The Moon Pool

A. MERRITT

Foreword

The publication of the following narrative of Dr. Walter T. Goodwinhas been authorized by the Executive Council of the InternationalAssociation of Science. 

First:

To end officially what is beginning to be called the ThrockmartinMystery and to kill the innuendo and scandalous suspicions which havethreatened to stain the reputations of Dr. David Throckmartin, hisyouthful wife, and equally youthful associate Dr. Charles Stanton eversince a tardy despatch from Melbourne, Australia, reported thedisappearance of the first from a ship sailing to that port, and thesubsequent reports of the disappearance of his wife and associate fromthe camp of their expedition in the Caroline Islands. 

Second:

Because the Executive Council have concluded that Dr. Goodwin'sexperiences in his wholly heroic effort to save the three, and thelessons and warnings within those experiences, are too importantto humanity as a whole to be hidden away in scientific papersunderstandable only to the technically educated; or to be presentedthrough the newspaper press in the abridged and fragmentary formwhich the space limitations of that vehicle make necessary. 

For these reasons the Executive Council commissioned Mr. A. Merrittto transcribe into form to be readily understood by the layman thestenographic notes of Dr. Goodwin's own report to the Council, supplemented by further oral reminiscences and comments by Dr. Goodwin; this transcription, edited and censored by the ExecutiveCouncil of the Association, forms the contents of this book. 

Himself a member of the Council, Dr. Walter T. Goodwin, Ph. D. , F. R. G. S. Etc. , is without cavil the foremost of American botanists, anobserver of international reputation and the author of several epochaltreaties upon his chosen branch of science. His story, amazing in thebest sense of that word as it may be, is fully supported by proofsbrought forward by him and accepted by the organization of which Ihave the honor to be president. What matter has been elided fromthis popular presentation--because of the excessively menacingpotentialities it contains, which unrestricted dissemination mightdevelop--will be dealt with in purely scientific pamphlets ofcarefully guarded circulation. 

THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SCIENCE Per J. B. K. , President

CONTENTS

 I The Thing on the Moon Path II "Dead! All Dead!" III The Moon Rock IV The First Vanishings V Into the Moon Pool VI "The Shining Devil Took Them!" VII Larry O'Keefe VIII Olaf's Story IX A Lost Page of Earth X The Moon Pool XI The Flame-Tipped Shadows XII The End of the Journey XIII Yolara, Priestess of the Shining One XIV The Justice of Lora XV The Angry, Whispering Globe XVI Yolara of Muria vs. The O'Keefe XVII The Leprechaun XVIII The Amphitheatre of Jet XIX The Madness of Olaf XX The Tempting of Larry XXI Larry's Defiance XXII The Casting of the Shadow XXIII Dragon Worm and Moss Death XXIV The Crimson Sea XXV The Three Silent Ones XXVI The Wooing of Lakla XXVII The Coming of Yolara XXVIII In the Lair of the Dweller XXIX The Shaping of the Shining One XXX The Building of the Moon Pool XXXI Larry and the Frog-Men XXXII "Your Love; Your Lives; Your Souls!" XXXIII The Meeting of Titans XXXIV The Coming of the Shining One XXXV "Larry--Farewell!"

CHAPTER I

The Thing on the Moon Path

For two months I had been on the d'Entrecasteaux Islands gatheringdata for the concluding chapters of my book upon the flora of thevolcanic islands of the South Pacific. The day before I had reachedPort Moresby and had seen my specimens safely stored on board theSouthern Queen. As I sat on the upper deck I thought, with homesickmind, of the long leagues between me and Melbourne, and the longerones between Melbourne and New York. 

It was one of Papua's yellow mornings when she shows herself in hersombrest, most baleful mood. The sky was smouldering ochre. Over theisland brooded a spirit sullen, alien, implacable, filled with thethreat of latent, malefic forces waiting to be unleashed. It seemed anemanation out of the untamed, sinister heart of Papua herself--sinistereven when she smiles. And now and then, on the wind, came a breath fromvirgin jungles, laden with unfamiliar odours, mysterious and menacing. 

It is on such mornings that Papua whispers to you of her immemorialancientness and of her power. And, as every white man must, I foughtagainst her spell. While I struggled I saw a tall figure striding downthe pier; a Kapa-Kapa boy followed swinging a new valise. There wassomething familiar about the tall man. As he reached the gangplank helooked up straight into my eyes, stared for a moment, then waved hishand. 

And now I knew him. It was Dr. David Throckmartin--"Throck" he was tome always, one of my oldest friends and, as well, a mind of the firstwater whose power and achievements were for me a constant inspirationas they were, I know, for scores other. 

Coincidentally with my recognition came a shock of surprise, definitely--unpleasant. It was Throckmartin--but about him wassomething disturbingly unlike the man I had known long so well and towhom and to whose little party I had bidden farewell less than a monthbefore I myself had sailed for these seas. He had married only a fewweeks before, Edith, the daughter of Professor William Frazier, younger by at least a decade than he but at one with him in his idealsand as much in love, if it were possible, as Throckmartin. By virtueof her father's training a wonderful assistant, by virtue of her ownsweet, sound heart a--I use the word in its olden sense--lover. Withhis equally youthful associate Dr. Charles Stanton and a Swedishwoman, Thora Halversen, who had been Edith Throckmartin's nurse frombabyhood, they had set forth for the Nan-Matal, that extraordinarygroup of island ruins clustered along the eastern shore of Ponape inthe Carolines. 

I knew that he had planned to spend at least a year among these ruins, not only of Ponape but of Lele--twin centres of a colossal riddle ofhumanity, a weird flower of civilization that blossomed ages beforethe seeds of Egypt were sown; of whose arts we know little enough andof whose science nothing. He had carried with him unusually completeequipment for the work he had expected to do and which, he hoped, would be his monument. 

What then had brought Throckmartin to Port Moresby, and what was thatchange I had sensed in him?

Hurrying down to the lower deck I found him with the purser. As Ispoke he turned, thrust out to me an eager hand--and then I saw whatwas that difference that had so moved me. He knew, of course by mysilence and involuntary shrinking the shock my closer look had givenme. His eyes filled; he turned brusquely from the purser, hesitated--thenhurried off to his stateroom. 

"'E looks rather queer--eh?" said the purser. "Know 'im well, sir?Seems to 'ave given you quite a start. "

I made some reply and went slowly up to my chair. There I sat, composed my mind and tried to define what it was that had shaken meso. Now it came to me. The old Throckmartin was on the eve of hisventure just turned forty, lithe, erect, muscular; his controllingexpression one of enthusiasm, of intellectual keenness, of--what shallI say--expectant search. His always questioning brain had stamped itsvigor upon his face. 

But the Throckmartin I had seen below was one who had borne somescaring shock of mingled rapture and horror; some soul cataclysm thatin its climax had remoulded, deep from within, his face, setting on itseal of wedded ecstasy and despair; as though indeed these two hadcome to him hand in hand, taken possession of him and departing leftbehind, ineradicably, their linked shadows!

Yes--it was that which appalled. For how could rapture and horror, Heaven and Hell mix, clasp hands--kiss?

Yet these were what in closest embrace lay on Throckmartin's face!

Deep in thought, subconsciously with relief, I watched the shore linesink behind; welcomed the touch of the wind of the free seas. I hadhoped, and within the hope was an inexplicable shrinking that I wouldmeet Throckmartin at lunch. He did not come down, and I was sensibleof deliverance within my disappointment. All that afternoon I loungedabout uneasily but still he kept to his cabin--and within me was nostrength to summon him. Nor did he appear at dinner. 

Dusk and night fell swiftly. I was warm and went back to mydeck-chair. The Southern Queen was rolling to a disquieting swell andI had the place to myself. 

Over the heavens was a canopy of cloud, glowing faintly and testifyingto the moon riding behind it. There was much phosphorescence. Fitfullybefore the ship and at her sides arose those stranger little swirls ofmist that swirl up from the Southern Ocean like breath of seamonsters, whirl for an instant and disappear. 

Suddenly the deck door opened and through it came Throckmartin. Hepaused uncertainly, looked up at the sky with a curiously eager, intent gaze, hesitated, then closed the door behind him. 

"Throck, " I called. "Come! It's Goodwin. "

He made his way to me. 

"Throck, " I said, wasting no time in preliminaries. "What's wrong?Can I help you?"

I felt his body grow tense. 

"I'm going to Melbourne, Goodwin, " he answered. "I need a fewthings--need them urgently. And more men--white men--"

He stopped abruptly; rose from his chair, gazed intently toward thenorth. I followed his gaze. Far, far away the moon had broken throughthe clouds. Almost on the horizon, you could see the faintluminescence of it upon the smooth sea. The distant patch of lightquivered and shook. The clouds thickened again and it was gone. Theship raced on southward, swiftly. 

Throckmartin dropped into his chair. He lighted a cigarette with ahand that trembled; then turned to me with abrupt resolution. 

"Goodwin, " he said. "I do need help. If ever man needed it, I do. Goodwin--can you imagine yourself in another world, alien, unfamiliar, a world of terror, whose unknown joy is its greatest terror of all;you all alone there, a stranger! As such a man would need help, so Ineed--"

He paused abruptly and arose; the cigarette dropped from his fingers. The moon had again broken through the clouds, and this time muchnearer. Not a mile away was the patch of light that it threw upon thewaves. Back of it, to the rim of the sea was a lane of moonlight; agigantic gleaming serpent racing over the edge of the world straightand surely toward the ship. 

Throckmartin stiffened to it as a pointer does to a hidden covey. Tome from him pulsed a thrill of horror--but horror tinged with anunfamiliar, an infernal joy. It came to me and passed away--leaving metrembling with its shock of bitter sweet. 

He bent forward, all his soul in his eyes. The moon path sweptcloser, closer still. It was now less than half a mile away. From itthe ship fled--almost as though pursued. Down upon it, swift andstraight, a radiant torrent cleaving the waves, raced the moon stream. 

"Good God!" breathed Throckmartin, and if ever the words were a prayerand an invocation they were. 

And then, for the first time--I saw--_it_!

The moon path stretched to the horizon and was bordered by darkness. It was as though the clouds above had been parted to form a lane-drawnaside like curtains or as the waters of the Red Sea were held back tolet the hosts of Israel through. On each side of the stream was theblack shadow cast by the folds of the high canopies And straight as aroad between the opaque walls gleamed, shimmered, and danced theshining, racing, rapids of the moonlight. 

Far, it seemed immeasurably far, along this stream of silver fire Isensed, rather than saw, something coming. It drew first into sight asa deeper glow within the light. On and on it swept toward us--anopalescent mistiness that sped with the suggestion of some wingedcreature in arrowed flight. Dimly there crept into my mind memory ofthe Dyak legend of the winged messenger of Buddha--the Akla birdwhose feathers are woven of the moon rays, whose heart is a livingopal, whose wings in flight echo the crystal clear music of the whitestars--but whose beak is of frozen flame and shreds the souls ofunbelievers. 

Closer it drew and now there came to me sweet, insistenttinklings--like pizzicati on violins of glass; crystal clear; diamondsmelting into sounds!

Now the Thing was close to the end of the white path; close up to thebarrier of darkness still between the ship and the sparkling head ofthe moon stream. Now it beat up against that barrier as a bird againstthe bars of its cage. It whirled with shimmering plumes, with swirlsof lacy light, with spirals of living vapour. It held within it odd, unfamiliar gleams as of shifting mother-of-pearl. Coruscations andglittering atoms drifted through it as though it drew them from therays that bathed it. 

Nearer and nearer it came, borne on the sparkling waves, and everthinner shrank the protecting wall of shadow between it and us. Withinthe mistiness was a core, a nucleus of intenser light--veined, opaline, effulgent, intensely alive. And above it, tangled in theplumes and spirals that throbbed and whirled were seven glowinglights. 

Through all the incessant but strangely ordered movement ofthe--_thing_--these lights held firm and steady. They were seven--likeseven little moons. One was of a pearly pink, one of a delicatenacreous blue, one of lambent saffron, one of the emerald you see inthe shallow waters of tropic isles; a deathly white; a ghostlyamethyst; and one of the silver that is seen only when the flying fishleap beneath the moon. 

The tinkling music was louder still. It pierced the ears with ashower of tiny lances; it made the heart beat jubilantly--and checkedit dolorously. It closed the throat with a throb of rapture andgripped it tight with the hand of infinite sorrow!

Came to me now a murmuring cry, stilling the crystal notes. It wasarticulate--but as though from something utterly foreign to thisworld. The ear took the cry and translated with conscious labour intothe sounds of earth. And even as it compassed, the brain shrank fromit irresistibly, and simultaneously it seemed reached toward it withirresistible eagerness. 

Throckmartin strode toward the front of the deck, straight toward thevision, now but a few yards away from the stern. His face had lost allhuman semblance. Utter agony and utter ecstasy--there they were sideby side, not resisting each other; unholy inhuman companions blendinginto a look that none of God's creatures should wear--and deep, deepas his soul! A devil and a God dwelling harmoniously side by side! Somust Satan, newly fallen, still divine, seeing heaven andcontemplating hell, have appeared. 

And then--swiftly the moon path faded! The clouds swept over the skyas though a hand had drawn them together. Up from the south came aroaring squall. As the moon vanished what I had seen vanished withit--blotted out as an image on a magic lantern; the tinkling ceasedabruptly--leaving a silence like that which follows an abrupt thunderclap. There was nothing about us but silence and blackness!

Through me passed a trembling as one who has stood on the very vergeof the gulf wherein the men of the Louisades says lurks the fisher ofthe souls of men, and has been plucked back by sheerest chance. 

Throckmartin passed an arm around me. 

"It is as I thought, " he said. In his voice was a new note; the calmcertainty that has swept aside a waiting terror of the unknown. "Now Iknow! Come with me to my cabin, old friend. For now that you too haveseen I can tell you"--he hesitated--"what it was you saw, " he ended. 

As we passed through the door we met the ship's first officer. Throckmartin composed his face into at least a semblance of normality. 

"Going to have much of a storm?" he asked. 

"Yes, " said the mate. "Probably all the way to Melbourne. "

Throckmartin straightened as though with a new thought. He gripped theofficer's sleeve eagerly. 

"You mean at least cloudy weather--for"--he hesitated--"for the nextthree nights, say?"

"And for three more, " replied the mate. 

"Thank God!" cried Throckmartin, and I think I never heard such reliefand hope as was in his voice. 

The sailor stood amazed. "Thank God?" he repeated. "Thank--what d'yemean?"

But Throckmartin was moving onward to his cabin. I started to follow. The first officer stopped me. 

"Your friend, " he said, "is he ill?"

"The sea!" I answered hurriedly. "He's not used to it. I am going tolook after him. "

Doubt and disbelief were plain in the seaman's eyes but I hurried on. For I knew now that Throckmartin was ill indeed--but with a sicknessthe ship's doctor nor any other could heal. 

CHAPTER II

"Dead! All Dead!"

He was sitting, face in hands, on the side of his berth as I entered. He had taken off his coat. 

"Throck, " I cried. "What was it? What are you flying from, man?Where is your wife--and Stanton?"

"Dead!" he replied monotonously. "Dead! All dead!" Then as Irecoiled from him--"All dead. Edith, Stanton, Thora--dead--or worse. And Edith in the Moon Pool--with them--drawn by what you saw on themoon path--that has put its brand upon me--and follows me!"

He ripped open his shirt. 

"Look at this, " he said. Around his chest, above his heart, the skinwas white as pearl. This whiteness was sharply defined against thehealthy tint of the body. It circled him with an even cincture abouttwo inches wide. 

"Burn it!" he said, and offered me his cigarette. I drew back. Hegestured--peremptorily. I pressed the glowing end of the cigaretteinto the ribbon of white flesh. He did not flinch nor was there odourof burning nor, as I drew the little cylinder away, any mark upon thewhiteness. 

"Feel it!" he commanded again. I placed my fingers upon the band. Itwas cold--like frozen marble. 

He drew his shirt around him. 

"Two things you have seen, " he said. "_It_--and its mark. Seeing, you must believe my story. Goodwin, I tell you again that my wife isdead--or worse--I do not know; the prey of--what you saw; so, too, isStanton; so Thora. How--"

Tears rolled down the seared face. 

"Why did God let it conquer us? Why did He let it take my Edith?" hecried in utter bitterness. "Are there things stronger than God, do youthink, Walter?"

I hesitated. 

"Are there? Are there?" His wild eyes searched me. 

"I do not know just how you define God, " I managed at last through myastonishment to make answer. "If you mean the will to know, workingthrough science--"

He waved me aside impatiently. 

"Science, " he said. "What is our science against--that? Or againstthe science of whatever devils that made it--or made the way for it toenter this world of ours?"

With an effort he regained control. 

"Goodwin, " he said, "do you know at all of the ruins on the Carolines;the cyclopean, megalithic cities and harbours of Ponape and Lele, ofKusaie, of Ruk and Hogolu, and a score of other islets there?Particularly, do you know of the Nan-Matal and the Metalanim?"

"Of the Metalanim I have heard and seen photographs, " I said. "Theycall it, don't they, the Lost Venice of the Pacific?"

"Look at this map, " said Throckmartin. "That, " he went on, "isChristian's chart of Metalanim harbour and the Nan-Matal. Do you seethe rectangles marked Nan-Tauach?"

"Yes, " I said. 

"There, " he said, "under those walls is the Moon Pool and the sevengleaming lights that raise the Dweller in the Pool, and the altar andshrine of the Dweller. And there in the Moon Pool with it lie Edithand Stanton and Thora. "

"The Dweller in the Moon Pool?" I repeated half-incredulously. 

"The Thing you saw, " said Throckmartin solemnly. 

A solid sheet of rain swept the ports, and the Southern Queen began toroll on the rising swells. Throckmartin drew another deep breath ofrelief, and drawing aside a curtain peered out into the night. Itsblackness seemed to reassure him. At any rate, when he sat again hewas entirely calm. 

"There are no more wonderful ruins in the world, " he began almostcasually. "They take in some fifty islets and cover with theirintersecting canals and lagoons about twelve square miles. Who builtthem? None knows. When were they built? Ages before the memory ofpresent man, that is sure. Ten thousand, twenty thousand, a hundredthousand years ago--the last more likely. 

"All these islets, Walter, are squared, and their shores are frowningseawalls of gigantic basalt blocks hewn and put in place by the handsof ancient man. Each inner water-front is faced with a terrace ofthose basalt blocks which stand out six feet above the shallow canalsthat meander between them. On the islets behind these walls aretime-shattered fortresses, palaces, terraces, pyramids; immensecourtyards strewn with ruins--and all so old that they seem to witherthe eyes of those who look on them. 

"There has been a great subsidence. You can stand out of Metalanimharbour for three miles and look down upon the tops of similarmonolithic structures and walls twenty feet below you in the water. 

"And all about, strung on their canals, are the bulwarked islets withtheir enigmatic walls peering through the dense growths ofmangroves--dead, deserted for incalculable ages; shunned by those wholive near. 

"You as a botanist are familiar with the evidence that a vast shadowycontinent existed in the Pacific--a continent that was not rentasunder by volcanic forces as was that legendary one of Atlantis inthe Eastern Ocean. [1] My work in Java, in Papua, and in the Ladroneshad set my mind upon this Pacific lost land. Just as the Azores arebelieved to be the last high peaks of Atlantis, so hints came to mesteadily that Ponape and Lele and their basalt bulwarked islets werethe last points of the slowly sunken western land clinging still tothe sunlight, and had been the last refuge and sacred places of therulers of that race which had lost their immemorial home under therising waters of the Pacific. 

"I believed that under these ruins I might find the evidencethat I sought. 

"My--my wife and I had talked before we were married of making thisour great work. After the honeymoon we prepared for the expedition. Stanton was as enthusiastic as ourselves. We sailed, as you know, lastMay for fulfilment of my dreams. 

"At Ponape we selected, not without difficulty, workmen to helpus--diggers. I had to make extraordinary inducements before I couldget together my force. Their beliefs are gloomy, these Ponapeans. Theypeople their swamps, their forests, their mountains, and shores, withmalignant spirits--ani they call them. And they are afraid--bitterlyafraid of the isles of ruins and what they think the ruins hide. I donot wonder--now!

"When they were told where they were to go, and how long we expectedto stay, they murmured. Those who, at last, were tempted made what Ithought then merely a superstitious proviso that they were to beallowed to go away on the three nights of the full moon. Would to Godwe had heeded them and gone too!"

"We passed into Metalanim harbour. Off to our left--a mile away arosea massive quadrangle. Its walls were all of forty feet high andhundreds of feet on each side. As we drew by, our natives grew verysilent; watched it furtively, fearfully. I knew it for the ruins thatare called Nan-Tauach, the 'place of frowning walls. ' And at thesilence of my men I recalled what Christian had written of this place;of how he had come upon its 'ancient platforms and tetragonalenclosures of stonework; its wonder of tortuous alleyways andlabyrinth of shallow canals; grim masses of stonework peering out frombehind verdant screens; cyclopean barricades, ' and of how, when he hadturned 'into its ghostly shadows, straight-way the merriment of guideswas hushed and conversation died down to whispers. '"

He was silent for a little time. 

"Of course I wanted to pitch our camp there, " he went on againquietly, "but I soon gave up that idea. The natives werepanic-stricken--threatened to turn back. 'No, ' they said, 'too greatani there. We go to any other place--but not there. '

"We finally picked for our base the islet called Uschen-Tau. It wasclose to the isle of desire, but far enough away from it to satisfyour men. There was an excellent camping-place and a spring of freshwater. We pitched our tents, and in a couple of days the work was infull swing. "

[1] For more detailed observations on these points refer to G. Volkens, Uber die Karolinen Insel Yap, in Verhandlungen Gesellschaft ErdkundeBerlin, xxvii (1901); J. S. Kubary, Ethnographische Beitrage zurKentniss des Karolinen Archipel (Leiden, 1889-1892); De AbradeHistoria del Conflicto de las Carolinas, etc. (Madrid, 1886). --W. T. G. 

CHAPTER III

The Moon Rock

"I do not intend to tell you now, " Throckmartin continued, "theresults of the next two weeks, nor of what we found. Later--if I amallowed, I will lay all that before you. It is sufficient to say thatat the end of those two weeks I had found confirmation for many of mytheories. 

"The place, for all its decay and desolation, had not infected us withany touch of morbidity--that is not Edith, Stanton, or myself. ButThora was very unhappy. She was a Swede, as you know, and in her bloodran the beliefs and superstitions of the Northland--some of them sostrangely akin to those of this far southern land; beliefs of spiritsof mountain and forest and water werewolves and beings malign. Fromthe first she showed a curious sensitivity to what, I suppose, may becalled the 'influences' of the place. She said it 'smelled' of ghostsand warlocks. 

"I laughed at her then--

"Two weeks slipped by, and at their end the spokesman for our nativescame to us. The next night was the full of the moon, he said. Hereminded me of my promise. They would go back to their village in themorning; they would return after the third night, when the moon hadbegun to wane. They left us sundry charms for our 'protection, ' andsolemnly cautioned us to keep as far away as possible from Nan-Tauachduring their absence. Half-exasperated, half-amused I watched them go. 

"No work could be done without them, of course, so we decided to spendthe days of their absence junketing about the southern islets of thegroup. We marked down several spots for subsequent exploration, and onthe morning of the third day set forth along the east face of thebreakwater for our camp on Uschen-Tau, planning to have everything inreadiness for the return of our men the next day. 

"We landed just before dusk, tired and ready for our cots. It was only a little after ten o'clock that Edith awakened me. 

"'Listen!' she said. 'Lean over with your ear close to the ground!'

"I did so, and seemed to hear, far, far below, as though coming upfrom great distances, a faint chanting. It gathered strength, dieddown, ended; began, gathered volume, faded away into silence. 

"'It's the waves rolling on rocks somewhere, ' I said. 'We're probablyover some ledge of rock that carries the sound. '

"'It's the first time I've heard it, ' replied my wife doubtfully. Welistened again. Then through the dim rhythms, deep beneath us, anothersound came. It drifted across the lagoon that lay between us andNan-Tauach in little tinkling waves. It was music--of a sort; I won'tdescribe the strange effect it had upon me. You've felt it--"

"You mean on the deck?" I asked. Throckmartin nodded. 

"I went to the flap of the tent, " he continued, "and peered out. As I did so Stanton lifted his flap and walked out into the moonlight, looking over to the other islet and listening. I called to him. 

"'That's the queerest sound!' he said. He listened again. 'Crystalline! Like little notes of translucent glass. Like the bellsof crystal on the sistrums of Isis at Dendarah Temple, ' he addedhalf-dreamily. We gazed intently at the island. Suddenly, on thesea-wall, moving slowly, rhythmically, we saw a little group oflights. Stanton laughed. 

"'The beggars!' he exclaimed. 'That's why they wanted to get away, isit? Don't you see, Dave, it's some sort of a festival--rites of somekind that they hold during the full moon! That's why they were soeager to have us _keep_ away, too. '

"The explanation seemed good. I felt a curious sense of relief, although I had not been sensible of any oppression. 

"'Let's slip over, ' suggested Stanton--but I would not. 

"'They're a difficult lot as it is, ' I said. 'If we break into one oftheir religious ceremonies they'll probably never forgive us. Let'skeep out of any family party where we haven't been invited. '

"'That's so, ' agreed Stanton. 

"The strange tinkling rose and fell, rose and fell--

"'There's something--something very unsettling about it, ' said Edithat last soberly. 'I wonder what they make those sounds with. Theyfrighten me half to death, and, at the same time, they make me feel asthough some enormous rapture were just around the corner. '

"'It's devilish uncanny!' broke in Stanton. 

"And as he spoke the flap of Thora's tent was raised and out into themoonlight strode the old Swede. She was the great Norse type--tall, deep-breasted, moulded on the old Viking lines. Her sixty years hadslipped from her. She looked like some ancient priestess of Odin. 

"She stood there, her eyes wide, brilliant, staring. She thrust herhead forward toward Nan-Tauach, regarding the moving lights; shelistened. Suddenly she raised her arms and made a curious gesture tothe moon. It was--an archaic--movement; she seemed to drag it fromremote antiquity--yet in it was a strange suggestion of power, Twiceshe repeated this gesture and--the tinklings died away! She turned tous. 

"'Go!' she said, and her voice seemed to come from far distances. 'Gofrom here--and quickly! Go while you may. It has called--' She pointedto the islet. 'It knows you are here. It waits!' she wailed. 'Itbeckons--the--the--"

"She fell at Edith's feet, and over the lagoon came again thetinklings, now with a quicker note of jubilance--almost of triumph. 

"We watched beside her throughout the night. The sounds fromNan-Tauach continued until about an hour before moon-set. In themorning Thora awoke, none the worse, apparently. She had had baddreams, she said. She could not remember what they were--except thatthey had warned her of danger. She was oddly sullen, and throughoutthe morning her gaze returned again and again half-fascinatedly, half-wonderingly to the neighbouring isle. 

"That afternoon the natives returned. And that night on Nan-Tauachthe silence was unbroken nor were there lights nor sign of life. 

"You will understand, Goodwin, how the occurrences I have relatedwould excite the scientific curiosity. We rejected immediately, ofcourse, any explanation admitting the supernatural. 

"Our--symptoms let me call them--could all very easily be accountedfor. It is unquestionable that the vibrations created by certainmusical instruments have definite and sometimes extraordinary effectupon the nervous system. We accepted this as the explanation of thereactions we had experienced, hearing the unfamiliar sounds. Thora'snervousness, her superstitious apprehensions, had wrought her up to acondition of semi-somnambulistic hysteria. Science could readilyexplain her part in the night's scene. 

"We came to the conclusion that there must be a passage-way betweenPonape and Nan-Tauach known to the natives--and used by them duringtheir rites. We decided that on the next departure of our labourers wewould set forth immediately to Nan-Tauach. We would investigate duringthe day, and at evening my wife and Thora would go back to camp, leaving Stanton and me to spend the night on the island, observingfrom some safe hiding-place what might occur. 

"The moon waned; appeared crescent in the west; waxed slowly towardthe full. Before the men left us they literally prayed us to accompanythem. Their importunities only made us more eager to see what it wasthat, we were now convinced, they wanted to conceal from us. At leastthat was true of Stanton and myself. It was not true of Edith. She wasthoughtful, abstracted--reluctant. 

"When the men were out of sight around the turn of the harbour, wetook our boat and made straight for Nan-Tauach. Soon its mightysea-wall towered above us. We passed through the water-gate with itsgigantic hewn prisms of basalt and landed beside a half-submergedpier. In front of us stretched a series of giant steps leading into avast court strewn with fragments of fallen pillars. In the centre ofthe court, beyond the shattered pillars, rose another terrace ofbasalt blocks, concealing, I knew, still another enclosure. 

"And now, Walter, for the better understanding of whatfollows--and--and--" he hesitated. "Should you decide later to returnwith me or, if I am taken, to--to--follow us--listen carefully to mydescription of this place: Nan-Tauach is literally three rectangles. The first rectangle is the sea-wall, built up of monoliths--hewn andsquared, twenty feet wide at the top. To get to the gateway in thesea-wall you pass along the canal marked on the map between Nan-Tauachand the islet named Tau. The entrance to the canal is bidden by densethickets of mangroves; once through these the way is clear. The stepslead up from the landing of the sea-gate through the entrance to thecourtyard. 

"This courtyard is surrounded by another basalt wall, rectangular, following with mathematical exactness the march of the outerbarricades. The sea-wall is from thirty to forty feet high--originallyit must have been much higher, but there has been subsidence in parts. The wall of the first enclosure is fifteen feet across the top and itsheight varies from twenty to fifty feet--here, too, the gradualsinking of the land has caused portions of it to fall. 

"Within this courtyard is the second enclosure. Its terrace, of thesame basalt as the outer walls, is about twenty feet high. Entrance isgained to it by many breaches which time has made in its stonework. This is the inner court, the heart of Nan-Tauach! There lies the greatcentral vault with which is associated the one name of living beingthat has come to us out of the mists of the past. The natives say itwas the treasure-house of Chau-te-leur, a mighty king who reigned long'before their fathers. ' As Chan is the ancient Ponapean word both forsun and king, the name means, without doubt, 'place of the sun king. 'It is a memory of a dynastic name of the race that ruled the Pacificcontinent, now vanished--just as the rulers of ancient Crete took thename of Minos and the rulers of Egypt the name of Pharaoh. 

"And opposite this place of the sun king is the moon rock that hidesthe Moon Pool. 

"It was Stanton who discovered the moon rock. We had been inspectingthe inner courtyard; Edith and Thora were getting together our lunch. I came out of the vault of Chau-te-leur to find Stanton before a partof the terrace studying it wonderingly. 

"'What do you make of this?' he asked me as I came up. He pointed tothe wall. I followed his finger and saw a slab of stone about fifteenfeet high and ten wide. At first all I noticed was the exquisitenicety with which its edges joined the blocks about it. Then Irealized that its colour was subtly different--tinged with grey and ofa smooth, peculiar--deadness. 

"'Looks more like calcite than basalt, ' I said. I touched it andwithdrew my hand quickly for at the contact every nerve in my armtingled as though a shock of frozen electricity had passed through it. It was not cold as we know cold. It was a chill force--the phrase Ihave used--frozen electricity--describes it better than anything else. Stanton looked at me oddly. 

"'So you felt it too, ' he said. 'I was wondering whether I wasdeveloping hallucinations like Thora. Notice, by the way, that theblocks beside it are quite warm beneath the sun. '

"We examined the slab eagerly. Its edges were cut as though by anengraver of jewels. They fitted against the neighbouring blocks inalmost a hair-line. Its base was slightly curved, and fitted asclosely as top and sides upon the huge stones on which it rested. Andthen we noted that these stones had been hollowed to follow the lineof the grey stone's foot. There was a semicircular depression runningfrom one side of the slab to the other. It was as though the grey rockstood in the centre of a shallow cup--revealing half, covering half. Something about this hollow attracted me. I reached down and felt it. Goodwin, although the balance of the stones that formed it, like allthe stones of the courtyard, were rough and age-worn--this was assmooth, as even surfaced as though it had just left the hands of thepolisher. 

"'It's a door!' exclaimed Stanton. 'It swings around in that littlecup. That's what makes the hollow so smooth. '

"'Maybe you're right, ' I replied. 'But how the devil can we open it?'

"We went over the slab again--pressing upon its edges, thrustingagainst its sides. During one of those efforts I happened to lookup--and cried out. A foot above and on each side of the corner of thegrey rock's lintel was a slight convexity, visible only from the angleat which my gaze struck it. 

"We carried with us a small scaling-ladder and up this I went. Thebosses were apparently nothing more than chiseled curvatures in thestone. I laid my hand on the one I was examining, and drew it backsharply. In my palm, at the base of my thumb, I had felt the sameshock that I had in touching the slab below. I put my hand back. Theimpression came from a spot not more than an inch wide. I wentcarefully over the entire convexity, and six times more the chill ranthrough my arm. There were seven circles an inch wide in the curvedplace, each of which communicated the precise sensation I havedescribed. The convexity on the opposite side of the slab gave exactlythe same results. But no amount of touching or of pressing these spotssingly or in any combination gave the slightest promise of motion tothe slab itself. 

"'And yet--they're what open it, ' said Stanton positively. 

"'Why do you say that?' I asked. 

"'I--don't know, ' he answered hesitatingly. 'But something tells meso. Throck, ' he went on half earnestly, half laughingly, 'the purelyscientific part of me is fighting the purely human part of me. Thescientific part is urging me to find some way to get that slab eitherdown or open. The human part is just as strongly urging me to donothing of the sort and get away while I can!'

"He laughed again--shamefacedly. 

"'Which shall it be?' he asked--and I thought that in his tone thehuman side of him was ascendant. 

"'It will probably stay as it is--unless we blow it to bits, ' I said. 

"'I thought of that, ' he answered, 'and I wouldn't dare, ' he addedsoberly enough. And even as I had spoken there came to me the samefeeling that he had expressed. It was as though something passed outof the grey rock that struck my heart as a hand strikes an impiouslip. We turned away--uneasily, and faced Thora coming through a breachon the terrace. 

"'Miss Edith wants you quick, ' she began--and stopped. Her eyes wentpast me to the grey rock. Her body grew rigid; she took a few stiffsteps forward and then ran straight to it. She cast herself upon itsbreast, hands and face pressed against it; we heard her scream asthough her very soul were being drawn from her--and watched her fallat its foot. As we picked her up I saw steal from her face the look Ihad observed when first we heard the crystal music ofNan-Tauach--that unhuman mingling of opposites!"

CHAPTER IV

The First Vanishings

"We carried Thora back, down to where Edith was waiting. We told herwhat had happened and what we had found. She listened gravely, and aswe finished Thora sighed and opened her eyes. 

"'I would like to see the stone, ' she said. 'Charles, you stay herewith Thora. ' We passed through the outer court silently--and stoodbefore the rock. She touched it, drew back her hand as I had; thrustit forward again resolutely and held it there. She seemed to belistening. Then she turned to me. 

"'David, ' said my wife, and the wistfulness in her voice hurtme--'David, would you be very, very disappointed if we went fromhere--without trying to find out any more about it--would you?'

"Walter, I never wanted anything so much in my life as I wanted tolearn what that rock concealed. Nevertheless, I tried to master mydesire, and I answered--'Edith, not a bit if you want us to do it. '

"She read my struggle in my eyes. She turned back toward the greyrock. I saw a shiver pass through her. I felt a tinge of remorse andpity!

"'Edith, ' I exclaimed, 'we'll go!'

"She looked at me again. 'Science is a jealous mistress, ' she quoted. 'No, after all it may be just fancy. At any rate, you can't run away. No! But, Dave, I'm going to stay too!'

"And there was no changing her decision. As we neared the others shelaid a hand on my arm. 

"'Dave, ' she said, 'if there should be something--well--inexplicabletonight--something that seems--too dangerous--will you promise to goback to our own islet tomorrow, if we can--and wait until the nativesreturn?'

"I promised eagerly--the desire to stay and see what came with thenight was like a fire within me. 

"We picked a place about five hundred feet away from the steps leadinginto the outer court. 

"The spot we had selected was well hidden. We could not be seen, andyet we had a clear view of the stairs and the gateway. We settled downjust before dusk to wait for whatever might come. I was nearest thegiant steps; next me Edith; then Thora, and last Stanton. 

"Night fell. After a time the eastern sky began to lighten, and weknew that the moon was rising; grew lighter still, and the orb peepedover the sea; swam into full sight. I glanced at Edith and then atThora. My wife was intently listening. Thora sat, as she had since wehad placed ourselves, elbows on knees, her hands covering her face. 

"And then from the moonlight flooding us there dripped down on me agreat drowsiness. Sleep seemed to seep from the rays and fall upon myeyes, closing them--closing them inexorably. Edith's hand in minerelaxed. Stanton's head fell upon his breast and his body swayeddrunkenly. I tried to rise--to fight against the profound desire forslumber that pressed on me. 

"And as I fought, Thora raised her head as though listening; andturned toward the gateway. There was infinite despair in her face--andexpectancy. I tried again to rise--and a surge of sleep rushed overme. Dimly, as I sank within it, I heard a crystalline chiming; raisedmy lids once more with a supreme effort. 

"Thora, bathed in light, was standing at the top of the stairs. 

"Sleep took me for its very own--swept me into the heart of oblivion!

"Dawn was breaking when I wakened. Recollection rushed back; I thrusta panic-stricken hand out toward Edith; touched her and my heart gavea great leap of thankfulness. She stirred, sat up, rubbing dazed eyes. Stanton lay on his side, back toward us, head in arms. 

"Edith looked at me laughingly. 'Heavens! What sleep!' she said. Memory came to her. 

"'What happened?' she whispered. 'What made us sleep like that?'

"Stanton awoke. 

"'What's the matter!' he exclaimed. 'You look as though you've beenseeing ghosts. '

"Edith caught my hands. 

"'Where's Thora?' she cried. Before I could answer she had run outinto the open, calling. 

"'Thora was taken, ' was all I could say to Stanton, 'together we wentto my wife, now standing beside the great stone steps, looking upfearfully at the gateway into the terraces. There I told them what Ihad seen before sleep had drowned me. And together then we ran up thestairs, through the court and to the grey rock. 

"The slab was closed as it had been the day before, nor was theretrace of its having opened. No trace? Even as I thought this Edithdropped to her knees before it and reached toward something lying atits foot. It was a little piece of gay silk. I knew it for part of thekerchief Thora wore about her hair. She lifted the fragment. It hadbeen cut from the kerchief as though by a razor-edge; a few threadsran from it--down toward the base of the slab; ran on to the base ofthe grey rock and--under it!

"The grey rock was a door! And it had opened and Thora had passedthrough it!

"I think that for the next few minutes we all were a little insane. We beat upon that portal with our hands, with stones and sticks. Atlast reason came back to us. 

"Goodwin, during the next two hours we tried every way in our power toforce entrance through the slab. The rock resisted our drills. Wetried explosions at the base with charges covered by rock. They madenot the slightest impression on the surface, expending their force, ofcourse, upon the slighter resistance of their coverings. 

"Afternoon found us hopeless. Night was coming on and we would haveto decide our course of action. I wanted to go to Ponape for help. ButEdith objected that this would take hours and after we had reachedthere it would be impossible to persuade our men to return with usthat night, if at all. What then was left? Clearly only one of twochoices: to go back to our camp, wait for our men, and on their returntry to persuade them to go with us to Nan-Tauach. But this would meanthe abandonment of Thora for at least two days. We could not do it; itwould have been too cowardly. 

"The other choice was to wait where we were for night to come; to waitfor the rock to open as it had the night before, and to make a sortiethrough it for Thora before it could close again. 

"Our path lay clear before us. We had to spend that night onNan-Tauach!

"We had, of course, discussed the sleep phenomena very fully. If ourtheory that lights, sounds, and Thora's disappearance were linked withsecret religious rites of the natives, the logical inference was thatthe slumber had been produced by them, perhaps by vapours--you know aswell as I, what extraordinary knowledge these Pacific peoples have ofsuch things. Or the sleep might have been simply a coincidence andproduced by emanations either gaseous or from plants, natural causeswhich had happened to coincide in their effects with the othermanifestations. We made some rough and ready but effectiverespirators. 

"As dusk fell we looked over our weapons. Edith was an excellent shotwith both rifle and pistol. We had decided that my wife was to remainin the hiding-place. Stanton would take up a station on the far sideof the stairway and I would place myself opposite him on the side nearEdith. The place I picked out was less than two hundred feet from her, and I could reassure myself now and then as to her safety as it lookeddown upon the hollow wherein she crouched. From our respectivestations Stanton and I could command the gateway entrance. Hisposition gave him also a glimpse of the outer courtyard. 

"A faint glow in the sky heralded the moon. Stanton and I took ourplaces. The moon dawn increased rapidly; the disk swam up, and in amoment it was shining in full radiance upon ruins and sea. 

"As it rose there came a curious little sighing sound from the innerterrace. Stanton straightened up and stared intently through thegateway, rifle ready. 

"'Stanton, what do you see?' I called cautiously. He waved asilencing hand. I turned my head to look at Edith. A shock ran throughme. She lay upon her side. Her face, grotesque with its nose and mouthcovered by the respirator, was turned full toward the moon. She wasagain in deepest sleep!

"As I turned again to call to Stanton, my eyes swept the head of thesteps and stopped, fascinated. For the moonlight had thickened. Itseemed to be--curdled--there; and through it ran little gleams andveins of shimmering white fire. A languor passed through me. It wasnot the ineffable drowsiness of the preceding night. It was a sappingof all will to move. I tried to cry out to Stanton. I had not even thewill to move my lips. Goodwin--I could not even move my eyes!

"Stanton was in the range of my fixed vision. I watched him leap upthe steps and move toward the gateway. The curdled radiance seemed toawait him. He stepped into it--and was lost to my sight. 

"For a dozen heart beats there was silence. Then a rain of tinklingsthat set the pulses racing with joy and at once checked them with tinyfingers of ice--and ringing through them Stanton's voice from thecourtyard--a great cry--a scream--filled with ecstasy insupportableand horror unimaginable! And once more there was silence. I strove toburst the bonds that held me. I could not. Even my eyelids were fixed. Within them my eyes, dry and aching, burned. 

"Then Goodwin--I first saw the--inexplicable! The crystalline musicswelled. Where I sat I could take in the gateway and its basaltportals, rough and broken, rising to the top of the wall forty feetabove, shattered, ruined portals--unclimbable. From this gateway anintenser light began to flow. It grew, it gushed, and out of it walkedStanton. 

"Stanton! But--God! What a vision!"

A deep tremor shook him. I waited--waited. 

CHAPTER V

Into the Moon Pool

"Goodwin, " Throckmartin went on at last, "I can describe him only as athing of living light. He radiated light; was filled with light;overflowed with it. A shining cloud whirled through and around him inradiant swirls, shimmering tentacles, luminescent, coruscatingspirals. 

"His face shone with a rapture too great to be borne by living man, and was shadowed with insuperable misery. It was as though it had beenremoulded by the hand of God and the hand of Satan, working togetherand in harmony. You have seen that seal upon my own. But you havenever seen it in the degree that Stanton bore it. The eyes were wideopen and fixed, as though upon some inward vision of hell and heaven!

"The light that filled and surrounded him had a nucleus, acore--something shiftingly human shaped--that dissolved and changed, gathered itself, whirled through and beyond him and back again. And asits shining nucleus passed through him Stanton's whole body pulsedradiance. As the luminescence moved, there moved above it, still andserene always, seven tiny globes of seven colors, like seven littlemoons. 

"Then swiftly Stanton was lifted--levitated--up the unscalable walland to its top. The glow faded from the moonlight, the tinkling musicgrew fainter. I tried again to move. The tears were running down nowfrom my rigid lids and they brought relief to my tortured eyes. 

"I have said my gaze was fixed. It was. But from the side, peripherally, it took in a part of the far wall of the outerenclosure. Ages seemed to pass and a radiance stole along it. Soondrifted into sight the figure that was Stanton. Far away he was--onthe gigantic wall. But still I could see the shining spirals whirlingjubilantly around and through him; felt rather than saw his trancedface beneath the seven moons. A swirl of crystal notes, and he hadpassed. And all the time, as though from some opened well of light, the courtyard gleamed and sent out silver fires that dimmed themoonrays, yet seemed strangely to be a part of them. 

"At last the moon neared the horizon. There came a louder burst ofsound; the second, and last, cry of Stanton, like an echo of hisfirst! Again the soft sighing from the inner terrace. Then--uttersilence!

"The light faded; the moon was setting and with a rush life and powerto move returned to me. I made a leap for the steps, rushed up them, through the gateway and straight to the grey rock. It was closed--as Iknew it would be. But did I dream it or did I hear, echoing through itas though from vast distances a triumphant shouting?

"I ran back to Edith. At my touch she wakened; looked at mewanderingly; raised herself on a hand. 

"'Dave!' she said, 'I slept--after all. ' She saw the despair on myface and leaped to her feet. 'Dave!' she cried. 'What is it? Where'sCharles?'

"I lighted a fire before I spoke. Then I told her. And for thebalance of that night we sat before the flames, arms around eachother--like two frightened children. "

Abruptly Throckmartin held his hands out to me appealingly. 

"Walter, old friend!" he cried. "Don't look at me as though I weremad. It's truth, absolute truth. Wait--" I comforted him as well as Icould. After a little time he took up his story. 

"Never, " he said, "did man welcome the sun as we did that morning. Asoon as it had risen we went back to the courtyard. The walls whereonI had seen Stanton were black and silent. The terraces were as theyhad been. The grey slab was in its place. In the shallow hollow at itsbase was--nothing. Nothing--nothing was there anywhere on the isletof Stanton--not a trace. 

"What were we to do? Precisely the same arguments that had kept usthere the night before held good now--and doubly good. We could notabandon these two; could not go as long as there was the faintest hopeof finding them--and yet for love of each other how could we remain? Iloved my wife, --how much I never knew until that day; and she loved meas deeply. 

"'It takes only one each night, ' she pleaded. 'Beloved, let it takeme. '

"I wept, Walter. We both wept. 

"'We will meet it together, ' she said. And it was thus at last thatwe arranged it. "

"That took great courage indeed, Throckmartin, " I interrupted. Helooked at me eagerly. 

"You do believe then?" he exclaimed. 

"I believe, " I said. He pressed my hand with a grip that nearlycrushed it. 

"Now, " he told me. "I do not fear. If I--fail, you will follow withhelp?"

I promised. 

"We talked it over carefully, " he went on, "bringing to bear all ourpower of analysis and habit of calm, scientific thought. We consideredminutely the time element in the phenomena. Although the deep chantingbegan at the very moment of moonrise, fully five minutes had passedbetween its full lifting and the strange sighing sound from the innerterrace. I went back in memory over the happenings of the nightbefore. At least ten minutes had intervened between the firstheralding sigh and the intensification of the moonlight in thecourtyard. And this glow grew for at least ten minutes more before thefirst burst of the crystal notes. Indeed, more than half an hour musthave elapsed, I calculated, between the moment the moon showed abovethe horizon and the first delicate onslaught of the tinklings. 

"'Edith!' I cried. 'I think I have it! The grey rock opens fiveminutes after upon the moonrise. But whoever or whatever it is thatcomes through it must wait until the moon has risen higher, or else itmust come from a distance. The thing to do is not to wait for it, butto surprise it before it passes out the door. We will go into theinner court early. You will take your rifle and pistol and hideyourself where you can command the opening--if the slab does open. Theinstant it opens I will enter. It's our best chance, Edith. I thinkit's our only one. '

"My wife demurred strongly. She wanted to go with me. But I convincedher that it was better for her to stand guard without, prepared tohelp me if I were forced again into the open by what lay behind therock. 

"At the half-hour before moonrise we went into the inner court. Itook my place at the side of the grey rock. Edith crouched behind abroken pillar twenty feet away; slipped her rifle-barrel over it sothat it would cover the opening. 

"The minutes crept by. The darkness lessened and through the breachesof the terrace I watched the far sky softly lighten. With the firstpale flush the silence of the place intensified. It deepened; becameunbearably--expectant. The moon rose, showed the quarter, the half, then swam up into full sight like a great bubble. 

"Its rays fell upon the wall before me and suddenly upon theconvexities I have described seven little circles of light sprang out. They gleamed, glimmered, grew brighter--shone. The gigantic slabbefore me glowed with them, silver wavelets of phosphorescence pulsedover its surface and then--it turned as though on a pivot, sighingsoftly as it moved!

"With a word to Edith I flung myself through the opening. A tunnelstretched before me. It glowed with the same faint silvery radiance. Down it I raced. The passage turned abruptly, passed parallel to thewalls of the outer courtyard and then once more led downward. 

"The passage ended. Before me was a high vaulted arch. It seemed toopen into space; a space filled with lambent, coruscating, many-coloured mist whose brightness grew even as I watched. I passedthrough the arch and stopped in sheer awe!

"In front of me was a pool. It was circular, perhaps twenty feetwide. Around it ran a low, softly curved lip of glimmering silverystone. Its water was palest blue. The pool with its silvery rim waslike a great blue eye staring upward. 

"Upon it streamed seven shafts of radiance. They poured down upon theblue eye like cylindrical torrents; they were like shining pillars oflight rising from a sapphire floor. 

"One was the tender pink of the pearl; one of the aurora's green; athird a deathly white; the fourth the blue in mother-of-pearl; ashimmering column of pale amber; a beam of amethyst; a shaft of moltensilver. Such are the colours of the seven lights that stream upon theMoon Pool. I drew closer, awestricken. The shafts did not illumine thedepths. They played upon the surface and seemed there to diffuse, tomelt into it. The Pool drank them?

"Through the water tiny gleams of phosphorescence began to dart, sparkles and coruscations of pale incandescence. And far, far below Isensed a movement, a shifting glow as of a radiant body slowly rising. 

"I looked upward, following the radiant pillars to their source. Farabove were seven shining globes, and it was from these that the rayspoured. Even as I watched their brightness grew. They were like sevenmoons set high in some caverned heaven. Slowly their splendourincreased, and with it the splendour of the seven beams streaming fromthem. 

"I tore my gaze away and stared at the Pool. It had grown milky, opalescent. The rays gushing into it seemed to be filling it; it wasalive with sparklings, scintillations, glimmerings. And theluminescence I had seen rising from its depths was larger, nearer!

"A swirl of mist floated up from its surface. It drifted within theembrace of the rosy beam and hung there for a moment. The beam seemedto embrace it, sending through it little shining corpuscles, tiny rosyspiralings. The mist absorbed the rays, was strengthened by them, gained substance. Another swirl sprang into the amber shaft, clung andfed there, moved swiftly toward the first and mingled with it. And nowother swirls arose, here and there, too fast to be counted; hungpoised in the embrace of the light streams; flashed and pulsed intoeach other. 

"Thicker and thicker still they arose until over the surface of thePool was a pulsating pillar of opalescent mist steadily growingstronger; drawing within it life from the seven beams falling upon it;drawing to it from below the darting, incandescent atoms of the Pool. Into its centre was passing the luminescence rising from the fardepths. And the pillar glowed, throbbed--began to send out questingswirls and tendrils--

"There forming before me was That which had walked with Stanton, whichhad taken Thora--the thing I had come to find!

"My brain sprang into action. My hand threw up the pistol and I firedshot after shot into the shining core. 

"As I fired, it swayed and shook; gathered again. I slipped a secondclip into the automatic and another idea coming to me took careful aimat one of the globes in the roof. From thence I knew came the forcethat shaped this Dweller in the Pool--from the pouring rays came itsstrength. If I could destroy them I could check its forming. I firedagain and again. If I hit the globes I did no damage. The little motesin their beams danced with the motes in the mist, troubled. That wasall. 

"But up from the Pool like little bells, like tiny bursting bubbles ofglass, swarmed the tinkling sounds--their pitch higher, all theirsweetness lost, angry. 

"And out from the Inexplicable swept a shining spiral. 

"It caught me above the heart; wrapped itself around me. There rushedthrough me a mingled ecstasy and horror. Every atom of me quiveredwith delight and shrank with despair. There was nothing loathsome init. But it was as though the icy soul of evil and the fiery soul ofgood had stepped together within me. The pistol dropped from my hand. 

"So I stood while the Pool gleamed and sparkled; the streams of lightgrew more intense and the radiant Thing that held me gleamed andstrengthened. Its shining core had shape--but a shape that my eyes andbrain could not define. It was as though a being of another sphereshould assume what it might of human semblance, but was not able toconceal that what human eyes saw was but a part of it. It was neitherman nor woman; it was unearthly and androgynous. Even as I found itshuman semblance it changed. And still the mingled rapture and terrorheld me. Only in a little corner of my brain dwelt somethinguntouched; something that held itself apart and watched. Was it thesoul? I have never believed--and yet--

"Over the head of the misty body there sprang suddenly out sevenlittle lights. Each was the colour of the beam beneath which itrested. I knew now that the Dweller was--complete!

"I heard a scream. It was Edith's voice. It came to me that she hadheard the shots and followed me. I felt every faculty concentrate intoa mighty effort. I wrenched myself free from the gripping tentacle andit swept back. I turned to catch Edith, and as I did so slipped--fell. 

"The radiant shape above the Pool leaped swiftly--and straight into itraced Edith, arms outstretched to shield me from it! God!

"She threw herself squarely within its splendour, " he whispered. "Itwrapped its shining self around her. The crystal tinklings burst forthjubilantly. The light filled her, ran through and around her as it hadwith Stanton; and dropped down upon her face--the look!

"But her rush had taken her to the very verge of the Moon Pool. Shetottered; she fell--with the radiance still holding her, stillswirling and winding around and through her--into the Moon Pool! Shesank, and with her went--the Dweller!

"I dragged myself to the brink. Far down was a shining, many-colourednebulous cloud descending; out of it peered Edith's face, disappearing; her eyes stared up at me--and she vanished!

"'Edith!' I cried again. 'Edith, come back to me!'

"And then a darkness fell upon me. I remember running back throughthe shimmering corridors and out into the courtyard. Reason had leftme. When it returned I was far out at sea in our boat wholly estrangedfrom civilization. A day later I was picked up by the schooner inwhich I came to Port Moresby. 

"I have formed a plan; you must hear it, Goodwin--" He fell upon hisberth. I bent over him. Exhaustion and the relief of telling his storyhad been too much for him. He slept like the dead. 

All that night I watched over him. When dawn broke I went to my roomto get a little sleep myself. But my slumber was haunted. 

The next day the storm was unabated. Throckmartin came to me atlunch. He had regained much of his old alertness. 

"Come to my cabin, " he said. There, he stripped his shirt from him. "Something is happening, " he said. "The mark is smaller. " It was as hesaid. 

"I'm escaping, " he whispered jubilantly, "Just let me get to Melbournesafely, and then we'll see who'll win! For, Walter, I'm not at allsure that Edith is dead--as we know death--nor that the others are. There is something outside experience there--some great mystery. "

And all that day he talked to me of his plans. 

"There's a natural explanation, of course, " he said. "My theory isthat the moon rock is of some composition sensitive to the action ofmoon rays; somewhat as the metal selenium is to sun rays. The littlecircles over the top are, without doubt, its operating agency. Whenthe light strikes them they release the mechanism that opens the slab, just as you can open doors with sun or electric light by an ingeniousarrangement of selenium-cells. Apparently it takes the strength of thefull moon both to do this and to summon the Dweller in the Pool. Wewill first try a concentration of the rays of the waning moon uponthese circles to see whether that will open the rock. If it does wewill be able to investigate the Pool without interruptionfrom--from--what emanates. 

"Look, here on the chart are their locations. I have made this induplicate for you in the event--of something happening--to me. And ifI lose--you'll come after us, Goodwin, with help--won't you?"

And again I promised. 

A little later he complained of increasing sleepiness. 

"But it's just weariness, " he said. "Not at all like that otherdrowsiness. It's an hour till moonrise still, " he yawned at last. "Wake me up a good fifteen minutes before. "

He lay upon the berth. I sat thinking. I came to myself with aguilty start. I had completely lost myself in my deep preoccupation. What time was it? I looked at my watch and jumped to the port-hole. Itwas full moonlight; the orb had been up for fully half an hour. Istrode over to Throckmartin and shook him by the shoulder. 

"Up, quick, man!" I cried. He rose sleepily. His shirt fell open atthe neck and I looked, in amazement, at the white band around hischest. Even under the electric light it shone softly, as though littleflecks of light were in it. 

Throckmartin seemed only half-awake. He looked down at his breast, saw the glowing cincture, and smiled. 

"Yes, " he said drowsily, "it's coming--to take me back to Edith!Well, I'm glad. "

"Throckmartin!" I cried. "Wake up! Fight!"

"Fight!" he said. "No use; come after us!"

He went to the port and sleepily drew aside the curtain. The moontraced a broad path of light straight to the ship. Under its rays theband around his chest gleamed brighter and brighter; shot forth littlerays; seemed to writhe. 

The lights went out in the cabin; evidently also throughout the ship, for I heard shoutings above. 

Throckmartin still stood at the open port. Over his shoulder I saw agleaming pillar racing along the moon path toward us. Through thewindow cascaded a blinding radiance. It gathered Throckmartin to it, clothed him in a robe of living opalescence. Light pulsed through andfrom him. The cabin filled with murmurings--

A wave of weakness swept over me, buried me in blackness. Whenconsciousness came back, the lights were again burning brightly. 

But of Throckmartin there was no trace!

CHAPTER VI

"The Shining Devil Took Them!"

My colleagues of the Association, and you others who may read this mynarrative, for what I did and did not when full realization returned Imust offer here, briefly as I can, an explanation; a defense--if youwill. 

My first act was to spring to the open port. The coma had lastedhours, for the moon was now low in the west! I ran to the door tosound the alarm. It resisted under my frantic hands; would not open. Something fell tinkling to the floor. It was the key and I rememberedthen that Throckmartin had turned it before we began our vigil. Withmemory a hope died that I had not known was in me, the hope that hehad escaped from the cabin, found refuge elsewhere on the ship. 

And as I stooped, fumbling with shaking fingers for the key, a thoughtcame to me that drove again the blood from my heart, held me rigid. Icould sound no alarm on the Southern Queen for Throckmartin!

Conviction of my appalling helplessness was complete. The ensemble ofthe vessel from captain to cabin boy was, to put it conservatively, average. None, I knew, save Throckmartin and myself had seen the firstapparition of the Dweller. Had they witnessed the second? I did notknow, nor could I risk speaking, not knowing. And not seeing, howcould they believe? They would have thought me insane--or worse;even, it might be, his murderer. 

I snapped off the electrics; waited and listened; opened the door withinfinite caution and slipped, unseen, into my own stateroom. The hoursuntil the dawn were eternities of waking nightmare. Reason, resumingsway at last, steadied me. Even had I spoken and been believed wherein these wastes after all the hours could we search for Throckmartin?Certainly the captain would not turn back to Port Moresby. And even ifhe did, of what use for me to set forth for the Nan-Matal without theequipment which Throckmartin himself had decided was necessary if onehoped to cope with the mystery that lurked there?

There was but one thing to do--follow his instructions; get theparaphernalia in Melbourne or Sydney if it were possible; if not sailto America as swiftly as might be, secure it there and as swiftlyreturn to Ponape. And this I determined to do. 

Calmness came back to me after I had made this decision. And when Iwent up on deck I knew that I had been right. They had not seen theDweller. They were still discussing the darkening of the ship, talkingof dynamos burned out, wires short circuited, a half dozenexplanations of the extinguishment. Not until noon was Throckmartin'sabsence discovered. I told the captain that I had left him early inthe evening; that, indeed, I knew him but slightly, after all. Itoccurred to none to doubt me, or to question me minutely. Why shouldit have? His strangeness had been noted, commented upon; all who hadmet him had thought him half mad. I did little to discourage theimpression. And so it came naturally that on the log it was enteredthat he had fallen or leaped from the vessel some time during thenight. 

A report to this effect was made when we entered Melbourne. I slippedquietly ashore and in the press of the war news Throckmartin'ssupposed fate won only a few lines in the newspapers; my own presenceon the ship and in the city passed unnoticed. 

I was fortunate in securing at Melbourne everything I needed except aset of Becquerel ray condensers--but these were the very keystone ofmy equipment. Pursuing my search to Sydney I was doubly fortunate infinding a firm who were expecting these very articles in a consignmentdue them from the States within a fortnight. I settled down instrictest seclusion to await their arrival. 

And now it will occur to you to ask why I did not cable, during thisperiod of waiting, to the Association; demand aid from it. Or why Idid not call upon members of the University staffs of either Melbourneor Sydney for assistance. At the least, why I did not gather, asThrockmartin had hoped to do, a little force of strong men to go withme to the Nan-Matal. 

