ration thought little of the older Gods. Of the men that had
grown up amongst the sacred groves, and filled offices there, many had
become lukewarm in their faith and remained on only through habit, and
because an easy living stayed near them there; and these, when the siege
began, quickly made their way over to the other side.

Phorenice was no fool to fight against unnecessary strength. Her heralds
made proclamation that peace and a good subsistence would be given to
those who chose to come out to her willingly; and as an alternative she
would kill by torture and mutilation those she caught in the place when
she took it by storm, as she most assuredly would do before she had
finished with it. And so great was the prestige of her name, that quite
one-half of these that remained on the mountain took themselves away
from the defence.

There was no attempt to hold back these sorry priests, nor was there any
punishing them as they went. Zaemon, indeed, was minded (so he told me
with grim meaning himself) to give them some memento of their apostasy
to carry away which would not wear out, but the others of the High
Council made him stay his vengeful hand. And so when I came to the place
the garrison numbered no more than eighty, counting even feeble old
dotards who could barely walk; and of men not past their prime I could
barely command a score.

Still, seeing the narrowness of the passages which led to each of the
gates, up which in no place could more than two men advance together, we
were by no means in desperate straits for the defence as yet; and if my
new-given kingdom was so far small, consisting as it did in effect of
the Sacred Mountain and no other part of Atlantis, at any rate there
seemed little danger of its being further contracted.

Another of the wise precautions of the men of old stood us in good stead
then. In the ancient times, when grain first was grown as food, it came
to be looked upon as the acme of wealth. Tribute was always paid from
the people to their Priests, and presently, so the old histories say,
it was appointed that this should take the form of grain, as this was
a medium both dignified and fitting. And those of the people who had
it not, were forced to barter their other produce for grain before they
could pay this tribute.

On the Sacred Mountain itself vast storehouses were dug in the rock, and
here the grain was teemed in great yellow heaps, and each generation of
those that were se