fighter, face to face with what must necessarily be his
final battle, can tell how deep this lust is embroidered into the very
foundations of his being.

But for the time Zaemon did not see me, being too much wrapped in his
outcry, and so I was free to listen to the burning words which he spread
around him, and to determine their effect on the hearers.

The theme he preached was no new one. He told that ever since the
beginning of history, the Gods had set apart one Clan of the people
to rule over the rest and be their Priests, and until the coming of
Phorenice these had done their duties with exactitude and justice.
They had fought invaders, carried war against the beasts, and studied
earth-movements so that they were able to foretell earthquakes and
eruptions, and could spread warnings that the people might be able
to escape their devastations. They are no self-seekers; their aim was
always to further the interest of Atlantis, and so do honour to the
kingdom on which the High Gods had set their special favour. Under the
Priestly Clan, Atlantis had reached the pinnacle of human prosperity and
happiness.

"But," cried the old man, waving the Symbol till his wet body glistened
in a halo of light, "the people grew fat and careless with their easy
life. They began to have a conceit that their good fortune was earned
by their own puny brains and thews, and was no gift from the Gods above;
and presently the cult of these Gods became neglected, and Their temples
were barren of gifts and worshippers. Followed a punishment. The Gods
in Their inscrutable way decreed that a wife of one of the Priests (that
was a governor of no inconsiderable province) should see a woman child
by the wayside, and take it for adoption. That child the Gods in their
infinite wisdom fashioned into a scourge for Atlantis, and you who have
felt the weight of Phorenice's hand, know with what completeness the
High Gods can fashion their instruments.

"Yet, even as they set up, so can they throw down, and those that
shall debase Phorenice are even now appointed. The old rule is to
be re-established; but not till you who have sinned are sufficiently
chastened to cry to it for relief." He waved the mysterious glowing
Symbol before him. "See," he cried in his high old quavering voice, "you
know the unspeakable Power of which that is the sign, and for which I
am the mouthpiece. It is for you to make decision now. Are the Gods to
throw down this woman who