To the first two questions I answer frankly--I did not dare. And thisreluctance, this inhibition, every man jealous of his scientificreputation will understand. The story of Throckmartin, the happeningsI had myself witnessed, were incredible, abnormal, outside the factsof all known science. I shrank from the inevitable disbelief, perhapsridicule--nay, perhaps even the graver suspicion that had caused me toseal my lips while on the ship. Why I myself could only half believe!How then could I hope to convince others?

And as for the third question--I could not take men into the range ofsuch a peril without first warning them of what they might encounter;and if I did warn them--

It was checkmate! If it also was cowardice--well, I have atoned forit. But I do not hold it so; my conscience is clear. 

That fortnight and the greater part of another passed before the shipI awaited steamed into port. By that time, between my straininganxiety to be after Throckmartin, the despairing thought that everymoment of delay might be vital to him and his, and my intensely eagerdesire to know whether that shining, glorious horror on the moon pathdid exist or had been hallucination, I was worn almost to the edge ofmadness. 

At last the condensers were in my hands. It was more than a weeklater, however, before I could secure passage back to Port Moresby andit was another week still before I started north on the Suwarna, aswift little sloop with a fifty-horsepower auxiliary, heading straightfor Ponape and the Nan-Matal. 

We sighted the Brunhilda some five hundred miles south of theCarolines. The wind had fallen soon after Papua had dropped astern. The Suwarna's ability to make her twelve knots an hour without it hadmade me very fully forgive her for not being as fragrant as the Javanflower for which she was named. Da Costa, her captain, was agarrulous Portuguese; his mate was a Canton man with all the marks oflong and able service on some pirate junk; his engineer was ahalf-breed China-Malay who had picked up his knowledge of powerplants, Heaven alone knew where, and, I had reason to believe, hadtransferred all his religious impulses to the American built deity ofmechanism he so faithfully served. The crew was made up of six huge, chattering Tonga boys. 

The Suwarna had cut through Finschafen Huon Gulf to the protection ofthe Bismarcks. She had threaded the maze of the archipelagotranquilly, and we were then rolling over the thousand-mile stretch ofopen ocean with New Hanover far behind us and our boat's bow pointedstraight toward Nukuor of the Monte Verdes. After we had roundedNukuor we should, barring accident, reach Ponape in not more thansixty hours. 

It was late afternoon, and on the demure little breeze that marchedbehind us came far-flung sighs of spice-trees and nutmeg flowers. Theslow prodigious swells of the Pacific lifted us in gentle, giant handsand sent us as gently down the long, blue wave slopes to the nextbroad, upward slope. There was a spell of peace over the ocean, stilling even the Portuguese captain who stood dreamily at the wheel, slowly swaying to the rhythmic lift and fall of the sloop. 

There came a whining hail from the Tonga boy lookout draped lazilyover the bow. 

"Sail he b'long port side!"

Da Costa straightened and gazed while I raised my glass. The vesselwas a scant mile away, and must have been visible long before thesleepy watcher had seen her. She was a sloop about the size of theSuwarna, without power. All sails set, even to a spinnaker shecarried, she was making the best of the little breeze. I tried to readher name, but the vessel jibed sharply as though the hands of the manat the wheel had suddenly dropped the helm--and then with equalabruptness swung back to her course. The stern came in sight, and onit I read Brunhilda. 

I shifted my glasses to the man at wheel. He was crouching down overthe spokes in a helpless, huddled sort of way, and even as I lookedthe vessel veered again, abruptly as before. I saw the helmsmanstraighten up and bring the wheel about with a vicious jerk. 

He stood so for a moment, looking straight ahead, entirely obliviousof us, and then seemed again to sink down within himself. It came tome that his was the action of a man striving vainly against aweariness unutterable. I swept the deck with my glasses. There was noother sign of life. I turned to find the Portuguese staring intentlyand with puzzled air at the sloop, now separated from us by a scanthalf mile. 

"Something veree wrong I think there, sair, " he said in his curiousEnglish. "The man on deck I know. He is captain and owner of theBr-rwun'ild. His name Olaf Huldricksson, what you say--Norwegian. Heis eithair veree sick or veree tired--but I do not undweerstand whereis the crew and the starb'd boat is gone--"

He shouted an order to the engineer and as he did so the faint breezefailed and the sails of the Brunhilda flapped down inert. We were nownearly abreast and a scant hundred yards away. The engine of theSuwarna died and the Tonga boys leaped to one of the boats. 

"You Olaf Huldricksson!" shouted Da Costa. "What's a matter wit'you?"

The man at the wheel turned toward us. He was a giant; his shouldersenormous, thick chested, strength in every line of him, he toweredlike a viking of old at the rudder bar of his shark ship. 

I raised the glass again; his face sprang into the lens and never haveI seen a visage lined and marked as though by ages of unsleepingmisery as was that of Olaf Huldricksson!

The Tonga boys had the boat alongside and were waiting at the oars. The little captain was dropping into it. 

"Wait!" I cried. I ran into my cabin, grasped my emergency medicalkit and climbed down the rope ladder. The Tonga boys bent to the oars. We reached the side and Da Costa and I each seized a lanyard danglingfrom the stays and swung ourselves on board. Da Costa approachedHuldricksson softly. 

"What's the matter, Olaf?" he began--and then was silent, looking downat the wheel. The hands of Huldricksson were lashed fast to the spokesby thongs of thin, strong cord; they were swollen and black and thethongs had bitten into the sinewy wrists till they were hidden in theoutraged flesh, cutting so deeply that blood fell, slow drop by drop, at his feet! We sprang toward him, reaching out hands to his fettersto loose them. Even as we touched them, Huldricksson aimed a viciouskick at me and then another at Da Costa which sent the Portuguesetumbling into the scuppers. 

"Let be!" croaked Huldricksson; his voice was thick and lifeless asthough forced from a dead throat; his lips were cracked and dry andhis parched tongue was black. "Let be! Go! Let be!"

The Portuguese had picked himself up, whimpering with rage and knifein hand, but as Huldricksson's voice reached him he stopped. Amazement crept into his eyes and as he thrust the blade back intohis belt they softened with pity. 

"Something veree wrong wit' Olaf, " he murmured to me. "I think hecrazee!" And then Olaf Huldricksson began to curse us. He did notspeak--he howled from that hideously dry mouth his imprecations. Andall the time his red eyes roamed the seas and his hands, clenched andrigid on the wheel, dropped blood. 

"I go below, " said Da Costa nervously. "His wife, his daughter--" hedarted down the companionway and was gone. 

Huldricksson, silent once more, had slumped down over the wheel. 

Da Costa's head appeared at the top of the companion steps. 

"There is nobody, nobody, " he paused--then--"nobody--nowhere!" Hishands flew out in a gesture of hopeless incomprehension. "I do notunderstan'. "

Then Olaf Huldricksson opened his dry lips and as he spoke a chill ranthrough me, checking my heart. 

"The sparkling devil took them!" croaked Olaf Huldricksson, "thesparkling devil took them! Took my Helma and my little Freda! Thesparkling devil came down from the moon and took them!"

He swayed; tears dripped down his cheeks. Da Costa moved toward himagain and again Huldricksson watched him, alertly, wickedly, from hisbloodshot eyes. 

I took a hypodermic from my case and filled it with morphine. I drewDa Costa to me. 

"Get to the side of him, " I whispered, "talk to him. " He moved overtoward the wheel. 

"Where is your Helma and Freda, Olaf?" he said. 

Huldricksson turned his head toward him. "The shining devil tookthem, " he croaked. "The moon devil that spark--"

A yell broke from him. I had thrust the needle into his arm justabove one swollen wrist and had quickly shot the drug through. Hestruggled to release himself and then began to rock drunkenly. Themorphine, taking him in his weakness, worked quickly. Soon over hisface a peace dropped. The pupils of the staring eyes contracted. Once, twice, he swayed and then, his bleeding, prisoned hands held high andstill gripping the wheel, he crumpled to the deck. 

With utmost difficulty we loosed the thongs, but at last it was done. We rigged a little swing and the Tonga boys slung the great inert bodyover the side into the dory. Soon we had Huldricksson in my bunk. DaCosta sent half his crew over to the sloop in charge of the Cantonese. They took in all sail, stripping Huldricksson's boat to the masts andthen with the Brunhilda nosing quietly along after us at the end of along hawser, one of the Tonga boys at her wheel, we resumed the way soenigmatically interrupted. 

I cleansed and bandaged the Norseman's lacerated wrists and spongedthe blackened, parched mouth with warm water and a mild antiseptic. 

Suddenly I was aware of Da Costa's presence and turned. His unease wasmanifest and held, it seemed to me, a queer, furtive anxiety. 

"What you think of Olaf, sair?" he asked. I shrugged my shoulders. "You think he killed his woman and his babee?" He went on. "You thinkhe crazee and killed all?"

"Nonsense, Da Costa, " I answered. "You saw the boat was gone. Mostprobably his crew mutinied and to torture him tied him up the way yousaw. They did the same thing with Hilton of the Coral Lady; you'llremember. "

"No, " he said. "No. The crew did not. Nobody there on board whenOlaf was tied. "

"What!" I cried, startled. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, " he said slowly, "that Olaf tie himself!"

"Wait!" he went on at my incredulous gesture of dissent. "Wait, I showyou. " He had been standing with hands behind his back and now I sawthat he held in them the cut thongs that had bound Huldricksson. Theywere blood-stained and each ended in a broad leather tip skilfullyspliced into the cord. "Look, " he said, pointing to these leatherends. I looked and saw in them deep indentations of teeth. I snatchedone of the thongs and opened the mouth of the unconscious man on thebunk. Carefully I placed the leather within it and gently forced thejaws shut on it. It was true. Those marks were where OlafHuldricksson's jaws had gripped. 

"Wait!" Da Costa repeated, "I show you. " He took other cords andrested his hands on the supports of a chair back. Rapidly he twistedone of the thongs around his left hand, drew a loose knot, shifted thecord up toward his elbow. This left wrist and hand still free and withthem he twisted the other cord around the right wrist; drew a similarknot. His hands were now in the exact position that Huldricksson's hadbeen on the Brunhilda but with cords and knots hanging loose. Then DaCosta reached down his head, took a leather end in his teeth and witha jerk drew the thong that noosed his left hand tight; similarly hedrew tight the second. 

He strained at his fetters. There before my eyes he had pinionedhimself so that without aid he could not release himself. And he wasexactly as Huldricksson had been!

"You will have to cut me loose, sair, " he said. "I cannot move them. It is an old trick on these seas. Sometimes it is necessary that a manstand at the wheel many hours without help, and he does this so thatif he sleep the wheel wake him, yes, sair. "

I looked from him to the man on the bed. 

"But why, sair, " said Da Costa slowly, "did Olaf have to tie hishands?"

I looked at him, uneasily. 

"I don't know, " I answered. "Do you?"

He fidgeted, avoided my eyes, and then rapidly, almost surreptitiouslycrossed himself. 

"No, " he replied. "I know nothing. Some things I have heard--butthey tell many tales on these seas. "

He started for the door. Before he reached it he turned. "But this Ido know, " he half whispered, "I am damned glad there is no full moontonight. " And passed out, leaving me staring after him in amazement. What did the Portuguese know?

I bent over the sleeper. On his face was no trace of that unholymingling of opposites the Dweller stamped upon its victims. 

And yet--what was it the Norseman had said?

"The sparkling devil took them!" Nay, he had been even moreexplicit--"The sparkling devil that came down from the moon!"

Could it be that the Dweller had swept upon the Brunhilda, drawingdown the moon path Olaf Huldricksson's wife and babe even as it haddrawn Throckmartin?

As I sat thinking the cabin grew suddenly dark and from above came ashouting and patter of feet. Down upon us swept one of the abrupt, violent squalls that are met with in those latitudes. I lashedHuldricksson fast in the berth and ran up on deck. 

The long, peaceful swells had changed into angry, choppy waves fromthe tops of which the spindrift streamed in long stinging lashes. 

A half-hour passed; the squall died as quickly as it had arisen. Thesea quieted. Over in the west, from beneath the tattered, flying edgeof the storm, dropped the red globe of the setting sun; dropped slowlyuntil it touched the sea rim. 

I watched it--and rubbed my eyes and stared again. For over itsflaming portal something huge and black moved, like a giganticbeckoning finger!

Da Costa had seen it, too, and he turned the Suwarna straight towardthe descending orb and its strange shadow. As we approached we saw itwas a little mass of wreckage and that the beckoning finger was a wingof canvas, sticking up and swaying with the motion of the waves. Onthe highest point of the wreckage sat a tall figure calmly smoking acigarette. 

We brought the Suwarna to, dropped a boat, and with myself as coxswainpulled toward a wrecked hydroairplane. Its occupant took a long puffat his cigarette, waved a cheerful hand, shouted a greeting. And justas he did so a great wave raised itself up behind him, took thewreckage, tossed it high in a swelter of foam, and passed on. When wehad steadied our boat, where wreck and man had been was--nothing. 

There came a tug at the side--, two muscular brown hands gripped itclose to my left, and a sleek, black, wet head showed its top betweenthem. Two bright, blue eyes that held deep within them a laughingdeviltry looked into mine, and a long, lithe body drew itself gentlyover the thwart and seated its dripping self at my feet. 

"Much obliged, " said this man from the sea. "I knew somebody was sureto come along when the O'Keefe banshee didn't show up. "

"The what?" I asked in amazement. 

"The O'Keefe banshee--I'm Larry O'Keefe. It's a far way from Ireland, but not too far for the O'Keefe banshee to travel if the O'Keefe wasgoing to click in. "

I looked again at my astonishing rescue. He seemed perfectly serious. 

"Have you a cigarette? Mine went out, " he said with a grin, as hereached a moist hand out for the little cylinder, took it, lighted it. 

I saw a lean, intelligent face whose fighting jaw was softened by thewistfulness of the clean-cut lips and the honesty that lay side byside with the deviltry in the laughing blue eyes; nose of athoroughbred with the suspicion of a tilt; long, well-knit, slenderfigure that I knew must have all the strength of fine steel; theuniform of a lieutenant in the Royal Flying Corps of Britain's navy. 

He laughed, stretched out a firm hand, and gripped mine. 

"Thank you really ever so much, old man, " he said. 

I liked Larry O'Keefe from the beginning--but I did not dream as theTonga boys pulled us back to the Suwarna bow that liking was to beforged into man's strong love for man by fires which souls such as hisand mine--and yours who read this--could never dream. 

Larry! Larry O'Keefe, where are you now with your leprechauns andbanshee, your heart of a child, your laughing blue eyes, and yourfearless soul? Shall I ever see you again, Larry O'Keefe, dear to meas some best beloved younger brother? Larry!

CHAPTER VII

Larry O'Keefe

Pressing back the questions I longed to ask, I introduced myself. Oddly enough, I found that he knew me, or rather my work. He hadbought, it appeared, my volume upon the peculiar vegetation whosehabitat is disintegrating lava rock and volcanic ash, that I hadentitled, somewhat loosely, I could now perceive, Flora of theCraters. For he explained naively that he had picked it up, thinkingit an entirely different sort of a book, a novel in fact--somethinglike Meredith's Diana of the Crossways, which he liked greatly. 

He had hardly finished this explanation when we touched the side ofthe Suwarna, and I was forced to curb my curiosity until we reachedthe deck. 

"That thing you saw me sitting on, " he said, after he had thanked thebowing little skipper for his rescue, "was all that was left of one ofhis Majesty's best little hydroairplanes after that cyclone threw itoff as excess baggage. And by the way, about where are we?"

Da Costa gave him our approximate position from the noon reckoning. 

O'Keefe whistled. "A good three hundred miles from where I left theH. M. S. Dolphin about four hours ago, " he said. "That squall I rode inon was some whizzer!

"The Dolphin, " he went on, calmly divesting himself of his soakeduniform, "was on her way to Melbourne. I'd been yearning for a joyride and went up for an alleged scouting trip. Then that blow shot outof nowhere, picked me up, and insisted that I go with it. 

"About an hour ago I thought I saw a chance to zoom up and out of it, I turned, and _blick_ went my right wing, and down I dropped. "

"I don't know how we can notify your ship, Lieutenant O'Keefe, " Isaid. "We have no wireless. "

"Doctair Goodwin, " said Da Costa, "we could change our course, sair--perhaps--"

"Thanks--but not a bit of it, " broke in O'Keefe. "Lord alone knowswhere the Dolphin is now. Fancy she'll be nosing around looking forme. Anyway, she's just as apt to run into you as you into her. Maybewe'll strike something with a wireless, and I'll trouble you to put meaboard. " He hesitated. "Where are you bound, by the way?" he asked. 

"For Ponape, " I answered. 

"No wireless there, " mused O'Keefe. "Beastly hole. Stopped a week agofor fruit. Natives seemed scared to death at us--or something. Whatare you going there for?"

Da Costa darted a furtive glance at me. It troubled me. 

O'Keefe noted my hesitation. 

"Oh, I beg your pardon, " he said. "Maybe I oughn't to have askedthat?"

"It's no secret, Lieutenant, " I replied. "I'm about to undertake someexploration work--a little digging among the ruins on the Nan-Matal. "

I looked at the Portuguese sharply as I named the place. A pallorcrept beneath his skin and again he made swiftly the sign of thecross, glancing as he did so fearfully to the north. I made up my mindthen to question him when opportunity came. He turned from his quickscrutiny of the sea and addressed O'Keefe. 

"There's nothing on board to fit you, Lieutenant. "

"Oh, just give me a sheet to throw around me, Captain, " said O'Keefeand followed him. Darkness had fallen, and as the two disappeared intoDa Costa's cabin I softly opened the door of my own and listened. Huldricksson was breathing deeply and regularly. 

I drew my electric-flash, and shielding its rays from my face, lookedat him. His sleep was changing from the heavy stupor of the drug intoone that was at least on the borderland of the normal. The tongue hadlost its arid blackness and the mouth secretions had resumed action. Satisfied as to his condition I returned to deck. 

O'Keefe was there, looking like a spectre in the cotton sheet he hadwrapped about him. A deck table had been cleated down and one of theTonga boys was setting it for our dinner. Soon the very creditablelarder of the Suwarna dressed the board, and O'Keefe, Da Costa, and Iattacked it. The night had grown close and oppressive. Behind us theforward light of the Brunhilda glided and the binnacle lamp threw up afaint glow in which her black helmsman's face stood out mistily. O'Keefe had looked curiously a number of times at our tow, but hadasked no questions. 

"You're not the only passenger we picked up today, " I told him. "Wefound the captain of that sloop, lashed to his wheel, nearly dead withexhaustion, and his boat deserted by everyone except himself. "

"What was the matter?" asked O'Keefe in astonishment. 

"We don't know, " I answered. "He fought us, and I had to drug himbefore we could get him loose from his lashings. He's sleeping down inmy berth now. His wife and little girl ought to have been on board, the captain here says, but--they weren't. "

"Wife and child gone!" exclaimed O'Keefe. 

"From the condition of his mouth he must have been alone at the wheeland without water at least two days and nights before we found him, " Ireplied. "And as for looking for anyone on these waters after such atime--it's hopeless. "

"That's true, " said O'Keefe. "But his wife and baby! Poor, poordevil!"

He was silent for a time, and then, at my solicitation, began to tellus more of himself. He had been little more than twenty when he hadwon his wings and entered the war. He had been seriously wounded atYpres during the third year of the struggle, and when he recovered thewar was over. Shortly after that his mother had died. Lonely andrestless, he had re-entered the Air Service, and had remained in itever since. 

"And though the war's long over, I get homesick for the lark's landwith the German planes playing tunes on their machine guns and theirArchies tickling the soles of my feet, " he sighed. "If you're in love, love to the limit; and if you hate, why hate like the devil and ifit's a fight you're in, get where it's hottest and fight like hell--ifyou don't life's not worth the living, " sighed he. 

I watched him as he talked, feeling my liking for him steadilyincreasing. If I could but have a man like this beside me on the pathof unknown peril upon which I had set my feet I thought, wistfully. Wesat and smoked a bit, sipping the strong coffee the Portuguese made sowell. 

Da Costa at last relieved the Cantonese at the wheel. O'Keefe and Idrew chairs up to the rail. The brighter stars shone out dimly througha hazy sky; gleams of phosphorescence tipped the crests of the wavesand sparkled with an almost angry brilliance as the bow of the Suwarnatossed them aside. O'Keefe pulled contentedly at a cigarette. Theglowing spark lighted the keen, boyish face and the blue eyes, nowblack and brooding under the spell of the tropic night. 

"Are you American or Irish, O'Keefe?" I asked suddenly. 

"Why?" he laughed. 

"Because, " I answered, "from your name and your service I wouldsuppose you Irish--but your command of pure Americanese makes medoubtful. "

He grinned amiably. 

"I'll tell you how that is, " he said. "My mother was an American--aGrace, of Virginia. My father was the O'Keefe, of Coleraine. And thesetwo loved each other so well that the heart they gave me is half Irishand half American. My father died when I was sixteen. I used to go tothe States with my mother every other year for a month or two. Butafter my father died we used to go to Ireland every other year. Andthere you are--I'm as much American as I am Irish. 

"When I'm in love, or excited, or dreaming, or mad I have the brogue. But for the everyday purpose of life I like the United States talk, and I know Broadway as well as I do Binevenagh Lane, and the Sound aswell as St. Patrick's Channel; educated a bit at Eton, a bit atHarvard; always too much money to have to make any; in love lots oftimes, and never a heartache after that wasn't a pleasant one, andnever a real purpose in life until I took the king's shilling andearned my wings; something over thirty--and that's me--LarryO'Keefe. "

"But it was the Irish O'Keefe who sat out there waiting for thebanshee, " I laughed. 

"It was that, " he said somberly, and I heard the brogue creep over hisvoice like velvet and his eyes grew brooding again. "There's never anO'Keefe for these thousand years that has passed without his warning. An' twice have I heard the banshee calling--once it was when myyounger brother died an' once when my father lay waiting to be carriedout on the ebb tide. "

He mused a moment, then went on: "An' once I saw an Annir Choille, agirl of the green people, flit like a shade of green fire throughCarntogher woods, an' once at Dunchraig I slept where the ashes of theDun of Cormac MacConcobar are mixed with those of Cormac an' Eilidhthe Fair, all burned in the nine flames that sprang from the harpingof Cravetheen, an' I heard the echo of his dead harpings--"

He paused again and then, softly, with that curiously sweet, highvoice that only the Irish seem to have, he sang:

 Woman of the white breasts, Eilidh; Woman of the gold-brown hair, and lips of the red, red rowan, Where is the swan that is whiter, with breast more soft, Or the wave on the sea that moves as thou movest, Eilidh. 

CHAPTER VIII

Olaf's Story

There was a little silence. I looked upon him with wonder. Clearly hewas in deepest earnest. I know the psychology of the Gael is a curiousone and that deep in all their hearts their ancient traditions andbeliefs have strong and living roots. And I was both amused andtouched. 

Here was this soldier, who had faced war and its ugly realitiesopen-eyed and fearless, picking, indeed, the most dangerous branch ofservice for his own, a modern if ever there was one, appreciative ofmost unmystical Broadway, and yet soberly and earnestly attesting tohis belief in banshee, in shadowy people of the woods, and phantomharpers! I wondered what he would think if he could see the Dwellerand then, with a pang, that perhaps his superstitions might make himan easy prey. 

He shook his head half impatiently and ran a hand over his eyes;turned to me and grinned:

"Don't think I'm cracked, Professor, " he said. "I'm not. But it takesme that way now and then. It's the Irish in me. And, believe it ornot, I'm telling you the truth. "

I looked eastward where the moon, now nearly a week past the full, wasmounting. 

"You can't make me see what you've seen, Lieutenant, " I laughed. "Butyou can make me hear. I've always wondered what kind of a noise adisembodied spirit could make without any vocal cords or breath or anyother earthly sound-producing mechanism. How does the banshee sound?"

O'Keefe looked at me seriously. 

"All right, " he said. "I'll show you. " From deep down in his throatcame first a low, weird sobbing that mounted steadily into a keeningwhose mournfulness made my skin creep. And then his hand shot out andgripped my shoulder, and I stiffened like stone in my chair--for frombehind us, like an echo, and then taking up the cry, swelled a wailthat seemed to hold within it a sublimation of the sorrows ofcenturies! It gathered itself into one heartbroken, sobbing note anddied away! O'Keefe's grip loosened, and he rose swiftly to his feet. 

"It's all right, Professor, " he said. "It's for me. It found me--allthis way from Ireland. "

Again the silence was rent by the cry. But now I had located it. Itcame from my room, and it could mean only one thing--Huldricksson hadwakened. 

"Forget your banshee!" I gasped, and made a jump for the cabin. 

Out of the corner of my eye I noted a look of half-sheepish reliefflit over O'Keefe's face, and then he was beside me. Da Costa shoutedan order from the wheel, the Cantonese ran up and took it from hishands and the little Portuguese pattered down toward us. My hand onthe door, ready to throw it open, I stopped. What if the Dweller werewithin--what if we had been wrong and it was not dependent for itspower upon that full flood of moon ray which Throckmartin had thoughtessential to draw it from the blue pool!

From within, the sobbing wail began once more to rise. O'Keefe pushedme aside, threw open the door and crouched low within it. I saw anautomatic flash dully in his hand; saw it cover the cabin from side toside, following the swift sweep of his eyes around it. Then hestraightened and his face, turned toward the berth, was filled withwondering pity. 

Through the window streamed a shaft of the moonlight. It fell uponHuldricksson's staring eyes; in them great tears slowly gathered androlled down his cheeks; from his opened mouth came the woe-ladenwailing. I ran to the port and drew the curtains. Da Costa snapped thelights. 

The Norseman's dolorous crying stopped as abruptly as though cut. Hisgaze rolled toward us. And at one bound he broke through the leashes Ihad buckled round him and faced us, his eyes glaring, his yellow hairalmost erect with the force of the rage visibly surging through him. Da Costa shrunk behind me. O'Keefe, coolly watchful, took a quick stepthat brought him in front of me. 

"Where do you take me?" said Huldricksson, and his voice was like thegrowl of a beast. "Where is my boat?"

I touched O'Keefe gently and stood before the giant. 

"Listen, Olaf Huldricksson, " I said. "We take you to where thesparkling devil took your Helma and your Freda. We follow thesparkling devil that came down from the moon. Do you hear me?" I spokeslowly, distinctly, striving to pierce the mists that I knew swirledaround the strained brain. And the words did pierce. 

He thrust out a shaking hand. 

"You say you follow?" he asked falteringly. "You know where tofollow? Where it took my Helma and my little Freda?"

"Just that, Olaf Huldricksson, " I answered. "Just that! I pledge youmy life that I know. "

Da Costa stepped forward. "He speaks true, Olaf. You go faster onthe Suwarna than on the Br-rw-un'ilda, Olaf, yes. "

The giant Norseman, still gripping my hand, looked at him. "I knowyou, Da Costa, " he muttered. "You are all right. Ja! You are a fairman. Where is the Brunhilda?"

"She follow be'ind on a big rope, Olaf, " soothed the Portuguese. "Soon you see her. But now lie down an' tell us, if you can, why youtie yourself to your wheel an' what it is that happen, Olaf. "

"If you'll tell us how the sparkling devil came it will help us allwhen we get to where it is, Huldricksson, " I said. 

On O'Keefe's face there was an expression of well-nigh ludicrous doubtand amazement. He glanced from one to the other. The giant shifted hisown tense look from me to the Irishman. A gleam of approval lighted inhis eyes. He loosed me, and gripped O'Keefe's arm. "Staerk!" he said. "Ja--strong, and with a strong heart. A man--ja! He comes too--weshall need him--ja!"

"I tell, " he muttered, and seated himself on the side of the bunk. "It was four nights ago. My Freda"--his voice shook--"Mine Yndling!She loved the moonlight. I was at the wheel and my Freda and my Helmathey were behind me. The moon was behind us and the Brunhilda was likea swanboat sailing down with the moonlight sending her, ja. 

"I heard my Freda say: 'I see a nisse coming down the track of themoon. ' And I hear her mother laugh, low, like a mother does when herYndling dreams. I was happy--that night--with my Helma and my Freda, and the Brunhilda sailing like a swan-boat, ja. I heard the child say, 'The nisse comes fast!' And then I heard a scream from my Helma, agreat scream--like a mare when her foal is torn from her. I spunaround fast, ja! I dropped the wheel and spun fast! I saw--" Hecovered his eyes with his hands. 

The Portuguese had crept close to me, and I heard him panting like afrightened dog. 

"I saw a white fire spring over the rail, " whispered OlafHuldricksson. "It whirled round and round, and it shone like--likestars in a whirlwind mist. There was a noise in my ears. It soundedlike bells--little bells, ja! Like the music you make when you runyour finger round goblets. It made me sick and dizzy--the hell noise. 

"My Helma was--indeholde--what you say--in the middle of the whitefire. She turned her face to me and she turned it on the child, and myHelma's face burned into my heart. Because it was full of fear, and itwas full of happiness--of glaede. I tell you that the fear in myHelma's face made me ice here"--he beat his breast with clenchedhand--"but the happiness in it burned on me like fire. And I couldnot move--I could not move. 

"I said in here"--he touched his head--"I said, 'It is Loki come outof Helvede. But he cannot take my Helma, for Christ lives and Loki hasno power to hurt my Helma or my Freda! Christ lives! Christ lives!' Isaid. But the sparkling devil did not let my Helma go. It drew her tothe rail; half over it. I saw her eyes upon the child and a little shebroke away and reached to it. And my Freda jumped into her arms. Andthe fire wrapped them both and they were gone! A little I saw themwhirling on the moon track behind the Brunhilda--and they were gone!

"The sparkling devil took them! Loki was loosed, and he had power. Iturned the Brunhilda, and I followed where my Helma and mine Yndlinghad gone. My boys crept up and asked me to turn again. But I wouldnot. They dropped a boat and left me. I steered straight on the path. I lashed my hands to the wheel that sleep might not loose them. Isteered on and on and on--

"Where was the God I prayed when my wife and child were taken?" criedOlaf Huldricksson--and it was as though I heard Throckmartin askingthat same bitter question. "I have left Him as He left me, ja! I praynow to Thor and to Odin, who can fetter Loki. " He sank back, coveringagain his eyes. 

"Olaf, " I said, "what you have called the sparkling devil has takenones dear to me. I, too, was following it when we found you. You shallgo with me to its home, and there we will try to take from it yourwife and your child and my friends as well. But now that you may bestrong for what is before us, you must sleep again. "

Olaf Huldricksson looked upon me and in his eyes was that somethingwhich souls must see in the eyes of Him the old Egyptians called theSearcher of Hearts in the Judgment Hall of Osiris. 

"You speak truth!" he said at last slowly. "I will do what you say!"

He stretched out an arm at my bidding. I gave him a second injection. He lay back and soon he was sleeping. I turned toward Da Costa. Hisface was livid and sweating, and he was trembling pitiably. O'Keefestirred. 

"You did that mighty well, Dr. Goodwin, " he said. "So well that Ialmost believed you myself. "

"What did you think of his story, Mr. O'Keefe?" I asked. 

His answer was almost painfully brief and colloquial. 

"Nuts!" he said. I was a little shocked, I admit. "I think he's crazy, Dr. Goodwin, " he corrected himself, quickly. "What else could Ithink?"

I turned to the little Portuguese without answering. 

"There's no need for any anxiety tonight, Captain, " I said. "Take myword for it. You need some rest yourself. Shall I give you a sleepingdraft?"

"I do wish you would, Dr. Goodwin, sair, " he answered gratefully. "Tomorrow, when I feel bettair--I would have a talk with you. "

I nodded. He did know something then! I mixed him an opiate ofconsiderable strength. He took it and went to his own cabin. 

I locked the door behind him and then, sitting beside the sleepingNorseman, I told O'Keefe my story from end to end. He asked fewquestions as I spoke. But after I had finished he cross-examined merather minutely upon my recollections of the radiant phases upon eachappearance, checking these with Throckmartin's observations of thesame phenomena in the Chamber of the Moon Pool. 

"And now what do you think of it all?" I asked. 

He sat silent for a while, looking at Huldricksson. 

"Not what you seem to think, Dr. Goodwin, " he answered at last, gravely. "Let me sleep over it. One thing of course is certain--youand your friend Throckmartin and this man here saw--something. But--"he was silent again and then continued with a kindness that I foundvaguely irritating--"but I've noticed that when a scientist getssuperstitious it--er--takes very hard!

"Here's a few things I can tell you now though, " he went on while Istruggled to speak--"I pray in my heart that we'll meet neither theDolphin nor anything with wireless on board going up. Because, Dr. Goodwin, I'd dearly love to take a crack at your Dweller. 

"And another thing, " said O'Keefe. "After this--cut out thetrimmings, Doc, and call me plain Larry, for whether I think you'recrazy or whether I don't, you're there with the nerve, Professor, andI'm for _you_. 

"Good night!" said Larry and took himself out to the deck hammock hehad insisted upon having slung for him, refusing the captain'simportunities to use his own cabin. 

And it was with extremely mixed emotions as to his compliment that Iwatched him go. Superstitious. I, whose pride was my scientificdevotion to fact and fact alone! Superstitious--and this from a manwho believed in banshees and ghostly harpers and Irish wood nymphs andno doubt in leprechauns and all their tribe!

Half laughing, half irritated, and wholly happy in even the partpromise of Larry O'Keefe's comradeship on my venture, I arranged acouple of pillows, stretched myself out on two chairs and took up myvigil beside Olaf Huldricksson. 

CHAPTER IX

A Lost Page of Earth

When I awakened the sun was streaming through the cabin porthole. Outside a fresh voice lilted. I lay on my two chairs and listened. Thesong was one with the wholesome sunshine and the breeze blowingstiffly and whipping the curtains. It was Larry O'Keefe at his matins:

 The little red lark is shaking his wings, Straight from the breast of his love he springs

Larry's voice soared. 

 His wings and his feathers are sunrise red, He hails the sun and his golden head, Good morning, Doc, you are long abed. 

This last was a most irreverent interpolation, I well knew. I openedmy door. O'Keefe stood outside laughing. The Suwarna, her enginessilent, was making fine headway under all sail, the Brunhilda skippingin her wake cheerfully with half her canvas up. 

The sea was crisping and dimpling under the wind. Blue and white wasthe world as far as the eye could reach. Schools of little silverygreen flying fish broke through the water rushing on each side of us;flashed for an instant and were gone. Behind us gulls hovered anddipped. The shadow of mystery had retreated far over the rim of thiswide awake and beautiful world and if, subconsciously, I knew thatsomewhere it was brooding and waiting, for a little while at least Iwas consciously free of its oppression. 

"How's the patient?" asked O'Keefe. 

He was answered by Huldricksson himself, who must have risen just as Ileft the cabin. The Norseman had slipped on a pair of pajamas and, giant torso naked under the sun, he strode out upon us. We all of uslooked at him a trifle anxiously. But Olaf's madness had left him. Inhis eyes was much sorrow, but the berserk rage was gone. 

He spoke straight to me: "You said last night we follow?"

I nodded. 

"It is where?" he asked again. 

"We go first to Ponape and from there to Metalanim Harbour--to theNan-Matal. You know the place?"

Huldricksson bowed--a white gleam as of ice showing in his blue eyes. 

"It is there?" he asked. 

"It is there that we must first search, " I answered. 

"Good!" said Olaf Huldricksson. "It is good!"

He looked at Da Costa inquiringly and the little Portuguese, followinghis thought, answered his unspoken question. 

"We should be at Ponape tomorrow morning early, Olaf. "

"Good!" repeated the Norseman. He looked away, his eyes tear-filled. 

A restraint fell upon us; the embarrassment all men experience whenthey feel a great sympathy and a great pity, to neither of which theyquite know how to give expression. By silent consent we discussed atbreakfast only the most casual topics. 

When the meal was over Huldricksson expressed a desire to go aboardthe Brunhilda. 

The Suwarna hove to and Da Costa and he dropped into the small boat. When they reached the Brunhilda's deck I saw Olaf take the wheel andthe two fall into earnest talk. I beckoned to O'Keefe and we stretchedourselves out on the bow hatch under cover of the foresail. He lighteda cigarette, took a couple of leisurely puffs, and looked at meexpectantly. 

"Well?" I asked. 

"Well, " said O'Keefe, "suppose you tell me what you think--and thenI'll proceed to point out your scientific errors. " His eyes twinkledmischievously. 

"Larry, " I replied, somewhat severely, "you may not know that I have ascientific reputation which, putting aside all modesty, I may say isan enviable one. You used a word last night to which I must interposeserious objection. You more than hinted that I hid--superstitions. Letme inform you, Larry O'Keefe, that I am solely a seeker, observer, analyst, and synthesist of facts. I am not"--and I tried to make mytone as pointed as my words--"I am not a believer in phantoms orspooks, leprechauns, banshees, or ghostly harpers. "

O'Keefe leaned back and shouted with laughter. 

"Forgive me, Goodwin, " he gasped. "But if you could have seenyourself solemnly disclaiming the banshee"--another twinkle showed inhis eyes--"and then with all this sunshine and this wide-openworld"--he shrugged his shoulders--"it's hard to visualize anythingsuch as you and Huldricksson have described. "

"I know how hard it is, Larry, " I answered. "And don't think I haveany idea that the phenomenon is supernatural in the sensespiritualists and table turners have given that word. I do think it issupernormal; energized by a force unknown to modern science--but thatdoesn't mean I think it outside the radius of science. "

"Tell me your theory, Goodwin, " he said. I hesitated--for not yethad I been able to put into form to satisfy myself any explanation ofthe Dweller. 

"I think, " I hazarded finally, "it is possible that some members ofthat race peopling the ancient continent which we know existed here inthe Pacific, have survived. We know that many of these islands arehoneycombed with caverns and vast subterranean spaces, literallyunderground lands running in some cases far out beneath the oceanfloor. It is possible that for some reason survivors of this racesought refuge in the abysmal spaces, one of whose entrances is on theislet where Throckmartin's party met its end. 

"As for their persistence in these caverns--we know they possessed ahigh science. They may have gone far in the mastery of certainuniversal forms of energy--especially that we call light. They mayhave developed a civilization and a science far more advanced thanours. What I call the Dweller may be one of the results of thisscience. Larry--it may well be that this lost race is planning toemerge again upon earth's surface!"

"And is sending out your Dweller as a messenger, a scientific dovefrom their Ark?" I chose to overlook the banter in his question. 

"Did you ever hear of the Chamats?" I asked him. He shook his head. 

"In Papua, " I explained, "there is a wide-spread and immeasurably oldtradition that 'imprisoned under the hills' is a race of giants whoonce ruled this region 'when it stretched from sun to sun before themoon god drew the waters over it'--I quote from the legend. Not onlyin Papua but throughout Malaysia you find this story. And, so thetradition runs, these people--the Chamats--will one day break throughthe hills and rule the world; 'make over the world' is the literaltranslation of the constant phrase in the tale. It was Herbert Spencerwho pointed out that there is a basis of fact in every myth and legendof man. It is possible that these survivors I am discussing formSpencer's fact basis for the Malaysian legend. [1]

"This much is sure--the moon door, which is clearly operated by theaction of moon rays upon some unknown element or combination and thecrystals through which the moon rays pour down upon the pool theirprismatic columns, are humanly made mechanisms. So long as they arehumanly made, and so long as it _is_ this flood of moonlight from whichthe Dweller draws its power of materialization, the Dweller itself, ifnot the product of the human mind, is at least dependent upon theproduct of the human mind for its appearance. "

"Wait a minute, Goodwin, " interrupted O'Keefe. "Do you mean to sayyou think that this thing is made of--well--of moonshine?"

"Moonlight, " I replied, "is, of course, reflected sunlight. But therays which pass back to earth after their impact on the moon's surfaceare profoundly changed. The spectroscope shows that they losepractically all the slower vibrations we call red and infra-red, whilethe extremely rapid vibrations we call the violet and ultra-violet areaccelerated and altered. Many scientists hold that there is an unknownelement in the moon--perhaps that which makes the gigantic luminoustrails that radiate in all directions from the lunar craterTycho--whose energies are absorbed by and carried on the moon rays. 

"At any rate, whether by the loss of the vibrations of the red or bythe addition of this mysterious force, the light of the moon becomessomething entirely different from mere modified sunlight--just as theaddition or subtraction of one other chemical in a compound of severalmakes the product a substance with entirely different energies andpotentialities. 

"Now these rays, Larry, are given perhaps still another mysteriousactivity by the globes through which Throckmartin said they passed inthe Chamber of the Moon Pool. The result is the necessary factor inthe formation of the Dweller. There would be nothing scientificallyimprobable in such a process. Kubalski, the great Russian physicist, produced crystalline forms exhibiting every faculty that we call vitalby subjecting certain combinations of chemicals to the action ofhighly concentrated rays of various colours. Something in light andnothing else produced their pseudo-vitality. We do not begin to knowhow to harness the potentialities of that magnetic vibration of theether we call light. "

"Listen, Doc, " said Larry earnestly, "I'll take everything you sayabout this lost continent, the people who used to live on it, andtheir caverns, for granted. But by the sword of Brian Boru, you'llnever get me to fall for the idea that a bunch of moonshine can handlea big woman such as you say Throckmartin's Thora was, nor a two-fistedman such as you say Throckmartin was, nor Huldricksson's wife--andI'll bet she was one of those strapping big northern women too--you'llnever get me to believe that any bunch of concentrated moonshine couldhandle them and take them waltzing off along a moonbeam back towherever it goes. No, Doc, not on your life, even Tennessee moonshinecouldn't do that--nix!"

"All right, O'Keefe, " I answered, now very much irritated indeed. "What's your theory?" And I could not resist adding: "Fairies?"

"Professor, " he grinned, "if that Thing's a fairy it's Irish and whenit sees me it'll be so glad there'll be nothing to it. 'I was lost, strayed, or stolen, Larry avick, ' it'll say, 'an' I was so homesickfor the old sod I was desp'rit, ' it'll say, an' 'take me back quickbefore I do any more har-rm!' it'll tell me--an' that's the truth. 

"Now don't get me wrong. I believe you all saw something all right. But what I think you saw was some kind of gas. All this region isvolcanic and islands and things are constantly poking up from the sea. It's probably gas; a volcanic emanation; something new to us and thatdrives you crazy--lots of kinds of gas do that. It hit theThrockmartin party on that island and they probably were all more orless delirious all the time; thought they saw things; talked it overand--collective hallucination--just like the Angels of Mons and othermiracles of the war. Somebody sees something that looks like somethingelse. He points it out to the man next him. 'Do you see it?' asks he. 'Sure I see it, ' says the other. And there you are--collectivehallucination. 

"When your friends got it bad they most likely jumped overboard one byone. Huldricksson sails into a place where it is and it hits his wife. She grabs the child and jumps over. Maybe the moon rays make itluminous! I've seen gas on the front under the moon that looked like athousand whirling dervish devils. Yes, and you could see the devil'sfaces in it. And if it got into your lungs nothing could ever make youthink you hadn't seen real devils. "

For a time I was silent. 

"Larry, " I said at last, "whether you are right or I am right, I mustgo to the Nan-Matal. Will you go with me, Larry?"

"Goodwin, " he replied, "I surely will. I'm as interested as you are. If we don't run across the Dolphin I'll stick. I'll leave word atPonape, to tell them where I am should they come along. If they reportme dead for a while there's nobody to care. So that's all right. Onlyold man, be reasonable. You've thought over this so long, you're goingbug, honestly you are. "

And again, the gladness that I might have Larry O'Keefe with me, wasso great that I forgot to be angry. 

[1] William Beebe, the famous American naturalist and ornithologist, recently fighting in France with America's air force, called attentionto this remarkable belief in an article printed not long ago in theAtlantic Monthly. Still more significant was it that he noted apersistent rumour that the breaking out of the buried race wasclose. --W. J. B. , Pres. I. A. Of S. 

CHAPTER X

The Moon Pool

Da Costa, who had come aboard unnoticed by either of us, now tapped meon the arm. 

"Doctair Goodwin, " he said, "can I see you in my cabin, sair?"

At last, then, he was going to speak. I followed him. 

"Doctair, " he said, when we had entered, "this is a veree strangething that has happened to Olaf. Veree strange. An' the natives ofPonape, they have been very much excite' lately. 

"Of what they fear I know nothing, nothing!" Again that quick, furtivecrossing of himself. "But this I have to tell you. There came to mefrom Ranaloa last month a man, a Russian, a doctair, like you. Hisname it was Marakinoff. I take him to Ponape an' the natives therethey will not take him to the Nan-Matal where he wish to go--no! So Itake him. We leave in a boat, wit' much instrument carefully tied up. I leave him there wit' the boat an' the food. He tell me to tell noone an' pay me not to. But you are a friend an' Olaf he depend muchupon you an' so I tell you, sair. "

"You know nothing more than this, Da Costa?" I asked. "Nothing ofanother expedition?"

"No, " he shook his head vehemently. "Nothing more. "

"Hear the name Throckmartin while you were there?" I persisted. 

"No, " his eyes were steady as he answered but the pallor had creptagain into his face. 

I was not so sure. But if he knew more than he had told me why was heafraid to speak? My anxiety deepened and later I sought relief from itby repeating the conversation to O'Keefe. 

"A Russian, eh, " he said. "Well, they can be damned nice, ordamned--otherwise. Considering what you did for me, I hope I can lookhim over before the Dolphin shows up. "

Next morning we raised Ponape, without further incident, and beforenoon the Suwarna and the Brunhilda had dropped anchor in the harbour. Upon the excitement and manifest dread of the natives, when we soughtamong them for carriers and workmen to accompany us, I will not dwell. It is enough to say that no payment we offered could induce a singleone of them to go to the Nan-Matal. Nor would they say why. 

Finally it was agreed that the Brunhilda should be left in charge of ahalf-breed Chinaman, whom both Da Costa and Huldricksson knew andtrusted. We piled her long-boat up with my instruments and food andcamping equipment. The Suwarna took us around to Metalanim Harbour, and there, with the tops of ancient sea walls deep in the blue waterbeneath us, and the ruins looming up out of the mangroves, a scantmile from us, left us. 

Then with Huldricksson manipulating our small sail, and Larry at therudder, we rounded the titanic wall that swept down into the depths, and turned at last into the canal that Throckmartin, on his map, hadmarked as that which, running between frowning Nan-Tauach and itssatellite islet, Tau, led straight to the gate of the place of ancientmysteries. 

And as we entered that channel we were enveloped by a silence; asilence so intense, so--weighted that it seemed to have substance; analien silence that clung and stifled and still stood aloof fromus--the living. It was a stillness, such as might follow the longtramping of millions into the grave; it was--paradoxical as it maybe--filled with the withdrawal of life. 

Standing down in the chambered depths of the Great Pyramid I had knownsomething of such silence--but never such intensity as this. Larryfelt it and I saw him look at me askance. If Olaf, sitting in the bow, felt it, too, he gave no sign; his blue eyes, with again the glint ofice within them, watched the channel before us. 

As we passed, there arose upon our left sheer walls of black basaltblocks, cyclopean, towering fifty feet or more, broken here and thereby the sinking of their deep foundations. 

In front of us the mangroves widened out and filled the canal. Onour right the lesser walls of Tau, sombre blocks smoothed and squaredand set with a cold, mathematical nicety that filled me with vagueawe, slipped by. Through breaks I caught glimpses of dark ruins and ofgreat fallen stones that seemed to crouch and menace us, as we passed. Somewhere there, hidden, were the seven globes that poured the moonfire down upon the Moon Pool. 

Now we were among the mangroves and, sail down, the three of us pushedand pulled the boat through their tangled roots and branches. Thenoise of our passing split the silence like a profanation, and fromthe ancient bastions came murmurs--forbidding, strangely sinister. Andnow we were through, floating on a little open space of shadow-filledwater. Before us lifted the gateway of Nan-Tauach, gigantic, broken, incredibly old; shattered portals through which had passed men andwomen of earth's dawn; old with a weight of years that pressedleadenly upon the eyes that looked upon it, and yet was in somecurious indefinable way--menacingly defiant. 

Beyond the gate, back from the portals, stretched a flight of enormousbasalt slabs, a giant's stairway indeed; and from each side of itmarched the high walls that were the Dweller's pathway. None of usspoke as we grounded the boat and dragged it upon a half-submergedpier. And when we did speak it was in whispers. 

"What next?" asked Larry. 

"I think we ought to take a look around, " I replied in the same lowtones. "We'll climb the wall here and take a flash about. The wholeplace ought to be plain as day from that height. "

Huldricksson, his blue eyes alert, nodded. With the greatestdifficulty we clambered up the broken blocks. 

To the east and south of us, set like children's blocks in the midstof the sapphire sea, lay dozens of islets, none of them covering morethan two square miles of surface; each of them a perfect square oroblong within its protecting walls. 

On none was there sign of life, save for a few great birds thathovered here and there, and gulls dipping in the blue waves beyond. 

We turned our gaze down upon the island on which we stood. It was, Iestimated, about three-quarters of a mile square. The sea wallenclosed it. It was really an enormous basalt-sided open cube, andwithin it two other open cubes. The enclosure between the first andsecond wall was stone paved, with here and there a broken pillar andlong stone benches. The hibiscus, the aloe tree, and a number of smallshrubs had found place, but seemed only to intensify its starkloneliness. 

"Wonder where the Russian can be?" asked Larry. 

I shook my head. There was no sign of life here. Had Marakinoffgone--or had the Dweller taken him, too? Whatever had happened, therewas no trace of him below us or on any of the islets within our rangeof vision. We scrambled down the side of the gateway. Olaf looked atme wistfully. 

"We start the search now, Olaf, " I said. "And first, O'Keefe, let ussee whether the grey stone is really here. After that we will set upcamp, and while I unpack, you and Olaf search the island. It won'ttake long. "

Larry gave a look at his service automatic and grinned. "Lead on, Macduff, " he said. We made our way up the steps, through the outerenclosures and into the central square, I confess to a fire ofscientific curiosity and eagerness tinged with a dread that O'Keefe'sanalysis might be true. Would we find the moving slab and, if so, would it be as Throckmartin had described? If so, then even Larrywould have to admit that here was something that theories of gases andluminous emanations would not explain; and the first test of the wholeamazing story would be passed. But if not--And there before us, thefaintest tinge of grey setting it apart from its neighbouring blocksof basalt, was the moon door!

There was no mistaking it. This was, in very deed, the portal throughwhich Throckmartin had seen pass that gloriously dreadful apparitionhe called the Dweller. At its base was the curious, seemingly polishedcup-like depression within which, my lost friend had told me, theopening door swung. 

What was that portal--more enigmatic than was ever sphinx? And whatlay beyond it? What did that smooth stone, whose wan deadnesswhispered of ages-old corridors of time opening out into alien, unimaginable vistas, hide? It had cost the world of scienceThrockmartin's great brain--as it had cost Throckmartin those heloved. It had drawn me to it in search of Throckmartin--and its shadowhad fallen upon the soul of Olaf the Norseman; and upon what thousandsupon thousands more I wondered, since the brains that had conceived ithad vanished with their secret knowledge?

What lay beyond it?

I stretched out a shaking hand and touched the surface of the slab. Afaint thrill passed through my hand and arm, oddly unfamiliar and asoddly unpleasant; as of electric contact holding the very essence ofcold. O'Keefe, watching, imitated my action. As his fingers rested onthe stone his face filled with astonishment. 

"It's the door?" he asked. I nodded. There was a low whistle fromhim and he pointed up toward the top of the grey stone. I followed thegesture and saw, above the moon door and on each side of it, twogently curving bosses of rock, perhaps a foot in diameter. 

"The moon door's keys, " I said. 

"It begins to look so, " answered Larry. "If we can find them, " headded. 

"There's nothing we can do till moonrise, " I replied. "And we've nonetoo much time to prepare as it is. Come!"

A little later we were beside our boat. We lightered it, set up thetent, and as it was now but a short hour to sundown I bade them leaveme and make their search. They went off together, and I busied myselfwith opening some of the paraphernalia I had brought with me. 

First of all I took out the two Becquerel ray-condensers that I hadbought in Sydney. Their lenses would collect and intensify to thefullest extent any light directed upon them. I had found them mostuseful in making spectroscopic analysis of luminous vapours, and Iknew that at Yerkes Observatory splendid results had been obtainedfrom them in collecting the diffused radiance of the nebulae for thesame purpose. 

If my theory of the grey slab's mechanism were correct, it waspractically certain that with the satellite only a few nights past thefull we could concentrate enough light on the bosses to open the rock. And as the ray streams through the seven globes described byThrockmartin would be too weak to energize the Pool, we could enterthe chamber free from any fear of encountering its tenant, make ourpreliminary observations and go forth before the moon had dropped sofar that the concentration in the condensers would fall below thatnecessary to keep the portal from closing. 

I took out also a small spectroscope, and a few other instruments forthe analysis of certain light manifestations and the testing of metaland liquid. Finally, I put aside my emergency medical kit. 

I had hardly finished examining and adjusting these before O'Keefe andHuldricksson returned. They reported signs of a camp at least ten daysold beside the northern wall of the outer court, but beyond that noevidence of others beyond ourselves on Nan-Tauach. 

We prepared supper, ate and talked a little, but for the most partwere silent. Even Larry's high spirits were not in evidence; half adozen times I saw him take out his automatic and look it over. He wasmore thoughtful than I had ever seen him. Once he went into the tent, rummaged about a bit and brought out another revolver which, he said, he had got from Da Costa, and a half-dozen clips of cartridges. Hepassed the gun over to Olaf. 

At last a glow in the southeast heralded the rising moon. I picked upmy instruments and the medical kit; Larry and Olaf shouldered each ashort ladder that was part of my equipment, and, with our electricflashes pointing the way, walked up the great stairs, through theenclosures, and straight to the grey stone. 

By this time the moon had risen and its clipped light shone full uponthe slab. I saw faint gleams pass over it as of fleetingphosphorescence--but so faint were they that I could not be sure ofthe truth of my observation. 

We set the ladders in place. Olaf I assigned to stand before the doorand watch for the first signs of its opening--if open it should. TheBecquerels were set within three-inch tripods, whose feet I hadequipped with vacuum rings to enable them to hold fast to the rock. 

I scaled one ladder and fastened a condenser over the boss; descended;sent Larry up to watch it, and, ascending the second ladder, rapidlyfixed the other in its place. Then, with O'Keefe watchful on hisperch, I on mine, and Olaf's eyes fixed upon the moon door, we beganour vigil. Suddenly there was an exclamation from Larry. 

"Seven little lights are beginning to glow on this stone!" he cried. 

But I had already seen those beneath my lens begin to gleam out with asilvery lustre. Swiftly the rays within the condenser began to thickenand increase, and as they did so the seven small circles waxed likestars growing out of the dusk, and with a queer--curdled is the bestword I can find to define it--radiance entirely strange to me. 

Beneath me I heard a faint, sighing murmur and then the voice ofHuldricksson:

"It opens--the stone turns--"

I began to climb down the ladder. Again came Olaf's voice:

"The stone--it is open--" And then a shriek, a wail of blended anguishand pity, of rage and despair--and the sound of swift footsteps racingthrough the wall beneath me!

I dropped to the ground. The moon door was wide open, and through itI caught a glimpse of a corridor filled with a faint, pearly vaporouslight like earliest misty dawn. But of Olaf I could see--nothing! Andeven as I stood, gaping, from behind me came the sharp crack of arifle; the glass of the condenser at Larry's side flew into fragments;he dropped swiftly to the ground, the automatic in his hand flashedonce, twice, into the darkness. 

And the moon door began to pivot slowly, slowly back into its place!

I rushed toward the turning stone with the wild idea of holding itopen. As I thrust my hands against it there came at my back a snarland an oath and Larry staggered under the impact of a body that hadflung itself straight at his throat. He reeled at the lip of theshallow cup at the base of the slab, slipped upon its polished curve, fell and rolled with that which had attacked him, kicking andwrithing, straight through the narrowing portal into the passage!

Forgetting all else, I sprang to his aid. As I leaped I felt theclosing edge of the moon door graze my side. Then, as Larry raised afist, brought it down upon the temple of the man who had grappled withhim and rose from the twitching body unsteadily to his feet, I heardshuddering past me a mournful whisper; spun about as though somegiant's hand had whirled me--

The end of the corridor no longer opened out into the moonlit squareof ruined Nan-Tauach. It was barred by a solid mass of glimmeringstone. The moon door had closed!

O'Keefe took a stumbling step toward the barrier behind us. There wasno mark of juncture with the shining walls; the slab fitted into thesides as closely as a mosaic. 

"It's shut all right, " said Larry. "But if there's a way in, there'sa way out. Anyway, Doc, we're right in the pew we've been headingfor--so why worry?" He grinned at me cheerfully. The man on the floorgroaned, and he dropped to his knees beside him. 

"Marakinoff!" he cried. 

At my exclamation he moved aside, turning the face so I could see it. It was clearly Russian, and just as clearly its possessor was one ofunusual force and intellect. 

The strong, massive brow with orbital ridge unusually developed, thedominant, high-bridged nose, the straight lips with their more thansuggestion of latent cruelty, and the strong lines of the jaw beneatha black, pointed beard all gave evidence that here was a personalitybeyond the ordinary. 

"Couldn't be anybody else, " said Larry, breaking in on my thoughts. "He must have been watching us over there from Chau-ta-leur's vaultall the time. "

Swiftly he ran practised hands over his body; then stood erect, holding out to me two wicked-looking magazine pistols and a knife. "Hegot one of my bullets through his right forearm, too, " he said. "Justa flesh wound, but it made him drop his rifle. Some arsenal, ourlittle Russian scientist, what?"

I opened my medical kit. The wound was a slight one, and Larry stoodlooking on as I bandaged it. 

"Got another one of those condensers?" he asked, suddenly. "And doyou suppose Olaf will know enough to use it?"

"Larry, " I answered, "Olaf's not outside! He's in here somewhere!"

His jaw dropped. 

"The hell you say!" he whispered. 

"Didn't you hear him shriek when the stone opened?" I asked. 

"I heard him yell, yes, " he said. "But I didn't know what was thematter. And then this wildcat jumped me--" He paused and his eyeswidened. "Which way did he go?" he asked swiftly. I pointed down thefaintly glowing passage. 

"There's only one way, " I said. 

"Watch that bird close, " hissed O'Keefe, pointing to Marakinoff--andpistol in hand stretched his long legs and raced away. I looked downat the Russian. His eyes were open, and he reached out a hand to me. Ilifted him to his feet. 

"I have heard, " he said. "We follow, quick. If you will take my arm, please, I am shaken yet, yes--" I gripped his shoulder without a word, and the two of us set off down the corridor after O'Keefe. Marakinoffwas gasping, and his weight pressed upon me heavily, but he moved withall the will and strength that were in him. 

As we ran I took hasty note of the tunnel. Its sides were smooth andpolished, and the light seemed to come not from their surfaces, butfrom far within them--giving to the walls an illusive aspect ofdistance and depth; rendering them in a peculiarly weirdway--spacious. The passage turned, twisted, ran down, turned again. Itcame to me that the light that illumined the tunnel was given out bytiny points deep within the stone, sprang from the points ripplinglyand spread upon their polished faces. 

There was a cry from Larry far ahead. 

"Olaf!"

I gripped Marakinoff's arm closer and we sped on. Now we were comingfast to the end of the passage. Before us was a high arch, and throughit I glimpsed a dim, shifting luminosity as of mist filled withrainbows. We reached the portal and I looked into a chamber that mighthave been transported from that enchanted palace of the Jinn King thatrises beyond the magic mountains of Kaf. 

Before me stood O'Keefe and a dozen feet in front of him, Huldricksson, with something clasped tightly in his arms. TheNorseman's feet were at the verge of a shining, silvery lip of stonewithin whose oval lay a blue pool. And down upon this pool staringupward like a gigantic eye, fell seven pillars of phantom light--oneof them amethyst, one of rose, another of white, a fourth of blue, andthree of emerald, of silver, and of amber. They fell each upon theazure surface, and I knew that these were the seven streams ofradiance, within which the Dweller took shape--now but pale ghosts oftheir brilliancy when the full energy of the moon stream raced throughthem. 

Huldricksson bent and placed on the shining silver lip of the Poolthat which he held--and I saw that it was the body of a child! He setit there so gently, bent over the side and thrust a hand down into thewater. And as he did so he moaned and lurched against the little bodythat lay before him. Instantly the form moved--and slipped over theverge into the blue. Huldricksson threw his body over the stone, handsclutching, arms thrust deep down--and from his lips issued along-drawn, heart-shrivelling wail of pain and of anguish that held init nothing human!

Close on its wake came a cry from Marakinoff. 

"Catch him!" shouted the Russian. "Drag him back! Quick!"

He leaped forward, but before he could half clear the distance, O'Keefe had leaped too, had caught the Norseman by the shoulders andtoppled him backward, where he lay whimpering and sobbing. And as Irushed behind Marakinoff I saw Larry lean over the lip of the Pool andcover his eyes with a shaking hand; saw the Russian peer into it withreal pity in his cold eyes. 

