Helmor chose his own ground. He 始める,決める himself to withstand the shock of 戦う/戦い along a line of gently rolling hills, up which his 敵 must 前進する to the attack. Thus his bowmen had a tremendous advantage, によれば all his knowledge of war, and his spearmen, at の近くに 4半期/4分の1s, could give a most magnificent account of themselves, while the chariots, in the 後部 of the line, could take care of any small 禁止(する)d of the enemy which might chance to break through.

In this 事例/患者 Croft put his モーターs in the 前線. (軍隊を)展開する,配備するing his men, he 教えるd them to 前進する by 急ぐs, keeping 井戸/弁護士席 in the 後部 of the sixteen machines, yet の近くに enough to take advantage of any breaks they made in Helmor's line.

"This day will be the last," he said to Jadgor as he 用意が出来ている to lead in his own machine.

"Zitu 認める it, and victory with it!" Jadgor replied. "Should you carry 敗北・負かす to Helmor, Tamarizia is yours, to do with as you please. Once before, I would remind you, Jasor, I said 井戸/弁護士席-nigh as much."

"There is but one thing in Tamarizia I 願望(する)." Croft looked at Lakkon as he spoke and smiled.

"It is yours, my son," said Aphur's prince, and spoke softly to Jadgor. "What think you, O king? Our Jasor 願望(する)s a maid."

And Jadgor nodded. "Aye, Lakkon, I am not a fool! You are willing she should go to him?"

"I have 誓約(する)d her to him," said Lakkon as he 屈服するd his 長,率いる.

"And I go to 勝利,勝つ her now," said Croft as he entered his car.

Naia of Aphur. That was the cry of his heart he carried into the fight. Naia of Aphur. This fight should make her his. He gave the signal for the 前進する with a smile upon his lips.

Like 抱擁する metal 海がめs the モーターs began はうing toward the hill where Helmor waited. Slowly, 刻々と, as implacable as 運命/宿命, they rumbled ahead. And, after a time, their breath rose on the 空気/公表する of the cloudless morning in acrid whiffs of smoke. Flights of arrows and crossbow bolts 動揺させるd on their 味方するs and fell 害のない. They reached the foot of the hill and began to climb—up and up. They were half lost now in the smoke of their own 猛烈な/残忍な 発射する/解雇するs and the clouds of 飛行機で行くing 軸s.

支援する of them the infantry 前進するd as Croft directed, dashing 今後 a hundred yards, and dropping 負かす/撃墜する to 解雇する/砲火/射撃 in 衝突,墜落ing ボレーs which covered their comrades' sprinting 急ぐ, rising again and 群れているing ahead while the other end of their companies covered them in turn. On the hill 混乱 began to develop after a time. Men fell in heaps with a chance to strike 支援する.

Nearer and nearer, without pause, the 半端物 metal 海がめs crept up the hill. Nothing stopped them. Nothing, neither valor nor marksmanship, silenced the deadly spitting of their 解雇する/砲火/射撃. Arrows broke upon them, cross-bolts, slithered off their invulnerable hides. Nearer and nearer crept the menace of their ugly snouts.

On the 権利 側面に位置する two reached the Zollarian line and 衝突,墜落d against it. Men fell and were ground into 血まみれの 低俗雑誌 beneath metal wheels. The Zollarians tried. They flung themselves in waves upon the monsters. They sought to climb upon them. They gripped at the spitting ライフル銃/探して盗む-バーレル/樽s. But still the モーターs 骨折って進むd on in a 血まみれの 泡,激怒すること. They turned and began はうing through the sea of men. Flesh and bone could stand no more. The 権利 側面に位置する wavered and fled just before the infantry, 群れているing up the slope in a final 急ぐ, drove its own 告発(する),告訴(する)/料金 home. They fell 支援する in a disorganized 暴徒, flinging 屈服するs and spears from them as they ran.

