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The Lost Continent-Part28_C.J.Cutcliffe Hyne(1865-1944)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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Phorenice had said her wish.

And finally, as the square began to fill with people come to



gape at the pageant of to-day, the chippings and the scaffolding

were cleared away, and with it the bodies of some half-score of



workmen who had died from accidents or their exertions during the

building, and there stood the throne, splendid in its carvings, and



all ready for completion. The lower part stood more than two

man-heights above the ground, and no stone of its courses weighed



less than twenty men; the upper part was double the weight of any

of these, and was carved so that the royal snake encircled the



chair, and the great hooded head overshadowed it. But at present

the upper part was not on its bed, being held up high by lifting



rams, for what purposes all men knew.

It was to face this scene, then, that I came out from the royal



pyramid at the summons of the chamberlains in the cool of next

morning. Each great man who had come there before me had banner-



bearers and trumpeters to proclaim his presence; the middle classes

were in all their bravery of apparel; and even poor squalid



creatures, with ribs of hunger showing through their dusty skins,

had turbans and wisps of colour wrapped about their heads to mark



the gaiety of the day.

The trumpets proclaimed my coming, and the people shouted



welcome, and with the gorgeouschamberlains walking backwards in

advance, I went across to a scarlet awning that had been prepared,



and took my seat upon the cushions beneath it.

And then came Phorenice, my bride that was to be that day,



fresh from sleep, and glorious in her splendid beauty. She was

borne out from the pyramid in an open litter of gold and ivory by



fantastic savages from Europe, her own refinement of feature being

thrown up into all the higher relief by contrast with their brutish



ugliness. One could hear the people draw a deep breath of delight

as their eyes first fell upon her; and it is easy to believe there



was not a man in that crowd which thronged the square who did not

envy me her choice, nor was there a soul present (unless Ylga was



there somewhere veiled) who could by any stretch imagine that I was

not overjoyed in winning so lovely a wife.



For myself, I summoned up all the iron of my training to guard

the expression of my face. We were here on ceremonial to-day; a



ghastly enough affair throughout all its acts, if you choose, but

still ceremonial; and I was minded to show Phorenice a grand manner



that would leave her nothing to cavil at. After all that had been

gone through and endured, I did not intend a great scheme to be



shattered by letting my agony and pain show themselves, in either

a shaking hand or a twitching cheek. When it came to the point, I



told myself, I would lay the living body of my love in the hollow

beneath the stone as calmly, and with as little outwardemotion, as



though I had been a mere priest carrying out the burial of some

dead stranger. And she, on her part, would not, I knew, betray our



secret. With her, too, it was truly "Before all Atlantis."

I think it spared a pang to find that there was to be no



mockery or flippancy in what went forward. All was solemn and

impressive; and, though a certain grandeur and sombreness which bit



deep into my breast was lost to the vulgar crowd, I fancy that the

outward shape of the double sacrifice they witnessed that day would



not be forgotten by any of them, although the inner meaning of it

all was completely hidden from their minds. When it suited her



fancy, none could be more strict on the ritual of a ceremony than

this many-mooded Empress, and it appeared that on this occasion she



had given command that all things were to be carried out with the

rigid exactness and pomp of the older manner.



So she was borne up by her Europeans to the scarlet awning,

and I handed her to the ground. She seated herself on the



cushions, and beckoned me to her side, entwining her fingers with

mine as has always been the custom with rulers of Atlantis and



their consorts. And there before us as we sat, a body of soldiery

marched up, and opening out showed Nais in their midst. She had a



collar of metal round her neck, with chains depending from it

firmly held by a brace of guards, so that she should not run in



upon the spears of the escort, and thus get a quick and easy death,

which is often the custom of those condemned to the more lingering



punishments.




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