Then I stared down myself into the Moon Pool, and there, sinking, wasa little maid whose dead face and fixed, terror-filled eyes lookedstraight into mine; and ever sinking slowly, slowly--vanished! And Iknew that this was Olaf's Freda, his beloved yndling!

But where was the mother, and where had Olaf found his babe?

The Russian was first to speak. 

"You have nitroglycerin there, yes?" he asked, pointing toward mymedical kit that I had gripped unconsciously and carried with meduring the mad rush down the passage. I nodded and drew it out. 

"Hypodermic, " he ordered next, curtly; took the syringe, filled itaccurately with its one one-hundredth of a grain dosage, and leanedover Huldricksson. He rolled up the sailor's sleeves half-way to theshoulder. The arms were white with somewhat of that weirdsemitranslucence that I had seen on Throckmartin's breast where atendril of the Dweller had touched him; and his hands were of the samewhiteness--like a baroque pearl. Above the line of white, Marakinoffthrust the needle. 

"He will need all his heart can do, " he said to me. 

Then he reached down into a belt about his waist and drew from it asmall, flat flask of what seemed to be lead. He opened it and let afew drops of its contents fall on each arm of the Norwegian. Theliquid sparkled and instantly began to spread over the skin much asoil or gasoline dropped on water does--only far more rapidly. And asit spread it drew a sparkling film over the marbled flesh and littlewisps of vapour rose from it. The Norseman's mighty chest heaved withagony. His hands clenched. The Russian gave a grunt of satisfaction atthis, dropped a little more of the liquid, and then, watching closely, grunted again and leaned back. Huldricksson's laboured breathingceased, his head dropped upon Larry's knee, and from his arms andhands the whiteness swiftly withdrew. 

Marakinoff arose and contemplated us--almost benevolently. 

"He will all right be in five minutes, " he said. "I know. I do it topay for that shot of mine, and also because we will need him. Yes. " Heturned to Larry. "You have a poonch like a mule kick, my youngfriend, " he said. "Some time you pay me for that, too, eh?" He smiled;and the quality of the grimace was not exactly reassuring. Larrylooked him over quizzically. 

"You're Marakinoff, of course, " he said. The Russian nodded, betraying no surprise at the recognition. 

"And you?" he asked. 

"Lieutenant O'Keefe of the Royal Flying Corps, " replied Larry, saluting. "And this gentleman is Dr. Walter T. Goodwin. "

Marakinoff's face brightened. 

"The American botanist?" he queried. I nodded. 

"Ah, " cried Marakinoff eagerly, "but this is fortunate. Long I havedesired to meet you. Your work, for an American, is most excellent;surprising. But you are wrong in your theory of the development of theAngiospermae from Cycadeoidea dacotensis. Da--all wrong--"

I was interrupting him with considerable heat, for my conclusions fromthe fossil Cycadeoidea I knew to be my greatest triumph, when Larrybroke in upon me rudely. 

"Say, " he spluttered, "am I crazy or are you? What in damnation kindof a place and time is this to start an argument like that?

"Angiospermae, is it?" exclaimed Larry. "HELL!"

Marakinoff again regarded him with that irritating air of benevolence. 

"You have not the scientific mind, young friend, " he said. "Thepoonch, yes! But so has the mule. You must learn that only the fact isimportant--not you, not me, not this"--he pointed to Huldricksson--"orits sorrows. Only the fact, whatever it is, is real, yes. But"--heturned to me--"another time--"

Huldricksson interrupted him. The big seaman had risen stiffly to hisfeet and stood with Larry's arm supporting him. He stretched out hishands to me. 

"I saw her, " he whispered. "I saw mine Freda when the stone swung. She lay there--just at my feet. I picked her up and I saw that mineFreda was dead. But I hoped--and I thought maybe mine Helma wassomewhere here, too, So I ran with mine yndling--here--" His voicebroke. "I thought maybe she was _not_ dead, " he went on. "And I sawthat"--he pointed to the Moon Pool--"and I thought I would bathe herface and she might live again. And when I dipped my hands within--thelife left them, and cold, deadly cold, ran up through them into myheart. And mine Freda--she fell--" he covered his eyes, and droppinghis head on O'Keefe's shoulder, stood, racked by sobs that seemed totear at his very soul. 

CHAPTER XI

The Flame-Tipped Shadows

Marakinoff nodded his head solemnly as Olaf finished. 

"Da!" he said. "That which comes from here took them both--the womanand the child. Da! They came clasped within it and the stone shut uponthem. But why it left the child behind I do not understand. "

"How do you know that?" I cried in amazement. 

"Because I saw it, " answered Marakinoff simply. "Not only did I seeit, but hardly had I time to make escape through the entrance beforeit passed whirling and murmuring and its bell sounds all joyous. Da!It was what you call the squeak close, that. "

"Wait a moment, " I said--stilling Larry with a gesture. "Do Iunderstand you to say that you were within this place?"

Marakinoff actually beamed upon me. 

"Da, Dr. Goodwin, " he said, "I went in when that which comes from itwent out!"

I gaped at him, stricken dumb; into Larry's bellicose attitude crept asuggestion of grudging respect; Olaf, trembling, watched silently. 

"Dr. Goodwin and my impetuous young friend, you, " went on Marakinoffafter a moment's silence and I wondered vaguely why he did not includeHuldricksson in his address--"it is time that we have anunderstanding. I have a proposal to make to you also. It is this; weare what you call a bad boat, and all of us are in it. Da! We need allhands, is it not so? Let us put together our knowledge and our brainsand resources--and even a poonch of a mule is a resource, " he lookedwickedly at O'Keefe, "and pull our boat into quiet waters again. Afterthat--"

"All very well, Marakinoff, " interjected Larry, "but I don't feel verysafe in any boat with somebody capable of shooting me through theback. "

Marakinoff waved a deprecatory hand. 

"It was natural that, " he said, "logical, da! Here is a very greatsecret, perhaps many secrets to my country invaluable--" He paused, shaken by some overpowering emotion; the veins in his forehead grewcongested, the cold eyes blazed and the guttural voice harshened. 

"I do not apologize and I do not explain, " rasped Marakinoff. "But Iwill tell you, da! Here is my country sweating blood in an experimentto liberate the world. And here are the other nations ringing us likewolves and waiting to spring at our throats at the least sign ofweakness. And here are you, Lieutenant O'Keefe of the English wolves, and you Dr. Goodwin of the Yankee pack--and here in this place may bethat will enable my country to win its war for the worker. What arethe lives of you two and this sailor to that? Less than the flies Icrush with my hand, less than midges in the sunbeam!"

He suddenly gripped himself. 

"But that is not now the important thing, " he resumed, almost coldly. "Not that nor my shooting. Let us squarely the situation face. Myproposal is so: that we join interests, and what you call see itthrough together; find our way through this place and those secretslearn of which I have spoken, if we can. And when that is done we willgo our ways, to his own land each, to make use of them for our landsas each of us may. On my part, I offer my knowledge--and it is veryvaluable, Dr. Goodwin--and my training. You and Lieutenant O'Keefe dothe same, and this man Olaf, what he can of his strength, for I do notthink his usefulness lies in his brains, no. "

"In effect, Goodwin, " broke in Larry as I hesitated, "the professor'sproposition is this: he wants to know what's going on here but hebegins to realize it's no one man's job and besides we have the dropon him. We're three to his one, and we have all his hardware andcutlery. But also we can do better with him than without him--just ashe can do better with us than without us. It's an even break--for awhile. But once he gets that information he's looking for, then lookout. You and Olaf and I are the wolves and the flies and the midgesagain--and the strafing will be about due. Nevertheless, with three toone against him, if he can get away with it he deserves to. I'm fortaking him up, if you are. "

There was almost a twinkle in Marakinoff's eyes. 

"It is not just as I would have put it, perhaps, " he said, "but in itsskeleton he has right. Nor will I turn my hand against you while weare still in danger here. I pledge you my honor on this. "

Larry laughed. 

"All right, Professor, " he grinned. "I believe you mean every wordyou say. Nevertheless, I'll just keep the guns. "

Marakinoff bowed, imperturbably. 

"And now, " he said, "I will tell you what I know. I found the secretof the door mechanism even as you did, Dr. Goodwin. But bycarelessness, my condensers were broken. I was forced to wait while Isent for others--and the waiting might be for months. I took certainprecautions, and on the first night of this full moon I hid myselfwithin the vault of Chau-ta-leur. "

An involuntary thrill of admiration for the man went through me at themanifest heroism of this leap in the dark. I could see it reflected inLarry's face. 

"I hid in the vault, " continued Marakinoff, "and I saw that whichcomes from here come out. I waited--long hours. At last, when the moonwas low, it returned--ecstatically--with a man, a native, in embraceenfolded. It passed through the door, and soon then the moon becamelow and the door closed. 

"The next night more confidence was mine, yes. And after that whichcomes had gone, I looked through its open door. I said, 'It will notreturn for three hours. While it is away, why shall I not into itshome go through the door it has left open?' So I went--even to here. Ilooked at the pillars of light and I tested the liquid of the Pool onwhich they fell. That liquid, Dr. Goodwin, is not water, and it is notany fluid known on earth. " He handed me a small vial, its neck held ina long thong. 

"Take this, " he said, "and see. "

Wonderingly, I took the bottle; dipped it down into the Pool. Theliquid was extraordinarily light; seemed, in fact, to give the vialbuoyancy. I held it to the light. It was striated, streaked, as thoughlittle living, pulsing veins ran through it. And its blueness, even inthe vial, held an intensity of luminousness. 

"Radioactive, " said Marakinoff. "Some liquid that is intenselyradioactive; but what it is I know not at all. Upon the living skin itacts like radium raised to the nth power and with an element mostmysterious added. The solution with which I treated him, " he pointedto Huldricksson, "I had prepared before I came here, from certaininformation I had. It is largely salts of radium and its base isLoeb's formula for the neutralization of radium and X-ray burns. Taking this man at once, before the degeneration had become reallyactive, I could negative it. But after two hours I could have donenothing. "

He paused a moment. 

"Next I studied the nature of these luminous walls. I concluded thatwhoever had made them, knew the secret of the Almighty's manufactureof light from the ether itself! Colossal! Da! But the substance ofthese blocks confines an atomic--how would you say--atomicmanipulation, a conscious arrangement of electrons, light-emitting andperhaps indefinitely so. These blocks are lamps in which oil and wickare electrons drawing light waves from ether itself! A Prometheus, indeed, this discoverer! I looked at my watch and that little guardianwarned me that it was time to go. I went. That which comes forthreturned--this time empty-handed. 

"And the next night I did the same thing. Engrossed in research, Ilet the moments go by to the danger point, and scarcely was I replacedwithin the vault when the shining thing raced over the walls, and inits grip the woman and child. 

"Then you came--and that is all. And now--what is it you know?"

Very briefly I went over my story. His eyes gleamed now and then, buthe did not interrupt me. 

"A great secret! A colossal secret!" he muttered, when I had ended. "We cannot leave it hidden. "

"The first thing to do is to try the door, " said Larry, matter offact. 

"There is no use, my young friend, " assured Marakinoff mildly. 

"Nevertheless we'll try, " said Larry. We retraced our way through thewinding tunnel to the end, but soon even O'Keefe saw that any idea ofmoving the slab from within was hopeless. We returned to the Chamberof the Pool. The pillars of light were fainter, and we knew that themoon was sinking. On the world outside before long dawn would bebreaking. I began to feel thirst--and the blue semblance of waterwithin the silvery rim seemed to glint mockingly as my eyes rested onit. 

"Da!" it was Marakinoff, reading my thoughts uncannily. "Da! We willbe thirsty. And it will be very bad for him of us who loses controland drinks of that, my friend. Da!"

Larry threw back his shoulders as though shaking a burden from them. 

"This place would give an angel of joy the willies, " he said. "Isuggest that we look around and find something that will take ussomewhere. You can bet the people that built it had more ways ofgetting in than that once-a-month family entrance. Doc, you and Olaftake the left wall; the professor and I will take the right. "

He loosened one of his automatics with a suggestive movement. 

"After you, Professor, " he bowed, politely, to the Russian. We partedand set forth. 

The chamber widened out from the portal in what seemed to be the arcof an immense circle. The shining walls held a perceptible curve, andfrom this curvature I estimated that the roof was fully three hundredfeet above us. 

The floor was of smooth, mosaic-fitted blocks of a faintly yellowtinge. They were not light-emitting like the blocks that formed thewalls. The radiance from these latter, I noted, had the peculiarquality of _thickening_ a few yards from its source, and it was thisthat produced the effect of misty, veiled distances. As we walked, theseven columns of rays streaming down from the crystalline globes highabove us waned steadily; the glow within the chamber lost itsprismatic shimmer and became an even grey tone somewhat like moonlightin a thin cloud. 

Now before us, out from the wall, jutted a low terrace. It was all ofa pearly rose-coloured stone, slender, graceful pillars of the samehue. The face of the terrace was about ten feet high, and all over itran a bas-relief of what looked like short-trailing vines, surmountedby five stalks, on the tip of each of which was a flower. 

We passed along the terrace. It turned in an abrupt curve. I heard ahail, and there, fifty feet away, at the curving end of a wallidentical with that where we stood, were Larry and Marakinoff. Obviously the left side of the chamber was a duplicate of that we hadexplored. We joined. In front of us the columned barriers ran back ahundred feet, forming an alcove. The end of this alcove was anotherwall of the same rose stone, but upon it the design of vines was muchheavier. 

We took a step forward--there was a gasp of awe from the Norseman, aguttural exclamation from Marakinoff. For on, or rather within, thewall before us, a great oval began to glow, waxed almost to a flameand then shone steadily out as though from behind it a light wasstreaming through the stone itself!

And within the roseate oval two flame-tipped shadows appeared, stoodfor a moment, and then seemed to float out upon its surface. Theshadows wavered; the tips of flame that nimbused them with flickeringpoints of vermilion pulsed outward, drew back, darted forth again, andonce more withdrew themselves--and as they did so the shadowsthickened--and suddenly there before us stood two figures!

One was a girl--a girl whose great eyes were golden as the fabledlilies of Kwan-Yung that were born of the kiss of the sun upon theamber goddess the demons of Lao-Tz'e carved for him; whose softlycurved lips were red as the royal coral, and whose golden-brown hairreached to her knees!

And the second was a gigantic frog--A _woman_ frog, head helmeted withcarapace of shell around which a fillet of brilliant yellow jewelsshone; enormous round eyes of blue circled with a broad iris of green;monstrous body of banded orange and white girdled with strand uponstrand of the flashing yellow gems; six feet high if an inch, and withone webbed paw of its short, powerfully muscled forelegs resting uponthe white shoulder of the golden-eyed girl!

Moments must have passed as we stood in stark amazement, gazing atthat incredible apparition. The two figures, although as real as anyof those who stood beside me, unphantomlike as it is possible to be, had a distinct suggestion of--projection. 

They were there before us--golden-eyed girl and grotesquefrog-woman--complete in every line and curve; and still it was asthough their bodies passed back through distances; as though, to tryto express the wellnigh inexpressible, the two shapes we were lookingupon were the end of an infinite number stretching in fine linkedchain far away, of which the eyes saw only the nearest, while in thebrain some faculty higher than sight recognized and registered theunseen others. 

The gigantic eyes of the frog-woman took us all in--unwinkingly. Little glints of phosphorescence shone out within the metallic greenof the outer iris ring. She stood upright, her great legs bowed; themonstrous slit of a mouth slightly open, revealing a row of whiteteeth sharp and pointed as lancets; the paw resting on the girl'sshoulder, half covering its silken surface, and from its five webbeddigits long yellow claws of polished horn glistened against thedelicate texture of the flesh. 

But if the frog-woman regarded us all, not so did the maiden of therosy wall. Her eyes were fastened upon Larry, drinking him in withextraordinary intentness. She was tall, far over the average of women, almost as tall, indeed, as O'Keefe himself; not more than twenty yearsold, if that, I thought. Abruptly she leaned forward, the golden eyessoftened and grew tender; the red lips moved as though she werespeaking. 

Larry took a quick step, and his face was that of one who aftercountless births comes at last upon the twin soul lost to him forages. The frog-woman turned her eyes upon the girl; her huge lipsmoved, and I knew that she was talking! The girl held out a warninghand to O'Keefe, and then raised it, resting each finger upon one ofthe five flowers of the carved vine close beside her. Once, twice, three times, she pressed upon the flower centres, and I noted that herhand was curiously long and slender, the digits like those wonderfultapering ones the painters we call the primitive gave to theirVirgins. 

Three times she pressed the flowers, and then looked intently at Larryonce more. A slow, sweet smile curved the crimson lips. She stretchedboth hands out toward him again eagerly; a burning blush rose swiftlyover white breasts and flowerlike face. 

Like the clicking out of a cinematograph, the pulsing oval faded andgolden-eyed girl and frog-woman were gone!

And thus it was that Lakla, the handmaiden of the Silent Ones, andLarry O'Keefe first looked into each other's hearts!

Larry stood rapt, gazing at the stone. 

"Eilidh, " I heard him whisper; "Eilidh of the lips like the red, redrowan and the golden-brown hair!"

"Clearly of the Ranadae, " said Marakinoff, "a development of thefossil Labyrinthodonts: you saw her teeth, da?"

"Ranadae, yes, " I answered. "But from the Stegocephalia; of the orderEcaudata--"

Never such a complete indignation as was in O'Keefe's voice as heinterrupted. 

"What do you mean--fossils and Stego whatever it is?" he asked. "Shewas a girl, a wonder girl--a real girl, and Irish, or I'm not anO'Keefe!"

"We were talking about the frog-woman, Larry, " I said, conciliatingly. 

His eyes were wild as he regarded us. 

"Say, " he said, "if you two had been in the Garden of Eden when Evetook the apple, you wouldn't have had time to give her a look forcounting the scales on the snake!"

He strode swiftly over to the wall. We followed. Larry paused, stretched his hand up to the flowers on which the tapering fingers ofthe golden-eyed girl had rested. 

"It was here she put up her hand, " he murmured. He pressedcaressingly the carved calyxes, once, twice, a third time even as shehad--and silently and softly the wall began to split; on each side agreat stone pivoted slowly, and before us a portal stood, opening intoa narrow corridor glowing with the same rosy lustre that had gleamedaround the flame-tipped shadows!

"Have your gun ready, Olaf!" said Larry. "We follow Golden Eyes, " hesaid to me. 

"Follow?" I echoed stupidly. 

"Follow!" he said. "She came to show us the way! Follow? I'd followher through a thousand hells!"

And with Olaf at one end, O'Keefe at the other, both of them withautomatics in hand, and Marakinoff and I between them, we stepped overthe threshold. 

At our right, a few feet away, the passage ended abruptly in a squareof polished stone, from which came faint rose radiance. The roof ofthe place was less than two feet over O'Keefe's head. 

A yard at left of us lifted a four-foot high, gently curved barricade, stretching from wall to wall--and beyond it was blackness; an utterand appalling blackness that seemed to gather itself from infinitedepths. The rose-glow in which we stood was cut off by the blacknessas though it had substance; it shimmered out to meet it, and waschecked as though by a blow; indeed, so strong was the suggestion ofsinister, straining force within the rayless opacity that I shrankback, and Marakinoff with me. Not so O'Keefe. Olaf beside him, hestrode to the wall and peered over. He beckoned us. 

"Flash your pocket-light down there, " he said to me, pointing into thethick darkness below us. The little electric circle quivered down asthough afraid, and came to rest upon a surface that resembled nothingso much as clear, black ice. I ran the light across--here and there. The floor of the corridor was of a substance so smooth, so polished, that no man could have walked upon it; it sloped downward at a slowlyincreasing angle. 

"We'd have to have non-skid chains and brakes on our feet to tacklethat, " mused Larry. Abstractedly be ran his hands over the edge onwhich he was leaning. Suddenly they hesitated and then grippedtightly. 

"That's a queer one!" he exclaimed. His right palm was resting upon arounded protuberance, on the side of which were three small circularindentations. 

"A queer one--" he repeated--and pressed his fingers upon the circles. 

There was a sharp click; the slabs that had opened to let us throughswung swiftly together; a curiously rapid vibration thrilled throughus, a wind arose and passed over our heads--a wind that grew and grewuntil it became a whistling shriek, then a roar and then a mightyhumming, to which every atom in our bodies pulsed in rhythm painfulalmost to disintegration!

The rosy wall dwindled in a flash to a point of light and disappeared!

Wrapped in the clinging, impenetrable blackness we were racing, dropping, hurling at a frightful speed--where?

And ever that awful humming of the rushing wind and the lightningcleaving of the tangible dark--so, it came to me oddly, must the newlyreleased soul race through the sheer blackness of outer space up tothat Throne of Justice, where God sits high above all suns!

I felt Marakinoff creep close to me; gripped my nerve and flashed mypocket-light; saw Larry standing, peering, peering ahead, andHuldricksson, one strong arm around his shoulders, bracing him. Andthen the speed began to slacken. 

Millions of miles, it seemed, below the sound of the unearthlyhurricane I heard Larry's voice, thin and ghostlike, beneath itsclamour. 

"Got it!" shrilled the voice. "Got it! Don't worry!"

The wind died down to the roar, passed back into the whistling shriekand diminished to a steady whisper. In the comparative quiet O'Keefe'stones now came in normal volume. 

"Some little shoot-the-chutes, what?" he shouted. "Say--if they hadthis at Coney Island or the Crystal Palace! Press all the way in theseholes and she goes top-high. Diminish pressure--diminish speed. Thecurve of this--dashboard--here sends the wind shooting up over ourheads--like a windshield. What's behind you?"

I flashed the light back. The mechanism on which we were ended inanother wall exactly similar to that over which O'Keefe crouched. 

"Well, we can't fall out, anyway, " he laughed. "Wish to hell I knewwhere the brakes were! Look out!"

We dropped dizzily down an abrupt, seemingly endless slope; fell--fellas into an abyss--then shot abruptly out of the blackness into athrobbing green radiance. O'Keefe's fingers must have pressed downupon the controls, for we leaped forward almost with the speed oflight. I caught a glimpse of luminous immensities on the verge ofwhich we flew; of depths inconceivable, and flitting through theincredible spaces--gigantic shadows as of the wings of Israfel, whichare so wide, say the Arabs, the world can cower under them like anestling--and then--again the living blackness!

"What was that?" This from Larry, with the nearest approach to awethat he had yet shown. 

"Trolldom!" croaked the voice of Olaf. 

"Chert!" This from Marakinoff. "What a space!"

"Have you considered, Dr. Goodwin, " he went on after a pause, "acurious thing? We know, or, at least, is it not that nine out of tenastronomers believe, that the moon was hurled out of this same regionwe now call the Pacific when the earth was yet like molasses; almostmolten, I should say. And is it not curious that that which comes fromthe Moon Chamber needs the moon-rays to bring it forth; is it not? Andis it not significant again that the stone depends upon the moon foroperating? Da! And last--such a space in mother earth as we justglimpsed, how else could it have been torn but by some giganticbirth--like that of the moon? Da! I do not put forward these asstatements of fact--no! But as suggestions--"

I started; there was so much that this might explain--an unknownelement that responded to the moon-rays in opening the moon door; theblue Pool with its weird radioactivity, and the force within it thatreacted to the same light stream--

It was not inconceivable that a film had drawn over the world wound, afilm of earth-flesh which drew itself over that colossal abyss afterour planet had borne its satellite--that world womb did not closewhen her shining child sprang forth--it was possible; and all that weknow of earth depth is four miles of her eight thousand. 

What is there at the heart of earth? What of that radiant unknownelement upon the moon mount Tycho? What of that element unknown to usas part of earth which is seen only in the corona of the sun ateclipse that we call coronium? Yet the earth is child of the sun asthe moon is earth's daughter. And what of that other unknown elementwe find glowing green in the far-flung nebulae--green as that we hadjust passed through--and that we call nebulium? Yet the sun is childof the nebulae as the earth is child of the sun and the moon is childof the earth. 

And what miracles are there in coronium and nebulium which, as thechild of nebula and sun, we inherit? Yes--and in Tycho's enigma whichcame from earth heart?

We were flashing down to earth heart! And what miracles were hiddenthere?

CHAPTER XII

The End of the Journey

"Say Doc!" It was Larry's voice flung back at me. "I was thinkingabout that frog. I think it was her pet. Damn me if I see anydifference between a frog and a snake, and one of the nicest women Iever knew had two pet pythons that followed her around like kittens. Not such a devilish lot of choice between a frog and a snake--excepton the side of the frog? What? Anyway, any pet that girl wants ishers, I don't care if it's a leaping twelve-toed lobster or awhale-bodied scorpion. Get me?"

By which I knew that our remarks upon the frog woman were stillbothering O'Keefe. 

"He thinks of foolish nothings like the foolish sailor!" gruntedMarakinoff, acid contempt in his words. "What are their womento--this?" He swept out a hand and as though at a signal the carpoised itself for an instant, then dipped, literally dipped down intosheer space; skimmed forward in what was clearly curved flight, roseas upon a sweeping upgrade and then began swiftly to slacken itsfearful speed. 

Far ahead a point of light showed; grew steadily; we were withinit--and softly all movement ceased. How acute had been the strain ofour journey I did not realize until I tried to stand--and sank back, leg-muscles too shaky to bear my weight. The car rested in a slit inthe centre of a smooth walled chamber perhaps twenty feet square. Thewall facing us was pierced by a low doorway through which we could seea flight of steps leading downward. 

The light streamed through a small opening, the base of which wastwice a tall man's height from the floor. A curving flight of broad, low steps led up to it. And now it came to my steadying brain thatthere was something puzzling, peculiar, strangely unfamiliar aboutthis light. It was silvery, shaded faintly with a delicate blue andflushed lightly with a nacreous rose; but a rose that differed fromthat of the terraces of the Pool Chamber as the rose within the opaldiffers from that within the pearl. In it were tiny, gleaming pointslike the motes in a sunbeam, but sparkling white like the dust ofdiamonds, and with a quality of vibrant vitality; they were as thoughthey were alive. The light cast no shadows!

A little breeze came through the oval and played about us. It wasladen with what seemed the mingled breath of spice flowers and pines. It was curiously vivifying, and in it the diamonded atoms of lightshook and danced. 

I stepped out of the car, the Russian following, and began to ascendthe curved steps toward the opening, at the top of which O'Keefe andOlaf already stood. As they looked out I saw both their faceschange--Olaf's with awe, O'Keefe's with incredulous amaze. I hurriedto their side. 

At first all that I could see was space--a space filled with the samecoruscating effulgence that pulsed about me. I glanced upward, obeyingthat instinctive impulse of earth folk that bids them seek within thesky for sources of light. There was no sky--at least no sky such as weknow--all was a sparkling nebulosity rising into infinite distances asthe azure above the day-world seems to fill all the heavens--throughit ran pulsing waves and flashing javelin rays that were like shiningshadows of the aurora; echoes, octaves lower, of those brilliantarpeggios and chords that play about the poles. My eyes fell beneathits splendour; I stared outward. 

Miles away, gigantic luminous cliffs sprang sheer from the limits of alake whose waters were of milky opalescence. It was from these cliffsthat the spangled radiance came, shimmering out from all theirlustrous surfaces. To left and to right, as far as the eye could see, they stretched--and they vanished in the auroral nebulosity on high!

"Look at that!" exclaimed Larry. I followed his pointing finger. Onthe face of the shining wall, stretched between two colossal columns, hung an incredible veil; prismatic, gleaming with all the colours ofthe spectrum. It was like a web of rainbows woven by the fingers ofthe daughters of the Jinn. In front of it and a little at each sidewas a semi-circular pier, or, better, a plaza of what appeared to beglistening, pale-yellow ivory. At each end of its half-circleclustered a few low-walled, rose-stone structures, each of themsurmounted by a number of high, slender pinnacles. 

We looked at each other, I think, a bit helplessly--and back againthrough the opening. We were standing, as I have said, at its base. The wall in which it was set was at least ten feet thick, and so, ofcourse, all that we could see of that which was without were thedistances that revealed themselves above the outer ledge of the oval. 

"Let's take a look at what's under us, " said Larry. 

He crept out upon the ledge and peered down, the rest of us following. A hundred yards beneath us stretched gardens that must have been likethose of many-columned Iram, which the ancient Addite King had builtfor his pleasure ages before the deluge, and which Allah, so the Arablegend tells, took and hid from man, within the Sahara, beyond allhope of finding--jealous because they were more beautiful than his inparadise. Within them flowers and groves of laced, fernlike trees, pillared pavilions nestled. 

The trunks of the trees were of emerald, of vermilion, and ofazure-blue, and the blossoms, whose fragrance was borne to us, shonelike jewels. The graceful pillars were tinted delicately. I noted thatthe pavilions were double--in a way, two-storied--and that they wereoddly splotched with circles, with squares, and with oblongsof--opacity; noted too that over many this opacity stretched like aroof; yet it did not seem material; rather was it--impenetrableshadow!

Down through this city of gardens ran a broad shining greenthoroughfare, glistening like glass and spanned at regular intervalswith graceful, arched bridges. The road flashed to a wide square, where rose, from a base of that same silvery stone that formed the lipof the Moon Pool, a titanic structure of seven terraces; and along itflitted objects that bore a curious resemblance to the shell of theNautilus. Within them were--human figures! And upon tree-borderedpromenades on each side walked others!

Far to the right we caught the glint of another emerald-paved road. 

And between the two the gardens grew sweetly down to the hither sideof that opalescent water across which were the radiant cliffs and thecurtain of mystery. 

Thus it was that we first saw the city of the Dweller; blessed andaccursed as no place on earth, or under or above earth has everbeen--or, that force willing which some call God, ever again shall be!

"Chert!" whispered Marakinoff. "Incredible!"

"Trolldom!" gasped Olaf Huldricksson. "It is Trolldom!"

"Listen, Olaf!" said Larry. "Cut out that Trolldom stuff! There's noTrolldom, or fairies, outside Ireland. Get that! And this isn'tIreland. And, buck up, Professor!" This to Marakinoff. "What you seedown there are people--_just plain people_. And wherever there's peopleis where I live. Get me?

"There's no way in but in--and no way out but out, " said O'Keefe. "And there's the stairway. Eggs are eggs no matter how they'recooked--and people are just people, fellow travellers, no matter whatdish they are in, " he concluded. "Come on!"

With the three of us close behind him, he marched toward the entrance. 

CHAPTER XIII

Yolara, Priestess of the Shining One

"You'd better have this handy, Doc. " O'Keefe paused at the head of thestairway and handed me one of the automatics he had taken fromMarakinoff. 

"Shall I not have one also?" rather anxiously asked the latter. 

"When you need it you'll get it, " answered O'Keefe. "I'll tell youfrankly, though, Professor, that you'll have to show me before I trustyou with a gun. You shoot too straight--from cover. "

The flash of anger in the Russian's eyes turned to a coldconsideration. 

"You say always just what is in your mind, Lieutenant O'Keefe, " hemused. "Da--that I shall remember!" Later I was to recall this oddobservation--and Marakinoff was to remember indeed. 

In single file, O'Keefe at the head and Olaf bringing up the rear, wepassed through the portal. Before us dropped a circular shaft, intowhich the light from the chamber of the oval streamed liquidly; set inits sides the steps spiralled, and down them we went, cautiously. Thestairway ended in a circular well; silent--with no trace of exit! Therounded stones joined each other evenly--hermetically. Carved on oneof the slabs was one of the five flowered vines. I pressed my fingersupon the calyxes, even as Larry had within the Moon Chamber. 

A crack--horizontal, four feet wide--appeared on the wall; widened, and as the sinking slab that made it dropped to the level of our eyes, we looked through a hundred-feet-long rift in the living rock! Thestone fell steadily--and we saw that it was a Cyclopean wedge setwithin the slit of the passageway. It reached the level of our feetand stopped. At the far end of this tunnel, whose floor was thepolished rock that had, a moment before, fitted hermetically into itsroof, was a low, narrow triangular opening through which lightstreamed. 

"Nowhere to go but out!" grinned Larry. "And I'll bet Golden Eyes iswaiting for us with a taxi!" He stepped forward. We followed, slipping, sliding along the glassy surface; and I, for one, had alively apprehension of what our fate would be should that enormousmass rise before we had emerged! We reached the end; crept out of thenarrow triangle that was its exit. 

We stood upon a wide ledge carpeted with a thick yellow moss. Ilooked behind--and clutched O'Keefe's arm. The door through which wehad come had vanished! There was only a precipice of pale rock, onwhose surfaces great patches of the amber moss hung; around whose baseour ledge ran, and whose summits, if summits it had, were hidden, likethe luminous cliffs, in the radiance above us. 

"Nowhere to go but ahead--and Golden Eyes hasn't kept her date!"laughed O'Keefe--but somewhat grimly. 

We walked a few yards along the ledge and, rounding a corner, facedthe end of one of the slender bridges. From this vantage point theoddly shaped vehicles were plain, and we could see they were, indeed, like the shell of the Nautilus and elfinly beautiful. Their driverssat high upon the forward whorl. Their bodies were piled high withcushions, upon which lay women half-swathed in gay silken webs. Fromthe pavilioned gardens smaller channels of glistening green ran intothe broad way, much as automobile runways do on earth; and in and outof them flashed the fairy shells. 

There came a shout from one. Its occupants had glimpsed us. Theypointed; others stopped and stared; one shell turned and sped up arunway--and quickly over the other side of the bridge came a score ofmen. They were dwarfed--none of them more than five feet high, prodigiously broad of shoulder, clearly enormously powerful. 

"Trolde!" muttered Olaf, stepping beside O'Keefe, pistol swinging freein his hand. 

But at the middle of the bridge the leader stopped, waved back hismen, and came toward us alone, palms outstretched in the immemorial, universal gesture of truce. He paused, scanning us with manifestwonder; we returned the scrutiny with interest. The dwarf's face wasas white as Olaf's--far whiter than those of the other three of us;the features clean-cut and noble, almost classical; the wide set eyesof a curious greenish grey and the black hair curling over his headlike that on some old Greek statue. 

Dwarfed though he was, there was no suggestion of deformity about him. The gigantic shoulders were covered with a loose green tunic thatlooked like fine linen. It was caught in at the waist by a broadgirdle studded with what seemed to be amazonites. In it was thrust along curved poniard resembling the Malaysian kris. His legs wereswathed in the same green cloth as the upper garment. His feet weresandalled. 

My gaze returned to his face, and in it I found something subtlydisturbing; an expression of half-malicious gaiety that underlay thewholly prepossessing features like a vague threat; a mocking deviltrythat hinted at entire callousness to suffering or sorrow; something ofthe spirit that was vaguely alien and disquieting. 

He spoke--and, to my surprise, enough of the words were familiar toenable me clearly to catch the meaning of the whole. They werePolynesian, the Polynesian of the Samoans which is its most ancientform, but in some indefinable way--archaic. Later I was to know thatthe tongue bore the same relation to the Polynesian of today as does_not_ that of Chaucer, but of the Venerable Bede, to modern English. Nor was this to be so astonishing, when with the knowledge came thecertainty that it was from it the language we call Polynesian sprang. 

"From whence do you come, strangers--and how found you your way here?"said the green dwarf. 

I waved my hand toward the cliff behind us. His eyes narrowedincredulously; he glanced at its drop, upon which even a mountain goatcould not have made its way, and laughed. 

"We came through the rock, " I answered his thought. "And we come inpeace, " I added. 

"And may peace walk with you, " he said half-derisively--"if theShining One wills it!"

He considered us again. 

"Show me, strangers, where you came through the rock, " he commanded. We led the way to where we had emerged from the well of the stairway. 

"It was here, " I said, tapping the cliff. 

"But I see no opening, " he said suavely. 

"It closed behind us, " I answered; and then, for the first time, realized how incredible the explanation sounded. The derisive gleampassed through his eyes again. But he drew his poniard and gravelysounded the rock. 

"You give a strange turn to our speech, " he said. "It soundsstrangely, indeed--as strange as your answers. " He looked at usquizzically. "I wonder where you learned it! Well, all that you canexplain to the Afyo Maie. " His head bowed and his arms swept out in awide salaam. "Be pleased to come with me!" he ended abruptly. 

"In peace?" I asked. 

"In peace, " he replied--then slowly--"with me at least. "

"Oh, come on, Doc!" cried Larry. "As long as we're here let's see thesights. Allons mon vieux!" he called gaily to the green dwarf. Thelatter, understanding the spirit, if not the words, looked at O'Keefewith a twinkle of approval; turned then to the great Norseman andscanned him with admiration; reached out and squeezed one of theimmense biceps. 

"Lugur will welcome you, at least, " he murmured as though to himself. He stood aside and waved a hand courteously, inviting us to pass. Wecrossed. At the base of the span one of the elfin shells was waiting. 

Beyond, scores had gathered, their occupants evidently discussing usin much excitement. The green dwarf waved us to the piles of cushionsand then threw himself beside us. The vehicle started off smoothly, the now silent throng making way, and swept down the green roadway ata terrific pace and wholly without vibration, toward theseven-terraced tower. 

As we flew along I tried to discover the source of the power, but Icould not--then. There was no sign of mechanism, but that the shellresponded to some form of energy was certain--the driver grasping asmall lever which seemed to control not only our speed, but ourdirection. 

We turned abruptly and swept up a runway through one of the gardens, and stopped softly before a pillared pavilion. I saw now that thesewere much larger than I had thought. The structure to which we hadbeen carried covered, I estimated, fully an acre. Oblong, with itsslender, vari-coloured columns spaced regularly, its walls were likethe sliding screens of the Japanese--shoji. 

The green dwarf hurried us up a flight of broad steps flanked by greatcarved serpents, winged and scaled. He stamped twice upon mosaickedstones between two of the pillars, and a screen rolled aside, revealing an immense hall scattered about with low divans on whichlolled a dozen or more of the dwarfish men, dressed identically as he. 

They sauntered up to us leisurely; the surprised interest in theirfaces tempered by the same inhumanly gay malice that seemed to becharacteristic of all these people we had as yet seen. 

"The Afyo Maie awaits them, Rador, " said one. 

The green dwarf nodded, beckoned us, and led the way through the greathall and into a smaller chamber whose far side was covered with theopacity I had noted from the aerie of the cliff. I examinedthe--blackness--with lively interest. 

It had neither substance nor texture; it was not matter--and yet itsuggested solidity; an entire cessation, a complete absorption oflight; an ebon veil at once immaterial and palpable. I stretched, involuntarily, my hand out toward it, and felt it quickly drawn back. 

"Do you seek your end so soon?" whispered Rador. "But I forget--youdo not know, " he added. "On your life touch not the blackness, ever. It--"

He stopped, for abruptly in the density a portal appeared; swingingout of the shadow like a picture thrown by a lantern upon a screen. Through it was revealed a chamber filled with a soft rosy glow. Risingfrom cushioned couches, a woman and a man regarded us, half leaningover a long, low table of what seemed polished jet, laden with flowersand unfamiliar fruits. 

About the room--that part of it, at least, that I could see--were afew oddly shaped chairs of the same substance. On high, silverytripods three immense globes stood, and it was from them that the roseglow emanated. At the side of the woman was a smaller globe whoseroseate gleam was tempered by quivering waves of blue. 

"Enter Rador with the strangers!" a clear, sweet voice called. 

Rador bowed deeply and stood aside, motioning us to pass. We entered, the green dwarf behind us, and out of the corner of my eye I saw thedoorway fade as abruptly as it had appeared and again the dense shadowfill its place. 

"Come closer, strangers. Be not afraid!" commanded the bell-tonedvoice. 

We approached. 

The woman, sober scientist that I am, made the breath catch in mythroat. Never had I seen a woman so beautiful as was Yolara of theDweller's city--and none of so perilous a beauty. Her hair was of thecolour of the young tassels of the corn and coiled in a regal crownabove her broad, white brows; her wide eyes were of grey that couldchange to a cornflower blue and in anger deepen to purple; grey orblue, they had little laughing devils within them, but when the stormof anger darkened them--they were not laughing, no! The silken websthat half covered, half revealed her did not hide the ivory whitenessof her flesh nor the sweet curve of shoulders and breasts. But for allher amazing beauty, she was--sinister! There was cruelty about thecurving mouth, and in the music of her voice--not conscious cruelty, but the more terrifying, careless cruelty of nature itself. 

The girl of the rose wall had been beautiful, yes! But her beauty washuman, understandable. You could imagine her with a babe in herarms--but you could not so imagine this woman. About her lovelinesshovered something unearthly. A sweet feminine echo of the Dweller wasYolara, the Dweller's priestess--and as gloriously, terrifyingly evil!

CHAPTER XIV

The Justice of Lora

As I looked at her the man arose and made his way round the tabletoward us. For the first time my eyes took in Lugur. A few inchestaller than the green dwarf, he was far broader, more filled with thesuggestion of appalling strength. 

The tremendous shoulders were four feet wide if an inch, tapering downto mighty thewed thighs. The muscles of his chest stood out beneathhis tunic of red. Around his forehead shone a chaplet of bright-bluestones, sparkling among the thick curls of his silver-ash hair. 

Upon his face pride and ambition were written large--and power stilllarger. All the mockery, the malice, the hint of callous indifferencethat I had noted in the other dwarfish men were there, too--butintensified, touched with the satanic. 

The woman spoke again. 

"Who are you strangers, and how came you here?" She turned to Rador. "Or is it that they do not understand our tongue?"

"One understands and speaks it--but very badly, O Yolara, " answeredthe green dwarf. 

"Speak, then, that one of you, " she commanded. 

But it was Marakinoff who found his voice first, and I marvelled atthe fluency, so much greater than mine, with which he spoke. 

"We came for different purposes. I to seek knowledge of a kind;he"--pointing to me "of another. This man"--he looked at Olaf--"tofind a wife and child. "

The grey-blue eyes had been regarding O'Keefe steadily and withplainly increasing interest. 

"And why did _you_ come?" she asked him. "Nay--I would have him speakfor himself, if he can, " she stilled Marakinoff peremptorily. 

When Larry spoke it was haltingly, in the tongue that was strange tohim, searching for the proper words. 

"I came to help these men--and because something I could not thenunderstand called me, O lady, whose eyes are like forest pools atdawn, " he answered; and even in the unfamiliar words there was a touchof the Irish brogue, and little merry lights danced in the eyes Larryhad so apostrophized. 

"I could find fault with your speech, but none with its burden, " shesaid. "What forest pools are I know not, and the dawn has not shoneupon the people of Lora these many sais of laya. [1] But I sense what youmean!"

The eyes deepened to blue as she regarded him. She smiled. 

"Are there many like you in the world from which you come?" she askedsoftly. "Well, we soon shall--"

Lugur interrupted her almost rudely and glowering. 

"Best we should know how they came hence, " he growled. 

She darted a quick look at him, and again the little devils danced inher wondrous eyes. 

[Unquestionably there is a subtle difference between time as we know itand time in this subterranean land--its progress there being slower. This, however, is only in accord with the well-known doctrine ofrelativity, which predicates both space and time as necessaryinventions of the human mind to orient itself to the conditions underwhich it finds itself. I tried often to measure this difference, butcould never do so to my entire satisfaction. The closest I can come toit is to say that an hour of our time is the equivalent of an hour andfive-eighths in Muria. For further information upon this matter ofrelativity the reader may consult any of the numerous books upon thesubject. --W. T. G. ]

"Yes, that is true, " she said. "How came you here?"

Again it was Marakinoff who answered--slowly, considering every word. 

"In the world above, " he said, "there are ruins of cities not built byany of those who now dwell there. To us these places called, and wesought for knowledge of the wise ones who made them. We found apassageway. The way led us downward to a door in yonder cliff, andthrough it we came here. "

"Then have you found what you sought?" spoke she. "For we are ofthose who built the cities. But this gateway in the rock--where isit?"

"After we passed, it closed upon us; nor could we after find trace ofit, " answered Marakinoff. 

The incredulity that had shown upon the face of the green dwarf fellupon theirs; on Lugur's it was clouded with furious anger. 

He turned to Rador. 

"I could find no opening, lord, " said the green dwarf quickly. 

And there was so fierce a fire in the eyes of Lugur as he swung backupon us that O'Keefe's hand slipped stealthily down toward his pistol. 

"Best it is to speak truth to Yolara, priestess of the Shining One, and to Lugur, the Voice, " he cried menacingly. 

"It is the truth, " I interposed. "We came down the passage. At itsend was a carved vine, a vine of five flowers"--the fire died from thered dwarf's eyes, and I could have sworn to a swift pallor. "I resteda hand upon these flowers, and a door opened. But when we had gonethrough it and turned, behind us was nothing but unbroken cliff. Thedoor had vanished. "

I had taken my cue from Marakinoff. If he had eliminated the episodeof car and Moon Pool, he had good reason, I had no doubt; and I wouldbe as cautious. And deep within me something cautioned me to saynothing of my quest; to stifle all thought of Throckmartin--somethingthat warned, peremptorily, finally, as though it were a message fromThrockmartin himself!

"A vine with five flowers!" exclaimed the red dwarf. "Was it likethis, say?"

He thrust forward a long arm. Upon the thumb of the hand was animmense ring, set with a dull-blue stone. Graven on the face of thejewel was the symbol of the rosy walls of the Moon Chamber that hadopened to us their two portals. But cut over the vine were sevencircles, one about each of the flowers and two larger ones covering, intersecting them. 

"This is the same, " I said; "but these were not there"--I indicatedthe circles. 

The woman drew a deep breath and looked deep into Lugur's eyes. 

"The sign of the Silent Ones!" he half whispered. 

It was the woman who first recovered herself. 

"The strangers are weary, Lugur, " she said. "When they are restedthey shall show where the rocks opened. "

I sensed a subtle change in their attitude toward us; a newintentness; a doubt plainly tinged with apprehension. What was it theyfeared? Why had the symbol of the vine wrought the change? And who orwhat were the Silent Ones?

Yolara's eyes turned to Olaf, hardened, and grew cold grey. Subconsciously I had noticed that from the first the Norseman had beenabsorbed in his regard of the pair; had, indeed, never taken his gazefrom them; had noticed, too, the priestess dart swift glances towardhim. 

He returned her scrutiny fearlessly, a touch of contempt in the cleareyes--like a child watching a snake which he did not dread, but whosedanger be well knew. 

Under that look Yolara stirred impatiently, sensing, I know, itsmeaning. 

"Why do you look at me so?" she cried. 

An expression of bewilderment passed over Olaf's face. 

"I do not understand, " he said in English. 

I caught a quickly repressed gleam in O'Keefe's eyes. He knew, as Iknew, that Olaf must have understood. But did Marakinoff?

Apparently he did not. But why was Olaf feigning ignorance?

"This man is a sailor from what we call the North, " thus Larryhaltingly. "He is crazed, I think. He tells a strange tale of asomething of cold fire that took his wife and babe. We found himwandering where we were. And because he is strong we brought him withus. That is all, O lady, whose voice is sweeter than the honey of thewild bees!"

"A shape of cold fire?" she repeated. 

"A shape of cold fire that whirled beneath the moon, with the sound oflittle bells, " answered Larry, watching her intently. 

She looked at Lugur and laughed. 

"Then he, too, is fortunate, " she said. "For he has come to the placeof his something of cold fire--and tell him that he shall join hiswife and child, in time; that I promise him. "

Upon the Norseman's face there was no hint of comprehension, and atthat moment I formed an entirely new opinion of Olaf's intelligence;for certainly it must have been a prodigious effort of the will, indeed, that enabled him, understanding, to control himself. 

"What does she say?" he asked. 

Larry repeated. 

"Good!" said Olaf. "Good!"

He looked at Yolara with well-assumed gratitude. Lugur, who had beenscanning his bulk, drew close. He felt the giant muscles whichHuldricksson accommodatingly flexed for him. 

"But he shall meet Valdor and Tahola before he sees those kin of his, "he laughed mockingly. "And if he bests them--for reward--his wife andbabe!"

A shudder, quickly repressed, shook the seaman's frame. The woman benther supremely beautiful head. 

"These two, " she said, pointing to the Russian and to me, "seem to bemen of learning. They may be useful. As for this man, "--she smiled atLarry--"I would have him explain to me some things. " She hesitated. "What 'hon-ey of 'e wild bees-s' is. " Larry had spoken the words inEnglish, and she was trying to repeat them. "As for this man, thesailor, do as you please with him, Lugur; always remembering that Ihave given my word that he shall join that wife and babe of his!" Shelaughed sweetly, sinisterly. "And now--take them, Rador--give themfood and drink and let them rest till we shall call them again. "

She stretched out a hand toward O'Keefe. The Irishman bowed low overit, raised it softly to his lips. There was a vicious hiss from Lugur;but Yolara regarded Larry with eyes now all tender blue. 

"You please me, " she whispered. 

And the face of Lugur grew darker. 

We turned to go. The rosy, azure-shot globe at her side suddenlydulled. From it came a faint bell sound as of chimes far away. Shebent over it. It vibrated, and then its surface ran with little wavesof dull colour; from it came a whispering so low that I could notdistinguish the words--if words they were. 

She spoke to the red dwarf. 

"They have brought the three who blasphemed the Shining One, " she saidslowly. "Now it is in my mind to show these strangers the justice ofLora. What say you, Lugur?"

The red dwarf nodded, his eyes sparkling with a maliciousanticipation. 

The woman spoke again to the globe. "Bring them here!"

And again it ran swiftly with its film of colours, darkened, and shonerosy once more. From without there came a rustle of many feet upon therugs. Yolara pressed a slender hand upon the base of the pedestal ofthe globe beside her. Abruptly the light faded from all, and on thesame instant the four walls of blackness vanished, revealing on twosides the lovely, unfamiliar garden through the guarding rows ofpillars; at our backs soft draperies hid what lay beyond; before us, flanked by flowered screens, was the corridor through which we hadentered, crowded now by the green dwarfs of the great hall. 

The dwarfs advanced. Each, I now noted, had the same clustering blackhair of Rador. They separated, and from them stepped three figures--ayouth of not more than twenty, short, but with the great shoulders ofall the males we had seen of this race; a girl of seventeen, I judged, white-faced, a head taller than the boy, her long, black hairdishevelled; and behind these two a stunted, gnarled shape whose headwas sunk deep between the enormous shoulders, whose white beard felllike that of some ancient gnome down to his waist, and whose eyes werea white flame of hate. The girl cast herself weeping at the feet ofthe priestess; the youth regarded her curiously. 

"You are Songar of the Lower Waters?" murmured Yolara almostcaressingly. "And this is your daughter and her lover?"

The gnome nodded, the flame in his eyes leaping higher. 

"It has come to me that you three have dared blaspheme the ShiningOne, its priestess, and its Voice, " went on Yolara smoothly. "Alsothat you have called out to the three Silent Ones. Is it true?"

"Your spies have spoken--and have you not already judged us?" Thevoice of the old dwarf was bitter. 

A flicker shot through the eyes of Yolara, again cold grey. The girlreached a trembling hand out to the hem of the priestess's veils. 

"Tell us why you did these things, Songar, " she said. "Why you didthem, knowing full well what your--reward--would be. "

The dwarf stiffened; he raised his withered arms, and his eyes blazed. 

"Because evil are your thoughts and evil are your deeds, " he cried. "Yours and your lover's, there"--he levelled a finger at Lugur. "Because of the Shining One you have made evil, too, and the greaterwickedness you contemplate--you and he with the Shining One. But Itell you that your measure of iniquity is full; the tale of your sinnear ended! Yea--the Silent Ones have been patient, but soon they willspeak. " He pointed at us. "A sign are _they_--a warning--harlot!" Hespat the word. 

In Yolara's eyes, grown black, the devils leaped unrestrained. 

"Is it even so, Songar?" her voice caressed. "Now ask the Silent Onesto help you! They sit afar--but surely they will hear you. " The sweetvoice was mocking. "As for these two, they shall pray to the ShiningOne for forgiveness--and surely the Shining One will take them to itsbosom! As for you--you have lived long enough, Songar! Pray to theSilent Ones, Songar, and pass out into the nothingness--you!"

She dipped down into her bosom and drew forth something that resembleda small cone of tarnished silver. She levelled it, a covering clickedfrom its base, and out of it darted a slender ray of intense greenlight. 

It struck the old dwarf squarely over the heart, and spread swift aslight itself, covering him with a gleaming, pale film. She clenchedher hand upon the cone, and the ray disappeared. She thrust the coneback into her breast and leaned forward expectantly; so Lugur and sothe other dwarfs. From the girl came a low wail of anguish; the boydropped upon his knees, covering his face. 

For the moment the white beard stood rigid; then the robe that hadcovered him seemed to melt away, revealing all the knotted, monstrousbody. And in that body a vibration began, increasing to incrediblerapidity. It wavered before us like a reflection in a still pondstirred by a sudden wind. It grew and grew--to a rhythm whose rapiditywas intolerable to watch and that still chained the eyes. 

The figure grew indistinct, misty. Tiny sparks in infinite numbersleaped from it--like, I thought, the radiant shower of particleshurled out by radium when seen under the microscope. Mistier still itgrew--there trembled before us for a moment a faintly luminous shadowwhich held, here and there, tiny sparkling atoms like those thatpulsed in the light about us! The glowing shadow vanished, thesparkling atoms were still for a moment--and shot away, joining thosedancing others. 

Where the gnomelike form had been but a few seconds before--there wasnothing!

O'Keefe drew a long breath, and I was sensible of a prickling along myscalp. 

Yolara leaned toward us. 

"You have seen, " she said. Her eyes lingered tigerishly upon Olaf'spallid face. "Heed!" she whispered. She turned to the men in green, who were laughing softly among themselves. 

"Take these two, and go!" she commanded. 

"The justice of Lora, " said the red dwarf. "The justice of Lora andthe Shining One under Thanaroa!"

Upon the utterance of the last word I saw Marakinoff start violently. The hand at his side made a swift, surreptitious gesture, so fleetingthat I hardly caught it. The red dwarf stared at the Russian, andthere was amazement upon his face. 

Swiftly as Marakinoff, he returned it. 

"Yolara, " the red dwarf spoke, "it would please me to take this man ofwisdom to my own place for a time. The giant I would have, too. "

The woman awoke from her brooding; nodded. 

"As you will, Lugur, " she said. 

And as, shaken to the core, we passed out into the garden into thefull throbbing of the light, I wondered if all the tiny sparklingdiamond points that shook about us had once been men like Songar ofthe Lower Waters--and felt my very soul grow sick!

[1] Later I was to find that Murian reckoning rested upon theextraordinary increased luminosity of the cliffs at the time of fullmoon on earth--this action, to my mind, being linked either with theeffect of the light streaming globes upon the Moon Pool, whose sourcewas in the shining cliffs, or else upon some mysterious affinity oftheir radiant element with the flood of moonlight on earth--thelatter, most probably, because even when the moon must have beenclouded above, it made no difference in the phenomenon. Thirteen ofthese shinings forth constituted a laya, one of them a lat. Ten wassa; ten times ten times ten a said, or thousand; ten times a thousandwas a sais. A sais of laya was then literally ten thousand years. Whatwe would call an hour was by them called a va. The whole time systemwas, of course, a mingling of time as it had been known to theirremote, surface-dwelling ancestors, and the peculiar determiningfactors in the vast cavern. 

CHAPTER XV

The Angry, Whispering Globe

Our way led along a winding path between banked masses of softlyradiant blooms, groups of feathery ferns whose plumes were starredwith fragrant white and blue flowerets, slender creepers swinging fromthe branches of the strangely trunked trees, bearing along theirthreads orchid-like blossoms both delicately frail and gorgeouslyflamboyant. 

The path we trod was an exquisite mosaic--pastel greens and pinks upona soft grey base, garlands of nimbused forms like the flaming rose ofthe Rosicrucians held in the mouths of the flying serpents. A smallerpavilion arose before us, single-storied, front wide open. 

Upon its threshold Rador paused, bowed deeply, and motioned us within. The chamber we entered was large, closed on two sides by screens ofgrey; at the back gay, concealing curtains. The low table of bluestone, dressed with fine white cloths, stretched at one side flankedby the cushioned divans. 

At the left was a high tripod bearing one of the rosy globes we hadseen in the house of Yolara; at the head of the table a smaller globesimilar to the whispering one. Rador pressed upon its base, and twoother screens slid into place across the entrance, shutting in theroom. 

He clapped his hands; the curtains parted, and two girls came throughthem. Tall and willow lithe, their bluish-black hair falling inringlets just below their white shoulders, their clear eyes offorget-me-not blue, and skins of extraordinary fineness andpurity--they were singularly attractive. Each was clad in an extremelyscanty bodice of silken blue, girdled above a kirtle that came barelyto their very pretty knees. 

"Food and drink, " ordered Rador. 

They dropped back through the curtains. 

"Do you like them?" he asked us. 

"Some chickens!" said Larry. "They delight the heart, " he translatedfor Rador. 

The green dwarf's next remark made me gasp. 

"They are yours, " he said. 

Before I could question him further upon this extraordinary statementthe pair re-entered, bearing a great platter on which were smallloaves, strange fruits, and three immense flagons of rock crystal--twofilled with a slightly sparkling yellow liquid and the third with apurplish drink. I became acutely sensible that it had been hours sinceI had either eaten or drunk. The yellow flagons were set before Larryand me, the purple at Rador's hand. 

The girls, at his signal, again withdrew. I raised my glass to mylips and took a deep draft. The taste was unfamiliar but delightful. 

Almost at once my fatigue disappeared. I realized a clarity of mind, an interesting exhilaration and sense of irresponsibility, of freedomfrom care, that were oddly enjoyable. Larry became immediately his oldgay self. 

The green dwarf regarded us whimsically, sipping from his great flagonof rock crystal. 

"Much do I desire to know of that world you came from, " he said atlast--"through the rocks, " he added, slyly. 

"And much do we desire to know of this world of yours, O Rador, " Ianswered. 

Should I ask him of the Dweller; seek from him a clue to Throckmartin?Again, clearly as a spoken command, came the warning to forbear, towait. And once more I obeyed. 

"Let us learn, then, from each other. " The dwarf was laughing. "Andfirst--are all above like you--drawn out"--he made an expressivegesture--"and are there many of you?"

"There are--" I hesitated, and at last spoke the Polynesian that meanstens upon tens multiplied indefinitely--"there are as many as thedrops of water in the lake we saw from the ledge where you found us, "I continued; "many as the leaves on the trees without. And they areall like us--varyingly. "

He considered skeptically, I could see, my remark upon our numbers. 

"In Muria, " he said at last, "the men are like me or like Lugur. Ourwomen are as you see them--like Yolara or those two who served you. "He hesitated. "And there is a third; but only one. "

Larry leaned forward eagerly. 

"Brown-haired with glints of ruddy bronze, golden-eyed, and lovely asa dream, with long, slender, beautiful hands?" he cried. 

"Where saw you _her_?" interrupted the dwarf, starting to his feet. 

"Saw her?" Larry recovered himself. "Nay, Rador, perhaps, I onlydreamed that there was such a woman. "

"See to it, then, that you tell not your dream to Yolara, " said thedwarf grimly. "For her I meant and her you have pictured is Lakla, thehand-maiden to the Silent Ones, and neither Yolara nor Lugur, nay, northe Shining One, love her overmuch, stranger. "

"Does she dwell here?" Larry's face was alight. 

The dwarf hesitated, glanced about him anxiously. 

"Nay, " he answered, "ask me no more of her. " He was silent for aspace. "And what do you who are as leaves or drops of water do in thatworld of yours?" he said, plainly bent on turning the subject. 

"Keep off the golden-eyed girl, Larry, " I interjected. "Wait till wefind out why she's tabu. "

"Love and battle, strive and accomplish and die; or fail and die, "answered Larry--to Rador--giving me a quick nod of acquiescence to mywarning in English. 

"In that at least your world and mine differ little, " said the dwarf. 

"How great is this world of yours, Rador?" I spoke. 

He considered me gravely. 

"How great indeed I do not know, " he said frankly at last. "The landwhere we dwell with the Shining One stretches along the white watersfor--" He used a phrase of which I could make nothing. "Beyond thiscity of the Shining One and on the hither shores of the white watersdwell the mayia ladala--the common ones. " He took a deep draft fromhis flagon. "There are, first, the fair-haired ones, the children ofthe ancient rulers, " he continued. "There are, second, we thesoldiers; and last, the mayia ladala, who dig and till and weave andtoil and give our rulers and us their daughters, and dance with theShining One!" he added. 

"Who rules?" I asked. 

"The fair-haired, under the Council of Nine, who are under Yolara, thePriestess and Lugur, the Voice, " he answered, "who are in turn beneaththe Shining One!" There was a ring of bitter satire in the last. 

"And those three who were judged?"--this from Larry. 

"They were of the mayia ladala, " he replied, "like those two I gaveyou. But they grow restless. They do not like to dance with theShining One--the blasphemers!" He raised his voice in a sudden greatshout of mocking laughter. 

