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肩書を与える: The Lost Valley of Iskander (Swords of the Hills) Author: Robert E Howard * A 事業／計画（する） Gutenberg of Australia eBook * eBook No.: 2000031h.html Language: English Date first 地位，任命するd: January 2020 Most 最近の update: January 2020 This eBook was produced by: Colin Choat 事業／計画（する） Gutenberg of Australia eBooks are created from printed 版s which are in the public domain in Australia, unless a copyright notice is 含むd. We do NOT keep any eBooks in 同意／服従 with a particular paper 版. Copyright 法律s are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the copyright 法律s for your country before downloading or redistributing this とじ込み／提出する. This eBook is made 利用できる at no cost and with almost no 制限s どれでも. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the 条件 of the 事業／計画（する） Gutenberg Australia Licence which may be 見解（をとる）d online.
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I. The Oiled Silk
一括
II. The 救助（する） of Bardylis of Attalus
III. The Sons of Iskander
IV. The Duel with Ptolemy the King
V. The Death of Hunyadi
IT WAS THE stealthy clink of steel on 石／投石する that wakened Gordon. In the 薄暗い starlight a shadowy 本体，大部分／ばら積みの ぼんやり現れるd over him and something glinted in the 解除するd 手渡す. Gordon went into 活動／戦闘 like a steel spring uncoiling. His left 手渡す checked the descending wrist with its curved knife, and 同時に he heaved 上向き and locked his 権利 手渡す savagely on a hairy throat.
A gurgling gasp was strangled in that throat and Gordon, resisting the other's terrific 急落（する），激減（する）s, 麻薬中毒の a 脚 about his 膝 and heaved him over and underneath. There was no sound except the rasp and thud of 緊張するing 団体／死体s. Gordon fought, as always, in grim silence. No sound （機の）カム from the 緊張するing lips of the man beneath. His 権利 手渡す writhed in Gordon's 支配する while his left tore futilely at the wrist whose アイロンをかける fngers drove deeper and deeper into the throat they しっかり掴むd. That wrist felt like a 集まり of woven steel wires to the 弱めるing fingers that clawed at it. Grimly Gordon 持続するd his position, 運動ing all the 力／強力にする of his compact shoulders and corded 武器 into his throttling fingers. He knew it was his life or that of the man who had crept up to を刺す him in the dark. In that unmapped corner of the Afghan mountains all fights were to the death. The 涙／ほころびing fingers relaxed. A convulsive shudder ran through the 広大な／多数の／重要な 団体／死体 緊張するing beneath the American. It went limp.
GORDON SLID OFF the 死体, in the deeper 影をつくる／尾行する of the 広大な／多数の／重要な 激しく揺するs の中で which he had been sleeping. Instinctively he felt under his arm to see if the precious 一括 for which he had 火刑／賭けるd his life was still 安全な. Yes, it was there, that flat bundle of papers wrapped in oiled silk, that meant life or death to thousands. He listened. No sound broke the stillness. About him the slopes with their ledges and 玉石s rose gaunt and 黒人／ボイコット in the starlight. It was the 不明瞭 before the 夜明け.
But he knew that men moved about him, out there の中で the 激しく揺するs. His ears, whetted by years in wild places, caught stealthy sounds—the soft rasp of cloth over 石／投石するs, the faint shuffle of sandalled feet. He could not see them, and he knew they could not see him, の中で the clustered 玉石s he had chosen for his sleeping 場所／位置.
His left 手渡す groped for his ライフル銃／探して盗む, and he drew his revolver with his 権利. That short, deadly fight had made no more noise than the silent knifing of a sleeping man might have made. Doubtless his stalkers out yonder were を待つing some signal from the man they had sent in to 殺人 their 犠牲者.
Gordon knew who these men were. He knew their leader was the man who had dogged him for hundreds of miles, 決定するd he should not reach India with that silk-wrapped packet. Francis Xavier Gordon was known by repute from Stamboul to the 中国 Sea. The Muhammadans called him El Borak, the Swift, and they 恐れるd and 尊敬（する）・点d him. But in Gustav Hunyadi, renegade and international adventurer, Gordon had met his match. And he knew now that Hunyadi, out there in the night, was lurking with his Turkish 殺し屋s. They had ferreted him out, at last.
Gordon glided out from の中で the 玉石s as silently as a 広大な／多数の／重要な cat. No hillman, born and bred の中で those crags, could have 避けるd loose 石／投石するs more skillfully or 選ぶd his way more carefully. He 長，率いるd southward, because that was the direction in which lay his ultimate goal. Doubtless he was 完全に surrounded.
His soft native sandals made no noise, and in his dark hillman's garb he was all but invisible. In the pitch-黒人／ボイコット 影をつくる／尾行する of an overhanging cliff, he suddenly sensed a human presence ahead of him. A 発言する／表明する hissed, a European tongue でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れるing the Turki words: "Ali! Is that you? Is the dog dead? Why did you not call me?"
Gordon struck savagely in the direction of the 発言する／表明する. His ピストル バーレル／樽 crunched glancingly against a human skull, and a man groaned and crumpled. All about rose a sudden clamor of 発言する／表明するs, the rasp of leather on 激しく揺する. A stentorian 発言する／表明する began shouting, with a 公式文書，認める of panic.
Gordon cast stealth to the 勝利，勝つd. With a bound he （疑いを）晴らすd the writhing 団体／死体 before him, and sped off 負かす／撃墜する the slope. Behind him rose a chorus of yells as the men in hiding glimpsed his shadowy 人物／姿／数字 racing through the starlight. Jets of orange 削減（する） the 不明瞭, but the 弾丸s whined high and wide. Gordon's 飛行機で行くing 形態／調整 was sighted but an instant, then the shadowy 湾s of the night swallowed it up. His enemies raved like 失敗させる／負かすd wolves in their bewildered 激怒（する）. Once again their prey had slipped like an eel through their fingers and was gone.
So thought Gordon as he raced across the 高原 beyond the clustering cliffs. They would be hot after him, with hillmen who could 追跡する a wolf across naked 激しく揺するs, but with the start he had—Even with the thought the earth gaped blackly before him. Even his steel-罠（にかける） quickness could not save him. His しっかり掴むing 手渡すs caught only thin 空気／公表する as he 急落（する），激減（する）d downward, to strike his 長，率いる with 素晴らしい 軍隊 at the 底（に届く）.
When he 回復するd his senses a 冷気／寒がらせる 夜明け was whitening the sky. He sat up groggily and felt his 長，率いる, where a large lump was clotted with 乾燥した，日照りのd 血. It was only by chance that his neck was not broken. He had fallen into a ravine, and during the precious time he should have 雇うd in flight, he was lying senseless の中で the 激しく揺するs at the 底（に届く）.
Again he felt for the packet under his native shirt, though he knew it was fastened there securely. Those papers were his death-令状, which only his 技術 and wit could 妨げる 存在 遂行する／発効させるd. Men had laughed when Francis Xavier Gordon had 警告するd them that the devil's own stew was 泡ing in Central Asia, where a 悪魔の（ような） adventurer was dreaming of an 無法者 empire.
To 証明する his 主張, Gordon had gone into Turkestan, in guise of a wandering Afghan. Years spent in the Orient had given him the ability to pass himself for a native anywhere. He had 安全な・保証するd proof no one could ignore or 否定する, but he had been 認めるd at last. He had fled for his life, and for more than his life, then. And Hunyadi, the renegade who plotted the 破壊 of nations, was hot on his heels. He had followed Gordon across the steppes, through the 山のふもとの丘s, and up into the mountains where he had thought at last to throw him off. But he had failed. The Hungarian was a human bloodhound. 用心深い, too, as shown by his sending his craftiest slayer in to strike a blow in the dark.
Gordon 設立する his ライフル銃／探して盗む and began the climb out of the ravine. Under his left arm was proof that would make 確かな 公式の／役人s wake up and take steps to 妨げる the atrocious thing that Gustav Hunyadi planned. The proof was in the form of letters to さまざまな Central Asian 長，指導者s, 調印するd and 調印（する）d with the Hungarian's own 手渡す. They 明らかにする／漏らすd his whole 陰謀（を企てる） to embroil Central Asia in a 宗教的な war and send howling hordes of fanatics against the Indian 国境. It was a 計画（する） for plundering on a staggering 規模. That 一括 must reach Fort Ali Masjid! With all his アイロンをかける will Francis Xavier Gordon was 決定するd it should. With equal 決意／決議 Gustav Hunyadi was 決定するd it should not. In the 衝突／不一致 of two such indomitable temperaments, kingdoms shake and death 得るs a red 収穫.
