Argosy, Vol. 147, No. 1 — page 118: what you’re looking at

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

oa “it : ce — er rt ought the situation over. They eevitere they were in the river an hour or two until the storm was ly over, and then go back to the Great /_ On the other hand, now that they , Mercer felt a great curiosity to thi 5 other city where Tao’s men had reatec ‘trouble. Why should they not use e few hours of waiting to see it? “ey We might get a line on how things id up there to tell Alan when we get <,” Mercer said when he explained his s to Anina. “It won’t take long.” Very obi ably it was the light-ray cylinder i im his a ee 1 which influenced his decision, for he added: “We can’t get into any trouble, you } kr n0W; there’s no light-ray here yet.” ind so they went on. T r ere was a perceptible current coming Jown the river. The water was cold and clea a and in the brighter light now he : d see down into it in many places to the bo six or eight feet below. The re- zi a, utterly uninhabited; no sign a house or even a boat on the river met at 1 as they advanced. ent there be boats along here?” asked once. ‘“ How far up 7s this -* Not far now—beyond there.” t r * e river appeared to terminate abrupt- 7 up ahead against the side of a frowning row! cliff, but Mercer saw a moment later hz at it opened out around a bend to the left. ‘ “ Around that next bend?” it It seemed incredible to Mercer that the ¥ md largest city in Mercury lay hidden e midst of this desolation. “a We'll meet boats,” he said. “ What will ople think of me? Don’t let’s start anything if we can help it.” “You lie there.” Anina indicated the a of the boat at her feet. ‘‘ No one u then. I steer. They do not notice ) care who I am.” cer had still the very vaguest of ideas at they would do when they got to fer City. As a matter of fact, he AS more curious just to see it than Ise. But there was another rea- ed | 1 him on. Both he and Anina mL » ‘ me i: Ors . , 2 j 4 J "2 Ube NODOC ~-——s ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. They had eaten very little since leaving the Great City the night before; and now that it was again evening, they weye fam- ished. They had rummaged the boat thor- oughly, but evidently the men had taken* all their supplies ashore with them, for nothing was in the boat, ‘We'll have to dope out some way to get something to eat,” said Mercer. They came upon the sharp bend in the river Anina had indicated. Following close against one rocky shore, they swept around the bend, and the Water City lay spread out before Mercer’s astonished eyes. CHAPTER XXIV. THE WATER CITY. T had stopped raining; the sky overhead was luminous with diffused sunlight; the scene that lay before Mercer was plainly visible. The river had opened abruptly into a broad, shallow, nearly circular lake, some five or six miles across. The country here showed an extraordinary change from that they had passed through. The lake ap- peared to occupy a depression in the sur- rounding hills, like the bottom of a huge, shallow bowl. From the water’s edge on all sides the ground sloped upward. It was no longer a barren, rocky land, but seem- ingly covered with a rich heavy soil, dotted with tropical trees. That it was under a high state of cultivation was evident. Mer- cer saw tier upon tier of rice terraces on the hillsides. But what astonished him most was the city itself. It covered almost the entire surface of the lake—a huge collection of little palm-thatched shacks built upon plat- forms raised above the water on stilts. Some of the houses were larger and built of stone, with their foundations in the water. Off to one side were two or three little islands, an acre or less in extent, fringed with palms and coconut trees. In nearly the center of the lake stood a stone castle, inarets orna- stretch of two stories in height, with menting its corners. An op water surrounded it. There was little of reg extraordinary city, com