lled. The reply came clearly from up the slopes of mountain, and I saw
a man coming towards me over the snows. He was old and feeble. His body
was bent, and his hair and beard were white as the ground on which he
trod, and presently I recognised him as Zaemon. He was coming towards
me with incredible speed for a man of his years and feebleness, but he
carried in his hand the glowing Symbol of our Lord the Sun, and holy
strength from this would add largely to his powers.

He came close to me and made the sign of the Seven, which I returned
to him, with its completion, with due form and ceremony. And then he
saluted me in the manner prescribed as messenger appointed by the High
Council of the Priests seated before the Ark of the Mysteries, and I
made humble obeisance before him.

"In all things I will obey the orders that you put before me," I said.

"Such is your duty, my brother. The command is, that you return
immediately to the Sacred Mountain, so that if human means may still
prevail, you, as the most skilful general Atlantis owns within her
borders, may still save the country from final wreck and punishment. The
woman Phorenice persists in her infamies. The poor land groans under
her heel. And now she has laid siege to our Sacred Mountain itself, and
swears that not one soul shall be left alive in all Atlantis who does
not bend humbly to her will."

"It is a command and I obey it. But let me ask of another matter that is
intimate to both of us. What of Nais?"

"Nais rests where you left her, untouched. Phorenice knows by her
arts--she has stolen nearly all the ancient knowledge now--that still
you live, and she keeps Nais unharmed beneath the granite throne in the
hopes that some time she may use her as a weapon against you. Little she
knows the sternness of our Priests' creed, my brother. Why, even I, that
am the girl's father, would sacrifice her blithely, if her death or ruin
might do a tittle of good to Atlantis."

"You go beyond me with your devotion."

The old man leaned forward at me, with glowering brow. "What!"

"Or my old blind adherence to the ancient dogma has been sapped and
weakened by events. You must buy my full obedience, Zaemon, if you want
it. Promise me Nais--and your arts I know can snatch her--and I will be
true servant to the High Council of the Priest, and will die in the
last ditch if need be for the carrying out of order. But let me see Nais
given over to the fury of that wanton wom