Dirt 崩壊するd and pebbles 動揺させるd 負かす／撃墜する as Gordon worked his way up the sloping 味方する of the ravine. But presently he clambered over the 辛勝する／優位 and cast a quick look about him. He was on a 狭くする 高原, pitched の中で 巨大（な） slopes which rose somberly above it. To the south showed the mouth of a 狭くする gorge, 塀で囲むd by rocky cliffs. In that direction he hurried.
He had not gone a dozen steps when a ライフル銃／探して盗む 割れ目d behind him. Even as the 勝利，勝つd of the 弾丸 fanned his cheek, Gordon dropped flat behind a 玉石, a sense of futility tugging at his heart. He could never escape Hunyadi. This chase would end only when one of them was dead. In the 増加するing light he saw 人物／姿／数字s moving の中で the 玉石s along the slopes of the northwest of the 高原. He had lost his chance of escaping under cover of 不明瞭, and now it looked like a finish fight.
He thrust 今後 his ライフル銃／探して盗む バーレル／樽. Too much to hope that that blind blow in the dark had killed Hunyadi. The man had as many lives as a cat. A 弾丸 splattered on the 玉石 の近くに to his 肘. He had seen a tongue of 炎上 lick out, 場内取引員／株価 the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す where the 狙撃者 lurked. He watched those 激しく揺するs, and when a 長，率いる and part of an arm and shoulder （機の）カム up with a ライフル銃／探して盗む, Gordon 解雇する／砲火／射撃d. It was a long 発射, but the man 後部d upright and pitched 今後 across the 激しく揺する that had 避難所d him.
More 弾丸s （機の）カム, spattering Gordon's 避難. Up on the slopes, where the big 玉石s 均衡を保った breathtakingly, he saw his enemies moving like ants, wriggling from ledge to ledge. They were spread out in a wide ragged 半分-circle, trying to surround him again. He did not have enough 弾薬／武器 to stop them. He dared shoot only when 公正に／かなり 確かな of 得点する／非難する／２０ing a 攻撃する，衝突する. He dared not make a break for the gorge behind him. He would be riddled before he could reach it. It looked like 追跡する's end for him, and while Gordon had 直面するd death too often to 恐れる it 大いに, the thought that those papers would never reach their 目的地 filled him with 黒人／ボイコット despair.
A 弾丸 whining off his 玉石 from a new angle made him crouch lower, 捜し出すing the marksman. He glimpsed a white turban, high up on the slope, above the others. From that position the Turk could 減少（する） 弾丸s 直接／まっすぐに into Gordon's covert.
The American could not 転換 his position, because a dozen other ライフル銃／探して盗むs nearer at 手渡す were covering it; and he could not stay where he was. One of those dropping slugs would find him sooner or later. But the Ottoman decided that he saw a still better position, and 危険d a 転換, 信用ing to the long 上りの／困難な 範囲. He did not know Gordon as Hunyadi knew him.
The Hungarian, その上の 負かす／撃墜する the slope, yelled a 猛烈な／残忍な 命令（する）, but the Turk was already in 動議, 長，率いるd for another ledge, his 衣料品s flapping about him. Gordon's 弾丸 caught him in 中央の-stride. With a wild cry he staggered, fell headlong and 衝突，墜落d against a 均衡を保った 玉石. He was a 激しい man, and the 衝撃 of his hurtling 団体／死体 倒れるd the 激しく揺する from its 安定性のない base. It rolled 負かす／撃墜する the slope, dislodging others as it （機の）カム. Dirt 動揺させるd in 広げるing streams about it.
Men began recklessly to break cover. Gordon saw Hunyadi spring up and run obliquely across the slope, out of the path of the 事情に応じて変わる 激しく揺するs. The tall supple 人物／姿／数字 was unmistakable, even in Turkish garb. Gordon 解雇する／砲火／射撃d and 行方不明になるd, as he always seemed to 行方不明になる the man, and then there was no time to 解雇する／砲火／射撃 again. The whole slope was in 動議 now, 雷鳴ing 負かす／撃墜する in a bellowing, grinding 激流 of 石／投石するs and dirt and 玉石s. The Turks were 逃げるing after Hunyadi, 叫び声をあげるing: "Ya Allah!"
Gordon sprang up and raced for the mouth of the gorge. He did not look 支援する. He heard above the roaring, the awful 叫び声をあげるs that 示すd the end of men caught and 鎮圧するd and ground to 血まみれの shreds under the 急ぐing トンs of shale and 石／投石する. He dropped his ライフル銃／探して盗む. Every ounce of extra 重荷（を負わせる） counted now. A deafening roar was in his ears as he 伸び（る）d the mouth of the gorge and flung himself about the beetling jut of the cliff. He crouched there, flattened against the 塀で囲む, and through the gorge mouth roared a welter of dirt and 激しく揺するs, 玉石s bouncing and 宙返り／暴落するing, 回復するing thunderously from the 味方するs and hurtling on 負かす／撃墜する the sloping pass. Yet, it was a only a trickle of the 雪崩／（抗議などの）殺到 which was コースを変えるd into the gorge. The main 本体，大部分／ばら積みの of it 雷鳴d on 負かす／撃墜する the mountain.
GORDON PULLED AWAY from the cliff that had 避難所d him. He stood 膝 深い in loose dirt and broken 石／投石するs. A 飛行機で行くing 後援 of 石／投石する had 削減（する） his 直面する. The roar of the 地滑り was followed by an unearthly silence. Looking 支援する on to the 高原, he saw a 広大な litter of broken earth, shale and 激しく揺するs. Here and there an arm or a 脚 protruded, 血まみれの and 新たな展開d, to 示す where a human 犠牲者 had been caught by the 激流. Of Hunyadi and the 生存者s there was no 調印する.
But Gordon was a fatalist where the 悪魔の（ような） Hungarian was 関心d. He felt やめる sure that Hunyadi had 生き残るd, and would be upon his 追跡する again as soon as he could collect his demoralized 信奉者s. It was likely that he would 新採用する the natives of these hills to his service. The man's 力／強力にする の中で the 信奉者s of Islam was little short of marvelous.
So Gordon turned hurriedly 負かす／撃墜する the gorge. ライフル銃／探して盗む, pack of 供給（する）s, all were lost. He had only the 衣料品s on his 団体／死体 and the ピストル at his hip. 餓死 in these barren mountains was a haunting 脅し, if he escaped 存在 butchered by the wild tribes which 住むd them. There was about one chance in ten thousand of his ever getting out alive. But he had known it was a desperate 追求（する），探索（する） when he started, and long 半端物s had never 妨げるd Francis Xavier Gordon, once of El Paso, Texas, and now for years 兵士 of fortune in the outlands of the world.
The gorge 新たな展開d and bent between tortuous 塀で囲むs. The 分裂（する）-off arm of the 雪崩／（抗議などの）殺到 had quickly spent its 軍隊 there, but Gordon still saw the slanting 床に打ち倒す littered with 玉石s which had つまずくd 負かす／撃墜する from the higher levels. And suddenly he stopped short, his ピストル snapping to a level.
On the ground before him lay a man such as he had never seen in the Afghan mountains or どこかよそで. He was young, but tall and strong, 覆う？ in short silk breeches, tunic and sandals, and girdled with a 幅の広い belt which supported a curved sword.
His hair caught Gordon's attention. Blue 注目する，もくろむs, such as the 青年 had, were not uncommon in the hills. But his hair was yellow, bound to his 寺s with a 禁止（する）d of red cloth, and 落ちるing in a square-削減（する） mane nearly to his shoulders. He was 明確に no Afghan. Gordon remembered tales he had heard of a tribe living somewhere in these mountains who were neither Afghans nor Muhammadans. Had he つまずくd upon a member of that 伝説の race?
The 青年 was vainly trying to draw his sword. He was pinned 負かす／撃墜する by a 玉石 which had evidently caught him as he raced for the 避難所 of the cliff.
"殺す me and be done with it, you Moslem dog!" he gritted in Pushtu.
"I won't 害（を与える） you," answered Gordon. "I'm no Moslem. 嘘（をつく） still. I'll help you if I can. I have no quarrel with you."
The 激しい 石／投石する lay across the 青年's 脚 in such a way that he could not extricate the member.
"Is your 脚 broken?" Gordon asked.
