x seemed as though already bathed in
blood.

"Must be some crowd of people outside," muttered Nelson as a great
gale of sound deafened him. Yonder the amber glare of the flame suns
glimmered, and now it was his turn to step into the open!

* * * * *

On a sort of spiral roadway he paused, breathless, awed, bewildered,
for there, eddying restlessly about the bases of towers and other huge
structures, was a great sea of up-turned faces. To his surprise he
found the passage he had followed opened perhaps halfway up what must
be the great Ziggurat of Beelzebub. He judged the tower's height must
be immense, for already the crowd was a good hundred feet below.

"_Zarotoa! Zarotoa! u Wlanka!_"[3]

Nelson shivered. How terrible was the wild, bloodthirsty clamor of
that vast throng, when they beheld the six flower-decked prisoners
appear upon the circular winding road which led to the lofty and
wind-swept summit of the great conical pyramid of the people of
Jezreel.

[Footnote 3: Death to the victims!]

Behind the victims marched perhaps eighteen or twenty spearmen
gorgeously uniformed in yellow and black painted armor. Their
retortii were plated with gold, and in the center of a star forming
the crest of each helmet was set a diamond large as a hickory nut.

Preceding the despairing prisoners marched a squad of tall,
clean-shaven priests with great gold hoops in their ears. They blew
mightily upon long, curved horns, and were followed by perhaps a dozen
lithe, posturing girls, half clothed in diaphanous yellow robes. These
priestesses swung golden censers which flung bluish clouds of aromatic
smoke high into the humid air above.

* * * * *

Up and up, around and around the great tower temple, Nelson was
dragged, while the vast city of Jezreel, palaces, towers, courts,
dwellings and all, lay like a great panorama below. Up and up, and the
wind grew stronger while Nelson marvelled at the great height of the
structure he was mounting. Immediately in front of him swayed the
naked shoulders of the three captive Atlanteans; he could see rose
petals from their crowns fluttering in the strong warm breeze sweeping
that man-made pinnacle for the worship of a heathen god.

Despairingly, the American's eyes searched the horizon, to discover
nothing but a few great birds wheeling lazily in the bronze-hued sky.
Very clearly he could discern three of the flame suns, c