In his words I caught a fleeting picture of the race--an ancient, luxurious, close-bred oligarchy clustered about some mysterious deity;a soldier class that supported them; and underneath all the toiling, oppressed hordes. 

"And is that all?" asked Larry. 

"No, " he answered. "There is the Sea of Crimson where--"

Without warning the globe beside us sent out a vicious note, Radorturned toward it, his face paling. Its surface crawled withwhisperings--angry, peremptory!

"I hear!" he croaked, gripping the table. "I obey!"

He turned to us a face devoid for once of its malice. 

"Ask me no more questions, strangers, " he said. "And now, if you aredone, I will show you where you may sleep and bathe. "

He arose abruptly. We followed him through the hangings, passedthrough a corridor and into another smaller chamber, roofless, thesides walled with screens of dark grey. Two cushioned couches werethere and a curtained door leading into an open, outer enclosure inwhich a fountain played within a wide pool. 

"Your bath, " said Rador. He dropped the curtain and came back intothe room. He touched a carved flower at one side. There was a tinysighing from overhead and instantly across the top spread a veil ofblackness, impenetrable to light but certainly not to air, for throughit pulsed little breaths of the garden fragrances. The room filledwith a cool twilight, refreshing, sleep-inducing. The green dwarfpointed to the couches. 

"Sleep!" he said. "Sleep and fear nothing. My men are on guardoutside. " He came closer to us, the old mocking gaiety sparkling inhis eyes. 

"But I spoke too quickly, " he whispered. "Whether it is because theAfyo Maie fears their tongues--or--" he laughed at Larry. "The maidsare _not_ yours!" Still laughing he vanished through the curtains of theroom of the fountain before I could ask him the meaning of his curiousgift, its withdrawal, and his most enigmatic closing remarks. 

"Back in the great old days of Ireland, " thus Larry breaking into mythoughts raptly, the brogue thick, "there was Cairill macCairill--Cairill Swiftspear. An' Cairill wronged Keevan of EmhainAbhlach, of the blood of Angus of the great people when he wassleeping in the likeness of a pale reed. Then Keevan put this penanceon Cairill--that for a year Cairill should wear his body in EmhainAbhlach, which is the Land of Faery and for that year Keevan shouldwear the body of Cairill. And it was done. 

"In that year Cairill met Emar of the Birds that are one white, onered, and one black--and they loved, and from that love sprang Aililltheir son. And when Ailill was born he took a reed flute and first heplayed slumber on Cairill, and then he played old age so that Cairillgrew white and withered; then Ailill played again and Cairill became ashadow--then a shadow of a shadow--then a breath; and the breath wentout upon the wind!" He shivered. "Like the old gnome, " he whispered, "that they called Songar of the Lower Waters!"

He shook his head as though he cast a dream from him. Then, allalert--

"But that was in Iceland ages agone. And there's nothing like thathere, Doc!" He laughed. "It doesn't scare me one little bit, old boy. The pretty devil lady's got the wrong slant. When you've had a palstanding beside you one moment--full of life, and joy, and power, andpotentialities, telling what he's going to do to make the world humwhen he gets through the slaughter, just running over with zip and pepof life, Doc--and the next instant, right in the middle of a laugh--apiece of damned shell takes off half his head and with it joy andpower and all the rest of it"--his face twitched--"well, old man, inthe face of _that_ mystery a disappearing act such as the devil ladytreated us to doesn't make much of a dent. Not on me. But by thebrogans of Brian Boru--if we could have had some of that stuff to turnon during the war--oh, boy!"

He was silent, evidently contemplating the idea with vast pleasure. And as for me, at that moment my last doubt of Larry O'Keefe vanished, I saw that he did believe, really believed, in his banshees, hisleprechauns and all the old dreams of the Gael--but only within thelimits of Ireland. 

In one drawer of his mind was packed all his superstition, hismysticism, and what of weakness it might carry. But face him with anyperil or problem and the drawer closed instantaneously leaving a mindthat was utterly fearless, incredulous, and ingenious; swept clean ofall cobwebs by as fine a skeptic broom as ever brushed a brain. 

"Some stuff!" Deepest admiration was in his voice. "If we'd only hadit when the war was on--imagine half a dozen of us scooting over theenemy batteries and the gunners underneath all at once beginning toshake themselves to pieces! Wow!" His tone was rapturous. 

"It's easy enough to explain, Larry, " I said. "The effect, thatis--for what the green ray is made of I don't know, of course. Butwhat it does, clearly, is stimulate atomic vibration to such a pitchthat the cohesion between the particles of matter is broken and thebody flies to bits--just as a fly-wheel does when its speed gets sogreat that the particles of which _it_ is made can't hold together. "

"Shake themselves to pieces is right, then!" he exclaimed. 

"Absolutely right, " I nodded. "Everything in Nature vibrates. Andall matter--whether man or beast or stone or metal or vegetable--ismade up of vibrating molecules, which are made up of vibrating atomswhich are made up of truly infinitely small particles of electricitycalled electrons, and electrons, the base of all matter, arethemselves perhaps only a vibration of the mysterious ether. 

"If a magnifying glass of sufficient size and strength could be placedover us we could see ourselves as sieves--our space lattice, as it iscalled. And all that is necessary to break down the lattice, to shakeus into nothingness, is some agent that will set our atoms vibratingat such a rate that at last they escape the unseen cords and fly off. 

"The green ray of Yolara is such an agent. It set up in the dwarfthat incredibly rapid rhythm that you saw and--shook him not toatoms--but to electrons!"

"They had a gun on the West Front--a seventy-five, " said O'Keefe, "that broke the eardrums of everybody who fired it, no matter whatprotection they used. It looked like all the other seventy-fives--butthere was something about its sound that did it. They had to recastit. "

"It's practically the same thing, " I replied. "By some freak itsvibratory qualities had that effect. The deep whistle of the sunkenLusitania would, for instance, make the Singer Building shake to itsfoundations; while the Olympic did not affect the Singer at all butmade the Woolworth shiver all through. In each case they stimulatedthe atomic vibration of the particular building--"

I paused, aware all at once of an intense drowsiness. O'Keefe, yawning, reached down to unfasten his puttees. 

"Lord, I'm sleepy!" he exclaimed. "Can't understand it--what yousay--most--interesting--Lord!" he yawned again; straightened. "Whatmade Reddy take such a shine to the Russian?" he asked. 

"Thanaroa, " I answered, fighting to keep my eyes open. 

"What?"

"When Lugur spoke that name I saw Marakinoff signal him. Thanaroa is, I suspect, the original form of the name of Tangaroa, the greatest godof the Polynesians. There's a secret cult to him in the islands. Marakinoff may belong to it--he knows it anyway. Lugur recognized thesignal and despite his surprise answered it. "

"So he gave him the high sign, eh?" mused Larry. "How could they bothknow it?"

"The cult is a very ancient one. Undoubtedly it had its origin in thedim beginnings before these people migrated here, " I replied. "It's alink--one--of the few links between up there and the lost past--"

"Trouble then, " mumbled Larry. "Hell brewing! I smell it--Say, Doc, is this sleepiness natural? Wonder where my--gas mask--is--" headded, half incoherently. 

But I myself was struggling desperately against the drugged slumberpressing down upon me. 

"Lakla!" I heard O'Keefe murmur. "Lakla of the golden eyes--noEilidh--the Fair!" He made an immense effort, half raised himself, grinned faintly. 

"Thought this was paradise when I first saw it, Doc, " he sighed. "ButI know now, if it is, No-Man's Land was the greatest place on earthfor a honeymoon. They--they've got us, Doc--" He sank back. "Goodluck, old boy, wherever you're going. " His hand waved feebly. "Glad--knew--you. Hope--see--you--'gain--"

His voice trailed into silence. Fighting, fighting with every fibreof brain and nerve against the sleep, I felt myself being steadilyovercome. Yet before oblivion rushed down upon me I seemed to see uponthe grey-screened wall nearest the Irishman an oval of rosy lightbegin to glow; watched, as my falling lids inexorably fell, aflame-tipped shadow waver on it; thicken; condense--and there lookingdown upon Larry, her eyes great golden stars in which intensestcuriosity and shy tenderness struggled, sweet mouth half smiling, wasthe girl of the Moon Pool's Chamber, the girl whom the green dwarf hadnamed--Lakla: the vision Larry had invoked before that sleep which Icould no longer deny had claimed him--

Closer she came--closer---the eyes were over us. 

Then oblivion indeed!

CHAPTER XVI

Yolara of Muria vs. The O'Keefe

I awakened with all the familiar, homely sensation of a shade havingbeen pulled up in a darkened room. I thrilled with a wonderful senseof deep rest and restored resiliency. The ebon shadow had vanishedfrom above and down into the room was pouring the silvery light. Fromthe fountain pool came a mighty splashing and shouts of laughter. Ijumped and drew the curtain. O'Keefe and Rador were swimming a wildrace; the dwarf like an otter, out-distancing and playing around theIrishman at will. 

Had that overpowering sleep--and now I confess that my struggleagainst it had been largely inspired by fear that it was the abnormalslumber which Throckmartin had described as having heralded theapproach of the Dweller before it had carried away Thora andStanton--had that sleep been after all nothing but natural reaction oftired nerves and brains?

And that last vision of the golden-eyed girl bending over Larry? Hadthat also been a delusion of an overstressed mind? Well, it might havebeen, I could not tell. At any rate, I decided, I would speak about itto O'Keefe once we were alone again--and then giving myself up to theurge of buoyant well-being I shouted like a boy, stripped and joinedthe two in the pool. The water was warm and I felt the unwontedtingling of life in every vein increase; something from it seemed topulse through the skin, carrying a clean vigorous vitality that tonedevery fibre. Tiring at last, we swam to the edge and drew ourselvesout. The green dwarf quickly clothed himself and Larry rathercarefully donned his uniform. 

"The Afyo Maie has summoned us, Doc, " he said. "We're to--well--Isuppose you'd call it breakfast with her. After that, Rador tells me, we're to have a session with the Council of Nine. I suppose Yolara isas curious as any lady of--the upper world, as you might put it--andjust naturally can't wait, " he added. 

He gave himself a last shake, patted the automatic hidden under hisleft arm, whistled cheerfully. 

"After you, my dear Alphonse, " he said to Rador, with a low bow. Thedwarf laughed, bent in an absurd imitation of Larry's mocking courtesyand started ahead of us to the house of the priestess. When he hadgone a little way on the orchid-walled path I whispered to O'Keefe:

"Larry, when you were falling off to sleep--did you think you sawanything?"

"See anything!" he grinned. "Doc, sleep hit me like a Hun shell. Ithought they were pulling the gas on us. I--I had some intention ofbidding you tender farewells, " he continued, half sheepishly. "I thinkI did start 'em, didn't I?"

I nodded. 

"But wait a minute--" he hesitated. "I had a queer sort of dream--"

"'What was it?" I asked eagerly, "Well, " he answered slowly, "I suppose it was because I'd beenthinking of--Golden Eyes. Anyway, I thought she came through the walland leaned over me--yes, and put one of those long white hands of herson my head--I couldn't raise my lids--but in some queer way I couldsee her. Then it got real dreamish. Why do you ask?"

Rador turned back toward us, "Later, " I answered, "Not now. When we're alone. "

But through me went a little glow of reassurance. Whatever the mazethrough which we were moving; whatever of menacing evil lurkingthere--the Golden Girl was clearly watching over us; watching withwhatever unknown powers she could muster. 

We passed the pillared entrance; went through a long bowered corridorand stopped before a door that seemed to be sliced from a monolith ofpale jade--high, narrow, set in a wall of opal. 

Rador stamped twice and the same supernally sweet, silver bell tonesof--yesterday, I must call it, although in that place of eternal daythe term is meaningless--bade us enter. The door slipped aside. Thechamber was small, the opal walls screening it on three sides, theblack opacity covering it, the fourth side opening out into adelicious little walled garden--a mass of the fragrant, luminousblooms and delicately colored fruit. Facing it was a small table ofreddish wood and from the omnipresent cushions heaped around it aroseto greet us--Yolara. 

Larry drew in his breath with an involuntary gasp of admiration andbowed low. My own admiration was as frank--and the priestess was wellpleased with our homage. 

She was swathed in the filmy, half-revelant webs, now of palest blue. The corn-silk hair was caught within a wide-meshed golden net in whichsparkled tiny brilliants, like blended sapphires and diamonds. Her ownazure eyes sparkled as brightly as they, and I noted again in theirclear depths the half-eager approval as they rested upon O'Keefe'slithe, well-knit figure and his keen, clean-cut face. The high-arched, slender feet rested upon soft sandals whose gauzy withes laced theexquisitely formed leg to just below the dimpled knee. 

"Some giddy wonder!" exclaimed Larry, looking at me and placing a handover his heart. "Put her on a New York roof and she'd empty Broadway. Take the cue from me, Doc. "

He turned to Yolara, whose face was somewhat puzzled. 

"I said, O lady whose shining hair is a web for hearts, that in ourworld your beauty would dazzle the sight of men as would a littlewoman sun!" he said, in the florid imagery to which the tongue lendsitself so well. 

A flush stole up through the translucent skin. The blue eyes softenedand she waved us toward the cushions. Black-haired maids stole in, placing before us the fruits, the little loaves and a steaming drinksomewhat the colour and odor of chocolate. I was conscious ofoutrageous hunger. 

"What are you named, strangers?" she asked. 

"This man is named Goodwin, " said O'Keefe. "As for me, call meLarry. "

"Nothing like getting acquainted quick, " he said to me--but kept hiseyes upon Yolara as though he were voicing another honeyed phrase. Andso she took it, for: "You must teach me your tongue, " she murmured. 

"Then shall I have two words where now I have one to tell you of yourloveliness, " he answered. 

"And also that'll take time, " he spoke to me. "Essential occupationout of which we can't be drafted to make these fun-loving folk anyRoman holiday. Get me!"

"Larree, " mused Yolara. "I like the sound. It is sweet--" and indeedit was as she spoke it. 

"And what is your land named, Larree?" she continued. "And Goodwin's?"She caught the sound perfectly. 

"My land, O lady of loveliness, is two--Ireland and America; his butone--America. "

She repeated the two names--slowly, over and over. We seized theopportunity to attack the food; halting half guiltily as she spokeagain. 

"Oh, but you are hungry!" she cried. "Eat then. " She leaned her chinupon her hands and regarded us, whole fountains of questions brimmingup in her eyes. 

"How is it, Larree, that you have two countries and Goodwin but one?"she asked, at last unable to keep silent longer. 

"I was born in Ireland; he in America. But I have dwelt long in hisland and my heart loves each, " he said. 

She nodded, understandingly. 

"Are all the men of Ireland like you, Larree? As all the men here arelike Lugur or Rador? I like to look at you, " she went on, with naivefrankness. "I am tired of men like Lugur and Rador. But they arestrong, " she added, swiftly. "Lugur can hold up ten in his two armsand raise six with but one hand. "

We could not understand her numerals and she raised white fingers toillustrate. 

"That is little, O lady, to the men of Ireland, " replied O'Keefe. "Lo, I have seen one of my race hold up ten times ten of our--whatcall you that swift thing in which Rador brought us here?"

"Corial, " said she. 

"Hold up ten times twenty of our corials with but two fingers--andthese corials of ours--"

"Coria, " said she. 

"And these coria of ours are each greater in weight than ten of yours. Yes, and I have seen another with but one blow of his hand raise hell!

"And so I have, " he murmured to me. "And both at Forty-second andFifth Avenue, N. Y. --U. S. A. "

Yolara considered all this with manifest doubt. 

"Hell?" she inquired at last. "I know not the word. "

"Well, " answered O'Keefe. "Say Muria then. In many ways they are, Igather, O heart's delight, one and the same. "

Now the doubt in the blue eyes was strong indeed. She shook her head. 

"None of our men can do _that_!" she answered, at length. "Nor do Ithink you could, Larree. "

"Oh, no, " said Larry easily. "I never tried to be that strong. Ifly, " he added, casually. 

The priestess rose to her feet, gazing at him with startled eyes. 

"Fly!" she repeated incredulously. "Like a _Zitia_? A bird?"

Larry nodded--and then seeing the dawning command in her eyes, went onhastily. 

"Not with my own wings, Yolara. In a--a corial that movesthrough--what's the word for air, Doc--well, through this--" He made awide gesture up toward the nebulous haze above us. He took a penciland on a white cloth made a hasty sketch of an airplane. "In a--acorial like this--" She regarded the sketch gravely, thrust a handdown into her girdle and brought forth a keen-bladed poniard; cutLarry's markings out and placed the fragment carefully aside. 

"That I can understand, " she said. 

"Remarkably intelligent young woman, " muttered O'Keefe. "Hope I'm notgiving anything away--but she had me. "

"But what are your women like, Larree? Are they like me? And howmany have loved you?" she whispered. 

"In all Ireland and America there is none like you, Yolara, " heanswered. "And take that any way you please, " he muttered in English. She took it, it was evident, as it most pleased her. 

"Do you have goddesses?" she asked. 

"Every woman in Ireland and America, is a goddess"; thus Larry. 

"Now that I do not believe. " There was both anger and mockery in hereyes. "I know women, Larree--and if that were so there would be nopeace for men. "

"There isn't!" replied he. The anger died out and she laughed, sweetly, understandingly. 

"And which goddess do you worship, Larree?"

"You!" said Larry O'Keefe boldly. 

"Larry! Larry!" I whispered. "Be careful. It's high explosive. "

But the priestess was laughing--little trills of sweet bell notes; andpleasure was in each note. 

"You are indeed bold, Larree, " she said, "to offer me your worship. Yet am I pleased by your boldness. Still--Lugur is strong; and you arenot of those who--what did you say--have tried. And your wings arenot here--Larree!"

Again her laughter rang out. The Irishman flushed; it was _touché_for Yolara!

"Fear not for me with Lugur, " he said, grimly. "Rather fear for him!"

The laughter died; she looked at him searchingly; a little enigmaticsmile about her mouth--so sweet and so cruel. 

"Well--we shall see, " she murmured. "You say you battle in yourworld. With what?"

"Oh, with this and with that, " answered Larry, airily. "We manage--"

"Have you the Keth--I mean that with which I sent Songar into thenothingness?" she asked swiftly. 

"See what she's driving at?" O'Keefe spoke to me, swiftly. "Well I do!But here's where the O'Keefe lands. 

"I said, " he turned to her, "O voice of silver fire, that your spiritis high even as your beauty--and searches out men's souls as does yourloveliness their hearts. And now listen, Yolara, for what I speak istruth"--into his eyes came the far-away gaze; into his voice the Irishsoftness--"Lo, in my land of Ireland, this many of your life's lengthagone--see"--he raised his ten fingers, clenched and unclenched themtimes twenty--"the mighty men of my race, the Taitha-da-Dainn, couldsend men out into the nothingness even as do you with the Keth. Andthis they did by their harpings, and by words spoken--words of power, O Yolara, that have their power still--and by pipings and by slayingsounds. 

"There was Cravetheen who played swift flames from his harp, flyingflames that ate those they were sent against. And there was Dalua, ofHy Brasil, whose pipes played away from man and beast and all livingthings their shadows--and at last played them to shadows too, so thatwherever Dalua went his shadows that had been men and beast followedlike a storm of little rustling leaves; yea, and Bel the Harper, whocould make women's hearts run like wax and men's hearts flame to ashesand whose harpings could shatter strong cliffs and bow great trees tothe sod--"

His eyes were bright, dream-filled; she shrank a little from him, faint pallor under the perfect skin. 

"I say to you, Yolara, that these things were and are--in Ireland. "His voice rang strong. "And I have seen men as many as those that arein your great chamber this many times over"--he clenched his handsonce more, perhaps a dozen times--"blasted into nothingness beforeyour Keth could even have touched them. Yea--and rocks as mighty asthose through which we came lifted up and shattered before the lidscould fall over your blue eyes. And this is truth, Yolara--all truth!Stay--have you that little cone of the Keth with which you destroyedSongar?"

She nodded, gazing at him, fascinated, fear and puzzlement contending. 

"Then use it. " He took a vase of crystal from the table, placed it onthe threshold that led into the garden. "Use it on this--and I willshow you. "

"I will use it upon one of the ladala--" she began eagerly. 

The exaltation dropped from him; there was a touch of horror in theeyes he turned to her; her own dropped before it. 

"It shall be as you say, " she said hurriedly. She drew the shiningcone from her breast; levelled it at the vase. The green ray leapedforth, spread over the crystal, but before its action could even bebegun, a flash of light shot from O'Keefe's hand, his automatic spatand the trembling vase flew into fragments. As quickly as he had drawnit, he thrust the pistol back into place and stood there empty handed, looking at her sternly. From the anteroom came shouting, a rush offeet. 

Yolara's face was white, her eyes strained--but her voice was unshakenas she called to the clamouring guards:

"It is nothing--go to your places!"

But when the sound of their return had ceased she stared tensely atthe Irishman--then looked again at the shattered vase. 

"It is true!" she cried, "but see, the Keth is--alive!"

I followed her pointing finger. Each broken bit of the crystal wasvibrating, shaking its particles out into space. Broken it the bulletof Larry's had--but not released it from the grip of thedisintegrating force. The priestess's face was triumphant. 

"But what matters it, O shining urn of beauty--what matters it to thevase that is broken what happens to its fragments?" asked Larry, gravely--and pointedly. 

The triumph died from her face and for a space she was silent;brooding. 

"Next, " whispered O'Keefe to me. "Lots of surprises in the littlebox; keep your eye on the opening and see what comes out. "

We had not long to wait. There was a sparkle of anger about Yolara, something too of injured pride. She clapped her hands; whispered tothe maid who answered her summons, and then sat back regarding us, maliciously. 

"You have answered me as to your strength--but you have not proved it;but the Keth you have answered. Now answer this!" she said. 

She pointed out into the garden. I saw a flowering branch bend andsnap as though a hand had broken it--but no hand was there! Saw thenanother and another bend and break, a little tree sway and fall--andcloser and closer to us came the trail of snapping boughs while downinto the garden poured the silvery light revealing--nothing! Now agreat ewer beside a pillar rose swiftly in air and hurled itselfcrashing at my feet. Cushions close to us swirled about as though inthe vortex of a whirlwind. 

And unseen hands held my arms in a mighty clutch fast to my sides, another gripped my throat and I felt a needle-sharp poniard pointpierce my shirt, touch the skin just over my heart!

"Larry!" I cried, despairingly. I twisted my head; saw that he toowas caught in this grip of the invisible. But his face was calm, evenamused. 

"Keep cool, Doc!" he said. "Remember--she wants to learn thelanguage!"

Now from Yolara burst chime upon chime of mocking laughter. She gavea command--the hands loosened, the poniard withdrew from my heart;suddenly as I had been caught I was free--and unpleasantly weak andshaky. 

"Have you _that_ in Ireland, Larree!" cried the priestess--and oncemore trembled with laughter. 

"A good play, Yolara. " His voice was as calm as his face. "But theydid that in Ireland even before Dalua piped away his first man'sshadow. And in Goodwin's land they make ships--coria that go onwater--so you can pass by them and see only sea and sky; and thosewater coria are each of them many times greater than this whole palaceof yours. "

But the priestess laughed on. 

"It did get me a little, " whispered Larry. "That wasn't quite up tomy mark. But God! If we could find that trick out and take it backwith us!"

"Not so, Larree!" Yolara gasped, through her laughter. "Not so!Goodwin's cry betrayed you!"

Her good humour had entirely returned; she was like a mischievouschild pleased over some successful trick; and like a child shecried--"I'll show you!"--signalled again; whispered to the maid who, quickly returning, laid before her a long metal case. Yolara took fromher girdle something that looked like a small pencil, pressed it andshot a thin stream of light for all the world like an electric flash, upon its hasp. The lid flew open. Out of it she drew three flat, ovalcrystals, faint rose in hue. She handed one to O'Keefe and one to me. 

"Look!" she commanded, placing the third before her own eyes. Ipeered through the stone and instantly there leaped into sight, out ofthin air--six grinning dwarfs! Each was covered from top of head tosoles of feet in a web so tenuous that through it their bodies wereplain. The gauzy stuff seemed to vibrate--its strands to run togetherlike quick-silver. I snatched the crystal from my eyes and--thechamber was empty! Put it back--and there were the grinning six!

Yolara gave another sign and they disappeared, even from the crystals. 

"It is what they wear, Larree, " explained Yolara, graciously. "It issomething that came to us from--the Ancient Ones. But we have sofew"--she sighed. 

"Such treasures must be two-edged swords, Yolara, " commented O'Keefe. "For how know you that one within them creeps not to you with handeager to strike?"

"There is no danger, " she said indifferently. "I am the keeper ofthem. "

She mused for a space, then abruptly:

"And now no more. You two are to appear before the Council at acertain time--but fear nothing. You, Goodwin, go with Rador about ourcity and increase your wisdom. But you, Larree, await me here in mygarden--" she smiled at him, provocatively--maliciously, too. "Forshall not one who has resisted a world of goddesses be given allchance to worship when at last he finds his own?"

She laughed--whole-heartedly and was gone. And at that moment I likedYolara better than ever I had before and--alas--better than ever Iwas to in the future. 

I noted Rador standing outside the open jade door and started to go, but O'Keefe caught me by the arm. 

"Wait a minute, " he urged. "About Golden Eyes--you were going to tellme something--it's been on my mind all through that little sparringmatch. "

I told him of the vision that had passed through my closing lids. Helistened gravely and then laughed. 

"Hell of a lot of privacy in this place!" he grinned. "Ladies who canwalk through walls and others with regular invisible cloaks to let 'emflit wherever they please. Oh, well, don't let it get on your nerves, Doc. Remember--everything's natural! That robe stuff is justcamouflage of course. But Lord, if we could only get a piece of it!"

"The material simply admits all light-vibrations, or perhaps curvesthem, just as the opacities cut them off, " I answered. "A man underthe X-ray is partly invisible; this makes him wholly so. He doesn'tregister, as the people of the motion-picture profession say. "

"Camouflage, " repeated Larry. "And as for the Shining One--Say!" hesnorted. "I'd like to set the O'Keefe banshee up against it. I'll betthat old resourceful Irish body would give it the first three bitesand a strangle hold and wallop it before it knew it had 'em. Oh! Wow!Boy Howdy!"

I heard him still chuckling gleefully over this vision as I passedalong the opal wall with the green dwarf. 

A shell was awaiting us. I paused before entering it to examine thepolished surface of runway and great road. It was obsidian--volcanicglass of pale emerald, unflawed, translucent, with no sign of block orjuncture. I examined the shell. 

"What makes it go?" I asked Rador. At a word from him the drivertouched a concealed spring and an aperture appeared beneath thecontrol-lever, of which I have spoken in a preceding chapter. Withinwas a small cube of black crystal, through whose sides I saw, dimly, arapidly revolving, glowing ball, not more than two inches in diameter. Beneath the cube was a curiously shaped, slender cylinder winding downinto the lower body of the Nautilus whorl. 

"Watch!" said Rador. He motioned me into the vehicle and took a placebeside me. The driver touched the lever; a stream of coruscations flewfrom the ball down into the cylinder. The shell started smoothly, andas the tiny torrent of shining particles increased it gathered speed. 

"The corial does not touch the road, " explained Rador. "It is liftedso far"--he held his forefinger and thumb less than a sixteenth of aninch apart--"above it. "

And perhaps here is the best place to explain the activation of theshells or coria. The force utilized was atomic energy. Passing fromthe whirling ball the ions darted through the cylinder to two bands ofa peculiar metal affixed to the base of the vehicles somewhat likeskids of a sled. Impinging upon these they produced a partial negationof gravity, lifting the shell slightly, and at the same time creatinga powerful repulsive force or thrust that could be directed backward, forward, or sidewise at the will of the driver. The creation of thisenergy and the mechanism of its utilization were, briefly, as follows:

[Dr. Goodwin's lucid and exceedingly comprehensive description of thisextraordinary mechanism has been deleted by the Executive Council ofthe International Association of Science as too dangerously suggestiveto scientists of the Central European Powers with which we were sorecently at war. It is allowable, however, to state that hisobservations are in the possession of experts in this country, whoare, unfortunately, hampered in their research not only by thescarcity of the radioactive elements that we know, but also by thelack of the element or elements unknown to us that entered into theformation of the fiery ball within the cube of black crystal. Nevertheless, as the principle is so clear, it is believed that thesedifficulties will ultimately be overcome. --J. B. K. , President, I. A. Of S. ]

The wide, glistening road was gay with the coria. They darted in andout of the gardens; within them the fair-haired, extraordinarilybeautiful women on their cushions were like princesses of Elfland, caught in gorgeous fairy webs, resting within the hearts of flowers. In some shells were flaxen-haired dwarfish men of Lugur's type;sometimes black-polled brother officers of Rador; often raven-tressedgirls, plainly hand-maidens of the women; and now and then beauties ofthe lower folk went by with one of the blond dwarfs. 

We swept around the turn that made of the jewel-like roadway anenormous horseshoe and, speedily, upon our right the cliffs throughwhich we had come in our journey from the Moon Pool began to marchforward beneath their mantles of moss. They formed a giganticabutment, a titanic salient. It had been from the very front of thissalient's invading angle that we had emerged; on each side of it theprecipices, faintly glowing, drew back and vanished into distance. 

The slender, graceful bridges under which we skimmed ended at openingsin the upflung, far walls of verdure. Each had its little garrison ofsoldiers. Through some of the openings a rivulet of the green obsidianriver passed. These were roadways to the farther country, to the landof the ladala, Rador told me; adding that none of the lesser folkcould cross into the pavilioned city unless summoned or with pass. 

We turned the bend of the road and flew down that farther emeraldribbon we had seen from the great oval. Before us rose the shiningcliffs and the lake. A half-mile, perhaps, from these the last of thebridges flung itself. It was more massive and about it hovered aspirit of ancientness lacking in the other spans; also its garrisonwas larger and at its base the tangent way was guarded by two massivestructures, somewhat like blockhouses, between which it ran. Somethingabout it aroused in me an intense curiosity. 

"Where does that road lead, Rador?" I asked. 

"To the one place above all of which I may not tell you, Goodwin, " heanswered. And again I wondered. 

We skimmed slowly out upon the great pier. Far to the left was theprismatic, rainbow curtain between the Cyclopean pillars. On the whitewaters graceful shells--lacustrian replicas of the Elf chariots--swam, but none was near that distant web of wonder. 

"Rador--what is that?" I asked. 

"It is the Veil of the Shining One!" he answered slowly. 

Was the Shining One that which we named the Dweller?

"What is the Shining One?" I cried, eagerly. Again he was silent. Nor did he speak until we had turned on our homeward way. 

And lively as my interest, my scientific curiosity, were--I wasconscious suddenly of acute depression. Beautiful, wondrouslybeautiful this place was--and yet in its wonder dwelt a keen edge ofmenace, of unease--of inexplicable, inhuman woe; as though in a secretgarden of God a soul should sense upon it the gaze of some lurkingspirit of evil which some way, somehow, had crept into the sanctuaryand only bided its time to spring. 

CHAPTER XVII

The Leprechaun

The shell carried us straight back to the house of Yolara. Larry wasawaiting me. We stood again before the tenebrous wall where first wehad faced the priestess and the Voice. And as we stood, again theportal appeared with all its disconcerting, magical abruptness. 

But now the scene was changed. Around the jet table were grouped anumber of figures--Lugur, Yolara beside him; seven others--all of themfair-haired and all men save one who sat at the left of thepriestess--an old, old woman, how old I could not tell, her facebearing traces of beauty that must once have been as great as Yolara'sown, but now ravaged, in some way awesome; through its ruins thefearful, malicious gaiety shining out like a spirit of joy held withina corpse!

Began then our examination, for such it was. And as it progressed Iwas more and more struck by the change in the O'Keefe. All flippancywas gone, rarely did his sense of humour reveal itself in any of hisanswers. He was like a cautious swordsman, fencing, guarding, studyinghis opponent; or rather, like a chess-player who keeps sensing somefar-reaching purpose in the game: alert, contained, watchful. Alwayshe stressed the power of our surface races, their multitudes, theirsolidarity. 

Their questions were myriad. What were our occupations? Our system ofgovernment? How great were the waters? The land? Intensely interestedwere they in the World War, querying minutely into its causes, itseffects. In our weapons their interest was avid. And they wereexceedingly minute in their examination of us as to the ruins whichhad excited our curiosity; their position and surroundings--and ifothers than ourselves might be expected to find and pass through theirentrance!

At this I shot a glance at Lugur. He did not seem unduly interested. I wondered if the Russian had told him as yet of the girl of the rosywall of the Moon Pool Chamber and the real reasons for our search. Then I answered as briefly as possible--omitting all reference tothese things. The red dwarf watched me with unmistakableamusement--and I knew Marakinoff had told him. But clearly Lugur hadkept his information even from Yolara; and as clearly she had spokento none of that episode when O'Keefe's automatic had shattered theKeth-smitten vase. Again I felt that sense of deep bewilderment--ofhelpless search for clue to all the tangle. 

For two hours we were questioned and then the priestess called Radorand let us go. 

Larry was sombre as we returned. He walked about the room uneasily. 

"Hell's brewing here all right, " he said at last, stopping before me. "I can't make out just the particular brand--that's all that bothersme. We're going to have a stiff fight, that's sure. What I want to doquick is to find the Golden Girl, Doc. Haven't seen her on the walllately, have you?" he queried, hopefully fantastic. 

"Laugh if you want to, " he went on. "But she's our best bet. It'sgoing to be a race between her and the O'Keefe banshee--but I put mymoney on her. I had a queer experience while I was in that garden, after you'd left. " His voice grew solemn. "Did you ever see aleprechaun, Doc?" I shook my head again, as solemnly. "He's a littleman in green, " said Larry. "Oh, about as high as your knee. I saw oneonce--in Carntogher Woods. And as I sat there, half asleep, inYolara's garden, the living spit of him stepped out from one of thosebushes, twirling a little shillalah. 

"'It's a tight box ye're gettin' in, Larry avick, ' said he, 'but don'tye be downhearted, lad. '

"'I'm carrying on, ' said I, 'but you're a long way from Ireland, ' Isaid, or thought I did. 

"'Ye've a lot o' friends there, ' he answered. 'An' where the heartrests the feet are swift to follow. Not that I'm sayin' I'd like tolive here, Larry, ' said he. 

"'I know where my heart is now, ' I told him. 'It rests on a girl withgolden eyes and the hair and swan-white breast of Eilidh the Fair--butme feet don't seem to get me to her, ' I said. "

The brogue thickened. 

"An' the little man in green nodded his head an' whirled hisshillalah. 

"'It's what I came to tell ye, ' says he. 'Don't ye fall for theBhean-Nimher, the serpent woman wit' the blue eyes; she's a daughterof Ivor, lad--an' don't ye do nothin' to make the brown-haired coleenashamed o' ye, Larry O'Keefe. I knew yer great, great grandfather an'his before him, aroon, ' says he, 'an' wan o' the O'Keefe failin's isto think their hearts big enough to hold all the wimmen o' the world. A heart's built to hold only wan permanently, Larry, ' he says, 'an'I'm warnin' ye a nice girl don't like to move into a place allcluttered up wid another's washin' an' mendin' an' cookin' an' otherthings pertainin' to general wife work. Not that I think the blue-eyedwan is keen for mendin' an' cookin'!' says he. 

"'You don't have to be comin' all this way to tell me that, ' I answer. 

"'Well, I'm just a tellin' you, ' he says. 'Ye've got some roughknocks comin', Larry. In fact, ye're in for a devil of a time. But, remember that ye're the O'Keefe, ' says he. 'An' while the bhoys areall wid ye, avick, ye've got to be on the job yourself. '

"'I hope, ' I tell him, 'that the O'Keefe banshee can find her way herein time--that is, if it's necessary, which I hope it won't be. '

"'Don't ye worry about that, ' says he. 'Not that she's keen onleavin' the ould sod, Larry. The good ould soul's in quite a state o'mind about ye, aroon. I don't mind tellin' ye, lad, that she'smobilizing all the clan an' if she _has_ to come for ye, avick, they'llbe wid her an' they'll sweep this joint clean before ye go. Whatthey'll do to it'll make the Big Wind look like a summer breeze onLough Lene! An' that's about all, Larry. We thought a voice from theGreen Isle would cheer ye. Don't fergit that ye're the O'Keefe an' Isay it again--all the bhoys are wid ye. But we want t' kape bein'proud o' ye, lad!'

"An' I looked again and there was only a bush waving. "

There wasn't a smile in my heart--or if there was it was a very tenderone. 

"I'm going to bed, " he said abruptly. "Keep an eye on the wall, Doc!"

Between the seven sleeps that followed, Larry and I saw but little ofeach other. Yolara sought him more and more. Thrice we were calledbefore the Council; once we were at a great feast, whose splendoursand surprises I can never forget. Largely I was in the company ofRador. Together we two passed the green barriers into thedwelling-place of the ladala. 

They seemed provided with everything needful for life. But everywherewas an oppressiveness, a gathering together of hate, that wasspiritual rather than material--as tangible as the latter and far, farmore menacing!

"They do not like to dance with the Shining One, " was Rador's constantand only reply to my efforts to find the cause. 

Once I had concrete evidence of the mood. Glancing behind me, I saw awhite, vengeful face peer from behind a tree-trunk, a hand lift, ashining dart speed from it straight toward Rador's back. InstinctivelyI thrust him aside. He turned upon me angrily. I pointed to where thelittle missile lay, still quivering, on the ground. He gripped myhand. 

"That, some day I will repay!" he said. I looked again at the thing. At its end was a tiny cone covered with a glistening, gelatinoussubstance. 

Rador pulled from a tree beside us a fruit somewhat like an apple. 

"Look!" he said. He dropped it upon the dart--and at once, before myeyes, in less than ten seconds, the fruit had rotted away!

"That's what would have happened to Rador but for you, friend!" hesaid. 

Come now between this and the prelude to the latter half of the dramawhose history this narrative is--only scattering and necessarilyfragmentary observations. 

First--the nature of the ebon opacities, blocking out the spacesbetween the pavilion-pillars or covering their tops like roofs, Thesewere magnetic fields, light absorbers, negativing the vibrations ofradiance; literally screens of electric force which formed asimpervious a barrier to light as would have screens of steel. 

They instantaneously made night appear in a place where no night was. But they interposed no obstacle to air or to sound. They wereextremely simple in their inception--no more miraculous than is glass, which, inversely, admits the vibrations of light, but shuts out thosecoarser ones we call air--and, partly, those others which produce uponour auditory nerves the effects we call sound. 

Briefly their mechanism was this:

[For the same reason that Dr. Goodwin's exposition of the mechanismof the atomic engines was deleted, his description of thelight-destroying screens has been deleted by the ExecutiveCouncil. --J. B. F. , President, I. A. Of S. ]

There were two favoured classes of the ladala--the soldiers and thedream-makers. The dream-makers were the most astonishing socialphenomena, I think, of all. Denied by their circumscribed environmentthe wider experiences of us of the outer world, the Murians hadperfected an amazing system of escape through the imagination. 

They were, too, intensely musical. Their favourite instruments weredouble flutes; immensely complex pipe-organs; harps, great and small. They had another remarkable instrument made up of a double octave ofsmall drums which gave forth percussions remarkably disturbing to theemotional centres. 

It was this love of music that gave rise to one of the few trulyhumorous incidents of our caverned life. Larry came to me--it was justafter our fourth sleep, I remember. 

"Come on to a concert, " he said. 

We skimmed off to one of the bridge garrisons. Rador called thetwo-score guards to attention; and then, to my utter stupefaction, thewhole company, O'Keefe leading them, roared out the anthem, "God Savethe King. " They sang--in a closer approach to the English than mighthave been expected scores of miles below England's level. "Send himvictorious! Happy and glorious!" they bellowed. 

He quivered with suppressed mirth at my paralysis of surprise. 

"Taught 'em that for Marakinoff's benefit!" he gasped. "Wait till thatRed hears it. He'll blow up. 

"Just wait until you hear Yolara lisp a pretty little thing I taughther, " said Larry as we set back for what we now called home. There wasan impish twinkle in his eyes. 

And I did hear. For it was not many minutes later that the priestesscondescended to command me to come to her with O'Keefe. 

"Show Goodwin how much you have learned of our speech, O lady of thelips of honeyed flame!" murmured Larry. 

She hesitated; smiled at him, and then from that perfect mouth, out ofthe exquisite throat, in the voice that was like the chiming of littlesilver bells, she trilled a melody familiar to me indeed:

 "She's only a bird in a gilded cage, A bee-yu-tiful sight to see--"

And so on to the bitter end. 

"She thinks it's a love-song, " said Larry when we had left. "It's onlypart of a repertoire I'm teaching her. Honestly, Doc, it's the onlyway I can keep my mind clear when I'm with her, " he went on earnestly. "She's a devil-ess from hell--but a wonder. Whenever I find myselfgoing I get her to sing that, or Take Back Your Gold! or some otherancient lay, and I'm back again--pronto--with the right perspective!POP goes all the mystery! 'Hell!' I say, 'she's only a woman!'"

CHAPTER XVIII

The Amphitheatre of Jet

For hours the black-haired folk had been streaming across the bridges, flowing along the promenade by scores and by hundreds, drifting downtoward the gigantic seven-terraced temple whose interior I had neveras yet seen, and from whose towering exterior, indeed, I had alwaysbeen kept far enough away--unobtrusively, but none the less decisively--toprevent any real observation. The structure, I had estimated, nevertheless, could not reach less than a thousand feet above itssilvery base, and the diameter of its circular foundation was aboutthe same. 

I wondered what was bringing the _ladala_ into Lora, and where theywere vanishing. All of them were flower-crowned with the luminous, lovely blooms--old and young, slender, mocking-eyed girls, dwarfedyouths, mothers with their babes, gnomed oldsters--on they poured, silent for the most part and sullen--a sullenness that held acidbitterness even as their subtle, half-sinister, half-gay malice seemedtempered into little keen-edged flames, oddly, menacingly defiant. 

There were many of the green-clad soldiers along the way, and thegarrison of the only bridge span I could see had certainly beendoubled. 

Wondering still, I turned from my point of observation and made my wayback to our pavilion, hoping that Larry, who had been with Yolara forthe past two hours, had returned. Hardly had I reached it before Radorcame hurrying up, in his manner a curious exultance mingled with whatin anyone else I would have called a decided nervousness. 

"Come!" he commanded before I could speak. "The Council has madedecision--and _Larree_ is awaiting you. "

"What has been decided?" I panted as we sped along the mosaic paththat led to the house of Yolara. "And why is Larry awaiting me?"

And at his answer I felt my heart pause in its beat and through merace a wave of mingled panic and eagerness. 

"The Shining One dances!" had answered the green dwarf. "And you areto worship!"

What was this dancing of the Shining One, of which so often he hadspoken?

Whatever my forebodings, Larry evidently had none. 

"Great stuff!" he cried, when we had met in the great antechamber nowempty of the dwarfs. "Hope it will be worth seeing--have to besomething damned good, though, to catch me, after what I've seen ofshows at the front, " he added. 

And remembering, with a little shock of apprehension, that he had noknowledge of the Dweller beyond my poor description of it--for thereare no words actually to describe what that miracle of interwovenglory and horror was--I wondered what Larry O'Keefe would say and dowhen he did behold it!

Rador began to show impatience. 

"Come!" he urged. "There is much to be done--and the time growsshort!"

He led us to a tiny fountain room in whose miniature pool the whitewaters were concentrated, pearl-like and opalescent in their circlingrim. 

"Bathe!" he commanded; and set the example by stripping himself andplunging within. Only a minute or two did the green dwarf allow us, and he checked us as we were about to don our clothing. 

Then, to my intense embarrassment, without warning, two of theblack-haired girls entered, bearing robes of a peculiar dull-blue hue. At our manifest discomfort Rador's laughter roared out. He took thegarments from the pair, motioned them to leave us, and, stilllaughing, threw one around me. Its texture was soft, but decidedlymetallic--like some blue metal spun to the fineness of a spider'sthread. The garment buckled tightly at the throat, was girdled at thewaist, and, below this cincture, fell to the floor, its folds beingheld together by a half-dozen looped cords; from the shoulders a hoodresembling a monk's cowl. 

Rador cast this over my head; it completely covered my face, but wasof so transparent a texture that I could see, though somewhat mistily, through it. Finally he handed us both a pair of long gloves of thesame material and high stockings, the feet of which weregloved--five-toed. 

And again his laughter rang out at our manifest surprise. 

"The priestess of the Shining One does not altogether trust theShining One's Voice, " he said at last. "And these are to guard againstany sudden--errors. And fear not, Goodwin, " he went on kindly. "Notfor the Shining One itself would Yolara see harm come to _Larree_here--nor, because of him, to you. But I would not stake much on thegreat white one. And for him I am sorry, for him I do like well. "

"Is he to be with us?" asked Larry eagerly. 

"He is to be where we go, " replied the dwarf soberly. 

Grimly Larry reached down and drew from his uniform his automatic. Hepopped a fresh clip into the pocket fold of his girdle. The pistol heslung high up beneath his arm-pit. 

The green dwarf looked at the weapon curiously. O'Keefe tapped it. 

"This, " said Larry, "slays quicker than the _Keth_--I take it so noharm shall come to the blue-eyed one whose name is Olaf. If I shouldraise it--be you not in its way, Rador!" he added significantly. 

The dwarf nodded again, his eyes sparkling. He thrust a hand out toboth of us. 

"A change comes, " he said. "What it is I know not, nor how it willfall. But this remember--Rador is more friend to you than you yet canknow. And now let us go!" he ended abruptly. 

He led us, not through the entrance, but into a sloping passage endingin a blind wall; touched a symbol graven there, and it opened, precisely as had the rosy barrier of the Moon Pool Chamber. And, justas there, but far smaller, was a passage end, a low curved wall facinga shaft not black as had been that abode of living darkness, butfaintly luminescent. Rador leaned over the wall. The mechanism clickedand started; the door swung shut; the sides of the car slipped intoplace, and we swept swiftly down the passage; overhead the windwhistled. In a few moments the moving platform began to slow down. Itstopped in a closed chamber no larger than itself. 

Rador drew his poniard and struck twice upon the wall with its hilt. Immediately a panel moved away, revealing a space filled with faint, misty blue radiance. And at each side of the open portal stood four ofthe dwarfish men, grey-headed, old, clad in flowing garments of white, each pointing toward us a short silver rod. 

Rador drew from his girdle a ring and held it out to the first dwarf. He examined it, handed it to the one beside him, and not until eachhad inspected the ring did they lower their curious weapons;containers of that terrific energy they called the _Keth_, I thought;and later was to know that I had been right. 

We stepped out; the doors closed behind us. The place was weirdenough. Its pave was a greenish-blue stone resembling lapis lazuli. Oneach side were high pedestals holding carved figures of the samematerial. There were perhaps a score of these, but in the mistiness Icould not make out their outlines. A droning, rushing roar beat uponour ears; filled the whole cavern. 

"I smell the sea, " said Larry suddenly. 

The roaring became deep-toned, clamorous, and close in front of us arift opened. Twenty feet in width, it cut the cavern floor andvanished into the blue mist on each side. The cleft was spanned by onesolid slab of rock not more than two yards wide. It had neitherrailing nor other protection. 

The four leading priests marched out upon it one by one, and wefollowed. In the middle of the span they knelt. Ten feet beneath uswas a torrent of blue sea-water racing with prodigious speed betweenpolished walls. It gave the impression of vast depth. It roared as itsped by, and far to the right was a low arch through which itdisappeared. It was so swift that its surface shone like polished bluesteel, and from it came the blessed, _our worldly_, familiar oceanbreath that strengthened my soul amazingly and made me realize howearth-sick I was. 

Whence came the stream, I marvelled, forgetting for the moment, as wepassed on again, all else. Were we closer to the surface of earth thanI had thought, or was this some mighty flood falling through anopening in sea floor, Heaven alone knew how many miles above us, losing itself in deeper abysses beyond these? How near and how farthis was from the truth I was to learn--and never did truth come toman in more dreadful guise!

The roaring fell away, the blue haze lessened. In front of usstretched a wide flight of steps, huge as those which had led us intothe courtyard of Nan-Tauach through the ruined sea-gate. We scaled it;it narrowed; from above light poured through a still narrower opening. Side by side Larry and I passed out of it. 

We had emerged upon an enormous platform of what seemed to beglistening ivory. It stretched before us for a hundred yards or moreand then shelved gently into the white waters. Opposite--not a mileaway--was that prodigious web of woven rainbows Rador had called theVeil of the Shining One. There it shone in all its unearthly grandeur, on each side of the Cyclopean pillars, as though a mountain shouldstretch up arms raising between them a fairy banner of auroralglories. Beneath it was the curved, scimitar sweep of the pier withits clustered, gleaming temples. 

Before that brief, fascinated glance was done, there dropped upon mysoul a sensation as of brooding weight intolerable; a spiritualoppression as though some vastness was falling, pressing, stifling me, I turned--and Larry caught me as I reeled. 

"Steady! Steady, old man!" he whispered. 

At first all that my staggering consciousness could realize was animmensity, an immeasurable uprearing that brought with it the samethroat-gripping vertigo as comes from gazing downward from some greatheight--then a blur of white faces--intolerable shinings of hundredsupon thousands of eyes. Huge, incredibly huge, a colossal amphitheatreof jet, a stupendous semi-circle, held within its mighty arc the ivoryplatform on which I stood. 

It reared itself almost perpendicularly hundreds of feet up into thesparkling heavens, and thrust down on each side its ebonbulwarks--like monstrous paws. Now, the giddiness from its sheergreatness passing, I saw that it was indeed an amphitheatre slopingslightly backward tier after tier, and that the white blur of facesagainst its blackness, the gleaming of countless eyes were those ofmyriads of the people who sat silent, flower-garlanded, their gazefocused upon the rainbow curtain and sweeping over me like atorrent--tangible, appalling!

Five hundred feet beyond, the smooth, high retaining wall of theamphitheatre raised itself--above it the first terrace of the seats, and above this, dividing the tiers for another half a thousand feetupward, set within them like a panel, was a dead-black surface inwhich shone faintly with a bluish radiance a gigantic disk; above itand around it a cluster of innumerable smaller ones. 

On each side of me, bordering the platform, were scores of smallpillared alcoves, a low wall stretching across their fronts; delicate, fretted grills shielding them, save where in each lattice an openingstared--it came to me that they were like those stalls in ancientGothic cathedrals wherein for centuries had kneeled paladins andpeople of my own race on earth's fair face. And within these alcoveswere gathered, score upon score, the elfin beauties, the dwarfish menof the fair-haired folk. At my right, a few feet from the openingthrough which we had come, a passageway led back between the frettedstalls. Half-way between us and the massive base of the amphitheatre adais rose. Up the platform to it a wide ramp ascended; and on ramp anddais and along the centre of the gleaming platform down to where itkissed the white waters, a broad ribbon of the radiant flowers laylike a fairy carpet. 

On one side of this dais, meshed in a silken web that hid no line orcurve of her sweet body, white flesh gleaming through its folds, stoodYolara; and opposite her, crowned with a circlet of flashing bluestones, his mighty body stark bare, was Lugur!

O'Keefe drew a long breath; Rador touched my arm and, still dazed, Ilet myself be drawn into the aisle and through a corridor that ranbehind the alcoves. At the back of one of these the green dwarfpaused, opened a door, and motioned us within. 

Entering, I found that we were exactly opposite where the ramp ran upto the dais--and that Yolara was not more than fifty feet away. Sheglanced at O'Keefe and smiled. Her eyes were ablaze with littledancing points of light; her body seemed to palpitate, the roundeddelicate muscles beneath the translucent skin to run with joyfullittle eager waves!

Larry whistled softly. 

"There's Marakinoff!" he said. 

I looked where he pointed. Opposite us sat the Russian, clothed as wewere, leaning forward, his eyes eager behind his glasses; but if hesaw us he gave no sign. 

"And there's Olaf!" said O'Keefe. 

Beneath the carved stall in which sat the Russian was an aperture andwithin it was Huldricksson. Unprotected by pillars or by grills, opening clear upon the platform, near him stretched the trail offlowers up to the great dais which Lugur and Yolara the priestessguarded. He sat alone, and my heart went out to him. 

O'Keefe's face softened. 

"Bring him here, " he said to Rador. 

The green dwarf was looking at the Norseman, too, a shade of pity uponhis mocking face. He shook his head. 

"Wait!" he said. "You can do nothing now--and it may be there will beno need to do anything, " he added; but I could feel that there waslittle of conviction in his words. 

CHAPTER XIX

The Madness of Olaf

Yolara threw her white arms high. From the mountainous tiers came amighty sigh; a rippling ran through them. And upon the moment, beforeYolara's arms fell, there issued, apparently from the air around us, apeal of sound that might have been the shouting of some playful godhurling great suns through the net of stars. It was like the deepestnotes of all the organs in the world combined in one; summoning, majestic, cosmic!

It held within it the thunder of the spheres rolling through theinfinite, the birth-song of suns made manifest in the womb of space;echoes of creation's supernal chord! It shook the body like a pulsefrom the heart of the universe--pulsed--and died away. 

On its death came a blaring as of all the trumpets of conquering hostssince the first Pharaoh led his swarms--triumphal, compelling!Alexander's clamouring hosts, brazen-throated wolf-horns of Caesar'slegions, blare of trumpets of Genghis Khan and his golden horde, clangor of the locust levies of Tamerlane, bugles of Napoleon'sarmies--war-shout of all earth's conquerors! And it died!

Fast upon it, a throbbing, muffled tumult of harp sounds, mellownessesof myriads of wood horns, the subdued sweet shrilling of multitudes offlutes, Pandean pipings--inviting, carrying with them the calling ofwaterfalls in the hidden places, rushing brooks and murmuring forestwinds--calling, calling, languorous, lulling, dripping into the brainlike the very honeyed essence of sound. 

And after them a silence in which the memory of the music seemed tobeat, to beat ever more faintly, through every quivering nerve. 

From me all fear, all apprehension, had fled. In their place wasnothing but joyous anticipation, a supernal freedom from even theshadow of the shadow of care or sorrow; not now did anythingmatter--Olaf or his haunted, hate-filled eyes; Throckmartin or hisfate--nothing of pain, nothing of agony, nothing of striving norendeavour nor despair in that wide outer world that had turnedsuddenly to a troubled dream. 

Once more the first great note pealed out! Once more it died and fromthe clustered spheres a kaleidoscopic blaze shot as though drawn fromthe majestic sound itself. The many-coloured rays darted across thewhite waters and sought the face of the irised Veil. As they touched, it sparkled, flamed, wavered, and shook with fountains of prismaticcolour. 

The light increased--and in its intensity the silver air darkened. Faded into shadow that white mosaic of flower-crowned faces set in theamphitheatre of jet, and vast shadows dropped upon the high-flungtiers and shrouded them. But on the skirts of the rays the frettedstalls in which we sat with the fair-haired ones blazed out, iridescent, like jewels. 

I was sensible of an acceleration of every pulse; a wild stimulationof every nerve. I felt myself being lifted above the world--close tothe threshold of the high gods--soon their essence and their powerwould stream out into me! I glanced at Larry. His eyes were--wild--withlife!

I looked at Olaf--and in his face was none of this--only hate, andhate, and hate. 

The peacock waves streamed out over the waters, cleaving the seemingdarkness, a rainbow path of glory. And the Veil flashed as though allthe rainbows that had ever shone were burning within it. Again themighty sound pealed. 

Into the centre of the Veil the light drew itself, grew into anintolerable brightness--and with a storm of tinklings, a tempest ofcrystalline notes, a tumult of tiny chimings, through it sped--theShining One!

Straight down that radiant path, its high-flung plumes of featheryflame shimmering, its coruscating spirals whirling, its seven globesof seven colours shining above its glowing core, it raced toward us. The hurricane of bells of diamond glass were jubilant, joyous. I feltO'Keefe grip my arm; Yolara threw her white arms out in a welcominggesture; I heard from the tier a sigh of rapture--and in it apoignant, wailing under-tone of agony!

Over the waters, down the light stream, to the end of the ivory pier, flew the Shining One. Through its crystal _pizzicati_ driftedinarticulate murmurings--deadly sweet, stilling the heart and settingit leaping madly. 

For a moment it paused, poised itself, and then came whirling down theflower path to its priestess, slowly, ever more slowly. It hovered fora moment between the woman and the dwarf, as though contemplatingthem; turned to her with its storm of tinklings softened, itsmurmurings infinitely caressing. Bent toward it, Yolara seemed togather within herself pulsing waves of power; she was terrifying;gloriously, maddeningly evil; and as gloriously, maddeningly heavenly!Aphrodite and the Virgin! Tanith of the Carthaginians and St. Bride ofthe Isles! A queen of hell and a princess of heaven--in one!

Only for a moment did that which we had called the Dweller and whichthese named the Shining One, pause. It swept up the ramp to the dais, rested there, slowly turning, plumes and spirals lacing and unlacing, throbbing, pulsing. Now its nucleus grew plainer, stronger--human in afashion, and all inhuman; neither man nor woman; neither god nordevil; subtly partaking of all. Nor could I doubt that whatever itwas, within that shining nucleus was something sentient; somethingthat had will and energy, and in some awful, supernormalfashion--intelligence!

Another trumpeting--a sound of stones opening--a long, low wail ofutter anguish--something moved shadowy in the river of light, andslowly at first, then ever more rapidly, shapes swam through it. Therewere half a score of them--girls and youths, women and men. TheShining One poised itself, regarded them. They drew closer, and in theeyes of each and in their faces was the bud of that awfulintermingling of emotions, of joy and sorrow, ecstasy and terror, thatI had seen in full blossom on Throckmartin's. 

The Thing began again its murmurings--now infinitely caressing, coaxing--like the song of a siren from some witched star! And thebell-sounds rang out--compellingly, calling--calling--calling--

I saw Olaf lean far out of his place; saw, half-consciously, atLugur's signal, three of the dwarfs creep in and take places, unnoticed, behind him. 

Now the first of the figures rushed upon the dais--and paused. It wasthe girl who had been brought before Yolara when the gnome namedSongar was driven into the nothingness! With all the quickness oflight a spiral of the Shining One stretched out and encircled her. 

At its touch there was an infinitely dreadful shrinking and, itseemed, a simultaneous hurling of herself into its radiance. As itwrapped its swirls around her, permeated her--the crystal chorusburst forth--tumultuously; through and through her the radiancepulsed. Began then that infinitely dreadful, but infinitely glorious, rhythm they called the dance of the Shining One. And as the girlswirled within its sparkling mists another and another flew into itsembrace, until, at last, the dais was an incredible vision; a madstar's Witches' Sabbath; an altar of white faces and bodies gleamingthrough living flame; transfused with rapture insupportable and horrorthat was hellish--and ever, radiant plumes and spirals expanding, thecore of the Shining One waxed--growing greater--as it consumed, as itdrew into and through itself the life-force of these lost ones!

So they spun, interlaced--and there began to pulse from them life, vitality, as though the very essence of nature was filling us. Dimly Irecognized that what I was beholding was vampirism inconceivable! Thebanked tiers chanted. The mighty sounds pealed forth!

It was a Saturnalia of demigods!

Then, whirling, bell-notes storming, the Shining One withdrew slowlyfrom the dais down the ramp, still embracing, still interwoven withthose who had thrown themselves into its spirals. They drifted with itas though half-carried in dreadful dance; white faces sealed--forever--intothat semblance of those who held within linked God and devil--Icovered my eyes!

I heard a gasp from O'Keefe; opened my eyes and sought his; saw thewildness vanish from them as he strained forward. Olaf had leaned farout, and as he did so the dwarfs beside him caught him, and whether bydesign or through his own swift, involuntary movement, thrust him halfinto the Dweller's path. The Dweller paused in its gyrations--seemedto watch him. The Norseman's face was crimson, his eyes blazing. Hethrew himself back and, with one defiant shout, gripped one of thedwarfs about the middle and sent him hurtling through the air, straight at the radiant Thing! A whirling mass of legs and arms, thedwarf flew--then in midflight stopped as though some giganticinvisible hand had caught him, and--was dashed down upon the platformnot a yard from the Shining One!

Like a broken spider he moved--feebly--once, twice. From the Dwellershot a shimmering tentacle--touched him--recoiled. Its crystaltinklings changed into an angry chiming. From all about--jewelledstalls and jet peak--came a sigh of incredulous horror. 

Lugur leaped forward. On the instant Larry was over the low barrierbetween the pillars, rushing to the Norseman's side. And even as theyran there was another wild shout from Olaf, and he hurled himself out, straight at the throat of the Dweller!

But before he could touch the Shining One, now motionless--and neverwas the thing more horrible than then, with the purely humansuggestion of surprise plain in its poise--Larry had struck himaside. 