"I think not. But if you move the 石／投石する it will grind it to shreds."
Gordon saw that he spoke the truth. A 不景気 on the under 味方する of the 石／投石する had saved the 青年's 四肢, while 拘留するing it. If he rolled the 玉石 either way, it would 鎮圧する the member.
"I'll have to 解除する it straight up," he grunted.
"You can never do it," said the 青年 despairingly. "Ptolemy himself could scarecely 解除する it, and you are not nearly so big as he."
Gordon did not pause to 問い合わせ who Ptolemy might be, nor to explain that strength is not altogether a 事柄 of size alone. His own thews were like 集まりs of knit steel wires.
Yet he was not at all sure that he could 解除する that 玉石, which, while not so large as many which rolled 負かす／撃墜する the gorge, was yet bulky enough to make the 仕事 look 疑わしい. またがるing the 囚人's 団体／死体, he を締めるd his 脚s wide, spread his 武器 and gripped the big 石／投石する. Putting all his corded sinews and his 科学の knowledge of 負わせる-解除するing into his 成果／努力, he uncoiled his strength in a smooth, mighty 拡大 of 力／強力にする.
His heels dug into the dirt, the veins in his 寺s swelled, and 予期しない knots of muscles sprang out on his 緊張するing 武器. But the 広大な／多数の／重要な 石／投石する （機の）カム up 刻々と without a jerk or waver, and the man on the ground drew his 脚 （疑いを）晴らす and rolled away.
Gordon let the 石／投石する 落ちる and stepped 支援する, shaking the perspiration from his 直面する. The other worked his skinned, bruised 脚 gingerly, then looked up and 延長するd his 手渡す in a curiously un-oriental gesture.
"I am Bardylis of Attalus," he said. "My life is yours!"
"Men call me El Borak," answered Gordon, taking his 手渡す. They made a strong contrast: the tall, rangy 青年 in his strange garb, with his white 肌 and yellow hair, and the American, shorter, more compactly built, in his tattered Afghan 衣料品s, and his sun-darkened 肌. Gordon's hair was straight and 黒人／ボイコット as an Indian's, and his 注目する，もくろむs were 黒人／ボイコット as his hair.
"I was 追跡（する）ing on the cliffs," said Bardylis. "I heard 発射s and was going to 調査／捜査する them, when I heard the roar of the 雪崩／（抗議などの）殺到 and the gorge was filled with 飛行機で行くing 激しく揺するs. You are no Pathan, にもかかわらず your 指名する. Come to my village. You look like a man who is 疲れた／うんざりした and has lost his way."
"Where is your village?"
"Yonder, 負かす／撃墜する the gorge and beyond the cliffs." Bardylis pointed southward. Then, looking over Gordon's shoulder, he cried out. Gordon wheeled. High up on the beetling gorge 塀で囲む, a turbaned 長，率いる was poked from behind a ledge. A dark 直面する 星／主役にするd 負かす／撃墜する wildly. Gordon ripped out his ピストル with a snarl, but the 直面する 消えるd and he heard a frantic 発言する／表明する yelling in guttural Turki. Other 発言する／表明するs answered, の中で which the American 認めるd the strident accents of Gustav Hunyadi. The pack was at his heels again. Undoubtedly they had seen Gordon take 避難 in the gorge, and as soon as the 玉石s 中止するd 宙返り／暴落するing, had 横断するd the torn slope and followed the cliffs where they would have the advantage of the man below.
But Gordon did not pause to ruminate. Even as the turbaned 長，率いる 消えるd, he wheeled with a word to his companion, and darted around the next bend in the canyon. Bardylis followed without question, limping on his bruised 脚, but moving with 十分な alacrity. Gordon heard his pursuers shouting on the cliff above and behind him, heard them 衝突，墜落ing recklessly through stunted bushes, dislodging pebbles as they ran, heedless of everything except their 願望（する） to sight their quarry.
Although the pursuers had one advantage, the 逃亡者／はかないものs had another. They could follow the わずかに slanting 床に打ち倒す of the gorge more 速く than the others could run along the uneven cliffs, with their broken 辛勝する／優位s and jutting ledges. They had to climb and 緊急発進する, and Gordon heard their maledictions growing fainter in the distance behind him. When they 現れるd from the その上の mouth of the gorge, they were far in 前進する of Hunyadi's 殺し屋s.
But Gordon knew that the 一時的休止，執行延期 was 簡潔な／要約する. He looked about him. The 狭くする gorge had opened out の上に a 追跡する which ran straight along the crest of a cliff that fell away sheer three hundred feet into a 深い valley, hemmed in on all 味方するs by gigantic precipices. Gordon looked 負かす／撃墜する and saw a stream winding の中で dense trees far below, and その上の on, what seemed to be 石／投石する buildings の中で the groves.
Bardylis pointed to the latter.
"There is my village!" he said excitedly. "If we could get into the valley we would be 安全な! This 追跡する leads to the pass at the southern end, but it is five miles distant!"
Gordon shook his 長，率いる. The 追跡する ran straight along the 最高の，を越す of the cliff and afforded no cover. "They'll run us 負かす／撃墜する and shoot us like ネズミs at long 範囲, if we keep to this path."
"There is one other way!" cried Bardylis. "負かす／撃墜する the cliff, at this very point! It is a secret way, and 非，不，無 but a man of my people has ever followed it, and then only when hard 圧力（をかける）d. There are handholds 削減（する） into the 激しく揺する. Can you climb 負かす／撃墜する?"
"I'll try," answered Gordon, sheathing his ピストル. To try to go 負かす／撃墜する those 非常に高い cliffs looked like 自殺, but it was sure death to try to outrun Hunyadi's ライフル銃／探して盗むs along the 追跡する. At any minute he 推定する／予想するd the Magyar and his men to break cover.
"I will go first and guide you," said Bardylis 速く, kicking off his sandals and letting himself over the cliff 辛勝する／優位. Gordon did likewise and followed him. 粘着するing to the sharp lip of the precipice, Gordon saw a 一連の small 穴を開けるs pitting the 激しく揺する. He began the 降下／家系 slowly, 粘着するing like a 飛行機で行く to a 塀で囲む. It was hair-raising work, and the only thing that made it possible at all was the slight convex slant of the hill at that point. Gordon had made many a desperate climb during his career, but never one which put such 緊張する on 神経 and thew. Again and again only the 支配する of a finger stood between him and death. Below him Bardylis toiled downward, guiding and encouraging him, until the 青年 finally dropped to the earth and stood looking tensely up at the man above him.
Then he shouted, with a 公式文書，認める of strident 恐れる in his 発言する／表明する. Gordon, still twenty feet from the 底（に届く）, craned his neck 上向き. High above him he saw a bearded 直面する peering 負かす／撃墜する at him, convulsed with 勝利. Deliberately the Turk sighted downward with a ピストル, then laid it aside and caught up a 激しい 石／投石する, leaning far over the 辛勝する／優位 to 目的（とする） its downward course. 粘着するing with toes and nails, Gordon drew and 解雇する／砲火／射撃d 上向き with the same 動議. Then he flattened himself 猛烈に against the cliff and clung on.
The man above 叫び声をあげるd and pitched headfirst over the brink. The 激しく揺する 急ぐd 負かす／撃墜する, striking Gordon a ちらりと見ることing blow on the shoulder, then the writhing 団体／死体 hurtled past and struck with a sickening concussion on the earth below. A 発言する／表明する shouting furiously high above 発表するd the presence of Hunyadi at last, and Gordon slid and 宙返り／暴落するd recklessly the remaining distance, and, with Bardylis, ran for the 避難所 of the trees.
A ちらりと見ること backward and 上向き showed him Hunyadi crouching on the cliff, leveling a ライフル銃／探して盗む, but the next instant Gordon and Bardylis were out of sight, and Hunyadi, 明らかに dreading an answering 発射 from the trees, made a 迅速な 退却／保養地 with the four Turks who were the 生存者s of his party.
"YOU SAVED MY life when you showed me that path," said Gordon.
Bardylis smiled. "Any man of Attalus could have shown you the path, which we call the Road of the Eagles. But only a hero could have followed it. From what land comes my brother?"
"From the west," answered Gordon; "from the land of America, beyond Frankistan and the sea."
Bardylis shook his 長，率いる. "I have never heard of it. But come with me. My people are yours henceforth."