They left the 中心 unsupported, attacked from both 前線 and 味方する. It wavered, bent, sought to turn itself to 会合,会う the 二塁打- attack, broke in the 過程, and 分裂(する) asunder. Behind it, in his gorgeous chariot, Helmor 激怒(する)d to no avail. Through the m麝馥 a monster thing of metal bore 負かす/撃墜する upon him. From it there (機の)カム a brazen 発言する/表明する as of one speaking through a trumpet:

"産する/生じる, Helmor of Zollaria, and put a stop to 虐殺(する)! 産する/生じる, Helmor, or 死なせる/死ぬ with your men!"

This was the end. This was the fruition in 血 and despair of that day 用意が出来ている against through the (期間が)わたる of fifty years. Thus was Zollaria's ambition 沈むing to 破壊, smothered beneath the 渦巻くing dust of a panic-stricken ruck. Helmor swept the lost field with his 注目する,もくろむs and knew the truth.

He gave the 調印する of 降伏する, spoke to his 脅すd 補佐官s, and sent them galloping on gnuppas 権利 and left to carry the word of 敗北・負かす. A 基準 発射 up from the 最高の,を越す of Croft's car. The sounds of 戦う/戦い 中止するd by degrees and died as car after car raised a 類似の signal across the 戦う/戦い-前線.

Croft opened the door of his car and stepped 負かす/撃墜する. "You will enter, Helmor of Zollaria," he said すぐに, and gestured to the door.

The Emperor Helmor 屈服するd. He bent his haughty crest and disappeared from sight. The door の近くにd behind him, shutting him 安全な beyond all dreams of conquest for all time to come. The 広大な/多数の/重要な car turned and 板材d 支援する 負かす/撃墜する the hill toward the (軍の)野営地,陣営 where Jadgor of Aphur had waited and watched. The sun was at its zenith above a field of dead and 負傷させるd. But Helmor's sun of ambition had 始める,決める.


XXVI. — THE CONSUMMATION

THESE are the things Croft told me.

It was three o'clock in the morning when he was done. "That was a month ago, Dr. Murray," he said, and sighed.

"But what became of Kyphallos?" I asked.

Croft smiled.

"Kyphallos was placed under 逮捕(する) and tried with 速度(を上げる)," he replied. "He was 宣告,判決d to 追放する in that Zollaria he had tried to 援助(する) in her 計画(する)s. He went 前へ/外へ in a rather boastful fashion and appeared at the 資本/首都, Berla, itself. But neither Helmor nor the tawny Kalamita would have aught to do with him, since he could be of no その上の use to them. Only then I think did Kyphallos realize his true position, because then he drew himself up before Kalamita and asked her, for all time, to say he was nothing to her.

"She replied with a sneering laugh.

"Kyphallos gave her one look, drew his sword, held it before his breast, and fell upon it and died."

"And the maid?" I asked. "容赦 me, Croft, but I'm human! And like all human 存在s I 認める love as the mainspring of 存在."

He laughed. "As it is—love, Murray, is life—the 原因(となる) of all 存在. The maid is 地雷, or shall be so, soon as I return."

"You're going 支援する?" I said.

He gave me a ちらりと見ること. "Of course. I ask nothing better. God, man, don't you understand that she waits for me—there? Oh, yes, I've seen her since Zollaria was beaten! I've held her in my 武器—felt her lips. The wedding-day is 始める,決める. It is to be in Himyra, with Magur as the priest. Man, can't you understand?"

"What?" I 問い合わせd.

His laugh (機の)カム again. But it was nervous. "You rather 軍隊 me to blow my own horn. Murray, I'm Tamarizia today. When we returned to Zitra 勝利者s and learned that Robur had driven the Mazzerians like chaff before the 勝利,勝つd, and that Milidhur, outside of a 小競り合い or two, had 設立する nothing to do, Tamhys gave me new 階級. He 指名するd me Prince of Zitra, a 肩書を与える never known in Tamarizia before, but next in importance to the 皇室の 王位. Man, I could have been emperor had I wished since Tamhys's 称する,呼ぶ/期間/用語 満了する/死ぬd one week after we got 支援する."

"Could have been?" I said.

"Yes." He smiled. "But—I didn't take it. Do you know what I did?"

