the great crowd of rebels held their breath in silence as
they watched. He passed high above the city wall, a tiny mannikin in the
distance now, and then the trajectory of his flight began to lower. The
spike of a new-built pyramid lay in the path of his terrific flight, and
he struck it with a thud whose sound floated out to us afterwards,
and then he toppled down out of our sight, leaving a red stain on the
whiteness of the stone as he fell.

With a roar the crowd acknowledged the success of their device, and
bellowed out insults to Phorenice, and insults to the Gods: a poor
frantic crowd they showed themselves. And then with ravening shouts,
they fell upon the other captive warder, binding him also into a compact
helpless missile, and meanwhile getting the engine in gear again for
another shot.

But for my part I saw nothing of this disgusting scene. I heard the bolt
grate stealthily against the door of the little temple in which I was
imprisoned, and was minded to give these brutish rebels somewhat of a
surprise. I had rid myself of my bonds handily enough; I had rubbed
my limbs to that perfect suppleness which is always desirable before a
fight; and I had planned to rush out so soon as the door was swung, and
kill those that came first with fist blows on the brow and chin.

They had not suspected my name, it was clear, for my stature and garb
were nothing out of the ordinary; but if my bodily strength and fighting
power had been sufficient to raise me to a vice-royalty like that of
Yucatan, and let me endure alive in that government throughout twenty
hard-battling years, why, it was likely that this rabble of savages
would see something that was new and admirable in the practice of arms
before the crude weight of their numbers could drag me down. Nay, I did
not even despair of winning free altogether. I must find me a weapon
from those that came up to battle, with which I could write worthy
signatures, and I must attempt no standing fights. Gods! but what a glow
the prospect did send through me as I stood there waiting.

A vainer man, writing history, might have said that always, before
everything else, he held in mind the greater interests before the less.
But for me--I prefer to be honest, and own myself human. In my glee
at that forthcoming fight--which promised to be the greatest and most
furious I had known in all a long life of battling--I will confess that
Atlantis and her differing policies were clean fo