As they moved through the trees, Gordon scanned the cliffs in vain for some 調印する of his enemies. He felt 確かな that neither Hunyadi, bold as he was, nor any of his companions would try to follow them 負かす／撃墜する "the Road of the Eagles." They were not mountaineers. They were more at home in the saddle than on a hill path. They would 捜し出す some other way into the valley. He spoke his thoughts to Bardylis.
"They will find death," answered the 青年 grimly. "The Pass of the King, at the southern end of the valley, is the only 入り口. Men guard it with matchlocks night and day. The only strangers who enter the Valley of Iskander are 仲買人s and merchants with pack-mules."
Gordon 検査／視察するd his companion curiously, aware of a 確かな tantalizing sensation of familiarity he could not place.
"Who are your people?" he asked. "You are not an Afghan. You do not look like a Oriental at all."
"We are the Sons of Iskander," answered Bardylis. "When the 広大な／多数の／重要な 征服者／勝利者 （機の）カム through these mountains long ago, he built the city we call Attalus, and left hundreds of his 兵士s and their women in it. Iskander marched 西方の again, and after a long while word （機の）カム that he was dead and his empire divided. But the people of Iskander abode here, unconquered. Many times we have 虐殺（する）d the Afghan dogs who （機の）カム against us."
Light （機の）カム to Gordon, illuminating that misplaced familiarity. Iskander—Alexander the 広大な／多数の／重要な, who 征服する／打ち勝つd this part of Asia and left 植民地s behind him. This boy's profile was classic Grecian, such as Gordon had seen in sculptured marble, and the 指名するs he spoke were Grecian. Undoubtedly he was the 子孫 of some Macedonian 兵士 who had followed the 広大な／多数の／重要な 征服者／勝利者 on his 侵略 of the East.
To 実験（する） the 事柄, he spoke to Bardylis in 古代の Greek, one of the many languages, modern and obsolete, he had 選ぶd up in his 変化させるd career. The 青年 cried out with 楽しみ.
"You speak our tongue!" he exclaimed, in the same language. "Not in a thousand years has a stranger come to us with our own speech on his lips. We converse with the Moslems in their own tongue, and they know nothing of ours. Surely, you too, are a Son of Iskander?"
Gordon shook his 長，率いる, wondering how he could explain his knowledge of the tongue to this 青年 who knew nothing of the world outside the hills.
"My ancestors were neighbors of the people of Alexander," he said at last. "So, many of my people speak their language."
They were approaching the 石／投石する roofs which shone through the trees, and Gordon saw that Bardylis's "village" was a 相当な town, surrounded by a 塀で囲む. It was so plainly the work of long dead Grecian architects that he felt like a man who wandered into a past and forgotten age.
Outside the 塀で囲むs, men tilled the thin 国／地域 with 原始の 器具／実施するs, and herded sheep and cattle. A few horses grazed along the bank of the stream which meandered through the valley. All the men, like Bardylis, were tall and fair-haired. They dropped their work and （機の）カム running up, 星／主役にするing at the 黒人／ボイコット-haired stranger in 敵意を持った surprise, until Bardylis 安心させるd them.
"It is the first time any but a 捕虜 or a 仲買人 has entered the valley in centuries," said Bardylis to Gordon. "Say nothing till I 企て，努力，提案 you. I wish to surprise my people with your knowledge. Zeus, they will gape when they hear a stranger speak to them in their own tongue!"
The gate in the 塀で囲む hung open and unguarded, and Gordon noticed that the 塀で囲む itself was in a poor 明言する／公表する of 修理. Bardylis 発言／述べるd that the guard in the 狭くする pass at the end of the valley was 十分な 保護, and that no 敵意を持った 軍隊 had ever reached the city itself. They passed through and walked along a 幅の広い 覆うd street, in which yellow-haired people in tunics, men, women and children, went about their 仕事s much like the Greeks of two thousand years ago, の中で buildings which were duplicates of the structures of 古代の Athens.
A （人が）群がる quickly formed about them, but Bardylis, bursting with glee and importance, gave them no satisfaction. He went straight toward a large edifice 近づく the 中心 of the town and 開始するing the 幅の広い steps, （機の）カム into a large 議会 where several men, more richly dressed than the ありふれた people, sat casting dice on a small （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する before them. The （人が）群がる 群れているd in after them, and thronged the doorway 熱望して. The 長，指導者s 中止するd their dice game, and one, a 巨大（な） with a 命令（する）ing 空気／公表する, 需要・要求するd: "What do you wish, Bardylis? Who is this stranger?"
"A friend of Attalus, Ptolemy, king of the valley of Iskander," answered Bardylis. "He speaks the tongue of Iskander!"
"What tale is this?" 厳しく 需要・要求するd the 巨大（な）.
"Let them hear, brother!" Bardylis directed triumphantly.
"I come in peace," said Gordon 簡潔に, in archaic Greek. "I am called El Borak, but I am no Moslem."
A murmur of surprise went up from the throng, and Ptolemy fingered his chin and scowled suspiciously. He was a magnificently built man, clean-shaven like all his tribesmen, and handsome, but his visage was moody.
He listened impatiently while Bardylis 関係のある the circumstances of his 会合 with Gordon, and when he told of the American 解除するing the 石／投石する that pinned him 負かす／撃墜する, Ptolemy frowned and involuntarily flexed his own 大規模な thews. He seemed ill-pleased at the 是認 with which the people 率直に 迎える／歓迎するd the tale. Evidently these 子孫s of Grecian 競技者s had as much 賞賛 for physical perfection as had their 古代の ancestors, and Ptolemy was vain of his prowess.
"How could he 解除する such a 石／投石する?" the king broke in. "He is of no 広大な／多数の／重要な size. His 長，率いる would scarcely 最高の，を越す my chin."
"He is mighty beyond his stature, O king," retorted Bardylis. "Here is the bruise on my 脚 to 証明する I tell the truth. He 解除するd the 石／投石する I could not move, and he （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する the Road of the Eagles, which few even の中で the Attalans have dared. He has traveled far and fought men, and now he would feast and 残り／休憩（する）."
"See to it then," grunted Ptolemy contemptuously, turning 支援する to his dice game. "If he is a Moslem 秘かに調査する, your 長，率いる shall answer for it."
"I 火刑／賭ける my 長，率いる 喜んで on his honesty, O king!" answered Bardylis proudly. Then, taking Gordon's arm, he said softly, "Come my friend. Ptolemy is short of patience and scant of 儀礼. 支払う／賃金 no 注意する to him. I will take you to the house of my father."
As they 押し進めるd their way through the （人が）群がる, Gordon's gaze 選ぶd out an 外国人 countenance の中で the frank, blond 直面するs—a thin, swarthy visage, whose 黒人／ボイコット 注目する，もくろむs gleamed avidly on the American. The man was a Tajik, with a bundle on his 支援する. When he saw he was 存在 scrutinized he smirked and bobbed his 長，率いる. There was something familiar about the gesture.
"Who is that man?" Gordon asked.
"Abdullah, a Moslem dog whom we 許す to enter the valley with beads and mirrors and such trinkets as our women love. We 貿易（する） 鉱石 and ワイン and 肌s for them."
Gordon remembered the fellow now—a shifty character who used to hang around Peshawur, and was 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd of 密輸するing ライフル銃／探して盗むs up the Khyber Pass. But when he turned and looked 支援する, the dark 直面する had 消えるd in the （人が）群がる. However, there was no 推論する／理由 to 恐れる Abdullah, even if the man 認めるd him. The Tajik could not know of the papers he carried. Gordon felt that the people of Attalus were friendly to the friend of Bardylis, though the 青年 had plainly roused Ptolemy's jealous vanity by his 賞賛する of Gordon's strength.
Bardylis 行為／行うd Gordon 負かす／撃墜する the street to a large 石／投石する house with a 中心存在d portico, where he proudly 陳列する，発揮するd his friend to his father, a venerable patriarch called Perdiccas, and his mother, a tall, stately woman, 井戸／弁護士席 along in years. The Attalans certainly did not keep their women in seclusion like the Moslems. Gordon saw Bradylis's sisters, 強健な blond beauties, and his young brother. The American could scarcely 抑える a smile at the strangeness of it all, 存在 勧めるd into the every-day family life of two thousand years ago. These people were definitely not barbarians. They were lower, undoubtedly, in the cultural 規模 than their Hellenic ancestors, but they were still more 高度に civilized than their 猛烈な／残忍な Afghan neighbors.
