must be more than mortal or the thing could never have been found.
In good truth, this little woman with her supple mind and her

supple body mystified me more and more the longer I stayed by her
side; and more and more despairing did I grow that Atlantis could

ever be restored by my agency to peace and the ancient Gods, even
after I had carried out the commands of the High Council, and taken

her to wife.
Only one plan seemed humanly possible, and that was to curb

her further mischievousness by death and then leave the wretched
country naturally to recover. It was just a dagger-stroke, and the

thing was done. Yet the very idea of this revolted me, and when
the desperate thought came to my mind (which it did ever and anon),

I hugged to myself the answer that if it were fitting to do this
thing, the High Gods in Their infinitewisdom would surely have put

definite commands upon me for its carrying out.
Yet, such was the fascination of Phorenice, that when

presently we left her gold collectors, and stumbled into such
peril, that a little withholding of my hand would have gained her

a passage to the nether Gods, I found myself fighting when she
called upon me, as seldom I have fought before. And though, of

course, some blame for this must be laid upon that lust of battle
which thrills even the coldest of us when blows begin to whistle

and war-cries start to ring, there is no doubt also that the
pleasure of protecting Phorenice, and the distaste for seeing her

pulled down by those rude, uncouth fishers put special nerve and
vehemence into my blows.

The cause of the matter was the unrest and the prevalency to
street violence which I have spoken of above, and the desperate

poverty of the common people, which led them to take any risk if it
showed them a chance of winning the wherewithal to purchase a meal.

We had once more mounted the litter, and once more the bearers,
with their heads beneath the pole, bore us on at their accustomed

swinging trot. Phorenice was telling me about her new supplies of
gold. She had made fresh sumptuary laws, it appeared.

"In the old days," said she, "when yellow gold was tediously
dredged up grain by grain from river gravels in the dangerous

lands, a quill full would cost a rich man's savings, and so none
but those whose high station fitted them to be so adorned could

wear golden ornaments. But when the sea-water gave me gold here by
the double handful a day, I found that the price of these river

hoards decreased, and one day--could you credit it?--a common
fellow, who was one of my smiths, came to me wearing a collar of

yellow gold on his own common neck. Well, I had that neck divided,
as payment for his presumption; and as I promised to repeat the

division promptly on all other offenders, that special species of
forwardness seems to be checked for the time. There are many

exasperations, Deucalion, in governing these common people."
She had other things to say upon the matter, but at this point

I saw two clumsy boats of fishers paddling to us from over the
ripples, and at the same time amongst the narrow lanes which led

between the houses on the other side of us, savage-faced men were
beginning to run after the litter in threatening clusters.

"With permission," I said, "I will step out of the conveyance
and scatter this rabble."

"Oh, the people always cluster round me. Poor ugly souls, they
seem to take a strange delight in coming to stare at my pretty

looks. But scatter them. I have said I did not wish to be
followed. I am takingholiday now, Deucalion, am I not, whilst

you learn to woo me?"
I stepped to the ground. The rough fishers in the boats were

beginning to shout to those who dodged amongst the houses to see to
it that we did not escape, and the numbers who hemmed us in on the

shore side were increasing every moment. The prospect was
unpleasant enough. We had come out beyond the merchants' quarters,

and were level with those small huts of mud and grass which the
fishing population deem sufficient for shelter, and which has

always been a spot where turbulence might be expected. Indeed,
even in those days of peace and good government in the old King's

time, this part of the city had rarely been without its weekly
riot.

The life of the fisherman is the most hard that any human
toilers have to endure. Violence from the wind and waves, and

pelting from firestones out of the sky are their daily portion; the
great beasts that dwell in the seas hunt them with savage

persistence, and it is a rare day when at least some one of the
fishers' guild fails to come home to answer the tally.

Moreover, the manner which prevails of catching fish is not
without its risks.

To each man there is a large sea-fowl taken as a nestling, and
trained to the work. A ring of bronze is round its neck to prevent

its swallowing the spoil for which it dives, and for each fish it
takes and flies back with to the boat, the head and tail and

inwards are given to it for a reward, the ring being removed whilst
it makes the meal.

The birds are faithful, once they have got a training, and are
seldom known to desert their owners; but, although the fishers

treat them more kindly than they do their wives, or children of
their own begetting, the life of the birds is precarious like that

of their masters. The larger beasts and fish of the sea prey on
them as they prey on the smaller fish, and so whatever care may be

lavished upon them, they are most liable to sudden cutting off.
And here is another thing that makes the life of the fisher

most precarious: if his fishing bird be slain, and the second which
he has in training also come by ill fortune, he is left suddenly

bereft of all utensils of livelihood, and (for aught his
guild-fellows care) he may go starve. For these fishers hold that

the Gods of the sea regulate their craft, and that if one is not
pleasing to Them They rob him of his birds; after which it would be

impious to have any truck or dealing with such a fellow; and
accordingly he is left to starve or rob as he chooses.

All of which circumstances tend to make the fishers rude,
desperate men, who have been forced into the trade because all

other callings have rejected them. They are fellows, moreover, who
will spend the gains of a month on a night's debauch, for fear that

the morrow will rob them of life and the chance of spending; and,
moreover, it is their one point of honour to be curbed in no desire

by an ordinary fear of consequences. As will appear.
I went quickly towards the largest knot of these people, who

were skulking behind the houses, leaving the litter halted in the
path behind me, and I bade them sharply enough to disperse. "For

an employment," I added, "put your houses in order, and clean the
fish offal from the lanes between them. To-morrow I will come

round here to inspect, and put this quarter into a better order.
But for to-day the Empress (whose name be adored) wishes for a

privacy, so cease your staring."
"Then give us money," said a shrill voice from amongst the

huts.
"I will send you a torch in an hour's time," I said grimly,

"and rig you a gallows, if you give me more annoyance. To your
kennels, you!"

I think they would have obeyed the voice of authority if they
had been left to themselves. There was a quick stir amongst them.

Those that stood in the sunlightinstinctively slipped into the
shadow, and many dodged into the houses and cowered in dark corners

out of sight. But the men in the two hide-covered fisher-boats
that were paddling up, called them back with boisterous cries.

I signed to the litter-bearers to move on quickly along their
road. There was need of discipline here, and I was minded to deal