I tried to follow--and was held by Rador. He was trembling--but notwith fear. In his face was incredulous hope, inexplicable eagerness. 

"Wait!" he said. "Wait!"

The Shining One stretched out a slow spiral, and as it did so I sawthe bravest thing man has ever witnessed. Instantly O'Keefe thrusthimself between it and Olaf, pistol out. The tentacle touched him, andthe dull blue of his robe flashed out into blinding, intense azurelight. From the automatic in his gloved hand came three quick burstsof flame straight into the Thing. The Dweller drew back; thebell-sounds swelled. 

Lugur paused, his hand darted up, and in it was one of the silver_Keth_ cones. But before he could flash it upon the Norseman, Larryhad unlooped his robe, thrown its fold over Olaf, and, holding himwith one hand away from the Shining One, thrust with the other hispistol into the dwarf's stomach. His lips moved, but I could not hearwhat he said. But Lugur understood, for his hand dropped. 

Now Yolara was there--all this had taken barely more than fiveseconds. She thrust herself between the three men and the Dweller. Shespoke to it--and the wild buzzing died down; the gay crystal tinklingsburst forth again. The Thing murmured to her--began to whirl--faster, faster--passed down the ivory pier, out upon the waters, bearing withit, meshed in its light, the sacrifices--swept on ever more swiftly, triumphantly and turning, turning, with its ghastly crew, vanishedthrough the Veil!

Abruptly the polychromatic path snapped out. The silver light pouredin upon us. From all the amphitheatre arose a clamour, a shouting. Marakinoff, his eyes staring, was leaning out, listening. Unrestrainednow by Rador, I vaulted the wall and rushed forward. But not before Ihad heard the green dwarf murmur:

"There is something stronger than the Shining One! Two things--yea--astrong heart--and hate!"

Olaf, panting, eyes glazed, trembling, shrank beneath my hand. 

"The devil that took my Helma!" I heard him whisper. "The ShiningDevil!"

"Both these men, " Lugur was raging, "they shall dance with the Shiningone. And this one, too. " He pointed at me malignantly. 

"This man is mine, " said the priestess, and her voice was menacing. She rested her hand on Larry's shoulder. "He shall not dance. No--norhis friend. I have told you I dare not for this one!" She pointed toOlaf. 

"Neither this man, nor this, " said Larry, "shall be harmed. This is myword, Yolara!"

"Even so, " she answered quietly, "my lord!"

I saw Marakinoff stare at O'Keefe with a new and curiously speculativeinterest. Lugur's eyes grew hellish; he raised his arms as though tostrike her. Larry's pistol prodded him rudely enough. 

"No rough stuff now, kid!" said O'Keefe in English. The red dwarfquivered, turned--caught a robe from a priest standing by, and threwit over himself. The _ladala_, shouting, gesticulating, fighting withthe soldiers, were jostling down from the tiers of jet. 

"Come!" commanded Yolara--her eyes rested upon Larry. "Your heart isgreat, indeed--my lord!" she murmured; and her voice was very sweet. "Come!"

"This man comes with us, Yolara, " said O'Keefe pointing to Olaf. 

"Bring him, " she said. "Bring him--only tell him to look no more uponme as before!" she added fiercely. 

Beside her the three of us passed along the stalls, where sat thefair-haired, now silent, at gaze, as though in the grip of some greatdoubt. Silently Olaf strode beside me. Rador had disappeared. Down thestairway, through the hall of turquoise mist, over the rushingsea-stream we went and stood beside the wall through which we hadentered. The white-robed ones had gone. 

Yolara pressed; the portal opened. We stepped upon the car; she tookthe lever; we raced through the faintly luminous corridor to the houseof the priestess. 

And one thing now I knew sick at heart and soul the truth had come tome--no more need to search for Throckmartin. Behind that Veil, in thelair of the Dweller, dead-alive like those we had just seen swim inits shining train was he, and Edith, Stanton and Thora and OlafHuldricksson's wife!

The car came to rest; the portal opened; Yolara leaped out lightly, beckoned and flitted up the corridor. She paused before an ebonscreen. At a touch it vanished, revealing an entrance to a small bluechamber, glowing as though cut from the heart of some giganticsapphire; bare, save that in its centre, upon a low pedestal, stood agreat globe fashioned from milky rock-crystal; upon its surface werefaint tracings as of seas and continents, but, if so, either of someother world or of this world in immemorial past, for in no way didthey resemble the mapped coastlines of our earth. 

Poised upon the globe, rising from it out into space, locked in eachother's arms, lips to lips, were two figures, a woman and a man, soexquisite, so lifelike, that for the moment I failed to realize thatthey, too, were carved of the crystal. And before this shrine--fornothing else could it be, I knew--three slender cones raisedthemselves: one of purest white flame, one of opalescent water, andthe third of--moonlight! There was no mistaking them, the height of atall man each stood--but how water, flame and light were held soevenly, so steadily in their spire-shapes, I could not tell. 

Yolara bowed lowly--once, twice, thrice. She turned to O'Keefe, norby slightest look or gesture betrayed she knew others were there thanhe. The blue eyes wide, searching, unfathomable, she drew close; putwhite hands on his shoulders, looked down into his very soul. 

"My lord, " she murmured. "Now listen well for I, Yolara, give youthree things--myself, and the Shining One, and the power that is theShining One's--yea, and still a fourth thing that is all three--powerover all upon that world from whence you came! These, my lord, yeshall have. I swear it"--she turned toward the altar--uplifted herarms--"by Siya and by Siyana, and by the flame, by the water, and bythe light!"[1]

Her eyes grew purple dark. 

"Let none dare to take you from me! Nor ye go from me unbidden!" shewhispered fiercely. 

Then swiftly, still ignoring us, she threw her arms about O'Keefe, pressed her white body to his breast, lips raised, eyes closed, seeking his. O'Keefe's arms tightened around her, his head droppedlips seeking, finding hers--passionately! From Olaf came a deepindrawn breath that was almost a groan. But not in my heart could Ifind blame for the Irishman!

The priestess opened eyes now all misty blue, thrust him back, stoodregarding him. O'Keefe, dead-white, raised a trembling hand to hisface. 

"And thus have I sealed my oath, O my lord!" she whispered. For thefirst time she seemed to recognize our presence, stared at us amoment, then through us, and turned to O'Keefe. 

"Go, now!" she said. "Soon Rador shall come for you. Then--well, after that let happen what will!"

She smiled once more at him--so sweetly; turned toward the figuresupon the great globe; sank upon her knees before them. Quietly wecrept away; still silent, made our way to the little pavilion. But aswe passed we heard a tumult from the green roadway; shouts of men, nowand then a woman's scream. Through a rift in the garden I glimpsed ajostling crowd on one of the bridges: green dwarfs struggling with the_ladala_--and all about droned a humming as of a giant hive disturbed!

Larry threw himself down upon one of the divans, covered his face withhis hands, dropped them to catch in Olaf's eyes troubled reproach, looked at me. 

"_I_ couldn't help it, " he said, half defiantly--half-miserably. "God, what a woman! I _couldn't_ help it!"

"Larry, " I asked. "Why didn't you tell her you didn't loveher--then?"

He gazed at me--the old twinkle back in his eye. 

"Spoken like a scientist, Doc!" he exclaimed. "I suppose if a burningangel struck you out of nowhere and threw itself about you, you wouldmost dignifiedly tell it you didn't want to be burned. For God's sake, don't talk nonsense, Goodwin!" he ended, almost peevishly. 

"Evil! Evil!" The Norseman's voice was deep, nearly a chant. "Allhere is of evil: Trolldom and Helvede it is, Ja! And that she_djaevelsk_ of beauty--what is she but harlot of that shining devilthey worship. I, Olaf Huldricksson, know what she meant when she heldout to you power over all the world, _Ja!_--as if the world had notdevils enough in it now!"

"What?" The cry came from both O'Keefe and myself at once. 

Olaf made a gesture of caution, relapsed into sullen silence. Therewere footsteps on the path, and into sight came Rador--but a Radorchanged. Gone was every vestige of his mockery; curiously solemn, hesaluted O'Keefe and Olaf with that salute which, before this, I hadseen given only to Yolara and to Lugur. There came a swift quickeningof the tumult--died away. He shrugged mighty shoulders. 

"The _ladala_ are awake!" he said. "So much for what two brave mencan do!" He paused thoughtfully. "Bones and dust jostle not each otherfor place against the grave wall!" he added oddly. "But if bones anddust have revealed to them that they still--live--"

He stopped abruptly, eyes seeking the globe that bore and sent forthspeech. [2]

"The _Afyo Maie_ has sent me to watch over you till she summons you, "he announced clearly. "There is to be a--feast. You, _Larree_, youGoodwin, are to come. I remain here with--Olaf. "

"No harm to him!" broke in O'Keefe sharply. Rador touched his heart, his eyes. 

"By the Ancient Ones, and by my love for you, and by what you twaindid before the Shining One--I swear it!" he whispered. 

Rador clapped palms; a soldier came round the path, in his grip a longflat box of polished wood. The green dwarf took it, dismissed him, threw open the lid. 

"Here is your apparel for the feast, _Larree_, " he said, pointing tothe contents. 

O'Keefe stared, reached down and drew out a white, shimmering, softlymetallic, long-sleeved tunic, a broad, silvery girdle, leg swathingsof the same argent material, and sandals that seemed to be cut outfrom silver. He made a quick gesture of angry dissent. 

"Nay, _Larree_!" muttered the dwarf. "Wear them--I counsel it--I prayit--ask me not why, " he went on swiftly, looking again at the globe. 

O'Keefe, as I, was impressed by his earnestness. The dwarf made acuriously expressive pleading gesture. O'Keefe abruptly took thegarments; passed into the room of the fountain. 

"The Shining One dances not again?" I asked. 

"No, " he said. "No"--he hesitate--"it is the usual feast that followsthe sacrament! Lugur--and Double Tongue, who came with you, will bethere, " he added slowly. 

"Lugur--" I gasped in astonishment. "After what happened--he will bethere?"

"Perhaps because of what happened, Goodwin, my friend, " heanswered--his eyes again full of malice; "and there will beothers--friends of Yolara--friends of Lugur--and perhapsanother"--his voice was almost inaudible--"one whom they have notcalled--" He halted, half-fearfully, glancing at the globe; put fingerto lips and spread himself out upon one of the couches. 

"Strike up the band"--came O'Keefe's voice--"here comes the hero!"

He strode into the room. I am bound to say that the admiration inRador's eyes was reflected in my own, and even, if involuntarily, inOlaf's. 

"A son of Siyana!" whispered Rador. 

He knelt, took from his girdle-pouch a silk-wrapped something, unwoundit--and, still kneeling, drew out a slender poniard of gleaming whitemetal, hilted with the blue stones; he thrust it into O'Keefe'sgirdle; then gave him again the rare salute. 

"Come, " he ordered and took us to the head of the pathway. 

"Now, " he said grimly, "let the Silent Ones show their power--if theystill have it!"

And with this strange benediction, he turned back. 

"For God's sake, Larry, " I urged as we approached the house of thepriestess, "you'll be careful!"

He nodded--but I saw with a little deadly pang of apprehension in myheart a puzzled, lurking doubt within his eyes. 

As we ascended the serpent steps Marakinoff appeared. He gave a signalto our guards--and I wondered what influence the Russian had attained, for promptly, without question, they drew aside. At me he smiledamiably. 

"Have you found your friends yet?" he went on--and now I sensedsomething deeply sinister in him. "No! It is too bad! Well, don't giveup hope. " He turned to O'Keefe. 

"Lieutenant, I would like to speak to you--alone!"

"I've no secrets from Goodwin, " answered O'Keefe. 

"So?" queried Marakinoff, suavely. He bent, whispered to Larry. 

The Irishman started, eyed him with a certain shocked incredulity, then turned to me. 

"Just a minute, Doc!" he said, and I caught the suspicion of a wink. They drew aside, out of ear-shot. The Russian talked rapidly. Larrywas all attention. Marakinoff's earnestness became intense; O'Keefeinterrupted--appeared to question. Marakinoff glanced at me and as hisgaze shifted from O'Keefe, I saw a flame of rage and horror blaze upin the latter's eyes. At last the Irishman appeared to considergravely; nodded as though he had arrived at some decision, andMarakinoff thrust his hand to him. 

And only I could have noticed Larry's shrinking, his microscopichesitation before he took it, and his involuntary movement, as thoughto shake off something unclean, when the clasp had ended. 

Marakinoff, without another look at me, turned and went quicklywithin. The guards took their places. I looked at Larry inquiringly. 

"Don't ask a thing now, Doc!" he said tensely. "Wait till we gethome. But we've got to get damned busy and quick--I'll tell you thatnow--"

[1] I have no space here even to outline the eschatology of thispeople, nor to catalogue their pantheon. Siya and Siyana typifiedworldly love. Their ritual was, however, singularly free from thosedegrading elements usually found in love-cults. Priests andpriestesses of all cults dwelt in the immense seven-terracedstructure, of which the jet amphitheatre was the water side. Thesymbol, icon, representation, of Siya and Siyana--the globe and theup-striving figures--typified earthly love, feet bound to earth, buteyes among the stars. Hell or heaven I never heard formulated, northeir equivalents; unless that existence in the Shining One's domaincould serve for either. Over all this was Thanaroa, remote; unheeding, but still maker and ruler of all--an absentee First Cause personified!Thanaroa seemed to be the one article of belief in the creed of thesoldiers--Rador, with his reverence for the Ancient Ones, was anexception. Whatever there was, indeed, of high, truly religiousimpulse among the Murians, this far, High God had. I found thisexceedingly interesting, because it had long been my theory--to putthe matter in the shape of a geometrical formula--that the realattractiveness of gods to man increases uniformly according to thesquare of their distance--W. T. G. 

[2] I find that I have neglected to explain the working of theseinteresting mechanisms that were telephonic, dictaphonic, telegraphicin one. I must assume that my readers are familiar with the receivingapparatus of wireless telegraphy, which must be "tuned" by theoperator until its own vibratory quality is in exact harmony with thevibrations--the extremely rapid impacts--of those short electricwavelengths we call Hertzian, and which carry the wireless messages. Imust assume also that they are familiar with the elementary fact ofphysics that the vibrations of light and sound are interchangeable. The hearing-talking globes utilize both these principles, and withconsummate simplicity. The light with which they shone was produced byan atomic "motor" within their base, similar to that which activatedthe merely illuminating globes. The composition of the phonic spheresgave their surfaces an acute sensitivity and resonance. In conjunctionwith its energizing power, the metal set up what is called a "field offorce, " which linked it with every particle of its kind no matter howdistant. When vibrations of speech impinged upon the resonant surfaceits rhythmic light-vibrations were broken, just as a telephonetransmitter breaks an electric current. Simultaneously theselight-vibrations were changed into sound--on the surfaces of allspheres tuned to that particular instrument. The "crawling" colourswhich showed themselves at these times were literally the voice of thespeaker in its spectrum equivalent. While usually the sounds producedrequired considerable familiarity with the apparatus to be understoodquickly, they could, on occasion, be made startlingly loud andclear--as I was soon to realize--W. T. G. 

CHAPTER XX

The Tempting of Larry

We paused before thick curtains, through which came the faint murmurof many voices. They parted; out came two--ushers, I suppose, theywere--in cuirasses and kilts that reminded me somewhat ofchain-mail--the first armour of any kind here that I had seen. Theyheld open the folds. 

The chamber, on whose threshold we stood, was far larger than eitheranteroom or hall of audience. Not less than three hundred feet longand half that in depth, from end to end of it ran two hugesemi-circular tables, paralleling each other, divided by a wide aisle, and heaped with flowers, with fruits, with viands unknown to me, andglittering with crystal flagons, beakers, goblets of as many hues asthe blooms. On the gay-cushioned couches that flanked the tables, lounging luxuriously, were scores of the fair-haired ruling class andthere rose a little buzz of admiration, oddly mixed with ahalf-startled amaze, as their gaze fell upon O'Keefe in all hissilvery magnificence. Everywhere the light-giving globes sent theirroseate radiance. 

The cuirassed dwarfs led us through the aisle. Within the arc of theinner half--circle was another glittering board, an oval. But of thoseseated there, facing us--I had eyes for only one--Yolara! She swayedup to greet O'Keefe--and she was like one of those white lily maids, whose beauty Hoang-Ku, the sage, says made the Gobi first a paradise, and whose lusts later the burned-out desert that it is. She held outhands to Larry, and on her face was passion--unashamed, unhiding. 

She was Circe--but Circe conquered. Webs of filmiest white clung tothe rose-leaf body. Twisted through the corn-silk hair a threadedcirclet of pale sapphires shone; but they were pale beside Yolara'seyes. O'Keefe bent, kissed her hands, something more than mereadmiration flaming from him. She saw--and, smiling, drew him downbeside her. 

It came to me that of all, only these two, Yolara and O'Keefe, were inwhite--and I wondered; then with a tightening of nerves ceased towonder as there entered--Lugur! He was all in scarlet, and as hestrode forward a silence fell a tense, strained silence. 

His gaze turned upon Yolara, rested upon O'Keefe, and instantly hisface grew--dreadful--there is no other word than that for it. Marakinoff leaned forward from the centre of the table, near whose endI sat, touched and whispered to him swiftly. With appalling effort thered dwarf controlled himself; he saluted the priestess ironically, Ithought; took his place at the further end of the oval. And now Inoted that the figures between were the seven of that Council of whichthe Shining One's priestess and Voice were the heads. The tensionrelaxed, but did not pass--as though a storm-cloud should turn away, but still lurk, threatening. 

My gaze ran back. This end of the room was draped with theexquisitely coloured, graceful curtains looped with gorgeous garlands. Between curtains and table, where sat Larry and the nine, a circularplatform, perhaps ten yards in diameter, raised itself a few feetabove the floor, its gleaming surface half-covered with the luminouspetals, fragrant, delicate. 

On each side below it, were low carven stools. The curtains partedand softly entered girls bearing their flutes, their harps, thecuriously emotion-exciting, octaved drums. They sank into theirplaces. They touched their instruments; a faint, languorous measurethrobbed through the rosy air. 

The stage was set! What was to be the play?

Now about the tables passed other dusky-haired maids, fair bosomsbare, their scanty kirtles looped high, pouring out the wines for thefeasters. 

My eyes sought O'Keefe. Whatever it had been that Marakinoff hadsaid, clearly it now filled his mind--even to the exclusion of thewondrous woman beside him. His eyes were stern, cold--and now andthen, as he turned them toward the Russian, filled with a curiousspeculation. Yolara watched him, frowned, gave a low order to the Hebebehind her. 

The girl disappeared, entered again with a ewer that seemed cut ofamber. The priestess poured from it into Larry's glass a clear liquidthat shook with tiny sparkles of light. She raised the glass to herlips, handed it to him. Half-smiling, half-abstractedly, he took it, touched his own lips where hers had kissed; drained it. A nod fromYolara and the maid refilled his goblet. 

At once there was a swift transformation in the Irishman. Hisabstraction vanished; the sternness fled; his eyes sparkled. He leanedcaressingly toward Yolara; whispered. Her blue eyes flashedtriumphantly; her chiming laughter rang. She raised her own glass--butwithin it was not that clear drink that filled Larry's! And again hedrained his own; and, lifting it, full once more, caught the balefuleyes of Lugur, and held it toward him mockingly. Yolara swayedclose--alluring, tempting. He arose, face all reckless gaiety; rollickingdeviltry. 

"A toast!" he cried in English, "to the Shining One--and may the hellwhere it belongs soon claim it!"

He had used their own word for their god--all else had been in his owntongue, and so, fortunately, they did not understand. But the contemptin his action they did recognize--and a dead, a fearful silence fellupon them all. Lugur's eyes blazed, little sparks of crimson in theirgreen. The priestess reached up, caught at O'Keefe. He seized the softhand; caressed it; his gaze grew far away, sombre. 

"The Shining One. " He spoke low. "An' now again I see the faces ofthose who dance with it. It is the Fires of Mora--come, God aloneknows how--from Erin--to this place. The Fires of Mora!" Hecontemplated the hushed folk before him; and then from his lips camethat weirdest, most haunting of the lyric legends of Erin--the Curseof Mora:

 "The fretted fires of Mora blew o'er him in the night; He thrills no more to loving, nor weeps for past delight. For when those flames have bitten, both grief and joy take flight--"

Again Yolara tried to draw him down beside her; and once more hegripped her hand. His eyes grew fixed--he crooned:

 "And through the sleeping silence his feet must track the tune, When the world is barred and speckled with silver of the moon--"

He stood, swaying, for a moment, and then, laughing, let the priestesshave her way; drained again the glass. 

And now my heart was cold, indeed--for what hope was there left withLarry mad, wild drunk!

The silence was unbroken--elfin women and dwarfs glancing furtively ateach other. But now Yolara arose, face set, eyes flashing grey. 

"Hear you, the Council, and you, Lugur--and all who are here!" shecried. "Now I, the priestess of the Shining One, take, as is my right, my mate. And this is he!" She pointed down upon Larry. He glanced upat her. 

"Can't quite make out what you say, Yolara, " he muttered thickly. "But say anything--you like--I love your voice!"

I turned sick with dread. Yolara's hand stole softly upon theIrishman's curls caressingly. 

"You know the law, Yolara. " Lugur's voice was flat, deadly, "You maynot mate with other than your own kind. And this man is a stranger--abarbarian--food for the Shining One!" Literally, he spat the phrase. 

"No, not of our kind--Lugur--higher!" Yolara answered serenely. "Lo, a son of Siya and of Siyana!"

"A lie!" roared the red dwarf. "A lie!"

"The Shining One revealed it to me!" said Yolara sweetly. "And if yebelieve not, Lugur--go ask of the Shining One if it be not truth!"

There was bitter, nameless menace in those last words--and whatevertheir hidden message to Lugur, it was potent. He stood, choking, facehell-shadowed--Marakinoff leaned out again, whispered. The red dwarfbowed, now wholly ironically; resumed his place and his silence. Andagain I wondered, icy-hearted, what was the power the Russian had soto sway Lugur. 

"What says the Council?" Yolara demanded, turning to them. 

Only for a moment they consulted among themselves. Then the woman, whose face was a ravaged shrine of beauty, spoke. 

"The will of the priestess is the will of the Council!" she answered. 

Defiance died from Yolara's face; she looked down at Larry tenderly. He sat swaying, crooning. 

"Bid the priests come, " she commanded, then turned to the silent room. "By the rites of Siya and Siyana, Yolara takes their son for hermate!" And again her hand stole down possessingly, serpent soft, tothe drunken head of the O'Keefe. 

The curtains parted widely. Through them filed, two by two, twelvehooded figures clad in flowing robes of the green one sees in forestvistas of opening buds of dawning spring. Of each pair one boreclasped to breast a globe of that milky crystal in the sapphireshrine-room; the other a harp, small, shaped somewhat like the ancientclarsach of the Druids. 

Two by two they stepped upon the raised platform, placed gently uponit each their globe; and two by two crouched behind them. They formednow a star of six points about the petalled dais, and, simultaneously, they drew from their faces the covering cowls. 

I half-rose--youths and maidens these of the fair-haired; and youthsand maids more beautiful than any of those I had yet seen--for upontheir faces was little of that disturbing mockery to which I have beenforced so often, because of the deep impression it made upon me, torefer. The ashen-gold of the maiden priestesses' hair was wound abouttheir brows in shining coronals. The pale locks of the youths wereclustered within circlets of translucent, glimmering gems likemoonstones. And then, crystal globe alternately before and harpalternately held by youth and maid, they began to sing. 

What was that song, I do not know--nor ever shall. Archaic, ancientbeyond thought, it seemed--not with the ancientness of things that foruncounted ages have been but wind-driven dust. Rather was it theancientness of the golden youth of the world, love lilts of earthyounglings, with light of new-born suns drenching them, chorals ofyoung stars mating in space; murmurings of April gods and goddesses. Alanguor stole through me. The rosy lights upon the tripods began todie away, and as they faded the milky globes gleamed forth brighter, ever brighter. Yolara rose, stretched a hand to Larry, led him throughthe sextuple groups, and stood face to face with him in the centre oftheir circle. 

The rose-light died; all that immense chamber was black, save for thecircle of the glowing spheres. Within this their milky radiance grewbrighter--brighter. The song whispered away. A throbbing arpeggiodripped from the harps, and as the notes pulsed out, up from theglobes, as though striving to follow, pulsed with them tips ofmoon-fire cones, such as I had seen before Yolara's altar. Weirdly, caressingly, compellingly the harp notes throbbed in repeated, re-repeated theme, holding within itself the same archaic goldenquality I had noted in the singing. And over the moon flame pinnaclesrose higher!

Yolara lifted her arms; within her hands were clasped O'Keefe's. Sheraised them above their two heads and slowly, slowly drew him with herinto a circling, graceful step, tendrillings delicate as the slowspirallings of twilight mist upon some still stream. 

As they swayed the rippling arpeggios grew louder, and suddenly theslender pinnacles of moon fire bent, dipped, flowed to the floor, crept in a shining ring around those two--and began to rise, agleaming, glimmering, enchanted barrier--rising, ever rising--hidingthem!

With one swift movement Yolara unbound her circlet of pale sapphires, shook loose the waves of her silken hair. It fell, a rippling, wondrous cascade, veiling both her and O'Keefe to their girdles--andnow the shining coils of moon fire had crept to their knees--wascircling higher--higher. 

And ever despair grew deeper in my soul!

What was that! I started to my feet, and all around me in thedarkness I heard startled motion. From without came a blaring oftrumpets, the sound of running men, loud murmurings. The tumult drewcloser. I heard cries of "Lakla! Lakla!" Now it was at the verythreshold and within it, oddly, as though--punctuating--the clamour, adeep-toned, almost abysmal, booming sound--thunderously bass andreverberant. 

Abruptly the harpings ceased; the moon fires shuddered, fell, andbegan to sweep back into the crystal globes; Yolara's swaying formgrew rigid, every atom of it listening. She threw aside the veilingcloud of hair, and in the gleam of the last retreating spirals herface glared out like some old Greek mask of tragedy. 

The sweet lips that even at their sweetest could never lose theirdelicate cruelty, had no sweetness now. They were drawn into asquare--inhuman as that of the Medusa; in her eyes were the fires ofthe pit, and her hair seemed to writhe like the serpent locks of thatGorgon whose mouth she had borrowed; all her beauty was transformedinto a nameless thing--hideous, inhuman, blasting! If this was thetrue soul of Yolara springing to her face, then, I thought, God helpus in very deed!

I wrested my gaze away to O'Keefe. All drunkenness gone, himselfagain, he was staring down at her, and in his eyes were loathing andhorror unutterable. So they stood--and the light fled. 

Only for a moment did the darkness hold. With lightning swiftness theblackness that was the chamber's other wall vanished. Through a portalopen between grey screens, the silver sparkling radiance poured. 

And through the portal marched, two by two, incredible, nightmarefigures--frog-men, giants, taller by nearly a yard than even tallO'Keefe! Their enormous saucer eyes were irised by wide bands ofgreen-flecked red, in which the phosphorescence flickered. Their longmuzzles, lips half-open in monstrous grin, held rows of glistening, slender, lancet sharp fangs. Over the glaring eyes arose a hornyhelmet, a carapace of black and orange scales, studded with foot-longlance-headed horns. 

They lined themselves like soldiers on each side of the wide tableaisle, and now I could see that their horny armour covered shouldersand backs, ran across the chest in a knobbed cuirass, and at wristsand heels jutted out into curved, murderous spurs. The webbed handsand feet ended in yellow, spade-shaped claws. 

They carried spears, ten feet, at least, in length, the heads of whichwere pointed cones, glistening with that same covering, from whosetouch of swift decay I had so narrowly saved Rador. 

They were grotesque, yes--more grotesque than anything I had ever seenor dreamed, and they were--terrible!

And then, quietly, through their ranks came--a girl! Behind her, enormous pouch at his throat swelling in and out menacingly, in onepaw a treelike, spike-studded mace, a frog-man, huger than any of theothers, guarding. But of him I caught but a fleeting, involuntaryimpression--all my gaze was for her. 

For it was she who had pointed out to us the way from the peril of theDweller's lair on Nan-Tauach. And as I looked at her, I marvelled thatever could I have thought the priestess more beautiful. Into the eyesof O'Keefe rushed joy and an utter abasement of shame. 

And from all about came murmurs--edged with anger, half-incredulous, tinged with fear:

"Lakla!"

"Lakla!"

"The handmaiden!"

She halted close beside me. From firm little chin to dainty buskinedfeet she was swathed in the soft robes of dull, almost coppery hue. The left arm was hidden, the right free and gloved. Wound tight aboutit was one of the vines of the sculptured wall and of Lugur's circledsignet-ring. Thick, a vivid green, its five tendrils ran between herfingers, stretching out five flowered heads that gleamed like blossomscut from gigantic, glowing rubies. 

So she stood contemplating Yolara. Then drawn perhaps by my gaze, shedropped her eyes upon me; golden, translucent, with tiny flecks ofamber in their aureate irises, the soul that looked through them wasas far removed from that flaming out of the priestess as zenith isabove nadir. 

I noted the low, broad brow, the proud little nose, the tender mouth, and the soft--sunlight--glow that seemed to transfuse the delicateskin. And suddenly in the eyes dawned a smile--sweet, friendly, atouch of roguishness, profoundly reassuring in its all humanness. Ifelt my heart expand as though freed from fetters, a recrudescence ofconfidence in the essential reality of things--as though in nightmarethe struggling consciousness should glimpse some familiar face andknow the terrors with which it strove were but dreams. Andinvoluntarily I smiled back at her. 

She raised her head and looked again at Yolara, contempt and a certaincuriosity in her gaze; at O'Keefe--and through the softened eyesdrifted swiftly a shadow of sorrow, and on its fleeting wings deepestinterest, and hovering over that a naive approval as reassuringlyhuman as had been her smile. 

She spoke, and her voice, deep-timbred, liquid gold as was Yolara'sall silver, was subtly the synthesis of all the golden glowing beautyof her. 

"The Silent Ones have sent me, O Yolara, " she said. "And this istheir command to you--that you deliver to me to bring before themthree of the four strangers who have found their way here. For himthere who plots with Lugur"--she pointed at Marakinoff, and I sawYolara start--"they have no need. Into his heart the Silent Ones havelooked; and Lugur and you may keep him, Yolara!"

There was honeyed venom in the last words. 

Yolara was herself now; only the edge of shrillness on her voicerevealed her wrath as she answered. 

"And whence have the Silent Ones gained power to command, _choya_?"

This last, I knew, was a very vulgar word; I had heard Rador use it ina moment of anger to one of the serving maids, and it meant, approximately, "kitchen girl, " "scullion. " Beneath the insult and theacid disdain, the blood rushed up under Lakla's ambered ivory skin. 

"Yolara"--her voice was low--"of no use is it to question me. I am butthe messenger of the Silent Ones. And one thing only am I bidden toask you--do you deliver to me the three strangers?"

Lugur was on his feet; eagerness, sardonic delight, sinisteranticipation thrilling from him--and my same glance showed Marakinoff, crouched, biting his finger-nails, glaring at the Golden Girl. 

"No!" Yolara spat the word. "No! Now by Thanaroa and by the ShiningOne, no!" Her eyes blazed, her nostrils were wide, in her fair throata little pulse beat angrily. "You, Lakla--take you my message to theSilent Ones. Say to them that I keep this man"--she pointed toLarry--"because he is mine. Say to them that I keep the yellow-hairedone and him"--she pointed to me--"because it pleases me. 

"Tell them that upon their mouths I place my foot, so!"--she stampedupon the dais viciously--"and that in their faces I spit!"--and heraction was hideously snakelike. "And say last to them, you handmaiden, that if _you_ they dare send to Yolara again, she will feed _you_ tothe Shining One! Now--go!"

The handmaiden's face was white. 

"Not unforeseen by the three was this, Yolara, " she replied. "And didyou speak as you have spoken then was I bidden to say this to you. "Her voice deepened. "Three _tal_ have you to take counsel, Yolara. Andat the end of that time these things must you have determined--eitherto do or not to do: first, send the strangers to the Silent Ones;second, give up, you and Lugur and all of you, that dream you have ofconquest of the world without; and, third, forswear the Shining One!And if you do not one and all these things, then are you done, yourcup of life broken, your wine of life spilled. Yea, Yolara, for youand the Shining One, Lugur and the Nine and all those here and theirkind shall pass! This say the Silent Ones, 'Surely shall all of yepass and be as though never had ye been!'"

Now a gasp of rage and fear arose from all those around me--but thepriestess threw back her head and laughed loud and long. Into thesilver sweet chiming of her laughter clashed that of Lugur--and aftera little the nobles took it up, till the whole chamber echoed withtheir mirth. O'Keefe, lips tightening, moved toward the Handmaiden, and almost imperceptibly, but peremptorily, she waved him back. 

"Those _are_ great words--great words indeed, _choya_, " shrilled Yolaraat last; and again Lakla winced beneath the word. "Lo, for _laya_ upon_laya_, the Shining One has been freed from the Three; and for _laya_upon _laya_ they have sat helpless, rotting. Now I ask youagain--whence comes their power to lay their will upon me, and whencecomes their strength to wrestle with the Shining One and the belovedof the Shining One?"

And again she laughed--and again Lugur and all the fairhaired joinedin her laughter. 

Into the eyes of Lakla I saw creep a doubt, a wavering; as though deepwithin her the foundations of her own belief were none too firm. 

She hesitated, turning upon O'Keefe gaze in which rested more thansuggestion of appeal! And Yolara saw, too, for she flushed withtriumph, stretched a finger toward the handmaiden. 

"Look!" she cried. "Look! Why, even _she_ does not believe!" Hervoice grew silk of silver--merciless, cruel. "Now am I minded to sendanother answer to the Silent Ones. Yea! But not by _you_, Lakla; bythese"--she pointed to the frog-men, and, swift as light, her handdarted into her bosom, bringing forth the little shining cone ofdeath. 

But before she could level it the Golden Girl had released that hiddenleft arm and thrown over her face a fold of the metallic swathings. Swifter than Yolara, she raised the arm that held the vine--and now Iknew this was no inert blossoming thing. 

It was alive!

It writhed down her arm, and its five rubescent flower heads thrustout toward the priestess--vibrating, quivering, held in leash only bythe light touch of the handmaiden at its very end. 

From the swelling throat pouch of the monster behind her came asuccession of the reverberant boomings. The frogmen wheeled, raisedtheir lances, levelled them at the throng. Around the reaching rubyflowers a faint red mist swiftly grew. 

The silver cone dropped from Yolara's rigid fingers; her eyes grewstark with horror; all her unearthly loveliness fled from her; shestood pale-lipped. The Handmaiden dropped the protecting veil--and nowit was she who laughed. 

"It would seem, then, Yolara, that there _is_ a thing of the Silent Onesye fear!" she said. "Well--the kiss of the _Yekta_ I promise you inreturn for the embrace of your Shining One. "

She looked at Larry, long, searchingly, and suddenly again with allthat effect of sunlight bursting into dark places, her smile shoneupon him. She nodded, half gaily; looked down upon me, the littlemerry light dancing in her eyes; waved her hand to me. 

She spoke to the giant frog-man. He wheeled behind her as she turned, facing the priestess, club upraised, fangs glistening. His troop movednot a jot, spears held high. Lakla began to pass slowly--almost, Ithought, tauntingly--and as she reached the portal Larry leaped fromthe dais. 

"_Alanna_!" he cried. "You'll not be leavin' me just when I've foundyou!"

In his excitement he spoke in his own tongue, the velvet brogueappealing. Lakla turned, contemplated O'Keefe, hesitant, unquestionably longingly, irresistibly like a child making up her mindwhether she dared or dared not take a delectable something offeredher. 

"I go with you, " said O'Keefe, this time in her own speech. "Come on, Doc!" He reached out a hand to me. 

But now Yolara spoke. Life and beauty had flowed back into her face, and in the purple eyes all her hosts of devils were gathered. 

"Do you forget what I promised you before Siya and Siyana? And do youthink that you can leave me--me--as though I were a _choya_--like_her_. " She pointed to Lakla. "Do you--"

"Now, listen, Yolara, " Larry interrupted almost plaintively. "Nopromise has passed from me to you--and why would you hold me?" Hepassed unconsciously into English. "Be a good sport, Yolara, " heurged, "You _have_ got a very devil of a temper, you know, and so haveI; and we'd be really awfully uncomfortable together. And why don'tyou get rid of that devilish pet of yours, and be good!"

She looked at him, puzzled, Marakinoff leaned over, translated toLugur. The red dwarf smiled maliciously, drew near the priestess;whispered to her what was without doubt as near as he could come inthe Murian to Larry's own very colloquial phrases. 

Yolara's lips writhed. 

"Hear me, Lakla!" she cried. "Now would I not let you take this manfrom me were I to dwell ten thousand _laya_ in the agony of the_Yekta's_ kiss. This I swear to you--by Thanaroa, by my heart, and bymy strength--and may my strength wither, my heart rot in my breast, and Thanaroa forget me if I do!"

"Listen, Yolara"--began O'Keefe again. 

"Be silent, you!" It was almost a shriek. And her hand again soughtin her breast for the cone of rhythmic death. 

Lugur touched her arm, whispered again, The glint of guile shone inher eyes; she laughed softly, relaxed. 

"The Silent Ones, Lakla, bade you say that they--allowed--me three_tal_ to decide, " she said suavely. "Go now in peace, Lakla, and saythat Yolara has heard, and that for the three _tal_ they--allow--hershe will take council. " The handmaiden hesitated. 

"The Silent Ones have said it, " she answered at last. "Stay you here, strangers"---the long lashes drooped as her eyes met O'Keefe's and ahint of blush was in her cheeks--"stay you here, strangers, till then. But, Yolara, see you on that heart and strength you have sworn by thatthey come to no harm--else that which you have invoked shall come uponyou swiftly indeed--and that I promise you, " she added. 

Their eyes met, clashed, burned into each other--black flame fromAbaddon and golden flame from Paradise. 

"Remember!" said Lakla, and passed through the portal. The giganticfrog-man boomed a thunderous note of command, his grotesque guardsturned and slowly followed their mistress; and last of all passed outthe monster with the mace. 

CHAPTER XXI

Larry's Defiance

A clamour arose from all the chambers; stilled in an instant by amotion of Yolara's hand. She stood silent, regarding O'Keefe withsomething other now than blind wrath; something half regretful, halfbeseeching. But the Irishman's control was gone. 

"Yolara, "--his voice shook with rage, and he threw caution to thewind--"now hear _me_. I go where I will and when I will. Here shall westay until the time she named is come. And then we follow her, whetheryou will or not. And if any should have thought to stop us--tell themof that flame that shattered the vase, " he added grimly. 

The wistfulness died out of her eyes, leaving them cold. But no answermade she to him. 

"What Lakla has said, the Council must consider, and at once. " Thepriestess was facing the nobles. "Now, friends of mine, and friends ofLugur, must all feud, all rancour, between us end. " She glancedswiftly at Lugur. "The _ladala_ are stirring, and the Silent Onesthreaten. Yet fear not--for are we not strong under the Shining One?And now--leave us. "

Her hand dropped to the table, and she gave, evidently, a signal, forin marched a dozen or more of the green dwarfs. 

"Take these two to their place, " she commanded, pointing to us. 

The green dwarfs clustered about us. Without another look at thepriestess O'Keefe marched beside me, between them, from the chamber. And it was not until we had reached the pillared entrance that Larryspoke. 

"I hate to talk like that to a woman, Doc, " he said, "and a prettywoman, at that. But first she played me with a marked deck, and thennot only pinched all the chips, but drew a gun on me. What thehell! she nearly had me--_married_--to her. I don't know what the stuffwas she gave me; but, take it from me, if I had the recipe for thatbrew I could sell it for a thousand dollars a jolt at Forty-second andBroadway. 

"One jigger of it, and you forget there is a trouble in the world;three of them, and you forget there is a world. No excuse for it, Doc;and I don't care what you say or what Lakla may say--it wasn't myfault, and I don't hold it up against myself for a damn. "

"I must admit that I'm a bit uneasy about her threats, " I said, ignoring all this. He stopped abruptly. 

"What're you afraid of?"

"Mostly, " I answered dryly, "I have no desire to dance with theShining One!"

"Listen to me, Goodwin, " He took up his walk impatiently. "I've allthe love and admiration for you in the world; but this place has gotyour nerve. Hereafter one Larry O'Keefe, of Ireland and the little oldU. S. A. , leads this party. Nix on the tremolo stop, nix on thesuperstition! I'm the works. Get me?"

"Yes, I get you!" I exclaimed testily enough. "But to use your ownphrase, kindly can the repeated references to superstition. "

"Why should I?" He was almost wrathful. "You scientific people buildup whole philosophies on the basis of things you never saw, and youscoff at people who believe in other things that you think _they_ neversaw and that don't come under what you label scientific. You talkabout paradoxes--why, your scientist, who thinks he is the mostskeptical, the most materialistic aggregation of atoms ever gatheredat the exact mathematical centre of Missouri, has more blind faiththan a dervish, and more credulity, more superstition, than across-eyed smoke beating it past a country graveyard in the dark ofthe moon!"

"Larry!" I cried, dazed. 

"Olaf's no better, " he said. "But I can make allowances for him. He's a sailor. No, sir. What this expedition needs is a man withoutsuperstition. And remember this. The leprechaun promised that I'd havefull warning before anything happened. And if we do have to go out, we'll see that banshee bunch clean up before we do, and pass in ablaze of glory. And don't forget it. Hereafter--I'm--in--charge!"

By this time we were before our pavilion; and neither of us in a veryamiable mood I'm afraid. Rador was awaiting us with a score of hismen. 

"Let none pass in here without authority--and let none pass out unlessI accompany them, " he ordered bruskly. "Summon one of the swiftest ofthe _coria_ and have it wait in readiness, " he added, as though byafterthought. 

But when we had entered and the screens were drawn together his mannerchanged; all eagerness he questioned us. Briefly we told him of thehappenings at the feast, of Lakla's dramatic interruption, and of whathad followed. 

"Three _tal_, " he said musingly; "three _tal_ the Silent Ones haveallowed--and Yolara agreed. " He sank back, silent and thoughtful. [1]

"_Ja!_" It was Olaf. "_Ja!_ I told you the Shining Devil's mistresswas all evil. _Ja!_ Now I begin again that tale I started when hecame"--he glanced toward the preoccupied Rador. "And tell him not whatI say should he ask. For I trust none here in Trolldom, save the_Jomfrau_--the White Virgin!

"After the oldster was _adsprede_"--Olaf once more used thatexpressive Norwegian word for the dissolving of Songar--"I knew thatit was a time for cunning. I said to myself, 'If they think I have noears to hear, they will speak; and it may be I will find a way to savemy Helma and Dr. Goodwin's friends, too. ' _Ja_, and they did speak. 

"The red _Trolde_ asked the Russian how came it he was a worshipper ofThanaroa. " I could not resist a swift glance of triumph towardO'Keefe. "And the Russian, " rumbled Olaf, "said that all his peopleworshipped Thanaroa and had fought against the other nations thatdenied him. 

"And then we had come to Lugur's palace. They put me in rooms, andthere came to me men who rubbed and oiled me and loosened my muscles. The next day I wrestled with a great dwarf they called Valdor. He wasa mighty man, and long we struggled, and at last I broke his back. AndLugur was pleased, so that I sat with him at feast and with theRussian, too. And again, not knowing that I understood them, theytalked. 

"The Russian had gone fast and far. They talked of Lugur as emperorof all Europe, and Marakinoff under him. They spoke of the green lightthat shook life from the oldster; and Lugur said that the secret of ithad been the Ancient Ones' and that the Council had not too much ofit. But the Russian said that among his race were many wise men whocould make more once they had studied it. 

"And the next day I wrestled with a great dwarf named Tahola, mightierfar than Valdor. Him I threw after a long, long time, and his backalso I broke. Again Lugur was pleased. And again we sat at table, heand the Russian and I. This time they spoke of something these_Trolde_ have which opens up a _Svaelc_--abysses into which all in itsrange drops up into the sky!"

"What!" I exclaimed. 

"I know about them, " said Larry. "Wait!"

"Lugur had drunk much, " went on Olaf. "He was boastful. The Russianpressed him to show this thing. After a while the red one went out andcame back with a little golden box. He and the Russian went into thegarden. I followed them. There was a _lille Hoj_--a mound--of stonesin that garden on which grew flowers and trees. 

"Lugur pressed upon the box, and a spark no bigger than a sand grainleaped out and fell beside the stones. Lugur pressed again, and a bluelight shot from the box and lighted on the spark. The spark that hadbeen no bigger than a grain of sand grew and grew as the blue struckit. And then there was a sighing, a wind blew--and the stones and theflowers and the trees were not. They were _forsvinde_--vanished!

"Then Lugur, who had been laughing, grew quickly sober; for he thrustthe Russian back--far back. And soon down into the garden cametumbling the stones and the trees, but broken and shattered, andfalling as though from a great height. And Lugur said that of _this_something they had much, for its making was a secret handed down bytheir own forefathers and not by the Ancient Ones. 

"They feared to use it, he said, for a spark thrice as large as thathe had used would have sent all that garden falling upward and mighthave opened a way to the outside before--he said just this--'_beforewe are ready to go out into it!_'

"The Russian questioned much, but Lugur sent for more drink and grewmerrier and threatened him, and the Russian was silent through fear. Thereafter I listened when I could, and little more I learned, butthat little enough. _Ja!_ Lugur is hot for conquest; so Yolara and sothe Council. They tire of it here and the Silent Ones make their mindsnot too easy, no, even though they jeer at them! And this they plan--torule our world with their Shining Devil. "

The Norseman was silent for a moment; then voice deep, trembling--

"Trolldom is awake; Helvede crouches at Earth Gate whining to beloosed into a world already devil ridden! And we are but three!"

I felt the blood drive out of my heart. But Larry's was the fightingface of the O'Keefes of a thousand years. Rador glanced at him, arose, stepped through the curtains; returned swiftly with the Irishman'suniform. 

"Put it on, " he said, bruskly; again fell back into his silence andwhatever O'Keefe had been about to say was submerged in his wild andjoyful whoop. He ripped from him glittering tunic and leg swathings. 

"Richard is himself again!" he shouted; and each garment as he donnedit, fanned his old devil-may-care confidence to a higher flame. Thelast scrap of it on, he drew himself up before us. 

"Bow down, ye divils!" he cried. "Bang your heads on the floor and dohomage to Larry the First, Emperor of Great Britain, Autocrat of allIreland, Scotland, England, and Wales, and adjacent waters andislands! Kneel, ye scuts, kneel. "

"Larry, " I cried, "are you going crazy?"

"Not a bit of it, " he said. "I'm that and more if Comrade Marakinoffis on the level. Whoop! Bring forth the royal jewels an' put a wholenew bunch of golden strings in Tara's harp an' down with the Sassenachforever! Whoop!"

He did a wild jig. 

"Lord how good the old togs feel, " he grinned. "The touch of 'em hasgone to my head. But it's straight stuff I'm telling you about myempire. "

He sobered. 

"Not that it's not serious enough at that. A lot that Olaf's told usI've surmised from hints dropped by Yolara. But I got the full key toit from the Red himself when he stopped me just before--before"--hereddened--"well, just before I acquired that brand-new brand of souse. 

"Maybe he had a hint--maybe he just surmised that I knew a lot morethan I did. And he thought Yolara and I were going to be loving littleturtle doves. Also he figured that Yolara had a lot more influencewith the Unholy Fireworks than Lugur. Also that being a woman shecould be more easily handled. All this being so, what was the logicalthing for himself to do? Sure, you get me, Steve! Throw down Lugur andmake an alliance with me! So _he_ calmly offered to ditch the red dwarfif I would deliver Yolara. My reward from Russia was to be saidemperorship! Can you beat it? Good Lord!"

He went off into a perfect storm of laughter. But not to me in thelight of what Russia has done and has proved herself capable, did thisthing seem at all absurd; rather in it I sensed the dawn ofcatastrophe colossal. 

"And yet, " he was quiet enough now, "I'm a bit scared. They've got the_Keth_ ray and those gravity-destroying bombs--"

"Gravity-destroying bombs!" I gasped. 

"Sure, " he said. "The little fairy that sent the trees and stoneskiting up from Lugur's garden. Marakinoff licked his lips over them. They cut off gravity, just about as the shadow screens cut offlight--and consequently whatever's in their range goes shooting justnaturally up to the moon--

"They get my goat, why deny it?" went on Larry. "With them and the_Keth_ and gentle invisible soldiers walking around assassinating atwill--well, the worst Bolsheviki are only puling babes, eh, Doc?

"I don't mind the Shining One, " said O'Keefe, "one splash of adowntown New York high-pressure fire hose would do for it! But theothers--are the goods! Believe me!"

But for once O'Keefe's confidence found no echo within me. Notlightly, as he, did I hold that dread mystery, the Dweller--and avision passed before me, a vision of an Apocalypse undreamed by theEvangelist. 

A vision of the Shining One swirling into our world, a monstrous, glorious flaming pillar of incarnate, eternal Evil--of peoplespassing through its radiant embrace into that hideous, unearthlylife-in-death which I had seen enfold the sacrifices--of armiestrembling into dancing atoms of diamond dust beneath the green ray'srhythmic death--of cities rushing out into space upon the wings ofthat other demoniac force which Olaf had watched at work--of a hauntedworld through which the assassins of the Dweller's court stoleinvisible, carrying with them every passion of hell--of the rallyingto the Thing of every sinister soul and of the weak and theunbalanced, mystics and carnivores of humanity alike; for well I knewthat, once loosed, not any nation could hold this devil-god for longand that swiftly its blight would spread!

And then a world that was all colossal reek of cruelty and terror; awelter of lusts, of hatreds and of torment; a chaos of horror in whichthe Dweller waxing ever stronger, the ghastly hordes of those it hadconsumed growing ever greater, wreaked its inhuman will!

At the last a ruined planet, a cosmic plague, spinning through theshuddering heavens; its verdant plains, its murmuring forests, itsmeadows and its mountains manned only by a countless crew of soulless, mindless dead-alive, their shells illumined with the Dweller'sinfernal glory--and flaming over this vampirized earth like a flarefrom some hell far, infinitely far, beyond the reach of man's farthestflung imagining--the Dweller!

Rador jumped to his feet; walked to the whispering globe. He bent overits base; did something with its mechanism; beckoned to us. The globeswam rapidly, faster than ever I had seen it before. A low hummingarose, changed into a murmur, and then from it I heard Lugur's voiceclearly. 

"It is to be war then?"

There was a chorus of assent--from the Council, I thought. 

"I will take the tall one named--_Larree_. " It was the priestess'svoice. "After the three _tal_, you may have him, Lugur, to do with asyou will. "

"No!" it was Lugur's voice again, but with a rasp of anger. "All mustdie. "

"He shall die, " again Yolara. "But I would that first he see Laklapass--and that she know what is to happen to him. "

"No!" I started--for this was Marakinoff. "Now is no time, Yolara, for one's own desires. This is my counsel. At the end of the three_tal_ Lakla will come for our answer. Your men will be in ambush andthey will slay her and her escort quickly with the _Keth_. But nottill that is done must the three be slain--and then quickly. WithLakla dead we shall go forth to the Silent Ones--and I promise youthat I will find the way to destroy them!"

"It is well!" It was Lugur. 

"It _is_ well, Yolara. " It was a woman's voice, and I knew it for thatold one of ravaged beauty. "Cast from your mind whatever is in it forthis stranger--either of love or hatred. In this the Council is withLugur and the man of wisdom. "

There was a silence. Then came the priestess's voice, sullenbut--beaten. 

"It is well!"

"Let the three be taken now by Rador to the temple and given to theHigh Priest Sator"--thus Lugur--"until what we have planned comes topass. "

Rador gripped the base of the globe; abruptly it ceased its spinning. He turned to us as though to speak and even as he did so its bell notesounded peremptorily and on it the colour films began to creep attheir accustomed pace. 

"I hear, " the green dwarf whispered. "They shall be taken there atonce. " The globe grew silent. He stepped toward us. 

"You have heard, " he turned to us. 

"Not on your life, Rador, " said Larry. "Nothing doing!" And then inthe Murian's own tongue. "We follow Lakla, Rador. And _you_ lead theway. " He thrust the pistol close to the green dwarf's side. 

Rador did not move. 

"Of what use, _Larree_?" he said, quietly. "Me you can slay--but inthe end you will be taken. Life is not held so dear in Muria that mymen out there or those others who can come quickly will let youby--even though you slay many. And in the end they will overpoweryou. "

There was a trace of irresolution in O'Keefe's face. 

"And, " added Rador, "if I let you go I dance with the Shining One--orworse!"

O'Keefe's pistol hand dropped. 

"You're a good sport, Rador, and far be it from me to get you in bad, "he said. "Take us to the temple--when we get there--well, yourresponsibility ends, doesn't it?"

The green dwarf nodded; on his face a curious expression--was itrelief? Or was it emotion higher than this?

He turned curtly. 

"Follow, " he said. We passed out of that gay little pavilion that hadcome to be home to us even in this alien place. The guards stood atattention. 

"You, Sattoya, stand by the globe, " he ordered one of them. "Shouldthe _Afyo Maie_ ask, say that I am on my way with the strangers evenas she has commanded. "

We passed through the lines to the _corial_ standing like a greatshell at the end of the runway leading into the green road. 

"Wait you here, " he said curtly to the driver. The green dwarfascended to his seat, sought the lever and we swept on--on and outupon the glistening obsidian. 

Then Rador faced us and laughed. 

"_Larree_, " he cried, "I love you for that spirit of yours! And didyou think that Rador would carry to the temple prison a man who wouldtake the chances of torment upon his own shoulders to save him? Oryou, Goodwin, who saved him from the rotting death? For what did Itake the _corial_ or lift the veil of silence that I might hear whatthreatened you--"

He swept the _corial_ to the left, away from the temple approach. 

"I am done with Lugur and with Yolara and the Shining One!" criedRador. "My hand is for you three and for Lakla and those to whom sheis handmaiden!"

The shell leaped forward; seemed to fly. 

[1] A _tal_ in Muria is the equivalent of thirty hours of earth surfacetime. --W. T. G. 

CHAPTER XXII

The Casting of the Shadow

Now we were racing down toward that last span whose ancientness hadset it apart from all the other soaring arches. The shell's speedslackened; we approached warily. 

"We pass there?" asked O'Keefe. 

The green dwarf nodded, pointing to the right where the bridge endedin a broad platform held high upon two gigantic piers, between whichran a spur from the glistening road. Platform and bridge were swarmingwith men-at-arms; they crowded the parapets, looking down upon uscuriously but with no evidence of hostility. Rador drew a deep breathof relief. 

"We don't have to break our way through, then?" There wasdisappointment in the Irishman's voice. 

"No use, _Larree_!" Smiling, Rador stopped the _corial_ just beneaththe arch and beside one of the piers. "Now, listen well. They have hadno warning, hence does Yolara still think us on the way to the temple. This is the gateway of the Portal--and the gateway is closed by theShadow. Once I commanded here and I know its laws. This must I do--bycraft persuade Serku, the keeper of the gateway, to lift the Shadow;or raise it myself. And that will be hard and it may well be that inthe struggle life will be stripped of us all. Yet is it better to diefighting than to dance with the Shining One!"

He swept the shell around the pier. Opened a wide plaza paved withthe volcanic glass, but black as that down which we had sped from thechamber of the Moon Pool. It shone like a mirrored lakelet of jet; oneach side of it arose what at first glance seemed towering bulwarks ofthe same ebon obsidian; at second, revealed themselves as structureshewn and set in place by men; polished faces pierced by dozens ofhigh, narrow windows. 

Down each facade a stairway fell, broken by small landings on which adoor opened; they dropped to a broad ledge of greyish stone edging thelip of this midnight pool and upon it also fell two wide flights fromeither side of the bridge platform. Along all four stairways theguards were ranged; and here and there against the ledge stood theshells--in a curiously comforting resemblance to parked motors in ourown world. 

The sombre walls bulked high; curved and ended in two obeliskedpillars from which, like a tremendous curtain, stretched a barrier ofthat tenebrous gloom which, though weightless as shadow itself, I nowknew to be as impenetrable as the veil between life and death. In thismurk, unlike all others I had seen, I sensed movement, a quivering, atremor constant and rhythmic; not to be seen, yet caught by somesubtle sense; as though through it beat a swift pulse of--blacklight. 

The green dwarf turned the _corial_ slowly to the edge at the right;crept cautiously on toward where, not more than a hundred feet fromthe barrier, a low, wide entrance opened in the fort. Guarding itsthreshold stood two guards, armed with broadswords, double-handed, terminating in a wide lunette mouthed with murderous fangs. These theyraised in salute and through the portal strode a dwarf huge as Rador, dressed as he and carrying only the poniard that was the badge ofoffice of Muria's captainry. 

The green dwarf swept the shell expertly against the ledge; leapedout. 

"Greeting, Serku!" he answered. "I was but looking for the _coria_ ofLakla. "

"Lakla!" exclaimed Serku. "Why, the handmaiden passed with her _Akka_nigh a _va_ ago!"

"Passed!" The astonishment of the green dwarf was so real that halfwas I myself deceived. "You let her _pass_?"

"Certainly I let her pass--" But under the green dwarf's stern gazethe truculence of the guardian faded. "Why should I not?" he asked, apprehensively. 

"Because Yolara commanded otherwise, " answered Rador, coldly. 

"There came no command to me. " Little beads of sweat stood out onSerku's forehead. 

"Serku, " interrupted the green dwarf swiftly, "truly is my heart wrungfor you. This is a matter of Yolara and of Lugur and the Council; yes, even of the Shining One! And the message was sent--and the fate, mayhap, of all Muria rested upon your obedience and the return ofLakla with these strangers to the Council. Now truly is my heartwrung, for there are few I would less like to see dance with theShining One than you, Serku, " he ended, softly. 

Livid now was the gateway's guardian, his great frame shaking. 

"Come with me and speak to Yolara, " he pleaded. "There came nomessage--tell her--"

"Wait, Serku!" There was a thrill as of inspiration in Rador's voice. "This _corial_ is of the swiftest--Lakla's are of the slowest. WithLakla scarce a _va_ ahead we can reach her before she enters thePortal. Lift you the Shadow--we will bring her back, and this will Ido for you, Serku. "

Doubt tempered Serku's panic. 

"Why not go alone, Rador, leaving the strangers here with me?" heasked--and I thought not unreasonably. 

"Nay, then. " The green dwarf was brusk. "Lakla will not return unlessI carry to her these men as evidence of our good faith. Come--we willspeak to Yolara and she shall judge you--" He started away--but Serkucaught his arm. 

"No, Rador, no!" he whispered, again panic-stricken. "Go you--as youwill. But bring her back! Speed, Rador!" He sprang toward theentrance. "I lift the Shadow--"

Into the green dwarf's poise crept a curious, almost a listening, alertness. He leaped to Serku's side. 

"I go with you, " I heard. "Some little I can tell you--" They weregone. 

"Fine work!" muttered Larry. "Nominated for a citizen of Ireland whenwe get out of this, one Rador of--"

The Shadow trembled--shuddered into nothingness; the obeliskedoutposts that had held it framed a ribbon of roadway, high banked withverdure, vanishing in green distances. 

And then from the portal sped a shriek, a death cry! It cut throughthe silence of the ebon pit like a whimpering arrow. Before it haddied, down the stairways came pouring the guards. Those at thethreshold raised their swords and peered within. Abruptly Rador wasbetween them. One dropped his hilt and gripped him--the green dwarf'sponiard flashed and was buried in his throat. Down upon Rador's headswept the second blade. A flame leaped from O'Keefe's hand and thesword seemed to fling itself from its wielder's grasp--another flashand the soldier crumpled. Rador threw himself into the shell, dartedto the high seat--and straight between the pillars of the Shadow weflew!

There came a crackling, a darkness of vast wings flinging down uponus. The _corial's_ flight was checked as by a giant's hand. The shellswerved sickeningly; there was an oddly metallic splintering; itquivered; shot ahead. Dizzily I picked myself up and looked behind. 

The Shadow had fallen--but too late, a bare instant too late. Andshrinking as we fled from it, still it seemed to strain like somefettered Afrit from Eblis, throbbing with wrath, seeking with everymalign power it possessed to break its bonds and pursue. Not untillong after were we to know that it had been the dying hand of Serku, groping out of oblivion, that had cast it after us as a fowler upon anescaping bird. 

"Snappy work, Rador!" It was Larry speaking. "But they cut the endoff your bus all right!"

A full quarter of the hindward whorl was gone, sliced off cleanly. Rador noted it with anxious eyes. 

"That is bad, " he said, "but not too bad perhaps. All depends uponhow closely Lugur and his men can follow us. "

He raised a hand to O'Keefe in salute. 