The 利益／興味 in their guest was 本物の, but 非，不，無 save Bardylis showed much 利益／興味 in the world outside their valley. Presently the 青年 led Gordon into an inner 議会 and 始める，決める food and ワイン before him. The American ate and drank ravenously, suddenly aware of the lean days that had に先行するd this feast. While he ate, Bardylis talked, but he did not speak of the men who had been 追求するing Gordon. Evidently he supposed them to have been Afghans of the surrounding hills, whose 敵意 was proverbial. Gordon learned that no man of Attalus had ever been more than a day's 旅行 away from the valley. The ferocity of the hill tribes all about them had 孤立するd them from the world 完全に.
When Gordon at last 表明するd a 願望（する） for sleep, Bardylis left him alone, 保証するing him that he would not be 乱すd. The American was somewhat 乱すd to find that there was no door to his 議会, 単に a curtain drawn across an archway. Bardylis had said there were no thieves in Attalus, but 警告を与える was so much a natural part of Gordon that he 設立する himself a prey to uneasiness. The room opened の上に a 回廊（地帯）, and the 回廊（地帯）, he believed, gave の上に an outer door. The people of Attalus 明らかに did not find it necessary to 保護（する）／緊急輸入制限 their dwellings. But though a native could sleep in safety, that might not 適用する to a stranger.
Finally Gordon drew aside the couch which formed the main piece of furniture for the 議会, and making sure no 秘かに調査するing 注目する，もくろむs were on him, he worked loose one of the small 石／投石する 封鎖するs which composed the 塀で囲む. Taking the silk-bound packet from his shirt, he thrust it into the aperture, 押し進めるd 支援する the 石／投石する as far as it would go, and 取って代わるd the couch.
Stretching himself, then, upon the couch, he fell to 発展させるing 計画（する）s for escape with his life and those papers which meant so much to peace of Asia. He was 安全な enough in the valley, but he knew Hunyadi would wait for him outside with the patience of a cobra. He could not stay here forever. He would 規模 the cliffs some dark night and bolt for it. Hunyadi would undoubtedly have all the tribes in the hills after him, but he would 信用 to luck and his good 権利 arm, as he had so often before. The ワイン he had drunk was potent. Weariness after the long flight 負わせるd his 四肢s. Gordon's meditations 合併するd into dream. He slept 深く，強烈に and long.
WHEN GORDON AWOKE he was in utter 不明瞭. He knew that he had slept for many hours, and night had fallen. Silence 統治するd over the house, but he had been awakened by the soft swish of the curtains over the doorway.
He sat up on his couch and asked: "Is that you, Bardylis?"
A 発言する／表明する grunted, "Yes." Even as he was electrified by the 現実化 that the 発言する／表明する was not that of Bardylis, something 衝突，墜落d 負かす／撃墜する on his 長，率いる, and a deeper blackness, 発射 with 解雇する／砲火／射撃-誘発するs, （海，煙などが）飲み込むd him.
* * * * *
When he 回復するd consciousness, a たいまつ dazzled his 注目する，もくろむs, and in its glow he saw three men—burly, yellow-haired men of Attalus with 直面するs more stupid and brutish than any he had yet seen. He was lying on a 石／投石する 厚板 in a 明らかにする 議会, whose 崩壊するing, cob-webbed 塀で囲むs were ばく然と illumined by the gutturing たいまつ. His 武器 were bound, but not his 脚s. The sound of a door 開始 made him crane his neck, and he saw a stooped, vulture-like 人物／姿／数字 enter the room. It was Abdullah, the Tajik.
He looked 負かす／撃墜する on the American with his ネズミ-like features 新たな展開d in a venomous grin.
"Low lies the terrible El Borak!" he taunted. "Fool! I knew you the instant I saw you in the palace of Ptolemy."
"You have no 反目，不和 with me," growled Gordon.
"A friend of 地雷 has," answered the Tajik. "That is nothing to me, but it shall 伸び（る） me 利益（をあげる）. It is true you have never 害（を与える）d me, but I have always 恐れるd you. So when I saw you in the city, I gathered my goods and 急いでd to 出発／死, not knowing what you did here. But beyond the pass I met the feringhi Hunyadi, and he asked me if I had seen you in the valley of Iskander whither you had fled to escape him. I answered that I had, and he 勧めるd me to help him steal into the valley and take from you 確かな 文書s he said you stole from him.
"But I 辞退するd, knowing that these Attalan devils would kill me if I tried to 密輸する a stranger into Iskander, and Hunyadi went 支援する into the hills with his four Turks, and the horde of ragged Afghans he has made his friends and 同盟（する）s. When he had gone I returned to the valley, telling the guardsmen at the pass that I 恐れるd the Pathans.
"I 説得するd these three men to 援助（する） me in 逮捕（する）ing you. 非，不，無 will know what became of you, and Ptolemy will not trouble himself about you, because he is jealous of your strength. It is an old tradition that the king of Attalus must be the strongest man in the city. Ptolemy would have killed you himself, in time. But I will …に出席する to that. I do not wish to have you on my 追跡する, after I have taken from you the papers Hunyadi wishes. He shall have them 最終的に—if he is willing to 支払う／賃金 enough!" He laughed, a high, cackling laugh, and turned to the stolid Attalans. "Did you search him?"
"We 設立する nothing," a 巨大（な） rumbled.
Abdullah tck-tck'ed his teeth in annoyance.
"You do not know how to search a Feringhi. Here, I will do it myself."
He ran a practiced を引き渡す his 捕虜, scowling as his search was unrewarded. He tried to feel under the American's armpits, but Gordon's 武器 were bound so closely to his 味方するs that this was impossible.
Abdullah frowned worriedly, and drew a curved dagger.
"削減（する） loose his 武器," he directed, "then all three of you lay 持つ／拘留する on him; it is like letting a ヒョウ out of his cage."
Gordon made no 抵抗 and was quickly spread-eagled on the 厚板, with a big Attalan at each arm and one on his 脚s. They held him closely, but seemed skeptical of Abdullah's repeated 警告s 関心ing the stranger's strength.
The Tajik again approached his 囚人, lowering his knife as he reached out. With a dynamic 解放（する） of coiled steel muscles, Gordon wrenched his 脚s 解放する／自由な from the しっかり掴む of the careless Attalan and drove his heels into Abdullah's breast. Had his feet been booted they would have 洞穴d in the Tajik's breast bone. As it was, the merchant 発射 backward with an agonized grunt, and struck the 床に打ち倒す flat on his shoulders.
Gordon had not paused. That same terrific 肺 had torn his left arm 解放する／自由な, and heaving up on the 厚板, he 粉砕するd his left 握りこぶし against the jaw of the man who gripped his 権利 arm. The 衝撃 was that of a caulking 大打撃を与える, and the Attalan went 負かす／撃墜する like a butchered ox. The other two 肺d in, 手渡すs しっかり掴むing. Gordon threw himself over the 厚板 to the 床に打ち倒す on the other 味方する, and as one of the 軍人s 肺d around it, he caught the Attalan's wrist, wheeled, jerking the arm over his shoulder, and 投げつけるd the man bodily over his 長，率いる. The Attalan struck the 床に打ち倒す 長，率いる-first with an 衝撃 that knocked 勝利，勝つd and consciousness out of him together.
The remaining kidnapper was more 用心深い. Seeing the terrible strength and blinding 速度(を上げる） of his smaller 敵, he drew a long knife and （機の）カム in 慎重に, 捜し出すing an 適切な時期 for a mortal thrust. Gordon fell 支援する, putting the 厚板 between himself and that 微光ing blade, while the other circled warily after him. Suddenly the American stooped and ripped a 類似の knife from the belt of the man he had first felled. As he did so, the Attalan gave a roar, （疑いを）晴らすd the 厚板 with a lion-like bound, and 削除するd in 中央の-空気／公表する at the stooping American.
Gordon crouched still lower and the gleaming blade whistled over his 長，率いる. The man 攻撃する，衝突する the 床に打ち倒す feet-first, off balance, and 宙返り／暴落するd 今後, 十分な into the knife that swept up in Gordon's 手渡す. A strangled cry was wrung from the Attalan's lips as he felt himself impaled on the long blade, and he dragged Gordon 負かす／撃墜する with him in his death struggles.
