others. Even the tremendous circumstances which hemmed them in

could do nothing to make these frail old men forget the deference
which was due to the highest order of the Clan.

For myself, I will freely own I was less rapt. I stood there
bareheaded in the heat, a man trying to concentrate himself, and

yet torn the while by a thousand foreign emotions. The awful thing
that was happening all around compelled some of my attention. A

continent was in the very act and article of meeting with complete
destruction, and if Zaemon and the other Priest were strong enough

to give their minds wholly up to a matter parochial to the
priesthood, I was not so stoical. And moreover, I was filled with

other anxieties and thoughts concerning Nais. Yet I managed to
preserve a decent show of attention to the ceremony; making all

those responses which were required of me; and trying as well as
might be to preserve in my mind those sentences which were the keys

to power and learning, and not mere phrasings of grandeur and
devotion.

But it became clear that if the ceremony of my raising did not
soon arrive at its natural end, it would be cut short presently

with something of suddenness. Phorenice's conquering legions
swarmed out on to the crest of the Mountain, and now carried full

knowledge of the dreadful thing that was come upon the country.
They were out of all control, and ran about like men distracted;

but knowing full well that the Priests would have brought this
terrible wreck to pass by virtue of the powers which were stored

within the Ark of the Mysteries, it would be their natural impulse
to pour out a final vengeance upon any of these same Priests they

could come across before it was too late.
It began to come to my mind that if the ceremony did not very

shortly terminate, the further part of the plan would stand very
small chance of completion, and I should come by my death after all

by fighting to a finish, as I had pictured to myself before. My
flickering attention saw the soldiers coming always nearer in their

frantic wanderings, and saw also the sea below rolling deeper and
deeper in upon the land.

The fires, too, which ringed in half the mountain, spurted up
to double their old height, and burned with an unceasing roar. But

for all distraction these things gave to the two old Priests who
were raising me, we might have been in the quietness of some

ancient temple, with no so much as a fly to buzz an interruption.
But at last an end came to the ceremony. "Kneel," cried Zaemon,

"and make obeisance to your mother the Earth, and swear by the
High Gods that you will never make improper use of the powers

over Her which this day you have been granted."
When I had done that, he bade me rise as a fully installed and

duly initiated member of the Three. "You will have no opportunity
to practise the workings of this degree with either of us, my

brother," said he, "for presently our other brother and I go to
stand before the Gods to deliver to Them an account of our trust,

and of how we have carried it out. But what items you remember
here and there may turn of use to you hereafter. And now we two

give you our farewells, and promise to commend you highly to the
Gods when soon we meet Them in Their place behind the stars. Climb

now into the Ark, and be ready to shut the door which guards it, if
there is any attempt by these raging people to invade that also.

Remember, my brother, it is the Gods' direct will that you and the
woman Nais go from this place living and sound, and you are

expressly forbidden to accept challenge or provocation to fight on
any pretext whatever. But as long as may be done in safety, you

may look out upon Atlantis in her death-throes. It is very fitting
that one of the only two who are sent hence alive, should carry the

full tale of what has befallen."
I went to the top of the Ark of Mysteries then, climbing there

by the battens which are fastened to the sides, and then descended
by the stair which is inside and found Nais in a little chamber

waiting for me.
"I was bidden stay here by Zaemon," she said, "who forced me

to this place by threats and also by promises that my lord would
follow. He is very ungentle, that father of mine, but I think he

has a kindness for us both, and any way he is my father and I
cannot help loving him. Is there no chance to save him from what

is going to happen?"
"He will not come into this Ark, for I asked him. It has been

ordained from the ancient time when first the Ark was built, that
when the day for its purpose came, one woman and one man should be

its only tenants, and they are here already. Zaemon's will in the
matter is not to be twisted by you or by me. He has a message to

be delivered to the Gods, and (if I know him at all), he grudges
every minute that is lost in carrying it to them."

I left her then, and went out again up the stair, and stood
once more on the roof of the Ark. On the Mountain top men still

ran about distracted, but gradually they were coming to where the
Ark rested on the highest point. For the moment, however, I passed

them lightly. The drowning of the great continent that had been
spread out below filled the eye. Ocean roared in upon it with

still more furious waves. The plains and the level lands were
foaming lakes. The great city of Atlantis had vanished eternally.

The mountains alone kept their heads above the flood, and spewed
out rocks, and steam, and boiling stone, or burst when the waters

reached them and created great whirlpools of surging sea, and
twisted trees, and bubbling mud.

In the space of a few breaths every living creature that dwelt
in the lower grounds had been smothered by the waters, save for a

few who huddled in a pair of galleys that were driven oarless
inland, over what had once been black forest and hunting land for

the beasts. And even as I watched, these also were swallowed up by
the horridturmoil of sea, and nothing but the sea beasts, and

those of the greater lizards which can live in such outrageous
waters, could have survived even that state of the destruction.

Indeed, none but those men who had now found standing-ground on the
upper slopes of the Sacred Mountain survived, and it was plain that

their span was short, for the great mass of the continent sank
deeper and more deep every minute before our aching eyes, beneath

the boiling inrush of the seas.
But though the great mass of the soldiery were dazed and

maddened at the prospect of the overwhelming which threatened them,
there were some with a strength of mind too valiant to give any

outward show of discomposure. Presently a compact little body of
people came from out the houses and the temples, and headed

directly across the open ground towards the Ark. On the outside
marched Phorenice's personal guards with their weapons new blooded.

They had been forced to fight a way through their own fellow
soldiers. The poor demented creatures had thought it was every one

for himself now, till these guards (by their mistress's order)
proved to them that Phorenice still came first.

And in the middle of them, borne in a litter of gold and ivory
by her grotesque European slaves, rode the Empress, still calm,

still lovely, and seemingly divided in her sentiments between
contempt and amusement. Her two children lay in the litter at her

feet. On her right hand marched Tatho gorgeously apparelled, and
with a beard curled and plaited into a thousand ringlets. On the

other side, plying her industry with unruffled defence, walked
Ylga, once again fan-girl, and so still second lady in this

dwindling kingdom.
The party of them halted half a score of paces from the Ark by

Phorenice's order. "Do not go nearer to those unclean old men.
They carry a rank odour with them, and for the moment we are short