"But to you, _Larree_, I owe my life--not even the _Keth_ could havebeen as swift to save me as that death flame of yours--friend!"

The Irishman waved an airy hand. 

"Serku"--the green dwarf drew from his girdle the bloodstainedponiard--"Serku I was forced to slay. Even as he raised the Shadow theglobe gave the alarm. Lugur follows with twice ten times ten of hisbest--" He hesitated. "Though we have escaped the Shadow it has takentoll of our swiftness. May we reach the Portal before it closes uponLakla--but if we do not--" He paused again. "Well--I know a way--butit is not one I am gay to follow--no!"

He snapped open the aperture that held the ball flaming within thedark crystal; peered at it anxiously. I crept to the torn end of the_corial_. The edges were crumbling, disintegrated. They powdered in myfingers like dust. Mystified still, I crept back where Larry, sheerhappiness pouring from him, was whistling softly and polishing up hisautomatic. His gaze fell upon Olaf's grim, sad face and softened. 

"Buck up, Olaf!" he said. "We've got a good fighting chance. Once welink up with Lakla and her crowd I'm betting that we get yourwife--never doubt it! The baby--" he hesitated awkwardly. TheNorseman's eyes filled; he stretched a hand to the O'Keefe. 

"The _Yndling_--she is of the _de Dode_, " he half whispered, "of theblessed dead. For her I have no fear and for her vengeance will begiven me. _Ja!_ But my Helma--she is of the dead-alive--like those wesaw whirling like leaves in the light of the Shining Devil--and Iwould that she too were of _de Dode_--and at rest. I do not know howto fight the Shining Devil--no!"

His bitter despair welled up in his voice. 

"Olaf, " Larry's voice was gentle. "We'll come out on top--I know it. Remember one thing. All this stuff that seems so strange and--and, well, sort of supernatural, is just a lot of tricks we're not hep toas yet. Why, Olaf, suppose you took a Fijian when the war was on andset him suddenly down in London with autos rushing past, sirensblowing, Archies popping, a dozen enemy planes dropping bombs, and thesearchlights shooting all over the sky--wouldn't he think he was amongthirty-third degree devils in some exclusive circle of hell? Sure hewould! And yet everything he saw would be natural--just as natural asall this is, once we get the answer to it. Not that we're Fijians, ofcourse, but the principle is the same. "

The Norseman considered this; nodded gravely. 

"_Ja!_" he answered at last. "And at least we can fight. That is whyI have turned to Thor of the battles, _Ja!_ And _one_ have I hope in formine Helma--the white maiden. Since I have turned to the old gods ithas been made clear to me that I shall slay Lugur and that the _Heks_, the evil witch Yolara, shall also die. But I would talk with the whitemaiden. "

"All right, " said Larry, "but just don't be afraid of what you don'tunderstand. There's another thing"--he hesitated, nervously--"there'sanother thing that may startle you a bit when we meet up withLakla--her--er--frogs!"

"Like the frog-woman we saw on the wall?" asked Olaf. 

"Yes, " went on Larry, rapidly. "It's this way--I figure that thefrogs grow rather large where she lives, and they're a bit differenttoo. Well, Lakla's got a lot of 'em trained. Carry spears and clubsand all that junk--just like trained seals or monkeys or so on in thecircus. Probably a custom of the place. Nothing queer about that, Olaf. Why people have all kinds of pets--armadillos and snakes andrabbits, kangaroos and elephants and tigers. "

Remembering how the frog-woman had stuck in Larry's mind from theoutset, I wondered whether all this was not more to convince himselfthan Olaf. 

"Why, I remember a nice girl in Paris who had four pet pythons--" hewent on. 

But I listened no more, for now I was sure of my surmise. The road hadbegun to thrust itself through high-flung, sharply pinnacled massesand rounded outcroppings of rock on which clung patches of the ambermoss. 

The trees had utterly vanished, and studding the moss-carpeted plainswere only clumps of a willowy shrub from which hung, like grapes, clusters of white waxen blooms. The light too had changed; gone werethe dancing, sparkling atoms and the silver had faded to a soft, almost ashen greyness. Ahead of us marched a rampart of coppery cliffsrising, like all these mountainous walls we had seen, into theimmensities of haze. Something long drifting in my subconsciousnessturned to startled realization. The speed of the shell was slackening!The aperture containing the ionizing mechanism was still open; Iglanced within, The whirling ball of fire was not dimmed, but itscoruscations, instead of pouring down through the cylinder, swirledand eddied and shot back as though trying to re-enter their source. Rador nodded grimly. 

"The Shadow takes its toll, " he said. 

We topped a rise--Larry gripped my arm. 

"Look!" he cried, and pointed. Far, far behind us, so far that theroad was but a glistening thread, a score of shining points camespeeding. 

"Lugur and his men, " said Rador. 

"Can't you step on her?" asked Larry. 

"Step on her?" repeated the green dwarf, puzzled. 

"Give her more speed; push her, " explained O'Keefe. 

Rador looked about him. The coppery ramparts were close, not morethan three or four miles distant; in front of us the plain lifted in along rolling swell, and up this the _corial_ essayed to go--with aterrifying lessening of speed. Faintly behind us came shootings, andwe knew that Lugur drew close. Nor anywhere was there sign of Laklanor her frogmen. 

Now we were half-way to the crest; the shell barely crawled and frombeneath it came a faint hissing; it quivered, and I knew that its basewas no longer held above the glassy surface but rested on it. 

"One last chance!" exclaimed Rador. He pressed upon the control leverand wrenched it from its socket. Instantly the sparkling ballexpanded, whirling with prodigious rapidity and sending a cascade ofcoruscations into the cylinder. The shell rose; leaped through theair; the dark crystal split into fragments; the fiery ball dulled;died--but upon the impetus of that last thrust we reached the crest. Poised there for a moment, I caught a glimpse of the road droppingdown the side of an enormous moss-covered, bowl-shaped valley whosesharply curved sides ended abruptly at the base of the toweringbarrier. 

Then down the steep, powerless to guide or to check the shell, weplunged in a meteor rush straight for the annihilating adamantinebreasts of the cliffs!

Now the quick thinking of Larry's air training came to our aid. Asthe rampart reared close he threw himself upon Rador; hurled him andhimself against the side of the flying whorl. Under the shock thefinely balanced machine swerved from its course. It struck the soft, low bank of the road, shot high in air, bounded on through the thickcarpeting, whirled like a dervish and fell upon its side. Shot fromit, we rolled for yards, but the moss saved broken bones or seriousbruise. 

"Quick!" cried the green dwarf. He seized an arm, dragged me to myfeet, began running to the cliff base not a hundred feet away. Besideus raced O'Keefe and Olaf. At our left was the black road. It stoppedabruptly--was cut off by a slab of polished crimson stone a hundredfeet high, and as wide, set within the coppery face of the barrier. Oneach side of it stood pillars, cut from the living rock and immense, almost, as those which held the rainbow veil of the Dweller. Acrossits face weaved unnameable carvings--but I had no time for more than aglance. The green dwarf gripped my arm again. 

"Quick!" he cried again. "The handmaiden has passed!"

At the right of the Portal ran a low wall of shattered rock. Over thiswe raced like rabbits. Hidden behind it was a narrow path. Crouching, Rador in the lead, we sped along it; three hundred, four hundred yardswe raced--and the path ended in a _cul de sac_! To our ears was bornea louder shouting. 

The first of the pursuing shells had swept over the lip of the greatbowl, poised for a moment as we had and then began a cautious descent. Within it, scanning the slopes, I saw Lugur. 

"A little closer and I'll get him!" whispered Larry viciously. Heraised his pistol. 

His hand was caught in a mighty grip; Rador, eyes blazing, stoodbeside him. 

"No!" rasped the green dwarf. He heaved a shoulder against one of theboulders that formed the pocket. It rocked aside, revealing a slit. 

"In!" ordered he, straining against the weight of the stone. O'Keefeslipped through. Olaf at his back, I following. With a lightning leapthe dwarf was beside me, the huge rock missing him by a hair breadthas it swung into place!

We were in Cimmerian darkness. I felt for my pocket-flash andrecalled with distress that I had left it behind with my medicine kitwhen we fled from the gardens. But Rador seemed to need no light. 

"Grip hands!" he ordered. We crept, single file, holding to eachother like children, through the black. At last the green dwarfpaused. 

"Await me here, " he whispered. "Do not move. And for your lives--besilent!"

And he was gone. 

CHAPTER XXIII

Dragon Worm and Moss Death

For a small eternity--to me at least--we waited. Then as silent asever the green dwarf returned. "It is well, " he said, some of thestrain gone from his voice. "Grip hands again, and follow. "

"Wait a bit, Rador, " this was Larry. "Does Lugur know this sideentrance? If he does, why not let Olaf and me go back to the openingand pick them off as they come in? We could hold the lot--and in themeantime you and Goodwin could go after Lakla for help. "

"Lugur knows the secret of the Portal--if he dare use it, " answeredthe captain, with a curious indirection. "And now that they havechallenged the Silent Ones I think he _will_ dare. Also, he will findour tracks--and it may be that he knows this hidden way. "

"Well, for God's sake!" O'Keefe's appalled bewilderment was almostludicrous. "If _he_ knows all that, and _you_ knew all that, whydidn't you let me click him when I had the chance?"

"_Larree_, " the green dwarf was oddly humble. "It seemed good to me, too--at first. And then I heard a command, heard it clearly, to stopyou--that Lugur die not now, lest a greater vengeance fail!"

"Command? From whom?" The Irishman's voice distilled out of theblackness the very essence of bewilderment. 

"I thought, " Rador was whispering--"I thought it came from the SilentOnes!"

"Superstition!" groaned O'Keefe in utter exasperation. "Alwayssuperstition! What can you do against it!

"Never mind, Rador. " His sense of humour came to his aid. "It's toolate now, anyway. Where do we go from here, old dear?" he laughed. 

"We tread the path of one I am not fain to meet, " answered Rador. "But if meet we must, point the death tubes at the pale shield hebears upon his throat and send the flame into the flower of cold firethat is its centre--nor look into his eyes!"

Again Larry gasped, and I with him. 

"It's getting too deep for me, Doc, " he muttered dejectedly. "Can youmake head or tail of it?"

"No, " I answered, shortly enough, "but Rador fears something andthat's his description of it. "

"Sure, " he replied, "only it's a code I don't understand. " I couldfeel his grin. "All right for the flower of cold fire, Rador, and Iwon't look into his eyes, " he went on cheerfully. "But hadn't webetter be moving?"

"Come!" said the soldier; again hand in hand we went blindly on. 

O'Keefe was muttering to himself. 

"Flower of cold fire! Don't look into his eyes! Some joint!Damned superstition. " Then he chuckled and carolled, softly:

 "Oh, mama, pin a cold rose on me; Two young frog-men are in love with me; Shut my eyes so I can't see. "

"Sh!" Rador was warning; he began whispering. "For half a _va_ we goalong a way of death. From its peril we pass into another againstwhose dangers I can guard you. But in part this is in view of theroadway and it may be that Lugur will see us. If so, we must fight asbest we can. If we pass these two roads safely, then is the way to theCrimson Sea clear, nor need we fear Lugur nor any. And there isanother thing--that Lugur does not know--when he opens the Portal theSilent Ones will hear and Lakla and the _Akka_ will be swift to greetits opener. "

"Rador, " I asked, "how know _you_ all this?"

"The handmaiden is my own sister's child, " he answered quietly. 

O'Keefe drew a long breath. 

"Uncle, " he remarked casually in English, "meet the man who's going tobe your nephew!"

And thereafter he never addressed the green dwarf except by theavuncular title, which Rador, humorously enough, apparently conceivedto be one of respectful endearment. 

For me a light broke. Plain now was the reason for his foreknowledgeof Lakla's appearance at the feast where Larry had so narrowly escapedYolara's spells; plain the determining factor that had cast his lotwith ours, and my confidence, despite his discourse of mysteriousperils, experienced a remarkable quickening. 

Speculation as to the marked differences in pigmentation andappearance of niece and uncle was dissipated by my consciousness thatwe were now moving in a dim half-light. We were in a fairly widetunnel. Not far ahead the gleam filtered, pale yellow like sunlightsifting through the leaves of autumn poplars. And as we drove closerto its source I saw that it did indeed pass through a leafy screenhanging over the passage end. This Rador drew aside cautiously, beckoned us and we stepped through. 

It appeared to be a tunnel cut through soft green mould. Its base wasa flat strip of pathway a yard wide from which the walls curved out inperfect cylindrical form, smoothed and evened with utmost nicety. Thirty feet wide they were at their widest, then drew toward eachother with no break in their symmetry; they did not close. Above was, roughly, a ten-foot rift, ragged edged, through which poured lightlike that in the heart of pale amber, a buttercup light shot throughwith curiously evanescent bronze shadows. 

"Quick!" commanded Rador, uneasily, and set off at a sharp pace. 

Now, my eyes accustomed to the strange light, I saw that the tunnel'swalls were of moss. In them I could trace fringe leaf and curly leaf, pressings of enormous bladder caps (Physcomitrium), immense splashesof what seemed to be the scarlet-crested Cladonia, traceries of hugemoss veils, crushings of teeth (peristome) gigantic; spore cases brownand white, saffron and ivory, hot vermilions and cerulean blues, pressed into an astounding mosaic by some titanic force. 

"Hurry!" It was Rador calling. I had lagged behind. 

He quickened the pace to a half-run; we were climbing; panting. Theamber light grew stronger; the rift above us wider. The tunnel curved;on the left a narrow cleft appeared. The green dwarf leaped toward it, thrust us within, pushed us ahead of him up a steep rockyfissure--well-nigh, indeed, a chimney. Up and up this we scrambleduntil my lungs were bursting and I thought I could climb no more. Thecrevice ended; we crawled out and sank, even Rador, upon a littleleaf-carpeted clearing circled by lacy tree ferns. 

Gasping, legs aching, we lay prone, relaxed, drawing back strength andbreath. Rador was first to rise. Thrice he bent low as in homage, then--

"Give thanks to the Silent Ones--for their power has been over us!" heexclaimed. 

Dimly I wondered what he meant. Something about the fern leaf atwhich I had been staring aroused me. I leaped to my feet and ran toits base. This was no fern, no! It was fern _moss_! The largest of itsspecies I had ever found in tropic jungles had not been more than twoinches high, and this was--twenty feet! The scientific fire I hadexperienced in the tunnel returned uncontrollable. I parted thefronds, gazed out--

My outlook commanded a vista of miles--and that vista! A _FataMorgana_ of plantdom! A land of flowered sorcery!

Forests of tree-high mosses spangled over with blooms of everyconceivable shape and colour; cataracts and clusters, avalanches andnets of blossoms in pastels, in dulled metallics, in gorgeousflamboyant hues; some of them phosphorescent and shining like livingjewels; some sparkling as though with dust of opals, of sapphires, ofrubies and topazes and emeralds; thickets of convolvuli like thetrumpets of the seven archangels of Mara, king of illusion, which areshaped from the bows of splendours arching his highest heaven!

And moss veils like banners of a marching host of Titans; pennons andbannerets of the sunset; gonfalons of the Jinn; webs of faery;oriflammes of elfland!

Springing up through that polychromatic flood myriads ofpedicles--slender and straight as spears, or soaring in spirals, orcurving with undulations gracile as the white serpents of Tanit inancient Carthaginian groves--and all surmounted by a fantasy of sporecases in shapes of minaret and turret, domes and spires and cones, caps of Phrygia and bishops' mitres, shapes grotesque andunnameable--shapes delicate and lovely!

They hung high poised, nodding and swaying--like goblins hovering over_Titania's_ court; cacophony of Cathay accenting the _Flower Maiden_music of "Parsifal"; _bizarrerie_ of the angled, fantastic beings thatpeople the Javan pantheon watching a bacchanal of houris in Mohammed'sparadise!

Down upon it all poured the amber light; dimmed in the distances byhuge, drifting darkenings lurid as the flying mantles of thehurricane. 

And through the light, like showers of jewels, myriads of birds, darting, dipping, soaring, and still other myriads of gigantic, shimmering butterflies. 

A sound came to us, reaching out like the first faint susurrus of theincoming tide; sighing, sighing, growing stronger--now its mournfulwhispering quivered all about us, shook us--then passing like aPresence, died away in far distances. 

"The Portal!" said Rador. "Lugur has entered!"

He, too, parted the fronds and peered back along our path. Peeringwith him we saw the barrier through which we had come stretchingverdure-covered walls for miles three or more away. Like a mole burrowin a garden stretched the trail of the tunnel; here and there we couldlook down within the rift at its top; far off in it I thought I sawthe glint of spears. 

"They come!" whispered Rador. "Quick! We must not meet them here!"

And then--

"Holy St. Brigid!" gasped Larry. 

From the rift in the tunnel's continuation, nigh a mile beyond thecleft through which we had fled, lifted a crown of horns--oftentacles--erect, alert, of mottled gold and crimson; liftedhigher--and from a monstrous scarlet head beneath them blazed twoenormous, obloid eyes, their depths wells of purplish phosphorescence;higher still--noseless, earless, chinless; a livid, worm mouth fromwhich a slender scarlet tongue leaped like playing flames! Slowly itrose--its mighty neck cuirassed with gold and scarlet scales fromwhose polished surfaces the amber light glinted like flakes of fire;and under this neck shimmered something like a palely luminous silveryshield, guarding it. The head of horror mounted--and in the shield'scentre, full ten feet across, glowing, flickering, shiningout--coldly, was a rose of white flame, a "flower of cold fire" evenas Rador had said. 

Now swiftly the Thing upreared, standing like a scaled tower a hundredfeet above the rift, its eyes scanning that movement I had seen alongthe course of its lair. There was a hissing; the crown of horns fell, whipped and writhed like the tentacles of an octopus; the toweringlength dropped back. 

"Quick!" gasped Rador and through the fern moss, along the path anddown the other side of the steep we raced. 

Behind us for an instant there was a rushing as of a torrent; afar-away, faint, agonized screaming--silence!

"No fear _now_ from those who followed, " whispered the green dwarf, pausing. 

"Sainted St. Patrick!" O'Keefe gazed ruminatively at his automatic. "An' he expected me to kill _that_ with this. Well, as Fergus O'Connorsaid when they sent him out to slaughter a wild bull with a potatoknife: 'Ye'll niver rayilize how I appreciate the confidence ye showin me!'

"What was it, Doc?" he asked. 

"The dragon worm!" Rador said. 

"It was Helvede Orm--the hell worm!" groaned Olaf. 

"There you go again--" blazed Larry; but the green dwarf was hurryingdown the path and swiftly we followed, Larry muttering, Olaf mumbling, behind me. 

The green dwarf was signalling us for caution. He pointed through abreak in a grove of fifty-foot cedar mosses--we were skirting theglassy road! Scanning it we found no trace of Lugur and wonderedwhether he too had seen the worm and had fled. Quickly we passed on;drew away from the _coria_ path. The mosses began to thin; less andless they grew, giving way to low clumps that barely offered usshelter. Unexpectedly another screen of fern moss stretched before us. Slowly Rador made his way through it and stood hesitating. 

The scene in front of us was oddly weird and depressing; in someindefinable way--dreadful. Why, I could not tell, but the impressionwas plain; I shrank from it. Then, self-analyzing, I wondered whetherit could be the uncanny resemblance the heaps of curious mossy fungiscattered about had to beast and bird--yes, and to man--that was thecause of it. Our path ran between a few of them. To the left they werethick. They were viridescent, almost metallic hued--verd-antique. Curiously indeed were they like distorted images of dog and deerlikeforms, of birds--of _dwarfs_ and here and there the simulacra of thegiant frogs! Spore cases, yellowish green, as large as mitres and muchresembling them in shape protruded from the heaps. My repulsion grewinto a distinct nausea. 

Rador turned to us a face whiter far than that with which he hadlooked upon the dragon worm. 

"Now for your lives, " he whispered, "tread softly here as I do--andspeak not at all!"

He stepped forward on tiptoe, slowly with utmost caution. We creptafter him; passed the heaps beside the path--and as I passed my skincrept and I shrank and saw the others shrink too with that unnameableloathing; nor did the green dwarf pause until he had reached the browof a small hillock a hundred yards beyond. And he was trembling. 

"Now what are we up against?" grumbled O'Keefe. 

The green dwarf stretched a hand; stiffened; gazed over to the left ofus beyond a lower hillock upon whose broad crest lay a file of themoss shapes. They fringed it, their mitres having a grotesqueappearance of watching what lay below. The glistening road laythere--and from it came a shout. A dozen of the _coria_ clustered, filled with Lugur's men and in one of them Lugur himself, laughingwickedly!

There was a rush of soldiers and up the low hillock raced a score ofthem toward us. 

"Run!" shouted Rador. 

"Not much!" grunted Larry--and took swift aim at Lugur. The automaticspat: Olaf's echoed. Both bullets went wild, for Lugur, stilllaughing, threw himself into the protection of the body of his shell. But following the shots, from the file of moss heaps on the crest, came a series of muffled explosions. Under the pistol's concussionsthe mitred caps had burst and instantly all about the running soldiersgrew a cloud of tiny, glistening white spores--like a little cloud ofpuff-ball dust many times magnified. Through this cloud I glimpsedtheir faces, stricken with agony. 

Some turned to fly, but before they could take a second step stoodrigid. 

The spore cloud drifted and eddied about them; rained down on theirheads and half bare breasts, covered their garments--and swiftly theybegan to change! Their features grew indistinct--merged! Theglistening white spores that covered them turned to a pale yellow, grew greenish, spread and swelled, darkened. The eyes of one of thesoldiers glinted for a moment--and then were covered by the swiftgrowth!

Where but a few moments before had been men were only grotesque heaps, swiftly melting, swiftly rounding into the semblance of the moundsthat lay behind us--and already beginning to take on their gleam ofancient viridescence!

The Irishman was gripping my arm fiercely; the pain brought me back tomy senses. 

"Olaf's right, " he gasped. "This _is_ hell! I'm sick. " And he was, frankly and without restraint. Lugur and his others awakened fromtheir nightmare; piled into the _coria_, wheeled, raced away. 

"On!" said Rador thickly. "Two perils have we passed--the Silent Oneswatch over us!"

Soon we were again among the familiar and so unfamiliar moss giants. I knew what I had seen and this time Larry could not callme--superstitious. In the jungles of Borneo I had examined that otherswiftly developing fungus which wreaks the vengeance of some of thehill tribes upon those who steal their women; gripping with itsmicroscopic hooks into the flesh; sending quick, tiny rootlets throughthe skin down into the capillaries, sucking life and thriving andnever to be torn away until the living thing it clings to has beensapped dry. Here was but another of the species in which thedevelopment's rate was incredibly accelerated. Some of this I tried toexplain to O'Keefe as we sped along, reassuring him. 

"But they turned to moss before our eyes!" he said. 

Again I explained, patiently. But he seemed to derive no comfort atall from my assurances that the phenomena were entirely natural and, aside from their more terrifying aspect, of peculiar interest to thebotanist. 

"I know, " was all he would say. "But suppose one of those things hadburst while we were going through--God!"

I was wondering how I could with comparative safety study the funguswhen Rador stopped; in front of us was again the road ribbon. 

"Now is all danger passed, " he said. "The way lies open and Lugur hasfled--"

There was a flash from the road. It passed me like a little lariat oflight. It struck Larry squarely between the eyes, spread over his faceand drew itself within!

"Down!" cried Rador, and hurled me to the ground. My head strucksharply; I felt myself grow faint; Olaf fell beside me; I saw thegreen dwarf draw down the O'Keefe; he collapsed limply, face still, eyes staring. A shout--and from the roadway poured a host of Lugur'smen; I could hear Lugur bellowing. 

There came a rush of little feet; soft, fragrant draperies brushed myface; dimly I watched Lakla bend over the Irishman. 

She straightened--her arms swept out and the writhing vine, with itstendrilled heads of ruby bloom, five flames of misty incandescence, leaped into the faces of the soldiers now close upon us. It darted attheir throats, striking, coiling, and striking again; coiling anduncoiling with incredible rapidity and flying from leverage points ofthroats, of faces, of breasts like a spring endowed withconsciousness, volition and hatred--and those it struck stood rigid asstone with faces masks of inhuman fear and anguish; and those stillunstricken fled. 

Another rush of feet--and down upon Lugur's forces poured thefrog-men, their booming giant leading, thrusting with their lances, tearing and rending with talons and fangs and spurs. 

Against that onslaught the dwarfs could not stand. They raced for theshells; I heard Lugur shouting, menacingly--and then Lakla's voice, pealing like a golden bugle of wrath. 

"Go, Lugur!" she cried. "Go--that you and Yolara and your Shining Onemay die together! Death for you, Lugur--death for you all! RememberLugur--death!"

There was a great noise within my head--no matter, Lakla washere--Lakla here--but too late--Lugur had outplayed us; moss death nordragon worm had frightened him away--he had crept back to trapus--Lakla had come too late--Larry was dead--Larry! But I had heard nobanshee wailing--and Larry had said he could not die without thatwarning--no, Larry was not dead. So ran the turbulent current of mymind. 

A horny arm lifted me; two enormous, oddly gentle saucer eyes werestaring into mine; my head rolled; I caught a glimpse of the GoldenGirl kneeling beside the O'Keefe. 

The noise in my head grew thunderous--was carrying me away on itsthunder--swept me into soft, blind darkness. 

CHAPTER XXIV

The Crimson Sea

I was in the heart of a rose pearl, swinging, swinging; no, I was in arosy dawn cloud, pendulous in space. Consciousness flooded me, inreality I was in the arms of one of the man frogs, carrying me asthough I were a babe, and we were passing through some place suffusedwith glow enough like heart of pearl or dawn cloud to justify myawakening vagaries. 

Just ahead walked Lakla in earnest talk with Rador, and content enoughwas I for a time to watch her. She had thrown off the metallic robes;her thick braids of golden brown hair with their flame glints ofbronze were twined in a high coronal meshed in silken net of green;little clustering curls escaped from it, clinging to the nape of theproud white neck, shyly kissing it. From her shoulders fell a loose, sleeveless garment of shimmering green belted with a high goldengirdle; skirt folds dropping barely below the knees. 

She had cast aside her buskins, too, and the slender, high-arched feetwere sandalled. Between the buckled edges of her kirtle I caughtgleams of translucent ivory as exquisitely moulded, as delectablyrounded, as those revealed so naively beneath the hem. 

Something was knocking at the doors of my consciousness--some tragicthing. What was it? Larry! Where was Larry? I remembered; raised myhead abruptly; saw at my side another frog-man carrying O'Keefe, andbehind him, Olaf, step instinct with grief, following like somefaithful, wistful dog who has lost a loved master. Upon my movementthe monster bearing me halted, looked down inquiringly, uttered adeep, booming note that held the quality of interrogation. 

Lakla turned; the clear, golden eyes were sorrowful, the sweet mouthdrooping; but her loveliness, her gentleness, that undefinablesynthesis of all her tender self that seemed always to circle her withan atmosphere of lucid normality, lulled my panic. 

"Drink this, " she commanded, holding a small vial to my lips. 

Its contents were aromatic, unfamiliar but astonishingly effective, for as soon as they passed my lips I felt a surge of strength;consciousness was restored. 

"Larry!" I cried. "Is he dead?"

Lakla shook her head; her eyes were troubled. 

"No, " she said; "but he is like one dead--and yet unlike--"

"Put me down, " I demanded of my bearer. 

He tightened his hold; round eyes upon the Golden Girl. She spoke--insonorous, reverberating monosyllables--and I was set upon my feet; Ileaped to the side of the Irishman. He lay limp, with a disquieting, abnormal sequacity, as though every muscle were utterly flaccid; theantithesis of the _rigor mortis_, thank God, but terrifyingly towardthe other end of its arc; a syncope I had never known. The flesh wasstone cold; the pulse barely perceptible, long intervalled; therespiration undiscoverable; the pupils of the eyes were enormouslydilated; it was as though life had been drawn from every nerve. 

"A light flashed from the road. It struck his face and seemed to sinkin, " I said. 

"I saw, " answered Rador; "but what it was I know not; and I thought Iknew all the weapons of our rulers. " He glanced at me curiously. "Sometalk there has been that the stranger who came with you, DoubleTongue, was making new death tools for Lugur, " he ended. 

Marakinoff! The Russian at work already in this storehouse ofdevastating energies, fashioning the weapons for his plots! TheApocalyptic vision swept back upon me--

"He is not dead. " Lakla's voice was poignant. "He is not dead; andthe Three have wondrous healing. They can restore him if theywill--and they will, they _will_!" For a moment she was silent. "Nowtheir gods help Lugur and Yolara, " she whispered; "for come what may, whether the Silent Ones be strong or weak, if he dies, surely shall Ifall upon them and I will slay those two--yea, though I, too perish!"

"Yolara and Lugur shall both die. " Olaf's eyes were burning. "ButLugur is mine to slay. "

That pity I had seen before in Lakla's eyes when she looked upon theNorseman banished the white wrath from them. She turned, halfhurriedly, as though to escape his gaze. 

"Walk with us, " she said to me, "unless you are still weak. "

I shook my head, gave a last look at O'Keefe; there was nothing Icould do; I stepped beside her. She thrust a white arm into mineprotectingly, the wonderfully moulded hand with its long, taperingfingers catching about my wrist; my heart glowed toward her. 

"Your medicine is potent, handmaiden, " I answered. "And the touch ofyour hand would give me strength enough, even had I not drunk it, " Iadded in Larry's best manner. 

Her eyes danced, trouble flying. 

"Now, that was well spoken for such a man of wisdom as Rador tells meyou are, " she laughed; and a little pang shot through me. Could not alover of science present a compliment without it always seeming to beas unusual as plucking a damask rose from a cabinet of fossils?

Mustering my philosophy, I smiled back at her. Again I noted thatbroad, classic brow, with the little tendrils of shining bronzecaressing it, the tilted, delicate, nut-brown brows that gave acurious touch of innocent _diablerie_ to the lovely face--flowerlike, pure, high-bred, a touch of roguishness, subtly alluring, sparklingover the maiden Madonnaness that lay ever like a delicate, luminoussuggestion beneath it; the long, black, curling lashes--the tender, rounded, bare left breast--

"I have always liked you, " she murmured naively, "since first I sawyou in that place where the Shining One goes forth into your world. And I am glad you like my medicine as well as that you carry in theblack box that you left behind, " she added swiftly. 

"How know you of that, Lakla?" I gasped. 

"Oft and oft I came to him there, and to you, while you lay sleeping. How call you _him_?" She paused. 

"Larry!" I said. 

"Larry!" she repeated it excellently. "And you?"

"Goodwin, " said Rador. 

I bowed quite as though I were being introduced to some charming younglady met in that old life now seemingly aeons removed. 

"Yes--Goodwin. " she said. "Oft and oft I came. Sometimes I thoughtyou saw me. And _he_--did he not dream of me sometime--?" she askedwistfully. 

"He did. " I said, "and watched for you. " Then amazement grew vocal. "But how came you?" I asked. 

"By a strange road, " she whispered, "to see that all was well with_him_--and to look into his heart; for I feared Yolara and her beauty. But I saw that she was not in his heart. " A blush burned over her, turning even the little bare breast rosy. "It is a strange road, " shewent on hurriedly. "Many times have I followed it and watched theShining One bear back its prey to the blue pool; seen the woman _he_seeks"--she made a quick gesture toward Olaf--"and a babe cast fromher arms in the last pang of her mother love; seen another woman throwherself into the Shining One's embrace to save a man she loved; and Icould not help!" Her voice grew deep, thrilled. "The friend, it comesto me, who drew you here, Goodwin!"

She was silent, walking as one who sees visions and listens to voicesunheard by others, Rador made a warning gesture; I crowded back myquestions, glanced about me. We were passing over a smooth strand, hard packed as some beach of long-thrust-back ocean. It was likecrushed garnets, each grain stained deep red, faintly sparkling. Oneach side were distances, the floor stretching away into them bare ofvegetation--stretching on and on into infinitudes of rosy mist, evenas did the space above. 

Flanking and behind us marched the giant batrachians, fivescore ofthem at least, black scale and crimson scale lustrous and gleaming inthe rosaceous radiance; saucer eyes shining circles of phosphorescencegreen, purple, red; spurs clicking as they crouched along with a gaitat once grotesque and formidable. 

Ahead the mist deepened into a ruddier glow; through it a long, darkline began to appear--the mouth I thought of the caverned spacethrough which we were going; it was just before us; over us--we stoodbathed in a flood of rubescence!

A sea stretched before us--a crimson sea, gleaming like that lostlacquer of royal coral and the Flame Dragon's blood which Fu S'cze setupon the bower he built for his stolen sun maiden--that going towardit she might think it the sun itself rising over the summer seas. Unmoved by wave or ripple, it was placid as some deep woodland poolwhen night rushes up over the world. 

It seemed molten--or as though some hand great enough to rock earthhad distilled here from conflagrations of autumn sunsets their flamingessences. 

A fish broke through, large as a shark, blunt-headed, flashing bronze, ridged and mailed as though with serrate plates of armour. It leapedhigh, shaking from it a sparkling spray of rubies; dropped and shot upa geyser of fiery gems. 

Across my line of vision, moving stately over the sea, floated a halfglobe, luminous, diaphanous, its iridescence melting into turquoise, thence to amethyst, to orange, to scarlet shot with rose, tovermilion, a translucent green, thence back into the iridescence;behind it four others, and the least of them ten feet in diameter, andthe largest no less than thirty. They drifted past like bubbles blownfrom froth of rainbows by pipes in mouths of Titans' young. Then fromthe base of one arose a tangle of shimmering strands, long, slenderwhiplashes that played about and sank slowly again beneath the crimsonsurface. 

I gasped--for the fish had been a _ganoid_--that ancient, armouredform that was perhaps the most intelligent of all life on our planetduring the Devonian era, but which for age upon age had vanished, savefor its fossils held in the embrace of the stone that once was theirsoft bottom beds; and the half-globes were _Medusae_, jelly-fish--butof a size, luminosity, and colour unheard of. 

Now Lakla cupped her mouth with pink palms and sent a clarion noteringing out. The ledge on which we stood continued a few hundred feetbefore us, falling abruptly, though from no great height to theCrimson Sea; at right and left it extended in a long semicircle. Turning to the right whence she had sent her call, I saw rising a mileor more away, veiled lightly by the haze, a rainbow, a giganticprismatic arch, flattened, I thought, by some quality of the strangeatmosphere. It sprang from the ruddy strand, leaped the crimson tide, and dropped three miles away upon a precipitous, jagged upthrust ofrock frowning black from the lacquered depths. 

And surmounting a higher ledge beyond this upthrust a huge dome ofdull gold, Cyclopean, striking eyes and mind with something unhumanlyalien, baffling; sending the mind groping, as though across thedeserts of space, from some far-flung star, should fall upon us linkedsounds, coherent certainly, meaningful surely, vaguely familiar--yetnever to be translated into any symbol or thought of our ownparticular planet. 

The sea of crimson lacquer, with its floating moons of luminouscolour--this bow of prismed stone leaping to the weird isle crowned bythe anomalous, aureate excrescence--the half human batrachians-theelfland through which we had passed, with all its hidden wonders andterrors--I felt the foundations of my cherished knowledge shaking. Was this all a dream? Was this body of mine lying somewhere, fightinga fevered death, and all these but images floating through thebreaking chambers of my brain? My knees shook; involuntarily Igroaned. 

Lakla turned, looked at me anxiously, slipped a soft arm behind me, held me till the vertigo passed. 

"Patience, " she said. "The bearers come. Soon you shall rest. "

I looked; down toward us from the bow's end were leaping swiftlyanother score of the frog-men. Some bore litters, high, handled, notunlike palanquins--

"Asgard!" Olaf stood beside me, eyes burning, pointing to the arch. "Bifrost Bridge, sharp as sword edge, over which souls go to Valhalla. And _she_--she is a Valkyr--a sword maiden, _Ja!_"

I gripped the Norseman's hand. It was hot, and a pang of remorse shotthrough me. If this place had so shaken me, how must it have shakenOlaf? It was with relief that I watched him, at Lakla's gentlecommand, drop into one of the litters and lie back, eyes closed, astwo of the monsters raised its yoke to their scaled shoulders. Nor wasit without further relief that I myself lay back on the soft velvetycushions of another. 

The cavalcade began to move. Lakla had ordered O'Keefe placed besideher, and she sat, knees crossed Orient fashion, leaning over the palehead on her lap, the white, tapering fingers straying fondly throughhis hair. 

Presently I saw her reach up, slowly unwind the coronal of hertresses, shake them loose, and let them fall like a veil over her andhim. 

Her head bent low; I heard a soft sobbing--I turned away my gaze, lornenough in my own heart, God knew!

CHAPTER XXV

The Three Silent Ones

The arch was closer--and in my awe I forgot for the moment Larry andaught else. For this was no rainbow, no thing born of light and mist, no Bifrost Bridge of myth--no! It was a flying arch of stone, stainedwith flares of Tyrian purples, of royal scarlets, of blues dark as theGulf Stream's ribbon, sapphires soft as midday May skies, splashes ofchromes and greens--a palette of giantry, a bridge of wizardry; ahundred, nay, a thousand, times greater than that of Utah which theNavaho call Nonnegozche and worship, as well they may, as a god, andwhich is itself a rainbow in eternal rock. 

It sprang from the ledge and winged its prodigious length in one lowarc over the sea's crimson breast, as though in some ancient paroxysmof earth it had been hurled molten, crystallizing into that stupendousspan and still flaming with the fires that had moulded it. 

Closer we came and closer, while I watched spellbound; now we were atits head, and the litter-bearers swept upon it. All of five hundredfeet wide it was, surface smooth as a city road, sides low walled, curving inward as though in the jetting-out of its making the edges ofthe plastic rock had curled. 

On and on we sped; the high thrusting precipices upon which thebridge's far end rested, frowned close; the enigmatic, dully shiningdome loomed ever greater. Now we had reached that end; were passingover a smooth plaza whose level floor was enclosed, save for a rift infront of us, by the fanged tops of the black cliffs. 

From this rift stretched another span, half a mile long, perhaps, widening at its centre into a broad platform, continuing straight totwo massive gates set within the face of the second cliff wall likepanels, and of the same dull gold as the dome rising high beyond. Andthis smaller arch leaped a pit, an abyss, of which the outerprecipices were the rim holding back from the pit the red flood. 

We were rapidly approaching; now upon the platform; my bearers werestriding closely along the side; I leaned far out--a giddiness seizedme! I gazed down into depth upon vertiginous depth; an abyssindeed--an abyss dropping to world's base like that in which theBabylonians believed writhed Talaat, the serpent mother of Chaos; apit that struck down into earth's heart itself. 

Now, what was that--distance upon unfathomable distance below? Astupendous glowing like the green fire of life itself. What was itlike? I had it! It was like the corona of the sun in eclipse--thatburgeoning that makes of our luminary when moon veils it an incredibleblossoming of splendours in the black heavens. 

And strangely, strangely, it was like the Dweller's beauty when withits dazzling spirallings and writhings it raced amid its storm ofcrystal bell sounds!

The abyss was behind us; we had paused at the golden portals; theyswung inward. A wide corridor filled with soft light was before us, and on its threshold stood--bizarre, yellow gems gleaming, huge muzzlewide in what was evidently meant for a smile of welcome--the womanfrog of the Moon Pool wall. 

Lakla raised her head; swept back the silken tent of her hair andgazed at me with eyes misty from weeping. The frog-woman crept to herside; gazed down upon Larry; spoke--_spoke_--to the Golden Girl in aswift stream of the sonorous, reverberant monosyllables; and Laklaanswered her in kind. The webbed digits swept over O'Keefe's face, felt at his heart; she shook her head and moved ahead of us up thepassage. 

Still borne in the litters we went on, winding, ascending until atlast they were set down in a great hall carpeted with soft fragrantrushes and into which from high narrow slits streamed the crimsonlight from without. 

I jumped over to Larry, there had been no change in his condition;still the terrifying limpness, the slow, infrequent pulsation. Radorand Olaf--and the fever now seemed to be gone from him--came and stoodbeside me, silent. 

"I go to the Three, " said Lakla. "Wait you here. " She passed througha curtaining; then as swiftly as she had gone she returned through thehangings, tresses braided, a swathing of golden gauze about her. 

"Rador, " she said, "bear you Larry--for into your heart the SilentOnes would look. And fear nothing, " she added at the green dwarf'sdisconcerted, almost fearful start. 

Rador bowed, was thrust aside by Olaf. 

"No, " said the Norseman; "I will carry him. "

He lifted Larry like a child against his broad breast. The dwarfglanced quickly at Lakla; she nodded. 

"Come!" she commanded, and held aside the folds. 

Of that journey I have few memories. I only know that we went throughcorridor upon corridor; successions of vast halls and chambers, somecarpeted with the rushes, others with rugs into which the feet sank asinto deep, soft meadows; spaces illumined by the rubrous light, andspaces in which softer lights held sway. 

We paused before a slab of the same crimson stone as that the greendwarf had called the portal, and upon its polished surface weaved thesame unnameable symbols. The Golden Girl pressed upon its side; itslipped softly back; a torrent of opalescence gushed out of theopening--and as one in a dream I entered. 

We were, I knew, just under the dome; but for the moment, caught inthe flood of radiance, I could see nothing. It was like being heldwithin a fire opal--so brilliant, so flashing, was it. I closed myeyes, opened them; the lambency cascaded from the vast curves of theglobular walls; in front of me was a long, narrow opening in them, through which, far away, I could see the end of the wizards' bridgeand the ledged mouth of the cavern through which we had come; againstthe light from within beat the crimson light from without--and waschecked as though by a barrier. 

I felt Lakla's touch; turned. 

A hundred paces away was a dais, its rim raised a yard above thefloor. From the edge of this rim streamed upward a steady, coruscatingmist of the opalescence, veined even as was that of the Dweller'sshining core and shot with milky shadows like curdled moonlight; up itstretched like a wall. 

Over it, from it, down upon me, gazed three faces--two clearly male, one a woman's. At the first I thought them statues, and then the eyesof them gave the lie to me; for the eyes were alive, terribly, and ifI could admit the word--_supernaturally_--alive. 

They were thrice the size of the human eye and triangular, the apex ofthe angle upward; black as jet, pupilless, filled with tiny, leapingred flames. 

Over them were foreheads, not as ours--high and broad and visored;their sides drawn forward into a vertical ridge, a prominence, anupright wedge, somewhat like the visored heads of a few of the greatlizards--and the heads, long, narrowing at the back, were fully twicethe size of mankind's!

Upon the brows were caps--and with a fearful certainty I knew thatthey were _not_ caps--long, thick strands of gleaming yellow, featheredscales thin as sequins! Sharp, curving noses like the beaks of thegiant condors; mouths thin, austere; long, powerful, pointed chins;the--_flesh_--of the faces white as the whitest marble; and wreathingup to them, covering all their bodies, the shimmering, curdled, mistyfires of opalescence!

Olaf stood rigid; my own heart leaped wildly. What--what were thesebeings?

I forced myself to look again--and from their gaze streamed a currentof reassurance, of good will--nay, of intense spiritual strength. Isaw that they were not fierce, not ruthless, not inhuman, despitetheir strangeness; no, they were kindly; in some unmistakable way, benign and sorrowful--so sorrowful! I straightened, gazed back at themfearlessly. Olaf drew a deep breath, gazed steadily too, the hardness, the despair wiped from his face. 

Now Lakla drew closer to the dais; the three pairs of eyes searchedhers, the woman's with an ineffable tenderness; some message seemed topass between the Three and the Golden Girl. She bowed low, turned tothe Norseman. 

"Place Larry there, " she said softly--"there at the feet of the SilentOnes. "

She pointed into the radiant mist; Olaf started, hesitated, staredfrom Lakla to the Three, searched for a moment their eyes--andsomething like a smile drifted through them. He stepped forward, lifted O'Keefe, set him squarely within the covering light. Itwavered, rolled upward, swirled about the body, steadied again--andwithin it there was no sign of Larry!

Again the mist wavered, shook, and seemed to climb higher, hiding thechins, the beaked noses, the brows of that incredible Trinity--butbefore it ceased to climb, I thought the yellow feathered heads bent;sensed a movement as though they lifted something. 

The mist fell; the eyes gleamed out again, inscrutable. 

And groping out of the radiance, pausing at the verge of the dais, leaping down from it, came Larry, laughing, filled with life, blinkingas one who draws from darkness into sunshine. He saw Lakla, sprang toher, gripped her in his arms. 

"Lakla!" he cried. "Mavourneen!" She slipped from his embrace, blushing, glancing at the Three shyly, half-fearfully. And again I sawthe tenderness creep into the inky, flame-shot orbs of the womanbeing; and a tenderness in the others too--as though they regardedsome well-beloved child. 

"You lay in the arms of Death, Larry, " she said. "And the Silent Onesdrew you from him. Do homage to the Silent Ones, Larry, for they aregood and they are mighty!"

She turned his head with one of the long, white hands--and he lookedinto the faces of the Three; looked long, was shaken even as had beenOlaf and myself; was swept by that same wave of power and of--of--whatcan I call it?--_holiness_ that streamed from them. 

Then for the first time I saw real awe mount into his face. Anothermoment he stared--and dropped upon one knee and bowed his head beforethem as would a worshipper before the shrine of his saint. And--I amnot ashamed to tell it--I joined him; and with us knelt Lakla andOlaf and Rador. 

The mist of fiery opal swirled up about the Three; hid them. 

And with a long, deep, joyous sigh Lakla took Larry's hand, drew himto his feet, and silently we followed them out of that hall of wonder. 

But why, in going, did the thought come to me that from where theThree sat throned they ever watched the cavern mouth that was the doorinto their abode; and looked down ever into the unfathomable depth inwhich glowed and pulsed that mystic flower, colossal, awesome, ofgreen flame that had seemed to me fire of life itself?

CHAPTER XXVI

The Wooing of Lakla

I had slept soundly and dreamlessly; I wakened quietly in the greatchamber into which Rador had ushered O'Keefe and myself after thatculminating experience of crowded, nerve-racking hours--the facing ofthe Three. 

Now, lying gazing upward at the high-vaulted ceiling, I heard Larry'svoice:

"They look like birds. " Evidently he was thinking of the Three; asilence--then: "Yes, they look like _birds_--and they look, and it'smeaning no disrespect to them I am at all, they look like_lizards_"--and another silence--"they look like some sort of gods, and, by the good sword-arm of Brian Boru, they look human, too! And it's_none_ of them they are either, so what--what the--what the sainted St. Bridget are they?" Another short silence, and then in a tone of awedand absolute conviction: "That's it, sure! That's what they are--itall hangs in--they couldn't be anything else--"

He gave a whoop; a pillow shot over and caught me across the head. 

"Wake up!" shouted Larry. "Wake up, ye seething caldron of fossilizedsuperstitions! Wake up, ye bogy-haunted man of scientific unwisdom!"

Under pillow and insults I bounced to my feet, filled for a momentwith quite real wrath; he lay back, roaring with laughter, and myanger was swept away. 

"Doc, " he said, very seriously, after this, "I know who the Threeare!"

"Yes?" I queried, with studied sarcasm. 

"Yes?" he mimicked. "Yes! Ye--ye" He paused under the menace of mylook, grinned. "Yes, I know, " he continued. "They're of the Tuatha De, the old ones, the great people of Ireland, _that's_ who they are!"

I knew, of course, of the Tuatha De Danann, the tribes of the godDanu, the half-legendary, half-historical clan who found their home inErin some four thousand years before the Christian era, and who haveleft so deep an impress upon the Celtic mind and its myths. 

"Yes, " said Larry again, "the Tuatha De--the Ancient Ones who hadspells that could compel Mananan, who is the spirit of all the seas, an' Keithor, who is the god of all green living things, an' evenHesus, the unseen god, whose pulse is the pulse of all the firmament;yes, an' Orchil too, who sits within the earth an' weaves with theshuttle of mystery and her three looms of birth an' life an'death--even Orchil would weave as they commanded!"

He was silent--then:

"They are of them--the mighty ones--why else would I have bent my kneeto them as I would have to the spirit of my dead mother? Why elsewould Lakla, whose gold-brown hair is the hair of Eilidh the Fair, whose mouth is the sweet mouth of Deirdre, an' whose soul walked withmine ages agone among the fragrant green myrtle of Erin, serve them?"he whispered, eyes full of dream. 

"Have you any idea how they got here?" I asked, not unreasonably. 

"I haven't thought about that, " he replied somewhat testily. "But atonce, me excellent man o' wisdom, a number occur to me. One of them isthat this little party of three might have stopped here on their wayto Ireland, an' for good reasons of their own decided to stay a while;an' another is that they might have come here afterward, havin' gotwind of what those rats out there were contemplatin', and have stayedon the job till the time was ripe to save Ireland from 'em; the restof the world, too, of course, " he added magnanimously, "but Ireland inparticular. And do any of those reasons appeal to ye?"

I shook my head. 

"Well, what do you think?" he asked wearily. 

"I think, " I said cautiously, "that we face an evolution of highlyintelligent beings from ancestral sources radically removed from thosethrough which mankind ascended. These half-human, highly developedbatrachians they call the _Akka_ prove that evolution in thesecaverned spaces has certainly pursued one different path than onearth. The Englishman, Wells, wrote an imaginative and veryentertaining book concerning an invasion of earth by Martians, and hemade his Martians enormously specialized cuttlefish. There was nothinginherently improbable in Wells' choice. Man is the ruling animal ofearth today solely by reason of a series of accidents; under anotherseries spiders or ants, or even elephants, could have become thedominant race. 

"I think, " I said, even more cautiously, "that the race to which theThree belong never appeared on earth's surface; that their developmenttook place here, unhindered through aeons. And if this be true, thestructure of their brains, and therefore all their reactions, must bedifferent from ours. Hence their knowledge and command of energiesunfamiliar to us--and hence also the question whether they may nothave an entirely different sense of values, of justice--and that israther terrifying, " I concluded. 

Larry shook his head. 

"That last sort of knocks your argument, Doc, " he said. "They hadsense of justice enough to help _me_ out--and certainly they knowlove--for I saw the way they looked at Lakla; and sorrow--for therewas no mistaking that in their faces. 

"No, " he went on. "I hold to my own idea. They're of the Old People. The little leprechaun knew his way here, an' I'll bet it was they whosent the word. An' if the O'Keefe banshee comes here--which save themark!--I'll bet she'll drop in on the Silent Ones for a social visitbefore she an' her clan get busy. Well, it'll make her feel more athome, the good old body. No, Doc, no, " he concluded, "I'm right; itall fits in too well to be wrong. "

I made a last despairing attempt. 

"Is there anything anywhere in Ireland that would indicate that theTuatha De ever looked like the Three?" I asked--and again I hadspoken most unfortunately. 

"Is there?" he shouted. "Is there? By the kilt of CormackMacCormack, I'm glad ye reminded me. It was worryin' me a littlemeself. There was Daghda, who could put on the head of a great boaran' the body of a giant fish and cleave the waves an' tear to piecesthe birlins of any who came against Erin; an' there was Rinn--"

How many more of the metamorphoses of the Old People I might haveheard, I do not know, for the curtains parted and in walked Rador. 

"You have rested well, " he smiled, "I can see. The handmaiden bade mecall you. You are to eat with her in her garden. "

Down long corridors we trod and out upon a gardened terrace asbeautiful as any of those of Yolara's city; bowered, blossoming, fragrant, set high upon the cliffs beside the domed castle. A table, as of milky jade, was spread at one corner, but the Golden Girl wasnot there. A little path ran on and up, hemmed in by the mass ofverdure. I looked at it longingly; Rador saw the glance, interpretedit, and led me up the stepped sharp slope into a rock embrasure. 

Here I was above the foliage, and everywhere the view was clear. Below me stretched the incredible bridge, with the frog peoplehurrying back and forth upon it. A pinnacle at my side hid the abyss. My eyes followed the cavern ledge. Above it the rock rose bare, but atthe ends of the semicircular strand a luxuriant vegetation began, stretching from the crimson shores back into far distances. Of brownsand reds and yellows, like an autumn forest, was the foliage, withhere and there patches of dark-green, as of conifers. Five miles ormore, on each side, the forests swept, and then were lost to sight inthe haze. 

I turned and faced an immensity of crimson waters, unbroken, a truesea, if ever there was one. A breeze blew--the first real wind I hadencountered in the hidden places; under it the surface, that had beenas molten lacquer, rippled and dimpled. Little waves broke with aspray of rose-pearls and rubies. The giant Medusae drifted--stately, luminous kaleidoscopic elfin moons. 

Far down, peeping around a jutting tower of the cliff, I saw dippingwith the motion of the waves a floating garden. The flowers, too, wereluminous--indeed sparkling--gleaming brilliants of scarlet andvermilions lighter than the flood on which they lay, mauves and oddshades of reddish-blue. They gleamed and shone like a little lake ofjewels. 

Rador broke in upon my musings. 

"Lakla comes! Let us go down. "

It was a shy Lakla who came slowly around the end of the path and, blushing furiously, held her hands out to Larry. And the Irishman tookthem, placed them over his heart, kissed them with a tenderness thathad been lacking in the half-mocking, half-fierce caresses he hadgiven the priestess. She blushed deeper, holding out the taperingfingers--then pressed them to her own heart. 

"I like the touch of your lips, Larry, " she whispered. "They warm mehere"--she pressed her heart again--"and they send little sparkles oflight through me. " Her brows tilted perplexedly, accenting the nuanceof diablerie, delicate and fascinating, that they cast upon the flowerface. 

"Do you?" whispered the O'Keefe fervently. "Do you, Lakla?" He benttoward her. She caught the amused glance of Rador; drew herself asidehalf-haughtily. 

"Rador, " she said, "is it not time that you and the strong one, Olaf, were setting forth?"

"Truly it is, handmaiden, " he answered respectfully enough--yet with acurrent of laughter under his words. "But as you know the strong one, Olaf, wished to see his friends here before we were gone--and he comeseven now, " he added, glancing down the pathway, along which camestriding the Norseman. 

As he faced us I saw that a transformation had been wrought in him. Gone was the pitiful seeking, and gone too the just as pitiful hope. The set face softened as he looked at the Golden Girl and bowed low toher. He thrust a hand to O'Keefe and to me. 

"There is to be battle, " he said. "I go with Rador to call the armiesof these frog people. As for me--Lakla has spoken. There is no hopefor--for mine Helma in life, but there is hope that we destroy theShining Devil and give _mine_ Helma peace. And with that I am wellcontent, _ja!_ Well content!" He gripped our hands again. "We willfight!" he muttered. "_Ja!_ And I will have vengeance!" The sternnessreturned; and with a salute Rador and he were gone. 

Two great tears rolled from the golden eyes of Lakla. 

"Not even the Silent Ones can heal those the Shining One has taken, "she said. "He asked me--and it was better that I tell him. It is partof the Three's--_punishment_--but of that you will soon learn, " she wenton hurriedly. "Ask me no questions now of the Silent Ones. I thoughtit better for Olaf to go with Rador, to busy himself, to give his mindother than sorrow upon which to feed. "

Up the path came five of the frog-women, bearing platters and ewers. Their bracelets and anklets of jewels were tinkling; their middlescovered with short kirtles of woven cloth studded with the sparklingornaments. 

And here let me say that if I have given the impression that the_Akka_ are simply magnified frogs, I regret it. Frog-like they are, and hence my phrase for them--but as unlike the frog, as we know it, as man is unlike the chimpanzee. Springing, I hazard, from thestegocephalia, the ancestor of the frogs, these batrachians followed adifferent line of evolution and acquired the upright position just asman did his from the four-footed folk. 

The great staring eyes, the shape of the muzzle were frog-like, butthe highly developed brain had set upon the head and shape of it vitaldifferences. The forehead, for instance, was not low, flat, andretreating--its frontal arch was well defined. The head was, in asense, shapely, and with the females the great horny carapace thatstood over it like a fantastic helmet was much modified, as were thespurs that were so formidable in the male; colouration was differentalso. The torso was upright; the legs a little bent, giving them theircrouching gait--but I wander from my subject. [1]

They set their burdens down. Larry looked at them with interest. 

"You surely have those things well trained, Lakla, " he said. 

"Things!" The handmaiden arose, eyes flashing with indignation. "Youcall my _Akka_ things!"

"Well, " said Larry, a bit taken aback, "what do you call them?"

"My _Akka_ are a _people_, " she retorted. "As much a people as your raceor mine. They are good and loyal, and they have speech and arts, andthey slay not, save for food or to protect themselves. And I thinkthem beautiful, Larry, _beautiful_!" She stamped her foot. "And you callthem--_things_!"

Beautiful! These? Yet, after all, they were, in their grotesquefashion. And to Lakla, surrounded by them, from babyhood, they werenot strange, at all. Why shouldn't she think them beautiful? The samethought must have struck O'Keefe, for he flushed guiltily. 

"I think them beautiful, too, Lakla, " he said remorsefully. "It's mynot knowing your tongue too well that traps me. _Truly_, I think thembeautiful--I'd tell them so, if I knew their talk. "

Lakla dimpled, laughed--spoke to the attendants in that strange speechthat was unquestionably a language; they bridled, looked at O'Keefewith fantastic coquetry, cracked and boomed softly among themselves. 

"They say they like _you_ better than the men of Muria, " laughed Lakla. 

"Did I ever think I'd be swapping compliments with lady frogs!" hemurmured to me. "Buck up, Larry--keep your eyes on the captive Irishprincess!" he muttered to himself. 

"Rador goes to meet one of the _ladala_ who is slipping through withnews, " said the Golden Girl as we addressed ourselves to the food. "Then, with Nak, he and Olaf go to muster the _Akka_--for there willbe battle, and we must prepare. Nak, " she added, "is he who wentbefore me when you were dancing with Yolara, Larry. " She stole aswift, mischievous glance at him. "He is headman of all the _Akka_. "

"Just what forces can we muster against them when they come, darlin'?"said Larry. 

"Darlin'?"--the Golden Girl had caught the caress of the word--"what'sthat?"

"It's a little word that means Lakla, " he answered. "It does--thatis, when I say it; when you say it, then it means Larry. "

"I like that word, " mused Lakla. 

"You can even say Larry darlin'!" suggested O'Keefe. 

"Larry darlin'!" said Lakla. "When they come we shall have first ofall my _Akka_--"

"Can they fight, _mavourneen_?" interrupted Larry. 

"Can they fight! My _Akka_!" Again her eyes flashed. "They willfight to the last of them--with the spears that give the swiftrotting, covered, as they are, with the jelly of those _Saddu_there--" She pointed through a rift in the foliage across which, onthe surface of the sea, was floating one of the moon globes--and now Iknow why Rador had warned Larry against a plunge there. "With spearsand clubs and with teeth and nails and spurs--they are a strong andbrave people, Larry--darlin', and though they hurl the _Keth_ at them, it is slow to work upon them, and they slay even while they arepassing into the nothingness!"

"And have we none of the _Keth_?" he asked. 

"No"--she shook her head--"none of their weapons have we here, although it was--it was the Ancient Ones who shaped them. "

"But the Three are of the Ancient Ones?" I cried. "Surely they cantell--"

"No, " she said slowly. "No--there is something you must know--andsoon; and then the Silent Ones say you will understand. You, especially, Goodwin, who worship wisdom. "

"Then, " said Larry, "we have the _Akka_; and we have the four men ofus, and among us three guns and about a hundred cartridges--an'--an'the power of the Three--but what about the Shining One, Fireworks--"

"I do not know. " Again the indecision that had been in her eyes whenYolara had launched her defiance crept back. "The Shining One isstrong--and he has his--slaves!"

"Well, we'd better get busy good and quick!" the O'Keefe's voice rang. But Lakla, for some reason of her own, would pursue the matter nofurther. The trouble fled from her eyes--they danced. 

"Larry darlin'?" she murmured. "I like the touch of your lips--"

"You do?" he whispered, all thought flying of anything but thebeautiful, provocative face so close to his. "Then, _acushla_, you'regoin' to get acquainted with 'em! Turn your head, Doc!" he said. 

And I turned it. There was quite a long silence, broken by aninterested, soft outburst of gentle boomings from the servingfrog-maids. I stole a glance behind me. Lakla's head lay on theIrishman's shoulder, the golden eyes misty sunpools of love andadoration; and the O'Keefe, a new look of power and strength upon hisclear-cut features, was gazing down into them with that look whichrises only from the heart touched for the first time with that true, all-powerful love, which is the pulse of the universe itself, the realmusic of the spheres of which Plato dreamed, the love that is strongerthan death itself, immortal as the high gods and the true soul of allthat mystery we call life. 

Then Lakla raised her hands, pressed down Larry's head, kissed himbetween the eyes, drew herself with a trembling little laugh from hisembrace. 

"The future Mrs. Larry O'Keefe, Goodwin, " said Larry to me a littleunsteadily. 

I took their hands--and Lakla kissed me!

