tretched hand.

The crowd which bore me on came to a standstill before the circle of
stones. To trespass beyond this is death for the common people; and for
myself, although I had the right of entrance, I chose to stay where I
was for the present, unnoticed amongst the mob, and wait upon events.

For long enough we stood there, our Lord the Sun burning high and
fiercely from the clear blue sky above our heads. The din of the rebels'
attack upon the walls came to us clearly, even above the gabble of the
multitude, but no one gave attention to it. Excitement about what was to
befall in the circle mastered every other emotion.

I learned afterways that so pressing was the rebels' attack, and so
destructive the battering of their new war engines, that Phorenice had
gone off to the walls first to lend awhile her brilliant skill for its
repulse, and to put heart into the defenders. But as it was, the day had
burned out to its middle and scorched us intolerably, before the noise
of the drums and horns gave advertisement that the pageant had formed in
procession; and of those who waited in the crowd, many had fainted with
exhaustion and the heat, and not a few had died. But life was cheap in
the city of Atlantis now, and no one heeded the fallen.

Nearer and nearer drew the drums and the braying of the other music,
and presently the head of a glittering procession began to arrive and
dispose itself in the space which had been set apart. Many a thousand
poor starving wretches sighed when they saw the wanton splendour of it.
But these lords and these courtiers of this new Atlantis had no concern
beyond their own bellies and their own backs, except for their one alien
regard--their simpering affection for Phorenice.

I think, though, their loyalty for the Empress was real enough, and
it was not to be wondered at, since everything they had came from her
lavish hands. Indeed, the woman had a charm that cannot be denied, for
when she appeared, riding in the golden castle (where I also had ridden)
on the back of her monstrous shaggy mammoth, the starved sullen faces
of the crowd brightened as though a meal and sudden prosperity had been
bestowed upon them; and without a word of command, without a trace of
compulsion, they burst into spontaneous shouts of welcome.

She acknowledged it with a smile of thanks. Her cheeks were a little
flushed, her movements quick, her manner high-strung, as all well
might be, seeing the horrible sac