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The Lost Continent-Part16_C.J.Cutcliffe Hyne(1865-1944)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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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 forgot. I should go out an unknown man from the little



cell of a temple, I should do my work, and then, whether I took

freedom with me, or whether I came down at last myself on a pile of



slain, these people would guess without being told the name, that

here was Deucalion. Gods! what a fight we would have made!



But the door did not open wide to give me space for my first

rush. It creaked gratingly outwards on its pivots, and a slim hand



and a white arm slipped inside, beckoning me to quietude. Here was

some woman. The door creaked wider, and she came inside.



"Nais," I said.

"Silence, or they will hear you, and remember. At present



those who brought you here are killed, and unless by chance some

one blunders into this robbed shrine, you will not be found."



"Then, if that is so, let me go out and walk amongst these

people as one of themselves."



She shook her head.

"But, Nais, I am not known here. I am merely a man in very



plain and mud-stained robe. I should be in no ways remarkable."

A smile twitched her face. "My lord," she said, "wears no



beard; and his is the only clean chin in the camp."

I joined in her laugh. "A pest on my want of foppishness



then. But I am forgetting somewhat. It comes to my mind that we

still have unfinished that small discussion of ours concerning the



length of my poor life. Have you decided to cut it off from risk

of further mischief, or do you propose to give me further span?"



She turned to me with a look of sharp distress. "My lord,"

she said, "I would have you forget that silly talk of mine. This



last two hours I thought you were dead in real truth."

"And you were not relieved?"



"I felt that the only man was gone out of the world--I mean,

my lord, the only man who can save Atlantis."



"Your words give me a confidence. Then you would have me go

back and become husband to Phorenice?"



"If there is no other way."

"I warn you I shall do that, if she still so desires it, and



if it seems to me that that course will be best. This is no hour

for private likings or dislikings."



"I know it," she said, "I feel it. I have no heart now, save

only for Atlantis. I have schooled myself once more to that."



"And at present I am in this lone little box of a temple. A

minute ago, before you came, I had promised myself a pretty enough



fight to signalise my changing of abode."

"There must be nothing of that. I will not have these poor



people slaughtered unnecessarily. Nor do I wish to see my lord

exposed to a hopeless risk. This poor place, such as it is, has



been given to me as an abode, and, if my lord can remain decorously

till nightfall in a maiden's chamber, he may at least be sure of



quietude. I am a person," she added simply, "that in this camp has

some respect. When darkness comes, I will take my lord down to the



sea and a boat, and so he may come with ease to the harbour and the

watergate."



8. THE PREACHER FROM THE MOUNTAINS

It was long enough since I had found leisure for a parcel of



sleep, and so during the larger part of that day I am free to

confess that I slumbered soundly, Nais watching me. Night fell,



and still we remained within the privacy of the temple. It was our

plan that I should stay there till the camp slept, and so I should



have more chance of reaching the sea without disturbance.

The night came down wet, with a drizzle of rain, and through



the slits in the temple walls we could see the many fires in the

camp well cared for, the men and women in skins and rags toasting



before them, with steam rising as the heat fought with their

wetness. Folk seated in discomfort like this are proverbially



alert and cruel in the temper, and Nais frowned as she looked on

the inclemency of the weather.



"A fine night," she said, "and I would have sent my lord back




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