She turned to the booming--smiling--frog-maids; gave them somecommand, for they filed away down the path. Suddenly I felt, well, alittle superfluous. 

"If you don't mind, " I said, "I think I'll go up the path there againand look about. "

But they were so engrossed with each other that they did not even hearme--so I walked away, up to the embrasure where Rador had taken me. The movement of the batrachians over the bridge had ceased. Dimly atthe far end I could see the cluster of the garrison. My thoughts flewback to Lakla and to Larry. 

What was to be the end?

If we won, if we were able to pass from this place, could she live inour world? A product of these caverns with their atmosphere and lightthat seemed in some subtle way to be both food and drink--how wouldshe react to the unfamiliar foods and air and light of outer earth?Further, here so far as I was able to discover, there were nomalignant bacilli--what immunity could Lakla have then to thosemicroscopic evils without, which only long ages of sickness and deathhave bought for us a modicum of protection? I began to be oppressed. Surely they had been long enough by themselves. I went down the path. 

I heard Larry. 

"It's a green land, _mavourneen_. And the sea rocks and dimplesaround it--blue as the heavens, green as the isle itself, and foamhorses toss their white manes, and the great clean winds blow over it, and the sun shines down on it like your eyes, _acushla_--"

"And are you a king of Ireland, Larry darlin'?" Thus Lakla--

But enough!

At last we turned to go--and around the corner of the path I caughtanother glimpse of what I have called the lake of jewels. I pointed toit. 

"Those are lovely flowers, Lakla, " I said. "I have never seenanything like them in the place from whence we come. "

She followed my pointing finger--laughed. 

"Come, " she said, "let me show you them. "

She ran down an intersecting way, we following; came out of it upon alittle ledge close to the brink, three feet or more I suppose aboutit. The Golden Girl's voice rang out in a high-pitched, tremulous, throbbing call. 

The lake of jewels stirred as though a breeze had passed over it;stirred, shook, and then began to move swiftly, a shimmering torrentof shining flowers down upon us! She called again, the movement becamemore rapid; the gem blooms streamed closer--closer, wavering, shifting, winding--at our very feet. Above them hovered a littleradiant mist. The Golden Girl leaned over; called softly, and up fromthe sparkling mass shot a green vine whose heads were five flowers offlaming ruby--shot up, flew into her hand and coiled about the whitearm, its quintette of lambent blossoms--regarding us!

It was the thing Lakla had called the _Yekta_; that with which she hadthreatened the priestess; the thing that carried the dreadfuldeath--and the Golden Girl was handling it like a rose!

Larry swore--I looked at the thing more closely. It was a hydroid, adevelopment of that strange animal-vegetable that, sometimes almostmicroscopic, waves in the sea depths like a cluster of flowersparalyzing its prey with the mysterious force that dwells in itsblossom heads![2]

"Put it down, Lakla, " the distress in O'Keefe's voice was deep. Laklalaughed mischievously, caught the real fear for her in his eyes;opened her hand, gave another faint call--and back it flew to itsfellows. 

"Why, it wouldn't hurt me, Larry!" she expostulated. "They know me!"

"Put it down!" he repeated hoarsely. 

She sighed, gave another sweet, prolonged call. The lake ofgems--rubies and amethysts, mauves and scarlet-tinged blues--waveredand shook even as it had before--and swept swiftly back to that placewhence she had drawn them!

Then, with Larry and Lakla walking ahead, white arm about his brownneck; the O'Keefe still expostulating, the handmaiden laughingmerrily, we passed through her bower to the domed castle. 

Glancing through a cleft I caught sight again of the far end of thebridge; noted among the clustered figures of its garrison of thefrog-men a movement, a flashing of green fire like marshlights onspear tips; wondered idly what it was, and then, other thoughtscrowding in, followed along, head bent, behind the pair who had foundin what was Olaf's hell, their true paradise. 

[1] The _Akka_ are viviparous. The female produces progeny atfive-year intervals, never more than two at a time. They aremonogamous, like certain of our own _Ranidae_. Pending my monographupon what little I had time to learn of their interesting habits andcustoms, the curious will find instruction and entertainment inBrandes and Schvenichen's _Brutpfleige der Schwanzlosen Bat rachier_, p. 395; and Lilian V. Sampson's _Unusual Modes of Breeding amongAnura_, Amer. Nat. Xxxiv. , 1900. --W. T. G. 

[2] The _Yekta_ of the Crimson Sea, are as extraordinary developmentsof hydroid forms as the giant _Medusae_, of which, of course, they arenot too remote cousins. The closest resemblances to them in outerwater forms are among the _Gymnoblastic Hydroids_, notably _Clavetellaprolifera_, a most interesting ambulatory form of six tentacles. Almost every bather in Southern waters, Northern too, knows the painthat contact with certain "jelly fish" produces. The _Yekta's_development was prodigious and, to us, monstrous. It secretes in itsfive heads an almost incredibly swiftly acting poison which I suspect, for I had no chance to verify the theory, destroys the entire nervoussystem to the accompaniment of truly infernal agony; carrying at thesame time the illusion that the torment stretches through infinitiesof time. Both ether and nitrous oxide gas produce in the majority thissensation of time extension, without of course the pain symptom. WhatLakla called the _Yekta_ kiss is I imagine about as close to theorthodox idea of Hell as can be conceived. The secret of her controlover them I had no opportunity of learning in the rush of events thatfollowed. Knowledge of the appalling effects of their touch came, shetold me, from those few "who had been kissed so lightly" that theyrecovered. Certainly nothing, not even the Shining One, was dreaded bythe Murians as these were--W. T. G. 

CHAPTER XXVII

The Coming of Yolara

"Never was there such a girl!" Thus Larry, dreamily, leaning head inhand on one of the wide divans of the chamber where Lakla had left us, pleading service to the Silent Ones. 

"An', by the faith and the honour of the O'Keefes, an' by my deadmother's soul may God do with me as I do by her!" he whisperedfervently. 

He relapsed into open-eyed dreaming. 

I walked about the room, examining it--the first opportunity I hadgained to inspect carefully any of the rooms in the abode of theThree. It was octagonal, carpeted with the thick rugs that seemedalmost as though woven of soft mineral wool, faintly shimmering, palest blue. I paced its diagonal; it was fifty yards; the ceiling wasarched, and either of pale rose metal or metallic covering; itcollected the light from the high, slitted windows, and shed it, diffused, through the room. 

Around the octagon ran a low gallery not two feet from the floor, balustraded with slender pillars, close set; broken at oppositecurtained entrances over which hung thick, dull-gold curtainingsgiving the same suggestion of metallic or mineral substance as therugs. Set within each of the eight sides, above the balcony, werecolossal slabs of lapis lazuli, inset with graceful but unplaceabledesigns in scarlet and sapphire blue. 

There was the great divan on which mused Larry; two smaller ones, halfa dozen low seats and chairs carved apparently of ivory and of dullsoft gold. 

Most curious were tripods, strong, pikelike legs of golden metal fourfeet high, holding small circles of the lapis with intaglios of onecurious symbol somewhat resembling the ideographs of the Chinese. 

There was no dust--nowhere in these caverned spaces had I found thisconstant companion of ours in the world overhead. My eyes caught asparkle from a corner. Pursuing it I found upon one of the low seats aflat, clear crystal oval, remarkably like a lens. I took it andstepped up on the balcony. Standing on tiptoe I found I commanded fromthe bottom of a window slit a view of the bridge approach. Scanning itI could see no trace of the garrison there, nor of the green spearflashes. I placed the crystal to my eyes--and with a disconcertingabruptness the cavern mouth leaped before me, apparently not a hundredfeet away; decidedly the crystal was a very excellent lens--but wherewere the guards?

I peered closely. Nothing! But now against the aperture I saw ascore or more of tiny, dancing sparks. An optical illusion, I thought, and turned the crystal in another direction. There were no sparklingsthere. I turned it back again--and there they were. And what werethey like? Realization came to me--they were like the little, dancing, radiant atoms that had played for a time about the emptiness where hadstood Sorgar of the Lower Waters before he had been shaken into thenothingness! And that green light I had noticed--the _Keth_!

A cry on my lips, I turned to Larry--and the cry died as the heavycurtainings at the entrance on my right undulated, parted as though abody had slipped through, shook and parted again and again--with thedreadful passing of unseen things!

"Larry!" I cried. "Here! Quick!"

He leaped to his feet, gazed about wildly--and disappeared!Yes--vanished from my sight like the snuffed flame of a candle or asthough something moving with the speed of light itself had snatchedhim away!

Then from the divan came the sounds of struggle, the hissing ofstraining breaths, the noise of Larry cursing. I leaped over thebalustrade, drawing my own pistol--was caught in a pair of mightyarms, my elbows crushed to my sides, drawn down until my face pressedclose to a broad, hairy breast--and through that obstacle--formless, shadowless, transparent as air itself--I could still see the battle onthe divan!

Now there were two sharp reports; the struggle abruptly ceased. Froma point not a foot over the great couch, as though oozing from the airitself, blood began to drop, faster and ever faster, pouring out ofnothingness. 

And out of that same air, now a dozen feet away, leaped the face ofLarry--bodyless, poised six feet above the floor, blazing withrage--floating weirdly, uncannily to a hideous degree, in vacancy. 

His hands flashed out--armless; they wavered, appearing, disappearing--swiftly tearing something from him. Then there, feethidden, stiff on legs that vanished at the ankles, striking out intovision with all the dizzy abruptness with which he had been strickenfrom sight was the O'Keefe, a smoking pistol in hand. 

And ever that red stream trickled out of vacancy and spread over thecouch, dripping to the floor. 

I made a mighty movement to escape; was held more firmly--and thenclose to the face of Larry, flashing out with that terrifyinginstantaneousness even as had his, was the head of Yolara, asdevilishly mocking as I had ever seen it, the cruelty shining throughit like delicate white flames from hell--and beautiful!

"Stir not! Strike not--until I command!" She flung the words beyondher, addressed to the invisible ones who had accompanied her; whosepresences I sensed filling the chamber. The floating, beautiful head, crowned high with corn-silk hair, darted toward the Irishman. He tooka swift step backward. The eyes of the priestess deepened towardpurple; sparkled with malice. 

"So, " she said. "So, _Larree_--you thought you could go from me soeasily!" She laughed softly. "In my hidden hand I hold the _Keth_cone, " she murmured. "Before you can raise the death tube I can smiteyou--and will. And consider, _Larree_, if the handmaiden, the _choya_comes, I can vanish--so"--the mocking head disappeared, burst forthagain--"and slay her with the _Keth_--or bid my people seize her andbear her to the Shining One!"

Tiny beads of sweat stood out on O'Keefe's forehead, and I knew he wasthinking not of himself, but of Lakla. 

"What do you want with me, Yolara?" he asked hoarsely. 

"Nay, " came the mocking voice. "Not Yolara to you, _Larree_--call meby those sweet names you taught me--Honey of the Wild Bee-e-s, Net ofHearts--" Again her laughter tinkled. 

"What do you want with me?" his voice was strained, the lips rigid. 

"Ah, you are afraid, _Larree_. " There was diabolic jubilation in thewords. "What should I want but that you return with me? Why else did Icreep through the lair of the dragon worm and pass the path of perilsbut to ask you that? And the _choya_ guards you not well. " Again shelaughed. "We came to the cavern's end and, there were her _Akka_. Andthe _Akka_ can see us--as shadows. But it was my desire to surpriseyou with my coming, Larree, " the voice was silken. "And I feared thatthey would hasten to be first to bring you that message to delight inyour joy. And so, _Larree_, I loosed the _Keth_ upon them--and gavethem peace and rest within the nothingness. And the portal below wasopen--almost in welcome!"

Once more the malignant, silver pealing of her laughter. 

"What do you want with me?" There was wrath in his eyes, and plainlyhe strove for control. 

"Want!" the silver voice hissed, grew calm. "Do not Siya and Siyanagrieve that the rite I pledged them is but half done--and do they notdesire it finished? And am I not beautiful? More beautiful than your_choya_?"

The fiendishness died from the eyes; they grew blue, wondrous; theveil of invisibility slipped down from the neck, the shoulders, halfrevealing the gleaming breasts. And weird, weird beyond all tellingwas that exquisite head and bust floating there in air--and beautiful, sinisterly beautiful beyond all telling, too. So even might Lilith, the serpent woman, have shown herself tempting Adam!

"And perhaps, " she said, "perhaps I want you because I hate you;perhaps because I love you--or perhaps for Lugur or perhaps for theShining One. "

"And if I go with you?" He said it quietly. 

"Then shall I spare the handmaiden--and--who knows?--take back myarmies that even now gather at the portal and let the Silent Ones rotin peace in their abode--from which they had no power to keep me, " sheadded venomously. 

"You will swear that, Yolara; swear to go without harming thehandmaiden?" he asked eagerly. The little devils danced in her eyes. Iwrenched my face from the smothering contact. 

"Don't trust her, Larry!" I cried--and again the grip choked me. 

"Is that devil in front of you or behind you, old man?" he askedquietly, eyes never leaving the priestess. "If he's in front I'll takea chance and wing him--and then you scoot and warn Lakla. "

But I could not answer; nor, remembering Yolara's threat, would I, hadI been able. 

"Decide quickly!" There was cold threat in her voice. 

The curtains toward which O'Keefe had slowly, step by step, drawnclose, opened. They framed the handmaiden! The face of Yolara changedto that gorgon mask that had transformed it once before at sight ofthe Golden Girl. In her blind rage she forgot to cast the occultingveil. Her hand darted like a snake out of the folds; poising itselfwith the little silver cone aimed at Lakla. 

But before it was wholly poised, before the priestess could loose itsforce, the handmaiden was upon her. Swift as the lithe white wolfhound she leaped, and one slender hand gripped Yolara's throat, theother the wrist that lifted the quivering death; white limbs wrappedabout the hidden ones, I saw the golden head bend, the hand that heldthe _Keth_ swept up with a vicious jerk; saw Lakla's teeth sink intothe wrist--the blood spurt forth and heard the priestess shriek. Thecone fell, bounded toward me; with all my strength I wrenched free thehand that held my pistol, thrust it against the pressing breast andfired. 

The clasp upon me relaxed; a red rain stained me; at my feet a littlepillar of blood jetted; a hand thrust itself from nothingness, clawed--and was still. 

Now Yolara was down, Lakla meshed in her writhings and fighting likesome wild mother whose babes are serpent menaced. Over the two ofthem, astride, stood the O'Keefe, a pike from one of the high tripodsin his hand--thrusting, parrying, beating on every side as with abroadsword against poniard-clutching hands that thrust themselves outof vacancy striving to strike him; stepping here and there, alwayscovering, protecting Lakla with his own body even as a caveman of oldwho does battle with his mate for their lives. 

The sword-club struck--and on the floor lay the half body of a dwarf, writhing with vanishments and reappearings of legs and arms. Besidehim was the shattered tripod from which Larry had wrenched his weapon. I flung myself upon it, dashed it down to break loose one of theremaining supports, struck in midfall one of the unseen even as hisdagger darted toward me! The seat splintered, leaving in my clutch agolden bar. I jumped to Larry's side, guarding his back, whirling itlike a staff; felt it crunch once--twice--through unseen bone andmuscle. 

At the door was a booming. Into the chamber rushed a dozen of thefrog-men. While some guarded the entrances, others leaped straight tous, and forming a circle about us began to strike with talons andspurs at unseen things that screamed and sought to escape. Now hereand there about the blue rugs great stains of blood appeared; heads ofdwarfs, torn arms and gashed bodies, half occulted, half revealed. Andat last the priestess lay silent, vanquished, white body gleaming withthat uncanny--fragmentariness--from her torn robes. Then O'Keefereached down, drew Lakla from her. Shakily, Yolara rose to her feet. The handmaiden, face still blazing with wrath, stepped before her;with difficulty she steadied her voice. 

"Yolara, " she said, "you have defied the Silent Ones, you havedesecrated their abode, you came to slay these men who are the guestsof the Silent Ones and me, who am their handmaiden--why did you dothese things?"

"I came for him!" gasped the priestess; she pointed to O'Keefe. 

"Why?" asked Lakla. 

"Because he is pledged to me, " replied Yolara, all the devils thatwere hers in her face. "Because he wooed me! Because he is mine!"

"That is a lie!" The handmaiden's voice shook with rage. "It is a lie!But here and now he shall choose, Yolara. And if you he choose, youand he shall go forth from here unmolested--for Yolara, it is hishappiness that I most desire, and if you are that happiness--you shallgo together. And now, Larry, choose!"

Swiftly she stepped beside the priestess; swiftly wrenched the lastshreds of the hiding robes from her. 

There they stood--Yolara with but the filmiest net of gauze about herwonderful body; gleaming flesh shining through it; serpent woman---andwonderful, too, beyond the dreams even of Phidias--and hell-fireglowing from the purple eyes. 

And Lakla, like a girl of the Vikings, like one of those warrior maidswho stood and fought for dun and babes at the side of those old heroesof Larry's own green isle; translucent ivory lambent through the rentsof her torn draperies, and in the wide, golden eyes flaming wrath, indeed--not the diabolic flames of the priestess but the righteouswrath of some soul that looking out of paradise sees vile wrong in thedoing. 

"Lakla, " the O'Keefe's voice was subdued, hurt, "there _is_ no choice. I love you and only you--and have from the moment I saw you. It's noteasy--this. God, Goodwin, I feel like an utter cad, " he flashed at me. "There is no choice, Lakla, " he ended, eyes steady upon hers. 

The priestess's face grew deadlier still. 

"What will you do with me?" she asked. 

"Keep you, " I said, "as hostage. "

O'Keefe was silent; the Golden Girl shook her head. 

"Well would I like to, " her face grew dreaming; "but the Silent Onessay--_no_; they bid me let you go, Yolara--"

"The Silent Ones, " the priestess laughed. "_You_, Lakla! You fear, perhaps, to let me tarry here too close!"

Storm gathered again in the handmaiden's eyes; she forced it back. 

"No, " she answered, "the Silent Ones so command--and for their ownpurposes. Yet do I think, Yolara, that you will have little time tofeed your wickedness--tell that to Lugur--and to your Shining One!"she added slowly. 

Mockery and disbelief rode high in the priestess's pose. "Am I toreturn alone--like this?" she asked. 

"Nay, Yolara, nay; you shall be accompanied, " said Lakla; "and bythose who will guard--and _watch_--you well. They are here even now. "

The hangings parted, and into the chamber came Olaf and Rador. 

The priestess met the fierce hatred and contempt in the eyes of theNorseman--and for the first time lost her bravado. 

"Let not _him_ go with me, " she gasped--her eyes searched the floorfrantically. 

"He goes with you, " said Lakla, and threw about Yolara a swathing thatcovered the exquisite, alluring body. "And you shall pass through thePortal, not skulk along the path of the worm!"

She bent to Rador, whispered to him; he nodded; she had told him, Isupposed, the secret of its opening. 

"Come, " he said, and with the ice-eyed giant behind her, Yolara, headbent, passed out of those hangings through which, but a little before, unseen, triumph in her grasp, she had slipped. 

Then Lakla came to the unhappy O'Keefe, rested her hands on hisshoulders, looked deep into his eyes. 

"_Did_ you woo her, even as she said?" she asked. 

The Irishman flushed miserably. 

"I did not, " he said. "I was pleasant to her, of course, because Ithought it would bring me quicker to you, darlin'. "

She looked at him doubtfully; then--

"I think you must have been _very_--pleasant!" was all she said--andleaning, kissed him forgivingly straight on the lips. An extremelydirect maiden was Lakla, with a truly sovereign contempt for anythingshe might consider non-essentials; and at this moment I decided shewas wiser even than I had thought her. 

He stumbled, feet vanishing; reached down and picked up something thatin the grasping turned his hand to air. 

"One of the invisible cloaks, " he said to me. "There must be quite alot of them about--I guess Yolara brought her full staff of murderers. They're a bit shopworn, probably--but we're considerably better offwith 'em in our hands than in hers. And they may come in handy--whoknows?"

There was a choking rattle at my feet; half the head of a dwarf raisedout of vacancy; beat twice upon the floor in death throes; fell back. Lakla shivered; gave a command. The frog-men moved about; peering hereand there; lifting unseen folds revealing in stark rigidity torn formafter form of the priestess's men. 

Lakla had been right--her _Akka_ were thorough fighters!

She called, and to her came the frog-woman who was her attendant. Toher the handmaiden spoke, pointing to the batrachians who stood, pawsand forearms melted beneath the robes they had gathered. She took themand passed out--more grotesque than ever, shattering into streaks ofvacancies, reappearing with flickers of shining scale and yellow gemsas the tattered pennants of invisibility fluttered about her. 

The frog-men reached down, swung each a dead dwarf in his arms, andfiled, booming triumphantly away. 

And then I remembered the cone of the _Keth_ which had slipped fromYolara's hand; knew it had been that for which her wild eyes searched. But look as closely as we might, search in every nook and corner as wedid, we could not find it. Had the dying hand of one of her menclutched it and had it been borne away with them? With the thoughtLarry and I raced after the scaled warriors, searched every body theycarried. It was not there. Perhaps the priestess had found it, retrieved it swiftly without our seeing. 

Whatever was true--the cone was gone. And what a weapon that onelittle holder of the shaking death would have been for us!

CHAPTER XXVIII

In the Lair of the Dweller

It is with marked hesitation that I begin this chapter, because in itI must deal with an experience so contrary to every known law ofphysics as to seem impossible. Until this time, barring, of course, the mystery of the Dweller, I had encountered nothing that was notsusceptible of naturalistic explanation; nothing, in a word, outsidethe domain of science itself; nothing that I would have felt hesitancyin reciting to my colleagues of the International Association ofScience. Amazing, unfamiliar--_advanced_--as many of the phenomena were, still they lay well within the limits of what we have mapped as thepossible; in regions, it is true, still virgin to the mind of man, buttoward which that mind is steadily advancing. 

But this--well, I confess that I have a theory that is naturalistic;but so abstruse, so difficult to make clear within the short confinesof the space I have to give it, so dependent upon conceptions thateven the highest-trained scientific brains find difficult to grasp, that I despair. 

I can only say that the thing occurred; that it took place inprecisely the manner I am about to narrate, and that I experienced it. 

Yet, in justice to myself, I must open up some paths of preliminaryapproach toward the heart of the perplexity. And the first path is therealization that our world _whatever_ it is, is certainly _not_ theworld as we see it! Regarding this I shall refer to a discourse upon"Gravitation and the Principle of Relativity, " by the distinguishedEnglish physicist, Dr. A. S. Eddington, which I had the pleasure ofhearing him deliver before the Royal Institution. [1]

I realize, of course, that it is not true logic to argue--"The worldis not as we think it is--therefore everything we think impossible ispossible in it. " Even if it _be_ different, it is governed by _law_. Thetruly impossible is that which is outside law, and as nothing _can_ beoutside law, the impossible _cannot_ exist. 

The crux of the matter then becomes our determination whether what wethink is impossible may or may not be possible under laws still beyondour knowledge. 

I hope that you will pardon me for this somewhat academic digression, but I felt it was necessary, and it has, at least, put me more atease. And now to resume. 

We had watched, Larry and I, the frog-men throw the bodies of Yolara'sassassins into the crimson waters. As vultures swoop down upon thedying, there came sailing swiftly to where the dead men floated, dozens of the luminous globes. Their slender, varicoloured tentacleswhipped out; the giant iridescent bubbles _climbed_ over the cadavers. And as they touched them there was the swift dissolution, the meltingaway into putrescence of flesh and bone that I had witnessed when thedart touched fruit that time I had saved Rador--and upon this theMedusae gorged; pulsing lambently; their wondrous colours shifting, changing, glowing stronger; elfin moons now indeed, but satelliteswhose glimmering beauty was fed by death; alembics of enchantmentwhose glorious hues were sucked from horror. 

Sick, I turned away--O'Keefe as pale as I; passed back into thecorridor that had opened on the ledge from which we had watched; metLakla hurrying toward us. Before she could speak there throbbedfaintly about us a vast sighing. It grew into a murmur, a whispering, shook us--then passing like a presence, died away in far distance. 

"The Portal has opened, " said the handmaiden. A fainter sighing, likean echo of the other, mourned about us. "Yolara is gone, " she said, "the Portal is closed. Now must we hasten--for the Three havecommanded that you, Goodwin, and Larry and I tread that strange roadof which I have spoken, and which Olaf may not take lest his heartbreak--and we must return ere he and Rador cross the bridge. "

Her hand sought Larry's. 

"Come!" said Lakla, and we walked on; down and down through hall afterhall, flight upon flight of stairways. Deep, deep indeed, we must bebeneath the domed castle--Lakla paused before a curved, smooth breastof the crimson stone rounding gently into the passage. She pressed itsside; it revolved; we entered; it closed behind us. 

The room, the--hollow--in which we stood was faceted like a diamond;and like a cut brilliant its sides glistened--though dully. Its shapewas a deep oval, and our path dropped down to a circular polishedbase, roughly two yards in diameter. Glancing behind me I saw that inthe closing of the entrance there had been left no trace of it savethe steps that led from where that entrance had been--and as I lookedthese steps _turned_, leaving us isolated upon the circle, only thefaceted walls about us--and in each of the gleaming faces the three ofus reflected--dimly. It was as though we were within a diamond eggwhose graven angles had been turned _inward_. 

But the oval was not perfect; at my right a screen cut it--a screenthat gleamed with fugitive, fleeting luminescences--stretching fromthe side of our standing place up to the tip of the chamber; slightlyconvex and crisscrossed by millions of fine lines like those upon aspectroscopic plate, but with this difference--that within each line Isensed the presence of multitudes of finer lines, dwindling intoinfinitude, ultramicroscopic, traced by some instrument compared towhose delicacy our finest tool would be as a crowbar to the needle ofa micrometer. 

A foot or two from it stood something like the standee of a compass, bearing, like it a cradled dial under whose crystal ran concentricrings of prisoned, lambent vapours, faintly blue. From the edge of thedial jutted a little shelf of crystal, a keyboard, in which were cuteight small cups. 

Within these cups the handmaiden placed her tapering fingers. Shegazed down upon the disk; pressed a digit--and the screen behind usslipped noiselessly into another angle. 

"Put your arm around my waist, Larry, darlin', and stand close, " shemurmured. "You, Goodwin, place your arm over my shoulder. "

Wondering, I did as she bade; she pressed other fingers upon theshelf's indentations--three of the rings of vapour spun into intenselight, raced around each other; from the screen behind us grew aradiance that held within itself all spectrums--not only those seen, but those _unseen_ by man's eyes. It waxed brilliant and ever morebrilliant, all suffusing, passing through me as day streams through awindow pane!

The enclosing facets burst into a blaze of coruscations, and in eachsparkling panel I saw our images, shaken and torn like pennants in awhirlwind. I turned to look--was stopped by the handmaiden's swiftcommand: "Turn not--on your life!"

The radiance behind me grew; was a rushing tempest of light in which Iwas but the shadow of a shadow. I heard, but not with my ears--nay with_mind_ itself--a vast roaring; an _ordered_ tumult of sound that camehurling from the outposts of space; approaching--rushing--hurricaneout of the heart of the cosmos--closer, closer. It wrapped itselfabout us with unearthly mighty arms. 

And brilliant, ever more brilliant, streamed the radiance through us. 

The faceted walls dimmed; in front of me they melted, diaphanously, like a gelatinous wall in a blast of flame; through their vanishing, under the torrent of driving light, the unthinkable, impalpabletornado, I began to move, slowly--then ever more swiftly!

Still the roaring grew; the radiance streamed--ever faster we went. Cutting down through the length, the _extension_ of me, dropped a wallof rock, foreshortened, clenched close; I caught a glimpse of theelfin gardens; they whirled, contracted, into a thin--slice--of colourthat was a part of me; another wall of rock shrinking into a thinwedge through which I flew, and that at once took its place within melike a card slipped beside those others!

Flashing around me, and from Lakla and O'Keefe, were nimbuses offlickering scarlet flames. And always the steady hurlingforward--appallingly mechanical. 

Another barrier of rock--a gleam of white waters incorporatingthemselves into my--_drawing out_--even as were the flowered moss lands, the slicing, rocky walls--still another rampart of cliff, dwindlinginstantly into the vertical plane of those others. Our flight checked;we seemed to hover within, then to sway onward--slowly, cautiously. 

A mist danced ahead of me--a mist that grew steadily thinner. Westopped, wavered--the mist cleared. 

I looked out into translucent, green distances; shot with swiftprismatic gleamings; waves and pulsings of luminosity like midday sunglow through green, tropic waters: dancing, scintillating veils ofsparkling atoms that flew, hither and yon, through depths of nebuloussplendour!

And Lakla and Larry and I were, I saw, like shadow shapes upon asmooth breast of stone twenty feet or more above the surface of thisplace--a surface spangled with tiny white blossoms gleaming wanlythrough creeping veils of phosphorescence like smoke of moon fire. Wewere shadows--and yet we had substance; we were incorporated with, apart of, the rock--and yet we were living flesh and blood; westretched--nor will I qualify this--we _stretched_ through mile uponmile of space that weirdly enough gave at one and the same time anabsolute certainty of immense horizontal lengths and a verticalconcentration that contained nothing of length, nothing of spacewhatever; we stood _there_ upon the face of the stone--and still wewere _here_ within the faceted oval before the screen of radiance!

"Steady!" It was Lakla's voice--and not beside me _there_, but at my earclose before the screen. "Steady, Goodwin! And--see!"

The sparkling haze cleared. Enormous reaches stretched before me. Shimmering up through them, and as though growing in some mediumthicker than air, was mass upon mass of verdure--fruiting trees andtrees laden with pale blossoms, arbours and bowers of pallid blooms, like that sea fruit of oblivion--grapes of Lethe--that cling to thetide-swept walls of the caverns of the Hebrides. 

Through them, beyond them, around and about them, drifted and eddied ahorde--great as that with which Tamerlane swept down upon Rome, vastas the myriads which Genghis Khan rolled upon the califs--men andwomen and children--clothed in tatters, half nude and wholly naked;slant-eyed Chinese, sloe-eyed Malays, islanders black and brown andyellow, fierce-faced warriors of the Solomons with grizzled locksfantastically bedizened; Papuans, feline Javans, Dyaks of hill andshore; hook-nosed Phoenicians, Romans, straight-browed Greeks, andVikings centuries _beyond_ their lives: scores of the black-hairedMurians; white faces of our own Westerners--men and women andchildren--drifting, eddying--each stamped with that mingled horror andrapture, eyes filled with ecstasy and terror entwined, marked by Godand devil in embrace--the seal of the Shining One--the dead-alive; thelost ones!

The loot of the Dweller!

Soul-sick, I gazed. They lifted to us visages of dread; they sweptdown toward us, glaring upward--a bank against which other and stillother waves of faces rolled, were checked, paused; until as far as Icould see, like billows piled upon an ever-growing barrier, theystretched beneath us--staring--staring!

Now there was a movement--far, far away; a concentrating of thelambency; the dead-alive swayed, oscillated, separated--forming a longlane against whose outskirts they crowded with avid, hungryinsistence. 

First only a luminous cloud, then a whirling pillar of splendoursthrough the lane came--the Shining One. As it passed, the dead-aliveswirled in its wake like leaves behind a whirlwind, eddying, twisting;and as the Dweller raced by them, brushing them with its spirallingsand tentacles, they shone forth with unearthly, awesomegleamings--like vessels of alabaster in which wicks flare suddenly. And when it had passed they closed behind it, staring up at us oncemore. 

The Dweller paused beneath us. 

Out of the drifting ruck swam the body of Throckmartin! Throckmartin, my friend, to find whom I had gone to the pallid moon door; my friendwhose call I had so laggardly followed. On his face was the Dweller'sdreadful stamp; the lips were bloodless; the eyes were wide, lucent, something like pale, phosphorescence gleaming within them--andsoulless. 

He stared straight up at me, unwinking, unrecognizing. Pressingagainst his side was a woman, young and gentle, and lovely--lovelyeven through the mask that lay upon her face. And her wide eyes, likeThrockmartin's, glowed with the lurking, unholy fires. She pressedagainst him closely; though the hordes kept up the faint churning, these two kept ever together, as though bound by unseen fetters. 

And I knew the girl for Edith, his wife, who in vain effort to savehim had cast herself into the Dweller's embrace!

"Throckmartin!" I cried. "Throckmartin! I'm here!"

Did he hear? I know now, of course, he could not. 

But then I waited--hope striving to break through the nightmare handsthat gripped my heart. 

Their wide eyes never left me. There was another movement about them, others pushed past them; they drifted back, swaying, eddying--andstill staring were lost in the awful throng. 

Vainly I strained my gaze to find them again, to force some sign ofrecognition, some awakening of the clean life we know. But they weregone. Try as I would I could not see them--nor Stanton and thenorthern woman named Thora who had been the first of that tragic partyto be taken by the Dweller. 

"Throckmartin!" I cried again, despairingly. My tears blinded me. 

I felt Lakla's light touch. 

"Steady, " she commanded, pitifully. "Steady, Goodwin. You cannot helpthem--now! Steady and--watch!"

Below us the Shining One had paused--spiralling, swirling, vibrantwith all its transcendent, devilish beauty; had paused and wascontemplating us. Now I could see clearly that nucleus, that core shotthrough with flashing veins of radiance, that ever-shifting shape ofglory through the shroudings of shimmering, misty plumes, throbbinglacy opalescences, vaporous spirallings of prismatic phantom fires. Steady over it hung the seven little moons of amethyst, of saffron, ofemerald and azure and silver, of rose of life and moon white. Theypoised themselves like a diadem--calm, serene, immobile--and downfrom them into the Dweller, piercing plumes and swirls and spirals, ran countless tiny strands, radiations, finer than the finest spunthread of spider's web, gleaming filaments through which seemed torun--_power_--from the seven globes; like--yes, that was it--miniaturesof the seven torrents of moon flame that poured through theseptichromatic, high crystals in the Moon Pool's chamber roof. 

Swam out of the coruscating haze the--face!

Both of man and of woman it was--like some ancient, androgynous deityof Etruscan fanes long dust, and yet neither woman nor man; human andunhuman, seraphic and sinister, benign and malefic--and still no moreof these four than is flame, which is beautiful whether it warms ordevours, or wind whether it feathers the trees or shatters them, orthe wave which is wondrous whether it caresses or kills. 

Subtly, undefinably it was of our world and of one not ours. Itslineaments flowed from another sphere, took fleeting familiarform--and as swiftly withdrew whence they had come; somethingamorphous, unearthly--as of unknown unheeding, unseen gods rushingthrough the depths of star-hung space; and still of our own earth, with the very soul of earth peering out from it, caught within it--andin some--unholy--way debased. 

It had eyes--eyes that were now only shadows darkening within itsluminosity like veils falling, and falling, _opening_ windows into theunknowable; deepening into softly glowing blue pools, blue as the MoonPool itself; then flashing out, and this only when the--face--bore itsmost human resemblance, into twin stars large almost as the crown oflittle moons; and with that same baffling suggestion of peep-holesinto a world untrodden, alien, perilous to man!

"Steady!" came Lakla's voice, her body leaned against mine. 

I gripped myself, my brain steadied, I looked again. And I saw thatof body, at least body as we know it, the Shining One hadnone--nothing but the throbbing, pulsing core streaked with lightningveins of rainbows; and around this, never still, sheathing it, theswirling, glorious veilings of its hell and heaven born radiance. 

So the Dweller stood--and gazed. 

Then up toward us swept a reaching, questing spiral!

Under my hand Lakla's shoulder quivered; dead-alive and their mastervanished--I danced, flickered, _within_ the rock; felt a swift sense ofshrinking, of withdrawal; slice upon slice the carded walls of stone, of silvery waters, of elfin gardens slipped from me as cards arewithdrawn from a pack, one by one--slipped, wheeled, flattened, andlengthened out as I passed through them and they passed from me. 

Gasping, shaken, weak, I stood within the faceted oval chamber; armstill about the handmaiden's white shoulder; Larry's hand stillclutching her girdle. 

The roaring, impalpable gale from the cosmos was retreating to theoutposts of space--was still; the intense, streaming, floodingradiance lessened--died. 

"Now have you beheld, " said Lakla, "and well you trod the road. Andnow shall you hear, even as the Silent Ones have commanded, what theShining One is--and how it came to be. "

The steps flashed back; the doorway into the chamber opened. 

Larry as silent as I--we followed her through it. 

[1] Reprinted in full in _Nature_, in which those sufficiently interestedmay peruse it. --W. T. G. 

CHAPTER XXIX

The Shaping of the Shining One

We reached what I knew to be Lakla's own boudoir, if I may so call it. Smaller than any of the other chambers of the domed castle in which wehad been, its intimacy was revealed not only by its faint fragrancebut by its high mirrors of polished silver and various oddly wroughtarticles of the feminine toilet that lay here and there; things Iafterward knew to be the work of the artisans of the _Akka_--and nomean metal workers were they. One of the window slits dropped almostto the floor, and at its base was a wide, comfortably cushioned seatcommanding a view of the bridge and of the cavern ledge. To this thehandmaiden beckoned us; sank upon it, drew Larry down beside her andmotioned me to sit close to him. 

"Now this, " she said, "is what the Silent Ones have commanded me totell you two: To you Larry, that knowing you may weigh all things inyour mind and answer as your spirit bids you a question that the Threewill ask--and what that is I know not, " she murmured, "and I, theysay, must answer, too--and it--frightens me!"

The great golden eyes widened; darkened with dread; she sighed, shookher head impatiently. 

"Not like us, and never like us, " she spoke low, wonderingly, "theSilent Ones say were they. Nor were those from which they sprang likethose from which we have come. Ancient, ancient beyond thought are the_Taithu_, the race of the Silent Ones. Far, far below this place wherenow we sit, close to earth heart itself were they born; and there theydwelt for time upon time, _laya_ upon _laya_ upon _laya_--with others, not like them, some of which have vanished time upon time agone, others that still dwell--below--in their--cradle. 

"It is hard"--she hesitated--"hard to tell this--that slips through mymind--because I know so little that even as the Three told it to me itpassed from me for lack of place to stand upon, " she went on, quaintly. "Something there was of time when earth and sun were butcold mists in the--the heavens--something of these mists drawingtogether, whirling, whirling, faster and faster--drawing as theywhirled more and more of the mists--growing larger, growingwarm--forming at last into the globes they are, with others spinningaround the sun--something of regions within this globe where vast firewas prisoned and bursting forth tore and rent the young orb--of onesuch bursting forth that sent what you call moon flying out to companyus and left behind those spaces whence we now dwell--and of--of lifeparticles that here and there below grew into the race of the SilentOnes, and those others--but not the _Akka_ which, like you, they saycame from above--and all this I do not understand--do you, Goodwin?"she appealed to me. 

I nodded--for what she had related so fragmentarily was in reality anexcellent approach to the Chamberlain-Moulton theory of a coalescingnebula contracting into the sun and its planets. 

Astonishing was the recognition of this theory. Even more so was thereference to the life particles, the idea of Arrhenius, the greatSwede, of life starting on earth through the dropping of minute, life_spores_, propelled through space by the driving power of light and, encountering favourable environment here, developing through the vastages into man and every other living thing we know. [1]

Nor was it incredible that in the ancient nebula that was the matrixof our solar system similar, or rather _dissimilar_, particles in allbut the subtle essence we call life, might have become entangled and, resisting every cataclysm as they had resisted the absolute zero ofouter space, found in these caverned spaces their proper environmentto develop into the race of the Silent Ones and--only _they_ couldtell what else!

"They say, " the handmaiden's voice was surer, "they say that intheir--cradle--near earth's heart they grew; grew untroubled by theturmoil and disorder which flayed the surface of this globe. And theysay it was a place of light and that strength came to them from earthheart--strength greater than you and those from which you sprang everderived from sun. 

"At last, ancient, ancient beyond all thought, they say again, wasthis time--they began to know, to--to--realize--themselves. Andwisdom came ever more swiftly. Up from their cradle, because they didnot wish to dwell longer with those--others--they came and found thisplace. 

"When all the face of earth was covered with waters in which livedonly tiny, hungry things that knew naught save hunger and itssatisfaction, _they_ had attained wisdom that enabled them to make pathssuch as we have just travelled and to look out upon those waters! And_laya_ upon _laya_ thereafter, time upon time, they went upon thepaths and watched the flood recede; saw great bare flats of steamingooze appear on which crawled and splashed larger things which hadgrown from the tiny hungry ones; watched the flats rise higher andhigher and green life begin to clothe them; saw mountains uplift andvanish. 

"Ever the green life waxed and the things which crept and crawled grewgreater and took ever different forms; until at last came a time whenthe steaming mists lightened and the things which had begun as littlemore than tiny hungry mouths were huge and monstrous, so huge that thetallest of my _Akka_ would not have reached the knee of the smallestof them. 

"But in none of these, in _none_, was there--realization--ofthemselves, say the Three; naught but hunger driving, always drivingthem to still its crying. 

"So for time upon time the race of the Silent Ones took the paths nomore, placing aside the half-thought that they had of making their wayto earth face even as they had made their way from beside earth heart. They turned wholly to the seeking of wisdom--and after other time ontime they attained that which killed even the faintest shadow of thehalf-thought. For they crept far within the mysteries of life anddeath, they mastered the illusion of space, they lifted the veils ofcreation and of its twin destruction, and they stripped the coveringfrom the flaming jewel of truth--but when they had crept within thosemysteries they bid me tell _you_, Goodwin, they found ever othermysteries veiling the way; and after they had uncovered the jewel oftruth they found it to be a gem of infinite facets and therefore notwholly to be read before eternity's unthinkable end!

"And for this they were glad--because now throughout eternity mightthey and theirs pursue knowledge over ways illimitable. 

"They conquered light--light that sprang at their bidding from thenothingness that gives birth to all things and in which lie all thingsthat are, have been and shall be; light that streamed through theirbodies cleansing them of all dross; light that was food and drink;light that carried their vision afar or bore to them images out ofspace opening many windows through which they gazed down upon life onthousands upon thousands of the rushing worlds; light that was theflame of life itself and in which they bathed, ever renewing theirown. They set radiant lamps within the stones, and of black light theywove the sheltering shadows and the shadows that slay. 

"Arose from this people those Three--the Silent Ones. They led themall in wisdom so that in the Three grew--pride. And the Three builtthem this place in which we sit and set the Portal in its place andwithdrew from their kind to go alone into the mysteries and to mapalone the facets of Truth Jewel. 

"Then there came the ancestors of the--_Akka_; not as they are now, and glowing but faintly within them the spark of--self-realization. And the _Taithu_ seeing this spark did not slay them. But they tookthe ancient, long untrodden paths and looked forth once more uponearth face. Now on the land were vast forests and a chaos of greenlife. On the shores things scaled and fanged, fought and devoured eachother, and in the green life moved bodies great and small that slewand ran from those that would slay. 

"They searched for the passage through which the _Akka_ had come andclosed it. Then the Three took them and brought them here; and taughtthem and blew upon the spark until it burned ever stronger and in timethey became much as they are now--my _Akka_. 

"The Three took counsel after this and said--'We have strengthenedlife in these until it has become articulate; shall we not _create_life?'" Again she hesitated, her eyes rapt, dreaming. "The Three arespeaking, " she murmured. "They have my tongue--"

And certainly, with an ease and rapidity as though she were but avoice through which minds far more facile, more powerful poured theirthoughts, she spoke. 

"Yea, " the golden voice was vibrant. "We said that what we wouldcreate should be of the spirit of life itself, speaking to us with thetongues of the far-flung stars, of the winds, of the waters, and ofall upon and within these. Upon that universal matrix of matter, thatmother of all things that you name the ether, we laboured. Think notthat her wondrous fertility is limited by what ye see on earth or whathas been on earth from its beginning. Infinite, infinite are the formsthe mother bears and countless are the energies that are part of her. 

"By our wisdom we had fashioned many windows out of our abode andthrough them we stared into the faces of myriads of worlds, and uponthem all were the children of ether even as the worlds themselves wereher children. 

"Watching we learned, and learning we formed that ye term the Dweller, which those without name--the Shining One. Within the Universal Motherwe shaped it, to be a voice to tell us her secrets, a lamp to gobefore us lighting the mysteries. Out of the ether we fashioned it, giving it the soul of light that still ye know not nor perhaps evermay know, and with the essence of life that ye saw blossoming deep inthe abyss and that is the pulse of earth heart we filled it. And wewrought with pain and with love, with yearning and with scorchingpride and from our travail came the Shining One--our child!

"There is an energy beyond and above ether, a purposeful, sentientforce that laps like an ocean the furthest-flung star, that transfusesall that ether bears, that sees and speaks and feels in us and in you, that is incorporate in beast and bird and reptile, in tree and grassand all living things, that sleeps in rock and stone, that findssparkling tongue in jewel and star and in all dwellers within thefirmament. And this ye call consciousness!

"We crowned the Shining One with the seven orbs of light which are thechannels between it and the sentience we sought to make articulate, the portals through which flow its currents and so flowing, becomechoate, vocal, self-realizant within our child. 

"But as we shaped, there passed some of the essence of our pride; ingiving will we had given power, perforce, to exercise that will forgood or for evil, to speak or to be silent, to tell us what we wishedof that which poured into it through the seven orbs or to withholdthat knowledge itself; and in forging it from the immortal energies wehad endowed it with their indifference; open to all consciousness itheld within it the pole of utter joy and the pole of utter woe withall the arc that lies between; all the ecstasies of the countlessworlds and suns and all their sorrows; all that ye symbolize as godsand all ye symbolize as devils--not negativing each other, for thereis no such thing as negation, but holding them together, balancingthem, encompassing them, pole upon pole!"

So _this_ was the explanation of the entwined emotions of joy and terrorthat had changed so appallingly Throckmartin's face and the faces ofall the Dweller's slaves!

The handmaiden's eyes grew bright, alert, again; the brooding passedfrom her face; the golden voice that had been so deep found its ownfamiliar pitch. 

"I listened while the Three spoke to you, " she said. "Now the shapingof the Shining One had been a long, long travail and time had flownover the outer world _laya_ upon _laya_. For a space the Shining Onewas content to dwell here; to be fed with the foods of light: to openthe eyes of the Three to mystery upon mystery and to read for themfacet after facet of the gem of truth. Yet as the tides ofconsciousness flowed through it they left behind shadowings and echoesof their burdens; and the Shining One grew stronger, always strongerof _itself within itself_. Its will strengthened and now not always wasit the will of the Three; and the pride that was woven in the makingof it waxed, while the love for them that its creators had set withinit waned. 

"Not ignorant were the _Taithu_ of the work of the Three. First therewere a few, then more and more who coveted the Shining One and whowould have had the Three share with them the knowledge it drew in forthem. But the Silent Ones in their pride, would not. 

"There came a time when its will was now _all_ its own, and it rebelled, turning its gaze to the wider spaces beyond the Portal, offeringitself to the many there who would serve it; tiring of the Three, their control and their abode. 

"Now the Shining One has its limitations, even as we. Over water itcan pass, through air and through fire; but pass it cannot, throughrock or metal. So it sent a message--how I know not--to the _Taithu_who desired it, whispering to them the secret of the Portal. And whenthe time was ripe they opened the Portal and the Shining One passedthrough it to them; nor would it return to the Three though theycommanded, and when they would have forced it they found that it hadhived and hidden a knowledge that they could not overcome. 

"Yet by their arts the Three could have shattered the seven shiningorbs; but they would not because--they loved, it!

"Those to whom it had gone built for it that place I have shown you, and they bowed to it and drew wisdom from it. And ever they turnedmore and more from the ways in which the _Taithu_ had walked--for itseemed that which came to the Shining One through the seven orbs hadless and less of good and more and more of the power you call evil. Knowledge it gave and understanding, yes; but not that which, clearand serene, lights the paths of right wisdom; rather were they flarespointing the dark roads that lead to--to the ultimate evil!

"Not all of the race of the Three followed the counsel of the ShiningOne. There were many, many, who would have none of it nor of itspower. So were the _Taithu_ split; and to this place where there hadbeen none, came hatred, fear and suspicion. Those who pursued theancient ways went to the Three and pleaded with them to destroy theirwork--and they would not, for still they loved it. 

"Stronger grew the Dweller and less and less did it lay before itsworshippers--for now so they had become--the fruits of its knowledge;and it grew--restless--turning its gaze upon earth face even as it hadturned it from the Three. It whispered to the _Taithu_ to take againthe paths and look out upon the world. Lo! above them was a greatfertile land on which dwelt an unfamiliar race, skilled in arts, seeking and finding wisdom--mankind! Mighty builders were they; vastwere their cities and huge their temples of stone. 

"They called their lands Muria and they worshipped a god Thanaroa whomthey imagined to be the maker of all things, dwelling far away. Theyworshipped as closer gods, not indifferent but to be prayed to and tobe propitiated, the moon and the sun. Two kings they had, each withhis council and his court. One was high priest to the moon and theother high priest to the sun. 

"The mass of this people were black-haired, but the sun king and hisnobles were ruddy with hair like mine; and the moon king and hisfollowers were like Yolara--or Lugur. And this, the Three say, Goodwin, came about because for time upon time the law had been thatwhenever a ruddy-haired or ashen-tressed child was born of theblack-haired it became dedicated at once to either sun god or moongod, later wedding and bearing children only to their own kind. Untilat last from the black-haired came no more of the light-locked ones, but the ruddy ones, being stronger, still arose from them. "

[1] Professor Svante August Arrhenius, in his _Worlds in the Making_--theconception that life is universally diffused, constantly emittedfrom all habitable worlds in the form of spores which traverse spacefor years and ages, the majority being ultimately destroyed by theheat of some blazing star, but some few finding a resting-place onglobes which have reached the habitable stage. --W. T. G. 

CHAPTER XXX

The Building of the Moon Pool

She paused, running her long fingers through her own bronze-fleckedringlets. Selective breeding this, with a vengeance, I thought; anancient experiment in heredity which of course would in time result inthe stamping out of the tendency to depart from type that lies in allorganisms; resulting, obviously, at last, in three fixed forms ofblack-haired, ruddy-haired, and silver-haired--but this, with a shockof realization it came to me, was also an accurate description of thedark-polled _ladala_, their fair-haired rulers and of the golden-browntressed Lakla!

How--questions began to stream through my mind; silenced by thehandmaiden's voice. 

"Above, far, far above the abode of the Shining One, " she said, "wastheir greatest temple, holding the shrines both of sun and moon. Allabout it were other temples hidden behind mighty walls, each enclosingits own space and squared and ruled and standing within a shallowlake; the sacred city, the city of the gods of this land--"

"It is the Nan-Matal that she is describing, " I thought. 

"Out upon all this looked the _Taithu_ who were now but the servantsof the Shining One as it had been the messenger of the Three, " shewent on. "When they returned the Shining One spoke to them, promisingthem dominion over all that they had seen, yea, _under it_ dominion ofall earth itself and later perhaps of other earths!

"In the Shining One had grown craft, cunning; knowledge to gain thatwhich it desired. Therefore it told its _Taithu_--and mayhap toldthem truth--that not yet was it time for _them_ to go forth; that slowlymust they pass into that outer world, for they had sprung from heartof earth and even it lacked power to swirl unaided into and throughthe above. Then it counselled them, instructing them what to do. Theyhollowed the chamber wherein first I saw you, cutting their way to itthat path down which from it you sped. 

"It revealed to them that the force that is within moon flame is kinto the force that is within it, for the chamber of its birth was thechamber too of moon birth and into it went the subtle essence andpowers that flow in that earth child: and it taught them how to makethat which fills what you call the Moon Pool whose opening is closebehind its Veil hanging upon the gleaming cliffs. 

"When this was done it taught them how to make and how to place theseven lights through which moon flame streams into Moon Pool--theseven lights that are kin to its own seven orbs even as its fires arekin to moon fires--and which would open for it a path that it couldtread. And all this the _Taithu_ did, working so secretly that neitherthose of their race whose faces were set against the Shining One northe busy men above know aught of it. 

"When it was done they moved up the path, clustering within the MoonPool Chamber. Moon flame streamed through the seven globes, poureddown upon the pool; they saw mists arise, embrace, and become one withthe moon flame--and then up through Moon Pool, shaping itself withinthe mists of light, whirling, radiant--the Shining One!

"Almost free, almost loosed upon the world it coveted!

"Again it counselled them, and they pierced the passage whose portalyou found first; set the fires within its stones, and revealingthemselves to the moon king and his priests spake to them even as theShining One had instructed. 

"Now was the moon king filled with fear when he looked upon the_Taithu_, shrouded with protecting mists of light in Moon PoolChamber, and heard their words. Yet, being crafty, he thought of thepower that would be his if he heeded and how quickly the strength ofthe sun king would dwindle. So he and his made a pact with the ShiningOne's messengers. 

"When next the moon was round and poured its flames down upon MoonPool, the _Taithu_ gathered there again, watched the child of theThree take shape within the pillars, speed away--and out! They heard amighty shouting, a tumult of terror, of awe and of worship; a silence;a vast sighing--and they waited, wrapped in their mists of light, forthey feared to follow nor were they near the paths that would haveenabled them to look without. 

"Another tumult--and back came the Shining One, murmuring with joy, pulsing, triumphant, and clasped within its vapours a man and woman, ruddy-haired, golden-eyed, in whose faces rapture and horror lay sideby side--gloriously, hideously. And still holding them it danced abovethe Moon Pool and--sank!

"Now must I be brief. _Lat_ after _lat_ the Shining One went forth, returning with its sacrifices. And stronger after each it grew--andgayer and more cruel. Ever when it passed with its prey toward thepool, the _Taithu_ who watched felt a swift, strong intoxication, adrunkenness of spirit, streaming from it to them. And the Shining Oneforgot what it had promised them of dominion--and in this new evildelight they too forgot. 

"The outer land was torn with hatred and open strife. The moon kingand his kind, through the guidance of the evil _Taithu_ and the favourof the Shining One, had become powerful and the sun king and his weredarkened. And the moon priests preached that the child of the Threewas the moon god itself come to dwell with them. 

"Now vast tides arose and when they withdrew they took with them greatportions of this country. And the land itself began to sink. Then saidthe moon king that the moon had called to ocean to destroy becausewroth that another than he was worshipped. The people believed andthere was slaughter. When it was over there was no more a sun king norany of the ruddy-haired folk; slain were they, slain down to the babeat breast. 

"But still the tides swept higher; still dwindled the land!

"As it shrank multitudes of the fleeing people were led through MoonPool Chamber and carried here. They were what now are called the_ladala_, and they were given place and set to work; and they thrived. Came many of the fair-haired; and they were given dwellings. They satbeside the evil _Taithu_; they became drunk even as they with thedancing of the Shining One; they learned--not all; only a little partbut little enough--of their arts. And ever the Shining One danced moregaily out there within the black amphitheatre; grew ever stronger--andever the hordes of its slaves behind the Veil increased. 

"Nor did the _Taithu_ who clung to the old ways check this--theycould not. By the sinking of the land above, their own spaces wereimperilled. All of their strength and all of their wisdom it took tokeep this land from perishing; nor had they help from those others madfor the poison of the Shining One; and they had no time to deal withthem nor the earth race with whom they had foregathered. 

"At last came a slow, vast flood. It rolled even to the bases of thewalled islets of the city of the gods--and within these now were allthat were left of my people on earth face. 

"I am of those people, " she paused, looking at me proudly, "one of thedaughters of the sun king whose seed is still alive in the _ladala_!"

As Larry opened his mouth to speak she waved a silencing hand. 

"This tide did not recede, " she went on. "And after a time theremnant, the moon king leading them, joined those who had already fledbelow. The rocks became still, the quakings ceased, and now thoseAncient Ones who had been labouring could take breath. And anger grewwithin them as they looked upon the work of their evil kin. Again theysought the Three--and the Three now knew what they had done and theirpride was humbled. They would not slay the Shining One themselves, forstill they loved it; but they instructed these others how to undotheir work; how also they might destroy the evil _Taithu_ were itnecessary. 

"Armed with the wisdom of the Three they went forth--but now theShining One was strong indeed. They could not slay it!

"Nay, it knew and was prepared; they could not even pass beyond itsVeil nor seal its abode. Ah, strong, strong, mighty of will, full ofcraft and cunning had the Shining One become. So they turned upontheir kind who had gone astray and made them perish, to the last. TheShining One came not to the aid of its servants--though they called;for within its will was the thought that they were of no further useto it; that it would rest awhile and dance with them--who had solittle of the power and wisdom of its _Taithu_ and therefore no reinsupon it. And while this was happening black-haired and fair-haired ranand hid and were but shaking vessels of terror. 

"The Ancient Ones took counsel. This was their decision; that theywould go from the gardens before the Silver Waters--leaving, sincethey could not kill it, the Shining One with its worshippers. Theysealed the mouth of the passage that leads to the Moon Pool Chamberand they changed the face of the cliff so that none might tell whereit had been. But the passage itself they left open--havingforeknowledge I think, of a thing that was to come to pass in the farfuture--perhaps it was your journey here, my Larry and Goodwin--verilyI think so. And they destroyed all the ways save that whichwe three trod to the Dweller's abode. 

"For the last time they went to the Three--to pass sentence upon them. This was the doom--that here they should remain, alone, among the_Akka_, served by them, until that time dawned when they would havewill to destroy the evil they had created--and even now--loved; normight they seek death, nor follow their judges until this had come topass. This was the doom they put upon the Three for the wickednessthat had sprung from their pride, and they strengthened it with theirarts that it might not be broken. 

"Then they passed--to a far land they had chosen where the Shining Onecould not go, beyond the Black Precipices of Doul, a green land--"

"Ireland!" interrupted Larry, with conviction, "I knew it. "

"Since then time upon time had passed, " she went on, unheeding. "Thepeople called this place Muria after their sunken land and soon theyforgot where had been the passage the _Taithu_ had sealed. The moonking became the Voice of the Dweller and always with the Voice is awoman of the moon king's kin who is its priestess. 

"And many have been the journeys upward of the Shining One, throughthe Moon Pool--returning with still others in its coils. 

"And now again has it grown restless, longing for the wider spaces. It has spoken to Yolara and to Lugur even as it did to the dead_Taithu_, promising them dominion. And it has grown stronger, drawingto itself power to go far on the moon stream where it will. Thus wasit able to seize your friend, Goodwin, and Olaf's wife and babe--andmany more. Yolara and Lugur plan to open way to earth face; to departwith their court and under the Shining One grasp the world!

"And this is the tale the Silent Ones bade me tell you--and it isdone. "

Breathlessly I had listened to the stupendous epic of a long-lostworld. Now I found speech to voice the question ever with me, thething that lay as close to my heart as did the welfare of Larry, indeed the whole object of my quest--the fate of Throckmartin andthose who had passed with him into the Dweller's lair; yes, and ofOlaf's wife, too. 

"Lakla, " I said, "the friend who drew me here and those he loved whowent before him--can we not save them?"

"The Three say no, Goodwin. " There was again in her eyes the pity withwhich she had looked upon Olaf. "The Shining One--_feeds_--upon theflame of life itself, setting in its place its own fires and its ownwill. Its slaves are only shells through which it gleams. Death, saythe Three, is the best that can come to them; yet will that be a boongreat indeed. "

"But they have souls, _mavourneen_, " Larry said to her. "And they'realive still--in a way. Anyhow, their souls have not gone from them. "

I caught a hope from his words--sceptic though I am--holding that theexistence of soul has never been proved by dependable laboratorymethods--for they recalled to me that when I had seen Throckmartin, Edith had been close beside him. 

"It was days after his wife was taken, that the Dweller seizedThrockmartin, " I cried. "How, if their wills, their life, were indeedgone, how did they find each other mid all that horde? How did theycome together in the Dweller's lair?"

"I do not know, " she answered, slowly. "You say they loved--and it istrue that love is stronger even than death!"

"One thing I _don't_ understand"--this was Larry again--"is why a girllike you keeps coming out of the black-haired crowd; so frequently andone might say, so regularly, Lakla. Aren't there ever any red-headedboys--and if they are what becomes of them?"

"That, Larry, I cannot answer, " she said, very frankly. "There was apact of some kind; how made or by whom I know not. But for long theMurians feared the return of the _Taithu_ and greatly they feared theThree. Even the Shining One feared those who had created it--for atime; and not even now is it eager to face them--_that_ I know. Nor areYolara and Lugur so _sure_. It may be that the Three commanded it: buthow or why I know not. I only know that it is true--for here am I andfrom where else would I have come?"

"From Ireland, " said Larry O'Keefe, promptly. "And that's whereyou're going. For 'tis no place for a girl like you to have beenbrought up--Lakla; what with people like frogs, and a half-god threequarters devil, and red oceans, an' the only Irish things yourself andthe Silent Ones up there, bless their hearts. It's no place for ye, and by the soul of St. Patrick, it's out of it soon ye'll be gettin'!"