"Hardly." I shook my 長,率いる.

"You might deduce it," he returned. "Murray, Tamarizia is a 共和国 now. She was ready for it. She had come nearly to it before I arrived. There was no 推論する/理由 why she should not 始める,決める up a true 僕主主義. When they 申し込む/申し出d me the 栄冠を与える I replied, with a request. I called for a 会議 of the 明言する/公表するs. I put the thing squarely before them. They あられ/賞賛するd the suggestion with acclaim. My word was 法律, Murray—法律.

"Last night when you called me 支援する and I returned, do you know what was 存在 done? Certainly not. But—we were 完全にするing the 草案 of the 共和国の/共和党の 憲法. Nothing いっそう少なく. When I returned I 設立する them clustered about me—those nobles of the nation. They thought me in a faint, all save Jadgor and Lakkon and Robur, of course. I caught their 注目する,もくろむs and knew they understood. But I said nothing, and we finished the 草案 last night.

"Now Jasor's 団体/死体, which I have used, lies in Zud's own room in the Zitra pyramid. It is guarded by a priest. Above it, between it and the 寺 of Zitu, Murray, between it and God, Naia of Aphur is waiting, a virgin guarded by Virgins for my return, in that room where Ga, the eternal woman, broods above the sacred 解雇する/砲火/射撃. Think you I shall not go 支援する?"

"No—I think I would go myself if I could," I replied.

His 注目する,もくろむs filled with a far-away look.

"Earth is beautiful," he said. "I love it, its mountains and valleys, its streams and lakes, its fields of grass and flowers, but, Murray—there is something, some one now in my life I love beyond anything else. Man, I have 設立する my mate. Like the moose of the 広大な/多数の/重要な 支持を得ようと努めるd, I must answer her call.

"I shall go 支援する. I shall make Naia of Aphur my wife. There, will be an 選挙 to select a 大統領,/社長 of the new 共和国. I have been asked to put up my 指名する. I think—no, Murray, I am sure, that Naia shall be the first lady of all Tamarizia at Zitra itself before long."

"And your 団体/死体 here? What will you do? Shall you tell her the truth?"

"Yes, I think so," he 宣言するd. "Truth is a wonderful thing. It should be kept sacred between a man and his mate. Were that done more 一般的に by man and his consort half the 結婚の/夫婦の trouble of the world would disappear. But—what need have I of an earthly 団体/死体 any more?

"My life calls me to Palos. Henceforth I am through with earth. Hence, Murray, my friend, when I return from this final excursion, I shall do what I have never done before. I shall snap the invisible 社債 between this 団体/死体 and my spirit, which, until now, I have held 損なわれていない. I shall remain here a very few days to 成し遂げる some necessary 仕事s. I must 供給する for Mrs. Goss, and I 願望(する) my 広い地所 to be given to some 創立/基礎 for the 福利事業 of my race. Then—then, Murray—I shall go to the woman I love—Naia—my God-given mate!"

THIS is the story he told me that afternoon and night. Was he sane? I think so. Was the story true? I cannot say. And yet somewhere I feel that Jason Croft is living today—that he is happy, that he has won his 広大な/多数の/重要な adventure, and that Naia of Aphur, that maid of the golden hair and purple 注目する,もくろむs, is truly now his wife.

One thing I can 始める,決める 負かす/撃墜する with 肯定的な knowledge at the end. A week from the first time she called me, Mrs. Goss (機の)カム to me again. I went with her to the 広大な/多数の/重要な couch in Croft's 熟考する/考慮する and—I 設立する him dead! His 団体/死体 lay there lifeless, rigid and 冷淡な beyond any 力/強力にする of 地雷 to help. It (機の)カム over me that the man had kept his word, and broken the subtle thread between it and his spirit, just as he had said he would. I straightened and told Mrs. Goss there was nothing I could do.

She wiped her dark, old 注目する,もくろむs. "I knowed it," she said, "I knowed it! Somethin' told me I was goin' to lose him this time! I've knowed him from a baby, Dr. Murray. He was always a very strange man."


THE END

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