涙／ほころびing 解放する／自由な from his 弱めるing embrace, Gordon rose, his 衣料品s smeared with his 犠牲者's 血, the red knife in his 手渡す. Abdullah staggered up with a croaking cry, his 直面する green with 苦痛. Gordon snarled like a wolf and sprang toward him, all his murderous passion fully roused. But the sight of that dripping knife and the savage mask of Gordon's 直面する galvanized the Tajik. With a 叫び声をあげる he sprang for the door, knocking the たいまつ from its socket as he passed. It 攻撃する，衝突する the 床に打ち倒す, scattering 誘発するs, and 急落（する），激減（する）ing the room into 不明瞭, and Gordon caromed blindly into the 塀で囲む.
When he 権利d himself and 設立する the door, the room was empty except for himself and the Attalans, dead or senseless.
現れるing from the 議会, he 設立する himself in a 狭くする street, with the 星／主役にするs fading for 夜明け. The building he had just quitted was dilapidated and 明白に 砂漠d. 負かす／撃墜する the 狭くする way he saw the house of Perdiccas. So he had not been carried far. Evidently his abductors had 心配するd no 干渉，妨害. He wondered how much of a 手渡す Bardylis had had in the 陰謀（を企てる）. He did not like to think that the 青年 had betrayed him. But in any event, he would have to return to the house of Perdiccas, to 得る the packet he had 隠すd in the 塀で囲む. He went 負かす／撃墜する the street, still feeling a bit sick and giddy from that blow that had knocked him senseless, now that the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 of 戦う／戦い had 冷静な／正味のd in his veins. The street was 砂漠d. It seemed, indeed, more like an alley than a street, running between the 支援する of the houses.
As he approached the house, he saw someone running toward him. It was Bardylis, and he threw himself on Gordon with a cry of 救済 that was not feigned.
"Oh, my brother!" he exclaimed. "What has happened? I 設立する your 議会 empty a short time ago, and 血 on your couch. Are you 損なわれない? Nay, there is a 削減（する） upon your scalp!"
Gordon explained in a few words, 説 nothing of the letters. He 許すd Bardylis to suppose that Abdullah had been a personal enemy, bent on 復讐. He 信用d the 青年 now, but there was no need to 公表する／暴露する the truth of the packet.
Bardylis whitened with fury. "What a shame upon my house!" he cried. "Last night that dog Abdullah made my father a 現在の of a 広大な／多数の／重要な jug of ワイン, and we all drank except yourself, who were slumbering. I know now the ワイン was drugged. We slept like dogs.
"Because you were our guest, I 地位，任命するd a man at each outer door last night, but they fell asleep because of the ワイン they had drunk. A few minutes ago, searching for you, I 設立する the servant who was 地位，任命するd at the door which opens into this alley from the 回廊（地帯） that runs past your 議会. His throat had been 削減（する）. It was 平易な for them to creep along that 回廊（地帯） and into your 議会 while we slept."
支援する in the 議会, while Bardylis went to fetch fresh 衣料品s, Gordon retrieved the packet from the 塀で囲む and stowed it under his belt. In his waking hours he preferred to keep it on his person.
Bardylis returned then with the breeches, sandals and tunic of the Attalans, and while Gordon donned them, gazed in 賞賛 at the American's bronzed and sinewy torso, devoid as it was of the slightest trace of 黒字／過剰 flesh.
Gordon had scarcely 完全にするd his dressing when 発言する／表明するs were heard without, the tramp of men resounded through the hall, and a group of yellow-haired 軍人s appeared at the doorway, with swords at their 味方するs. Their leader pointed at Gordon, and said: "Ptolemy 命令（する）s that this man appear at once before him, in the hall of 司法（官）."
"What is this?" exclaimed Bardylis. "El Borak is my guest!"
"It is not my part to say," answered the 長，指導者. "I but carry out the 命令（する）s of our king."
Gordon laid a 抑制するing 手渡す on Bardylis's arm. "I will go. I want to see what 商売／仕事 Ptolemy has with me."
"I, too, will go," said Bardylis, with a snap of his jaws. "What this portends I do not know. I do know that El Borak is my friend."
* * * * *
The sun was not yet rising as they strode 負かす／撃墜する the white street toward the palace, but people were already moving about, and many of them followed the 行列.
開始するing the 幅の広い steps of the palace, they entered a wide hall, 側面に位置するd with lofty columns. At the other end there were more steps, wide and curving, 主要な up to a 演壇 on which, in a 王位-like marble 議長，司会を務める, sat the king of Attalus, sullen as ever. A number of his 長，指導者s sat on 石／投石する （法廷の）裁判s on either 味方する of the 演壇, and the ありふれた people 範囲d themselves along the 塀で囲む, leaving a wide space （疑いを）晴らす before the 王位.
In this open space crouched a vulture-like 人物／姿／数字. It was Abdullah, his 注目する，もくろむs 向こうずねing with hate and 恐れる, and before him lay the 死体 of the man Gordon had killed in the 砂漠d house. The other two kidnappers stood nearby, their bruised features sullen and ill at 緩和する.
Gordon was 行為／行うd into the open space before the 演壇, and the guards fell 支援する on either 味方する of him. There was little 形式順守. Ptolemy 動議d to Abdullah and said: "Make your 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金."
Abdullah sprang up and pointed a skinny finger in Gordon's 直面する.
"I 告発する／非難する this man of 殺人!" he screeched. "This morning before 夜明け he attacked me and my friends while we slept, and slew him who lies there. The 残り／休憩（する） of us barely escaped with our lives!"
A mutter of surprise and 怒り／怒る rose from the throng. Ptolemy turned his somber 星／主役にする on Gordon.
"What have you to say?"
"He lies," answered the American impatiently. "I killed that man, yes—"
He was interrupted by a 猛烈な／残忍な cry from the people, who began to 殺到する menacingly 今後, to be thrust 支援する by the guards.
"I only defended my life," said Gordon 怒って, not relishing his position of 被告. "That Tajik dog and three others, that dead man and those two standing there, slipped into my 議会 last night as I slept in the house of Perdiccas, knocked me senseless and carried me away to 略奪する and kill me."
"Aye!" cried Bardylis wrathfully. "And they slew one of my father's servants while he slept."
At that the murmur of the 暴徒 changed, and they 停止（させる）d in 不確定.
"A 嘘（をつく）!" 叫び声をあげるd Abdullah, 解雇する／砲火／射撃d to recklessness by avarice and hate. "Bardylis is bewitched! El Borak is a wizard! How else could he speak your tongue?"
The （人が）群がる recoiled 突然の, and some made furtive 調印するs to 回避する conjury. The Attalans were as superstitious as their ancestors. Bardylis had drawn his sword, and his friends 決起大会／結集させるd about him, clean-削減（する）, rangy youngsters, quivering like 追跡（する）d dogs in their 切望.
"Wizard or man!" roared Bardylis, "he is my brother, and no man touches him save at 危険，危なくする of his 長，率いる!"
"He is a wizard!" 叫び声をあげるd Abdullah, 泡，激怒すること dabbling his 耐えるd. "I know him of old! Beware of him! He will bring madness and 廃虚 upon Attalus! On his 団体／死体 he 耐えるs a scroll with 魔法 inscriptions, wherein lies his necromantic 力／強力にする! Give that scroll to me, and I will take it afar from Attalus and destroy it where it can do no 害（を与える）. Let me 証明する I do not 嘘（をつく）! 持つ／拘留する him while I search him, and I will show you."
"Let no man dare touch El Borak!" challenged Bardylis. Then from his 王位 rose Ptolemy, a 広大な／多数の／重要な 脅迫的な image of bronze, somber and awe-奮起させるing. He strode 負かす／撃墜する the steps, and men shrank 支援する from his 荒涼とした 注目する，もくろむs. Bardylis stood his ground, as if ready to 反抗する even his terrible king, but Gordon drew the lad aside. El Borak was not one to stand 静かに by while someone else defended him.
"It is true," he said without heat, "that I have a packet of papers in my 衣料品s. But it is also true that it has nothing to do with witchcraft, and that I will kill the man who tries to take it from me."
At that Ptolemy's brooding impassiveness 消えるd in a 炎上 of passion.
"Will you 反抗する even me?" he roared, his 注目する，もくろむs 炎ing, his 広大な／多数の／重要な 手渡すs working convulsively. "Do you みなす yourself already king of Attalus? You 黒人／ボイコット-haired dog, I will kill you with my naked 手渡すs! 支援する, and give us space!"
His 広範囲にわたる 武器 投げつけるd men 権利 and left, and roaring like a bull, he 投げつけるd himself on Gordon. So swift and violent was his attack that Gordon was unable to 避ける it. They met breast to breast, and the smaller man was 投げつけるd backward, and to his 膝. Ptolemy 急落（する），激減（する）d over him, unable to check his velocity, and then, locked in a death-grapple they ripped and tore, while the people 殺到するd yelling about them.