Larry! Larry! If it had but been true--and I could see Lakla and youbeside me now!

CHAPTER XXXI

Larry and the Frog-Men

Long had been her tale in the telling, and too long, perhaps, have Ibeen in the repeating--but not every day are the mists rolled away toreveal undreamed secrets of earth-youth. And I have set it down here, adding nothing, taking nothing from it; translating liberally, it istrue, but constantly striving, while putting it into idea-forms andphraseology to be readily understood by my readers, to keep accuratelyto the spirit. And this, I must repeat, I have done throughout mynarrative, wherever it has been necessary to record conversation withthe Murians. 

Rising, I found I was painfully stiff--as muscle-bound as though I hadactually trudged many miles. Larry, imitating me, gave an involuntarygroan. 

"Faith, _mavourneen_, " he said to Lakla, relapsing unconsciously intoEnglish, "your roads would never wear out shoe-leather, but they'vegot their kick, just the same!"

She understood our plight, if not his words; gave a soft little cry ofmingled pity and self-reproach; forced us back upon the cushions. 

"Oh, but I'm sorry!" mourned Lakla, leaning over us. "I hadforgotten--for those new to it the way is a weary one, indeed--"

She ran to the doorway, whistled a clear high note down the passage. Through the hangings came two of the frog-men. She spoke to themrapidly. They crouched toward us, what certainly was meant for anamiable grin wrinkling the grotesque muzzles, baring the glisteningrows of needle-teeth. And while I watched them with the fascinationthat they never lost for me, the monsters calmly swung one arm aroundour knees, lifted us up like babies--and as calmly started to walkaway with us!

"Put me down! Put me down, I say!" The O'Keefe's voice was bothoutraged and angry; squinting around I saw him struggling violently toget to his feet. The _Akka_ only held him tighter, boomingcomfortingly, peering down into his flushed face inquiringly. 

"But, Larry--darlin'!"--Lakla's tones were--well, maternallysurprised--"you're stiff and sore, and Kra can carry you quiteeasily. "

"I _won't_ be carried!" sputtered the O'Keefe. "Damn it, Goodwin, thereare such things as the unities even here, an' for a lieutenant of theRoyal Air Force to be picked up an' carted around like a--like abundle of rags--it's not discipline! Put me down, ye _omadhaun_, orI'll poke ye in the snout!" he shouted to his bearer--who only boomedgently, and stared at the handmaiden, plainly for furtherinstructions. 

"But, Larry--dear!"--Lakla was plainly distressed--"it will _hurt_ youto walk; and I don't _want_ you to hurt, Larry--darlin'!"

"Holy shade of St. Patrick!" moaned Larry; again he made a mightyeffort to tear himself from the frog-man's grip; gave up with a groan. "Listen, _alanna_!" he said plaintively. "When we get to Ireland, youand I, we won't have anybody to pick us up and carry us about everytime we get a bit tired. And it's getting me in bad habits you are!"

"Oh, _yes_, we will, Larry!" cried the handmaiden, "because many, oh, many, of my _Akka_ will go with us!"

"Will you tell this--BOOB!--to put me down!" gritted the nowthoroughly aroused O'Keefe. I couldn't help laughing; he glared at me. 

"Bo-oo-ob?" exclaimed Lakla. 

"Yes, boo-oo-ob!" said O'Keefe, "an' I have no desire to explain theword in my present position, light of my soul!"

The handmaiden sighed, plainly dejected. But she spoke again to the_Akka_, who gently lowered the O'Keefe to the floor. 

"I don't understand, " she said hopelessly, "if you want to walk, why, of course, you shall, Larry. " She turned to me. 

"Do you?" she asked. 

"I do not, " I said firmly. 

"Well, then, " murmured Lakla, "go you, Larry and Goodwin, with Kra andGulk, and let them minister to you. After, sleep a little--for notsoon will Rador and Olaf return. And let me feel your lips before yougo, Larry--darlin'!" She covered his eyes caressingly with her softlittle palms; pushed him away. 

"Now go, " said Lakla, "and rest!"

Unashamed I lay back against the horny chest of Gulk; and with a smilenoticed that Larry, even if he had rebelled at being carried, did notdisdain the support of Kra's shining, black-scaled arm which, slippingaround his waist, half-lifted him along. 

They parted a hanging and dropped us softly down beside a little pool, sparkling with the clear water that had heretofore been brought us inthe wide basins. Then they began to undress us. And at this point theO'Keefe gave up. 

"Whatever they're going to do we can't stop 'em, Doc!" he moaned. "Anyway, I feel as though I've been pulled through a knot-hole, and Idon't care--I don't care--as the song says. "

When we were stripped we were lowered gently into the water. But notlong did the _Akka_ let us splash about the shallow basin. They liftedus out, and from jars began deftly to anoint and rub us with aromaticunguents. 

I think that in all the medley of grotesque, of tragic, of baffling, strange and perilous experiences in that underground world none wasmore bizarre than this--valeting. I began to laugh, Larry joined me, and then Kra and Gulk joined in our merriment with deep batrachiancachinnations and gruntings. Then, having finished apparelling us andstill chuckling, the two touched our arms and led us out, into a roomwhose circular sides were ringed with soft divans. Still smiling, Isank at once into sleep. 

How long I slumbered I do not know. A low and thunderous boomingcoming through the deep window slit, reverberated through the room andawakened me. Larry yawned; arose briskly. 

"Sounds as though the bass drums of every jazz band in New York wereserenading us!" he observed. Simultaneously we sprang to the window;peered through. 

We were a little above the level of the bridge, and its full lengthwas plain before us. Thousands upon thousands of the _Akka_ werecrowding upon it, and far away other hordes filled like a glitteringthicket both sides of the cavern ledge's crescent strand. On blackscale and orange scale the crimson light fell, picking them off inlittle flickering points. 

Upon the platform from which sprang the smaller span over the abysswere Lakla, Olaf, and Rador; the handmaiden clearly acting asinterpreter between them and the giant she had called Nak, the FrogKing. 

"Come on!" shouted Larry. 

Out of the open portal we ran; over the World Heart Bridge--andstraight into the group. 

"Oh!" cried Lakla, "I didn't want you to wake up so soon, Larry--darlin'!"

"See here, _mavourneen_!" Indignation thrilled in the Irishman'svoice. "I'm not going to be done up with baby-ribbons and laid away ina cradle for safe-keeping while a fight is on; don't think it. Whydidn't you call me?"

"You needed rest!" There was indomitable determination in thehandmaiden's tones, the eternal maternal shining defiant from hereyes. "You were tired and you hurt! You shouldn't have got up!"

"Needed the rest!" groaned Larry. "Look here, Lakla, what do youthink I am?"

"You're all I have, " said that maiden firmly, "and I'm going to takecare of you, Larry--darlin'! Don't you ever think anything else. "

"Well, pulse of my heart, considering my delicate health and generalfragility, would it hurt me, do you think, to be told what's goingon?" he asked. 

"Not at all, Larry!" answered the handmaiden serenely. "Yolara wentthrough the Portal. She was very, _very_ angry--"

"She was all the devil's woman that she is!" rumbled Olaf. 

"Rador met the messenger, " went on the Golden Girl calmly. "The_ladala_ are ready to rise when Lugur and Yolara lead their hostsagainst us. They will strike at those left behind. And in the meantimewe shall have disposed my _Akka_ to meet Yolara's men. And on thatdisposal we must all take counsel, you, Larry, and Rador, Olaf andGoodwin and Nak, the ruler of the _Akka_. "

"Did the messenger give any idea when Yolara expects to make herlittle call?" asked Larry. 

"Yes, " she answered. "They prepare, and we may expect them in--" Shegave the equivalent of about thirty-six hours of our time. 

"But, Lakla, " I said, the doubt that I had long been holding findingvoice, "should the Shining One come--with its slaves--are the Threestrong enough to cope with it?"

There was troubled doubt in her own eyes. 

"I do not know, " she said at last, frankly. "You have heard theirstory. What they promise is that they will help. I do not know--anymore than do you, Goodwin!"

I looked up at the dome beneath which I knew the dread Trinity staredforth; even down upon us. And despite the awe, the assurance, I hadfelt when I stood before them I, too, doubted. 

"Well, " said Larry, "you and I, uncle, " he turned to Rador, "and Olafhere had better decide just what part of the battle we'll lead--"

"Lead!" the handmaiden was appalled. "_You_ lead, Larry? Why you areto stay with Goodwin and with me--up there, there we can watch. "

"Heart's beloved, " O'Keefe was stern indeed. "A thousand times I'velooked Death straight in the face, peered into his eyes. Yes, and withten thousand feet of space under me an' bursting shells tickling theribs of the boat I was in. An' d'ye think I'll sit now on thegrandstand an' watch while a game like this is being pulled? Ye don'tknow your future husband, soul of my delight!"

And so we started toward the golden opening, squads of the frog-menfollowing us soldierly and disappearing about the huge structure. Nordid we stop until we came to the handmaiden's boudoir. There we seatedourselves. 

"Now, " said Larry, "two things I want to know. First--how many canYolara muster against us; second, how many of these _Akka_ have we tomeet them?"

Rador gave our equivalent for eighty thousand men as the force Yolaracould muster without stripping her city. Against this force, itappeared, we could count, roughly, upon two hundred thousand of the_Akka_. 

"And they're some fighters!" exclaimed Larry. "Hell, with odds likethat what're you worrying about? It's over before it's begun. "

"But, _Larree_, " objected Rador to this, "you forget that the nobleswill have the _Keth_--and other things; also that the soldiers havefought against the _Akka_ before and will be shielded very well fromtheir spears and clubs--and that their blades and javelins can bitethrough the scales of Nak's warriors. They have many things--"

"Uncle, " interjected O'Keefe, "one thing they have is your nerve. Why, we're more than two to one. And take it from me--"

Without warning dropped the tragedy!

CHAPTER XXXII

"Your Love; Your Lives; Your Souls!"

Lakla had taken no part in the talk since we had reached her bower. She had seated herself close to the O'Keefe. Glancing at her I hadseen steal over her face that brooding, listening look that was herswhenever in that mysterious communion with the Three. It vanished;swiftly she arose; interrupted the Irishman without ceremony. 

"Larry darlin', " said the handmaiden. "The Silent Ones summon us!"

"When do we go?" I asked; Larry's face grew bright with interest. 

"The time is now, " she said--and hesitated. "Larry dear, put yourarms about me, " she faltered, "for there is something cold thatcatches at my heart--and I am afraid. "

At his exclamation she gathered herself together; gave a shaky littlelaugh. 

"It's because I love you so that fear has power to plague me, " shetold him. 

Without another word he bent and kissed her; in silence we passed on, his arm still about her girdled waist, golden head and black closetogether. Soon we stood before the crimson slab that was the door tothe sanctuary of the Silent Ones. She poised uncertainly before it;then with a defiant arching of the proud little head that sent all thebronze-flecked curls flying, she pressed. It slipped aside and oncemore the opalescence gushed out, flooding all about us. 

Dazzled as before, I followed through the lambent cascades pouringfrom the high, carved walls; paused, and my eyes clearing, lookedup--straight into the faces of the Three. The angled orbs centred uponthe handmaiden; softened as I had seen them do when first we had facedthem. She smiled up; seemed to listen. 

"Come closer, " she commanded, "close to the feet of the Silent Ones. "

We moved, pausing at the very base of the dais. The sparkling miststhinned; the great heads bent slightly over us; through the veils Icaught a glimpse of huge columnar necks, enormous shoulders coveredwith draperies as of pale-blue fire. 

I came back to attention with a start, for Lakla was answering aquestion only heard by her, and, answering it aloud, I perceived forour benefit; for whatever was the mode of communication between thosewhose handmaiden she was, and her, it was clearly independent ofspeech. 

"He has been told, " she said, "even as you commanded. "

Did I see a shadow of pain flit across the flickering eyes? Wondering, I glanced at Lakla's face and there was a dawn of foreboding andbewilderment. For a little she held her listening attitude; then thegaze of the Three left her; focused upon the O'Keefe. 

"Thus speak the Silent Ones--through Lakla, their handmaiden, " thegolden voice was like low trumpet notes. "At the threshold of doom isthat world of yours above. Yea, even the doom, Goodwin, that yedreamed and the shadow of which, looking into your mind they see, saythe Three. For not upon earth and never upon earth can man find meansto destroy the Shining One. "

She listened again--and the foreboding deepened to an amazed fear. 

"They say, the Silent Ones, " she went on, "that they know not whethereven they have power to destroy. Energies we know nothing of enteredinto its shaping and are part of it; and still other energies it hasgathered to itself"--she paused; a shadow of puzzlement crept into hervoice "and other energies still, forces that ye _do_ know and symbolizeby certain names--hatred and pride and lust and many others which areforces real as that hidden in the _Keth_; and among them--fear, whichweakens all those others--" Again she paused. 

"But within it is nothing of that greatest of all, that which can makepowerless all the evil others, that which we call--love, " she endedsoftly. 

"I'd like to be the one to put a little more _fear_ in the beast, "whispered Larry to me, grimly in our own English. The three weirdheads bent, ever so slightly--and I gasped, and Larry grew a littlewhite as Lakla nodded--

"They say, Larry, " she said, "that there you touch one side of theheart of the matter--for it is through the way of fear the Silent Oneshope to strike at the very life of the Shining One!"

The visage Larry turned to me was eloquent of wonder; and minereflected it--for what _really_ were this Three to whom our minds werebut open pages, so easily read? Not long could we conjecture; Laklabroke the little silence. 

"This, they say, is what is to happen. First will come upon us Lugurand Yolara with all their host. Because of fear the Shining One willlurk behind within its lair; for despite all, the Dweller _does_ dreadthe Three, and only them. With this host the Voice and the priestesswill strive to conquer. And if they do, then will they be strongenough, too, to destroy us all. For if they take the abode they banishfrom the Dweller all fear and sound the end of the Three. 

"Then will the Shining One be all free indeed; free to go out into theworld, free to do there as it wills!

"But if they do not conquer--and the Shining One comes not to theiraid, abandoning them even as it abandoned its own _Taithu_--then willthe Three be loosed from a part of their doom, and they will gothrough the Portal, seek the Shining One beyond the Veil, and, piercing it through fear's opening, destroy it. "

"That's quite clear, " murmured the O'Keefe in my ear. "Weaken themorale--then smash. I've seen it happen a dozen times in Europe. Whilethey've got their nerve there's not a thing you can do; get theirnerve--and not a thing can they do. And yet in both cases they're thesame men. "

Lakla had been listening again. She turned, thrust out hands toLarry, a wild hope in her eyes--and yet a hope half shamed. 

"They say, " she cried, "that they give us choice. Remembering thatyour world doom hangs in the balance, we have choice--choice to stayand help fight Yolara's armies--and they say they look not lightly onthat help. Or choice to go--and if so be you choose the latter, thenwill they show another way that leads into your world!"

A flush had crept over the O'Keefe's face as she was speaking. Hetook her hands and looked long into the golden eyes; glancing up I sawthe Trinity were watching them intently--imperturbably. 

"What do you say, _mavourneen_?" asked Larry gently. The handmaidenhung her head; trembled. 

"Your words shall be mine, O one I love, " she whispered. "So going orstaying, I am beside you. "

"And you, Goodwin?" he turned to me. I shrugged my shoulders--afterall I had no one to care. 

"It's up to you, Larry, " I remarked, deliberately choosing his ownphraseology. 

The O'Keefe straightened, squared his shoulders, gazed straight intothe flame-flickering eyes. 

"We stick!" he said briefly. 

Shamefacedly I recall now that at the time I thought thiscolloquialism not only irreverent, but in somewhat bad taste. I amglad to say I was alone in that bit of weakness. The face that Laklaturned to Larry was radiant with love, and although the shamed hopehad vanished from the sweet eyes, they were shining with adoringpride. And the marble visages of the Three softened, and the littleflames died down. 

"Wait, " said Lakla, "there is one other thing they say we must answerbefore they will hold us to that promise--wait--"

She listened, and then her face grew white--white as those of theThree themselves; the glorious eyes widened, stark terror fillingthem; the whole lithe body of her shook like a reed in the wind. 

"Not that!" she cried out to the Three. "Oh, not that! NotLarry--let me go even as you will--but not him!" She threw up frantichands to the woman-being of the Trinity. "Let _me_ bear it alone, " shewailed. "Alone--mother! Mother!"

The Three bent their heads toward her, their faces pitiful, and fromthe eyes of the woman One rolled--tears! Larry leaped to Lakla's side. 

_"Mavourneen!"_ he cried. "Sweetheart, what have they said to you?"

He glared up at the Silent Ones, his hand twitching toward thehigh-hung pistol holster. 

The handmaiden swung to him; threw white arms around his neck; heldher head upon his heart until her sobbing ceased. 

"This they--say--the Silent Ones, " she gasped and then all the courageof her came back. "O heart of mine!" she whispered to Larry, gazingdeep into his eyes, his anxious face cupped between her white palms. "This they say--that should the Shining One come to succour Yolara andLugur, should it conquer its fear--and--do this--then is there but oneway left to destroy it--and to save your world. "

She swayed; he gripped her tightly. 

"But one way--you and I must go--together--into its embrace! Yea, wemust pass within it--loving each other, loving the world, realizing tothe full all that we sacrifice and sacrificing all, our love, ourlives, perhaps even that you call soul, O loved one; must giveourselves _all_ to the Shining One--gladly, freely, our love for eachother flaming high within us--that this curse shall pass away! For ifwe do this, pledge the Three, then shall that power of love we carryinto it weaken for a time all that evil which the Shining One hasbecome--and in that time the Three can strike and slay!"

The blood rushed from my heart; scientist that I am, essentially, myreason rejected any such solution as this of the activities of theDweller. Was it not, the thought flashed, a propitiation by the Threeout of their own weakness--and as it flashed I looked up to see theireyes, full of sorrow, on mine--and knew they read the thought. Theninto the whirling vortex of my mind came steadying reflections--ofhistory changed by the power of hate, of passion, of ambition, andmost of all, by love. Was there not actual dynamic energy in thesethings--was there not a Son of Man who hung upon a cross on Calvary?

"Dear love o' mine, " said the O'Keefe quietly, "is it in your heart tosay _yes_ to this?"

"Larry, " she spoke low, "what is in your heart is in mine; but I didso want to go with you, to live with you--to--to bear you children, Larry--and to see the sun. "

My eyes were wet; dimly through them I saw his gaze on me. 

"If the world _is_ at stake, " he whispered, "why of course there's onlyone thing to do. God knows I never was afraid when I was fighting upthere--and many a better man than me has gone West with shell andbullet for the same idea; but these things aren't shell andbullet--but I hadn't Lakla then--and it's the damned _doubt_ I havebehind it all. "

He turned to the Three--and did I in their poise sense a rigidity, ananxiety that sat upon them as alienly as would divinity upon men?

"Tell me this, Silent Ones, " he cried. "If we do this, Lakla and I, is it _sure_ you are that you can slay the--Thing, and save my world? Isit _sure_ you are?"

For the first and the last time, I heard the voice of the Silent Ones. It was the man-being at the right who spoke. 

"We are sure, " the tones rolled out like deepest organ notes, shaking, vibrating, assailing the ears as strangely as their appearance struckthe eyes. Another moment the O'Keefe stared at them. Once more hesquared his shoulders; lifted Lakla's chin and smiled into her eyes. 

"We stick!" he said again, nodding to the Three. 

Over the visages of the Trinity fell benignity that was--awesome; thetiny flames in the jet orbs vanished, leaving them wells in whichbrimmed serenity, hope--an extraordinary joyfulness. The woman satupright, tender gaze fixed upon the man and girl. Her great shouldersraised as though she had lifted her arms and had drawn to her thoseothers. The three faces pressed together for a fleeting moment; raisedagain. The woman bent forward--and as she did so, Lakla and Larry, asthough drawn by some outer force, were swept upon the dais. 

Out from the sparkling mist stretched two hands, enormously long, six-fingered, thumbless, a faint tracery of golden scales upon theirwhite backs, utterly unhuman and still in some strange way beautiful, radiating power and--all womanly!

They stretched forth; they touched the bent heads of Lakla and theO'Keefe; caressed them, drew them together, softly strokedthem--lovingly, with more than a touch of benediction. And withdrew!

The sparkling mists rolled up once more, hiding the Silent Ones. Assilently as once before we had gone we passed out of the place oflight, beyond the crimson stone, back to the handmaiden's chamber. 

Only once on our way did Larry speak. 

"Cheer up, darlin', " he said to her, "it's a long way yet before thefinish. An' are you thinking that Lugur and Yolara are going to pullthis thing off? Are you?"

The handmaiden only looked at him, eyes love and sorrow filled. 

"They are!" said Larry. "They are! Like HELL they are!"

CHAPTER XXXIII

The Meeting of Titans

It is not my intention, nor is it possible no matter how interestingto me, to set down _ad seriatim_ the happenings of the next twelvehours. But a few will not be denied recital. 

O'Keefe regained cheerfulness. 

"After all, Doc, " he said to me, "it's a beautiful scrap we're goingto have. At the worst the worst is no more than the leprechaun warnedabout. I would have told the Taitha De about the banshee raid hepromised me; but I was a bit taken off my feet at the time. The oldgirl an' all the clan'll be along, said the little green man, an' Ibet the Three will be damned glad of it, take it from me. "

Lakla, shining-eyed and half fearful too:

"I have other tidings that I am afraid will please you little, Larry--darlin'. The Silent Ones say that you must not go into battleyourself. You must stay here with me, and with Goodwin--forif--if--the Shining One does come, then must we be here to meet it. And you might not be, you know, Larry, if you fight, " she said, looking shyly up at him from under the long lashes. 

The O'Keefe's jaw dropped. 

"That's about the hardest yet, " he answered slowly. "Still--I seetheir point; the lamb corralled for the altar has no right to strayout among the lions, " he added grimly. "Don't worry, sweet, " he toldher. "As long as I've sat in the game I'll stick to the rules. "

Olaf took fierce joy in the coming fray. "The Norns spin close to theend of this web, " he rumbled. "_Ja!_ And the threads of Lugur and theHeks woman are between their fingers for the breaking! Thor will bewith me, and I have fashioned me a hammer in glory of Thor. " In hishand was an enormous mace of black metal, fully five feet long, crowned with a massive head. 

I pass to the twelve hours' closing. 

At the end of the _coria_ road where the giant fernland met the edgeof the cavern's ruby floor, hundreds of the _Akka_ were stationed inambush, armed with their spears tipped with the rotting death andtheir nail-studded, metal-headed clubs. These were to attack when theMurians debauched from the _corials_. We had little hope of doing morehere than effect some attrition of Yolara's hosts, for at this placethe captains of the Shining One could wield the _Keth_ and their otheruncanny weapons freely. We had learned, too, that every forge andartisan had been put to work to make an armour Marakinoff had devisedto withstand the natural battle equipment of the frog-people--and bothLarry and I had a disquieting faith in the Russian's ingenuity. 

At any rate the numbers against us would be lessened. 

Next, under the direction of the frog-king, levies commanded bysubsidiary chieftains had completed rows of rough walls along theprobable route of the Murians through the cavern. These afforded the_Akka_ a fair protection behind which they could hurl their darts andspears--curiously enough they had never developed the bow as a weapon. 

At the opening of the cavern a strong barricade stretched almost tothe two ends of the crescent strand; almost, I say, because there hadnot been time to build it entirely across the mouth. 

And from edge to edge of the titanic bridge, from where it sprangoutward at the shore of the Crimson Sea to a hundred feet away fromthe golden door of the abode, barrier after barrier was piled. 

Behind the wall defending the mouth of the cavern, waited otherthousands of the _Akka_. At each end of the unfinished barricade theywere mustered thickly, and at right and left of the crescent wheretheir forest began, more legions were assembled to make way up to theledge as opportunity offered. 

Rank upon rank they manned the bridge barriers; they swarmed over thepinnacles and in the hollows of the island's ragged outer lip; thedomed castle was a hive of them, if I may mix my metaphors--and therocks and gardens that surrounded the abode glittered with them. 

"Now, " said the handmaiden, "there's nothing else we can do--savewait. "

She led us out through her bower and up the little path that ran tothe embrasure. 

Through the quiet came a sound, a sighing, a half-mournful whisperingthat beat about us and fled away. 

"They come!" cried Lakla, the light of battle in her eyes. Larry drewher to him, raised her in his arms, kissed her. 

"A woman!" acclaimed the O'Keefe. "A real woman--and mine!"

With the cry of the Portal there was movement among the _Akka_, theglint of moving spears, flash of metal-tipped clubs, rattle of hornyspurs, rumblings of battle-cries. 

And we waited--waited it seemed interminably, gaze fastened upon thelow wall across the cavern mouth. Suddenly I remembered the crystalthrough which I had peered when the hidden assassins had crept uponus. Mentioning it to Lakla, she gave a little cry of vexation, acommand to her attendant; and not long that faithful if unusual ladyhad returned with a tray of the glasses. Raising mine, I saw the linesfurthest away leap into sudden activity. Spurred warrior after warriorleaped upon the barricade and over it. Flashes of intense, greenlight, mingled with gleams like lightning strokes of concentrated moonrays, sprang from behind the wall--sprang and struck and burned uponthe scales of the batrachians. 

"They come!" whispered Lakla. 

At the far ends of the crescent a terrific milling had begun. Here itwas plain the _Akka_ were holding. Faintly, for the distance wasgreat, I could see fresh force upon force rush up and take the placesof those who had fallen. 

Over each of these ends, and along the whole line of the barricade amist of dancing, diamonded atoms began to rise; sparking, coruscatingpoints of diamond dust that darted and danced. 

What had once been Lakla's guardians--dancing now in the nothingness!

"God, but it's hard to stay here like this!" groaned the O'Keefe;Olaf's teeth were bared, the lips drawn back in such a fighting grinas his ancestors berserk on their raven ships must have borne; Radorwas livid with rage; the handmaiden's nostrils flaring wide, all herwrathful soul in her eyes. 

Suddenly, while we looked, the rocky wall which the _Akka_ had builtat the cavern mouth--was not! It vanished, as though an unseen, unbelievably gigantic hand had with the lightning's speed swept itaway. And with it vanished, too, long lines of the great amphibiansclose behind it. 

Then down upon the ledge, dropping into the Crimson Sea, sending upgeysers of ruby spray, dashing on the bridge, crushing the frog-men, fell a shower of stone, mingled with distorted shapes and fragmentswhose scales still flashed meteoric as they hurled from above. 

"That which makes things fall upward, " hissed Olaf. "That which I sawin the garden of Lugur!"

The fiendish agency of destruction which Marakinoff had revealed toLarry; the force that cut off gravitation and sent all things withinits range racing outward into space!

And now over the debris upon the ledge, striking with long sword anddaggers, here and there a captain flashing the green ray, moving on inordered squares, came the soldiers of the Shining One. Nearer andnearer the verge of the ledge they pushed Nak's warriors. Leaping uponthe dwarfs, smiting them with spear and club, with teeth and spur, the_Akka_ fought like devils. Quivering under the ray, they leaped anddragged down and slew. 

Now there was but one long line of the frog-men at the very edge ofthe cliff. 

And ever the clouds of dancing, diamonded atoms grew thicker over themall!

That last thin line of the _Akka_ was going; yet they fought to thelast, and none toppled over the lip without at least one of thearmoured Murians in his arms. 

My gaze dropped to the foot of the cliffs. Stretched along theirlength was a wide ribbon of beauty--a shimmering multitude ofgleaming, pulsing, prismatic moons; glowing, glowing ever brighter, ever more wondrous--the gigantic Medusae globes feasting on dwarf andfrog-man alike!

Across the waters, faintly, came a triumphant shouting from Lugur'sand Yolara's men!

Was the ruddy light of the place lessening, growing paler, changing toa faint rose? There was an exclamation from Larry; something like hoperelaxed the drawn muscles of his face. He pointed to the aureate domewherein sat the Three--and then I saw!

Out of it, through the long transverse slit through which the SilentOnes kept their watch on cavern, bridge, and abyss, a torrent of theopalescent light was pouring. It cascaded like a waterfall, and as itflowed it spread whirling out, in columns and eddies, clouds and wispsof misty, curdled coruscations. It hung like a veil over all theislands, filtering everywhere, driving back the crimson light asthough possessed of impenetrable substance--and still it cast not thefaintest shadowing upon our vision. 

"Good God!" breathed Larry. "Look!"

The radiance was marching--_marching_--down the colossal bridge. Itmoved swiftly, in some unthinkable way _intelligently_. It swathed the_Akka_, and closer, ever closer it swept toward the approach uponwhich Yolara's men had now gained foothold. 

From their ranks came flash after flash of the green ray--aimed atthe abode! But as the light sped and struck the opalescence it wasblotted out! The shimmering mists seemed to enfold, to dissipate it. 

Lakla drew a deep breath. 

"The Silent Ones forgive me for doubting them, " she whispered; andagain hope blossomed on her face even as it did on Larry's. 

The frog-men were gaining. Clothed in the armour of that mist, theypressed back from the bridge-head the invaders. There was anotherprodigious movement at the ends of the crescent, and racing up, pressing against the dwarfs, came other legions of Nak's warriors. Andre-enforcing those out on the prodigious arch, the frog-men stationedin the gardens below us poured back to the castle and out through theopen Portal. 

"They're licked!" shouted Larry. "They're--"

So quickly I could not follow the movement his automatic leaped to hishand--spoke, once and again and again. Rador leaped to the head of thelittle path, sword in hand; Olaf, shouting and whirling his mace, followed. I strove to get my own gun quickly. 

For up that path were running twoscore of Lugur's men, while frombelow Lugur's own voice roared. 

"Quick! Slay not the handmaiden or her lover! Carry them down. Quick! But slay the others!"

The handmaiden raced toward Larry, stopped, whistled shrilly--againand again. Larry's pistol was empty, but as the dwarfs rushed upon himI dropped two of them with mine. It jammed--I could not use it; Isprang to his side. Rador was down, struggling in a heap of Lugur'smen. Olaf, a Viking of old, was whirling his great hammer, andstriking, striking through armour, flesh, and bone. 

Larry was down, Lakla flew to him. But the Norseman, now streamingblood from a dozen wounds, caught a glimpse of her coming, turned, thrust out a mighty hand, sent her reeling back, and then with hishammer cracked the skulls of those trying to drag the O'Keefe down thepath. 

A cry from Lakla--the dwarfs had seized her, had lifted her despiteher struggles, were carrying her away. One I dropped with the butt ofmy useless pistol, and then went down myself under the rush ofanother. 

Through the clamour I heard a booming of the _Akka_, closer, closer;then through it the bellow of Lugur. I made a mighty effort, swung ahand up, and sunk my fingers in the throat of the soldier striving tokill me. Writhing over him, my fingers touched a poniard; I thrust itdeep, staggered to my feet. 

The O'Keefe, shielding Lakla, was battling with a long sword against ahalf dozen of the soldiers. I started toward him, was struck, andunder the impact hurled to the ground. Dizzily I raised myself--andleaning upon my elbow, stared and moved no more. For the dwarfs laydead, and Larry, holding Lakla tightly, was staring even as I, andranged at the head of the path were the _Akka_, whose booming advancein obedience to the handmaiden's call I had heard. 

And at what we all stared was Olaf, crimson with his wounds, andLugur, in blood-red armour, locked in each other's grip, struggling, smiting, tearing, kicking, and swaying about the little space beforethe embrasure. I crawled over toward the O'Keefe. He raised hispistol, dropped it. 

"Can't hit him without hitting Olaf, " he whispered. Lakla signalledthe frog-men; they advanced toward the two--but Olaf saw them, brokethe red dwarf's hold, sent Lugur reeling a dozen feet away. 

"No!" shouted the Norseman, the ice of his pale-blue eyes glintinglike frozen flames, blood streaming down his face and dripping fromhis hands. "No! Lugur is mine! None but me slays him! Ho, you Lugur--"and cursed him and Yolara and the Dweller hideously--I cannot setthose curses down here. 

They spurred Lugur. Mad now as the Norseman, the red dwarf sprang. Olaf struck a blow that would have killed an ordinary man, but Luguronly grunted, swept in, and seized him about the waist; one mighty armbegan to creep up toward Huldricksson's throat. 

"'Ware, Olaf!" cried O'Keefe; but Olaf did not answer. He waited untilthe red dwarf's hand was close to his shoulder; and then, with anincredibly rapid movement--once before had I seen something like itin a wrestling match between Papuans--he had twisted Lugur around;twisted him so that Olaf's right arm lay across the tremendous breast, the left behind the neck, and Olaf's left leg held the Voice'sarmoured thighs viselike against his right knee while over that kneelay the small of the red dwarf's back. 

For a second or two the Norseman looked down upon his enemy, motionless in that paralyzing grip. And then--slowly--he began tobreak him!

Lakla gave a little cry; made a motion toward the two. But Larry drewher head down against his breast, hiding her eyes; then fastened hisown upon the pair, white-faced, stern. 

Slowly, ever so slowly, proceeded Olaf. Twice Lugur moaned. At theend he screamed--horribly. There was a cracking sound, as of a stoutstick snapped. 

Huldricksson stooped, silently. He picked up the limp body of theVoice, not yet dead, for the eyes rolled, the lips strove to speak;lifted it, walked to the parapet, swung it twice over his head, andcast it down to the red waters!

CHAPTER XXXIV

The Coming of the Shining One

The Norseman turned toward us. There was now no madness in his eyes;only a great weariness. And there was peace on the once tortured face. 

"Helma, " he whispered, "I go a little before! Soon you will come tome--to me and the Yndling who will await you--Helma, _meine liebe!_"

Blood gushed from his mouth; he swayed, fell. And thus died OlafHuldricksson. 

We looked down upon him; nor did Lakla, nor Larry, nor I try to hideour tears. And as we stood the _Akka_ brought to us that other mightyfighter, Rador; but in him there was life, and we attended to himthere as best we could. 

Then Lakla spoke. 

"We will bear him into the castle where we may give him greater care, "she said. "For, lo! the hosts of Yolara have been beaten back; and onthe bridge comes Nak with tidings. "

We looked over the parapet. It was even as she had said. Neither onledge nor bridge was there trace of living men of Muria--only heaps ofslain that lay everywhere--and thick against the cavern mouth stilldanced the flashing atoms of those the green ray had destroyed. 

"Over!" exclaimed Larry incredulously. "We live then--heart ofmine!"

"The Silent Ones recall their veils, " she said, pointing to the dome. Back through the slitted opening the radiance was streaming;withdrawing from sea and island; marching back over the bridge withthat same ordered, intelligent motion. Behind it the red lightpressed, like skirmishers on the heels of a retreating army. 

"And yet--" faltered the handmaiden as we passed into her chamber, anddoubtful were the eyes she turned upon the O'Keefe. 

"I don't believe, " he said, "there's a kick left in them--"

What was that sound beating into the chamber faintly, so faintly? Myheart gave a great throb and seemed to stop for an eternity. What wasit--coming nearer, ever nearer? Now Lakla and O'Keefe heard it, lifeebbing from lips and cheeks. 

Nearer, nearer--a music as of myriads of tiny crystal bells, tinkling, tinkling--a storm of pizzicati upon violins of glass! Nearer, nearer--not sweetly now, nor luring; no--raging, wrathful, sinisterbeyond words; sweeping on; nearer--

The Dweller! The Shining One!

We leaped to the narrow window; peered out, aghast. The bell notesswept through and about us, a hurricane. The crescent strand was oncemore a ferment. Back, back were the _Akka_ being swept, as though bybrooms, tottering on the edge of the ledge, falling into the waters. Swiftly they were finished; and where they had fought was an eddyingthrong clothed in tatters or naked, swaying, drifting, armstossing--like marionettes of Satan. 

The dead-alive! The slaves of the Dweller!

They swayed and tossed, and then, like water racing through an openeddam, they swept upon the bridge-head. On and on they pushed, like thebore of a mighty tide. The frog-men strove against them, clubbing, spearing, tearing them. But even those worst smitten seemed not tofall. On they pushed, driving forward, irresistible--a battering ramof flesh and bone. They clove the masses of the _Akka_, pressing themto the sides of the bridge and over. Through the open gates theyforced them--for there was no room for the frog-men to stand againstthat implacable tide. 

Then those of the _Akka_ who were left turned their backs and ran. Weheard the clang of the golden wings of the portal, and none too soonto keep out the first of the Dweller's dreadful hordes. 

Now upon the cavern ledge and over the whole length of the bridgethere were none but the dead-alive, men and women, black-polled_ladala_, sloe-eyed Malays, slant-eyed Chinese, men of every race thatsailed the seas--milling, turning, swaying, like leaves caught in asluggish current. 

The bell notes became sharper, more insistent. At the cavern mouth aradiance began to grow--a gleaming from which the atoms of diamonddust seemed to try to flee. As the radiance grew and the crystal notesrang nearer, every head of that hideous multitude turned stiffly, slowly toward the right, looking toward the far bridge end; their eyesfixed and glaring; every face an inhuman mask of rapture and ofhorror!

A movement shook them. Those in the centre began to stream back, faster and ever faster, leaving motionless deep ranks on each side. Back they flowed until from golden doors to cavern mouth a wide lanestretched, walled on each side by the dead-alive. 

The far radiance became brighter; it gathered itself at the end of thedreadful lane; it was shot with sparklings and with pulsings ofpolychromatic light. The crystal storm was intolerable, piercing theears with countless tiny lances; brighter still the radiance. 

From the cavern swirled the Shining One!

The Dweller paused, seemed to scan the island of the Silent Ones halfdoubtfully; then slowly, stately, it drifted out upon the bridge. Closer it drew; behind it glided Yolara at the head of a company ofher dwarfs, and at her side was the hag of the Council whose face wasthe withered, shattered echo of her own. 

Slower grew the Dweller's pace as it drew nearer. Did I sense in it adoubt, an uncertainty? The crystal-tongued, unseen choristers thataccompanied it subtly seemed to reflect the doubt; their notes werenot sure, no longer insistent; rather was there in them an undertoneof hesitancy, of warning! Yet on came the Shining One until it stoodplain beneath us, searching with those eyes that thrust from andwithdrew into unknown spheres, the golden gateway, the cliff face, thecastle's rounded bulk--and more intently than any of these, the domewherein sat the Three. 

Behind it each face of the dead-alive turned toward it, and thosebeside it throbbed and gleamed with its luminescence. 

Yolara crept close, just beyond the reach of its spirals. Shemurmured--and the Dweller bent toward her, its seven globes steady intheir shining mists, as though listening. It drew erect once more, resumed its doubtful scrutiny. Yolara's face darkened; she turnedabruptly, spoke to a captain of her guards. A dwarf raced back betweenthe palisades of dead-alive. 

Now the priestess cried out, her voice ringing like a silver clarion. 

"Ye are done, ye Three! The Shining One stands at your door, demanding entrance. Your beasts are slain and your power is gone. Whoare ye, says the Shining One, to deny it entrance to the place of itsbirth?"

"Ye do not answer, " she cried again, "yet know we that ye hear! TheShining One offers these terms: Send forth your handmaiden and thatlying stranger she stole; send them forth to us--and perhaps ye maylive. But if ye send them not forth, then shall ye too die--and soon!"

We waited, silent, even as did Yolara--and again there was no answerfrom the Three. 

The priestess laughed; the blue eyes flashed. 

"It is ended!" she cried. "If you will not open, needs must we openfor you!"

Over the bridge was marching a long double file of the dwarfs. Theybore a smoothed and handled tree-trunk whose head was knobbed with ahuge ball of metal. Past the priestess, past the Shining One, theycarried it; fifty of them to each side of the ram; and behind themstepped--Marakinoff!

Larry awoke to life. 

"Now, thank God, " he rasped, "I can get that devil, anyway!"

He drew his pistol, took careful aim. Even as he pressed the triggerthere rang through the abode a tremendous clanging. The ram wasbattering at the gates. O'Keefe's bullet went wild. The Russian musthave heard the shot; perhaps the missile was closer than we knew. Hemade a swift leap behind the guards; was lost to sight. 

Once more the thunderous clanging rang through the castle. 

Lakla drew herself erect; down upon her dropped the listeningaloofness. Gravely she bowed her head. 

"It is time, O love of mine. " She turned to O'Keefe. "The Silent Onessay that the way of fear is closed, but the way of love is open. Theycall upon us to redeem our promise!"

For a hundred heart-beats they clung to each other, breast to breastand lip to lip. Below, the clangour was increasing, the great trunkswinging harder and faster upon the metal gates. Now Lakla gentlyloosed the arms of the O'Keefe, and for another instant those twolooked into each other's souls. The handmaiden smiled tremulously. 

"I would it might have been otherwise, Larry darlin', " she whispered. "But at least--we pass together, dearest of mine!"

She leaped to the window. 

"Yolara!" the golden voice rang out sweetly. The clanging ceased. "Draw back your men. We open the Portal and come forth to you and theShining One--Larry and I. "

The priestess's silver chimes of laughter rang out, cruel, mocking. 

"Come, then, quickly, " she jeered. "For surely both the Shining Oneand I yearn for you!" Her malice-laden laughter chimed high once more. "Keep us not lonely long!" the priestess mocked. 

Larry drew a deep breath, stretched both hands out to me. 

"It's good-by, I guess, Doc. " His voice was strained. "Good-by andgood luck, old boy. If you get out, and you _will_, let the old_Dolphin_ know I'm gone. And carry on, pal--and always remember theO'Keefe loved you like a brother. "

I squeezed his hands desperately. Then out of my balanceshaking woe astrange comfort was born. 

"Maybe it's not good-by, Larry!" I cried. "The banshee has notcried!"

A flash of hope passed over his face; the old reckless grin shoneforth. 

"It's so!" he said. "By the Lord, it's so!"

Then Lakla bent toward me, and for the second time--kissed me. 

"Come!" she said to Larry. Hand in hand they moved away, into thecorridor that led to the door outside of which waited the Shining Oneand its priestess. 

And unseen by them, wrapped as they were within their love andsacrifice, I crept softly behind. For I had determined that if enterthe Dweller's embrace they must, they should not go alone. 

They paused before the Golden Portals; the handmaiden pressed itsopening lever; the massive leaves rolled back. 

Heads high, proudly, serenely, they passed through and out upon thehither span. I followed. 

On each side of us stood the Dweller's slaves, faces turned rigidlytoward their master. A hundred feet away the Shining One pulsed andspiralled in its evilly glorious lambency of sparkling plumes. 

Unhesitating, always with that same high serenity, Lakla and theO'Keefe, hands clasped like little children, drew closer to thatwondrous shape. I could not see their faces, but I saw awe fall uponthose of the watching dwarfs, and into the burning eyes of Yolaracrept a doubt. Closer they drew to the Dweller, and closer, Ifollowing them step by step. The Shining One's whirling lessened; itstinklings were faint, almost stilled. It seemed to watch themapprehensively. A silence fell upon us all, a thick silence, brooding, ominous, palpable. Now the pair were face to face with the child ofthe Three--so near that with one of its misty tentacles it could haveenfolded them. 

And the Shining One drew back!

Yes, drew back--and back with it stepped Yolara, the doubt in her eyesdeepening. Onward paced the handmaiden and the O'Keefe--and step bystep, as they advanced, the Dweller withdrew; its bell notes chimingout, puzzled questioning--half fearful!

And back it drew, and back until it had reached the very centre ofthat platform over the abyss in whose depths pulsed the green fires ofearth heart. And there Yolara gripped herself; the hell that seethedwithin her soul leaped out of her eyes, a cry, a shriek of rage, torefrom her lips. 

As at a signal, the Shining One flamed high; its spirals and eddyingmists swirled madly, the pulsing core of it blazed radiance. A scoreof coruscating tentacles swept straight upon the pair who stoodintrepid, unresisting, awaiting its embrace. And upon me, lurkingbehind them. 

Through me swept a mighty exaltation. It was the end then--and I wasto meet it with them. 

Something drew us back, back with an incredible swiftness, and yet asgently as a summer breeze sweeps a bit of thistle-down! Drew us backfrom those darting misty arms even as they were a hair-breadth fromus! I heard the Dweller's bell notes burst out ragingly! I heardYolara scream. 

What was that?

Between the three of us and them was a ring of curdled moon flames, swirling about the Shining One and its priestess, pressing in uponthem, enfolding them!

And within it I glimpsed the faces of the Three--implacable, sorrowful, filled with a supernal power!

Sparks and flashes of white flame darted from the ring, penetratingthe radiant swathings of the Dweller, striking through its pulsingnucleus, piercing its seven crowning orbs. 

Now the Shining One's radiance began to dim, the seven orbs to dull;the tiny sparkling filaments that ran from them down into theDweller's body snapped, vanished! Through the battling nebulositiesYolara's face swam forth--horror-filled, distorted, inhuman!

The ranks of the dead-alive quivered, moved, writhed, as though eachfelt the torment of the Thing that had enslaved them. The radiancethat the Three wielded grew more intense, thicker, seemed to expand. Within it, suddenly, were scores of flaming triangles--scores of eyeslike those of the Silent Ones!

And the Shining One's seven little moons of amber, of silver, of blueand amethyst and green, of rose and white, split, shattered, weregone! Abruptly the tortured crystal chimings ceased. 

Dulled, all its soul-shaking beauty dead, blotched and shadowedsqualidly, its gleaming plumes tarnished, its dancing spirals strippedfrom it, that which had been the Shining One wrapped itself aboutYolara--wrapped and drew her into itself; writhed, swayed, and hurleditself over the edge of the bridge--down, down into the green fires ofthe unfathomable abyss--with its priestess still enfolded in itscoils!

From the dwarfs who had watched that terror came screams of panicfear. They turned and ran, racing frantically over the bridge towardthe cavern mouth. 

The serried ranks of the dead-alive trembled, shook. Then from theirfaces tied the horror of wedded ecstasy and anguish. Peace, utterpeace, followed in its wake. 

And as fields of wheat are bent and fall beneath the wind, they fell. No longer dead-alive, now all of the blessed dead, freed from theirdreadful slavery!

Abruptly from the sparkling mists the cloud of eyes was gone. Faintlyrevealed in them were only the heads of the Silent Ones. And they drewbefore us; were before us! No flames now in their ebon eyes--for theflickering fires were quenched in great tears, streaming down themarble white faces. They bent toward us, over us; their radianceenfolded us. My eyes darkened. I could not see. I felt a tender handupon my head--and panic and frozen dread and nightmare web that heldme fled. 

Then they, too, were gone. 

Upon Larry's breast the handmaiden was sobbing--sobbing out herheart--but this time with the joy of one who is swept up from thevery threshold of hell into paradise. 

CHAPTER XXXV

"Larry--Farewell!"

"My heart, Larry--" It was the handmaiden's murmur. "My heart feelslike a bird that is flying from a nest of sorrow. "

We were pacing down the length of the bridge, guards of the _Akka_beside us, others following with those companies of _ladala_ that hadrushed to aid us; in front of us the bandaged Rador swung gentlywithin a litter; beside him, in another, lay Nak, the frog-king--muchless of him than there had been before the battle began, but living. 

Hours had passed since the terror I have just related. My first taskhad been to search for Throckmartin and his wife among the fallenmultitudes strewn thick as autumn leaves along the flying arch ofstone, over the cavern ledge, and back, back as far as the eye couldreach. 

At last, Lakla and Larry helping, we found them. They lay close tothe bridge-end, not parted--locked tight in each other's arms, pallidface to face, her hair streaming over his breast! As though when thatunearthly life the Dweller had set within them passed away, their ownhad come back for one fleeting instant--and they had known each other, and clasped before kindly death had taken them. 

"Love is stronger than all things. " The handmaiden was weeping softly. "Love never left them. Love was stronger than the Shining One. Andwhen its evil fled, love went with them--wherever souls go. "

Of Stanton and Thora there was no trace; nor, after our discovery ofthose other two, did I care to look more. They were dead--and theywere free. 

We buried Throckmartin and Edith beside Olaf in Lakla's bower. Butbefore the body of my old friend was placed within the grave I gave ita careful and sorrowful examination. The skin was firm and smooth, butcold; not the cold of death, but with a chill that set my touchingfingers tingling unpleasantly. The body was bloodless; the course ofveins and arteries marked by faintly indented white furrows, as thoughtheir walls had long collapsed. Lips, mouth, even the tongue, waspaper white. There was no sign of dissolution as we know it; no shadowor stain upon the marble surface. Whatever the force that, streamingfrom the Dweller or impregnating its lair, had energized thedead-alive, it was barrier against putrescence of any kind; that atleast was certain. 

But it was not barrier against the poison of the Medusae, for, our sadtask done, and looking down upon the waters, I saw the pale forms ofthe Dweller's hordes dissolving, vanishing into the shifting gloriesof the gigantic moons sailing down upon them from every quarter of theSea of Crimson. 

While the frog-men, those late levies from the farthest forests, wereclearing bridge and ledge of cavern of the litter of the dead, welistened to a leader of the _ladala_. They had risen, even as themessenger had promised Rador. Fierce had been the struggle in thegardened city by the silver waters with those Lugur and Yolara hadleft behind to garrison it. Deadly had been the slaughter of thefair-haired, reaping the harvest of hatred they had been sowing solong. Not without a pang of regret did I think of the beautiful, gailymalicious elfin women destroyed--evil though they may have been. 

The ancient city of Lara was a charnel. Of all the rulers nottwoscore had escaped, and these into regions of peril which todescribe as sanctuary would be mockery. Nor had the _ladala_ fared sowell. Of all the men and women, for women as well as men had takentheir part in the swift war, not more than a tenth remained alive. 

And the dancing motes of light in the silver air were thick, thick--they whispered. 

They told us of the Shining One rushing through the Veil, cometlike, its hosts streaming behind it, raging with it, in ranks that seemedinterminable!

Of the massacre of the priests and priestesses in the Cyclopeantemple; of the flashing forth of the summoning lights by unseenhands--followed by the tearing of the rainbow curtain, by colossalshatterings of the radiant cliffs; the vanishing behind their debrisof all trace of entrance to the haunted place wherein the hordes ofthe Shining One had slaved--the sealing of the lair!

Then, when the tempest of hate had ended in seething Lara, how, thrilled with victory, armed with the weapons of those they had slain, they had lifted the Shadow, passed through the Portal, met andslaughtered the fleeing remnants of Yolara's men--only to find thetempest stilled here, too. 

But of Marakinoff they had seen nothing! Had the Russian escaped, Iwondered, or was he lying out there among the dead?

But now the _ladala_ were calling upon Lakla to come with them, togovern them. 

"I don't want to, Larry darlin', " she told him. "I want to go outwith you to Ireland. But for a time--I think the Three would have usremain and set that place in order. "

The O'Keefe was bothered about something else than the government ofMuria. 

"If they've killed off all the priests, who's to marry us, heart ofmine?" he worried. "None of those Siya and Siyana rites, no matterwhat, " he added hastily. 

"Marry!" cried the handmaiden incredulously. "Marry us? Why, Larrydear, we _are_ married!"

The O'Keefe's astonishment was complete; his jaw dropped; collapseseemed imminent. 

"We are?" he gasped. "When?" he stammered fatuously. 

"Why, when the Mother drew us together before her; when she put herhands on our heads after we had made the promise! Didn't youunderstand that?" asked the handmaiden wonderingly. 

He looked at her, into the purity of the clear golden eyes, into thepurity of the soul that gazed out of them; all his own great lovetransfiguring his keen face. 

"An' is that enough for you, _mavourneen_?" he whispered humbly. 

"Enough?" The handmaiden's puzzlement was complete, profound. "Enough? Larry darlin', what _more_ could we ask?"

He drew a deep breath, clasped her close. 

"Kiss the bride, Doc!" cried the O'Keefe. And for the third and, soul's sorrow! the last time, Lakla dimpling and blushing, I thrilledto the touch of her soft, sweet lips. 

Quickly were our preparations for departure made. Rador, conscious, his immense vitality conquering fast his wounds, was to be borne aheadof us. And when all was done, Lakla, Larry, and I made our way up tothe scarlet stone that was the doorway to the chamber of the Three. Weknew, of course, that they had gone, following, no doubt, those whoseeyes I had seen in the curdled mists, and who, coming to the aid ofthe Three at last from whatever mysterious place that was their home, had thrown their strength with them against the Shining One. Nor werewe wrong. When the great slab rolled away, no torrents of opalescencecame rushing out upon us. The vast dome was dim, tenantless; itscurved walls that had cascaded Light shone now but faintly; the daiswas empty; its wall of moon-flame radiance gone. 

A little time we stood, heads bent, reverent, our hearts filled withgratitude and love--yes, and with pity for that strange trinity soalien to us and yet so near; children even as we, though so unlike us, of our same Mother Earth. 

And what I wondered had been the secret of that promise they had wrungfrom their handmaiden and from Larry. And whence, if what the Threehad said had been all true--whence had come their power to avert thesacrifice at the very verge of its consummation?

"Love is stronger than all things!" had said Lakla. 

Was it that they had needed, must have, the force which dwells withinlove, within willing sacrifice, to strengthen their own power and toenable them to destroy the evil, glorious Thing so long shielded bytheir own love? Did the thought of sacrifice, the will towardabnegation, have to be as strong as the eternals, unshaken by faintestthrill of hope, before the Three could make of it their key to unlockthe Dweller's guard and strike through at its life?

Here was a mystery--a mystery indeed! Lakla softly closed the crimsonstone. The mystery of the red dwarf's appearance was explained when wediscovered a half-dozen of the water _coria_ moored in a small covenot far from where the _Sekta_ flashed their heads of living bloom. The dwarfs had borne the shallops with them, and from somewhere beyondthe cavern ledge had launched them unperceived; stealing up to thefarther side of the island and risking all in one bold stroke. Well, Lugur, no matter what he held of wickedness, held also high courage. 

The cavern was paved with the dead-alive, the _Akka_ carrying them outby the hundreds, casting them into the waters. Through the lane downwhich the Dweller had passed we went as quickly as we could, coming atlast to the space where the _coria_ waited. And not long after weswung past where the shadow had hung and hovered over the shiningdepths of the Midnight Pool. 

Upon Lakla's insistence we passed on to the palace of Lugur, not toYolara's--I do not know why, but go there then she would not. Andwithin one of its columned rooms, maidens of the black-haired folks, the wistfulness, the fear, all gone from their sparkling eyes, servedus. 

There came to me a huge desire to see the destruction they had told usof the Dweller's lair; to observe for myself whether it was notpossible to make a way of entrance and to study its mysteries. 

I spoke of this, and to my surprise both the handmaiden and theO'Keefe showed an almost embarrassed haste to acquiesce in my hesitantsuggestion. 

"Sure, " cried Larry, "there's lots of time before night!"

He caught himself sheepishly; cast a glance at Lakla. 

"I keep forgettin' there's no night here, " he mumbled. 

"What did you say, Larry?" asked she. 

"I said I wish we were sitting in our home in Ireland, watching thesun go down, " he whispered to her. Vaguely I wondered why she blushed. 

But now I must hasten. We went to the temple, and here at least theghastly litter of the dead had been cleaned away. We passed throughthe blue-caverned space, crossed the narrow arch that spanned therushing sea stream, and, ascending, stood again upon the ivoried paveat the foot of the frowning, towering amphitheatre of jet. 

Across the Silver Waters there was sign of neither Web of Rainbows norcolossal pillars nor the templed lips that I had seen curving outbeneath the Veil when the Shining One had swirled out to greet itspriestess and its voice and to dance with the sacrifices. There wasbut a broken and rent mass of the radiant cliffs against whose basethe lake lapped. 

Long I looked--and turned away saddened. Knowing even as I did whatthe irised curtain had hidden, still it was as though some thing ofsupernal beauty and wonder had been swept away, never to be replaced;a glamour gone for ever; a work of the high gods destroyed. 

"Let's go back, " said Larry abruptly. 

I dropped a little behind them to examine a bit of carving--and, after all, they did not want me. I watched them pacing slowly ahead, his arm around her, black hair close to bronze-gold ringlets. Then Ifollowed. Half were they over the bridge when through the roar of theimprisoned stream I heard my name called softly. 

"Goodwin! Dr. Goodwin!"

Amazed, I turned. From behind the pedestal of a carved groupslunk--Marakinoff! My premonition had been right. Some way he hadescaped, slipped through to here. He held his hands high, came forwardcautiously. 

"I am finished, " he whispered--"Done! I don't care what _they'll_ doto me. " He nodded toward the handmaiden and Larry, now at the end ofthe bridge and passing on, oblivious of all save each other. He drewcloser. His eyes were sunken, burning, mad; his face etched with deeplines, as though a graver's tool had cut down through it. I took astep backward. 

A grin, like the grimace of a fiend, blasted the Russian's visage. He threw himself upon me, his hands clenching at my throat!

"Larry!" I yelled--and as I spun around under the shock of hisonslaught, saw the two turn, stand paralyzed, then race toward me. 

"But _you'll_ carry nothing out of here!" shrieked Marakinoff. "No!"

My foot, darting out behind me, touched vacancy. The roaring of theracing stream deafened me. I felt its mists about me; threw myselfforward. 

I was falling--falling--with the Russian's hand strangling me. Istruck water, sank; the hands that gripped my throat relaxed for amoment their clutch. I strove to writhe loose; felt that I was beinghurled with dreadful speed on--full realization came--on the breast ofthat racing torrent dropping from some far ocean cleft andrushing--where? A little time, a few breathless instants, I struggledwith the devil who clutched me--inflexibly, indomitably. 

Then a shrieking as of all the pent winds of the universe in myears--blackness!

Consciousness returned slowly, agonizedly. 

"Larry!" I groaned. "Lakla!"

A brilliant light was glowing through my closed lids. It hurt. Iopened my eyes, closed them with swords and needles of dazzling painshooting through them. Again I opened them cautiously. It was the sun!

I staggered to my feet. Behind me was a shattered wall of basaltmonoliths, hewn and squared. Before me was the Pacific, smooth andblue and smiling. 

And not far away, cast up on the strand even as I had been, was--Marakinoff!

He lay there, broken and dead indeed. Yet all the waters throughwhich we had passed--not even the waters of death themselves--couldwash from his face the grin of triumph. With the last of my strength Idragged the body from the strand and pushed it out into the waves. Alittle billow ran up, coiled about it, and carried it away, duckingand bending. Another seized it, and another, playing with it. Itfloated from my sight--that which had been Marakinoff, with all hisschemes to turn our fair world into an undreamed-of-hell. 

My strength began to come back to me. I found a thicket and slept;slept it must have been for many hours, for when I again awakened thedawn was rosing the east. I will not tell my sufferings. Suffice it tosay that I found a spring and some fruit, and just before dusk hadrecovered enough to writhe up to the top of the wall and discoverwhere I was. 

The place was one of the farther islets of the Nan-Matal. To the northI caught the shadows of the ruins of Nan-Tauach, where was the moondoor, black against the sky. Where was the moon door--which, someway, somehow, I must reach, and quickly. 

At dawn of the next day I got together driftwood and bound it togetherin shape of a rough raft with fallen creepers. Then, with a makeshiftpaddle, I set forth for Nan-Tauach. Slowly, painfully, I crept up toit. It was late afternoon before I grounded my shaky craft on thelittle beach between the ruined sea-gates and, creeping up the giantsteps, made my way to the inner enclosure. 

And at its opening I stopped, and the tears ran streaming down mycheeks while I wept aloud with sorrow and with disappointment and withweariness. 

For the great wall in which had been set the pale slab whose thresholdwe had crossed to the land of the Shining One lay shattered andbroken. The monoliths were heaped about; the wall had fallen, andabout them shone a film of water, half covering them. 

There was no moon door!

Dazed and weeping, I drew closer, climbed upon their outlyingfragments. I looked out only upon the sea. There had been a greatsubsidence, an earth shock, perhaps, tilting downward all thatside--the echo, little doubt, of that cataclysm which had blasted theDweller's lair!

The little squared islet called Tau, in which were hidden the sevenglobes, had entirely disappeared. Upon the waters there was no traceof it. 

The moon door was gone; the passage to the Moon Pool was closed tome--its chamber covered by the sea!

There was no road to Larry--nor to Lakla!

And there, for me, the world ended. 

 Transcriber's note: I have made the following changes to the text:

 PAGE LINE ORIGINAL CHANGED TO 3 14 sinster sinister 17 11 Nam-Tauach Nan-Tauach 22 20 on on on 69 39 'Didn't "Didn't 75 21 'But "But 90 36 "Trolde!" _"Trolde!"_ 91 35 'We "We 96 11 shown shone 96 14 smiled smiled. 105 11 drank drunk 106 24 acomplish accomplish 109 23 'Shake "Shake 111 18 overtstressed overstressed 116 11 increduously incredulously 120 30 Yolar Yolara 128 12 spirtual spiritual 150 13 cushoned cushioned 172 29 semed seemed 204 34 there?"' there?" 208 25 "Its "It's 231 8 meal metal 239 6 suling sulting 248 28 finshed finished 280 29 much must