Part 23 (2/2)

'I knew it,' she cried in triumph 'I knew that he would win; and they called hiave hiht at sundown, sayest thou, and it is not yet dawn?

Surely--'

'Throw a cloak around thee, Nyleptha,' I broke in, 'and give us wine to drink; ay, and call thy maidens quick if thou wouldst save thyself alive Nay, stay not'

Thus adjured she ran and called through the curtains towards some room beyond, and then hastily put on her sandals and a thick cloak, by which ti into the rooazed ondering eyes, clinging one to another So ent into the first ante-rooive us wine to drink and food, if ye have it, for we are near to death'

The roouards, and froons of wine and soaas and I drank, and felt life flow back into our veins as the good red ent down

'Hark to me, Nyleptha,' I said, as I put down the e-ladies any two of discretion?'

'Ay,' she said, 'surely'

'Then bid theo out by the side entrance to any citizens whom thou canst bethink thee of as men loyal to thee, and pray theather, to rescue thee from death

Nay, question not; do as I say, and quickly Kara here will let out thetwo of the crowd of da them besides a list of the names of the o for your very lives,' I added

In another moment they had left with Kara, whoreat courtyard on to the stairway as soon as he had aas and I made our way, followed by the Queen and her women As e tore off mouthfuls of food, and between theer which encouards and one, and she was alone with her woreat place; and she told h the town that our ar in triumph on Milosis, and how in consequence thereof all h all this takes some time to tell, we had not been but six or seven olden roof of the te sun, it was not yet dawn, nor would be for another ten minutes We were in the courtyard now, and here my wound pained aas rolled along after us, eating as he went

Noere across it, and had reached the narrow doorway through the palace wall that opened on to the hast, as well I ates of bronze--entirely gone They had been taken froes, and as we afterwards found, hurled froround two hundred feet beneath There in front of us was the see oval dining-table, and the ten curved blackon to the main stair--and that was all

CHAPTER XXII HOW UMSLOPOGAAS HELD THE STAIR

We looked at one another

'Thou seest,' I said, 'they have taken away the door Is there aught hich we may fill the place? Speak quickly for they will be on us ere the daylight' I spoke thus, because I knew that we must hold this place or none, as there were no inner doors in the palace, the roo separated one from another by curtains I also knew that if we could by any et in nowhere else; for the palace is absolutely inable, that is, since the secret door by which Sorais had entered on that ht of attempted murder had, by Nyleptha's order, been closed up with masonry

'I have it,' said Nyleptha, who, as usual with her, rose to the eency in a wonderful way 'On the farther side of the courtyard are blocks of cut ht them there for the bed of the new statue of Incubu, my lord; let us block the door with the despatched one of the rereat stair to see if she could obtain assistance froreat -place, and set another to watch through the doore made our way back across the courtyard to where the hewnthe first two h, broad, hty pounds each, and there, too, were a couple of implements like small stretchers, that the workot soirls carried theaas, 'if those low fellows coainst them till the door is built up

Nay, nay, it will be a ood day, let it now be good night See, I throw myself down to rest on the h, wake thou th,' and without a word he went outside and flung himself down on the marble, and was instantly asleep

At this time, I too was overcome, and was forced to sit down by the doorway, and content ht the block, while Kara and Nyleptha built them up across the six-foot-wide doorway, a triple row of them, for less would be useless

But the ht forty yards and then there were forty yards to run back, and though the girls laboured gloriously, even staggering along alone, each with a block in her arrowing now, and presently, in the silence, we heard a co of arh, and we had been eightof it So they had co sound ca we couldfiles ofup the stair They were now at the half-way standing place that rested on the great flying arch; and here, perceiving that soain, halted for three or four ain

We had been nearly a quarter of an hour at the work now, and it was alh