Now the passage, though its entrance had been cunningly hidden by man’s
artifice, was one of those veins in which the fiery blood of our mother,
the Earth, had aforetime coursed. Long years had passed since it carried
lava streams, but the air in it was still warm and sulphurous, and there
was no inducement to linger in transit. I lit me a lamp which I found
in an appointed niche, and walked briskly along my ways, coughing, and
wishing heartily I had some of those simples which ease a throat that
has a tendency to catarrh. But, alas! all that packet of drugs which
were my sole spoil from the vice-royalty of Yucatan were lost in the
sea-fight with Dason’s navy, and since landing in Atlantis there had
been little enough time to think for the refinements of medicine.
The network of earth-veins branched prodigiously, and if any but one of
us Seven Priests had found a way into its recesses by chance, he would
have perished hopelessly in the windings, or have fallen into one of
those pits which lead to the boil below. But I carried the chart of the
true course clearly in my head, remembering it from that old initiation
of twenty years back, when, as an appointed viceroy, I was raised to the
highest degree but one known to our Clan, and was given its secrets and
working implements.
The way was long, the floor was monstrous uneven, and the air, as I have
said, bad; and I knew that day would be far advanced before the signs
told me that I had passed beneath the walls, and was well within
the precincts of the city. And here the vow of the Seven hampered my
progress; for it is ordained that under no circumstances, whatever the
stress, shall egress be made from this passage before mortal eye. One
branch after another did I try, but always found loiterers near the
exits. I had hoped to make my emergence by that path which came inside
the royal pyramid. But there was no chance of coming up unobserved here;
the place was humming like a hive. And so, too, with each of the
five next outlets that I visited. The city was agog with some strange
excitement.
But I came at last to a temple of one of the lesser Gods, and stood
behind the image for a while making observation. The place was empty;
nay, from the dust which robed all the floors and the seats of the
worshippers, it had been empty long enough; so I moved all that was
needful, stepped out, and closed all entry behind me. A broom lay
unnoticed on one of the pews, and with this I soon disguised all route
of footmark, and took my way to the temple door. It was shut, and priest
though I was, the secret of its opening was beyond me.
Here was a pretty pass. No one but the attendant priests of the temple
could move the mechanism which closed and opened the massive stone which
filled the doorway; and if all had gone out to attend this spectacle,
whatever it might be, that was stirring the city, why there I should be
no nearer enlargement than before.
There was no sound of life within the temple precincts; there were
evidences of decay and disuse spread broadcast on every hand; but
according to the ancient law there should be eternally one at least on
watch in the priests’ dwellings, so down the passages which led to them
I made my way. It would have surprised me little to have found even
these deserted. That the old order was changed I knew, but I was only
then beginning to realise the ruthlessness with which it had been swept
away, and how much it had given place to the new.
However, there can be some faithful men remaining even in an age of
general apostasy, and on making my way to the door of the dwelling
(which lay in the roof of the temple) I gave the call, and presently it
was opened to me. The man who stood before me, peering dully through
the gloom, had at least remained constant to his vows, and I made the
salutation before him with a feeling of respect.
His name was Ro, and I remembered him well. We had passed through the
sacred college together, and always he had been known as the dullard.
He had capacity for learning little of the cult of the Gods, less of
the arts of ruling, less still of the handling of arms; and he had been
appointed to some lowly office in this obscure temple, and had risen to
being its second priest and one of its two custodians merely through the
desertion of all his colleagues. But it was not pleasant to think that a
fool should remain true where cleverer men abandoned the old beliefs.
Ro did before me the greater obeisance. He wore his beard curled in the
prevailing fashion, but it was badly done. His clothing was ill-fitting
and unbrushed. He always had been a slovenly fellow. “The temple door
is shut,” he said, “and I only have the secret of its opening. My lord
comes here, therefore, by the secret way, and as one of the Seven. I am
my lord’s servant.”
“Then I ask this small service of you. Tell me, what stirs the city?”
“That impious Phorenice has declared herself Goddess, and declares that
she will light the sacrifice with her own divine fire. She will do it,
too. She does everything. But I wish the flames may burn her when she
calls them down. This new Empress is the bane of our Clan, Deucalion,
these latter days. The people neglect us; they bring no offerings; and
now, since these rebels have been hammering at the walls, I might have
gone hungry if I had not some small store of my own. Oh, I tell you, the
cult of the true Gods is well-nigh oozed quite out of the land.”
“My brother, it comes to my mind that the Priests of our Clan have been
limp in their service to let these things come to pass.”
“I suppose we have done our best. At least, we did as we were taught.
But if the people will not come to hear your exhortations, and neglect
to adore the God, what hold have you over their religion? But I tell
you, Deucalion, that the High Gods try our own faith hard. Come into the
dwelling here. Look there on my bed.”