Not often did El Borak find himself …に反対するd by a man stronger than himself. But the king of Attalus was a 集まり of 鯨-bone and アイロンをかける, and 神経d to blinding quickness. Neither had a 武器. It was man to man, fighting as the 原始の progenitors of the race fought. There was no science about Ptolemy's 猛攻撃. He fought like a tiger or a lion, with all the appalling frenzy of the primordial. Again and again Gordon 乱打するd his way out of a grapple that 脅すd to snap his spine like a rotten 支店. His blinding blows ripped and 粉砕するd in a 暴動 of 破壊. The tall king of Attalus swayed and trembled before them like a tree in a 嵐／襲撃する, but always （機の）カム 殺到するing 支援する like a 台風, 攻撃するing out with 広大な／多数の／重要な 一打／打撃s that drove Gordon staggering before him, rending and 涙／ほころびing with mighty fingers.
Only his desperate 速度(を上げる） and the savage 技術 of ボクシング and 格闘するing that was his had saved Gordon so long. Naked to the waist, 乱打するd and bruised, his 拷問d 団体／死体 quivered with the 罰 he was 耐えるing. But Ptolemy's 広大な／多数の／重要な chest was heaving. His 直面する was a mask of raw beef, and his torso showed the 影響s of a （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing that would have killed a lesser man.
Gasping a cry that was half 悪口を言う／悪態, half sob, he threw himself bodily on the American, 耐えるing him 負かす／撃墜する by sheer 負わせる. As they fell he drove a 膝 savagely at Gordon's groin, and tried to 落ちる with his 十分な 負わせる on the smaller man's breast. A 新たな展開 of his 団体／死体 sent the 膝 事情に応じて変わる harmlessly along his thigh, and Gordon writhed from under the heavier 団体／死体 as they fell.
The 衝撃 broke their 持つ／拘留するs, and they staggered up 同時に. Through the 血 and sweat that streamed into his 注目する，もくろむs, Gordon saw the king 非常に高い above him, reeling, 武器 spread, 血 注ぐing 負かす／撃墜する his mighty breast. His belly went in as he drew a 広大な／多数の／重要な laboring breath. And into the relaxed 炭坑，オーケストラ席 of his stomach Gordon, crouching, drove his left with all the strength of his rigid arm, アイロンをかける shoulders and knotted calves behind it. His clenched 握りこぶし sank to the wrist in Ptolemy's solar plexus. The king's breath went out of him in an 爆発性の grunt. His 手渡すs dropped and he swayed like a tall tree under the axe. Gordon's 権利, hooking up in a terrible arc, met his jaw with a sound like a cooper's mallet, and Ptolemy pitched headlong and lay still.
IN THE STUPEFIED silence that followed the 落ちる of the king, while all 注目する，もくろむs, dilated with surprise, were 直す／買収する，八百長をするd on the prostrate 巨大（な） and the groggy 人物／姿／数字 that weaved above him, a gasping 発言する／表明する shouted from outside the palace. It grew louder, mingled with a clatter of hoofs which stopped at the outer steps. All wheeled toward the door as a wild 人物／姿／数字 staggered in, spattering 血.
"A guard from the pass!" cried Bardylis.
"The Moslems!" cried the man, 血 spurting through his fingers which he 圧力（をかける）d to his shoulder. "Three hundred Afghans! They have 嵐／襲撃するd the pass! They are led by a feringhi and four turki who have ライフル銃／探して盗むs that 解雇する／砲火／射撃 many times without reloading! These men 発射 us 負かす／撃墜する from afar off as we strove to defend the pass. The Afghans have entered the valley—" He swayed and fell, 血 trickling from his lips. A blue 弾丸 穴を開ける showed in his shoulder, 近づく the base of his neck.
No clamor of terror 迎える／歓迎するd this appalling news. In the utter silence that followed, all 注目する，もくろむs turned toward Gordon, leaning dizzily against the 塀で囲む, gasping for breath.
"You have 征服する／打ち勝つd Ptolemy," said Bardylis. "He is dead or senseless. While he is helpless, you are king. That is the 法律. Tell us what to do."
Gordon gathered his dazed wits and 受託するd the 状況／情勢 without demur or question. If the Afghans were in the valley, there was no time to waste. He thought he could hear the distant popping of 小火器 already.
"How many men are able to 耐える 武器?" he panted.
"Three hundred and fifty," answered one of the 長，指導者s.
"Then let them take their 武器s and follow me," he said. "The 塀で囲むs of the city are rotten. If we try to defend them, with Hunyadi directing the 包囲, we will be 罠にかける like ネズミs. We must 勝利，勝つ with one 一打／打撃, if at all."
Someone brought him a sheathed and belted scimitar and he buckled it about his waist. His 長，率いる was still swimming and his 団体／死体 numb, but from some obscure 貯蔵所 he drew a 基金 of reserve 力／強力にする, and the prospect of a final 対決 with Hunyadi 解雇する／砲火／射撃d his 血. At his directions men 解除するd Ptolemy and placed him on a couch. The king had not moved since he dropped, and Gordon thought it probable that he had a concussion of the brain. That poleax 粉砕する that had felled him would have 分裂（する） the skull of a lesser man.
Then Gordon remembered Abdullah, and looked about for him, but the Tajik had 消えるd.
At the 長，率いる of the 軍人s of Attalus, Gordon strode 負かす／撃墜する the street and through the ponderous gate. All were 武装した with long curved swords; some had unwieldy matchlocks, 古代の 武器s 逮捕（する）d from the hill tribes. He knew the Afghans would be no better 武装した, but the ライフル銃／探して盗むs of Hunyadi and his Turks would count ひどく.
He could see the horde 群れているing up the valley, still some distance away. They were on foot. Lucky for the Attalans that one of the pass-guards had kept a horse 近づく him. さもなければ the Afghans would have been at the very 塀で囲むs of the town before the word （機の）カム of their 侵略.
The invaders were drunk with exultation, 停止（させる）ing to 解雇する／砲火／射撃 辺ぴな huts and growing stuff, and to shoot cattle, in sheer wanton destructiveness. Behind Gordon rose a 深い rumble of 激怒（する）, and looking 支援する at the 炎ing blue 注目する，もくろむs, and tall, 緊張した 人物／姿／数字s, the American knew he was 主要な no weaklings to 戦う／戦い.
He led them to a long straggling heap of 石／投石するs which ran waveringly （疑いを）晴らす across the valley, 場内取引員／株価 an 古代の 要塞, long abandoned and 崩壊するing 負かす／撃墜する. It would afford some cover. When they reached it the invaders were still out of ライフル銃／探して盗む 解雇する／砲火／射撃. The Afghans had 中止するd their plundering and （機の）カム on at an 増加するd gait, howling like wolves.
Gordon ordered his men to 嘘（をつく） 負かす／撃墜する behind the 石／投石するs, and called to him the 軍人s with the matchlocks—some thirty in all.
"支払う／賃金 no 注意する to the Afghans," he 教えるd them. "Shoot at the men with the ライフル銃／探して盗むs. Do not shoot at 無作為の, but wait until I give the word, then all 解雇する／砲火／射撃 together."
The ragged horde were spreading out somewhat as they approached, loosing their matchlocks before they were in 範囲 of the grim 禁止（する）d waiting silently along the 崩壊するd 塀で囲む. The Attalans quivered with 切望, but Gordon gave no 調印する. He saw the tall, supple 人物／姿／数字 of Hunyadi, and the bulkier 形態／調整s of his turbaned Turks, in the 中心 of the ragged 三日月. The men （機の）カム straight on, 明らかに 安全な・保証する in the knowledge that the Attalans had no modern 武器s, and that Gordon had lost his ライフル銃／探して盗む. They had seen him climbing 負かす／撃墜する the cliff without it. Gordon 悪口を言う／悪態d Abdullah, whose treachery had lost him his ピストル.
Before they were in 範囲 of the matchlocks, Hunyadi 解雇する／砲火／射撃d, and the 軍人 at Gordon's 味方する 低迷d over, 演習d through the 長，率いる. A mutter of 激怒（する） and impatience ran along the line, but Gordon 静かなd the 軍人s, ordering them to 嘘（をつく） closer behind the 激しく揺するs. Hunyadi tried again, and the Turks 炎d away, but the 弾丸s whined off the 石／投石するs. The men moved nearer and behind them the Afghans howled with bloodthirsty impatience, 速く getting out of 手渡す.
