All-Story Weekly, March 1, 1919 — page 106: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

o-= A — ed =) ae nn = aR —- ex a - ja - wr = oo aE —_ ere A — - Ne ee ay " ow og en = ~ ed = . —— - a een «ae ee oe eS ee Se ps = Pe ee Nie = ~~ 448 ALL-STORY WEEKLY. _ hon-resistance could not be mapped out _ beforehand and were likely to bring enor- mous masses of the resistant portion tum- ‘““ Rador—what is that?” I asked. “Tt is the veil of the Shining One!” he answered slowly. Was the Shining One that which we — =e = =< b- = 4 , Ds ad . . i < ay oh ae ieee pir <> Ps -. aS = ~ ~ “23 . - wal ts od “i ‘- “—* ~ —.. asked. _ bling down, exactly, I gathered, as a struc- ture of cemented stone would tumble if the cement should abruptly crumble into dust. They seldom used the ray, therefore, for tunneling or blasting rock in situ. The re- sistant qualities of the barriers were prob- ably due to the presence of radioactive ele- ments that neutralized the vibratory ray whose essence was, of course, itself radio- active. : The slender, graceful bridges under which we skimmed ended at openings in the up- flung, far walls of verdure. Each had its little garrison of soldiers. Through some of the openings a rivulet of the green ob- sidian river passed. These were roadways to the farther country, to the land of the ladala, Rador told me; adding that none of the lesser folk could cross into the pavil- ioned city unless summoned or without pass. We turned the bend of the road and flew down that further emerald ribbon we had seen from the great oval. Before us rose the shining cliffs and the lake. A half-mile, perhaps, from these the last of the bridges flung itself. It was more massive and about it hovered a spirit of ancientness lacking in the other spans; also its garrison was larger and at its base the tangent way was guarded by two massive structures, somewhat like blockhouses, between which it ran. Some- thing about it aroused in me an intense curiosity. “ Where does that road lead, Rador?” I “To the one place above all of which I may not tell you, Goodwin,” he answered. And again I wondered—and into my won- der burst a thought. Did the road lead to Si7 Throckmartin and those others the Dweller had made its prey? How could I find out? We skimmed slowly out upon the great pier. Far to the left was the. prismatic, rainbow curtain between the Cyclopean pil- lars. On the white waters graceful shells— named the Dweller? “What is the Shining One?” I cried, eagerly. Again he was silent. Nor did he speak until we had turned on our homeward way. And lively as my interest, my scientific curiosity, were—I was conscious suddenly of acute depression. Beautiful, wondrously beautiful, this place was—and yet in its wonder dwelt a keen edge of menace, of unease—of inexplicable, inhuman wo; as though in a secret garden of God a soul should sense upon it the gaze of some lurk- ing spirit of evil which some way, somehow, had crept into the sanctuary and only bided its time to spring. CHAPTER XVII. THE LEPRECHAWN. HE shell carried us straight back to the | house of Yolara. We stood again be- fore the tenebrous wall where first we had faced the priestess and the’ Voice. And as we stood, again the portal appeared with all its disconcerting, magical abrupt- ness; Rador drew aside; I entered; once more the entrance faded. | But now the scene was changed. Around the jet table were grouped a number of figures—Lugur, Yolara beside him; seven others—all of them fair-haired and all men save one who sat at the left of the priestess —an old, old woman, how old I could not tell, her face bearing traces of beauty that must once have been as great as Yolara’s own, but now ravaged}; in some way awe- some; through its ruins the fearful, mali- cious gaiety shining out like a spirit of joy held within a corpse! Larry was not present. I wondered why, but as I wondered he entered. He sent me a cheerful grin, and Yolara darted a glance at him that was—revelant. Lugur saw it, too, and read it aright, for his face dark- ened. ‘Began then our examination, for such it was. And as it progressed I was more and more struck by the change in the micbooks.col