Argosy, Vol. 117, No. 3 — page 104: what you’re looking at

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

414 And as each company moved through _ the tunnel entrances into the hall the lead- ers, had they thought to count heads, would have found its numbers increased by al- most half, Had they looked, these leaders would have discovered strange faces—the faces of soldiers of the Tower People covered. in the universal blue uniform of servitude, worn over their chain mail. While the Folk assembled, crowding to their places about the great stair where Zorn was to appear with the word they waited, these soldiers lingered in the shad- ows, each group closing one of the exits of that strange meeting-place. It. was midnight, too, that Fredericks the comptroller, was summoned to Wolff’s Tow- er, There he found the assembled Direc- torate and heard from the smiling lips of the Towerman news that made him gnaw his. beard with vexation. The Red Fox saw that his ignorance of this menace to Tower rule had discredited him, The humiliating discovery was to find a woman had outwitted him. But when he learned, as he soon did, that Alda was advised and guided by Fortune, the comp- troller’s annoyance turned to cold and cal- culating anger. Like the Folk, that bfilliant assembly of armed men and their soldiers got into mo- tion promptly. Guides led them through the forests and among forgotten ruins of dead New York. It was a aaa and fear- some journey by which this little group of officials of the Tower People came at length to the rendezvous of the Folk. Eventually the found themselves. en- sconced in the shadow of a little balcony that overlooked the lighted hall beneath, witnesses to the drama which, to all but a half-dozen, was news of most alarming im- port. ‘In the front sank of.that awed little group of witnesses were Alda, Fortune, and Fred- erick. Their balcony was not more than fifteen feet above the heads of the crowd that waited below, and not a dozen feet from the great stair where the banner of revolt rippled lazily and the stage awaited the entrance of its chief actors, yet so in- THE ARGOSY. adequate were all the torches to lighten the gloom of the vast hall that they could peer from the’shadows unseen. From the crowding Folk there rose a low buzz of sound. Caution and the habit of years suppressed their noise. They waited, eager, half afraid, puzzled for what- ever was to happen. Back into the dim shadows their ranks extended, solid like a carpet of blue stip- pled with white faces. Where torches flared little circles of light fell in ruddier glow on their compact bodies, patterning the vast mass like some strange, unheard of tap- estry. | The wide spaces of the ruin vibrated to ene low, whispering chord, the exhalation of thousands of throats—a chord that thrilled the soul of a listener with the in- toxication of excitement. Already the Folk were tasting freedom. The flag on the stair was swept aside and a vast sigh rose from the crowd. A tall, spare figure in black, gray-haired, lean, ascetic, walked forward into the full glow of the torches. Zorn, the Recluse, stood surveying the people to whose salva- tion he had deveted the best of his life. To most of the multitude Zorn was entirely astranger. They had never heard his name, yet the eyes that stared on him recognized instinctively that here stood their leader. Zorn’s was a power instantly felt. A few paces behind Zorn advanced a slen- der, youthful figure in gray, a woman whose beauty seemed supernatural in the glow of light that flooded her. She walked bare- headed, erect, free of motion, with the dig- nity of the highest-born and the innocent grace of trusting young womanhood. Men paid her homage unconsciously. A long, drawn ‘“‘ Ah-h!” greeted her entry. Fortune pressed forward from the bal- cony, staring his eyes out. His lean jaw tightened with excitement. A heightened color flooded his cheek. His wide eyes glowed darkly. Alda, pressed beside him, whispered: “ So that is the girl, my friend! That is the girl of the Folk?” The question was unanswered. Fortune had not heard it. | But Frederick, on her right, was staring, CORNICLOO <S) (eo)