Gordon had hoped to 誘惑する Hunyadi into reach of his matchlocks. But suddenly, with an earth-shaking yell, the Afghans 嵐／襲撃するd past the Hungarian in a wave, knives 炎上ing like the sun on water. Hunyadi yelped explosively, unable to see or shoot at his enemies, for the 支援するs of his 無謀な 同盟（する）s. にもかかわらず his 悪口を言う／悪態s, they （機の）カム on with a roar.
Gordon, crouching の中で the 石／投石するs, glared at the gaunt 巨大（な）s 急ぐing toward him until he could make out the fanatical 炎 of their 注目する，もくろむs, then he roared: "解雇する／砲火／射撃."
A thunderous ボレー ripped out along the 塀で囲む, ragged, but terrible at that 範囲. A 嵐／襲撃する of lead 爆破d the oncoming line, and men went 負かす／撃墜する in windrows. Lost to all 警告を与える, the Attalans leaped the 塀で囲む and hewed into the staggering Afghans with naked steel. 悪口を言う／悪態ing as Hunyadi had 悪口を言う／悪態d, Gordon drew his scimitar and followed them.
No time for orders now, no 形式, no 戦略. Attalan and Afghan, they fought as men fought a thousand years ago, without order or 計画（する）, 集まりd in a 緊張するing, grunting, 切り開く／タクシー／不正アクセスing 暴徒, where naked blades flickered like 雷. Yard-long Khyber knives clanged and ground against the curved swords of the Attalans. The rending of flesh and bone beneath the chopping blades was like the sound of butchers' cleavers. The dying dragged 負かす／撃墜する the living and the 軍人s つまずくd の中で the mangled 死体s. It was a shambles where no ４半期/4分の1 was asked and 非，不，無 given, and the 反目，不和s and hates of a thousand years glutted in 虐殺（する）.
No 発射s were 解雇する／砲火／射撃d in that deadly 鎮圧する, but about the 辛勝する／優位s of the 戦う／戦い circled Hunyadi and the Turks, 狙撃 with deadly 正確. Man to man, the stalwart Attalans were a match for the hairy hillmen, and they わずかに より数が多いd the invaders. But they had thrown away the advantage of their position, and the ライフル銃／探して盗むs of the Hungarian's own party were 取引，協定ing havoc in their disordered 階級s. Two of the Turks were 負かす／撃墜する, one 攻撃する，衝突する by a matchlock ball in that first and only ボレー, and another disembowelled by a dying Attalan.
As Gordon hewed his way through the 緊張するing knots and flailing blades, he met one of the remaining Turks 直面する to 直面する. The man thrust a ライフル銃／探して盗む muzzle in his 直面する, but the 大打撃を与える fell with a click on an empty 爆撃する, and the next instant Gordon's scimitar ripped through his belly and stood out a foot behind his 支援する. As the American 新たな展開d his blade 解放する／自由な, the other Turk 解雇する／砲火／射撃d a ピストル, 行方不明になるd, and 投げつけるd the empty 武器 fruitlessly. He 急ぐd in, 削除するing with a saber at Gordon's 長，率いる. El Borak parried the singing blade, and his scimitar 削減（する） the 空気／公表する like a blue beam, splitting the Turk's skull to the chin.
Then he saw Hunyadi. The Hungarian was groping in his belt, and Gordon knew he was out of 弾薬／武器.
"We've tried hot lead, Gustav," challenged Gordon, "and we both still live. Come and try 冷淡な steel!"
With a wild laugh the Hungarian ripped out his blade in a 有望な shimmer of steel that caught the morning sun. He was a tall man, Gustav Hunyadi, 黒人／ボイコット sheep son of a noble Magyar house, supple and lithe as a catamount, with dancing, 無謀な 注目する，もくろむs and lips that curved in a smile as cruel as a striking sword.
"I match my life against a little 一括 of papers, El Borak!" the Hungarian laughed as the blades met.
On each 味方する the fighting なぎd and 中止するd, as the 軍人s drew 支援する with heaving chests and dripping swords, to watch their leaders settle the 得点する／非難する／２０.
The curved blades sparkled in the sunlight, ground together, leaped apart, licked in and out like living things.
井戸／弁護士席 for El Borak then that his wrist was a solid 集まり of steel cords, that his 注目する，もくろむ was quicker and surer than a falcon's, and his brain and thews bound together with a 調整 keen as かみそり-辛勝する／優位d steel. For into his play Hunyadi brought all the 技術 of a race of swordsmen, all the （手先の）技術 taught by masters of the blade of Europe and Asia, and all the savage cunning he had learned in wild 戦う／戦いs on the 辛勝する／優位s of the world.
He was taller and had the longer reach. Again and again his blade whispered at Gordon's throat. Once it touched his arm, and a trickle of crimson began. There was no sound except the rasp of feet on the sward, the 早い whisper of the blades, the 深い panting of the men. Gordon was the harder 圧力（をかける）d. That terrible fight with Ptolemy was taking its （死傷者）数. His 脚s trembled, his sight kept blurring. As if through a もや he saw the 勝利を得た smile growing on the thin lips of the Magyar.
And a wild 殺到する of desperation rose in Gordon's soul, 神経ing him for a last 急ぐ. It （機の）カム with the 予期しない fury of a dying wolf, with a 炎上ing fan of steel, a whirlwind of blades—and then Hunyadi was 負かす／撃墜する, clutching at the earth with twitching 手渡すs, Gordon's 狭くする curved blade through him.
The Hungarian rolled his glazing 注目する，もくろむs up at his 征服者／勝利者, and his lips distorted in a 恐ろしい smile. "To the mistress of all true adventurers!" he whispered, choking on his own 血. "To the Lady Death!"
He sank 支援する and lay still, his pallid 直面する turned to the sky, 血 oozing from his lips.
The Afghans began slinking furtively away, their 意気込み／士気 broken, like a pack of wolves whose leader is 負かす／撃墜する. Suddenly, as if waking from a dream, the Attalans gave tongue and pelted after them. The invaders broke and fled, while the infuriated Attalans followed, stabbing and 切り開く／タクシー／不正アクセスing at their 支援するs, 負かす／撃墜する the valley and out through the pass.
Gordon was aware that Bardylis, 血-stained but exultant, was beside him, supporting his trembling でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる that seemed on the point of 崩壊（する）. The American wiped the 血まみれの sweat from his 注目する，もくろむs, and touched the packet under his girdle. Many men had died for that. But many more would have died had it not been saved, 含むing helpless women and children.
Bardylis muttered apprehensively, and Gordon looked up to see a gigantic 人物／姿／数字 approaching leisurely from the direction of the city, through whose gate the rejoicing women were already streaming. It was Ptolemy, his features grotesquely swollen and blackened from Gordon's アイロンをかける 握りこぶしs. He strode serenely through the heaps of 死体s, and reached the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す where the companions stood.
Bardylis gripped his notched sword, and Ptolemy, seeing the gesture, grinned with his 低俗雑誌d lips. He was 持つ／拘留するing something behind him.
"I do not come in 怒り／怒る, El Borak," he said calmly. "A man who can fight as you have fought is neither wizard, どろぼう nor 殺害者. I am no child to hate a man who has bested me in fair fight—and then saved my kingdom while I lay senseless. Will you take my 手渡す?"
Gordon しっかり掴むd it with an honest 殺到する of friendship toward this 巨大（な）, whose only fault, after all, was his vanity.
"I did not 回復する my senses in time for the 戦う／戦い," said Ptolemy. "I only saw the last of it. But if I did not reach the field in time to smite the Moslem dogs, I have at least rid the valley of one ネズミ I 設立する hiding in the palace." He casually 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd something at Gordon's feet. The 厳しいd 長，率いる of Abdullah, the features frozen in a grin of horror, 星／主役にするd up at the American.
"Will you live in Attalus and be my brother, 同様に as the brother of Bardylis?" asked Ptolemy, with a ちらりと見ること 負かす／撃墜する the valley, toward the pass through which the 軍人s were harrying the howling Afghans.
"I thank you, king," said Gordon, "but I must go to my own people, and it is still a long road to travel. When I have 残り／休憩（する）d for a few days, I must be gone. A little food, to carry with me on my 旅行 is all I ask from the people of Attalus, who are men as 勇敢に立ち向かう and valiant as their 王室の ancestors."
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